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March 2012




Ruth Bader Ginsburg '54 is a national treasure

I don't veer much into politics on this blog. (To say nothing of the fact that I don't veer into much of anything on this blog these days.) But I do find it worthwhile to point out the excellent job that Cornell alumna Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Class of 1954, did in arguing for the need of Congressional regulation of the health insurance market this week. Sadly, she did a much better job of arguing for the Affordable Care Act than the Obama administration's own lawyers:

When U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli made a vague case for regulating economic activity, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needled him to get more specific about why it's necessary here and effectively made his case for him.

When U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli made a vague case for regulating economic activity, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needled him to get more specific about why it’s necessary here — and effectively made his case for him.

“I thought what was unique about this,” she said, “is it’s not my choice whether I want to buy a product to keep me healthy, but the cost that I am forcing on other people if I don’t buy the product sooner rather than later.”

Ginsburg interjected again when Justice Antonin Scalia grilled Verrilli on whether government can require people to purchase cars if the insurance mandate is upheld.

“I thought a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don’t participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do,” she said.


Matthew Nagowski | March 31, 2012 (#)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg '54 is a national treasure

I don't veer much into politics on this blog. (To say nothing of the fact that I don't veer into much of anything on this blog these days.) But I do find it worthwhile to point out the excellent job that Cornell alumna Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Class of 1954, did in arguing for the need of Congressional regulation of the health insurance market this week. Sadly, she did a much better job of arguing for the Affordable Care Act than the Obama administration's own lawyers:

When U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli made a vague case for regulating economic activity, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needled him to get more specific about why it's necessary here and effectively made his case for him.

When U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli made a vague case for regulating economic activity, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needled him to get more specific about why it’s necessary here — and effectively made his case for him.

“I thought what was unique about this,” she said, “is it’s not my choice whether I want to buy a product to keep me healthy, but the cost that I am forcing on other people if I don’t buy the product sooner rather than later.”

Ginsburg interjected again when Justice Antonin Scalia grilled Verrilli on whether government can require people to purchase cars if the insurance mandate is upheld.

“I thought a major, major point of your argument was that the people who don’t participate in this market are making it much more expensive for the people who do,” she said.


Matthew Nagowski | March 31, 2012 (#)

Mark Sanchez Visits Cornell?

This Deadspin story about a Cornell pledge who dressed up as Mark Sanchez and signed autographs as part of a fraternity prank made its rounds through social media yesterday.

This could have worked, but the fraternity chose the wrong time and location for the ruse. The New York Jets held their summer training camp at SUNY Cortland in the summers of 2009 and 2010, and a Mark Sanchez autograph signing would not have been out of place in Ithaca. Even though the Jets did not train in Cortland last summer, I imagine most students (or Ithaca residents) would have believed the Sanchez imposter if he said The Jets were back in town.

There is also a problem with location. Let’s be real – Mark Sanchez is not going to sit outside CTB flanked by two 19-year-olds. Maybe he will sit in the Statler lobby. Maybe he will sit in the Cornell store. Maybe he will sit at a table on Ho Plaza. But, he’s not going to sit by himself in Collegetown in Ithaca, New York. This may have been more effective if he sat in the Ithaca mall food court or outside Walmart. Both are highly-trafficked places where people might actually believe a celebrity would sign autographs.

When I was at Cornell, I thought it would be fun to do something like this with my fraternity. We would pick someone to dress up like a musician or comedian who was known to be in town and go to the mall. We’d plant brothers throughout the mall in groups to act excited when our faux celebrity walked by (with his entourage, of course) and to run up to him to take pictures and sign autographs. To really get into it, we’d have a camera crew following the celebrity equipped with a boom microphone operator and mobile lighting guy. I wanted to see if we could get unsuspecting mall visitors to believe the faux celebrity was actually someone famous.

I never got a chance to do this. I still think it would be a fun prank and I hope someone tries it.


Kyle Scott | March 29, 2012 (#)


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