Editor’s note: On Tuesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, was unconstitutional. Backers of the proposition vowed to appeal. In this December 2008 interview, law professor Jennifer Drobac outlines why lawsuits over Prop 8’s constitutionality aren’t vital to the legal rights of same-sex couples. November’s passage of California’s Proposition 8, which amends the state’s constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage and which the state Supreme Court upheld today, is the latest flashpoint in ... Read More
Triumph of the Cyborg Composer
February 22, 2010 • By • 136 Comments
The office looks like the aftermath of a surrealistic earthquake, as if David Cope’s brain has spewed out decades of memories all over the carpet, the door, the walls, even the ceiling. Books and papers, music scores and magazines are all strewn about in ragged piles. A semi-functional Apple Power Mac 7500 (discontinued April 1, 1996) sits in the corner, its lemon-lime monitor buzzing. Drawings filled with concepts for a never-constructed musical-radio-space telescope dominate half of one wall. Russian dolls and an exercise bike, not to mention random pieces from homemade board games, peek ... Read More
Letting Your Good Intentions Backfill My Budget
November 6, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Donors in the world's richest nations send tens of billions in aid to developing countries every year, and it's no secret that corruption and malfeasance hinder those efforts. But there's another, less well-known predicament that affects aid to poor nations: fungibility. Instead of supplementing the money that a government spends for a particular purpose — like fighting HIV/AIDS — donor dollars may just replace local outlays. Donations intended to boost the amount of money devoted to a worthy cause might actually reduce it. Development economists and experts disagree on how common ... Read More
Before the Flood
October 26, 2009 • By • 4 Comments
Mike Kline ambles across the highway atop the Park Street Bridge, toward the guardrail overlooking the Roaring Branch River. It's early summer, long after Vermont's mountain snow has melted, so the sometimes-mighty waterway is now just a stream piddling between tree-lined banks and stony riprap. Though I can barely hear the river above the buzzing motorcycles, Kline tells me locals dubbed it the Roaring Branch for a reason: During storms, huge boulders barrel down the river, slamming against each other to produce a thunderous sound. The boulders and sediment move with so much force, they ... Read More
The Inside Dope on Snitching
October 23, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
In Chicago during the late 1980s, the U.S. attorney was prosecuting a ruthless, religiously inspired gang called the El Rukns. Federal prosecutors were so dependent on incarcerated gang leaders to make their case that six informants were permitted to make a hedonistic mockery of the criminal justice system. Henry Leon Harris was one of several who had sex with a visiting wife or girlfriend in the U.S. Attorney's offices — while guarded by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents. Harry Evans used heroin delivered by his mother, but wasn't penalized when he failed a drug test. Other snitches ... Read More
Fumbling FEMA Wants Back in the Game
October 16, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security gobbled up the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 30-year-old bureaucracy that coordinates responses to natural disasters. The change left FEMA gutted and impotent, and when Hurricane Katrina struck two years later, the results were devastating. What's troubling, though, is that post-Katrina congressional reforms haven't fully addressed the agency's woes, argues North Carolina State University political science professor Thomas Birkland in a recent paper. Birkland, author of books such as Lessons of Disaster: Policy Change after ... Read More
1972 Black Hills-Rapid City Flood
October 12, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
DATE: June 1972 LOCATION: South Dakota DEATHS: 238, with more than 3,000 injured ESTIMATED COST: $826 million * WHAT HAPPENED: Rains over the Black Hills produced record floods on Rapid Creek and other area streams. Heavy debris in the floodwaters clogged the spillway of the Canyon Lake Dam, which failed, sending a flood wave into Rapid City. Much of the damage occurred because people were living in the floodway. After the event, housing was relocated, but many businesses were allowed to remain. *All costs estimated in 2009 dollars. ... Read More
Great Flood of 1993
October 12, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
DATE: May through September 1993 LOCATION: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin DEATHS: 47 Estimated COST: nearly $30 billion* WHAT HAPPENED: Sustained rainfall generated exceptional flood levels throughout the region. Hundreds of levees were breached along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and 70,000 homes were damaged, many in areas that people assumed to be safe. *All costs estimated in 2009 dollars. ... Read More
California Floods of 1995
October 12, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
DATE: January and March 1995 LOCATION: California DEATHS: 27 ESTIMATED COST: $4 billion* WHAT HAPPENED: "El Niño" conditions brought strong storms, producing floods that led to federal disaster declarations in 57 of the state's 58 counties. Along the Russian River, the accumulation of vegetation and debris reduced the stream's capacity, raising water levels to record highs. Heavy development in floodplains elsewhere led to bridge collapses and flooded downtowns, including San Jose's. In the Sacramento River Valley, a particularly hard-hit area, storm drainage system failures were ... Read More
Midwestern Floods of 2008
October 12, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
DATE: June 2008 LOCATION: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin DEATHS: 24 ESTIMATED COST: $15 billion* WHAT HAPPENED: Despite lasting just weeks and breaching only a few dozen levees, these Midwestern floods still caused serious damage, partly because more people and property were at risk than in the 1993 floods that affected many of the same areas. In the 15 years between the two storms, the population in the areas' 500-year floodplain increased by 17 percent, with the number of the people living in the area flooded in 1993 rising by 18 percent. *All costs estimated ... Read More
