Day: January 15, 2003

Bush vs. University of Michigan

I just don’t understand the reaction to the Bush administration’s decision to oppose the University of Michigan’s “affirmative action” admissions program.

When Trent Lott makes a statement approving of government-enforced racial discrimination, he was criticized for such backward views by pretty much everybody. But when George W. Bush comes out against government-enforced racial discrimination, Tom Daschle and others complain about the administration’s failure to support such policies. Dick Gephardt even announced plans to file a brief on behalf of state-supported racial discrimination in the University of Michigan case.

Apparently state-supported racial discrimination isn’t such a bad thing after all. Who knew?

Source:

Bush criticizes university ‘quota system’. CNN, January 15, 2003.

What If It Were a Pro-Life Teach In?

Imagine if an entire school system of 46,000 students decided to set aside one day and have a pro-life teach in. You know, invite people in to talk about how having an abortion stops a beating heart, show kids pictures of fetuses that don’t look all that different from newborns babies, and bring in a couple of fire and brimstone conservatives to talk about the evils of our death worshipping culture.

But Oakland, California, sees nothing wrong with this sort of approach for indoctrinating children about a possible war with Iraq.

As an aside, the interesting thing is how these things also tend to backfire. My daughter attended one of those Project D.A.R.E.-style events at her school which was supposed to warn them about the evils of drugs, alcohol and smoking. Instead, she and her friends were apparently very impressed by the image of a smoking doll that one of the presenters used. Thanks a lot, folks.

Speed of Gravity Measured

New Scientist has a report about two researchers who apparently have become the first to directly measure the speed of gravity. The measurement confirms Einstein’s contention that gravity traveled at the speed of light.

The scientists used an interesting method to measure the speed of gravity,

[Fomalont] Kopeikin found another way. He reworked the equations of general relativity to express the gravitational field of a moving body in terms of its mass, velocity and the speed of gravity. If you could measure the gravitational field of Jupiter, while knowing its mass and velocity, you could work out the speed of gravity.

The opportunity to do this arose in September 2002, when Jupiter passed in front of a quasar that emits bright radio waves. Fomalont and Kopeikin combined observations from a series of radio telescopes across the Earth to measure the apparent change in the quasar’s position as the gravitational field of Jupiter bent the passing radio waves.

As New Scientist notes, one of the main effects of the discovery is that it will undercut theories that postulate additional dimensions in the universe beyond the usual three.

Source:

First speed of gravity measurement revealed. New Scientist, January 7, 2003.