JOHN LEO'S BLOG

Washington Post reporter Anthony Shadid is at it again. Shadid is the world's foremost practitioner of "They killed my baby!" journalism.

Are social and religious conservatives antiscience? Many are. But resistance to public funding of stem cell research is not an example of it. Democrats are obviously trying to connect Bush's stem cell veto to issues such as evolution and global warming, where conservative opposition to science is clear. But the stem cell issue is not in this category. There is no debate at all about the science involved. The issue is one of moral judgment, as it is in abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia (though the claims that can be made on behalf of an infinitesimal embryo, though similar, are weaker).

The theme of Superman as a Christ figure isn't new, but it has never been stronger or more obvious than it is in Superman Returns.

Columnist Paul Craig Roberts attended Stanford's graduation and learned something new: Back in April, President Bush went to the university to speak to the Hoover Institution fellows but was blocked from the campus by protesters. He had to speak to the fellows elsewhere. I don't remember any press coverage of the antiwar and leftist protesters keeping the president from the Hoover Institution. Neither did Roberts, and he learned about it only because the Stanford Daily happened to reprint the April 24 news account of the event while he was on campus to see a relative graduate. The news report is here: daily.stanford.edu

Wendy McElroy wrote a July 4 column strongly recommending The Dangerous Book for Boys, a surprise bestseller in Britain and Australia that encourages adventure, discovery, and risk taking. Then the book was removed from Amazon's catalog amid suspicions that a book based frankly on the idea that boys are different from girls might have run afoul of America's gender police.

The blog "Feminist Law Clerks" wonders why the number of female clerks at the Supreme Court keeps dropping. Amber at the blog "Prettier Than Napoleon" followed up with an interesting discussion of possible reasons, including the suggestion that the numbers reflect male majorities at top law schools and law reviews. Amber says her numbers show that for the court's 2006–2007 term, only 7, or 20 percent, will be women.

One of the pleasures of the Fourth of July is seeing the American flag almost every place you look, on homes and factories and in parades.

David Adesnik at Oxblog mentions that topic No. 1 during his recent stay in New York City was the controversy over the New York Times's decision to publish classified information about a counterterrorism program.

Eugene Volokh of the Volokh Conspiracy, one of my favorite blogs, came across a law article showing that in federal criminal cases, judges acquit far more often than juries do.

After 15 years of reporting that girls are being victimized by public schools, the mainstream media have at last looked at some obvious evidence that girls are doing quite well while boys lag. Suppose you are irritated by this long-delayed media discovery and wish to debunk it.