Today’s Links: October 10, 2012

OPINION

MIKE RIGGS: “Obama Says He Wants to Debate Civil Liberties With Romney; Here’s Some Atrocious Decisions He Should Explain
“‘If Obama wants to discuss civil liberties, he should be held accountable for the obliteration of the First, Fourth, and Fifth amendments occurring under his watch, if not under his direction,’ writes Jesselyn Radack, National Security & Human Rights Director for the Government Accountability Project. If Radack were moderating, Obama would have to answer for his secret kill list, expanded surveillance, his assassination of American citizens, secret laws created by the PATRIOT Act, and his war on both whistleblowers and journalists.”

TORIE BOSCH: “When It Comes to Science and Tech, Are There Really Any Differences Between Obama and Romney?
“Which presidential candidate would do the most to further scientific and medical research, technological advancement, and STEM education? Do their differing philosophies on regulation, government funding of R&D, and even the human role in climate change actually matter in the long run?”

ILYA SHAPIRO: “Unbridled Use of Race in School Admissions Must be Curtailed
“In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, to be argued October 10, 2012, the US Supreme Court wades back into the affirmative action thicket, taking up the issue of the proper role, if any, of race in college admissions. Abigail Fisher, who is white, was denied admission to University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) even though her academic credentials exceeded those of many admitted minority applicants. She challenged the school’s use of race in selecting its incoming freshmen but lost before the US District Court for the Western District of Texas in light of the Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger.”

NEWS

EXCUSES – Obama Says He Was ‘Just Too Polite’ at Debate
“Conceding that he failed to deliver at last week’s debate, President Obama says he was “just too polite” and that voters should expect “a little more activity” next week in round two.”

INNOVATION – Intelligence agencies turn to crowdsourcing
“Research firm Applied Research Associates, has just launched a website that invites the public—meaning anyone, anywhere—to sign up and try their hand at intelligence forecasting. The website is part of an effort, sponsored by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (Iarpa), to understand the potential benefits of so-called crowdsourcing for predicting future events. Crowdsourcing aims to use the “wisdom of crowds” and was popularised by projects like Wikipedia.”

ANTITRUST – Google offers to brand web search results
Google has made a bid to avoid an antitrust war with Brussels by offering to label information from its in-house services that are included in its search results pages, according to people familiar with the search giant’s submission.”