Nonestablishment Under God? The Nonsectarian Principle

Using as a point of reference the Ninth Circuit\u27s assertion in Newdow v. United States Congress that [a] profession that we are a nation under God is identical, for Establishment Clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation under Jesus, a nation under Vishnu, a nation under Zeus, or a nation under no god, this essay attempts to disentangle three themes that the modern discourse of religious freedom often conflates, with baneful effect. We can call these the public secularism principle, the neutrality principle, and the nonsectarian principle. The essay argues that the first two of these principles have exercised a pernicious influence over First Amendment jurisprudence: but the third, if it could be extracted so that its own distinctive virtues could be appreciated, might provide valuable mooring for what is at present a deeply disoriented discourse

Toleration and Liberal Commitments

This essay defends the ideal of toleration as against familiar criticisms coming from opposing directions. The illiberal objection argues that toleration is too permissive. Given the choice, why should we knowingly put up with error? The ultraliberal objection, reflected among others places in current free speech and religion clause jurisprudence, complains that mere toleration is condescending and illiberal because it declines to treat ideas and persons with equal concern and respect. This essay argues that both sorts of objections are misconceived and that if the valued liberal commitments of the American constitutional tradition are to be maintained, then we will necessarily have to embrace an ideal of toleration. The essay further argues that a renewed commitment to toleration is especially imperative at the present time as we try to cope, internally, with an exhausted ultraliberal discourse reflected in increasingly ineffectual Supreme Court opinions and, externally, with a so-called clash of civilizations or cultures that calls upon us to defend our central values rather than complacently pretend to rest in an overlapping consensus that needs no more foundational justification

The Pluralist Predicament: Contemporary Theorizing in the Law of Religious Freedom

Religious pluralism is at once the cause of and a substantial impediment to theorizing about religious freedom. The purpose of theorizing in law is typically to impose order on an unruly collection of phenomena - of seemingly conflicting decisions, or doctrines, or legal arguments - and to do so by articulating and elaborating the foundational truths that govern the subject in question. In a condition of religious pluralism, however, theorists typically suppose that it is impermissible to appeal to contested religious beliefs. But these are the very beliefs that would provide the natural foundations for thinking about the proper relation between government and religion (and that at least until relatively recently did provide the foundations for such thinking). This essay, written to provide a succinct state of the art review of current approaches, describes and assesses the various ways in which modern theorists of religious freedom have addressed this fundamental difficulty

Healthcare Delivery under Alternative Medicare Plans: Insights from Patient Records and Physician Interviews

This study investigates differences in annual healthcare services usage by enrollees in various Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans with consideration of the major factors that should account for such differences. Using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ detailed patient-encounter and diagnostic records for a random sample of one million Missouri Medicare beneficiaries, we compared healthcare services received by individuals insured under different Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. With complementary information about patient demographics and access to healthcare resources, we examine the factors affecting healthcare services received. The results show that plan and provider choices relate to significant utilization variances even after considering enrollee attributes, access to medical providers, and terms of their insurance plans. There also is evidence that agency relationships between payers and risk-sharing providers may be a contributing factor to those variances. These results merit careful consideration by all parties involved in healthcare financing and delivery as they develop health policy, negotiate insurance arrangements, plan facilities, install equipment, and staff for services. Further research to identify successful and replicable payer-provider arrangements offers opportunities for significant Medicare program savings

The New and Old Originalism: A Discussion

These five essays, which were originally published on the Library of Law and Liberty website, explore several themes involving the new and

The New and Old Originalism: A Discussion

These five essays, which were originally published on the Library of Law and Liberty website, explore several themes involving the new and

Micro irrigation with photovoltaics

Prepared under contract no. EX-76-A-01-2295-037

Understanding the Use of Curriculum Materials: A Cross-Site Research Study Report

A cross-site study conducted under the auspices of CSMC was designed to explore curriculum enactment of a particular mathematical topic in the three districts. District representatives selected “composing and decomposing” as the focus of the study, noting that it was an area of mathematics that teachers find challenging to teach and that students find challenging to learn. The hope was that the study would both inform the participating districts, and provide a model for others in the field to use in studying the implementation of particular mathematical ideas of interest.This paper was supported by funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Cardiac Atrophy and Diastolic Dysfunction During and After Long Duration Spaceflight: Functional Consequences for Orthostatic Intolerance, Exercise Capability and Risk for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Cardiac Atrophy and Diastolic Dysfunction During and After Long Duration Spaceflight: Functional Consequences for Orthostatic Intolerance, Exercise Capability and Risk for Cardiac Arrhythmias (Integrated Cardiovascular) will quantify the extent of long-duration space flightassociated cardiac atrophy (deterioration) on the International Space Station crewmembers

CD34‐positive superficial myxofibrosarcoma: a potential diagnostic pitfall

Background Myxofibrosarcoma (MFS) arises most commonly in the proximal extremities of the elderly, where it may involve subcutaneous and dermal tissues and masquerade as benign entities in limited biopsy samples. We encountered such a case, in which positivity for CD34 and morphologic features were initially wrongly interpreted as a ‘low‐fat/fat‐free’ spindle cell/pleomorphic lipoma. Case series have not assessed prevalence of CD34 reactivity among cutaneous examples of MFS. Methods We performed a systematic review of our institution's experience, selecting from among unequivocal MFS resection specimens those superficial cases in which a limited biopsy sample might prove difficult to interpret. These cases were immunostained for CD34 and tabulated for clinicopathologic characteristics. Results After review of all MFS diagnoses over 5 years (n = 56), we identified a study group of superficial MFS for comparison to the index case (total n = 8). Of these, the index and three additional cases (4 of 8, 50%; 2 low, 2 high grade) demonstrated positive staining for CD34 , with diffuse staining of spindled cells including cellular processes. Four additional cases showed no or equivocal/rare staining. Conclusions CD34 positivity should be recognized as prevalent among such cases and should not be inappropriately construed as inveighing against a diagnosis of MFS in favor of benign entities.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98187/1/cup12158.pd