The Tea Party is no longer the archetype of “radical”. California claimed that title this week when it voted to adopt Washington State’s “top two” political system under Proposition 14 and with strong support from The Governator. Say goodbye to party primaries and hello to a wide open field of primary candidates. Under the...
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The Supreme Court issued two decisions on Monday that I find quite surprising and disturbing. Ordinarily I would write up each case separately but the first, involving the decision to allow to stand a law allowing the federal government to extend the “civil commitment” of sex offenders, was handled extremely well here by Steve...
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This seems like a good time to revisit the issue of tort reform. Why now? Because of this story from AP: “Drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical says it will appeal a $356 million Las Vegas district court verdict awarded to a plaintiff who says he contracted hepatitis C when one of Teva’s drug vials was used...
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The Times Square bombing case has produced some interesting side stories not least of which is the proposal, put forward by Joe Lieberman and seconded by John McCain and others, to revoke US citizenship from Americans who join foreign terrorist organizations in fighting against the United States. Lieberman and McCain also assailed the decision...
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The following is extracted from an op-ed written by Bill Clinton and appearing in today’s NY Times: Finally, we should never forget what drove the bombers, and how they justified their actions to themselves. They took to the ultimate extreme an idea advocated in the months and years before the bombing by an increasingly vocal minority:...
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Back in January we managed a pretty civil dialogue on new gun laws enacted in New Hampshire so given some recent developments I thought it was time to renter the murky waters of the Second Amendment while doing my best to avoid the quicksand. There are three things I thought I’d touch upon –...
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Last week Barack Obama made 15 recess appointments to positions left open for an extended period of time. One in particular, Craig Becker to the NLRB, has drawn the fury of the GOP who have blocked his nomination for many months. Most, if not all, of the other appointments are less controversial and I’ve...
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Comment by Mr. Pink Eyes in Larry’s post “Obama – Time to make a decision”: “I also would like to know who he thinks he is. He is supposed to act on the will of the people, not enact laws against the will of the people just because he feels it is right. He...
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I was recently in Asheville, NC and as I was driving around I passed a beautiful private, gated community called Givens Estates. The grounds were expertly manicured around numerous buildings, homes, and cottages. Givens is a high end retirement community with extensive programs for seniors, hiking trails, swimming pool, cultural classes, restaurant, computer lab,...
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There’s a new movement developing on the political horizon calling itself the Coffee Party. Apparently it’s not much more than a month old but it’s already picking up quite a number of followers on its Facebook and web sites. The founders seem to have had no idea what they were getting into when they...
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