Category: law

  • The Democratic playbook

    in convenient cartoon form. I got this via Ezra Klein’s fantastic blog, but apparently it’s by Tom Toles.

  • My congressional lobbying

    I haven’t really gotten involved in haranguing my elected representatives before, but the possibility of health care reform is so tantalizingly close — and the apparent drift of the Democratic so-called “leadership” is so grindingly predictable and frustrating — that I’ve felt compelled to contact my representative several times.  Below the fold is the email…

  • Me-tooing a clever description

    One of the unsung heros of the health care debate is the Congressional Budget Office, an agency that few really understand and fewer appreciate.  Ezra Klein has a tidbit on them, including a description so pithy I can’t help but steal it: If the role of the Federal Reserve is to take away the punchbowl…

  • “We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it.”

    In general, I’m not overly impressed with the Presidential Saturday radio address (now of course really a YouTube address).  But I liked today‘s, probably because it resonates with something I’ve said before (twice, even). Happy Birthday, America.

  • The rising South?

    Reading through Lawyers, Guns, and Money today, I was eventually directed to the US Army site on the service of African-Americans throughout history. The lead line of the section on the Civil War really raised my hackles: “When Federal troops invaded Southern states….” This bothered me so much I was motivated to actually write the…

  • My two cents

    I suspect I will write more on this, eventually, but for now, here’s what I’ve sent to the Obama campaign regarding the Senator’s disappointing collapse on FISA: I have contributed over $500 to the Senator’s campaign, more than all my previous contributions in my life. I had intended to donate all the way to the…

  • Another disturbing slip

    On 2008 May 22, John McCain attacked his presumed opponent Barack Obama (and of course, that’s just politics, so it’s fine), saying But I am running for the office of Commander-in-Chief. Here’s the problem. McCain is wrong. He’s not running for the office of Commander-in-Chief. In case it’s slipped his mind, he’s running for the…

  • Civics Lesson

    I’m sure that this is going get me marked as a rabid Obama supporter (which I am not). But I can’t help but gush over his impressive response on the issue of church and state. In an interview with BeliefNet, he was asked, “You wrote in The Audacity of Hope about the role that faith…

  • Real Leadership

    “Leadership” is a word tossed around a lot today, especially by those who evidence none of it. But today, in the United States Senate, Christopher Dodd (D-CT) stood up for the rule of law and demonstrated the sort of leadership that once made this nation great. Faced with Harry Reid’s inexplicable kowtowing to the forces…

  • Health of the Republic: Down 3% to 12%

    Calling Orwell…. Calling George Orwell… Or maybe Kafka is a better target. US military prosecutors have asked for — and now have been granted — a blanket order preventing the defense counsel of a Gitmo detainee from discussing the identity of any prosecution witness with anyone, the defendant included. The defense argues (correctly!) that this…