Peg on Aug 18 2008 | Filed under: Law, Libertarianism, Media, Peg's Page, Philosophy, Society, regulation
Many of us, when we hear the phrase “risk and reward” think of Wall Street. Or business in general.
But in reality, “risk and reward” affect us throughout our lives.
Our parents take a risk when they conceive us. They hope that we will provide them with more joy and satisfaction than heartache and pain. They [...]
MichaelW on Aug 06 2008 | Filed under: Law, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Society, regulation
Because of my background in working with emotionally disturbed, learning disabled, and generally abused kids, I am often to drawn to stories about the results of extreme neglect of children. I saw some awfully hard cases with some of the kids I worked with, including a kid who was found as a toddler scrounging [...]
Lance on Jul 27 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page, Law
You may not realize this, but the House Judiciary Committee has been holding hearings (of a sort) in an attempt to impeach President Bush. Guys, he is gone in six months. I love this line:
“I am really astonished at the mood in this room,” commented one witness, George Mason University School of Law professor Jeremy [...]
Lance on Jul 26 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Interviews, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism
While my opposition to modern liberal left politics is pretty clear, I generally feel that name calling is rarely needed, or warranted. I certainly do not believe that any particular ideology is more or less likely to have virtuous people, whether we are speaking of kindness, generosity, bravery or integrity.
I also don’t believe that any [...]
Joshua Foust on Jun 21 2008 | Filed under: Law, regulation
Unbelievable:
The Motion Picture Association of America said Friday intellectual-property holders should have the right to collect damages, perhaps as much as $150,000 per copyright violation, without having to prove infringement.
“Mandating such proof could thus have the pernicious effect of depriving copyright owners of a practical remedy against massive copyright infringement in many instances,” MPAA [...]
ChrisB on Jun 20 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Domestic Politics, Law
Damon Root at Reason takes a look at what’s happened in the three years since Kelo v. City of New London. By now, even non-cynical people can’t be surprised.
So what’s the status of the “comprehensive” and “revitalized” development site today? Here’s the Institute for Justice, the libertarian public interest firm that litigated the case:
Like so [...]
MichaelW on Jun 13 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Law, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
UPDATE: Welcome QandO readers. Please look around after you’ve finished with this post, but McQ says you have to go back over to QandO when you’re done … but I won’t tell if you won’t.
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The recent Supreme Court case involving Guantanomo Bay (GITMO) detainees and writs of habeas corpus promises to be one [...]
ChrisB on Jun 04 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Humor, Law
This has to be seen by all judicial and college football fans. I’m not sure what the original complaint was, but the opinion is great. Pay special attention to the footnotes to learn that it is the official opinion of the U.S. Judicial system that the “Game of the Century” for this century is the [...]
MichaelW on May 15 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Environment, Law, MichaelW's Page, energy, regulation, science
The march of the watermelons towards control of US policy continues apace:
Polar bears will now be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.
But in announcing the listing, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said the decision should not be “misused” to regulate global climate change.
“Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable [...]
ChrisB on May 13 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Humor, Law
Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father’s existing credit card company, and took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating in playing “Halo” on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.
One of the best parts of this story,? [...]
Peg on Apr 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Libertarianism, Media
John McCain was one politician I admired greatly. While I still believe that the man is a true hero, and while I still do applaud some of what he does, the veil has been lifted from my eyes for one major reason: McCain-Feingold.
Although I, like so many others, wish that we lived in [...]
Peg on Apr 25 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, Media, Peg's Page, regulation
One of my girlfriends is smart as a whip and a talented artist to boot. Cathy is also hard of hearing.
While Cathy can read lips and she also has a device that allows her to converse in very small groups, she is unable to hear in most other settings. Last year, the two of us [...]
Peg on Apr 24 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, Peg's Page, Society
Justice Antonin Scalia will appear on 60 Minutes this coming weekend. A preview of what he has to say is here.
“I say nonsense,” Scalia responds to Stahl’s observation that people say the Supreme Court’s decision in Gore v. Bush was based on politics and not justice. “Get over it. It’s so old by now. [...]
Lance on Apr 07 2008 | Filed under: Firearms, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism
Over at Where the Buffalo Roam Peter gives us Charlton Heston’s 1999 NRA Convention Keynote Speech in Denver, which was scheduled shortly after the Columbine shootings in Colorado. A perfect reminder of what he stood for, and against.
Update: Here he is speaking in 1989 on the animating issue of his later life, the Second Amendment.
[...]
MichaelW on Mar 27 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, MichaelW's Page, regulation
Some people are hoping to hoist John McCain on his own campaign finance petard. As satisfying as it would be to see the Senator receive a healthy dose of his bitter medicine, however, the complaints filed against him with the FEC will almost assuredly fail.
In the blogosphere it is the most recent complaint filed [...]
MichaelW on Mar 12 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page
But there’s no plea deal regarding the potential federal charges. Is it possible that the feds are going to do to Spitzer what Spitzer paid to do to “Kristen”? (HT: JOM):
Eliot Spitzer’s tumultuous tumble from the zenith of a promising political career to the nadir of a shocking sex scandal came as no surprise [...]
MichaelW on Feb 29 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Media, MichaelW's Page
Does it strike anyone else as tragically ironic that, if indeed John McCain were declared not to be a “natural-born citizen” due to the locus of his birth, then an “anchor baby” could be elected President but the child of an Armed Services member born overseas could not?
Think about that. Child of illegal aliens [...]
MichaelW on Feb 28 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Media, MichaelW's Page
THE LATEST non-issue hyped by (who else?) the New York Times is that “some” people are questioning whether or not John McCain is eligible to be a sitting President:
The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up [...]
Lance on Feb 21 2008 | Filed under: Lance's Page, Law
Actor Wesley Snipes was found not guilty of federal tax fraud and conspiracy charges earlier this month. Basically he blamed it on the tax advice he received. Whether one believes that he didn’t know that when one earns $38 million you are likely to owe some tax, much less request a 12 million dollar refund, [...]
Peg on Feb 19 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, Peg's Page
Attempting to achieve absolute equity and fairness in our justice system is impossible. I could list a dozens reasons why this is so - and I doubt that many would seriously argue with me that it is so.
Still, that we can never achieve perfection is not a reason not to reach for that goal. [...]
Peg on Feb 13 2008 | Filed under: Law, Peg's Page, Philosophy
As a philosophy student, issues of free will were some of the most complex and intriguing that I studied. Is free will real or a chimera? If real, is it always applicable? How do we judge such questions?
At one of my favorite blogs, The Volokh Conspiracy, guest blogger Adam Kolber addresses these [...]
Lance on Feb 10 2008 | Filed under: Lance's Page, Law, Religion and theology
Ali Eteraz gives his fellow Muslims the rationale for opposing Sharia courts being imported into the west:
14 - Liberal democracy, as is, is perfectly compatible with Islam
You aren’t making your country more Islamic or even earning more reward by going to Sharia arbitration courts. The Mufti of Egypt thinks liberal democracy is compatible with Islam. [...]
ChrisB on Feb 08 2008 | Filed under: Chris' Page, Law, Religion and theology
Well, kinda. After the whole row over the Archbishop of Canterbury’s declaration that Sharia Law in Britain is “unavoidable“, Eugene Volokh notes that it has been allowed in some US court, in a way. It seems some parties entered into a contract that provided for arbitration based off of rules of sharia law, and the [...]
Peg on Feb 05 2008 | Filed under: Eugenics, Law, Peg's Page, Race, Society
This morning, I read a column from the Wall Street Journal about race.
Just when we thought we’d heard everything from the diversity police, here they come trying to prescribe even the color of charity. The California Assembly last week passed a bill sponsored by state Representative Joe Coto to require foundations with assets of more [...]
Peg on Feb 04 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Law, Peg's Page
Many Republicans and/or conservatives have been wailing that McCain is not conservative enough for them. No links; loads abound.
The people who complain about this are correct - at least on some topics, IMHO.
But, if you don’t want to vote for McCain because he isn’t conservative enough, consider this.
The gulf between Democratic and [...]
Synova on Feb 02 2008 | Filed under: Eugenics, Health Care, Law, Synova's Page
Kim at Wizbang links to this story about eugenic thinking in Brittan.
The comments came as the Lords debated an amendment, [...] that would have protected unborn disabled children from abortion after the 24 week gestational time limit. The amendment was defeated by 89 votes to 22.
Under Britain’s abortion law, children judged to have some form [...]
MichaelW on Jan 30 2008 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Law, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Attorney General Michael Mukasey sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the interrogation technique known as waterboarding. Mukasey remarked that it is not an authorized interrogation technique, and that it “is not, and may not be, used in the current [CIA interrogation] program.” As in his confirmation hearings, however, Mukasey declined [...]
Lance on Jan 18 2008 | Filed under: Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, regulation, social science
This is a stunning statistic:
…the annual expansion in China’s trade has been larger than India’s total annual trade during last several years.
Tyler Cowen hones in on this point, amongst a bounty of good points:
The most important factor that still holds back large [Indian] firms from entering these products is a set of draconian labour laws [...]
MichaelW on Dec 19 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
The aptly named Unqualified Offerings has had its share of troubles lately, and I’m not usually one to pile on, but this is simply beyond the pale (emphasis added):
Have We Given Justice to Lindh?
By Mona
American citizen John Walker Lindh is now serving 20 years in this heinous prison for what appears to have been the [...]
MichaelW on Dec 10 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page, Notes on the war
This is one of the most bizarre and disgusting stories I’ve heard in quite a while:
A Houston, Texas woman says she was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Baghdad, and the company and the U.S. government are covering up the incident.
Jamie Leigh Jones, now 22, says that after she was raped by multiple men at a [...]
Lance on Dec 05 2007 | Filed under: Culture, History, Lance's Page, Law, Libertarianism, Society
For information on Repeal Day you can visit www.repealday.org:
The turn of the twentieth century was a dark time in America. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which had been promoting Prohibition for many years, believed alcohol was the cause of many, if not all, social ills. Mistruths like this were spread. Lines were drawn. Bars [...]
MichaelW on Nov 29 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page
Sen. Patrick Leahy is running a new gambit in order to force White House officials to testify before Congress, although I think there is another less-obvious goal here as well:
A Senate chairman acknowledged explicitly on Thursday that President Bush was not involved in the firings of U.S. attorneys last winter and therefore ruled illegal the [...]
MichaelW on Nov 19 2007 | Filed under: Law, Media, MichaelW's Page, Notes on the war
For anyone who has been following the Higazy case and the puzzling circumstances under which a Second Circuit opinion was issued, withdrawn, and then reissued in redacted form, here is some information that seems to have been missed in the commentary (my emphasis):
A source close to the case said the opinion was withdrawn because of [...]
Lance on Nov 16 2007 | Filed under: Economics, Lance's Page, Law
Foreclosure rates could drop!!!
That is bad news?
It is if it is because courts are throwing out cases because mortgage companies holding securitized mortgages don’t have the actual note. I’ll let Luke explain:
The problem has arisen because most of these sorts of trust do not actually possess the physical mortgage note itself. Instead they have a [...]
MichaelW on Nov 16 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, MichaelW's Page
Since the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales the Attorney-Gate charade has basically fallen off the map. That’s a good thing for the most part because there never was any “there” there, at least not with respect to the politically appointed attorneys who were fired in the due course of the administration’s affairs.
However, [...]
Lance on Nov 09 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Glenn Greenwald's Carnival of Fisking, Lance's Page, Law
Noted constitutional scholar, conspiracy theorist, sock puppet and all around frustrated guy, Glenn Greenwald, has a melt down over the spinelessness of the Democratic majority. Not to disagree with him, I agree they are spineless, but this little diatribe is profoundly silly.
First of all, if the Democrats had a spine Mukasey would have been confirmed [...]
Lance on Nov 08 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lance's Page, Law
In the WSJ:
Consider, for example, the contentious and emotionally laden issue of the use of torture in securing preventive intelligence information about imminent acts of terrorism–the so-called “ticking bomb” scenario. I am not now talking about the routine use of torture in interrogation of suspects or the humiliating misuse of sexual taunting that infamously occurred [...]
Keith_Indy on Nov 07 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Keith's Page, Law
ED MORRISSEY: Waterboarding is torture and Congress should outlaw it. That would, however, require courage.
Hmmm, didn’t someone around here (and over there) say that recently??? OK, certainly not as eloquently, or verbosely, but it’s the same point all the same.
Congress should quit debating whether current law covers waterboarding and clear the issue up once [...]
Keith_Indy on Nov 07 2007 | Filed under: Keith's Page, Law
Here are things not recommended to try in Indiana.
A) Speeding through a construction zone. You see orange cones (which seems like all the time around here) slow down.
B) Running from the cops, after speeding through a construction zone. Generally, if cops want to pull you over, you should find a safe place to [...]
Keith_Indy on Nov 07 2007 | Filed under: Culture, Domestic Politics, Keith's Page, Law
Hugging friends is equal to sexual harassment? What has replaced commonsense in school administrators these days? Risk aversion is one thing, defining a problem down to a list of “must not do” activities isn’t the way of solving it.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/32B579E2975B8BA08625738B007B4E1B?OpenDocument
A 13-year-old junior high school student was given two days of detention after school officials [...]
Lance on Nov 07 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page, Law
Marty Lederman has a nice post up on the revelations of Daniel Levin about the development of the “torture memo’s.” Read the whole thing. I do have some caveats. He refers to Jack Goldsmith’s book which criticizes these memo’s and the way the Justice department was functioning at the time (and on a related note, [...]
Lance on Nov 02 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page, Law
I think this hits the nail on the head:
Clinton, Clinton, Obama and Schumer. They have all, to a greater or lesser degree, embraced the concept of coercive interrogation (some, even torture — which is unquestionably illegal), and they have all underscored the excruciating complexity of this issue. Somehow, they are fit to lead the Democratic Party [...]
Keith_Indy on Oct 26 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Keith's Page, Law, Society
Who would have thought this kind of thing would happen in this day and age, in America. But, add one part “War on Drugs,” and one part “Illegal Immigration,” and you get volatile results.
A south Los Angeles Latino street gang targeted African-American gang rivals and other blacks in a campaign of neighborhood “cleansing,” federal [...]
MichaelW on Oct 22 2007 | Filed under: Law, MichaelW's Page
The Appearance Of Impropriety
There is a minor brouhaha percolating at the blog-level right now regarding a Second Circuit decision that was issued, withdrawn, and then re-issued in redacted form. The small bit that was redacted is what’s causing all of the controversy because it concerned alleged threats from an FBI agent towards the family [...]
MichaelW on Oct 15 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Foreign affairs, Law, Libertarianism, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
Wulf at Atlas Blogged proposes a thought experiment regarding the FISA warrantless surveillance program that has been the subject of much civil libertarian hand-wringing:
Suppose the CIA wants to eavesdrop on Vladimir Putin. They don’t need a warrant. They just listen in on his phone conversations and they are legally within bounds as far as US [...]
Joshua Foust on Oct 10 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Economics, Foreign affairs, History, Law, Military Matters, Notes on the war, Technology, regulation
Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War
Dear God. The USAF thinks it will win counterinsurgencies by copying the Viet Cong? These guys are almost as bad as the PMFs. In a must-read analysis, Abu Muqawama concludes, “This, America, is your uniformed military leadership. Be proud.” Oh I am.
“The reliable replacement warhead is a symptom.” [...]
MichaelW on Sep 28 2007 | Filed under: Law, MichaelW's Page, Military Matters, Notes on the war
My tolerance for sheer bloody-mindedness is actually pretty high. If someone wants to insist that they are right despite every fact being against them, then that’s their problem as far as I’m concerned. When such persons continually lob snarky, and completely counterfactual bombs my way, however, sooner or later I’m going to respond. [...]
Lance on Sep 26 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Lance's Page, Law, Louisiana Politics, Media, Race, Society
As a Louisiana native I probably should have weighed in on the “Jena Six.” Like Michael, and many others, my initial reluctance has been being unsure of what really happened due to sketchy and conflicting reporting. What I can say at this point is that the decisions from a legal perspective have in each aspect [...]
Lance on Sep 12 2007 | Filed under: Education, Lance's Page, Law
UC Irvine law school fires him for being too liberal?
About a week ago, Erwin Chemerinsky, the well-known constitutional law scholar at Duke, signed a contract to be the inaugural Dean of the new law school at the University of California at Irvine.
Yesterday, the Chancellor of the University of Cailfornia at Irvine flew to Durham and [...]
MichaelW on Sep 10 2007 | Filed under: Domestic Politics, Law, Media, MichaelW's Page, Notes on the war
Promoting partisanship over prosecution of the war effort reaches an a new low today with the placement of an ad by MoveOn.org blatantly libeling Gen. David Petraeus:
… as General David Petraeus provides his Iraq assessment to Congress–the antiwar group MoveOn.org is running a full-page advertisement in the New York Times under the headline: “General Petraeus [...]
Risk and Return