I finally finished reading Hitch-22, and this passage near the very end really caught my eye: It is not only true that the test of knowledge is an acute and cultivated awareness of how little one knows (as Socrates knew so well), it is true that the unbounded areas and fields of one’s ignorance are […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
Ugh. House Republican leaders have signed on to spend up to $3 million to keep defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, according to a copy of their newly revised legal contract obtained by The Huffington Post. House Republican leaders took over the legal defense of DOMA in the spring of 2011, when Attorney […] Continue reading Fiscally Conservative Republicans To Spend $3M In Tax Dollars To Defend DOMA
Thankfully, it was caught on video!
Continue reading George W. Bush Castigates President Obama For Unhealthy Addiction To Unconstitutional Executive PowerGovernor Moonbeam? Or Governor Death Ray? You decide: Answering critics at a solar ribbon-cutting earlier this year, Gov. Jerry Brown laid down the gauntlet, affirming his commitment to solar energy and saying he would “crush” opponents of solar. “There are going to be screw-ups. There are going to be bankruptcies. There’ll be indictments and there’ll […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
Here at TLP, we commonly bring you stories of police abuses, bad behavior, and general asshattery that often accompanies giving someone power over another… …but it’s not always like that. “Thin blue line” concerns notwithstanding, the vast majority of people who go into law enforcement do so because they honestly want to serve and protect […] Continue reading Your Feel-Good Cop Story Of The Year
Over at Ezra Klein’s place, Dylan Matthews points to the fact that elections are driven by the economy (and in some years, by war). And that George McGovern, who died yesterday, gets a bit of a bad rap based on the fact that he was up against an incumbent President presiding over a rapidly-expanding economy […] Continue reading Why Democracy Doesn’t Work, Evidence #1,083
The Commission on Presidential Debates has been coming under a lot of fire for their exclusion of third parties this year, due largely to the fact that Gary Johnson is polling at 6% nationally and happens to be suing them* at the moment. As Reason points out, they’ve already lost three national sponsors, and are […] Continue reading Why America’s “Third-Party Airline” Shouldn’t Sponsor The Debates
Ezra Klein’s believes that it’s a horrible thing that the big, dumb spending cuts that nobody wants might actually happen: The initial idea was that if the supercommittee failed, there would be automatic spending cuts and automatic tax increases. This way, both parties would have an incentive to reach a deal. But Republicans refused the […] Continue reading Why The Big, Dumb Spending Cuts Nobody Wants Are A Good Idea
Okay, so the title was a bit tongue-in-cheek to get your attention… But there is a serious issue to discuss here based on a campaign stop in Iowa: A surprising anecdote from a White House pool report this morning: Campaign official also offers up that potus was talking about white house beer, which apparently the […] Continue reading Obama Breaks Numerous Laws To Transport/Distribute Alcoholic Beverage
From J.D. Tuccille at Reason Hit’n’Run: But I still think I’m correct in looking at the presidential race and seeing anything but an easy call. Strictly speaking, I see two midgets locked in a slap fight, and the loser is us as we confront the fact that one of them will be left standing. Well […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
I’m posting this on behalf of Eric, who on twitter (@e_cowperthwaite) gave a series of tweets highlighting the key events leading up to the US Revolution & Declaration of Independence. I’m providing the whole list here: How did the American Revolution happen? Did we really fight a bloody, 7 year war only because of taxes […] Continue reading Eric Tweets The History Leading To The American Revolution
Caught this across the wire today: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wendy’s Spokeswoman ‘Wendy’ Stands With Gay Marriage Supporters Dublin, Ohio, July 25 2012: Wendy’s corporation found Dave Thomas believed in treating all people, customers, employees, and vendors with the utmost respect. As the woman you see on the sign and in the logo of Wendy’s, it […] Continue reading ‘Wendy’ Condemns Chick-fil-A President Remarks On Gay Marriage
David Brooks has fired up Radley Balko. And I highly recommend you go read Radley’s whole piece… It’s worth it. One bit that I found particularly poignant, regarding why democratic politics, in particular, is not worthy of blind deference: Politics—the quest for power because you’re sure that you, more than others, know what’s best for […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
The AP, lamenting the fact that so many new college grads are having trouble finding work: College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level Actually, like the guy interviewed with a “creative writing” degree who now works as […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
From M.S. @ The Economist’s Democracy In America blog: To say that most American political discourse takes place at the intellectual level of baboons would be an insult to baboons. Baboons are capable of handling two-factor reasoning problems: if I eat all the bananas now, I’ll have none left for later; better eat enough to […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
From Steven Greenhut, writing at Reason: Americans suffer under the delusion that transportation systems are just that—systems for transporting people from one destination to another. What most of us fail to recognize is that the politicians, activists and planners who play the greatest role in creating those systems have far different goals than improving the […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
Last Tuesday, a federal judge in the 5th Circuit, Jerry Smith, blasted a DOJ lawyer on an ObamaCare case in the wake of Obama’s comments on judicial activism. The Judge assigned the lawyer a three-page, single spaced homework assignment to draft a position on whether the judiciary has the legitimate right to overturn Unconstitutional legislation. […] Continue reading On Judge Jerry Smith’s “Homework Assignment” And Judicial Deference To The Legislature
Arnold Kling, on the “gotcha” mentality of partisanism: If your goal is to accumulate a fan base and fire them up, then of course calling intellectual fouls on the other side is the way to go. However, I claim that if your goal is to contribute to a discussion in which fair-minded people will consider […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day
This is part of The Liberty Papers’ continuing Point/Counterpoint series, where two contributors (or a contributor and a guest) argue competing sides of an issue. In this installment, I will argue that the Supreme Court has a realistic defensible argument to find the Individual Mandate in ObamaCare Constitutional. Tomorrow, Doug Mataconis will respond with a […] Continue reading Point: How The Supreme Court Will Find The Individual Mandate Constitutional
Is there a more worthless phrase on the political landscape than “judicial activism”? And a court that gave us Bush v. Gore and Citizens United will prove conclusively that it sees no limits on its power, no need to defer to those elected to make our laws. A Supreme Court that is supposed to give […] Continue reading Quote Of The Day