Those of you with lives might not have realized that there were several elections held yesterday two days ago throughout the nation. The big three were gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia and a special election for Congress in New York’s 23 District. An amendment to ban gay marriage was also up for a vote in Maine after the legislature had approved it a few months earlier. How did they go?
Republicans won in Virginia and New Jersey and same sex marriage (SSM) was defeated in Maine. In a complicated race, a Democrat won the NY election by beating out a Conservative Party candidate. (Elsewhere in New York, Mayor Bloomberg was narrowly reelected despite spending $100 million or what would amount to $166 per vote) The reaction has been mixed. Some say this is a sign of a Republican revival while others say the races were determined by local issues and were not a referendum on President Obama. So what to think? Continue Reading »
Somebody must have put some pepper in George Will’s coffee because this is about as edgy as he gets. (This is of course a joke because George Will doesn’t drink coffee but would enjoy some tea and plain toast, thank you)
“The Hill’s” take on the failed doctor fix bill. People say this is bad for Harry Reid, but who really knows. In that article Reid is disappointed because the AMA said it could “deliver” 27 GOP votes and did not. Strange, I never knew lobbyists were so brazen about owning legislators. (Also, The Hill is different from “The Hills” so don’t confuse them. I know it’s hard.)
How do you make a bloody border dispute between two, nuclear-armed arch rivals even worse? Insert China.
Congressman Paul on Wall Street’s recent resurgence, the Fed, limiting executive compensation, and shenanigans. Say what you will about Paul, but he might be the most knowledgeable Rep there is on economic issues. Very good interview.
According to the AP, President Obama is changing the Justice Department’s enforcement guidelines for medical marijuana. He will instruct prosecutors not to go after suppliers in states that allow pot for medicinal use. However, all other drug offenders will be treated the same. (Condensed version of the AP story is here.)
Even though it may be semi-legal, don't be a pot head
While I like the end result of this policy, I wish it would have come through a change in federal law instead of just instructing prosecutors to leave them alone. Turning a blind eye to it rubs me the wrong way since it is the executive’s duty to enforce the laws.
Jonathan Adler gives a defense of the change here. While I don’t totally buy into his rationale in the first paragraph, he makes a good point on the limited resources of federal prosecutors. I also think his second paragraph is right on.
A reply to Atticannie. First of all I want to be very careful here since topics like war and peace have huge potential to turn into shouting matches, which nobody wants.With that in mind, here we go.
No, we shouldn’t create a Department of Peace (DOP). Atticannie’s blog uses pathos extremely well, but emotion shouldn’t be what moves government. The arguments for a DOP are almost without exception full of naivete.
The idea that a government agency on the federal level can eradicate or even noticably reduce American violence is a an unattainable dream. The writer herself points out how violence comes from the individual (when addressing schools) and works its way up into society. That shows that attempts to stop it need to begin on an individual level instead of a top down department. For example, local police departments are much more effective in stopping crime than things like public housing.
While I’m convinced that a DOP wouldn’t actually work, what bothers me the most about the suggestion is that it would be a symbolic band-aid. Something so politicians could say “Sure we care about peace, we voted for the DOP!” and then not actually look to solve the root problem. In fact Departments already exist to further peace abroad (State Department) and at home (Justice, Education, HHS, HUD).
It also lets common people and private organizations off the hook. It’s not a bureaucrat’s job to create peace. If you care about peace, go work to achieve it. Volunteer your own time and money instead of having some career desk jockey get paid for it. To create a DOP would be dereliction of civic duty.
The author asks where all of the peace loving Vietnam protesters went. Well, not all of them were peace loving and a substantial number of them explicitly espoused violence. I would point out a logical flaw there. Peace isn’t merely the absence of foreign wars. No amount of protesting against Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else is going to decrease violence in the US.
I agree wholeheartedly that the United States is a violent place, but I would point out that so is everywhere else. It’s not because government or society hasn’t done enough to prevent violence. It isn’t because some “he-men” want us to be a tough nation. It isn’t because of video games, youth sports leagues, or its because humans are naturally evil. We steal, cheat, hit, and kill. No Peace Department can stop that.
I’m not really sure how much sense all of that made, but hopefully I got my point across. I’ll sum it up like this: If you could create a government department that would significantly decrease violence then I’m all for it. But you can’t, and it’s naive folly to try.
Is our modern church becoming stupid? I mean think of how many college kids who grew up in church their whole life can explain justification, propitiation, or even grace. How many of them can not only tell what they believe but why they believe it? I recently heard an audio segment of a guy interviewing people at a Christian book convention asking them if they could name the ten commandments and I didn’t hear one person who could name half of them. The most telling response was from a lady who said “I don’t know them but I sure do obey them.” It is seriously getting ridiculous.
Over the next couple of weeks I am gonna go through a book by Christian Smith and show what he found in his study of the religious culture of teen America. I hope to show you through this book that we need to make a change or we our church and our culture will continue to decline till we end up like Rome.
Blackistone says that the negative publicity would be bad for the league and the team and although he uses extreme hyperbole, his basic point is probably right. However, he also says that Limbaugh shouldn’t be allowed to buy into the franchise because his past remarks. The quotes Blackistone finds offensive were both racially tinged as well social commentary that had nothing to do with race (or sports). Continue Reading »
A bit of a mini-scandal is starting to arise in the Palmetto State over the use of lobbyists. Specifically the fact that public universities are using taxpayer money to lobby for more appropriations in both state and federal government. College of Charleston actually hired a new lobbyist (a former Trustee) despite the economic and budget problems facing higher education.
In an ideal world, this wouldn’t happen. But state legislators have no room to complain about this practice. The main reason colleges hire lobbyists is so that they have advocates to combat budget cuts…budget cuts the legislature is all to happy to enact with little warning. If a process could be set up that assured South Carolina Universities stable funding from year-to-year the need for lobbyists would all but disappear. Instead, they have to yearly argue for their piece of the pie, so to speak, and need somebody to do the arguing.
Institutions of higher education hiring lobbyists does leave a bad taste in your mouth. But until they can be convinced that their funding is relatively secure it is a good investment.
Why is a symbol of America honoring one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century? What has China done to earn this? This is on par with celebrating the Bolshevik Revolution, the Iranian Revolution, or Castro’s rise to power. It is a celebration of a repressive and dictatorial government. It is revolting.
Having said all that, this seems like as good an occasion as any to be happy for the freedom we have here. Including the freedom to do offense things.
Earlier today the Senate Finance Committee voted to kill the public option for health insurance when it defeated two separate amendments to the Baucus Bill. 5 Democrats (mostly from moderate states) joined the Committee Republicans to defeat the Amendments. A public option would have created a government run health insurance program.
I’m not sure what effect this will have on health insurance reform’s ultimate fate but I would expect to start seeing more permanent camps align soon. Many liberal Democrats indicated that they wouldn’t vote for a bill without the public option while most Republicans are refusing to support the public option. So far the media reaction from the Left hasn’t been too friendly. It seems like the moderate Senate Dems are trying to split the baby so to speak: to get support from enough liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans to have a passable bill. That’s not an easy task.
The NYT’s college sports blog “The Quad” pointed out today what a joke the coaches’ poll is. The poll seems to be honoring traditional powers and preseason winners at the expense of everyone else. For the record the AP poll isn’t very good either despite the pass it gets from the NY Times. But the USA Today coaches’ poll is 1/3 of the BCS formula, so it does deserve greater scrutiny.
Are these coaches (or SIDs) even watching the games? Any of them? It seems like they are ranking based totally on preseason expectations instead of records and performance during the season. Teams that have played terribly are ranked in the Top 5. Teams that haven’t played anyone are rewarded. Big name teams with losses litter the Top 10. It is abysmal.
Jeff Jacoby is one of the more underrated columnists around. He shows why in his take on American TV culture. Specifically, the way that television hurts (or at the very least affects) children. It would be interesting to see if watching a lot of TV as a child leads to more internet use during adolescence. Personally, I don’t watch much TV anymore but spend a lot of time online.
The statistics on American television consumption are startling (we watch twice as much TV as the next highest country, on average). Take a minute to read the article, maybe during the next commercial break.
Samuelson examines the risk of a trade war with China and the risk of doing nothing. I like free trade, but if China keeps cheating everyone by devaluing their currency drastic steps should be taken. Expanding tariffs to other manufactured goods would be a good starting point. Regulation and strict safety inspection of Chinese goods would be another.
