North American links
About the 1905 Lochner decision.
Polls find that Americans have seriously negative views of the US federal government: a tendency what set in during Dubya’s second term but have accelerated since.
Suggesting ways in which Canada can be a useful example to the US.
Full text of a recent Sarah Palin speech: the woman direct, so to speak.
Violent crime in the US falls for the fourth consecutive year. About the US criminal justice system:
The favorite culprits for high black prison rates include a biased legal system, draconian drug enforcement, and even prison itself. None of these explanations stands up to scrutiny. The black incarceration rate is overwhelmingly a function of black crime. Insisting otherwise only worsens black alienation and further defers a real solution to the black crime problem. …
It takes shameless sleight of hand to turn an effort to protect blacks into a conspiracy against them. …
But if business owners think twice about certain communities, it’s because they fear crime, not a high concentration of ex-convicts per se. It’s unlikely that prospective employers even know the population of ex-cons in a neighborhood; what they are aware of is its crime rates.
About the work of a criminologist who advocated more cops, more prosecutors, more jury trials and less use of prison.
It is illegal for citizens to lie to officials (the reverse is not true).Patriot Act warrants are mainly used for policing drug traffic. A Mexican drug cartel defendant’s innovative legal defence.
A journalist turned academic reviews his interactions with Dubya over 25 years:
“I have told various George W. haters that they had best not underestimate the man,” I wrote, “that he’s smart, thoughtful in a brawny kind of way and, most of all, a good and decent man. … What I’ve never mentioned is that I didn’t vote for George W. I disagree with him on the Supreme Court, environment, abortion, the death penalty and affirmative action. So I voted against this good and decent man. It pained me to do it. … It baffles me that grown people must convince themselves that those with whom they disagree are stupid or malevolent.”
Poverty in the US was declining steadily, until the US government “declared war” on it. Except poverty is counted in a very weird way:
How on earth can the US be spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on beating poverty without actually beating poverty? Simple, we spend the money but don’t measure how much poverty we’ve beaten by spending it.
An essay published early in the Obama Adminstration comparing him to President Herbert Hoover: it now look prescient. A savage analysis of Obama’s performance in government with a big sideswipe at the Republicans. A somewhat resonate analysis savaging the Republicans with a big sideswipe at the Democrats. Polls suggested voters are unimpressed with the current policy proposals of its political class.
The Obama Administration economic team has not worked very harmoniously, apparently. Suggesting that left anger at Obama is scapegoating the President for the unpopularity of the liberal agenda. Suggesting that the failures of the Obama Presidency leave liberal/progressivist with nowhere to hide.
Looking at the surprise Republican victory in NY’s 9th district as an expression of middle class anxiety, a win in special election in a NY House seat the Democrats have held for about a century. This and a big defeat in a Nevada special election get Democrats worried.
Suggesting the Obama Administration is in serious political trouble. Poll suggests President Obama is losing support among black voters:
Interesting point on black Americans. 98% of 14% of the 2008 electorate = 13.72%. 90% of 12% of the electorate = 10.8%. That's 3% right there.
A new book suggests that women in the Obama Administration have faced difficult working conditions.
Being disappointed in Obama:
The president believes the press corps imposes a false equivalency on American politics. We assign equal blame to both parties for the dysfunctional politics when in reality the Republicans are more rigid and extreme. There’s a lot of truth to that, but at least Republicans respect Americans enough to tell us what they really think. The White House gives moderates little morsels of hope, and then rips them from our mouths. To be an Obama admirer is to toggle from being uplifted to feeling used.
Seeing a more ideological Obama. The Obama Justice Department is much more ideological in its hirings than the Dubya Justice Department was.
Polls find that Americans have seriously negative views of the US federal government: a tendency what set in during Dubya’s second term but have accelerated since.
Suggesting ways in which Canada can be a useful example to the US.
Full text of a recent Sarah Palin speech: the woman direct, so to speak.
Violent crime in the US falls for the fourth consecutive year. About the US criminal justice system:
The favorite culprits for high black prison rates include a biased legal system, draconian drug enforcement, and even prison itself. None of these explanations stands up to scrutiny. The black incarceration rate is overwhelmingly a function of black crime. Insisting otherwise only worsens black alienation and further defers a real solution to the black crime problem. …
It takes shameless sleight of hand to turn an effort to protect blacks into a conspiracy against them. …
But if business owners think twice about certain communities, it’s because they fear crime, not a high concentration of ex-convicts per se. It’s unlikely that prospective employers even know the population of ex-cons in a neighborhood; what they are aware of is its crime rates.
About the work of a criminologist who advocated more cops, more prosecutors, more jury trials and less use of prison.
It is illegal for citizens to lie to officials (the reverse is not true).Patriot Act warrants are mainly used for policing drug traffic. A Mexican drug cartel defendant’s innovative legal defence.
A journalist turned academic reviews his interactions with Dubya over 25 years:
“I have told various George W. haters that they had best not underestimate the man,” I wrote, “that he’s smart, thoughtful in a brawny kind of way and, most of all, a good and decent man. … What I’ve never mentioned is that I didn’t vote for George W. I disagree with him on the Supreme Court, environment, abortion, the death penalty and affirmative action. So I voted against this good and decent man. It pained me to do it. … It baffles me that grown people must convince themselves that those with whom they disagree are stupid or malevolent.”
Poverty in the US was declining steadily, until the US government “declared war” on it. Except poverty is counted in a very weird way:
How on earth can the US be spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on beating poverty without actually beating poverty? Simple, we spend the money but don’t measure how much poverty we’ve beaten by spending it.
An essay published early in the Obama Adminstration comparing him to President Herbert Hoover: it now look prescient. A savage analysis of Obama’s performance in government with a big sideswipe at the Republicans. A somewhat resonate analysis savaging the Republicans with a big sideswipe at the Democrats. Polls suggested voters are unimpressed with the current policy proposals of its political class.
The Obama Administration economic team has not worked very harmoniously, apparently. Suggesting that left anger at Obama is scapegoating the President for the unpopularity of the liberal agenda. Suggesting that the failures of the Obama Presidency leave liberal/progressivist with nowhere to hide.
Looking at the surprise Republican victory in NY’s 9th district as an expression of middle class anxiety, a win in special election in a NY House seat the Democrats have held for about a century. This and a big defeat in a Nevada special election get Democrats worried.
Suggesting the Obama Administration is in serious political trouble. Poll suggests President Obama is losing support among black voters:
Interesting point on black Americans. 98% of 14% of the 2008 electorate = 13.72%. 90% of 12% of the electorate = 10.8%. That's 3% right there.
A new book suggests that women in the Obama Administration have faced difficult working conditions.
Being disappointed in Obama:
The president believes the press corps imposes a false equivalency on American politics. We assign equal blame to both parties for the dysfunctional politics when in reality the Republicans are more rigid and extreme. There’s a lot of truth to that, but at least Republicans respect Americans enough to tell us what they really think. The White House gives moderates little morsels of hope, and then rips them from our mouths. To be an Obama admirer is to toggle from being uplifted to feeling used.
Seeing a more ideological Obama. The Obama Justice Department is much more ideological in its hirings than the Dubya Justice Department was.