Archive | August, 2004

With the Olympics still going on, it would make sense to keep the Olympic theme going with today’s Sunday Song Lyric. Believe it or not, there aren’t many Olympic-themed – or even sports themed – songs wit h lyrics worth posting. (I know, I know, that’s never stopped me before . . . ). In […]

Check out this pretty cool blog post from a law firm associate blogging as The Uncivil Litigator about how he sued the INS to keep his wife in the United States– and won. The unnamed district judge in the story is a recent Bush appointee who comes off as quite a hero. Hat tip: Stuart […]

In today’s Washington Post, retired Foreign Service Officer Kenneth M. Quinn offers a theory that the attacks of 9/11/01 might originally have been planned for 9/18/01 to coincide with the Jewish holidays. It’s just speculation, but it’s pretty interesting speculation.

Given the primacy of Webb-Kenyon to the understanding of the 21st Amendment, I thought it might be useful to post some additional excerpts from the legislative history of Webb-kenyon to illustrate the point that the purpose of that Act was to enable the states to enforce their police powers against interstate liquor, not to given […]

The enactment of the Webb-Kenyon Act is consistent with the history that came before it in reconciling the state¡¦s police power over local affairs with the federal government¡¦s power over interstate commerce. As noted in Part 5, under the traditional balance of power, the states had essentially plenary power to regulate the manufacture and consumption […]

Law Review editors can be on the look-out for my new article, a comprehensive empirical analysis of the causes of the consumer bankruptcy crisis over the past twenty-five years. I have not yet posted the paper as a working paper (I’ll let you know when the working paper is available), but here’s the abstract for […]

My friend Glen Whitman (Agoraphilia) writes this, apropos the debate: I was amused by the following juxtaposition: (1) Within 5 minutes of the debate’s opening, they were openly discussing the need to expand the assault weapons ban to include some handguns, and you had to argue against full-on gun prohibition. (2) Toward the end of […]

A few links you might find interesting: Copies of original historical sources on the Second Amendment. My testimony on the Second Amendment. A list of people and organizations who have called for broad bans on guns, or on handguns. This is the reason I’m skeptical of claims that “no one is seriously proposing to ban […]

The paper I’ve been writing this summer instead of blogging (where are my priorities?) is now online (DOC, PDF.) [UPDATE: Links fixed.] “Beyond Publius: Montesquieu, liberal republicanism, and the small-republic thesis” Abstract: The idea that republicanism as a form of government was only suitable for small states, given its definitive 18th-century formulation by Montesquieu, rested […]

I should be on Air America at 5:15 Pacific time today, debating gun control with Bill Scher (Liberal Oasis).

te-jik points to this New York Times Magazine interview with a Yale economics professor (thanks to Clayton Cramer for the pointer): [Q:] As a professor of economics at Yale, you are known for creating an econometric equation that has predicted presidential elections with relative accuracy. [A:] My latest prediction shows that Bush will receive 57.5 […]

Paul Caron (TaxProf) has more on Alan Keyes’ slavery reparations plan, including Keyes’ attempt to reconcile his plan with his harsh condemnation of reparations proposals in 2002. I’m not persuaded by Keyes’ answer, which seems to distinguish the waiving of taxes from cash grants: Not at all. I have taken a strong position against schemes […]

Ted Balaker (Out of Control, Reason Public Policy Institute) writes: Insurance companies are beginning to monitor customers’ driving in exchange for lower rates: * Progressive will announce its TripSense trial in Minnesota on Aug. 24. Customers who sign up will get a device the size of a Tic Tac box to plug into their cars. […]

calling for restrictions on political speech? Aaron Swartz points to this press conference: Q There’s a new ad by MoveOn.org that talks about — that criticizes Bush’s record in the National Guard. What’s your response to that, and what do you say to Harkin, who called Cheney a coward for not serving? MR. McCLELLAN: We […]

The 2005 U.S. News College Rankings are out. Brian Leiter’s assessment: The latest US News Fraud on the Public.