A Plague On Both Your Houses

Nell Scovell on David Letterman | vanityfair.com

2009-10-28T15:01:21-07:00

Ms. Scovell is of course right to point out both the hostile work environment and the discrimination against female writers. The fact that people like Barbara Walters leap to the defense of the show is disturbing but not surprising. Hollywood is leaping to the defense of a man who sodomized a 13 year old girl, why would Letterman’s friends not defend his show against charges of sexual harassment? Nor is...

Why Are We in the Business of Mercenaries?

2009-09-01T09:52:12-07:00

Study: More Contractors In Afghanistan Than Military Personnel -- Highest Ratio Ever | TPMMuckraker. It used to be that hiring Mercenaries was distasteful. We frowned upon it. Now it turns out we have a mostly Mercenary force in Afghanistan. This isn’t cheaper. It isn’t more cost efficient. It just means different budgets can be used. These people aren’t better trained or more effective. They are just arrogant and outside of...

Ted Kennedy

2009-08-26T16:54:01-07:00

Ted Kennedy was a lot of things. He was human, he had his failings like all humans have. Like a long line of old style Irish politicians from Massachusetts those failings and that humanity defined him and made him truly superb at the business of legislation and politics. He treated others like human beings and in that he was able to deal with them, listen to them and concede to...

Barack Obama Needs to Step Up.

2009-08-19T16:16:13-07:00

President Obama needs to be a leader, not a rationalizing academic. We need it now. And that doesn’t mean just slamming Health Care reform through the legislature without a care for the Republican side. That means sitting down with both sides, playing James Madison, and hammering out a compromise that, although it may not be exciting to either side, is acceptable to both. Many Democrats, the administration included will ask...

Squeaky Fromme Should not be Released

2009-08-14T09:19:00-07:00

Manson follower 'Squeaky' Fromme out of prison - washingtonpost.com The consequence for attempting to assasinate the President is life in Prison, pure and simple. You do the crime, you do the time. It is not an outrageous punishment, there is no sense of injustice or outrage had she remained behind bars. So why release her? Our justice system may be a mess and overtaxed, but this makes no sense.

Health-Care Reform

2009-08-13T16:52:26-07:00

The problem with the far right and the far left in the debate over health care and other debates is that they are like the Catholic Church and the Church of England. One is infallible and the other is never wrong.

Child Pornography - A Reluctant Rebellion

2009-08-07T17:15:21-07:00

A Reluctant Rebellion A Reluctant Rebellion | ABA Journal - Law News Now. “Laws are tough on child pornography. But some federal judges think the time isn’t fitting the crime.” This is an excellent, comprehensive and well thought out Article but it misses some key points. Those who argue against the long sentences give versions of the same story: “The problem with the guidelines, according to Stabenow [A Study, “Deconstructing...

The Death of Privacy

2009-07-06T14:31:01-07:00

Science fiction with a smile | Salon Arts & Entertainment. Heather Havrilesky may be writing in this article about a show on the Science Fiction Channel, but her opening paragraphs speak to the idea that privacy is dead, a current cultural phenomenon (accepted as gospel) that is, I believe, really really bad. “Mystery is a dying art. Holding on to your secrets during the digital revolution feels as antiquated and...

Why do I find myself agreeing with Orrin Hatch and Ann Coulter?

2009-05-04T11:36:47-07:00

I nearly fainted the other day while watching Ann Coulter on Larry King (Joy Behar subbing in). I found myself actually agreeing with Coulter. I think she is one of the most despicable human beings on the planet. She is intellectually dishonest. She is mean. Nothing matters to her but herself, her agenda, and generating money and publicity for herself and her agenda. Reason and evidence mean nothing to her....

Change We Can Believe In

2008-11-11T12:09:39-08:00

Obama has choices. He can choose to ignore the pressure from the left, from the Old Line of the Democratic party, and choose change or he can be a Democrat first and for bi-partisanship, creativity and the nation second. He would be a fool to choose the latter. From a pure strategic standpoint (forget the merits) doing what the base of the democratic party wants initially (later will be different)...