Emporer Act
For the current administration Kim has found a really nifty feature of the Patriot Act. The rest of us should consider it a bug and squash it.
UPDATE: If you have trouble with the link go here and page down to 5/25.
Monthly Archives: May 2003
Ashcroft and Federalism
Radley Balko points out that for John Ashcroft federalism can have many meanings (kind of a Straussian thing):
Why was Senator Ashcroft so sympathetic to the �states� rights� cause when it came to issues like the Confederacy and segregation, but when it comes whether or not a terminal cancer patient ought to be able to ease his pain with a marijuana cigarette, Attorney General Ashcroft can�t let the states govern themselves?
The entire piece is a good read. Did Foxnews.com really bounce this because of bad timing or because in the world of Fox it actually might border on being unpatriotic?
Republican Policy Makers
Dwight Meredith argues that the republicans rely on Ivory Tower dreamers
The next time you hear someone complain that government programs do not work, that some air head Ivory Tower resident seems to be making policy, that we need politicians with practical experience with budgeting and making things work, remind them to vote for Democrats.
Read his discussion and examples covering fiscal, social and military policy.
Truth in Advertising
From Cursor.org on 5/26 a pointer to this New Republic partial accounting of truth in advertising by Peter Beinart:
For conservatives, it seems, this administration’s decency and honesty are ideological axioms that require no empirical defense. President Bush is not President Clinton. That’s all they need to know.
Well, he is the Commander in Chief and to defend him would imply that he might not be infallible and to even hint at this would be unpatriotic.
PS: Too bad there are not links to each of Cursor’s snippets.
Chasing Grover
Dave Johnson, Seeing the Forest, has a solution to counter the right’s massive propaganda machine: stop funding specific programs. Instead:
Moderate and progressive philanthropists and foundations must step up to the plate and begin providing general operating funding to advocacy organizations…
He has a point, but he probably needs to come up with a way to double the effort given the 30 year head start that must be overcome. And, while I agree with Dave that it is not the politicians who will change public opinion they can, indeed, influence the philanthropists to make sound long term investments.