Michele Bachmann says she hopes that the newly formed Tea Party Caucus will provide a voice in congress for “real housewives, real farmers, real businessmen, real plumbers.” (Source.) I’m wondering how “real” farmers, businessmen, and plumbers differ from the rest …
I sometimes get tense with cases in which statutory rape laws are used in prosecuting one teenager for sex with another. I think that’s wrong. But there’s a very good reason for statutory rape laws, which is an adult preying on a child, and that’s what these laws were written for. In the case of…
I notice my wastebasket filling up with political literature as the season gets into full swing. Currently we’re approaching primary season, and because I’m registered as an independent, I don’t get much during the primaries. My wife is registered with one of the parties (though I’ll note that her voting habits are as independent as…
Back when my company, Energion Publications, was preparing to release Preserving Democracy in hardcover, I wrote a post, On Publishing a Conservative Book. Those who read this blog, for example, the tag line in the header, will realize that I do not call myself conservative. Which leads me to a digression about labels. In Preserving…
Allan Bevere started some discussion with his post, It’s Fiscal “Cancer” but What Sage Is It?. One interesting thing I notice about discussions of reducing the deficit is that we tend to have certain spending programs that must not be reduced, and those differ depending on our other political positions. This is not surprising, of…
Does that sound too alarmist? I confess I’m always trying to find ways to write headlines that attract attention and I’m not very good at it. But I’m not sure that’s too alarmist for what’s going on in Arizona right now. I spent some time in Texas when I was in the Air Force, and…
You can find the full story in the Florida Times-Union. I am a supporter of merit pay, but in this case merit pay was tied to test results, which makes me much less happy. Even though I think pay should be based on merit everywhere, one must measure the merit in some realistic manner. I…
I wrote about this before, and commented that it seemed to accomplish nothing–nothing, that is, except to possibly encourage some school boards to tangle with the federal courts. That version, however, has been replaced in committee. I’m going to do something I don’t usually do, and put in a “tear line” so this won’t get…
SJR 2550 was passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee today. It would remove the provision that prohibits state money being spent “directly or indirectly to aid any church, sect or religious denomination.” It would also prohibit discriminating against someone who wanted to spend state program money they receive at a religious institution, such as…
I’ve been very favorably impressed with the work of the American Independent News Network, of which the Michigan Messenger is a part. They seem to be about going out and researching and solid information gathering. As I’ve written many times, I’m less concerned about balance–an ephemeral concept in my opinion–than about thoroughness. If you gather…
