It’s marking up several space bills today. You can watch the webcast, if you have the stomach for the inevitable bipartisan stupidity. On Twitter, follow @jeff_foust and/or @SpcPlcyOnline.
Category Archives: Media Criticism
The White Man Reading List
So, I saw this tweet:
"If you are a white man and think you do not own these books, try looking under your bed, they're probably there." http://t.co/cLnPBhUKES
— Mallory Ortberg (@mallelis) May 12, 2015
I decided to see how accurate it was.
It was sort of a fail, at least for me. I own less than 25% of those books, and have read fewer than a third. Many of them I read as a kid, when my parents had copies.
Abortion
What gives Congress the right to regulate it?
Nothing in the Constitution.
Note that (as with Roe v. Wade), one’s position on abortion is, or at least should be, irrelevant to whether Congress (or SCOTUS) has the power to declare it either legal or illegal. It’s about process, not outcome. But too many from both sides of the aisle (as we saw with ObamaCare) don’t give a damn about process if they get the outcome they want.
Donald Trump
Could he be this election cycle’s Ross Perot?
Just what we need.
Richard Dreyfuss
Has he finally been mugged by reality?
Dreyfuss, who in 2006 called for the impeachment of then-President George W. Bush, has long been a critic of special interest money in politics; in 2011, during an appearance at the National Press Club, he called for a constitutional amendment “prohibiting money, politics and television.” He also started The Dreyfuss Initiative in support of teaching civics in schools.
Well, the latest piece is at least consistent with that. And at least he recognizes that “getting money out of politics” would require a Constitutional amendment. But he doesn’t seem to recognize that the best way to get money out of politics, at least federal politics, would be to remove the incentive, by limiting the power of the federal government to what the Founders intended, particularly restoring the 9th and 10th Amendments.
[Late Tuesday-morning update]
Given the turn the comments have taken, this seems relevant: Government corruption, from the IRS to the DOJ.
[Bumped]
How “Liberals” Have Ruined College
An excerpt from @KirstenPowers new book.
As I noted to her on Twitter this morning, they’re not “liberals.” They’re leftists. I’m a liberal.
Conservative Voters
…give pollsters the politically correct answer. Then they vote.
This could be a big problem for the media/Dems next November. There is nothing about polling in the Constitution, and too often, they’ve been used as political weapons. Here’s hoping they finally start backfiring on the Left, as they just did in Britain.
The Latest Religious Attack
An atheist blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh.
Anyone who is not a Muslim (and many who are the wrong kind of Muslims) is a target.
[Update a few minutes later]
Speech doesn’t justify killing people. Killing people justifies killing people, though.
Unfortunately, the FBI has an “interesting” response to threats against Pam Geller:
Pamela Geller told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that neither the Federal Bureau of Investigations or the Department of Homeland Security have yet to respond to her requests, now that she’s officially a target of the Islamic State.
This is an excellent opportunity to flush out the enemy. But this administration can’t admit that we have any enemies, other than domestic ones who want to reduce the size of government.
The California Water Problem
It would be a non-problem, if we weren’t being completely economically irrational about it. But hey, it’s California. We’re economically irrational about energy and transit, too.
Fantasy As A Basis For Policy
It’s particularly sad when this sort of insanity comes from the judicial branch. It is not “child abuse” to leave a kid in a car for ten minutes.