I think that the latest William Bennett kerfuffle is a tempest in a teapot, but his response irritates me a little:
A thought experiment about public policy, on national radio, should not have received the condemnations it has. Anyone paying attention to this debate should be offended by those who have selectively quoted me, distorted my meaning, and taken out of context the dialogue I engaged in this week. Such distortions from ‘leaders’ of organizations and parties is a disgrace not only to the organizations and institutions they serve, but to the First Amendment.
Sorry, but this has nothing to do with the First Amendment. I get just as annoyed when people on the so-called right wrap themselves in the First Amendment as a rhetorical barrier against criticism as I do when people on the left do.
There is nothing in the First Amendment that protects anyone from having their speech criticized. Such criticism is itself protected by the First Amendment. All that the amendment says is that “Congress shall pass no law…” Unless there was a legislative move afoot today to outlaw Bill Bennett from putting his foot in his mouth of which I was previously unaware, I don’t know to what he’s referring here.
We have a new (in more than one sense of the word–it’s depressing when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is younger than me) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
[Update at 12:25 PM EDT]
Whew, that’s a relief. I knew he was born in 1955, but I assumed that it was after I was, since I have a January birthday. But it turns out he’s one day older than me…
Jim Bennett, author of the Anglosphere Challenge (among other things), has started a group blog on issues relating to the Anglosphere, both its past and its future. Among his co-bloggers there is “Lexington Green,” of the Chicago Boyz.
There are several interesting posts up already. In one, he asks who might be the UK’s Lincoln with a long interview with Liam Fox, who he thinks might be a potential candidate for the role. In another, he offers some advice for assimilation in the UK from America’s own history.
Go check it out, and bookmark or blogroll it. I suspect it will have some interesting commentary in future.
Jim Bennett, author of the Anglosphere Challenge (among other things), has started a group blog on issues relating to the Anglosphere, both its past and its future. Among his co-bloggers there is “Lexington Green,” of the Chicago Boyz.
There are several interesting posts up already. In one, he asks who might be the UK’s Lincoln with a long interview with Liam Fox, who he thinks might be a potential candidate for the role. In another, he offers some advice for assimilation in the UK from America’s own history.
Go check it out, and bookmark or blogroll it. I suspect it will have some interesting commentary in future.
Jim Bennett, author of the Anglosphere Challenge (among other things), has started a group blog on issues relating to the Anglosphere, both its past and its future. Among his co-bloggers there is “Lexington Green,” of the Chicago Boyz.
There are several interesting posts up already. In one, he asks who might be the UK’s Lincoln with a long interview with Liam Fox, who he thinks might be a potential candidate for the role. In another, he offers some advice for assimilation in the UK from America’s own history.
Go check it out, and bookmark or blogroll it. I suspect it will have some interesting commentary in future.
Hugh Hewitt has a good idea (not to imply that this isn’t often the case) about federal funds for Louisiana:
Senate Republicans should insist that as part of the package, reforms in the federal Endangered Species Act–similar to this that are poised to pass the House–be included in the appropriation so that the notoriously expense-increasing and private-property-rights destroying ESA not delay or increase the costs of these projects or other Corps projects across the country. A simple tightening of deadlines widely abused by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the Corps “consults” with that agency under the ESA would be a huge step forward.
While they’re at it, the National Environmental Protection Act could use an overhaul as well. These two laws are one of the bigger barriers to private space launch, now that some of the FAA issues have been resolved.
If this Republican spending binge and the hurricanes result in real federal reform, such as this and a line-item veto, they will be shining silver linings in the clouds.
Hugh Hewitt has a good idea (not to imply that this isn’t often the case) about federal funds for Louisiana:
Senate Republicans should insist that as part of the package, reforms in the federal Endangered Species Act–similar to this that are poised to pass the House–be included in the appropriation so that the notoriously expense-increasing and private-property-rights destroying ESA not delay or increase the costs of these projects or other Corps projects across the country. A simple tightening of deadlines widely abused by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the Corps “consults” with that agency under the ESA would be a huge step forward.
While they’re at it, the National Environmental Protection Act could use an overhaul as well. These two laws are one of the bigger barriers to private space launch, now that some of the FAA issues have been resolved.
If this Republican spending binge and the hurricanes result in real federal reform, such as this and a line-item veto, they will be shining silver linings in the clouds.
Hugh Hewitt has a good idea (not to imply that this isn’t often the case) about federal funds for Louisiana:
Senate Republicans should insist that as part of the package, reforms in the federal Endangered Species Act–similar to this that are poised to pass the House–be included in the appropriation so that the notoriously expense-increasing and private-property-rights destroying ESA not delay or increase the costs of these projects or other Corps projects across the country. A simple tightening of deadlines widely abused by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when the Corps “consults” with that agency under the ESA would be a huge step forward.
While they’re at it, the National Environmental Protection Act could use an overhaul as well. These two laws are one of the bigger barriers to private space launch, now that some of the FAA issues have been resolved.
If this Republican spending binge and the hurricanes result in real federal reform, such as this and a line-item veto, they will be shining silver linings in the clouds.
If Ramesh is right, a couple of Republican senators have come up with a way to turn down the political heat on their big-spending party–by sponsoring a line-item veto amendment. The Supreme Court struck down the line-item veto in the 1990s, but this would get around that by making it Constitutional.
They’d better be careful what they wish for, though–given the current mood of the country, it just might pass. Or maybe, in the case of these two particular senators, they actually hope it will. It could be that its time has finally come.
Just in case you harbored any illusions that Ramsey Clark had the slightest remaining shred of sanity, he apparently just called for Bush to be replaced by deposed Haitian president Aristide at today’s anti-America rally in Washington (and yes, I call it that because most of the people there aren’t actually for peace–they’re just on the other side).
For the media to say that this is an Anti-War Rally is a lie. Now they are chanting, “End the Occupation!”…The media should be sued for misrepresentation.