Originally published in The Oregonian, April 18, 2013 – With suspicion all around, it’s a frustrating war over gun control – The fight over gun control, across the country and here in Oregon, is both heart-rending and frustrating. The personal tragedies that cause family and friends of victims to rally for tougher gun laws are [...]
William McGurn writes in today’s Wall Street Journal: “What a curiosity our new political correctness has made of our public spaces. Let your sex tape loose on the Internet and be rewarded with your own TV show; photograph a crucifix in a jar of urine and our museums will vie to exhibit it; occupy someone [...]
Or you might have the government after you. George Will, writing in the Washington Post, reports on a North Carolina case in which the government has challenged the right of an individual to offer free dietary advice via an internet blog. The Institute for Justice has come to the defense of the blogger claiming a [...]
Originally published at The Good Men Project – September 21, 2012 — When the Good Feed editors asked me to offer a perspective on the secret video of Mitt Romney talking about the 47% of the electorate who will not vote for him, I was heavily obligated, and could not immediately respond. Now, a few [...]
Writing at National Review Online, Jonah Goldberg explains the difference between yelling fire in a crowded theater and making fun of the Prophet Mohammed. The problem, he says, is not the First Amendment.
Originally published at The Daily Caller, September 17, 2012 – The Constitution is down, but not out — Title 36, Chapter 1, Section 106 of the United States Code declares that September 17 is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. It’s right in there with Carl Garner Federal Lands Cleanup Day (§104 — just a week [...]
Originally published in The Daily Caller — August 10, 2012 – Chick-fil-A fight highlights confusion about First Amendment — With partisanship raging on every front, USA Today’s biweekly “common ground” feature seeks to bridge “the partisan divide in Washington.” This week liberal Bob Beckel and conservative Cal Thomas sought common ground on the subject of [...]
Writing in the Weekly Standard, Thomas Farr reports on the decline of religious freedom across the globe. Even democratic states, he reports, are reducing protections for religious minorities, including, perhaps, the United States under the Obama administration. Read Starr’s story here.
In today’s Oregonian, Charles Krauthammer says there are two arguments for gay marriage — empathy and rights. President Obama started with the case from empathy and moved quickly to rights. But he also says it should be up to the states. Krauthammer argues that he can’t have it both ways. If it’s a right, it [...]
For the last two decades while politicians have been multiplying regulations at an astonishing rate and thereby compromising economic liberties, a small public interest law firm in Washington, D.C., has been quietly tugging the courts in a different direction. For an informative and inspiring interview with the leader of this effort, see today’s “Weekend Interview” [...]
There is much debate and litigation over the federal government’s expanding role in health care and health insurance. Meanwhile, American liberties are being quietly eroded by the steady expansion of federal criminal law — an area traditionally of primary concern to the states. Not only have the number of federal criminal laws grown dramatically in [...]
James Taranto explains in today’s Wall Street Journal how the phone hacking scandal in Britain could lead to more efforts to regulate U.S. political campaigns and the media, particularly those like Fox News who don’t stick to the liberal world view.
