I love Lewis Black and hate Rick Perry,
I love Lewis Black and hate Rick Perry, so this is perfect. http://ow.ly/n67AL »
FlammBlog
“It’s time to question laws that sense”
“It’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflicts in our neighborhoods.” Attorney General Eric Holder »
Palatine Township Rejects Voter Initiative
The Palatine Township Board has refused to allow voters at the April 16th annual meeting to consider asking the Board to study the benefits of eliminating the township’s Road District. In a March 19th email, Township Clerk Lisa Moran stated that the petition by 30 voters to include the item on the annual meeting agenda was denied based on advice from the Board’s attorney. “The e... »
The filibuster fallacy
George Will’s defense of the filibuster relies on his contention that “98 percent of good governance consists of stopping bad — meaning most — ideas.” But the filibuster doesn’t only stop bad ideas. It stopped the Senate from passing laws against lynching and protecting black citizens’ right to vote for decades after most Americans supported those laws. Th... »
We will solve our gun violence problem
Conventional wisdom is that the United States can never solve its problem of gun violence. But it was conventional wisdom that we’d never end slavery, allow women to vote, enact civil rights laws, reduce pollution, prohibit smoking in public, elect a Catholic or black President, or allow gay people to marry. Fundamental change often takes generations. We must do our part to advance the discu... »
A difference in values
The Daily Herald published my letter to the editor about the difference between President Obama’s proposal to narrow the budget deficit and the Republicans’ plan. Some of the comments posted on the Herald’s website are from the usual right-wing cranks, but there are some pretty intelligent ones, too. Feel free to add yours. http://ow.ly/g7VSU »
A decisive victory
President Obama won reelection with 62% of the votes in the Electoral College. He won 26 states and the District of Columbia, representing 64% of the population. He won the popular vote by more than 4 million votes. He won more popular votes than any Democratic candidate in history (other than Obama in 2008). That’s a decisive victory. So if anyone tells you the election was “close,... »
We must make government work
“This is not the time to give up on Washington. Now is the time to prove that our political processes work.” Rachel Maddow. She’s right. Republicans want us to give in to cynicism, to believe there’s no hope, and to accept their dismal view of the future. Remember the scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader urges Luke to give in to his hatred and to come over too the da... »
I was (mostly) right about Obamacare
The Supreme Court issued its decision this morning upholding almost all of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare). I haven’t read it all, but I’ve read major parts of it. Contrary to my prediction (see my blog post of June 26th), they upheld the individual mandate as a tax and not as regulation of interstate commerce, and Justice Kennedy joined the dissenters and not the maj... »
Why I think the Supreme Court will uphold Obamacare
The Supreme Court will decide Thursday whether the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. Conventional wisdom is that the Court will declare the ACA (or at least the individual mandate) unconstitutional. Here’s why I think they’re wrong. Since the 1930s, the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress can exercise control over anything that affects interstate commerce. Health care affects in... »
