stcynic
Posts by this author
May 12, 2005
As a follow up on the last story, I don't know how I missed this when it happened: the judge in Steven Williams' lawsuit against the Cupertino school district has dismissed 3 of the 4 complaints in the lawsuit.
In a hearing at the U.S. District Court in San Jose March 30, Judge James Ware…
May 12, 2005
The Worldnutdaily is reporting on a potential lawsuit against a school principal who allegedly told a group of students they could not read their bible during recess on the school grounds. The school is in Knox County, Tennessee and the Alliance Defense Fund has sent a letter to the principal…
May 11, 2005
Via Patterico, I found something that tells me I have to eat some crow. I have read in numerous places the story of Patricia Owen casting a dissenting vote in a Texas case involving a minor and abortion and Alberto Gonzalez accusing her of an "unconscionable act of judicial activism" for that…
May 10, 2005
I just got a call from Jim Babka inviting me on his show for a second time this Sunday. The subject will be the 14th amendment and whether or not it intended to incorporate the bill of rights as enforcable against the states. My opponent will be none other than Herb Titus, former dean of the Regent…
May 10, 2005
The Worldnutdaily has a link to an AP article which they announce with the breathless headline ACLU Pushes for Legal Cohabitation - like that's a bad thing. The article concerns a 200 year old North Carolina law against living together, a law which recently cost a sheriff's dispatcher her job and…
May 10, 2005
This story of the Baptist minister in North Carolina throwing out any church member who didn't vote for Bush last year just keeps getting funnier and funnier. The pastor says it was all a misunderstanding, but given the audio of his sermons that have come out, that's an obvious lie. This statement…
May 10, 2005
As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am a passionate advocate for the principles of natural rights as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. But I am also firmly convinced that our nation is far closer to living out those ideals today than at any time in the almost 230 years since that…
May 9, 2005
Joseph Farah is always good for a laugh or two, and this morning's ridiculous screed is no exception. The column is titled Republican Judges Killed Terri, and he points to conservative judges like William Pryor who "ignored the will of the people and the U.S. Congress and the president of the…
May 9, 2005
This post is a continuation of an exchange with Patterico, of Patterico's Pontifications, that began in the comments on another post. Patterico is an assistant district attorney in LA County, so is obviously a worthy adversary and someone whose views, especially where it concerns the law, should be…
May 9, 2005
Christopher Hitchens has an interesting essay in the Wall Street Journal about the danger posed by the theocon takeover of the Republican party. It's not a complete takeover, of course, there are still big splits in the party and other factions that balance them out, but their degree of influence…
May 8, 2005
I've done my fair share of bashing Tom Delay and Bill Frist, but I have to ask: how the hell did Harry Reid get his job and how does he keep it? How on earth does someone get to be the most powerful man in the Senate's Democratic caucus and not learn when to shut his mouth? Following on the heels…
May 8, 2005
This is from an email that Lynn sent to me, that was sent to her by a friend of ours. I'm not going to paste the whole thing, just the last part of it because it really moved me. Lynn's mother died while giving birth to her; I lost my mother 8 years ago (for that incredible story, click here). So…
May 7, 2005
It's only the first week of May, but we may have found our Robert O'Brien Trophy winner already. I present to you the Rev. Chan Chandler of East Waynesville Baptist Church in North Carolina. He has begun to excommunicate anyone in his church who didn't vote for George W. Bush. 9 members, including…
May 7, 2005
Radley Balko saw the Family Research Council's insane statement about the new HPV vaccine too. And he riffed on it pretty hard:
So to prevent theoretical additional occurences of premarital sex, Maher's okay with unnecessarily subjecting young women to fucking cancer? Holy moral rectitude, Bridget…
May 6, 2005
"I didn't go to college, I stayed home and got drunk. I couldn't afford that $10,000 cover charge. For that kind of money there better be a really good band; I want the Beatles reunion for that kind of money."
Larry Reeb
May 6, 2005
George Will has written a column saying many of the things I've long been saying about the tendency of some Christians to strike the martyr pose. I like the way he starts it:
The state of America's political discourse is such that the president has felt it necessary to declare that unbelievers can…
May 5, 2005
Good news from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that is hearing the appeal of the Cobb County evolution disclaimer case. The appeals court has refused to stay Judge Cooper's lower court ruling during the appeals process. Just like in the Terri Schiavo case, one of the key questions the courts…
May 5, 2005
Bill Ware sent me a link to this article about religious right groups opposing vaccinations against sexually transmitted diseases because it might promote sex, and as well all know, sex is evil. Most cases of cervical cancer are caused by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which is sexually transmitted.…
May 5, 2005
I've been doing some research on Janice Rogers Brown and in a speech she gave, she quoted this passage from John McGinnis:
There is simply a mismatch between collectivism on any large and enduring scale and our evolved nature. As Edward O. Wilson, the world's foremost expert on ants, remarked…
May 5, 2005
Timothy Sandefur was kind enough to remind me after my post on Robert Bork about an essay by Harry Jaffa called The False Profits of American Conservatism. Jaffa, a student of the late Leo Strauss, is one of the most prominent conservative intellectuals in the country and his essay highlights the…
May 4, 2005
Ace Pryhill has a great story about Joe Valentine, a young relief pitcher for the Cincinatti Reds, who was raised by two lesbian parents, his biological mother Deb and her lifelong partner Doreen. Doreen was his little league coach and she taught him how to play baseball. Go read it. It's a great…
May 4, 2005
I have been challenged to defend my claim that Robert Bork is "insane". It's not a terribly artful term, I admit, and I meant it figuratively rather than literally. But I will certainly defend the assertion I've defended many times before, which is that Robert Bork's views on constitutional law are…
May 3, 2005
The Gull Lake School Board has essentially decided to brush off a threatened lawsuit from the Thomas More Law Center on behalf of two teachers who say they have a right to teach intelligent design creationism in their science classrooms. Lisa Swem, attorney for the school district, is saying that…
May 3, 2005
You all remember Gerald Allen, I hope. He's the sub-moronic Alabama state legislator who is advocating a bill to ban from any public library or school in Alabama any book written by a gay author or that even mentions homosexuality. He was the one that our old pal Robert O'Brien jumped in to defend…
May 3, 2005
The Cato Institute's budget studies department has released a study that really nails Bush and the Republicans for their big spending ways. Here's the summary:
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after…
May 3, 2005
Jason Kuznicki is asking some tough questions about Randy Barnett's conception of governmental legitimacy and is looking for responses. The question of legitimacy, for those not familiar with the debate, is essentially this: what makes a government legitimate? Is it the consent of the governed?…
May 3, 2005
Here's good law enforcement. A poker club is holding a tournament at a local restaurant in a small town near Colorado Springs. The owner of the restaurant has checked it out and thinks it's all legal (the gambling laws are often quite vague and opinions can differ). The police find out about it,…
May 2, 2005
On ABC's This Week on Sunday, Pat Robertson put on a virtuoso display of irrational claims, hypocritical flip flops and demagoguery worthy of his exalted position as one of the world's foremost leaders of the credulous and stupid. Some of what he said was astonishing even to someone who has…
May 2, 2005
Timothy Sandefur has an op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle today supporting the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown for the Federal Appeals Court. He urges Democrats to end their opposition to her nomination and praises her for taking strong libertarian stands on issues. Much of that praise…
May 2, 2005
My latest exchange with Eric Seymour on the subject of judicial activism has veered off into a discussion of the doctrine of incorporation with a rather irritating anonymous commenter who seems to specialize in logical fallacies. His favorites appear to be the appeal to authority and poisoning the…