COMMENTARY AND OP-EDS
Sound Off on the Immigration Reform Deal
Wall Street, or at least the Wall Street Journal, seems quite satisfied with the immigration deal brokered late last week between the White House and the Senate. Said the opinion editors of the esteemed business journal, it "looks like the best chance in years to balance border security with human [...]
Will DC Appeal Parker Case to the Supreme Court?
I am beginning to think it is quite possible that DC will not appeal the ruling of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in the Parker case. That historic ruling concluded that the Second Amendment really does protect an individual's right to keep and bear arms and struck down the [...]
Ed Meese on Immigration Reform
The Hon. Ed Meese, ACRU Policy Board Member and former Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan, has co-authored an important paper with Dr. Matthew Spalding of the Heritage Foundation concerning immigration reform.The Backgrounder paper is titled "Where We Stand: Essential Requirements for Immigration Reform." At a time when the Congress [...]
Farmers Branch Ordinance Gets Another Poll
Yesterday, I had the privilege of discussing the Farmers Branch ordinance with Terry Lowry on his Houston radio show, "What's Up." There is more news today.There appears on the MSNBC website a story about the reaction to Farmers Branch. As many readers will recall, the ordinance, which requires landlords to [...]
Assassinating the Dead
The Rev. Jerry Falwell's body had not yet reached room temperature when the vile began to spew forth from his enemies' mouths and finger tips. Just three hours after his death was announced, Christopher Hitchens, the atheistic columnist and author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, bared [...]
Disrespect for Law Doesn't Always Stop Where You Think It Will
A Reuters article published yesterday ("Workers sue U.S. factory after immigration raid") reports that several hundred illegal immigrant workers at a plant south of Boston have sued the company for cheating them on their wages. The article portrays the illegal immigrants as victims -- of the government's raid, and of [...]
Local Front in Battle to Restore Rule of Law for Immigration Receives Bipartisan Boost
Who says standing against illegal immigration and the consequences thereof is a political loser?The ACRU has been fighting in support of the mayor of Hazelton, PA and his effort to crack down on landlords and employers who create the demand for and perpetuate the problem of illegal immigration, and the [...]
Europe's View
We frequently hear from those skeptical of America's right to act with moral confidence that our "arrogance" has brought us low in the opinion of our "former" allies in Western Europe. In support of this view, they typically cite public opinion polls. As usual, actual polls -- like, for example, [...]
The ACLU Takes on James Madison and the Founders on School Prayer
When James Madison penned the Bill of Rights in 1789, surely the idea of blocking local school children in Monroe, LA in 2007 from solemnizing their graduation ceremony with prayer was his intent, right? After all, he objected to official prayers, Thanksgiving proclamations to God, congressional chaplains, and worship meetings [...]
Let the People Decide, as Long as They Wear Black Robes
John Armor notes that a pro-illegal immigrant group which opposed the Hazelton-style ordinance adopted in Texas (by a vote of better than two-to-one) called itself, "Let the People Decide." Not to miss a beat, this same group is now going to court, presumably under the motto, "Let the Judges Undecide." [...]
'Let the People Decide Illegal Immigration!' (Or Maybe Not)
One of the slogans of the opponents of the Farmers Branch immigration ordinances, was "Let the people vote." (See "Anti-Illegal-Immigrant Law OK'd in Texas.") Now, the people HAVE voted, 68-32, to approve the ordinances designed to discourage illegal immigrants in their town. So, the opponents are going to court to [...]
Hate Crimes: 'Solving' a Non-Existent Problem
The House of Representatives has just passed a federal bill on "hate crimes," which seems headed for a White House veto, if it manages to pass the Senate. This has heightened attention to the half of the several states which also have "hate crime" laws.There are only two things wrong [...]
A Study of Neighbors: Is It Safer to Live Where Handguns are Banned or Allowed?
Building on my last post ("Harvard Study: Gun Control Is Counterproductive") - I thought it would be instructive to look at one particular table from the aforementioned study published in Spring 2007 in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Volume 30, Number 2:The table above is taken from [...]
Harvard Study: Gun Control Is Counterproductive
I've just learned that Washington, D.C.'s petition for a rehearing of the Parker case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit was denied today. This is good news. Readers will recall in this case that the D.C. Circuit overturned the decades-long ban on gun ownership in the [...]
ACLU Engaging in 'Shakedown' Project
AP: ACLU Engaging in 'Shakedown' ProjectOn 5 May, 2007, the Associated Press ran a story entitled "Local Immigration Laws Bring High Costs." It described a nationwide shakedown project by the ACLU. Only the AP missed the larger story.The story as written, said, "Cities across the U.S. are spending hundreds of [...]
Re: Gun Rights, Friends Are Found In Unlikely Places
In today's America, the United States Constitution is too often treated like the Queen of England - a powerless and non-binding relic of an earlier age. And just as Queen Elizabeth is in the States this week leading up to the 400th anniversary celebration of the settlement of Jamestown colony, [...]
Equal Justice Under Law?
The motto "Equal Justice Under Law" is inscribed above the grand entrance to the Supreme Court. Presumably these words are intended to describe what goes on inside. If the hate crimes bill adopted by the House yesterday becomes law, however, something very different will be going on.Few people doubt that [...]
To Raise the Edifice
The New York Times just reported on the find of a previously unknown letter from George Washington in May, 1787, to Jacob Morris. It was contained in a scrapbook gathered by a 10-year-old girl in 1826, and was found in a box in a mansion her descendants gave this year [...]
CCD: "Right To Refuse"
The California Catholic Daily features an article discussing the effort of the American Civil Rights Union and others to protect a private doctor's right to refuse to administer medical procedures that violates her religious convictions.As described in the article, "Right to Refuse", a California doctor at a fertility clinic is [...]
Rallies for Illegal Immigration: The Big Flop on May 1
Yesterday, May 1, was supposed to be a banner day for rallying support for "immigration reform." ("Immigration reform," incidentally, is one of those phrases that belongs in the Dictionary for the Politically Incorrect, since its actual meaning is concealed behind its lofty appeal for "reform." Its actual meaning is: changing [...]