COMMENTARY AND OP-EDS
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 [...]
A "Sanctuary City" Has Second Thoughts
The Virginian-Pilot reports today that Virginia Beach, which had instructed its police that, except in limited circumstances, they were not to inquire into the immigration status of persons they arrested, has now changed course. The Pilot article begins as follows:VIRGINIA BEACH - "City police will begin asking all people from [...]
Constitutionality Is Just For Those Law School Eggheads
An AP story posted on MSNBC late this afternoon carries the following exchange -- of sorts -- between the Majority Leader of the Senate and the President concerning the Iraq war funding bill that the President vetoed yesterday:"[Mr. Bush called] the original bill unconstitutional for directing war operations 'in a [...]
We Missed "Law Day"!
We admit it: The ACRU forgot that yesterday was "Law Day."And my bet is that you did, too. But special thanks and kudos go out to Rush Limbaugh, who just brought this oversight to our attention, as well as that of millions of his listeners.In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower [...]
Vicious Murderer to Have Another Hearing
Smith v. Texas, No. 05-11304, was decided by the US Supreme Court on 25 April, in a sharply divided 5-4 decision. The convicted murderer was arguing against his death penalty sentence in accord with the theories of the ACLU's Death Penalty Project.As usually happens in such cases, the Justices supporting [...]
Be Compassionate: Let the ACLU Win One
My colleague John Armor notes below ("ACLU Gets It Dead Wrong in Indiana") that our friends at the American Civil Liberties Union have sued Indiana, alleging that the state's failure to charge a fee for a license plate bearing the national motto, "In God We Trust" constitutes discrimination, since the [...]
We're Not Asking That Much
A headline among today's MSNBC news entries reads, "Immigrant rights groups rally across the U.S." The story beneath the headline notes that some of the participants in the rallies will decline to wear T-shirts they donned last year, which bore the message, "We're illegal. So what?" Cooler heads have apparently [...]
Sanity at Utah: Students, Faculty May Defend Themselves
Bill Otis, my colleague here at the ACRU blog and the Director of Legal Affairs for the American Civil Rights Union, has written a number of good posts on the subject of gun control in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech, including:"A Tale of Two Cities""Don't Mess with [...]
A Dictionary for the Politically Incorrect (cont'd)
There's been a terrific response to the Dictionary for the Politically Incorrect. Many of the comments show that our readers have had considerable experience with the pseudo-language of liberalism. I say "pseudo-language" advisedly, because that's exactly what it is: The vocabulary of liberalism increasingly consists of a bunch of words [...]
Property Taxes: The Road to American Serfdom
It is often said, and correctly so, that the hallmark of the American dream is homeownership. This was intentional at our country’s Founding. James Otis famously said, “A man’s house is his castle,” pointing to the essential link between homeownership and liberty (See “Against Writs of Assistance”, 1761). And James [...]
VT Massacre Will Spawn Liability Cases
Students injured at Virginia Tech, and families of students killed, will file liability suits. They will be filed against the murderer and various other defendants. The most important defendant will be the University itself. And other universities across the country should be watching, to govern themselves accordingly.There were warning signs [...]
McCain-Feingold In Trouble?
Paul Mirengoff reports on Power Line about signs of hope that a key section of the McCain-Feingold law -- the blackout provision -- could be in trouble at the Supreme Court:"Today,...the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Wisconsin Right to Life case, which arises from the Bipartisan Campaign Reform [...]
A Dictionary to Educate the Politically Incorrect
Eric Langborgh provides an invaluable service in setting out the history of political correctness and explaining its potential to poison the freedoms traditionally enjoyed in this country, starting but unfortunately not ending with freedom of speech. In the paper he links by Bill Lind, two points immediately struck home with [...]
The Origins and History of Political Correctness
Ever wonder what was the impetus for the rampant political correctness that afflicts our land? Whence comes the movement that has subverted the Constitution and America's traditional values and understanding of freedom in favor of "multiculturalism," "diversity," and "tolerance"?After all, these are important questions. The phrase, "know thy enemy," comes [...]
Reagan on Gun Control and Self-Defense
My thanks to blogger Mark Alexander and his Patriot Post for digging up this great quote from our last truly great president, Ronald Reagan, concerning gun control:"You won't get gun control by disarming law-abiding citizens. There's only one way to get real gun control: Disarm the thugs and the criminals, [...]
The Tillman Hearing: You Guys Are Heroes and Everything, But Please Surrender by Next Year.
In the name of the robust debate the ACRU hopes to foster, I want to respond to a comment posted by "Repack Rider," who disagrees with my assessment of the Tillman hearing. His remarks are set out in full in the comment section to my original Tillman blog.My view of [...]
Walter Williams: 'How Reasserting Parental Rights May Prevent Future Campus Massacres'
ACRU Policy Board member, Walter Williams, writes that there is a critical element that has so far been ignored concerning the mass murder at Viriginia Tech (aka Virigina Polytechnic Institute) last week :The 32 murders at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) shocked the nation, but what are some of the steps [...]
Zero Cheers for Congress
My colleague John Armor points out that the often clueless Ninth Circuit deserves one cheer for its ruling in support of Arizona's honest voter law. John may be too generous to note that this is one cheer more than Congress deserves for its "work," some of which is, unfortunately, on [...]