Political Science

I usually try to make a few comments about the State of the Union address. This time, I've decided to include the entire text of the speech---even the parts I have nothing say about---so this post is going to be very long. Working from the official Whitehouse transcript: The White House Office of the Press SecretaryFor Immediate ReleaseJanuary 27, 2010 Remarks by the President … [Read more...] about State of the Union – 2010

...is still crazy: Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he's "blacker than Barack Obama" and tells Esquire magazine that he was a real person in a political arena dominated by phonies. Blagojevich, referring to the president as "this guy," says Obama was elected based simply on hope. "What the (expletive)? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter," Blagojevich told … [Read more...] about Illinois’s Crazy Ex-Governor…

Well, now that the Nobel Committee has decided that the major qualification of a peace prized laureate is being Not George Bush, I think there's a few folks worth considering, beyond those usually being mentioned. Hell, restricted this just to folks who, like Nobel Laureate Jimmy Carter, have been President, we've got quite a few choices.  I suggest the following … [Read more...] about Better Candidates Than Obama

I'm thinking, more and more, that the whole Henry Louis Gates thing is a racial Rorschach test.  It's a misshapen blob of an incident that, regardless of what can and should be learned from it, everybody with a strong opinion about The Important Issue of Race in America learns, once again, what they already believed.I don't think that's necessary to explain what … [Read more...] about Just to show that it’s possible . . .

Shortly before President Obama took office, I posted a freedom scorecard by which I could judge his presidency. Although it was hardly a formal assessment document, it's a nice framework for a post reviewing Obama's first 100 days. I started with a list of some discrete things Obama could do to make us more free: Stop the federal government from raiding medical marijuana users … [Read more...] about Obama at 100 Days: Meet the New Boss…