Back in April I alluded to the problem created for some of my clients in federal court in years long past by the disparity in sentencing for possession of crack cocaine with intent as compared to possession of powdered cocaine with intent. A defendant convicted of possession of crack cocaine with… Read full post »

I wonder if anyone else noticed the fact that Senator Rand Paul was the only Senator who took a stand for an open and honest debate on The Patriot Act before the vote that renewed some of its most egregious provisions. And to add insult to injury, Harry Reid accused him… Read full post »

I enjoy the Harper's Index page toward the front of every Harper's Magazine. I have subscribed to that rag for years. It is billed as the oldest monthly general interest U.S. magazine still pumping them out.

The Index is simply a terse rendition of numbers. Some of those numbers are… Read full post »

I do not intend any value judgment when I employ the term "assassination." Assassination is a tool, a tactic, like any other. It is a tool that has been applied both to he who was more a saint and to he who was more a sinner. 

Judgment as to the… Read full post »

Henry David Thoreau comes out of the gate like a shot in the opening sentences of On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly

… Read full post »

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious—makes you so sick at heart—that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon… Read full post »

I usually deflect questions about my work in the past in a social setting. Long ago I learned that I am incapable of short answers to these questions. There is no way to make a short answer true. If I launch into a longer explanation, my interlocutor's… Read full post »

I made the run up Interstate 35 by motor vehicle recently--San Antonio, Austin, and on past Waco to Fort Worth. Most of that stretch is heavily developed on both sides of the Interstate. As it so happened, I did much of this drive in the wee hours… Read full post »

In the fall of 1789 there was no bread in the markets of Paris. On 5 October 1789 a remarkable event occurred. Thousands of women marched the eleven miles from Paris to Versailles. They armed themselves along the way. There they, with supporters who joined them, kidnapped/… Read full post »

The subject at hand well more than a month ago was labor solidarity. Over the course of the intervening month one thought led to another and that thought to another. Then the serendipitous occurred. I happened upon a copy of The Grapes of Wrath at a little/… Read full post »

Whew! Now that I have the whole theoretical matrix laid out--Jesus, I cannot believe that I wrote that--on to some real life illustrative examples. You will find nary an "I told you so" amid them.

There is a consensus among the bloggers here and commentators elsewhere that Governor Walker could… Read full post »

Let us take yet another look at the contemporary American political spectrum in those terms that we inherited from the French Revolution and try again to discern the distinguishing characteristics of various points on the spectrum. Review the bidding, so to speak, something I love to do.… Read full post »

I am reluctant to disclose the reason for my very fitful participation here over the past weeks. I have been buried in books, mostly histories. In other cases, however, I have taken the time to revisit old friends from the novel stacks. This all seems so distinctly unamerican that I reveal… Read full post »

As I read of the disgruntlement with President Obama expressed by many on the left, I cannot help but think of the election of 1968. The left was disgruntled with Hubert Humphrey in that incredible year, to say the least. At that unforgettable convention in Chicago, he/… Read full post »

Ross Douthat's recent piece, The Partisan Mind, is actually an interesting, relatively non-partisan piece about how the partisan mindset trumps even ideology. I had a vague feeling about this phenomenon, but Mr. Douthat has put his finger on it.

I have been keeping an eye… Read full post »

Old New Lefty posted a very interesting piece recently entitled Gotterdammerung Economics. However, he was unable to post links to the Paul Krugman blog entry, Man and Supermacro, mentioned in his entry or to the Brad DeLong speech, Batter but Not and Beaten that inspired the entry.… Read full post »

It seems to me that it is a good thing periodically to return to basics. The reason for this is in order to find that common ground upon which we all stand regardless of the details of our individual political or ideological persuasions, right, center, or left. It is only from… Read full post »

Again, this is my intention here. I intend to continue to write of things about which admittedly, I have a limited understanding. My intention is to provoke comment. The comments are the point of this blog, not anything that I write. And I must say, I am proud of the comments… Read full post »

It is with honest puzzlement that I read such things as When Middle Class = Struggling.

The middle class is where the votes are. Poor people do not vote. Beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan, the middle class began its love affair with the right. The… Read full post »

I continue to read and continue to search for informative reading on a deceptively simple appearing subject. On its face. The basic assumptions that underlie the still monstrously huge but limping economy of the United States.

First, the mantra is “growth.” Growth is the thing that mak… Read full post »

I just finished watching the most entertaining video that I have seen in a long time. It is a discussion of quantitative easing that is hilarious. You will find it posted at Sean Fenley's blog. Sean is to be congratulated for finding this and posting it.

We were talking a few days ago here about Thomas Frank's 2004 book What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. In that book Mr. Frank's talks about the resentment of lower income working class people toward intellectuals, and those who feature themselves as intellectua/… Read full post »

When I write about quantitative easing, the latest phase of which is referred to as QE2, do not be reticent to correct me. I have a thick skin. I am neither a banker nor an economist and would like to understand this as best as I can in order to better… Read full post »

What a pleasant surprise today! I had intended to tiptoe into the subject of class warfare over the course of perhaps three blog entries. I found this morning, however, that the subject has been broken wide open in at least three other entries by other bloggers, one entry in the form… Read full post »

Kentucky Senator-elect Rand Paul's victory speech on election night was singularly uninformative. He thanked his loyal Tea Party backers and outlined some rather bland points that he intends to request Senate deliberation on.

After that speech he granted an interview to Wolf Blitzer. I have watched… Read full post »