Congress is rushing to respond to the widespread public outrage over the $160 million in bonuses paid to American International Group (AIG) executives with taxpayer money. The most popular idea is to tax the bonuses, but such a retroactive tax would raise very serious legal questions. I discussed this issue on Countdown in this segment.
Continue reading “Congress Moves to Tax AIG Bonuses — But Is It Constitutional?”
Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley has come up with the bailout for executives: suicide. Grassley suggested that AIG executives do the honorable thing and commit Seppuku. The problem is of course that ten of his colleagues immediately demanded $10 billion for the study of Seppuku techniques and the creation of Seppuku centers as part of the proposed second bailout bill.
Continue reading “The Ultimate Bailout: Senator Proposes Suicide Pact With Business”
We have been following the case involving “Hillary: The Movie” since it first came out during the last presidential campaign. The legal dispute over the film was always more interesting than the film itself — whether this is a film or a 90-minute campaign ad. Now, the Supreme Court is set to review the film. Citizens United v. FEC (08-205) raises a fascinating question of what constitutes political advocacy and what constitutes a documentary. The Court will hopefully not produce another “I know politics when I see it” standard.
Continue reading “Movie Night At Supreme Court: Justices Ready to Review Hillary: The Movie”
It was only recently that many of us put away our Square Root Day decorations. Yet, it is now time to celebrate Pi day in all of its irrational glory. The irrational number is rounded off to 3.14, making March 14th the special day for all math geeks — and circle circumference fanatics.
Continue reading “HAPPY Pi DAY!!!”
Literally days after proclaiming that change had come to “signing statements” with a new policy, President Obama has issued a very Bush-like signing statement with his signing of the appropriations bill. The signing statement reserves the right to treat literally dozens of provisions as presumptively unconstitutional.
Continue reading “Obama Issues Signing Statement — Only Days After Negating Such Bush Statements”
In a wonderful moment for both science and humanity, President Barack Obama repealed the policy of George Bush limiting federal funding for stem cell research. The policy put inot place in 2001 has slowed progress toward finding cures from some of the worst diseases like Parkinson’s disease.
Continue reading “Obama Reverses Bush Policy on Stem Cell Research”
In Wyeth v. Levine (06-1249), the Supreme Court has rendered an important decision on the right of patients to sue drug manufacturers. The tragic case of Diana Levine has been discussed on this blog earlier. Now the court has ruled 6-3 in favor of Levine, a musician from Vermont, who lost her right arm after being given a anti-nausea drug by Wyeth.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Patients Against Drug Manufacturers”
Here is today’s column from USA Today. Yesterday, the D.C. Vote bill was temporarily pulled from the floor due to the threat of an gun rights amendment. The NRA has threatened to “score” the vote — meaning that members who vote against it would be given a lower score in the annual rankings. This is only a temporary withdrawal as Democrats scramble to deal with the challenge. A similar amendment passed in the Senate after being introduced by Sen. John Ensign of Nevada by a comfortable margin.
Continue reading “D.C.’s Speed Bump: The Constitution”
The Bush Administration previously told a federal court that there were two tapes of interrogations destroyed showing waterboarding and other brutal treatment of detainees. It has now admitted that at least 92 tapes were destroyed in what appears a clear and knowing effort to destroy evidence.
Continue reading “CIA Admits to Destroying 92 (Rather Than 2) Tapes of Interrogations”
In a major policy change, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has indicated that the Justice Department will end raids on pot dispensaries in California and allow states to set its own marijuana laws without further interference from the federal government. It is ironic that it took a liberal president to reinstate the guarantees of states rights in this area.
Continue reading “Attorney General Eric Holder Indicates Change in Policy on State Marijuana Laws”
While the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been ridiculed for inefficiencies, waste, and absurd restrictions, it has taken a bold effort to close one of the greatest remaining threats to the homeland: muleskinners. Under a new anti-terror law, TSA has determined that mule skinners (who actually do not skin mules but drive them) must have criminal background checks.
Continue reading “The Mule Menace: TSA Moves Against Possible Mule-Skinner Mujahideen”
Sen. Jim Bunning (R., Ky) used the annual Hardin County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner to announce his diagnosis that Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 75, will be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months. While Bunning only holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Xavier University and had a baseball career with the Detroit Tigers, he felt comfortable with the medical prediction and even more comfortable discussing Ginsburg’s imminent demise at a political dinner.
Newsweek is reporting that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey delayed a critical internal report on the conduct of senior Justice lawyers in the torture scandal, including Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury. The delayed report not only adds another contradiction to Mukasey’s claims before Congress, but should add pressure on the Obama Administration to stop delaying a criminal investigation into the commission of war crimes by the Bush Administration.
The search is over. The end of a rainbow has been conclusively found, but there was a conspicuous absence of a pot of gold. It seems an unlikely coincidence that this missing pot is revealed on the day that Congress approves the roughly $800 billion stimulus package. Fortunately, thousands of lobbyists followed the rainbow and found almost $200 billion in highway funds at the end.
Continue reading “END OF RAINBOW FOUND: POT OF GOLD MISSING”
It appears that the cause of the Depression has been finally determined with certainty. The fault for the Depression, according to Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH), was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This time traveling moment was all the more impressive since the Depression began in 1929 and Roosevelt took office in 1933.
Continue reading “Austrian History: FDR Caused The Great Depression”