Stuff like this: We are headed for a world where most production can be done efficiently without very many people. Either smart machines will do it by themselves, or communications technology will massively raise the scale at which that the best people can practice their trade. In other words, we are headed for a new gilded age where owners of capital and labor market superstars will be producing a massive chunk of the economic pie. The exact percentage? Shall we say 90? Our politicians are, as usual, fighting the last war. It's nuts to worry about getting manufacturing jobs back, because as a first approximation, there won't be any in 10-15 years. I can think of two possible outcomes for the rest of us.  One is that we are all on the dole, happily chewing qat or plugging into the Matrix of amazing alternate reality experiences available to us. The other is that we form an army of personal service providers to the ultra rich. I specialize in fingernail care, you f

. . . if the Center for Public Integrity is publicly wondering Could super PAC-backed third-party candidates sway presidential race? . . . especially since--in a race where the Romney and Obama campaigns and their associated PACs are literally spending BILLIONS--among the three identified Libertarian "SuperPACs" have only hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the article tacitly makes the case that it is the Obama campaign that may well be indirectly helping these Libertarian PACs along: Cassidy’s Libertarian Victory Committee raised only $200 — all from Cassidy’s own pocket — before throwing in the towel earlier this month, but the pro-Johnson Libertarian Action Super PAC has raised $107,500 as of the end of June. The bulk of that money — $100,000 — came from wealthy entrepreneur Joe Liemandt, the Stanford University dropout who founded and runs the software company Trilogy. Notably, Liemandt's wife Andra has bundled more than $200,000 for Obama's r

Having encountered Paul Baumbach through the years on various blogging threads, I can testify that he's a nice, thoughtful guy, despite the fact that our political views obviously differ. Paul is one of the favorites of the Progressive Democrats of Delaware, and one of the multiple Dem primary candidates in the 23rd State Rep District (which borders my own 22nd District, so I both see and hear a lot about it). Unfortunately, thanks to gerrymandering on the part of Democrats and continued political impotence by Delaware Republicans, in the 23rd the Democratic primary is effectively the general election, as Republican Mark Houghty has very little chance of prevailing against whichever Democrat is the ultimate candidate. All of which brings me to Paul's rather strange "issues" section of his website as refers to public education.  For a guy I have generally considered to be well-informed on education issues it contains strange errors of fact and convoluted argument

Ron Paul supporters beginning to move toward Gary Johnson.

The last two days, as the semester started at DSU, have been chaotic, and the run-up to that has precluded consistent blogging.  Apologies for that.  Now some quick hits: 1.   Paul Krugman discovers that Paul Ryan was influenced by Ayn Rand.  How did he find out this well-guarded secret?  From reading Ryan's speeches, where he talks about it pretty much all the time.  Next week Krugman may discover that the sun rises in the east, but I'm not holding my breath. 2.   Josh Barro at Bloomberg joins a growing list of people attacking Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson as doomed because he's not more like Republicans and Democrats.  This is a good thing, since we've moved beyond the "ignoring" phase into the "attacking" phase, but you have to love the money quote here: Johnson won two solid victories in his races for governor; in 1998, he took 55 percent of the vote. With a similar agenda at the national level, a Libertarian candidate o

The recent WNJ article on the troubles that the DE GOP is having in filling its ballot lines for the 2012 General Election left out a major component of the changing face of Delaware politics:  the rise of the third party movement. Despite the Demopublican General Assembly attempting to end fusion candidacies last year, despite raising the number of registered voters necessary to maintain ballot access, and despite the clearly partisan attempts to keep third party candidates out of the UD/DFM debates, third party interest in Delaware is surging--primarily at the expense of the Republican Party. The statistics don't lie. At this moment, when the dust clears from the September primaries, the DE GOP will be running 54 candidates across Delaware in local and statewide races.    This is DOWN significantly from the 63 candidates that the DE GOP ran in 2010, when there were also fewer races. The Libertarians, Greens, and Indpendent Party of Delaware will be running at least 29 can

Results : Mitt Romney 48% Barack Obama 44% Gary Johnson 5% Undecided 1%

They don't cite the specific poll, and I'm skeptical, as most polls show Obama/Romney leaving only about 7% of the vote not accounted for. But here it is: Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

This is only one of the reasons that John Carney has been a failure in Congress, detailed by Scott's letter, published today in the Cape Gazette: Much of Delaware's economy depends on her poultry growers, and their livelihood is directly tied to fuel and feed costs. Recently, the Department of Agriculture predicted the worst corn harvest in nearly 20 years as a result of Midwestern droughts. Our Democratic congressional delegation asked the Environmental Protection Agency for a temporary waiver of mandates that a certain percentage of America's corn crop be reserved for ethanol production. While I support such a waiver as an emergency measure, the reality is that the United States needs to end the failed experiment in using corn ethanol as a biofuel and stop distorting market forces to the disadvantage of our own citizens, and especially Delaware's poultry industry. Government-mandated ethanol drives up the price of food and feed by artificially removing a high

In Maine, Independent Senate candidate Angus King is leading in the polls. Therefore a GOP-connected PAC is paying for ads for the Democrat in order to bring him down. Yep, it's all about principle and good government with these guys.

. . . ( which argues that big government is both awful and oppressive but nonetheless absolutely necessary to civilization ) is that her college Anthropology professor convinced her of the old canard that the Iroquois had something to do with the US Constitution. She knows about as much about Libertarian concepts of governments and markets as she does about, uh, the evolution of government.  Which is to say:  not much about either. But, again, the fact that so many ill-informed people are attacking Libertarian thought these days is indicative of how many people are starting to become nervous about Libertarian (big and small "L") voters.

. . .  but Raph Begleiter of the UD Center for Political Communication and Micheline Boudreau of Delaware First Media do not appear to have read that part of the book. When Libertarian US House candidate Scott Gesty received his "invitation" to the UD/DFM statewide candidate debate on 16-17 October, the letter from Begleiter and Boudreau was accompanied by inclusion "standards" drawn from the Pew Charitable Trust Debate Advisory Standards Project. These are the standards that virtually guarantee the elimination of all third party candidates in the Delaware debates, to include not just Scott Gesty, but also Alex Pires, Andrew Groff, Bernie August, and Margaret McKeown. Intrigued, I attempted to find the Pew recommendations and study online, and discovered . . . you can't. So I bought it.  You can, too, if you'd like to question what I am about to tell you. In the preface, Ronald A. Faucheux makes the following lofty claim: The idea is to encourage

Probably not the best recording in a technical sense, yet captures not just the sppech but also the spirit of the crowd reaction. . . .

. . . so he can tell all Libertarians to just suck it up and vote for Mitt. At least the hacks at Glenn Beck's The Blaze are more honest about their cynical advocacy.

Maybe they should, but they don't, and I don't, and now I have it on good authority that I don't have to care when you drop by to start direly quoting things . . .

I know those disability hearings get intense sometimes, but I figured that wooden truncheons could keep the disabled in line for the judges . . . .

Free Wood Post obvious wants to be The Onion. The satirical "news" site posted this "Romney response" to a question about why he had not joined the military to serve in Vietnam: “That’s a good question, young man, and I would be happy to answer it. The Vietnam War came at a time in my life when I had other plans. I knew in my heart of hearts that I would one day serve my nation. That I would one day hold an office that would help not only our nation, but also the world. So I did what I could to make sure that I would be around to serve my nation, as well as serving God by teaching very important religious principles to a broader audience overseas. My father did not want me serving, and he convinced me that yes, I was too important to go to Vietnam. I had a greater purpose in life. I wasn’t neglecting my nation, but rather preparing myself for a future of service.”  All over the country people picked it up as legitimate news.  There are multiple Daily Kos diarie

This is a video produced by Tom Gordon, soliciting votes from Delaware's Muslim community. There is nothing inherently wrong about making a video that is focused on winning the support of a particular group; I have seen many, and I am certain that it happens all the time. But this video is disturbing for a number of reasons. The first is, to be honest, esthetic.  Tom Gordon looks and acts in it like a vampire who has been asked to stay up past sunrise.  Maybe this is just Tom Gordon, I don't know.  Yet is it so strangely dispiriting a prerformance, so lackluster a delivery, that I cannot imagine that anyone--Muslim or otherwise--could find it compelling. It's creepy.  I defy you to watch it and think it is not. Secondly, Gordon's repeated equation of what he is promising to do for Muslims with what he asserts that he has already done for African-Americans is a problem, not just in that it mixes an ethnic group with a religion.

Not really damn surprising.   From the court ruling: EPA seems reluctant to acknowledge any textual limits on its authority under the good neighbor provision. At oral argument, EPA suggested that “reasonableness” is the only limit on its authority to use cost-effectiveness to force down States’ emissions. EPA would not rule out the possibility that under the good neighbor provision, it could require a State to reduce more than the State’s total emissions that go out of State. But such a claim of authority does not square with the statutory text – “amounts” of pollution obviously cannot “contribute” to a downwind State’s pollution problem if they don’t even reach the downwind State.

Thus far I've only seen this one place , and the conclusions I draw from it are more strictly in line with something like Crane Brinton's typology of popular revolutions than anything else, but that we consider supporting regimes where this is tolerated is . . . ah . . . quite a damn problem: A Sky News Arabic correspondent in Cairo confirmed that protestors belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood crucified those opposing Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi naked on trees in front of the presidential palace while abusing others. Likewise, Muslim Brotherhood supporters locked the doors of the media production facilities of 6-October [a major media region in Cairo], where they proceeded to attack several popular journalists.

. . . but he's the question to which Gary Johnson is the answer:

Despite the fact that it makes sense, I don't expect the Presidential Debate Commission to stop shilling for Ds and Rs nationally, any more than I expect the University of Delaware's Ralph Begleiter or Delaware First Media's Michelline Boudreau to stop shilling for the Democrats in Delaware. But I do think he makes the case fairly eloquently: Dear [Commission Member] I am writing to request that the national Commission on Presidential Debates reconsider your current – and exclusionary – requirements for participation in this Fall’s all-important Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates. I am well aware of the history and genesis of the Commission, including the reality that it was created largely by the respective national leadership of the Democrat and Republican Parties. While I respect and understand the intention to provide a reasonable and theoretically nonpartisan structure for the presidential debate process, I would suggest that the Commission’s found

Speaking in Texas: Austin –  Gary Johnson is not happy that some in the media call Republican vice presidential candidate and Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan  a libertarian. “He voted for the Patriot Act, he voted for the National Defense Appropriation Act, he voted to ban online poker, he’s proposing a budget that gets balanced in thirty years. He is anything but a libertarian, anything but,” said Johnson after a packed campaign dinner at Hill’s Café. Johnson, the Libertarian Party nominee for president, noted that Ryan was a strict social conservative that voted to restrict abortion rights and against marriage equality. “Paul Ryan submitted personhood legislation that is anything but libertarian,” he said. Johnson's eyes widened and his volume increased as he went into detail about Ryan’s support for a national version of  Virginia’s controversial transvaginal ultrasound law. Johnson suggested that all the talk of Ryan as a libertarian and follower of Ayn Rand may help

Her name is Virginia. Scott Gesty:  Libertarian for US House.

Celia Cohen has pointed that "You can't beat somebody with nobody" in a post that criticized the Delaware GOP for failing to field sufficient candidates even to challenge for control of the General Assembly. She's right:  in about a half-dozen critical races only Libertarians are challenging incumbent Democrats across Delaware, and in even more races Democrats are running unopposed. Republican filings are down, Democratic filings are up, and Libertarian ballot-qualified candidates (when all the dust settles and the Board of Elections prints the final list) will jump from ten in 2010 to about thirty in 2012. Delaware's GOP has already achieved the status of a permanent minority party (as much as I hate to ever admit he's right, jason at Delawareliberal speaks the truth when he says that in many areas of the state the Democratic primary IS the general election), and is well on the way to sufficient fragmentation and disintegration to become a minor party a

They fail every other eligibility requirement set by the UD Center for Political Communication and Delaware First Media --neither candidate has been published in any poll as having achieved 10% voter support --neither candidate (Kovach here , Wade here ) has raised a sufficient amount of campaign funds (a minimum of 2,511 donations of at least $50 each from in-state residents totaling over $120,000) --neither candidate is an incumbent --neither candidate has won a primary for this office during the last eight years --neither candidate has received 30% of the vote in a former statewide election ONLY the fact that they are Republicans entitles them to stand on the stage with Tom Carper and John Carney, while ballot-qualified candidates like Alex Pires and Scott Gesty will not be allowed to do so. Is being a Republican in Delaware being part of a "major" party?   As I have argued elsewhere , it's difficult these days to make that case: 2008: GOP Presidentia

Referring to Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson's attempt to get on the October stage with President Obama and Governor Romney, the nationally known UVA political analyst said: "He's dreaming," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center For Politics. "The debate committee is run by the two (major) parties. They had to let in Perot because at one point he had 40 percent of the vote." This is, of course equally true of the University of Delaware's Center for Politcal Communication (directed by Ralph Begleiter) that is the supposedly non-partisan  entity co-sponsoring this year's statewide debates in Delaware: It is important enough to keep restating:  the eligibility requirements that Mr. Begleiter and Michelline Boudreau (President of Delaware First Media, the other co-sponsor) are NOT non-partisan. They have consciously adopted standards that will exclude all other candidates beyond members of their own

So much for international law and the sanctity of embassies.

The 7th Senate District looks different to James Christina than it does to Senator Blevins. That's because he sees it on foot, every day.  He's one of the victims of the Great Recession, lost two jobs in the past year, trying to make ends meet. He walks around the district as he campaigns because he can't afford to keep a car on the road. "Funny thing," Christina says, "I'm a big guy, you'd think people would see me.  But I've been nearly run down four or five times by people in fancy cars, talkin' on their cell phones.  I guess they just don't see me." Christina doesn't think that the incumbent, Senator Patti Blevins, sees people like him, either, and that's why he's pursuing an admittedly longshot bid to unseat her. "She got her hand so deep into redistricting that nearly all the Republicans were moved out of her area," Christina says.  "The GOP didn't even bother to run anybody against her

1.   Over at Delaware Politics, Frank Knotts is whining about Will McVay running in the 32nd District again.  My favorite line: So I would say to all Republicans in the 32nd district, if you hold the values and principles of the Grand Old Party as important, then I would caution you against supporting Mr. Will McVay, who has on many occasions stated that he would be glad to see the GOP destroyed. What values and principles of the Grand Old Party? 2.  The GOP has challenged the Libertarian Party's ballot access in Pennsylvania, in Michigan, and other places.  So turnabout is fair play:   the Libertarian Party goes to court in Washington to push Mitt Romney off the ballot, claiming that the Republicans are no longer a major party under state law.  Watch closely, Delaware Republicans--this could be your future. 3. Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson receives 24% in a national head-to-head poll with President Obama, up from 19% about two weeks ago.

I received an email from Libertarian Republican's Eric Dondero (who has been carpet bombing some of my posts objecting to the identification of Paul Ryan as a Libertarian), that contains one "challenge" and several (rather bizarre, honestly) contentions. But, hey, let's see what happens . . . . Eric says, Steve I dare you to run this at Del. Libt.  I double dare you. The "this" in question is the political video below criticizing Paul Ryan as a Libertarian.  Be forewarned:  content aside, this is the WORST political video I have EVER seen.  There is a chance it may induce seizures, permanent impotence, stomach lesions, or worse if you actually watch it through. You will probably at least bleed from your eyes if you watch the first thirty seconds. But, hey, this is what you come here for, right? OK that's out of the way (good thing Eric is so mature that he didn't double-dog dare me). Now for Eric's next points; first . . .

There is, naturally, a lot of editorializing and opining as to what it means that since Lillian Lowery left DOE for greener (but, honestly, equally toxic) fields in Maryland, her "team" has been scrambling for the exits as quickly as possible--last but not least Deputy Dan Cruce. . . . People need to step back for a moment and re-connect with some general bureaucratic truths: 1.  This has almost always happened at DOE when one boss left and a new one came in.  The top levels of folks abandoned ship because they were tied to the ideology and plans of the old boss.  The new boss would delineate some new vision and immediately hire some strong apostles of that vision--from inside or outside Delaware.  If you go back and look, you will find that this has occurred--at least--since Pat Forgione left in the mid-1990s. Mike Ferguson quietly replaced key people; Iris Metts brought in a bunch of Little Red Schoolhouse advocates; Valerie Woodruff and Lillian Lowery likewise hired th

Again, according to WaPo, the answer is "not much." Beginning to see a pattern here?

You only have to read the headline.

Not really.

From Delawareliberal this weekend: Romney goes into this election, as he has lived his life – with a great many advantages. The Bush economy and the nation’s short memory of how we got here. The political press in the employ of his major financial backers. One third of the country being died in the wool racists. The list of reason why Romney should win goes on and on. Start with the assumption that one out of every three people you meet will be racists, and your world will be a pretty dismal place. That's well over 100 million hardcore racists.  One-third of the other students in your child's class--I look at the assembled parents in my grandson's class at Linden Hill Elementary School, and I wonder which nine families are secretly keeping KKK hoods at home in their closets.  I go to church and wonder which fifty of the people taking communion with my family are only here to cover up their virulent hatred of our African-American and Hispanic parishoners. As I walk th

The National Petition on High-Stakes Testing, which opposes the current Federal over-emphasis on the use of standardized tests to assess the performance of students and teachers has been endorsed by over 400 organizations nationwide including the NEA and dozens of elected school boards. The Libertarian Party of Delaware, having already taken a strong position against the use of high-stakes testing as the dominant metric in student and teacher assessment, is proud to become the first organization in Delaware to sign the Resolution. Not the Delaware State Education Association (even though the NEA has signed it). Not the Democratic or Republican Party. Not the Governor (who just enshrined test results as part of the measure of teacher performance). Not the Charter School Network. Not the Rodel Foundation. Not the Delaware PTA. Not the State Board of Education. The Libertarians. So, isn't it time for the rest of Delaware to get serious about ending the disastrous o

On August 13 a foursome composed of Libertarian US House candidate Scott Gesty, his wife Maria, 7th District State Senate candidate Jim Christina, and 32nd District State House candidate Will McVay will be participating in The World's Largest Golf Outing to benefit The Wounded Warrior Project. You can visit the Golf Outing website here , and hit the link to "Sponsor a Team." In the name bar, enter "Libertarian" and Scott's name will pop up. Please feel free to join me in donating to a great cause. No matter what we may think about the policies that send them out there, America's military men and women put their lives on the line to defend us.  We have to support our troops and our veterans, especially the ones who came home to us disabled. And remember, Libertarians--like all other Americans--are at their best when they are doing something to give back to their community.

Regarding ethanol I completely agree with Liberalgeek of Delawareliberal: Can we all agree that Ethanol is a failure and that we need to bail out on it before we tar all alternative energies as bad ideas? I believe that we make mistakes.  Ethanol is one of them and the sooner we cut bait on it, the sooner we can get moving on good ideas that we have out there. It's difficult to count the ways that ethanol is bad, because you run quickly out of fingers, but the main five would be 1.  Ethanol in gasoline is actually a worse pollutant than regular gasoline. 2.  Ethanol's use as a biofuel artificially drives up food and feed prices. 3.  Ethanol processing requires massive amounts of clean water that is not very clean afterward. 4.  Ethanol production leads to increased deforestation, erosion, and other neat environmental consequences. 5.  Ethanol does not increase mileage in the overwhelming majority of cars, thus actually increasing the amount of foreign oil we must i

Not real sure what the finger thing is, either.

I will make this really simple. 1.  The debate is being sponsored by the "nonpartisan" Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware, of which Ralph Begleiter is the Director. 2.  Among the candidates running for re-election this year who will be appearing on stage at the October debates are Governor Jack Markell, Senator Tom Carper, and Congressman John Carney. 3.  Senator Carper will, given the rules adopted by the "nonpartisan" Center, face only GOP nominee Kevin Wade, and will not have to share the stage with Independent Party of Delaware nominee Alex Pires or Green/Libertarian Party nominee Andrew Groff. 4.  Congressman Carney will, given the rules adopted by the "nonpartisan" Center, face only GOP nominee Tom Kovach, and will not have to share the stage with Libertarian/IPOD nominee Scott Gesty  or Green Party nominee Bernard August. 5.  This is all, of course, according to standards set by the Pew Center Debate Standards

From Broken Turtle Books: Does anyone else in the UD community object to the lack of fair academic and democratic principles underlying the exclusion of minority parties and independent candidates from the October 17 and 18 UD-sponsored congressional and gubernatorial debates? Others are  weighing in . It is one thing for corporate media to be complicit in the deals cooked up by the major parties to exclude minority parties from debates; it is another for a university seeking “prominence” to truncate the discourse. Demonstrating a commitment to principles lacking at UD, the League of Women Voters withdrew their support for the Presidential debates after the two big parties took them over in 1988.

Unlike the News Journal or WDEL in the northern part of the state, the media in Sussex County (WGMD and the Cape Gazette) actually cover electoral politics rather than spending their days deciding what NOT to cover. For example, last night's Libertarian event: The Sussex County Libertarian Party hosted a candidate meet-and-greet during their monthly meeting at the Grotto’s Grand Slam in Seaford. Among the candidates were 6th Senate District candidate Wendy Jones, 20th House District candidate Valerie Valenska, 35th District Candidate Ron Fitzgerald, and Insurance Commissioner and Sussex County Clerk of the Peack candidate David Eisenhour. Jones explained that Libertarians are socially liberal, fiscally conservative, are Constitutionally oriented, and are looking to cut taxes and wasteful spending, reduce the size and regulatory power of government and get it out of our lives. She says that Republicans and Democrats sound almost exactly the same on expanding the size of gover

Where, I wonder, is any response from Ralph Begleiter or Michelline Boudreau defending their ridiculous position? Anyway, here is the piece by John Starkey: Th e University of Delaware and Delaware First Media have sent out invitations for planned October 16-17 debates in Newark ahead of the Nov. 6 general elections. Invited are this year’s U.S. House and Senate candidates, and the candidates for Lt. Gov and Governor. But some candidates are crying foul over the eligibility requirements for those debates, which may leave some third-party candidates on the sidelines. Those requirements – eligible candidates must meet one – include being part of a major party or having polling from an “experienced” firm that shows at least 10 percent support. Full eligibility criteria are listed at the bottom of this post. “To be invited, I’d have to raise $125,500 from 2,511 different donors, have already received 40,000 votes in a previous election, or pay thousands for a poll proving at least

It should be emphasized that John is endorsing an idea, not a candidate, but it is also worth noting that Libertarian positions in this year's Delaware elections--from openly supporting marriage equality, to ending the war on drugs (see the political cartoon in today's WNJ which isn't up on the website yet), to an elected State Board--are rapidly gaining traction and forcing Demopublicans to deal with the fact that they haven't really had an original (or gutsy) position in state politics since . . . forever. From the letters: The recent excellent reporting by The News Journal on the crisis of confidence at Pencader Charter High School has exposed a fissure in Delaware government accountability: the appointed State Board of  Education . Delawareans deserve a responsive government. Currently the Delaware Department of Education, unlike other states, is run by a gubernatorial appointment: Secretary of Education. This person then is accountable to the State Board o

Quick, a quiz:  which of these people do you most readily associate with Libertarian activism? A.  Ron Paul B.  Bob Barr C.  John Stoessel D.  Gary Johnson E.  Andrew Napolitano F.  Karl Denninger If you answered A, C, D, or E you pass.  If you answered B you just like guys who like having whipped cream spread of exotic dancers' breasts. If you answered F you really ought to get out more. But Karl Denninger has now come out on behalf of Demopublicans everywhere to say that Gary Johnson will have no impact on the current presidential race not because of structural barriers to ballot access that require millions to be spent petitioning for signatures while the other guys are campaigning; not because of the rules that keep him out of the debates; not because polling companies won't cover him; not because of anything but the fact that he's a dud candidate. Apparently we shouldn't have taken the most experienced candidate in the race who has an amazing story t

I know most of you probably weren't worried, but just for kavips: It appears that Benjamin Libet may have been wrong. Nonetheless, Mind Time remains an interesting read by a man who would not shrink from the implications of what he thought he observed. And (again, just for kavips) even though he was wrong about the experiment, he still might have been right about the big picture after all.  Jury still out on that one.

You gotta wonder what's up with  John Carney ? It is more usual to focus of Presidents, like Bush or Obama, and blame them for the deterioration of civil liberties in this country, but the reality is that the US Congress has been a willing accomplice in the shredding of our individual rights. Particularly John Carney. Carney not only voted for the extension of the Patriot Act, he voted for CISPA and the NDAA with its provisions for indefinite detention of American citizens.  (Later Carney would vote for a purely symbolic amendment that had no chance of passing to strip indefinite detention out of the NDAA, but by that time the vote that mattered had already made it law.) Does John Carney believe in American police state?  Seemingly.  At the very least he appears indifferent to the consequences of his votes. Nemski at Delawareliberal rightly took Carney to task for the CISPA vote: House Speaker Boehner rushed through the CISPA bill late Thursday and  it passed. . And wha

Maybe these guys should consider getting a job with the TSA, where they could also enjoy the view in the scanners: A front-page story in today's New York Times   highlights the special humiliation inflicted on women who are detained and patted down by police under the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program. Male officers grope them, concentrating on "the waistband, armpit, collar and groin areas," and go through their purses, pulling out personal items such as tampons, birth control pills, and lacy underwear. "Yes, it’s intrusive," Inspector Kim Y. Royster tells the  Times , "but wherever a weapon can be concealed is where the officer is going to search." Yet these searches almost never yield weapons. The stops supposedly are justified by a "reasonable suspicion" of criminal activity, and the searches ostensibly are aiimed at protecting officers from hidden weapons they "reasonably" suspect may be present. Yet 46,784 stops of women