The rhetoricat bobbing and weaving responding to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a federal judge and more than a dozen others, has already been transformed into dizzying nonesense. It reminds me of just how difficult it was to face the obvious fact that nicotine is addictive and smoking causes cancer. It just didn't serve the interest of big tobacco and all those grown dependent upon it to admit the truth.
From the left comes quick and convenient denunciations of familiar targets: Sarah Palin is to blame. Her interest group's decision to use symbolic cross hairs on a...
January 11, 2011
Congress opened its most recent session by engaging in a symbolic reading of the United Constitution. A few days later, one of its members, Gabrielle Giffords, was gunned down at a Tucson, Arizona constituent event. The irony is palpable. We the people weren’t too impressed with the legislative lip-synch on Capitol Hill.
It’s one thing to have lawmakers read a document forged in the struggle and bloodshed of another era. It’s quite another to give that document practical meaning and effect in a world centuries removed from its composition. I suspect Jared Lee Loughner...
January 10, 2011
Who is to blame for the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? Press accounts make it clear a lone gunman pulled the trigger, wounding the Congresswoman and killing a federal judge and others at a Tucson supermarket on Saturday. But in the wake of this shocking shooting, folks press for deeper meaning. If Jared Loughner was but the occasion for the shootings, what were the deeper causes?
A fine piece in yesterday's on-line edition of The New York Times by Matt Bai sketched out the terrain with admirable elegance. Bai notes that both left and right have become infatuated...
January 9, 2011
The next set of gun sights focused on Tuscon won't be posted by Sarah Palin's interest group. No, the next party to set its sights on Tuscon will be the United States Government. Jared Loughner shot and killed a federal judge on Saturday, United States District Judge John Roll. He also shot Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who clings to life this afternoon. The killing of a federal official is a death eligible offense under federal law. Uncle Sam will take aim to make a loud and unequivocal statement.
Within moments of the shooting, folks were calling for Palin's political hide. Her...
January 8, 2011
January 6, 2011
Yes, I live in Connecticut. But my heart belongs to the University of Michigan's football program. It all started with a trip to the Big House in Ann...
January 6, 2011
Let's set the record straight: Robert Chatigny's nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, one of the most prestigious...
January 5, 2011
The California Supreme Court doesn't think there is any real difference between a crumpled up cigarette package, the clothing on your back or your...
January 3, 2011
Reading Chief Justice John G. Roberts call for an end to partisanship in the selection of federal judges felt alot like watching professional...
January 2, 2011
The new year has scarcely begun, but already battle lines are drawn in what will be one of the most significant struggles of 2011: Welcome to the...
January 2, 2011
In recent weeks, I've noticed an accelerating trend: Increasing numbers of folks looking for a lawyer are boldly asking me if I will accept their...