Friday Talking Points [246] -- So What Would You Cut Instead?
[ Posted Friday, February 22nd, 2013 – 18:47 UTC ]
We've got a number of oddities to dispense with before we get started this week.
Archive of Articles in the "The Bill of Rights" Category
Friday Talking Points [244] -- Droning On
[ Posted Friday, February 8th, 2013 – 18:03 UTC ]
We begin with cats and birds this week. Iron-lovers across the land were dismayed by the news that the Monopoly folks were discontinuing their favorite token, but cat-lovers were enthused by the feline token which will take its place. Being America, this was done via online voting. In avian news, the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl. The bird is the word!
"No Budget, No Pay" Smoke And Mirrors
[ Posted Thursday, January 24th, 2013 – 17:00 UTC ]
The Republican House just scored a political victory. While meaningless in financial fact, they successfully co-opted a dandy slogan -- which may have real political consequences for Senate Democrats -- and they also managed to pull the wool over the eyes of a large portion of the mainstream media while doing so. Which, as I said, has to be chalked up as a big political victory for the House Republicans.
No Silver Bullet
[ Posted Wednesday, January 16th, 2013 – 16:51 UTC ]
There is no silver bullet.
--Vice President Joe Biden
Friday Talking Points [239] -- Talking About The Deal
[ Posted Friday, January 4th, 2013 – 17:32 UTC ]
If we had a "best quote" awards category, we'd certainly have to nominate what outgoing House Republican Steven La Tourette had to say about the whole situation, after the Senate had voted 89-8 to approve the fiscal cliff avoidance deal: "We should not take a package put together by a bunch of sleep-deprived octogenarians on New Year's Eve." Now that's funny!
Digitus Impudicus Ruled Constitutionally-Protected Speech
[ Posted Thursday, January 3rd, 2013 – 17:59 UTC ]
A federal appeals court has reaffirmed every American's right to communicate with the police solely through the use of the middle finger. You read that correctly: what is variously called "flipping off" or "flipping the bird" or "the one-finger salute" -- even to a police officer -- is indeed protected speech under the United States Constitution. Which is a victory for free speech and the First Amendment.
How About Some Media Control?
[ Posted Monday, December 17th, 2012 – 19:11 UTC ]
We're all talking about the same thing today. We are, indeed, having a "national conversation." The subject is tragic, which is why it has everyone so focused. Another shooting rampage, another town consumed by grief, all played out on the nation's television screens. But precisely because everyone's talking about it, I find that I don't have much to add to the main discussion. All I have are a few fragments that are mostly peripheral in nature, and mostly to do with the news media.
Friday Talking Points [233] -- Wake Me When It's Over
[ Posted Friday, November 2nd, 2012 – 16:09 UTC ]
Every so often, I get an idea which I know would make me millions of dollars. Today, I had another one: develop and market a pill which, when taken, would put you to sleep until the morning after the election. The pill would be magically timed to work no matter when you took it, meaning a citizen in Texas or California might not want to take one until perhaps mid-October, but the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire might be expected to take one New Year's Eve -- thus avoiding not only the debates and punditary frenzy of the general election, but the entire primary season as well. It would be marketed under the name "The Rip Van Winkle Pill."
Happy 225th!
[ Posted Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 – 17:41 UTC ]
Yesterday was a momentous occasion, but I was steeped in crass horserace politics, and so failed to mention it. Two hundred and twenty-five years ago yesterday, the United States Constitution was adopted by the convention called to create it.
Friday Talking Points [226] -- Convention Talking Points
[ Posted Friday, September 14th, 2012 – 15:22 UTC ]
The second item of note is that today marks the fifth "birthday" of this column series. September 14, 2007 saw the very first Friday Talking Points column ever (although the name and the column format wouldn't solidify for a few months). Since then, almost every Friday, we've been attempting to provide Democratic talking points for politicians to use to get their point across in a snappy and memorable fashion. How much success we've had doing so is open to interpretation, but we're still here doing it, which tends to indicate that Democrats still have a ways to go to match the Republican ability to keep "on script" during interviews. To put this another way, it's the old Democratic "herding cats" problem.