Category Archives: Civil Liberty

Can I See Some ID?

5/17/2012 – 1:26 pm

I was in Washington a few weeks ago and attended an event at a bar.  I showed up with my colleague Charlie; we’re both in our 50s, our hair is gray or thinning or both, our faces seamed by decades of care.  No one could mistake us for teens, but we pulled out our photo [...]

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We Are Still Married

5/10/2012 – 3:00 pm

“I have overwhelming respect for the sanctity of marriage,” says Vin Scully, voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers for 62 years in today’s New York Times.  Mr. Scully was referring to the marital discord of Frank and Jamie McCourt, the gajillionaires who lost control of the Dodgers in a messy divorce.
While I have not conducted [...]

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Accountability

4/19/2012 – 2:19 pm

What is a reasonable cost for a conference for 300 civil servants from across the western US?  Airfare, food, lodging, conference facilities, speakers, prep, etc., etc.  From the news stories, it’s clear that $823,000 is way too much.  Next year’s conference, I’m just guessing, will be substantially less extravagant, so let’s say $300,000.  That means [...]

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Missing the Connection

3/29/2012 – 1:26 pm

What if I wasn’t me?  How would the world look?  I guess it would depend on whichever skin other than my own I stand in.
I’ll give you an example.  The other day, remembering my youth, I realized synagogues – Temple Beth David and Temple Emanu-El – stood on two of the four corners of an [...]

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Still the Story of America

3/22/2012 – 12:49 pm

The story of America is the story of race.  It has been since a couple Germans grafted the name of an Italian navigator onto the continents in the middle of the last millenium.  That it is still the story of America (especially the United States of) is evidenced by two stories in the news this [...]

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The Stalking Horse

2/16/2012 – 5:17 pm

A stalking horse, for hunters, is something of a moving blind.  The idea is that the prey – often birds – would be startled by the appearance of a human, but not a horse or cow, so the hunter uses the stalking horse (“stalking cow” doesn’t have the same ring) to approach unseen, until the [...]

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(Un)Free for All

1/19/2012 – 3:56 pm

I’m on Rick Santorum’s side – in a narrow, limited sense.  The former senator from Pennsylvania is not my kind of politician.  There may be a few issues on which we agree, but I’m not inclined to seek them out.
That said, Mr. Santorum meets the qualifications to run for president of the United States.  He’s [...]

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