Entirely by happenstance – trying to find a WordPress plugin – we stumbled on the main website for Adam Brown, political scientist extraordinaire. For the geeks among our audience – he’s written WordPress plugins, a House (of representatives) elections predictor,  MediaWiki helper application, and more. Go look.

He’s also the creator of WikiSummary, the Social Science Summary Database, which summarizes academic political science publications.

Oh, and original research about voting, and other aspects of the political process. Interesting stuff.

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Paul Greenberg writes at Beyond Katrina:

This past weekend, the post-Katrina malaise that has swept the nation took an ugly turn towards full-on insensitivity. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) had this to say about New Orleans: “It is time the taxpayer gravy train left the New Orleans station.”

Specifically, he urged an end to the federal aid to a city largely still in ruins. “The amount of money that has been wasted on these so-called ‘recovery’ efforts has been mind-boggling,” said the Congressman who is running a long-shot presidential campaign. “Enough is enough.”

And just to be absolutely certain that you and I understood what he was trying to say, he added this: “At some point, state and local officials and individuals have got to step up to the plate and take some initiative. The mentality that people can wait around indefinitely for the federal taxpayer to solve all their worldly problems has got to come to an end.”

Tancredo (just as gentle reminder) is the legislator who voted against the renewal of the historic Voting Rights Act in 2006.

Continue reading →

We’ve just learned about The Albany Project , a blog which “seeks to return New York State Government to its rightful owners – the people.” Its very existence implicitly makes the point that we can’t write off state politics as a lost cause. And the Albany Project looks like a useful resource for understanding what’s happening up there.

We’ve read – but haven’t yet posted about – New York’s new emergency response bill – but we’re hoping to do so soon, along with a backlog of other posts that have been simmering. There’s a lot that needs to happen in this state to make us reasonably ready to address emergency preparedness and public health. State government can make it easier, or harder. In the end, of course, it’s up to the population – citizens and non-citizens alike – to address preparedness issues. With or without government help.

The Second Amendment to the Constitution, as ratified:

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Constitution. Wikipedia.
The Bill of Rights.

Wikipedia.

If 10 or 20 other students or their professors at Virginia Tech were “packing heat” then they would have opened fire on Cho after he shot his first few victims. But the problems with that idea are obvious. Some innocent people, perhaps only 2 or 3, would still have been killed Monday, April 16. And I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable seeing guns become as prevalent as cars.

Speaking of cars, I have a right to drive, however, in order to exercise that right in New Jersey I must meet certain prerequsites – pass a road test which proves that I am capable of operating a motor vehicle, pass a written test which proves that I know the rules, maintain my car such that it is “road safe,” and carry liability insurance at or above certain minimums.

We take away driver’s licenses from drunk drivers and people who drive without insurance. We put repeat offenders in jail. You can buy a car without a license and without insurance, but you can’t drive it off the lot. And people buy cars every day.

Shouldn’t we do the same for gun ownership? Shouldn’t we ask gun owners to maintain their guns in a safe and secure manner? And carry insurance in case the guns are used irresponsibily? And disallow certain individuals from obtaining or carrying guns?
And finally, given the right to keep and bear arms because a well armed militia is necessary to the security of a free state, do I have the right to own an F 15 fighter or my own personal nuclear bomb? If not, what arms can I keep and bear? Muskets of the type that were in use during the American Revolution? The rifles of the Civil War era? Or the M16’s of today?

Ann Coulter’s function may be to be so unreasonable that anyone not quite as unreasonable seems reasonable by comparison. So points out Rebecca Blood in a post explaining the “Overton Window” – something you might have suspected existed – but didn’t know the name for.

the Overton Window is related to my usual argument in favor of certain radical groups: they open up an avenue for discussion and consideration. People may reject PETA’s premise, for example, that animals should never be used in testing of any kind. But in doing so, those same people may decide that—while medical testing on animals is acceptable—certain forms of testing on animals in the manufacture of cosmetics should be eliminated. Come to think of it, I suppose this is the purpose Ann Coulter serves for the far right. She’s so very extreme that almost anyone else appears to be reasonable by comparison. See? I told you this was an idea that kept on giving.

I believe I recall Dave Foreman of Earth First making this point in an article published in Whole Earth Review – but haven’t been able to locate it.

Link to Rebecca Blood’s post here.

The Overton Window explained at the Mackinac Institute, where he worked.

Via KottkeÂ