Archive for April, 2009

Local governments, from Kennesaw, Georgia to Benicia, California, are jumping on the curfew bandwagon as a way to tighten control of the citizenry. While late-night/early-morning curfews for children have been employed for decades as a way to limit gang and other youth-based violence — often unsuccessfully — the latest, 21st-Century iteration is to extend the concept to daytime hours. For example, city leaders in Kennesaw recently extended the hours during which a person under 18 years of age may lawfully traverse its streets and other public areas to include the hours from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM (those 17 and under already were prohibited from being seen in public without a good excuse anytime after midnight and before 5:00 AM). Now in this particular city — whose website proudly proclaims itself one of the “10 Best Towns for Families” because it is so family-friendly — a young person is able to appear in public free from suspicion and without being subject to detention by the …

Continue reading Daytime curfews, while perhaps popular, are bad policy »

The announcement this week that Attorney General Eric Holder, barely two months into his job at the Department of Justice, was moving to drop all charges against former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, is another sign he is serious about cleaning up the mess that he inherited from the prior administration. Let’s hope he continues the house cleaning.

Stevens was indicted by the Bush Department of Justice on questionable charges of accepting favors from Alaska businessmen and failing to report them on his disclosure statements. He was convicted shortly before last fall’s election, which he then lost, due clearly at least in part to his legal troubles. Since the conviction, evidence has emerged that the federal prosecutors in the case, in their zeal to bag a sitting United States Senator, deliberately hid exculpatory evidence from the defense team, and engaged in other unseemly conduct, apparently including a romantic relationship between a federal agent and a government …

Continue reading Holder Cleansing Bush Justice Department »

As the little girl in the 1980s flick, “Poltergeist,” said, “They’re back.” Now, after consciously maintaining a low profile the last two years, even though the Democratic Party maintained a majority in both houses of the Congress, the gun-control crowd is stirring. Yes, they’re back. And they’re feeling their oats.

Smartly, congressional benefactors for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the nation’s most notorious gun control organization, had lain low ; and gun control was but a minor issue in then-Sen. Obama’s campaign for the White House.

Hoping to increase the congressional majorities they gained in 2006 and to win the presidency in 2008, Democratic leaders wisely rebuffed efforts by their more radical members clamoring in the last Congress to push gun-control measures.

Now, after enhancing their majorities in the House and Senate, and fresh from grabbing the brass ring at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Democratic leaders in Washington and their …

Continue reading Gun-control crowd pushes radical goal »