I got this poster in England while I was studying law at Magdalen College back in 1982. It has stood the test of time better than the ideology Maggie and her American soul-mate offered the world. “Maggie Thatcher, Milk Snatcher.” Share on Facebook
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Saturday, September 10, 2011
Here is a commentary I wrote about America in light of the events of September 11, 2001 less than a month after that tragic morning: October 9, 2001 Greetings, Friends: A new and dangerous phase of current events is underway. Our unelected President and his British butlers have unleashed the Dogs of War on a [...]
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Saturday, September 25, 2010
To Vote YES on Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010! Here is a series of one-minute videos in support of Proposition 19, the California ballot initiative that will go before the voters on November 2. Way back in 1972, the California Marijuana Initiative shared office space with McGovern headquarters. I was [...]
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Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigrant law has received a lot of self-righteous comment from all sides. Although I deplore the racism at the heart of Arizona’s law, I believe the angry, confused white people of Arizona deserve the same compassion their undocumented brown counterparts are entitled to. I’m writing this entry from a rich suburban neighborhood [...]
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To Celebrate America, let’s meditate on the words of James Madison, our fourth President and Father of the US Constitution: “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts [...]
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Gerald F. Pearce was one of the two grandfathers I never met. He was in WWI, but not in the European trenches. Instead, Gerald Senior was in the Middle East. 90 years ago today, the Great War ended. My grandfather was in Baghdad, Iraq. Here’s what the main drag looked like on November 11, 1918: [...]
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Saturday, November 1, 2008
Ours is a society that has chosen to live by the sword. The story isn’t likely to have a happy ending. Share on Facebook
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Here is a five-part presentation about the history of the drug laws. It’s a fascinating story, far more entertaining and bizarre than you might expect. Share on Facebook
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Senator Hillary Clinton suspended her campaign this morning. Although I did not support her candidacy, I recognize the historic importance of her speech. Watch and listen to it: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Full transcripts available here. Alexis did not get to watch or listen to the speech live, as I did, [...]
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Forty years ago today, I did my first bit of political work. For a few minutes during the afternoon of Saturday, June 1, 1968, I handed out bumper stickers for the Bobby Kennedy campaign. I was nine years old, and I figured I was a late-bloomer, seeing as how much younger kids had been active, [...]
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This picture was taken in 1988, twenty years ago, at UC Berkeley, bastion of free speech. Some of America’s smartest and most talented college kids thought this was a practical way to deal with the TV problem. Alexis and I grew up in Hollywood. Our family has been connected to the entertainment business for more [...]
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Yesterday’s court decision was a remarkable achievement – by the Chief Justice and his colleagues in the majority. This is an amazing bit of scholarship and philosophy. Here is a link to the text of the decision. Basically, the court says it’s not ruling on the merits of same-sex marriage, but on the constitutionality of [...]
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Organized Crime has its own newspaper! Because I have a fancy education and ended up a member of the ‘investor class,’ the Wall Street Journal let me have a year’s subscription to its expensive fish wrap for a mere $99. The year ran out with the May 8 issue, which you see gracing the top [...]
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25 years ago today, I was a second year law student at the University of Southern California. Here is what was on my mind as I sat in one of the big amphitheater classrooms. A typed translation of the scribbling follows, below. “I sold pot in the U.S. A quarter ounce. It cost me 40 [...]
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