Month: September 2009

Scalia Makes a Funny

by

by publius I'm in the process of summarizing some Supreme Court opinions for an appellate journal. And I came across what is perhaps the best passage in the history of Supreme Court opinions. It's Scalia writing in Republic of Iraq v. Beaty: But the whole value of a generally phrased residual clause, like the one … Read more

Government Worked

by

by publius Deborah Solomon reports in the WSJ that the federal stimulus bill that zero House Republicans voted for, and that 2.5 Republican Senators voted for, is working: Economists say the money out the door — combined with the expectation of additional funds flowing soon — is fueling growth above where it would have been … Read more

Is Afghanistan Worth It?

by

by publius I shudder to write this — but put me in the George Will camp (cough, ack, glurrp) on Afghanistan.  (Sorry, that's a tough phrase to get out).  I have two basic reasons:  (1) The goal of preventing Taliban control isn't a sufficient reason to stay; and (2) Even if it is, our tactics … Read more

The Need for Speed

by

by publius I mentioned earlier that expanding bandwidth capacity (i.e., speed) should be one of our primary communications policy goals, and that requiring open networks furthers those goals.  Many people don't realize, though, just how much societal value faster broadband would create.  It's about a lot more than simply downloading stuff faster.  Greater speeds will … Read more

Will Wilkinson, Being Interesting

by

by publius I don't have time to comment at the moment, but I thought this Will Wilkinson post was very interesting.  Here's an excerpt — discuss: I think Hymowitz’s story gives too small a part to resentment at the loss of male privilege. Many men aren’t angry and confused because they don’t know what women … Read more

Why Open Networks Matter

by

by publius A while back, Julian Sanchez expressed skepticism about net neutrality regulation.  Essentially, he made two key arguments: (1) the problems are "largely hypothetical"; and (2) the threat of regulation might be better than actual regulation.  I'm going to take a stab at both, though I think the second point is more interesting. To … Read more