As you have undoubtedly heard by now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife and daughter were in an accident last Thursday (11 March 2010). Both were injured, and Mrs. Reid needed surgery. Hopefully, both will be feeling better soon. Read more »

There seems to be a never-ending debate about the extent to which taxes affect our behavior. The US uses its tax code not only as a source of revenue but also as a way of encouraging or discouraging certain behaviors. Tax policy has consequences (both good and bad), and people do factor taxes into their decision process. The State of Maryland found this out the hard way. Read more »

I ran into this infographic on North Korea, reporting some interesting -- and grotesque -- facts about the pariah state.

This statistic caught my eye in particular: "An estimated 700,000-3,500,000 people have been executed by the North Korean government."

This is an amazingly outlandish statistic. Let's consider the following: Read more »

On Wednesday, February 24, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke to the New Jersey League of Municipalities. The purpose of his speech (video, 26 mins) was to announce that New Jersey's fiscal "Day of Reckoning" had arrived. Read more »

In what will likely be the seminal case of 2nd Amendment incorporation, McDonald v. City of Chicago was argued yesterday in the Supreme Court. This pitted every pro-gun organization in the country against every anti-gun government and organization at the highest levels of government.

Why is this case important? Didn't we settle things with Heller already?

Actually, no. Bear with me, there's a bit of history and Constitutional law that needs to be explained. Read more »

Today, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was invited to speak about Fiscal Responsibility at the Brookings Institute's Budgeting for National Priorities project (transcript, CSPAN video). There are parts of this speech that I wholeheartedly disagree with (mostly the partisan sales pitch), but he made a few excellent points that are worth sharing. Read more »

As part of the weekend round-up, I'll be briefly going over a few stories that caught my attention as the week was winding down:

Black, said the pot to the kettle. In this case, It's Microsoft accusing Google of anti-trust violations. This is rich, coming from a convicted monopolist. Read more »

If you've heard a major speech given by an American President at any point in the last century, you've probably heard the phrase "My Fellow Americans". That phrase, or a variation thereof, is a standard greeting from a President to his listeners. It's a way to highlight the ties that bind, to remind us that, no matter how bitterly we disagree about the topics of the day, we're all in this together -- all of us, our "fellow Americans".

There's just one small problem: It's no longer true. Read more »

Barbara Boxer, an 18-year veteran of the Senate, recently filed her re-election paperwork to signal her official run for the Senate this November. However, not everything is going well for the junior Senator from California. In the wake of of Scott Brown's upset for Ted Kennedy's seat, a long-time stronghold for Democrats, Boxer remarked, 'Every state is in play'.

Recent Rasmussen Report polling numbers have placed Boxer in the mid-to-upper 40s when pitted against the likely Republican candidates for her seat. The L.A. Times noted last week: Read more »

I heard about the Brady Bunch (sorry, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence) putting out their annual report card. I'm not at all surprised that my state ranked the dubious #1 spot. However, I think it's telling that a number of the points given aren't for effective policies — only that the policies were legislated.

For instance: Read more »