legal redux

The end of the ledux...

Published on 2006-12-01 02:01:00

Twenty-two months ago, during spring break of 2005, I started "The Redux" on a Google Groups page. My idea was to have a current events discussion forum with friends and those who didn't necessarily share my worldview but were mature enough to argue in a decent and civilized manner. A few months later the webpage moved to a Blogger account and began calling itself the "legal redux." Here, at the page nicknamed "ledux," we discussed public policy with an increasing focus on legal issues, incl

Copper thefts, a local and global perspective

Published on 2006-11-21 23:11:00

This article is the current draft of my contribution to the Dec. issue of The Portland Messenger, a monthly newspaper by a club of nine homeschoolers from OR and WA. Two men in a battered white pickup showed up in my front yard this fall, and asked my dad, Tim Straub, if they could relieve him of the sprawling pile of scrap metal left over from his home renovation. Mr. Straub consented, and they eagerly loaded their pickup with used pipe, heating units, and tangled electrical wires. The men s

Taming Tigers: Avoiding Conflict over Taiwan

Published on 2006-11-19 03:05:00

There is only one issue at all likely to spark a nuclear war for the United States – Taiwan’s future. Ever since the losing party of the Chinese Civil War fled to the island over fifty years ago, its separation from the mainland has been the major source of tension between Beijing and Washington, as the People’s Republic of China has sought to terminate a de facto independence the United States has sought to preserve. In the past, changing circumstances have caused the United States to cha