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

Is there private property in space?

Published on 2006-11-15 18:41:00

Grotius, the political philosopher after whom one of our contributors has styled himself, once postulated that no one country could own the ocean. He wrote about his thoughts in Mare Liberum, a book that Oregon State University analyzed:Mare Liberum talks about the rights of England, Spain, and Portugal to rule over the sea. If these countries could legitimately control the seas, this would prevent the Dutch from sailing, for example, into the East Indies. Grotius argued that the liberty of the

YouTube and MySpace: The new era of passive copyrights

Published on 2006-11-14 14:27:00

Let’s face it: YouTube is big. The viral video distributor virtually (no pun intended) created a new market and fulfilled a formerly nonexistent demand for homemade videos. Only now you can find just about anything on YouTube, from TV shows and comedy skits to compromising statements from politicians. Much of the material is unlicensed or protected under the very permissive Creative Commons, but much of the videos are under copyright. We’ve looked at this before and examined the economic

That's what we were afraid of...

Published on 2006-11-14 11:31:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:With the loss of a Republican majority and his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) said President Bush may be forced to nominate more moderate judges should other Supreme Court vacancies occur. Specter, who will yield his gavel in early January to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D., Vt.), said the Democrats might want to slow the process of judicial confirmations - or even halt them - as the next presidential election approaches

Homeschooling: Disconcerting Scientists?

Published on 2006-11-13 22:19:00

In a November 11th news article on the New Scientist breaking news website, Amanda Gefter presents a shocking expose of the rapidly growing homeschool movement. Under such headings as "Overthrow of Matirialism" and "Evangelical Interns" Gefter breathlessly informs readers that "home-schooling, with its considerable legal support, is quietly transforming the landscape of science education in the US, subverting and possibly threatening the public school system that has fought hard against imposing

Ayers v. Belmontes (2006)

Published on 2006-11-13 18:49:00

The Supreme Court ruled today in Ayers v. Belmontes (2006), a case out of the 9th Circuit that challenged jury instructions in death penalty cases. The 5-4 decision deals with Fernando Belmontes’ murder trial in 1982 when the jury returned a guilty verdict and sentenced him to die. As the majority opinion written by Justice Kennedy explains:The trial court, following the statute then in effect, directed the jury, with other instructions and in a context to be discussed in more detail, to con

Happy Veterans Day!

Published on 2006-11-10 16:02:00

As one of eleven federally recognized holidays, today is a day off from work and school. If you work for the government, it’s a chance to kick back and enjoy a day off. If you work for a private company, the odds are Veterans Day will come and go unheralded. At the public community college I attend, the professors informed the students that today would be a “holiday” and that the campus would therefore be closed. No one mentioned what we were celebrating; the fact that we don’t have t

GOP’s Failures: Pelosi’s thank yous

Published on 2006-11-10 14:07:00

Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, wrote a poignant thank you note describing some of the Republican Party’s biggest mistakes leading up to the mid-term election. As you read them, think first about what the GOP could have done to avoid the traps these scenarios represent and then consider what the Democratic Party will do differently:Nancy Pelosi says thank-you to… 10. To Vice