What a great story. I wonder, did he write this himself or did he have a staff of letter writers like he had a staff of speech writers?

Yes, you should quit the Catholic church, of course you should.  But the reason is that there is no god, not that they have some semblance of morality.  

If you want to quit the church, then do so.  But this is not the reason for doing so.

High Noon is the best western flick ever made.

A marriage is not a mere contract with two people.  It is a contract that also involves the state.

This is not a civil rights issue. Homosexuals have as much right to marry as heterosexuals. They may only marry the opposite gender, though. I'm all for freedom. You have the freedom to do whatever you want with your body, no matter how sexually perverse. Good for the perverts. Just don't require me to support your perversion. Does anyone know the latest on the prop in California? Last I heard the state supreme court ruled their constitution was un constitutional. If the judges on the ninth circuit were the federal supreme court, does anyone doubt that they would rule a federal amendment along those lines to also be unconstitutional?

Shame on you for jumping on Rubin's baseless attack.

Here's a more proper way of seeing this.

The rhetoric is sounding more and more like 1935 Spain every day.  

Will we have our Hemingway to write about the massacre in our own town squares?

Forget changing oil.  Environmental laws are too onerous to make that practical.  Buy synthetic oil and change it every 15 to 30 thousand miles.  Synthetic oil doesn't break down and is essentially good indefinitely, but no one likes to admit that.  

Evolution made it rare for anyone to live to their 40's or 50's.  If you couldn't run and keep up with the nomadic tribe, you were left to die, so I hardly think that every accident of our bodies is some perfected solution.

We'll find a cure for aging and weight gain someday and no one will want to stay that way if they can avoid it, and no claims of some biological intent will win over anyone sensible.

But then, there will probably always be the Paul Ehrlichs to complain.

Scarlet, my point was that he gave no reason for 18 years, he just stated it as the ideal without any justification.

I don't see a problem with the judiciary.  I think it works quite well.  I think instead of getting rid of the way we allow Article III judges, we should do a massive overhaul of administrative law, such as at the EPA as an especially egregious example of late.  

And why 18 years?  Why not 17.6 years?  Why not 5 months?  Why not 40 years?  Why not have every case decided by judges chosen by a lottery?

Professor, this was uninspiring.  Not once do you explain why life appointments is a hazard that we should now avoid.  Not once do you explain why 18 year terms would be better in any way. 

Before we go amending the Constitution to completely disassemble the entire judiciary, perhaps you should first explain why it needs to be done.

I find it hard to take such "surveys" seriously.  Who are the people being asked these questions and why are they considered typical?

My wife would probably not like it if I hired an assistant that was very pretty.  I would never cheat on my wife no matter how pretty an assistant, and a pretty face greeting my clients would probably be an asset to my business, but logic doesn't get me anywhere on that topic.

Amen, Professor. The most important characteristic of our military and what makes the American people trust it so much is that it is apolitical. If we start becoming political we risk having a Dreyfuss Affair situation that seems all too ready to pop up in much of the conservative sphere.

Our policy towards China is short sighted. They gain more than us and in fact we gain very little in the long run. Every US company with any international ambition has a presence in China. When China starts its occasional saber rattling, we have to knuckle under to them. This is because our politicians are beholden to our people and our businesses. These businesses cannot survive if we were to stop relations with China. Thus we will do nothing to jeopardize relations.

China, on the other hand, is still a despotic state. If we were to call their bluff a lot of Chinese people and businesses might suffer but the ruling class will not suffer one bit. They can mow down any "students" in Tianamen Square and require the people to sacrifice more and more and they will still be in power. US politicians would be tossed out of office while their Chinese counterparts thrive.

We're married to the mob and we can't get out. China will have their way with us whenever they want to and there's little we can do about it. We should have had a Cuban-like relationship with them instead.