"The RNC convention by comparison showed signs of attrition in the ranks, with only 13% minorities, 1.5% of African American delegates, and one-third women; the Palin nomination was meant to be a course correction to excite the faithful."

"Kaufman may believe and hope that the current climate is ripe for his cheap anti-Muslim hate propaganda to be lapped up without much resistance or scrutiny. But Kaufman severely underestimates the intelligence and judgment of the American people whose values he clearly does not share."

"...the era of Internet journalism makes it more difficult for law enforcement officers to identify legitimate media representatives, the Constitution makes no distinction between those who are “accredited” and those who are not. The First Amendment protects the rights of all journalists to do their jobs, especially at political events and public protests. Reporters not only have a right to be present at such events, but they have a duty to mix with participants and to inform the public of their observations, especially how they are treated by those who have taken an oath to protect and to serve the public."

"...experience does not necessarily produce good policy instincts--in fact, in McCain’s case, he seems to have been co-opted into bad judgments by serving too long in Washington’s military-industrial-congressional complex. Observers of the elections should remain undistracted by the superficial debate on “experience” and should focus directly on the candidates’ judgment."

"Prison is not the answer. In a recent set of lectures given on behalf of the Institute for Humane Studies, Georgetown University legal scholar John Hasnas argued in favor of restitution as opposed to incarceration and statutory law. Hasnas argued that people are not necessarily reformed while in prisons and jails. They learn to be better criminals. They attach themselves to larger criminal networks. After some of the horrible experiences of prison--like prison rape, for example--still others are likely to become even more withdrawn and antisocial. The current system isn’t working."

"If a trillion dollars were simply given to those counted as poor by the federal government (37 million in 2005), it would amount to $27,000 per person. That’s $81,000 for a family of three, higher than the median income of all American families, and far greater than the poverty threshold of $15,577."

"It would be a great thing if the two political parties actually began competing to save the environment, instead of fighting each other over environmental issues."

"...the conventions are now over, the positioning of the parties is complete, and what promised to be an interesting campaign has only gotten more interesting (and, I fear, a bit nastier.)"