Friday, June 27, 2008

Hardy taking questions on Heller

Dave Hardy, counsel of record for Academics for the Second Amendment's brief on DC vs Heller, is taking questions about the case and its implications, on the AZ Star's website, live, right now.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Why being an ideologue makes one stupid.

Czechvar, aka "Budweiser Budvar", is an above-average lager, produced by a state-owned enterprise.

Likewise, Arizona Highways is produced by the state Department of Transportation, and is one of the better travel magazines.

As Emerson wrote, a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Hmm...I thought that Senators were popularly elected...

I'm teaching--the dreaded Physics 102--for the first time since the passage of a bill mandating the display of the US Constitution in every public (state) classroom in Arizona. I've thus finally had a look at the posters that were tacked up in response to the bill.

The document they present is a strange one: by any interpretation it:

  1. Has the second-place finisher in the electoral college become vice-president,
  2. Defers the slavery question until 1808,
  3. Does not prohibit state abridgement of due process,
  4. Requires the indirect election of Senators,
  5. and places no restriction on Congressional passage of pay raises.


Yes, this Constitution is missing all but ten amendments, including the all-important Fourteenth. What sort of civic knowledge was this supposed to foster?