OUYAs continue to roll off the assembly line and into the living rooms of early Kickstarter backers eager to get their hands on the unconventional Android console. Meanwhile, Soul Fjord, an OUYA exclusive title, has just been announced. … Read More
UN Sanctioned Congo "Intervention Brigades" Complement US Africa Strategy
Maurice Carney: 3,000 member force intervention will further militarize Congo; US has power to sanction rebel-backers Rwanda and Uganda, but will not because they are allies in American AFRICOM strategy … Read More
Rep. Mike Rogers: ‘Significant improvements’ to CISPA over privacy concerns
Backers of a cybersecurity bill which stalled in Congress last year offered changes in an effort to ease concerns of privacy and civil liberties activists. The two top lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee said the panel would meet Wednesday to vote on the Cyber Intelligence and Sharing…
SCOTUS Won’t Make Gay Marriage a Constitutional Right: Damon Root on Prop. 8 Oral Arguments
“The Supreme Court seems to think that the backers of
[California's] Proposition 8 don’t have the standing to bring this
case, which would send the case back to the district courts,” says
Reason’s Damon Root, who attended today’s oral arguments
for one of the most-watched cases in years.
Hollingsworth v. Perry deals with a ;ballot
initiative ;passed with 52 percent of the vote in 2008 that
bars ;the Golden State from recognizing same-sex
marriage. ;”That would mean one of two things: We could have
gay marriage in California but nowhere else, or the ruling could be
limited just to the two same-sex couples that brought the
case.”
Root, who writes
frequently about legal issues, sat down with Reason
magazine’s Matt Welch to discuss how he thinks the justices will
rule based on today’s proceedings.
Click above to watch the video, or click below for downloadable
versions. View this article.
… Read More
How the Supreme Court could avoid ruling on gay marriage
The highly anticipated Supreme Court rulings on Proposition 8 and DOMA could wind up being a big let-down for gay marriage advocates, if the Court decides that it lacks standing to decide whether or not each law is constitutional.Each case, set for arguments before the court Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, presents for the Justices the issue of standing – the determination of whether or not a party has a proper stake to bring the case before the Court.In the case of Proposition 8, California’s ballot measure that banned gay marriage, the Justices will consider whether supporters of the law have standing to bring the case by virtue of their sponsorship of the ballot measure. Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they do.But if the Supreme Court decides that Prop 8 backers lack standing, it means that the highest court does not have the jurisdiction to decide the case. It would also, in turn, vacate the Ninth Circuit’s decision, since the backers of the ban were the only party that brought an appeal.Most likely, then, the decision would kick back to the District Court level, and Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling, that Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment, would stand.Continue Reading… … Read More
Rand Paul: Could He Actually Win? Five Reason Say “Yes”
The post-filibuster rise of Rand Paul from weirdo maverick to
soul of the Republican Party continues as
Politico asks the question: could this guy actually
win his party’s presidential nomination? And answers with a, we
can’t see why not!
The five reasons:
He has a stronger organization than any other
Republican
Paul starts with a built-in base of libertarians that comprises
at least 10 percent of the GOP electorate, and his boosters have
made tremendous inroads in state parties around the country.
They may be a minority, but they are a devoted one. Paul
supporters will drive farther and work harder than any other 2016
contender’s core backers. They also tend to be younger and engaged
on social media and the blogosphere in ways that people who support
someone of the older generation like, say, Jeb Bush are not….
He’s perceived as principled
Grass-roots conservatives in the early states loathe career
politicians as much as ever. There’s a real appetite for someone
who doesn’t always do the politically prudent thing.
The filibuster was a seminal moment not because it changed the
conversation on drones but because it showed that Paul cared so
deeply about something that he was willing to not urinate for 13
hours….
His dad’s nickname was Dr. No, and the younger Paul has a
similar voting record. Paul consistently opposes spending bills,
which means that he cannot be attacked in 2016 like Rick Santorum
was in the 2012 debates for supporting earmarks. Paul backs a
balanced budget amendment, term limits and even returned money to
the treasury that he did not spend from his office budget.
He’s more cautious than voters realize
Paul often speaks carefully and gives nuanced answers. It’s an
acknowledgment of sorts that if he wants to be a mainstream leader
of the party, he needs to be careful about offending large swaths
of Republicans.
His immigration speech is a case in point. An early draft
obtained by The Associated Press prompted the wire to report that
he would endorse a “path to citizenship,” but when Paul delivered
his speech, he avoided that term…
On other issues, Paul takes a states-rights federalist approach.
He thinks states should decide whether to allow medicinal
marijuana, for example.
On CNN Tuesday, he talked up his support for “life” but dodged
when pressed by Wolf Blitzer on what specific exceptions he
supports for abortion. (He introduced a bill last week that would
say life begins at conception.) At the same time, Paul has rankled
some social conservatives with his position on gay marriage.
“I’m an old-fashioned traditionalist. I believe in the historic
and religious definition of marriage,” he told National Review last
week. “That being said, I’m not for eliminating contracts between
adults. I think there are ways to make the Tax Code more neutral so
it doesn’t mention marriage.”
He appears to have fewer skeletons than his
father
…..Barring a surprise, opponents have nowhere near the volume
of material on Rand Paul, a benefit of spending most of his adult
life on the periphery of politics….
He can play the inside game in a way his dad never
could
After introducing several bills during his first two years in
the Senate that went nowhere, Paul has become a more savvy
legislator.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the alliance he has formed
with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who backed Paul’s GOP
primary opponent in 2010. Paul’s campaign manager that year, Jesse
Benton, is ;now
running ;McConnell’s 2014 reelection effort.
After a rough start during his campaign, Paul has become adept
with the media. He kept the buzz around his filibuster going for
days with a series of interviews and events.
And he has taken pains to brand his foreign policy ideas as
within the GOP mainstream. In a recent speech, he described himself
as an heir to Ronald Reagan when it comes to national security — “a
realist,” Paul said, “not a neoconservative, nor an
isolationist.”….
This longtime libertarian movement watcher has an ingrained
cautiousness about declaring the electorate at large is ready to
embrace someone as libertarian as Paul. I detailed
my own version of the challenges Paul faces on his way to
national success last week.
I think the economy is key–the more the next 3 years indicate
that Paulite fears of the real consequences of profligate debt and
monetary policy are real, the more voters might be willing to
embrace what would be, to most, a wrenching change in the direction
of fiscal probity and government acting within its means.
That’s a general election problem–as far as winning the GOP
base, it feels better for Paul, especially since the Party will
have no hometeam need to embrace ever-expansionist foreign policy
as its own thing–like with the drone filibuster, they can be for
peace and a return to a strictly defensive foreign policy posture
and be against Obama and the Democratic Party. On all the other
things Republicans are supposed to want, Rand Paul is solid. … Read More
Signing Up for ObamaCare’s Insurance Exchanges: As Complex As Doing Your Taxes?
The administration has touted ObamaCare’s health insurance
exchanges as a way to simplify the process of signing up for health
insurance. A White House page ;dedicated ;to
the health care law says the exchanges “will make buying health
insurance easy.”
Turns out it may not be so easy after all.
The Associated Press
obtained a draft application for ObamaCare’s health insurance
exchanges — the primary vehicles for the law’s coverage expansion
and health insurance subsidies. ;Guess what? It’s pretty
complicated. The current draft runs has 21 steps and runs 15 pages
for a three person family. “At least three major federal
agencies,” the AP reports, “including the IRS, will scrutinize your
application. Checking your identity, income and citizenship is
supposed to happen in real time, if you apply online.”
And that’s just the application for the subsidies. After
that, you’ll still have to pick a plan. ;”Once
you’re finished with the money part, actually picking a health plan
will require additional steps, plus a basic understanding of
insurance jargon,” the AP says. ;
If anything, finding insurance through ObamaCare’s insurance
sounds like it will probably be even more complex than most methods
for purchasing insurance now. The AP report opens by suggesting
that the application process could be “as daunting as doing
your taxes.” Indeed, it’s complex enough enough that even
ObamaCare’s backers don’t like it, and are worried it could
undermine the law’s effectiveness. Ron Pollack, the director of
Families USA and a supporter of the president’s health law,
decscribes the current application draft as “enormously time
consuming and complex” and warns that ;”will be
difficult for many people to be able to complete.” ;
The practical complexities of implementing ObamaCare
continue to pile up. The same White House web page that says the
exchanges will make health insurance purchases easy for individuals
also says that ;”small business owners will be
able to offer their employees a range of plans from different
insurers just like big employers do.” What it doesn’t mention is
that the Department of Health and Human Services recently proposed
delaying the part of the small business exchange that allows small
employers to offer a choice of plans
due to the “challenges to effective implementation.” Basically,
insurers said that it would require too much time and effort to set
up by the original deadline.
;All of which is to say that, so far,
implementing ObamaCare is a mess for the government, a mess for
insurers, a mess for insurers — and, it looks like, a mess for many
of us. ; … Read More
