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Orange Punch
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Orange Punch is a blog of political opinion from a libertarian perspective by Orange County Register editorial writers. The main bloggers are editorial writers Steven Greenhut, mostly but not exclusively on public policy issues in Orange County, and
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Civil Liberties'
Putting the Christmas crotch bomber in perspective
I’m not really all that upset that the president took so long to address the failed Christmas undie bomber, and that when he did so he was pretty vague on what is to be done. I only wish he had made more fun of him as an obvious amateur who cou...
Do Dems really benefit by passing health care?
Former Pres. Clinton is weighing in, urging congressional Dems not to miss this chance to pass health-care reform, government-takeover-style, and of course Obama, much more ideologically driven than even many of his supporters had thought, has made i...
Today is Bill of Rights Day
I confess I had forgotten — and you notice there hasn’t been much mention anywhere, given that the Bill of Rights is pretty tattered and torn and riddled with exceptions so nobody wants to be reminded of what it is supposed to be. Here...
Scaled-back health bill now seems likely to pass
It looks as if the president got to the more liberal senators and endorsed a deal with Joe Lieberman on the proposed health insurance bill. The current situation (subject to change) seems to be that the Senate bill will not include either a “pu...
Video of Neda shooting in Iran
In my column this week I referenced the shooting of Neda. Here is the video of the shooting. I warn you again in advance that it is very gruesome and hard to stomach. Click here to view the embedded video. Post from: Orange Punch...
San Diego medical marijuana dispensary owner acquitted
Jovan Jackson, owner of a medical marijuana dispensary, was acquitted yesterday of possession of medical marijuana and selling it for profit. He had been ensnared in a sting operation whereby an undercover cop lied to a doctor to get a recommendation...
Another Gitmo official quits
Even though Phillip Carter is a former WaPo staffer, this story on him resigning as asst. SecDef for detainee affairs doesn’t even pretend to try to dig for possible deeper reasons for the resignation, contenting itself with the official boiler...
S.D. Deputy DA buys medical marijuana
You’ve got to love this one! A San Diego Deputy DA in the county where trying to bust medical marijuana facilities is almost a religion to law enforcement, had to admit in court that he patronized a medical marijuana facility on the advice of h...
Obama slow on judicial nominations
Law professor Jonathan Adler over at the Volokh Conspiracy, notes that the Obama administration has been much slower nominating federal judges than the Bush administration was at a comparable point in time. As the NYT has also noted, by this point Bu...
Greg Craig out as White House counsel
White House counsel Gregory Craig has resigned and he will be replaced by — are you ready? — Bob Bauer who is President Obama’s personal lawyer. The general impression you get from most of the news stories is that nobody was satisfi...
Can marijuana help autism?
Here’s a touching story from a mother whose experience — after trying any number of prescription drugs — is pretty sure that marijuana has alleviated — not cured, but alleviated and improved — her son’s autism. But...
Italy convicts CIA agents in absentia
A judge in Italy has convicted 23 Americans, mostly CIA employees, in absentia for whisking a suspected jihadist leader, one Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, off the streets of Milan in 2003 and sending him to Egypt for questioning, where he claims he was ...
30th anniversary of Iran hostage crisis highlights shakiness of regime (maybe)
Today [Wednesday] is the 30th anniversary of the day some radical students invaded the U.S. embassy in Tehran, leading to the 444-day hostage crisis that contributed greatly to the defeat of Jimmy Carter by Ronald Reagan and changed the landscape in ...
Read the bills? Why not read the Constitution?
Hard to resist a title like that, which came not from me but from Cato’s Gene Healy, author of the almost indispensable book, “The Cult of the Presidency,” which chronicles the growth of arbitrary presidential power through the reig...
