Random Blogging
Settling Scores and Legislating Badly
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 29th, 2012
To this day, despite my aging memory, I can still vividly recall my law school Income Tax class–and not just because it was taught by the legendary Larry Jegen. The class was my first introduction to the phenomenon of laws like the one Jegen called “the crazy cousin rule.” This otherwise inexplicable provision, written in [...]
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I Couldn’t Have Said It Better
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 26th, 2012
Every so often, someone will come across my first book–”What’s a Nice Republican Girl Like Me Doing at the ACLU?”–and will express surprise that I was once a Republican. That happened the other day, and I tried to explain how different the party I belonged to for so long–35 years!–was from the party they see [...]
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Another Kind of Polarization?
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 23rd, 2012
In a column justt before the South Carolina primary, David Brooks relayed a number of conversations with Republican primary voters. His treatment of them was what one might expect of the always civil Brooks–sympathetic and respectful. But one line in particular struck me. After commenting on the nostalgia expressed by several voters, Brooks noted that such [...]
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Polarization as Strategy
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 21st, 2012
Matt Yglesias had a very interesting post yesterday about the recent SOPA debate, and the success of opponents to that legislation. He made five points, and it would be hard to argue with any of them: money counts, but once you have enough resources to communicate, having more money doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll win the [...]
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Raining on Indianapolis’ Parade
Posted by Sheila Kennedy in Random Blogging on January 19th, 2012
I don’t care for sports–especially football–and I wasn’t all that thrilled when Indianapolis won the right to host the Super Bowl. But you would have to be even more testosterone-challenged than I am not to recognize the benefits to our City that come with the selection: the local infrastructure improvements, the civic spirit, the amount [...]
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