USS Clueless posts about the importance of juries and declining protections for defendants in the U.K. It’s important to remember that juries are an important protection against a tyrannical state.
About Gary Leff
Today is Bastille
Today is Bastille Day which commemmorates the storming of the Bastille and the overthrow of the French monarchy. Consider a picnic which includes French wine. Personally, I am going to mark the occasion by reading about wines that I cannot afford on a regular basis — Chateua Y’quem, the world’s finest white wine and the greatest wine I’ve ever tasted; and three of the five “first growths” of Bordeaux: Chateau Margaux Chateau Latour Chataeu Haut-Brion
TAPPED is doing
TAPPED is doing quite a job spotting factual errors in Ann Coulter’s book Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right. Scoobie really plays it up. Now, Coulter doesn’t seem to be a Michael Bellesiles — but she ought to acknowledge her errors. They matter. Coulter’s argument is that the tenor of discourse is different for liberals than it is for conservatives — that conservatives use facts and logic while liberals scream, rant, and engage in character assassination. Sloppy facts undermine her argument. The truth is that “both” sides see the other as evil or stupid. If only one’s opponents would give logic a chance they would see the error of their ways! Conservatives, like liberals, need to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves about their discourse. (I’m not the first right-of-center person…
A brand new, best-ever bonus
A brand new, best-ever bonus for signing up for the Starwood American Express. Up to 10,000 bonus miles in the first year of card membership — 4k with your first purchase, 1k for your first hotel stay at a Starwood property, and 500 bonus points for each of the next 10 stays in the first year. First year of card membership remains free, with a $30 fee thereafter. This is a richer offer than the old offer, which didn’t include the 4000 points for making a first purchase. This is the best mileage-earning card. First, because Starwood (W, Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis) is a great hotel program and there are no capacity controls on awards — if there’s a hotel room open, it’s yours. Second, because your points convert 1:1 (as opposed to 5:1 with…
Doctors-only deal. Healthfusion.com
Doctors-only deal. Healthfusion.com offers American Airlines miles for submitting claims and insurance eligibility inquiries on-line.
Enter this sweepstakes
Enter this sweepstakes and get 500 Goldpoints.
Here’s a tip that’s really
Here’s a tip that’s really a two-fer: First of all, it’s worth signing up for Travelocity Fare Watcher. You list city pairs customized to your needs and they e-mail you when the fare changes. That way you can nab the best fares for your upcoming itineraries. Second, after you book your itinerary it’s still worth checking those emails that Travelocity sends you. That’s because if a fare drops after you have already purchased your tickets (that is, if a cheaper fare is available for your specific itinerary), you should call the airline — they will give you a credit voucher for the difference. Bet you didn’t know that, huh? 🙂
Andrew Sullivan notes
Andrew Sullivan notes “AND NOW THEY WANT OUR COFFEE: The puritanical left – having tried to take away our booze, porn, and cigarettes – is now after our lattes. Okay, guys, this is serious.” I’ll leave the legal questions (about whether Berkeley can restrict trade in this manner) to law professors at The Volokh Conspiracy and Instapundit. My personally selfish reaction is that fair trade coffee is more expensive than and doesn’t taste as good as the coffee that I enjoy. I think that is more important than most people will give credit to. Enjoyable products at a low price matter However, it isn’t morally persuasive if my latte creates misery for others. The truth is, though, that “fair wages” isn’t as simple as proposition as its proponents would contend. We can’t simply decide that…
Quare notes a
Quare notes a strange legal conundrum. It’s illegal to engage non-District of Columbia residents to circulate petitions in DC (so noone from Virginia or Maryland), but it’s also illegal to advertise the fact that it’s illegal — because that would be discriminatory. Seems highly wasteful and inefficient.
This frightens me. The sitemeter
This frightens me. The sitemeter button at the bottom of the page will take you to this website’s statistics. I’m not the most frequently visited site in the world, but I make all of my stats available to the world. So, I was checking the stats the morning. One of the things available is the referring page. That is, where did a visitor come from if they clicked on a link? Apparently I got a hit this morning from someone doing a google search: “Is Bernie Ebbers a Jew?” This scares me. I don’t know what the Worldcom scandal could possibly have to do with religion, but there sure are bigots out there in the world. I’m really sad this morning.
