General Links

On political contributors.

On the middle class.

The Daily Show on religious freedom.

Links for Interesting Reading

1. NYT, "Can States Fix Their Pension Problems?"

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/can-states-fix-their-pension-problems/

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pension adviser, David Crane, recently told a state Senate hearing on pension reform, “One cannot both be a progressive and be opposed to pension reform. The math is irrefutable that the losers from excessive and unfunded pensions are precisely the programs progressive Democrats tend to applaud. Those programs are being driven out of existence by rising pension costs.”

2. 9th Circuit decision (Harper v. Poway, 445 F.3d 1166 (2005)) on academic free speech--no longer citable, but the dissent is worth reading:

http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/445/445.F3d.1166.html

Judge Kosinski: "Tolerance is a civic virtue, but not one practiced by all members of our society toward all others. This may be unfortunate, but it is a reality we must accept in a pluralistic society."

Judge Kosinski: "We are taught to take pride in who we are; it is, in a sense, the American way. It seems particularly chilling to free expression to restrain speech that expresses pride in one's own religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc."

"[The government] has no such authority to license one side of a debate to fight freestyle, while requiring the other to follow Marquis of Queensberry rules." -- See R.A.V. v. City of Saint Paul, 505 U.S. 377, 392 (1992)

Note: the picture above is of Judge Kosinski and I.  

Shameless Self-Promotion

Recently, I was featured in some publications. I wanted to put the links in one place, and this blog seemed like a good place. So, without further ado, if you are interested in SCU lawyers and what it's like to coach youth basketball, you might like the following links:

http://law.scu.edu/sclaw/spring-2010-private-practice.cfm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27008818/Daily-Journal

http://ucdavismagazine.ucdavis.edu/issues/sp10/letters.html#letter_9

http://proxyexchange.org/barrister_program [current as of 1/2011]

Describing himself as philosophically Jeffersonian, Matthew [Rafat] is passionate about economics. It is not the theories or the personalities that draw him. It is the issues: "What concerns me now is that so many people in the U.S. seem to have lost their capacity for long term planning, delayed gratification, and sacrifice for future generations. At the end of the day, capitalistic systems rely on a fragile balance of supply and demand; thus, they only work if most people are honest, reasonable, and prudent, and they work best when economic transactions are transparent."

Links

Here are some random links:

http://secondopinions.blogspot.com

http://persinfo.blogspot.com

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202436271998

http://atexasdefender.blogspot.com/

The quotes below are from "A Texas Defender's" website:

That flag flying over the courthouse, means that certain things are set in stone. Who we are, what we'll do, and what we won't. - Bruce Springsteen

As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say. I just watch what they do. - Andrew Carnegie

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion. - Abraham Lincoln

In matters of style, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock. - Thomas Jefferson

Let us dare to read, think, speak and write. - John Adams, 1765

Linkfest

Some interesting links:

http://www.feer.com/tales/

http://blogs.findlaw.com/courtside/

http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/harass/BREADTH.HTM

Commonwealth Club

Some great websites re: the Commonwealth Club I recently found:

http://commonwealthlit.blogspot.com [Broken link]

http://weimarworld.blogspot.com [Still works as of March 2018]

http://commonwealthclub.blogspot.com [Outdated link]

Here's an interesting anti-regulation website:

http://overlawyered.com/

And an economics-related one:

http://delong.typepad.com