the weaker party

Need a few extra points on your final? Block walk this week for Chris Peden this Saturday and write up a one page summary of what you did. ...

Here's some intriguing history on the relationship between marriage and government . Marriage did not always need the stamp of approval ...

A thought crime bill is introduced in Congress .

Grover Norquist proposes an amendment limiting family succession in elected office . Is this really necessary? And is he just trying to keep...

Print media woes continue. The Houston Chronicle, under the radar, announces a reduction of 10% of its staff . Here's another link . W...

The Alternative Minimum Tax has been in the news because it is estimated to affect up to 25 million taxpayers next year. It was originally...

Terms, concepts etc... public policy the public policy process constitutional issues economic policy making the prerequisites for a market e...

The following should help you on the next test. Please try to be familiar with these terms and concepts prior to our upcoming classes. freed...

Is the growing gap between the poor and wealthy a fitting subject for public policy? Perhaps its more important to ask whether the nature of...

in 2301, when we cover public opinion polls well discuss push polls . These are campaign ploys designed to expose respondents, who think th...

Here's an interesting back and forth between Gary Becker and Richard Posner on China's slow embrace of private property--or what p...

Federal Judge Richard Posner argues that they cannot . For prosecutors and detectives, success is measured by arrests, convictions and sent...

This is a bit late for our discussion of the courts, but Grits for Breakfast tells us the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has OK'ed th...

From the Financial Times comes a story regarding Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ). They tell us the following: A fascina...

While the web continues to grow, the number of newspapers--and newspaper reporters--continues to decline. Grits for Breakfast tells us that ...

Some posts in the Ethical Blogger underscore the unique impact of the web on politics and political evolution overall. The first points out ...

A controversy brewing among New York Times editorialists touches on the southern strategy which we've touched on in 2301. The controv...

Speaking of grand juries, Barry Bonds finds himself on the wrong side of one . The charges are perjury and obstruction of justice. The charg...

We touched on grand juries in class, much more so than I normally do. That sometimes means that have to dust off cobwebs on the spot. Some q...

We've been comparing the lawyers marching in Pakistan with the monks in Myanmar. I still think the sight of marching lawyers just seems ...

I let the conflict over the Mukasey nomination slip without comment, but wanted to get some links up for posterity. His nomination raised ...

Here's a great opportunity to get involved in the political process. Dean Hrbacek is competing for the Republican nomination for the 22n...

Due to my illness Monday I'm postponing test 3, scheduled for the Wednesday the 13 th and Thursday the 14 th for my 16 week lecture cl...

Now that Democrats are the majority party in Congress, they receive the bulk of the political contributions from political action committee...

Pork trumps politics . Of course one person's pork project is another person's floodgate, so we should curb our cynicism. Is this an...

I've been trying to be more clear in lectures about what liberal and conservative decisions look like. One distinction has to do with ci...

George Will has written an update on the ongoing dispute over the nature of congressional war powers . He supports an resolution introduced ...

Given events in Pakistan and scenario I drew up for something similar happening today, here's something from The Writer's Almanac . ...

The idea makes more and more sense to me the longer I think it over. Why not give kids a monetary incentive to perform well (or at least bet...

I've decided to make all of the written tests available now. You'll see links in the usual place. Hopefully this will allow you to a...

Our boy Ron Paul set a single day fundraising record for a Republican presidential candidate. $4.2 million, all on line . Here's the sit...

Sci-Guy wonders if and when humans will be able to marry robots . This is what happens when guys can't get dates. Should someone in the ...

Both alcohol proposals pass in Brazoria County. Here are l ocal results from the chron . Statewide results from the Texas Secretary of Sta...

One of the more interesting aspects of the continuing investigation of Blackwater International, for me, is contained in this story about t...

This doesn't fit the technical definition of a coup , though it is worth remembering that this is how Pakistani leader Pervez Mucharaff...

President Bush may face his first veto override next week. It concerns his recent veto of a $23 billion water construction bill that includ...

When we covered the bureaucracy we discussed the concept of agency capture, the tendency of a bureaucratic agency to become captured by the,...

Here's a great example of the importance of procedural limits on the power of government. A Florida judge has thrown out the evidence f...

The issue of public prayers has been raised again, this time in Pearland before meeting of the Pearland Independent School District board ...

As mentioned below, Brazoria County voters will decide whether wine can be sold in stores across the county and mixed drinks in restaurants...

One vote can make a difference, or in this case two. But it is a very unique situation . We need to spend time next week figuring out wh...

Conveniently enough, just as we are beginning to discuss elections in 2301, a real live election day is upon us. I'm still unsure about ...

Here are a couple of posts which touch on President Bush's influence on the future direction of the court due to his appointment of Robe...

Since we are covering the courts in 2302 we should pay attention to these current cases: 1-Until the Supreme Court rules whether death by le...

In light of the video I showed in a couple of classes Monday about government outreach efforts for schizophrenics-- from The Onion --Wired a...

A story in Wired Magazine from three years ago details how GIS (geographic information systems) have been integrated with elections allowi...

If some of feel you are wasting your time in my classroom, you may have company. Here's the link , here's the full article: George L...

Here's an idea. 1-Write down your ideological position. Do you consider yourself to be liberal, conservative, moderate or what? 2- Take ...

Or at least I would if it worked the way it was supposed to. More on that later, but I find it interesting that the nature of the electoral ...

In case you were wondering what all the excitement was about October 15 th , it was blog action day 2007. As best as I can tell, it was an e...

An interesting dialogue between Jordan and Jan has kicked up and hope they both continue, with help from some of you. Jordan states the foll...

Here are the class averages for the three re-tests we took today. Remember that this is after we reviewed the test Monday--the one you took...

The editor of the Jena Times, writing in the Christian Science Monitor, takes the national media to task for basing its stories about the re...

Althouse makes an interesting observation about recent poll results suggesting that a third of Republicans would support a third party can...

Electoral design in the US Constitution -terms -method -constituency dilemma: tyranny of the majority indirect elections -republic di...

Terms to know: U.S. Constitution, Article 3 checks and balances judicial review evolution of the court jurisdiction -original -appel...

Here are some unique scenes, with political content, from Seattle: A dated sign, outside the first Starbucks by the way, stating that stre...

Here a few stories on the news, some directly relate to upcoming lecture topics: Last week's Time Magazine's cover story was on, wha...

If you are in one of my Monday - Wednesday classes, you might want to take the trouble to come to class tomorrow and/or Wednesday. We will ...

I've graded test two. Here are the averages for each section: GOVT 2301-01: 47 GOVT 2301-03: 57 GOVT 2302-01: 57.8 GOVT 2302-03: 69.2 I...

Perhaps the most ominous news of this week was when the first baby boomer applied for Social Security benefits . The press is calling the up...

As expected, President Bush vetoed the expansion of SCHIP . The New York Times tells us: In some ways, the outcome of today’s vote was not s...

That's where I will be til Thursday. I'll still check my emails though. Wednesday class tests will be given in the Learning Lab at r...

Conditions apply, but if you are free November 6 give Kevin Murphy a call. 281-648-7711 ext. 14 It pays $8 an hour. If you have class th...

Here is a comment sent from one of your fellow students in full: hey, i've looked in the book and online and i can't really find ...

Every few years a provocative book is written stating why we need a new Constitution. Here is Larry Sabato's contribution to the litera...

A couple of questions have been raised in recent classes that I didn't have proper answers for and would like to begin to address these ...

We're number one! (OK, number three , but we can dream.) Only two states get more in federal spending than Texas. Nothing new in that--t...

Two current controversies in Iraq provide current examples of federalism. The first is its structure and whether a federal, rather than unit...