the weaker party

An interesting interview with a noted author and scholar on teaching etc ... Some selections: I'm strongly in favor of students knowin...

The Commission on Youth Voting and Civic Knowledge has released a report stating that "in the 2012 presidential election, only 10 perc...

A report from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on the importance of the humanities and social sciences in a democratic republic. I...

. . . which leads some to worry about the impact this might have on the ability of the people to govern themselves effectively. It seems tha...

Since the heyday of the 1960s and 70s apathy has increased and participation has decreased - especially among the young. Here's a brief ...

Just cause you're a college student doesn't mean you can't benefit from one organization's look at how the subject ought to ...

Generally I have them opened by 8am, but I want to review the assessments before I do so, so they'll be opened around noon tomorrow.

Here's the first weekly written assignment, you'll see the place to input it on Blackboard by tomorrow morning. I want to take advan...

If you're taking one of my classes, you'll start to see assignments, readings and other such things listed in the website. If you ar...

OK, I waved the suspension for this article on higher ed. I might post a few more on this topic. A school in New Hampshire rides the wave of...

I'll probable have a few items up prior to the start of class, but we'll have lot's to talk about. I'm modifying lecture not...

I stumbled across a fruitful blog post that touched on the relationship between minimum wages - along with the wages of low income workers ...

A sobering read - something to consider for your paper, and maybe your career: In a recent “60 Minutes” piece, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos ...

"Do you ever have one of those days when everything seems unconstitutional?"

Wired Magazine reports on the rule . This story is an example of rule-making by the executive branch, which is perhaps its principle power....

This is both an example of presidential checks on the judiciary as well as a year end tradition. This year it seems like the president is t...

Richard Florida discusses a recent paper which points out that large cities have done poorly in state legislatures recently - proposed legi...

Andrew Sullivan has a series of blog posts - with input form his readers - on various aspects associated with the minimum wage. These might ...

Here's a close up look at the basic proposals made to change the NSA's surveillance program: The basics: 1- End the government’s bu...

That's the title of the recently released report from the task force assembled by President Obama to make proposals for how NSA should a...

The gap has become more pronounced since the housing crash of 2008. Here's a look at why - which might help determine whether raising ...

And a preview of what you'll look through in the section on civil liberties. An Ex-Cop's Guide to Not Getting Arrested . Dale C...

From Emily Badger : Amid protests across the country over retail and service jobs that pay little better than the minimum wage, it's ...

As reported by Ellen Nakashima and Ann E. Marimow : A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency’s daily collection of v...

I'll like 3 week mini classes to read this article carefully . I'll be opening some new material on ideology - I'll try to beyo...

A section within the article mentioned in the previous post -  The Decay of American Political Institutions - deserves a separate mention. ...

Via The Dish , Francis Fukuyama tries to get at the root of dysfunction in the American governing system. This adds to a handful of writing...

Here's a link to the book referred to in the previous post. Might be worth assigning to a future class.

This touches on issues we raise in 2306 when we talk about criminal justice policy and the tendency of legislatures to try to solve certain ...

3 week students will be looking at the political history of the founding era beginning Monday, this might help tie the paper topic into that...

Here are two ways to look at it.: 1 - Graphically 2 - As a table, but you have to click here to see it . Note that the value of the ...

The minimum wage was established - along with a variety of other rules related to labor - in the Fair Labor Standards Act , a piece of New D...

In a story about rising inequality in the US - and the fact that domestic workers earn far less now than a hundred years back - this autho...

For your 1000 word critical essay - due January 3rd at noon - I'd like you to address the two questions posed above in a critical and ob...

In addition to the list for 8 week students below, 16 week students should get comfortable with these topics for the final this week: - the ...

For 16 week students - in addition to the list for the 8 week students below - here's a list that should help you focus on the test next...

And here's another book I might assign in the future - The Dish talked it up in this post . This fits with recent class discussions on...

I'm going to put this on my list of books to order for future classes. I'm still unhappy with how I cover ideology in 2305 - this bo...

The Volokh Conspiracy highlights the different approaches Washington and Jefferson took to Thanksgiving. Washington had little problem usin...

The final for the 8 week 2306 class will be opened on Blackboard on Thursday December 5 at noon and will close 24 hours later. As with the t...

The final for the 8 week 2305 class will be opened on Blackboard on Thursday December 5 at noon and will close 24 hours later. You have two ...

According to this author from Business Insider , its the major advertisers and a process in place that gives them a special role in how ad ...

Andrew Sullivan flags a report that says we've always complained about the quality of our government and have worried that things are f...

People don't seem all that upset at the demise of the filibuster . This guys wants to see it to further and have it repealed fro legisla...

Click here for a nice interactive graphic showing which states people are moving from and to. Here's the full static picture, and com...

If you have nothing better to do right now, review the respective constitutions - whichever is relevant for you class. I can promise you a g...

It has accepted a challenge to the inclusion of contraception coverage in insurance plans based on religious objections. The Supreme Cou...