Universal Childhood Suffrage
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry argues for abolishing the minimum voting age and letting kids vote "when they decide they want the vote." Matt Yglesias seconds the emotion. Gobry's argument is long and largely defies excerpting. It boils down to: Setting maturity at 18 is arbitrary. Kids will grow up and face the consequences of current policy decisions, so should have some say over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on May 11, 2008 09:00
Wilders Film ‘Fitna’ Incites Muslims
Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has debuted a new film that compares Islam to fascism. No rioting has yet ensued. Iran and Indonesia on Friday condemned a film by a Dutch lawmaker that accuses the Koran of inciting violence, while Dutch Muslim leaders urged restraint. Islam critic Geert Wilders launched his movie on Thursday evening. Titled "Fitna", an Arabic term sometimes translated ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 28, 2008 09:09
The Passport Story
Via the AP: Clinton Says Her Passport File BreachedSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice has told Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that her passport file was breached in 2007 In a statement from her Senate office, Clinton said she had been contacted by Rice. The State Department plans to brief Clinton's staff Friday about the unauthorized breach. The development came just hours after ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 21, 2008 11:45
Is John McCain a ‘Natural-Born Citizen’?
John McCain was born on a U.S. Navy base overseas. The NYT's Carl Hulse has an interesting article about whether McCain is Constitutionally eligible to be president. Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 28, 2008 08:51
Obama Wins Global Primary
As if Hillary Clinton needed any more bad news, Barack Obama is now winning primaries outside the United States. Barack Obama won the Democrats Abroad global primary in results announced Thursday, giving him 11 straight victories in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Illinois senator won the primary in which Democrats living in other countries voted by Internet, ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 21, 2008 15:28
Military Strained Not Broken
A joint study of field grade officers by Foreign Policy and the Center for a New American Security finds that the toll of two wars has been a major strain on the American military but that it is not broken and morale remains high. These officers see a military apparatus severely strained by the grinding demands of war. Sixty percent ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 19, 2008 13:03
Why Give Drivers’ Licenses to Illegals?
Jim Harper has a good post up on Cato regarding the debate over whether illegal immigrants should have driver's licenses.The right answer here isn’t obvious, but it is important. Many people believe that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be “rewarded” with drivers’ licenses. Fair enough: the rule of law is important. There’s also a theory that denying illegal immigrants “benefits” like driver licensing ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 4, 2008 11:25
Jose Padilla Gets 17 Years
Jose Padilla, a/k/a Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for crimes unrelated to those for which he was arrested six years ago. Convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with al-Qaida to blow up a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a major city, was sentenced Tuesday 17 years and four months in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 22, 2008 12:06
Huckabee Would NOT End Birthright Citizenship (Updated)
Mike Huckabee wants to overturn the 14th Amendment, the Washington Times reports. Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced. Mr. Huckabee, who won last week's Republican Iowa caucuses, promised ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 8, 2008 14:31
Race Riots and Assimilation
Over at The Glittering Eye, Dave Schuler extends the argument he's made in the comments of my tongue-in-cheek post on the fact that the media continues to ignore the ethnic-religious component of the rioting in France. He argues that the problem goes beyond religion and is ultimately about assimilation and "giving the descendants of immigrants a stake ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 27, 2007 15:35
