The U.S. Supreme Court may have been correct today in overturning laws, and its own past decisions, limiting spending by corporations to support or oppose federal candidates. Though supporters of campaign-finance laws question how unlimited spending is a free-speech right, it can take money to get out a message. But the result of the 5-4 ruling could be costly, with even more money pouring into politics.
The only real surprise about the news of former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards having fathered a child with a former mistress is that he finally admitted it. Edwards repeatedly had denied that he was the father. But an aide who’d claimed to be the father is getting ready to release a tell-all book. Edwards is also still under investigation about whether he used campaign money to cover up the affair.
“Why does the term ‘circular firing squad’ seem to pop up after every Democratic defeat?” wrote columnist E.J. Dionne. “Those Democrats whose mistakes led to this fiasco know who they are. If they don’t take responsibility and instead just try to shift all the blame to someone else, they will prove themselves unprepared for the work they now have to do to get their party out of this hole.”
But columnist Eugene Robinson disagreed with “overheated commentary that this was the end of the world.” Robinson wrote: “From the Democratic Party’s point of view, losing the Senate supermajority can’t be construed as a net positive. But being left with an 18-vote majority isn’t usually the sort of thing that throws a party into abject despair.”
Though many lawmakers seem to be afraid to even talk about eliminating sales-tax exemptions, Wichita blogger and free-market advocate Bob Weeks supports the idea. He argues that eliminating exemptions would simplify the tax system and increase its transparency and neutrality. “This reform would be a good thing to do even if we’re not in a tight budget year with legislators desperately looking for revenue or savings,” Weeks wrote.
The word out of a Kansas House hearing Tuesday was that the best means to passing a ban on texting while driving would be a stand-alone bill, rather than a measure that doubles as a primary seat-belt law or makes other changes. “If you stick all this other stuff in there you’re going to lose support,” said House Transportation Committee Chairman Gary Hayzlett, R-Lakin. Three law enforcement agencies and even cell-phone companies support the ban, which would bar all drivers from using wireless devices to send text messages after July 1 and impose a $100 fine as of July 1, 2011. Kansas Peace Officers Association lobbyist Ed Klumpp had a good answer for those who question whether a texting ban is enforceable: “If you’re sitting there holding your cell phone and you’re doing a lot of typing on that thing and you’re never putting it to your ear and your lips are never moving, we in law enforcement call that a clue.”
“In 2009, the FBI reported a 20 percent decrease in the number of people robbing banks. There was, however, a huge increase in the number of banks robbing people.” — Jimmy Fallon
“The Shady Lady brothel in Nevada has a 25-year-old man named Marcus, and he’s become the first legal male prostitute in American history. Well, the first one not elected to the United States Senate, of course.” — Jay Leno
