Civil Liberties

I’m hearing a bit of a buzz about this new law the General Assembly just passed about requiring a doctor’s note or a parent’s signature every other visit to a tanning bed for minors. My first thought was also as some are making this out, “More anti-business legislation.” But then, it’s really a decision on…

I figured I’d take some backlash for my post supporting the bill that would ban smoking in cars with young children. Even Justin offered his own criticisms. After having a few days to think about it all, I’m going to stick to my guns and try to respond. It seems that one of the common…

Wow is that slope slippery! Reading of Patrick’s support for laws to adults for smoking in the car with children present makes me wonder two things. First, how common is the problem? I wouldn’t even be comfortable asserting that “we’ve all seen” an example. Personally, I can’t think of an example in the past decade…

So here we go with the libertarianism again. The way I understand it, being a libertarian means that my rights end where yours begin and vice versa. Nothing I do should harm you and the same in return. So this is one place where the nanny state seems to be a good idea, especially when…

… yes, even the self-described “stickler about church and state separation”, Jim Baron, says it’s a war memorial. But the war memorial at Place Jolicoeur is different — materially, qualitatively and significantly different. It is different because it is not a religious symbol at all. Cross or no cross, it is not a religious symbol,…

The court decision most relevant to the Woonsocket’s war memorial that displays a cross isn’t the Cranston West prayer banner decision, it is the 2010 Salazar vs. Buono Supreme Court decision. The original issue in Salazar was whether the Federal Government could transfer to a private owner a parcel of land within the Mojave National…

A top priority for liberals inside of government has become responding to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United vs. FEC ruling, which prohibits government from banning political speech by corporations when the speech is independent of a campaign organization. Possible responses have come in two flavors. One response (endorsed by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse at the…

Some readers have questioned my conservative credibility, and that’s fine, no worries there. We’re all somewhere on the spectrum. However, the philosophical spectrum isn’t just bi-directionally linear. There are other forks in the road in different directions from being conservative or liberal, and one is libertarianism. I won’t claim to be a staunch or strict…

Legislation under review in the General Assembly targets national organizations but has local groups fearing their speech (and donations) will be chilled. EXCERPTS: Providence (Ocean State Current) – The political stars appear out of line when RI Right to Life stands with the ACLU against a campaign finance reform proposal from Common Cause. Yet, there…