Sunday, November 25, 2007

No To President Giuliani

Republican voters, I know Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Giuliani is no friend of mine. Republican voters, you do not want Mr. Giuliani as your president.

Positions he has held, and from which he is now retreating, offend the Republican base. Take for example his support of gun control, abortion rights and gay rights. When I lived in New York City, I supported Mr. Giuliani for mayor because I as well as many gun rights supporters believed he would relax New York City’s restrictive gun licensing regime. Here are some simple things Mr. Giuliani could have done, but he did not: (1) Reduce the time within which the city must deny or grant a pistol permit (2) Reduce the application fee (3) Extend the life of a pistol permit (4) Reduce the burden of buying additional pistols (5) Eliminate the need to go to police headquarters to have each new pistol looked at by a police official (6) Relax the conditions under which the city may grant a full carry permit.

Mr. Giuliani has also been selling himself as an aggressive tax cutter, but has he always been that? Many of us may not recall that during one NY election for governor, Mr. Giuliani endorsed the incumbent liberal governor, Mr. Cuomo over the liberal Republican challenger, George Pataki. As a reason for his endorsement, Mr. Giuliani cited what he would consider Mr. Pataki’s too ambitious plans for tax cuts.

Here is Mr. Giuliani in his own words.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

US Supreme Court Should Televise the DC Gun Case

The Supreme Court has announced it will hear the DC gun case. This will be one of the biggest case in the history of the Court, since it will be the second time the Court will hear arguments on the scope of the Second Amendment. In the earlier opinion (1939), the Court did not say if the Second Amendment confers an individual or collective right to own firearms. With such an important case, it is a given that millions would want to be present for oral arguments, but the Court is unable to accommodate those millions. Television can accommodate those millions, and thus the Court should televise the proceedings.

The District brought the case to the Supreme Court after the US Courts of Appeals for DC found that DC handgun ban violates the Second Amendment. Read the Appeals Court opinion here.

Sure, the Court does not allow cameras, but given the share importance of this case, it should make an exception.

The Court might demur by saying it does not want to set a precedent. But, are there still unresolved Bill of Rights issues that are as contentious as the gun issue? There might be, but they would probably arise in another one hundred years, so the court need not worry about setting a precedent.

Brown v. Board of Education was perhaps the most recent case that would have warranted televising.