Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.

Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:

Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.

Mr. Steele.”

Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”

Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”

Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”

Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”

Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”

Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.

Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:

Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.

Mr. Steele.”

Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”

Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”

Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”

Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”

Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”

Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.

Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:

Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.

Mr. Steele.”

Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”

Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”

Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”

Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”

Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”

Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).

This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.

Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).

This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.

Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).

This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.