RIP Jack LaLanne 1914-2011

The last time I saw Jack LaLanne was about three years ago and I knew he could beat the crap out of me. He was a living example of what he preached and a nice man to boot, with a great sense of humor.

Just before he had heart valve surgery in 2009 at age 95, Jack Lalanne told his family that dying would wreck his image, his publicist Ariel Hankin said at the time.

His wife, Elaine, is also a wonderful example of living healthy.

“I have not only lost my husband and a great American icon, but …

State Of The Union Preview: Obama Underscores His Centrism

It’s not as though President Obama hasn’t governed as a centrist, but his State of the Union Address Tuesday is likely to cement that image.

Mr. Obama previewed the themes in a video e-mailed Saturday evening to supporters who had helped in his election campaign. But the video made plain that his speech would be geared more broadly toward the political center, to independent voters and business owners and executives alienated by the expansion of government and the partisan legislative fights of the past two years.

“My No. 1 focus,” he said, “is going to be making sure that …

Increasing Rate Of Gun Clip Seizures In Virginia Tied To Lift Of Assault Weapons Ban

Ever since the ban on assault weapons was lifted in late 2004, the number of high-capacity magazine guns seized by Virginia police has risen.

The number of guns with high-capacity magazines seized by Virginia police dropped during a decade-long federal prohibition on assault weapons, but the rate has rebounded sharply since the ban was lifted in late 2004, according to a Washington Post analysis.

More than 15,000 guns equipped with high-capacity magazines – defined under the lapsed federal law as holding 11 or more bullets – have been seized by Virginia police in a wide range of investigations since …

Clarence Thomas Reportedly Failed To Report Wife’s Income As Required By Law

Supreme Court justices are required to report spousal income to make sure there is no undue political influence.  According to Common Cause, Justice Clarence Thomas hasn’t reported his wife’s income for five years from a conservative think tank.

Between 2003 and 2007, Virginia Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, earned $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, according to a Common Cause review of the foundation’s IRS records. Thomas failed to note the income in his Supreme Court financial disclosure forms for those years, instead checking a box labeled “none” where “spousal noninvestment income” would be disclosed.

…

Virginia Thomas also has been …

Single Payer Infiltrating The United States?!?

by Stuart Shapiro

No, communist agents have not infiltrated our highest level of government (nor Canadian agents).  Instead it is the democratic process at work.  Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin campaigned in part on a pledge to move his state toward single-payer health care.  He won and has a sympathetic legislature to work with.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, who is leading efforts to create a single-payer healthcare system in the state. He was voted into office after making single payer a cornerstone of his campaign. “If Vermont can get this right, the other states will follow,” Shumlin says.

Now nationally, …

Missing The Boat On Regulatory Reform

by Stuart Shapiro

Last week, President Obama issued an executive order that, among other things, asked federal agencies to update regulations that were “outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.” The New York Times quotes critics on both sides of the aisle.

“The history of these kinds of efforts is that they don’t matter very much,” said Peter Van Doren, editor of Regulation magazine, a publication of the libertarian Cato Institute, which generally advocates for less regulation.

Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a nonprofit that generally advocates for more regulation, said the cost of the search was likely to …

Blogger Suggests Targeting Members Of Congress: “1 Down And 534 To Go”

A Massachusetts comic book dealer is being investigated after suggesting the targeting of members of Congress after the January 8 Tucson shootings.

In a blog post titled “1 down and 534 to go,” 39-year-old Travis Corcoran allegedly wrote: “It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot indiscriminately.”

“Target only politicians and their staff and leave regular citizens alone,” it said.

Police also seized “a large amount” of weapons from Corcoran’s home in Arlington, Massachusetts, last week, according to police Chief Frederick Ryan.

Corcoran’s firearms license has been suspended and his blog is no longer available online.…

Antonin Scalia To Address Tea Party Caucus Monday

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia will speak to the congressional Tea Party Caucus Monday.

The event was designed as a “teaching event” only for members of Congress, and no cameras or reporters would be allowed to cover it. Scalia’s scheduled one-hour topic will be “separation of powers.”

“It is a special privilege to have him address the first of what will be regular seminars featuring constitutional scholars,” Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minnesota, chairwoman of the Tea Party Caucus, said in December. “In his 24 years of service on the high court, Justice Scalia has distinguished himself by his ‘originalist’ approach to …

Julian Assange’s Lawyer Vows To Take Legal Action Against Sarah Palin If She Goes To Australia

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s lawyer Robert Stary says if Sarah Palin comes to Australia he will take legal action against her for “incit[ing] others to commit violence” against his client which could lead to “private prosecution.” (via Mediaite). NPR reports:

On her Facebook page, Palin suggests that Assange should be “pursued with the same urgency as al-Qaida and Taliban leaders.”

Anyone who incites others to commit violence against his client, even outside Australia, Stary says, is violating Australian law, and can be held accountable for it.

“Certainly if Sarah Palin or any of those other politicians come to …

Keith Olbermann Out At MSNBC

MSNBC issued a terse statement saying that Keith Olbermann will not continue with the network.

MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.…

Thomas Jefferson Also Supported Government-Run Health Care And A Tax To Pay For It

Greg Sargent posted yesterday about how our founding fathers, John Adams in particular, supported a plan that gave federally-run health care. Our second president signed into law the creation of federally-run marine hospitals with a mandated tax to support them.  Historian Adam Rothman of Georgetown adds that Thomas Jefferson supported this plan as well, telling Sargent:

Alexander Hamilton supported the establishment of Marine Hospitals in a 1792 Report, and it was a Federalist congress that passed the law in 1798. But Jefferson (Hamilton’s strict constructionist nemesis) also supported federal marine hospitals, and along with his own Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin, …