Conviction in text-driving killing should be a wake-up call

Aaron Deveau was only 17 when he crossed the center line while texting and killed Daniel Bowley, Jr. of New Hampshire,  the father of three grown children. Deveau, now 18 years old, is the first person to be convicted under a  law making it a crime to injure someone while texting.  Even without the specific texting …

Continue reading Conviction in text-driving killing should be a wake-up call

Bloomberg is for marijuana and against sugary drinks

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday urged the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana.  This follows on the heels of last week's move to ban the sale of sugary drinks in cups exceeding 16 ounces.  At first, this looks contradictory: pot's okay but not a big container of sugary beverage. Enough mayoral micromanaging! Still, let's look …

Continue reading Bloomberg is for marijuana and against sugary drinks

Judges still look the other way in drunk driving fatalities

I still remember writing about the deaths in the early eighties of a Hyde Park family of four killed in a car crash caused by a drunk driver.  The shock of that tragedy seemed to jolt people into taking drunk driving more seriously.  And well it should have. Back in the '70's and '8o's, drunk driving was the …

Continue reading Judges still look the other way in drunk driving fatalities

Obama and the politics of gay marriage

It would have been easier for Barack Obama to wait until after the election to announce that he thinks gays should have the right to marry.  He could have let people assume that V.P. Joe Biden’s and Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s comments to that effect were a hint that such was the thinking inside the …

Continue reading Obama and the politics of gay marriage