From Liberty and Tyranny, Mark Levin on legal interpration: […] When parties enter into voluntary arrangements, such as contracts, they use words to describe the terms and conditions by which they are obligated to perform and on which they are expected to rely. Contracts are interpreted, and the intentions of the parties discerned, in the context of their original making The conservative is an originalist, for he believes that much
language / intentionalism
April 7, 2010
The Rape of “The Rape of Liberty”
Via David Thompson, Elle Gray in The Guardian: Then, I saw a cartoon, the “creative” work of a conservative blogger, that depicted the aftermath of the rape of the Statue of Liberty by President Obama. My first thought was, oh, hello, yet another idea reinforced during reconstruction and redemption – the myth of the sexually violent black man. This “brute” was a particular danger to white women and this myth
December 16, 2009
PROMINENT RESPONSE ALERT! (Or, “Is Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey anti-semitic? We really can’t say. Nor does that have anything to do with this post. But we just thought we’d throw it out there,” part 3) [updated] [Jeff G.]
Patrick Frey demanded (no, seriously) that I “prominently” reply to one of his many, many, many, many Jeff Goldstein posts of the last several days. Why this is important to him I don’t really know, given that the subject matter (David Letterman’s Palin family jokes) is months old, and I participated in a nearly 630-post comment thread at the time, arguing my position from every conceivable angle, answering every question,
December 16, 2009
Is Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey anti-semitic? Part 2 [Jeff G.]
In part one of our series, “Is Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey anti-semitic,” we very pointedly refused to reach a conclusion: perhaps he is, perhaps he isn’t. Frankly, it’s hard to tell, because no one is quite sure just how many anti-semitic statements (if indeed that’s what we’re looking at) are needed in the aggregate before we can conclude that we have on our hands is a
December 16, 2009
Is Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey anti-semitic? [Jeff G.]
As many of you know, on at least two occasions, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey has made statements that more than a few people have suggested are redolent with the stink of anti-semitism. Generally, when I interpret such statements, I appeal to the writer’s intent: was the statement signified in such a way that the anti-semitism belongs to its author, or am I merely imagining anti-semitism in
March 24, 2009
Intellectual elitism and the case of the missing author
Over at Edge of the West, where SEK’s critically flawed post on my engagement with Patterico has been subsequently removed, there remains a number of comments that I find troubling for a number of reasons. First, there is an peculiar, but obvious, attempt there to try to dismiss my intentionalist argument without addressing it at all; second, there is the desire to strengthen this dismissal by diminishing me, either by
March 15, 2009
This way lies fascism: an OUTLAW’s lament (cont.) [UPDATED]
So long as we’re talking about code words and “who decides” what interpretation is best, let me add a few points to help combat the creeping fascism that comes with certain ideas about how language works. To do so, let me quote from an example left in the comments to a post at Patterico’s that seeks to explain to us “What words mean”: Words not only mean different things in
March 12, 2009
Losing more slowly: an OUTLAW’s lament
As a follow-up to Dan’s piece on the (ironic, surreal, and — let’s just say it, profoundly Orwellian) shouting down of a “conservative” speaker looking to address the question of hate speech, I’d like to offer a few observations: first, students are taught, from early on in their writing and literature courses, that they, as readers, control meaning. So it follows that, acting through that particular linguistically faulty hermeneutic (drink!)
November 11, 2008
“(D.) for Vendetta”
From the WSJ: California Democrat Henry Waxman kicked things off the morning after Barack Obama’s victory, with an announcement that he will seek the chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. The post is currently held by Mr. Dingell, the bulldog Michigander who next year will become the longest-serving Member in U.S. history. In Congressional physics, seniority is gravity, which alone makes Mr. Waxman’s challenge extraordinary. It is
October 31, 2008
“If it redistributes like a duck …”
David Harsanyi, The Denver Post: Barack Obama is going to fix the economy by “spreading the wealth around”? Now, I’m not attempting to demonize Obama, God forbid. It’s just that, as we all know, that’s what Obama told Joe the Plumber. Obama laughs off the charge of socialist behavior  and to be fair, socialism isn’t the precise term to affix to his ideas. It’s more like Robin Hood economics.