About: Daren Bakst

The Obama Administration has already blocked a significant amount of offshore drilling and rejected the Keystone XL pipeline permit. Now, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy explains: “Development of oil shale has the potential to virtually eliminate America’s need to import oil and create thousands of jobs, yet the administrationContinue Reading

This article poses the question what would happen if all cats (pets and strays) in the world suddenly died? Besides dogs being pleased, I’d imagine that the world would actually be harmed because cats are great predators. The article confirms this, explaining how important cats are to controlling the rodent population. Then of course there’sContinue Reading

Mitt Romney has been saying a lot of the right things about global warming and opposing cap and trade legislation.  His record though, as columnist Deroy Murdock points out in the National Review Online, demonstrates a politician that could be described as an alarmist. Now comes a disturbing piece in the New York Times byContinue Reading

As I have discussed, Governor Perdue issued an executive order creating a commission made up of special interests and political and partisan insiders to identify three potential judges, one of whom the Governor is required to nominate, when a judicial vacancy occurs. Is this executive order constitutional?  It isn’t a simple issue, but I believeContinue Reading

The Governor’s eugenics compensation task force voted on final recommendations today.  I recently wrote about ways that the victims should be compensated. I do want to stress that the Task Force did an admirable job and should be commended for its work. Who Would be Compensated? Living victims, generally.  However, it appears from what hasContinue Reading

There’s an effort driven by the North Carolina Bar Association to try and eliminate the election of judges and replace it by having liberal special interest groups pick judges. As I have written, there was a constitutional amendment (SB 548) proposed to do this, but fortunately it hasn’t gone anywhere. In the interim, Governor PerdueContinue Reading

PETA is pushing for a memorial to cows who were killed in two recent truck accidents in Illinois. According to the article: Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Kauffman says the request will likely be denied because the state’s Roadside Memorial Act specifies that only relatives who lost loved ones in highway crashes may requestContinue Reading

It appears from recent reports that the House may look to find a compromise on the Racial Justice Act (RJA). The current bill (SB 9), which Governor Perdue vetoed, would take out much of the RJA language, but still would allow defendants to challenge a death sentence by proving intentional discrimination. The RJA would allowContinue Reading