Wash Park Prophet

• The Stairway To Health Care Heaven

  I have little doubt that sometime this month, or early in 2010, that the U.S. Congress will pass, and that the President will sign, a major reform of the U.S. health care system. The final act will be along the lines of the bill being considered now in the U.S. [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 9:26am EST
  

• Colo. Voters Face Starve The Beast Measures

  Colorado voters will consider at least two anti-tax measures in the 2010 election.
  
  One measure simply cuts taxes and user's fees by large amounts ($1 billion per year), at a time when the state budget is already experiencing deep cuts and is very close to be overconstrained (i.e.' [...]
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  Posted: December 07, 2009, 11:18am EST
  

• Friday Comic: "A Girl and Her Fed" (Minor Spoilers)

  A Girl and Her Fed, by K. B. Spangler, is on the surface a story about a conspiracy theory involving spies with computer chips implanted in their heads, the ghosts of long dead politicians, a talking supersmart koala, and the girl, a multi-millionaire judo master newspaper intern with a [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 5:26pm EST
  

• 4300 Posts

  The flu, and then the backlog of must do work that piled up while I was sick, has kept my posting down for the last few weeks, but 4300 posts seemed like it was worth noting.
  
  It also has kept me out of touch with the news. Emerging [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 5:40pm EST
  

• A Decade Without New Private Sector Jobs

  The 2001 tech bust destroyed jobs equal in number to all the jobs created since 1999. The current recession has destroyed jobs equal in number to all the jobs created since the tech bust. Thus, there are about the same number of private sector jobs in the economy now [...]
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  Posted: December 01, 2009, 1:53pm EST
  

• Musings On Religion and Demography

  One of the big blind spots in American demography is religion. We have excruciatingly detailed demographic statistics the slice and dice the American population based on race, Hispanic origins, sex and age, mostly from a variety of government sources. We have far less information on religion, pieced together from a [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:24am EST
  

• Disney's Grand Cultural Gambit

  Disney is the behemoth of youth programing. Young children and tweens watch and talk about the programming on Disney's TV channel more than any other. Disney makes a large share of all movies available for this demographic, and captures a larger share of youth audiences. Disney's radio channel is even [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 8:52am EST
  

• Price Discrimination

  While in theory, some forms of price discrimination are illegal under the anti-trust laws, in practice, price discrimination explains everything, or at least, everything counterintuitive and fascinating in economics, including Black Friday and cell phone contracts.Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009) [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 4:49pm EST
  

• Denver's Housing Bust Was Mild

  My father-in-law and mother-in-law are in town for Thanksgiving week. They live in Las Vegas. The real estate bubble collapse there has been brutal. According to the Case Shiller index, house prices there have fallen 55.4% from their peak, the worst of the top twenty metropolitan areas it follows.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 10:02am EST
  

• Criminal Trial For Gitmo Defendants A Safe Bet

  Those who were worried that the 9-11 defendants would be acquitted by New York juries, rather than being convicted by military tribunals needn't have worried.
  
  At least one -- and possibly all five -- of the detainees with alleged ties to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 9:41am EST
  

• Service Interruption

  I wouldn't want to miss out on one of the most notable trends of 2009: the flu. I'll be back when I've recovered.Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009)' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 2:08pm EST
  

• What Is The Coast Guard Doing In Vail?

  A Coast Guard plane made a hard landing at Vail, Colorado's airport today.
  
  I find it very hard to find any legitimate reason for a Coast Guard plane to be landing in Vail in the first place.
  
  The Coast Guard's jurisdiction encompasses the Atlantic, Gulf and [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 6:31pm EST
  

• Municipal Bond Insurers Weak, Superfluous

  While many municipal bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the taxpayers in the municipality, making them ultimately very safe for investors, others, like a typical airport bond, are backed only by the assets of the government owned enterprise backing them, and thus do pose real risk [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 11:29am EST
  

• Is It Socialism? So What?

  Panelists at a talk on the "Breakdown of the Public-Private Distinction" at a national meeting of The Federalist Society, a conservative lawyer and law student's group, are talking about the changes that the Financial Crisis has wrought. Remarkably, they are generally saying that the sky is not falling, even [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:39am EST
  

• Big Law Layoffs Strongly Regional

  Large law firms reduced their staff of lawyers by about 4% between 2008 and 2009. But, there are vast regional disparities in these numbers. Big firms based in New York City (45 of the 250 largest) have laid off an average of 49% of their lawyers in a single [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:23pm EST
  

• Who Faces Implicit High Marginal Tax Rates?

  There are people in the United States who face marginal tax rates close to 100%.
  
  Who are they?
  
  Not the rich, but the working poor. For a family of three, near 100% implicit marginal tax rates impact those making between about $15,000 to $30,000 a year.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:57pm EST
  

• Intellectual Hazard

  Moral hazard, which basically amounts to a personal incentive to do something unfair to someone else, is a familiar concept in the world of law and economics.
  
  A new paper on the financial crisis explores a parallel concept, "intellectual hazard", which is similar to the concept of [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:40pm EST
  

• Blog House Keeping

  I've done some blog house keeping.
  
  * I tweaked the font colors, because the links within the body text were sometimes hard to locate in the old font colors.
  
  * I removed some links from the sidebar that I didn't use very often or that could easily [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 1:36pm EST
  

• How Much Impact Do Zoning Laws Have?

  Do zoning laws really have much of an impact?
  
  In my experience, developers who want to build in undeveloped or blighted areas not zoned for a proposed project are often effective in securing zoning law changes. Zoning laws may stifle innovation and change in more prosperous, already developed areas. [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:59am EST
  

• Vampires, Camp Style

  
  
  Christopher Moore
  
  It is possible to tell the similar stories as serious dramas (think of the most recent Batman movies), and as melodramatic campy comedies (think of the 1970s Batman TV serial).
  
  The same applies to vampires. If you want serious (albeit [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 10:12am EST
  

• University of Colorado Law Correction

  It turns out that 35% of University of Colorado Law grads are unemployed at graduation, not 65% as previously reported in the press. To spread the horror, at the University of Texas today (Friday the 13th no less), one of the highlighted jobs of the week at the law [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 9:54am EST
  

• Life Imitates Art: Financial Crisis Edition

  It is getting increasingly hard to distinguish between the fake headlines (a la The Onion), and the merely snarky headlines with a real world factual basis, sourced to the Wall Street Journal, such as "Government Poised To Bail Itself Out."Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009) [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 11:47am EST
  

• How Public Is Higher Education In Colorado?

  State Senator Morgan Carroll summarizes neatly the percentage of public funds that various public colleges in Colorado receive from the state government (not counting COF or Tobacco Funds):
  
  •Mesa State College 20.3%
  •Adams State College 16.8%
  •Fort Lewis College 13.8%
  •Western State College of Colorado 7.4%
  •Colorado State [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:44am EST
  

• Iron Law of Oligarchy Alive and Well In Colorado

  One of the oldest empirical economic theories is that markets naturally tend to towards oligarchy, now called oligopoly, where a small number of firms dominant a given market. Health insurance in the Colorado market is not exception.
  
  Five firms dominate the health insurance market in the state.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:15am EST
  

• Unemployment Rate Cross Tabs

  How does education, age, gender and race influence the likelihood that you are unemployed? A well done New York Times interactive graphic provides the facts.Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009) [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 9:12am EST
  

• Veteran's Day

  A Veteran's Health Bill has not been considered by the U.S. Senate by today, Veteran's Day 2009, because U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) placed a hold on the bill, claiming that unfunded spending has to stop. Some of the people who would have been eligible to benefit from the bill [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 6:46pm EST
  

• Penry Out, Now What?

  Former Republican candidate Scott McInnis is almost certain to face off against incumbent Democrat Bill Ritter in the Governor's race in 2010. Josh Penry was pushed out of the race as big GOP donors backed McInnis.
  
  Andrew Romanoff, one of the rising stars in the Democratic Party chose' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:16pm EST
  

• DPS Weeds, Sows and Repots School Lineup

  At the level of a school board in a District like Denver's with more than a hundred school programs and 70,000+ students, it doesn't work to have the board micromanage daily school operations. Its main jobs are to higher and fire senior district administrators, and to make big decisions on [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 4:59pm EST
  

• There's A Reason They Call It The Dismal Science

  The current employment recession has seen the worst job losses since WWII, and is the 2nd worst in terms of the unemployment rate (only early '80s recession with a peak of 10.8 percent was worse).
  
  From here.
  
  Some broader measures of recession pain, like percentage of people' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:14am EST
  

• Congratulations Alice!

  Congratulations to Alice Ra and Reuel Kim who are getting married tomorrow at the Redondo Beach Historic Library in California.Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009) [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 3:43pm EST
  

• Incorporation Via Privileges and Immunities

  Where do our federal constitutional protections from conduct by state and local actors come from? Mostly, through incorporation of the Bill of Rights via the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
  
  Another route to secure a similar result, via the privileges and immunities clause of the 14th Amendment [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:03pm EST
  

• Insulin Link To Dementia Found

  Low levels of both insulin and insulin-like growth factors appear to cause cell loss and the shrinking of the brain that result in dementia . . . . [T]he findings offer real hope that the progression of dementia in those with conditions such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and Parkinson's disease may [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:57pm EST
  

• The State of Denver Public Schools Not Swell

  A new school board is about to take office in the Denver Public Schools and the transitional item, finished by the last board, but subject to review by the new school board, will be how to deal with six troubled schools, three neighborhood schools and three charter schools. Those [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:55pm EST
  

• New HPV Vaccine Helps Even After Infection

  The basic theory of a vaccine is that if you build up your immune system to fight a virus before you get the virus, that you can prevent yourself from being infected. A new vaccine for the most deadly strain of HPV, which causes cervical cancer and genital lesions, [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 4:22pm EST
  

• Are You Smarter Than A Supreme Court Justice?

  You know that the law of federal habeas corpus is broken when U.S. Supreme Court justices are deeply confused by it, and the lawyers arguing before them are having trouble explaining it, yet the only way a convicted state prisoner has a right to raise issues on federal habeas [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 4:32pm EST
  

• Is There A Right Not To Be Framed?

  Does a prosecutor who fakes evidence in the pre-trial phase of a criminal case, and then introduces it at trial to procure a wrongful conviction, have absolute immunity from being sued under federal civil rights laws for doing so?
  
  This is the issue that the Justice of the U.S. [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 3:11pm EST
  

• California's Civil Gideon Law

  California has adopted a law providing legal representation at state expense in certain non-criminal family law, eviction and foreclosure suits. Previously, publicly appointed counsel was available only in criminal and termination of parental rights cases, and in rare cases where courts appoint counsel so that a position can be [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:39pm EST
  

• Prof Dismisses Suit v. Above The Law

  Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
  
  Professor D. Marvin Jones, in the face of overwhelming negative publicity in the popular press and legal blogosphere about his pro se lawsuit against the Above The Law blog, and a letter from their lawyer (Marc Randazza), has voluntarily dismissed [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:20pm EST
  

• Other News

  November 3 in history:
  
  0644 - Kalief Omar I injured during assassination attempt
  1394 - Jews are expelled from France by Charles VI
  1493 - Christopher Columbus discovers island of Dominica
  1527 - Ferdinand of Austria/Bohemia chosen as king of Hungary
  1529 - London: [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:07am EST
  

• 2009 Election Redux

  So, there was an election yesterday. What happened in Colorado?
  
  Denver voters rejected (by an almost 7-3 margin) an initiative proposing mandatory car impoundment for driver's without licenses. It was opposed by almost the entire political establishment and was a loophole closing follow up to a prior impoundment initiative' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:59am EST
  

• Meet Western Citizen

  Yesterday, Wendy Norris launched Western Citizen, a new online magazine featuring investigative reporting and local color. Wendy was a colleague of mine at Colorado Confidential (now known as the Colorado Independent, link in the sidebar). As she describes her new venture:
  
  The aim is to combine investigative reporting [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:46am EST
  

• Race, Class, Income and College

  Another major data set, by sociologist Thomas J. Espendshade, on race, class, income, test scores and admissions based on data from 9000 students at ten highly selective public and private institutions of higher education in the United States (include public and private institutions, research universities and liberal arts colleges) [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:49pm EST
  

• Above The Law Sued

  The Above The Law blog has been sued in federal court in the Southern District of Florida by University of Miami law professor Donald Marvin Jones.
  
  Professor Jones made headlines after being arrested on charges of soliciting a prostitute to which he has pleaded not guilty, [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:59am EST
  

• Family Shout Out

  Congratulations to my cousin Monte Willeke, of Akron, Colorado, who will be getting married next month.Copyright Andrew Oh-Willeke (2009) [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:54am EST
  

• Under A New Flag

  * Last week I gave a national teleseminar for the National Business Institution "The Essentials of Asset Protection." You can buy copies for continuing education credits if you wish, I believe. I've lectured on the topic to lawyers for many years.
  
  * Friday was the last day that the' [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 9:19am EST
  

• Last Day To Vote!

  Denver voters have until today to vote. You must hand deliver the ballot you received because it is too late to mail your ballot. When and where?
  
  Your voted ballot must be received by the Denver Elections Division by 7 p.m. on Election Day in order to be [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:53am EST
  

• Ford Makes 3Q Profit

  It should be a dog bites man story. Ford Motor Company, an investor owned public company, didn't go bankrupt, didn't get a government bailout, and made a profit in the third quarter of 2009. It hasn't made a profit in 2009 as a whole and doesn't expect to do [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 3:16pm EST
  

• Disaggregating Government

  There is a strong tendency in the modern design of American government to disaggregate government authority. Instead of lumping responsibilities onto the plate of an all powerful sovereign (like the U.K. Parliament which has the power to dissolve all subordinate entities at will and no meaningful constitutional limitations outside the [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:01am EDT
  

• Trouble In River City

  Some high schools have homecoming dance public gang rapes, 19 student murders in the last year, and a 69% truancy rate. In those that don't, some principals feel a need manufacture the sense that they are the finger in the dike keeping the collapse of Indiana civilization as' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 12:26am EDT
  

• Music and Manga

  Western classical music has much the same powerful place to fill in Japan as it does in middle class America. I'm more aware of it now than usual perhaps, as I have one child studying recorder, and the other taking violin lessons. Two exceptional works from the world of anime' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:39pm EDT