Standing ground in Florida

I don’t know everything about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida — no one does, except for George Zimmerman — but from what I’ve read, if the “stand your ground” law applies, it seems to me that it favors Trayvon, who had every reason to feel threatened.

Follow-up: Five days later, more details are emerging about both Zimmerman and Martin, and my opinion hasn’t changed — Trayvon, and not Zimmerman, is covered by the “stand your ground” law.

Go Fluke yourself, Rush

I registered as a Democrat during Bill Clinton’s second term. I’m a social liberal, but I’d call myself a fiscal conservative, although my definition of conservatism doesn’t include wild speculative investing and unregulated financial markets.

Boston-based GOP consultant, and former reporter, Meredith Warren is my kind of Republican. On Tuesday’s The Takeaway, she explained why she thinks the Republican Party is going down the wrong path with the recent emphasis on women’s issues. At least everybody seems to agree that Rush Limbaugh’s personal attack on Sandra Fluke is unforgivable.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/takeaway/takeaway031312l.mp3|titles=The Takeaway: Republicans and women]

Good intentions, budget constraints

Tom Moroney of Bloomberg News tells this tragic, compelling story about one outcome of the current state of mental health services, in an age of reduced social services funding. Tom was on The Takeaway radio program Tuesday morning.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/audio.wnyc.org/takeaway/takeaway022812h.mp3|titles=The Takeaway – Mental health service reductions]