Author Archives: Phil Fortino

As a columnist for the Yale Daily News, I filled a niche — I was the conservative one. In considering what I would write in this last message to Yale, I reflected on my peculiarity in this regard. In my time at the News, I have been criticized for some of my columns. Rumpus, the »

The Supreme Court this week certified two cases that question the breadth of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Insofar as the holding of the Court, likely two years off, will affect public attitudes toward this important law and a variety of others, we citizens should start paying attention now. As the essential facts of the »

A representative from Arizona Sen. John McCain’s office contacted the organizers of the petition protesting the selection of Sen. Hillary Clinton as Class Day speaker, sources close to the petition said. A late April Fools’ joke? I don’t think so. But if this were a news story, I’d be in trouble. The lead sentence of »

Every time the Senate debates campaign finance reform, Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina introduces a Constitutional amendment that would exempt campaign contributions from First Amendment protection. Every time this amendment comes to a vote, it fails. Hollings’ amendment hasn’t received much media attention these past two weeks, but it did come to a »

Oh, the Democrats are getting antsy dreaming about 2002. Over the past two weeks, the out-of-power party — wait, that feels good, let me say it again — the out-of-power party has manufactured presidential scandals in a transparent ploy to position themselves for the 2002 congressional elections. I count three “scandalitas.” I call them scandalitas »

I write to tell you about a conspiracy more insidious than the Clinton pardons. I may be discriminated against for what I say here, but the public needs to know what I have uncovered. Like many seniors, I began this year thinking about my future. Like many in the class of ’01, I wasn’t quite »

I wish Bill Clinton would go hibernate somewhere, so I wouldn’t have to keep writing about him. As much as I agree with President George W. Bush that it’s time to move forward with the people’s agenda — which has been on hold for eight years — I would be remiss if I didn’t address »

Politics is perception. Nowhere is this popular maxim truer than in the case of campaign finance reform. Overall, there is startlingly scant evidence to suggest campaign contributions influence politicians in any meaningful way. Nonetheless, Sen. John McCain continues to capture the imagination of the country by pushing for the elimination of soft money contributions. I »

Throughout the fall campaign, the Democrats paid great lip service to the ideal of inclusion. Al Gore planned to create a big tent under which all minority groups could unite (with the established elite) and work together toward greater understanding of each other and policies that benefit everyone. Gore lost the election. But his message »

On Monday, the Yale community was shocked or delighted to learn Yale will be offering the morning-after pill RU-486 to students and staff under its standard health plan. The vitally important abortion debate is now back where it belongs, in the hands of those who will undoubtedly be world leaders a few short years from »