Sarah Palin came to praise Hillary Clinton and to bury liberal feminism. It’s too bad for the rest of us, but don’t cry for Hillary; she provided the shovel. Relying on pre-ideological appeals to female solidarity, blaming sexism when she got stuck in second place, Clinton played the dangerous game of identity politics. Her loss is Palin’s gain.

I came upon an article in Wednesday's Boston Globe about possible reform measures for the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) following recent allegations of racist conduct. I felt a sense of indignation, not only because I had seen this in the HUPD many times before, but because the reform mentioned in the article was, in my opinion, a prescription for failure.

"I'm a PUMA," the button festooned woman at the local Box Lunch declared. "Do you know what that is?"

"I know what that is," I responded. "I think you're all nuts."

She didn't take offense (I give her credit for a thick skin, although it may make her impervious to political realities as well as insults,) and we engaged in a brief discussion.

Dear readers: Trust me. I’m a long-time criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer, and I’m telling you that the “war on drugs” has been an abysmal and wholly destructive failure. Not only has it been responsible for the erosion of myriad provisions of the Bill of Rights, but this “war” has made it significantly more difficult for those interested in promoting healthy practices, especially among the young, to speak with credibility and persuasiveness on the dangers of abusing both lawful and illegal drugs.

My Freedom Watch column on the death of parody on American college campuses, which appears in the Boston Phoenix ’s August 1^st issue, provoked more of a response than any of my columns in recent memory. My email in-box was jammed with messages, largely from those who agreed with me, but a few from less-than-convinced (or at least less-than-happy) readers.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino treads a shameful, unwise, constitutionally dubious, and ultimately ineffective path when he orders his goons to keep the untidy street performers from the plaza surrounding City Hall and Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Relegating the clowns, artists and other performers to a small sliver of territory, outside of the main arena of activity, not only forecloses more than one performance at a time, but relegates the performers to an inconsequential status.