Drug legalization (and I will include the addictive mood altering chemicals tobacco and alcohol here as well) is a hard question. On the one hand, it’s not really government’s job to protect people from themselves. On the other hand, issues like addiction, second-hand smoke, “roid rage”, public financing of emergency rooms, drunk driving, [...]

How much is a human life worth?
I’m reminded of that question again, because of this case out of Pasadena, TX (a relatively poor suburb of Houston). Here’s what happened:

The Supreme Court of the United States today struck down a Washington, DC ban on all handguns. I can’t say it’s one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever, but it’s surely a bad one–both in content and in language. First, the amendment in question:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security [...]

Mike Huckabee had his first bad week as a front-runner. Two things went wrong for him. One was the fault of his campaign staff: he was out campaigning all day on Monday and no one bothered to show him a newspaper or tell him about the NIE report on Iran–you know, the one [...]

The Ohio state legislature is considering a bill that would require sex offenders to display a bright neon-green license plate on their cars, according to Fox news. The legislators who proposed the bill argue that cars are “weapons” used by sex offenders to lure children, and therefore ought to be marked. According to [...]

Hey Mike,
I enrolled you in a special program as a present. Let me know how well it works.
Just kidding. Even if the site’s owners brag more than they ought about their abilities, it’s a sad reminder that no technology can get around simple human corruption and slander.
(h/t: The Point)

According to this article, the newest tactic in the fight against gang violence is to sue the gang to create an injunction against gang members hanging out together. The logic being that if the gang can’t meet, then they can’t plan violence, drug smuggling, or other nefarious gang activities.
I’m not constitutional law expert, but [...]

Mitt Romney is an idiot.
In 2004 Barack Obama supported a bill in Illinois that allowed for the teaching of age appropriate sex education to elementary school students as young as Kindergarten. The bill specified such topics as knowing about the body, understanding basics about sexual harassment and abuse (as in, it’s not ok to [...]

One of the great ironies of the Scooter Libby trial was that the same conservatives who have for years fought for high mandatory minimum sentences–and against allowing judicial discretion to reduce those sentences–ended up complaining that the sentence given to Mr. Libby based on those sentencing guidelines was too harsh.  Now we have the second [...]

So, apparently Bush may pardon Libby for his role in the Plume case. And why not? Bush can do some nasty and unethical things, have one of his lackeys take the fall, the trial lasts several years, and by the time he pardons Libby, the outrage has worn off.
Which is why Bush can [...]