So-called "D.C. madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey will not go down without a fight. She has shared her escort service's phone records with ABC News and inspired the April 27 resignation of State Department foreign-aid chief Randall Tobias. He admitted to meeting Palfrey's call girls - "to give me a massage," but he insists, no sex. While Tobias' wife must be steamed, why is this news? Indeed, if he were single, some might applaud Tobias for getting lucky. Meanwhile, Palfrey has hired Preston Burton, Monica Lewinsky's former attorney, thus returning that notorious name to national prominence. [continues 663 words]
NEW YORK -- Shell-shocked conservatives should embrace the unfinished agenda of a 5-foot-tall free-market giant. Milton Friedman -- 1976's Nobel economics laureate, and both an elevated theorist and fathomable popularizer of capitalist ideas -- passed away Nov. 16 at 94. He leaves behind the PBS series "Free to Choose," some 25 books and hundreds of articles, much of this co-produced with Rose, his wife of 68 years. Thousands of think-tank scholars -- inspired by his faith in individual liberty, limited government and private enterprise -- advance his libertarian philosophy. [continues 643 words]
Conservatives Should Do Milton Friedman's Unfinished Business Shell-shocked conservatives should embrace the unfinished agenda of a five-foot-tall free-market giant. Milton Friedman -- 1976's Nobel economics laureate, and both an elevated theorist and fathomable popularizer of capitalist ideas -- passed away November 16 at age 94. The Hoover Institution senior research fellow leaves behind the PBS series Free to Choose, some 25 books, and hundreds of articles, much of this co-produced with Rose, his wife of 68 years. Thousands of academics and think-tank scholars -- inspired by his faith in individual liberty, limited government, and private enterprise -- advance his philosophy of human freedom. [continues 1066 words]
The Federal War On Drugs Expands. At a time when federal officials should focus obsessively on crushing terrorists, they are expanding the disastrous war on drugs into an even more pointless war on substances. From old bogeymen like marijuana to new "hazards" like Oxycontin, Washington busybodies are knocking themselves out combating compounds that, by themselves, do not threaten public safety. The Justice Department has appealed a December 2003 federal court decision that barred Uncle Sam from impeding Californians who use personally grown, locally cultivated, or charitably donated medical marijuana. In Raich v. Ashcroft, the Ninth Circuit correctly disallowed the Constitution's commerce-clause rationale for federal intervention. After all, how can interstate commerce include intrastate, noncommercial activity? [continues 923 words]
NEW YORK - Comedian Tommy Chong began a nine-month federal prison sentence this month for operating a glass-blowing shop that sold pipes to marijuana smokers. Prosecutors were not impressed that his Nice Dreams Enterprises marketed a morally neutral product. Chong's pipes, after all, could be used with loose-leaf tobacco, just as any stoner in an Armani suit can smoke pot in a lawful Dunhill meerschaum. In fact, as the Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 10, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton's court pleadings sought Chong's harsh punishment because he got rich ''glamorizing the illegal distribution and use of marijuana'' in films that ''trivialize law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and use.'' [continues 626 words]
Comedian Tommy Chong began a nine-month federal prison sentence on October 7 for operating a glass-blowing shop that sold pipes to marijuana smokers. Prosecutors were not impressed that his Nice Dreams Enterprises marketed a morally neutral product. Chong's pipes, after all, could be used with loose-leaf tobacco, just as any stoner in an Armani suit can smoke pot in a lawful Dunhill meerschaum. In fact, as the Los Angeles Times reported October 10, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton's court pleadings sought Chong's harsh punishment because he got rich "glamorizing the illegal distribution and use of marijuana" in films that "trivialize law enforcement efforts to combat drug trafficking and use." [continues 604 words]
Mood Enhancement Should Be None Of Government's Business. NEW YORK -- With America tensely poised in recent days against the possibility of new terrorist attacks, vigilant, machine-gun-toting National Guardsmen are becoming common in New York's subway stations. Thus, Attorney General John Ashcroft recently targeted a fearsome threat: marijuana pipes. Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter encompassed raids on drug paraphernalia manufacturers, distributors and their homes. At least 60 people have been arrested for supplying pipes, bongs and roach clips. [continues 716 words]
NEW YORK (SH) - With America tensely poised in recent days against the possibility of new terrorist attacks, vigilant, machine-gun-toting National Guardsmen are becoming common in New York's subway stations. Thus, Attorney General John Ashcroft recently targeted a fearsome threat: marijuana pipes. Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter encompassed raids on drug paraphernalia manufacturers, distributors and their homes. At least 60 people have been arrested for supplying pipes, bongs and roach clips. They face up to three years in prison and/or $250,000 fines. "This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement," Ashcroft roared on Feb. 24. [continues 644 words]
John Stossel Takes On The Drug War. ABC News correspondent John Stossel once again exposes the cost, folly, and failure of big government. He somehow always manages to do that. This time, his fat and lumbering target is the War on Drugs, a 30- year-old project that can show amazingly little for the billions of taxpayer dollars it has incinerated and the millions of nonviolent offenders it has incarcerated. Airing tonight at 10:00 P.M. Eastern, 9:00 P.M. Central time, War on Drugs, A War On Ourselves spends an hour asking if government efforts to stamp out drug use are even worse than the drugs themselves. Stossel largely avoids the libertarian argument (which I embrace) that adults should have the cognitive liberty to alter their minds in whatever way they choose, so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others or endanger them by, say, driving while stoned. [continues 1069 words]
NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become the latest leader to gain prominence for having smoked marijuana. On April 9, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws ( www.NORML.org) unveiled a $500,000 ad campaign that highlights what Bloomberg said when New York magazine asked him last summer if he ever smoked grass: ''You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.'' NORML's ads lampoon the War on Marijuana, a big-government debacle that deserves to be laughed into oblivion. Fittingly enough, many politicians grin at their own marijuana use. [continues 570 words]
NEW YORK - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become the latest leader to gain prominence for having smoked marijuana. On April 9, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (www.NORML.org) unveiled a $500,000 ad campaign that highlights what Bloomberg said when New York magazine asked him last summer if he ever smoked grass: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." NORML's ads lampoon the War on Marijuana, a big-government debacle that deserves to be laughed into oblivion. Fittingly enough, many politicians grin at their own marijuana use. [continues 602 words]
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become the latest leader to gain prominence for having smoked marijuana. On April 9, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (www.NORML.org) unveiled a $500,000 ad campaign that highlights what Bloomberg said when New York magazine asked him last summer if he ever smoked grass: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." NORML's ads lampoon the War on Marijuana, a big-government debacle that deserves to be laughed into oblivion. Fittingly enough, many politicians grin at their own marijuana use. [continues 602 words]
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become the latest leader to gain prominence for having smoked marijuana. On April 9, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (www.NORML.org) unveiled a $500,000 ad campaign that highlights what Bloomberg said when New York magazine asked him last summer if he ever smoked grass: " You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." NORML's ads lampoon the War on Marijuana, a big-government debacle that deserves to be laughed into oblivion. Fittingly enough, many politicians grin at their own marijuana use. [continues 602 words]
LAST Monday, the FBI warned that "a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12," thanks to 12 terrorists led by Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Saudi-born Yemeni. Suspecting this, federal officials should have deployed as many dedicated, talented agents as possible to protect high-profile targets such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf or the pyramidal Transamerica Tower. Think again. Washington instead chose Feb. 12 to unleash tough, gun-toting Drug Enforcement Agency officers against AIDS and cancer patients. These federal agents raided a suspected cannabis cultivation center in suburban Petaluma, and medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco and Oakland. They arrested four men who led these operations. [continues 610 words]
NEW YORK - On Feb. 11, the FBI warned that "a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12," thanks to 12 terrorists led by Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Saudi-born Yemeni. Suspecting this, federal officials should have deployed as many dedicated, talented agents as possible to protect high-profile targets such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf or the pyramidal Transamerica Tower. Think again. Washington instead chose Feb. 12 to unleash tough, gun- toting Drug Enforcement Agency officers against AIDS and cancer patients. These federal agents raided a suspected cannabis cultivation center in suburban Petaluma, Calif., and medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco and Oakland. They arrested four men who led these operations. [continues 614 words]
February 17, 2002 -- LAST Monday, the FBI warned that "a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12," thanks to 12 terrorists led by Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Saudi-born Yemeni. Suspecting this, federal officials should have deployed as many dedicated, talented agents as possible to protect high-profile targets such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf or the pyramidal Transamerica Tower. Think again. Washington instead chose Feb. 12 to unleash tough, gun- toting Drug Enforcement Agency officers against AIDS and cancer patients. These federal agents raided a suspected cannabis cultivation center in suburban Petaluma, Calif., and medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco and Oakland. They arrested four men who led these operations. [continues 572 words]
Last Monday, the FBI warned that "a planned attack may occur in the United States or against U.S. interests on or around Feb. 12," thanks to 12 terrorists led by Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, a Saudi-born Yemeni. Suspecting this, federal officials should have deployed as many dedicated, talented agents as possible to protect high-profile targets such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf or the pyramidal Transamerica Tower. Think again. Washington instead chose Feb. 12 to unleash tough, gun- toting Drug Enforcement Agency officers against AIDS and cancer patients. These federal agents raided a suspected cannabis garden in suburban Petaluma, Calif., and purported medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco and Oakland. They arrested four men who led these operations. [continues 611 words]
