Free Republic

"Rooster Monkburn" the cowboy sock monkey is without his pistol, thanks to a diligent TSA agent in St. Louis. Phyllis May of Redmond, Wash. says she is “appalled and shocked and embarrassed all at the same time” about the incident that happened on Wednesday. May has a small business selling unique sock monkey dolls. She says she and her husband were on their way from St. Louis to Sea-Tac and she had a couple of monkeys and sewing supplies with her in a carry-on bag. “His pistol was in there,” she says of the sock monkey “Rooster Monkburn,” a take-off...

Sen. Clinton said yesterday that Democrats emerged from the Senate debate on U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq "more united" than ever behind a conditional-exit strategy in the war that has divided her party. In remarks before the NDN, a new centrist-leaning Democratic advocacy group, Mrs. Clinton avoided the criticism she had earlier leveled at anti-war lawmakers seeking a quick pullout of all U.S. forces within one year. This time she offered only words of praise for the widely differing withdrawal positions offered by liberal Democrats in the Senate. "Although unity is important, it is not the most important value. I...

BEHIND BARS A former police chief wants to end a losing war by legalizing pot, coke, meth and other drugs SOMETIMES PEOPLE in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight. Yes, I was a cop for 34 years, the last six of which I spent as chief of Seattle's police department. But no, I don't favor decriminalization. I favor legalization, and not just of pot but of all drugs, including heroin,...

A chemical found in cannabis can act like an antidepressant, researchers have found. A team from Canada's University of Sasketchewan suggest the compound causes nerve cells to regenerate. The Journal of Clinical Investigation study showed rats given a cannabinoid were less anxious and less depressed. But UK experts warned other conflicting research had linked cannabis, and other cannabinoids, to an increased risk of depression and anxiety. They suggested this could be because different cannabinoids acting at different levels have contradictory effects. Cannabinoids have been shown to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and pain relief in humans. They are naturally...

'Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it. 'The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." 'Read that again: "The intelligence and facts were being fixed . . . ."