Free Republic

Report: Cannabis Less Harmful Than Alcohol, Tobacco Friday, October 3, 2008 9:19 AM Cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, according to a report by a research charity Thursday, which called for a "serious rethink" of drug policy. The Beckley Foundation, a charity which numbers senior experts and other academics among its advisors, said banning cannabis has no impact on supply and turns users into criminals. "Although cannabis can have a negative impact on health, including mental health, in terms of relative harms it is considerably less harmful than alcohol or tobacco," says the report by the Foundation's Global...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A writer for a libertarian group has written perhaps the most scathing attack on pro-life vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin since the Alaska governor was announced weeks ago as John McCain's running mate. Nicholas Provenzo condemns Palin for the birth of her baby Trig, who has Down syndrome.Provenzo, who writes for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism, not only bashes her for allowing Trig to be born, but says she should have made the so-called morally justifiable decision to kill him in an abortion.The Center for the Advancement of Capitalism bills itself as a...

Two Delaware residents are giving new meaning to the term "pushing" Obama, according to criminal drug charges filed Thursday. Fifty-two bags of heroin in bags stamped both with letters spelling out OBAMA and an image in the likeness of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama were confiscated following a routine car stop on Interstate 95 in Upper Chichester, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is certainly one of the more interesting and controversial characters to emerge in the national political scene of late. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) selection of her to be his running mate was widely reported to be last-minute, a compromise choice when advisers and party insiders expressed concern over his preferred pick, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman. The pick smacked of desperation, and it seems clear now that McCain's camp didn't have time to vet Palin in the way it might have liked. But it may ultimately go down as a serendipitous oversight—and provide guidance to future candidates...

Observatory Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think. Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs. It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.

Denunciations of U.S. ‘imperialism,” which were a regular staple of Soviet TV, are back on the Russian version. ...recent guests on Russia Today have included Alexander Cockburn, “an American political journalist,” and Justin Raimondo, said to be “a top U.S. author.” Cockburn denounced John McCain as a warmonger, while Raimondo warned the Russians to investigate what’s on those humanitarian flights to Georgia. “I would check that out, if I were you,” he was quoted by Russia Today as saying. The Russian channel declared, “‘Say No to War’ has been Justin Raimondo’s slogan for over a decade―from the U.S. intervention in...

For any of you who may have known Kenneth Roger Gregg, who was prominent for some years in libertarian intellectual circles: I received word from Ken's wife, Debbie Gregg, that Ken passed away in his sleep early this morning. Pam Maltzman

After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant. The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago. "The idea of waging a war on drugs is to protect people and here it seems like we're putting people in harm's way," said Lance Block, a lawyer hired by Rachel's parents. The Florida Attorney General's office says it is reviewing the procedures and...

Squeezing his thumb and forefinger together in the back of a Manchester bar last night, Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr told a crowd of 80 that when it counts, there's that much difference between the Republicans and Democrats. Americans, he argued, are looking for something new. "The definition of throwing your vote away is to go into that voting booth and vote for one of two parties that will not change the direction this country's going in," Barr told a crowd of about 80 at Murphy's Taproom. "And that's the Republicans or Democrats."

In fact, as much as he despised Clinton, Barr thinks President Bush is worse. "What George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to separation of powers, to a government of limited powers is absolutely unforgivable," he said. That prospect is greatest in Barr's home state of Georgia. Obama is already running ads targeting an untapped pool of African Americans and younger voters. State polls suggest Barr's single-digit following pulls mostly from McCain. "If Barr can win 5 or 6 points of the total vote -- it's an if but it's conceivable -- then Obama could...

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr praised Al Gore on Thursday for his commitment to addressing climate change and said he has met with the former vice president several times to discuss possible solutions. In a speech Thursday at Constitution Hall in Washington, Gore said that he has also discussed climate change with presidential candidates Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Both McCain and Obama believe that action needs to be taken on global warming and have separately criticized the Bush administration for its approach on the issue. Barr said he believes the most effective energy solution will...

A few nights ago, I had occasion to attend an event at a conservative organization here in Phoenix. I will not say which organization, but I have it on good authority—and observed for myself—that the organization is slowly being taken over by libertarians.In many ways, conservatives and libertarians draw from the same ideological well: 18th century classical liberalism. We have much in common when it comes to the notion that government should be limited. Of course, it's a matter of degree; conservatives see a need for a small government, to be sure—but not quite so small as the libertarians.We...

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

Libertarians Favor Obama and Other Looks at Election 2008 Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and 5% are not sure. These results, from an analysis of 15,000 Likely Voter interviews conducted by Rasmussen Reports, challenges the conventional wisdom which assumes that strong support for a Libertarian candidate would hurt John McCain.

Man Robbed While Trying To Purchase Crack Cocaine Calls Cops, Is Arrested Wednesday July 9, 2008 CityNews.ca Staff A man who called police in East Hartford Connecticut Monday seems to have lost sight of his priorities. He reported he'd paid money for goods never received, presumably hoping they would chase down the guilty parties. But authorities were more interested in the fact that the man was trying to purchase crack cocaine at the time of the theft, and charged him with criminal attempt to commit possession of narcotics. The Judge at his arraignment reportedly asked if he "really thought" police...

An argument at a south Hilton Head Island nightclub spilled over to a north-island all-night breakfast restaurant, where a group of up to 15 women fought, some using their high heels as weapons, according to a Beaufort County sheriff’s report released today. The fight occurred just after 5 a.m. Saturday in the parking of Huddle House, 40 Palmetto Parkway. Several of the women had been in an argument earlier in the evening at Club Life, 81 Pope Ave., the report stated. When officers arrived, the people involved in the fight were uncooperative with the deputies and left the area, authorities...

Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and 5% are not sure.

U.S. Forest Service officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets and pepper spray balls at Rainbow Family members while making arrests Thursday evening, according to witnesses. "They were so violent, like dogs," Robert Parker told reporter Deborah Stevens of the libertarian-oriented, Round Rock, Texas-based We the People Radio Network [www.wtprn.com] after the incident. "People yelled at them, 'You're shooting children,'" Parker said during an interview on the network's "Rule of Law Show." About 7,000 people have arrived at the gathering near Big Sandy in the Wind River Mountains for the annual Gathering of the Tribes, a seven-day event...

A new malt liquor campaign are considered distasteful and are causing controversy.

More than a third of Danes have used cannabis at least once in their lives, making them the top users of the drug in Europe. The new statistics from the European Centre for Monitoring of Drugs and Drug Addiction show that Denmark comes out ahead of France and the UK for use of the illicit drug. Of Danish adults 36.5 percent have tried it at least once in their lives, compared to 30.6 percent in France and 29.8 percent in the United Kingdom. However, Denmark only lies in seventh place for the use of cannabis in the last year, which...

Leftist ideology may be gaining ground in Latin America. But it will never set foot on the manicured lawns of Francisco Marroquin University. For nearly 40 years, this private college has been a citadel of laissez-faire economics. Here, banners quoting "The Wealth of Nations" author Adam Smith -- he of the powdered wig and invisible hand -- flutter over the campus food court. Every undergraduate, regardless of major, must study market economics and the philosophy of individual rights embraced by the U.S. founding fathers, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." A sculpture commemorating Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is...

The other day, reading the New York Post's popular Page Six gossip page, I was surprised to find a picture of me, followed by the lines: "ABC'S John Stossel wants the government to stop interfering with your right to get high. The crowd went silent at his call to legalize hard drugs". I had attended a Marijuana Policy Project event celebrating the New York State Assembly's passage of a medical-marijuana bill. (The bill hasn't passed the Senate.) I told the audience I thought it pathetic that the mere half passage of a bill to allow sick people to try a...

The federal government's attempt to stop a group of gold-standard activists from minting an alternative to the greenback is about to face its first legal test. A dozen people around the country filed suit in U.S. District Court in Idaho this week demanding the return of all the copper, silver, gold, and platinum coins — more than seven tons of metal in all — that the FBI and Secret Service seized in November during raids of a mint in Idaho and a strip mall storefront in Indiana. The Justice Department had decided that the coins, many of which bear the...

The New Yorker is hardly the optimal vehicle for reaching the conservative intelligentsia. But, last year, Barack Obama cooperated with a profile for that magazine where he seemed to be speaking directly to the right. Because he paid obeisance to the virtues of stability and continuity, his interlocutor, Larissa MacFarquhar, came away with the impression that the Illinois senator was an adherent of Edmund Burke: "In his view of history, in his respect for tradition, in his skepticism that the world can be changed any way but very, very slowly, Obama is deeply conservative." As The New Yorker's assessment shot...

According to the video below, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey has said that “many Republicans will vote for Libertarian candidates in House races.” The Washington Times is reporting that former House Whip Tom DeLay’s wife plans to pull the Bob Barr lever on Election Day: Tom DeLay will vote for John McCain but the former House Republican leader said his wife, Christine, is planning to vote for Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr. “I’m trying to convince my wife not to do that,” the Texas Republican told editors and reporters at The Washington Times on Friday. “She said it publicly...

A car plowed into a bike race along a highway near the US-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others. Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez says the 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk ... A photograph taken by a city official shows bicyclists and equipment being hurled high in to the air...

So maybe it isn’t very “live and let live” for libertarians to assemble en masse in the hopes of exerting power. But some libertarians, feeling a little heady after their party’s national convention last weekend, are making a bold claim: this is the year their voting bloc will hold some serious sway in American politics. “We are in the beginning of a libertarian moment,” said Nick Gillespie, editor of Reason, the libertarian monthly. Meeting in Denver, the Libertarian Party chose as its new standard-bearer Bob Barr, the former four-term Republican congressman from Georgia who has already been branded a spoiler...

SANTEE, California (AP) -- Marie Walsh kept a low profile for 32 years, trying to escape her past life as Susan LeFevre. She raised three children with her husband of 23 years, Alan, who never knew she was using an assumed identity. Authorities wanted her for escaping from a Detroit prison a year into a maximum 20-year sentence on heroin charges. Now, LeFevre, 53, is in jail awaiting extradition from California to Michigan on an escape warrant. She was arrested April 24 outside her home in San Diego's posh Carmel Valley area, wearing a sweat suit and driving a black...

I've been trying to cope with life as it is today. It's different than it was, that's for sure. About July of 2006, I met the woman of my dreams. Intelligent, very pretty, highly sexually-charged, professional, able to understand my offbeat humor, seemingly very compatible with me in every way. Soon after starting to date, we began to plan to marry. Our target date was June of 2007. Some things began to bother me, however. She seemed to make major changes, quickly. She converted in levels of religious fervor, and seemed to change in core directions, too quickly. I began...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Frankfort man was arrested on drug trafficking charges early Sunday morning after he was reportedly pumping gas into an imaginary vehicle. According to the arrest report, Metro Police arrived at a gas station at First and Jefferson streets in Louisville and immediately smelled marijuana coming from Joshua L. Moore, who station clerks contend was filling up an imaginary vehicle.

...former Congressman Bob Barr announced to a group of Midwestern Libertarian Party activists that he was taking the first step toward running for president. If nominated, Barr could be the most successful Libertarian presidential candidate in the party's 37-year history -- and John McCain's worst nightmare. For unlike Ed Clark, the current Libertarian record-holder who won just under 1 million votes in the 1980 presidential race, Bob Barr is no "low-tax liberal." Ever since Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia in 1986, Barr has been a leader on behalf of conservative causes (he has...

Former Republican Georgia Rep. Bob Barr is considering a run for president on the Libertarian Party ticket, according to FITNews. Barr, who joined the Libertarian Party after leaving Congress in 2003, is looking to attract conservatives who are unhappy with the choice of John McCain as the expected Republican presidential nominee. McCain and Barr are at odds primarily over the role of U.S troops in Iraq, although both agree that tough interrogation methods should not be permitted. FITNews wrote that Barr will receive the endorsement of Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, a GOP presidential candidate who is still technically in...

John Daly has been cut loose by swing coach Butch Harmon, who said Tuesday he was not going to waste his time with a two-time major champion who is more interested in drinking than working on his golf game. ``My whole goal for him was he's got to show me golf is the most important thing in his life,'' Harmon said from his golf school in Las Vegas. ``And the most important thing in his life is getting drunk.'' Harmon said he has worked three times this year with Daly, but he said Daly's behavior at the PODS Championship was...

People who do not drink alcohol may finally have a reason to start -- a study published on Friday shows non-drinkers who begin taking the occasional tipple live longer and are less likely to develop heart disease. People who started drinking in middle age were 38 percent less likely to have a heart attack or other serious heart event than abstainers -- even if they were overweight, had diabetes, high blood pressure or other heart risks, Dr. Dana King of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and colleagues found. Many studies have shown that light to moderate drinkers...

6th Graders To Get Drug TestsPOSTED: 10:41 am EST March 7, 2008 UPDATED: 5:59 pm EST March 7, 2008 ROYAL OAK, Mich. -- A new drug testing system could soon take place in Royal Oak starting in September. Superintendent Thomas Moline said he will be taking a proposal to the school board that will allow voluntary and random drug testing for students as young as 11 years old. Moline said nobody can predict who's going to use drugs and he wants to include middle school and elementary school students. He said it is part of the Save Our Youth Task...

Whatever your feeling on smoking bans, you kind of have to admire the way some bars in Minnesota are getting around their state's tough new restrictions on the practice. Like Toronto, Minnesota has banned smoking in its pubs and nightclubs, but the legislators did leave one loophole - actors on stage are allowed to light up a cigarette if it's something their characters would do in the context of a play.

The urge to binge mindlessly, though it can strike at any time, seems to stir in the collective unconscious during the last weeks of winter. Maybe it’s the television images from places like Fort Lauderdale and Cabo San Lucas, of communications majors’ face planting outside bars or on beaches. Or perhaps it’s a simple a case of seasonal affective disorder in reverse. Not SAD at all, but anticipation of warmth and eagerness for a little disorder. Either way, researchers have had a hard time understanding binge behavior. Until recently, their definition of binge drinking — five drinks or more in...

Previous observational studies have reported that heavy alcohol intake is a risk factor for hypertension but such studies may be confounded by factors such as diet, smoking, exercise levels and socio-economic position. Clinical trials exploring the link are difficult to implement and have limited follow-up time. The Bristol study, led by Dr Sarah Lewis of the University's Department of Social Medicine, took a different approach focused on people who have a mutation on a gene which affects their body's ability to eliminate alcohol. Alcohol is initially metabolised to an intermediate compound, acetaldehyde, which is further metabolised and then eliminated from...

In the slide show I narrated about the late William F. Buckley, Jr., I didn’t have room to get into a couple of issues we’ve been debating here at the Lab: the Drug Enforcement Administration’s campaigns against medical marijuana and against doctors who treat chronic-pain patients. Mr. Buckley was worried about the D.E.A. well before the OxyContin scare inspired the agency’s Operation Cotton Candy and led to doctors like William Hurwitz and Bernard Rottschaefer being sent to prison. In 1995, after criticizing presidents and members of Congress for pursuing a war on drugs he considered futile, Mr. Buckley wrote: But...

Washington, D.C. - Mike Huckabee's populist rhetoric may work in the private sector, but it has no place in politics, says the Libertarian Party. "Huckabee's continual call for populism in American policy is making it clear that he will not be a President that is committed to limiting government, lowering taxes and increasing personal freedom," says Libertarian Party Executive Director Shane Cory. "Huckabee would make a great charity director or chairman of a nonprofit agency," says Cory, "but, as President, he would completely undermine the liberty movement in the United States that seeks to decrease the role of government in...

What's wrong with libertarianism? Libertarians get patronized a lot. Chipmunky and earnest, always pursuing logical consistency down wacky paths, they pose no real threat to the established order. But the modest success of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas in the presidential campaign entitles them to some answers to the questions they raise. They say: People should be free to do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't hurt other people. If you agree, how do you justify (let's pick just two): 1) laws that forbid private behavior, such as recreational drugs; 2) government programs that redistribute one person's...

"There is nothing wrong with your thermostat. Do not attempt to adjust the temperature. We are controlling your power consumption. If we wish to make it hotter, we will turn off your air conditioner. If we wish to make it cooler, we will turn off your heater. For the next millennium, sit quietly and we will control your home temperature. We repeat, there is nothing wrong with your thermostat. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... SACRAMENTO!"* Building codes and engineering standards...

Billed as the fringe candidate, Texas representative and presidential candidate Ron Paul garnered just over 10% of the vote during the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, with results still filtering in. Although Paul's supporters are known to be die-hard fans and quite energetic, the small government representative was not given much of a chance from the beginning of the campaign season. Paul's polling numbers have steadily increased over the latter part of 2007, and even polls above mainstream candidate Fred Thompson in the state of New Hampshire.

An email blast from a Paulistinian. Cover your mouth before you yak. ----QUOTE TEXT BEGIN---- I just wanted to ask if any of you have heard of Ron Paul? The reason I am replying to all and asking is, I think he holds many of our core values, and; -- Ending the Iraq war and bringing our troops home (he voted against invading Iraq) -- Abolishing the income tax and the IRS (he has always voted for a balanced budget) -- Personal freedom and liberty (he voted against the Patriot Act) He's a man who is committed to his principles...

<p>An empty vodka bottle was also found in a car used by Amritpal Dhaliwal, 19, and his brother, Kulbir, 23, on the day of the mauling, which left 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. dead, according to the source.</p> <p>The discoveries could be an indication that the brothers may have taunted the 350-pound Siberian tiger before it leapt from its grotto.</p>

Fred Thompson or Ron Paul? Like Perry and some others, I would rather see a big government Democrat elected than a big government Republican. At least that would bring back some opposition. Republicans in Congress have a much better record of reining in the Democrats' presidents than their own. And as I explain later, I think that one of these two is the only Republican candidate capable of winning the national election. Ron Paul answering the What programs? question by naming three cabinet level departments ... Wow. Good answer. If there was no rest-of-the-world, he would possibly have my vote....

Ahh, cancer. One learns so much from being diagnosed with a death-sentence disease. Of course, 95% of it is stuff you would rather not know, but that other 5% is downright interesting. For example, "America's Next Top Model" is much more fun to watch when you've lost 15 pounds without trying. During chemotherapy, vanilla smells good, but vanilla wafers taste disgusting. And eyelashes really do have a purpose; without them, my eyes are a dust magnet. But the most compelling fact I learned was about my friends. Not just what you would expect: how they cooked for my family and...

*spam* Gun Owners of America's foundation (GOF) will be submitting an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in support of the lower court's decision that the Second Amendment protects an individual right.

He won’t win the nomination. He won’t win any primaries. But for Ron Paul’s quixotic bid for the White House, it’s “Mission Accomplished.” In the past few months, Ron Paul has dramatically raised the profile of libertarianism inside the Republican Party. My small-l libertarian friends seem more comfortable describing themselves as such, even though they’ll go out of their way to disassociate themselves from Ron Paul and the big-L kind. Libertarianism in the GOP took a big hit on 9/11, and it’s slowly coming back, with Ron Paul as the catalyst. Its underlying ideals still have appeal well beyond the...

How to make sense of the Ron Paul revolution? What's behind the improbably successful (so far) presidential campaign of a 72-year-old 10-term Republican congressman from Texas who pines for the gold standard while drawing praise from another relic from the hyperinflationary 1970s, punk-rocker Johnny Rotten? Now with about 5 percent (and climbing) support in polls of likely Republican voters, Paul set a one-day GOP record by raising $4.3 million on the Internet from 38,000 donors on Nov. 5 -- Guy Fawkes Day, the commemoration of a British anarchist who plotted to blow up Parliament and kill King James I in...