Free Republic

Liberty Republicans need to think about strategies to counteract the cooptation of the revived liberty movement that Rockefeller or Progressive Republicans will attempt. The Tea Party movement’s explosion shows that liberty Republicanism can succeed. As well, the failure of Rockefeller Republicanism under the Bush administration might keep big government Republicans from success, especially when we liberty Republicans refuse to cooperate with them. Because the Tea Party movement is composed of many fine and well meaning but inexperienced activists, it is susceptible to the same tactics that coopted the libertarian movement in 1980. If a Progressive Republican calls himself a “libertarian”...

Montreal, December 17, 2009 – Canadian teenagers are among the largest consumers of cannabis worldwide. The damaging effects of this illicit drug on young brains are worse than originally thought, according to new research by Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a psychiatric researcher from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. The new study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, suggests that daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause depression and anxiety, and have an irreversible long-term effect on the brain. "We wanted to know what happens in the brains of teenagers when they use cannabis and whether they are...

Michigan's state Senate and House passed a smoking ban that will make indoor smoking illegal, save for gambling areas, cigar bars and cigar shops. The measure, HB 4377, passed by a vote of 24 to 13 in the Senate and was overwhelmingly approved by the House in a vote of 75 to 30. The legislation will become law when Gov. Jennifer Granholm signs it; she has come out in favor of such legislation, according to press reports from Michigan. The law will go into effect May 1. Exemptions to the legislation include cigar bars, tobacco stores and casinos. A smoking...

The Libertarian Party is stuck in a loop that sustains its electoral irrelevance. Now is the perfect time for a strategy change. America has long used third parties as forums for statements of dissatisfaction with the big two. But while Theodore Roosevelt, Strom Thurmond, George Wallace, and Ross Perot generated considerable heat, they were populist flares who soon burned out. Every four, years the Libertarian Party picks a presidential candidate who tallies meager vote totals. In 2008, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr received 523,686 votes -- 0.4% of the national total. Clearly, the purpose of the exercise isn't to win....

Which of the following statements best matches your view of global warming? This whole global warming thing is a hoax. 29% I don't know whether global warming is real, but the government should limit carbon dioxide emissions just to be safe. 5% Global warming is real, it's a threat, and the government should limit carbon dioxide emissions. 10% Whether or not global warming is real, it doesn't justify more taxes or regulations. 26% Global warming is mostly natural and there's not much we can do about it. 29% Total votes: 7267

A woman in Canberra blew a .385 yesterday, one of the highest ever recorded. BAC numbers of .40 are supposed to mean death. Read the linked article for more information.

It may have been the year of one of her classic films, Some Like It Hot, but a home movie found after 50 years in an attic apparently demonstrates that Marilyn Monroe may have enjoyed pot too. A silent reel-to-reel colour film, dating probably from the late 1950s, shows a relaxed star taking a quick puff from what is alleged to have been a joint of marijuana while sitting on a couch with at least two other people. But, as President Bill Clinton and other politicians might put it later, she did not inhale, not much anyway. The film shows...

A video of Marilyn Monroe allegedly smoking marijuana has been made public some 50 years after it was filmed. The film was recently bought for $275,000 (£166,000) by US collector Keya Morgan, who is making a documentary on the death of Monroe in August 1962. He tracked it down to an attic in New Jersey - the person who filmed it said it was taken at an informal gathering in 1958 or 1959. The film shows a personal side rarely seen in public since the actress achieved stardom. At one point in the film, Marilyn points her nose toward her...

On April 16 in NRO, Daniel T. Griswold, the head of immigration policy for the libertarian Cato Institute attacked National Review complaining that in three "consecutive" issues, "anti-immigrant crusaders," including John O'Sullivan and Mark Krikorian, have "pushed every button to whip up hostility to immigration." Let us ignore the nasty smears....focus on Griswold's substantive position. Near the end of the NRO article Griswold insists that he is not for "open borders," but his record suggests otherwise. A story in the Christian Science Monitor (August 30, 2000) by Scott Baldauf is particularly revealing. Baldauf describes a new project of the Immigration...

The most fundamental problem with libertarianism is very simple: freedom, though a good thing, is simply not the only good thing in life. Simple physical security, which even a prisoner can possess, is not freedom, but one cannot live without it. Prosperity is connected to freedom, in that it makes us free to consume, but it is not the same thing, in that one can be rich but as unfree as a Victorian tycoon’s wife. A family is in fact one of the least free things imaginable, as the emotional satisfactions of it derive from relations that we are either...

According to Politico.com, Ayn Rand — the subject of two new biographies, one of which is titled Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right — is “having a mainstream moment,” including among conservatives. (Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina wrote a piece in Newsweek on Rand, saying, “This is a very good time for a Rand resurgence. She’s more relevant than ever.”). I hope the moment passes. Ms. Rand may have been a popular novelist, but her philosophy is deeply problematic and morally indefensible.....

SAN FRANCISCO — These are heady times for advocates of legalized marijuana in California — and only in small part because of the newly relaxed approach of the federal government toward medical marijuana. State lawmakers are holding a hearing on Wednesday on the effects of a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate the drug — in what would be the first such law in the United States. Tax officials estimate the legislation could bring the struggling state about $1.4 billion a year, and though the bill’s fate in the Legislature is uncertain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has indicated...

Hot Air's AllahPundit recycles a tired argument about conservatives sitting down and shutting up when the RNC sticks the goobers in the sticks with a liberal weenie candidate. It's all about being on the winning team, donchaknow? A variation of "My tired Republican hack can beat up your tired Democrat hack!" There's no debating these types: a philosophical difference of opinion spells doom for the Republican Party. But make no mistake: this debate must be held and now's as good a time as any. We agree with AllahP. more than we disagree. But that doesn't mean that it's not...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday. Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws. The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

The time is right for Silicon Valley -- style progressivism to woo independents into a political force under the Libertarian Party banner. Here's how. If the two-party system is ever going to be seriously challenged, this is the moment. The GOP, the stall-tactic party, is reeling. The Democratic administration is struggling to turn around the economy. And across the country, creative, engaged folks are increasingly feeling politically homeless. More Americans consider themselves independents (39%) than Democrats (33%) or Republicans (22%) -- and the gap is widening. Who will fill that void? Sarah Palin is rumored to be mulling the...

One topic that has only recently begun to attract attention is the Nazi anti-tobacco movement. Germany had the world's strongest anti smoking movement in the 1930s and early 1940s,supported by Nazi medical and military leaders worried that tobacco might prove a hazard to the race. Many Nazi leaders were vocal opponents of smoking. Anti-tobacco activists pointed out that whereas Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt were all fond of tobacco, the three major fascist leaders of Europe-Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco-were all non-smokers. Hitler was the most adamant,characterising tobacco as "the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man for having been...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Farmers from North Dakota and Vermont and four others trying to plant hemp seeds at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration have been arrested. Arlington County police spokeswoman Detective Crystal Nosal says six people were charged with trespassing on Tuesday. They were among 21 people protesting the ban on farming of hemp, which is related to the illegal drug marijuana. The Hemp Industries Association says the protesters turned to civil disobedience for the first time. The group is lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill. They want to grow hemp for non-drug products. North Dakota farmer Wayne...

In less than six weeks, Virginians have an opportunity to make their voices heard in defense of the Constitution and the principles of individual freedom and limited government enshrined therein. Senator Ken Cuccinelli is running to become Virginia’s next attorney general, and your vote for him can send a strong message to politicians all across Virginia… and even the nation. The message is that we are tired of politicians who are too spineless to defend our rights from an ever-encroaching big government. The message is that Founding principles matter, and that politicians who follow Founding principles unabashedly and unashamedly will...

The prevalence of mental health disorders in this country has nearly doubled in the past 20 years. Who is treating all of these patients? Clinical psychologists and therapists are charged with the task, but many are falling short by using methods that are out of date and lack scientific rigor. This is in part because many of the training programs—especially some Doctorate of Psychology (PsyD) programs and for-profit training centers—are not grounded in science. A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, by a panel of distinguished clinical scientists—Timothy Baker...

Sarah Palin enjoys considerable support among libertarian Republicans, and many libertarian independents are giving her a second look. Adam Brickley believes that the Sarah Palin John McCain scooped up out of Alaska to be his running mate was much more libertarian than the vice presidential candidate who had to support McCain's policy positions on the stump. What we are seeing now, says Brickley, is "more of the original, pre-McCain Sarah Palin": "A lot has been said lately about the idea that Sarah Palin is positioning herself as a the libertarian in the 2012 field... This is exactly I have been...

Milton Friedman puts forward a compelling case for the legalization of drugs

Last week's talking point at The Humble Libertarian was a question of how we of a libertarian mindset should approach politics. Should we work to reform the Republican Party from the inside-out, should we focus on a third party, or should we eschew parties altogether and focus on education? A very thought-provoking discussion ensues in the comments, including my own response, which turned out much longer than I thought it would, and so I am re-posting it here.

BERLIN – A doctor leading a group therapy session gave participants drugs and other substances that killed two and left 10 hospitalized, Berlin police said Sunday. One person was left comatose and in critical condition. The doctor who led the session has acknowledged giving the participants various substances and drugs during the meeting, Martin Steltner, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor's office, told The Associated Press on Sunday. It was not clear whether illegal drugs were given and whether the substances were injected or taken orally. A police statement said autopsies have been carried out on the two dead people...

More than two dozen motorcycles crashed on a freeway in Oregon on Friday, blocking traffic for hours, police said. Oregon State Police said the bikers were behind a car when traffic unexpectedly slowed in the northbound lanes on Interstate 5. The collision sent bikes scattering across the road, near Wilsonville, south of Portland.

t's time for a change. Next month, I leave ABC News to start a weekly one-hour prime time show with Fox News. When I announced that on my blog, plenty of viewers said they were happy to have me leave. "Goodbye. You suck. You have found a much better home for your garbage reporting and backwards politics." "Congratulations on the move to the network intellectually suited to your quasi-libertarian corporate-apologist hackery!" Oh well, you can't please everyone. I don't expect that my libertarian beliefs will please everyone at Fox, either. Years ago, ABC hired me to do consumer reporting. When...

Some people cancel holidays abroad, others stage yard sales or start shopping at low-cost supermarkets. To that list must now be added a new way to get through economic hard times: grow cannabis. Law enforcers on the west coast of the US and in the middle states straddled by the foothills of the Appalachian mountains are reporting a common trend. It is boom time for marijuana cultivation, and much of the incentive they say is to beat the recession. So far this year, police in parts of the country where cannabis is traditionally grown have chopped down plants with a...

DURANT — A bad breakup or a lovers’ quarrel are the leading theories Bryant County officials have for finding nearly $500,000 worth of someone’s property strewn about a Durant area street last week. Just as surprising as the overall value was the property itself: 236 potted, high-grade marijuana plants. "Strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Chuck Carroll, field supervisor for the District 19 Drug Task Force. "That (a domestic dispute) is the first thing that came to our minds. Someone wanted this marijuana to be found.” "We got a county commissioner to dig us a hole and furnish some diesel,...

It's time for a change. In one month, I leave ABC News. In October, I will join the folks at Fox. I plan to do a one hour prime time show every week on FBN, the Fox Business Channel, and contribute to various existing programs on Fox News Channel. I’m grateful to ABC News for allowing me to do stories that challenged conventional wisdom, and occasionally enraged many of its viewers. But it’s said that everyone should change jobs every 7 years. I’ve been at ABC for 28 years ... In my new job, I want to dig into the...

My home state of California usually interacts with the federal government by genuflecting. But, on a few issues - very few, that is - they’ve got plenty of backbone. Most notably, marijuana. Last week, the California State Senate passed Senate Joint Resolution 14 (SJR14), calling on the federal government to end their “interference in state medical marijuana laws.” If passed by the Assembly, it will be sent on to Congress and the White House as an official position of the California legislature. THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE Under the Constitution of the United States, the federal government is authorized to exercise...

The economic illiterates in Washington are so impressed with the "success" of Cash for Clunkers that they're readying Cash for Clunker Appliances. The ludicrous "stimulus" bill gave $300 million to the Department of Energy to provide rebates for 10 types of appliances that have been rated energy efficient.

Law enforcement sources tell us DJ AM -- also known as Adam Goldstein -- was found dead this afternoon in New York City. Sources tell us he was found in his apartment at around 5:20 PM. We're told drug paraphernalia was found at the scene. We're told DJ AM had not been seen or heard from for a few days -- one of his friends went to check on him, but got no response after knocking on his apartment door.

Glenn Beck has their ear and is drawing them in, from the left and right folks. Can you imagine him as President and Sarah as VP? Can you imagine him on a campaign trail? Can you imagine Obama trying to debate him? He already has the attention of the Corporate elite and the Obama mob, but most importantly, the people. Dems and Rep voters are sitting up and taking notes. Just a thought ... what do you think?

They met in a Miami restaurant — he a handsome tennis player, she a pretty waitress — and spent the evening smooching at a nightclub. Little did they know that the kisses they exchanged would spark a controversy that has gripped France all summer amid lawsuits and wrangles before international doping tribunals. Richard Gasquet, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, claimed that he tested positive for drugs a few hours after his encounter with the waitress because her kisses had contaminated him with cocaine. His story, greeted with derision in France at first, was given weight this week when the results of...

A robbery suspect wearing only a Speedo-style swimsuit was arrested in East Hartford after a police dog tracked him down and bit him on the leg. Police say Tran tried to steal several vehicles, and also took items from them. The 18-year-old Tran allegedly told police he'd been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana.

Empty turtle shells, decaying skunk carcasses and a set of deer antlers lay strewn about an empty campsite in California's Sierra National Forest. The butchered animals, as well as several five-pound propane canisters, camp stoves and heaps of trash, were all that remained of the 69 marijuana plantations recently uncovered in Fresno County as part of operation "Save our Sierras." The massive operation that began in February has already seized about 318,000 marijuana plants worth an estimated $1.1 billion, officials announced last week. In addition to 82 arrests, the multi-jurisdictional federal, state and local operation netted 42 pounds of processed...

He fled the "People's Republic of Massachusetts" to escape tyranny. Now he strides the campground in a plaid kilt and mirror shades, an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle across his torso, an immense Scottish sword sheathed between his shoulders.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to approve a first-of-its kind tax on medical marijuana sold at the city's four cannabis dispensaries.

Reinventing Libertaria Should the Libertarian Party, a party that barely shows up on political radar as it is, be further split? Has the LP written itself out of post 9/11 America? In a country moving perceptibly to the right, does a retrenched, leftist Democratic Party open up middle ground for its own replacement to the right? As a small 'l' libertarian, I increasingly find myself at greater odds with the LP than I am with conservatives. When social conservatism is replacing the Tenth Amendment (the powers not delegated to the United States ...are reserved to the States) with any number...

Even though the world has said goodbye to Michael Jackson, the lingering suspicion is now linking his longtime friend Elizabeth Taylor to his alleged prescription-drug overdose. Sources told The Daily Beast that Taylor influenced Jackson to take multiple prescription drugs introducing him to doctor Arnold Klein -- the same doctor whom she's since revealed prescribed her multiple medications including Dilaudid and Ativan, the first a powerful opiate that street users dub "the Bentley of heroin" and the latter a tranquilizer. According to a source familiar with Taylor's medical history, she sought help from at least two doctors to counter her...

I don’t speak for all Libertarians any more than Sean Penn speaks for all Democrats. I’m not even sure my LP membership card is up to date. I’ve voted Libertarian as long as I can remember but I don’t really remember much before the Clintons and the Bushes. Those clans made a lot of us bugnutty. When I go on Glenn’s show he calls me a Libertarian, I think that’s my only real credential. There are historical reasons and pragmatic reasons to be a Libertarian, but there are historic and pragmatic reasons to be a Democrat, a Republican or a...

text of the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Section 1. : The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. Section 2. : The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited. Section 3. : This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the...

> Previously, Daugé and her colleagues had shown that rats deprived of their mothers at birth become hypersensitive to the rewarding effect of morphine and heroin (substances belonging to the opiate family), and rapidly become dependent. In addition, there is a correlation between such behavioral disturbances linked to dependence, and hypoactivity of the enkephalinergic system, the endogenous opioid system. >

As the focus turns from rebuilding the Republican Party in 2009 to winning elections in 2010, look to three savvy women to lead the way for liberty next year. Sharron Angle is a former member of the Nevada Assembly who was narrowly defeated in a Congressional primary two years ago. At her website, she sharply criticizes the national debt, the continued growth of government, and mounting Congressional spending. In 2010, Angle is likely to run against the vulnerable U.S. Senate Speaker Harry Reid (D-NV). Terri McCormick is a former State Representative from Wisconsin. Elected in 2000, she self-imposed a term...

Did you hear the one about how the Federal Reserve controls the world? In fact, the Federal Reserve chairman is merely a puppet. They are always controlled by a super secret group of power players. No one, of course, knows exactly who they are because no one knows exactly who actually owns the Federal Reserve. In fact, the president is also merely a puppet. It is this super secret group of power players that ultimately puppeteer the world. It's all part of their goals to create a one world government and ultimately control that government. Furthermore, this is no new...

What a reversal. Freedom is breaking out across Iran. We are witnessing one of the most historical events of our lifetimes, comparable no doubt to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet, Libertarians, outside of this political news blog, Atlas Shrugs, the Libertarian Defense Caucus, and a few other libertarian Republicans, are for the most part silent. Virtually no reportage at Reason. In the last week, just two articles on the whole Iranian Revolution at Reason, and one was more of a criticism of how CNN was covering the event, than coverage of the event itself. Cato is similarly unengaged....

WASHINGTON – America’s third largest party urged the U.S. House Tuesday to defeat plans for a $1.9 trillion energy tax hike over eight years. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to rush H.R. 2454, the Waxman-Markey energy tax bill, to a vote this week. “With unemployment rising above and beyond what President Obama said it would be with the multi-hundred billion dollar stimulus bill, now is not the time to dismantle our economy with a multi-hundred billion dollar energy tax hike,” said William Redpath, Libertarian National Committee Chairman. “Libertarians urge House members to defeat this job-killing tax hike on Americans,”...

Joints and baggies sold at California's medical marijuana dispensaries will soon carry a new warning label. Next to tags like "Purple Haze" and "White Widow" will be the advisory: Contents may cause cancer when smoked. On Friday, California added marijuana smoke to its official list of known carcinogens, joining the ranks of arsenic, asbestos and DDT. Pot brownies, lollipops and other non-inhalables are not affected by the new ruling.

I almost fell off my chair when I read this line at The Live Feed: “Self-described libertarian pundit Bill Maher ripped Barak Obama during a lengthy monologue on his HBO program Friday night, accusing the president of being obsessed with appearing on TV and failing to come through on pre-election promises.” “This is not what I voted for,” Maher said. “I don’t want my president to be a TV star.” What’s more shocking? That Maher is attacking Obama or that he describes himself as a Libertarian?

As much as those who seek to defend Standard English hate to admit it, language is a social compact in flux. Bill Safire, the great warrior for the language of Shakespeare, fought a battle he could never win. Every day, the entire world's population modifies and adapts language to fulfill contemporary needs. What is in a word? Nothing more than what we hear and believe. Still, words have power. They change thoughts. Eloquence flows to authority, which flows to new perception. If asked, no sensible parent would give his child a dose of amphetamines (speed) on a daily basis. Yet...

Drag queen "Ray" was enraged when a late-night customer on Toronto's downtown track offered him $5 for oral sex recently. "I didn't spend two hours getting my makeup on and all dressed up for that," says the 36-year-old former hairdresser from Venezuela, who usually charges $60 for the service. These days, Ray is getting little more than callouses from standing all night near Jarvis and Wellesley, as the economic slump delivers an unexpected hit to the sex trade.