Free Republic

Tonight’s Show: Prohibition In part of my show tonight, I’ll talk about how laws against prostitution, organ selling, and drug use hurt more people than prostitution, organ selling, and drug use do. The first argument against drug legalization is usually: “then more kids will abuse drugs!” But there’s little evidence for that. The Netherlands has officially "tolerated" marijuana for 30 years. So is there violent marijuana crime? No. Fewer young people in Holland smoke marijuana than do Americans. Legalization took the mystique away. A Dutch minister of health said, "We've succeeded in making pot... boring."

Dems red-faced over veteran imposterDemocrats are incensed over how a man duped the party and veterans during the '08 campaign. By Michael RileyThe Denver Post WASHINGTON — Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado. He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org. And the...

Valley Libertarian crusader Marshall W. Fritz dead at 65 By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee11/06/08 22:39:34 Marshall William Fritz, an icon of the Libertarian movement who opposed state-run schools, once ran for Congress and created a widely circulated political quiz, died of pancreatic cancer Tuesday in Fresno. Mr. Fritz, 65, a writer and adventurer, began his political life as a liberal in the 1960s but shifted to libertarianism in the 1970s and clung to it to the very end. ... He established Advocates for Self-Government in 1984, now based in Georgia, to promote Libertarian ideals. He also established the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday passed and sent to the White House legislation that bans lead from children's toys and seeks to ensure that chemicals posing possible health problems will not end up on toys and articles that kids chew on and play with. The Senate, stymied by partisan differences over the energy crisis, put aside those differences momentarily to vote 89-3 for the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The House passed the bill Wednesday by 424-1, a reflection of the national outcry over a rash of recalls last years of toys and children's products contaminated by lead...

In February, the number of Americans who consider themselves to be Democrats jumped to 41.5%, the highest total on record. Just 31.8% consider themselves to be Republicans. The partisan gap—a 9.7 percentage point advantage for the Democrats—is by far the largest it has ever been. The previous high was a 6.9 point edge for the Democrats in December 2006. Rasmussen Reports tracks this information based upon telephone interviews with approximately 15,000 adults per month and has been doing so since November 2002. The 9.7 percentage point advantage for Democrats is up from a 5.6 point advantage a month ago and...

San Diego, CA -- Mitt Romney gave 18 million dollars of his own money to his campaign in the last three months of 2007. In total, he has poured 35 million dollars of his personal fortune into his campaign. The Romney camp also reported raising 9 million dollars in donations in the fourth quarter equaling 53.5 million dollars for the entire year. The campaign spent 33.8 million during the last 3 months of the year equaling 87.6 million dollars spent in 2007. The camp reports having 2.4 million dollars cash on hand at the end of the year. The campaign...

It was anything but the standard State of the Union speech. Instead of congratulating himself on the achievements of his young and troubled Administration, Gerald Ford adopted the somber tone of a wartime leader calling for an all-out effort to repel the enemy. Instead of skipping lightly over a broad spectrum of national and foreign policies, the President concentrated almost exclusively on specific means to counter the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, the nation's almost 14% rate of inflation and the U.S.'s dangerous dependence on cartel-controlled foreign oil. Displaying the blunt candor that is his most politically attractive...

Third Party Watch reports that the Libertarian Party National Committee just unanimously passed a resolution, which reads, in part, "In the event that Republican primary voters select a candidate other than Congressman Paul in February of 2008, the Libertarian National Committee invites Congressman Paul to seek the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, to be decided in Denver, Colorado, during the Memorial Day weekend of 2008." Third Party Watch has an eyewitness reporter at this meeting, which has been going on this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. The Paul resolution was authored by former Congressman Bob Barr.

While the presidential candidates comb Iowa and New Hampshire for votes, they are also combing the country for dollars. Rudolph Giuliani has set his sights on Texas, and he is having a lot of success. Giuliani might have seemed the least plausible choice of big Republican donors in Texas. The former New York City mayor supports abortion rights, gay unions and gun control. And his political base is 1,400 miles away in a city that is practically synonymous with liberal Democrats. Yet Giuliani has raised more money in Texas than anyone in either party. He has taken nearly $6 million...

Paul Weyrich, one of the nation’s most influential conservative leaders, says he is out to prevent Rudy Giuliani from winning the Republican nomination for president — and predicts the religious right will unite behind any GOP candidate except Rudy. In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.com, Weyrich also predicts Republicans face a “disaster” in the Senate in next year’s elections, says Hillary Clinton would be the easiest Democratic candidate to defeat, and charges that the Bush administration’s Iraq policy has been a “mistake” from the beginning. Weyrich is no stranger to speaking his mind. As Chairman and CEO of the Washington-based...

Michael Mukasey, the retired judge nominated to be attorney general, is called a "law and order" conservative. That description is, however, not especially informative now that the Bush administration's sweeping claims of presidential powers have unsettled some understandings of what the law is. The following questions, if asked at Mukasey's Senate confirmation hearings, might reveal whether he considers some of these claims extravagant. -- The Bush administration says "the long war" -- the war on terror -- is a perpetual emergency that will last for generations. Waged against us largely by non-state actors, it will not end with a legally...

BILL MOYERS: The gentleman you're about to meet is someone I'm also meeting for the first time, although we started in national politics in the same year long ago. And therein lies a story. Back in 1960 Vic Gold and I were both young idealists, and we both voted for John F. Kennedy for president. Except for our awe of the Alabama football legend Bear Bryant, that's probably the last time we ever agreed on anything until now. What we have in common now is the belief that politics ain't what it used to be. I went on to serve...

George Roche, Captain of Hillsdale Ship by Ron TrowbridgePosted May 16, 2006George Roche, president of Hillsdale College for 28 years, from l971 to l999, died May 5 at age 70. His body had been torn by diabetes most of his life. It is nearly impossible to exaggerate his accomplishments. He made Hillsdale College what it is, even today where the foundation he established remains, with the college presently building upon it. He was the captain of the ship, steering the boat and giving us mates direction. He gave the college the best faculty and the best students it had ever...

May 16, 2006 Bush's Border Buffoonery Non-binding, non-militarized non-solutions to a non-problem Nick Gillespie Give President Bush this much: His 16-minute "major" speech on immigration touched on, however briefly, every key issue related to the topic: border control, enforcement, guest worker programs, I.D. cards, you name it. And in the doublespeak fashion that underpins all political utterance, nothing seemed to mean what it plainly seemed to mean. Or at least imply. Hence, the president is sending 6,000 National Guard troops to keep watch on the Rio Grande, but "The United States Is Not Going To Militarize The Southern Border," says...

John Stossel's "Myths, Lies and Nasty Behavior" Think Gas Is More Expensive, Urban Sprawl Is Bad? Think Again Do you think farmers need more government assistance? Do you think gasoline is more expensive than ever? John Stossel may make you reconsider. (ABC) Here's my latest list of things you may have been led to believe are true ? but aren't. I'm also including some nasty behaviors that are more than just annoying, they cost us all money. I hope this will give you a different perspective about your money, your neighbors and your politicians.

January 5, 2006 Policy Analysis no. 559 A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems by Randal O'Toole Randal O'Toole is director of the Thoreau Institute and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. Executive Summary The nation's mass transit system is a classic example of how special interests prevail over the needs and interests of voters and taxpayers. Total inflation-adjusted subsidies to transit?buses and trains?have more than doubled since 1990, yet total ridership has increased by less than 10 percent. Train ridership has dropped dramatically while automobile use has skyrocketed. Prior to 1964, when...

W. Cleon Skousen died Monday, January 9. Skousen was one of the leading anti-Communists of the day. His nephew, Mark Skousen, editor of the just-released Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (Regnery) and editor of the financial newsletter Forecasts and Strategies, has written this tribute about the man he calls “ a giant in the land.” W. Cleo Skousen: 1913-2006 "There were giants in the earth in those days....the same became might men who were of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:4)A giant has died! My uncle Cleon, age 92, died of natural causes Jan.9, 2006. He lived a vigorous...

Dear Friends,I am pleased to endorse Howard Kaloogian for U.S. Congress. He has been thoroughly tested over the years in the political battles in Sacramento and has proven himself time and again as a stalwart defender of the family and traditional values. His leadership in the recall of Gov. Gray Davis showed his ability to make a plainspoken case for restoring common sense to state government.As a member of the U.S. House, Howard will do the same. He will quickly become a legislative leader at a time when conservative, common sense leadership is desperately needed to preserve marriage, stand...

One of the principal elements of civil society is the rule of law. Society depends upon most people obeying the law most of the time, together with tough sanctions for violation. In this spirit, the full strength of any and all sanctions of the Taylor Law should be imposed upon the leadership of New York's illegally striking bus and subway workers. At the height of the holiday shopping season, the strike by bus and subway workers could not be a more ill-timedand antagonistic affront to its customers. Under New York's Taylor Law, enacted specifically because of a previous transit strike,...

A man accused of selling a MARTA token to a passenger having trouble with a token machine must stand trial on the criminal charge. Judge Stephanie Davis decided Tuesday that Donald Pirone's case should be bound over to state court for trial. Pirone could face a year in jail. An officer spotted Pirone selling the token on Nov. 30 inside the West End subway station. Following a 1992 state law that prohibits passengers from selling tokens, the officer handcuffed Pirone and gave him a citation. Pirone says he was trying to help a fellow passenger. He says he did not...