Free Republic

Starting in January, getting caught with an ounce or less of marijuana in California will be an infraction on par with jaywalking and littering — and not a misdemeanor that can tie up juries and show up on criminal background checks for job applicants. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the law Thursday, but said it doesn’t change his opposition to Proposition 19, the Nov. 2 ballot measure that would legalize possession and personal use of up to an ounce of marijuana. Reaction was predictably divided Friday. Both sides of Proposition 19, which voters will settle on Nov. 2, tried to use...

Here's a prediction: The media will report today that the federal budget deficit is big and getting bigger. What most of them won't report, alas, is that the cause of these deficits is an explosion in federal spending. The era of big government is back, bigger than ever. [The Spending Explosion] The real news in yesterday's Congressional Budget Office semiannual report is that federal expenditures on everything from roads to homeland security to health care will on present trends reach 21.5% of GDP next year. That's a larger share of national output than at anytime since 1992. If the cost...

Perhaps it is time to stop worrying about an exit strategy for the War in Iraq and formulate one for the War on Poverty. No, it’s not the War in Iraq — it’s the War on Poverty. Incredible as it may seem, Americans transfer more than a trillion dollars each year to low-income families through a bewildering variety of programs, all in the name of fighting poverty and inequality. That’s about seven times the cost of the Iraq war. How do we spend so much? In 2005, $620 billion was spent on more than eighty welfare programs funded by federal,...

A Santa Ana man who reports his Latino neighbors for city code violations says he's just trying to raise property values. Some view his actions as part of a culture clash. How you view the recent news about a Santa Ana man who pleaded guilty to selling cars from his house may depend on which side of South Broadway you live on. On the east side, Tim Rush says he's "ecstatic, and doing a jig." For more than a year, Rush had regularly complained to city officials about problem neighbors, particularly Pedro Reyes Rios, whom he nicknamed the "Cal Worthington...