Jacob Sullum from Creators Syndicate

Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Pill Policy for 07/16/2008

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"This is a difficult case," writes Judge Michael Hawkins, dissenting from a recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. That is not the way most people respond when they hear about Savana Redding, who was strip-searched in 2003, when she was 13, by Arizona public school officials looking for ibuprofen pills in her underwear.

Nor is it the way most of Hawki ...

Updated: Wed Jul 16, 2008

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Excuse Me While I Get My Gun for 07/23/2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the District of Columbia had violated the Second Amendment by making armed self-defense in the home impractical and banning the most popular weapons used for that purpose. Last week, the D.C. Council responded by unanimously approving a law that makes armed self-defense in the home impractical and bans the most popular weapons used for that purpose. ...

Updated: Wed Jul 23, 2008

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The Obstinate Obstetrician for 07/30/2008

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Frustrated by Tom Coburn's "unprecedented obstructionism," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cobbled together a "Tomnibus" of 35 bills with "broad — virtually unanimous — bipartisan support" that Coburn had blocked. On Monday, the Oklahoma Republican blocked them again.

Unable to muster the 60 votes needed to overcome Coburn's opposition, Reid ca ...

Updated: Wed Jul 30, 2008

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File Keepers for 08/06/2008

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If someone develops a practical mind-reading device, you can expect the Department of Homeland Security to argue that skulls are merely another "closed container" that officers guarding the border may search at will. After all, government agents have long been allowed to read documents in briefcases carried by Americans returning from abroad. Why should the medium in which information ...

Updated: Wed Aug 06, 2008

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Plant Prejudice vs. the Constitution for 08/13/2008

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When Owen Beck was 17, doctors amputated his right leg to stop the spread of bone cancer. His parents, desperate to find a drug that would relieve their son's excruciating phantom limb pain, brought him to Charlie Lynch's medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, Calif., carrying a recommendation from a Stanford University oncologist. The marijuana not only eased the pain but also alleviated t ...

Updated: Wed Aug 13, 2008

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Are You Sure You Want Fries With That? for 08/20/2008

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In a 2007 survey of California voters, 84 percent said they thought the government should force restaurant chains to display calorie numbers on their menus and menu boards. That may happen soon: The state Assembly is considering a bill, already approved by the state Senate, that would make California the first state to impose such a menu mandate.

Yet the desires that people express in po ...

Updated: Wed Aug 20, 2008

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MADD Logic for 08/27/2008

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In 1985, when New York raised its alcohol purchase age to 21 under federal pressure, I was a sophomore at Cornell. One day, I was responsible enough to order a beer; the next day, I wasn't.

Nowadays, I'm irresponsible simply for bringing up the subject. Or so it would seem, judging from the way Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has responded to the 128 (and counting) college president ...

Updated: Wed Aug 27, 2008

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The Schnorrer State for 09/03/2008

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A few years ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma suggested taking money earmarked for a notoriously extravagant "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska and using it for reconstruction work in Louisiana. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, a fellow Republican, angrily declared, "This is the first time I have seen any attempt by any senator to treat my state … different ...

Updated: Wed Sep 03, 2008

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Platform at Sea for 09/10/2008

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Republican platform unveiled last week notes in passing that "the Constitution assigns the federal government no role in local education." Yet the same document offers opinions on all manner of local educational issues, including the virtues of phonics, the evils of sex education, the wisdom of merit pay for teachers and the folly of social promotion.

That contradiction ill ...

Updated: Wed Sep 10, 2008

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Palin's Pot Problem for 09/17/2008

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When it comes to questions about youthful marijuana use, Sarah Palin is no Slick Willie. "I can't claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled," the Republican vice presidential candidate told the Anchorage Daily News in 2006, before she was elected governor of Alaska.

Although Palin's handling of the issue scores higher on the candor meter than Clinton's, she has the same ...

Updated: Wed Sep 17, 2008

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Revenge of the Bitter Gun Owners for 09/24/2008

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last spring, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to arms, Democrats hoped the decision would neutralize the gun issue. Instead the ruling, by inviting debate over which kinds of gun control are constitutional, has made the issue more salient.

That's bad news for Barack Obama, who the National Rifle Association (NRA) says "would ...

Updated: Wed Sep 24, 2008

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Does It Take a Panic to Stop a Panic? for 10/01/2008

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Without immediate action by Congress," President Bush warned last week, "America could slip into a financial panic." Instead, Bush wanted a political panic. The only way to avert "a long and painful recession" in which "millions of Americans could lose their jobs," he said, was to send the Treasury Department on an unprecedented Wall Street buying spree. ...

Updated: Wed Oct 01, 2008

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Pick Your Populism for 10/08/2008

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Casting about for an explanation of the baffling resistance among Republicans in the House of Representatives to the $700-billion Wall Street bailout that every well-informed, sensible person in the country supported, The New York Times settled on populism. The Republican Party "is increasingly populist," reporter Jackie Calmes averred, and "populists do not favor bailouts of Wal ...

Updated: Wed Oct 08, 2008

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Either a Borrower or a Lender Be for 10/15/2008

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain calls his promise to help millions of Americans with their mortgages the McCain Resurgence Plan. Ostensibly, the "resurgence" has something to do with home values, but his poll numbers are what he really has in mind.

This desperate ploy, unveiled at last week's presidential debate, speaks volumes about McCain's readiness to forsake his avowed principles and his supp ...

Updated: Wed Oct 15, 2008

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Obama's Job Fetish for 10/22/2008

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Despite all the facile comparisons between the current economic situation and the conditions that preceded the Great Depression, the most recent figures show GDP continuing to grow, with unemployment at a historically modest 6.1 percent. But if, as widely expected, Barack Obama faces a recession when he takes office in January, many Americans will expect him to deliver on his promise to "c ...

Updated: Wed Oct 22, 2008

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You Choose, You Lose for 10/29/2008

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I am not, technically speaking, an undecided voter. I plan to vote for the presidential candidate whose views about the proper role of the federal government are closest to mine: Bob Barr, the Libertarian nominee. But on the question of which major-party candidate would do less damage to the country as president — by which I mean expand government and restrict liberty less — I remai ...

Updated: Wed Oct 29, 2008

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Green Herring for 11/05/2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmentalists and labor unions, wants the federal government to spend $500 billion over 10 years to "build America's 21st century clean energy economy" and thereby "create more than five million high quality green-collar jobs." Barack Obama says he can accomplish the same goal for only $150 billion, which gives you a sense of how relia ...

Updated: Wed Nov 05, 2008

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Obama on Drugs for 11/12/2008

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Last week, voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot initiative that eliminates criminal penalties for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing them with a $100 civil fine. Michigan, meanwhile, became the 13th state to allow the medical use of cannabis.

As Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project noted, the percentage of voters approving those initiatives (65 and 63, respect ...

Updated: Wed Nov 12, 2008

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Financial Reversals for 11/19/2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Remember when Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned us that the economy was about to collapse unless Congress immediately authorized him to spend $700 billion on "troubled assets" held by banks? Remember when he said banks would never lend again as long as they remained saddled with these bad investments?

You do remember? So it's not just me. I was beginning to think I had dr ...

Updated: Wed Nov 19, 2008

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Thomas O'Brien's MySpace Hoax for 11/26/2008

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A year ago, Jack Banas, prosecuting attorney for St. Charles County, Mo., said he would not bring charges against Lori Drew for her role in a MySpace prank that apparently provoked a 13-year-old girl to kill herself. The reason was simple: Although Drew's actions were cruel, childish, and irresponsible, she had not broken any laws.

"We live in this country by the rule of law," ...

Updated: Wed Nov 26, 2008

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