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I've had a bug since Thursday afternoon that has knocked me down. Low energy, aches, cough, runny nose. The whole family got it in slightly different mixtures. I fasted all day Friday and Saturday, just juice and water. Started eating again today, though I'm not sure it was really time yet. My brain is still not working very well. Typing is difficult. Oh well, it's given me time to play Banjo-Tooie, my son's new Nintendo 64 game. Incredibly huge and complicated world. Lots of fun.
Devlin Barrett at the New York Post -
Feds Turn up Their Noses at White-Collar Cokeheads 
: a recent sting
operation arrested many sellers in a cocaine delivery business, but
"U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White has chosen not to prosecute any of the
white-collar powder purchasers". Might it have something to do with
the fact that these people would insist on a real trial instead of
rolling over and pleading guilty? Or is it because the gun and drug
laws are more about racism than they are about guns and drugs?
[unknown]
"The attitude seems to be, these are not snot-dripping junkies on someone's doorstep, these people are more acceptable, so [federal prosecutors] are uncomfortable locking them up," said a source familiar with the decision.
Three new articles in The Libertarian series by Vin Suprynowicz:
- Corporate toadies to the last - Outgoing HHS Secretary Donna
Shalala has taken advantage of the loophole in legislation allowing
the re-import of prescription drugs that are cheaper overseas. She
didn't request the funding necessary to start the program. She
probably didn't want to endanger her chances of receiving drug
research grants at her next job.
The real question is why millions of dollars need to be spent simply to tear down these protectionist tariff walls, allowing U.S. pharmacies to re-import any drug which meets their own safety standards. Clearly, the extra tens of millions are for hundreds of new inspectors to make sure we're not allowed too much commercial freedom ... when the real solution would be to declare all pharmaceutical imports duty free on humanitarian grounds, from penicillin to Prozac, from coca leaves to Indian hemp.
- Watch out for fine print in shooting range plan - One of
Nevada's members of the Brady Bunch, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, recently
came out in favor of federal funding of a shooting range for Clark
County. Why would he do that? Simple. It will be under federal
control, and shooting anywhere else will be banned.
As a matter of fact, would anyone be surprised if the gatekeepers at the Harry Reid Memorial Target Range started offering "courtesy vehicle searches" and cross-checking the serial numbers on all firearms to make sure they're properly registered ... "just for our own safety," of course?
- The Guild of Regulators is alarmed - GW intends to cut
regulations. This has the control freaks in Washinton freaked. Good.
In fact, Gov. Bush is far from the kind of radical anarchist or libertarian who's likely to shut down so many Washington bureaucracies that the trains will be running overtime, carrying newly unemployed bureaucrats and their steamer trunks home from Washington City (more's the pity.)
...
It's a modest enough agenda -- actually, hosing out every bureaucratic ant farm not authorized by the Constitution would be more in keeping with the oath of office Mr. Bush proposes to take on Jan. 20. And wouldn't it be a shame if these protesters -- having driven themselves hoarse shouting their objections to the very modest plans of Messrs. Bush and Cheney -- were to find themselves beset with laryngitis by the time someone finally gets around to proposing that?
