Recently I’ve again become upset over the 125 year old Supreme Court case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. The reason it is on my mind is the 5-4 SCOTUS decision (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission) that ruled that portions of McCain / Feingold and other campaign finance reform laws were unconstitutional. The court also overturned several of its own previous rulings. The portions ruled unconstitutional were related to prohibitions enacted by Congress that prevented corporate and union funding of campaign ads for (or against) any candidate for …

Government run programs, unions, etc. are outperformed by a wide margin by the free and open market. Research and development of new products and drugs are driven by the potential of profit. If there is no profit, no financial gain, then there is no drive to develop new products. If socialized medicine is implemented in the United States, our research and development of new drugs will go down, and our status as a world power, specifically, and world power in the development of medicine will fall.
Politicians are driven by power …

I continue to be intrigued by the BLS job loss data from the current recession. The chart at the left is a slightly revised version of a chart I put together for another discussion on the web. It indicates the number of jobs gained / lost each month since the recession started in December of 2007. I updated the chart with the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today when I noticed this bit of propaganda on the OFA web site. That looks really familiar to me – …

I compiled a pro/con list on whether or not we as a county should legalize marijuana.
So put this in your pipe and smoke it.
Yes

The drug generally isn’t more harmful than alcohol or tobacco if used in moderation.
Limiting the use of the drug intrudes on personal freedom.
Legalization would mean a lower price; thus, related crimes (like theft) would be reduced.
There are medical benefits such as the those for cancer patients.
Street justice related to drug disputes would be reduced.
It could be a source of additional tax revenues.
Police and court resources would be freed …