In a blow to State’s Rights and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, the Supreme Court ruled that the Federal government can prosecute users of doctor prescribed medical marijuana. Glaucoma patients didn’t see this coming.

From cnn.com: In a dissent, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Stanford ‘52) said that states should be allowed to set their own rules. “The states’ core police powers have always included authority to define criminal law and to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens,” said O’Connor, who was joined by other states’ rights advocates. Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas joined O’Connor in dissention.

I guess they teach reading comprehension and Constitutional Law at Stanford, courses that the six other justices need to revisit.

Totally unrelated, props to the House of Representatives who passed a bill to expand stem cell research under thread of Bush veto. Victories like these are these over the crazies in the Religious Wrong are too few and far between.

I’m really dissapointed with the Republican led Congress right now. They’ve wasted their time on Terri Schaivo, judicial nominations, and some angry dude named Bolton. None of these are issues I care about. None of these are issues that help America. Here are some of my thoughts as I explore the domain of Centrist Libertarianism:

Taxes – A necessary evil, but very unfair. I’m not complaining about the rich paying too much, but rather the poor and middle class being unfairly burdened. The commerce of filing and minimizing your taxes is a big industry. Knowing your way around deductions, loopholes, tax shelters and the like takes a degree in accounting or a good accountant, both of which cost money. Estate taxes are hurting middle class Americans who have paid taxes on their income, yet their hard work will be taxed upon their death if they don’t hire a tax advisor to restructure their holdings into Trusts and gifts. The complexity of our tax system is a burden to low and middle class Americans, those that can least shoulder this form of recessive taxation. Congress should spend their effort making the tax code more fair for all people, instead of doling out yet another subsidy to farmers, energy companies, and H&R Block.
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The USS Cole was attacked by terrorists while at portin Yemen back in 2000. Far from recent news, but here’s how we brought her back for repairs. The Cole is a fairly big guided missile destroyer. The Marlin is a huge ship and it partly submerged itself, had the Cole tugged over it, and ascended with the Cole now on its deck.

The Cole returned to the Fleet in 2002.

Dear Friends and Family:

I hope that you will spare me a few minutes of your time to tell you about something that I saw on Monday, October 27.

I had been attending a conference in Annapolis and was coming home on Sunday. As you may recall, Los Angeles International Airport was closed on Sunday, October 26, because of the fires that affected air traffic control.

Accordingly, my flight, and many others, were canceled and I wound up spending a night in Baltimore. My story begins the next day.
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