And recants his drug-warrior ethos:

For years, I served as a federal prosecutor and member of the House of Representatives defending the federal pursuit of the drug prohibition.

Today, I can reflect on my efforts and see no progress in stopping the widespread use of drugs. I'll even argue that America's drug problem is larger today than it was when Richard Nixon first coined the phrase, "War on Drugs," in 1972.

America's drug problem is only compounded by the vast amounts of money directed at this ongoing battle. In 2005, more than $12 billion dollars was spent on federal drug enforcement efforts while another $30 billion was spent to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders.

The result of spending all of those taxpayer's dollars? We now have a huge incarceration tab for non-violent drug offenders and, at most, a 30% interception rate of hard drugs. We are also now plagued with the meth labs that are popping up like poisonous mushrooms across the country.

While it is clear the War on Drugs has been a failure, it is not enough to simply acknowledge that reality. We need to look for solutions that deal with the drug problem without costly and intrusive government agencies, and instead allow for private industry and organizations to put forward solutions that address the real problems.

It gives me hope that my brain won't get calcified when I'm his age.

h/t: Memeorandum.

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Windfall taxes on the oil companies. Why didn't I think of that?

Via Stacy McCain, who suggests that, "like shag haircuts, polyester leisure suits and the BeeGees," the gas tax is "a Seventies fad we don't need to go back to."

Why not? We don't seem to want to learn any of the other lessons from the 1970s.

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Glenn Reynolds cites a NYT news report that suggest white wine may be just as healthy as red.

Hooray! And just in time for my newfound love of pinot grigio! (This is inspired partly from the heat, which seems to suggest something out of the refrigerator, and partly from my brand-new light-colored carpeting.)

But then, alas, Reynolds passes along this bit of anti-lush bigotry: "Drinking a bottle a day will not make you five times better than a glass . . . ."

Of course not: it's only four and a half times as healthy. Let's stick to the facts, Professor.

(Yeah, yeah: I know that the health benefits of alcohol decrease after one drink a day for females, or two drinks a day for males, depending on the study. I read one article that suggested six drinks per week is the optimum for women, and that they could be "saved up" for up to 48 hours, making two or even three drinks a day permissible. But I've only seen that in one place, and I'm pretty skeptical.

This is also interesting in that my mother's doctor has asked that she refrain from drinking because of her fatty liver; she mostly complies, though I'll sometimes pour a little of my beer into a juice glass for her, or place my margarita where she can drink some of it, or hand her a quarter of a glass of wine to drink with dinner. There are, after all, quality-of-life issues to consider.)

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I mean, it is, but it isn't.

We have on our hands a 1970s-style energy crisis. We cannot afford to bet the entire table on one solution; we must use a multi-pronged approach.

(1) We must begin developing domestic supplies; we know how to do it in an environmentally sensitive fashion, and there are massive reserves out there that can be used over the next decade without even making much of a dent. We can buy time this way, and we must.

(2) We need to build nuclear power plants for our electrical needs. This doesn't address our transportation needs, but it will help. Electricity is cheap, and will become cheaper as we learn to use it better in cars. Nuclear power is one of the cleanest alternatives out there.

(3) All of the other avenues we're exploring right now—for electricity, the uses to which we put natural gas (and the other possibilities it holds), the delicatessen of hybrid, electric, flex-fuel cars, biodiesel, and the legion of biofuels—must be sorted out by the market, which means that the government shouldn't be playing favorites among 'em.

If the Feds want to make themselves useful, they might want to come up only a few fuel standards (or maybe even only one—but certainly formulations by region) for this country. One of the burdens we are carrying right now is the need to formulate different gasoline for nearly every state. This is not just a commerce issue; it is a national security issue. Just as we needed an Interstate Highway System, we should at least consider streamlining our fuel requirements.

More: Jazz Shaw at The Moderate Voice, and Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. (Ed's got a poll, too—and it forces one to choose between developing U.S. petroleum reserves, researching alternative energies, and building nuclear power plants. I see all three of those as equally important.)

Personally, I'm okay: I just moved to a location from which I can walk to the supermarket, restaurants, the bank, and theatres. But this is no way to run an economy; the situation is desperate, and we've got to take the handcuffs off of those entities that are in a position to help.

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She's come a long way from tipping off the nightstalker that he should ditch his tennis shoes. This courtesy of WaPo's Paul Kane:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Rules and Administrations Committee, which oversees the operation of the Senate, said she had no choice [but to privatize the Senate's restaurants and cafeterias].

"It's cratering," she said of the restaurant system. "Candidly, I don't think the taxpayers should be subsidizing something that doesn't need to be. There are parts of government that can be run like a business and should be run like businesses."

In a letter to colleagues, Feinstein said that the Government Accountability Office found that "financially breaking even has not been the objective of the current management due to an expectation that the restaurants will operate at a deficit annually."

It's the least they can do, with other people's money. Thanks, Dianne.

h/t: Memeorandum.

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The Freakazoid! first-season DVD is available for pre-order on Amazon.com; release date will be July 29th.

Also, John P. McCann, Jean MacCurdy, and Paul Rugg will be appearing at this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego (July 24-27).

I would go, but I'm afraid that at some point someone will hand me an English-Klingon dictionary, and I will be utterly dismayed to see it. (Actually, I don't know if that episode wherein Cave Guy chases Freakazoid to Comic-Con actually aired; it might have just been put together for a panel at Comic-Con itself. The denizens of CC were delighted to see themselves—and their penchant for costumes—thoroughly skewered.)

What can you say about a writing team that is asked to put more "toyetic" elements into its plots, and ends up writing about the term toyetic itself? (I might have that story wrong, but that's the way I got that one.)

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Toying with the energy companies, in Fortune magazine:

Salazar's efforts [U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.] have essentially pulled the rug out from under Shell (RDSA) and other oil companies which have invested many, many millions into oil shale research since the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which established the original framework for commercial leasing of oil shale lands. (Last year, oil shale represented Shell's single biggest R&D expenditure.)

Salazar says he's simply trying to slow things down in order to ensure environmental considerations don't get trampled in the rush to turn western Colorado into a new Prudhoe Bay. But, ironically, his bid to extend the moratorium comes at a time when his fellow Senate Democrats have been blasting Big Oil for not reinvesting enough of their profits into developing new sources of energy.

It's hard not to see all the obstructionism regarding energy development as a sort of Marie Antoinette approach to fuel transitioning: we should force conservation, force biofuels, force diesel. And we should do it on the backs of the poor and the middle class.

After all, if someone can't afford a Prius: well, fuck 'em. And, by the way: those who are suffering from the dictatorships and authoritarian governments propped up by American fuel dollars? Fuck them, too.

More:

Fortune: Why do you consider developing oil shale such a high priority?

Sen. Hatch: We have as much oil in oil shale in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado as the rest of the world's oil combined. Liberals and environmentalists can talk all they want about wind, solar and geothermal - all of which I'm for - but last time I checked, planes, trains, trucks, ships and cars don't run on electricity. 98% of transportation fuel right now is oil. Ethanol is the only real alternative, and we're seeing that ethanol has major limitations.

It's pathetic. Environmentalists are very happy having us dependent on foreign oil. They're unhappy with us developing our own. What they forget to say is that shipping fuel all the way from the middle east has a big greenhouse gas footprint too.

Fortune: Any hope of changing Sen. Salazar's mind? After all, he says he's not opposed to oil shale production in principle.

Sen. Allard: His mind seems pretty set. His argument is, if we delay this, it gives us an opportunity to phase it in gradually. But he's got it turned around. We need the rules and regulations in place first. When the oil companies go to bid on their leases, they need have some idea what their royalties might be and what their remediation requirements might be [for restoring the land at spent drilling sites].

Fortune: Have you talked to Shell about this?

Sen. Allard: We have, and they've indicated a great deal of frustration. They've put it this way: Look, we can't continue to invest millions and millions of dollars in this kind of research without seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

Fortune: Sen. Salazar insists he just wants to take things more slowly.

Sen. Hatch: Sen. Salazar and the Colorado governor [Democrat Bill Ritter] say they don't want it to happen too fast. Well, the existing law that I sponsored [which became part of the 2005 energy act] makes it abundantly clear that each governor gets to decide how quickly developments should move forward in their respective states. [Salazar and Ritter] know that. What they're really doing is making sure that the governor of Utah and the governor of Wyoming never get to make that decision for themselves.

No blood for oil. No sweat and tears, either.

Via Insty.

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I'm toggling back and forth between grief and rage on the one hand (for the fact that another person sentenced today got the death penalty, and for the incarceration and oppression of Al-Khaiwani), and relief on the other—that Jane's efforts paid off in saving Al-Khaiwani's life, so he can fight another day. So we can fight another day.

This from the same court that finds it legal and even admirable when Yemenis murder Iraqis in Iraq. But writing about the Yemeni civilians suffering during Ali MohsenÂ’s personal jihad in SaÂ’ada is punishable by six years in jail. Every journalist in Yemen is much less free now. And so is the world.

Jane goes on to point out that the ruling thugs in Yemen have at least been unmasked as a junta. She is planning more international civil disobedience (that is to say, consciousness-raising pranks against the Yemeni thugs). So stay tuned.

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In The Corner:

Why are Republicans, who voted in overwhelming numbers for off-shore drilling, ANWR, nuclear, shale, tar sands, liquid coal, etc—and were opposed by Democrats on grounds of wanting to enrich energy companies—not appealing to the country to develop domestic supplies on the basis of fairness (the poor have the least access to energy efficient homes and hybrid, fuel efficient new cars), the environment (the US can extract oil, in a fungible market, far more cleanly than Russia or the Middle East), and national security (most of OPEC, Russia, Venezuela are belligerents and becoming more dangerous the more trillions of dollars the West, China, and Japan transfer to them in their hard-won national wealth)?

It is a ready-made issue for them, and with skill can appeal to Americans of every persuasion who are starting to snicker when Obama soars in pie-in-the-sky sermons about wind, solar, and millions of new jobs in green energy. Maybe—but back on planet America until we get there the working class is going to be paying a day or two per week of their wages to fuel their second-hand cars, while the environmentalists will buy new Priuses and an on-demand water heater for their tasteful homes. One would have thought the President, who was on right side of these production issues, would give a national address calling for a bipartisan effort to produce energy to get us through these hard times, or Republican senators would now be reintroducing energy legislation almost daily.

But given the current conservative ineptness, $5 a gallon gas will be blamed on the war, or lack of federal subsidies to solar, or the oil companies, and not the elite agenda of utopians who were not willing to do what was necessary for the collective good to help us transition through to new fuels.

My emphases; link via Insty.

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"The pump don't work 'cause the vandals took the handle." Or maybe it's that my debit card was declined again; I'm not sure.

Pajamas Media has two articles up on high gas prices; they seem contradictory (high gas prices are good; high gas prices are bad). But they really represent different sides of the same coin.

Kate Berry discusses high gas prices in the context of reshaping our habits into ones more appropriate in a wartime economy (though she doesn't quite put it in those terms). At this point, we are importing an alarming amount of oil from unsavory people, so her advice is important. I especially like the fact that she advocates married people having . . . sex. After all, staying home is great for the nation's oil reserves. I hadn't quite thought about it that way.

Tom Blumer talks about existing high gas prices—and the even higher ones proposed by those who would like to see us paying Europe-crazy fuel bills—in the context of what it is doing to our mobility, and to the auto industry. (Though I am not sure the overall trend is downward; I do realize that truck and SUV sales are down, possibly for good. I think the "family truck" bubble may have burst. But smaller cars are doing quite well, for obvious reasons.)

Blumer's most important point is that the U.S. still has tremendous untapped petroleum reserves that we need to develop. This is true: even if we are in the twilight of petroleum's heydey, we must buy time to develop the next generation of fuel alternatives. High prices push us to do this, to some degree, and they certainly make it more cost-effective to do so. But we are still working on excellence in our hybrid and electric cars, and we are still investigating biofuels. We cannot present people with a choice between supporting foreign dictators or absorbing a violent shock to the nation's economy by trying to rely on alternative fuels prematurely. Both the raw research and some of the distribution issues will take time to work out.

There is also the issue of energy apart from out transportation needs (though if one of our solutions to the car problem is hybrid/electric, these need not be separate issues). And for that, of course, we must look to France. Less-draconian regulations there allow the French to enjoy both better-quality cheese and environmentally friendly energy. Yeah, I'm going there: we need to start building more nuclear power plants in this country, The Simpsons' rather quaint characterization of nuclear power notwithstanding. (Does Matt Groening work for the French? Just askin.')

Drill. Conserve. Research all our options for transportation. And go nuclear for some of our electricity.

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According to Annie Jacobsen, we might finally be ready to learn from the real experts: the Israelis.

It all depends on whether (1) we commit to hiring airport security screeners who consider their jobs to be careers; and (2) we get rid of some of the "passenger annoyance" fillips we now use once we have actual security systems in place.

I don't think anyone wants to cope with both, but we're not doing great right now by confiscating new, sealed bottles of drinking water.

And (to turn our attention to the TSA's partners in crime, the airlines) it makes even less sense to charge passengers for checking baggage—that will simply increase the number of people who carry-on luggage that could have been checked, which slows down the boarding process and annoys more people.

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Please say a prayer for the journalist al-khaiwani, who is facing the death penalty today for the crime of . . . journalism.

According to Jane Novak, the courtroom will be packed; we're hoping that this embarrasses the Yemeni government into doing the right thing.

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If Obama is political Viagra, the media are at that stage in the ad where the announcer warns that, if leg tingles persist for over six months, see your doctor.

Out there in the voting booths, however, Democrat legs stayed admirably unthrilled. The more the media told Hillary she was toast and she should get the hell out of it and let Obama romp to victory, the more Democrats insisted on voting for her. The more the media insisted Barack was inevitable, the less inclined the voters were to get with the program. On the strength of Chris Matthews’s vibrating calves, Sen. Obama raised a ton of money — over $300 million — and massively outspent Senator Clinton, but he didn’t really get any bang for his buck. In the end, he crawled over the finish line. The Obama Express came a-hurtlin’ down the track at two miles an hour.

But what does he care? Sen. Obama has learned an old trick of Bill ClintonÂ’s: If you behave like a star, youÂ’ll get treated as one. So, even as his numbers weakened, his rhetoric soared.

It's over at NRO; read the whole thing.

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Barack Obama is my hero.

Via Glenn, who notes that some of the antisemitic material is being "disappeared" from Obama's official site. I'd be happier if it hadn't been allowed up there in the first place.

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. . . "Crisis on Omaha?" I know I'm a few days late, but here it is just in case some of my readers didn't catch it on Friday:

Remember: when the media tell you that it's "Game Over," they might be engaging in wishful thinking.

h/t: Neocon Express.

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In case you hadn't seen this one, Goldfarb speaks here as part of the McCain campaign, here, about Senator Clinton's withdrawal:

It was interesting that she barely touched on foreign policy in her concession speech today. She mentioned Iraq only twice, she mentioned terrorism only once, and she didn't mention Iran at all. After all, her serious approach to each of these issues proved [a] liability in the Democratic primary. She spent years building a strong record on national security, and in the end her party opted for a candidate with no national security experience at all.

Senator Clinton also didn't mention John McCain once during her speech. This came as something of a surprise over here, and a pleasant one at that. But it's clear that John McCain and Hillary Clinton respect each other -- and there is a genuine affection for her here at McCain HQ.

My emphasis.

Yeah; it's been a year of surprises. Like the fact that despite my decision to vote for John McCain, I've found so much to agree with Ann Coulter about lately; you will recall that this has not always been the case. Anyway, here's Ann on how "our plucky Hillary" got shortchanged:

Every time Hillary breathes a word about her victory in the popular vote, TV hosts respond with sneering contempt at her gaucherie for even mentioning it. (Of course, if popularity mattered, networks like MSNBC wouldn't exist. That's a station that depends entirely on "superviewers.")

After nearly eight years of having to listen to liberals crow that Bush was "selected, not elected," this is a shocking about-face. Apparently unaware of the new party line that the popular vote amounts to nothing more than warm spit, just last week HBO ran its movie Recount, about the 2000 Florida election, the premise of which is that sneaky Republicans stole the presidency from popular vote champion Al Gore. (Despite massive publicity, the movie bombed, with only about one million viewers, so now HBO is demanding a "recount.")

Ann points out that Hillary's case now is much stronger than Gore's was in 2000, since the Electoral College is enshrined in the Constitution, and Party Primary rules are not.

Of course, I am not a member of the Democratic Party. (I'm not much of a member of any party, to tell you the truth). So they can structure their rules as they like. But disenfranchising people in the primary may not be the best strategy for ensuring turnout in the general.

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It all seems to hinge on whether this is Terminator-style time travel, or whether one is showing up wearing wildly inappropriate clothing (and one's gold tooth fillings, and wedding ring—maybe even one's Swiss pocket knife).

Beyond that, there's the issue of whether one is allowed to take a small bag of necessities: spices, a few reference works, a cigarette lighter. (I'd take Tampax and a water-purification kit.)

Via McArdle, who suggests:

Your biggest comparative advantage is the ability to read and write, and your knowledge of modern sanitation techniques. However, given that you don't speak the language, or know how to do any of the basic manual labor careers open to you, you may have a hard time surviving long enough to employ these. Do not be tempted to do nifty things with modern technology, as this will probably cause people to suspect you are a witch or similar. Go to church regularly and mumble in fake Latin; no one will know if you're getting it wrong anyway.

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Start here. Then recall that this is money taken from American citizens—teachers, waitresses, 7-11 clerks—at the point of a gun, supposedly to pay for government.

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But was she sincere about it?

I just don't think her heart was really in it.

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it's that intellectualism and leadership don't.

I like brains as much as the next girl, but a lot of people get a bit weighed down by same.

I think Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter may have been the smartest guys to occupy the White House during my lifetime. Clinton is certainly a brilliant politician.

At the end of the day, what did that do for us? One person's intuition might be worth a lot more than another's certified left-brain, genuinely rigorous analysis. Remember what professor Sowell used to say?—that the type of intelligence many black men seem to possess is suited to split-second, extemporaneous decisions?

I want a jazz musician in the White House, not a policy wonk. A running back, not an attorney.

Bottom line: Obama just isn't black enough for me.

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