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Jacob Sullum (Dec 26, 2007)
If you forgot to get a Christmas present for Charlie Rangel, don't worry. The congressman picked one out for himself, and he's sending you the bill: $2 million for a shiny... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 19, 2007)
In 1984, Congress established the U.S. Sentencing Commission and charged it with writing guidelines aimed at eliminating unjustified disparities in punishment for... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 12, 2007)
The take-home message of Mitt Romney's recent speech on religion and politics was pretty clear: I may be a Mormon, but at least I'm not an atheist.
Romney sought to... more
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Jacob Sullum (Dec 05, 2007)
Five years ago, members of Congress voted to protect themselves from criticism in the name of protecting us from their own corruption. For those of us who were disgusted... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 28, 2007)
When Georgia's legislature drew up a list of places where sex offenders were not allowed to live, the majority leader of the state House said he hoped the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 21, 2007)
Annie Duke, who testified at a recent House Judiciary Committee hearing on Internet gambling, is not a typical poker player. A professional for 13 years, she is the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 14, 2007)
At 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 175 pounds, I have a body mass index of 25.9, which makes me "overweight." If I lost seven pounds, I'd have a BMI of 24.9, indicating what... more
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Jacob Sullum (Nov 07, 2007)
In 1902, a U.S. Army captain wrote a letter to The New York Times about allegations that American soldiers had used an interrogation technique known as "the water cure"... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 31, 2007)
When does oil cost $13,000 a barrel? When you spill it in Prince William Sound. That's how much Exxon paid after one of its tankers ran aground on Bligh Reef near the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 24, 2007)
During his recent confirmation hearings, Michael Mukasey, the former federal judge nominated to be the next attorney general, conceded that "the president doesn't stand... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 17, 2007)
As "a conservative who wants to help restore the limited federal government envisioned in the Constitution," Rep. Roscoe Bartlett said, he could not in good conscience vote... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 10, 2007)
During Prohibition, making and selling liquor was illegal, but drinking it was not. With tobacco, we are moving toward the opposite situation, where it will be legal to... more
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Jacob Sullum (Oct 03, 2007)
"From this day forward," Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in 1994, "I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death." Although the... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 20, 2007)
In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal law that banned gun possession near schools. For the first time since the New Deal, the court ruled that Congress had... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 12, 2007)
"Lovely to look at, delightful to hold," said the little signs on the shelves of a gift shop in my hometown. "But if you break it, consider it sold." Apparently the store got... more
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Jacob Sullum (Sep 05, 2007)
According to a recent report from the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, 19,047 hectares of poppies were eradicated in Afghanistan this year, 24 percent more than in 2006.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 30, 2007)
Because he's resigning, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales won't have much chance to exercise his powers under the Protect America Act. The new law charges the attorney... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 29, 2007)
In March 2004, when Alberto Gonzales visited John Ashcroft in the hospital, where he was recovering from emergency gallbladder surgery, he did not bring flowers or balloons;... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 22, 2007)
People who knew Jose Padilla before he was sent to a Navy brig in 2002 say he emerged a different man after three and a half years of isolation and interrogation. Those who... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 15, 2007)
In a letter posted on Congress.org, a constituent praises Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., for his "brilliant intellect." As evidence, Mitchell's admirer cites the congressman's... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 07, 2007)
When you talk to your mother on the phone, do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy? I thought I had privacy, but apparently I don’t -- at least not anymore -- because... more
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Jacob Sullum (Aug 01, 2007)
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted for a measure that asked the federal government to stop harassing medical marijuana users in California. Minutes later, the Drug... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 25, 2007)
Politically, making smokers pay for children's health insurance is a great idea: Everybody loves children, and everybody hates smokers. But once you get beyond the popularity... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 18, 2007)
At a recent congressional hearing, Joseph Rannazzisi, an official in the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Diversion Control, proclaimed his agency's "firm... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 11, 2007)
When he used his clemency power to keep I. Lewis Libby out of prison, President Bush said a sentence of two and a half years was excessive punishment for lying to federal... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jul 04, 2007)
Maybe President Bush recently watched that Schoolhouse Rock video in which a curious boy asks a hopeful bill sitting on Capitol Hill how "even if the whole Congress says you... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 27, 2007)
In 2004, when Wisconsin Right to Life sponsored radio ads urging people to contact the state's senators, it was trying to stop filibusters against judicial nominees. In 2002,... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 20, 2007)
In November 2003, when he announced his "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East," President Bush declared that "the only path to independence and dignity and... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 13, 2007)
The Patriot Act, passed a month and a half after Al Qaeda's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, gave the attorney general the authority to detain aliens... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jun 06, 2007)
TB Andrew is no Typhoid Mary. Starting in 1900, Mary Mallon infected 47 people with typhoid fever while working as a cook, many of them after she had been warned she was a... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 30, 2007)
Rep. John Murtha called the Lobbying Transparency Act "total crap." Then the Pennsylvania Democrat voted for it, along with 381 of his colleagues, many of them equally afraid... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 23, 2007)
Two decades ago, in the midst of a drug-induced panic, Congress created draconian sentences for crack cocaine offenses. Since then the panic has ebbed, but the penalties are... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 16, 2007)
In 2004 a few dozen members of Congress asked the Federal Communications Commission whether the government could define and regulate "excessively violent programming that is... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 09, 2007)
"Hate crimes have no place in America," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi boldly declared last week, "no place in a nation where we pledge every morning 'with liberty and justice... more
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Jacob Sullum (May 02, 2007)
In April 2002, a patient asked Virginia pain doctor William Hurwitz to write her a new prescription for methadone because her dog had eaten the original. Since this patient... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 25, 2007)
Even while upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the U.S. Supreme Court conceded that Congress did not know what it was talking about when it passed the law. Congress... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 18, 2007)
Last year Virginia legislators considered a bill that would have overridden policies at public universities that prohibit students and faculty members with concealed handgun... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 11, 2007)
Despite his promise to appoint "strict constructionists" to the Supreme Court if he is elected president, Rudy Giuliani recently said he has no interest in overturning Roe v.... more
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Jacob Sullum (Apr 04, 2007)
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says marijuana-flavored candy "blatantly appeals to children." At the same time, he says, "it dangerously glamorizes... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 28, 2007)
Congress has been trying to stop kids from seeing online pornography since 1996. Its first attempt, the Communications Decency Act, was overturned by the Supreme Court, and... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 21, 2007)
When Joseph Frederick, a Juneau, Alaska, high school senior, unrolled a 14-foot banner proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a 2002 Winter Olympics torch relay rally near his... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 14, 2007)
Last week, when a federal appeals court ruled that the District of Columbia's gun ban violates the right to "keep and bear arms," The New York Times reported that the judges... more
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Jacob Sullum (Mar 07, 2007)
New York is about to become the 20th state with a civil commitment program for sex offenders, thereby embracing an increasingly fashionable contradiction: When sex offenders... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 28, 2007)
Several California newspapers recently carried a story about "nanny government" measures in the state legislature that "irk Republicans," including bills that would forbid... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 21, 2007)
"The days of Congress doing the bidding of the tobacco industry are over," Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., recently declared. "This long overdue legislation would give FDA broad... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 14, 2007)
In 1989, when Rudolph Giuliani was running for mayor of New York, some news reports described him as pro-life while others called him pro-choice. Now, as he prepares to seek... more
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Jacob Sullum (Feb 07, 2007)
Although Stephen Lawrence and John Lefebvre are charged with money laundering, there was nothing sneaky about their "conspiracy." In 1999 the two Canadians co-founded... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 31, 2007)
You may be wondering how President Bush's health insurance plan would affect you, the taxpayer. The answer depends on whether you have medical coverage, where you get it and... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 18, 2007)
The Democrats' eagerness to cut interest rates on student loans reflects a time-honored Washington maxim: If it's good, it should be subsidized. In this case, as in most... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 10, 2007)
Randy Cunningham, the former Republican representative from California who has retired to a prison work camp in Arizona, is dictating the congressional agenda now more than... more
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Jacob Sullum (Jan 03, 2007)
When federal agents searched the offices of Comprehensive Drug Testing in Long Beach, Calif., on April 8, 2004, they officially were looking for the records of 10 baseball... more