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John Berlau explains how the PATRIOT Act is keeping us safe from terrorism by... uh... hiding cold medicine.

|2.23.06 @ 3:37PM|

More pseudophedrine retardation here

|2.23.06 @ 3:46PM|

Once you sign for your medicine, your name becomes part of "a functional monitoring program" that would "allow law enforcement officials to track and ultimately prevent suspicious buying behavior of ingredients for meth production," according to a Feinstein press release describing a similar stand-alone bill.


I wonder how exactly they plan to prevent "suspicious buying behavior"?. Will there be a magic number where police break down your doors looking for the meth lab? Or will you go on a "not allowed to buy" list?

Since I've had a nagging cold and runny nose for two weeks, and have bought cold medicine several times, would I be in violation of the arbitrary standard?

It would be less confusing if congress would just pass a law stating "We can jail you at any time, for any reason" instead of doing it incrementally like this.

Andy|2.23.06 @ 3:49PM|

In the future, everyone will be a terrorist for fifteen minutes.

UncleJimbo|2.23.06 @ 4:11PM|

We're all a LITTLE BIT terroristic...

|2.23.06 @ 4:16PM|

David:

The effort to curb "suspicious buying behavior" means you have absolutely NOTHING to worry about if you haven't done anything wrong. Right?

|2.23.06 @ 4:24PM|

I hope no one finds a way to make meth from Diet Coke with Splenda. I drink so much of that crap, I would be busted in a week.

|2.23.06 @ 4:36PM|

The effort to curb "suspicious buying behavior" means you have absolutely NOTHING to worry about if you haven't done anything wrong. Right

Since that depends upon who's defining the wrong, we have everything to worry about. In the end, I have no doubt that some people will wind up in prison due to a bad headcold and it will be viewed as a victory to have such dangerous people off the streets.

|2.23.06 @ 4:52PM|

I wonder if I can challenge the law - claiming that I get colds a lot, and therefore the law discriminates against my "disability".

|2.23.06 @ 4:53PM|

Sorry if my sarcasm wasn't clear. The "only the guilty need fear anything" line is a bit of a running gag around here.

|2.23.06 @ 5:10PM|

I know, you had me worried that my post wasn't clear.

|2.23.06 @ 6:08PM|

God forbid if an acutal terrorist strikes this country with a militarized cold virus!

|2.23.06 @ 6:08PM|

Andy: very funny. I might have to spread that one around.

Regarding the latest legislative nonsense: who cares? There are other possible ways to make meth and they will so become the fashion. If all else fails, Mexico is already the major supplier of meth to the Southwest. I'm sure they can ramp up production to feed the rest of the country. The politicians saw something about meth and pseudoephedrine on 20/20 once and haven't learned a thing about it since.

|2.23.06 @ 6:16PM|

new liberty-threatening items are poised to slip by as "bipartisan" and "non-controversial."

Heh. If it's "bipartisan" you know it's bad news!

|2.23.06 @ 6:46PM|

To me, all forms of government are evil. However, one mitigating aspect of systems were government officials are elected is that those who voted for the winners get exactly what they deserve.

|2.23.06 @ 6:49PM|

Isn�t Sudafed, without the pseudophedrine, really Pseudosudafed?

|2.23.06 @ 6:57PM|

No mention, none at all, of the stone cold fact that as soon as you make pseudoeph difficult to get, the meth heads just find another way to make it. The reason they're using pseudoeph to begin with is because the gov't criminalized that previous ingredients.

In the states where they've tried these laws out already, meth use hasn't abated; instead, the cookers in Mexico just get a bigger payday, while the cookers here have to look for another illegal income stream.

Not only is it wrong to piggyback this crap onto antiterrorism legislation; it's a fools errand in general. Might as well try to stop the tides from going in and out.

brian423|2.23.06 @ 7:05PM|

Why does the pharmacist look like Pinocchio?

|2.23.06 @ 7:55PM|

JSM wins the thread!

Jason S.|2.23.06 @ 8:28PM|

In the states where they've tried these laws out already, meth use hasn't abated; instead, the cookers in Mexico just get a bigger payday, while the cookers here have to look for another illegal income stream.

So this will increase imports from Mexico and put domestic amnufacturers out of business. Someone should alert Lou Dobbs.

|2.23.06 @ 9:02PM|

The Mexican shit is stronger, leading to a bunch of meth heads overdosing, and the Mexican gangs bringing the stuff up are a lot more dangerous than the yokels who were making it in their trailer.

|2.23.06 @ 9:03PM|

The Mexican shit is stronger, leading to a bunch of meth heads overdosing, and the Mexican gangs bringing the stuff up are a lot more dangerous than the yokels who were making it in their trailer.

|2.23.06 @ 9:03PM|

The Mexican shit is stronger, leading to a bunch of meth heads overdosing, and the Mexican gangs bringing the stuff up are a lot more dangerous than the yokels who were making it in their trailer.

SteveInClearwater|2.23.06 @ 10:16PM|

Looks like that "Mexican shit" is THREE times stronger...

|2.24.06 @ 10:57AM|

LOL! ROFL!

|2.24.06 @ 11:11AM|

We have to get the NSA to listen in on all the crank calls

Larry A|2.24.06 @ 12:59PM|

On the bright side, Rep. Charlie Dent can be our new poster child for the "drugs make you stupid" theme.

|2.24.06 @ 1:21PM|

What happened to this country?

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