Reason Morning Links

Radley Balko | April 21, 2009

• Obama's $100 million "budget cutting" demands on federal agencies marginal at best: equivalent of someone making $60,000 per year finding $6 in savings.

• Congress gets fat.

• The Washington Times is reporting that Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) tried to steer $25 billion in bailout money to a federal agency that had just awarded an lucrative contract to the firm owned by her husband.

• In an effort to save the Preakness, Maryland lawmakers may use eminent domain to purchase the money-losing Pimlico Race Course.

• The NY Times looks at the prospects of reforming the nation's marijuana laws.

• Non-profits say they should be exempt from Obama's lobbying rules because they lobby for all the right reasons.

• Russia building its own "Bridge to Nowhere."

Comments

Abdul|4.21.09 @ 9:07AM|#

• Russia building its own "Bridge to Nowhere."

Knowing the Russians, at least it'll be the biggest goddamn bridge to nowhere in the world.

High Every Body|4.21.09 @ 9:07AM|#

Sorry for posting this on the previous thread. It is slightly more appropriate here:

Slightly off topic:

Ninth Circuit Court Extends Second Amendment Rights

Pretty sure Reason will get around to covering this sooner or later soon.

|4.21.09 @ 9:26AM|#

But White House officials said there had been no internal debate on the matter and flatly dismissed the proposals, adding that they would not consider any changes because it would start the administration down a slippery slope of declaring some lobbyists acceptable and others unacceptable.

"You can't have a value judgment," said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

This seems intellectually consistent with the "merit pay is an insult" point of view.

Stupid, but consistently stupid.

|4.21.09 @ 10:03AM|#

I would be thrilled to see Feinstein get sent up the river, but if the democrats won't even prosecute torture cases that happened on the other party's watch, the chances of this crooked bint being hauled into court are basically nil.

-jcr

Eric Hanneken|4.21.09 @ 10:21AM|#

How likely is it that marijuana will be legalized (or even merely "decriminalized") in a country where anti-tobacco laws are approaching prohibition? I used to think the answer was zero. However, I've been reading Ceremonial Chemistry, by Thomas Szasz, and part of his thesis is that a drug war is merely one front of a culture war. For example, when Chinese immigration to the United States swelled in the late nineteenth century, popular opinion came to regard opium use as a menace to be restricted and eventually banned.

So if marijuana is identified as something that college-educated people use, while tobacco is regarded as the choice of the undereducated lower class, it's possible their legal statuses will flip-flop. I still think it's unlikely to happen soon. For one thing, there's a sizable Palin crowd that resents college graduates. And even though the last three presidents have admitted to smoking marijuana, none of them have been proud of it.

Anonymous|4.21.09 @ 10:31AM|#

For one thing, there's a sizable Palin crowd that resents college graduates

I almost thought you believed yourself until here. Try again, and next time do a little research on the pressure against monarchs regulating the evils of tea and tobacco when they were first introduced in Europe.

Eric Hanneken|4.21.09 @ 10:47AM|#

Okay, I apologize to Sarah Palin and her fans. As for the rest, nothing in my post implied the impossibility of one culture adopting drugs from another.

ed|4.21.09 @ 11:10AM|#

In an effort to save the Preakness

What's wrong with "The Double Crown" of horse racing? Maybe somebody would finally win it.

Your Favorite Queer|4.21.09 @ 11:16AM|#

"when Chinese immigration to the United States swelled in the late nineteenth century, popular opinion came to regard opium use as a menace to be restricted and eventually banned."

A fucking shame.

Citizen Nothing|4.21.09 @ 11:17AM|#

They should make those horses win the Little Brown Jug pace as the third leg of the Triple Crown. THAT would show some real versatility.

(Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy sitting on Dan Patch...)

Taktix®|4.21.09 @ 11:29AM|#

"Look, I'm a libertarian," (Glenn) Beck said on his Feb. 26 program. "You want to legalize marijuana, you want to legalize drugs - that's fine."

Stop it! You have not gotten your decoder ring yet!

robc|4.21.09 @ 11:55AM|#

Add the Travers Stakes as the 3rd leg of the TC. Trainers complain the current 3 are too close together anyway.

On a related note, Thunder over Louisville was last saturday, so the Derby Festival has started here. Woo hoo!

It looks like I will be going to the track next Tuesday in a very nice, finish line corporate box, unless some higher-up co-opts it for personal use. Tuesday of Derby week is about the best I can hope for (corporate box wise).

|4.21.09 @ 12:08PM|#

"Look, I'm a libertarian," (Glenn) Beck said

If that is true, all I need is a funny hat, and I can be Pope. Sweet.

|4.21.09 @ 12:43PM|#

robc. sounds most excellant. I hope you have a great time.

|4.21.09 @ 2:01PM|#

Yo, fuck Omalley and Maryland lawmakers!

|4.21.09 @ 2:03PM|#

• In an effort to save the Preakness, Maryland lawmakers may use eminent domain to purchase the money-losing Pimlico Race Course.

Yes, because everyone knows that where a for-profit company with plenty of incentive to run a successful business fails, a gummint bureaucracy, with no incentive to even make sure employees show up to work everyday, will succeed.

QED.

Anonymous|4.21.09 @ 4:25PM|#

But many focused on a frustration on the left caused by Obama's centrism--his opposition to prosecuting those involved with torture, for example. "I am angry because the whole Republican party has not been rounded up and thrown into a black site," one wrote.

engineer|4.21.09 @ 7:44PM|#

"Stop it! You have not gotten your decoder ring yet!"

I have a bone to pick with you-I was supposed to get my decoder ring in the mail two weeks ago, and it still hasn't come. Whutsup?