Comments on: Morning Links

By: Andy Craig

Andy Craig — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:53:07 +0000

I have two pugs. If you can not, at any time, pick up your pug and simply carry it away from any “fight” it gets into then you have no business living on your own outside of a nursing home, much less being a police officer.

By: Clambone

Clambone — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:03:46 +0000

Greg Beato had the best fake Coulter title: “MOTHERF**KER: The Liberal Plot to Sodomize Your Mom”

By: anarch

anarch — Sat, 02 May 2009 13:44:56 +0000

The great thing about libertarianism is that those who judge (say) homeopathic medicine ineffective are free to disregard, avoid, and/or criticize its use, leaving others free to enjoy the benefits they perceive in its use.

Let 1K materiae medicae bloom!

By: Two--Four

Two--Four — Sat, 02 May 2009 06:21:06 +0000

[...] of The Huffington Post’s medicine and health section.” Mike, The Mad Biologist, linked outta Balko. Some of them links is good readin’, kids. I’m dyin’, already. May 02, 09 | 2:15 am [...]

By: nobahdi

nobahdi — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:52:24 +0000

…it’s a weed that thrives as long as it’s not interfered with.

That’s exactly why it can’t be “heavily” taxed. Obviously, everything is taxed but if it’s legal and too expensive many people will just plant a bag of seeds.

By: KBCraig

KBCraig — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:27:02 +0000

Like Dave Krueger, I am always irritated by the phrase “taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes.”

Marijuana is not tobacco. It is not grown, processed, or consumed like tobacco. Trying to treat it the same is silly. Even equating home-grown marijuana to home-brewed alcohol doesn’t work, because growing marijuana doesn’t require specialized equipment and knowledge; it’s a weed that thrives as long as it’s not interfered with.

The budget boost from legalizing marijuana wouldn’t come from taxing it. Just stop spending tax money to investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate people for marijuana, and it will have a just impact on government budgets.

Screw the “tax and regulate” stuff. Just strike out any laws making it illegal.

By: Kidhandsome

Kidhandsome — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:48:08 +0000

The thing about the police dog shooting story that I haven’t figured out is whether the dogs were actively engaged in a fight.

The way the article is written and the way I initially envisioned the situation is that the dogs were separated and then the officer came back and shot the other dog. I know it could be read the other way (i.e. they were fighting and the officer ran inside and grabbed his gun and came back and shot the other dog). Either way, it looks bad for the cop. Normal people who are gun owners don’t do this type of thing.

By: Tokin42

Tokin42 — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:35:17 +0000

Why all the hate for pointing out that sometimes bad things happen to good people, like fires, and thinking that maybe a guy who likes to shoot his neighbors dogs shouldn’t be allowed to live next to decent people?

By: SJE

SJE — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:43:41 +0000

The dog story is sad, but interesting in that this would be one of the rare cases of the police getting in any trouble for this BS

Police (dog) trespasses, property owner (dog) has no reason to know intruder is police (dog); property owner (dog) defends his property, is killed by police.

Remove (dog), and you have a summary of half of Radley’s writings.

By: Eric Hanneken

Eric Hanneken — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:36:42 +0000

Andrew S.: As it happens, Cato has a policy analysis on the effects of New York City's onerous cigarette taxes. From the conclusion:

New York's high cigarette taxes have spawned a massive black market that has diverted billions of dollars from legitimate businesses and governments to criminals.

Referring a 2002 state and city tax increase from $1.19 to $3.00 per pack, the author also writes,

In the first four months following those tax hikes, sales of taxed cigarettes plummeted by more than 50 percent compared to the same period the prior year.

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:32:47 +0000

I reserve the position of having to be heavily reasoned into a tax rather than concede it by default.

Much like unions, if you have a black market you probably deserved a black market.

By: nemo

nemo — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:32:39 +0000

And yes, I like pugs, too. I’ve never met a mean one that wasn’t made that way by some real dumbf–k of an owner. Most of the time, they’re the happy-go-lucky clowns of the dog world, with hearts much bigger than their small bodies. Or as a lady friend of mine once said, “They’re so ugly, they’re cute!” as one tried to lick her face off. But this dog-killing was way over the top.

By: nemo

nemo — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:27:13 +0000

So, he’s got time to run home and arm himself, but didn’t have time to go grab his wayward pug…which had trespassed into another person’s yard, for it must not have been on a leash to begin with.

So, who’s the ‘injured party’, here? The homeowner whose own dog was minding its’ own business, and only did what any dog would do to another that violated his territory? Or the irresponsible cop who let his dog run loose and provoke the incident?

I am reminded of the report a long time ago about a police academy candidate that was denied acceptance on the force because he was too intelligent. Stories like this do nothing to dissuade the public from wondering if that’s a nation-wide policy…

By: Andrew S.

Andrew S. — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:15:59 +0000

I really don’t buy the “black market will still exist if it’s taxed” argument re: marijuana. Yeah, a black market will still exist. But not much of one. Despite the costs, people are going to go to 7-11 and buy their pack of Marlboro Greens, even if it’s double the cost of what the street dealer would sell it to them for. For convenience reasons and for legal reasons.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:13:50 +0000

I want to know what the other dog was. All the dogs I have ever owned could eat a pug (or perhaps step on it). What sort of a dog is so pathetically runty that it can actually fight with a pug, yet simultaneously so threatening that a grown man has to use a gun to subdue it?

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:56:14 +0000

I’d shoot a dog, too, if I thought it was killing my best friend (which is a pug).

By: Boyd Durkin

Boyd Durkin — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:55:46 +0000

if you’re taxing it, you will continue filling prisons with people not paying the tax. And more SWAT going after tax “cheats”.

Screw taxes. Cut the damn spending.

By: Tokin42

Tokin42 — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:54:35 +0000

Someone should remind the Essex officer that sometimes bad things happen to good people, like their houses burn down, sometimes….

By: Eric Hanneken

Eric Hanneken — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:54:33 +0000

Marijuana producers and distributors incur some extra costs due to prohibition (evading the police, going to prison, settling disputes without access to the legal system), but they also enjoy some savings (no taxes, no need to comply with regulations). It’s not clear to me whether legal marijuana would be more or less expensive than illegal marijuana. Dave Krueger’s concerns are well-founded.

By: Aresen

Aresen — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:53:57 +0000

Off-duty cop’s pug wanders on to neighbor’s property, gets into fight with neighbor’s dog.

The off-duty chief of police said that the officer perceived he was off-duty threatened and acted in off-duty self-defense.