“The Devil Never Sleeps,” by Iron & Wine.

Gary Johnson, the pro-drug legalization, pro-immigration, small government budget hawk and former governor of New Mexico looks to be preparing for a run for president.

Gary Johnson is preparing to launch his Our America PAC shortly, as soon as he gets all of his legal ducks in a row. He will be hitting the trail hard soon, traveling the country to speak in support of issues and candidates, re-immersing himself in the public policy debate.

This December, Governor Johnson will also be releasing a book entitled “Seven Principles Of Good Government,” published by The Heartland Institute (a conservative-libertarian think tank).

It’s hard to see Johnson getting the GOP nomination. But he’d certainly make the primaries interesting.

…sometimes, capitalism sucks.

Man. The poor dogs.

Alexandria, Virginia.

If you follow with any regularity the police misconduct stories I post on this site, you’re no doubt familiar with the phrase “paid administrative leave.” No matter how serious the alleged misconduct, cops nearly always get paid while they’re being investigated, a period that typically takes months.

But last week Stockton, Utah police officer Johsua Rowell was actually put on unpaid administrative leave.

His transgression? He issued a traffic citation to the son of Stockton Mayor Dan Rydalch.

Alexandria, Virginia.

The merry band of libertarian litigators at the Institute for Justice have a new crusade: Ending the ban on compensating bone marrow donors.

Every year, 1,000 Americans die because they cannot find a matching bone marrow donor.  Minorities are hit especially hard.  Common sense suggests that offering modest incentives to attract more bone marrow donors would be worth pursuing, but federal law makes that a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

That is why on October 28, 2009, adults with deadly blood diseases, the parents of sick children, a California nonprofit and a world-renowned medical doctor who specializes in bone marrow research joined with the Institute for Justice to sue the U.S. Attorney General to put an end to a ban on offering compensation to bone marrow donors.

Compensating a marrow donor in any way is a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison. The suit states that marrow was improperly included in the (also wrongheaded) federal ban on organ donation, and instead should be covered by laws governing replenishable tissue like blood, sperm, or plasma, which allow for compensation.

The ban seems particularly odious given that marrow donation is a fairly uncomfortable process, and that marrow donors have to be living to donate. People in need of a marrow transplant who don’t find a match among friends or relatives, then, have to rely on strangers willing to give up a significant amount of time, comfort, and expense to participate in a transplant for someone they’ve never met. It’s an ill-considered policy that is unquestionably killing people.

Congress could vote tomorrow to repeal the ban on compensating marrow donors. That would save the claimants and the federal government the money they’ll spend litigating this case, and it would probably save several hundred or so lives that would have been lost while the case makes its way through the courts.

Here’s IJ’s video explaining the suit:

Alexandria, Virginia.

A local Mississippi newspaper describes the post-prison life of Tyler Edmonds, who was acquitted last year of killing his sister’s husband. Edmonds was 13 at the time of the murder, 15 when he was tried and convicted the first time. He was sentenced to life without parole. In 2007, his conviction was tossed out by the Mississippi Supreme Court, in part due to unscientific testimony from controversial medical examiner Steven Hayne.

Edmonds was tried again last year without Hayne’s objectionable testimony, and was acquitted.

One year after he heard a jury say, “Not guilty,” Edmonds has made a new life for himself.

He’s traveled.

He’s working and training to become an emergency medical tech.

And he’s moved with his dog, Bud, to his own place in Columbus.

Now, his biggest worry isn’t life without parole, it’s his Dec. 11 final exams at East Mississippi Community College and passing the national EMT certification…

This date last year, jury selection got under way in Oktibbeha County as Edmonds sat accused of helping his half-sister, Kristi, kill her husband.

Five days later, he heard the words that set him free.

It was almost surreal, he recalled, truly being out from under the total control of someone else.

“I really just didn’t know what to do,” he remembered. “Now, I have my life back.

“Now, I have direction and something to be proud of.”

As the weeks and months passed, Edmonds said he began to consider his future and knew more education was important.

Now that he’s completing his EMT training, he said he thinks he may undertake two years more to become a paramedic.

Via the NMissCommentor.

Alexandria, Virginia.

My crime column this week asks why misbehaving prosecutors are so rarely punished. If you read this site with any regularity, you’ll know that they’re often rewarded.

This week, we’ll celebrate the greatest month of the year with fall-themed photos I snapped this weekend in Alexandria.

Alexandria, Virginia.

Another gorgeous fall day today, so I took Daisy to the park in Old Town. Harper stayed behind to enjoy a nap without the pesky puppy around. I’m trying to get Daisy a little better at socializing with other dogs. She still spends about half her time playing and half her time cowering behind me in terror. We did see a border collie and a German shepherd catching Frisbees. She seemed very interested. So that’s a start.

Tip of the hat to the InjusticeNews Twitter feed for several of these stories.

There was a good thread on Reddit this week about favorite sad songs. Here’s one that always puts a lump in my throat. It’s the great Mavis Staples’ cover of the old Stephen Foster song, “Hard Times Come Again No More.”

Last month, I put up a post about D.C.’s beleaguered Metro system and how, despite an atrocious safety record over the last few years (including last June’s train crash that killed nine people), Metro’s board of directors still rewarded director John Catoe, Jr. with a new three-year contract.

It hasn’t gotten much better for Catoe or Metro since then. Earlier this month, another pedestrian was struck and killed by a Metro bus. And this week, local radio station WTOP concluded a whopping investigation into complaints against Metro bus and train operators. What they found:

Since 2004, Metro bus drivers and train operators have been cited more than 4,000 times for endangering the lives of their passengers. The incidents of dangerous and sometimes illegal behavior include speeding in residential neighborhoods at more than twice the posted speed, running red lights and collisions with pedestrians, bicycles and even a wheelchair.

In addition to the daily occurrences of unsafe behavior by the operators, records obtained by WTOP through a public records request show there have been hundreds of cases of unprofessional behavior, ranging from physical altercations with passengers to bus drivers urinating into random containers on their buses.

Here’s a categorized spreadsheet of the complaints. The report also found that despite the thousands of complaints over the last four years, just 18 Metro operators have been fired in that time.

Las Vegas.