Terrific piece by O’Grady in today’s Wall Street Journal, ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting tomorrow with Mexican officials to discuss drug war violence.  Snippet:

The source of the problem is not Mexican supply. It is American demand coupled with prohibition.

It is doubtful that this will be acknowledged at tomorrow’s meeting. The drug-warrior industry, which includes both the private-sector and a massive government bureaucracy devoted to “enforcement,” has an enormous economic incentive to keep the war raging. In Washington politics both groups have substantial influence. So it is likely that we are going to get further plans to turn Juárez into a police state with the promise that more guns, tanks, helicopters and informants can stop Mexican gangsters from shoving drugs up American noses.

Last week’s gangland-style slaying of an unborn baby and three adults who had ties to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez has drawn attention to Mrs. Clinton’s trip. The incident stunned Americans. Yet tragic as they were, statistically those four deaths don’t create even a blip on the body-count chart. The running tally of drug-trafficking linked deaths in Juárez since December 2006 is more than 5,350. There has also been a high cost to the city’s economy as investors and tourists have turned away.

The astonishing argument from U.S. drug warriors to the violence in Juárez to this point has been: the bloodshed means we’re winning. Or put another way, “If thousands of Mexican need to die to keep Americans from getting high, by golly I, American drug war official, am willing to step up and make that sacrifice.” Now that a few Americans have been killed too, that argument will get more difficult to make.

But as O’Grady writes, don’t expect that to lead to any common sense changes in policy. To this point, the Obama administration and the leadership in Congress have made it clear that the only acceptable drug policy in Mexico is more militarization, more force, and more American funding and weapons with which to do it. If thousands more Mexicans have to die on the front lines so America’s politicians can make it marginally more difficult for Americans to ingest mind-altering substances, so be it.

• .…bankrupt America!
• Sacramento man twice arrested and jailed in a case of mistaken identity, despite the fact that he’s four inches taller than the man police wanted, that he’s black and the other guy is white, and that they have different last names.
• Another crime lab under review.
• New study looks at disclosure rules and regulation of government-to-government lobbying. Surprise! Governments aren’t nearly as concerned with how they spend money (that is, your money) lobbying than they are with how people spend their own money lobbying.
• Why, when I was a kid, just to get to school we had to . . . okay, you win.

Flying back to D.C. today.

• Ben Folds stalks Chatroulette. Be sure to watch the videos by “Merton” that inspired the Folds video.
• Starting to think this “how do I reduce my carbon footprint?” thing is getting a bit out of hand.
• Paul Westerberg’s tribute to Alex Chilton.
• Me, I think this guy should have received some sort of trophy.
• The filthy underworld of the . . . tomato paste industry.
• Couple in drought-stricken area replace their grass lawn with less water-intensive ground cover. City sues for code violations.

As I mentioned, I’m at Liberty Forum in New Hampshire this weekend.

Yesterday, I was walking with Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation to a dinner with Judge Andrew Napolitano. There were two kids, probably around 10, taking tickets at the door. Hornberger says to the boy, “You mean I have to have a ticket to get in?”

Boy: Yes.

Hornberger: You won’t let me in without one?

Boy: That’s right.

Hornberger: Will you take a bribe?

Boy:  What do you think I am, a cop?

• NYC police raid elderly Brooklyn couple more than 50 times due to computer glitch.
• The Wall of Death!
• Why have libertarians become the bogeyman of the left?
• Guess it’s true on the right, too, where David Brooks continues to blame libertarians for all the problems caused by big government politicians David Brooks supported.
• I think Axe Cop is brilliant. It’s a comic where the story is driven by a 5-year-old boy, but written and drawn by his 29-year-old brother. Finding that men tend to like it more than women. Or more precisely, those of us who were once 5-year-old boys tend to like it more than those of you who weren’t.
• I’m quoted in this Christian Science Monitor piece on the photographing the police. Here’s the story of the unfortunate verdict in a New Orleans federal civil rights case that sparked the article.

Once every two years, I put up one post for one day asking you to contribute to this site. Or rather, to me. Since I’ll be traveling to New Hampshire today, seems like a good time to make the biennial appeal.

In the past, I’ve used part of the contributions to buy something that benefits this site. A laptop, a camera for photos of the day, that sort of thing. This year, I’ll continue in that vein, and plan to get some photo editing software and a new lens. However, anything leftover will go into the Radley’s-much-needed-vacation fund. That will sort of, indirectly, in a round-about way, benefit the site too, in that a relaxed Radley is a better blogging Radley.

Couple other things: I will be taking a vacation at some point this year, and will likely line up guest bloggers during that time. Just saying. Other bloggers have taken heat for asking for money, then going on vacation a short time after. Also, this site will undergo some extensive changes in the future, though not in the next six months, and likely not in the next year. But definitely in the next two years. I think you’ll like them, but I figure I should throw that out there before you decide if you want to contribute.

Anyway, thanks in advance if you’d like to support what I do here. You can contribute here, or you can sign up for a recurring monthly contributio of $6, $12, or some other amount (use the buttons to your left). If you’d rather not use Paypal, email me and I’ll send you an address where you can send a check.

I’ll of course keep blogging whether you all contribute $10 or $10,000. But I figure if you get as much information and value from this blog as you get from subscribing to a magazine or newspaper, it can’t hurt to ask from time to time.

And thanks also for reading. This site has gone from me sending an email to friends and family every time I put up a new post to 20,000-25,000 readers per day between direct visits and RSS feeds. It’s encouraging to know that there’s such an active audience for the ideas and stories I cover here.

Blogging will resume tomorrow, although lighter than usual this weekend. I’m speaking at the Liberty Forum in New Hampshire. It’s my first time visiting the state, so I’ll probably tool about with my camera.

According to Jackson TV station WLBT, Bruce Levy, who is the Tennessee state medical examiner and the owner of the private company in Nashville where Mississippi began sending its autopsies after firing Steven Hayne, has been arrested in Mississippi on a drug charge.

I only know what’s in the short story linked above.

MORE: I have more on this, including the suspicious timing of Levy’s arrest, over at Hit & Run.

• To hell with your standard poodle. It’s all about the Brooklyn Mutt Show.
• Cop’s dash video differs from police report in alleged police brutality case. Naturally, they fought like hell from releasing the video to the guy filing the civil rights suit.
• More fun with Barack Obama’s Facebook feed.
• Omaha trial of CSI investigator accused of tampering with evidence begins.
• IRS sends agents to harass car wash owner over a four-cent tax bill.

My Reason cover story from last May is up for a Maggie award for best news story. And congrats to my colleagues. Reason is up for seven awards in all, including best magazine, best blog, and best magazine website.

And some more Radley love here.

My crime column this week looks at the disturbing apprehension of David Pyles, who woke up to SWAT teams outside his home and had his guns seized despite having committed no crime. I spoke with Pyles on the phone Friday. Fun quote:

“They woke me up with a phone call at about 5:50 in the morning. I looked out the window and saw the SWAT team pointing their guns at my house. The officer on the phone told me to turn myself in. I told them I would, on three conditions: I would not be handcuffed. I would not be taken off my property. And I would not be forced to get a mental health evaluation. He agreed. The second I stepped outside, they jumped me. Then they handcuffed me, took me off my property, and took me to get a mental health evaluation.”

The police described Pyles’ surrender as “voluntary.” Not sure that’s what I would call it.

NPR recently ran a three-part series about the “House of Death,” in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents refused to close an investigation into a drug operation despite becoming aware of and having the capacity to prevent a number of gruesome murders, some of which were aided by one of their informants, who went by the name of “Lalo.” (Prior Reason coverage of the story here.)

I reported last March that the federal government has been trying to deport Lalo back to Mexico, despite knowing that he’ll almost certainly be killed. According to NPR, the deportation proceedings haven’t yet been resolved, and Lalo is still in solitary confinement—not for his crimes in Mexico, but because the U.S. government no longer needs his services as an informant, and now considers him an illegal alien.

Last May, I interviewed Sandy Gonzalez, the DEA agent who blew the whistle on the House of Death—and lost his job because of it.

Las Vegas, from the roof of the Rio.

• You know, the guy makes an excellent point.
• Did the CIA release LSD in the New York subway?
• Longtime culture warrior John DiIulio, Jr. comes around on marijuana.
• Dumb drug warriors acting dumbly, part one.
• Dumb drug warriors acting dumbly, part two.
• Judge dismisses charges against one of the three Motorhome Diaries defendants.
• Some common sense on HGH.

The event is open to the public. Here are the details:

WHAT:
“Bad Science: The Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham and the Case for Forensic Reform”

WHO:
Craig Beyler, Fire Scientist hired by Texas Forensic Science Commission to review Willingham case
John Lentini, Owner, Scientific Fire Analysis, LLC and Author, Scientific Protocols for Fire Investigation
Juan Hinojosa, Texas State Senator
Stephen Saloom, National Policy Director, The Innocence Project

MODERATOR:
Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine

WHEN:
Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

WHERE:
Georgetown University Law Center
McDonough Hall – Hart Auditorium
600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

NOTE:
A panel of experts in forensic science and criminal justice discuss the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed by the state of Texas in 2004.  Willingham was convicted in 1992 of murdering his three young daughters in a house fire that the state determined was arson.
A report issued by Beyler in 2009 claimed that in convicting Willingham, the state used techniques and assumptions that were no longer recognized as scientifically valid and that the original finding of arson could not be sustained.

This event is sponsored by the Georgetown Law Innocence Project.

A Webcast will be available at http://www.law.georgetown.edu/webcast/.

• Now, the first trailer for Treme. Last one was apparently a “teaser.” Bunk and Lester make an appearance.
• The feds apparently aren’t happy with Hawaii’s move toward decriminalizing marijuana.
• Good post by Scott Greenfield on making legal services more affordable.
• My leg!
• Excellent profile of the amazing jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, though I think the author gives short shrift to Ethan Iverson of The Bad Plus when it comes to blending pop and progressive jazz.
• I refuse to believe that a man with such an amazing mustache could be such a twerp.
• FTC, class-action suit shut down the Netflix 2 prize. Someone stop them before they innovate again!
• Hilarious account of the Texas State Board of Education’s meeting to hash out history standards.

So can anyone think of a good reason why the Department of Education would be in the market for 27 shotguns?

(Thanks to Rex Pjesky for the tip.)

Bill Idol’s rendition of “Plastic Jesus” is great. Really!

• Funny how quickly this kid gets it. Makes you wonder why there’s a controversy.
• Houston judge rules that death penalty procedures are unconstitutional because innocent people have likely been executed.
• New York City Council (finally) raises concerns about NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy.
• Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema reviews the vending machines in the paper’s offices.
• The rare sensible, fact-based media piece on childhood obesity.
• Bruce Graham, RIP. He’d responsible for much of Chicago’s modernist skyline.
• The rare sensible, fact-based media piece on the Toyota recalls.

The day got away from me. But before tonight’s results, here’s how I’d rank the contestants this week:

Men:

Michael Lynche

Lee Dewyze

Casey James

Alex Lambert

Andrew Garcia

Aaron Kelly

Tim Urban

Todrick Hall

Women:
Crystal Bowersox

Siobhan Magnus

Lilly Scott

Didi Benami

Katelyn Epperly

Lacey Brown

Katie Stevens

Paige Miles

….at least in restaurants.

“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill, A. 10129 , states in part.

The legislation, which Assemblyman Felix Ortiz , D-Brooklyn, introduced on March 5, would fine restaurants $1,000 for each violation.

This is extraordinarily stupid. I’m curious if Ortiz has ever prepared a meal in his life.

Ortiz is probably the most paternalistic legislator in America. I wrote about him in a piece for Forbes back in 2005.

The all-time nanny might be New York State Democratic Assemblyman Felix Ortiz. In 2004 Ortiz introduced a law that would require every car sold in New York to come equipped with an ignition interlock device. Motorists would need to blow into a tube and pass an alcohol breath test before the car would start, then perform the test again every 20 to 40 minutes.

In just the first four months of 2005 Ortiz has introduced laws that would ban all cell phone use while driving (including hands-free); ban pornography from newsstands; force consumers to show two forms of identification when using a credit card; test all public school children for diabetes; ban expiration dates on retail gift certificates; ban alcohol billboard advertisements within a mile of every school and day care center; require nutritional labeling on restaurant menus; measure the fat of every public school student; and impose a “fat tax,” not just on junk food but also on “videogames, commercials and movies.”

The salt ban is nutty. But I included all of the items in the graph above because back in 2005, they all seemed pretty nutty, too. Scary how many of them have now either been enacted or are being given serious consideration by local, state and federal lawmakers.

Even with video, I’m still not sure I believe that this actually happened. If it did, pretty amazing.

School Dorm Snake Game – Watch more Funny Videos