Apparently, folks who wanted free federal healthcare for everyone are upset that, to get some kind of reform, concessions had to be made. Like not giving free federal healthcare to everyone.
Here’s an idea: Allow importation of drugs; let folks buy coverage across state lines; allow those who purchase their own insurance to get [...]

Via TP, the police raid and crack open thousands of safety deposit boxes. That place is done.

Tennessee had an illegal drug tax. And it kept getting struck down. Now, there is a class action lawsuit to recover payment of the illegal drug tax.

Look at me! I’m unconstitutional. Soon to be a collector’s item.
Tom Humphrey:
Basically, the majority said that illegal drugs are not subject to taxation under the state constitution, which authorizes taxes on “merchants, peddlers and privileges.” The tax is on possession, they reasoned, not sales so the possessors are not merchants or peddlers. And since possession [...]

Bob:
Drug tests for welfare recipients. What a great idea. And I know that being a fair and non-vindictive sort, West Virginia lawmaker Craig Blair will also start demanding drug testing for everyone who receives government handouts — from tax breaks to bailouts to states that take more from the federal tax system than [...]

Jamie Satterfield notes that the state Supreme Court is looking into TN’s waiver of due process of law err illegal drug tax:
In a separate case, Brad Buchanan tried today on behalf of the state Department of Revenue to convince the state high court to overturn a lower appellate court ruling striking down as unconstitutional the [...]

Via Wachel (who also fisked her own post) and Phelps, comes a fun game:
Suppose you were elected Temporary Supreme Dictator of America.
What are 10 laws you would pass/repeal or government programs you would create/tear down? (Assume that you are in office for however long it would take [...]

Drugs continue winning war on drugs
In Chicago, some idiot named Robert Fioretti wants to ban little plastic bags because that’s where drug users put drugs. In other news, that’s what the Uncle family puts carrots, school lunch items, small gun parts, and all those extra rubberbands in.

The NRA-ILA notes:
Representatives Steve King (R-Iowa) and Zach Space (D-Ohio), have introduced H.R. 4900 the “Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2007.” The bill would roll back unnecessary restrictions, correct errors, and codify longstanding congressional policies in the firearms arena. This bipartisan bill is a vital step to [...]

At stop the drug war.

Seems like Bredesen is finally getting it:
Gov. Bredesen says it may be time to shut down the state’s tax on illegal drugs because of a recent appeals court opinion the so-called “crack tax” is unconstitutional.
It is a stupid law.

Ya know, Tennessee’s unconstitutional drug tax stamp is not as cool looking as Texas’ unconstitutional drug tax stamp.
Update: B-Ho notes:
The Bredesen admininstration appears intent on continuing to collect the tax, despite two court rulings that it is unconstitutional, as a Department of Revenue spokesman says the department will continue to collect the tax while pursuing [...]

Again? Seriously, how many times must this be ruled before, uh, a ruling actually gets rid of it? See prior rulings and coverage here.
Full opinion here, via AC.

Tennessee’s illegal drug tax was overturned once already. Now, it’s been suspended once more:
Two Knoxville lawyers who convinced a chancellor to strike down the state’s so-called “crack tax” as unconstitutional now have won a rare restraining order against the agency that collects it.
Attorneys James A.H. Bell and Richard Holcomb, representing a Livingston pharmacist [...]

I read the newspapers from Texas to Ohio when we go up and back. I start with the Tyler and Dallas, pick up Texarkana and Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnatti, Toledo, Columbus and then reverse. Half the stories are about the government doing MORE and the other half griping about [...]

I guess I should comment on it. Congress is at record disapproval and intent on making it worse. As far as I can tell, no one supports this bill except politicians. And, in true politician form, they feel the need to overhaul the entire thing in one fell swoop, as opposed to [...]

Stuff to do, like the zoo. Some quick things.
Maintain a handgun.
Drug tax collectors make the rounds.
The correct headline should be House Approves Funding Already Existing Gun Controls.
Jeff Knox on the NICS.
Send this to your mayor, if s/he is a member of an anti-gun group.
CZ porn.
Memories.

Gonzales expands the ATF. And proposes a law:
As part of today’s announcement, the Department of Justice proposed the Violent Crime and Anti-Terrorism Act of 2007, a comprehensive package including violent crime legislation that amends and strengthens existing laws to ensure that federal law enforcement agencies are able to successfully investigate and prosecute many types of [...]

Seems that the .gov would rather let Angel Raich die an agonizing death than smoke a little weed. Jed says it for me:
You know the drill; even if the state in which your reside and smoke has legalized medical use of marijuana, the feds can still bust your ass. It is a disgrace and an [...]

Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham continues to be uninterested in what the citizens have to say. And has, in fact, been outright hostile:
Mayor Jerry Cunningham apparently believes he must vilify those who disagrees with him. This kind of arrogance towards citizens is inexcusable and can not be tolerated by the citizens.
Here’s a letter [...]

Tennessee’s illegal drug tax made the cable news.

Via Ravenwood, Time magazine is looking at Tennessee’s Illegal Drug tax:
since the tax was enacted in 2004 it has netted Tennessee $3.5 million in extra revenue, 75% of which goes directly to the enforcement agencies that carry out the drug busts. Still, some opponents argue that adding such steep penalties on top of criminal charges [...]

Bill Hobbs, who notes that the tax is unconstitutional, quotes:
For a second consecutive year, the state Department of Revenue concealed the failures of the Unauthorized Substance Tax.
In a press release issued Tuesday, the Department praised the Unauthorized Substance Tax, or “crack tax,” for generating $1.7 million in revenue collections. The Department, however, conveniently [...]

Every year, some local news organization runs some article on how much Tennessee collected with its illegal drug tax. Every year, I say bullshit. This year, it’s $1.8M and it’s still bullshit.
Update: MKS has more. And here’s the presser:
During the second year of Tennessee’s unauthorized substances tax, [...]

Radley is tracking botched police raids so I don’t have to.
Unclear on the concept:
Polcie in Arizona raided the home of a 73-year-old man with Alzheimers this week. The flash grenade they deployed during the raid set the home on fire, and burned it down. No one inside heard a police announcement, though the police of [...]

Sometimes when someone tries to do something good they get confused and screw up something else. This is often referred to as the law of unintended consequences. Case in point would be Senator John McCain’s new bill to crack down on child pornography on the Internet. No one wants child pornography on the Internet but [...]

From the AJC:
During the four-hour-long meeting, the crowd — which at times swelled to more than 300 — angrily recounted stories about drug raids into their homes when officers knocked down doors, armed with warrants that were unsigned.
They also demanded to know why the officers involved in Johnston’s death were still being paid by their [...]

An NFA weapon (a machine gun that I presume was not registered) was taken in a drug raid. After the raid, police turned it over to a museum. I wonder how that is? An NFA weapon that is unregistered is contraband and cannot lawfully be transferred. David says:
I think there is [...]

WBIR:
Dennis Smith and his wife, Kristie Dawn Smith, had just put their five-year-old son to bed in July 2002 when three men burst into their mobile home near Tazewell, demanding to know where the drugs were.
The demand was specific — 116 pounds of marijuana, methamphetamine and the Smith’s meth cookers.
They didn’t have any of it, [...]

Bill, on the overturning of Tennessee’s illegal drug tax, notes:
Although a judge has ruled that the Tennessee law requiring drug dealers to pay state taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional, the state says it will continue to collect the tax because the ruling applies only to one individual alleged drug [...]

I’ve covered the Tennessee tax stamp on illegal drugs for a while. Via the five people who emailed this to me this morning, comes the Tennessean:
A Tennessee judge has ruled that a state law requiring drug dealers to pay taxes on their cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs is unconstitutional.
The ruling by Davidson [...]

Tax cuts, terror wars, drug wars: choose two.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants to end U.S. Army helicopter support for a joint U.S.-Bahamas drug-interdiction program that over the past two decades has resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of tons of cocaine and marijuana. [...]
But in a May 15 letter to Attorney General [...]

So, I let this lefty libertarian start blogging here and apparently some folks took offense to that. Not sure why. All he did was introduce himself and post a cool pic of an explosion. Then he was pounced on. Sort of uncalled for, if you ask me. If you disagree [...]

Michael Silence notes:
Tennessee’s tax on unauthorized substances such as cocaine and marijuana and some alcoholic beverages brought in more than $1.7 million in its first year, according to revenue officials.
The tax, which is modeled after a 13-year-old North Carolina tax aimed at fighting illegal drugs, has resulted in $1,714,565 in collections and nearly $32 million [...]

The Office of National Drug Control Policy decides to to podcasts. Their first interview is with Al Roker.

The Brady Bunch released a presser opposing Alito’s nomination:
Judge Alito’s nomination poses serious dangers to the safety of our communities, our families, and our children, as evidenced by his troubling dissent in U.S. vs. Rybar, 103 F.3d 273 (3rd Cir. 1996). In that case, Judge Alito argued that the federal machine gun ban amounted to [...]

Apparently, the news flying through blogland this weekend was this study by a UCLA political scientist, which says, shockingly, there’s a bit of a leftward slant to the media. Even though there is such a slant, it’s merely a lean to the left.
My take on the media is pretty simple. I [...]

No one likes to be fooled. When Michael Moore’s first film “Roger and Me” came out I was fooled like many people were. I fell for the Michael Moore shtick. Back in 1989 when “Roger and Me” came out it was difficult to do any fact checking. Never having seen Michael Moore I did what [...]

It’s also lucrative for the state. The Tennessean reports:
Tennessee modeled its program to collect taxes on illegal drugs after North Carolina’s, but early returns indicate that the Volunteer State’s 6-month-old effort has been more successful.
A report released yesterday showed that Tennessee had collected about six times more taxes on controlled substances as did its [...]

Bill Hobbs notes that The Tennessean swallowed a press release hook, line and sinker. Bill notes the drug tax is costing more than it’s making (something I’ve already pointed out here many times). However . . .
Bill also says:
The Tennessean editorialized in favor of the tax on illegal drugs on April 14, 2004, [...]

A reader sent me a scan of the Tennessee Department of Revenue Unauthorized Substances Stamp (note: Background on Tennessee’s Illegal Drug Tax can be found here). Here it is:

It has a what I assume is a serial number. I also assume that means this is only the 127th one they [...]

Ben Livingston was tracking his efforts to purchase tax stamps on illegal drugs as required by Tennessee law. It starts out with this opening email:
I am interested in purchasing the new illegal drug stamps that Tennessee now offers. I called this morning to purchase some of these, but I was told I could not [...]

Reader Tim Sheehy wrote this and I said I’d publish hit so here you go.
This 4th of July be sure to:
Buckle your seatbelt,
Behave for the traffic cameras,
Patiently wait at the sobriety checkpoints and hold your tongue if you feel the police officer at that checkpoint is too inquisitive,
Don’t light up that cigarette to relax [...]

I’ve discussed Tennessee’s asinine illegal drug tax many times before. It’s only use seems to be taking people’s property without due process of law and there are reports that the tax stamps aren’t actually being sold. Tennessee Rep Stacey Campfield alerts us that:
Tennessee Center for Policy Research has a new study out today [...]

In Tennessee, a 60 year-old man recovering from cancer smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain and depression. He has since been arrested and had his money and cars seized and a lien placed on his house. All this without due process of law, which is blatantly unconstitutional. The fifth amendment states that [...]

WATE reports that Lawyers say Tennessee’s illegal tax law is ripe for abuse:
Defense lawyers say a new law allowing authorities to tax illegal drugs allows officials to bully people not convicted of crimes into paying thousands of dollars.
Tennessee’s Department of Revenue has collected nearly $400,000 in taxes.
Another $$11 million in taxes have been levied, [...]

Here I’ve been trying to step up the blog output, and I’ve already hit the wall. Things are crazy at work today, so I don’t know how much I’ll get to post today.
In the meantime, here’s an interesting tidbit. SayUncle has blogged a couple of times about Tennessee’s tax stamps for illegal drugs. [...]

You read about it in the paper, sometimes, and you see it on television almost all the time, but life in center-city Memphis can sometimes be awful. I don’t know what to say when I read about stuff like this.

Egalia reports:
A family member just had all his money and cars seized for the marijuana tax; they put a lien on his house. He was busted over the weekend here in Nashville for a few baby-sized plants and a small amount of commercial weed. For this, they say he owes almost as much as his [...]

In an update to Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs scoring its first booty, I have additional correspondence from someone alleging to be Jerry [redacted]. He tells me that the police first entered the home looking for a runaway girl. They then entered the home the following day by kicking the door down. [...]

I blogged here about Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs claiming its first booty. A man claiming to be Jerry [redacted](the person whose house was seized for non-payment of the tax that they won’t even let you pay) left some comments there:
The house is worth about $90,000 and I owe $71,000 on it. They taxed [...]

Mark reports that Tennessee’s taxes on illegal drugs are working as expected:
A Bloomington Springs house and the land it sits on yesterday became the first real estate in Tennessee to be seized for unpaid tax on illegal drugs. The property belongs to Jerry [redacted], and the tax is for the marijuana crop that law officers [...]

Regarding Tennessee’s tax on illegal drugs, a commenter over at Michael Silence’s blog writes:
The Department of Revenue claims that to date nobody has attempted to voluntarily pay this tax. I would like to point out that this is untrue.
I attempted to voluntarily pay this tax on January 6, but all of my attempts were rejected [...]

Any of my Tennessee readers know the street value of 42.5 grams of marijuana in Knoxville? Actually, can someone translate that into some useful measure for me too (such as joints)?
I’m not up on drug values since I don’t do drugs but I am thinking of heading down to the local Tennessee [...]

I’ve yammered about Tennessee’s stupid new law requiring those that deal in illegal drugs to buy a tax stamp before. It serves only as a tax on stupid people or as another crime to charge someone with in the ever expanding war on drugs. Surprising to no one, is the fact that drug [...]

Bill Hobbs notes that Tennessee will start taxing illegal drugs next year (I’ve mentioned this before). Says Bill:
This actually works – and is a pretty good idea, though it sounds a bit odd at first. The law will require sellers of illegal drugs to pay excise taxes, just legal businesses. Most drug-pushers won’t comply, [...]

After all, the post is called Uncle Bait. One of the Brutal Huggers (I can’t tell them apart) writes:
Asset forfeiture is a way for the government to take your property. Regardless of whether you’ve committed a crime, they can (and have!) seize cash, cars, houses, computers, and anything else whether they can carry it [...]

So, it looks like two candidates have stepped up to the plate to challenge Obama. What’s important is their positions on issues, right? Wrong. What’s important to the AP is that they are both black.
The AP mentions their stances on issues at the bottom thusly:
Keyes opposes abortion and gay rights, [...]

Quote:
“For us to be different by $140 billion is nothing,” said the director of the Congressional Budget Office, dismissing the controversial discrepancy between his estimate of the prescription drug benefit’s cost and Medicare actuaries’ figure.
As long as us tax payers are picking up the tab, it’s immaterial. I figure the discrepancy costs each [...]

First up, the new seat belt law would allow police to pull you over if they see that you’re not buckled up. Under the old law, they’d ticket you for it only if they pulled you over for something else. Gov. Bredesen, who says he’ll sign the bill, said:
”I understand the issue of [...]

Reader Drake emails this article:
The Legislature is considering new taxes and some fee increases, but it’s unlikely most people would pay them.
One new tax would apply to drug dealers.
Sen. Randy McNally, a Republican from Oak Ridge, proposes to tax marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. Those who step forward to pay the [...]

G. Hayduke attempts to warn people about allying themselves with gun owners. S/He implies that all of us gun-toting types are backwoods hicks who dream fondly of taking the nation back to the 18th century. Of course, s/he spends (at my count) six paragraphs describing the characteristics of us gun-nuts and one making [...]

Two abysmal offerings today, first is this:
An 89-year-old woman could be evicted from her home of more than 50 years for missing one tax payment of $572 on her South Hanover Twp. property.
Helene Shue’s red farmhouse and 41 acres of land along Route 39 — about two miles from Hersheypark — were appraised at [...]

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Yahoo news:
Crystal Foster’s father advised her to spend the $500,000 income tax refund she got two years ago. When the government came looking for its money, the Fosters said it was their rightful reparations, since their ancestors were slaves.
Though there is no federal reparations program, Foster had spent the money in eight days, buying [...]

tgirsch posts about the politics of obesity. While an interesting read, I must disagree with his proposed solutions:
outlaw marketing products to children.
Unconstitutional and pointless. Kids will still know what Twinkies are.
limiting sweets (and banning junk food) in schools
I would agree that the government funded schools shouldn’t provide junk food, but defining what is [...]

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