Free Republic

It is my hope that the art of conversation is not inborn as much as learned, because I frequently find myself feeling out of place in social situations. I’m not good at being funny on the spot, and I’m extremely poor at feigning interest in things that just don’t interest me. In fact, the only two things I really enjoy talking about, besides myself, are sports and politics. Sports and politics, what strange bedfellows. This worries me because sports – although I adore them and can rationalize more value from them than anyone alive – do not matter the way...

MOMMY DUMBEST ROLLS TOT THRU WAL-MART SNORTING HEROIN: COPS By TIM PERONE Caught on camera: cops.May 28, 2007 -- A Long Island mom was busted for snorting heroin as she pushed her 3-year-old son through a Wal-Mart in a shopping cart, cops said yesterday. Stacy Roe, 35, of Farmingville, was caught on video surveillance Saturday evening taking a straw out of her purse and shoving it up her nose, authorities said. Security at the Centereach store called 911. Cops responded, viewed the video and approached the woman while she was still in the store. Roe admitted that she was using...

For political junkies, June 6 has been circled on the political calendar for months. Eight states hold primary elections today. There are important races for gubernatorial nominations in California, Iowa and Alabama, a contested Senate primary in Montana and a number of competitive House primary battles. All in all, it's almost too much of a good thing. There are so many good races out there and not enough time to give each of them their due. In an attempt to bring readers the essential, need-to-know information about today's races, The Fix is providing the primer below. Remember: This is not...

BEHIND BARS A former police chief wants to end a losing war by legalizing pot, coke, meth and other drugs SOMETIMES PEOPLE in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight. Yes, I was a cop for 34 years, the last six of which I spent as chief of Seattle's police department. But no, I don't favor decriminalization. I favor legalization, and not just of pot but of all drugs, including heroin,...

New Orleans Gangs, Drug Dealers May Re-Emerge ElsewherePOSTED: 2:43 pm EDT September 27, 2005 BATON ROUGE, La. -- Hurricane Katrina did what authorities couldn't: put a stop to illegal drug operations in New Orleans and pushed its ruthlessly violent gangs from the streets of the city's poorest neighborhoods. The exact landing point of gang members isn't known for sure, though federal authorities suspect popular evacuation sites like Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Houston. But no matter where they land, the thugs from the Big Easy have been put at a distinct disadvantage, authorities say. "They are crippled," said U.S. Attorney Jim...

OLDIE BUT GOODIE CSN TURNS HEADS By DAN AQUILANTE CROSBY, STILLS & NASH LOOKS are deceiving, espe cially when it comes to hip pie icons Crosby, Stills & Nash. Who would guess these old gray studs could come close to what they used to be? Yet at the Beacon Theatre Monday, at the first of their two-show engagement, the guys who sang the soundtrack to the turbulent '60s were made young again in a 2 1/2-hour set that showcased the best of their long career — from protest songs such as "For What It's Worth" to their close-harmony devotionals, including...

Warren Buffett, one of the world's most successful investors, has launched his most withering attack to date on the US trade deficit, describing Americans as "rich spending junkies" who could turn into a nation of "sharecroppers". In his annual letter to investors in Berkshire Hathaway, the fund he has run for more than 30 years, Mr Buffett painted a bleak picture of a future US in which ownership and wealth had continued to move overseas, leaving the economy in thrallto foreign interests and faced with financial turmoil and political unrest.

WEST PALM BEACH — A highly confidential list of the names and addresses of 4,500 Palm Beach County residents with AIDS and 2,000 others who are HIV positive was e-mailed Thursday to more than 800 county health department employees. Health department statistician John W. "Jack" Nolan, who compiles data on HIV/AIDS cases for the county, sent the e-mail containing his monthly cumulative statistics report and inadvertently attached a file with the identities and addresses of AIDS patients and others who have tested HIV positive. Health department spokesman Tim O'Connor confirmed the incident. Nolan, a veteran health department employee, called in...

From: Northern Territory News DOGS are licking the backs of cane toads to get high from a poison secreted from their glands, a Northern Territory vet has revealed. And the dogs are becoming addicted to the hallucinogenic cane toad poison - bufo toxin. Katherine vet Megan Pickering said yesterday she had seen many cases of dogs affected by the deadly toad poison. "We have had quite a number of cases of dogs that are getting addicted to the toxin," she said. "There seems to be dogs that are licking the toxin to get high. "They lick the toads and only...

Arriving home from the hospital after being treated for a heart attack, 84-year-old Carol Barnes inched up the steps into her Sunset District home and headed straight for her absentee ballot. "She said, 'That ... Bush, I can't allow him to be president again,' " said her son, Bo Barnes. " 'I want to vote for Kerry to make the world safe.' " Too exhausted to do more than cast votes for president and two propositions, the widow of an Army major signed the ballot and told her son they'd complete the rest later. Three days later, on Oct. 17,...

SALEM, Ore. -- A measure on Oregon's Nov. 2 ballot to expand the medical use of marijuana is drawing fire from state district attorneys and the White House drug czar, who says it would turn the state into a "safe haven for drug trafficking."Measure 33 would make it easier for ailing people to obtain marijuana and allow them to possess more of it -- up to a pound at a time. It also requires that indigent patients be given free marijuana.But White House drug czar John Walters, echoing criticism by Oregon's district attorneys, calls Measure 33 a fraud on Oregon...

CHICAGO -- Habitual marijuana use increased among U.S. adults over the past decade, particularly among young minorities and baby boomers, government figures show. The prevalence of marijuana abuse or dependence climbed from 1.2 percent of adults in 1991-92 to 1.5 percent in 2001-02, or an estimated 3 million adults 18 and over. That represents an increase of 800,000 people, according to data from two nationally representative surveys that each queried more than 40,000 adults. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, the rate of abuse or dependence remained stable among whites but surged by about 220 percent among black men and women, to...

Osama bin Laden is said to be raising millions of pounds through the international drugs trade to fund his al Qaeda terror network. Many of the drugs are believed to be coming from Afghanistan and sold in return for weapons or cash, US officials say. Al Qaeda is also charging what amounts to a tax on smuggled drug shipments as they leave Afghanistan bound for the West, an unnamed official said. There are also unconfirmed suggestions that the terror group has used drug money to buy radioactive material for a so-called "dirty bomb". Seizure The claims come after a seizure...

<p>Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network has become deeply involved in international drug trafficking, using the money to buy arms and, possibly, radioactive material for use in a so-called "dirty" nuclear bomb, senior U.S. officials say.</p> <p>The seizure earlier this month of boats carrying heroin and hashish, and operated by al Qaeda-linked persons, has brought to light an al Qaeda drug operation that has grown tremendously since the September 11 attacks, the sources say.</p>

The entire nation owes radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh a debt of gratitude, Libertarians say, because his ordeal has exposed every drug warrior in America as a rank hypocrite. "One thing we don't hear from American politicians very often is silence," said Joe Seehusen, Libertarian Party executive director. "By refusing to criticize Rush Limbaugh, every drug warrior has just been exposed as a shameless, despicable hypocrite. "And that's good news, because the next time they do speak up, there'll be no reason for anyone to listen." The revelation that Limbaugh had become addicted to painkillers -- drugs he is accused of...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030915.wsame0915/BNStory/National/ Globe Poll: Vancouver has just opened a safe-injection site for heroin users. Do you think these so-called shooting galleries are a good idea? Yes No http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030915.wsame0915/BNStory/National/