Free Republic

ALBANY, May 26 - As they move to thwart the illegal trade of cigarettes over the Internet, state officials have joined colleagues from around the nation in persuading the major credit card companies to stop processing payments for online cigarette sales. Additionally, the state has enacted a law prohibiting the shipment of cigarettes to its residents and banned private carriers, like FedEx, from shipping cigarettes. But as state officials fight illegal online cigarette sales, one operation is not falling into line - the United States Postal Service, which officials say delivers the bulk of illegally purchased cigarettes to New Yorkers....

SACRAMENTO — In a fiery speech to Republican faithful Friday evening, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ridiculed Democrats as wasteful spending "addicts" who have been taking "sleeping pills," and he characterized California's problems as stemming from "evil." The speech before about 1,000 people at a convention of the California Republican Party — a traditionally conservative crowd of stalwarts — featured Schwarzenegger's sharpest rhetoric to date as he prepared for a possible special election in November that would shake up state government. The governor said the Democrat-controlled Legislature has refused to solve serious structural problems with the state budget and its political machinery....