Fox news reported something intelligent?..Ya gotta be kiddin me.

[Oldenuff]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459704,00.html

Repeal Day Serves as Reminder of the Folly of Our Drug Laws

Monday, December 01, 2008

By Radley Balko



This Friday, Dec. 5, is the 75th anniversary of Repeal Day, the day America repealed its disastrous alcohol prohibition.

Prohibition was the pièce de résistance of the early 20th-century progressive's grand social engineering agenda. It failed, of course. Miserably.

It did reduce overall consumption of alcohol in the U.S., but that reduction came largely among those who consumed alcohol responsibly. The actual harm caused by alcohol abuse was made worse, thanks to the economics of prohibitions.

Contrast that to drug prohibition, where Congress (and the Supreme Court, when it upheld it) made no attempt to comply with the Constitution in passing the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA), the law that gave us the modern drug war.

The main difference between the two prohibitions is that one was enacted lawfully, and once it became clear that it had failed, we repealed it (and government revenues soared with new alcohol taxes). As the drug war has failed, the government merely claims more powers to fight it more aggressively.

Rest of article at link

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Meh. Broken clock, twice a day, etc. n/t

[zbdent]

2. more like meeting their quota

mandatory rare event ... just to keep their facade up that they're "fair and balanced" ...

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Could also be a sign of a move toward a more Libertarian bent? n/t

[zbdent]

4. maybe Murdoch wants to disassociate himself with the Loser Repuke party

now ...

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Yes, now that he's trashed it! n/t