Monthly Archives: May 2003

Breaking a Reign of Terror

This entry was posted in Drug Laws on by

Here is one that each and every state ought to support:

House Republicans are pressing for legislation that would strip federal anti-drug money from local police in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.

There is probably a lot of onerous stuff in the legislation (the norm at the federal level) and I have not read it, but, from the article, there are at least 2 downsides:

1. The legislation would allow the White House Office of Drug Control Policy to advertise in opposition to medical marijuana laws.

2. And allow it to exist for 5 more years.

Well, maybe the advertising aspect isn’t so bad: we might get to see an updated Reefer Madness.

It does seem a good thing, though, that this may actually be a way to stop some federal funding of terrorist activities related to the drug prohibition.

UPDATE (5/23): Talkleft has more on this.

Al-Qaeda

This entry was posted in al Qaeda on by

Alex Knapp suggests that the latest terrorist acts attributed to Al-Qaeda do not indicate a resurgence:

So not only is al-Qaeda reduced to less effective attacks, but they have to attack in unprepared nations, and we know about them in advance.
Doesn’t seem like a resurgence to me.

Of course, if there are more freqent attacks forthcoming then resurgence might become the right word.

This is Capitalism?

This entry was posted in Economics on by

Bill Gates is a bright guy but apparently no better at speaking in clear terms then most others when trying to describe the dominant socio-economic structure of the last century plus:

MOYERS: What does it say to you that half of all 15 year olds in South Africa and Zimbabwe could lose their lives to AIDS? What does it say to you that 11 million children, roughly, die every year from preventable diseases? What does it say to you that of the 4 million babies who die within their first month, 98 percent are from poor countries? What do those statistics tell you about the world?
GATES: It really is a failure of capitalism. You know capitalism is this wonderful thing that motivates people, it causes wonderful inventions to be done. But in this area of diseases of the world at large, it’s really let us down.

MOYERS: But markets are supposed to deliver goods and services to people.
GATES: And when people have money it does.

Gates and Moyer are both on the right track pointing out to us the seriousness of this problem and asking why in this world some of these situations aren’t improving. They are wrong in ascribing this failure to capitalism…or even anything close to it. For lack of a better term what Gates is describing is a failure of statist cronyism.

our foundation is not involved in the diseases of the rich world. Not, you know, those are very important, but the market is working there. Between the basic research that the government funds, through NIH. The bio-tech companies. The pharmaceutical companies. You know incredible things will happen with cancer and heart disease over these next 20 or 30 years. Because that’s a case where capitalism is at work.

The pharms are one of the best examples of state corporatism: highly regulated and highly protected (could we extend our patent one more time, please). In spite of the statist environment the pharms exist in I am hopeful that Gates is right that incredible things will happen and I hope that it won’t take a nest egg of Gatesian proportions to get access.

Gates transcript link via Charles Dodsen who adds some commentary to the lengthy debate on Gates started by Jeanne D’arc.