Column: Study medical weed more

My Arkansas News Bureau column this week is about medical marijuana. My take: If it helps certain medical patients, it should be legal – but only after it receives extensive study, just like we do with any other drug that is released to the public. The medical community needs to determine if smoking marijuana is beneficial and, if so, how best it can be administered. Law enforcement needs to weigh in on how marijuana can become a medical product without endangering other efforts to enforce drug laws.

You can read the column here.

Best less-government idea in a while


Sen. Sue Madison (D-Fayetteville) has proposed eliminating the office of constable. It would require a constitutional amendment.

Amen. Constables, a throwback to bygone days, have the power of law enforcement officers but not necessarily the training, and they are not paid. They are not often utilized by the real law enforcement agencies with actual trained officers.

I’m sure there are a number of them who do their “job” responsibly, but there also are potentially a bunch of Barney Fifes running around. Get rid of the office and shorten the ballots, please.

Column: Prison reform and the GOP

My Arkansas News Bureau column this week discusses the need to halt the growth rate in the state’s prison population and asks what the new Republicans in the Legislature are willing to do about it. Arkansas’ population, and the money it spends on it, are both rising at unsustainable rates. A panel has proposed a set of reforms, but the issue will be easy to demagogue on law and order grounds.

Will newly elected Republicans come to the table and be consistent with the GOP’s small-government-is-better philosophy? Or will they do as the national Republicans have done: tout small government but never actually offer any real, specific cuts.

I’ll be watching. I hope others are as well.

Here is the column.

Thoughts on Arizona

No, Sarah Palin did not have anything to do with what a madman did in Arizona.

Yes, some are taking advantage of this to try to discredit conservatives, or at least vent their frustrations.

But yes, it’s time for Palin and fellow Republicans to tone down the “Don’t retreat, just reload” rhetoric.

And yes, it’s worse on the right. Please, Palin’s people, don’t try to tell us those weren’t gunsights on your map.

No, that’s not really the problem. The problem is the attitude that dehumanizes anyone that doesn’t agree with one’s side 100 percent, and yes, both sides are equally at fault. It’s the attitude that accuses President Bush of plotting 9-11. That turns President Obama into a “Muslim socialist who wants the terrorists to win.” That sells a book defining conservatives as “The American Taliban.” That calls someone “The Worst Person in the World.” (I’m sure they’re not.) That spends three hours on the radio and all day on television inflaming passions and mischaracterizing the other side. That defines “real Americans” as those who vote properly. That separates the coasts from the heartland and red from blue.

That secretly, or not so secretly, is glad this happened.

No, we don’t have to hold hands and sing “Kumbaya.”

But yes, we do have to get along.

I close with this plea for reasonableness from Jon Stewart from his Rally to Restore Sanity.

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Sunday column praises Pryor for Social Security/Medicare comments

I wrote an extra column for Arkansas News Bureau Sunday. Jason Tolbert, who usually has that space, is busy with his day job as a CPA and needed a break. My column praised Mark Pryor for telling the Little Rock Rotary Club that something has to be done about Social Security and Medicare. Here it is.

It takes political courage to mention Social Security and Medicare because the issue is so easily demagogued and misunderstood. Two readers emailed me: one accusing me of wanting to “get rid” of Social Security, the other from a senior citizen who (correctly) pointed out that he has paid payroll taxes all of his life and (incorrectly) that other areas, such as congressional salaries, are where the real cuts need to be made. That’s pennies. You have to cut Social Security and Medicare – not for current recipients, but for future ones like me – because that is where the money is. According to the Debt Commission, ALL projected tax revenues will cover only Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt by 2025.

That means you have to cut everything else completely, including national defense and highway construction, in order to balance the budget. Or we could raise taxes far higher than they are now. Or we could just keep borrowing from China until it takes us over.

The other choice is to have a mature conversation about Social Security and Medicare and then come up with a responsible plan.