Micromanagement

Blagojevich orders pharmacies to sell contraceptives promptly.

The Illinois governor also told fast food fry clerks to clean the frier, grocery store utility clerks to restock the bags at the end of the registers, and for the sales clerk at the department store to stop standing around and to straighten her area, for crying out loud she’s lucky she has this job with her being late three times this year and calling in once every three weeks.

UPDATE: Furthermore, Blagojevich ordered pharmacies to bundle unused flu vaccination doses with every purchase of a contraceptive.

Buy My Books!
Buy John Donnelly's Gold Buy The Courtship of Barbara Holt Buy Coffee House Memories

Senator Jim Talent’s Solution to Crime: Federalize It

After all, he’s federal legislator, so he cannot be seen by the public as Doing Something!!!! on local law enforcement problems. So he gathered up a news conference with local law enforcement and spake:

Sen. Jim Talent, calling methamphetamine “the No. 1 law-enforcement problem facing Missouri,” on Friday outlined a federal plan to increase funding for police and prosecutors and restrict sales of the over-the-counter cold pills used to make the powerful narcotic.

Speaking at a news conference at the St. Louis County Police headquarters in Clayton, Talent called the Combat Meth Act the most comprehensive anti-meth legislation ever proposed.

The bill – sponsored by Talent, R-Mo., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. – would direct $20 million to train police, hire prosecutors and fund programs that help children injured in drug labs. But the bill’s focus is restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in scores of cold remedies.

It’s a big problem facing Missouri, so Talent (a name, not necessarily a noun) wants the federal government to gather federal tax dollars, take its cut off the top, and then pass those federally-taken tax dollars to the states to spend as they see fit. Well, maybe pass the money back to the states, if the states jump through the new federal hoops correctly, probably including passing legislation to make it possible to charge someone with DUI for wearing aftershave. But I digress.

My senator co-sponsored this bill with Dianne Feinstein. That says it all.

They’re doing something to make America better and stronger by setting up a vigorish that will fund administration of the tax money redistribution and by making more innocuous behavior (buying too much cough medicine) criminal.

The America they’re strengthening is the federal government. That America and the amalgamated citizens and states of America are often not the same thing.

Buy My Books!
Buy John Donnelly's Gold Buy The Courtship of Barbara Holt Buy Coffee House Memories

But He Still Killed Susan Gutweiler

From the sound of it, the case against Leonard Little was a little weak:

On Friday, the only defense witness that Rosenblum called was Ladue police Officer Keneth Andreski, who was Stork’s backup when Little was arrested and was standing five feet from the defendant when Little was given the sobriety tests.

Stork had testified that Little was windmilling his arms and unable to stand on one foot. Andreski said he didn’t recall seeing Little swinging his arms or holding them outward like airplane wings to keep his balance.

Andreski said he didn’t recall seeing Little swaying or using the Mercedes for support, as Stork had told the jury.

Also testifying Friday was Sgt. Darin McClure. Under questioning by prosecutor Mark Bishop, McClure said he administered a breath test at the arrest scene on a portable machine and it showed that Little had been drinking. McClure said also he smelled alcohol on Little’s breath.

Under Rosenblum’s questioning, McClure said Little wasn’t stumbling, swaying, losing his balance or smelling of alcohol at the Ladue police station, where he was taken 18 minutes after the traffic stop.

“Nothing in this case is consistent with intoxication,” Rosenblum said.

Well, that’s the flipside of fame and the law’s engagement with you. On the first offense, you leave a mother dead and get a slap on the wrist; from there on out, every cop who pulls you over will try to railroad you for DUI.

Buy My Books!
Buy John Donnelly's Gold Buy The Courtship of Barbara Holt Buy Coffee House Memories

Sandy Berger: Slightly Guilty

Sandy Berger, the former National Security Adviser accused of putting documents in his socks, has plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of stealing classified documents. Of course, dear friends, you realize that stealing classified documents remains a misdemeanor only because only powerful people do it; stealing a couple hundred bucks of rare manuscript or something of comparable size and relative value would land you or I, simple citizens, in jail for a long time.

But in case you’re interested, remember MfBJN provided Stealing Documents In Socks: A Primer last summer to edify you, lawful reader, about how the bad deed is done.

(Story seen on Michelle Malkin.)

Buy My Books!
Buy John Donnelly's Gold Buy The Courtship of Barbara Holt Buy Coffee House Memories