When the swine flu “pandemic” initially broke out I chastised the main stream media for participating in fear-mongering. I even introduced this t-shirt into the Rotting Nation store.

It seems like Congressman and, more importantly, Doctor Ron Paul has a similar opinion calling the swine flu a non-event. He also noted the 1976 swine flu scare when a vaccine was created under the purview of Congress that killed more people than those that died from the swine flu itself. Dr. Paul was one of only two Congressmen to vote against the bill.

Watch the video here:

Rapper Beanie Siegel was arrested in New Jersey for possession of marijuana while on his way to a show.

California wildfires have been allegedly linked to marijuana growers. Something like 70 percent of all marijuana plants seized by the US government are found on public land. Maybe if the plant was legal to grow and sell we wouldn’t have this problem. It would more likely be grown in a safer environment where the farmers are not forced to build outdoor camp fires to cook food. The farmers would also own the property they were growing on, so they would be more likely to keep it safe.

Two Honolulu police officers were caught in Las Vegas smoking marijuana in a parked van.

Walnut Creek, California, a community located almost 20 miles east of Oakland, is freaking out over it’s first medical marijuana dispensary application. After realizing the town had no restrictions to stop such an establishment, the city council called for a 45-day moratorium on marijuana dispensaries while they figure out what to do. My prediction? The council will take the time to find some obscure rule/law or permit violation and deny the dispensary.

Another insanely rich and successful person has admitted to smoking marijuana. This time it is Brad Pitt. You can add him to the long list of celebrities, athletes, politicians, musicians and presidents who have admitted to smoking the stuff in the past.

Washington Post article calls for the legalization of drugs.

Speaking of prohibition, it would be a bad idea to ban Salvia Divinorum.

At a recent “Town Hall Meeting” in Portsmouth New Hampshire a man was spotted open-carrying a loaded fire arm on his lower leg. The main stream media, particularly MSNBC, was shocked and appalled by this. “How could a man be allowed to exercise his second amendment right”, they seemed to be asking.

Some notable facts: The man was on the private private property of a church and the owners of that property knew he was there and permitted his presence. Obama was going to be at a near by high school hours later. Also, open-carry is legal in New Hampshire and the firearm was registered correction: guns do not have to be registerd in NH and this one was not. MSNBC got this wrong. Law enforcement was aware of his presence and the crowd did not seem to be bothered. Only the media was making a big deal out of the situation.

Some reactions from MSNBC pundits. Notice how they pull the race card:

The man was later identified as William Kostric. He was later interviewed on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Personally I think Kostric did a great job of disarming the notoriously hotheaded Matthews. He got his viewpoint out there without raising his voice and without allowing Matthews to step all over him.

I will let Kostric speak for himself on the reasons why he decided to open carry at the event:

Three “Libertarians” discuss the health care and health insurance situation in America.

Penn Jillette probably takes the most extreme position and I must say that I seem to agree with him the most.

Penn says, “One thing is all this pretending that we are going toward socialized medicine. We are not going towards it, we’re already there.”

The Young Americans For Liberty were holding a protest in D.C. when the cops were sent to break them up. See what happens here:

Make sure you watch to the end so you can see the vehicle that was sent out. This is your tax dollars hard at work.

A law that was meant to “protect the children” seems to have had some adverse consequences. Under the guidance of the law, federal officials are now advising that all children’s books published before 1985 be considered unsafe and may even be unlawful to sell.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 was passed when many were afraid of toys that were coming from China with lead paint:

Among its other provisions, CPSIA imposed tough new limits on lead in any products intended for use by children aged 12 or under, and made those limits retroactive: that is, goods manufactured before the law passed cannot be sold on the used market (even in garage sales or on eBay) if they don’t conform. The law has hit thrift stores particularly hard, since many children’s products have long included lead-containing (if harmless) components: zippers, snaps, and clasps on garments and backpacks; skateboards, bicycles, and countless other products containing metal alloy; rhinestones and beads in decorations; and so forth.

The law also hit hard in the used children’s book market. Megan McArdle over at The Atlantic explains how the ban has essentially outlawed one of her favorite past-times:

Some of my happiest memories as a child are of reading the old children’s books I found at houses and in the libraries of my school and camp. Musty smelling, filled with deco and nouveau style pictures of girls in strange costumes, they were a tangible link to the past. Not merely because some child had held that book in 1920, but because to read the popular fiction of another era is to take at least a few halting steps into its foreign mental world.

So when I see old children’s books–and by “old” I mean “pre-1960″–I often buy them. I love having the companions of my childhood to hand. I’ve always enjoyed the prospect of having more space to really take up collecting.

Apparently, I can forget about that. Congress has apparently outlawed my hobby. Nor is this merely ideological hysteria. I just checked Amazon, and while there are still some old books for sale, it looks as if there are a lot fewer than there used to be.

This is the Law of Unintended Consequences in full effect. Nice going Congress critters!