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With scarcely two weeks to go before one of the biggest elections in recent history, voters are being asked to make several pivotal choices. But the one that has effectively dominated the news markets has been the choice as to whether or not California will become the first state in the union to decriminalize marijuana, treating it as equivalent to alcohol. The battle lines have been drawn. Civil libertarians, progressives, and some law enforcement stand on the side of legalization, forwarding

Political theater literally arrived at Washington DC thanks to a free comedic act from faux news man Stephen Colbert last week.  And if there’s anyone to thank for Colbert’s appearance on Capitol Hill regarding immigration policy, it would be Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), from California’s 16th congressional district in the San Jose and Silicon Valley. Being the quintessential entertainer, Colbert used Lofgren’s invitation to slip into his Comedy Central character, modeled after Fox News pundit

Between 2007 and 2009, the Great Recession appears to have discouraged illegal immigrants from flowing into the US, according to a new Pew Hispanic Center study. “The annual flow of unauthorized immigrants into the United States was nearly two-thirds smaller in the March 2007 to March 2009 period than it had been from March 2000 to March 2005, according to new estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center,” the report said. The overall reduction in illegals, 8 percent according to the report, is the fi

This week, California became the first state to be provided with resources to deploy National Guard troops to its southern border with Mexico.  The move is a part of a promise from the Obama administration to secure the border.  Gov. Schwarzenegger said he was proud to be the first state to have troops get to work. “I take great pride in serving as Commander-in-Chief of the California National Guard. Our soldiers and airmen are true action heroes who respond to disasters at home and overseas. T

While Arizona’s immigration law is set to take effect this Thursday, there is much to consider both now and after the law is implemented.  It seems as if the law is already fulfilling its intentions. The LA Times is reporting that many illegals are fleeing the state ahead of July 29, the date the law takes effect.  Their article, however, demonstrates their bias in such a way that frames the Arizona government as villains of Arizona’s small businesses whose customers are illegal immigrants.  In

By any reasonable standard, I would argue that the 40 year-old “war on drugs” has been a failure.  Among other things, this war has hurt the lives of countless individuals and families, swelled the state and federal prison populations with non-violent offenders, and led to the militarization of local police forces across the country – all while failing to substantially reduce demand or consumption at a cost of roughly $1 trillion to the US taxpayer, according to a recent report by the Associated

California's very own State Board of Equalization reports in its legislative bill analysis that revenues from a bill similar to the Tax Cannabis Act would equal roughly $1.4 billion. With California's budget in crisis mode, the Tax Cannabis Act could be a welcome boon with schools, families, and communities reeling from cuts that hardly dent the colossal budget gap. Over at FireDogLake, Jon Walker has a long list of things California could afford with all that extra revenue. The list includes

Santa Barbara environmentalists who have been fighting offshore oil drilling for more than 40 years appeared to have gained a new ally when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this week that he would withdraw his support for a proposal to mine oil from Tranquillon Ridge because the big spill off the Louisiana Coast couldn’t be ignored. But, in fact, the leading environmental organization in the area – the Environmental Defense Center (EDC) – is deeply disappointed in the Governor’s decisi

Possibly indicating what direction the president might lean on comprehensive immigration reform, the Washington Examiner reports that President Obama has proposed cutting U.S. border security as part of his 2011 budget.  This includes two specific provisions: 1. Reducing the amount of Border Patrol agents. 2. Cutting funding for a “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico border, which is the technologically-advanced fence armed by several surveillance devices. Overwhelmingly, Republicans do

A leaked government report indicates that nearly 23,000 people have died in Mexico's violent drug wars in the last three years alone. But it doesn't have to be this way. Any economist armed with basic microeconomic theory could explain how U.S. drug policies create the perverse incentives that have fueled the violence- and how to fix these policies to end the carnage. Legalizing marijuana in California would be a tremendous step in the right direction. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, eco