It's the tax man...coming after Tennessee drug dealers. Beginning January 1, dealers of illegal controlled substances will have to buy tax stamps. Tennessee becomes the 22nd state to enact such a law. The tax isn't cheap to create or enforce:

Drug peddlers will be required to pay state excise taxes on illegal substances — from marijuana to moonshine, from cocaine to the often illegally obtained prescription painkiller OxyContin — under a new law that goes into effect Saturday.

A 10-person tax agency has been created at a one-time cost of $1.2 million to assess the taxes and collect them. The annual cost to enforce the drug tax will be $800,000...

What a stupid idea.

''It's patently ridiculous. Legal nitwittery,'' said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a Washington nonprofit that calls itself the largest, oldest group devoted to legalizing marijuana for responsible adult use. ''On the one hand, it says you can't own a substance. And on the other hand, it creates a taxing scheme … The law on its face makes no sense.''

President Bush has made "legal reform" a top priority of his second administration. The New York Times reports Monday on the battle that will ensue in Congress over the issue.

"Legal reform" really means protecting big corporations from legal liability through statutory grants of immunity. Check out the Center for Justice and Democracy, whose mission is to protect the right to a jury trial and an independent judiciary, and their first-time awards for the Top Ten Zany Immunity Laws (pdf).

The next time you hear "legal reform," instead of buying into Republican images of towns without ob-gyns to deliver babies because of the price of malpractice insurance, picture instead special interest groups with beaucoup bucks in outstretched hands to Congresspersons, pleading "Shield us."

by TChris

Strippers in San Antonio will now be required to wear an "identification badge" while working. Requiring strip club employees to wear such badges will, according to the city council, "increase safety." Of course, displaying the real names of strippers will actually jeopardize their safety by exposing them to stalkers, but common sense often has little to do with legislation -- and the stated purpose often has little to do with the true purpose, which in this case is probably a desire to drive the clubs out of business.

Update: This story says the badges display the dancer's stage name. But dancers have to apply for the permits, which may make it possible for patrons to identify a dancer's true identity by inspecting the application. In any event, the story makes clear that the law has nothing to do with "safety" and everything to do with the city's distaste for a lawful business.

As we wrote here, this week's revision of New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws is hardly something to cheer about. Today's New York Times provides some more damning criticism:

Indeed, to some advocates, the new bill is not even half a loaf, but more like a heel of bread, which will leave many prisoners and their families with dashed hopes.

"The important message to get out is that the laws are virtually as harsh as ever," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group. For example, he noted, judges must still sentence drug offenders to prison, rather than to alternatives like drug treatment.

Translated into real numbers, the changes in the law mean this: Approximately 446 offenders may get out early....of the more than 15,000 that were sentenced under the laws.

The final vote was 89 - 2. Opposing the bill were Sen. Robert Byrd (D-VA) and James Inhofe (R-OK), undoubtedly for different reasons. Byrd got it right:

Senator Robert Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, said consideration of the 615-page bill was rushed and lawmakers shouldn't have voted on something ``stampeded'' to the floor.

``We cower like whipped dogs in the face of political pressure,'' he said before the vote. Byrd and Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma voted against the bill.

You would think Congress learned their lesson with the Patriot Act. Apparently not. Black mark for Congress today.

The House of Representatives has passed the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bill with its sweeping new investigative and law enforcement powers:

The House voted Tuesday to overhaul a national intelligence network that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, combining under one official control of 15 spy agencies, intensifying aviation and border security and allowing more wiretaps of suspected terrorists.

Once again, a bill that won't make us safer, only less free. Anyone who thinks this bill will stop a future attack is in Dreamland.

Intelligence veterans...question whether more bureaucracy is what the nation needs, whether the new structure is well-suited to stop terrorists and whether the changes should come in the midst of a war. Above all, some doubt whether the bill will truly bring together the nation's intelligence apparatus to "connect the dots" - a phrase so common it's become almost cliche when discussing intelligence criticism post-9/11.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill tomorrow. It then goes to Bush who will sign it into law.

Update: Sensenbrenner extracted his due for conservatives:

The ACLU explains its opposition to the Intelligence Reform Bill:

Although pleased that most of Mr. Sensenbrenner's toughest provisions were stripped out of the bill, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Monday that it opposed the overall measure because it "would centralize the intelligence community's surveillance powers, increasing the likelihood for government abuses."

The civil liberties union said it was alarmed by several provisions in the bill, including those that would expand the government's wiretap authority, and by the limited powers given to the independent privacy and civil liberties board created under the legislation. The board, it said, "risks becoming the proverbial fox guarding the hen house - the board would be appointed by the president, serve at his pleasure and have no subpoena power."

Bump and Update: The House says it's ready for a vote and passage is indicated. No bill would be better than a bad bill, and as we've expressed repeatedly, this is a bad bill. Maybe the deal calls for some of the law enforcement and immigration provisions to be stripped from the final version. If not, the American people have been taken for a ride.

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Original Post 12/5/04

Bush and Democrats are pushing Congress to pass the 9/11 intelligence reform bill. It's a turkey. It's filled with huge expanded law enforcement powers that the 9/11 Commission did not recommend. The 9/11 Commission report asked for changes in intelligence and national security. It did not want a new anti-crime bill. It warned against combining the two. The latest version of the bill as agreed to by House and Senate, is available on Thomas. Type in "S. 2845" and click on the version that says 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by House)[S.2845.EAH].

The bill includes hundreds of added crime measures and provisions that intrude on our civil liberties. The full text of each provision is available.

It calls for a counter-narcotics office. More wiretaps. Greater deportation. Expedited removal. Increased alien detention bed space. No bail for suspected terrorists. Drivers' license controls. Greater passenger screening. Implementing of biometric screening. Provisions for combating biased foreign media coverage of the U.S. It's disgusting.

Two weeks ago, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill to provide an affirmative defense in federal prosecutions for people who comply with state law in the use of medical marijuana. Here’s the MPP press release:

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), joined by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT), have introduced the first-ever Senate bill to ensure that federal juries hear the full story when medical marijuana patients and providers, operating legally under state law, are tried on federal marijuana charges.

S. 2989 is similar to H.R. 1717, the "Truth in Trials Act," introduced by a bipartisan House coalition last year and inspired in part by the case of Ed Rosenthal. In January 2003, Rosenthal was found guilty of felony marijuana cultivation charges by a jury that was not allowed to consider that the marijuana was for medical use by seriously ill patients and was grown with the authorization of the city of Oakland, California.

...In his statement introducing the legislation, Durbin noted, "This is a narrowly-tailored bill ... Under this legislation, defendants in the ten states with medicinal marijuana laws could be found not guilty of violating federal law if their actions are done in compliance with state law."

Say hello to American, Christian nation. Just three weeks after the elections, Republicans in Congress are already planning how to wield their increased majority power. Among the first items on their list: Passing faith-based legislation.

With Minority Leader Tom Daschle leaving the Senate and Republican gains in both chambers of Congress, supporters of President Bush's faith-based initiative hope to quickly pass into law next year legislation providing tax incentives for donations to faith-based and other charities. "We plan to move it as one of the first things," said Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican and sponsor of the measure.

What's more, some conservative Republicans want to resurrect Bush's older, more objectionable "charitable choice" plan:

Charitable choice applies to some federal grant programs and allows faith-based groups to receive federal funds while maintaining their religious nature, including hiring only people of their same faith.

"We want to come back to it," said Rep. Mike Pence, Indiana Republican and incoming chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee. "We've got a new Senate and a conservative mandate from millions of voters who said 'yes' to traditional values."

Don't look for the Democrats to save us.

Update: Surprise! The bill is dead! Rebellious Republicans killed it. Bush will not be happy. The New York Times has more.

Bump and Update: The worst may be gone:

Negotiators dropped immigration and law enforcement provisions sought by the House that civil liberties groups said were anti-immigrant and would deny immigrants due process, negotiators said.

Bump and Update: The worst of the anti-immigrant provisions reportedly have been removed:

There has been a fight on the Senate floor today, Saturday, over a provision that would allow the Chair of the Appropriations Committees to peek at our tax returns. Daily Kos has some news about it, but here is the exact language, which I'm told may not have been publicized yet. Republicans have now apologized for trying to sneak this through and pulled it. They are blaming it on a staffer. It was snuck into the 3,000 page spending bill virtually in the middle of the night.

Hereafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law governing the disclosure of income tax returns or return information, upon written request of the Chairman of the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service shall allow agents designated by such Chairman access to Internal Revenue Service facilities and any tax returns or return information contained therein.