There aren't many times when a real-life legal case unfolds like a TV courtroom drama. However, one case involving the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission and a local liquor retailer ended almost as well as an episode of Perry Mason.
Instead of eliminating existing laws that outlaw the cultivation and sale of marijuana, the places that are taking bold steps to legalize marijuana are generally capping the number of retail establishments and putting a government board in charge of doling out the lucrative licenses to run them.
Edgar Wright's Hot Fuzz is one the greatest comedy films ever made. Not only is it a brilliant send-up of classic action movies and a masterwork of writing, editing, and visual humor, it is also an incredible satirical look at what happens when some people decide they know what's best for everyone and justify their actions in the name of the “greater good."
As a result, the film raises a question few people ever stop to seriously ask: What is "the Greater Good"? It sounds like such an intuitive idea, but it's not really that simple.
For many highly-qualified individuals, who are experts in their fields, teaching in government schools is not a possibility. Lacking the proper teaching licensure, many knowledgeable and experienced individuals are prohibited from public school teaching.
When I told people I was writing my history dissertation about music piracy, the typical response was, “But… that’s not history.” But, in fact, piracy has a history as long as sound recording – even as long as written music itself. Jazzheads swapped copies of shellac discs in the 1930s, and shady operators even copied music in the wax cylinder era of the 1910s. Sheet music was bootlegged in the 19th century, just as printed materials had been since Gutenberg unleashed the printing press 400 years earlier.
In their latest book, William Mellor and Dick Carpenter from the Institute for Justice describe how special interests game the government for power and profit. Fortunately, the "bottleneckers" are losing in courts and in legislatures.
