Outside the Beltway

California voters are two weeks away from possibly legalizing marijuana, but the Federal Government doesn’t care.

Politicians are, by definition, a bit abnormal. However, this year we seem to have more than our fair share of the truly odd.

The skyrocketing cost of tuition makes it harder for students to justify getting a liberal arts education rather than training for a high paying job.

A Federal Judge in California has struck another blow to the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Now, the ball is in President Obama’s court.

Are we facing a Sharia take-over?

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia is under scrutiny ? Why ? Because she has a job.

Experts say 80% of all alcohol sales go to people with drinking problems. The mathematics of that are staggering.

Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts President Obama’s re-election. Historically, that’s the safe bet.

Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a bill making pot possession (at certain levels) the equivalent of a traffic ticket.

Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has a history of embellishing her educational history.

Even with some key seats trending Democrat, Republicans are primed to take over both Houses of Congress come November 2.

Despite hopes that they could help reverse a 20 year trend, both Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman are beginning to lose ground in their races for statewide office in California.

A third of the Forbes 50 were born billionaires. Does that mean the game is fixed?

A new study suggests that laws banning texting while driving don’t actually have any impact on accident rates.

A new projection of Congressional reapportionment shows a dramatic shift to traditionally Republican states in the South and Southwest.

After several years in the wilderness, Dick Morris has returned as a Fox News analyst and, bizarrely, adviser to several Republican candidates for Congress.

While Congress continues to refused to act, another Federal Judge has struck a blow against the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.

This November, California could become the first state in the nation to completely legalize the possession and sale of marijuana. And the battle over the ballot initiative is having an impact on other statewide races.

According to a poll released Tuesday, nearly 20 percent of U.S. citizens now believe Barack Obama is a cactus, the most Americans to identify the president as a water- retaining desert plant since he took office.

Christine O’Donnell’s victory in Delaware Tuesday has made it less likely that the GOP will be able to take control of the Senate, but they still have an excellent shot of making substantial gains that will transform Congress’s Upper House.

The Tea Party movement and the populist backlash against DC mayor Adrian Fenty are a sign that things are changing so fast that a lot of people simply can’t adjust.

White America is within thinkable distance of a moment when it will no longer be the majority.

A federal court has found that don’t ask, don’t tell violates the First and Fifth Amendments.

A new poll indicates that there are some disturbing motivations that seem to be associated with opposition to the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”

The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart is suffering a little New Media embarrassment after writing a blog post based on comments by a Congressman who doesn’t exist.

Most of what passes for conventional wisdom about learning is wrong.

Is our Federal system a mere political compromise? Or were the Founding Fathers visionaries with a plan?

For most of the year, a GOP takeover in the Senate seemed beyond the realm of possibility. That’s no longer the case.

The writer of the infamous “Fonzie Jumps The Shark” episode of Happy Days breaks his silence.

Another set of bad economic numbers are out today, and one wonders when we’ll start getting the good news.

Americans who earn a lot of money disproportionately live in a tiny number of states and are married to other high-earners.

The guy who ran George W. Bush’s campaign and the Republican National Committee has realized after only 43 years that he likes dudes.

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate is about more than just a “mosque” near Ground Zero. He’s right, but that also means the debate is likely to get uglier.

Washington Monthly ranks colleges “based on what they are doing for the country — on whether they’re improving social mobility, producing research, and promoting public service” rather than “wealth, exclusivity, and prestige.” Too bad they don’t hire that way.

Political campaigns are engaging in a new form of “new media outreach” — paying bloggers for favorable coverage.

Rand Paul is apparently taking heat from some of his more socially conservative supporters after FEC reports indicate he received a donation from the owner of an Adult web site. People need to get a life.

America’s obsession over the fate of the Burlington Coat Factory in Lower Manhattan, and a general rise in anti-Islamic rhetoric, plays right into the hands of the people that are actually our enemies.

The 9th Circuit yesterday ruled that Stolen Valor laws violate the 1st Amendment and that there is a limited right to lie.

President Obama’s motorcade caused gridlock in the Los Angeles area last night, although one wonders how people could distinguish it form the average Monday.

Same-sex marriages are still barred in California, but how long that lasts is in the hands of three judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.