The Briefing, Thursday, October 25, 2012

TODAY: Also on the ballot in November, the legalization of marijuana (Oregon, Washington, Colorado) and the expansion of gambling (Maryland). The precedent is set for a radical expansion of presidential power after the election. The new face of infidelity — women are committing adultery at rates formerly known only to men. I discuss all these on today’s edition of The Briefing: A Daily Analysis of News and Events from a Christian Worldview.

The legalization of marijuana has been controversial for some time, but the issue is front and center as voters in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado go to the polls November 6. In California, The New York Times reports that an estimated 500 to 1,000 “medical marijuana” dispensaries exist, largely outside government control. Prescriptions for medical marijuana can be obtained on Santa Monica beach, and no one believes that all the healthy young customers of the marijuana dispensaries are actually cancer patients. In Colorado, the shape of the future of marijuana as a retail consumer product is taking shape. As TIME reports, this is an ominous future, with companies poised to exploit a profit motive to get people hooked on marijuana — including teenagers, whose use is now at a 30-year high.

In Maryland, voters will be asked to expand legalized gambling. But, as Keith Harriston of The Washington Post argues, this will put the most vulnerable at greatest risk and puts the government in the posture of predator against its own people.

I then discuss coverage in Newsweek and New York Magazine about President Obama’s expanded use of executive orders to get around Congress. These articles raise very serious constitutional issues, especially about the separation and balance of powers intended by the founders as a firewall against executive tyranny. As Jonthan Chait of New York Magazine argues, this sets the 2012 election in a new and important light. The President who sits in the Oval Office in this new presidential term — whether Obama or Romney — will be tempted to use this executive power on an unprecedented scale.

Finally, I discuss a very revealing article by Peggy Drexler in The Wall Street Journal. Drexler reports that women are now committing adultery at rates formerly associated only with men. This strange form of gender equality is tragic news for all, and Drexler argues that it results from a growing normalization of adultery in the media, the fact that so many women are now involved in business contexts and travel, and the rise of social media. “The New Face of Adultery” puts a very old sin in a sad new light.

All these are discussed on today’s edition of The Briefing. Listen here:   http://www.albertmohler.com/2012/10/25/the-briefing-10-25-12/ You will also find links to the articles cited.