A trial judge in Orange County, California for 15 years, James P. Gray was the 2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President. In the first half, he discussed how the American government caters to big money and lobbyists and increasingly personal freedoms are sold out to vested interests. It's crucial for the judicial system to address minority rights, he noted, as the other two forms of government are mostly responsive to the majority. Speaking of the failed war on drugs, he differentiated between people's personal use of substances and those who commit crimes such as a DUI while on them. In the former instance, "it's none of the government's business," he remarked. "The criminal justice system is really designed for and quite good at protecting us from each other. It's not designed for and really poor at trying to protect us from ourselves."
Regarding the legalization of marijuana, he believes it should be regulated like alcohol. As for more addictive drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, he recommended they be brought under the control of medical doctors, "and then hold doctors responsible for acting within their profession," he said, as "leaving Al Capone and Mexican drug cartels in charge of this flat out doesn't work." Gray also talked about Libertarian perspectives, which include a live-and-let-live attitude toward personal freedoms. He suggested voters visit the site iSideWith to help find political candidates they align with.
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In the latter half, journalist and travel writer John Zada detailed his journeys into the remote Great Bear Rainforest region of British Columbia, where he collected stories of Sasquatch from the First Nation indigenous communities and others. Around 250 miles north of Vancouver, the rainforest is about the size of Ireland, he reported, and is a unique region where the ocean meets the forest that some refer to as the "Noble Beyond." After his investigation, he remains open-minded about the existence of Bigfoot, falling somewhere between a skeptic and believer. Some of the First Nation people shared traditional stories of various unusual creatures both smaller and larger, though a certain percentage of them doubted the existence of Sasquatch, he disclosed.
Meeting with the late Bigfoot researcher Dr. John Bindernagel, he found that he adopted a strictly biological approach to the subject, and concluded that the creature was a type of ape rather than more related to humans. While Bindernagel long sought to achieve a scientific confirmation of the creature, Zada finds that the enigma of Sasquatch is amplified by all the various explanations, and the truth may be something stranger than we can imagine. He also shared intriguing lore from others he met on his travels, such as a professional fisherman, who described catching all manner of strange sea creatures, including a cadborosaurus-like animal that seemed positively prehistoric.
News segment guests: Michael Crozier, Lauren Weinstein, Howard Bloom