I keep forgetting to write about Willie’s recent bust for possession. I don’t have anything cool to say about it. But I can direct you over to Reason’s coverage of it. They extensively quote Jeff Taylor.

Basically Willie’s bus was stopped by the Border Patrol on one of their random inland checkpoints. A Border Patrol agent smelled pot (gasp!) and arrested Willie (a 77 year old man who plays guitar for a living). What Taylor explains is that busting Americans for pot is not the Border Patrol’s job.

For those who live outside the southwest, you probably haven’t seen these checkpoints but lately, I’ve been going through the one at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego every time I travel there. In the middle of the night, when I’m driving home, there are huge lights on and signs telling me every car must stop for inspection. Traffic on a freeway comes to a dead stop while Border Patrol agents briefly scan each car passing through. I have been waved through every time.

Funny thing, I always see a few cars pulled off the freeway a mile before the checkpoint. As if they see the sign and just pull over and wait for the searches to end. Willie should have done just that.