2010-03-10T11:13:19Zhttp://reallypolitical.com/article1442.htmJudge Jim Gray on The Six Groups Who Benefit From Drug Prohibitionpakratmak2010-03-10T11:13:19Z2010-03-08T08:21:12ZI'm going to base this off one person. I have no extensive study or long list of subjects. He never slipped past step 3 and he's been driving with our company for 19 years. Going to step 5 is not an absolute necessity.
[quote]The problem is that it use of the drug isn't an ocasional issue.[/quote]
I'm going to bring up the suggstion of engineering/designing the product better. Which pharmaceutical company wouldn't jump on that opportunity if it were legal to produce and vend?
[quote]I have never met the heroine user who doesn't in time wish to spend all his time using heroine. And then it's kind of hard to maintain a steady job.[/quote]
Through me you now know there's at least one in the world. Cabbie with the same company for 19 years- never misses a day.
[quote]The thing is the state does in fact have an obligation to stop us from destroying ourselves[/quote]
The hypocrisy of allowing alcohol, cigarettes and fast food rears it's head again if what their goal is, is to protect us from this set of items and not the others.
[quote]Those that have the highest (relativly) tendency for functional use are legal, those that do not are made illegal. [/quote]
How accurate is the information this choice is being made from? For a bit of comedic relief, consider who is making that choice at all; the same group who's wasted over a year now on health insurance bickering on their own interests instead of the issue itself.
[quote]you would see more people who could "handle" their heroine on par with people who can "handle" their booze.[/quote]
Exactly the point on several levels.
[quote]But that's a pretty big experiment to try given the history of the drug, and the cost to society if the experiment works out wrongly. [/quote]
How about hedging our bets a bit? I think the order of things matters greatly here:
Congress allows pharma to design/engineer new forms of the harder drugs and trial them on regular users. Once we have [u]positive[/u] results, congress lifts the prohibitions at the federal level, leaving the states to decide for themselves. We have a less harmful product, less wasteful spending on pointless 'wars', more jobs, a new source of tax income and a new set of exports that will boost our economy to unheard of levels.
That sounds like a pretty worthwhile experiment to me.[cool]http://reallypolitical.com/article994.htmSam Adams Founder of Our CountryTim2010-03-10T11:38:24Z2008-11-07T02:18:13ZWho could ever forget Ben Franklin?
Role model for the ages.[cool]http://reallypolitical.com/article1441.htmAnti-racist is a code word for anti-white!WillstonH2010-03-10T11:35:34Z2010-03-08T06:32:21ZYou're so much nicer to new people Matches. I'm taking notes.http://reallypolitical.com/article1440.htmMercury Pollution from Compact Fluorescent vs Incandescent Light Bulbspakratmak2010-03-09T08:24:23Z2010-03-04T06:28:14ZYou know, recycling is a great idea. They should put a 10 cent deposite on each bulb. You know you cannot find an empty soda can on the ground in Michigan? Really, you can't just try.
people don't throw out dimes the way they do nickles, it's the just enough differnce that gets people to save them up and head out to the store.
Deposite recycling is just about the best idea ever and it costs the consumer net nothing. I've never understood why it wasn't more widely used.http://reallypolitical.com/article1443.htmPork Party House: Where DC insiders go for taxpayer-subsidizpakratmak2010-03-09T12:31:57Z2010-03-09T12:31:57Z
[quote]First Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) surrenders his chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee amid an ethics investigation.
Now Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) proposes an idea that she hopes will help her make good on her promise to help lead "the most ethical Congress in history"—a party-wide ban on earmarks. Will it happen? Don't bet on it.
Reason.tv's "Pork Party House" helps explain why neither party can resist the pull of pork. If you're a politician, lobbyist, or insider and you're in the mood to party, check out a Washington D.C. mansion called the Sewall-Belmont House. Party with senators and celebrities at thousand-dollar-a-plate fundraisers! You might even get to ride a mechanical bull!
The Sewall-Belmont House hosts so many A-list events, you might be surprised to find out that your tax dollars help fund this hotspot for Washington insiders.
"Over the last 10 years, the Sewall-Belmont House has gotten over $3.4 million in earmarks," says Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.
Reporters often highlight the most ridiculous examples, but politicians have learned how to make their pork projects sound uncontroversial, even appealing.
Just say your project will help children, senior citizens, or—if you really want to slip under the radar—direct taxpayer dough to a museum. "Museums are one of the biggies because they sound so good," says Paige.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) used that angle to direct a million-dollar earmark to the Sewall-Belmont House (after the Senator received an award from the Sewall-Belmont House). Turns out Landrieu was just getting warmed up, because her recent $300 million "Louisiana Purchase" shot her into the ranks of pork legends.
It wasn't supposed to be like this, laments Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), one of Congress's few legitimate pork busters. Flake tells Reason.tv that despite pork-laden scandals that stuck some members behind bars—remember Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.)?—and promises from Barack Obama to reform earmarks, spending on pork continues to swell in the giant pork party house called the U.S. Congress.
"Pork Party House" is written and produced by Ted Balaker. Producer: Hawk Jensen; Host: Nick Gillespie; Field Producer: Dan Hayes; Associate Producer: Paul Detrick; Additional Camera: Meredith Bragg; Production Assistant: Josh Swain; Music: "Get What You Want?" by Beight (Magnatune Records).
Approximately 6.30 minutes.
[/quote]http://reallypolitical.com/article1439.htmTraining Session For LA Sheriff's 'Operation Exodus'pakratmak2010-03-03T12:49:08Z2010-03-03T12:49:08Z
What is Operation Exodus? Had to look that up myself: Found this [url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20100227/NEWS01/2270314/Bossier-sheriff-launches-Operation-Exodus]HERE[/url].
[quote]The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
[/quote]http://reallypolitical.com/article1438.htmBillionaires vs. Brooklyn's Best Bar: Eminent Domain Abuse & The Atlantic Yards Projectpakratmak2010-03-03T10:54:27Z2010-03-03T10:54:27Zhttp://reallypolitical.com/article1427.htmMore When School's Go MadTim2010-02-26T11:25:56Z2010-02-04T07:04:11Z[quote]My perspective doesn't include rethinking the common ordinary settled common sense avenues of thought that have been in place for generations.[/quote]
Feel free to make a list of those 'avenues' and we can go over them to see which have actually been around for generations and then have a field day seeing which are actually common or right for that matter.
[quote]The toy gun was way too small to be seen as a real gun. Therefore it shouldn't have caused any problems.[/quote]
That would be true if the only problem would have been someone confusing it with a real gun. This is obviously not the case since it became a news story and all.
[quote]Tim and Pak argue over the invention of the light bulb.[/quote]
You start.
[quote]We need our own TV show. We really do.[/quote]
I think we need more participants right in this venue actually.http://reallypolitical.com/article1437.htmPot Wars: Battlefield Californiapakratmak2010-02-23T08:56:02Z2010-02-23T08:56:02Z
[quote]Over the past couple of years, the medical marijuana industry in Los Angeles has exploded. Estimates vary, but there may be as many as 800 dispensaries currently open for business in the city of angels. An ordinance recently passed by the LA city council, however, is about to change all that.
The new ordinance will force hundreds of dispensaries to close and all but a few to relocate. The goal was to bring clarity to the medical marijuana industry, but the only thing that's clear is that the transition process will be difficult.
Especially now that the DEA has begun raiding dispensaries again, despite the promises made by the Obama administration.
While federal, state and local governments struggle to make sense of medical marijuana laws, an increasing number of Californians support a completely different approach: marijuana legalization. Nothing more than a pipe dream? Maybe. But consider this: 56 percent of Californians currently support pot legalization, the same proportion of Californians who voted for the Compassionate Use Act, which legalized medical marijuana, back in 1996.
Produced by Paul Feine. Shot and edited by Alex Manning. Graphics by Hawk Jensen.
Hosted by Nick Gillespie.
[/quote]http://reallypolitical.com/article1436.htmPhilip Howard: Four ways to fix a broken legal systempakratmak2010-02-22T09:40:03Z2010-02-22T09:40:03Z[quote]The land of the free has become a legal minefield, says Philip K. Howard -- especially for teachers and doctors, whose work has been paralyzed by fear of suits. What's the answer? A lawyer himself, Howard has four propositions for simplifying US law.[/quote]