Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktWhat can you say? Must be nice to be above the law. Here’s the story: The director of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which is tasked with enforcing marijuana prohibition, isn’t facing an investigation after drugs were found in her home. I think our homes would be under siege by a SWAT team in a similar situation. I know the War on Drugs will be hard to kill, but stories like this shows why, until prohibition is ended, we need to be out for justice.
Full story here.
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
Marijuana should be legalized, regulated, and taxed. Just like liquor.
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Second, yellojkt. Industrial hemp should also be no more or less regulated than cotton.
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In a related tale of special treatment for the “political” class:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/congressional-earmarks-sometimes-used-to-fund-projects-near-lawmakers-properties/2012/01/12/gIQA97HGvQ_story.html?wpisrc=nl_pol_full
There is a neat video included.
The other day I argued for making sci/math interesting and inviting for your kids.
Maybe, instead, we can raise them to be complete jerks who run for Congress. Either party will do just fine for this.
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I second Kevin’s second of yellojkt!
We are at the tipping point when it comes to legalization of pot. It won’t be much longer. The prison industrial complex will fight legalization and as long as we keep privatizing prisons all over the nation a strong market for stupid laws that can be used to incarcerate even more “product” and “profit” for their prisons. The drug laws currently benefit only those in the PIC.
U.S. prison population dwarfs that of other nations
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.
This is a huge problem. This is perhaps one of the areas where my libertarian friends and I are in agreement. We have incarcerated far too many citizens!
But of course the straw that is perched, dangling, ready to break the camel’s back..the revenue the states and feds will get from taxing cannabis. It is an untapped gold mine of folks who are actually eager to pay taxes in exchange for legalization. Where else can the politicians actually get support for taxation?
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Beyond the prison industry, i think the interest group you have to overcome are “soccer moms” — they’re not going to want to have their kids doing drugs.
hannity had an interview with gary johnson on this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3HMc7A93dE
the “i don’t want my kids doing pot” is tough to overcome.
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the “i don’t want my kids doing pot” is tough to overcome.
Really? Why? There was no law requiring me to come home for the curfew my mom set, but I sure as heck was home on time. Wouldn’t the same apply to pot smoking? It’s not like parents lose all leverage simply because an activity is legal.
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Every so often Ezra hits a home run:
“Q&A: What Big Bourbon wants from Congress
Posted by Ezra Klein at 04:39 PM ET, 02/07/2012
Yesterday, I received an e-mail touting Rep. John Yarmuth’s (D-KY) leadership of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus. This brought together two of my great passions in life — obscure congressional working groups and bourbon— and so clearly required further reporting. I spoke with Rep. Yarmuth this morning, and a lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows. ”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/qanda-what-big-bourbon-wants-from-congress/2011/08/25/gIQA8jYBxQ_blog.html#excerpt
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Nova
“Beyond the prison industry, i think the interest group you have to overcome are “soccer moms” — they’re not going to want to have their kids doing drugs”
I agree this is another constituency but not as driven as the PIC…they have a voracious appetite for profit….it’s their profit..against the profit the state will pick up in new “non objectionable” taxes.
The “soccer” moms will just have to do a better job of parenting like yellojkt infers.
My mother scared the beejesus out of me about sex. She absolutely convinced me that my life would be over as I knew it, if I ever got a girl pregnant or married someone at a young age. Fast forward to my Junior year…a freshman cheerleader asked me if I wanted to see her naked…well yeah..when she actually got naked I became so frightened I thanked her for the wonderful sight and ran home. Parenting can actually have an effect.
But I do not disagree with your point at all Nova..yeah “soccer moms” and “fundies” are still a voting bloc against…but they have slipped into the minority and the pressure for legalization continues to build.
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Woodford Reserve and Makers Mark are fine bourbons.
Was that the point?
If the oldest bourbon, wine, and cheese are the highest margin products, then FIFO makes sense and LIFO is a perpetual tax break, no?
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the “i don’t want my kids doing pot” is tough to overcome.
How is that different from “I don’t want my kids drinking beer.”? Presumably, legalized marijuana would be age-restricted. Right now teenagers have much better access to good weed than I do.
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yello:
Right now teenagers have much better access to good weed than I do.
Not if your posts are anything to go by.
(Sorry….hanging curveball, couldn’t resist.)
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My favorite bourbon right now is Booker’s (made by Jim Beam). I did the full Bourbon trail tour last Spring and some of my notes are here and here.
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I prefer Makers Mark, although we hardly ever drink anymore. I wish you guys wouldn’t have mentioned it now I’ll have to go buy some. And I think using the excuse that it will make it harder for parents is just an excuse. It’s already hard, and legal or not they’ll at least try it if they’re so inclined. We really pushed both drugs and drinking here as being contrary to both a healthy and safe life and it worked but we were always vigilant. The kids seem to appreciate it in hindsight as none of them do drugs of any sort and the drinking has been kept to a minimum, and never driving. We did those contracts with our kids where they could call us anytime for a ride home if things got out of hand. I had more trouble with sex………………..yikes. Five teenagers at one time is a lot to deal with. No accidents or terrible consequences but I did escort my niece to the doctor for BC pills at 16. That was a sleepless decision.
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Scott
Yeah it was a hanging curveball but I gotta give it up to you for that one…easy for me since it was at yellojkt’s expense!
badddaaaabooom!!
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As regards to being near a tipping point for legalized marijuana, broadly speaking:
50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Pot. Note the trend.
Unless it reverses, in 25 years, pot is going to be legal, just like it should be. 🙂
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BTW, sorry for missing the Bits and Pieces thread. Work!
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Darn that work, Kevin! I would’ve pinch-hit for you, but I was readying Komen Part Three (which will go up tomorrow at 10:00). No worries–everyone deserves an evening off! 🙂
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Have y’all noticed that CO turnout in the R Primary is down by AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE from 2008?
Those were very early numbers as it turned out. 65K voted this time.
70K voted last time. Could have just been weather, fwiw.
What does it mean?
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As one who doesn’t have a dog in this fight, I think the CW about Republican voters being less than excited about their primary choices is probably correct. This poll may explain some of the low turnout.
Or it could be 180-degrees different from that: I didn’t vote in the 2008 Democratic primary because, when it came to UT it was still a toss-up between Hillary and Obama, and I would have been perfectly happy with either getting the nomination.
How’s that for covering all my bases? 🙂 I am finding it just fascinating that Santorum won all three and that Paul came in second in MN. Any idea why that happened, bsimon?
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Exit polls in CO [CNN] said that folks thought lil’ Rick was likable.
Perhaps it is time to call the syndrome “KerreyGoreRomney Disease”.
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KGRD. Actually, kind of has a nice ring to it when pronounced that way!
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Republicans are not excited about their choices. I’m on record as predicting an Obama victory, but just because Republicans aren’t excited about their primary choices doesn’t mean they won’t be excited about showing up to vote against Obama and the Democrats generally.
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Kevin, I think the interesting speculative point is which state races change if WMR is the nominee. For instance, there is little enthusiasm for him in TX, but that won’t put TX in play. It might have, had Gen. Ricardo Sanchez or Tommie Lee Jones led the ticket for US Senate and then, BHO spent the promised $25M in TX, but neither of these preconditions will have been met. TX is safely R.
I’ll begin by saying MO is partly a southern mountain and partly a plains state, and I think WMR leading the ticket forfeits MO to BHO.
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What you just said, Kevin, is what all of my Republican relatives have told me. They’ll vote in the GE, but mainly out of general principles rather than feeling like they’re voting “for” somebody.
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How is that different from “I don’t want my kids drinking beer.”?
I was thinking that drinking is socially acceptable while other drugs aren’t.
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Reason’s take on this. it’s more nuanced than you might think
http://reason.com/blog/2012/02/08/has-obama-declared-war-on-religion-by-in
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