Slashdot Mirror
Tainted "Piracy" Statistics
newtley writes, "The music, movie, and software cartels claim 'piracy' is a Number One problem not only for themselves, but for the world as a whole and so successful are their continuing dis- and misinformation propaganda campaigns that they've been able to dragoon entire governments and police forces into acting as industry enforcers. But, says p2pnet, far from being at the top of the pile, movie and music piracy rank 16th and 20th, respectively, on a global index of illicit markets. (Software piracy ranks 7th.) And even those positions are subject to considerable doubt."
1. Marijuana -- The State says what you can put into your body (doing no crime to no one else), probably funded by the big medical business
You know, you're generally not allowed to operate heavy machinery and drink. You must be sober. The problem with every single one of the druges listed is that, unlike alcohol some of the effects stick around. Taking your argument then - that the goal is to hurt only yourself, and not other people, we have to account for situations where someone who is lacking in mental facilities might have trouble:
-You never work in an environment that affects others
-You are never responsible for anyone else's welfare
-You never drive, or operate any other equipment
-You are not allowed into the majority of museums/parks/etc (places that have nice things for everyone to look at that you might break).
-You are not allowed within touching distance of fragile people - i.e. the very young and the very old.
-Anyone who you hang around has been given special training and is able to handle you without getting hurt.
It could work out, but it couldn't work the way you may be thinking. You can't have your cake and eat it to; if you're taking drugs, then people can't trust you. Realistically, this is too much to take. Virtually no one is willing to trade the life of a normal human being for the opportunity to take as many drugs as they want - and the ones that do aren't thinking clearly about it. So rather than legalizing and religating drug users to a sub-human status, we make it illegal. To me it seems like a kinder, more merciful solution than the alternative.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
A maxim is that guarantees of freedom in the Constitution are to be read broadly. So read the document: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Do you really object to restrictions on felons and mentally ill people obtaining firearms . . . ?
Are felons and the "mentally ill" (whatever that means) who are not in custodial care people, under the Constitution? Yes, they are.
"[S]mall arms" includes a lot of things other than hunting rifles and handguns suitable for self-defense. It includes everything short of mortars and howitzers. Do you really think that sales of AK-47s, Browning Automatic Rifles, flame throwers, and rocket propelled grenades should be unregulated?
Are those arms? Yes, they are. You admit as much. But mortars and howitzers are in fact arms as well.
Does prohibiting people from obtaining, keeping, and carrying arms constitute an infringement of the right to keep and bear arms? Yes, it does.
So there you have it.