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Politics: Paul-Barney Bill Would Legalize Marijuana Federally
shafty023 writes "It would appear Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) are going to be presenting a bill to legalize marijuana and thus end the failed war on drugs finally if it gets passed. What chances do you all think this bill has in the Senate and House or even surviving the president's veto pen?" Note that there would still be plenty of drug war left to go around, even if (as this bill sets out to accomplish) the Federal government stops chasing marijuana.
The chances of this bill passing are fairly remote, but it's still important to contact your senator and express your support if you think this is a good idea. Congress should hear that punishing people for marijuana use is a waste of time and money.
This one will die before it leaves committee.
I believe you've neglected to consider Muslim bashing when stating your claim. Kind of tops out Christians for the top spot of politically-correct hatred by a wide margin.
Look! Is that a Sharia Law behind you? [ducks out]
I don't know how many years on this Earth I got left. I'm going to get real weird with it. - Frank Reynolds
So it removes the federal laws against marijuana, legalizing marijuana federally. Got it.
Oh for fucks sake. Quit feeling persecuted. To be an American president you at least have to pay lip service to Jesus.
It's infuriating to be always be associated with whiny self righteous Christians constantly bitching about how much everyone discriminates against them and how hard it is to be a christian.
Get some damn perspective.
You mad
Or you could start doing LDS, but that'd just be mormonic.
And if this passed, everything would go swimmingly until someone inserted a provision in the next budget denying highway funding to states that allow recreational marijuana.
This is why we can't have nice things, America.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The reason that Obama reneged on his promises w/r/t the drug war, is that the drug war is an enormous pork-barrel scheme. It provides a pretext for billions of dollars of spending, as well as providing bribe money at all levels of local and state government, from cops on the beat to mayors, to state legislators.
Besides that, the drug war amounts to universal criminalization: cops can get away with breaking into anyone's home and killing them if they pretend to have done so on the basis of an anonymous tip that there were drugs in the house in question.
I'm not surprised that Dr. Paul is in favor of ending the drug war, but I didn't think Barney Frank had the guts. Good for them.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No, it's pot smokers who are politically acceptable targets of prejudice and ignorant hatred. Come back when you can get thrown in jail if you're caught with a cross.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I can only conclude that pot smokers are too dumb to get pot legalized.
It is not just about pot smokers. Anyone who does not want to live in a society where law enforcement agencies are paramilitary forces, where property is appraised before the property owner is arrested, and where the government is using popular TV shows as a means of spreading propaganda should support ending the war on drugs. Anyone who thinks that it is a problem for the DEA to have the power to declare a drug illegal without congressional action, or for our nuclear command and control system to be used to track drug smugglers should support ending the war on drugs.
Unfortunately, we have been engaged in the war on drugs for so long that nobody can even remember that there was a time when things were not this way.
Palm trees and 8
Additionally, legalization will allow users to know exactly WHAT is in the pot their buying.
Why would Joe Potsmoker want to go buy from some random dealer down the street and have to guess to the quality and contents, whereas if it were legal nobody would pick a dealer over going down to the store and picking some up that you know for sure is good quality and has met the regulations laid out by the authoritative body assigned to do so.
I am a daily smoker. I have graduated college, I have a great job, I support my family. I pay taxes, I donate to charities. I help others when I am able. Yet, in the eyes of Uncle Sam, I am a horrible person that deserves incarceration for my unspeakable acts against my country and people. It is a fucking joke. Anslinger drug (pun intended) MJ through the mud with scare tactics and blatant lies. Not one justification for making it illegal given by Anslinger or the government at that time held any water.
There is no logical, scientific, or rational reason to maintain the illegal, SCHEDULE 1 (same as the hard drugs, i.e. heroin, crack cocaine, etc.) classification that the government has on MJ.
"Are you saying that the decision to not force other people to cough up money to support social programs means "not loving thy neighbor"?"
Yes, Precisely.
"Conservatives (and the Religious Right) are far more likely than liberals to give of their **own** money to support "love thy neighbor" programs."
False. In fact the most generous group is actually atheists. Who, btw, have no afterlife angle there playing. Doing it because you're afraid you will be accountable to your sky wizard is not charity, it's paying for points.
If Jesus was a real person* he defiantly would be for social programs. How you can read your theology and come out any other way is just the height of cognitive dissonance.
Social programs are the cheapest and best way to make a long term positive effect on society. It's sad that people like you take your knee jerk reactionism before actual data and fact. Bunch of self centered whinny Beckerheads.
*highly unlikely.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Christians in the US are insufferable when it comes to claiming that they're persecuted and being attacked from all sides. They're everywhere, you can't walk 100 yards in a straight line without running into a church, they have whole television networks dedicated to their cult, mega-churches seating thousands, and they wield their collective voting power like a giant gold-plated dildo ready to fuck brutally anybody who doesn't vote for what their "jeebus" wants but we're all supposed to believe that they're the constant victims of a world that's out to get them. They want everyone to think the rest of us are still feeding them to lions instead of trying to live our own lives and ignoring them.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I hold your freedom to worship as you choose sacred. I hold my freedom to speak my mind about your religion sacred.
Call it malicious if you like, but I think calling Easter 'Zombie Jesus Day' is funny, and will continue to do so.
May I suggest the words of the founder of Xianity himself on taxes? "Render on to Caesar what is Caesar's." Like all property not based directly on use or occupation, money is a creation of the state; the state taking its own share back out of what it creates is not "forcing" anyone to do anything. You're free to try to live without state-created money, or state-created 'property rights" to land and the resources extracted from it. Let me know how that works out for you.
Conservatives are far more likely to live in states that receive more from the federal government than they pay out. To some degree, that money that red state conservatives claim as their "own" is coming from the parts of the country that are actually productive -- by and large, the bluer states.
Then there's that fact that donating to a church counts as donating to a charity. And then there's the question of who is giving more: the person who gives up a potentially lucrative career to work in one of the helping professions, or some banker fsckwad who screw people all week long and then donates to charity on Sunday?
Put it all together and yes, its pretty clear that, by and large, the mindless zealotry of the Religious Right and of the modern conservative movement does little to help the poor -- and in fact by rotting away the foundations of our economy, harms them.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Any Tea Party person, or person who has been bitching about states rights in the last decade should be thrown out of office if they don't vote for it.
Every politician who said it's OK for the state to tell brown people to carry there papers that doesn't vote for this should be called to task and fired.
This is where you see who cares about states rights, and who wraps the self in the Constitution just to garner votes and as an excuse to by a selfish prick.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
And that line is "do your actions credibly threaten to harm another people or interfere with their rights?" Your neighbor drinking a six-pack of beer, smoking a joint, or shooting heroin does none of those things, so long as it stays in their home. Irresponsible behavior, on the other hand, is irresponsible whether its origins lie in stupidity, drug use, mental illness, or ignorance, and must be dealt with. Drug use is almost orthogonal to the question.
Considering that drug use is found throughout the animal kingdom, and that even capital punishment has failed to end the use of various drugs throughout human history, good luck with that. Meanwhile, those of us in the reality-based community will be working for ways to preserve liberty and reduce harm by ending the War on (Some) Drugs.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood