Alabama Conservation Soil Water

[Bizarro]

What the hell was "Alabama Conservation Soil Water" about?

I just made it so that all new members have to be approved. It may slow down real people joining us for the first time, but it should help rid us of spambots.

So this mom takes her baby to the Phillies World Series parade. While standing on a median, taking a picture, her son starts playing the "So big!" game. Watch.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y7lJpFwAcCs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/Y7lJpFwAcCs</a>

[Mister Chaddy]

I don't getit, but it's cute.

[Tripp]

the force is strong with this one...

[Doctor Rock]

Is the kid making them cheer?  He's he like that kid in the old Twilight Zone episode?  Creepy.

[Doctor Rock]

We should merge this thread with Matt's thread. 

[Tripp]

Is the kid making them cheer?  He's he like that kid in the old Twilight Zone episode?  Creepy.

right after that video clip he raised his hands and everyone's heads popped out like a jack in the box.

[Tripp]

here's the new....  ..old Enterprise..

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Tripp]

On Tuesday, largely under the radar of the pundits and political chattering classes, voters dealt what may be a fatal blow to America's longest-running and least-discussed war -- the war on marijuana.

Michigan voters made their state the 13th to allow the medical use of marijuana by a whopping 63 percent to 37 percent, the largest margin ever for a medical marijuana initiative. And by 65 percent to 35 percent, Massachusetts voters decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing arrests, legal fees, court appearances, the possibility of jail and a lifelong criminal record with a $100 fine, much like a traffic ticket, that can be paid through the mail.

What makes these results so amazing is that they followed the most intensive anti-marijuana campaign by federal officials since the days of "Reefer Madness." Marijuana arrests have been setting all-time records year after year, reaching the point where one American is arrested on marijuana charges every 36 seconds. More Americans are arrested each year for marijuana possession -- not sales or trafficking, just possession -- than for all violent crimes combined.

And the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, with “drug czar” John Walters at the helm, has led a hysterical anti-marijuana propaganda campaign. During Walters' tenure, ONDCP has released at least 127 separate anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads, at a cost of hundreds of millions of tax dollars, plus 34 press releases focused mainly on marijuana, while no fewer than 50 reports from ONDCP and other federal agencies focused on the alleged evils of marijuana or touted anti-marijuana campaigns.

Walters himself campaigned personally in Michigan against the medical marijuana initiative, calling it an "abomination" and claiming yet again that there is no evidence that marijuana has medical value -- an assertion flatly contradicted by at least four published clinical trials in just the last two years.

In Massachusetts, the state's political and law enforcement establishment lined up solidly against the marijuana decriminalization initiative, including both Republican and Democratic politicians and all 11 district attorneys -- several of whom actually admitted to having smoked marijuana. They warned of rampant drug abuse and crime should the measure pass, simply ignoring the fact that no such thing has happened in the 11 other states (including California, Ohio and New York) that have had similar laws for years.

Voters were having none of it, giving a thumping rejection to government officials’ lies and hysteria in both states. Americans have taken a hard look at our national war on marijuana and rejected it for the cruel, counterproductive disaster that it is.

The voters are right. Of over 872,000 arrests in one year, 89 percent are for possession only.

What has this gotten us? Not much. Marijuana arrests weren't the only thing that set a record last year. So did the number of Americans who have tried marijuana. Usage rates came down marginally in the last few years but are still higher than in the early 1990s. Marijuana is our nation's number one cash crop.

The one thing our costly and futile efforts to "eradicate" marijuana have accomplished is to create a boom for criminal gangs, to whom we've handed a monopoly on production and distribution. Unlike producers of legal drugs like beer, wine or tobacco, these criminals pay no taxes and obey no rules. Their illicit efforts despoil our national forests and bring violence and destabilization to Mexico.

For years, politicians who know our current marijuana laws make no sense have been afraid to change them for fear of political retribution. The voters' thundering rejection of our misguided war on marijuana shows that those fears are misplaced.

It's time for Congress and the new administration -- not to mention state governments around the country -- to listen to the public. It's time for a new approach.

[Tripp]

PAT,  how's the job hunt going?

[Bizarro]

I listen to this song 5 or 6x a day:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/YFiShFbw2sI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/YFiShFbw2sI</a>

Where's Full Blown Kim these days? Miss her around these parts.

[bebopbalogna]

the whole "crime will rise" argument against decriminalizing/medical marijuana is the worst argument.  if marijuana was legal, the government would control distribution, INSTEAD of criminals.  so all those pot dealers would be out of a job, which would eliminate all of the drug related violence that goes along with dealing drugs.  people kill people over drug deals for two reasons. 1) fear of getting caught. 2) fear of losing money.  legalizing the stuff would eliminate both of those.  yea voters!

[bebopbalogna]

PAT,  how's the job hunt going?

looking into a substitute art teaching job at EDS (episcopal day school).  gonna apply tomorrow.  just need to fix some things on the ol' resume. apparently, their art teacher sucks, and is gone half the time.  a few of the students there have taken my classes at the museum, and their parents have mentioned me to the administration as a possible replacement for the current art teacher, so the foot is in the door. it's actually a fairly liberal minded school for a "faith-based" private school. i figure i'll sub for a little while and see if it's something i can do full time.  it would still allow me a couyple nights a week to wait tables/bartend.  plus weekends/holidays/ summers off.  definitely worth a lookin into.

[bebopbalogna]

as far as a nationwide search, nothing really popping up that would make the unbelievable inconvenience of moving seem worth it.  although this kid is gonna need a bigger house.  and a better neighborhood.

[Tripp]

you're gonna need a bigger boat?

[bebopbalogna]

hah. "evan almighty" was on tv last night. a couple good lines, but a pretty bad movie. at one point, he actually said, "we're gonna need a bigger boat"