Is it time to rethink national policy on marijuana?
According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 56 percent of Americans would support legalizing marijuana and regulating it much as alcohol and tobacco are regulated, while just 36 percent say they’re opposed.
Those are pretty strong numbers, suggesting that criminal law in this country is strongly out of line with public sentiment. We’re sending people to jail — most of them basically kids — and in some cases sticking them with felony criminal records for involvement with a substance that a majority of Americans don’t believe such be criminalized, at least if you believe Rasmussen.
Of course, some people DON’T believe Rasmussen. As the Christian Science Monitor reports, critics of the Rasmussen results argue that the wording of the question skewed the final results. However, I’m not sure that the substitute wording that they suggest would pass muster as unbiased or balanced:
“If they had asked, ‘If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of their convictions, would you be in favor of legalizing it?’ they would have gotten a far different answer,” says David Evans, special adviser to the Drug Free America Foundation. “These questions are so biased and leading, it’s embarrassing.”
If that’s the kind of question that you have to ask to get the poll results you want, you’ve already lost the debate. I imagine that a majority of those New York homicide convicts had also eaten meat within 24 hours of their crime, but I wouldn’t necessarily draw the conclusion that meat had driven them to commit that crime.
And then there’s this, from Gallup:
In addition, marijuana has become Mexico’s leading agricultural export, and all of those “exports” are conducted through smuggling, most of it to the United States. Marijuana “generates billions of dollars in revenues each year for the brutal narcotics cartels,” NPR reports. “By some estimates, it is the most profitable product for the Mexican drug gangs.”
Given those numbers, it’s pretty clear that U.S. drug policy plays some role in the brutal carnage being wreaked in Mexico, where mass slayings occur with tragic regularity.
– Jay Bookman
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660 comments Add your comment
Finn McCool (The System Isn't Broken; It's Fixed ~ from an Occupy sign)
May 24th, 2012
11:03 am
36 percent say they’re opposed
Which includes everyone involved in the alcohol industry. Big big big money.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
11:04 am
… I also would like to hear from PJ, soothsayer, and Kamchak, if y’all don’t mind….
I singled out phrases like, “instead, I take money from someone else…..” because it was obviously pulled out of talk-radio type language.
He is a tool and not to be taken seriously.
DawgDad
May 24th, 2012
11:05 am
“We’re sending people to jail — most of them basically kids”
But – but – but – would we legalize pot for KIDS??? I don’t think so.
The other sticky issue is how to set and assess legal level of impairment of drivers.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
11:06 am
He is a tool and not to be taken seriously.
And as a Chelsea fan, Kam knows tools.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2012
11:07 am
Martin the Calvinist
December 7th, 2011
9:16 am
Jay, what is the solution then? How much of the overall tax burden should the rich pay? Before some liberal starts asking me how much of the burden the poor or middle class pay in percentage, I am asking on the rich who many believe aren’t paying their fair share.Define fair share?
Is this guy “martin the calvinist’s” big brother?
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
11:07 am
The other sticky issue is how to set and assess legal level of impairment of drivers.
Hand them a bag of Doritos. If the bag is unopened after 10 minutes, they’re under the limit.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:07 am
“there are some dense, hate filled people in NC. And clueless.”
Unfortunately they are not limited to NC.
JohnnyReb
May 24th, 2012
11:08 am
I agree with those who believe marijuana is a gateway drug. However, keeping it illegal will not solve that problem. Legalization might actually help that problem.
If law enforecement can come up with a test for marijuana intoxication that can be administered on the spot as is the breath test for alcohol, then legalize it.
bob
May 24th, 2012
11:10 am
Not that I would know from personal experience but the new stuff works wonders and tastes so much better than the stuff back in the 70’s, lets all inhale !
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
11:10 am
And as a Chelsea fan, Kam knows tools.
Won the FA Cup.
UCL Champions.
‘Nuff said.
MrLiberty
May 24th, 2012
11:10 am
And only ONE presidential candidate has ALWAYS had the courage to speak in favor of Liberty and Freedom and against the oppressive/racist war on drugs. Of course that is RON PAUL. Prohibition was a failure in the 20s/30s and drug prohibition has been a failure since it began in the 1930’s with the Harrison Tax act that essentially banned the wonderful Hemp plant from cultivation. It could have been a huge source of financial revenue, been an outstanding alternative energy source, a great food source, a source of “plastics” (Henry Ford actually built a car out of hemp plastic), a better source of paper, a better and more durable source of fiber for clothing and tons of other uses. What a tragedy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of the remaining minority who remain opposed are part of the parasitic class that makes their living off marijuana being illegal. Folks like the alcohol industry, the pharmaceutical industry (competition), the cotton industry (same), the courts, law enforcement, the DEA, the CIA (who makes billions dealing drugs throughout the world), the rehab industry (who benefits every time someone is forced against their will into rehab), the prison industrial complex (who makes billions and billions on the caging of innocent Americans that have harmed absolutely nobody.
This argument and discussion should only be about freedom. Everyone should be held personally responsible for their actions, whether they are under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or any of the seriously mind altering drugs like Xanax, Prozac or the hundreds of other drugs that bigPharma hands out like candy.
Legalization has nothing to do with endorcement or a choice or tolerance for harmful behavior. It is about freedom to own your own body and to decide what you put into it. Either you own your own body or the government does. Which is it going to be? Government owning you is slavery and I thought we abolished that a long time ago (at least we said we did).
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2012
11:12 am
If law enforecement can come up with a test for marijuana intoxication that can be administered on the spot as is the breath test for alcohol, then legalize it.
I think someone has already provided that test method. Dangle a bag of Doritos in front of suspect and time them. If they grab the bag and rip it open in less than ten minutes, arrest them. The few that are just seriously hungry and not high can demand the more precise test.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
11:13 am
I agree with those who believe marijuana is a gateway drug.
Caffeine is the original “gateway drug.”
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:13 am
Finally a topic that I agree with Jay on, but you do not go far enough. I believe that ALL drugs should be legal. If you want to kill yourself with Crystal Meth, Smack, or Crack, then so be it, that is Darwinism at its best. The Government should not be telling full grown adults what they can and can’t do with their own bodies, as long as those people do not infringe on anyone elses rights. Just so you people know, I have near tried any form of drugs, I am just a Libertarian that believes in actual FREEDOM.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
11:14 am
“If (Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders) wants to legalize drugs, send the people who want to do drugs to London and Zurich, and let’s be rid of them. — Rush Limbaugh show, Dec 9, 1993
The problem, of course is that most of the good people in London and Zurich would not want that hypocritical, pill popping, doctor shopping, lardass mooch in their cities!
CobbGOPer
May 24th, 2012
11:15 am
Short answer: YES
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
11:15 am
Joe, I completely see your argument, I was let go from my job a little more than 3 years ago and the unemployment office let me know under no uncertain terms that this would end in 26 weeks…I can see where he might have been baiting a response. Jew cowboy, I can’t speak of that other guy, I can speak for myself, my wife and I earned about 33,000 maybe a bit more and at the time we had two, we have two more (unplanned blessings from God) this year. with credits due to kids in daycare, earned income credit, child tax credit, my refund was about 4700 and I deliberately claim myself, my wife and my two kids as dependents to take home as much as I can on a bi-weekly basis and worry about having to pay more April 15th, I haven’t had to pay anything….btw, I’m sure glad I don’t live in Atl anymore, here in Grovetown, outside Augusta, my mortgage is only 416 for a 3 bedroom home, it’s tight in here but I own it…..
GT
May 24th, 2012
11:15 am
Bankers I hear that!
You can learn more from the reality of drugs selling in America than you can from polls. I have always imagined the users don’t freely admit who they are when asked but the power of the market tells you something is going on we cannot stop. Now if you do a religious poll and some of these drug dealers get polled I imagine they give looser info than what they actually believe there too. Social pressure suppresses honest participation in polls which many times is the rightwing’s intention. Like a false business plan helping them raise more money for a business that is not as good in reality as it is on paper.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:16 am
Why the tax ? If you want revenue, tax soft drinks and let everyone pay. If it is a sin, why not tax bibles too and again let everyone pay.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
11:17 am
If law enforecement can come up with a test for marijuana intoxication that can be administered on the spot as is the breath test for alcohol, then legalize it.
Given that standard,
If law enforcement can come up with a test for prescribed medication intoxication that can be administered on the spot as is the breath test for alcohol, then keep them legal.
NObama
May 24th, 2012
11:17 am
No – pinko : bite me
Jack
May 24th, 2012
11:18 am
Legalize the stuff. If there’s Rockwell in our future, I can see the paintings with a happy little family entering a happly little marijuana store with shopping list in hand. They’ll be buying a particular brand for grandpa, one for grandma and some different flavored tokes for the kids and probably get a surprise package for the kids’ teacher. And everyone will live happily ever after.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:18 am
Chuck,
“The Government should not be telling full grown adults what they can and can’t do with their own bodies, as long as those people do not infringe on anyone elses rights.”
I have a better idea.
http://youtu.be/8gdsc3GiOYs
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
11:19 am
lol Taxpayer, it’s my, just too lazy to hit the capital key on the keyboard!
getalife
May 24th, 2012
11:19 am
Too bad they will not listen to the majority on this issue and the red states will not pass medical weed.
DawgDad
May 24th, 2012
11:19 am
“This argument and discussion should only be about freedom. ”
Just like health care. What we should ban is “nuances”.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:20 am
The test should be a driving test, not a usage test.
martin the calvinist
May 24th, 2012
11:21 am
Jefferson, we do pay taxes on Bibles, anytime you buy one…sales tax….gotta go to work. thanks for answering my questions and giving me an education, it’s been fun…..
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
11:21 am
jewcowboy
When I was eighteen I was stationed briefly in Oklahoma which was a dry state. Because booze was “illegal” for every one I could buy it most any where. No ID required. In California where I grew up, booze was legal, but you had to be twenty one. It was very difficult to get booze in California if one was not twenty one. Carried to a logical conclusion, I believe legalizing MJ would make it difficult for the pants on the ground crowd to get weed.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:21 am
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness….
Class of '98
May 24th, 2012
11:21 am
Jay, this is one topic on which we agree. It is nonsensical to outlaw a plant. If Christians are against marijuana, then they disobeying the Bible in my opinion. Genesis 1:29: “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’”
God made cannabis. It is good.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
11:22 am
Kam – I’m feeling properly rebuked.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
11:22 am
The real gateway drug is legal and it kills.
Katz P. Ajamas
May 24th, 2012
11:23 am
By his own admission, our president used marijuana and cocaine and is not remorseful. Why should others be in jail, just because they were caught? Because law enforcement and prisons are big business. Don’t believe me? Watch as they lobby to keep drug laws on the books.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:23 am
Cal, if you have sin taxes, you should have non-sin taxes, or pew taxes. Sales tax comment is lame as all getout.
DawgDad
May 24th, 2012
11:25 am
“God made cannabis. It is good.” God made hemlock. . .
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:25 am
Jewcowboy
I like that, a tax on stupid people, but we already have that it is call the lottery. Lets legalize real gambling while we are at it.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:27 am
The lotter is volenteer taxation, if you win big, you are not stupid.
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
11:27 am
Carried to a logical conclusion
When Mighty Righty is applying logic and reaching logical conclusions in this matter we’ve passed the tipping point where legalization is inevitable.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
11:27 am
(ir)Rational
It could be worse.
You could be an avid Bayern fan — or an evil Red Devils fan.
I am actually quite fond of Bayern, as long as we aren’t playing them.
Here we go!
May 24th, 2012
11:28 am
Absolutely! Make it legal and tax it. Empty our jails and tax money from feeding those in jail because of MJ laws. This forces people to take responsibility. You want to smoke cigs, MJ, drink – do it but take responsibility for it. You turn into a drug addict, alcoholic, your fault, not mine and we won’t pay for it. I’ll even go one step farther, legalize and tax prostitution.
Joel Edge
May 24th, 2012
11:28 am
Good idea. Legalize it, tax it. It would entertaining to watch a bunch of stoners protesting taxes on their drug of choice. If they could work up enough concentration to manage it.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:28 am
Yeah and you have the great several hundred million to one odds of winning big, you are right that is a very SMART bet.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
11:28 am
I have sampled marijuana
a few times when I was
drunk. It put me to sleep.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
11:28 am
cons call peeing in a cup and giving it to government freedom.
ragnar danneskjold
May 24th, 2012
11:29 am
I would not tinker with minimal changes in the Pure Food and Drug Act – I would favor total repeal. I cannot imagine any intelligent reason to allow the government to stand between the citizen and his pharmacist. The only drugs that are so dangerous that prohibition of distribution should even be considered are cocaine, methamphetamine, and alcohol.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:29 am
Tax high income at higher rates.
Duncan20903
May 24th, 2012
11:29 am
One of the prohibitionists’ favorite stories is the 1990 Alaskan vote of 54.3-45.7 to implement an unconstitutional re-criminalization of petty possession and petty cultivation of cannabis in a person’s private home, which was subsequently struck down by the Alaska Court of Appeals in 2002. So pot in Alaska went from legal to illegal from 1991 to 2002. It went back to legal in 2002, the very same 2002 in which SAMHSA started a study on the incidence of “drugged” driving in the US and in each individual State. Alaska joined California and Hawaii in posting statistically significant reductions in the incidence of drugged driving between 2002 and 2009. Alaska also happens to be the #1 State for the rate of people who choose to enjoy cannabis.
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/205/DruggedDriving.htm
Hawaii passed medical in 2000. Not a big contributor but the Know Nothings swore that “drugged” driving would skyrocket. You guys are never deterred for even a heartbeat despite being wrong, wrong, wrong.
California passed the Medical Marijuana Program Act (AKA SB-420) in 2003 legalizing dispensaries, offering patients actual protection from arrest, and a subsequent increase in the number of residents claiming the protection of the law skyrocketing from ~50,000 to somewhere between 750,000 and 1.125 million in 2011 according to numbers compiled by California NORML. This during the same time they were registering that statistically significant reduction in the incidence of “drugged” driving.
The States that claim the lion’s share of this Country’s protected medicinal cannabis patients all passed their laws between 1998 and 2004. There was not a single State that suffered a statistically significant increase in the incidence of “drugged” driving in the SAMHSA study linked above.
But there you go again, disregarding the total lack of supporting evidence for your absurd opinion that tough laws against cannabis cut down on impaired driving, while ignoring the carloads of evidence that supports the assertion that it doesn’t.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
11:30 am
frog,
It does help with sleep , hunger and takes your mind of the pain.
Tundra Dude
May 24th, 2012
11:31 am
I agree with those who believe marijuana is a gateway drug.
It may be, but I think white bread is worse. (prisons are full of white bread eaters)
DawgDad
May 24th, 2012
11:32 am
“cons call peeing in a cup and giving it to government freedom.”
This is not really a left-right issue.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:33 am
Great idea, Jefferson. Heaven forbid the people that earn their money be allowed to keep it, when they can support all the brillant people that are paying your volunteer lottery tax but can’t afford food. No doubt which political party you belong to.
Son of the South
May 24th, 2012
11:33 am
JKL2 — You wrote this:
“Now we have obama preaching smoking dope and doing cocaine in high school is cool.”
Tell me how that is NOT equating pot and cocaine? Writing is just as fundamental as reading.
Old Goober
May 24th, 2012
11:34 am
Who are we kidding here? If you legalize and tax marijuana, the gangs will just have that much more of an advantage. They’ll be offering it for sale tax-free, and police will be faced with checking for receipts. You can’t exactly put a tax stamp on a marijuana cigarette.
I don’t give a hoot whether pot gets legalized, provided there are sufficient checks to keep stoned drivers off the road. But let’s not invent advantages of legalizing it. And legalizing it won’t do a thing to lessen the use of more dangerous drugs.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
11:34 am
It may be, but I think white bread is worse.
When white bread is outlawed, only outlaws will have white bread.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:34 am
Chuck,
“but we already have that it is call the lottery.”
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
11:35 am
“Like a false business plan helping them raise more money for a business that is not as good in reality as it is on paper”
Solyndra is a good example of why the government should never ever invest our money. They simply do not have the training and experience. Marijuana should be legal. For all intents it is legal. No one arrested anymore for possession of small amounts for personal use. Biggest problem is employers testing for drugs and users losing their jobs. The alcohol industry is already set up to handle distribution and retail sales. The tax revenue would go along way toward helping local and federal government. Most of the tax money would come from recycling tax revenue that is now being wasted on drug dealers. I think it is a win win with no new cost to the economy.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:35 am
Chuck, there will be plenty left — what a baby, act like a republican and want everything for free.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
11:36 am
Kam – Bayern is in my top 5. Arsenal, Barcelona (okay, Lionel Messi), Red Bulls, Bayern, and (this is because of the Mrs.) the Red Devils (but really there it is Wayne Rooney).
SamE
May 24th, 2012
11:36 am
I am not a pot smoker but am highly in favor of legalizing it, I have good freinds that I would hate to see jailed over something as petty as an herb. Alcohol is just as “bad” and that appears to be widely acceptable in the U.S.
Lets fight real crimes America! Lord knows we’ve got plenty of sicko’s that need to be apprehended.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
11:37 am
Alright, I have things to do. Y’all have an awesome day.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:41 am
Jefferson
I am not a republican, I am a Libertarian. I have crazy beliefs like people should be held accountable for themselves. I also believe that it is not the place of the government to decide that I have made enough money and it is now time to take MY money and give it to someone else that has not earned it. I am crazy that way, if I want to help a bum, then let ME decide to give the bum money and not have the government stick a gun to my head and do it.
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
11:42 am
You can’t exactly put a tax stamp on a marijuana cigarette.
Yet somehow we put tax stamps on tobacco cigarettes. Gosh, maybe there IS a way.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
11:42 am
Well….I think…people should…uh..what were we writing about?
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
11:43 am
While I favor legal marijuana, it is not a valid argument to compare the use of MJ to dringing alchhol beverages. Alcohol is a beverage with side effects of intoxication if drunk to excess. Marijuana is a drug the sole purpose of which is to intoxicate the user. Huge difference.
weetamoe
May 24th, 2012
11:43 am
Yes, yes, yes. Besides California could use the tax money. I think Car and Driver once determined as a result of controlled tests that marijuana users were safer drivers than boozers.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:44 am
Chuck,
“all the brillant people that are paying your volunteer lottery tax but can’t afford food.”
I live in a “pioneering” area of Atlanta and have lost count of the times I’ve stood behind (or to the side) of someone buying $50 worth of lottery tickets. Saving $50 a month (I’m hoping this is a monthly habit and not a weekly one) over the course of 17 years would yield about $20k. If it’s a weekly habit, then saving that amount would yield $80k over the same time period.
But, they keep on playing…waiting for payoff of that ever human want of something for nothing. A truly non-partisan trait.
Talking Head
May 24th, 2012
11:45 am
News Flash! Real Federal Deficit last year was $5 trillion
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-18/federal-deficit-accounting/55179748/1
Obamanomics
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
11:47 am
Sorry C – it don’t work that way.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:48 am
Yeah Jewcowboy, the bad thing is that they print the odds for winning right on the tickets that these people are buying, and they just do not see their impossible chances of really striking it rich. Like it was once said “A fool and his money are easily parted”
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 24th, 2012
11:51 am
t may be, but I think white bread is worse.
Is that another anti-white joke?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
11:51 am
JAY:
Knowing how bad you want to smoke this stuff without risking your job at the AJC, I guess I will support “watering it down” just a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIGwhNAUXkg
……….. but then there’s this too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye3ecDYxOkg
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:51 am
“Like it was once said “A fool and his money are easily parted””
See: Creflo Dollar, Jan and Paul Crouch, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, etc…
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
11:51 am
But then:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMqVrUSz62o
Dr. Beaulieu
May 24th, 2012
11:52 am
Legalize it. Tax it. Control it. And while we are at it, let’s do the same with most other controlled substances.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
11:52 am
Jefferson
God bless you, I believe in your heart you love all the people and want to help them, you and I just have different views on what methods work in helping them. I have a meeting you folks take it eazy.
FrankLeeDarling
May 24th, 2012
11:52 am
I am more worried about people driving around on
Prescription narcotics
Mick
May 24th, 2012
11:53 am
OK…yes..legalize it? Even on this blog it seems to be a unifying issue for both sides….we can build on that…
They BOTH suck
May 24th, 2012
11:53 am
Bud Wiser
I noticed downstairs that the shoe fit real well…………… Even better than you thought
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
11:55 am
“Yeah Jewcowboy, the bad thing is that they print the odds for winning right on the tickets”
Yep. The odds are 50-50. You’ll either win or you won’t.
Adam
May 24th, 2012
11:56 am
If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of their convictions, would you be in favor of legalizing it?
If you knew that 100% of all convicted serial killers drank milk at some poitn in their lives, would you drink milk anymore?
If you knew the unabomber believed that global warming was real, you wouldn’t, WOULD YOU?
Duncan20903
May 24th, 2012
11:57 am
Smoking is not required to gain the benefits of cannabis, whether for medicinal need or just for enjoyment. Any potential health hazards due to smoking are not the hazards of cannabis, but of smoking.
Vaporization is proven safe, less expensive, and preferred over smoking by a margin of 7:1 in peer reviewed research published in 2007. http://www.cmcr.ucsd.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149:vaporization-as-a-qsmokelessq-cannabis-delivery-system&catid=41:research-studies&Itemid=135
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
11:58 am
Doggone/GA,
“You’ll either win or you won’t.”
A man goes into the synagogue and prays. “O Lord, you know the mess I’m in, please let me win the lottery.”
The next week, he’s back again, and this time he’s complaining. “O Lord, didn’t you hear my prayer last week? I’ll lose everything I hold dear unless I win the lottery.”
The third week, he comes back to the synagogue, and this time he’s desperate. “O Lord, this is the third time I’ve prayed to you to let me win the lottery! I ask and I plead and still you don’t help me!”
Suddenly a booming voice sounds from heaven. “Benny, Benny, be reasonable. Meet me half way. Buy a lottery ticket!”
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
11:58 am
“If you knew”…
Heck, everyone is missing the REAL culprit: water! I bet everyone of those convicted killers had drunk water within hours, if not minutes, of committing their crime.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
11:59 am
HEADLINE (USA Today): “REAL DEFICIT LAST YEAR: $5 TRILLION”
“The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.
A U.S. household’s median income is $49,445, the Census reports.
The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.”
Yep …………. Congress exempts itself from a lot of stuff.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-18/federal-deficit-accounting/55179748/1
Doggone/GA
May 24th, 2012
11:59 am
jewcowboy – yep! One of my favorites! And if anyone want’s 100% odds on the lottery – don’t buy a ticket. Odds are 100% that you won’t win.
massachusetts refugee
May 24th, 2012
12:00 pm
ok, cool, finally something i know about. this is what i think – wait, what? oh yeah, see, it’s, um, far out man.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
12:00 pm
If you think some of these blog subjects are bad can you imagine if Jay was stoned ?
too little time
May 24th, 2012
12:00 pm
The other sticky issue is how to set and assess legal level of impairment of drivers.
IMHO, this is the ONLY real issue in the whole discussion of how to make marijuana legal.
ragnar danneskjold
May 24th, 2012
12:02 pm
Shakil Afridi – abandoned for the sake of Obama’s re-election.
Jefferson
May 24th, 2012
12:02 pm
Chuck, I’m no pacifist nor a far left liberal, but I do belive in progressive income taxes with the money used to provide services and promote (not always provide) the wellfare of the country. If we could get companies and individuals from ripping off the gov’t, there would be more done with less taxes. Why does a gov’t contract become a sugar daddy ?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
12:04 pm
This is actually proably good as we will need more FBI informants down the road !
Headline: “Arabic mandatory at city public school”
“An upper Manhattan public elementary school will be the first in the city to require that students study Arabic, officials said yesterday.
Beginning next semester, all 200 second- through fifth-graders at PS 368 in Hamilton Heights will be taught the language twice a week for 45 minutes — putting it on equal footing with science and music courses.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/arabic_mandatory_at_city_public_UdLomjOOnZNfjDfs6YQrUN#ixzz1vntHkvvn
East Cobb RINO
May 24th, 2012
12:04 pm
“cons call peeing in a cup and giving it to government freedom.”
This is not really a left-right issue
**************************************
Depends on which hand you use to hold the cup and which hand you use to hold your member. I put the cup in my left hand.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
12:05 pm
Bob dylan says, “everybody must get stoned”…
massachusetts refugee
May 24th, 2012
12:06 pm
shakil afridi – collateral damage in completing the job w gave up on. sux, but it’s a war out there.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
12:06 pm
Shakil Afridi – any relation to shiek yer booty?
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
May 24th, 2012
12:06 pm
“If they had asked, ‘If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had smoked marijuana within 24 hours of their convictions, would you be in favor of legalizing it?
This is the kind of leading stuff they use on Fox News all the time.
And the ignorant hicks fall for it every time.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
12:06 pm
Well, well ……. this is cute.
Headline: “Clinton & Porn Stars”
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/24/bill-clinton-smiles-for-the-camera-flanked-by-porn-stars-photo/
Adam
May 24th, 2012
12:08 pm
Boy that thing about Obama not being the biggest spender ever STILL has some of you cons in a tizzy, eh? Good. The message is working…. And you’re falling for it by fighting that battle instead of trying to fight in a reality based world where you should be trying to legitimately promote your ideas as better than the ideas of the other side. So focused on lying and making up records for your opposition, you have marginalized your own party and message. And you wonder why people aren’t keen on voting for your “side” this time.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
12:11 pm
scout,
Let Hillary have some fun too.