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
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
12:12 pm
Heck, everyone is missing the REAL culprit: water!
Dihydrogen Monoxide: America’s scourge.
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html#DANGERS
PMC
May 24th, 2012
12:13 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?
Ha ha, If they had asked, If you knew that a majority of homicide convicts in New York had used milk within 24 hours of thier convictions would you be in favor of illegalizing it?
Any advance in our nonsensical drug policy would be progress.
Prohibition has been proven only to exaccerbate the problems related to drugs.
ken
May 24th, 2012
12:15 pm
Yes
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 24th, 2012
12:17 pm
MICK,
Off topic question for you…what’s the tax situation down there for over 65’s, as in income and property tax?
Tundra Dude
May 24th, 2012
12:17 pm
Jay Bookman
Is it time to rethink national policy on marijuana?
Imo, it mattereth not what the Little peeps think or want.
There’s powerful interests opposed to legalization, such as the Pharma Cartels,
law enforcement (dependent on Fed $ for pot eradication), the for-profit prison industry,
also the anti-hemp lobby (plastics/chemicals)
Our contribution-dependent political class will abide by the wishes of the Paymasters, bet on it.
(my 2 farthings, Jon K)
jeff
May 24th, 2012
12:18 pm
I am personally against making pot legal, I do not care what any one on the left say, it is a gateway drug and will lead to more harsh drug use. Plus, when a purchase of pot is made the money is funding the drug cartels in Mexico that are killing everyone that gets in their way.. Do we really want to give them even more money? There is NO WAY to regulate a product that can be grown in someones basement.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
12:20 pm
Mick — “OK…yes..legalize it? Even on this blog it seems to be a unifying issue for both sides….we can build on that…”
Indeed. Me and Mighty Righty are gonna go get effed up in the parking lot after work. You in?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
12:23 pm
Dihydrogen Monoxide: America’s scourge.
http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html#DANGERS
getalife
May 24th, 2012
12:24 pm
Thank you for your service cranky old man.
Jimmy62
May 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
Jeff: It’s not a gateway drug and that whole concept is ludicrous. Far more heroin users have drank water in their lives than have smoked weed, so probably we should ban water. At any rate, plenty of studies have shown that pot is not a gateway drug.
And really, that’s beside the real point, which is freedom. If I do want to do heroin (I don’t, but I’ve smoked a lot of weed), what business is it of yours?
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
12:26 pm
This marijuana thing and the recent interest in Obama being a cocaine addict in high school has got me wondering. The media did hide the high school stuff in ‘08 so we don’t know yet whether we have the whole ruth and nothing but the truth, so to speak. Because the media can’t be trusted when it comes to Obama I have been watching very closely to see if there is any sign of white power around the president’s nose which would explain some of the senseless statements he makes. Haven’t found any evidence yet, but I have noticed his hair seems to get whiter and then darker and then whiter. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
12:27 pm
jeff,
Prohibition gives the cartels tax free trilllions
The same thing happened with booze.
History repeating itself using thinking like your jeff.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
12:27 pm
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.
Alas, if only you Libertarians would use that same outrage to speak out against even worse examples that apply to billion dollar corporations and individual millionaires and billionaires, we might just have managed to keep a healthy middle class left in this country …
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
12:28 pm
Plus, when a purchase of pot is made the money is funding the drug cartels in Mexico that are killing everyone that gets in their way.. Do we really want to give them even more money? There is NO WAY to regulate a product that can be grown in someones basement.
If it “can be grown in someones basement”, how exactly, is that, “funding the drug cartels in Mexico”?
Did you think this through before you posted that?
skipper
May 24th, 2012
12:28 pm
@Jay,
I betcha you are havin’ fun sittin’ back watching this one roll…………….(no pun intended!) Libs/conservatives/workers.doctors, etc………..all bongin’ it up in college (or where ever they were) and lovin’ it. Nothing brought folks together like that old weed……..
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
12:29 pm
Jeff @ 12:18
Alas, you are absolutely correct but your post will fall on “stoned” ears.
Out on patrol. Everyone be nice.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
12:29 pm
willard said he can get unemployment down.
corporate media refuses to ask how,
corporate media give the gop a free pass as usual.
BADA BING
May 24th, 2012
12:30 pm
Hostess is going out of business, and you people want more people smoking pot.? What is going to happen when all those stoners can’t get their Twinkies? Recipe for disaster.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
12:30 pm
“Did you think this through before you posted that?”
No.
Ivan
May 24th, 2012
12:31 pm
“Dihydrogen Monoxide: America’s scourge.”
And the genious left want to be the first in line to ban it.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
12:31 pm
“There’s powerful interests opposed to legalization, such as the Pharma Cartels,”
Why would Big Pharma care? Really. why? They aren’t in the pseudo market. They have the have the good stuff.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
12:31 pm
There is NO WAY to regulate a product that can be grown (brewed) in someones basement.
Tell that Anhueser-Busch, MillerCoors and Pabst…
Divide and Conquer
May 24th, 2012
12:32 pm
Caffeine is the original “gateway drug.”
Nah, I think it was breast milk.
Refugee from the "Sahara of the Bozart" (Thank God and H.L. Mencken We Escaped)
May 24th, 2012
12:33 pm
Move to Ecotopia and smoke the good stuff, far from Gooberstan.
Plenty of good THC, dispensed legally.
Ivan
May 24th, 2012
12:34 pm
Link Fail
Banning water.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
12:35 pm
getalife
May 24th, 2012
12:29 pm
willard said he can get unemployment down.
corporate media refuses to ask how,
corporate media give the gop a free pass as usual
I saw him this morning say exactly how he would do it. Just pay attention and quit quoting Democrat talking points..
godless heathen
May 24th, 2012
12:37 pm
Looking at some of the angry, dishonest, unhinged, wingnut rants that go on here… I’d say we need a mandatory marijuana law…
Repealing mj laws might save the company.
Duncan20903
May 24th, 2012
12:37 pm
The Know Nothing prohibitionist asserts that drug users are responsible for the crimes of organized criminal syndicates because the users send them money by buying their product. If the users would stop doing that the cartels would wither away and die from money deprivation.
The drug law reform advocate points out that establishing a well regulated retail supply chain and domestic production would take that money away from the foreign criminal interests.
The Know Nothing prohibitionist declares that it will not deprive the cartels of their income because the criminals would replace that cash flow by switching to other criminal profit centers.
So if everyone quit buying their product the crims wouldn’t be able to replace the same cash flow by just switching to other criminal profit centers?? Neither consistency nor continuity are the strong suit of the Know Nothing prohibitionist.
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
Tell that Anhueser-Busch, MillerCoors and Pabst…
Or R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
12:39 pm
Link Fail
Third time’s the charm?
BWinKennesaw
May 24th, 2012
12:41 pm
Just think about how good the pot would be if it was legalized. To the uninformed – all pot is not the same. You could go to the convenience store and buy sticky, smelly buds without wasting a bunch of money on an illegal bag of crap weed. Legalize today ! Save the country money. Tax it like alcohol. Quit spending money litigating and jailing people for a vice that in a LOT of peoples opinions is less harmful than alcohol.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
12:42 pm
Here are three steps Romney would take to immediately create jobs.
1) Do away with Obamacare
2) Reduce Obama’s regulations on “start up business
3) Eliminate Obama’s regulaions on Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas, companies.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
12:43 pm
Here are three steps Romney would take to immediately create jobs.
1) Do away with Obamacare
2) Reduce Obama’s regulations on “start up business
3) Eliminate Obama’s regulations on Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas, companies.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
12:43 pm
normal
Property tax rates depend on which county you choose to live in. Right now, both houses and county taxes are fairly cheap. Where you will probably get burned is homeowners insurance, it’s tricky to find a good rate and company. There is no state income tax in Florida…
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
12:48 pm
Mighty Righty,
“Here are three steps Romney would take to immediately create jobs.”
So specific.
Please explain:
1. Specifically, how will repealing PPACA create more jobs?
2. Specifically, which regulations are you talking about on “start up businesses”?
3. Specifically, eliminating which regulations on oil, coal and natural gas production will create jobs?
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
12:48 pm
Righty, BIG Pharma is working very hard to try to synthesize THC. And it has been available in some crude forms (pills) for years.
Fortunately their work sucks!
brookstone
May 24th, 2012
12:53 pm
Yes, let’s legalize pot. It’s a good idea. Especially since Obummer has admitted to using it himself and he’s super cool.
Tom Middleton
May 24th, 2012
12:53 pm
You mean it’s not legal, Jay? Wonder where I’ve been!
Mr_B
May 24th, 2012
12:57 pm
Jm – I would say that there would actually be an argument there. But obviously, we’re both joking since income taxes came first. It would be very fitting if the income tax was the 19th or 20th Amendment instead of the 16th though.
The two amendment were linked, and often supported by the same organizations. At the time Prohibition was passed, excise taxes on alcohol were by far the largest percentage of Federal revenues. Income tax had to be enacted to replace the lost revenues.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
12:57 pm
“Especially since Obummer”
Do people who write things like “Obummer” or “Obozo” et al. think they are being witty?
Joe the Prophet
May 24th, 2012
1:01 pm
I intend to spark my brains out if the polytheist gets elected..!!!!!
Here’s the choice….Turn the United States into one huge oil field and force American men to drill, baby, drill…..or to build bombs for our war with Iran….
Women..?!?! They will have to be nurses..because there will be a TON of casualties..!!!
The other choice….Smoke out your mind until they take you to prison…There you will have three meals a day and free health care….Just have to be careful handling the soap…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
1:01 pm
Do people who write things like “Obummer” or “Obozo” et al. think they are being witty?
They’re half right.
Joe the Prophet
May 24th, 2012
1:02 pm
Sounds EXACTLY like the GW Bush administration…!!!!
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
May 24th, 2012
1:04 pm
Mick,
Thanks.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:05 pm
I can kinda see both sides of this issue but overall if I had to vote today I would probably vote in favor of legalization provided we could tax it and that the tax proceeds would be earmarked and appropriately divided between paying for rehab centers and paying down the debt.
I wonder if we really need another legal intoxicant to make us even sorrier. Plus it just seems like this is another step deeper into the moral sewer that we now find ourselves as a nation.
On the other hand it would be great to take the criminality out of it and I’m not really convinced over the pot is a gateway drug argument. Maybe, maybe not but I’m not convinced on that point. And as far as health goes pot isn’t anywhere near being close to killing the sheer numbers of people that alcohol and cigarettes kill. I don’t think anyone disputes that point.
My question though is if we legalize it and tax the hell out of it like cigs and alcohol would the tax proceeds be spent appropriately on say paying for rehab for people on harder core drugs or paying down the deficit? Or just wasted like all our other taxes?
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
1:06 pm
Eliminate
Obama’s regulaionsthe TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars every single year in subsides, giveaways and handouts from Uncle Sugar (you and me) to Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas, companies.Now, we’re talking…
USMC
May 24th, 2012
1:08 pm
The Democrat/Liberal Failure that is DETROIT…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html
Tom Middleton
May 24th, 2012
1:09 pm
Just kidding, but I’m in favor of legalization and have been for decades.
brookstone
May 24th, 2012
1:09 pm
Better legalize blow too since Obummer has admitted to using that also.
Tom Middleton
May 24th, 2012
1:10 pm
La cucaracha. La cucaracha.
Ya no puede caminar.
Porque no tiene
Porque le falta
Marijuana que fumar!
DawgDad
May 24th, 2012
1:12 pm
“This is the kind of leading stuff they use on Fox News all the time.
And the ignorant hicks fall for it every time.”
Why single out Fox News? If you somehow think they don’t do this in the MSM and on the other cable news channels you are very, very deluded.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:12 pm
mighty
That’s it? Thats all you got for romney’s job creation? Yeah, that’s really a blueprint to bring down unemployment by what, .001 percent???
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:18 pm
“Better legalize blow too since Obummer has admitted to using that also.”
Unlike Bush who continues to lie about his usage of it.
Aquagirl
May 24th, 2012
1:20 pm
Just kidding, but I’m in favor of legalization and have been for decades.
No Tom, it only seems like decades. Because time is passing really, really slow.
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
1:20 pm
JamVet
Try to learn the difference between a tax write off for businesses that employ several million people and grants gifts and handouts the government gives to individuals who do nothing and make no contribution to our economy.. Government has no money. If businesses don’t earn profits which are the taxed the social programs you favor would not eixist. You shoudl thank those businesses for their contribution to the wealth of this nation rather than bi–ch about them getting to keep a little of the money they earned.
Just Saying
May 24th, 2012
1:22 pm
I don”””t know know know what the the proooooblem is, I smoooke the the weeeed everyniteee.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
1:22 pm
Mr_B – The two amendment were linked, and often supported by the same organizations. At the time Prohibition was passed, excise taxes on alcohol were by far the largest percentage of Federal revenues. Income tax had to be enacted to replace the lost revenues.
Except the 16th Amendment (Income Tax) was ratified almost 6 years before the 18th (Prohibition), and 4.5 years before it was even proposed.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:22 pm
USMC,
Speaking of Detroit you ever seen either of the 2 post apocalyptic movies “The Road” with Viggo Mortenson or “The book of Eli” with Denzel Washington? In both movies there is a bridge scene where the decayed bridge overlooks an urban landscape that looks like hell on Earth. Both movies were filmed in Detroit and that bridge and wasteland are all too real. Detroit is without a doubt the poster child of what liberalism will do to a city. Scary.
Gale
May 24th, 2012
1:22 pm
Just popped in after lunch to see if the left vs right bashing was still on and, What’s This? Way past time to rethink this policy. How long must we keep on with a clearly failed policy before we can decide it is time to change?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
1:23 pm
“Is it time to rethink national policy on marijuana?”
MAMA SAYS NO !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLQYkbzSz5s
P.S.
“Keep Off Grass”
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:24 pm
“You shoudl thank those businesses for their contribution to the wealth of this nation rather than bi–ch about them getting to keep a little of the money they earned.”
From Jay’s previous post: “I’m not a U.S. company, and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.” ~ Former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:12 pm
mighty
That’s it? Thats all you got for romney’s job creation? Yeah, that’s really a blueprint to bring down unemployment by what, .001 percent???
I don’t believe I said that those were the only ideas Romney has although experts agree those three things would increase emplomnet by two million within the first two years.
Your turn, please let us know Obama’s program for job growth. Just one will do.
Talking Head
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”
-Ronal Reagan
He’s spot on with this assessment, but I wonder if he thought about this when he started the “War on Drugs”
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
Thulsa:
Wise words. I remember Detroit from the late 50’s. A vibrant place where a lot of people wanted to live and work.
Not any more.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
Thulsa:
Wise words. I remember Detroit from the late 50’s. A vibrant place where a lot of people wanted to live and work.
Not any more.
Boris Badnoff
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
If the drug laws were strictly enforced, how many posters would one find on Bookman’s Blog? Let’s concentrate on the real problem, the lack of regulation on Bath Salts. I have never used or considered using illegal drugs. Suppose you have a bad experience. Who would your lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun sue? Alcohol always does the trick for me.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:25 pm
“Detroit is without a doubt the poster child of what liberalism will do to a city. ”
What a retarded statement.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:27 pm
doom
**Detroit is without a doubt the poster child of what liberalism will do to a city. Scary**
What’s even scarier is if you actually believe that you can attribute that to liberalism???
C’man man wake up and go back to sleep!!!
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:28 pm
Mighty Righty,
“has although experts agree those three things would increase emplomnet by two million within the first two years.
Your turn, please let us know Obama’s program for job growth. Just one will do.”
Funny…you still haven’t answered with specifics…just general vague statements about repealing regulations.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
1:29 pm
jewcowboy/Mick:
I have a great idea. You two go and live there and report back.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:30 pm
mighty
How’s about the auto industry? Would there be one if obama had not interceded? What about tax incentives to bring back manufacturing, which is starting to pay off. What about gas prices falling more than 50 cents in a month? OK, forgot, we can only blame obama when the prices rise – got it…
Gale
May 24th, 2012
1:31 pm
Gosh Thulsa, and all along I thought it was unions that ruined Detroit.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:32 pm
1811
What does living in detroit have to do with liberalism? There is no connection whatsoever, just your imagination – go with it if it makes you feel good…
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
1:33 pm
jewcowboy
I know you think you have discovered something clever but there is no conflict between what your quote is and the facts,. ONE) Businesses employee people whether they want to or not. TWO) Every person who is not retired, on welefare, or some other domestic or foreign safety net either works for a private business or for the government. THREE) All government income comes from taxes levied on business or from taxes levied on the employees of those business. There is no other income.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:33 pm
“Detroit is without a doubt the poster child of what liberalism will do to a city. ”
What a retarded statement.- jewcowboy
jewcowboy,
How so? Take a look at most of the big cities run by Dems for decades. You see a lot of urban blight, decay, massive debt, broken school systems. Take a look at cities as small as Prichard, Al. or as big as Detroit or medium sized like Newark, NJ, East St. Louis.
Are you in denial of what is plainly obvious to the rest of us regarding the various social ills of big cities run by liberals for decades?
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
1:33 pm
Righty, too long.
Just say it – you neocons LOVE corporate welfare. BTW, I love how you call it a tax write off!
Asking them to stand on their own two (billion dollar) feet – like you want impoverished Americans to do is too much to ask.
You shoudl thank those businesses for their contribution to the wealth
Contribution???
Incredible.
Hope YOU like ponying up the difference for those parasites.
Over the past four years who paid more in federal taxes?
a) the teenaged high school senior who made $3000 per year babysitting.
b) General Electric, Boeing, Verizon, and Mattel combined (along with 22 other MAJOR corporations)
Talk about a perverted sense of economic justice! No wonder you grovelers nominate spoon fed socialists like Mitt…
http://jagatrayasemesta.blogspot.com/2010/07/guppy-poecilia-reticulata-also-known-as.html
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:34 pm
0311…,
“I have a great idea. You two go and live there and report back.”
I have a better idea. Since liberal ruined Detroit, why don’t you and Thulsa go live there and show how great conservative policies are.
Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
1:34 pm
Mighty Righty
Sorry it took so long to get back with you. I had to step away for a while.
My question to you is, how many crimes are committed by people needing money to support either their own habit or because there is high profit in buying and selling marijuana?
Most violent crime related to marijuana is tied to smuggling and distribution. You have theft going on with users, but I don’t think its as bad as you have with much harder drugs like coke, heroin, and meth. The big thing with marijuana is that many consider it a gateway drug. If you have an addictive personality, once that high isn’t the same, many seek out harder drugs to get that same feeling.
what do you the police do when you encounter some one who possess a small amount of marijuana for personal use.
I do immigration, so when someone crosses the border with marijuana, it’s a fed offense from the jump. If it’s destroyed in testing, they may get off with a fine as long as they are a citizen. If they are a foreign visitor, they’re likely to be sent back home or where they came from. If it’s not destroyed in testing, then they’re gonna end up in court for possession charges.
As for street cops, I’ve seen many a charge and conviction for possession less than 2oz. Most times, the sentence is time served with a hefty fine. If there are multiple offenses, then there’s either alternative programs or hard time. That depends on the court system. I don’t know many officers who let things slide nowadays. Too many people recording things and such. Letting something slide is one of the easiest ways to lose your job.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
1:35 pm
What does living in detroit have to do with liberalism?
It’s filled with “those people.”
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:35 pm
Mick,
You don’t think its odd that in all these big cities run by liberals for decades that they are generally broke, that their school systems are in shambles, that crime is rampant, and that urban blight and decay is everywhere. You don’t find that correlation the least bit odd?
Old Goober
May 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
Elizabeth Warren is largely unscathed by the weeks-long controversy surrounding her ancestry, according to a new Suffolk University poll released Wednesday evening.
The survey shows the Massachusetts Democrat trailing GOP Sen. Scott Brown by a single percentage point, with Brown netting 48 percent to Warren’s 47 percent. The result marks a measurable shift toward Warren since the last Suffolk poll in February, which had Brown up 9 points, 49 percent to 40 percent. Politico.com
I suspect that if our conservative friends keep slamming Warren about Cookbookgate and her ancestry, she’ll be up by 20 in August.
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
TalkingHead
Reagan did not start the “War On Drugs”, that would be Richard Nixon who started the D.E.A. in 1972.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
May 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
jewcowboy:
Too late. There is a point from which one cannot return.
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:36 pm
doom
**Take a look at most of the big cities run by Dems for decades. You see a lot of urban blight, decay, massive debt, broken school systems.**
Dude, you are way smarter than that. So all those poor folk living in west virginia are the result of conservatism? Please, bake me a cake…
Chuck
May 24th, 2012
1:37 pm
He did foolishly continue it.
A dad
May 24th, 2012
1:37 pm
Dudes, I thought this blog was about pot and, and, well, pot and uh, pot and, ummm, what were we talking about again? Yeah, pass the joint over my friend. I’ll take another hit
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:37 pm
Thulsa Doom,
“How so?”
Because you boil an incredibly complex event down to simply “liberalism”..whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
1:38 pm
OK, demographic non-experts, answer the following question.
ALL ten of the poorest states in this country are:
a) Republican
b) Democratic
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:38 pm
doom
It’s not odd, you are attempting a simplification, like what in gods name would a conservative gov’t have done? I mean really, why did god make it so that there has to be even one poor person on earth? Your logic fails…
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
1:39 pm
Kam – Actually, Detroit is one of the most segregated cities in the country. OH! You meant “liberals” when you said “those people.”
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
1:39 pm
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:30 pm
mighty
How’s about the auto industry? Would there be one if obama had not interceded? What about tax incentives to bring back manufacturing, which is starting to pay off. What about gas prices falling more than 50 cents in a month? OK, forgot, we can only blame obama when the prices rise – got it…
Sorry you are reaching. The consolodation of the auto industry cost tens of thousands of jobs. Not one job was created although some were saved. Tax incentives for manufacturing have been around for a hundred years. Obama has nothing to do with it. The increase in gas prices which have caused the worst inflation in ten years have still not returned to the pre-Obama levels.
Three strikes, your out!
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:41 pm
Thulsa Doom,
“You don’t think its odd that in all these big cities run by liberals for decades that they are generally broke”
You don’t think it’s odd that Mississippi has the highest rate of poverty of any state? And we know what a bastion of liberalism Mississippi is…
Mick
May 24th, 2012
1:42 pm
mighty
You are right – in your own mind, congrats…
Mighty Righty
May 24th, 2012
1:44 pm
Brosephus™
Thank you, I knew you would know.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:44 pm
“I have a better idea. Since liberal ruined Detroit, why don’t you and Thulsa go live there and show how great conservative policies are.”
Jewcowboy,
Kwame Kilpatrick amongst others ran that city into the ground and the corruption under his administrations was the stuff of legend. And yet the dunderheads who elected him re-elected him. If the folks of Detroit re-elected a complete clown like him in the same way that folks in DC re-elected Marion Barry then what makes you think they’ll listen to a conservative or anyone with any common sense for that matter?
Logical Dude
May 24th, 2012
1:44 pm
Jay asks: Is it time to rethink national policy on marijuana?
No.
That’s because the thinking has been done. It is time to take the information and ACT. Not just “rethink”.
Although I guess for those who don’t really think, maybe they should rethink first.
A dad
May 24th, 2012
1:44 pm
JamVet – and those 10 poorest counties are primairly populated by (1) democrats or (2) republicans. Go ahead, we know the answer. C’mon, you can do it. Those 10 counties just wait for the gov’t to take care of them. Sounds like a dem to me.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
1:44 pm
“Not one job was created although some were saved.”
Hmm…someone is telling a fib:
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-04/ford-reaches-tentative-accord-with-union-on-contract-briefings-scheduled
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120515/AUTO0103/205150425
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
1:45 pm
As for neocon efficacy, lets not forget the state that gave us the (W)orst President Ever.
One out of five people in Texas live in poverty.
You’re doing a a heckuva job connies…
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
1:46 pm
Jewcowboy,
And Mississippi also was mostly democrat for the first 150 years of its existence was it not? Hard to climb out of that deep hole.