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
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
3:19 pm
There is nothing even remotely “conservative” about marijuana prohibition.
Agreed.
And furthermore, there is nothing even remotely “conservative” about many, many, many of the GOP’s policies and positions.
And why they are reduced to nominating a Mitt Romney as their standard bearer…
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
3:19 pm
josef,
We’re trailing the yankee states in literacy testing? Say it aint so. They must be cheating is all I can guess.
They lie. They lowdown dirty dawgs. Dey snitches too!
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
3:19 pm
josef,
“As my Mama told the flasher that night, “looks like a penis, only smaller.””
A dad
May 24th, 2012
3:20 pm
Hey Adam. Please identify you’re source of data. The states may be red, but I’ll bet you a bong (that was the original topic of this blog after all) the local populace of those regions are democrats.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:21 pm
Dam, I need to finish reading things before I speak. Back to my original comment. They’re saying Generation Y could include those born in the 90s and even as late as the early 2000s. I say it ain’t so. There was a big difference between the people I graduated with from high school, and those that were in middle school or starting high school then. Namely, we were having some of the “first time” type experiences at the same time. You old folks will just have to trust me on that one.
Common Sense isn't very Common
May 24th, 2012
3:21 pm
Maybe for the next election?????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih117p-3u9A
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
3:21 pm
I’m just trying to figure out if he thinks we are like goldfish and can’t remember something from a few minutes ago…on the same freakin page.
Maybe he can’t remember what he posted because he was between tokes.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:21 pm
ADAM
Does that include the Riverine counties and parishes of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana? How about the Black Belt counties of Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama? Pretty heavily Democrat…
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
3:22 pm
Mr. H. William, Esq. — “Fact 4: Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine.”
Actually, it is. There are a small number of people still living who got onto the brief Federally-approved medical marijuana program back in the late 70s through 1991, when it was closed to new applicants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassionate_Investigational_New_Drug_program
Those people who were on it when it closed — and were getting prescription weed — are permitted to continue getting it. Penn and Teller featured Irvin Rosenfeld on their program a couple of years ago, and from what I could see onscreen, his dope appears to be dispensed as pre-rolled joints, stored in coffee-can-sized containers. There was some sort of prescription label on one of the cans, but I couldn’t clearly read it.
JKL2
May 24th, 2012
3:22 pm
fred- Here ya go sport. I feel sorry for you in your ignorance though so here is what Joe Mama was talking about, (if you read it you could actually learn something useful):
Are you one of my in-laws? Why try to disprove a point when we can argue about punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure. I guess you win because you think you’re too smart for me.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:23 pm
josef – As my Mama told the flasher that night, “looks like a penis, only smaller.”
Screen cleaner should be passed around after that.
Sweet, now I can shave 3-4 minutes off my commute by going the back way. During the school year, passing by E-Rivers at 8:00 AM is just plain dumb, now with them out of school, I can go that way and get here in under 5.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:24 pm
Thulsa
Highest illiteracy rates
California 23%
New York 22%
Florida 20%
D. C. 19%
Texas 19%
http://nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/StateEstimates.aspx
New Jersey 17%
Georgia 17%
Mississippi 16%
BTW
This site also gives county by county breakdowns…
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
3:25 pm
The obsession with debt,
deficit, budget, taxes, and
entitlements by both parties
and the media sounds like
this is the poorest nation
on earth. Jobs are the only
thing thats important.
Grass grows jobs.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
3:30 pm
(ir)Rational,
your comment just reminded me of that line. A few of my friends and I were sitting around a couple weeks ago talking about going to raves, taking ecstasy when we were in our early 20’s and how we couldn’t do anything other than martini’s and Manhattan’s these days because we have no idea where to get anything. I would have to ask my 17 year old niece where to go if we wanted something. Just embarrassing for someone who used to be “cool”.
Walter
May 24th, 2012
3:31 pm
How bizarre is it that our culture has deemed a natural growing plant illegal? There are obvious pros & cons of legalizing pot, of which, the pros by far outweigh the cons. First of all, it would provide a massive boost to our economy. It would also reduce the amount of people in prison and therefor saving us billions of tax dollars. Not to mention cut back on violent crimes that are a result of this massive underground economy.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
3:31 pm
There’s a picture of Mr. Rosenfeld holding his coffee-can prescription stash on his site.
http://irvinrosenfeld.com/
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:31 pm
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres…
Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
3:31 pm
(ir)
Post Office weed???
Common Sense isn't very Common
May 24th, 2012
3:32 pm
(ir)Rational@3:12 pm
Well, someone thought it would be funny to plant weed in each of the planters. No one recognized it (well, no one that cared), and one day some other local kids went and harvested it.
————————————————————–
Way back when (statute of limitations is out) someone I know was headed to court in Cobb when they found some seeds in their pocket. Needless to say they dumped them in the planters outside the courthouse. It took a while for Cobb County’s finest to identify the resulting plants.
HillWilliam (The Educated Hillbilly)
May 24th, 2012
3:33 pm
Thanks, Joe. Again, these are the arguements that I’ve heard against legalization…I really do want to hear the counter agruement to these bascked up by data, because typically all you get is…the social costs are more if you legalize it…no they aren’t…yes they are…with little data backing up “social Costs”. Maybe it was stated earlier in the blog and I skipped over it…
As a continuation of this point, though, what was the rationlization for discontinuing the program…that I guess is where I am trying to get to…was it truely due to dangers inherent in the drug, or was it political?
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:33 pm
Legalization of marijuana…? Didn’t we learn a d*mned thing from Prohibition? Jeeeze…
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:34 pm
jewcowboy – I NEVER knew where to get any. I mean, I guess if I really wanted it, I could have asked some of my friends or my sister or cousin, but I was never that interested.
Bro – Hey, growing up in a small town did have some perks. I count that as a (humorous) perk.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:36 pm
Common Sense – Yeah, going into the courthouse with seeds probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. I have a feeling the cops might have figured out what these were, but they tend to stay out of that part of the county. If you call them for an emergency (say someone is spotlighting deer on your property and shooting towards your house at 2:00 AM), it could take them somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 minutes to get there.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:36 pm
common sense
Back in the day, some people I know (
) planted some seeds in the giant planters gracing the entrance to the Mississippi Capitol…and, there they flourished until, sadly, the new fall flowers were planted…always wondered if the caretakers didn’t care take… 
Adam
May 24th, 2012
3:38 pm
Sorry, what I meant to say was that most of the poorest counties are in red states, as seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lowest-income_counties_in_the_United_States#100_Poorest_Counties_by_Median_Household_Income_2010
Seeing as most of those would like to get OUT of poverty, it would not surprise me to learn that those particular counties vote Democrat, but that the House elections for their districts (which are different) end up being majority Republican. I have tried, but cannot find district by district data, only counties.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:40 pm
So, from what I’m gathering, the kid that did it where I lived was just carrying on a fine American tradition. Only difference being they then got to harvest the fruits of their planting.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
3:42 pm
josef,
Why did you post the literacy rates? Is there really anyone who didn’t know that the south lags the rest of the nation in literacy rates? Matter of fact I think a few years ago jawja supplanted MS. for one year for the prestigious 50th ranking.
And quit calling me Shirley.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:42 pm
ADAM
Again, check the representation from the Congressional Districts encompassing those areas I referred to…
You want Data…look at the counties comprising those districts, correlate the per capita income maps with the party affiliation of their representation…the same can be brought down to the state level and its districting for state office….
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:44 pm
THULSA
Those are ILLITERACY rates, which I suspect you knew, in which case
The point is that much of the South has made great strides in the last two decades toward reducing the illiteracy rate while many Northern states have slid backward…
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
3:45 pm
“And you would be wrong. The FACTS show that the localities with the poorest people are mostly Republican in voting record.”
Adam do you have a link to confirm that? Its quite possible but as josef noted the dirt poorest counties in the nation are most likely a handful of counties in the blackbelt of Alabama, some counties in MS, LA. and AR. Desperately poor, mostly black, probably not Republican bastions albeit in some of those counties the minority Republicans may outvote the majority Ds because of larger voter turnout.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
3:46 pm
H. William, Esq. — “Thanks, Joe. Again, these are the arguements that I’ve heard against legalization…I really do want to hear the counter agruement to these bascked up by data, because typically all you get is…the social costs are more if you legalize it…no they aren’t…yes they are…with little data backing up “social Costs”. Maybe it was stated earlier in the blog and I skipped over it…”
FWIW, it seems to me that dope is just shoved off to the side without any serious examination of its effects and value. I’m not a user and I have no intention of becoming one even if it’s legalized, but I’ve heard piles of anecdotal data from people who have used it to alleviate reactions to chemotherapy, as a painkiller, etc. If it’s got valid therapeutic effects, then IMO we should find ways to use it and make those meds available. And if we don’t want to do that, then I think physicians ought to be allowed to prescribe it in certain well-defined cases. I’ve heard *many* people claim that it alleviates nausea due to cancer chemotherapy and also improves appetite. That alone should be reason for making it available to certain cancer sufferers IMO.
FWIW, my wife’s got a friend who suffers from a chronic, debilitating and eventually fatal disease, and her friend self-medicates with weed. Considering it’s not addictive and she’s not knocking over convenience stores to pay for it, I say let her have it if it’s doing her some good.
“As a continuation of this point, though, what was the rationlization for discontinuing the program…that I guess is where I am trying to get to…was it truely due to dangers inherent in the drug, or was it political?
I don’t know myself, but the Wikipedia page says that President Bush (the elder) closed the program to new applicants because there was a big influx of AIDS patients trying to get into it. Then again, the page also says that there were only 30 people in the program at its peak, so I don’t see how that could be considered a huge number.
Common Sense isn't very Common
May 24th, 2012
3:49 pm
(ir)Rational – It is if not an American tradition at least a southern one
Think of bootlegging which still has a market.
O,k off to deal with weeds LOL
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:50 pm
Well, when Mama was dying of cancer, my nephew and his buddies kept her supplied and she left a little change in her will for them to go out and celebrate in her memory…
Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
3:50 pm
josef
Did you know that Romney released his education plan yesterday?
BADA BING
May 24th, 2012
3:51 pm
Druggies….MJ is not a Civil Right, no matter how you roll it. The country is already going to pot, and now you want it to go to Pot.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
3:51 pm
There is some powerful weed out there.
“A new bill in New York would require anonymous posters to verify their IP and personal addresses”
Freedom.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
3:53 pm
Common Sense – I don’t know nothin about no boot leggin. But I know this guy, his stuff
will make you do a back flip“doesn’t” exist.josef – I’ve heard the stuff you can get medically isn’t as good as what you can get on the corner. I know people that have supplied their parents/grandparents when they were going through cancer treatments.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:53 pm
BROSEPHUS
I haven’t looked at it yet…don’t need to get depressed here at the celebration end of the school term…I’m putting it on my “light summer reading” list!
getalife
May 24th, 2012
3:53 pm
Bro,
Vouchers?
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
3:53 pm
josef,
I was gone when you posted you had a question for me yesterday, but I saw it late last night.
Joe Hussein Mama
May 24th, 2012
3:54 pm
getalife — ““A new bill in New York would require anonymous posters to verify their IP and personal addresses”
Yep. I’ve verified my IP and snail mail addresses. There they are. Right there.
Oh, you wanted me to TELL you what they were? No thank you.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
3:57 pm
get a life
the government soon will
make you pee in your
computer.
St Simons - we're on Island time
May 24th, 2012
3:57 pm
If you watch the “Wizard of Oz” with the sound muted, & put on
the vinyl “Dark Side of the Moon” at the same time,
you will understand, dude
but the flying monkeys freak me out every time mon
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
3:58 pm
There is some powerful weed out there.
Yep, and one of the reasons I gave it up.
It used to be fun, then it became almost debilitating.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:58 pm
Wait a minute…there’s bootlegging and there’s moonshining…
Daddy was a bootlegger…deputy sheriff in a dry county. He’d stop you, confiscate it, and then sell it back to you at a tidy profit only the bonded stuff…bidness! Moonshining? Culture, I learned how to as a wee lad and called it the Science Experiment…Uncle Ralph’s boys got many a blue ribbon!
Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
3:58 pm
josef
I just stumbled across a link to it. I didn’t hear a peep about it in the news. You’d think something as important as education would be newsworthy. Shows how bad our political atmosphere is when we can talk ad nauseum about eating dogs and dogs riding on the roof of the car but a plan for the future of education doesn’t even get the respect of someone f@rting in an elevator.
—————————-
getalife
I haven’t read it yet. Gonna go through it sometime this evening to see what’s inside. I’m not setting my expectations too high. I don’t think he’s given any specific details regarding any of his plans, so I don’t expect anything different with this one.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
3:59 pm
Joe,
It is not a good idea to give cons personal information.
josef
May 24th, 2012
3:59 pm
jewcowboy
Your opinion in the Ravi sentence…
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
3:59 pm
“the government soon will
make you pee in your
computer.”
FYI – AppleCare does not cover this.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:03 pm
Bro,
I heard him say we need to go bold.
It is probably the same as jindal’s voucher plan.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:03 pm
josef,
“Your opinion in the Ravi sentence…”
Ahh… Well for someone convicted on 15 felony counts, 30 days in jail, 3 years probation, 300 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine seems a bit light. I didn’t think a 10 year sentence was appropriate, but at the same time for someone who has yet to apologize perhaps longer jail time would have been appropriate.
Your thoughts?
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
4:03 pm
Adam,
You may have to amend your statement that most of the 10 poorest counties in America are Republican or red voting counties. 5 of them- Humphrey, Hancock, Claiborne, Holmes, and Wilcox counties are all between 72% and 84% black so if blacks tend to vote D then its pretty much a sure bet that those are blue counties. A sixth- Buffalo county, SD is 82% native American because of 2 large Indian reservations.If you assume that they are Ds more than Rs then its a blue county and a 6th county that votes blue amongst the 10 poorest.
That leaves 4 counties left- one a Texas county along the Mexican border and 2 counties in KY and 1 in West Virginia. Those 3 counties are predominantly white but that by no means means they voted Red. KY and especially West Virginia do have Democratic histories. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was a big D.
Bottom line is that 6 of the 10 are most likely D counties and its likely but not a given that at least 3 of the remaining 4 are red counties. Your statement would seem to be incorrect.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
josef – You’re right, I don’t know nothing bout either of them though, so don’t ask.
jewcowboy – Yeah, that’s just wrong.
reefer madness
May 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
Legalization will happen – it’s just a matter of time. History will prove the war on drugs to be the biggest scam every perpetrated against humanity. The only people that don’t want to see cannabis legalized are the benefactors of prohibition (Pharmaceutical Companies, Privatized Prisons, Drug Treatment Centers, law enforcement, DEA, federal government, alcohol companies) and the sheep they have brainwashed into believing all the misinformation about the plant. God put it here for our use – read your bibles Christians. Listen to Pat Robertson (see: http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/03/09/nr-pat-robertson-marijuana.cnn.html) The founder fathers of our country grew hemp for food, clothing, fuel and medicine but now our farmers can not??? Marijuana is not a gateway drug, it does not make people do harder drugs, act crazy or rob, steal and rape. The kind of people that behave in this manner don’t care whether it is legal or not and they’ll get into whatever drug is around. Oh the fear and lies that people will believe. Thank God common sense is starting to prevail.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
“the government soon will
make you pee in your
computer.”
Yeah, no app for that yet.
Just pee in a cup and give it to government.
Freedom.
That Black Guy
May 24th, 2012
4:04 pm
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
2:58 pm
That Black Guy – Imagine if getalife WASN’T!
He would actually write in complete, comprehensible sentences?
_________________________________________________________
I always had this vision of getalife in his recliner in front of the bigscreen, rushing to type something before he nods again.
Duncan20903
May 24th, 2012
4:05 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.
———- ———- ———- ———- ———-
Q) How many prohibitionists does it take to change a light bulb?
A) None. Changing the bulb would be surrender. With enough effort we can make the old one work the way it’s supposed to.
That Black Guy
May 24th, 2012
4:06 pm
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
2:59 pm
Imagine if getalife WASN’T!
Imagine if you knew what the hell you were posting about.
________________________________________________
It’s a JOKE!
getalife even jokes about it.
Calm down
poison pen
May 24th, 2012
4:07 pm
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
Yep, and Fast & Furious didn’t do anything to hurt them either. DUH!
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
TGB,
Outside by the pool.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
I always had this vision of getalife in his recliner in front of the bigscreen, rushing to type something before he nods again.
I always had this vision that you at least had a clue about what you were posting.
Looks like we were both wrong.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
Adam
May 24th, 2012
3:38 pm
“Sorry, what I meant to say was that most of the poorest counties are in red states, as seen here:”
Aaaah. I see. A moving of the goal posts after a realization of a highly erroneous statement. Nevertheless those counties as I pointed out are majority blue counties.
Adam
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
josef: You want Data…look at the counties comprising those districts, correlate the per capita income maps with the party affiliation of their representation…the same can be brought down to the state level and its districting for state office….
I guess the problem is I don’t have time to CREATE the data, and I thought someone somewhere would have already compiled this stuff.
Brosephus™
May 24th, 2012
4:09 pm
getalife
I wouldn’t be surprised if vouchers were in there somewhere.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
4:09 pm
jewcowboy
you might get HPee care.
Adam
May 24th, 2012
4:11 pm
Thulsa: But I am not finding district data, which is the important data. That’s where the voting takes place. That’s what determines the effects of the counties/cities/state. This data does not seem to exist, but it should. We should know, district by district, which districts out of the 35 are poorest and who their congressmen have been at any historical point.
Adam
May 24th, 2012
4:11 pm
Thulsa: out of 435, I mean. Which is obviously just a moving of the goalposts right?
josef
May 24th, 2012
4:12 pm
jewcowboy
This is what I posted…
josef
May 22nd, 2012
7:06 am
While I’m laying bets that the Rutgers’ case will be a thread, I’ve got to go to work and probably won’t be here for it, so I’ll put my two shekels worth in now.
The judge, imauo, acted appropriately. Certainly I’ve got my own emotional reaction to what happened to begin with and the tragic outplay, but whether or not we want to go there, this is but one more case of teenage immaturity acting out on societally determined and, to a great degree sanctioned, prejudices. Ravi was 18 years old, not much more than a boy. This is something he is going to have to live with the rest of his life. I do not believe for one minute he expected his, and let’s call it what it was, “prank” to result in Clementi’s death.
This was no more a hate crime than what some of our posters plant here day in and day out.
Of course my heart bleeds for the Clementi family. Anybody’s would. If he were my son, I would probably be screaming for revenge. That is understandable.
This is a teaching-learning moment for us all. We should use it as such.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:12 pm
I dish it out and can take it.
You only smoke one hit for good weed.
I take prescribed drugs that would knock you out cold for a couple of days.
Duncan20903
May 24th, 2012
4:14 pm
I’ve heard that there are people who abuse their own naughty parts! What kind of society would we have if that were legal?!? There would be people doing that when they’re driving! Their cars would be like those hydraulic hot rods that are driven by our Country’s unregistered guests! I don’t want to see people playing with their particulars in public places either! Then we’d have to let people marry their hands for crying out loud! Ooooh, I’m so excited! I asked for my hand in marriage today and it said yes! It makes people go blind! ’nuff said!
Martin Williams
May 24th, 2012
4:14 pm
A very SIMPLE answer and which is YES. Thousands and thousands of people are dead today because in America we think we can WIN the drug war. The billions of dollars America has spend fighting the drug war is very serious disgrace. The idiots we have in Washington keep telling use it is winnable war and I know why they say stupid stuff like that. Fighting the drug war is a true money making machine for companies that manufacture weapons/dealers. Some pilots fly drunk anyway Peadawg you just have to check them out everytime you fly. We keep fighting UN-WINNABLE wars and I thought as Americans we are smarter than that. Guess I am dead wrong.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:15 pm
Thulsa Doom,
Nevertheless those counties as I pointed out are majority blue counties.”
Actually…if you want to be entirely accurate, that they are majority blue counties is your supposition based on the demographics of the county (no source given). So they are not actually proven to be “majority blue counties”, rather merely conjectured by you to be.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:16 pm
barking frog,
“you might get HPee care.”
Don Abernethy
May 24th, 2012
4:16 pm
Is it time to rethink drugs?? Why not open the Mexican border and let it all come in? Lets have pot heads everywhere. It would make a better America?? Sell it at Walmart. Why not?? If it was good enough for Obama it must be okay for everyone else right?? The US loves drunks and booze and drugs.It doesn’t increase crime right?Let’s have pot party day for grandparents. May be we can get all the Pastors and churches to sponsor pot parties. Jay, you never cease to amaze me.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:17 pm
You only smoke one hit for good weed.
But even that was too much for me.
I take prescribed drugs that would knock you out cold for a couple of days.
Yeah, I know. I also feel that it isn’t a JOKEing matter.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
May 24th, 2012
4:17 pm
This was no more a hate crime than what some of our posters plant here day in and day out.
Of course my heart bleeds for the Clementi family. Anybody’s would. If he were my son, I would probably be screaming for revenge. That is understandable.
This is a teaching-learning moment for us all. We should use it as such.
Well, I don’t know. The whole thing has kinda ruint my idea of the police putting a camera in every bedroom to make sure people were doing You Know What right. I mean, if people are going to go and jump off of a bridge every time they get caught, pretty soon we’ll be short on taxpayers and everybody’s taxes will have to go up.
barking frog
May 24th, 2012
4:17 pm
Duncan20903
are you a donut or
just a nut?
josef
May 24th, 2012
4:19 pm
ADAM
Not being snarky here, please understand, but if you are going to make the contention that you made, you need to check out the sweeping statement since it betrays a certain prejudice I’ve made a point of with you before relative to the realities “out there.”
I agree that it is somewhat absurd to cast votes for the party platform which is most against your best interests, and here I refer to the lower middle and middle classes “water toting” for the ones profiting from the tax inequities favoring the upper middle and wealthy classes.
That Black Guy
May 24th, 2012
4:19 pm
getalife, were you offended by my 2:55?
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:20 pm
Kam,
I have to take meds for the rest of my life but you get used to it after a while.
I would prefer not to take them but life goes on.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
4:20 pm
that black guy,
I think we all get that your comment about getalife was a joke. Most of us anyway…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:20 pm
Why not open the Mexican border and let it all come in?
Why would we have to import it?
That Black Guy
May 24th, 2012
4:21 pm
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
TGB,
Outside by the pool.
______________________________________________________
That’s me this weekend. Hilton Head baby.
I’m gonna lay on the beach and see if anyone tries to roll me back in the water.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:24 pm
josef,
“This was no more a hate crime than what some of our posters plant here day in and day out.”
We will disagree on this point. While you are entirely correct that this was a result of “immaturity acting out on societally determined and, to a great degree sanctioned, prejudices”, when he took the additional step of physical action to intimidate based on Clementi’s sexuality it did take on a whole new dimension…bringing it (in my opinion) to the level of a hate crime. While Ravi’s intention was certainly not to drive Celmenti to suicide, he had to be fully aware of the humiliation his actions would bring to Clementi.
That Black Guy
May 24th, 2012
4:24 pm
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:08 pm
I always had this vision of getalife in his recliner in front of the bigscreen, rushing to type something before he nods again.
I always had this vision that you at least had a clue about what you were posting.
Looks like we were both wrong.
__________________________________________________________________
Kam, if I am crossing a line that I don’t know about why not just tell me. get jokes about weed all the time.
getalife, if I offended you or crossed the line, I sorry.
Adam
May 24th, 2012
4:25 pm
josef: I really could swear I had a map of this exact data I was looking for not too long ago, and for some reason I cannot find that same map anymore. I remember it being majority Republican districts that got more federal dollars than they paid in, and that’s DISTRICTS, not states, even though that is also true. Now I can only find state by state maps. I have no idea what happened and frankly Google is not helping.
Another non-Googlable seems to be Cee Lo Green doing a parody of his own song replacing F You with Fox News. At least, as far as audio or video goes….
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
4:26 pm
jewcowboy – What physical action to intimidate? I admittedly don’t know all the facts surrounding the case, but I hadn’t heard anything about physical acts.
getalife
May 24th, 2012
4:26 pm
TBG,
My writing style is short and to the point.
Reading and blogging is good to stimulate your brain.
I have been called every name in the book on other blogs so I give it right back.
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
4:26 pm
“Actually…if you want to be entirely accurate, that they are majority blue counties is your supposition based on the demographics of the county (no source given). So they are not actually proven to be “majority blue counties”, rather merely conjectured by you to be.”
jewcowboy,
Perhaps you missed the part where I said that blacks tend to vote Democratic. If you disagree with that generalized statement then perhaps you could provide ample evidence backed up by a link showing that blacks generally tend to vote Republican instead.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:27 pm
(ir)Rational,
“What physical action to intimidate?”
The physical act of recording Clementi in a sexual act.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:28 pm
Kam, if I am crossing a line that I don’t know about why not just tell me.
getalife has shared his story on here many times, but it’s not my story to recount.
jewcowboy
May 24th, 2012
4:28 pm
Thulsa Doom,
“Perhaps you missed the part where I said that blacks tend to vote Democratic.”
Nope…I saw that. But you are holding Adam to a level of proof that you are not providing yourself. Supposition is not fact.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
May 24th, 2012
4:31 pm
While Ravi’s intention was certainly not to drive Celmenti to suicide, he had to be fully aware of the humiliation his actions would bring to Clementi.
Yeah, he got off light.
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
4:31 pm
I think Don played the role of Ralph Wiley in Reefer Madness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1jB7RBGVGk
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
4:31 pm
jewcowboy – Okay, but does that qualify as battery? Or assault (which technically isn’t physical)? I assumed that was simply illegal wiretapping. Or something of that nature.
(ir)Rational
May 24th, 2012
4:32 pm
Kam – What should he have gotten? What was his crime other than illegally taping someone?
JamVet
May 24th, 2012
4:33 pm
Forget the R vs. D paradigm.
The good news is that the poorest people in this country are red and brown!
YEAH!
Keep up the good work you discriminated against white conservative males!
josef
May 24th, 2012
4:35 pm
OOPS I forgot that the moderator gets snippy with more than two links so….
Mississippi is a good case in point here…
Look at the 2nd and 3rd districts…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi’s_congressional_districts
CON’T
These are the Delta and Black Belt Counties…among the poorest in the nation…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_locations_by_per_capita_income
Thulsa Doom
May 24th, 2012
4:35 pm
Supposition is indeed not fact. But in the absence of definitive data I’m simply making a reasonable suppositiion based on voting patterns. If you don’t think that its a “reasonable” supposition that in a county where 72-84% of a population that historically has been voting up to 90% for Democrats is most likely a Democrat county then so be it. We’ll just have to agree to disagree on what constitutes a reasonable supposition.
josef
May 24th, 2012
4:36 pm
@ 4:35
Con’t…
next correlate the income there to this
http://www.msjrc.state.ms.us/ms_by_county_senate.html
now correlate with…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_Senate
This should answer your questions…