Posted on 11/22/2006 7:35:17 AM PST by Dick Bachert
Atlanta police went to a home on Neal Street in Atlanta last evening to execute a search warrant. When they kicked the door in the only occupant of the home, a 92-year-old woman, started shooting. She hit all three police officers. One in the thigh, one in the arm and another in the shoulder. All police officers will be OK. The woman will not. She was shot and killed by the police.
I'm not blaming the cops here. Not at all. They had a valid search warrant, and they say they were at the right address. Shots were fired, three cops hit, and they returned fire. A 92-year-old woman who was so afraid of crime in her neighborhood that she had burglar bars on every door and window, is now dead.
The blame lies on this idiotic drug war we're waging. We have all the studies we need, all of the comprehensive data is in. We can do a much more effective job of reducing drug use in this country if we'll just take a portion of this money we spend for law enforcement and spend it on treatment programs. A Rand study showed that we can reduce illicit drug usage in this country a specified amount through treatment programs at about 10% of the cost of reducing drug usage by that same amount through criminalization and law enforcement.
There's just something in the American psyche that demands that drug users be punished instead of treated and rehabilitated. We think they're stupid and ignorant for getting mixed up with those drugs in the first place. And you know what? We're right? But look at the messages we send to our children every single day with cigarettes, alcohol, and an endless stream of drug ads on television and in magazines. Drug culture? You bet we have.
That was aimed at Sam Hill via your response. Glad you saw the joke.
Exactly, now where would the "fun" be in doing something low-key and mundane.
Minor point here, the Constitution does not enumerate our rights per se. It deliniates the powers of the Federal government (which we all know has grown well beyond its enumerated powers). It does list some of our rights in the Bill of Rights, including the 9th and 10th amendments which instructs readers that just because a right isn't listed in the Bill of Rights, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
That is what really disturbs me about these Drug Warrior Nazis.
It shouldn't. It's their problem, not yours. You don't need their groupthink mentalities on your individualistic stand.
They heard that an LP plank calls for an end to the ineffective and hypocritical WOD and immediately assume that the LP is only pot smokers and junkies.
It's a diversionary tactic. They can't debate rationally based on honest principle. They have a lot of empty rhetoric and sophistry. Least wise, that's what I've witnessed.
Consider this: if a bunch anti-WOD posters to these threads are druggies (not alcohol or caffeine--those don't count, ya know) the drug warriors are consistently losing the debate to a bunch of supposed losers. It's akin to fighting a war against inanimate objects -- drugs -- and losing.
In reality it's a war against people that possess, use and or sell drugs -- but not alcohol and caffeine. Those don't count, ya know.
True, true, the major function of the U.S. Constitution is to limit the powers of an overbearing centralized federal government. Hmmm, that sounds familiar, like something that we currently have.
I'd been reading your posts so I knew I wasn't the butt of the joke.
I'll tell you who is responsible for the most part. Harry Anslinger (FBN)and Randolph Hearst. Obviously at least in part, Harry was used as a puppet by the likes of Hearst, Mellon, and the Duponts to protect their business interests.
So, based on your reply above, I don't think you've done your homework on what brought about prohibition...and how it has evolved into what it is today.
I will leave you with this. If the citizens and the legislatures were truly involved as you suggest,then it was because they were duped by the likes of Anslinger the puppet,and then Hearst, Mellon, and the Duponts (pharmaceuticals) who were merely promoting their own agenda (business profits.) Not exactly a call by the citizens nor the legislatures. It was a bureacrat setting policy on behalf of the above groups in total disregard to the citizens.
You may not like it, but it is the history as we know it. If you know otherwise, then please feel free to bring me up to speed.
Tell that to Sharon Harris and she would... well I can't imagine what might happen.
" "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is not in the U.S. Constitution."
Yes, I am aware of this (I did major in history, after all), however, the Constitution was written as a means to this end; setting up the parameters by which life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were more than just an eloquent phrase. I never intended to insuate that that the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution were interchangable; they prop each other up. The Declaration is the presentation of the basic tenets of our rights (defining from whence they eminate and by what means they are identifiable as rights), while the Constitution is the final framework by which those rights will be protected.
Just because there is a Constitution doesn't mean the Declaration and it's philosphy is suddenly superceeded. The basic premise behind both is to lay the foundation for the exercise of rights. Both recognize the balance necessary between the needs of the individual versus the needs of the whole.
Taken together, they are the basis of everything we hold dear.
Tells me just about all I need to know...
Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.
"If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail - Abraham Maslow."
I just think that we have to remember that only the constitution is the law of the land. The entire "separation of church and state" issue is only mentioned in a letter sent by Jefferon to Danbury Baptist Church and that has caused us innumerable pain and suffering over the years.
All the laws about concerning this issue (WOD) are not the dictates of a rampant government,
Yeah right -- not! Harry Anslinger lying before congress and Refer Madness propaganda film. That's your rampant government. Certainly not a beacon of honesty and integrity.
but the result of an elected legislature, acting upon the concerns of it's citizens, creating and enforcing laws on behalf of those same citizens. You may not like it, but it is legal, it is constitutional and until the general public says otherwise, necessary
Exposing the WOD Hoax --
Racist WOP (War On People)
The New LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Promotional video:
"End Prohibition Now"
"Anyone concerned about the failure of our $69 billion-a-year War on Drugs should watch this 12-minute program. You will meet front line, ranking police officers who give us a devastating report on why it cannot work. It is a must-see for any journalist or public official dealing with this issue." -- Walter Cronkite LEAP"In four years we went from five founding police officers to a membership of over 5,000. We are no longer just police. Now LEAP is made up of police, parole, probation and corrections officers, judges, and prosecutors. We even have prison wardens, FBI and DEA agents who help make up our bureau of over 100 speakers. LEAP has members and supporters across the United States and in fifty-six other countries, which is fitting since U.S. drug policy has ramifications that affect the entire world.
"LEAP presents to civic, professional, educational, and religious organizations, as well as at public forums, but we target civic groups; Chambers of Commerce, Rotaries, Lions and Kiwanis Clubs, etc. The people in these organizations are conservative folks who mostly agree with the drug-warriors that we must continue the war on drugs at any cost. They are also very solid members of their communities; people who belong to civic organizations because they want the best for their locales. Every one of them will be voting in every election. Many are policy-makers and if they are not, they are the people who can pull the coat tails of policy-makers and say, "We have someone you must hear talk about drug policy."
"After making more than two-thousand presentations where LEAP calls for the government to "end prohibition and legalize all drugs--legalize them so we can control and regulate them and keep them out of the hands of our children," we have discovered that the vast majority of participants in those audiences agree with us. Even more amazing is that we are now attending national and international law-enforcement conventions where we keep track of all those we speak with at our exhibit booth. After we talk with them, only 6% want to continue the war on drugs, 14% are undecided, and an astounding 80% agree with LEAP that we must end drug prohibition. The most interesting thing about this statistic is that only a small number of that 80% realized any others in law enforcement felt the same.
"This also holds true for policymakers. In August 2005, five LEAP speakers staffed an educational booth at the National Conference for State Legislators in Seattle, Washington. We spoke with 450 of the 5,000 attendees on a one-on-one basis and 86% of them agreed that we should legalize drugs--only 4% wanted to continue the war and the other 10% were undecided. If we can show these legislators that they won't lose one more vote than they will gain by backing drug policy reform, they will end drug prohibition.
"The way to do that is to show them LEAP has a huge membership. By November 2008, we want to be able to say we have ten thousand members of law enforcement calling for an end to drug prohibition and a MILLION private citizens who agree this is the correct policy." -- About LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." [Emphasis mine.]
Initiating force, threat of force or fraud against a person or their property violates their unalienable rights.
The Constitution is a contract, the Declaration is not.
Get the difference?
You may not like it, but it is legal, it is constitutional and until the general public says otherwise, necessary.
Wrong!
Congress knew that to stay within the bounds of the Constitution they needed to create and passed amendment to the constitution in order to prohibit alcohol. Congress passed Amendment XVIII in 1917 and ratified in 1919,
The current laws that prohibit the manufacture, possession, transportation and sale of certain drugs are unconstitutional.
Lets see, ounce of weed $350. Illegal.
Ounce of weed grown in my garden legally, probaly not more than a couple bucks.
Absolutely, its about revenue enhancement now.
There is a sad and ugly truth you appear to ignore or are not aware of.
Drug Warriors are supporting terrorist and criminal enterprise by creating inflated Black Market prices that allow Taliban opium poppy growers and other foreign drug suppliers to earn multi-millions from the WOD that would vaporize if it were ended.
They would be Bankrupt. They could not pay their minions. They couldn't pay off their quislings in America. With the profit motive removed the supply would go away. No more Manuel Noriegas. No more Columbian Cartel. No more resurgence of Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. No more American Drug Cartels. No more tunnels from Mexico to bring Marijuana unto the US. No more illegal alien "Mules" that bring drugs into the US for the cost of the trip. No more misused military resources for interdiction of foreign radar-runner drug flights. No more American dollars going to other countries for illicit drug purchases.
Now, couple that with "The Fair Tax" and a whole new age of American prosperity would carry us through the rest of this century.
Actually, I always wanted to build a sub, for the fun of it. I have neither the time or the money.
It seem Osama Bin Laden does. Or some other drug lord/terrorist.
But, hey, as long as the cops are employed, who cares, right?
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