[freepatriot32]

No hope could be more vain. What all the current optimists overlook is that the illogical and indefensible persecutions certain to occur in increasing number under the Prohibition Amendment constitute the chief cause of its popularity among the sort of men who are in favor of it. The typical Prohibitionist, in other words, is a man full of religious excitement, with the usual sadistic overtones. He delights in persecution for its own sake. He likes to see the other fellow jump and to hear him yell. This thirst is horribly visible in all the salient mad mullahs of the land -- that is, in all the genuine leaders of American culture. Such skillful boob-bumpers as the Rev. Dr. Billy Sunday know what that culture is; they know what the crowd wants. Thus they convert the preaching of the alleged Word of God into a rough-and-tumble pursuit of definite sinners -- saloon-keepers, prostitutes, Sabbath-breakers, believers in the Darwinian hypothesis, German exegetes, hand-books, poker-players, adulterers, cigarette-smokers, users of profanity. It is the chase that heats up the great mob of Methodists, not the Word. And the fact that the chase is unjust only tickles them the more, for to do injustice with impunity is a sign of power, and power is the thing that the inferior man always craves most violently.-H.L. Mencken

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

[satire]

wonderful post!!

[PetroniusMaximus]

"To nab peaceful, mellow tokers who aren't bothering anyone, that's what."


No man is an island.

[PAR35]

Reduced to quoting washed up left wing Democrats who can no longer get elected?

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

If the dopers are falling back on a turd like Hightower to defend them, they must be desperate indeed.

Oh, and here are some more deep thoughts from your font of wisdom, H.L. Mencken:

“I admit freely enough that, by careful breeding, supervision of environment and education, extending over many generations, it might be possible to make an appreciable improvement in the stock of the American negro, for example, but I must maintain that this enterprise would be a ridiculous waste of energy, for there is a high-caste white stock ready at hand, and it is inconceivable that the negro stock, however carefully it might be nurtured, could ever even remotely approach it. The educated negro of today is a failure, not because he meets insuperable difficulties in life, but because he is a negro. He is, in brief, a low-caste man, to the manner born, and he will remain inert and inefficient until fifty generations of him have lived in civilization. And even then, the superior white race will be fifty generations ahead of him.”

“If the average man is made in God's image, then a man such as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God, and so God may be jealous of him, and eager to see his superiority perish with his bodily frame. All animal breeders know how difficult it is to maintain a fine strain. ”

Women "as a sex, are shrewd, resourceful, and acute; but the very fact that they are always concerned with imminent problems and that, in consequence, they are unaccustomed to dealing with the larger riddles of life, makes their mental attitude essentially petty."

“The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.”

“If the American people really tire of democracy and want to make a trial of Fascism, I shall be the last person to object."

Anglo-Saxons are “a wretchedly dirty, shiftless, stupid and rascally people . . . anthropoids.”

Religion is “so absurd that it comes close to imbecility.”

“Since the early days, [the church] has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions.”

“Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable. . . . A man full of faith is simply one who has lost (or never had) the capacity for clear and realistic thought. He is not a mere ass: he is actually ill.”

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

First of all I agree.

Secondly users of profanity

Would this now include the President and Vice President?

[AdmSmith]

People who smoked marijuana had changes in the blood flow in their brains even after a month of not smoking, according to a study. The findings could explain in part the problems with thinking or remembering found in other studies of marijuana users, according to study authors Ronald Herning, PhD, and Jean Lud Cadet, MD, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Md.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050211084701.htm

Since marijuana and other drugs reduces the function of the brain and can affect the decision making, I am in favor of drug tests and to immediately fire any employee with positive test result. Drivers driving drunk or on drugs should get much higher penalty.

Drug addiction changes the biochemistry of the brain and long term use even changes the anatomy of the brain. Since drug addiction reduces the performance and changes the behavior of the person, you may even say that it reduces the free will, thus it should as well be opposed by libertarians.

[Berlin_Freeper]

To be a substance abuser, one has to be extremely selfish. Because they habitually flush their money and lives down the toilet as they fail everyone including themselves, their family and their country. That is why such a selfish person would use language as:

"...the mind-boggling stupidity of the autocratic, bureaucratic, right-wing, Neanderthal numskulls who keep pushing an insane, inane, and inhumane holy war against marijuana..."

Only a person who is selfish beyond reason could be so vindictive in the space of a single sentence against those he perceives as denying him easy access to a wasteful self indulgent mind altering substance.

The question is:

Should we expect to hear anything different from substance abusers, such as a well reasoned, respectful, informative point of view?

Obviously not. Thus it is safe to ignore or laugh at them until maybe one day they grow up enough to learn how to deal with reality.

[Banagor]

I rarely comment on FR, but here's one time that I will comment:

Like many recent "Conservatives", I'm also a former "liberal" (although I was always VERY hawkish on defense and Israel - always - and loved Ronald Reagan when I was in High School).

Quite frankly, I've never cared one way or another if weed is legal or not. I just have one major problem with it's legality: You can't test for it immediately on drivers. If somebody is driving stoned, you can't give them a breath test to see if they are stoned. Imagine, if you will, that your kid's bus driver is stoned. Or, for that matter, your airplane pilot.

I need say no more on that matter. And I actually hate the argument "think of the children". I just think it is particularly apt in this case.

But that was the only problem I had with legalizing weed.

I do have a new problem with it, however, and it is quite simple (and also falls in my "problem" with gay marriage):

The frigging hippies want it.

Quite frankly, I'm happy to oppose many things which the other side tries to champion, simply because I have grown to hate them so much. I know, it's absolutely illogical and it doesn't make for a great argument, but I'm human. After having lived in San Francisco for years during the entire anti-war fervor since 2002 (I moved a little over a year ago, thankfully), I've come to loathe anything which the commies and hippies want to legalize. It's just a natural, visceral, reaction against their evil ways. No, I'm not kidding, and no this isn't sarcasm.

I'll oppose the legalization of marijuana simply because it pisses them off - the same way that they piss me off. Sorry for the strong language, but I get a bit heated when thinking about them. I used to live, literally, about 4 or 5 blocks away from Haight and Ashbury street in San Fran, so you can imagine how bad it was. Everyone knew I voted for Bush, just as everyone knew I supported the war. I was a pariah. They loathed me. I frigging gloated the day that Bush won in 2004. And just for their dirty looks, I will always oppose them; and for their "Palestinian" keffiyehs and flags; and their commie shirts whilst parading in the streets half naked a if that would save the world.

I hated them for it. I started to hate the left since a while, but I truly started to hate them in San Francisco. The words "Social Justice" start to get me very upset. The word "Progressive" calls me into a frightful state.

I never really cared one way or another about euthanasia - which I now oppose because I hate them so much.

I never really cared about marijuana - which I now oppose because I hate them so much.

I never really cared about gay marriage - which I now oppose because I hate them so much.

And every time people ask me why I take these stances, I tell them very publicly: because the left hated me, and I hate them back. I make no bones about it, and I mean it very deeply: I really hate them.

I can't forgive them. If they want to legalize marijuana, and gay marriage, they have lost an ally for a long time to come. If they want to learn about root causes, they should first look in the mirror at the amount of people they have driven away with their insane "ideals" about what they should and should not support during a time of war.

Again: illogical and not based on the moral arguments which many here on FR make on a daily basis, but it's a stance. It's my stance.

Let them rot in hell for all I care. If they want to get stoned, they can buy a bottle of booze.

I wonder how many others out there are like me, driven away by the leftists because of their hatred for Western civilization and willfully bending over for the terrorists to become their battered, willing, wives in bed.

I don't know. But I do know that I am one such person.

I hope that this has been instructive. Again, it is not sarcasm. Yes, I hate them that much. I am proud to have voted for Bush in 2004. I would vote for him again in 2008 if only he could run again. I have disagreed with Bush on many issues, but I support our security, and our country, and Israel. And anyone on the other side who doesn't gets a big American middle finger from me.

[sgtbono2002]

Tobacco is just a weed also. Not only that but the government makes milions off taxes on it. They use this money for all kinds of things, and yet look at the uproar over tobacco use. Why legalise another substance when the one you have legalised is under such pressure?

[No Longer Free State]

Mr. Freetower,

Thank you so much for refocusing our attention on something REALLY important.

[Screamname]

[raybbr]

This article is an excellent example of:

hy·per·bo·le    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (h-pûrb-l)
n.

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton.

[subterfuge]

The typical Prohibitionist, in other words, is a man full of religious excitement, with the usual sadistic overtones

Utter Bullsh!t. Liberal hippie are you?

[Jim Noble]

and more high school students now smoke marijuana than cigarettes!

Now that's progress!

And they're doing so well in their studies!

[verity]

Yawn.

[robertpaulsen]

"The typical Prohibitionist, in other words, is a man full of religious excitement, with the usual sadistic overtones."

But if he were to legalize only marijuana, you'd think differently of him?

[mysterio]

Our society is past the nanny statist point of no return, I'm afraid. I doubt they'll make the drug legal. More likely, they'll start urine screening drivers that used weed a month ago and give them drunk driving citations, even though they are a risk to no one.

[Kimberly GG]

I am someone who suffers from a painful and debilitating disease for which there is no known cause, and no known cure. I am tortured by my symptoms 24/7. My disease has stolen from me my life, independence, my career, my friends, my home, and is a daily threat to my relationship with my family. My medications are about 25% effective in masking the symptoms, have bad side effects, and since I am temporarily forced to be on Medicaid, are costing taxpayers approximately $700 - $1000 per month, compared with marijuana, 100% effective in completely relieving the symptoms. If marijuana were legal, I would, again, be able to function, return to work and live a normal life.

Just something to think about for those who oppose the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

But for the grace of God.....

[jmc813]

Excuse me for a moment while I vent about the mind-boggling stupidity of the autocratic, bureaucratic, right-wing, Neanderthal numskulls

I object to his use of the term "right wing", as the great majority of freepers agree with this guy.