Thousands of pot plants seized in Cocke County

WBIR ^ | June 24, 2008 | Brittany Bailey

[AuntB]

'Tis the season, kiddies!!! Don't go into your national parks and forests. They have been taken over by armed Mexican drug cartels all over this nation. BUT, the feds are sending 1.5 BILLION to Mexico for them to fight crime! They tell our local sheriff's who beg for help that it isn't the problem of DHS.

Photos of such grows here: http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=invasion+800+miles

[SJSAMPLE]

“Hundreds of pot plants turned in as evidence”

[bassmaner]

"Everybody gets up that's got jobs, and they go and they pay taxes, they do normal things, where these guys, they get up every day, they water their marijuana, they stay with it four months out of the year, and they're gonna bring in millions of dollars tax-free that the rest of us have to pay taxes on," Poore said. "Aside from that, this is the same drugs that's getting to the kids, different people across the state, and across the U.S."

Typical WOsD drivel.

Gimme a friggin' break ... LEGALIZE the crap and American farmers will grow it and pay excise taxes on it, and the kiddies will have less access to it because it will be age-controlled.

And yes, BTW, round up the wetbacks that are planting the weed here and ship 'em back to Mexico - pronto.

[AuntB]

Agreed.

One more item...build the fence!

[WVKayaker]

Bump!

[pnh102]

Gas is still $4 a gallon and rising, food inflation is through the roof, other energy costs are rising... and yet the feds have time to waste on this BS.

[AuntB]

“Gas is still $4 a gallon and rising, food inflation is through the roof, other energy costs are rising... and yet the feds have time to waste on this BS.”

Gas in my town is $4.69 a gallon. And the feds do not waste their time on this, they leave it to the locals...so you should be happy. You don’t think having our national parks and forests taken over by invading foreign nationals is a problem? McCain supporter?

[wideawake]

Gas is still $4 a gallon and rising, food inflation is through the roof, other energy costs are rising... and yet the feds have time to waste on this BS.

So, in other words, you believe that it is the federal government's job to regulate the price of fuel and food.

Fascinating.

[caver]

I feel safer now.

[GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco]

No, I think he meant that they're wasting our tax dollars by employing agents to eradicate a weed. Which weed anyone can and would grow in their window box were it legal and would drink less, which might cut down on domestic violence and traffic deaths.

Do you know what really ended prohibition? THE GOVERNMENT NEEDED REVENUE!!!!

[wideawake]

No, I think he meant that they're wasting our tax dollars by employing agents to eradicate a weed.

So you believe that the Department of the Interior should not be permitted to manage federal land, then?

BTW - if it really were a weed, there would be no need to lovingly cultivate it. "Weed" is a nickname, not a serious description.

Which weed anyone can and would grow in their window box were it legal

I wouldn't. And I hardly think I am alone.

and would drink less, which might cut down on domestic violence

I see. So you believe that the wifebeater is not to blame for his actions - it is the fault of the alcohol that may or may not be present in his system.

and traffic deaths

Because THC doesn't impair driving acumen? Really?

Do you know what really ended prohibition? THE GOVERNMENT NEEDED REVENUE!!!!

Fascinating theory, but you've got it exactly backwards.

Before Prohibition, 80% of US tax revenue was from excises.

Prohibition created an incentive by government to increase income taxes to offset the loss in excise income.

So income tax rates were raised to as high as 29% during Prohibition.

After Prohibition, income taxes were raised again to as high as 77% in some brackets.

Excise taxes on alcohol were small potatoes after Prohibition and did not significantly enhance government revenue at all. The age of excises as an engine of revenue was over.

[Riverman94610]

Whenever this marijuana question comes up,I think of my days at Sacramento State College back in 1967-68.
Sitting in the dorm room at Westbridge toking on weed while Cream or The Doors played on the stereo.Failing classes while thinking myself profound by replying,”Oh,wow,thats heavy”to my fellow stoners.Sad and shallow people thinking they were oh so cool.
Many went on to speed and coke.I didn’t.I got the hell out of Dodge and haven’t touched that crap in decades.

[timm22]

"Everybody gets up that's got jobs, and they go and they pay taxes, they do normal things, where these guys, they get up every day, they water their marijuana, they stay with it four months out of the year, and they're gonna bring in millions of dollars tax-free that the rest of us have to pay taxes on," Poore said. "Aside from that, this is the same drugs that's getting to the kids, different people across the state, and across the U.S."

So with everything going on in this story, Special Agent Poore decides to focus on taxes.

Nice to know where the government's priorities lie.

[pnh102]

So, in other words, you believe that it is the federal government's job to regulate the price of fuel and food.

So, in other words, you believe that it is the federal government's job to go after people who grow plants. Sounds pretty fascist to me.

[wideawake]

So, in other words, you believe that it is the federal government's job to go after people who grow plants. Sounds pretty fascist to me.

You do not know what the word "fascism" means, since you are confusing it with Constitutional government through republican institutions.

Do you believe it is right for people to grow crops on someone else's land without the owner's permission?

[TKDietz]

Man, if there was just some way to take away the incentive for these people to grow pot in our national forests. Why don’t illegal aliens ever grow corn or tobacco in our national forests?

[pnh102]

Yawn... you took my post and made a wacky conclusion, now I have done the same to yours. Have a nice day!

[cva66snipe]

Well I agree with what you're saying in principle. However in this case my bet is the growers are most likely locals. Cocke county is known for several things amongst them is moonshine, cock fighting, and pot patches. Also that general is area is where C-130's do their work ups. Not saying illegals isn't a possibility as there are a plenty of illegals to be had especially in Hamblen {next county north}. But the untaxed and unlicensed business has been in the business in that region long before the first illegals invaded the area. The illegals mostly take the jobs in Morristown and other places where industrial parks are.

The pot fields aren't the main problem in East Tennessee. The Meth Labs however are. Personally I think the cookers need a noose and a good high branch off a tall tree to swing from.

[wideawake]

Yawn... you took my post and made a wacky conclusion, now I have done the same to yours. Have a nice day!

It's a shame that you are unable to conduct a logical argument from first principles and are forced to resort to epithets and slogans instead.

[pnh102]

It's a shame that you are unable to conduct a logical argument from first principles and are forced to resort to epithets and slogans instead.

But everything I said is 100% true. The federal government isn't dealing with the problems that it should be dealing with. Instead, it is wasting our time and money on things of little consequence to anyone.

Maybe if the feds were doing something about the infestation of illegals in this country, then there would be much less of a problem with them growing pot in our parks.