Posted on 05/13/2010 9:11:14 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
MEXICO CITY (AP) – After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.
Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked.
"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Every one of us breaks some or another law every day - whether it be exceeding the posted speed limit while driving, jay-walking, whatever. Lawbreaking has totally lost any meaning.
I’m not thin skinned, and you misinterpreted my post if you think so. I simply support the civil society and try to follow board rules. It doesn’t make my positions weaker simply because I try to be polite. It’s possible (and arguably better) to discuss the issues without getting “dirty” from all the high kicking.
As to the other point of your post, I think the US Constitution gives the federal government the right to regulate (control) commerce between the states and between the US and other nations.
I do not think the federal government has the right to control intrastate commerce. I agree with Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent on Gonzales V. Raich.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1454.ZD1.html
I guess that makes me an opponent of the WOD in some aspects, but I’d still vote to restrict drug use at my state level. States clearly have the right to pass anti-drug laws.
... and to LEGALIZE them! That is apparently what burns your butt! Your puritanity has you bound and compounded it with legalism. Do you wear clerical collar?
My God likes us to have a good time. He has provided numerous ways to help us. Men like you are trying to take them all away, along with Him...
9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. 13Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14”Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
17While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.
WVKayaker: “People who smoke marijuana drive 56 in a 55 zone, knowing that it’s illegal, are dishonorable people who deserve no sympathy from law-abiding citizens.”
Are you seriously trying to make the point that all laws are equal, that the breaking of one has the same impact as the breaking of another? You could have substituted murder or rape instead of breaking the speed limit to make your point. Of course, that would have made your logical fallacy obvious.
No. I don’t think driving 56 in a 55 zone is the same thing as smoking dope.
No, I could not substitute them. Tht wold be fallcious. They're actual "harmful to others" CRIMES. Smoking pot is just your idea of a crime! You would like to control the behaviors with which you disagree. You are a statist. Adolph and Mao would be proud.
What a pitiful attempt at rebuttal.
All laws are equal in God's economy... and He came to fulfill them. I accept His promises... and live by His TWO rules!
Mark 7: 6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19 For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
20 He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' " -NIV
WVKayaker: “That is apparently what burns your butt! Your puritanity has you bound and compounded it with legalism.”
Where in the world did you get the idea I’m a Puritan? I already wrote I agreed with California’s medical marijuana law that was overturned in Gonzales V. Raich. I agree with Justice Thomas’s dissent.
WVKayaker: “My God likes us to have a good time. He has provided numerous ways to help us. Men like you are trying to take them all away, along with Him...”
How does my opposition to some drugs equate to take away ALL ways to have a good time and divide you from the Lord?????
You keep quoting scripture, but I don’t think it means what you think it does. This isn’t about God’s laws. It’s about government, which is ordained by God, and our requirement to obey the laws of the land. The only exception is for laws that directly contradict God’s laws. Laws against narcotic use do not violate scripture.
Pot is not a narcotic. It is used as an intoxicant, and is a medicinal herb. It has no relationship to narcotics, other than by gum't classification for the WOD purposes. Narcotics are derived from poppies.
By your reasoning, everything Obama is doing is "ordained by God", and you are willing to bend over? Enjoy your liberty to oppress others while you can!
It wouldn’t matter if it was ice cream or pot. Either way, Christians are obliged to follow the laws of the land. This is a matter for Caesar in accordance with scripture. If it’s illegal, Christians must not smoke dope.
Our spiritual freedom is not carte blanche to do as we wish.
I disagree. PCP, Meth, LSD, etc have no bisiness being legal for human ingestion/recreation. ANymore than Restaurants should be able to serve human flesh.
Ergo, since abortion is legal, we should all practice it... or at least send our taxes to DC to pay for them. Your reasoning abilities leave a lot to your imagination. Speeding is illegal. Do you drive faster than the signs allow? You must not do so.
Obama wants you to fund all of his dreams. He will require you to do so with Gum't decrees. Send me some of those funds for my dreams, would you? I have a dog to feed.
BTW, I really don’t want to create a stumbling block for you. If you honestly feel led to smoke dope, that is between you and the Lord, but consider the impact it would have on your witness if you are caught. Nevertheless, you should do as God directs in all matters.
I see nothing in Scripture to deny it's use. Your right to not use something is yours. If everybody else in the room hit's the joint, is it a sin? I have been there, done that. I will be with God in Paradise, since I have His guarantee. My testimony and witness is fine. I'm a Southern Baptist Deacon... and I most recently taught the graduating class (little old ladies that KNOW the Scriptures best!).
I'm not worried about your sniveling demands, nor about those who know me becoming disillusioned! When in Rome, you shoot Roman candles...
WVKayaker: “Ergo, since abortion is legal, we should all practice it...”
Certainly you know better than this. I think you’re only using these arguments because you want to be argumentative. Government can place additional restrictions on us, but it has no authority to permit us to violate God’s laws.
Yes, we are supposed to try and follow all laws, both small and great. It’s unfortunate that government has passed so many laws that it’s almost impossible to avoid breaking them. That doesn’t mean we should take the law frivolously.
BTW, nice dog.
My sniveling demands? Pray tell how my advice to follow the laws of the land and obey scripture equates to whining and complaining or places an unrighteous demand on you or anyone else. Remember, I’m a Christian like yourself, your brother in Christ. Have I posted something here that violates scripture?
Perhaps so. How many more of your neighbors are you willing to kill in pursuit of that goal? The ends do not justify the means.
Or has the bible been rewritten to say "Thou shalt not kill except when enforcing drug laws".
The myth of "the pusher". It's always been a myth.
The drug war is being pushed by social so-called conservatives here because they take no responsibility over their own children.
I despise big government in any form and I have as little love for social so-called conservative big government as I do for Johnson/Carter/Clinton/Obama big government.
I'm libertarian leaning, but I learned from living in Mindanao that government is a necessary evil. Someone has to build basic infrastructure.
I have started a number of businesses (some have even succeeded, which provides a little affluence), successfully represented myself in three civil suits in US Fedrool Court, and currently run a private charitable foundation. It is my goal to "starve the pig". My profits go to a family trust and the foundation (which builds schools and medical facilities in West Africa). I get $956 a month from Social Security. I live on it, plus savings. I pay little in taxes. I'd rather not pay any! I know how to spend money quite well...
The Bible doesn’t prohibit killing. It prohibits murder. If killing is against God’s law, He violated His own commandment by ordering the Jews to destroy cities in the Promised Land. Not only that, but God killed people Himself. Remember the flood? Is God sinful?
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