Member since 2 years ago
22 ideas posted
274 comments 307 votes
15 votes
I disagree2nd major billboard company rejects eligibility campaign Lamar Outdoor says 'it's misleading to indicate there's question about president's birth ...more »
2nd major billboard company rejects eligibility campaign
Lamar Outdoor says 'it's misleading to indicate there's question about president's birth certificate'
Is Lamar also a part of the larger conspiracy?
Birthers weigh in.
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-71 votes
I disagreeThis is the information they don't want us to see- new information HAS BEEN RELEASED about THE REAL CONSPIRACY... prepare yourself, THIS WILL ...more »
This is the information they don't want us to see- new information HAS BEEN RELEASED about THE REAL CONSPIRACY... prepare yourself, THIS WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. There is no way I can post all the info here without being immediately flagged for moderation- THIS IS IMPORTANT.
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-103 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-94 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-97 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-96 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-90 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-87 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-81 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-82 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-74 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-70 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-78 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-75 votes
I disagreeI'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You ...more »
I'm done- you have ruined this place for everyone. I fully believe that they GAVE you the number 3 spot to shut you up, but you keep going. You can't just participate like normal people, and no proof that is offered is ever going to be good enough.
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-84 votes
I disagreeOK now that you guys have made it to the top WITHOUT BEING CENSORED can you please (with a right wing cherry on top) stop it with all the duplicate ...more »
OK now that you guys have made it to the top WITHOUT BEING CENSORED can you please (with a right wing cherry on top) stop it with all the duplicate posting and give the rest of us a chance to look at something else for a little while?
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16 votes
I disagreeOpen government dialogue, any dialogue for that matter, requires that participants agree to follow the proper rules of exchange. If these rules ...more »
Open government dialogue, any dialogue for that matter, requires that participants agree to follow the proper rules of exchange. If these rules aren't followed in debate, then what was open dialogue melts down into common bickering and name calling.
Please limit posting of duplicate ideas. There is a proper way to use this site. There are plenty of posts already asking for Obama's birth certificate. Please vote on those ideas, and comment there if you wish. The reposting and duplication of these ideas is doing nothing to further your cause, and from the looks of it many are being removed by moderators shortly after creation.
The language being used is becoming more and more threatening and overtly racist, and contrary to the message posted on the main page this morning these posts are still springing up by the hundreds. I fully support any and everyone's right to post their ideas and concerns, but continued refusal to post in the proper manner destroys the system of free exchange.
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-95 votes
I disagree-23 votes
I disagreeHere's a new idea- shut up with all this. I feel like Rush must have gone and let his loonies out of their cages. Lets talk about issues that ...more »
Here's a new idea- shut up with all this. I feel like Rush must have gone and let his loonies out of their cages. Lets talk about issues that actually have some base in reality. Oh, let's also try to spell correctly, form complete sentences when we type comments, and remember to take our meds as soon as we read this.
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0 votes
I disagreeWhere are all the green jobs you keep talking about? I haven't seen anything yet except a steady decline in our fossil fueled economy... We need ...more »
Where are all the green jobs you keep talking about? I haven't seen anything yet except a steady decline in our fossil fueled economy... We need these green jobs to replace the ones that are being lost- so people can pay their mortgages in this "mortgage crisis." I see some new hybrid cars coming in from Japan, but that's a Japanese green economy.
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-36 votes
I disagreeThis if for all you UNAmericans who don't understand the idea of personal freedom. Sugar in the amounts that we consume is toxic to the body ...more »
This if for all you UNAmericans who don't understand the idea of personal freedom. Sugar in the amounts that we consume is toxic to the body and carries a direct link to Type 2 Diabetes that can lead to kidney failure and heart disease. So let's get everyone on board for banning American Apple Pie! Or else wind up blind amputees having to inject yourselves daily with the hormones you no longer naturally produce.
If marijuana is illegal, then apple pie should be as well!
We all have an interest in protecting freedom- the Constitution was not set up to define laws based on opinion or moral objection
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-44 votes
I disagreeThis if for all you UNAmericans who don't understand the idea of personal freedom. Sugar in the amounts that we consume is toxic to the body ...more »
This if for all you UNAmericans who don't understand the idea of personal freedom. Sugar in the amounts that we consume is toxic to the body and carries a direct link to Type 2 Diabetes that can lead to kidney failure and heart disease. So let's get everyone on board for banning American Apple Pie! Or else wind up blind amputees having to inject yourselves daily with the hormones you no longer naturally produce.
If marijuana is illegal, then apple pie should be as well!
We all have an interest in protecting freedom- the Constitution was not set up to define laws based on opinion or moral objection.
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14 votes
I disagreePresident Obama, There is a question looming in more than a few minds over the last few months about the president that we helped to elect and ...more »
President Obama,
There is a question looming in more than a few minds over the last few months about the president that we helped to elect and the change that he so eagerly promised. It was the number one issue on Change.gov, and it was the number one issue at your first town hall. We are concerned about marijuana prohibition- easy to laugh off by some, but a very serious question to those in want for medical purposes or imprisoned for its use. This issue is equally as important to those living in states close to the Mexican border where greedy cartels have set up shop to draw in increasingly higher profits that are used in turn to circumvent our border security, to acquire weapons to drive competition away, and to further escalate the profit margin. In the meantime, we continue in a pattern of insanity- repeating the same failed behaviors over and again, and each time expecting a new and better result.
This is a serious issue.
Currently only 13 states have compassionate use laws for medical uses, and only 12 states have varying decriminalization guidelines for users either medical or recreational. This puts the majority of the U.S. in zero tolerance states on both counts. The federal government has offered nothing but contempt towards states’ decisions to develop their own more liberal laws surrounding cannabis, and in cases where compassionate use laws have been ratified into law by voters the federal government has repeatedly taken a stance contrary to the wishes of the people by arresting patients and providers alike. What happened to the idea of my body- my choice?
According to the FBI’s annual report for 2007, marijuana accounted for a total of 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the U.S.- this amounts to 874,570 arrests. Of these, 775,145 were for simple possession. That is 775,145 American citizens arrested, handcuffed, booked, and taken to jail for being found in possession of marijuana. On the other hand, roughly half that number of people were arrested for possession of cocaine (in any form) and heroin combined. If you look at the number of arrests for sales of cocaine and heroin, the number drops far lower- accounting for only 7.9% of drug arrests in 2007. In 2005 (the latest data reported by the FBI), the national total of arrests for violent crime was 603,503- the number of violent crimes reported in that same year was 1,287,981. Over half of the reported violent crimes that year went unsolved. This is no laughing matter.
The United States started down this road over seventy years ago with policies that are now known to have their beginnings in racist objectives against Mexican and African – Americans who at that point were the primary users of cannabis as an intoxicant. In these seventy years we have seen much evidence, both scientific and experiential, that the claims made for the initial drive towards prohibition were largely falsified, however, these same reasons are given today as if they were backed by sound science. We have heard the arguments against legalization range from sexual aggression and violent behavior to gateway drug and amotivational syndrome. Law enforcement officials consistently and blindly chant this mantra of ignorant propaganda even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The current school of thought seems to be centered around: 1. The idea that marijuana is a gateway drug leading to more harmful substances, and 2. That it will steal a users motivation to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Both of these claims I reject.
In rebuttal to the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug I offer the idea that prohibition is the real gateway to more addictive substances. The same cartels and gangs that control much of the marijuana trade in the United States also control the trade of other substances such as cocaine and heroin. It stands to reason that if one must seek the underworld to find one then they will certainly encounter the other. In order to make a larger profit, these organized criminals will push the drug that has the highest profit potential- like any business or salesman trying to maximize profit revenues. So, in the end the casual user who might have contributed a couple of hundred dollars yearly to these organizations by way of marijuana is now introduced to a host of new substances that can result in physiological addiction. What this means is that a dollar a day luxury is transformed into a personal contribution of tens of thousands of dollars yearly to the illegal drug trade and a life now ruined by addiction. Prohibition is what sets this all into motion. It is what provides the introduction, and it is what provides the profitability. In regards to your own use of marijuana and cocaine- did marijuana drive you to want to use cocaine or was marijuana merely what got you into the pusher’s house where the cocaine was first encountered?
Amotivational syndrome is largely put to rest by the headlines. “Michael Phelps Smokes Pot” Is there any basis for this claim that marijuana somehow destroys motivation now that we all know that an Olympian with umpteen gold medals is a user? As a second and altogether more personal example, I also add that the three most current past presidents have also admitted to some recreational use of marijuana- though one didn’t inhale (he also did not have sex with that woman). With these examples I believe we can see a pattern in which at least four people, all from very different walks of life, were able to achieve very lofty goals in spite of their encounters with cannabis.
The laws are very obviously baseless, and are creating more problems than our society can fix. Marijuana offers no proven ill to society, and its users are labeled criminals only to satisfy archaic legislation based on prejudiced misinformation. To reiterate: According to the FBI’s annual report for 2007, marijuana accounted for a total of 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the U.S.- this amounts to 874, 570 arrests. Of these, 775, 145 were for simple possession. In my state of Alabama the first conviction for possession is a misdemeanor, a second conviction for simple possession of marijuana is a felony. This is a very serious problem- felons can’t vote, felons can’t receive financial aid for college, felons turn back to crime because they can’t find more viable options. This is essentially a victimless crime for which people are paying with their lives. Victims in this case are created by laws that should be there to protect them. Instead, we have created, through prohibition, an entire sector of political prisoners from within our own borders that is composed of our own citizenry. These are otherwise law abiding citizens who have been labeled criminals based on consumption of an unprocessed herb. If they were criminals in any other sense they would have been arrested for other crimes.
Alcohol prohibition in the early twentieth century taught as a lot about organized crime, although it seems we learned very little. As they say, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Prohibition built an empire for the mob. When the laws went into effect the regulations were taken away, and during this time prices rose as products became less pure. The longer the laws stayed in effect the more violent the struggles became to control the illegal industry. This same story is now playing out along our borders. The profits are immense. Just like the mafia of old, these organizations are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their control over a trade made possible by prohibition. They are making huge profits, using a share of those profits to arm themselves, and in turn are using those weapons to drive out competition and drive up their profit margin. These weapons are also being used to drive out law enforcement and intimidate government officials- sound familiar?
Organized crime relies on the idea that Money=Guns=Power. This triad is not hard to destroy, but it will take some changes in how the government addresses the issues. You could fight them with your own guns- but for every man you imprison there are many to take his place. We have tried this and failed. You could take their guns- but these are even more easily replaced. We have also tried this and failed. You have to attack the money side of the triangle- without money there is nothing to perpetuate the cycle. Without money the guns become irreplaceable, without money the power to draw in new soldiers is effectively taken away. If you take away the money, you have stolen the means as well as the incentive. We have approached this, but our plan of attack was wrong.
If we look to history, how did we defeat organized crime when we last faced it down? Did arrests of users and bartenders curb the problems? No. Then how were the problems solved? We legalized and regulated their big money makers. In return, and simply stated, we exchanged the speakeasy for the local pub and back room gambling operations for Las Vegas. If we apply that same logic to the current situation it stands to reason that legalization and regulation are going to be the answer to the current problem as well. Legalization of marijuana opens up a wealth of opportunity to help fix the current epidemic of crime and addiction. First, you are taking money away from the criminal enterprise on two levels: directly by taking away any profits from the sale and distribution of marijuana, and indirectly by decreasing exposure to the other drugs they are pushing. Second, regulation and taxation would put more money to work to help educate and rehabilitate addicts. In effect, you have stemmed the flow of new users of hard drugs by limiting exposure, and have begun to decrease the numbers of current users through mental health and rehabilitation efforts. In both instances you have taken away from the financial gain of the criminal elements.
A fervent supporter of alcohol prohibition, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. wrote this when he realized that the policy he had championed was both damaging and non-sustainable as long as the country’s population was not also in overwhelming support:
When the Eighteenth Amendment was passed I earnestly hoped,—with a host of advocates of temperance,—that it would be generally supported by public opinion and thus the day be hastened when the value to society of men with minds and bodies free from the undermining effects of alcohol would be generally realized. That this has not been the result, but rather that drinking generally has increased; that the speak-easy has replaced the saloon, not only unit for unit, but probably two-fold if not three-fold; that a vast army of lawbreakers has been recruited and financed on a colossal scale; that many of our best citizens, piqued at what they regarded as an infringement of their private rights, have openly and unabashed disregarded the Eighteenth Amendment; that as an inevitable result respect for the law has been greatly lessened; that crime has increased to an unprecedented degree —I have slowly and reluctantly come to believe.
I am not unmindful of the great blessing which the abolition of the saloon has been to our country or of certain other benefits that lave resulted from the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment. It is my profound conviction, however, that these benefits, important and far reaching as they are, are more than outweighed by the evils that have developed and flourished since its adoption, evils which, unless promptly checked, are likely to lead to conditions unspeakably worse than those which prevailed before.
It is not to be expected that the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment will in itself end all these evils and restore public respect for law. I believe, however, that its repeal is a prerequisite to the attainment of that goal.
Essentially, we gave it a try, but we are now seeing what happens when you impede a man’s right to legally choose for himself- not very pretty.
The Constitution of the United States gives us the right to think and choose for ourselves, the Constitution should defend our rights against those trying to limit them, and as long as my actions don’t encroach upon another individual’s rights or his upon mine, those actions should be legal by virtue of the Constitution. If we are going to preach to the world about freedom, shouldn’t we set the example by living free?
I urge you to open the debate on rethinking U.S. marijuana policy.
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