'Dam you Bill O'Reilly

Talk about your "wonderfully naive" ideas. O'Reilly and his panel of fake experts don't seem to have a clue, as usual.

Godverdomme, you moederneuker.

How much wasted, how much lost?

In reading this story about the triumph of law enforcement over marijuana smugglers, two questions occur to me. How much money was spent on breaking this ring which was smuggling a drug used by a huge, non-addicted, swath of the population? And how much was lost in not being able to tax a billion dollars in pot sales?

Summer harvest

An interesting postcard from Kevin Lynch in the Netherlands. In this country we drive through summertime fields of ripening corn, tomatoes, squash and beans. This is a field of prime Netherlands' hemp. A taxable crop which law enforcement does not have to worry about.

Milk, the gateway drug

When the FBI comes to Capitol Hill peddling myths about marijuana, they are likely to meet young, knowledgeable representatives who aren't going to buy the bullshit anymore.

And just what are they smokin' up there?

According to Christine Stuart at Connecticut News Junkie, Republican CT State Senator Toni Boucher of Wilton single-handedly killed reduced sentences for marijuana possession using a good old-fashioned filibuster.

So, now we will continue to waste $11 million in enforcement each year for arrests for possession of less than an ounce of a mind-altering substance which wreaks less havoc on society than the legally sanctioned substances like alcohol and tobacco.

Pro-marijuana forces could learn a lesson about public relations. A threatening email from the VP of the CT chapter of NORML (now disbanded), did the cause considerable harm. What can one expect from an individual who wears a t-shirt that reads: Well hung.

The facebook president doesn't quite get it

I saw a bit of Barack Obama's live webcast virtual town hall (a rebroadcast doesn't yet seem to be available) on the web today, and I was basically impressed. We have a smart, engaging leader who is determined to use the communications tools at hand to get connected with constituents, of which he doesn't seem to be afraid. George Bush always gave the impression that he was waiting for someone to throw a shoe at him.

While Barack Obama is showing himself to be the most progressive president ever, I do have a few quibbles (and I admit they are based on only a partial viewing of the virtual town hall).

What's with the stupid hand-held stick mic the president carried around. This microphone made Obama seem like a Maury Povich or Jerry Springer wanna be. There are very elegant, functional lavalier (clip on lapel) mics that would have let him wander both hands free, instead on taking the locked crooked elbow look of some cheesy talk-show host.

More egregious was the joking dismissal of a web question voted to be one of the top vote getters on the White House website. The White House compiled thousands of questions, narrowed them down, then let web visitors vote on those they wanted to be addressed. More than three and a half million visitors cast votes.

So when Obama said he needed to at least acknowledge a question that rose to the top of the list, it was a shame that he dismissed it with a laugh. The question concerned wheter the president thought the legalization of marijuana would help the budget by reducing law enforcement costs, and by opening a lucrative, taxable trade.

Obama laughed and said that he didn't know what the question said about web users, but that no, he didn't feel the legalization of marijuana would help the economy.

Not only did he insult the very people who made the webcast town meeting successful, he dismissed out of hand, an idea whose time has come.

Sorry Barack, but you tripped twice on that question.

Decriminalize? Dudes, legalize it.

According to what's left of the Hartford Courant, the state legislature is considering decriminalizing marijuna, thereby saving $11 million in law enforcement costs annually.

Under the proposed legislation, stoners caught with an ounce or less would be charged with an infraction that comes with $131 ticket...whoa, lovely Rita meter maid!

Imagine the money that could be saved if pot was legalized.

Sold over the counter, the "gateway" aspect of a corner pusher pushing harder would disappear, and marijuana could be taxed like alcohol which is a very dangerous drug indeed.