The New Hampshire state representative who made headlines last year when he e-mailed a constituent suggesting that he snitch out his marijuana-smoking friends is at it again.
Delmar Burridge (D-Keene) was the lone voice in opposition Thursday to a bill which would reduce the penalties for possession of one-quarter ounce of marijuana or less in the state. The bill, which would reduce the penalty from a misdemeanor to a violation with a maximum $200 fine, passed a subcommittee of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in a 3-1 vote.
“Today’s vote reflects a growing consensus among legislators that New Hampshire’s penalties for simple marijuana possession are unnecessarily harsh,” Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy, said in a news release. “These representatives have taken an honest look at the facts, and they’ve agreed to support punishments which come closer to fitting the offense.”
In opposing the bill, Burridge is reported to have said, “I’m Nancy Reagan: ‘Just Say No.’”
Burridge, it seems, is one of the few left who still wants to keep prisons overcrowded with people who haven’t hurt anybody and don’t belong there. Ironic since the jail in his county is overcrowded and the superintendent of that same jail, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, doesn’t want marijuana consumers there. It seems Burridge is one of the few left who want to deny lifesaving medicine to people who desperately need it. And it seems Burridge is one of the few left who doesn’t care how many innocent people get killed in this ridiculous “war on drugs.”
Just say no to common sense, compassion and decency.
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76 Comments
Many Harvard grads and others with high salaries have no common sense. It is a gift that one must learn with hard work and dedication to giving a damn. Those who care about freedom have common sense. It is still unfair how Ron Paul is being treated. They treat him badly because, he is the smartest person running and they do not want other’s to obtain his intelligence. That would only give them more freedom!!! Ron Paul could change the world for the better! Please this november use your common sense everyone or you may end up dead!!!
he misses the crucial aspect of “just saying no”, which is having the *choice* to begin with. using the law to distinguish between vice and virtue robs people of the ability to be virtuous by removing choice. google Lysander Spooner’s article “vices are not crimes” for a really good dissertation on this topic.
it’s weird, i was just thinking about this guy yesterday while watching “Breaking Bad”; a guy said something about getting “dimed” on..
i’m writing in Paul on my ballot this november, btw. if nothing else it makes a statement. do they count such votes even if Paul doesn’t get the nomination and doesn’t run as independent, as he says he won’t?
i figure the Dems will sweep the Repubs in november, and i’d pick Obama over McCain, so my vote will come off Obama’s tally, and i figure he can afford to lose it, and i get to make a statement.
I’m thinking there are going to be lots of people working to get Delmar Burridge kicked out of “office”…perhaps he could even be run out of the state…even the nation…whales in international waters need fed…
I think someone in the government killed a realitive of Ron Paul who demanded his freedom and was unarmed. This is the reason it is important to vote for freedom!! I have been researching him and he has had some very interesting relatives who stood thier ground not only today but, over 100 years ago. I will not name them because, that is his job to do if he wants to. “Breaking Bad” is a classic example of the depressed areas of the Us where there is not enough good paying work that drived people over the edge but, truly it is thier road to death and destruction by falling for that kind of lifestyle. Money is important but, so are ethics. Ron Paul is a prime example of good ethics in leadership but, he should be given a voice!!!
let’s do give Ron Paul a voice but let’s also cut that poor teacher some slack. he cooked a quality product that performed as advertised and sold it for a reasonable price to consenting adults who valued his services. i don’t see anything unethical there.
putting him or his customers in *cages*, on the other hand, is *criminal* and it’s high time (no pun intended) we get off our moral high horses and start acknowledging it.
who do you think is worse, the kid who traded her some stuff for a little lap ride (voluntary contractual agreement) or the DEA goon who mocked and berated her and threatned to jail her just for doing her thing? one provides her with what she desires, the other threatens to brutalise her. yea that DEA dude’s a real *hero* alright. “doing what he loves”, no doubt.. frikkin sociopaths..
Some people just do what they have to do to survive no matter how bad it is?? Who is the hero the person who does nothing or the person who does what they have to do? It is a hard call but, who is right? Who is wrong?? Is it for us to judge?? Are we perfect??
dunno who is right and who is wrong but i know one thing that isn’t wrong and that’s *drug use*. only when we kick our addiction to meddling in others’ lives will this insanity end. “bad for society”, “lost productivity”.. since when did we become a nation of Bolsheviks? if no theft or assault is committed and the act is based on informed consent then there IS NO CRIME.
as far as i’m concerned drug dealers are patriots who keep the spice flowing at great risk to themselves, and when the War on Freedom is finally over i think they deserve a MONUMENT like any other fallen hero who died or was imprisoned while fighitng the good fight.
does anyone here know why drug ise is legal but drug sales and possession aren’t? because the initial attempts to outlaw drug use were LAUGHED OUT OF COURT
(sorry hit the enter key)
as i was saying, the initial attmpts to outlaw drug use were struck down as unconstitutional, so they came at it using “commerce” regulations in complete disrespect for the spirit of the Constitution. the Commerce Clause was designed to prevent states from passing protectionist tariffs that would inhibit interstate commerce and hurt the ecomony, and they totally abused it to instead quash the market in an entire category of commodities. they used a law that was designed to protect the free market to inhibit the market – the very thing it was designed to prevent.
not surpisingly, the Prohibitionists borrowed this tactic from the gun grabbers who used the same shameful trick to subvert the Second Amendment. all in the name not of protecting Liberty, but “protecting society”.
if that’s not National Socialism, i don’t know what is.
I have to disagree with you on something Susan.
Addictions, no matter what they are, can cause a lot of misery on the part of the addict, their families, their friends and even their pets.(Just had to throw the pets in there for the animal lovers.) I think it’s a stretch to call someone who is more than willing to profit from that misery, a patriotic hero.
They are just giving the people what they want but it’s no different than selling guns in Rhwanda, chemicals to the Nazi gas chambers or asian sex slaves to the shops on the bad side of town. Where do you draw the line? The market is there and it’s a free world, so why not fill it to make a buck? But does that make you a hero?
I know that there are illegal drugs out there, that if used responsibly, can be quite beneficial to the user, and I think that in a situation like that, most cops(except for the bastards who busted Willie) will look the other way if they have a choice. I’ve seen it with the local hippies here who grow their own. But I don’t think there is a drug dealer out there who would refuse to sell you a hit if he or she didn’t think you would use it responsibly.
It’s usually only when someone moves to make a profit from the misuse of a drug and the misery it causes, that the law tends to get involved. Or at least that was the original intent behind the laws. Now we have bad cops and crooked municipalities who want to seize your house and car to make a buck.
I know I’m in a gray area here with no defined lines of right and wrong or good guys and bad guys. The same arguments for control could be made about dealers in fast cars and motorcycles and manufacturers of junk food and soft drinks and it would never end until the government controlled our every move. I realize that. None of this is the government’s business (except for the asian sex slaves) but then neither is welfare, health care, old age pension or public schools as I have recently become aware. Thank you very much.
I guess I’m just trying to say that compared to Simon Birch who gave his life to save 20 kids from a sinking school bus, the local pusher isn’t hero material. Have to keep it all in perspective.
P.S. I took Michael’s hint yesterday and found your picture. You weren’t messing with me. Even with your eyes buggy and your toungue stuck out you’re a heartbreaker. And smart too, got the whole package. Keep up the good work.
Wait just a minute. I didn’t advise anybody to go become a stalker! :)
I’m not stalker material. Couldn’t afford to travel that far anyway if I was, which I’m not. Just curious. As Tom Petty says, she’s a complex kid.
actually the initial intent was persecuting racial minorities mixed with a fear of them enslaving our weak-willed women (who always need protection from their own wantonness) but yeah, i’ve known cops that took a pragmatic approach to it. i think you get the more realistic ones in big cities where they’ve got actual crime to worry about, whereas the task-force types just make a sport out of it.
LEAP is right when they say it puts a rift between police and the public. believe it or not i wanted to be a cop when i was little. wanted to catch bad guys. now you see how i talk about them, even though i know some personally that are total sweeties. my drug use is long past but i still view them as “them”, not “us”. and that’s ashame.
they say “cocaine is God’s way of telling you you’re making too much money” and i think Prohibition is God’s way of telling us we don’t have enough to worry about.
and yeah many dealers are profiteers for sure, but then so was Sam Adams, Brewer and Patriot ™ (lol).. he was fine with the Crown til it started using the tea tax to subordinate the colonies and sinking his smuggling ships! THAT was the last straw!
back when i used to use, i didn’t sell because i just didn’t have the moxy for it, but always felt guilty about that because i felt if you were gonna expect people to help you score, you had a responsibility to become part of the supply line and always admired those who did so, even if it was just for the money, because they enabled us to do what we loved. i certainly never felt victimised, except by the police.
so i do my part with activism, which, other than the fact i’m now a caregiver and simply don’t move in those circles anymore, is another reason for my complete sobriety, because it’s required for this mission, if for no other reason than credibility. and when i do “play out” (do dj gigs), i can be an example that drugs aren’t necessary to party, with my past use giving me credibility in that sphere as well. they know i’m no choir-girl.
and yeah, it’s a fine line between exploiting someone’s weakness and empowering them, but i actually *have* known dealers who’ve cut people off, FWIW. one was the salt of the earth who owned a legit business and was putting another person’s kids thru college, and was basically being prevailed upon by his friends to hook them up because he had a connection, and you know how that snowballs – soon *their* friends were doing the same thing, and before you know it this saint of a man is taking a 30-year vacation in Club Fed for trafficking because he wouldn’t roll over like his friends did to him. so many lives destroyed, and not by the drugs.
you really can’t quite grasp the evil of Prohibition til you can put a face on it, i think, but when you see things like this, despite the existence of really unscrupulous types in the biz, you just know it’s wrong. and when you realise that some basic commercial regulation would put the cut-throats out of business overnight, as well as providing more protection to addicts and children and saving us billions in the process, you just wanna scream.
awwwww stalking me? *blushing* why Robert, you *do* care, hehe..
re-reading your post, Bob, i think selling gas for Nazi death chambers and slaves to sex shops is different because those involve non-consensual acts of murder and kidnapping against others.
the addict is only directly hurting themselves (if anyone) and not *always* hurting friends and family. often, yes, but only in abstract ways (ie: not assaulting or stealing from them, things for which we already have laws, as we do for child neglect or endangerment). but we’re on the same page as far as legal involvement, it seems, so no conflict there.
i acknowledge and respect what you say about how addiction damages lives, Bob. seen it firsthand and felt the pinch myself on occasion. not trying to belittle anyone’s suffering, just trying to put it in perspective. it’s tragic but is *nothing* on the order of selling sex slaves (violating slave’s consent) or gas to be used by someone to kill someone else (complicity in non-consensual act against another).
now if the Nazis were gassing *themselves* with the gas, then it would equate to drug dealing because the consenting party (the Nazis) would be the end user. no foul there.
same with the guns to Rwandans. to equate that to drug dealing would only be logical if the Rwandans were gonna shoot *themselves* with the guns. again no foul. but if they’re gonna shoot *others* with them (violates consent of the person getting shot) then you’re an accessory, as you would be if you sold drugs knowing they were gonna be forced on others. but since that is *very* rare, you can reasonably assume that that will not happen, so no foul.
finally, selling the sex slaves to the shops violates the consent of the slave, which would only equate to drug dealing if drugs had feelings (”no, please, don’t sell me to *them*.. they’re gonna *inject* me!!”).
consent of all involved is the litmus.
i guess i just have a hard time viewing addicts as victims, unless maybe they’re severely retarded and incapable of making informed decisions. if they need help, fine, but they need to own their shit. they have a *problem*, but victimhood isn’t it.
and kids? well we know how to safely and reliably reduce their access, but it involves a cultural paradigm shift that will be slow in coming. until the day ID is required for purchases, however, honest information would help there, rather than ONDCP propaganda which only discredits the government. there’s always a grain of truth in their ads, but it’s lost in the hyperbole and kids just treat it as more cluelessness from squares.
unfortunately it’s not ONDCP’s mission to inform; their mission is to scare. they themselves admit that they lie for this purpose. but it doesn’t scare, it’s just ignored as comical while accurate information is suppressed. it’s also their mission to fight attempts at re-legalisation, which is illegal for a government agency to do.
IF they made them legal there would be less problems, murder, addiction and crimes because, Dr.’s would be required to moniter drug use. “Breaking Bad” was good last night. Be sure if you like it to see the next on on AMC next sunday night. He is a great actor!! Drugs that are not monitered can ruin lives that is why we must have some control that will actually give more freedom for people to use what drugs they want without fear of prosecution!!!President Bush was a Snow head and it made him feel better. IT took away all is pain!!
It took away all Bush’s pain. Pain is a horrible thing that needs to be dealt with.
Pain patients and doctors are another group cruelly persecuted in the Drug War. doctors get arrested as “drug dealers” simply for prescribing enough opiates to control severe chronic pain like MS or back pain so people can function. doctors are typically sentenced to LIFE, and worse still, their patients are ALL branded “junkies” by the medical community and no other doctor will treat them for fear of arrest for treating them, and previously functional patients have to go on disability and live in pain.
the sickest part is that this happens even to terminally ill patients who’ve only months to live. they are denied adequate dosages of their meds for fear of them becoming addicted, which for someone like that doesn’t matter a lick. but our puritan psychosis says addiction is “evil” and that it is better to let a stricken patient die in agony.
things like this expose the true face of Prohibition, which claims to be about harm reduction but at bottom is just mean-spiritedness.
this is the same crowd that crowed that said we shouldn’t be sexually promiscuous because even condoms can’t stop HPV, but when an HPV vaccine came out, they tried to block it. why? because it could lead to promiscuity!
it’s the same with pot: the reason it’s the most hated by them isn’t because it’s a gateway drug, it’s because it’s the *least harmful*, and they don’t *want* us to have a harmless way to get high because they don’t apptove of getting high, period. they’d like pot better if it WAS dagerous because then it would have a built-in deterrent that they could crow about. but their real problem is with the concept itself. they think God wants us to suffer and getting high is cheating him out of his rightful due.
here’s a true story from the Pain Relief Netowrk: a man was at death’s door, likely just a few hours to live. when his family begged the stern, fundamentalist nurse for more morphine, she said he’d already had some recently and that “death is an important event and he needs to be awake for it”. when they pleaded that he was suffering miserably, the nurse responded snidely, “Christ suffered”. fortunately the next shift nurse wasn’t a fundie and stopped the man’s pain immediately.
THIS is what we’re up against, people, and why all logical arguments about harm reduction fall on deaf ears. the opposition are hateful, sadistic mental midgets whose fear of mortality translates into a fear of an angry God whom they feel can only be appeased by our suffereing, and demand that we all live according to their pathetic, cowardly superstition, and join them in their ritual self-debasement, or else.
the same argument was initially given against surgical anesthesia, btw. they were especially concerned about women feeling sexual pleasure while out, and said, “any self-respecting woman would suffer any agony rather than be seen in such a state”.
it’s also a control issue based on the fear of self-gratification making people less productive because they’re less dependent on social approval for their happiness, which cuts the slave-drivers out of the loop. our contentment is the enemy of these people, whose consumerist economy thrives on a state of perpetual malaise. happy people are also less fearful, and that alone makes them harder to control.
it’s important to understand these core issues to be effective with our arguments, which should stress things like Christ’s compassion and mercy, and memes like “happy people are more productive”.
it’s a war on happiness – a war on FUN – so to sell harm reduction, we must overcome the primitive fear of the chaotic energy of happiness, and clings to malaise as a bulwark against it. it’s ritualisd in religion but religion isn’t the cause it’s a symptom. we must find memes that un-demonise happiness, by which i mean inner contentment, not externally-dependent, short-term gratification. it needs to be ok to be happy even if you’re not rich. ok to be “just happy”. right now that’s not ok in our society.
I understand what you are saying about the mutual consent. I was just going to the extreme to make a point.
But you have to consider that some cultures don’t view it the same way. A woman’s consent or a child’s consent doesn’t matter in some cultures so they look at the slave trade in a different light.
It was the same with the Nazi’s. To them, the Jews and Gypsies and so on were sub human so their consent didn’t matter either.
Selling slaves and gas in those cultures could be compared to dealing drugs. The buyer is using the product to make his world a better, happier place and he feels that no one of consequence is being harmed.
Basically, I agree with you. I don’t care what people do as long as it doesn’t affect me and as long as they take responsibility for their actions. But we have to think about the people taking those actions too. Drivers, athletes, doctors, social workers, etc. There are public fraud and safety issues.
What do you think about company drug policies? I think it is well within the rights of an employer to say what his employees can or cannot use on the job if he has a hunch that it will affect job safety, productivity or product quality. My belief has always been that the boss can do whatever he wants. If I don’t like it I won’t work for him. Or her. I’ve quit more than one job like that. There’s a new angle for ya. Even if all drugs were legal, there would still have to be some industry regulations.
It would be pretty complicated in today’s world.
This isn’t going to be the same without Glen. Maybe he’ll be back. This is quite addictive. There should be a law.
ha yeah Bob, i love that you are always willing to “go there” :) the edge is always where truths are tested, and people’s unwillingness to examine them is how hypocrisy flourishes.
but yea, new (or in your examples old) definitions of right and wrong are always just a paradigm-shift away. i was framing it in Libertarian terms of course, trying to win hearts and minds with my arguments by providing a well-defined frame that could be applied *consistently* to the widest possible range of situations with as little room as possible for nation-dividing special-interst politics to insinuate itself and expand government by playing on emotions.
as far as business rights and the rights of sports teams and organisations, sure, they’re private enterprises and should be able to impose any rules they like. uniforms, drug tests, religious vetting, sexual discrimination, you name it. their house their rules. NHRA didn’t exclude Shirley Muldowney, cuz her car was too darned fast! what *was* she runnin’ in that thing? sure made big flames!
another example of merit trumping pejudice: a corporation i won’t name drug tested me after hiring me as the youngest systems analyst in corporate history and the only one ever hired with just a 2-year degree (they asked me if i’d be willing to “finish my education”, i told them i already had). they hired me because i had the chops for the job and the unique (self-taught) skills necessary to implement the project they had underway. i was already working on it when the results of the “physical” came in. they told me it was the drug screen and to go take it again at my convenience. i was aghast and told them so, but they were just covering their butts.
so without naming names, i will say that the very backbone of the computerised global marketing infrastructure of a company that produces half the cleaning products in your home was written by a programmer that smoked weed 24/7. their stocks are still high so i guess it all worked out.
as far as public fraud goes i’d say reasonable disclosure is the rule there. if sports leagues wanna allow steroids, fine, but disclose it so people know what they’re watching. steroid beasts are exciting to watch, but prohibiting them makes for better fundamentals. but that’s what they say about women’s sports too and you see the ratings *they* get.. still, i’d rather not see use become necessary just to keep up with the Joneses (no pun intended) who are using them, because it does hurt the athlete and that makes me feel bad, but i gotta leave it up to the leagues. it’s just not my place to interfere.
humans have “mirror neurons” that make us feel what others feel – it’s the neurological pathway for empathy – which i think is another thing we use to justify forbidding people to engage in potentially self-destructive behaviour: it
“hurts” their family because it pains them to see their loved one suffer (or risk it) but in the case of Prohibition that comes full circle for me by causing me pain at the sight of loved ones being incarcerated and all that that entails. i think in this case the Devil is in the *lack* of details, and the irresponsible glossing over of the complexity of the issue by demonising whole swaths of the population as “pain causers”, and the harsh treatment that that is used to justify.
as far as doctors, construction workers or whatnot, i have no problem with them using provided their work is up to spec – indeed, if a doctor was an addict i wouldn’t want him touching me *off* his drug. but again i’d say disclosure is fair to everyone. let the market decide.
now drunk driving really is a sticky wicket. roads are part of the commons. we all share them, but then we all pay for them too. i do believe driving’s a right, not a privilege, because of that. but common ownership is just that: we can all use it by right, but the specifics of that use could be up for vote. actually in that case it might be more accurate to say that “using the roads” is a right, not necessarily operating a motor vehicle on them.
i will say this: if it came down to either letting people drive drunk or prohibiting alcohol altogether (thereby infringing on the rights of those who *don’t* drive drunk, as currently happens to responsible drug users), i’d view drunk driving as by far the lesser evil, and i also think you should need probable cause to pull over a suspected drunk and that you shouldn’t be able to just pull people over wholesale and test them. if someone’s driving ok i have no quarrel with them, but if they’re swerving and it turns out they’re drunk, then throw the book at them. i think that’s a good compromise for alcohol or any other substance.
in short, to sum it up: stop the witch hunts. of drivers, of doctors, of patients, of partiers – of Americans.
damn susan no off but you type whole bunchs and most of its good the only addicts i see as bad are ones who get others addicted those are the real bad people
and bob if u know where i can buy a sex slave lemme know (haha jk) but i will need to know were susan lives (jk)
and drug dealers or not like the people that grow their own drugs are still gonna be a problem but with dealers at least someone gets something before the days done
I live around a lot of them and they kill for the bill. Would’nt legalizing drugs stop the insanity and help get a better product that does not harm others as much plus cost us tax payers too much money for rehab, jails and more???? It is not the drugs that are the problem but, the Lack of freedom for druggies to get thier fix so, they run up huge bills and we all pay the price. What is the solution??? Sex slaves spread Aids but, if that is a problem send the johns to The Mustang Ranch in Nevada where they are checked for diseases. Yes they live a degrading horrid life but, they have a choice or do they?? Do they have a criminal record and can’t land a decent job???? That may be it. We don’t need more aids or other diseases being created by the 5 the radiation of Hirashima from the the Weapons in Iraq. You all have brains so, let’s clean up this mess together.
we cant man as much as i want to my uncle is there and about 7 times a day i cant even think what will happen to me if something was to happen to him and i know im not the only one thinking this but theres not much we can do
and as for drugs they will always be there theres not much we can do there anyways the drugs are illegal bro THE LAW DOESNT DO SHIT!!!!!!!!!! as you can see its not the drugs its the people using them
the sex slaves are little to no more different then hookers except they dont get paid thats also illegal but face it people in this world are monsters man there will always be some in one form or another
as for the clean up im wit u 110% but first we have to get play time over and i think its just starting and it could take a while to cool down bro sorry so hang on for now
great post Dealers!
though i differ with you on the Mustang Ranch and the stereotype of prostitutes in general. i’ve known MR empoyees and they LOVE their work, and are also MILLIONAIRES.. they’re not doing this because they couldn’t get a waitress gig. they might be doing it because Nill Hates’ job wasn’t open, but he’s about their only competition!
i also knew a “streetwalker” in San Francisco who got 250k from the cops for raping her in the paddy wagon. did she retire? no no noooo no. invest it? no no nooooo no. gimme the “she hooks half the year in Sydney and lives like royalty in Thailand the other half”, mon!! YA YA YAAAAAA-YA!!
Clint: you got it right. our message is getting out, all we need now is perseverence. an old friend of mine is running for Congress and says that there are approximately 40$ of Congresscritters right now secretly support re-legalisation of marijuana at minimum, and will support any such bill put forth, but are still shy about proposing them.
Obama has recently become the last Dem hold-out to finally state he’d stop the dispensary raids if elected. we’re getting there. keep the faith!
Nill Hates = Bill Gates.. typing in the dark loll..
easier said then done eh? all we can do for now is go on with our lifes never forgeting what we care for? i think if i was old enough i would be there right next to my uncle and so i could promise my aunt i would bring him back in one piece
u know i dont know why they dont let kids vote (or run for president) i think i would be way better then george bush (i also think a rock would be better) but thats just me
one i think i spelled anyonmus wrong lol, and two clint to answer your question they cant run because people think were containamated and u know what i think? FUCK THEM!!!!
dude whoever you are my thoughts excatly
*National Anthem*
national security it’s not what it purports to be i’d tell you what i think, you see, but i’m too young to vote;
they’re violating privacy while killing the economy they sell the lie to you and me by issuin’ some notes;
but that’s not how it’s ’sposed to be our founding fathers fought for thee they knew that change would never come ‘thout rockin’ a few boats!!
*28*
btw i’m not a minor i’m .45, but that line just came out of me when i heard clint’s plea. i feel his pain. maybe because when i was a kid i always swore i’d stay one of “us” and never become one of “them”.
afterall, “there’s a degree of childishness in everything we hold close to the heart” -Sir Stephen
but im mature for my age i mean i know im 13 (almost 14) but im doing work some adults cant even do! im doing stuff people are suppose to learn when there 16 and i still cant even vote? do they really think 1 vote? 1 VOTE?!?!?!?! is gonna make such a difference well u know what i think FUCK THEM because when i turn 18 and can finally vote and i know i make the right choice or have no one in mind im gonna walk up to some kid and ask him who he would vote for and vote for him and tell that kid “dont let anyone say u cant do something u CAN do anything” yep yeppers thats what im gonna do
and “us” we rule “them” they suck but if im gonna be one of “them” ugh i shudder at the thougth im gonna be one who listenes to kids like me and actually hears them and im gonna help them cuz i know i would have wanted someone to help me
getting a vision of kids hanging outside polling places asking adults to proxy for them, and offering six-packs as bribes, lol.. seriously though clint we need more like you. for now just get as informed as you can (reading this site is a great start) and STAY PISSED. you’re doing great.
if you haven’t yet joined Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), do so ASAP.
well i got to eat dinner peace yum tacos
and as for joining that thingy i dont think i have time between school, and swimming (plus babysitting) im busy as a bee (lol corny metaphor) but u get my point ill stay informed and express my thoughts
ps vote for Paul for me thats what i would do (or Obama would be fine)
will do clint… i gave him some cash for ya too :)
Ron Paul is the only person who stands for freedom!! Everyone have a great weekend and don’t forget “Breaking Bad” Sunday night. The AMC web sight has neat stuff if you missed anything it is all there!!! Our future depends on what we do today!!
lol it seems we’ve got our own personal ad producer for this thread. commercial breaks include ads for Ron Paul and a show that gives a fairly realistic and compassionate view of the meth culture.
meanwhile back at the mainstream-media machine we get ads for America’s Top Model, Survivor (a show which features people who not only don’t have moral dilemmas like Breaking Bad’s cook, but actually *glorify* screwing those who trust them), with liberal doses of ONDCP propaganda thrown in.
i like our ad department better..
CommonSense says: “They treat him badly because, he is the smartest person running and they do not want other’s to obtain his intelligence. That would only give them more freedom!!!”
yeah, we look for the same thing in pols as lawyers look for in jurors: ignorance of the law and emotionalism. if pols respected the law they’re *sworn to uphaold*, that would give us more freedom. heaven forbid.
Agreed but, I think there is more to it. I think Ron Paul may have a great deal of Native American blood so, they may be predjudice about that too!! I don’t care what race or races he is I think he is great!! That is nothing to be ashamed of. There still is hope for the future. No one give up yet!!!
Ron Paul grassroots supporters are in the process of creating an independent media company to present TRULY balanced information on the issues that matter.
all citizens of the Ron Paul Revolution are invited to invest and take part: this is a ground-floor oportunity in a FOR PROFIT company that can be both lucrative and vital, check out BreakTheMatrix DOT com for details.
what’s this got to do with Burridge? FUCK Burridge, THAT’s what! that, and this movement is everything Burridge is not, ie: AMERICAN!!
why you give him money?? no offense paul but im broke too you know, and about his race it doesnt really matter does it just his ideas right? (youll probally never meet him anyway) haha
I got to meet a relative of his and he is just wonderful. Ron Paul should be very proud of his family. I would love to give him more money and meet him. I agree with him 100%!!! It is about freedom!! Enjoy your week SMART people!!
we give him money so he we can use his campaign to get our ideas (which are also his) out to the public. because he is running, he has been on tv discussion shows etc (although as little as the elites can possibly arrange), and has built a coalition that will remain active and continue to gain strength long after the campaign.
power concedes nothing without a demand, baby – Frederick Douglass said that, and he oughtta know, he WAS a slave – and the way you make demands is from a position of power, which you get by forming coalitions and consolidating your base. coalitions like Students for Sensible Drug Policy, which are winning hearts and minds and making a difference not just with information campaigns but political awareness campaigns. they are holding politicians’ feet to the fire, and inspiring voters to do the same. everytime i get one of their action alerts i join them in the action, usually a petition or letter-writing campaign.
that’s how it’s done, clint. if you just sit back and let others do the heavy lifting then you’ve no-one to blame but yourself if you, say, have your college aid taken away because you get popped with a joint in high school. that’s money out of *your* pocket, since your folks have already paid for it with their taxes, so if you’re broke and wanna go to college, unless you’re str8-edge (and good for you if you are cuz drugs really aren’t good for a developing brain), then you might wanna stand up and be counted.
or you could do it just because you love your country and are sick of seeing it trampled on by communist drug warriors.
there was also a distinct possibility that Paul could win, but that was secondary. ask yourself this: would YOU have heard of Paul had he not run for Prez?
democracy doesn’t run itself clint. the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance. playstations are cheap in comparison. it’s a matter of priorities.
Ron Paul has been absorbed. :)
Quit messin’ with me Susie Q.
Hi All,
Better check with teachers and social services, courts before claiming addiction is basically up to the addict. See the so called mothers that do not feed their kids, properly clothe them or protect them from high molesting or beatings of their lovers. See the folks that cannot control themselves and under the influence bash their spouses and kids or mentally torture them destroying their souls in the process and condemning them to that same life spiral.
I was myself raised by two prescription addicts who both molested my sisters and beat the living hell out of me until I left home at 17. Seen as good church going pillars of the community no one could figure out why BOTH my sisters tried to kill themselves or why until 35 I bathed in liquor and drugs.My one sister is in a nursing home for life as a suicide attempt stroked her brain to cinders. The other sister in counseling for near 25 years. Not a victim I guess.
Well, pain does that and not being able to make sense of a world that is opposite how you were raised … nothing made sense. Good was twisted and bad was normal to the kids of users. These folks are twisted and they twist their kids as well. “Victimless Crime” addiction… Yea, right!
I was arrested on 21 charges one night in October 1986 whereby I destroyed 7 cars and intentionally hit 2 state police cruisers and to this day I have no clue why I did that…. I can only remember bits and pieces and had to read the police reports over and over to get what I had done. I guess those 7 drivers, their passengers, the cops and courts and insurance companies were not victims of drug abuse by a guy who was raised by addicts to be an addict. No victims there. Yea, right.
I guess when I got sued for $60,000 total that the money could have not been better used than replacing metal for folks. I guess their time in court was entertainment and not stressful. I guess what I did was nothing to those poor folks. A joint, a beer, a little coke, so what. No victim No Crime.
Addiction is pure destruction and those who sell or push destruction in my book are crud. The Pharmaceutical Industry is crud when one realizes that all drugs are toxic to the body and to lie to sell poison is just as dirty as what street gangs do. “Vioxx” anyone? 55,000 deaths.
In my career I saw more than one person maimed as a direct result of pot and one guy crushed by a towmotor driven by a guy who weeded up at work. I suppose his Victim’s wife and kids were happy to lose the house and end up poor over that.
You have to ask yourself on drugs and alcohol, “What is the motive of use?” “What does it do that you cannot do for yourself?” There is always a motive for getting high. What IS It? Is it worth it?
I haven’t been high since January 25, 1988 and I can tell you that this success feels damned good. No baggage to live with, no lies to cover, no wondering what I said or did, no hurt folks in my wake, no mis-spent or wasted funds. No angry outbursts or loss of control, no sickness, no tickets or arrests, no late bills ever, no one mad at me at every turn, no marital difficulties and life is just smooth.
I was able to walk away from my abusers and not look back. The circle was broken.
Addiction is Hell.. I lived it from 14 to 6 weeks before I turned 35. I would wish it on NO ONE!
When one picks up anything, a joint, a tweek, a snort, a chug, there is no guarantee that they will not at that point or at some point become a slave to it. There are no guarantees that they will not destroy a life or many lives or kill themselves. It is as it is and no one intends to destroy but the nature of it all is that it happens.
Once addicted the mind shifts from sane to insane so any normal process is hampered and logic no longer applies nor do rules or laws or common sense. You cannot expect the insane to just snap out of it when it needs to happen. It may happen as in my case, or never happen as in most cases.
We have laws to try to police behavior. If that fails we punish. I think policing behavior trumps punishment after the damages are done. I also think educating people with coping skills would stop addiction.
GlenGary
Consider that these people don’t become wealthy by having common sense, or caring about people, but the opposite. They step on everyone to get what they have… and they have no business in public service. Why anyone in New Hampshire would vote for a guy like this boggles my mind. Who exactly is he representing?
There you go, kids. Unless you want to be able to tell cool stories like that about blowing up cop cars when you were younger, or stories about court or stories about guys being crushed with forklifts,…just say no to drugs.
That was like a Rambo movie, Glen. I have to admire you for having the inner strength to get out of that. Most people don’t get out. They just die, or fade away behind the liquor store downtown.
GG,
what is your evidence for the “most cases” thing? i have as much anecdotal evidence to the contrary. known literally hundreds of people (long term, not just in passing) who used drugs with no negative repercussions, and a few cases where there were. never any “freaking out”, but getting strung out and dysfunctional, yes. one’s living with me now infact, i’m floating him while he pulls himself together, forever if necessary. i’m just glad he’s here not in jail. he’s never hurt a fly.
LIFE has no guarantees but we can’t just reduce the entire population to the least common denominator, lowering the bar for all of us, viewing us all as “addicts waiting to happen”. that’s no better than the government now viewing us all as “potential terrorists” – which it does – and that’s *precisely* where that mentality leads. connect the dots Glen. extend it outward to its logical terminus. it turns citizens against each other, always wondering who the “addict next door” is and willing to give up their own rights just to root him out.
i’m sorry for your experiences GG (you kow i am), but throwing users and their enablers in jail for engaging in what essentially amounts to “the near occasssions of sin” isn’t the answer. i’ve never viewed anyone selling me a drug as “selling addiction”, i viewwd it as selling me a drug, and have always thanked them for the service, and they me for the business. how did i come out of it unscathed? how did i do coke on a saturday night and function monday morning? just lucky? i say it was because i had my priorities straight, priorities which were no-one’s to set but my own.
if you wanna talk about averages and which causes more suffering, do the math between functional, productive people’s lives being ruined by jail and its attendant job loss (not to mention psychological damage), and those ruined by addiction. jail wins hands-down. it’s not prevention it’s just revenge.
there is only ONE form of prevention and that’s INFORMATION. your story is very persuasive. shout it from the montains, but use your voice, not the criminal code.
to treat all users as addicts just because some are and all dealers as pushers just because some are is pure injustice, not to mention pure paranoia. and as i said i HAVE known dealers to cut people off, you can’t just lump them all in together. that’s like saying all gun owners are murderers.
we MUST only punsih for behaviour after the fact, because to do otherwise is to assert guilt without proof, the same as launching pre-emptive wars on countries that don’t like us but didn’t attack us. Liberty is the lesser of evils, even the evils you’ve known, imo. far more innocents suffer in prison than suffer due to addiction.
and as evidence HAS shown, laws do NOT prevent drug use – not evn a little – they only increase the damages associated with it.
currently, we can’t control how much of a drug someone takes. under a legally regulated system, we could. if someone was diagnosed an addict, no more candy.
wanna keep drugs out of kids’ hands more than they are now? legalise them and put them behind a counter. the percentage will then be about the same as those who are able to talk adults into scoring 6-packs for them: almost nil.
but the drug war is about public image. it’s a referendum on public opinion. we’re more concerned with “sending messages” than addressing the problem. we’d rather just let our emotions get the best of us and throw them all to the dogs. and THAT’s irresponsible.
you said it yourself: some people have reasons for using drugs other than the experience itself and i think *that* is what causes the acting out. treat *those*. you blame your problems on your folks’ scrip drug abuse. but why were *they* abusing them?
you no doubt resolved alot of crap in treatment. they didn’t just “detox” you, and if they did, that wouldn’t have worked. so it wasn’t just the drugs. i think it’s the same with most addicts. i know about the changes in brain chemistry, and have felt the pull myself, but it never made me *insane*. only life can do that. sure you totally gooff the deep end with drugs (including alchohol) you’ll be in Oz. but that’s the end of a very long road.
you don’t strike someone you don’t steal from them you’re not a criminal, period. that’s what the Constitution says anyway, otherwise USE to this day wouldn’t be perfectly legal, which it IS. we DON’T regulate “the behaviour”, we regulate the substances *themselves* because regulatiing use is *illegal*. there’s a reason for that, and that reason is the slippery slope. we’d do well to take our Founders’ counsel on that.
you saw how alcohol prohibition played out. you wanna bring that back too? i know people that get angry enough to attack people if they don’t get their nicotine. add that to the list? you’re an investor, how bout outlawing the stock market? people lose their shirts in that and their families become destitute. same with other forms of gambling. is that my business? i don’t think so. yet you can’t have a friendly game of poker in your home. because the government can’t grab its share then! samw with prostitution. too hard to snoop on!
how bout seatbelt laws? dead parents negatively impact families. shall we enforce self-preservation? what about suicide? think that should be illegal too? that’s really hard on families. England used to throw you in jail if you survived an attempt (prolly not great for the morale). figure we’re all “property of the State” until it releases us from our “service”?
personally i think even bringing someone *into* this violent world constitutes reckless endangerment. how ’bout outlawing *procreation*, since that’s the only way to *really* keep our children safe? except it wouldn’t work any better than “sodomy” laws do, and others’ reproductive choices are none of my business.
but i wouldn’t outlaw it even if i could. it breaks my heart to watch them suffer the slings and arrows of existence, just as seeing addicts suffer does, but i’m reasonable enough to admit that “heartbreaking” isn’t grounds for prosecution, only tresspass on others’ Liberty is.
there’s another side of this too, GG, and that’s economic: are you willing to run the economy into the ground printing up *billions a year* in money *we don’t have* just to curb drug use? can we *afford* the drug war, which costs us billions in taxes and inflation, while taking a similar amount in lost sales taxes? ending the drug war would balance the budget almost overnight. just a thought.
by the way, surveys show that even if hard drugs were legal, a very small fraction say they would use them, about the same as those who use them now. turns out most people *aren’t* natural-born morons who need Nanny to mind them, and that those who use or don’t use do so (or not) for their own reasons apart from legality or illegality.
and in Holland, where marijuana – the supposed “gateway drug” – is de-facto legal, hard drug use and addiction is lower than it is here, though it’s just as readily available, and pot use is about the same as here. the sky didn’t fall! how’d that happen?
this seems to have morphed into a discussion of whether or not to use. “abstinence only” is always safest, but we’re talking aboutthe pros and cons of prohibition here, not “to use or not to use”. people are *always* gonna make that decision for themselves.
as with the restrictions on contrraceptoion some would like to see, “just say no” (and its legal equivalent, jail) only amplify the damage. druggies in jail and no less of them, pregnant and infected people with no descrease in sexual activity.
Bob,
All of the guys I used to hang with are either dead, nearly dead from heart disease or cancer or in the penitentiary for possession for-sale or manslaughter for killing others while driving. The one thing I will mention is that both of my uncles and most of my old pals couldn’t get it up after about age 42 to 48 as the problems with circulation totally bombed their sex lives.
Guys get barrel chested by age 45, fat, out of breath and out of energy amongst other things. Swollen ankles, dried out skin, faces age beyond years… look like sh_t.
When I quit I was 6′3″ like today, but unlike today I weighed 154 lbs-not 215, would bleed from the stomach as I drank, my nose was shot to hell from snorting coke, my lungs were a mess from chain smoking pot and cigarettes and my first three fingers orange-yellow from nicotine. My kidneys, lungs and stomach hurt a lot and I’d cough up stuff I can’t describe. I was either racing or dead feeling.
The mental stuff was worse. I hated myself, loathed myself, was embarrassed, felt lower than ant dung. I hated looking in the mirror to shave… that face, that guy, I hated his gutts for being that way. Waste of skin he was.
Today I’d rather eat my gun than ever toy with anything again. I rarely even take aspirin. No prescriptions… Zip, NADDA, ZERO. I’ll solve my own issues.
The will to survive is the strongest instinct a person should have. That is what I believe. That is what stopped me cold in my tracks. Live or Die, my choice. I tossed the coin.
GG
Susan;
As far as my point of view it is just that–one point of view that threatens no one. I can’t back down from it nor dissect it for you. It just is as it is. I lived with active addicts on all sides of me from “born” to age 35 and then some.
I’ve learned to accept those things I cannot change. Stay or walk away. I chose now to walk away and preserve what I have. I took Behavioral Sciences 1994 to 1998 to counsel folks. I did for a while. I got tired and stopped. Got tired of arguing points only to see folk’s arrogance prove those points. No time for that.
Do what you want. Do what you will. But you will save no one if that person does not have the courage to save self without games or props or crutches.
A man lives as a man and a woman lives as a woman. Not dependent children. On their own as this is maturity. Unless a person is adjudicated as a ward of the state they can stand on their own two feet and not suckle from boobies.
Help him sober up with tough love or keep him dependent on you for life. Stick him in Rehab so he can learn why he does what he does so he can stop doing what he does or simply accept that without that knowledge nothing much changes.
By the way, after age 18 I couldn’t blame my parents. I did it by choice and knew on many levels it wasn’t right so it was MY FAULT. I simply was more comfortable messed up than not. Then age-pain-reality set in and it was time to quit. I was dying.
Once a person hits legal age the entire Bill becomes theirs like it or not and I accepted that Bill. I lived on my own and paid for my mistakes and wore the cuffs and faced the judges and the time off the street behind locked doors.
I got punished for being sick because I refused to get well. Addiction is in the hands of the Addict, not Mommy or Daddy or the cops or the courts. 100% on the user. My fault-not their fault. Don’t want to go to jail? Get off of stuck on stupid!
Addiction is generational with specific family behaviors and coping skills taught or lack there of. My “What Is Addiction” Article is quoted on many websites so I think the addiction community finds some agreement.
GG
I’ll post it if you like.
I run a website on addiction.
If I give the name it flushes me out.
Susan;
We cannot argue points that have no substance here in America. We do have laws and they are not subjective. Check the suicide rate in Holland up 49% lately.
We can go facts and figures all day long but it comes down to this; The cure for addiction not how to empower use whether legal or not. The cure Susan, the stopper, the education, the behavior changes that power through generational addiction. That’s what I want.
The rates of Addiction in Saudi Arabia and Iran are even lower than the Netherlands, but they tend to kill all pushers immediately. So I could say “Why don’t we just kill all pushers which trumps in outcome what Holland has done. Are you happy with that or is it a pissing contest we have here?
I get the feeling you are more defending your boyfriend than anything else.
GG
Susan,
There should be a prohibition on drugs since there is prohibition on cigarettes and alcohol of sorts. If you work and use you are out of a job, how’s that? If you apply for assistance you must be clean and continue to test clean, how’s that? Public housing without a clean test monthly-no way!
If you are caught driving under the influence you lose your license for life the second time, how’s that? Those are prohibitions of consequences which are the best kind.
As for contraception? Who cares? Just avoid a bun in the oven any way you care to. Humans are going to have sex. It’s a toy. I was so horny in my teens I would have done a snake if someone held it’s mouth open for me so YES use rubbers or IUD’s or pills or patches or creams but use something!
Drug pushers are scum and no one makes them sell drugs-period. I believe these guys should get ONE chance and the second time throw the key away or kill them. They are parasites that deal death and misery.
If they don’t have the guts to live life by life’s rules they default their right to live at all. Nothing romantic or compelling about drug pushers and drug gangs. They are useless scum of no value. No one sane would miss them if they all just died tomorrow.
GG
Everything all of us does is a choice.
i’ll take dome time with those GG, have a cat issue in progress so might have to put it on the back burner for a few days but i’ll give it the time it deserves.
for now though i’ll clarify: this isn’t a boyfriend. i’m strickly chickly so this ain’t one of those “my man right or wrong” deals, makes me sick to see chicks in that mode.
as far as my friend goes, i don’t view putting an agenda on someone – including keeping them alive or getting them sober – to be “helping” them. i’m not his nanny nor do i wanna be. i offer him what i wish society would offer us all which is to keep my judgements to myself. i’m an enabler and proud of it. he wants an ear i’ll listen. he wanted to kill himself i’d refer him to ERGO. his will be done, long as it doesn’t infringe on mine.
i’ve been suicidal, and when i was in that mode i needed to be listened to, not have my feelings invalidated or told to cheer up, nor dismissed harshly to make me “snap out of it”, so i offer that ear and the shoulder of someone who’s been there to those who wish it. no advice unless asked, just a sounding board and encouragement if they’re pleased with whatever progress they’re making toward whatever goal they set for themselves. doing good with sobriety? GREAT! just made a neato attachment for your exhaust pipe for your upcoming trip to nowhere? wow pretty slick!
i was complimented on such a gadget once when i was in exit mode and the fact that someone was actually on my *side* instead of trying to “save” me restored so much faith in humanity to me and made me feel so much less “stuck here” that i actually smiled and after we both extolled the virtues of my gadget for awhile i lost the edge and decided to hang around awhile longer.
that was about 20 years ago. best friend i ever had. still in touch. i had anoher “friend” call my parents once when i talked the talk. i hung around as you can see, but never spoke to her again. that was *30* years ago. you see who’s still im my life: the *real* friend, not the “life nazi”.
i too refrained from procreating via the Golden Rule, you see. we have that in common. i think life is a cruel and pointless thing to wish on somoene. and it’s non-consensual afterall – the creation of a Will is the violation of that Will – so it violates my libertarianism.
so basically i do for others what works for me, and tough love ain’t it. once people left me the frick alone and stopped trying to “help” me (cept for those tireless Ptohibitionists of course), i found my groove, shed the golden straightjacket, lit the afterburners and shined like the star i am. prolly woulda done it sooner without so much “help”.
i’ve esperienced more in 45 years than most do in 3 lifetimes and i wouldn’t trade it for the str8 life for the world. no regrets whatsoevr. it’s been a wild ride and if i go tomorrow i’ll be smiling. which is winning in my book. it ain’t about survival – that’s what *nature’s* about and nature’s a *tyrant* – *winning* is about kicking life’s ass from one end of the universe to the other! that’s some Irish wisdom for ya..
my friend, however, is working a job his sponsor lined up for him down the street and is paying rent and going to meetings and walking around like a child of Landru with that “12-Stepford” look on his face and going to church with my mom and.. creeps me out a lil if ya wanna know, but again, his decision and i support him in it. “how was the meeting?” “my sponsor said..” (enabler susan says: “cooool, you really seem happier!”). (he is). infact if you pass on the name of your site he’d probably dig it.
BOB: LOL!!! i love you man.. :)
and you’re right about freedom not being of the law. i’ve often said that when it comes to boots-on-the ground freedom the drug culture would suffer under legalisation and i’m not alone in that concern. the corruption that Prohibition promotes ensures the full range of drugs will be available in limiltess quantities to folks of all age groups (and plenty of black funds for the CIA) whereas under legalised regulation there’d be (national) ID checks, per-diem purchase limits, potency ceilings, probably even user registrations so that use could be monitored and “help” dispensed when “needed” (and we know who’d decide when that was) the whole Statist nightmare. oneday folks old enough to remember will look back wisftfully to the “roaring 20th” when drugs were illegal and plentiful.
but i lobby for legalsation anyway, cuz like GG says we must think of others, and it would make the kids safer and keep the innocent outta prison. until then druggie kids and adult enthusiasts alike should be glad for their handlers’ insatiable desire to appear moral by raining fire and brimstone down upon them – it’s great for lighting bonghits :)
(ah, i’m having fun again,, thanks Bob *wink*)
ok gotta get some sleep GG then probably off for a few days cuz my kitty’s going in hospital and i’ll be in hotel nearby, maybe they’ll have internet but i’ve saved your post to address when things settle down.
Just by way of update, Delmar Burridge is one extremely confused individual.
Well Susan, you must have read my last post but now it seems to be gone. I must be a real radical. I’m always being sensored.
Susan,
Look at all the paragraphs explaining why you cannot answer a few simple questions in what? Three to Five lines? Oh it’s the cat’s fault. Couldn’t be your fault.
That is what I’m talking about Susan. You operate on excuses not reasons and evade simple questions by writing 100 reasons why you cannot answer simple questions. So I am to buy your reasoning on that basis? Yea, right. Equal exchange my ass. Hypocrite.
Go fish in another pond with that. Answer the damn questions like an adult or this is ended.
GG
Interesting…I too had a post disappear.
I guess this is over for both of us…. I’m not staying in this thread. Screw that.
See you in the funnies!
GG
Bob: the whole food fight’s misisng, i think the message is food is for eating not throwing, hehe :) (we got away with alot). we are supposed to be talking about Delmar Burridge afterall.
GG: still have your missing post saved and i’m not dodging anything i was referring only to my friend last night to get off the “boyfriend” thing and the implications of that (ie: that my positions have something to do with him and that i’m defedning him cuz he’s “my man” or something), but wanted to take more time with your specific points. you told me to search my soul and i was gonna try to be as open as i could to that out of respect for you, and if you still wanna hash it out you can contact me via my link and we can discuss it offsite – the fact that they got deleted shows we went too far off on a tangent i guess (my rant before your questions got axed too, as did Bob’s post). and feel free to include a link to your page for my friend to peruse, i’m sure it would speak to him. either way i’ll fwd him your post so he can read what you copied. i thought my cat was going in hospital today but it’s pushed back to Tuesday so the week’s open.
Mike: you could really see Burridge squirm in that video, he knew DARN well what the interviewer was asking – it wasn’t the “language” of the bill he objected to it was the bill ITSELF, but he was hesitant to spit it out upfront, had to ease into it because he knew he didn’t have popular upport.
that “slavery” question was a good pressure-cooker and Burridge’s answer contradicted his stated “all crimes should be reported” position, and his response, “you know i wouldn’t advocate that” (reporting runaway slaves) illustrated the fact that a response of “the law’s the law” in discussions like this are usually just code for “i support this particular law”, and the fact that he *wouldn’t* advocate reporting runaway slaves when that was the law – and indeed suggested that no decent person would do so – but *would* advocate “Diming” (lol) on pot smokers – even though we are *not* legally required to do so – proves it.
it sounded like something i’d pose (i smiled when the interviewer “went there”) though i usually throw all the way back to King Herod’s day and ask people if they’d surrender their first-born when Herod’s JBT’s showed up to collect them because it was “the law”, and whether or not they’d report a neighbor for trying to hide their child from the soldiers. but the “would you report a runaway slave” thing is an equally valid moral/legal dilemma.
I’m outraged at this sensorship. Yeah, that’s right, outraged. (John Lovitz-SNL). This is outrageous. I was on topic, but I guess I didn’t handle the subject of our indigenous peoples with an acceptable level of political correctness.
I wonder how long Jesus would manage to avoid crucufixion in today’s world?(Always back to the Jesus thing.) He was way more insensitive to political issues than I am. Probably wouldn’t even make it all the way through his “blessed are the so and so’s” speech. He’d get to the “blessed are the Indians” part and they’d drag him off.
“We’ve got a stick in the ground with your name on it, Buddy Boy! We’ll teach you to beak off!”
There’s no censorship going on here. The server that this site is on had a hard drive failure last night and I had to restore from backup. Anything that was posted between 7 pm and 3 am was lost.
Damn I hate it when I do something to make myself look stupid. Happens all the time. My apologies for the censorship accusations. I appreciate all you do for us here, Michael Hampton. We’re not worthy.
ok Michael this is looong and not directly topical, nix it if you want, but it addresses GG’s concerns, which i think are shared by much of the public, and the rest just answers Glen personally, please pardon the trespass.
>how will giving them more readily legal drugs helps that situation? How?
it will reduce the harms associated with their use and sale with controls that can only be implemented in a legal regulatory framework, bringing it into the light of day.
> What is so horrible about reality that escape is necessary?
that’s very subjective so i can only answer for myself but *cannot* answer in 3 or 4 lines but we need to put this thing to bed.
my answer is the very fabric of our carnal reality itself. nature red in tooth and claw. it’s brutally efficient, but cold and indifferent from an objective standpoint. it has its perks but undrlying it all is sheer horrific brutality. it scares the living daylights outta me every day the moment i become conscious and i scramble for some kind of solace, some understanding, some anchor as the cold chill sweeps over me down the backs of my palms and into the pit of my stomach. i go to the bathroom and vomit. this has been my morning ritual since childhood, which pot used to ease, but now that i’m au-naturale it’s back to business as usual.
i have Asperger’s syndrome which makes me hyper-sensitive and hyper-aware, but without the ability to create cozy abstractions to climb into. i see life without the rose-coloured glasses. it gives insight, but is hard to take sometimes.
this is why i coined the phrase, “having children is like shooting craps with somoene else’s money”, because you bring them here (roll the dice) but they’re the ones that pay if it comes up snake eyes.
it’s usually argued that parents want something to love, to “give life” to, that they plan for their kids to be happy, but we know those are just instincts to which they’re submitting, it’s gratifying a deep-seated need in them, which is why i commend you so for denying yourself the fulfillemnt of that need. it’s the most noble thing i’ve ever heard.
but let’s go with the “we meant well” thing. ok: you have a billion in gold in a safe (metaphor for “things are just fine the way they are”, ie: unborn, uncreated). then a well-meaning friend gets a hot horse tip, (”hey, let’s have a kid, it’ll be great, we’ll give them all the advantages and lots of love”), and he does you the “favour” of betting your billion (the zen serenity of non-existence) on the horse.
the horse may win or lose, but the fact is they put you at risk simply by placing the bet. speaking only for myself, i’d be furious with that friend either way, but doubly so if the horse lost (i’m born paralysed, or life just deals me blows that were beyond my control).
now say the friend says we have alot of nerve being angry, and if the horse loses, blames *us* for “not having the right attitude” about the bet. the bet whose collateral was something we were quite content with and were incapable, at that time, of conceiving any improvements on, til someone dragged us out of security and into the casino.
and the terrible empathy of it all.. i look out into the world and my heart breaks. all of nature seems designed by a machiavellian sadist who gives us just enough carrot to make us chase, and whips us if that doesn’t work. gives us
“things to live for”, but makes life itself excruciating and confounding while at the same time causing us to form bonds that make it hard to break away, and survival instinct that is hard to overcome, even if we “philosophically” wish not to exist, the doing is not so simple. the only way out is never to have been brought in.
hence my horror at the sheer inevitability and regimen of things, things which i could’ve been spared, but for someone’s “desire to give”. or “love”. it’s the most selfish and egotistical act anyone can commit, worse than any constituent part of life itself, because it is the very instrument of their propagation – their “vehicle” if you will.. don’t get into that Black Sedan!
there is also the sheer mystery of it. such powerful forces we can’t really comprehend but are at the mercy of. the fear of the unknown. absolute knowledge would be fine, as would absolute ignorance, but the middle ground is just Hell. and since we’re robbed of absolute ignorance once here, i desire as much knowledge as possible, and that only comes from experience, from pushing the envelope, because there is no torment like mediocrity.
in short, “existential angst”.
drugs can put you in a world of hurt, but when your CNS is lit up like a christmas tree, there is perspective in that, information you just can’t get anywhere else, and sometimes a brief respite, “time out of mind”, as Steely Dan said in
“chase the dragon”. it’s priceless, and that’s why “risk” arguments will continue to be ineffectivew for disuading the determined, as will punishment. *any* punishment.
and i’m not extra-human. this bottomless pit exists in all of us. watch the movie “nature of the beast”. the junkie’s speech near the end of it says it all. it’s a human thing, not a susan thing. susan’s just a lil sensitive, which is why her music affects people so powerfully. she is a shaman, and that’s never a fun job, though it is very profound.
> What is it about your day or anyone’s day that cannot be handled?
see above.
What is missing in your life that you chose to replace with a substance?
knowledge, perspective, understanding. a feeling of well-being, which i contend is *always* an illusion, and at least inducing it with a drug acknowledges that, and to that extent, gives you some hands-on control of your perspective, even if short-lived or ultimately self-destructive. done purposefully, it is a simple matter of cost-benefit analysis.
>Nature hates avoid Susan. what void are you suggesting that drugs fill for YOU or others?
Nature IS a void. *everything* – love, hate, pleasure, pain and most ludicrous of all “meaning”, is an attempt to fill that void. what you fill it with is just semantics and has no objective value other than the Pain/pleasure nexus you describe below, the final “pipeline” of feeling.
>why would anyone choose death over life?
peace.
>sickness over health
experience. see first answer. but as i said there’s a crucible and that varies with the individual. poor health usually hurts so that must be weighed in. is the experience worth it? was it better than poor health is bad?
>risk their kid’s mentality or wellbeing just to get high or the safety of others or even spend the money?
it’s not nice to risk the safety of others (like by birthing them for instnance). precautions should always be taken to minimise that risk to others. parents have an extra burden in that respect. you owe your kids an unpayable debt. your life is no longer your own and anythng that affects your ability to support them is breach of contract, enforceable if you default.
i wouldn’t prohibit parents from using, but would support stronger penalties for abandonment, neglect etc in cases involving voluntary potentially disabling activites, just as even in areas without seatbelt laws, insurance can pay less if you’re injured.
> If you lose someone to this not by their own doing, but by the doing of some high fool who had a momentary lapse you might put that other shoe on and take a stroll in it for a while. It hurts a lot and I ask if legal or not legal matters in ruining lives?
i can’t even imagine the horror of what you’ve been through, GG. all i can say is non-criminal regulation will bring it all more out in the open and make such situations easier for people in a position to help to see coming. one way or another the drugs aren’t going away. i say bring users in from the cold.
>hurting kids like I was hurt was out of the question. Even then it was a question of “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” I didn’t like it, why would they?
you’re a saint, GG.. all any of us really have as a compass is our own experience. my observation is that Nature gets around to everyone eventually, and to go from oblivion to consciousness back to oblivion again seems inefficient at best, horrific at worst, so i say it’s a sucker bet. but i’m not really wired for subjectivity, i had to learn it. “projecting value” onto things doesn’t really come naturally to me, i’m more of a conduit and very reactionary. i process, i don’t originate, like constructing musical sets from other people’s records. life just looks like an absurd movie to me. one which i prefer to keep at arms’ length as an observer/communicator. but i don’t give high marks to the human drama, or Nature en toto.
>
> Psychology tells us that humans will only do anything for two reasons.
> 1. Gain Pleasure 2. Avoid Pain.
> (Which are you attempting to do?)
BOTH! mostly avoid Pain (yeah, capitalise that bad boy), but i figure if imma have to endure Pain, i’m gonna take out payment in the currency of pleasure. but pleasure’s about as solvent as the dollar. we’ve evolved a negative-feedback system in the brain which always regulates us back to a baseline emotional setting that’s fixed at birth, which is why drugs can never be the panacea we wish they could be, and what causes that “crash” after any high. it’s your body punishing you for trying to actually *eat* the carrot instead of just chasing it. The Hedonistic Imperative, an apology for transhumanism, argues for the modification of this circuit to grenetically raise that baseline and minimise
the capacity for Pain, duplicating its functionality with less nasty mechanisms. it’s the only thing i can possibly imagine making procreation even remotely moral, if your notion of immorality is placing someone in a situation where Pain is inevitable, whch is infact my stance. i am a negative utilitarian, which means i assign value to Pain minimisation over pleasure potential. with the exception of pot, most drugs are a bad value in that respect, but the unique pleasure and knowledge gained therein was worth it to me on a limited basis. been there done that outgrew the t-shirt, even the pot one.
>
> In comfort we do little.
yeah… good stuff, that.. worked my whole life to get to a place where i could just retire to my corner and watch the movie til the curtain raised. my path was just one way here, but it worked for me, and i’m darn glad for those that enabled me along the way. i gave a major corporation a critical infrastructure. i’ve given the world some stunning, life-transforming dj sets (a dj saved my life in 1984 and i’ve been paying it forward ever since), and have given aid to the needy as i’ve encountered them to the best of my ability. if there’s a final judgment, i’m ready for it. God don’t like me, screw him. i’ll go to Hell with the rest of the rejects who couldn’t accept creaturehood.
> Life is doing or not doing things and those things are 100% our choice all outcomes our baby no excuses Susan.
none given, my friend, none given. i stand on my record.
note: the Hedonistc Imperative link above is bad. David Pearce has moved all content here. everything you always wanted to know about Paradise but didn’t ask the right questions!
28
Nature is balanced and beautiful. Brings out the best in everything or it dies and the whole thing just keeps going on and adapting. Little babies are cute. Nothing more fun than chasing one in a diaper and t-shirt that can’t walk yet but can crawl like hell and they’re giggling and screaming because they know that if you catch ‘em you’re going to tickle the crap out of them. Better than drugs. So is building something that will last or fixing up an old car or bike. I’ve even done some sculpting. Didn’t turn out bad. I don’t owe my kids anything. I do what I do for them now, because I want to and I don’t do it when they tick me off. Their lives would be fantastic if they would just listen to me now and then. If anything, they owe me for putting up with their crap but I’m not worried about it. That kind of currency doesn’t sit well in a bank.
You’re making it too complicated Susan. You’ve got to get out in the bush once in awhile. Grow a garden. I hear you talking about your DJ triumphs. It feels good to be proud of something doesn’t it? It’s not all bad. It’s balanced, you’re just not seeing all the good.
It is what it is. It’s just as easy to appreciate it and enjoy it. You, get up in the morning and puke because of the horror of it all, but somewhere out there is someone getting up, throwing open their window and singing “Good morning America, how are ya?! Whoo hoo!” (I’m sure of it because of the balance thing.) It’s the same world for both of you, just different ways of looking at it.
Lighten up girl.
Three or four days ago, I had that thought you mentioned about ignorance and knowing all. If ignorance is bliss, then the balance logic would dictate that the other end of the scale is bliss too. Just the space in between that’s tough. Didn’t write it down, I guess you beat me to it. It’s a good thought.
Susan,
Thanks for the answer and I will continue to give your points some deeper thought and weight.
I apologize for being wholly obstinate even though I admit that is my nature when my brain really kicks into overdrive as I read.
GG
Michael Hampton
The foot I inserted in my mouth today was not all that tastey and it never is. My apologies Sir blaming you for the typical electronic mayhem known to all servers.
GG
I shall now don my hair shirt and flog the piss out of myself as I chant “All Praises Be To Michael” 10001 times.
Don’t worry so much about it. I make a point of welcoming all opinions, even stupid ones. :)
guess whatever floats yer boat Bob.. i love the womb of night.. used to set my alarm to 1am when i was little because i loved laying there listening to the radio when the world was asleep, “Annnnngie bay-beeeee..” (my song) and i knew if i slept thru the night it would be time for school when i woke up, and i hated the shock of that.. i liked to ease myself into it..
*slipshift*
i crave the night but dread the sunlight it’s not funlight my car don’t run right when sweaty palm slips off the shifter it’s enough to make ya throw a lifter nailed Christ to a cross but me to a cortex i love tv but hold the gortex -28
my dj handle, susan 28, is all about balance. i took my b-day, 28, 2+8=10, drop the zero for a life number of 1, a singularity (i smiled knowingly). but i needed something more. something limitless. so i heresied the pagan system by dropping the 1 for a life number of zero -
mathematically, something signifying nothing; valueless, yet infinite; able to encompass alpha, omega, and all points in between: oblivion. philosophically, the place where up/down, good/bad, pleasure/pain, existence/nonexistence become one and the same: Zen. musically, a sonic environment so enveloping that you lose yourself in it, and return to the Source: Bliss.
the movie “Pi” explores this, great flick scored by someone i used to spin with years ago. you’d love the ending. very Bob. i won’t spoil it for you but if you watch it, you’ll say “figures susan would like this”, and when you see the ending, you’ll know why i know you like it, and enjoy your little victory :P
no worries GG ;)
Susan,
Apologies for the length.
I think to keep one’s life in perspective it is often best to set your own definitions of what happiness is to you and what success is to you bearing in mind that if you set the bar in a somewhat static nature these things are achievable, yet if you make those things dependent on floating rules, you could never reach personal nirvana.
I see folks all of the time get what they want and in a short time cast off the success by saying something like; “I would be happy if blank would happen” or “If I only had this or that or if…”. No one can ever be happy for long when they keep moving the happiness or success bar up constantly. It’s self-defeating.
Every person needs to define what success or happiness is and keep the definition that is most supportive of happiness and logic. Either we help ourselves get through life or we destroy ourselves along the way becoming bitter or beaten and I note that No person is ever any more than what they tend to pay attention to the most. What we give power to mentally determines everything in our lives.
The personal self-destruction of my past had to morph into what works for Glen to survive and get something of life worth having and sharing with others so I reinvented Glen to become the type of person first whom I wanted to marry or do business with or be a neighbor of. In doing that it insured that the things mirrored back to me would be mostly of a similar quality. We generally get as we give and in my marriage and my business dealings I have found this to be 90% true over the last 20 years.
There is far more in giving than getting that is supportive of happiness. Folks who volunteer in the community get high off of giving. It is a unique experience to lighten another person’s load and add to their lives value.
Yes, some folks disappoint but so what? We move on and know that we are not responsible for the thoughts and actions of others. We simply chose not to deal with them again where appropriate. We bounce back or recover–move on.
Personal success to me is having a wife in my life who by her own choice not only loves me but is proud of me, my efforts and I wholly feel the same about her. We often become the person that our loved one’s expect us to be. This will keep a person in reasonable line and live up to things not wanting to disappoint those we love. It becomes self-feeding by habit of agenda. I think of her first in everything as she does think of me first in all things. I’m not her boss, nor her my boss. We are equals. This is just what works best for us. An example of our functionality choices.
Others make different choices that must be respected as well. What works for you is what matters. Invent such a thing and stick to it.
Financial success to me is paying all bills the very day they arrive and they hit the mail the next day always for twenty years. It is saving and investing first off the top of the gross without fail and having things set reasonably where that can always happen. I make a promise I keep it no excuses.
That’s how I want to be treated always so I do it first. No one’s ethics are my responsibility, but mine are my responsibility so I am super careful I can do what I say I will. This leaves me guilt free and guilt free supports happiness.
When the important stuff has been addressed I opt for pleasure knowing that what I do is of no risk to our future and I can fully enjoy myself without nagging feelings to screw it up. As humans we tend to worry of the things more of what we didn’t do than what we did do and for me I do not enjoy any boulders hanging over my head to screw up our fun.
Happiness is often just a matter of freeing one’s self from lifestyles that are unworkable or worrisome habitually. Without care and evaluation folks can get stuck in or with things that do not leave ample room for new expressions or even sunshine to get in. The time we have stress free is the valuable time to make love, relate to each other and enjoy just being together as friends.
I try to make our lives about the fun stuff like running the ATVs, hiking or boating or travel or even couch time with popcorn and a favorite on TV with a hug and the fireplace crackling, or any number of things we both enjoy. Isn’t that why I married her? Those things are keepers. Quality time daily. It keeps love alive. Love is supportive of happiness. It is warmth that humans crave. Give it freely to those in your life.
Lastly but most probably First Really! Gratitude and acceptance for everything in my life no matter what. Problems are opportunities to learn and grow. When we extend ourselves to solve problems it empowers us fully and we learn from that making us more than what we were.
When I have a problem I ask myself “What is so good about this?” In that way I immediately defeat defeatism itself and empower myself to come up with answers without stalling out or wasting time. I just go to it.
When a person asks “Why me?” their mind will come up with crummy defeating answers that lead to no where. Cast that one aside for the crap it is. I’d rather empower myself to move through it and learn in the process. This expands my sphere of experience and influence. I learn instead of regress.
Gratitude is being happy for all I have today and acknowleging it daily. I am happy where I live today, who is in my life today, my situation today, my problems today, what is mine today, what my dreams are today. And today is each and every day for the last 20 years dependent on nothing.
This empowers me and allows me the attitude to feel grace in my life and peace and thereby calm the waters of those who mean so much to me when needed. I am now available for whatever and not self-absorbed or unreachable. I am here. I am ready. That’s what folks want to have. An ear, a shoulder, a hug or just a presence.
It is not what others can do for me that I center on. It is what I can do for others in my life that I center on because in that my needs do somehow always get met. I think it is a mirror effect. You get as you give.
But this again is just what works for me and my closest given as a humble example of a point of view. Take what you will or scrap it all.
GG
As for my sometimes tone, I have done the podium thing
which requires strong emphasis. How I speak and write
become the same and I do try for thinking reactions from whom
I speak to..prod exchanges. It’s just so me. If I make others
feel nothing then what is the good of it? Wasted air, wasted time.
Who likes speakers that are milktoast droids that put you to sleep?
good stuff GG..
you can also look at it economically:
we all have differing amounts of emotional capital to play with, which we can spend on ourselves or invest in others to multiply it: find out their interests and nurture them; culltivate their happiness then bask in their smiles. even when you’re down, one or more of them will be up because of your efforts. think of it as a hedge against depression. it’s like happiness in the bank.. in gold of course ;)
dj’ing’s like that too; you see what they’re responding to and it’s a give-and-take; you rock, they respond, you rock harder – it’s an upward spiral – and when a bunch of people are getting off together, it increases the O by orders of magnitude. i love raves.. well, until Burridge’s boys arrive anyway.. bust people on your *own* dime Burridge! (Burridge can you spare a dime?)
mental health is really about feeling empowered, and if we surrender excessive power to government out of fear of our neighbors, it eventually grows into something that diminishes
us all in countless unintended ways. government decreases individual power which is why too much of it messes us up. they say that Total Surveillance ™ will not only fight terrorism but will also help win the drug war, and that only a total police state can cleanse the scourge. but i’m a little worried about Bob these days..
or we could take *back* our power and rebuild community: when
everyone’s sharing each *other’s* power instead of being wired into some central nerve center (special dime rate for snitches) and sucking on *it’s* boobie, then no-one’s “all powerful” and we’re *all* powerful. united we stand..
now for Bob’s sake, let’s bare those boobies and get to work!
and yea GG you’re a polemicist alright. i like that. run those concepts up the flagpole and if they can’t stand the wind they ain’t fit to fly.. sa-lute!
Susan,
When you talk about snitches from my redneck perspective I can tell you that a snitch is a coward and if one snitch bites the dust through 2X4 or fist up the side of the head until pulpy, the others run away to hide. Examples can be great teaching tools. In any neighborhood we all know who the snitches would be and they would be the first visit. The very first with pleasure.
But right now
I’m more concerned with states rights and the Constitution than any other problem we face including drugs. America is more important than drug issues or sports drugging issues. We are all at a tipping point.
It is time to secure the states back to a more sovereign standing intended in The Articles of Confederation and The Constitution and end the monopoly of power the Feds were never intended to hold. The states should grow some nads and take the lead as the wording is with them just not the will as of yet. A few states are now grumbling and rumbling but not enough as of yet.
The next 12 full months will be interesting especially if we have another Katrina type storm that piles another buck on top of the $4 gas expected in spring added to higher food prices and the credit fiasco.
Will we see anger or whimpering as usual? Will we see actions or empty words?
Will it simmer or boil over?
Who knows? But it will be something that Washington as usual cannot handle.
Too many fools in office these days.
GG
GG: i FULLY agree with you, that is priority #1 and would automatically end both the CSA and NFA overnight or should, since both federal gun control and Prohibition are clearly unconstitutional and everyone knows the “interstate commerce”
schtick is a crock of shit that everyone including the SCOTUS
chooses to look the other way on because they think the
“need” trumps the Constitution, with the drug laws modeled after the NFA with the very same non-argument and very same
“(t)reason”, ie: “we know it’s bending the rules but America NEEDS these laws and getting the required Constitutional amendment to allow them would just be such a hassle, and, ummmmm.. we might not be able to get the votes and that would be TRAGIC so just shut up and obey the 9 Kings”.
i rant alot about drug laws in particular and have definitely
suffered under them directly and indirectly but at bottom it’s the principle of the infringement that bothers me most, and that same underlying assumption underpins many other issues i’m not as vocal about, from gambling and prostitution
to helmet laws to forced charity to compulsory education and unchecked domestic spying and Executive power – in short, social engineering, which as a frame is HUGE.
i know we disagree on whether drug laws fall into that category i’m just saying that it is part of a broader ideology for me, ie: Libertarian Constitutionalism (Fed obeys
Constitution to letter and ideally uses Libertarian compass within its jurisdiciton, and ideally States do the same thing
but aren’t required to except as the Costitution mandates, ie: Bill of Rights, and i think we’re of a mind there.
in other words i’m not the “issues voter” i probably come off as, it’s just that the way both liberals and conservatives cherry-pick the Constitution to suit their druthers, we’re reduced to patching it back together one issue at a time, allying with liberals on some (de-criminalising social taboos, civil liberties issues) and conservatives on others (taxes, education, getting out of the charity-at-gunpoint biz).
but i’d love to just be able to scream HEY! EXECUTE YOUR OATH
OF OFFICE AND OBEY THE FUCKING ONSTITUTION and actually have both sides listen.
yep, interesting times ahead alright GG..
just to let everyone know i have NO idea why the spacing turned out that way and it wasn’t like that when i composed it… Michael if you’ve any idea how to fix that please feel free..
Freedom!! I am proud to be an American with people like you all to help us become more free!! Have a good weekend!!!
We miss you but, we know you are busy doing the right thing. Thanks for working so hard to make us free!! You RULE!!
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