Of Course the Government Abused Its Power

Another name for Big Government Conservativism is Fascism and we're rapidly sliding down that slope. Fortunately, American-style fascism hasn't made "the trains run on time" (witness Katrina, Walter Reed, Iraq), so America likely will survive and recover from the latest assault on the Bill of Rights.

I'm shocked, shocked the FBI is abusing the powers granted to in the abomination known by the Orwellian name "The Patriot Act." Most of the extreme provisions in this bill should have been allowed to sunset per the originial law. However Congress, and especially the spineless Democrats raised few objections to expanding to renewing these provisions and only eliminate some of them.

And now the government is attempting to resurrect the Total Information Awareness system. Of course this time they're getting the private sector to do it for them so they contract for the services instead. [Note: to bring in another of my favorite themes,the original seal for the TIA office prompted many concerns from conspiracy groups about the Masons, Illuminati etc. taking over]. FOr real problems TIA could cause, see here.

Begin Self-Involved Explication

Many of the provisions in the Patriot Act simply gave the FBI the same powers to pursue suspected terrorists that the DEA already possessed for going after potential drug traffickers. On that front these provisions could be considered relatively harmless. One the other hand the War on (Some) Drugs could easily be ended by legalizing most drug consumption, regulating it and putting it in the hands of corporations. This would also result in the defunding of many of the terrorism organizations. I had a really interesting conversation about this at CPAC with a law enforcement officer advocating legalizing drugs for these reasons. For what it's worth, he told me he had a much better reception this year than last.

End Self-Involved Explication.

Even a Convicted Pot Smuggler Needs a Job

Hat tip to E:) for this great picture.



And let's face it, the guy is qualified to run a medium size business. I mean managing 120 employees and shipping operations for a $100 million business must take some solid education and management skills. That said, do you really want to hire somebody who may start laundering illegal funds through your company? I don't think that's a good risk consdiering US Zero Tolerance laws Could result in the government seizing the company.

Of course, only in Canada would someone think about something like this.

Marijuana grows brain cells - University Study

http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v05/n1728/a04.htm?134

Good News in the War on (Some) Drugs

Thong Speed: Denver Voters OK Marijuana Possession

Good News in the War on (Some) Drugs: Pot is Good for You

The Globe and Mail: Study turns pot wisdom on head

It turns out that the effects of pot use are dependant on dosage and amount used. However, no matter how beneficial marijuana is, the Lifestyle Police are against pot use because it's fun (and therefore bad) and because legalization would devastate many industries: alcohol, paper, prison and prison-related (like construction). Pot illegality is originally based in racism, and the refusal to change our drug laws must at least partially be based on racism as well as the factors above.

The Lifestyle Police are right in that marijuana is a gateway drug. It's a gateway to people thinking for themselves - once someone enters the black market to purchase pot, tries it and likes it, they generally tend to question authority more. Questioning authority is something the Lifestyle Police (TM) discourage because they control the levers of the Republican party and key social institutions, thus giving them power. Their authority is essentially based on "because we said so" and not in any rational philosophy. I say rational philosophy because they claim to be inspired by God and try to justify their political influence through God. In their collective mind, questioning authority in general leads to questioning God and his role in our Republic. Therefore any they try to quell any questioning of authority.