BLOWBACK

great song if you're feeling pissed off or want to be

5 hours

Awesome

btw I was being sarcastic about zero-tolerance; I met a lot of good people inside who need guns to survive

damn, sarcastic again, I give up

I saw this report last night on CNBC about the economic impact of the marijuana industry. It will be rebroadcast Wednesday night.

Or you can watch it online.

It is a nice picture. Seems like I've seen a picture like that before.....

sickening

Ha ha, that'll be the day.

Hack, you must feel honored. Such a burden though.

hey, it worked, someone else posted a comment!!!

The cops tell the suspects, show us the pot so we don't have to search you and we'll take it easy on you. When they display the pot to the cop, they commit a misdemeanor. If they forced the cops to find the pot, they could only be charged with a violation (not a crime, pot was decriminalized in NY as the article says in the 1970's). The kickers are... Read More that (1) the cops can arrest you for a violation (technically including a parking ticket), which they routinely do for pot whether you give it up or not, ever since Giuliani implemented that policy in his first term, and (2) a violation can end up on your NYS criminal record if statistics for, say, pot arrests are being compiled at the time for an arbitrary reason such as getting a mayor such as Giuliani reelected. The stigma of a drug possession conviction hardly depends on whether the state you possessed it in calls it a misdemeanor or a violation. Once you're listed in the system as a drug offender, the "game" is already lost.

Some shocking numbers from the article: "Stated in a 1998 United Nations Human Development Report, the amount of additional money needed to achieve nationwide access in all developing countries is very easy to obtain. We'd need only six billion dollars for basic education to all, nine billion dollars for clean water for all, and only thirteen ... Read Morebillion dollars for basic health and nutrition for all (The state of human development). Keep in mind that our nation alone spends $711 billion a year on just military expenses."

The callous indifference of the U.S. and other "developed" countries to the suffering of the poorest people in the world is appalling and unacceptable. According to the United Nationsl Report, if only 28 people on the planet donated $1 billion each year (or the U.S. diverted 4% of its military budget to the task of helping instead of killing people), everyone in the world could have clean water, health care, nutrition and basic education.

Of course these are 1998 statistics, but even if world population doubled and the price of all resources doubled from 1998-2009 (both absurd overestimates), it would still take only $112 billion to provide the basic necessities of life to every person on the planet -- less than the cost of bailing out AIG alone.

Since the military budget has increased steadily since 1998, the percentage diverted to helping people would not increase as much as the dollar amount in any scenario.

Remember that rogue trader in France who lost over $600 billion dollars? We could have used that money to eliminate extreme poverty for a decade.

Horrific story but thanks for posting it.

To make matters worse, police, prosecutors, and criminal suspects and convicts may fabricate evidence to improve their own circumstances. And juries will sometimes skimp on deliberations after sitting through a long trial because they're already convinced the person is guilty (why else would he be on trial?) and just want to go home and get back to... Read More their lives. Clearly that happened in this case. Jurors may "reason" that someone was murdered, the perpetrator must be punished, and the most likely perpetrator is the person the prosecutors have accused. Most jurors probably believe police, prosecutors and "experts" are generally competent and honest. In cases of uncertainty, the jury is left with the discomfiting choice of convicting the suspect on trial or leaving the crime unsolved. When a particularly disturbing crime has been committed, they're likely to feel pressure from the community to provide closure. Any of these circumstances can lead to an innocent person being executed.

And, then, of course there's racism, Public Executioner Number 1 of innocent and guilty alike.