I’ve confessed before that I am hopelessly uninformed about popular culture, so it’s no big surprise that I couldn’t identify a single song by Ice-T.
But since I’m a big supporters of the Second Amendment, I’ve decided he’s now my favorite singer (or would he be called a rapper?) after seeing him defend the right to bear arms on British TV.
Well I HATE rap but he is my new favorite rapper too. He GETs America.
And as D well knows we are having a little problem with government these days but the government dare not go too far because there is a gun behind EVERY blade of grass.
We like that in America. In fact given the whole Colorado deal or despite it - no politicians - not even the power grabber in chief is calling for gun control. It is a losing issue here. Left and right. I like that.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
I’ve confessed before that I am hopelessly uninformed about popular culture, so it’s no big surprise that I couldn’t identify a single song by Ice-T.
But since I’m a big supporters of the Second Amendment, I’ve decided he’s now my favorite singer (or would he be called a rapper?) after seeing him defend the right to bear arms on British TV.
Well I HATE rap but he is my new favorite rapper too. He GETs America.
And as D well knows we are having a little problem with government these days but the government dare not go too far because there is a gun behind EVERY blade of grass.
We like that in America. In fact given the whole Colorado deal or despite it - no politicians - not even the power grabber in chief is calling for gun control. It is a losing issue here. Left and right. I like that.
When I was chairman of our gun group, I explained to all the members that for us to win we needed to make this a bi-partisan issue. That meant supporting Democrats if they supported this principle. Indeed, I argued that if we let one side believe that we will never support them, we lose the ability to leverage either side.
For that reason we threw our support behind Democrat Senator Frank Shurden, and Democrat Senator Sam Helton, (among others.) Both were instrumental in getting the Concealed carry law passed here in my state. I could have attended the signing ceremony, (as did several of my good friends and allies) but I never cared for pomp or recognition.
MSimon wrote:We like that in America. In fact given the whole Colorado deal or despite it - no politicians - not even the power grabber in chief is calling for gun control. It is a losing issue here. Left and right. I like that.
Not quite no politician. A senator from the peoples republic of California is calling for more gun bans. A safe seat not at apparent risk this November.
MSimon wrote:We like that in America. In fact given the whole Colorado deal or despite it - no politicians - not even the power grabber in chief is calling for gun control. It is a losing issue here. Left and right. I like that.
Not quite no politician. A senator from the peoples republic of California is calling for more gun bans. A safe seat not at apparent risk this November.
We always called those when I was in the mil "10% didn't get the word".
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
hanelyp wrote:Asset forfeiture is one point where the war on drugs has been corrupted. Assets should not be forfeit unless proven contraband, or as penalty for a crime for which the owner has been duly convicted.
Which does not detract in the least from the point of suppressing drug abuse to suppress associated social harm.
But prohibition doesn't suppress drug use - it spreads it.
Rudi Dekkers - Wallace J. Hilliard - Discover Air -
Daniel Hopsicker
Before you write him off entirely, though, his credentials are, well, impressive. He's been a producer at Wall Street Week for PBS, he's the former executive producer of the now-defunct NBC show Global Business, and he's been an investigative reporter for NBC News. He is the author of Barry and "the Boys" -- The CIA, the Mob, and America's Secret History.
Now explain to me how drugs will be suppressed with the US government importing them? And has bee since the Viet Nam War? read McCoy "The politics of heroin". Read about "Blandon Iran Contra" . And now Osama.
The "suppress drug use" is the story they sell to the rubes and marks.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
MSimon wrote:But prohibition doesn't suppress drug use - it spreads it.
That sounds like pro druggie BS to me.
I ran across this earlier today:
Note North Africa and the Mideast, areas dominated by Islam. For those not familiar, strict Islam prohibits alcohol consumption, and tends to be aggressive in enforcement.
MSimon wrote:But prohibition doesn't suppress drug use - it spreads it.
That sounds like pro druggie BS to me.
Note North Africa and the Mideast, areas dominated by Islam. For those not familiar, strict Islam prohibits alcohol consumption, and tends to be aggressive in enforcement.
Yes but if I am a strict practicing Muslin I wouldn't drink because my religion that I believe in says not to...not because of punitive laws (or enforcement) trying to force me. Like Jews (and Muslims) not eating pork or Hindu's not eating beef, it’s not fear of jack-booted thugs kicking their doors in but their own internal governors that they believe in themselves. Doesn't prove or disprove the effectiveness of punitive laws per see.
The analysis of crime statistics and gun sales from 2006 to 2011 was done by Professor Thomas Baker at Virginia Commonwealth University. Professor Baker found that even as handgun sales rose by 73 percent between 2006 and 2011, violent gun crimes fell by 24 percent. He says the results of his study contradict the belief that more guns leads to more crime.
MSimon wrote:But prohibition doesn't suppress drug use - it spreads it.
That sounds like pro druggie BS to me.
Note North Africa and the Mideast, areas dominated by Islam. For those not familiar, strict Islam prohibits alcohol consumption, and tends to be aggressive in enforcement.
Yes but if I am a strict practicing Muslin I wouldn't drink because my religion that I believe in says not to...not because of punitive laws (or enforcement) trying to force me. Like Jews (and Muslims) not eating pork or Hindu's not eating beef, it’s not fear of jack-booted thugs kicking their doors in but their own internal governors that they believe in themselves. Doesn't prove or disprove the effectiveness of punitive laws per see.
Atta drank and liked pork chops, and Hopsiker is the real deal, an old fashioned investigative journalist that picked up on investigating the terrorist flight schools after the FBI were diverted to find the anthtrax mailer.
Somehow, I suspect any B & E artist who attempts to rob Ice-T is in for a nasty shock.
MSimon wrote:But prohibition doesn't suppress drug use - it spreads it.
That sounds like pro druggie BS to me.
Note North Africa and the Mideast, areas dominated by Islam. For those not familiar, strict Islam prohibits alcohol consumption, and tends to be aggressive in enforcement.
Yes but if I am a strict practicing Muslin I wouldn't drink because my religion that I believe in says not to...not because of punitive laws (or enforcement) trying to force me. Like Jews (and Muslims) not eating pork or Hindu's not eating beef, it’s not fear of jack-booted thugs kicking their doors in but their own internal governors that they believe in themselves. Doesn't prove or disprove the effectiveness of punitive laws per see.
I would argue that you don't spend a lot of time around muslim folks. There is a tendancy of the hard liners to jackboot the moderates. SO much so that the moderates will (ironically) moderates their behaviour based on fear when they are around others who are more hardline. I have seen this over and over. One of the most repetitive events I have seen is during group dinners where folks who would normally have a beer don't because "someone" is around, or if they do so they sneak outside to do it. This is not limited to one group of folks either, I have seen it on a number of occasions with different persons involved over a number of years.
As I have told some of my Arab friends when they asked me what I thought was the biggest thing I saw wrong with their culture, "Hypocrisy".
They agreed.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)
ladajo wrote:
I would argue that you don't spend a lot of time around muslim folks. There is a tendancy of the hard liners to jackboot the moderates. SO much so that the moderates will (ironically) moderates their behaviour based on fear when they are around others who are more hardline. I have seen this over and over. One of the most repetitive events I have seen is during group dinners where folks who would normally have a beer don't because "someone" is around, or if they do so they sneak outside to do it. This is not limited to one group of folks either, I have seen it on a number of occasions with different persons involved over a number of years.
As I have told some of my Arab friends when they asked me what I thought was the biggest thing I saw wrong with their culture, "Hypocrisy".
They agreed.
Yep. Saw this exact pattern wrt other parts of their traditions/culture too. Reaction when hypocrisy was pointed out - paradigm paralysis.
You can do anything you want with laws except make Americans obey them. | What I want to do is to look up S. . . . I call him the Schadenfreudean Man.
Stubby wrote:Man Ladajo that sounds a lot like the Republican party.
Sounds like any cultural group rife with bullies. Name a party or group.
Arab culture is specific in its Bully role. It is expected that men of power walk on the heads of those beneath them. Failure to acknowledge the "power" is expected to bring fast and total wrath upon the offender. The funny part is most of the power is assumed, not real.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)
Stubby wrote:Man Ladajo that sounds a lot like the Republican party.
Sounds like any cultural group rife with bullies. Name a party or group.
That kind of group dynamic does not require bullies in any sense. Go to a church in Europe and you'll see as soon as people step out of the building, they light up. Tobacco is not stigmatized in Europe so people don't feel embarrassed or that smoking is any reflection on their spirituality. Not so in the States. While smoking is never stigmatized in most American churches that I'm aware of, no one lights up in the church parking lot, because other strictures in America make people feel ashamed of their smoking habit. That doesn't mean there are necessarily fewer smokers in the church. It just means that this is the way conscience works. Does not require a bully in any way. Simply by having Shira law prohibit alcohol, most islamic social networks function to prohibit alcohol as well, regardless of how people feel about the prohibition. The same is true of hard drugs. When they are illegal, most people will not try them for that reason alone. That's why 9 times as many people drink alcohol in the US as smoke grass, and evidence that certainly, prohibition does in fact work.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
