The Doobie Jones

Yeah-besides when was the last time you heard someone getting "high" and crossing a yellow line and killing a car full of innocent people.

However, "alcohol" -which is legal-....sure we all know that story...

Thank you!!!

Mine thing is there is a lot more things out there that are killing people, perscription drugs, alcohol, street drugs, parents not giving a crud about their kids, ect. Why waste time on "doobie smokers" whose goal is to smoke, laugh, watch movies, and munch!!

If the Feds legalized pot the same way alcohol is legal, they would be rolling in dough!! Marijuana is no more a "gateway drug" than alcohol is. The only reason people tend to graduate from pot to harder drugs is the folks selling it to them. If you bought marijuana at a legal outlet, they aren't going to try to get you hooked on harder drugs. I used marijuana in the '70's, like a lot of people my age. I no longer use it and wouldn't think of starting again unless I had some medical need for it. There ARE medical uses for pot but many states are so dead set against ANY use of it that they turn a blind eye to the advantages of it's use medically. One of my uncles had lung cancer and was having chemo-therapy for it. It caused a lot of problems for him. He could barely hold any food down at all. A friend of his got him to try marijuana to ease the nausea. Before long, he was eating like a horse. He probably would have died a lot sooner than he did just from the adverse effects of the Chemo treatments.

I think you all may have overlooked Marcus's point about the "delivery system". Because pot is illegal, the systems to deliver the pot become the same as deliver other drugs.

My dad told me one time, that pot was illegal instead of alcohol because no-one could figure out how to legalize pot, and still make the Kennedy's rich.

There used to be a Boys Home in Oberlin. I would occasionally hire boys from the Youth Ranch to help me with chores. One boy, was sixteen, and was at the Youth Ranch because his momma found two joints in clothes dresser.

Two joints. You should have seen what drugs they gave this boy every morning under a prescription. Enough to tranquilize a horse. I know I am not a Doctor, but keeping a kid stoned under legal drugs doesn't seem like so much a better thing to do, then to let him smoke his joints. And this kid was a good kid, you just had to work him awhile, to get him out from under the influence of all the "legal" drugs he had in his system.

I agree with Jhat and others that pot is a natural substance, unlike booze, and slapping people in jail for pot charges is silly and expensive.

I dont use alcohol or marijuana, so it I could care less if they were both illegal. But this discusion does leave me with some questions to think about.

If marijuana is not addictive, why do people end up in prison over its use? In the state of Nebraska you have to be caught more than once to go to prison over it, yet it is so important to these people that they will take that chance. Thats not a chance that a normal rational person would take.

I believe that marijuana is no worse than alcohol. Should we make alcohol illegal?

I dont know the statistic concerning marijuana use, its been my experience that statistics cant be trusted anyway, I can get on line and find statistical data to support absolutely any point of view. Would the use of marijuana change if it were legal? For the better or for the worse??

If it were legalized, would the government in its infinite wisdom tax it to the point that it would still be used illegally because it is cheaper to get it illegally than to pay the tax on it?

I have seen some casual marijuana users that use and have absolutely no problem with it, the same statement applies to alcohol users. I have also seen alot of heavy users of both marijuana and alcohol that are a complete waste of space, useless in every way imaginable. To me, this suggests addiction. Its funny that the world cannot enjoy anything, because some dumb%$$# will over enjoy and mess it up for everyone.

I have been able to tolerate G5's ranting and raving up to this point and have been able to laugh as he labels people Marxist, socialist, reprobates etc. etc., but when he started showing his racist side by calling people ragheads, towelheads, and Islam a "trash religion", his views have gone from laughable to really, really sad. Sad because here is a man that has no concept of reality. The world has changed all around him but he is still stuck in the era of the 1940's and 1950's when white men dominated all levels of society and government. The world that he knew as a young man and through his middle age is crumbling all around him and he does not know how to deal with these changes so he lashes out with hatred, racism, homophobia, and anger. I have also noticed that he likes to make subtle threats about taking up arms against the reprobates of the world.

I have some friends that are Muslim and they are some of the best people, and yes G5..Americans, you could ever imagine. They are educated, tolerant, peaceful and are first class citizens of this country. If any person was to make threats against them in my presence I would be the first to defend them against the type of ignorance displayed by G5.

I'm sorry G5...rant all you want about Marxism, socialism and anything else you want but keep your racism and ignorance to youself. This type of trash does not belong in public forums or for that matter anywhere else in our country.

After witnessing this type of hatred I feel so fortunate that my two boys have friends from all different races and religions. The boys and their friends judge people not by the "color of their skin but by the contend of their character." This is the America of our future, not the sad, lonely, reactionary world of G5.

G5,

"Even if 5% of the Muslims are militant terrorist sympathizers, then they outnumber us."

Please explain this statistic to me. I am not sure what you are referring to. There are more Christians worldwide (~2.1 billion) than Muslims (1.5 Billion). So I don't understand how 5% of them outnumber us.

If you're talking about just the US. Muslims make up about 1% of the population, while Christians make up about 80%.

I'm just trying to understand what you are talking about with the statistic.

And yes, possibly some Muslims celebrated 9/11. But many more American Muslims were outraged and saddened at the events that unfolded that day. Not just because their country was attacked, but because they knew their own countrymen would now turn against them, despite the fact that they had nothing to do with it.

Even abroad the actions were lamented. I remember footage of Iranians praying in the street for the victims and their families. (I'm not trying to paint Iran as a "nice" country, just pointing out that even they sent their condolences for our loss.)

Certainly some Muslims were happy about the events. I simply think it is dishonest and dangerous to characterize that perspective as typically Muslim (especially when considering American muslims). There is not a "muslim problem" there is a "terrorist problem". This was exactly the point I was trying to show by brining up the Spanish inquisition. I would not characterize the inquisition as a "Christian Problem", but a problem of control and racism. (additionally, the inquisition occured in the Catholic church BEFORE the protestant reformation, when Christianity was still primarily one church (excluding the orthodox churches)).

For the record, as a non-religious person, I find both Christianity and Islam to be equally bizarre religions that have both caused suffering and pain in the world. (and I know that I will probably be killed in the comments for this). My point is that we are at a point where the Muslim population is infected with a strain of violent extremism. Christianity was afflicted by the same ailment at many points in history. I am only suggesting that we not characterize muslims in general as american-hating extremists, but realize that there is a huge moderate Muslim community who does not want to see the west burnt to the ground. And that we realize that even Christianity had dark times in history. And that these dark times were not indicitave of all christian beliefs.

I am sorry if I misconstrued what you said as including "all" Muslims. It sounded to me like you were accusing American Muslims of "guile" and laying in wait to "cut our throats". I find that offensive on the basis that I know many muslim americans who are good people, and love their country very deeply. It seemed to me that you were so angry at the terrorists, that you were painting muslims with one large brush.

How do I know most of them are like this? Because if they weren't, we would have much bigger problems on our hands. 360 million people in america X 1% muslim population = 3.6 million muslims. If even HALF of them (1.3 million) were anti-american extremeists, we would have MUCH bigger problems than 9/11 on our hands.

I am aware that you could call me guilty of characterizing christians in a similar all-inclusive manner. Especially when I complain about them pusing intelligent design in schools, or an anti-homosexual agenda. I think I tend to stick up for muslims more because I feel that they are being discriminated against in America, whereas Christians constitute the majority. As a fellow minority (atheist) who is discriminated against in the US on the basis of their beliefs (or non-beliefs), I feel a certain sympathy for american muslims.

And I appreciate the Churchill quote. But we cannot declare that Islam itself is violent and extreme. So to take his analogy further, the fire brigade must be able to tell the difference between an arsonist and the man who uses fire to cook his meals and heat his home.

DubYah kept the U.S. safe from terrorist attacks.

Hundreds of thousands of seaborne containers come into U.S. ports every year, without inspection and without controls.

I can't take mouthwash or toothpaste on a plane. Guns, bomb components, knives and explosives are carried aboard airliners by "test inspectors" -- right through all the cosmetic security.

But under Bush, that information was blacked out.

Any registered merchant ship can move into any U.S. port at any time, under any flag.

Someday one could arrive, detonate an explosion and disperse toxic gas or microbes or radiation.

Nothing has been done since 9/11 to prevent the real dangers of terrorism.

So stand in line, remove your shoes, dump your nail clippers and deodorant spray and relax.

Last year at the major airport I use, a man walked across the field, across two runways, across several taxiways and aprons, climbed into the pilots seat of a jet liner and was quite happy until the flight crew came aboard and found him.

The captains insisted that airplane be taken away and inspected minutely and he wanted a different plane.

G5,

I completely agree with what jhat said. Your view on muslims is embarrasing. Have you ever met a muslim in your life? Have they suicide bombed you? No.

You are stereotyping in the worst way. People are people, no matter what they believe. Your God cares about the muslims just as much as he cares about you.

And contrary to popular belief, Christiany has a longer history of violence than islam. In the first three crusades in which the muslims captured jerusalem they let the christians living in the city out freely. They even let them make trips to worship. Do you know what the christians did everytime they concurred? They raped and pillaged everyone inside. That is the undeniable truth. You will find that in any history book throughout the world.

So Here we get one wingnut claiming dubya has kept us safe, and a bit further on we get another of the Alcoa headgear brigade wetting its depends about some imagined terrist that has managed to sneak in, dull knife and all, past all that security dubya flung up.The resolution of that contradiction ought to be interesting to see.