H20,

Yup, same page it looks like.

Phreak,

You made my day! I laughed so hard I had to set my lunch down and explain to my office mate what was so funny. . . . and then I got to your line where you said it was satire.

TK,

What’s an LB? I’m not as informed as you.

GP2,

No thank you. I hope you were just funnin’ me in this post. Some drugs (like tobacco, alcohol, heroin, crack, and meth) are dangerous and don’t appeal to me - excepting alcohol in moderation. However, I’ll defend your rights to use any drugs you want, just like I’d defend your right to free speech. Nor do I recommend arresting terrorists and getting them ACLU lawyers. Engaging in terrorism = forfeiture of rights; therefore I recommend the more sporting approach I described of hunting them down and killing them (not as easy as it sounds).

I’m sure H20 is a nice guy, but I could never get thaaaat wasted. Getting rid of neocon right wing Christian facists sounds attractive; however, I value diversity too much to do that.

You’re right that drug consumers (who create the demand) are much to blame. However, they are to blame only for creating the demand - which some enterprizing capitalist entrepreneurs are duty bound to supply. The folly of the drug war is our government’s complicity, both in thinking we can actually do something constructive about drug usage by making it illegal (actually there is one thing that is somewhat effective; it’s drug education) and then in developing a nationwide anti-drug industry of specialized law enforcement (that now has a self-serving interest in perpetuating itself) that is almost, but not quite, totally ineffective cuz it doesn’t address the root cause of demand.

There will always be a segment of the population that chooses to be unproductive and so extremely hedonistic as to make drug use their way of life. I say, legalize drugs and let ‘em have at it. That way drugs are cheap for them, and they won’t have to break into my house to steal my valuable fishing gear and pawn it for a fraction of its value to obtain their daily fix. And extreme drug use results in shorter life spans, so they won’t be on the dole extracting welfare from you for so long.

Wailuku,

A good point. I’m concerned that Homeland Security is exactly that, a new empire that will become more dedicated to self service (which it will be effective at) than to homeland security, which it cannot be effective at without infringing on my inalienable rights as a U.S. citizen. (i.e. Ben Franklen - “those who would give up freedom for security will end up with neither.”)

Harley,

Right on bro. Tobacco and then alcohol - both legal - cause more loss in the U.S. than all the illegal drugs combined.

TK,

Ta da!! Your quote, “The war on drugs is attacking a symptom not the cause.” You should get an award for that statement. Yes, the war on drugs attacks possession and dealing, but it does absolutely nothing to reduce or eliminate demand.

A similar statement can be made about the war on terrorism; it attacks a symptom - perpetrators of terrorist attacks. Well, at least it could, if we focused on that, but there have been many threads and hundreds of posts on that issue here. I’m absolutely mind blown that our government isn’t putting an ounce of effort into identifying and addressing the root cause of terrorism against the U.S. (I don’t mean to hijack this thread and apologize now if this does.)

I know you and GP2 and some others here seem to be satisfied that the terrorists attack the U.S. simply because they are Muslims and therefore are religiously dedicated to attacking us infidels. I’m probably hoping for too great a leap of faith here, but nonetheless I’m hoping that some of us here, like me, who aren’t buying into that theme, might actually have a point in our expression that some radical Muslims become terrorists who attack the U.S. only for the reason that they see us supplying Israel with weapons that are used in state-sponsored terrorism that kills and otherwise oppresses Palestinians. And that if we addressed that root cause, Muslims in general would have less reason, and therefore be less likely, to support Muslim terrorist acts against the U.S.

Consider that Muslims have been around since Muhammad in the 7th century, or even 4,000 years in one thread you posted to. Doesn’t matter; the U.S. has only been here since 1776, and Muslims have only shown enmity against the U.S. since about 1948 and the U.S and UK creation of the state of Israel. Even if I’m wasting my time here, it seems worth it to say one more time that if the U.S. treated Palestinians as evenly as we treat Israel, most of the reasons that most non-radical Muslims have for hating the U.S. and supporting terrorism against the U.S. would be gone. And our war on terror would be most effectively fought.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.