This is an opinion piece. But an important one for sure, I personally do not believe it will hurt or help.
The only thing to help the Libertarian Party grow is what many of us have said since back in the day, have patience, spread the word, and give it time, lots of time. The Libertarian Party has been the only 3rd Political Party to have been on every Presidential Ballot in every state in the Union over the past 40 years. Other so called third political parties have appeared over the years, but the Lib Party is the only one to have been there year after year.
As things get worst more people will wake up to the Liberty movement and the answers we present. . . EDITOR
While campaigning in Seattle, Washington, last Thursday, Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson predicted that marijuana would be legalized in the U.S. by 2016 and reiterated his support for its legalization.
Dean Chambers, who covers the 2012 elections for the Examiner.com, argues that Johnson and libertarians in general are making a mistake by raising the issue of marijuana legalization. “The voters have never shown a willingness to elect a candidate to the presidency who makes legalizing pot the number one issue,” writes Chambers. “Never at any time have the polls on issue priorities ever shown the American people viewing the legalization of marijuana as the highest national priority. The Libertarian Party nominee always goes to pot and marginalizes themselves for doing so.”
I completely disagree. Johnson is absolutely right to make this an important issue for several reasons. . . . Read Complete Report
“The root of all evil,” says GOP presidential candidate and former two-term Gov. Gary Johnson (R-N.M.), “is politicians that are going to save [us] from terrorists, from illegal immigrants, from drugs. ‘Elect me,’ [they say], ‘and I’ll save you.’. . .” Posted with video
Every day, hundreds of people cross the border illegally into the Arizona desert. In Tucson, the Border Patrol uses a wide mesh of technology to try to stop them. CNET Road Trip checks it out.
TUCSON, Ariz.–It’s summer in the Southwest, and there may not be a hotter border anywhere in the United States. For one thing, the mercury is easily over a hundred every day. And then there’s the steady flow of organized smugglers trying to sneak themselves and their substantial cargo — of migrants and/or drugs — across Mexico’s long desert frontier with Arizona.
There are nine U.S. Border Patrol sectors stretching across America’s southwestern frontier. And back in 2000, the agency was snagging more than 2,000 people a day for crossing illegally into its Tucson sector — which is responsible for 262 linear miles of border and about 90,000 square miles of territory — making it one of the busiest.
But these days, that number has plummeted to between 300 and 350 a day, and the Border Patrol’s adoption of a broad set of new technology aimed at combating smugglers — a complex network of cameras and sensors in the ground, on towers, on the back of mobile trucks, or mobile agents, and airborne — has played a large part in the reduction. After all, if a smuggler knows that he and a group of migrants he’s shepherding are likely to be spotted thanks to the technology, he’s more likely to try another area. . . . Read Complete Story w/ photos
Posted by CN Staff on June 02, 2012 at 10:42:10 PT By Samuel P. Jacobs
Source: Reuters
Denver — Throughout his presidency, Barack Obama hasn’t exactly been a friend to marijuana users. Sure, he has acknowledged smoking pot as a young man, but he has disappointed marijuana advocates by opposing its legalization, regulation and taxation like alcohol.
And the Justice Department’s occasional crackdown under his administration on medical marijuana dispensaries, which 17 states and the District of Columbia allow, has angered others.
So now, with Obama facing a stiff challenge from Republican Mitt Romney in the November 6 election, it’s ironic that his chances of winning the key state of Colorado could hinge on marijuana legalization, supported by a growing number of Americans.
At issue is whether Obama will get a boost from young voters expected to be among the most enthusiastic backers of a Colorado ballot initiative that would legalize possession of up to an ounce of pot for recreational use – and give the state the most liberal marijuana law in the nation.
The initiative is a reflection of Colorado’s unique blend of laid-back liberalism and anti-regulation conservatism that helped make the state the birthplace of the Libertarian Party.
It’s a state where people of different political stripes see marijuana laws as an example of government needlessly sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong.
It’s also a proving ground for advocates who see legalization as a way to ease crowding in prisons, generate much-needed tax revenues, create jobs and weaken Mexican cartels that thrive on Americans’ appetite for illegal drugs. . . . Read Complete Report
After Dennis posted his take on the investigative report from Indianapolis News 13, WTHR, regarding illegal immigrants , oh, sorry, “undocumented resident aliens”, I felt obliged to add my two pesos worth. One of the happy recipients of your money and mine in the tax fraud story lives about 15 miles from me. He is a hard-working and peace loving criminal, not just for tax fraud criminal, but rather a criminal just for being here.
In a different part of town is a family of legal immigrants from Thailand. They are all adult siblings and moved here legally under a program enacted by Congress and fostered by faith-based organizations. More power to ’em, I say. Welcome to the neighborhood. About the only work available to folks like them is near minimum wage positions at the poultry processing plant or the wood working factory, both places have work that is dangerous, arduous, and has few prospects for rapid advancement, or, maybe, no advancement at all. I have a feeling, though, that our new Thai neighbors will advance quickly as their linguistic skills improve. They want to not only work here, they want to be part of the community, and that is the most significant difference.
The opportunities for advancement for many of the Mexican and other Hispanic residents, both legal and not, and whether they wish it or not, is tied to how much crystal meth moves in and through the county. Which begs the question, if Congress enacted the rules allowing illegal immigrants to claim twenty dependents, that may or may not still be in Mexico, and the associated earned income credits, shouldn’t they have known that the people who cheat the most are those who are already criminals? So here we have a whole covey of crimes being fostered by Congress itself. And when the crystal meth becomes part of the equation, people get hurt or killed. It seems obvious that the $4 Billion per year sent by IRS is much better and more efficient than the old ways of money laundering.
Our county has already lost several buildings to fires or explosions just this calendar year and there are fewer than 32,000 legal residents in the entire county. We’ve also sent several county residents, both legal and not, to Federal prisons this year. We have life lined two or three to hospitals outside the county after incidents almost certainly related to meth traffic. Last year, we had to fire a deputy who allegedly traded tips to dealers and or manufacturers in exchange for sexual favors.
However, while my view of the problem is concentrated on my own neighborhood, the same things are happening in your neighborhood. Your money is being stolen and sent out of the country. Your kids are being exposed to some of the most dangerous recreational drugs ever devised (invented by the US Army Air Force, incidentally). Houses and shops in your neighborhood are potential firebombs. And a few of your own cops are turning to the dark side, the money or other “rewards” are simply too tempting or the coercion is too effective.
Please think about these things as you watch part 2 of the WTHR special report.
Continuing the story that is an eerie likeness to the infamous Mina Arkansas guns-for-drugs case which I am convinced propelled Bill Clinton to the presidency. . . EDITOR
By DICK MORRIS
Published on DickMorris.com on March 21, 2012
Printer-Friendly Version The fast and furious story gained momentum in Washington after it has emerged that Attorney General Eric Holder failed to turn over to Congressional investigators evidence that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,and Firearms has released Manuel Acosta – a kingpin in the illegal weapons trade of the drug cartels – from custody in return for a vague promise of” cooperation” which he failed to keep. . . Read Complete report plus sign this petition to call on Holder to resign or on Congress to impeach him
Much is said about the failed “War on Drugs” as a program that MUST continue no matter the cost, I’m afraid I have to disagree. The present drug policy is idiocy at work. . . or not at work.
The first step would be to separate REAL drugs from light drugs. instead of spending so much on Marijuana control, a substance that every study since the 1800s has found not to be the danger that, starting with Nixon, has gotten so much bad press.
It seems to me that being truthful about the lack of dangers of herb would make the job of controlling crack, coke, heron etc. a lot easier and a lot less costlier if the powers that be would stop using lies and propaganda to lump the hemp plant in with their manufactured dangerous drugs. Every study of the plant its leaves and stems, has found little or no medical, psychological, or “dependance” associated with the herb. Lets face it, the only reason pot is illegal is because it would put a big dent in the Controllers pocket book and Richard Nixon’s total paranoia about anything he could not understand. . . which, as history has show wasn’t much. With that said, I have decided to add this new category to our growing list of Departments. . . Editor
Boston — A proposed ballot question that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in Massachusetts is being bankrolled almost entirely by an Ohio billionaire who has backed similar efforts in other states.
According to state campaign finance reports, Peter Lewis, chairman of the board of the auto insurer Progressive Corp. contributed $525,000 to the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which is supporting the question . . . Read complete report
USA — The drive to legalize marijuana has long been a fringe cause, associated with hard-core libertarians and college-age stoners. But it could go mainstream in a big way in this November’s election, when Washington could become the first state to legalize recreational pot use. If it does — or if voters in any of several other states do — this year could be a turning point in the nation’s treatment of marijuana. . . Read Complete Report
From youtube
Marijuana Good For You? JAMA Study on Pot
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared lung function of marijuana smokers, tobacco smokers and nonsmokers. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss the surprising results on The Young Turks.
Marijuana compared to alcohol: Marijuana consumers smoke “to get high” while “a person drinks to have fun. . . . “At least with liquor I don’t lose motivation.” . . . Richard Nixon
Nixon Tapes Reveal Twisted Roots Of Marijuana Prohibition
White House Conversations Reveal Prejudices, Culture War Behind Nixon’s Drug War
The Former Governor Delivered An Honest, Thorough Report. The President Wanted Something Different.
Washington, DC: “We need, and I use the word ‘all out war,’ or all fronts . . . .” That was Richard Nixon’s reaction to his national commission’s recommendation that marijuana no longer be a criminal offense, according to Nixon’s Oval Office tapes. The year after Nixon’s “all out war” marijuana arrests jumped by over 100,000 people.
WAKE UP AMERICA, we need a drug policy that works. The following report from “Common Sense for Drug Policy” is a start. Link to National Drug Control Strategy 1999.
