Today a man said something: Obama says ‘After 9-11 we tortured some folks’
Or how I learned that stupid policies turned me into a criminal for no good reason.
What with all the talk lately about legalizing marijuana, I have been reading some articles about the war on drugs in general, a few of them regarding the over the counter decongestant Pseudoephedrine which is more commonly known as Sudafed. Pseudoephedrine can be chemically transformed into Methamphetamine, and so in 2006 it was taken off the shelf, put behind the counter and requirements put in place to document purchases and ID customers. OK so far nothing too radical, I suppose. After reading more than one story about people being contacted by police and in some cases threatened with arrest and having their homes, cars, etc. searched after purchasing Pseudoephedrine, I started wondering: am I unitentionally violating the law and exposing myself to risk of harrassment or arrest?
I personally do not use Pseudoephedrine. It has been my decongestant of choice, but I developed an allergy to it about 10 years ago. It is, however, the only decongestant that works for my wife who has seasonal allergies that last for about a month or so in early summer. She uses it 24 hours a day during that time. I have been purchasing it for her, and I have made approximately four transactions at three different retail locations – two of them had written log books, and another swiped my drivers license. No one made any mention of purchase limits, but in doing some research I have learned that there are indeed limits on how much can be legally purchased per day or month. The limit is 3.6 grams per day, or 9 grams per 30 day period. A little quick math is now in order. I have been purchasing the 12 hour formulation, which is a 120 milligram (mg) tablet. Furthermore I purchased them in boxes of 20 tablets, so 20 times 120mg = 2400 mg or 2.4 grams per 20 count box. Twenty tablets is a ten day supply, so multiply by 3 to get a months ration, that equals 7.2 grams. OK, that’s below the 9 gram limit. Whew! Wait…hold on a sec….at one time I purchased two boxes for a total of 4.8 grams, which put me over the 3.6 gram daily limit. This purchase was made at a pharmacy, yet the clerk did not inform me of the limit. They also used a written log book, which I assume they turn over to the DEA periodically, and so my “crime” is documented.
Am I going to get a visit from the DEA or am I now a Breaking Bad suspect? Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you the idea is ludicrous. I am such a boring straight arrow that my nickname at one time was “the boy scout”. And now I find out I am a suspected druggie. Should I turn myself in? As I said the idea that I am a drug dealer or cooker is ludicrous, but if I can be ensnared by the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act then anyone can. It’s not hard to see how an individual could run afoul of the law as it is perfectly natural behavior for people to stock up on items they use regularly rather than go out and buy the minimum quantity each time it’s needed, especially medications.
It’s this type of nonsense that makes the War on Drugs a joke. This has been law since 2006, and as you can see the Meth epidemic is a thing of the past. Oh, wait…
And just for grins and giggles, here’s a little extra somethin’ somethin’ – thank a Democrat. It figures that Feinstein would get me sooner or later after all those letters I wrote during the Clinton Administration.
Cross Posted at Men Out Of Work Blog
Courtesy of the New York Times via Althouse, here is an editorial calling for the legalization of Marijuana. Why? No reason, really. Alcohol’s legal, why not weed? One might expect a little more in depth analysis from America’s paper of record.
Do I really want ot write about this again? I’ve covered it here and here. I’m not sure there’s much more to say. The debate over legalization will no doubt continue, especially as legalization seems to be gaining momentum with recent electoral victories in Washington and Colorado. Personally, I would have to say that I am more in favor of de-criminalization as opposed to outright legalization. I believe that much of the war on drugs is counterproductive and wasteful, but I also believe that drug use is a bad thing and that legalization will lead to increased use. Marijuana is not as harmless and benign as legalization proponents say. I am largely skeptical of the medical uses, mainly due to the fact that where I live in California it is legal to use for “medical” reasons, and for that reason it is apparently a miracle drug that is valid therapy for virtually any ailment imaginable. Just about every doper on the street has their “pot card”. However…I am not opposed to clinical study to validate any potential legitimate medical use. Besides that, it’s smoking. Isn’t smoking supposed to be bad?
I am still at a loss as to what to call this..accident? atrocity? It seems certain now that Ukrainian Separatists (Putin’s proxy army) recklessly committed this act, thinking they were shooting at a Ukrainian military transport. There is a civil war going on over there, though you would never know it by reading the American media. So I’m settling on incident for now. Here is a link to a story at the Daily Mail (UK) with in depth information on the surface-to-air missile system used to shoot down the jet. If you don’t want to read the whole article, this graphic has a lot of info as well.
According to this Washington Post story, the Ukrainian government has released surveillance video of a flatbed truck hauling a Russian surface-to-air missile lanucher heading out of Separatist controlled Eastern Ukraine into Russia. The launcher and missiles are of the type believed to be responsible for the destruction of a Malaysian Airlines plane yesterday which resulted in over 300 civilian deaths. Russia and the Russian backed Separatists have denied involvement, pointing the finger of blame at the Ukrainian government. Separatists control the Ukrainian territory where the airliner came down, and the speculation is that they are “sanitizing” what is essentially a huge crime scene, combing it for any remnants of the missile which destroyed the Boeing 777 and removing them. US surveillance of the war zone indicated that a radar associated with this type of surface-to-air missile system was in operation at the time of the incident, but could not pinpoint the area the missile was launched from.
Cross posted at Men Out of Work Blog
I’m not sure incident is the correct word, but at this point I do not know exactly what to call this.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 has crashed in Ukraine, and there are reports that it was shot down during the conflict there among Ukrainians, Russians and Ukrainians aligned with Russia known as “separatists”. So you have Ukrainian military fighting with Separatists who are aligned with and backed by Putin’s Russia.
Here are the basic facts as we know them now. The airliner was enroute from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and cruising at altitude (33,000 ft) when contact was lost over Ukraine, and reports of an airplane crash began coming in. Eye witness accounts say the aircraft “fell in pieces” and preliminary reports indicate a very large debris field consistent with a breakup of the plane at cruising altitude. There were no survivors at the crash site. There are rumors also that at the same time Separatists were on Twitter claiming to have just shot down a Ukrainian military transport, as they had previously done a day or two before. Once Malaysia Airlines confirmed it’s flight was missing, the tweets were deleted. The Separatists are also believed to be in possession of the type of military ground-to-air missiles that would be capable of striking an aircraft at that high altitude. The plane was flying too high to be vulnerable to a shoulder-launched “stinger” type missile. As far as I can tell those are the facts.
Now for the speculation: it is very possible that the Boeing 777 airliner was shot down by Separatists who mistook it for a Ukrainian AN-26 transport. It is confirmed they had shot one down a day or two before this incident. The planes look nothing alike, but they are of similar size, and if the separatists had reports of military planes in the area, then undisciplined operators or commanders could have made the error. There is also this: the Kiev Post is reporting that the Ukrainian Security Force (SBU) intercepted phone calls between Separatist commanders talking about the situation which seem to confirm the hypothesis of mistaken identity. Chilling, if true:
Igor Bezler: We have just shot down a plane. Group Minera. It fell down beyond Yenakievo (Donetsk Oblast).
Vasili Geranin: Pilots. Where are the pilots?
IB: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. Its smoking.
VG: How many minutes ago?
IB: About 30 minutes ago.
SBU comment: After examining the site of the plane the terrorists come to the conclusion that they have shot down a civilian plane. The next part of the conversation took place about 40 minutes later.
“Major”: These are Chernukhin folks who shot down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino.
“Grek”: Yes, Major.
“Major”: The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first “200” (code word for dead person). We have found the first “200”. A Civilian.
“Greek”: Well, what do you have there?
“Major”: In short, it was 100 percent a passenger (civilian) aircraft.
“Greek”: Are many people there?
“Major”: Holy sh__t! The debris fell right into the yards (of homes).
“Greek”: What kind of aircraft?
“Major”: I haven’t ascertained this. I haven’t been to the main sight. I am only surveying the scene where the first bodies fell. There are the remains of internal brackets, seats and bodies.
“Greek”: Is there anything left of the weapon?
“Major”: Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.
“Greek”: Are there documents?
“Major”: Yes, of one Indonesian student. From a university in Thompson.
Militant: Regarding the plane shot down in the area of Snizhne-Torez. It’s a civilian one. Fell down near Grabove. There are lots of corpses of women and children. The Cossacks are out there looking at all this.
They say on TV it’s AN-26 transport plane, but they say it’s written Malaysia Airlines on the plane. What was it doing on Ukraine’s territory?
Like I said, chilling if true. I’m sure there will be a lot of finger pointing by both sides before we find out what actually happened. 280 passengers and 15 crew lost. Many different nationalities on board, including Americans. This is a full blown International Incident which will put the Ukrainian conflict in the front pages for some time.
Additional Info:
I have lived in California nearly my whole life and for as long as I have been self-aware there has been talk of dividing California up into at least two states – Northern and Southern California (s). Despite the sterotype of California being a completely ultra liberal La La Land, most of the state outside of the Southern California and the Coastal population centers is very traditional and in some cases ultra conservative. This causes feelings of disenfranchisement among a significant plurality of the population and a sense that they are force fed policies they do not like by voters who may as well be on a different planet. This political polarization is usually what gives rise to talk of secession, separation, division, outright warfare, etc. The separation idea recently gained traction again when venture capitalist Tim Draper filed a petition with the Secretary of State to place an initiative on the ballot to divide California into six states, known as the Six Californias Initiative. The petition was accepted by the Secretary of State and the next step was to collect approximately 800,000 petition signatures to get the proposition placed on the ballot. According to this report in Time, the signatures have been gathered. Now the secretary of State must verify the signatures’ validity – and then place the initiative on the ballot for the November 2016 election.
I would be in North California
Is this a good idea? I’m not sure. The proposed division would place me in North California. Also in North California would be Point Reyes National Seashore on the coast and Lake Tahoe in the Sierras. So far, so good. However, politically North California would still be a blue state, along with South and West California and Silicon Valley. Central California and Jefferson (Jefferson? yes, Jefferson) would be red. Hmmm. Dunno bout that.
If I had to guess I would say that the proposition makes it onto the ballot, but is turned back in the election. I can imagine that the Democratic Machine will go to full power to knock this down if only to keep the Republicans left in this state under their thumb. And very possibly…in my imaginary opinion… there will be a “tribute” system set up in the counties where this passes a la The Hunger Games by which they will be required to send their young Republicans to the Capitol where they will fight each other in death matches for the amusement of our Democrat Overlords. Hey…it’s California. Anything can happen.
Cross Posted at Men Out of Work Blog
If anyone’s interested, California is experiencing a drought. It’s not the first one and it won’t be the last. If you live here, or know anything about California geography you know that for the most part the state is a desert. There are notable exceptions – the northwest corner of the state is a rainforest, and parts of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the coast get significant precipitation, but the rest is arid. Dry. It’s not a recent development. It’s been that way since the first people got here.
Proviso: I claim absolute moral authority to opine on this subject due to my status as “technical California native” and my propensity for curmudgeonly armchair political sniping.
Back to our story. Whenever we in California experience an extended drought, there is much handwringing and pleas to “conserve” ring throughout the media. In fact the California Water Resources Board just authorized local Water Utilities to fine “water wasters” up to $500 to *ahem* encourage water conservation. While I believe “conserve” is a good idea all the time, not just during a drought, I respectfully submit that the idea of conserving our way out of this shortage is a fantasy. Conservation will not solve California’s chronic water shortage. In California you can never have enough water. Never.
There are a number of large water storage and delivery infrastructures in California designed to collect and distribute water to the thirsty state. The last of those infrastructures were completed by 1970, when California’s population stood at just under 20 million. California’s population today stands at approximately 38 million. So in the past 40 years the population has nearly doubled, and nothing has been done to improve our water collection, storage and delivery system which was already inadequate for a population of 20 million. But if you overwater your begonias you’re the problem. Right.
The largest recipient of water is California’s Ag Industry which is a $43.5 Billion industry (2011) – the largest of any state in the nation. So not just important to California, but to the national and indeed the global economy. This is why you should care about this even if you do not live or farm here. If you like to eat, this is your problem too.
So what do you do if you are in a political leadership role in California government and there is a serious chronic infrastructure shortfall and a globally important industry is in peril? Why, you put together a huge bureacracy to pour money into a different non-existent problem. Case in point: The Bullet Train to Nowhere, which will likely cost at least $100 Billion if not much more. And the best part is once it’s built, no one will use it and taxpayers will have to subsidize if to the tune of billions per year! Forever! Water your crops with that. But…but…trains! Like in Europe! Yeah, the 18th Century called and they want their technology back.
There is a building in downtown Sacramento across 10th street from the west steps of the Capitol. It is officially “State Office Building No. 1”, the office of the State Treasurer, and on that building there is an inscription:
It is a line from the poem “The Coming American” by Sam Walter Foss. It was obviously written at a time when the nation was young, when strong and ambitious visionaries were needed to shape a growing nation. Well, the nation may not be young anymore, but we still need ambitious visionaries to tackle our challenges. There are hard choices that must be made – California’s agriculture industry is too important to the world to let it die on the vine. And if we are not ready to put up a fence at the State line and prohibit more people from coming here, something I DO NOT think could or should be done, then we need to make the state livable for a population not only of our current size, but of our projected size. If we build for the present, we have already lost. Some environmental concerns may have to be rethought or perhaps abandoned altogether, since you cannot put 40 millions or more of people in a place and not have it impact the environment. Like I said, hard choices. If our leaders response to a challenge is to tell us “settle for less”, then they are not men or women to match our mountains. What they are telling us is that they are not up to the challenge and it is time for new leadership. But we can afford neither the option we have practiced for forty years: Do Nothing, nor the option we are practicing now: Do The Wrong Thing.
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Today I found more confirmation of my belief that most reporters don’t know what the hell they’re talking about when they are reporting. I posted about it here, and tangentially here. At The Federalist Mollie Hemingway has an excellent article outlining chapter and verse how many young journalists, including some of today’s “rising stars” lack even the most basic factual knowledge of the subjects they report or opine on. You owe it to yourself to click that link and read the whole thing – the takedown is epic.
This dovetails nicely with my proposition that when everything you know is wrong, most likely everything you believe or say is wrong. I suspect that these young pundits are journalism school or liberal arts graduates who “want to make the world a better place”, but lack the basic factual knowledge of what the world actually is and how it came to be what it is. For that reason, their ideas about how to “make it better” not only sound like pure nonsense, but are often actual pure nonsense.