Beyond The Broken Spectrum

Story found at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459068,00.html

You’ve probably heard about it already, if not, you need to read the story. Friday morning, Black Friday, the day I never leave the house because I know there are far too many idiots out and about to risk going out amongst them, something tragic happened. At a Walmart in New York, early in the morning around 5 am, a crowd of over 2000 people waited outside the store as it prepared to open for the day.

The deals and sales inside were so great that it was worth killing a man over. I say that with a heavy tone of sarcasm and disbelief. As an employee at the store was preparing to open the doors, the crowd became nothing more then a group of savages, as they ripped the doors off their metal frames and crushed them on top of the employee. The metal was crumpled like an accordian. These “people” trampled the man to death, no one stopped to help him, they continuously ran over him and other employees that tried to help the man. When the walmart employees tried to get all of the people to leave after they dicsovered that the man was seriously injured, people were upset that they couldn’t go shopping and some ignored the store’s employees and continued to shop, nevermind that they had just killed someone in their rush to go shopping.

I haven’t seen the video yet, thats the downside of having dial-up internet, I can’t watch any videos. However people I have talked to that have seen the video have said that a large man was the first through the door and seemed to intentionally knock the man to the ground and trample him. While I can’t say much about it since I have yet to see the video, I am already 100% positive that any person that was involved in the death of this man should be charged with murder.

We live in a civilized society and this sort of thing should NEVER happen and I’m sure I’m not the only person that is disgusted by the actions of these people. People are selfish and indifferent, and that leads to incidents like this one. I hope the majority of us have enough sense and morals to never act in such a manner. I would have stopped to help the man and I would have been outraged with the crowd of people, would you?

Originally reported from http://media.www.dailynebraskan.com/media/storage/paper857/news/2008/10/28/Features/Legalizing.Weed.May.Benefit.Society.Economy-3509454.shtml?refsource=collegeheadlines

Marijuana is a mind altering drug, and not unlike its wet counterpart alcohol, it has the ability to unite or divide those discussing its place in American society.

According to federal surveys, more than 70 million Americans over the age of 18 have smoked marijuana. Its effects are described as an altered perception that causes feelings of well-being, relaxation and reduced stress. It has also been attributed to an increased appreciation of humor, food and music.

Its low toxicity is responsible for the well-known fact that marijuana has never directly caused a death. It was even reported by the Washington Post in 2006 that marijuana smoking, even in extreme cases, does not lead to lung cancer, while cigarettes cause 440,000 deaths a year.

So why is marijuana illegal in the first place? In a 2002 Zogby International poll, American’s ranked marijuana as far less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes, yet those things can be bought by a legal patron at most gas stations.

Marijuana’s illegality is a matter of business history. In 1937, the marijuana tax was passed with help from anti-hemp newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. The ferocious and corrupt Hearst had significant financial interest in the timber industry, and when it was found that hemp – cannabis grown for non-drug use – could be made into a stronger paper, he fought for a ban on cannabis plants completely by printing frivolous newspaper stories warning of marijuana’s dangers. The bill passed, due in large part to his financial support and, as they say, the rest is history.

In 2003, when the National Office of Drug Control Policy reported the government was spending $29 billion annually to prosecute and incarcerate marijuana users, the negative public response to the report sparked the largest interest in the pro-weed cause ever. In 2006, a Time/CNN poll stated 72 percent of Americans supported marijuana decriminalization, which reduces marijuana-use penalties to fines alone. Decriminalization has been implemented in 13 states, including Nebraska, and could reach 20 by 2010.

Could this increased interest in decriminalization ultimately lead to legal weed? It’s hard to say, but as the decriminalization movement gains steam, so does the legalization movement. With a modern legalization policy, the government could monitor who was buying this drug and at what age, just as they have done with alcohol and tobacco for years. Not only would it keep drug dealers from selling weed to kids, it would send a dagger into the stomach of the black market drug industry.

In 2006, marijuana was named America’s most valuable cash crop, with an estimated production value exceeding $35 billion annually, which exceeds corn and wheat production combined. By making marijuana a legal commodity, the government could keep drug dealers from banking off the drug’s mass appeal.

So what would happen if marijuana was legal? During the prohibition of the 1920s, people who wanted to drink continued to do so. The same can be said of marijuana prohibition. If weed were legalized, stoners would still get high, and non-users would still have the right to choose if marijuana was right for them or not.

In 2005, Harvard professor and economist Jeffrey Alan Miron issued a report that stated that marijuana should be legal and the crop should face taxes much like those seen with tobacco or alcohol. If realized, he predicted the United States would earn an estimated $6.2 billion annually. This extra tax revenue could be a real economic boom.

The ultimate gains the United States could see from legalized weed are far-reaching, but it’s a hard case to sell to those opposed to it. Many people have the stigma that weed ruins lives, when it can be said alcohol has ruined millions of more lives, yet it’s still legal. It also can be said that more than 3 million violent crimes are committed by drunken people every year and alcohol causes a rise in domestic and sexual abuse in American families.

Can the same be said of weed? If somebody’s husband or father smoked a joint before returning home for the night, would he want to beat his wife, high as a kite? The effects of marijuana have been said to block anger – especially physical anger.

Maybe if marijuana were legal, our murder and domestic abuse rates would drop, or our economy wouldn’t be in trouble. Maybe our jails wouldn’t be full of people whose lives are ruined because they got caught with weed and more people would take time to sit back and realize that the good things in our world outweigh the bad.

Maybe everything would be different.

matthavelka@dailynebraskan.com

Sin Taxes ought to be illegal, and more then likely they probably are. I can’t argue one way or the other there though because I’m not sure about the that particular issue, but that isn’t really the point of this article.

Here over the past couple of years, many states have raised the sin tax on alcoholic and tobacco products reasoning that they would be doing everyone a favor by reducing sales of these products and bring more money into local and state coffers. They have succeeded in doing both, they have slightly decreased the sale of these products and have greatly expanded their tax revenues. I just have to question the fact that these two things made us all better off.

Seems to me that taxes are always on the rise and rarely decreasing, so this hasn’t done anything to help us there except allow government to spend more and more. Sales have decreased, but not by much, and I can’t really see how this has made us a better society. I know the original intent to raise the sin tax on tobacco products was to get people to quit using them, however is that really the job of the government, to police our private lives? They couldn’t make tobacco illegal because it wouldn’t be popular and they wouldn’t get all those juicy taxes they are accustomed to, so their solution was to just raise the taxes on something they deemed to be evil.

I’ll keep it short. Times are tough these days, yet all the government seems to care about is getting more and more of our money, which for the most part, is wasted. Seems to me more like taxation without representation.

Where has it gone? When did it go exactly? If you know the answer to these two questions, please, feel free to share, because I don’t know. Now don’t get me wrong, there are still some objective reporters out there, just very few of them. I won’t got off on a tangent throwing names around, but every major news outlet is guilty of taking sides instead of looking at issues in an objective manner.

Personally, I watch Fox News, and for those nay sayers that never have anything good to say about Fox News, don’t speak too quickly unless you plan to throw CNN, MSNBC, and all the others in there too, as they’re all guilty as well. Fox News runs some bias through sometimes, however the others do it on an even more consistent basis. I’ve been turned off to a lot of it all as a result. I find I’m watching less news these days for the fact that everyone is either regurgitating the same thing, or spouting off their opinion about something instead of actually reporting the pros and cons of each issue.

However I will step up and take one swing at the big leagues, and while I know he’ll probably never read this or anything else I have to say, it doesn’t change the truth of the matter in the least bit and I’m sure I’ll have some people that are in agreement with me on this one.

I was watching the O’Reilly Factor last night, I had set the channel to change when House came on, but for some reason it never changed, so I ended up watching part of his show while I was playing the new guitar I got the other day. Generally, Bill says a lot of stuff that makes a lot of sense, and he’s right on some issues, however there is generally always some segment of his show that I don’t agree with, whether it be the issue itself, or the way he presents the issue.

A segment of his show last night was what would the rest of the country be like if we had San Francisco’s morals and values. First of all, why is this even a segment? I’m sure there are a lot more important things going on in the world that he could cover besides what San Francisco may be like. I have to say, he has never had much love for California, mostly because he believes that they have poor morals and also because it is a largely Democrat state. It’s no secret he doesn’t like most Democrats.

The entire segment features a reporter interviewing different people on the streets, however it only covers a handful of things. Most of the segment was about people being able to openly smoke marijuana and then trying to directly relate that to homeless people “hippies” traveling in groups and staying in parks and pretty much being a problem, though that problem is never actually stated. The segment also seems to try and link smoking marijuana with crime problems in the city and the fact that certain places aren’t safe to go at night and how New York is a much safer city. There was also a comment about the reporting watching a drug deal go down outside of city hall, but most of me says BS on that. It seems to me though, that if there were police actually patrolling these problem areas, they would be a lot safer, and that it has very little to do with marijuana, which he seems to try and demonize the entire time. He also goes on to show pictures of cross dressers, hookers, and pornography shops. There was also footage of bad parts of town as well.

After watching the segment, not factoring anything in, yeah the city seems pretty horrible and you would be led to be in agreement with him. However if you are so weak minded that you readily accept what he tries to spoonfeed people on a regular basis, you easily miss that most big cities are not very different from San Francisco and that we only saw the bad parts of the city and none of the good parts. Instead of attacking the problems and providing solutions, the entire segment seemed like a smear campaign against the city and marijuana, and to a lesser extent, gay people. It seems like several people on Fox News have a problem with gay marriage as well and it seems to me that they have been very partial to the new law that was recently voted on and passed and have been against the gay rights protesters.

There will come a point when big media gets so sloppy that they start clearing the path for smaller contenders to come in and do the job better unless they start to shape up.

Two of my previously written articles that relate to this thread that may be of interest are Gay Marriage and Taking A Controversial Stance

In many towns, including my own now, have started to put cameras up at traffic lights in an attempt to generate more ticket revenue. Some try to claim that the cameras make intersections safer and they justify having the cameras with that reason, even though the underlying reason is more ticket revenue. I’ve even heard of cases where cities have decreased the amount of time the yellow light is on in order to ticket more drivers. The ultimate question though, is this even legal?

To begin, tickets are issued to the owner of the car, no matter who may be driving it. This is a major problem in and of itself as the cities are not punishing the particular offender, they are just delivering justice to whoever, whether they are guilty or not, as a convenient way of padding the city’s coffers and accomplishing “safety”. Why is it that a lot of the things that any level of government does in the name of safety generally restricts and infringes upon our rights? It is to the point where people are guilty until proven innocent. Until these camaras can get a picture of the actual driver, all tickets given through this system should be voided. However I’m not so sure this system provides more safety anyways.

I’ve seen accidents that are caused by these cameras. People approach these lights and as they are about to get close to the intersection, the light changes to yellow. Instead of safely going on through with ample time, they stop abruptly for fear of getting a ticket if they don’t make it through the intersection in time. An abrupt stop on a busy street can cause all sorts of problems and chain reactions, none of which are safe. This causes wrecks, which in turn uses up city resources to respond to the accident, higher insurance costs, and a lot of un-necessary headaches.

If traffic citations are going to be issued, they should be issued at the time of the violation witnessed by a law enforcement officer, otherwise a person would either have to just pay the ticket, or show up to court and defend themselves, even though there is no actual accuser to cross examine in order to justify the citation. If the ticket ends up being thrown out, we have managed to successfully waste more of our court resources when they are already strained due to so many cases. In the end, the government has either gained little to no money, or lost money in this situation, all the while taking more money and time from the citizens needlessly.

It seems that as every day passes, our rights are infringed upon more and more by the government. It also occurred to me that without freedom of the press, we would be living in a country ripe with corruption, with the government operating more freely without regard for our civil rights, not that it already doesn’t. I’m actually surprised that our mail isn’t opened and read, then sealed back up and sent to its intended location, all in the name of safety or some other bullshit reason that the government uses to infringe on our rights.

It turns out that Google has started a new intiative to help prevent the outbreak of the Flu. How would a company accomplish such a feat? Easily, by simply providing each user’s search information to the government so that Flu outbreaks can be pinpointed and contained. Thats a great idea isn’t it? All of our private information is sent to the government in return for our protection. Maybe I’m blowing this out of proportion though, I mean I should be willing to give up my freedoms in return for protection by the government. Though I can’t help but wonder, exactly who is going to protect me from the government? With the stroke of a pen, law enforcement officials can obtain any information from any company about any person for just about any reason. Last I checked, that amounted to illegal search and seizure.

Perhaps we should start requiring everyone with the HIV virus to register with the government so that the health of the public can be protected by making the information public and requiring these people to carry some form of identification with them showing that they are HIV positive. Come to think of it, that sort of system worked well for certain countries during World War 2, so we know how well such a program would work. Maybe we should start having every transaction that we make each day recorded and sent to a government database in order to ensure that people aren’t doing anything that we wouldn’t want them to do, that we could possibly deem hazardous to everyone else. That would really help to protect us all.

Just out of curiosity though, have you seen V for Vendetta? If not, I’d recommend watching it, as it is a great eye opener.

It was announced today that GM’s shares futures are valued at $0, as most expect the largest vehicle manufacturer in the US will go bankrupt, Ford and Chrysler aren’t far behind either. These companies have been around for decades, a year ago most would have laughed at the thought of one of them going under, now the possibility is very real. We’ve all known that they have been struggling over the past 4-5 years, but most don’t realize that there are a couple of issues at hand that have brought about the the struggles and possible downfall of the American Auto Industry.

These companies have made some mistakes, and other problems were partly out of their hands, but could have been managed if they would have been willing to put forth the effort. A large problem has been that back in the 90’s, the major American companies ceded the small car market to foreign auto makers and pushed forward with heavier vehicles, as gas was cheap and demand was high, they effectively put all of their eggs in one basket and when the price of gas shot up, the basket fell and most of the eggs were broken. They were so far behind technologically in the small vehicle market, they steadily lost sales and reported more and more losses. This was the proverbial nail in the coffin, but not necessarily the main problem. The recent credit crunch has also taken it’s toll as many people and even dealerships cannot get credit.

I wrote a small article a while back pointing out this problem and is not necessarily just an issue for the Auto Industry, but for several industries. Labor Unions and labor laws have just about killed our economical competitiveness. While labor unions were very beneficial and much needed back in the earlier 1900’s, they are now outdated and are a strain on the system. Labor unions have become so greedy, their production is down and their pay is way up, the auto industry can barely breath as each new contract brings a looming strike that could potentially cripple the company if the auto companies do not bow to the union’s demands. A company cannot be competitive and profitable when the janitor makes $30 an hour.

When the unions do strike, the companies cannot fire the employees for refusing to show up for work. I’d get fired for refusing to show up to my job, there is always someone to replace you. Also unions are not optional, if a company has been unionized, you are required to be apart of the union and pay union dues. Union laws such as these are unhelpful for both the worker and company alike. Personally, I’d like to negotiate on my own behalf, not have someone do it for me then tell me what I will do. Unions have played a major role in sending companies overseas as they have skyrocketed the cost of labor. While some companies are indeed just that greedy that they have moved overseas, others have either had to decide if they will fail or move elsewhere where labor is cheaper.

I also have a short story to share as well. My grandmother once worked for General Tire, she claimed that they were the best paying company in town, everyone wanted to work there. Working conditions were great, the hours were easy, and quotas each day were easily met, after the quota was met for the day, they sat around and did nothing and were paid for it, all because the company was unionized. However each year, the union asked for more and more money and threatened to strike each time when their demands were not met. Eventually the union priced themselves out of a job and the company packed up and moved elsewhere. My grandmother and thousands of others lost their good paying jobs due to the greed of a union, demanding more and more, far after what the fair pay would have been. My grandmother never worked for a unionized company ever again. I will will never work for a unionized company either.

As for the looming bailout, it should not happen. These companies can function just fine by going the route of bankruptcy, however the ideal solution is to put themselves up for sale and allowing themselves to be bought up by an American company. Its very clear that the people who have been running the show at these automotive companies have failed miserably and need to be replaced by more business savvy people who will rebound the company and bring about good structure change.

Now there’s a hot button issue. This has been a very long running debate and after recent events, I felt it was my turn to speak out on the subject. As many know, on Tuesday we all went to the polls and voted on several issues ranging from local to the national level. In California, citizens voted on a proposal to ban gay marriage after the state’s supreme court ruled in favor of gay marriage. The proposal passed, 52%-48%, possibly voiding all gay marriage that had happened since the court’s decision. Since then, there have been thousands of protestors in the streets throughout California protesting the outcome of the vote.

I realize that a lot of people believe that God tells them that gay marriage is a sin, others believe marriage should be between a man and woman, I couldn’t tell you why. There are people that just don’t like the idea of someone being gay, everyone else either supports it or is indifferent. My personal belief is that if two people want to get married, then they should be able to, however I don’t approach situations with my personal beliefs in mind, I approach issues such as this with the general welfare of everyone in mind. This leads me to my official stance on gay marriage, which is that it should be allowed.

I see this issue as something that should be none of my business or anyone elses. We have people divorcing left and right, obviously we all have our hands full dealing with our own lives and issues, let alone presume to stand there and tell someone who they can or cannot marry. Secondly, I don’t believe the government should have the power to assume the role of dictating to people whom they can marry. This is a gross violation of our rights, just because a slim majority of people feel the need to control other people’s lives. Just because a majority of people think a certain way, doesn’t necessarily make it right.

I surely wouldn’t want others to dictate my personal life to me, would you?

I knew that I wouldn’t be satisfied with the results of the election today, no matter which way it went. It was like flipping a double headed coin and picking tails. I had figured Obama would win though, he was promising more giveaways then McCain was, not to mention that the Republican Party is a joke right now and McCain was one of the worst candidates that they’ve ran. Everyone was so wrapped up in electing someone different from Bush, they flocked to Obama without giving much thought of what kind of politician he is. I attribute those three reason to an Obama win, which otherwise would have never happened.

First of all, the Republican Party needs to pull their heads out of their asses and start nominating and electing good quality conservatives. Playing ball in the middle and to the far right isn’t going to cut it, and dictating the law of the land with personal views instead of encompassing the entire population when deciding legislation has to stop immediately. People are going to have to accept that they can’t mold the world around themselves, they have to mold it around everyone. Fiscal conservatism has been absent in the party for a while now, and that has helped us into this large debt that we’re in, nevermind the Democrats who just love to spend everyone else’s money.

The next thing the Republicans need to start doing is ensuring individual rights and liberties. For the past 10 years, our rights and liberties have been slowly chipped away, and more and more laws were passed to restrict individual freedom. Where were the Republicans when this happened, aren’t they supposed to be the defenders against this sort of stuff? They were there, just not to defend, but to assist in weakening our rights. No one has been bringing up this issue, everyone is concerned about their piece of the pie and what they can accomplish on their agenda, not everyone elses.

It is time to get tough on illegal immigration and secure our border. The Republicans have been dancing around this issue for a long time now, steadily allowing the problem to get worse. I’m confident that most Democrats would love to solve this situation by giving a free pass to all of the illegal immigrants already here and pad their voting margins, and I know there are Republicans thinking the same thing about their own party. This situation needs to be resolved, and it will only get resolved when people start to put candidates in office that will work to fix this problem.

Our economy will fully recover once the government gets its fingers out of the gearbox. Most of these problems that the government proposes to solve, were created by the government. People need to wise up and figure out that all of this regulation kills our economy and makes it hard for diverse competition. We need to regulate the economy to the degree that safety regulations are in place and that underhanded business deals are caught and prosecuted so that everyone can benefit from a free and fair market instead of just a free market.

The Republicans have a lot of work to do, and if they don’t get it done, the Libertarian Party is well on its way to step up in it’s place. Myself, I left the Republican Party earlier this year, I saw where it was headed, and it was not in a good direction. I like to call myself a moderate Libertarian, and I did vote for Bob Barr this year, the Libertarian candidate. I’d like to share what I would call a moderate Libertarian, such as myself, and perhaps people from both parties will see a new direction, and also bring in some voters off of the sidelines. In no particular order, these are the stances of a moderate Libertarian.

War and Foreign Intervention – Libertarians oppose war, but we’re not afraid to step up and fight one in defense. The invasion of Iraq should have never happened. However that’s in the past, so there’s no sense in talking about if it was right or wrong, we’re there, so we need to take care of business and get out, same with Afghanistan.

Military Presence – Currently we have soldiers station all over the world, sitting on bases, doing nothing, wasting money. These troops need to be brought home and most of the bases closed. These soldiers can better serve their country by being able to see their family on a regular basis and protecting our borders, ready to be called into action at any time. Imagine what we could have done if we would of had our entire military available to help out during Katrina or one of the other many natural disastors. Militaries serve other purposes then just fighting. We also need to give our returning veterans the utmost medical care and transition services.

Taxation and Spending – Fiscal responsibility is a number one priority. Both taxation and spending need to be reduced. The size of the federal government has grown too large and its time to trim the fat and get our debt back under control. Most Libertarians support a flat tax system, others support a consumption tax, most agree though that the progressive tax system is largely unfair.

Energy – One motto I can agree with is Drill Here Drill Now. Yes we need to develop alternative energy sources, and it is happening, eventually we’ll be there. However until that time comes, there is absolutely no need to struggle by not tapping into our own resources. Also, nuclear energy is a great way to help out our energy needs while also being pollutant free. Russia has agreed to store the spent fuel, so I see no reason not to take advantage of that situation.

Border Security and Immigration – Secure the border, start working on deporting illegal immigrants, and cut off all government funding to illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are a drain on our federal and state budgets, and it is time to cut them off. Have them all apply for residency and stand in line with everyone else. Building a fence accross our border is useless and only costs us more and more money. We need to heavily man our border and turn away anyone crossing it illegally.

Liberties and Rights – Libertarians believe in allowing everyone to rise and fall based on their own merits and promote the freedom to do as you wish so long as it is does not cause harm to others. Rights of the individual are a top priority for Libertarians. Furthermore, Libertarians work to repeal all legislation that infringes on a citizen’s constitutional rights, including illegal surveilance, illegal search and seizure, and illegal detainment, all of which happens on a very consistent basis each day. This topic covers a wide variety of issues ranging from gay marriage to abortion, all of which may or may not be supported by each Libertarian individual, but we do respect the rights of others to marry who they wish and for women the right to abortion.

Social Security – Libertarian support the option of privatized social security. While it would be ideal for a completely privatized social security system, Libertarians realize that some people would prefer to have a social security system, so therefore the best solution is to have this system as optional, not compulsory.

Welfare – There is a split as to the subject of welfare, some want it ended completely, others believe that in order to receive welfare, they most do something for it in return. This would be a much more efficient welfare system, where the government can actually employ people instead of just handing out free money.

In general, Libertarians support smaller government, lower taxes, and rights of the individual. We may not agree with a person’s position, but we do respect it. Something else to remember, is that we live in a world of different ideas and no one party is going to get it right. Adding the Libertarian Party to the mix can only help the process though.

November 3, 2008 1:03 pm EST

I have been following the race for the senate up in North Carolina between Elizabeth Dole and Kay Hagan. The story has been in the news a lot lately, a recent article can be found at Fox News. Seems there has been some major mudslinging by the Dole campaign, and personally I find it tasteless and despicable. I’m all for hard fought, knockout politics however this is just gone too far.Senator Dole “soon to be ex-Senator hopefully” started out by challenging Hagan’s belief’s and commitment to God. She also ran other campaign ads linking her to an athiest group, which the last time I checked, were perfectly sane people as well. I don’t fault people for having different beliefs. Kay Hagan used to be a Sunday School teacher, so on that grounds, Dole has no business even saying such a thing and really should feel ashamed of herself that she would stoop to such levels. However what mostly offends me, is that she is dragging religion into a political race. This should never be done and anyone acting in such a way deserves to lose their office. So I can’t say I blame the people of her state for not wanting to re-elect her, and if I lived there, I would actively campaign against her.

Politicans acting like this should take a note of what is happening here. These recent comments have caused her opponent to shoot up ahead of her in the polls and re-election is looking pretty dim right now for Senator Dole. Anyone campaigning in such a derogatory manner doesn’t deserve to hold a political office in this country, and I would hope that this doesn’t happen down the road in another campaign.