stuff

[jazzfish]

ABORTION: Shouldn't be used as birth control, but needs to be readily available. Here's why.

DEATH PENALTY: Since it fails as a deterrent and [with appeals] costs more than life-in-prison, it's a no-go.

PROSTITUTION: Legalise, regulate, tax.

ALCOHOL: Legalise, regulate, tax. [See also 'drinking age.']

DRUGS: Legalise, regulate, tax.

SEX OUTSIDE MARRIAGE [which I interpret as "Sex while unmarried"]: Sounds like a plan to me.

GAY MARRIAGE: Religious: up to the religion, civil: it's got just as much right to exist as the straight kind.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: They probably oughtn't be here.

SMOKING: Legalise, regulate, tax. [If anyone can explain to me how the people who want radically different legal strictures for alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are something other than hypocrites I'm willing to listen.]

DRUNK DRIVING: You gamble with your own life, that's one thing. You drive drunk you gamble with mine, and that shit ain't right.

CLONING: Go for it.

RACISM: Along with sexism, ageism, and those other discriminatory isms, a Bad Idea. [But I still haven't been convinced to support affirmative action programs.]

RELIGION: Why is it so bloody hard to recognise that your religion ain't everybody else's?

WAR in IRAQ: Has been and continues to be mishandled in nearly every conceivable way.

BUSH: I hereby officially apologise for buying into the "No difference between the two major parties" hype four years ago. This whole administration has got to go.

DOWNLOADING MUSIC: Insert "artist compensation" anti-RIAA rant here.

LEGAL DRINKING AGE: Lowered, if not abolished altogether. There's no reason for it.

PORN: No complaints.

SUICIDE: Legalise, regulate, . . . okay, so taxing this one would be dumb.

Comments

[ndkid.livejournal.com]

BUSH: I hereby officially apologise for buying into the "No difference between the two major parties" hype four years ago. This whole administration has got to go.

I'd say that they were moving into the direction of being the same, and have definitely diverged again... 8 years ago, the "no difference" hype made sense, I think... 4 years ago, not so much. But then, 9/11 really did start the ball rolling on bringing the differences out again...

[laughin.livejournal.com]

I would ask why you want to legalize and then regulate and tax it. Just curious.

[jazzfish]

Legalise is mandatory. Ain't nobody's bidness what I do and all that.

Tax is absolutely optional but likely to occur whether it's desired or not. <sarcasm>To pay for all those regulations, of course.</sarcasm>

Regulate is where it gets iffy. Restricting sale to minors, yeah, I guess I'm okay with that. [Though I could see lowering the age of majority to sixteen in general.] Requiring a license to sell and stiff penalties for misrepresenting product both sound like pretty good ideas to me. Etc.

Prostitution's a weird case, and one I'm not wholly comfortable with my position on. Insert rant about the inane dichotomy between standards for sex and violence in American[1] culture here.

[1] Possibly worldwide; haven't been exposed to any other cultures, so I can't really say.

[awakedreamer.livejournal.com]

Unsurprisingly I mostly agree with everything. I hope you kick Bush out of the white house in this year's elections ;)!

[rbeyma.livejournal.com]

I think the difference between Tobacco, and Alcohol versus other Drugs like Marijuana in the eyes of the government is that Tobacco and Alcohol are not imported. If too many people spend money on drugs from Colombia for example, our economy will suffer. There is also the argument of increased taxpayer burden. Some statistics show $34 billion a year in preventable health care costs for marijuana and other illegal drugs. Thats $200 a taxpayer almost. I dont really want to pay $200 for rehab for someone if Im not abusing marijuana myself. I suppose the government could suspend health care for drug abuse cases, but that probably isnt a good idea.

I think the government has to make some decisions for the American public, that if left unmade, America would be a much worse place to live.

[jazzfish]

Interesting. Not an angle I'd ever heard before. I can grok it a lot better when looked at from a "tobacco/alcohol are American businesses with both money and lobbyists" standpoint.

It's the lumping of marijuana in with harder drugs that I have the biggest problem with. Do those statistics have a breakdown by drug? What I've read tends to indicate that marijuana's no worse than alcohol.

And health care, as I am reminded every month when my bill comes, isn't govt-funded in any case.

I think the government has to make some decisions for the American public, that if left unmade, America would be a much worse place to live.

*sigh* The civil libertarian in me is screaming bloody murder at this. Who is the government to make decisions about what I can and can't spend my money on?

[(Anonymous)]

Greater Poop: Is health care government-subsidized?
Mal-2: Everything is government-subsidized.
GP: Even corporate things?
M2: Even corporate things are government-subsidized.
GP: How can that be?
M2: I don't know man, I didn't do it.

JL