Confidential Ramblings on NPR
Well, I’m riding in to work this morning, listening to the NPR, and hear again how the press keeps asking George Clooney if he’ll be running for President. Apparently someone out there has made some shirts up and one thing led to another. America is just not going to be happy until we elect one of the celebrities to office. I swear, it’s the most ridiculous concept I’ve heard. Does Clooney know thing one about running this country, no, he doesn’t and he’s said that. He has his political causes, mostly international aid, etc. He doesn’t want to think about taxes, economic indicators, the conservative right, the extreme left, prison reform, the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on obesity… we sure have a lot of wars on things… and Clooney shouldn’t. Why would you take a huge pay cut to do a job that is a million times more stressful? Idiots. Clooney is not running for President, at least not yet, he’ll have to become Governor of California first, duh…. Just in case though:
Clooney isn’t the only one being pressured into public service, Oprah Winfrey has her own grassroots efforts to contend with. Some retired teacher in Kansas City has started an Oprah for President website. He even wrote a song about it. I know, a song, I don’t know where these people get their ideas. As reported on every news service in the world, Winfrey's lawyers sent a cease and desist to him and then she later apologized after all the press, saying she has no political ambitions (though she has tons of influence) but wasn’t going to sue this cat for $100 million dollars for infringing on her "brand". When is Mr. Ricky going to be a brand? Hello, people, Mr. Ricky for President, I'm just saying.
To get the Oprah campaign song straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.dreamagic.com/oprah/oprah.html.
While retiree's may get away with slapping Oprah on their websites, www.cafeexpress.com already has a slew of Oprah ’08 goodies which may not fair as well. Someone is making money off of it and I’m sure they may see a similar letter in the mail and I doubt they’ll get off so easy.
Lastly, NPR also had something on about Mexican drug cartels having to rely on growing marijuana on national parks land, etc. instead of bringing it across the border as border security has increased. Their new found pot farms are ranging in the tens of thousands of plants per acre, siphoning off water from streams containing endangered fish species, leaching untold amounts of pesticides and fertilizers into the surrounding area and the workers that live with the plants to make sure a competitor doesn’t come along and beat them to the harvest are creating mini-landfills of trash and debris.
- killing more than your brain cells.
Now I’m not getting on you for lighting up some ganja, if that’s your thing, that’s your thing. But I am saying every nickel bag you put in on is causing destruction and financial burden on the ailing national park system. So if you don’t think your pot habit is hurting someone (assuming you don’t count the illegal immigrants caring for the plants and trafficking them, the drug dealer turf wars or the law enforcement personnel combating all of this or your own health and well being) then remember, its hurting the animals, the environment and our national treasures.
So is this just another in a long line of reasons to legalize marijuana? I don’t know, there are countries that have legalized the chronic and still function pretty well, but they are also the size of Rhode Island, we would be talking about more in dime bag sales than their GNPs. This is, however, definitely another reason Drugs are Bad, mmmkay?
Stepping off my box. wow, I get fired up over National Park lands used by illegal drug dealers who don’t clean up after themselves, I really do, cleaning that stuff up costs millions every year, I’m sorry, fired up.
That’s all for today, my suggestion for this week is everyone go see The Second City at the Arkansas Repertory Theater. The show is always a good time. Hurry, they're only here for two weeks!
(Click on the pic for details and tickets)
Environmentally and Confidentially friendly, Mr. Ricky.
Comments
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/littlerocking/2006/09/review_second_city_at_the_rep.aspx
Print review to come next week.
Posted by: Joy Ritchey | September 28, 2006 10:41 PM
"ow, I get fired up over National Park lands used by illegal drug dealers who don't clean up after themselves, I really do, cleaning that stuff up costs millions every year, I'm sorry, fired up."
Really, do say? Then why not criminalize soda pop, vienna sausage,
Fritos, Budwieser, all the stuff that cost the millions to clean up after? A few poor messicuns growing a harmless weed and leaving garbage behind is a drop in the bucket to what we discard on our hyways daily. That problem will be self-correcting when the dummies realize their garbage can be seen from copters long before the weed is discovered.
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Posted by: Lwood![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/confidential/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 3, 2006 05:04 PM
Lwood, Lwood, Lwood, what will we do with you? Yes, littering as a larger global issue makes this specific example pale in comparison, I agree, clean up starts with the individual finding a garbage receptical and using it for their refuse.
That being agreed upon, marijuana is not "a harmless weed" any more than any other black market commodity that criminals feel has more reward that risk associated with it. There wouldn't be a problem with drug dealers leaving large amounts of trash, pesticides and fertilizers in our national parks if people weren't buying this harmless weed. There wouldn't be as many turf wars, drug cartels and crackheads if not for this harmless weed. Do I want to do away with marijuana, no, it has many great applications, the least of which is its recreational use. However, to believe its harmless because you don't mainline it into your veins or Tony Montana didn't light a spliff before shooting up the place is ridiculous. There are people with pot problems, there are dealers who will kill you for selling it on their corner and there are drug cartels making billions off it every year. Should we legalize it, who knows, the ramifications of that proposal are great and complicated.
To compare one of its many side effects to the general social good as a drop in the bucket is reinforcing the fact that we don't need weed grown in national forests. I suggest after the next time you toke one, prove me wrong and go out and clean up your local highway median and show everyone the sociallly and environmentally conscious side of weed.
PS: I don't know that anyone from Mexico appreciates "messicuns", even in a moderate pun. Thanks for your comment, confidentially against drug agriculture at Pinnacle, Mr. Ricky.
Posted by: Mr. Ricky | October 4, 2006 11:30 AM
The picture, by the way, is of ragweed not hemp.
My way of thinking is that if one could remove the profit, the capitalist impetus, one would see a whole lot less of the various negative side effects like gang competition, growing in the national forest, et al. The irony w pot is that demand does not create the cost as much as the risk of producing it does. Maybe one reason the 'War on Drugs' is such bull shit. If pot were decriminalized (Note, I did not say legalize) there would be less motivation for the massive smuggling and agri business that much of marijuana trafficking has become. Where's the profit if any doofus can grow it in their back yard?
Do note that tobacco kills over 400,000 Americans annually and i have yet to find any stats on a morbidity count from cannabis.
Posted by: Zarathustra | October 5, 2006 04:59 PM
Ragweed, really? Google lied to me. De-criminalization, an interesting concept in which the punishment for the crime is so minimal that its is rarely enforced, while the actual law remains on the books. I don't know that this is any better or worse than legalizing for anyone. Yes, it would take the reward factor out of large scale drug operations and the many bad things that come along with them, but I don't know that its going to make pot the wonder recreation substance of the new millenium.
Weed is not good for you, smoking it at least as bad for you as tobacco if not worse because inhaling any smoke is bad for you. I haven't seen any statistics on its harmful effects either, I suppose because they are probaly lumped into the smoking category or not researched at all. However, we really can't compare it to tobacco as marijuana isn't available, in nice packages, in every corner store and until recently you couldn't be arrested for smoking a regular cigarette in public. (That's a whole other blog).
I agree that what we are currently doing to combat the "drug war" in America is only sticking fingers in the dike and perhaps a more liberal and supply side approach is needed. But as in my blog today, I have seen weed, being abused like anything else, ruin lives.
I will replace that photo with haste, well haste tomorrow...
Posted by: Mr. Ricky | October 5, 2006 05:29 PM
And I thought I was getting all this feed back on my blog and it was just spammers... bastards, now I have to go figure out how to delete the "Best shemale free shemale toons" comments, sigh...
Posted by: Mr. Ricky | November 7, 2006 03:27 PM