When my comment criticising Zo for his boorish, inaccurate portrayal of Ron Paul was voted the top comment -- it has since been deleted by Pajamasmedia -- I started receiving comments from anti-Ron-Paul YouTubers.
YOUTUBE COMMENTS:
thecriticalg: [Comment deleted, so paraphrasing] It is disappointing to see Zo get it wrong on this one, I quite like many of his other videos.
imaStonesFan: [Comment deleted, so paraphrasing] I agree with Zo, Ron Paul is wrong on everything.
@imaStonesFan, Why do you say that? I'm sure your answer will be fascinating, just fascinating.
@thecriticalg, you are an un American terrorist... [etc etc]
@imaStonesFan When your son is arrested for for possession of a miniscule amount of marijuana, Ron Paul is the only candidate who will ensure he comes to no harm. For a pastime no more harmful than drinking with his buddies, Gingrich, Santorum, Romney, and Obama will happily condemn your boy to a decade of prison rape. If you support their War On Drugs then I'm afraid you are the un-American terrorist.
@thecriticalg If there is a law against Pot and my son knows it then its his own fault he went to jail. Prisons are not like that to pot heads only to child molesters. Do i want my son to go to prison? No of coarse not but i also have to ask myself would i rather him go to prison or be killed because of drugs? well sorry i rather he got to jail.
What i do wish is that bad people did not influence kids to do drugs r drink either.
A conversation on YouTube, which began with a response to my top-rated comment (removed by the scrupelous Republican mouthpiece Pajamamedia) and a YouTube user accusing me of being an un-American terrorist, ended with her eventually saying, "Yes You make a lot of sense there."
YOUTUBE COMMENTS:
thecriticalg: [Comment deleted, so paraphrasing] It is disappointing to see Zo get it wrong on this one, I quite like many of his other videos.
imaStonesFan: [Comment deleted, so paraphrasing] I agree with Zo, Ron Paul is wrong on everything.
@imaStonesFan, Why do you say that? I'm sure your answer will be fascinating, just fascinating.
@thecriticalg, you are an un American terrorist... [etc etc]
@imaStonesFan When your son is arrested for for possession of a miniscule amount of marijuana, Ron Paul is the only candidate who will ensure he comes to no harm. For a pastime no more harmful than drinking with his buddies, Gingrich, Santorum, Romney, and Obama will happily condemn your boy to a decade of prison rape. If you support their War On Drugs then I'm afraid you are the un-American terrorist.
@thecriticalg If there is a law against Pot and my son knows it then its his own fault he went to jail. Prisons are not like that to pot heads only to child molesters. Do i want my son to go to prison? No of coarse not but i also have to ask myself would i rather him go to prison or be killed because of drugs? well sorry i rather he got to jail.
What i do wish is that bad people did not influence kids to do drugs r drink either.
SUMMARY OF PERSONAL MESSAGES BY TOPIC:
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
I see where you're coming from, but it's extremely dangerous to criminalise certain things, and making them against the law is proven to be an ineffectual and harmful way of setting an example. It just does not work. It failed with Prohibition, it has failed miserably with the War On Drugs, it failed with prostitution, it failed to stop the growth of the porn industry.
I'm sure you do your best to set an example, but did you go to prison for pot? Do you think you should have?
I have never done drugs, never smoked, and drink about two beers a month. I wouldn't go to a prostitute for any amount of money and think pornography despicable. In my opinion, no-one should do these things. (Except for a drink or two, I suppose)
And personally, I don't associate with anyone who does drugs, but the fact of the matter is most people do them and seem to turn out alright. And that's not counting all of the prescription drugs, which in their own way are just as dangerous.
Not to mention most of America's presidents in the last few decades used drugs -- George Bush took cocaine, Obama was a huge pothead, Bill Clinton smoked pot, and who knows what the others got up to.
However, if you criminalise pot then you have to arrest people; you have to put them through court; you have to spend $60,000 a year to keep them in jail; and after they come out (in the best case scenario) much more likely to be violent, criminal, and suicidal, those people have a much lower chance of getting a good job and realising their potential. Millions of Americans are getting terribly hurt and everyone else pays megabucks to keep it going.
I respect the way you choose to raise your son, but I have studied law and the prison system for years, and ANYTHING short of death or the most tragic injury is better than prison. He might be lucky and not be raped, but according to the National Institute for Justice, the *reported* rates are incredibly high:
http://nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/institutional/prison-rape/research-findings.htm
And that's just what people admit to.
Your son wouldn't learn his lesson: he'd be tortured, abused, violated, and eventually he'd learn to be hard and cruel. I honestly think that you, your family, and your community could do a much better job of teaching him how to be responsible than a gang of thugs in uniform and a pack of beasts like that disgusting specimen in the video you sent me.
Do you really think a place filled with people like that is where your son should go for doing what you did when you were young?
Of the current Republican candidates, I'll wager that the only one who never touched pot is Ron Paul.
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Yes thats true!You have a point there BUT also when people try to teach their kids drugs are dangerous they then say that well the president says its okay.
ANYWAY No one in prison gets it that bad for pot.I dont believe that. You might not know this but you are talking to someone who has done drugs before and i know the dangers of it,i know moms get child well fair called on them for smoking pot,i know driving while high or drunk is not only dangerous for the person but for everyone on the road who don't even smoke weed. This should not pass. I am only trying to sit a good example and give kids good advice. If my son does pot and gets sent to prison then its no ones fault but his. I will try and teach him better but but if he is high and runs over someone and kills them...its not the victims fault. Make it legal then you are putting the rest of america at risk because the death rate will go up. Just think someone been smoking it and they drive. Like alcohol too.Ron Paul has bad ideas. U have moms that lose their kids because of drugs,u also have those babies born addicted to drugs.
I Know Mr. Paul might mean well but if u think long and hard enough about it.its a bad idea to make drugs legal.
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
I respect the way you choose to raise your son, but I have studied law and the prison system for years, and ANYTHING short of death or the most tragic injury is better than prison. He might be lucky and not be raped, but according to the National Institute for Justice, the *reported* rates are incredibly high:
http://nij.gov/nij/topics/corrections/institutional/prison-rape/research-findings.htm
And that's just what people admit to.
Your son wouldn't learn his lesson: he'd be tortured, abused, violated, and eventually he'd learn to be hard and cruel. I honestly think that you, your family, and your community could do a much better job of teaching him how to be responsible than a gang of thugs in uniform and a pack of beasts like that disgusting specimen in the video you sent me.
Do you really think a place filled with people like that is where your son should go for doing what you did when you were young?
Of the current Republican candidates, I'll wager that the only one who never touched pot is Ron Paul.
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Oh no i would never want someone to go to prison and be raped.
Thats what u asked me in the last message. I just really wished my son would not smoke it because I'm worried about when he gets a car. all i meant was i dont want him high and wreck and be seriously engendered. That would be worse than going to jail.
At least in jail he would be alive.
I said before Ill try my best to teach him better and not to drink or smoke weed but after he is moved out the house i can no longer make him mind.
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
I'm sure you don't want your son to go to be prison and be raped. But if he goes to prison, more likely than not, he will be raped.
And all the candidates except for Ron Paul support policies that will make it more likely that your son -- because he'll want to do some silly things -- will go to prison.
Ron Paul is not in favour of using drugs, and here's what he says:
1) It's not for the federal government to decide, it's up to each state.
2) All the evidence we have for whether making drugs illegal proves to us that it fails, fails, fails, and fails again.
3) If a policy is proven to work, all the states will adopt it.
Murder is not a federal issue, it's a state issue; the same goes for theft, assault, etc.
And you know better than I that once your son leaves home he'll be responsible for himself. You'll always be his mother and care about him, but being free means having the freedom to make good decisions and bad. That applies to family and to society.
The Federal Government is $16,000,000,000,000 in debt. America's federal government is in bigger trouble financially than the one in Greece.
Do you really trust the government set a good example, when it's been making terrible decisions for the last 20 years?
You're a better parent than government, right?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Yes i know the government is currupt Well maybe the state wont make drugs legal. Just think all the innocent people who have nothing to do with drugs could be harmed and thats where it comes back to ron paul. If he makes it legal and someone goes to drive and harms a innocent by standard then I'm sure the family would say "why did they make it legal?
Thats where i have a problem.
There is probably some responsible pot smokers out there but over 30 yrs old lol teens will abuse it.trust me
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
1) Making drugs illegal has not stopped people from taking them, nor has it reduced the number of people who drive on drugs, as far as we can tell. DWI, as you know, is illegal, and if drugs were decriminalised then driving while high would be illegal too. The road toll has been dropping sharply since the 1970s, thanks to safer cars and people behaving more responsibly. So, making drink-driving illegal has worked; but outlawing alcohol would not have worked.
The national road toll in America is about 30,000 per year and declining. Some of those are due to alcohol, some due to drugs, some due to prescription drugs, some due to bad luck or bad weather or mobile phones.
2) Making drugs illegal has resulted in the following:
* 1,000,000 people in jail for drug possession or trafficking
* Thousands of murders every year in Mexico thanks to the drug trade made possible by America's laws, which makes it a lucrative market for Mexican drug cartels.
* Thousands of gang-related murders in the USA.
The problem with making drugs illegal is that it doesn't reduce the demand for it. This is the fundamental fact that all responsible Americans need to understand. Just because you don't like it, just because you would like it to be illegal, does not mean that criminalising it would work. In most cases it actually results in more of what you don't like.
Think of it as a parent: you can't supervise your child 24/7 because the only way to do so is to follow him around all day or lock him up. If you support policies that effectively police people's lives, you need a government that will follow you and your family around 24/7 and lock you up when it feels like it, not when you've hurt someone else.
I can see you care about these issues, but you've got so used to thinking that the government should solve people's problems for them that you're in danger of supporting people who couldn't care less about you. Do you really think Gingrich or Santorum or Romney is an honest man? Do you really believe that Obama is just "having a hard time" working with Republicans? They're career politiciansOh Paul said something about saving tax money and stop sending drug addicted people to jail and send them to rehab instead ..... Ok if the state haves to force someone into drug rehab doesn't tax dollars have to pay for that? and they'll exploit you for every dime you've got.
Don't vote for things just because they sound good. You're smarter than that.
Should I trust you on this because you smoked it as a teenager?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
LOL You sked can you trust me? LOL Yes as a matter of fact my experience is why i'm so against drugs. :) I just care about people and the teenagers out there thats all.
Yes i smoked weed as a teenager and i had a motorcycle like a dirt bike. was high from weed and hit a tree. It does effect your thinking. I will be fair and say its not as bad as drinking but it still effect thinking. They should have laws for people who drive under the influence as same as they did drinking. Go to jail if found smoking weed and driving. So i can deal with weed better than i can with making all drugs legal.
PS: Not fair to this baby [video of baby smoking]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W5H4mKPw50
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
I totally agree. But it would be equally negligent to get the child drunk or give it a cigarette. Should we send people to jail for drinking and smoking too?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
AS I Said before drinking is bad too. Smoking Cigs dont effect your thinking and cause others harm.
Now drinking is legal but people who drink and drive should go to jail,People have been killed for drunk driving.IMO it should have stayed not legal and so should any drug accept the kind the u are taking for sickness.
Drunk drivers should go to jail lol when younger i did it and i learned me a lesson on my second Dwi....why did i learn my lesson and stop drinking? because i knew the third dwi i would go to jail,so really i could have kept on until i hurt myself or hurt someone else So Jail taught me a lesson.
if i had hit someone while drunk dont you know their family would have been mad ?
To be honest i think drinking should trade with weed but we dont need both.
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
Drink-driving is illegal for good reason, and drinking is legal for an even better reason: it was illegal in the past and it failed miserably. Have you ever heard of the Prohibition?
You say that jail taught you a lesson, but really it was the threat of suffering the consequences that taught you a lesson. If your third DWI had resulted in a $10,000 fine or the suspension of your licence for 5 years I think you would have smartened up too. What do you reckon?
After your second DWI did you stop drinking altogether, or did you simply become a more responsible drinker?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Yes i stopped all together.
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
I respect your decision, but I'm curious why you stopped altogether. Were you afraid that if you had one or two then you'd have many more?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
I Stopped because my dad was a alcoholic and i guess i was too because when i would drink 2 i always had to have more.
I figured i must be a alcoholic like my dad was.
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
OK, now there's a good reason, and I understand your concern for your son. I'm sorry to hear about your father, and I'm glad that you made a decision for your own health.
But this shows that it wasn't just the threat of prison that made you stop -- it probably made you think harder about it, but ultimately you decided to stop drinking because of your own body.
And of course, making alcohol illegal would result in more binge-drinking, more criminality, more accidents, more deaths, and more ruined lives. And billions of dollars spent in vain trying to stop people from doing so.
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Oh Paul said something about saving tax money and stop sending drug addicted people to jail and send them to rehab instead ..... Ok if the state haves to force someone into drug rehab doesn't tax dollars have to pay for that?
FROM thecriticalg TO imaStonesFan:
Not necessarily, but even if the state does pay for drug rehab, it is much cheaper and much more successful.
Have you heard of the most successful prison rehab program in US history?
Allowing prisoners to obtain a college degree. It has a 100% success rate.
Most people say, "criminals don't deserve an education," but criminals who are permitted to study -- sometimes for the first time in their lives -- go on to be good people rather than returning to a life of crime.
Also, sending people to jail simply for using drugs will put them in a place that'll make them want to be on drugs even more. The rates of drug use after prison are many times higher than before. If you think about it, if you put a pothead in jail with crack addicts and other criminals, what do you think will happen?
FROM imaStonesFan TO thecriticalg:
Yes You make a lot of sense there.
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