You Might be a Terrorist if...

In the 1984 film Red Dawn, there is a scene where Soviet forces invading the United States round up all the Boy Scouts as members of a para-military youth organization. It seemed absurd to most viewers. Not the Scouts!

Yes, the Scouts.

Homeland Security Trains Scouts To Fight Terrorism

The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters...

The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out "active shooters," like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses.

Sixty years of para-military activities. I think when I was Scouts age (though I never was one) I would have really enjoyed such activities.

So the Boy Scouts are a para-military organization training kids to act like dick cops who will some day tase you for a minor traffic infraction. Not a big surprise.

Then there's this...

Given recent concerns over the DHS definition of "right wing extremists" and the agency’s penchant to affiliate veterans, gun owners, Ron Paul supporters and even those who question the mainstream media with terrorists, one wonders exactly who the boy scouts are being trained to target.

For the past eight years folks have been complaining that protesters and left leaning political activists have been targeted as terrorists for questioning the mainstream media. There has been plenty of evidence to support this claim as well as the above "right wing extremists" terrorist claim.

Put it all together and you discover that Americans across the board are terrorists. Scouts are being trained to keep us all in line. America as we knew it is going right down the... same path it has been heading down for generations. Only now it can do it on the internet!

Addendum: This slide show of the program is creepy.

Political Hero

Jesse Ventura wasn't just a politician or merely Governor of Minnesota. To me he was one of the last representatives.

Awesome interview with Larry King. Waterboarding, torture, Cuba, and surfing. Well worth all ten minutes of it.

An Open Invitation to Evangelicals

Catholics who have prayed the rosary are quite familiar with a particular passage.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

World without end. I like that phrase. Has a real positive tone to it.

It's not just a Catholic thing. Every Bible has it. Ephesians 3:21,

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

'Throughout all ages' and 'world without end' seem to refer to the phenomenon we now know as space/time. The space/time phenomenon is an inherent quality of the universe as we know it. So without a universe, or without existing in the universe, space/time ceases to exist and you no longer have a 'world without end'. That would be a secular translation. But 'world without end' still refers to a world, as opposed to the heavens. There was a distinct difference between the two.

I invite any and all Christians to rectify the Apocalypse and/or Armageddon with the earlier Biblical phrase 'world without end' without invoking the theoretical 'heaven' which would necessarily exist outside of space/time, or at least not in the 'world' as understood in the Bible.

For those Christians who say the Apocalypse/Armageddon is a fiction, I respect that. Just a few more books to go.

Born to Blaspheme,
Rev. Dr. Jake

Republican Brain Slugs

I'm not even sure how to take this.

Reagan afraid of invasion by aliens

He is said to have believed they had been spying on Earth for decades.

Mr Reagan, who was President from 1981 to 1989, told a pal he had seen flying saucers three times, said author Darwin Porter.

He allegedly added: “I just know it. They’ve selected some desert in the West to make their landing.”

But the ex-President’s daughter Patti Davis dismissed the claims, saying her father, who died in 2004, may have been joking.

Former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev has claimed the US and USSR made a pact to help each other against an alien invasion.

He added: “President Reagan said to me, ‘If the US were attacked by someone from outer space, would you help?’”

Some will point to this and use it as evidence he was crazy. Seeing UFOs doesn't make Reagan crazy. Believing they planned to invade made him a little paranoid. Thanks to Reagan propaganda I feared a Soviet invasion throughout most of the 1980's. That was fairly paranoid and we knew the Russians existed.

His reactionary 1950's nostalgia, now that made him a stark raving lunatic. Not to mention selling arms to Iran while simultaneously getting all cozy with Saddam Hussein. And his plan to bankrupt the Soviet Union by spending America into a pit of debt.

Not to mention giving Arnold Schwarzenegger a government job that resulted in him refusing to kill anyone in Terminator 2. That was perhaps the worst thing that ever happened to this country.

Jesus Endorses Torture

For as long as I can remember people tried to convince me that the church was the supporting structure of a moral society. The idea has issued forth from friends, family, clergy, politicians, teachers, veterinarians, homeless panhandlers and addiction counselors. I have maintained for quite some time that people can be just as good without all that. Turns out I was wrong.

CNN.com

White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did.

A bunch of Christian crackers think Jesus is okay with torture. Have they really thought this through? Take those terror suspects, nail 'em to a tree, and let them bake in the sun until they spill their guts!

Like I said, I was wrong. Religion is more like a bunch of termites gnawing away at a moral society. People are better without it.

Unless you think torture is the moral high road. Then God help you.

Cinco de Mayo

Why should Americans be excited about Cinco de Mayo? From Wikipedia

In 1861, Mexico ceased making interest payments to its main creditors. In response, in late 1861, France (and other European countries) attacked Mexico to try to force payment of this debt. France decided that it would try to take over and occupy Mexico. France was successful at first in its invasion; however, on May 5, 1862, at the city of Puebla, Mexican forces were able to defeat an attack by the larger French army. In the Battle of Puebla, the Mexicans were led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín. Although the Mexican army was victorious over the French at Puebla, the victory only delayed the French invasion of Mexico City; a year later, the French occupied Mexico. The French occupying forces placed Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico on the throne of Mexico. The French, under U.S. pressure, eventually withdrew in 1866-1867. Maximilian was executed by President Benito Juarez, five years after the Battle of Puebla.

By following the example of Mexico we can wrack up debt, not pay our bills, and when our creditors come to take our stuff, we shoot 'em.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Swine Flu! Panic!

The big scare right now is swine flu. Scary, scary stuff. It's the flu only it came from pigs and it will KILL YOU DEAD!

Especially if you try to prevent it.

The Socialist Nightmare

The Daily Show explores the nightmare that is Socialism. Is this really what we want for America?

A Clockwork Fnord

There is only one way to stop wars. Refuse to fight them. I am asking people to please stop fighting wars. They are having an ill effect on my health.

At one time I could watch war footage, news coverage, clips, montages, movies, all of it and just get mad about wars. After all, the modern concept of war involves two people behind multiple protective layers getting into an argument and sending people they have little or no real interest for to go shoot the shit out of each other. And the people do it. They get duped into doing it. They get fed some bullshit line about pride or duty or morality or whatever the cause du jour is, they eat it up, and get sent off to either kill or die. Stupid. So I would get mad.

But now images and news sent back from the battle fronts is starting to have a different effect on me. It is making me ill. My stomach starts to churn and I get the faintest twinges of nausea setting in. Like when you aren't certain you've got the flu but your body is starting to show the signs of it. It seems like if I continue to watch for an extended period I will vomit. Like little Alex in A Clockwork Orange as he's going through 'treatment'.

Oddly, I feel like I'd almost be willing to kill to stop it.

So I would really appreciate it if people would stop fighting wars. I'd feel a lot better.

Signs of Change

For those keeping track of real changes brought about by the latest administration...

Snitch!

Yet another reason to despise...

Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch

According to an article published in the San Jose Mercury News, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Reagan and his first wife, Actress Jane Wyman, provided federal agents with the names of actors they believed were Communist sympathizers.

Unemployed Leeches

I am not judging, I'm just saying...

For a couple of months now the factory has been on reduced hours and participating in this thing called 'Work Share'. They went from a five day work week to a four day one and the state unemployment system will pay workers unemployment benefits for the fifth day. Each week that a person draws that one day of unemployment benefits counts as a week on unemployment.

For the past few years I've been with this company I have had many conversations with people who bitched about those unemployed loafers who are a drain on the system stealing the working people's hard earned money through higher taxes. Those same people jumped right on board with the Work Share program because they feel they are entitled to it. They are able bodied workers drawing unemployment. Many of them have expressed how much they love only working four days a week and getting their unemployment check to cover the fifth. They can sit at home and do nothing and still get paid!

I have not signed up for Work Share. I have never drawn unemployment and hope I never find myself in a situation where I feel I have to. It's a personal thing. Yet I am actually in favor of unemployment benefits for people who lose their jobs. Yes, even for ones who only lose a fifth of their job.

Space Anarchists

The story as I have it thus far.

Historical evidence shows that groups of people living in cooperation with their fellow men and women while balancing available resources tend to have the most leisure time and are among the least technologically advanced.

Historical evidence also shows that when a few fevered egos tell everybody what they should do, rule by force, strip resources, and decimate the land for their own selfish ends, people as a whole tend to be unhappy and technology progresses rapidly.

I've been contemplating the evidence as presented to me for several days now. I don't want it to be true. Yet I find myself just stammering, "but, but, but..." After all, if I believe we can live without leaders and live in orbital colonies, it must be true.

I would never accept such a ridiculous faith based statement from a political or religious source. I can not accept it from myself.

Are my dreams of living in space and anarchism diametrically opposed? Historical evidence makes it seem so.

We need to hurry up and get into space so I can stop worrying about that dream and focus on the other one!

Public Service Math

Doing the math so you don't have to!

People tend to get confused by big numbers. To many people ten grand is a lot of money and ten million is also a lot of money. So let's convert some numbers into something easier to grasp.

New Jobless Claims Drop; Ongoing Total At Record : NPR

The 5.84 million continuing claims lag the initial claims data by a week and the number doesn't include 1.54 million Americans that received benefits under an extended unemployment compensation program approved by Congress last year. That adds 20 to 33 weeks of benefits on top of the typical 26 weeks provided by states.

That's a total of 7.38 million Americans collecting unemployment. This does not account for those who are jobless without unemployment benefits.

If you combined the greater metropolitan populations including suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Kansas City on both sides of the river, the Portland/Vancouver region, and added in Freeborn County in Minnesota, all of the places I have claimed residence in, you would fall just shy of 7.38 million. Thinking about everyone in all of those places being on unemployment sounds a bit scary.

Or you could consider the entire populations of Oklahoma, Mississippi, and South Dakota drawing unemployment. Gives you a whole different perspective.

Ungrateful Hypocrite

Chycho.com

Obama, you ungrateful hypocrite, your online audience are the ones that raised half a billion dollars to put you in power.

vs.



Man, Obama walks a real tight line on this one. The pre-election statement from Senator Obama calls for decriminalization while President Obama verbally vetoes legalization. In that the quoted article is wrong. He can technically still make good on both statements without being a hypocrite.

But will he?

Former Head of the DEA Gang-Banged by Six Reporters and a Pot Head

And he manages to blurt out that the United States could be making a lot of money by legalizing marijuana.

Indecent Proposals

Biden appeals to G20 protesters

At a news conference in Vina del Mar, Mr Biden said 'I would hope the protesters give us a chance listen to what we have to say and hopefully we can make it clear to them that we're going to walk away from this G20 meeting with some concrete proposals.'

I've known many people who had some concrete proposals. Some of them later discovered those proposals really didn't mean anything. Others found themselves wishing such proposals had never occurred.

When a proposal is made, the intent is that someone is going to get screwed.

Obama's Grass Roots

Grass roots is, of course, a double entendre. I feel certain the Salon writer realized this when he titled the article.

Obama goes back to the grass roots | Salon News

As President Obama walked to the East Room of the White House Thursday morning for what was billed as an 'experimental' online town hall meeting aides passed him a message. The 3.6 million votes cast on the 104 000 questions people had submitted on the government s site had yielded a bit of a surprise The most popular questions in several categories including 'financial stability' and predictably enough 'green jobs' asked not about the economic collapse or about healthcare but about legalizing marijuana. But don t worry the president was told the event s moderator administration economist Jared Bernstein wouldn't be asking any of them.

Democracy in action. The people of the nation are told they get to ask questions and vote for which ones they want the President to address. When the people ask about marijuana legalization, Obama's staff decides he does not have to answer those questions.

But he took a stab at it without being directly asked.

"I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation," Obama said, as Bernstein laughed over in the corner of the room. "And I don't know what this says about the online audience, but I just want -- I don't want people to think that -- this was a fairly popular question; we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."

Of course the people who voted for those questions feel otherwise. And they were the top questions in multiple categories.

I guess if free speech can be vetoed, so can the free market.

Big Numbers Again

The numbers are big. Really big. I mean look at the size of those numbers!

US unveils $1tn toxic asset plan

The US has announced details of a plan to buy up to $1 trillion worth of toxic assets to help repair banks' balance sheets.

Would you rather the bank buy up all this debt from banks that failed to manage our money properly in the first place, or a $3,000 handout for every US citizen? That would be $6,000 for the average household.

Of course the truth is that we, the US citizens, will end up paying that $3,000 each plus the interest on it. All to keep banks solvent.

Seems to me that if we are going to get screwed, $3,000 would pay for a real high class hooker. (see above) And that seems like a better use of $1 trillion.

Absent

For folks who listen to the podcast, sorry for my absence the last two days. I've been busy building and trouble shooting two new computers. I'll be back on track for next week.

Babies-a-Go-Go

Bad news, folks.

U.S. Births In 2007 Break Baby-Boom-Era Record : NPR

Forget the baby boom. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any year in the nation's history — and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter.

Despite my constant squawking encouraging women to get abortions, the call went unheeded.

On the bright side, these little crotch droppings should be hitting their earning potential stride right as I start drawing Social Security, if it doesn't go bankrupt by then.

Income Disparity

As we all get really pissed at Wall Street and the rich bastards who gambled with our money to the tune of getting our tax dollars as bonuses, it has become clear that the class war rages on.

As Kris Kristofferson once said, "Cuz everybody's got to have somebody to look down on. Who they can feel better than at any time they please."



It's part of the American Dream®. Multiple surveys have shown that people would rather make $80,000 a year and be richer than their neighbors than to make $100,000 per year and be the poorest man on the block. So of course we are all going to yell and scream when someone gets more money than we do yet we will continue to refuse to tear down the system that allows such huge disparities in (futile) hope that we may some day be on the winning end of things.

I've brought this up before and I'm going to hound on it again. Let's at least reduce the gap.

I propose doing away with the minimum wage. That's right. All you hard core Republicans can cheer. I want to see the minimum wage abandoned.

In its place let's institute a maximum wage of no more than ten times (x10) what the lowest paid worker gets. Can we really make the case that any one person deserves to earn the same amount of money in one hour that it would take ten people at the bottom of the scale to earn in that same hour? Does the fact that some woman inherited a multi-national business make her 400,000 times the human that the guy who manages one of her stores is? How much more is she worth than the mother stocking the shelves or the old man greeting the people who have helped her make that fortune?

For the folks at the bottom, they will grudingly concede that a person might be worth, maybe, ten times what they are. After all, doctors have to do a lot of things that they never could. And if there was a cap of 1000%, it wouldn't be long before those folks at the bottom were getting paid enough to make ten times more seem less dreadful.

And it's a damn site better than what most people would like to see them get right now.

NSFW: Representing the People

In a representative democracy one has to ask what is meant by representative. Do they mean someone who is tasked with the job of speaking for a larger group or someone who is an example of the kinds of people who make up their constituency? Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

If we assume the former and admit that quite often the latter also occurs, what does that say about Florida?

Florida lawmakers consider ban on bestiality

Rich's legislation would target only those who derived or helped others derive "sexual gratification" from an animal, specifying that conventional dog-judging contests and animal-husbandry practices are permissible.

That last provision tripped up Miami Democratic Sen. Larcenia Bullard.

"People are taking these animals as their husbands? What's husbandry?" she asked. Some senators stifled their laughter as Sen. Charlie Dean, an Inverness Republican, explained that husbandry is raising and caring for animals. Bullard didn't get it.

"So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?" Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut case where a woman's suburban chimpanzee went mad and was shot.

I've got nothing against sick perverts getting their kicks fucking goats as long as they get the goat's permission. The incident that sparked this controversy does not meet those criteria.

Florida is one of only 16 states that still permit bestiality -- a fact that animal-rights activist and Sen. Nan Rich learned to her horror three years ago when a Panhandle man was suspected of accidentally asphyxiating a family goat that he held by the collar during a sex act.

Unless the goat was really into BDSM, this does not sound like a consensual act. The man should have been brought up on rape charges.

While I make exceptions for the sexually deviant domesticated primate (human) sick bastards to form relationships with other domesticated animals, I have very little tolerance for stupidity. Sen. Bullard should be forced to stick her hand up a goat's ass so she can learn first hand what animal husbandry is all about. There is no romance in it. Not even with a chimp.

Though buying it dinner may help relax it.

Chuck Norris Joke

There is one thing you can always count on when playing MMORPGs; Chuck Norris jokes. Here is the latest straight from the man himself.

I may run for president of Texas

On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas."

That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.

From the East Coast to the "Left Coast," America seems to be moving further and further from its founders' vision and government.

And if Chuck runs and wins I'll be happy to meet with him as the newly elected President of Freetopia. Mostly just to ensure an export of Austin based musicians and film makers and a steady supply of Lone Star beer.

Chuck goes on...

John Adams declared that, 'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.' Yet we've bastardized the First Amendment, reinterpreted America's religious history and secularized our society until we ooze skepticism and circumvent religion on every level of public and private life.

How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority according to America's Declaration of Independence.

Freetopia will be founded in the idea that religious people need to keep that stuff separate from the government. It will incorporate all current American states west of the Rockies. It will also fully decriminalize if not legalize all things currently considered criminal that primarily affect the individual, meaning drug use and prostitution. It will also change marriage into an agreement between persons wishing to consolidate household resources thus ending the draconian ban on gay marriages, polygamy, and polyamorous relationships.

Go for it, Chuck. If the people of Texas associate more strongly with you than with the current centralized government of these United States, you have a moral and possibly religious duty to do such. Just don't tread on me.

Possible Solution

I am lifting this from a friend/co-worker. I know he reads here so I hope he doesn't mind. It's a great notion and is worth spreading.

Maybe now people can get back to their roots. They can start thinking more as a collective, asking, "What will benefit the whole?"

Now would be a great time to start cooperatives and community gardens so we can grow our own food.

Now would be a great time to do less buying and more bartering.

Let the bankers screw up their world economy, we can build our own economy.

Or as the Dead Milkmen put it...

Why should we buy postage stamps?
We can make our own!

AWPC: Words of Comfort

In a meeting at work today my supervisor said something that at the time was of little comfort. Reflecting on his words, it was exactly what I needed to hear.

This isn't just our company. It's everyone. It's this whole economy. I think it's safe to say we are no longer in a recession but a full blown depression.

He's a normal guy. Exceptionally normal. As someone who is far from it, normal people are easy to pick out.

To hear a normal, average American finally face facts allows me to breath a sigh of relief. People are getting it. Of course it takes some extreme circumstances for this to come about, but it is happening.

Later I was talking with the manager.

Him: I just don't understand why we have to keep throwing money at banks who mismanaged the money in the first place. And then they give them thousands of dollars in bonuses. For what?

Me: Maybe it was the sheer scale of it all. "You didn't just screw over our bank but completely tanked the entire world economy. Wow. Here's a bonus. Hell, here's a Congressional Medal of Honor!"

To kill a man is murder. To kill thousands or even millions takes world class leadership skills. Perhaps theft follows the same logic.

Ten Years

On a totally different topic it was once said that it would be done ten years after people stopped laughing about it. I think it applies here.

Legalizing marijuana? The politicians have stopped laughing.

New York Times
Salon

Who Should Pay for This Crisis?

If we don't stick taxpayers with the bill for the bailout, who should pay for it?

Why isn’t the oil industry bailing out the auto sector?

Just one year’s worth of profits for the oil industry is approximately three times what the auto industry is asking for in their bailout package. If these five companies bailed out the US auto manufacturers, they would still be able to report billions in profit.

Sounds like a natural pairing to me. Conservatives are always saying that private industry can do the job better than government. Put up or shut up.

So many novel ideas. Adversity inspires creativity.

We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!

Novel idea. Since the rich have gotten so much richer, let them pay for the bailouts.

German Anti-Globalization Campaigner: 'We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!' - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The German government has now pledged €480 billion ($613 billion) in guarantees and cash injections for banks. In the year 2002 alone, private assets in Germany increased by almost €800 billion. There is lots to draw on.

The interview is a very quick read.

New Graphics

I'd be a pretty crappy Presidential candidate if I didn't listen to what the people want. Not that you have to give them what they want. You just have to listen and pretend to care and pretend to agree. Which is precisely why I am a really crappy candidate.

But my ways may be changing. That's right, I decided to sell out. Just a little bit. People love the "Still Fisting the American Dream" phrase and graphic. They want more. And I've come up with more.

Check out the new round feature version. I'm thinking of offering these printed on panties. Imagine going to a strip club and the dancer shaking her rump in your face as you stare at these graphics. Or would it be better on the front crotch with my blog address across the rear?

I'm listening (for a change).

Pot Crusaders Never Surrendor

Those damn pot crusaders just won't give up. Ever. They seem to think that just because a law doesn't make sense that somehow means it should be overturned, ignored, or both.

At least that's the way California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano sees it.

Ammiano Introduces Marijuana Legalization Bill to the Press

In a nutshell, here's what the bill would do: 'Remove all penalties under California law for the cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, and use of marijuana, natural THC and paraphernalia by persons over the age of 21,' 'prohibit local and state law enforcement officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws' and establish a fee of $50 an ounce on marijuana on top of whatever pot will cost in a legal future - which legalization advocates say is about half what it costs now. This tax rate figures at about a buck a joint.

We've all heard the reasons. Do we really need to go over them again? We know that pot is safer than alcohol, tobacco, and aspirin. We know that in general potheads are more docile creatures than drunks. We know that the government could tax the hell out of the stuff. We know the courts and prisons have filled up with non-violent drug offenders.

Yet people still oppose legalization. Not Ammio. He's not only should California legalize it, but the state should instruct law enforcement to ignore all federal laws pertaining to pot prohibition. That's rather bold.

Face it. These damn potheads are never going to give up. They will not go away. They are empowered by evidence and facts. While I hate drum circles and tie-dyes as much as the next beer drinking American, the day will come when pot is legal. This time? I give it a 15% chance because I'm in such a lovely mood without the aid of cannabis.

Then again if I were high I probably wouldn't put forth the effort to bitch about such insanities all the time.* My ten daily martinis tend to put the angry in the blood.

* That's a hint to the FBI agents who shadow me.

When Do We Grow Up?

It's like they are taunting us, daring us to kick their asses to the curb with extreme prejudice.

Banks Spend TARP Funds on Anti-Consumer Lobbying Campaign

Last month, the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein reported that three days after Bank of America accepted $25 billion in TARP funds, it hosted a conference call with movement conservatives and business heavyweights in order to organize opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, a key bill intended to protect the right of workers to organize and join unions. Two weeks later, Change to Win discovered that the Financial Services Roundtable, a financial industry lobbying group whose members received 78% of the hundreds of billions of dollars distributed by the TARP program, intended to host a meeting of CEOs at a $530/night resort on the Gulf of Mexico, where they could coordinate their anti-worker lobbying campaign.

Just like high school. If the rich kid asks for a buck, you have to give it to him because he's rich. You know he's good for it, right? And then you never see it again. If the poor kid asks for a buck you don't give it to him because he's poor and has no way of ever paying you back.

And no matter how annoying, nobody beats up the rich kid because he's, well, rich. Anybody can punch the poor kid. Unless the rich kid hits all the people poorer than he. Eventually the group will get fed up, band together, and beat him within an inch of his life.

The United States might just be one food shortage away from revolution right now.

Torches.

Pitchforks.

Guillotines.

Geekonomics

While looking over metric measurement notation I hit upon an idea. A very geeky idea. A geeky idea for a nation quickly going geek out of necessity.

Our current designation system of monetary sums becomes a blur. So rhymey that people get lost in a Seussian haze. Million, billion, trillion, gazillion. It all sounds the same after a while.

Instead we could use metric denominations made popular by the techification of the nation. I call it Geekonomics.

• one thousand = kilo
• one million = mega
• one billion = giga
• one trillion = tera

To show how this could prove useful, let's look at one of today's top news stories.

Obama aims to cut deficit in half by 2013

'The deficit this administration inherited was $1.3 trillion or 9.2 percent of GDP. By 2013, the end of the president's first term, the budget cuts the deficit to $533 billion or 3.0 percent of GDP,' the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

'Most of the savings will come from winding down the war in Iraq, increased (tax) revenue from those making more than $250,000 a year, and savings from making government work more efficiently and eliminating programs that do not work,' the official said.

The United States spent about $190 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months while ramping up the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

Let's reread this using Geekonomics.

'The deficit this administration inherited was 1.3 terabucks or 9.2 percent of GDP. By 2013, the end of the president's first term, the budget cuts the deficit to 533 gigabucks or 3.0 percent of GDP,' the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

'Most of the savings will come from winding down the war in Iraq, increased (tax) revenue from those making more than 250 kilobucks a year, and savings from making government work more efficiently and eliminating programs that do not work,' the official said.

The United States spent about 190 gigabucks on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008. Obama has pledged to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months while ramping up the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan.

For me, Geekonomics makes the differences between denominations clearer. And who wouldn't love a meg in the safe*?

* I'd say in the bank, but under the current conditions I'd feel better hiding it under my mattress rather than handing it over to a bunch of known crooks.

It's Been Done, but is Worth Doing Again

They did it in Italy when they elected Chicholina. Now there is a call in the United States to make famous porn star Stormy Daniels a Senator.

Push to make porn star a senator no stunt, fan says

I have to get the obvious joke out of the way. Government is always out to fuck you and Stormy Daniels has shown considerable talent in that department.

Which is a total lie. Government fucks EVERYBODY. In comparison Ms. Daniels has only fucked a few select people. That could be a welcome change.

And who better to represent a state famous for its annual Mardi Gras celebrations?

I encourage voters in Louisiana to vote for Stormy. Current Senator Vitter (Republican) paid for sex when he could have been getting it for free. Stormy got paid to have sex. That's sound fiscal policy.

How to Recycle

Have you ever woke up Sunday morning, looked around the house, and wondered what to do with all the empties littering the floor?

The Buddhist temple built using 1.5 million recycled beer bottles

Built using more than a million beer bottles, this incredible temple in the north-east of Thailand is a novel way to recycle any empties.

In other words, the average American football fan would be able to save up enough for a mansion in just one season.

And the bathroom kicks ass. Westerners may not be accustomed to the Asian squat toilets. I've never tried one. Though if you drank enough beer to build a room like this, what better place to give it a go?

Liberal Whiplash

Burn the False Gods!

As someone who writes a lot of angry rants about politics, I find that I also enjoy angry rants about politics. Nothing like a good angry rant to get the blood flowing. Angry rants and machetes. Good stuff for blood flow.

Mmmm, blood. More people are calling for it these days.

Who Keeps Screwing Us Over?

I shouldn't be surprised by now. But I still was when I read the article this morning in the Washington Post explaining that the cap on executive pay has been removed from the stimulus bill. I knew what Congress was doing yesterday by bringing the Wall Street executives in and scolding them in public was a dog and pony show. But I had not realized how profoundly full of shit these politicians are.

They make a big display of yelling at the CEOs and then the very next day they quietly remove any cap on their compensation. These people are not on our side. This is why so many Americans are so damn frustrated. Everyone in power appears to be bought and paid for. There is a circle of people in DC and NY that keep passing the money around to one another and then come and collect it from us.

They pulled the windfall tax on the oil companies before even getting into office. Now they pull the pay cap on banks getting 'emergency bailout funds'.

Let's have an intervention for the alcoholic uncle. I'll pick up the keg.

We're wasting our time here. Just nationalize the damn banks already. Almost all of the top economists are now in agreement that we should take this step. The people who put the money in are the people who own the company -- that's how capitalism works. I'm a die-hard capitalist. I don't want the federal government owning banks for an extended period of time. But what's worse is to continue letting these bankers rob us of our money day in and day out while we sit around like fools.

We buy it, we own it. Kick the clowns out. Run it for a limited amount of time while we stabilize the credit markets. And then sell them off in the free market. Instead of begging the bankers to loosen up credit, we take the banks and do it ourselves.

First off, if the government takes over the banks, they'll do it for keeps. Same people in charge, inconvenient new location.

As for Mr. die-hard capitalist, good for you. We humans love to believe in things. If believing in money helps you sleep at night, more power to you.

I wish people would stop forcing their belief systems on others. Just because I see representations of the Easter Bunny every year does not make the Easter Bunny real no matter how hard I believe. Lots of myth and theory behind it, no bunny leaving eggs. A lot of messed up BS* that may have meant something believable at one time but has gotten so far removed from reality we can't even recognize it any more.

Just like money.

*Belief System

Goodfellas Save the Day

The laws of free market supply and demand economics are providing a rare opportunity to organized crime. I speak of mafia types, not the kind of organized crime that did an electronic run on the banks and uses their business clout to pick puppet politicians to run things the way they see fit.

Mafia millions buoying banks

'You have the supply — an organized crime industry with enormous amounts of cash, estimated at $322 billion in 2005, not any more stored in banks — and the demand, a banking sector strapped for liquidity,' said Costa.

'This is a supply- and demand-driven situation. Our intuition, based on logic, is now supported by ample evidence.'

And the UN wants to STOP this? If they really want to save this propped up hoax of an economy, the black market could turn into their savior.

Lucifer, the light bringer. The wicked shall save us.

Propped Up Economy

In this video Democratic Congressman Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania tells us...

"The Treasury opened its window to help. They pumped a $105 billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic ... If they had not done that their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, $5.5 trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed."

"It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it."

Call me a cynic, but that last line reads like, "We spent tax payer money to save our own asses."



He speaks of events back in September. Remember back in September? We still had that crime family holding office. Many conspiracy theorists were predicting an event that would lead to a declaration of martial law thus sticking us with, BLEAH! Don't even want to say.

Did they actually try to pull off a double heist that day?

For those who want a positive in this, those people who pulled all that money on that day technically still have it, will need to do something with it, and once they have finished crying over their failed plan might decide to go back to a life of limited riches and control (poor things).

Call that hot cash injection by the government the most expensive condom to date.

How to Not Fail at Life - NSFW?

Successful Potheads

Keeping the meme going...

Yet more proof that pot will make you a lethargic do nothing couch potato whose highest aspirations consist of turning everything they see into a bong.

The 10 Most Successful Potheads on the Planet… Cool Enough to Admit It

Where these stereotypes originated remains a mystery to us. In reality, they couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only have 42% of Americans admitted to trying pot, but pot smokers have gone on to become some of the most successful people in our society. We’re not talking about Willie Nelson and Snoop. These guys are on the Forbes 500, they’re leading the free world, and they prove that all existing pothead stereotypes are nothing more than myths.

I've condensed the list here without all the dope on why these people break the stereotype of the lazy stoned out hippie.

• Sir Richard Branson
• Rick Steves
• Aaron Sorkin
• Michael Phelps
• Barack Obama
• Michael Bloomberg
• Ted Turner
• Montel Williams
• Stephen King
• Arnold Schwarzenegger

Carl Sagan missed making the list because he has spent the last 12 years doing nothing.

I personally attribute my not smoking pot to being content with a factory job and having the most cynical Presidential bid of the 21st century.

NSFW: Glow Sticks For All

Signs of hope for a saner drug policy. Not in the United States of course.

Ecstasy 'no more dangerous than horse riding' - Telegraph

Writing in an academic journal, Professor David Nutt said taking ecstasy was no worse than the risks of 'equasy', a term he invented to describe people's addiction to horse-riding.

Why does this guy have to be named Prof Nutt? He is chairman of the Home Office's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and an academic at Bristol University and Imperial College, London writing for this statement for a peer reviewed journal. The guy has got the creds. But that name! Can people really get over a name like Prof Nut?

Hopefully they can because he's got something important to say.

In the article, titled "Equasy: An overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms", Prof Nutt wrote that "equasy", short for "Equine Addiction Syndrome", had caused 10 deaths and more than 100 road traffic accidents a year.

Through hunting, it also led to "gatherings of users that often are associated with these groups engaging in violent conduct.

"Dependence, as defined by the need to continue to use, has been accepted by the courts in divorce settlements," he wrote. "Based on these harms, it seems likely that the ACMD would recommend control under the MDAct perhaps as a class A drug given it appears more harmful than ecstasy."

I would add that ecstasy has never demanded constant attention, grooming, vet bills, feed, and exercise even when not in use. Ecstasy has never kicked me, trampled my foot, or tried to knock me off by rushing the nearest low hanging limb, nor have I ever had to clean up its shit. It does not require a trailer but like a horse, may come with its own.

Britain's struggling glow stick industry may see brighter days ahead.

* Naked girls on either are fine by me.

Zombie Attack in Washington

Obama's team of zombies

The anecdote highlights how, regardless of election hoopla, Washington is the same one-party town it always has been -- controlled not by Democrats or Republicans, but by Kleptocrats (i.e., thieves). Their ties to money make them the undead zombies in the slash-and-burn horror flick that is American politics: No matter how many times their discredited theologies are stabbed, torched and shot down by verifiable failure, their careers cannot be killed. Somehow, these political immortals are allowed to mindlessly lunge forward, never answering to rivals -- even if that rival is the president himself.

Pot Lies Exposed

Anyone else remember the old McGruff "Take a Bite Out of Crime" ad campaigns? There was one where a bunch of kids sang about how users are losers and losers are users, so don't do drugs.

Turns out that was a lie.

Swimmer Phelps regrets pot pipe

Swimming superstar Michael Phelps has admitted to 'regrettable behaviour', after a UK newspaper published a photo of him apparently smoking cannabis.

So surfing superstar Kelly Slater wins his ninth world title and gets showered with champagne in public for all to see. Phelps wins eight Olympic gold medals, takes a hit off a bong at a college party and has to issue a public apology. Maybe if he had won nine gold medals...

But users are losers. McGruff told me so. Phelps couldn't have won all those gold medals. Either that or McGruff is a propaganda device used to further state control of our lives through complacent acceptance of irrational prohibition.

Bill Hicks on Letterman Tonight!

No, that's not a joke. Apparently TV audiences are finally ready for something recorded fifteen fucking years ago.

1993 censored Bill Hicks segment from the ‘Late Show’ to be broadcast on Letterman this Friday, January 30

This is what I think CBS, the producers of the Letterman show, the networks and governments fear the most - that one man free, expressing his own thoughts and point of view, might somehow inspire others to think for themselves and listen to that voice of reason inside them, and then perhaps, one by one we will awaken from this dream of lies and illusions that the world, the governments and their propaganda arm, the mainstream media, feeds us continuously over 52 channels, 24 hours a day.

What I realised was that they don't want the people to be awake. The elite ruling class wants us asleep so we'll remain a docile, apathetic herd of passive consumers and non-participants in the true agendas of our governments, which is to keep us separate and present an image of a world filled with unresolvable problems, that they, and only they, might somewhere, in the never-arriving future, may be able to solve. Just stay asleep, America. Keep watching television. Keep paying attention to the infinite witnesses of illusion we provide you over 'Lucifer's Dream Box'.

I have never before in my life had the thought, "I should watch Letterman tonight."

For those who don't know, Bill Hicks wrote much of my political platform posthumously.

Depression 2.0

Best quote yet on the current financial crisis.

How bad is the crisis going to get?

But it is to easy to single out the bankers - a banker said.

That made me laugh. A lot.

I Still Hate War

During my weekly telephone conversation with my dad I mentioned to him that so far I was fairly impressed with the direction Obama was taking things. Both of my parents are staunch Democrats and active in the party. He asked me, "Wishing you would have voted for him now?"

"Not at all. There are still too many things I don't like about the man."

This is one of them.

Barack Obama, meet Lyndon Johnson

On Friday, President Barack Obama ordered an Air Force drone to bomb two separate Pakistani villages, killing what Pakistani officials said were 22 individuals, including between four and seven foreign fighters. Many of Obama's initiatives in his first few days in office -- preparing to depart Iraq, ending torture and closing Guantanamo -- were aimed at signaling a sharp turn away from Bush administration policies. In contrast, the headline about the strike in Waziristan could as easily have appeared in December with 'President Bush' substituted for 'President Obama.' Pundits are already worrying that Obama may be falling into the Lyndon Johnson Vietnam trap, of escalating a predecessor's halfhearted war into a major quagmire. What does Obama's first military operation tell us about his administration's priorities?

During the Democratic primaries he talked and talked about ending the war in Iraq. Once he had seized the nomination he started talking about escalating the war in Afghanistan. First week in office and he goes and blows up what may or may not have been legitimate targets inside a country we aren't even at war with (yet).

As any responsible gun owner can tell you, knowing when not to use your weapon is just as important as knowing how to use it. He may not be hawkish, but he is definitely not a man of peace.

That attack was straight out of Bill Clinton's play book. Very disturbing.

The First Week

President Obama has put me at ease, at least a little bit. In his first few days he has gone through and done enough to show that he intends to not be the total shit bag that our last President was.

Let's start with one of my favorite issues.

Obama lifts ban on abortion funds

President Barack Obama has lifted a US funding ban for groups providing abortion services abroad, reversing a policy of his predecessor, George Bush.

The policy known as the 'global gag rule' had stopped US government money going to groups which perform or provide information about abortion.

Hurray! Dead babies! And not the kind that are left in piles due to illegal wars but the sort who were unplanned for and unwanted from the get-go. Yay!

Moving on, he has taken an important first step in changing the 'War on Terror' by ending the methods of terror used by the Bush junta.

The power of the pen

On Day 2 of his administration, President Obama reverses key Bush "war on terror" policies, signing orders that end torture, close the CIA's black sites and phase out Guantanamo.

Rather than handing out goodies to his close friends, he has frozen White House salaries.

Not Bush's White House anymore

The memo for the salary freeze (which will apply to about 100 White House aides making more than $100,000 a year) said that in "a period of severe economic stress," the move is "a signal of our shared commitment to restoring the country's economic vitality." "Families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington," Obama said at a ceremony where he signed the orders and greeted the staff.

He still has the toughest bit ahead of him. People expect him to 'fix' the economy.

Obama pushes recovery plan, lifts Bush funding ban

U.S. President Barack Obama launched a drive on Friday to get his $825 billion economic recovery plan through Congress, predicting lawmakers would resolve differences before a mid-February deadline.

"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama told reporters as he met Democratic and Republican congressional leaders at the White House.

There is little a President can do to get an economy back on track unless he wants to resort to a more Socialist agenda. That probably wouldn't go over too well in the good old U.S. of A. Then again, the time might be ripe for people sick of 'free market' shenanigans that left the working taxpayers hit way too hard because of the actions of private business. We'll have to wait and see.

Now, can Obama rise to the challenge of hearing the voices of Americans and do something meaningful for millions who supported him? Can he make one small step towards ending the war on (some) drugs?

5 million strong to petition Obama to legalize weed

That would be a truly bold movement towards real change.

Obama Promising to Ruin American Way of Life

More Change!

Only a few more days until we get some much needed change.

Obama sells out to Wall Street | Salon

After President Bush this week asked Congress to release the bank bailout fund's remaining $350 billion, Obama pledged to veto any bill rejecting the request, meaning he is beginning his presidency not by 'turn[ing] the page on policies that have put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of folks on Main Street,' as he once pledged. Instead, he is promising a mushroom cloud unless lawmakers let taxpayer cash continue flowing to the biggest of Big Money interests.

Woot! Change!

Pravda Means Truth

So lovely.

Yes George, you served your master well - Pravda.Ru

Now George it is over. Your Faustian deal gave you eight years of illegal and undeserved power.

And did you make the most of it! You stole elections without hesitation, you lied without compunction, you started illegal wars without any consideration for international law, you shredded the Constitution without any respect for the check-and-balance system, you opened up concentration camps without any concern for the rule of law, and you maimed, tortured, and murdered without any regard for fundamental human rights.

You fiddled while New Orleans floundered, while your cronies in the oil industry drove prices through the roof, while war profiteers ruthlessly plundered Iraq, and while the economy suffered its worst decline in decades.

Yes George, you served your master well.

And he served you. The suffering you inflicted upon others never touched you—aside from a pair of poorly aimed shoes. You were never impeached, prosecuted or even censured as a war criminal. And the fact that you intend—as you stated in your final press briefing—to spend your days lounging on the beach, when you should be spending them in a prison cell, adds just another name to the historical list of evildoers who have been rewarded for their crimes.

More could be said, but why?

Sanctimonious Hypocritical Preaching by the Imperials

I loved the title of the article so much I just had to keep it as the title of the post.

Sanctimonious hypocritical preaching by the imperials - Pravda.Ru

Between extremely complicated election laws, requiring armies of lawyers, double standards for the major parties to the exclusion of third parties, dirty tricks, intimidation, and a media hell bent on serving the power politic and not the people, the system makes sure that reelection rates to the US Congress stay at or above a 95% rate. Most senators die or retire, the only way to clear them from their seats. But what a job, 4 months of actual work, high perks, the ability to be bribed at will (both branches of the One Party system feed from the hands of pretty much the same special interests), tax payer paid retirement and pensions after one stint, and many many other benefits. This on top of the right to vote in your own 10% yearly raise, while most of their constituents have not seen a raise above 3% in 20 years.

Lovely. Because truth, even when it is the ugly, garish truth, is lovely.

And there is nothing quite like calling a spade a spade even if it may seem like the pot calling the kettle black and any number of other old bits of folk wisdom that may fit the bill.

I've been asked more than a few times, mostly at work, why foreigners hate Americans so much. I tell them it is because they, much like ourselves, identify the people of this country with the government that is the public face of the country. That, and we as Americans tend to act like a bunch of spoiled rich kids. We cry about how hard we work for so little when our so little is a hell of a lot. Do we deserve more? Damn straight we do! And so does everyone else on this planet. But let's face it, we let an asshole get away with a rampant killing and torture spree while wrapping ourselves in the American flag. It was right and good of us to do all this because we are Americans!

We don't hold a monopoly on democracy. Our system of democracy is old. Really old. There has to be quite a bit of room for improvement. And when we go stomping around the globe with no regard for the people we crush under foot along the way, we are spitting on the ideals the nation was founded upon. Except for the fact that the our democracy was originally set up by a bunch of rich, white, land owning business men with the idea of creating a veil of opportunity while progressing their own agendas unfettered. That part of the American Dream® is still going strong.

Polls Are Open!

To the left is a poll about the podcast. I know I had initially said that I would bring it back in the new year. I've been having second thoughts about it. To settle the matter, I've opened it up to the public. Just like a real election, you must pick one of the preselected options or else you are just throwing your vote away.

But feel free to voice opinions as comments to this post. I vain enough to read them all.

Arab/Israeli Relations: The Mother of All Clusterfucks

There will be no linking to news stories for this one. There doesn't need to be. Nothing is being said that hasn't been said a (insert implausibly large number here) times.

I don't envy Obama on this one. The economy may go up and down but ever since the forming of Islam it has been at odds with everyone else and that goes at least double for the Jews. And while there is a lot of hatred for the Jews, the Arab nations seem to hate Israel specifically even more than Jews in general. And why not? The Palestinians had their hands full trying to throw off the shackles of Britain's imperialism. Then they had to go and add religion to the already volatile mixture. Out with the Queen, in with Moses. Oi!

Is it apparent that my sympathies tend to lie with the Israelis? I'd like to say otherwise, but it wouldn't be true. The Israelis are up against an enemy that will never back down until the entire state of Israel is wiped off the face of all maps everywhere and not a single Jew is left standing on Middle Eastern soil. Not a whole lot of room for negotiation there.

I truly believe that the average Israeli and Palestinian would have very little trouble living side by side if it weren't for a few trouble makers always stirring the pot (and they stir it with rockets and grenades, no less). If the average American can put aside one of the most deep seeded bigotries this nation suffers from in order to vote for a black President, anything is possible. The trouble makers just need to grow up. Stop acting like little children shouting over who was where first, who threw the first stone, just agree to let the whole conflict end and be friends.

There isn't a bookie around who would take that bet.

People want answers. They want solutions and they want them now! Fine...

• Give both sides a bunch of nuclear missiles. They'll either learn to live in a cold war atmosphere or blow each other off the maps. Problem solved.
• Give the Jews Baja Mexico. The Palestinians are way too snobbish about their locale to accept such a trade off. The Jews have shown themselves to be quite pragmatic when push comes to shove. And they did wonders with Israel. They'd turn Baja into a shining gem in no time. The Mexicans living there can either get paid a fair price for their property or choose to stay. I would bet that Jews and Mexicans could live side by side in harmony especially if it meant being able to snub the Palestinians' poor hospitality.
• Exterminate all Muslims. It is a terrible idea but it would end the conflict. I won't even suggest the opposite. Islam is a religion that tries to convert people even by force if they can. Having grown up in such a religion, Christianity, the idea of zealous conversion both frightens and disgusts me. The Jews don't actively proselytize or seek conversions. If one of the two has to go to end this thing, it won't be the Jews. They also write better comedies.

Those are my ideas. Move them to opposite sides of the globe, let them nuke it out, or eliminate the more patently aggressive party.

Or they could just grow up and learn how to get along.

Late News

OBAMA SURFS? Why didn't somebody tell me this before the election?

Sign of Progress

I hate drug testing. I have always hated drug testing. My personal opinion is that drug testing is a violation of basic civil rights because it assumes guilt and requires us to prove our innocence. In most work places refusing a drug test has the same or worse consequences as failing one.

Massachusetts may have done away with this problem.

Pot law could snuff out testing policy

A voter-approved law reducing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense threatens to unravel drug testing of police and other public employees, the Herald has learned.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 2, prohibits government agencies and authorities from enforcing any punishment for pot possession with a fine greater than $100, according to the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and defines possession so broadly as to include traces of pot in blood to urine to hair and fingernails.

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless predicted the new law has far-reaching consequences for even school bus drivers and MBTA train operators, who could point to the law and say they can only be fined, not fired, for marijuana offenses.

You are supposed to panic now. They tried really hard to get you to panic so the least you could do is pretend.

OH NOES! Now we have to fire people for not doing their job instead of busting them for going home and slouching on a couch with a bag of chips and a copy of Pineapple Express. I'm terrified.

And it gets worse.

New pot rules may allow having hashish

Massachusetts police may no longer be able to arrest people for having a small amount of hashish, because a new law that decriminalizes possessing up to an ounce of marijuana could apply to other drugs with the same psychoactive ingredient, according to guidelines issued today.

New Flash! Hash contains the same active ingredient as marijuana because it is made from marijuana. In other news, heroin has the same active ingredient as opium because it is made from opium. Should a minor be treated differently for possession of vodka versus possession of beer? But why would a minor want vodka or beer when they could have pot or hash?

Stillman also said teens may gravitate toward pot because the penalty for having an ounce or less is far less than the penalty for having alcohol.

So the law even benefits minors. $100 fine and it is treated like a parking ticket with no permanent record.

Of course law enforcement bitches about it making their job harder. From what I have gathered, law enforcement thinks the easiest way to perform their job is to make everyone into a criminal so they can arrest everybody. Buck up, little boy blue. Do what the rest of the American work force is doing and stop caring. A little pot might help.

A tip of the hat to Massachusetts for passing a sufficiently vague and far reaching law that is a step in the right direction. But can they keep it?