Comments on: High times and misdemeanors http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/2009/02/28/high-times-and-misdemeanors/ Matt Casey's Blog Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:29:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Peyton http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/2009/02/28/high-times-and-misdemeanors/comment-page-1/#comment-863 Peyton Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:16:57 +0000 http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/?p=2393#comment-863 wow... watched your second clip... at least he honestly portrays the thoughts of millions of Americans :-( it deeply saddens me that these guys (including people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin) are becoming more and more the "base" of "conservatism". I think there's a definite need for small government advocates, but these are the types of people I cannot support. I watched Rush Limbaugh's speech at the CPAC (at the request of my parents)... and it's just not what our country needs... i know you agree with me on this--- but it's just very tragic to me :-( wow… watched your second clip… at least he honestly portrays the thoughts of millions of Americans :-( it deeply saddens me that these guys (including people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin) are becoming more and more the “base” of “conservatism”. I think there’s a definite need for small government advocates, but these are the types of people I cannot support. I watched Rush Limbaugh’s speech at the CPAC (at the request of my parents)… and it’s just not what our country needs… i know you agree with me on this— but it’s just very tragic to me :-(

]]> By: Matt http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/2009/02/28/high-times-and-misdemeanors/comment-page-1/#comment-862 Matt Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:53:11 +0000 http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/?p=2393#comment-862 Yeah, good point. Re: Glenn Beck, I guess I assumed everyone already knew about him. Here's another example of his stuff: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbg604XqPY So, that's outrageous, I just mean to say that the clip wasn't really offensive like that one. He's incoherent in the marijuana clip, as you say, but judging by the sadly coherent clip above, maybe that's a good thing. Yeah, good point.

Re: Glenn Beck, I guess I assumed everyone already knew about him. Here’s another example of his stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbg604XqPY
So, that’s outrageous, I just mean to say that the clip wasn’t really offensive like that one. He’s incoherent in the marijuana clip, as you say, but judging by the sadly coherent clip above, maybe that’s a good thing.

]]> By: Peyton http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/2009/02/28/high-times-and-misdemeanors/comment-page-1/#comment-857 Peyton Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:07:08 +0000 http://www.magicspatula.com/blog/?p=2393#comment-857 Hmm... Matt, you are very good at giving a rather balanced view to a rather crazy clip. This is my first time ever watching the Glenn Beck show, and I am shocked that anyone watches this guy. Whereas Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are sad but articulate... this Glenn Beck guy is all over the place and almost incoherent. Frankly, in my opinion, his guest trounces him in this debate. Maybe this is just Mr. Beck on an off-day, but he sounds like a guy who is against marijuana because his viewers are, but hasn't really developed any reasons for his position. On this issue, a good parallel might be Connecticut. In FY 08-09, Connecticut got 2.5% of its revenue from its two casinoes, amounting to about 449 million dollars. Of course, these casinoes also cause greater healthcare costs to the state because of gambling addiction and related problems. :-/ Another good parallel would be, as you mentioned, tobacco and alcohol, which are also highly taxed and also lead to greater healthcare costs to a state. The primary difference though, obviously, is that casinoes, tobacco, and alcohol all have obvious negatives. Casinoes are essentially a scam (and lead to addiction), tobacco (with nicotine) is addictive and causes cancer, and alcohol contributes to drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and alcoholism. In comparison, pot isn't really proven to be "bad" for anyone, and its debatable whether it would cause any healthcare costs to a state. Yes, there are perhaps some vices, but they are obviously dwarfed by the big three mentioned above. So, overall, does it make sense for California to legalize it, tax it heavily, and save thousands of teachers' jobs??? ...obviously. -P Hmm… Matt, you are very good at giving a rather balanced view to a rather crazy clip. This is my first time ever watching the Glenn Beck show, and I am shocked that anyone watches this guy. Whereas Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are sad but articulate… this Glenn Beck guy is all over the place and almost incoherent. Frankly, in my opinion, his guest trounces him in this debate. Maybe this is just Mr. Beck on an off-day, but he sounds like a guy who is against marijuana because his viewers are, but hasn’t really developed any reasons for his position.

On this issue, a good parallel might be Connecticut. In FY 08-09, Connecticut got 2.5% of its revenue from its two casinoes, amounting to about 449 million dollars. Of course, these casinoes also cause greater healthcare costs to the state because of gambling addiction and related problems. :-/ Another good parallel would be, as you mentioned, tobacco and alcohol, which are also highly taxed and also lead to greater healthcare costs to a state.

The primary difference though, obviously, is that casinoes, tobacco, and alcohol all have obvious negatives. Casinoes are essentially a scam (and lead to addiction), tobacco (with nicotine) is addictive and causes cancer, and alcohol contributes to drunk driving, alcohol poisoning, and alcoholism. In comparison, pot isn’t really proven to be “bad” for anyone, and its debatable whether it would cause any healthcare costs to a state. Yes, there are perhaps some vices, but they are obviously dwarfed by the big three mentioned above. So, overall, does it make sense for California to legalize it, tax it heavily, and save thousands of teachers’ jobs??? …obviously.

-P

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