Liminal Worlds

This video is from the Larry King show, where Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman and presidential candidate debates neo-con actor Stephen Baldwin on the issue of legalizing marijuana.

It’s hard to think of an issue that more blatantly exposes the failure and absurdity of the war on drugs. As Ron Paul points out, the war on drugs is similar to the prohibition on alcohol, which resulted in organized crime controlling that industry.
Marijuana would be very inexpensive without the laws against it, so the only people who profit from prohibition are drug dealers and the prison industry.

To me, the idea of making something that grows in nature illegal is inherently ridiculous, and reveals the basically artificial and arbitrary nature of governments and laws in general.

politics

More of the same amidst Obama’s “Change”

Does Obama really represent a radical break from the past? Only time will tell, but so far certain things are not very different. I find it interesting how the news keeps reporting about missile strikes in Pakistan almost as if they were a natural phenomenon, like the weather, independent of Obama or the U.S. government.

Another thing to remember is that “Obama’s” idea to take troops out of Iraq and put more in Afghanistan was already the direction that Bush was moving in. If the status quo is a variation on the Orwellian plan of permanent warfare that is always shifting – “Now we are at war with Oceania” -so far Obama hasn’t done much to change this.

politics