Is the long honeymoon finally winding down?

Responding (here rather than there) to a liberal friends half-hearted and half-joking facebook post which states -

"Looks like our Prez chose this month to give his critics the first actual shreds of evidence of what they'd been accusing him of for 4 years. Last week: tyrannical over-reach. Today: apology speech. Looking forward to next week's reveal of Kenyan birth certificate."

Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Tony Rezko, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, Bowing to the Saudi King, Middle East Apology Tour, A trillion dollars spent on Shovel-Ready Jobs that DIDN'T EXIST, White House Closed - Gitmo Open, 120 days of Golf (Bush 24), etc. etc.

Yep, nothing to see here but a pervasive culture of corruption and intimidation and an economy IN THE TOILET.  Thank goodness the sheen is off and the rest of you can finally see what this administration thinks of the first amendment.  Newsflash: it wasn't created to protect popular speech, it was created to protect UN-popular speech and the IRS scandal is mind blowing in it's disregard for our
Constitution and is stunning even to an ardent anti-Obama wingnut like myself.

And as far as I can see he hasn't owned jack shit.  He keeps saying the first time he heard about this stuff was when he saw it on the news.  So which is it - is he cunning and devious or staggeringly stupid and out of touch with the people under him?

In all honesty, my heart is a bit broken for our country, that this dangerously under-qualified clown has indeed met my worst fears and is threatening to exceed them.  I'll admit that the viscous and partisan part of me was initially happy that this dope finally managed to get the media to stop slobbering all over his wang by being such a fuck up - but deep down I really am sad.

Sad that his charade is now so transparent for all but the biggest kool-aid drinkers, sad that I myself was way more right than I ever wanted to be about him.

Harmless

Much like the abortion issue, I recently have found myself on much less sure footing than I used to be when it comes to the legalization of marijuana.

I've always thought our government should pretty much stay out of what people do to themselves on their own time.  Marijuana seems manageable enough, certainly more so than alcohol, which has wrecked havoc on many a life and loved one, the latter especially with me.

But as bad as alcohol is, and as certain as I have been that pot is more benign, lately I'm not so sure.

It all stems back from this PSA, it came out the year I graduated high school, and I think it sums up what's bad about marijuana just about perfectly.



And through my adult life I would occasionally cross paths with habitual smokers - not a lot of them, but without a doubt every single one of them, while I was happy to interact with them, I made a conscious decision to keep them out of my life.  Granted, none of them were as bad as this...



But all the same, the fog they live in, not the literal one, but the delusion that weed is "harmless" is simply not true.

Marijuana is highly addictive.  I don't need to cite a source or look it up - I've seen it with my own eyes.  People that "wake and bake" ad infinitum, are serious, serious addicts.  Cannabis is incredibly insidious and this is something that even the most die hard liberal would be hard pressed to deny with a straight face.

But I am, for now, still in favor of making weed legal for recreational use.  The medical thing is fine too I guess, though I have the feeling that it's pretty much a crock of shit for all but the most seriously ill people.  "Medical" marijuana has always been pushed by the stoner crowd, and I've never been fooled by it.  The vast majority of these folks don't give a rats ass about cancer, they just want to get lit.  I say, they're welcome to it, but don't expect me to like it or say it's okay for my kid to do it.

People smoking pot smell like dried skunk anus.

People smoking pot are generally slow witted and get worse with habitual use.  Don't ask me to look it up - I know a few people who did it every day in high school, and I see them on occasion today.  They are fucked up, serious brain ding.

Yeah, I guess I'll take stoners over drunks, but really, it's kind of like saying I prefer a moldy sandwich over a rotten egg.  I have little use for either.