Failed Drug War

In 1996 William F. Buckley, the conservative founder of the National Review pointed out that the “plague that consumes an estimated $75 billion per year of public money, exacts an estimated $70 billion a year from consumers, is responsible for nearly 50 per cent of the million Americans who are today in jail, occupies an estimated 50 per cent of the trial time of our judiciary, and takes the time of 400,000 policemen — yet a plague for which no cure is at hand, nor in prospect.”
 
Here we are in 2010 still fighting the same battle and losing by an even greater proportion.  Mexico is fighting a no win battle against drug cartels that has impacted that country’s tourist trade and brought death to more than 23,000 people since the Felipe Caldereon became president in 2006.
 
The NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL STRATEGY proposed by the Obama Whitehouse is a continuation of drug enforcement policies that have not worked in the past.  Just read the policy on the link above and you will realize that nothing new is proposed.  The Drug Policy Alliance tells you what you already know but do not want to admit. This is part of their web site:
Who really profits from drug prohibition?  
  
 
 

  • Organized Crime. According to the United Nations, drug trafficking is a $400 billion per year industry, equaling 8% of the world’s trade.
  • Arms manufacturers, the prison industry, and other special interest groups.
  • Corrupt Law Enforcement.

My idea is the legalization of drug use with the availability of drugs at relatively low cost with doctor’s prescriptions through pharmacies. 

Why won’t this happen? Think arms manufacturers, the prison industry, and law enforcement.  Those businesses are part of a really big and legitimate business! 

Islamic Hate!

Edited from an article entitled They Hate Each Other Badly! by Steve Shamrak:
If they treat their Muslim Brothers this way, what attitude to ward Christians, Jews and other infidels would you expect from expanding militant Islam? After Israel, you are next!
July 1, 2010 – At least 35 people have been killed and at least 175 people injured by suicide bombers in a Sufi Shrine in Lahore, Pakistan.  Both Sunni and Shiite Muslims worship at the shrine, which holds the remains of Abul Hassan Ali Hajvery, a Persian Sufi.
July 8, 2010 – A string of attacks against Shiite pilgrims in the past three days killed 70 people in Baghdad (Shiite Muslims, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, have been doing and will do again the same to Sunni andother Muslim minorities!)
July 9, 2010 – At least 15 people were killed on Thursday by bombs targeting the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who defied violence to take part in the final day of a Shia religious holiday in Baghdad.
July 9, 2010 – A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck outside a government office on Friday in a tribal region where Pakistan’s army has fought the Taliban, killing at least 48 people and wounding around 80.
 
You have your Chance NOW – Don’t Blame Israel Later! In an in an official letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev requested the international: “Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the
government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip.” “Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip,” Shalev told Ban Ki Moon.

From an article entitled Food for Thought by Steven Shamrak
Almost 2 million Haitians are still homeless! But the UN and the ‘humanistic’ international press are only concerned and preoccupied with terror infested, artificially invented so-called Palestinians!

They Hate Everything – Even World Cup – Terrorists bomb crowds watching World Cup match, murdering 64. Police suspect an Al-Qaeda-linked Somali group.
 

Even Arabs cannot live with a Nuclear Iran – The United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al-Otaiba, said on Tuesday that the benefits of bombing Iran’s nuclear sites eclipse the short-term costs.

Islamic Terror Closer than You Think – Mexican authorities succeeded in preventing Hizbullah from opening a terrorist base in South America and the United States. Hizbullah planned to draft Shi’ite Muslims living in Mexico and provide them with training in terror tactics they could use
against Western and Israeli targets.
 
Quote of the Week: “Israel is our first line of defense in a turbulent
region that is constantly at risk of descending into chaos; a region
vital to our energy security owing to our over-dependence on Middle Eastern oil; a region that forms the front line in the fight against extremism. If Israel goes down, we all go down. To defend Israel’s right to exist in peace, within secure borders, requires a degree of moral and strategic clarity that too often seems to have disappeared in Europe. The United States shows worrying signs of heading in the same direction.” – former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Mara Azna – Why didn’t he shock anti-Semitic Europe by this clear admission of truth when he was still the Prime Minister of Spain?

Attempt to Remove UNIFIL from Lebanon A southern Lebanon village backed by Hizbullah overpowered United Nations troops on Saturday, seizing weapons and wounding one U.N. soldier. Increasing tension in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL officers have said they cannot carry out a mandate to keep Hizbullah from being armed, despite UN Resolution 1701 that ended the second Lebanon War.
 
Why not Kurdistan? The Kurds have been have been fighting a 26-year
battle to create their own autonomous state in the south-eastern
portion of Turkey. Turkish Kurdistan – or Northern Kurdistan –
comprises nearly a third of the area of Turkey , including some 17
provinces. As many as 40,000 people have died in the conflict. Why no
international support for a real people of more than 25 million, The
Kurds! No condemnation of Turkey for committing genocide of Kurds and Armenians?

Does Turkey Need UN Assistance? Ben-Dror Yemini of the Maariv newspaper
has pointing out that humanitarian conditions in Turkey are actually
worse than those in Gaza, the country (as do most of the Muslim inept
countries) needs help: “Infant mortality in Gaza is 17.7 per thousand;
in Turkey it is 24.8. Life expectancy in Gaza is 73.7, whereas in
Turkey it is 72.2.”

They Hate Israel but Love Jewish Medical Care. Hamas sends up to 100
patients a month to Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv alone. The hospital
treats patients from hostile Arab countries as well.
From our ‘Peace Partner’: PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Arab leaders
that the PA is ready to wage war on Israel if the rest of the Arab
world does: “If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we
are in favour. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they
don’t have the ability to do it.” Where is the pressure, rebuke, etc
from Obama?

On a positive note – our children: Israeli twelfth-grader from
Beersheba, Eli Goudinevsky, was notified that he won the gold medal of
an international competition called The First Step to a Nobel Prize in
Physics. Evelyn Jenis from Beersheba, Daniel Achdut from Netanya and
Dorin Yerhi from Arad won a silver medal.
 
Much of this information came from the Australian website
http://www.FreeWorldExpress.com

Betty White as a Pin-up Girl

This was found on the Toronto Star web site.  It was originally published July 13, 2010.

by Rod Hagwood, Sun Sentinel

Talk about your vintage Pin-Up girl.

Octogenarian-and-then-some Betty White is putting out a hottie 2011 calendar to raise money for one of her pet causes: The Morris Animal Foundation based in Denver, Colo.

The star of TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland” will be seen in diva-on-the-divan kind of poses surrounded by a bevy of beefcake.

Betty and her boy-toys hit store shelves in September and The Betty White Calendar will retail for $12.99.

White is a long-time animal rights activist. Earlier this year White hosted “Saturday Night Live” after a grassroots Facebook campaign titled “Betty White to Host SNL (Please)” attracted 500,000 fans and Betty became their oldest host ever. Ratings were SNL’s highest since a 2008 show hosted by Ben Affleck.

Fresh off of her No. 1 Super Bowl commercial for Snickers, she is also the last surviving member of “The Golden Girls” cast (Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty all died between 2008 and 2010).White is also a veteran of top-rated TV such as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Mama’s Family,” “The Carol Burnett Show,” “Boston Legal,” “Malcolm in the Middle” and a whole host of game shows from “Match Game” and “Password” to “What’s My Line” and “To Tell the Truth.”

No Haiti Recovery

The Associated Press reported that Haiti’s president handed out medals to celebrities, aid-group directors and politicians for post-earthquake work.  Anderson Cooper of CNN was given one of those awards.

CNN and ABC both provided coverage of conditions in Haiti this week.  David Ono, a KABC anchorman reported from Haiti as well.  The reports were excellent but the stories were horrifying.  Despite all the interviews with well meaning people the government of Haiti is a failure.  There is no government in Haiti.  The broadcasts from Port- Au-Prince show that most of the rubble is still there.  It looks like the earthquake occurred yesterday.

I know Bill Clinton says things could be better than ever there.  There is no evidence that his predictions will come true.  Private aid groups do not have the power to change anything in Haiti.  Only the slightest change in weather could mean death to thousands.

Since there are no natural resources in Haiti and the country holds no political sway in any industrialized nation, no other country will provide sufficient aid to end its further decline to mass starvation and death.

What’s Wrong with Free Trade?

 Will those Mama Bears stand up for this issue?

Ross Perot called it “the giant sucking sound.” It was his opinion of the consequences of NAFTA. He told us all that the free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada would result in the loss of thousands of American jobs. He was pooh-poohed by many in the media, in government and many ordinary Americans like myself. A casual acquaintance at work, who looked and dressed like a hippy was giving me the same arguments as Mr. Perot. I told him that the only result of NAFTA would be a better life for Mexicans with no impact on the United States. They were right and I was wrong.

Companies with assembly and manufacturing plants in Mexico include, Chrysler, Technicolor, Panasonic, and Sony. Those jobs are now being fulfilled by Mexicans at salaries that are 1/5 the amount paid to Americans. Is it any wonder so many companies have located their manufacturing facilities there?

Now there are proposals for free trade agreements with other Latin American nations and South Korea. Trade with South Korea totals $68 Billion. Obama is reported to believe that the proposed agreement will result in increased exports of American goods. Some American labor unions and manufacturers are opposed. Every American should be opposed to all new free trade agreements.

Corporations and the wealthy favor those new agreements because they will be the beneficiaries. The reason is simple. Keeping American employee compensation Low is their objective. When Americans have to compete with workers in other countries they will have to reduce their pay demands to be competitive.

If Tea Party participants are looking for a cause that will attract more Americans, then this is it. Everyone understands it is all about jobs. Will those Mama Bears stand up for this issue? This really would be protecting their young!

Soccer is Very Boring

I watched the first game televised from South Africa for about 10 to 12 minutes.  No score had been made.  I decided to watch the Netherlands Spain Final but fast forwarded through the entire event, watching portions along the way.  Well everyone now knows that the winner was Spain in overtime play.  The total time was 115 minutes until the first and only goal.

In 48 minutes the final NBA game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics was 83 to 79.  That is action and excitement!

Are Spanish Names that end in EZ Jewish?

An intriguing reply to this post originally written on October 7, 2010 has been provided by Vanessa Aspillaga. Check it out!

This question seems to be a recurring search question to this blog.  I have never met any Jew who had a name ending with EZ.  There are probably some somewhere.  After all Jews seem to be everywhere.  The attack in Mumbai, India on Nov 24, 2008 included an attack on a Chabad facility.  Which begs the question, what is the purpose of a Jewish facility in India?

In answer to the title question I have searched the internet to find an answer.  I found nothing except one person asking if there was any truth to the theory.

About to be Stoned to Death

Ms. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is about to be stoned. That’s where they bury you up to your chest and hurl rocks at you until you die. The rocks can’t be too big.  The stoning must be painful and be a show of force by the powers that be.  The stoning of this 43-year-old mother of two has been ordered by a court in her native Iran, where the only legal code is Allah’s law, Sharia. It is the Islamic sentence for adultery, the crime to which Ashtiani confessed after serial beatings by her interrogators.  Reported to be a total 99 lashes.  She has been imprisoned for the last five years.  A Newsweek story said Ashtiani could be buried up to her breasts and stoned to death as early as this coming weekend.

Of course human rights organizations around the world have condemed the planned stoning.  The picture is not of her but conveys the message of what is about to happen in a country that holds views that are utterly different values than those of the Western world.

From the website Political Realities  L. D Jackson writes the following: I would have to agree with P.J. Crowley and then ask a question. If Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is guilty of adultery, then why isn’t the man with whom she committed the act being stoned to death as well? It’s just a thought, but it appears that the woman bears the brunt of the responsibility in such cases. That’s something that goes beyond my thinking, because the last time I checked, it takes two people to tango.

This situation highlights a stark reality about the Islamic world. They are very strict about a lot of things, but especially about their women. I fail to see how the treatment of these women is anything less than abuse and it makes me wonder how anyone in their society could stand idly by and watch it happen.