Back in 1933, FDR needed to increase the income of the US to at least partially balance the record amounts of money he was spending trying to shore up the economy. So he got the 21st Amendment passed, re-legalizing the sale of alcohol in the U.S.of A. (And putting Eliot Ness out of work.) In a year, half a billion dollars had poured into the general coffers of the U.S. States that also taxed the same of alcoholic beverages, likewise were raking in a little dough. By 1936, taxes on alcohol amounted to 13% of the revenues of the U.S! And we weren't paying all those Untouchables' salaries, either. Okay, here's a not very tricking question: What is the largest cash crop grown in America, today? It has more value that wheat and corn put together. The answer is, of course, marijuana. A 2005 analysis by Harvard visiting professor Jeffrey Miron estimates that if the United States legalized marijuana, the country would save $7.7 billion in law enforcement costs and could generated as much as $6.2 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like alcohol or tobacco. Click[^] Marijuana is California's largest cash crop. It's valued at $14 billion annually, or nearly twice the value of the state's grape and vegetable crops combined, according to government statistics. But instead of sharing in this profit center, California spends billions of dollars enforcing laws against growing and selling it. And a billion more, at least, paying to house these hardcore criminal horticulturalists. Maybe Michael Phelps was trying to tell our leaders to tune in, get high, and break even?

I think I liked it better before WalMart fired him. As soon as he shows up the average IQ of the posts in soapbox drop by about 20 points.

Oakman wrote:

Actually each of em has about 3500.

He was answering your question about Australia. You responded by talking about about France & Germany. :rolleyes: However, Australia sent 0.0000175 of its population, the US sent 0.0001334 of its.

Mike Gaskey wrote:

typically coverage for cancer or heart attacks.

Insurance Companies love to sell these policies - It's like betting a single number on a roulette wheel.

Once upon a time the Mi'kmaq tribe, part of the Algonquin nation resided in Nova Scotia. In the 1600's French Settlers invaded their lands and dispossess them - often violently. This was an unfortunate side effect of a normal migration and should be ignored. A hundred years later these poor, peaceful Frenchmen were rounded up by the English and shipped by boat to New Orleans. This tragedy was made famous in Wordsworth's poem, Evangeline. To this day the Acadians, as they came to be called, live in the bayous around New Orleans, unassimilated and speaking a Franglais dialect called Cajun. Many of them are at the low end of the poverty/riches scale. It seems clear to me that these people have the right, and perhaps the duty to reclaim their ancestral homelands in Canada. We should provide them with bases in Maine so they can fire rockets at the evil descendants of the evil British who now believe they own the land and the buildings they have placed on it. In addition, the Acadians must start sending suicide bombers into Nova Scotia for the express purpose of attacking children on school buses and old women at the Farmer's Market. Right-thinking people everywhere can provide money so the Acadians can buy C4 and flak-vests for this purpose. If Nova Scotia erects barriers so that it becomes harder for freedom-loving freedom-fighters to sneak onto their land, this action should be decried in the harshest possible terms by wise and clear-sighted men like Jimmy Carter and Ban Ki-moon. If the Nova Scotian police force starts using weapons to shoot and kill these gentle and loving suicide bombers before they can accomplish their righteous mission, then Canada must be told in no uncertain terms that they must cede Nova Scotia back to the Acadians and to quit whining. Any attempt by Canada to defend against this peace-loving and righteous invasion must be decried in the UN and an economic blockade announced by the US. It may be necessary for France to provide atomic weapons to the Acadians if Canada will not listen to reason. As they say in France: Let's go children of the fatherland, The day of glory has arrived! Against us tyranny's Bloody flag is raised! In the countryside, do you hear The roaring of these fierce soldiers? They come right to our arms To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!

Stan Shannon wrote:

Well how about someone who tries to make an issue out of someon's age?

Stan Shannon wrote:

You seem to be, typical of your generation, someone who has acquired your entire point of view from google.

Gawd you are so fucking funny!!!

Mike Gaskey wrote:

Or, are they trying to elect Netanyahu?

They've gotten all kinds of strokes for being the "victims" of Israeli countermeasures. As long as the UN keeps worrying about their humanitarian plight and not about stopping them from sacrificing their population in the name of Allah (the Merciful???) while every nation, including ours lines up to ship money and goods to Gaza, they'll keep doing what they are doing.

Stan Shannon wrote:

You have yet to make an actual point about anything.

Anyone whose internet debating technique includes threatening to beat up on his opponent really can't whine much about how others respond to him.

Stan Shannon wrote:

You basically follow Jon around going "me too! me too!"

well, I have had a couple of disagreements with the Oak, but not about you. I guess our sense of humor is similar. :laugh:

Stan Shannon wrote:

Yeah, running away when you're getting your ass kicked seems to be in your nature.

You are just like Hamas in Gaza - you get beat up, bitch-slapped, and kicked while you're down, but when the other guy walks away you claim victory. :laugh:

Christian Graus wrote:

but to not pay property tax was to really hardcore.

He should have gotten himself ordained by Churches-R-Us.com As I understand it, the Supreme Court leans so far over backwards to keep from deciding which religions are OK that all one needs to do to claim tax-exemption as a church is call oneself "Reverend."

Dalek Dave wrote:

Who was a British Army General

Lord Jeffrey Amherst

Dalek Dave wrote:

America's fifteenth President?

James Buchanan

BoneSoft wrote:

It has very little to do with stimulus

I think you are wrong. In my opinion, Pelosi got very stimulated when she read this bill.

Apparently they can work directly for the Department of Defense[^]

Rob Graham wrote:

The wicked witch of the West strikes again. Anybody for term limits?

Where is Dorothy and her bucket of water when we really need her?

Stan Shannon wrote:

Work that earns a real profit by producing something that actually does something that improves someone else's economic efficiency in some way.

Like Bernie Madoff?

BoneSoft wrote:

You can have him

So you are a fan of Biden, eh? That was one of Obama's mistakes. Bush made sure that the Democrats all prayed nightly for his health and longevity.

Stan Shannon wrote:

Give it up, being compared to Adnan, or Illion, which seems to be the only actual point you are capable of making , is less insulting to me than would be getting compared to you.

Don't worry, you are not even playing in the same league, let alone the same ballpark as I am. Your bat's too limp and your balls are too small. My basic point Stan, is that you are to Conservatism what Adnan is to Islam. Both of you have no idea what the philosophy you claim to espouse is really about, but it is a convenient hook on which you both hang your petty prejudices, childish whines, and pathetic selfishness.

Trollslayer wrote:

"Wednesday - play with your food dear.

You play with him. I'm not hungry.

modified on Sunday, January 25, 2009 5:13 PM

Stan Shannon wrote:

uncritical agreement with the grand truths provided to you by your intellectual masters is the best indicator for having a supple mind.

That's certainly what you and Adnan keep telling us - when the two of you aren't simply telling everyone how much you both hate America.

Stan Shannon wrote:

Would like to have a push-up contest?

I honestly hope you are in good shape, for your age. But you have demonstrated that your mind is a supple as a dead tree branch and your arguments are those of a whiny old man, sucking on his gums and muttering about the good old days.