Teabaggers and “Limited Government”

Most Republican politicians have already signed Grover Norquist’s No-New-Taxes pledge. And now two GOP presidential candidates — Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum — have also signed the Family Leader’s pledge to bring back the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition.

This pledge to the Family Leader promises to ban gay marriage and to ban ALL abortion, prostitution and pornography, among other things.

Uh, isn’t this going to cost money? As in — Taxes??? Whatever happened to “Taxed Enough Already,” “Government Takeover,” “shrink the government down to the size of a bathtub and then drown it,” and all the rest of their phony soundbites?

For candidates who are simultaneously pledging allegiance to Grover Norquist AND the “Christian” Ayatollahs — Awkward.

And speaking of “Limited Government” — since Congressional Republicans are so eager to de-fund Planned Parenthood, “Obamacare,” banking regulations and other Big Government evils, why don’t they live up to their “Freedom!” rhetoric and de-fund the Drug Enforcement Administration?

In their latest (out of many) example of circular reasoning, the DEA has refused to reclassify marijuana, i.e. remove it from the Schedule I classification which puts marijuana and heroin in the same category. Their “reasoning” — not enough studies have been done.

And the REASON not enough studies have been done: The DEA has repeatedly PROHIBITED any clinical studies from being conducted. And since no studies have been done (because they weren't permitted) — “we can’t reclassify marijuana because we don’t know enough about it.” DUUUHHH!!!

Come on, “Conservatives” — eliminate these assholes’ funding already.

And finally: This dire warning probably sounds familiar, but this time it’s a different context — Don’t Touch That!!! You’ll Go Blind!!!

DEA: A New Low

You may already think the DEA is a gang of sleazy shitbags who couldn’t possibly sink any lower. Unfortunately, they just did.

The DEA has come up with a new tactic in their neverending war on those dangerous cancer patients who smoke marijuana to reduce the nausea from chemotherapy. They're targeting the landlords who own the properties where medical marijuana is dispensed.

A guilty landlord could have his/her property seized and/or face up to twenty years in prison. WTF??? Whatever happened to those “Property Rights” that conservatives are always blubbering about? For that matter, “States’ Rights” is another popular rightwing slogan. Here we have the federal government marching in and steamrolling over the states whose citizens have voted in favor of medical marijuana. And all we hear from the Far Right is thundering silence.

What do these DEA thugs see when they look in the mirror? And what do they tell their kids? “Daddy is a sadistic douchebag who persecutes sick people for a living. Aren't you proud, son? Maybe you can be just like me when you grow up.”

I’m guessing that most people, whatever their religious views, believe in some sort of Karma — “you reap what you sow,” “what goes around comes around,” whatever you want to call it.

Perhaps the legislators, prosecutors and DEA agents who keep persecuting medical marijuana patients are secretly scared shitless of reaping what they’ve sown. I know I would be.

It’s gotta be somewhere in the back of their minds when they go in for their medical checkups. Maybe they're shitting themselves with the crippling fear that the doctor will say “there's a spot on this X-ray. We’ll need to run some more tests.”

After all, what goes around comes around.

Turning Another Corner in the War on Drugs

Thank God we're cracking down on this latest evil. Heroin? Crack? Meth? Nope, it’s even worse — Khat. What, you haven’t even heard of it? Khat is a dangerous drug used by swarthy immigrants from Somalia.

It’s a plant that’s grown in the mountains of East Africa. The leaves and shoots of this plant are chewed; it’s basically a stimulant. The plant contains cathinone — haven’t heard of that one either, right? — which became a controlled substance in 1993.

Khat is not only legal in Somalia — it’s an accepted drug. It’s almost a ritual among families and friends.

But here it’s a different story. In Seattle a 30-year-old Somali immigrant — Jama Absiya (he's now a U.S. citizen) — was greeted by six DEA agents when he got home from work one day. He was dumbfounded when they told him he was a suspect in a major drug case. He was charged with conspiracy to import and distribute Khat.

Absiya says his father used to give him a Khat stem to chew on when he was studying for an exam. When guests came to the house, Khat was a social ritual that everyone took part in. He said he had been looking forward to the day when he’d be chewing Khat with his own son.

Apparently not. We can't allow that sort of thing here.