@RedSky
Does he really glorify it any more than we already glorify drinking or smoking (smoking to a lesser extent). Advertising still tells us that it's not really a party unless you're getting hammered, depending on what you're drinking you are hipper, sexier, or just plain more fun. I see most glorification of pot as just a response to the over the top demonization of pot, so just decriminalize it already and eventually it will all reach equilibrium.
@VoodooV
Like he said, it's the corporate interests that will make the difference. They might pay lip service to social conservative causes like abortion, gay rights, etc but the only thing they really care about is the bottom line.
Gay marriage was a total non issue to them, but big pharma, law enforcement, the military industrial complex, tobacco, the prison industrial complex, and many others have a vested interest in keeping pot illegal. They will spend millions or even billions to keep the status quo. Once people saw gay marriage as an issue of civil rights it got a huge boost, but the legalization of marijuana is still seen by many as just a cause for stoners, pot heads and junkies, so nobody is really going to care.

The school-prison-industrial complex. The state is more efficient than given credit for.

@VoodooV: "Every one of these youtube crusaders are comfortably enjoying the perks of a system they despise."

What perks? Like roads and firemen? You know, it's not like we couldn't have those things without government. And those kinds of services are only a small portion of the federal budget. In fact, from all the excise taxes collected on gasoline, tobacco and alcohol, they'd cover the roads completely, which costs around $60 billion annually. In fact, things like the EPA, Dept. of Trans, NASA, Dept. of Edu, all cost less than the revenue the federal government categorizes as "other." Look it up: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/historicals

So what about all the wars and militarism? Is that, too, a perk? And the prison industrial complex that locks up 1% of our population? What are these perks you speak of?

Even Ayn Rand took gov't assistance.

I love it when statists bring this up. I personally am not an Objectivist, and find lots of flaws with their ideology, but this is a cheap blow. Obviously it shows the economic illiteracy of most statists. For one, she's forced to pay into social security, so therefore why shouldn't she receive some of it back? And second, if you spend more than a couple seconds reading about U.S. monetary policy, you'd know that the purchasing power of the dollar is reduced over time due to inflation, and hence savings are always impacted. This should alarm you instead of excite you.

The whole thing is infested with logical fallacies: false equivalencies, ad homs, strawmen, and even a no true scotsman thrown in for shits and giggles.

By all means don't take any time to point out which things he said were these things. No, that'd be helpful, and we wouldn't want to cloudy any appeals to emotion with pesky things like fact and well thought out rebuttals.

they spend all this time criticizing the problems of gov't and NEVER ONCE demonstrate how it would work without these systems.

I think there are plenty who do. It's just that statists don't accept those answers, or any answers that don't emulate the current status quo systems they're accustomed to. I'm not interested in replacing public schools with another bureaucracy.

Let me quote Cornel West:

Brother Martin Luther King, Jr., what would you say about the new Jim Crow? What would you say about the prison-industrial complex? What would you say about the invisibility of so many of our prisoners, so many of our incarcerated -- especially when 62% of them are there for soft drugs and not one executive of a Wall Street bank gone to jail? Not one!

Martin doesn't like that.

Not one wiretapper. Not one torturer under the Bush administration -- at all.

Your video, the prison industrial complex-the new robber barons, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Down vote: The author of this book (which I shall never read a word of) let loose from the go with a string of insipid statements and loaded language-The prison system, as well as ANY so-called "deterrent" to crime offered by the penal, law enforcement, and judicial systems of the United States is broken, in that it has become a beast that only works to line pockets of assholes, foment race hatred, and insure that eventually, EVERY CITIZEN will become a criminal as free will and natural law becomes some illusory fantasy.

The death penalty WOULD function to reduce crime, if the people running the system were not themselves, the most egregious of criminals.

Can't repair the prison industrial complex, it should be scrapped in favor of (insert sane alternative here).

Slavery is not gone in America folks.....The hydra has many heads.

>> ^longde:

So she was able to turn a misdemeanor into a felony on each of their heads. Nice job supplying the prison industrial complex with fresh meat. I think those kids should be punished, but they should not go to prison for stealing some fucking beers.


I'd agree with you if we're talking about pot, but not theft.

So she was able to turn a misdemeanor into a felony on each of their heads. Nice job supplying the prison industrial complex with fresh meat. I think those kids should be punished, but they should not go to prison for stealing some fucking beers.

@bareboards2

Cognitive dissonance much, Gale?
It's childish to think any precinct would punish or reprimand its officers for ENFORCING THE LAW.

Stop pretending like you don't understand perfectly well the logic for the "for-profit corporation" thing.

1.
Asshole cops write you a ticket [cause your car is 1/2 an inch too far from the curb]

2.
You either pay the fine or go to court or ignore it.
~~~
1.
You pay the fine.
The "state" [Can you even define what the state is Gale?] receives revenue.
2.
You go to court.
Your public defender makes a deal with the "state". You pay a reduced fine.
The state receives revenue.
[Or worse, you have to defend yourself. You lose. You pay even larger fine.]
3.
You ignore it.
The court issues a bench warrant.
You're pulled over [for not wearing a seat belt or something] and are arrested immediately.
You post bail.
The state receives revenue.

The prison industrial complex, just like like the military industrial complex, is in the business of generating revenue.

Stop trying to deny/sugar coat it so you can justify your delusions about the purpose of it.

>> ^vaporlock:

Yeah, but what about the prison industrial complex, who's thinking of them.


I thought of the exact same thing. It will likely never happen here because prison is big business. It's why we have more people in prison here than many of the most populous countries in the world.. combined. Because those prisoners are making some folks a great deal of money off government subsidies. As well prisoners make a huge variety of things for a few cents a day. It's back-door slavery at work.

Some use the catch phrase 'corporate welfare' when discussing legal issues that would mean the loss of billions for various corporations. It's why nobody will reduce defense spending, because it would put some huge companies (that spend billions on shit that doesn't work), out of business. Sure that would mean the loss of a few thousand peoples jobs but for the government it is more important that those billionaires that line congress' wallets don't get mad.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I like the cut of your jib sailor.>> ^undefined:

Yeah, but what about the prison industrial complex, who's thinking of them.

Yeah, but what about the prison industrial complex, who's thinking of them.

@dystopianfuturetoday, don't try to pin the Republicans who go voted in on our ideology, brother. You're just grasping at straws at this point.

But let's talk about some of the things you're bringing up.

1. Government services. The go to argument for statists any time you attack the amount we pay in taxes and what we're taxed on (income & inheritance tax being the worst of them) is "What about the roads? The fire department? The police?!" What's important to point out here is that these cited governmental "services" are always the bare minimum offered, and never do they scream out "What about our defense budget? The unreconciled transactions each year in the Treasury Department (reaching $25 billion in 2003 alone!)? The jackbooting swat teams at the G20 summits?! The prison industrial complex?!!! Homeland Security?!"

Roads, police and firefighters are all paid for by local taxes (not Federal), mind you, and most of which can be paid for by excise taxes or other voluntary taxes. Can we put that dog to rest?

2. Social contract. I didn't sign it. You didn't either. As mentioned above, a contract is an agreement where both parties voluntarily agree to the terms. Those who believe in the social contract idea tend to think, as you do, that it's a trade for living in a 'democracy'. That's ridiculous on its face. And your 'like it or leave it' mentality on the matter has the intellectual maturity of the Republican 'this is a Christian nation' philosophy. Bravo.

3. Taxes. Offering services and goods under the threat of violence is immoral, therefore compulsory taxes are theft. If you agree with compulsory taxes, then you agree services and goods should be offered under the threat of violence, and in any other arena outside of government that would be considered sociopathic.

god that guy on the left is SUCH a tool! Is this really how discussions are had on TV? Let two people speak at the same time, letting the space break down into two babbling talking heads? Woman was dead on though.
Heres the thing y'all. Challenging the drug laws challenges the prison-industrial complex, one of the most powerful industries in our country. They enable the state to control the population in ways that are incredibly difficult to break out of. This is why Marijuana hasn't been legalized yet. These drug laws allow for the corporate fuckers to control populations, something that is essential to maintain the realization of profit from the working class.

What we need are SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, not elected officials. Challenge this shit in your daily lives! All power to the people!

When an arrest is made, the offense tends to have a steep fine. It's an income generator. Like DFT said, the prison industrial complex makes loads of money from locking people up, and, yes, we have 1% of our population in prison.

We're the world leader in lock ups.

To gwiz's point, you can't look at government as trying to gain capital and build a savings from the income they generate. The more they do, the more they spend, the more they grow, and at that point they can justify the increase in taxes that go into the general fund. Government grows. That's what it does. It doesn't save or build upon capital like those benefiting from the prison industrial complex.