Jeff Taylor | February 14, 2005
With Arnold Schwarzenegger on something of a PR offensive of late it is important to remember his humble start as a brandy-sniffing hunk of beefcake.
Help Reason celebrate its next 40 years. Donate Now!
Try Reason's award-winning print edition today! Your first issue is FREE if you are not completely satisfied.
Tangentially on the subject of CA politics, here's this little
bit of fun. What do you do when cars become too efficient and gas
tax revenue wanes?
"States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/14/eveningnews/main674120.shtml
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman
I dunno about humble start. Have you seen Pumping Iron? He sniffed more than brandy I'll tell you that much.
Egads! He sniffed more than brandy??? In some ways this guy
sounds eerily like a, uh, libertarian type? Someone like this on
the national scene might breath some life back into politics.
If only Bush fought half as hard for the federal budget, he might
even justify himself.
Why can't someone like Arnie call the boomers and Gen-Xers on
their Drug War bullshit? Something like:
"My fellow Kahlee-phone-yuns, when were were younger, we did some
foolish things. Many of us drank to excess. Many of us smoked some
Mother Nature. Some of us popped pills, snorted lines, shot dope.
The 5-ton elephant in the room that the governement doesn't want to
acknowledge is that we all survived, we didn't become strung-out
dope fiends, and we didn't knock over convenience stores to finance
our fun.
The time has come for us to stop pretending that ALL chemicals we
put into out bodies are going to destroy us. We all know the truth.
We LIVED the truth. As of now, this administration will seek to
repeal all drug prohibitions in the state of Kahlee-phone-ya. I
expect every legislator who broke a prohibition law to support this
effort. If they do, we wil win, 75-25.
Are there some people whose lives are ruined by drugs? Yes. So, we
will divert half of the funds we now spend on prosecuting and
incarcerating drug offenders into rehab and health programs. The
other half of those funds will be returned to the taxpayers. We
will examine the demand for rehab in 2 years, and I expect we will
find that we can refund even more money to the taxpayers.
All state prisoners convicted solely of possession and distribution
charges are hearby pardoned. All persons awaiting trial solely on
state charges of possession and distribution are now free to go;
the charges are dropped.
I expect the local police departments will disband their narcotics
units, and put those fine officers to work solving property
crimes.
Fellow Baby Boomers. You know in your heart that the War on Drugs
is phoney. You know in your heart that the War on Drugs will never
be won. You know in your hearts that the War on Drugs is wrong. It
is time to end this farce, to stop persecuting people who are just
looking to have some fun, to stop wasting our money and our time,
to stop being self-righteous hypocrites.
Are you with me, Kahlee-phone-ya?"
If anyone could pull this off, it'd be an Arnie. He's been willing
to point out those 5-ton elephants before. He just might be able to
shame the general population into admitting their hypocritical
support for the War on Drugs, and get them to go along with
decriminalization.
"the governor wants automatic spending cuts to be imposed when
expenditures exceed revenue"
Look at what Ahnuld wants - reasonable restraints on
spending.
Is there no limit to his madness! The horror.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245