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Politics

Hey Romney: If Corporations Are People, the War on Drugs Is a War on People, Too

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 8.16.2011 12:35 PM

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Econlog's David Henderson follows up on Romney's accurate observation that corporations, like soylent green, are made of people: 

Romney's passion and clarity on this are admirable. And until now, I've found little to admire in Romney. Now, the next step for him—which a patient in a wheel chair tried to help him see but he couldn't see—is to see that just as taxes on corporations are taxes on people, the war on drugs is not really a war on drugs: it's a war on people.

Bonus: As one of Henderson commenters notes, Milton Friedman said it better: 

(At 3:09, Friedman says of the fiction that the corporation pays half of the Social Security tax, "that's nonsense, that's bookkeeping, that's not economics." Despite the fact that I should should have known better, I genuinely thought Friedman was going to say "bullshit" instead of "bookkeeping." He'd be right either way, I suppose.)

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NEXT: The Clock Is Ticking

Katherine Mangu-Ward is editor in chief of Reason.

PoliticsNanny StateWar on DrugsEconomicsPolicyCorporationsTaxesCampaigns/ElectionsDrugs
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  1. P Brooks   14 years ago

    "No junkie ever donated to my campaign."
    -Mitt Romney

    1. PIRS   14 years ago

      Then who DOES donate to his campaign? What sober person could not see through his plastic campaign?

      1. mad libertarian guy   14 years ago

        Team RED tards?

      2. Roger Daltrey   14 years ago

        I see right through his plastic act.

        1. Ska   14 years ago

          What about Ray Davies?

          1. Ray Davies   14 years ago

            Sorry. I was at a Village Green Preservation Society meeting.

    2. Barry D   14 years ago

      "And no Mormon girl ever sucked me off."
      -Me

      1. Jamie Kelly   14 years ago

        Tell her you want 13 children. Then pull your pants down.

        1. BakedPenguin   14 years ago

          Don't you still need magic underwear or something?

          1. Aqua-Rabbit   14 years ago

            As a former denizen of Northern Utah, Mormon girls are really good at oral sex. Teenage mormons operate on the clintonian definition that oral sex isn't really Sex-Sex (Moroni-bless them). The "Church" wants babies, babies, and more babies. So, unlike the Baptists, it holds monthly dances in its Stakes and turns a blind eye to sexual experimentation - just don't drink any coffee.

            1. Brett L   14 years ago

              Catholic girls used to operate under the same definitions during my youth.

            2. BakedPenguin   14 years ago

              That actually explains why Mormons seem so calm.

  2. Brett L   14 years ago

    Speaking of Friedmans, Patri says he's only seven years away from a seasteading colony according to this.

    1. Kool   14 years ago

      Do not read the comments.

      1. BakedPenguin   14 years ago

        See, you can't say something like that. It's like "Don't look at the train wreck!"

        1. Rev. Blue Moon   14 years ago

          Was this one of you? I cannot tell what is real anymore:

          "...no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

          So, they're gonna move to Somalia?"

          1. Brett L   14 years ago

            We're fucking building a new Somalia!

          2. Paul   14 years ago

            "...no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons."

            Ha! More like "loser building codes"!

            ...sorry.

        2. Kool   14 years ago

          Noted, BP. Sorry.

          1. BakedPenguin   14 years ago

            Just giving you a hard time, Kool. Yahoo was linking to it, so I probably would have wound up seeing it anyway.

  3. Fist of Etiquette   14 years ago

    Do you know how much drain drug users put on Romneycare? I don't know either, but that money is better spent on drug enforcement.

    1. R C Dean   14 years ago

      I would expect the vast majority of drug users pay more into RomneyCare than they take out. Seeing as most drug users are casual users, not hardcore junkies.

      1. mad libertarian guy   14 years ago

        YOU LIE!!

        Everyone who has ever tried drugs is a hopeless case, mired with problems. They all steal from their families and lie on a constant basis. None have a job and are nothing but a drain on society.

        1. Al Cohol   14 years ago

          I'm not a drug! I'm socially acceptable.

          1. Paul   14 years ago

            I'm not a drug! I'm socially acceptable.

            We're working on that.

        2. Jim   14 years ago

          This is what millions of people actually believe.

        3. malcolm kyle   14 years ago

          Here's an incomplete list of the planet's most famous "potheads":

          Kareem Abdul Jabbar
          Louisa May Alcott
          Robert Altman
          Jennifer Aniston
          Louis Armstrong
          Hal Ashby
          Mary Aubert
          Dan Aykroyd
          Tallulah Bankhead
          Candy Barr
          Mischa Barton
          Orson Bean
          Glenn Beck
          Gertrude Bell
          John Belushi
          Walter Benjamin
          Jack Black
          Lewis Black
          Susan Blackmore
          H.P. Blavatsky
          Michael Bloomberg
          Usain Bolt
          Paul Bowles
          Pattie Boyd
          Peter Boyle
          Bill Bradley
          Richard Branson
          Jeff Bridges
          Pierce Brosnan
          Christopher Buckley
          Lord Buckley
          William F. Buckley
          Richard Burton
          Kim Bu-seon
          Bush Family
          George Carlin
          Jeanne Carmen
          James Cameron
          Hoagy Carmichael
          David Carradine
          Jack Carter
          Fidel Castro
          Neal Cassady
          James Cayne
          Orlando Cepeda
          Mario Chalmers
          Jill Ciment
          Kelly Clarkson
          Bill Clinton
          Hillary Clinton
          Stephen Colbert
          Norm Coleman
          Francis Crick
          Bing Crosby
          David Crosby
          Sheryl Crow
          Macaulay Culkin
          Tony Curtis
          Matt Damon
          Rodney Dangerfield
          Bob Denver
          John Denver
          Cameron Diaz
          Nick Diaz
          Georgine DiMaria
          Isak Dinesen
          Sam Donaldson
          Donovan
          Alexandre Dumas
          Rick Dutrow
          Kirsten Dunst
          Bob Dylan
          Cass Elliot
          Melissa Etheridge
          Lindsey Evans
          Walker Evans
          Freddy Fender
          Richard Feynman
          Ford Family
          Carrie Fisher
          Eddie Fisher
          Harrison Ford
          Megan Fox
          Errol Flynn
          Morgan Freeman
          Art Garfunkel
          Ringo Garza
          Bill Gates
          Will Geer
          Gilberto Gil
          Julia Gillard
          Newt Gingrich
          Alan Ginsberg
          Jackie Gleason
          Whoopi Goldberg
          Benny Goodman
          Al Gore
          Larry Hagman
          Gary Hall
          Daryl Hannah
          Ben Harper
          Woody Harrelson
          Danneel Harris
          Ed Harris
          John Hay
          Jack Herer
          Jim Hightower
          Paris Hilton
          Don Ho
          David Hockney
          Santonio Holmes
          Bob Hope
          Josh Howard
          D.L. Hughley
          Victor Hugo
          Chrissie Hynde
          Phil Jackson
          Jefferson Airplane
          Augustus John
          Norah Jones
          Shawn Kemp
          Caroline Kennedy
          John F. Kennedy
          Jack Kerouac
          John Kerry
          Rudyard Kipling
          Justin Kirk
          Gene Krupa
          Lash Larue
          Queen Latifah
          Heath Ledger
          Phil Lesh
          John Lennon
          Rush Limbaugh
          Tim Lincecum
          Jack London
          Courtney Love
          Seth MacFarlane
          Lance Mackey
          Madonna
          Bill Maher
          Norman Mailer
          Ray Manzarek
          Bob Marley
          Steve Martin
          Groucho Marx
          Linda McCartney
          Paul McCartney
          Matthew McConaughey
          Frances McDormand
          Margaret Mead
          Mezz Mezzrow
          George Michael
          Bette Midler
          John Stuart Mill
          Robert Mitchum
          Armedo Modigliani
          Thelonius Monk
          Marilyn Monroe
          Roger Moore
          Randy Moss
          Jason Mraz
          Bill Murray
          Fulla Nayak
          Willie Nelson
          Henry T. Nicholas III
          Jack Nicholson
          Peggy Noonan
          Laura Nyro
          Barack Obama
          George Obama
          Anita O'Day
          George Orwell
          Haley Joel Osment
          Steven Page
          Sarah Palin
          Robert Parish
          David Patterson
          M. Scott Peck
          Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
          Michael Phelps
          Ryan Phillippe
          Pablo Picasso
          Pink
          Brad Pitt
          Michael Pollan
          Natalie Portman
          Popeye the Sailorman
          Prince Harry
          Marcel Proust
          Pythagoras
          Francois Rabelais
          Ross Rebagliati
          Buddy Rich
          Arthur Rimbaud
          Diego Rivera
          Anita Roddick
          Seth Rogen
          Jennifer Rovero
          Oliver Sacks
          Carl Sagan
          Carlos Santana
          Susan Sarandon
          Julian Schnabel
          Arnold Schwarzenegger
          David Sedaris
          William Shakespeare
          Donna Shalala
          Sarah Silverman
          Shel Silverstein
          John Sinclair
          Bessie Smith
          Jacqui Smith
          Robert Smith
          Todd Snider
          Aaron Sorkin
          Geovany Soto
          Annie Sprinkle
          Robert Louis Stevenson
          Rick Steves
          Kristin Stewart
          Joss Stone
          Barbra Streisand
          Patrick Swayze
          Taboo
          Bayard Taylor
          Charlize Theron
          Rob Thomas
          Pete Townsend
          Iris Tree
          Margaret Trudeau
          John Trudell
          Dalton Trumbo
          John Updike
          Rob Van Dam
          Queen Victoria
          Pancho Villa
          George Washington
          Lil Wayne
          Dawn Wells
          Frank Werber
          Nathanael West
          Ron White
          Will Wilkinson
          Mary Lou Williams
          Montel Williams
          Ricky Williams
          Tom Wopat
          Malcolm X
          William Butler Yeats
          Lester Young

          http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/

        4. malcolm kyle   14 years ago

          Here's an incomplete list of the planet's most famous "potheads":

          Kareem Abdul Jabbar
          Louisa May Alcott
          Robert Altman
          Jennifer Aniston
          Louis Armstrong
          Hal Ashby
          Mary Aubert
          Dan Aykroyd
          Tallulah Bankhead
          Candy Barr
          Mischa Barton
          Orson Bean
          Glenn Beck
          Gertrude Bell
          John Belushi
          Walter Benjamin
          Jack Black
          Lewis Black
          Susan Blackmore
          H.P. Blavatsky
          Michael Bloomberg
          Usain Bolt
          Paul Bowles
          Pattie Boyd
          Peter Boyle
          Bill Bradley
          Richard Branson
          Jeff Bridges
          Pierce Brosnan
          Christopher Buckley
          Lord Buckley
          William F. Buckley
          Richard Burton
          Kim Bu-seon
          Bush Family
          George Carlin
          Jeanne Carmen
          James Cameron
          Hoagy Carmichael
          David Carradine
          Jack Carter
          Fidel Castro
          Neal Cassady
          James Cayne
          Orlando Cepeda
          Mario Chalmers
          Jill Ciment
          Kelly Clarkson
          Bill Clinton
          Hillary Clinton
          Stephen Colbert
          Norm Coleman
          Francis Crick
          Bing Crosby
          David Crosby
          Sheryl Crow
          Macaulay Culkin
          Tony Curtis
          Matt Damon
          Rodney Dangerfield
          Bob Denver
          John Denver
          Cameron Diaz
          Nick Diaz
          Georgine DiMaria
          Isak Dinesen
          Sam Donaldson
          Donovan
          Alexandre Dumas
          Rick Dutrow
          Kirsten Dunst
          Bob Dylan
          Cass Elliot
          Melissa Etheridge
          Lindsey Evans
          Walker Evans
          Freddy Fender
          Richard Feynman
          Ford Family
          Carrie Fisher
          Eddie Fisher
          Harrison Ford
          Megan Fox
          Errol Flynn
          Morgan Freeman
          Art Garfunkel
          Ringo Garza
          Bill Gates
          Will Geer
          Gilberto Gil
          Julia Gillard
          Newt Gingrich
          Alan Ginsberg
          Jackie Gleason
          Whoopi Goldberg
          Benny Goodman
          Al Gore
          Larry Hagman
          Gary Hall
          Daryl Hannah
          Ben Harper
          Woody Harrelson
          Danneel Harris
          Ed Harris
          John Hay
          Jack Herer
          Jim Hightower
          Paris Hilton
          Don Ho
          David Hockney
          Santonio Holmes
          Bob Hope
          Josh Howard
          D.L. Hughley
          Victor Hugo
          Chrissie Hynde
          Phil Jackson
          Jefferson Airplane
          Augustus John
          Norah Jones
          Shawn Kemp
          Caroline Kennedy
          John F. Kennedy
          Jack Kerouac
          John Kerry
          Rudyard Kipling
          Justin Kirk
          Gene Krupa
          Lash Larue
          Queen Latifah
          Heath Ledger
          Phil Lesh
          John Lennon
          Rush Limbaugh
          Tim Lincecum
          Jack London
          Courtney Love
          Seth MacFarlane
          Lance Mackey
          Madonna
          Bill Maher
          Norman Mailer
          Ray Manzarek
          Bob Marley
          Steve Martin
          Groucho Marx
          Linda McCartney
          Paul McCartney
          Matthew McConaughey
          Frances McDormand
          Margaret Mead
          Mezz Mezzrow
          George Michael
          Bette Midler
          John Stuart Mill
          Robert Mitchum
          Armedo Modigliani
          Thelonius Monk
          Marilyn Monroe
          Roger Moore
          Randy Moss
          Jason Mraz
          Bill Murray
          Fulla Nayak
          Willie Nelson
          Henry T. Nicholas III
          Jack Nicholson
          Peggy Noonan
          Laura Nyro
          Barack Obama
          George Obama
          Anita O'Day
          George Orwell
          Haley Joel Osment
          Steven Page
          Sarah Palin
          Robert Parish
          David Patterson
          M. Scott Peck
          Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
          Michael Phelps
          Ryan Phillippe
          Pablo Picasso
          Pink
          Brad Pitt
          Michael Pollan
          Natalie Portman
          Popeye the Sailorman
          Prince Harry
          Marcel Proust
          Pythagoras
          Francois Rabelais
          Ross Rebagliati
          Buddy Rich
          Arthur Rimbaud
          Diego Rivera
          Anita Roddick
          Seth Rogen
          Jennifer Rovero
          Oliver Sacks
          Carl Sagan
          Carlos Santana
          Susan Sarandon
          Julian Schnabel
          Arnold Schwarzenegger
          David Sedaris
          William Shakespeare
          Donna Shalala
          Sarah Silverman
          Shel Silverstein
          John Sinclair
          Bessie Smith
          Jacqui Smith
          Robert Smith
          Todd Snider
          Aaron Sorkin
          Geovany Soto
          Annie Sprinkle
          Robert Louis Stevenson
          Rick Steves
          Kristin Stewart
          Joss Stone
          Barbra Streisand
          Patrick Swayze
          Taboo
          Bayard Taylor
          Charlize Theron
          Rob Thomas
          Pete Townsend
          Iris Tree
          Margaret Trudeau
          John Trudell
          Dalton Trumbo
          John Updike
          Rob Van Dam
          Queen Victoria
          Pancho Villa
          George Washington
          Lil Wayne
          Dawn Wells
          Frank Werber
          Nathanael West
          Ron White
          Will Wilkinson
          Mary Lou Williams
          Montel Williams
          Ricky Williams
          Tom Wopat
          Malcolm X
          William Butler Yeats
          Lester Young

  4. Restoras   14 years ago

    Great vid.

  5. SugarFree   14 years ago

    Why is Captain Picard wearing glasses? Is it a disguise?

    1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

      What? Are you insane? That's clearly Ben Kingsley.

    2. Episiarch   14 years ago

      It's about as good as his Romulan disguise if so.

      1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

        I swear to God that he looks exactly like Leonard Nimoy in that picture.

        1. Episiarch   14 years ago

          Well, then I guess his disguise was good.

          1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

            It's amazing.

    3. Fist of Etiquette   14 years ago

      Holodeck mishap.

      1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

        Does the holodeck have anything other than mishaps? In fact, shouldn't in be referred to as the Mishapdeck?

        1. Episiarch   14 years ago

          Well, since it was used for moronic shit like Dixon Hill, maybe call it the StupidDeck, or, more simply, the OopsDeck.

          1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

            At least the use of the holodeck for its stated purpose is believable. The idea that "safety protocols" never worked is not. I mean, they'd not allow the holodeck on starships if it couldn't be unplugged manually or otherwise be prevented from injuring users, taking over the ship, or endangering the galaxy.

            1. Episiarch   14 years ago

              Real holographic simulated evil Lincoln is back!

            2. wylie   14 years ago

              if it couldn't be unplugged manually or otherwise be prevented from injuring users, taking over the ship, or endangering the galaxy.

              It's designed that way, but there's always some outside influence that interferes with the system (a problem with all starship systems it seems, not just the holodeck.)

              1. SugarFree   14 years ago

                Fucking Holodeck. "I'm on a spaceship, hurtling through space, every food imaginable is available for free, there are dozens of aliens around, some of whom are DTF, millions of books to read, movies to see, cultures to learn about, and myriad alien races might attack us at any minute... but I'm bored. Let's go pretend we are ersatz Sam Spade."

                1. Episiarch   14 years ago

                  "This is a science fiction show, but we want to battle Professor Moriarty this week! Because...well, because our producers are dipshits."

                2. Charlotte Sometimes   14 years ago

                  They should have just called the stupid thing The VELDT.

                  1. SugarFree   14 years ago

                    They should have just called the stupid thing The VELDT.

                    I guess calling it "a narrative crutch for lazy writers" would have been too on the nose.

                    1. Charlotte Sometimes   14 years ago

                      "I guess calling it 'a narrative crutch for lazy writers' would have been too on the nose."

                      And "The Ultimate Contrived Plot Device" just wasn't catchy enough.

                    2. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

                      To be fair, it's possible that some uses of the holodeck were budget related. I'd rather they did a stupid holodeck episode than a stupid time-travel episode.

            3. The Immaculate Trouser   14 years ago

              Priorities, ProL: Captain Janeway's uninterrupted access to a simulated Irish hamlet is significantly more important than any potential risk to ship and crew.

              1. 7 of 9   14 years ago

                Check out my hot Borg ass!

                1. Rev. Blue Moon   14 years ago

                  The woman who got Obama elected. I cannot decide if the hot Borg ass makes up for it.

        2. SugarFree   14 years ago

          SplatteredInLayersOfRikerSemenDeck.

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   14 years ago

            No, that's the DS9 holosuite.

            1. SugarFree   14 years ago

              The PG world of Star Trek, where Risa, The Pleasure Planet, mostly consists of people shuffling around like they are in Boca Rotan in 1958.

              1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

                It's Boca Raton--"Rat's Mouth"--and that comment gives me an idea. When Star Trek eventually comes back to TV (not the reboot abortion), it should come back as a gritty HBO series. Like Rome, only in space.

            2. Episiarch   14 years ago

              No, that's NutraSweet's living room.

    4. Restoras   14 years ago

      Premature First Contact?

  6. AlmightyJB   14 years ago

    Great. Thanks for ruining the ending.

  7. TrickyVic   14 years ago

    It's not a war on people, it's a war for people. In the we will kill you to save you kinda way. Sort of like our current wars for freedom in other countries.

    1. AlmightyJB   14 years ago

      Better your life be definately destroyed by us by putting you in prison than allowing you to potentially destroy your life with vices.

  8. Crusader Rabbit   14 years ago

    MAN, I wish he were still with us.

  9. Tman   14 years ago

    Wow, I hadn't seen this video of Mittens dissing this guy before.

    He doesn't answer the question either-would you arrest him and his doctor?

    At least Obama lied to everyone about what he was going to do with Medical MJ. Romney can't even bullshit this guy a little?

    What a tool.

  10. Alan Kellogg   14 years ago

    In Bob Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress the rebels' slogan is, "There Aint No Such Thing as a Free Lunch", or TANSTAFL. Basically what Friedman is doing is agreeing with Heinlein, There aint no such thing as a free lunch.

    BTW, Bob learned English during the early part of the 20th century, when he used improper grammar he did it for a reason.

    1. Alan Kellogg   14 years ago

      Argh, that should be, "There Aint No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, or TANSTAAFL".

      Apologies for the mix up.

    2. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

      For the record, I think the phrase predates Heinlein. Though he definitely popularized it for later generations.

      1. Brett L   14 years ago

        Seems like I read that he got it from Milton Friedman, but I can't remember. TMIAHM is certainly late enough for that to be true.

        1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

          I think Friedman used it later. Neither coined the phrase, from what I can tell.

    3. db   14 years ago

      Who is this Heinlein guy? Does he have a newsletter to which I can subscribe?

  11. The Immaculate Trouser   14 years ago

    But drug users are icky, and there was something in the 60s that involved drugs and radicals, and I really just don't want my kids mixed up in that stuff. Those are hard, concrete facts that liberdopians just can't wish away.

    1. Alan Kellogg   14 years ago

      Would this include people who take Metformin for their type two diabeties? Nice to know you think I'm icky.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   14 years ago

        All drug users are icky leftist radicals, no exceptions. That's just a fact, son.

        (Just in case it wasn't clear, that was sarcasm.)

        1. Alan Kellogg   14 years ago

          I'm an icky leftist radical. Who knew? Mom would be so proud of me. 🙂

    2. Michael   14 years ago

      Agreed, and that's to say nothing of the level of involvement the coloreds have in the drugs business. Just say no to smoking the drugs!

  12. Darth Restoras   14 years ago

    Threadjack:

    The stupid is strong with this one.

    1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

      I think another bureaucrat said something similar about unemployment benefits.

      1. Rev. Blue Moon   14 years ago

        Pelosi said that unemployment benefits create two dollars for every dollar spent!

        MULTIPLIER!

    2. Tman   14 years ago

      Carney said the same thing about Unemployment insurance last week.

      http://www.realclearpolitics.c....._jobs.html

      So clearly the answer to our problems is for all of us to quit our jobs and start collecting food stamps and unemployment. That way we'll have created jobs and stimulated the economy!!

      1. Pro Libertate   14 years ago

        Who said, in essence, that the best and most direct way to stimulate the economy is to give money to unemployed people. Think about that for a while.

        1. Tman   14 years ago

          From the Carney video-

          "It is one of the most direct ways to infuse money directly into the economy because people who are unemployed and obviously aren't running a paycheck are going to spend the money that they get. They're not going to save it, they're going to spend it. And with unemployment insurance, that way, the money goes directly back into the economy, dollar for dollar virtually."

          "Every place that, that money is spent has added business and that creates growth and income for businesses that leads them to decisions about jobs, more hiring. So, there are few other ways that can directly put money into the economy than applying unemployment insurance," Carney said.

          Yep, these are the guys running our country.

          1. robc   14 years ago

            To be fair, its a better use than TARP.

            1. Tman   14 years ago

              Actually, the boost to UE and Foodstamps was part of Stimulus II Electric Boogaloo.

            2. CatoTheElder   14 years ago

              If one accepts the legitimacy of government stimulus, giving money to indigents and other unemployables is probably one of the least bad ideas out there. It's certainly better than bailing out billionaires or overpaid union workers. It's certainly better than cash for clunkers or refundable tax credits for buying houses.

              When an unemployable person gets free money, he has more money to spend on dope. This increases demand for dope to the benefit of dope dealers. Increased dope margins and volumes increase the demand for bling and hos. Etc, etc.

  13. Michael   14 years ago

    Threadjack the second: We have to spend it in order to find out what's in it!

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....0377.story

  14. Roger Murdock   14 years ago

    Wheelchair dude: "I am completely against legalizing it for everyone, but there [are] medical purposes for it."

    *sigh*

  15. Garret   14 years ago

    The way you threw Ron Paul under the boss today on Fox Business was despicable. You should be ashamed of yourself.

    For those who haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ture=feedu

    1. fyngyrz   14 years ago

      Wow. She (Ward) is really kind of a witless twit, isn't she?

      Well, I guess that's what happens when a magazine transitions from something producing well written opinion pieces to a mealy-mouthed video enterprise that manufactures sound bites.

      Carry on.

    2. Brandon Magoon   14 years ago

      Katherine is an idiot! If Ron Paul can't win then why was he polling in the top 3 all this time? Even now he is still in the top 4. Maybe she needs to get an education before she starts talking out her ass.

  16. malcolm kyle   14 years ago

    It's time for us all to stop being ignorant hypocrites and start being TRUE conservatives!

    Pragmatic libertarians (minimal-statists) and "true" Conservatives agree that many, if not most, of society's problems are caused by government usurping choices that could better be made by individuals and that government is just about the worst way of doing almost anything. Where libertarianism normally parts company with "fake" conservatism is over moral issues. But a true conservative would have no problem with agreeing, that what people do with their own bodies, and especially in the privacy of their own home, should be supremely their business, and that anything else would entail ignoring the basic tenet of limited government.

    Fake-Conservatism on the other hand has much in common with socialism; Both Leftists and Fake-Conservatives appear to harbor the belief that nature does not exist and that any human can be anything he wants to be, or can for the "greater good", be "re-educated" into being. Leftists therefore think little boys can be conditioned into preferring dolls over toy soldiers, and similarly Fake-conservatives believe that adults can be coerced into choosing alcohol over marijuana. A true conservative, just like a pragmatic libertarian, would immediately reject both ideas as nonsense.

    If you support prohibition then you are NOT a conservative.
    Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:

    1) Limited, locally controlled government.
    2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
    3) Free enterprise.
    4) A strong national defense.
    5) Fiscal responsibility.

    Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.

    It's all about the market and cost/benefit analysis. Whether any particular drug is good, bad, or otherwise is irrelevant! As long as there is demand for any mind altering substance, there will be supply; the end! The only affect prohibiting it has is to drive the price up, increase the costs and profits, and where there is illegal profit to be made criminals and terrorists thrive.

    The cost of criminalizing citizens who are using substances no more harmful than similar things that are perfectly legal like alcohol and tobacco, is not only hypocritical and futile, but also simply not worth the incredible damage it does.

    Afghani farmers produce approx. 93% of the world's opium which is then, mostly, refined into street heroin then smuggled throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

    Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of this very easily grown crop, which means that Prohibition is the "Goose that laid the golden egg" and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Only those opposed, or willing to ignore this fact, want things the way they are.

    Kindly Google: A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS

    According to data gathered by privacy expert Christopher Soghoian (PhD candidate at Indiana University), 85-90% of real-time surveillance of your Internet communication is wasted on prohibition enforcement. Simply put "Christopher Soghoian government surveillance" in a 'YouTube search' -- he discusses drug related Internet wiretaps at 5min 42sec

    Prohibition provides America's sworn enemies with financial "aid" and tactical "comforts". The Constitution of the United States of America defines treason as:
    "Article III / Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."

    Support for prohibition is therefor an act of treason against the Constitution, and a dire threat to the nation's civic institutions.

    The Founding Fathers were not social conservatives who believed that citizens should be subordinate to any particular narrow religious moral order. That is what the whole concept of unalienable individual rights means, and sumptuary laws, especially in the form of prohibition, were something they continually warned about.

    It's time for us all to wise up and help curtail the dangerous expansions of federal police powers, the encroachments on individual liberties, and the increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the unworkable and dangerous policy of drug prohibition.

    To support prohibition you have to be either ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt.

    * The US national debt has increased at an average rate of $3,000,000000 per day since 2006
    * The unemployment rate has increased by 7300 per day since 2008.
    * The loss of manufacturing jobs has been 1400 per day since 2006.
    * Without the legalized regulation of opium products Afghanistan will continue to be a bottomless pit in which to throw countless billions of tax dollars and wasted American lives.
    * The hopeless situation in Afghanistan is helping to destabilize it's neighbor, Pakistan, which is a country with nuclear weapons.
    * The mayhem in Mexico has deteriorated so badly that it's bordering on farcical.

    There is nothing conservative about prohibition, which enlists the most centralized state power in displacement of domestic and community roles. There is everything authoritarian and subversive about this policy which has incinerated American traditions such as Freedom and Federalism with its puritanical flames. Any person seeking to insure and not further compromise the safety of their family and of their neighbors must not only repudiate prohibition but help spearhead its abolition.

    Narcotics police are an enormous, corrupt international bureaucracy ? and now fund a coterie of researchers who provide them with 'scientific support' ? fanatics who distort the legitimate research of others. ? The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents.?? William F. Buckley,?Commentary in The National Review, April 29, 1983, p. 495

    We will always have adults who are too immature to responsibly deal with tobacco, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, meth, various prescription drugs, gambling and even food. Our answer to them should always be: "Get a Nanny, and stop turning the government into one for the rest of us!"

    1. neat   14 years ago

      neat

  17. American   14 years ago

    the ugly cunt should stick to writing as not to torment the non-blind among us with her unsettling visage.

    or, better yet, don't write either.

    we get it, the fucktard cosmotarians who went to ivy league schools to get horseshit degrees before living in DC and going to establishment cocktail parties REALLY like pot, coke, and threesomes.

  18. American   14 years ago

    did i mention that "Mangu-Ward" is like one of the top three douche-fuckiest names on the planet?

  19. American   14 years ago

    ps - this no-moderation policy rocks!

    1. Apogee   14 years ago

      this no-moderation policy rocks!

      Sure does! Otherwise, nobody would know that you're a stupid asshole that doesn't like pot, coke and threesomes.

  20. American   14 years ago

    actually, i like them fine, in moderation (no pun intended); i just don't like fuckheads like you and the cunt who think that that's the essence of libertarianism. bye for now, i've hit and i'm running

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