(P1) Political
Legalize It!
In California, as in Illinois and other states, the time has arrived for serious consideration of legalizing marijuana sales and use. California especially needs to pass recently introduced legislation mirroring the public interest in moving forward with legalization.
Currently, in a state facing bankruptcy, California not only doesn't look to one of its top cash crops as a tax "cash cow" but actually goes out of its way (moreso the Feds) to prosecute its growth, sales and usage. It has been estimated by state officials that over $1.3 billion can be raised by taxation alone. Then there would be the revenues earned by legitimate retail stores and the growers, and the resulting overall boon to the economomy.
Decriminalizing marijuana sales would drive away the criminals who would realize virtually no economic benefit as the price is driven down by legalization.
And, considering legal alcohol, gambling, and tobacco, can any starving government possibly continue to posit some type of "moral" argument? Let us also consider that prominent conservatives and libertarians have long argued in favor of legalization. These include, among many others, George Schulz, Milton Friedman, and William F. Buckely.
Let's get on the reality bandwagon and start soon!
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(P2) Philosophical
Einstein On Belief
"Actually, my first religious training of any kind was in the Catholic catechism. A fluke, of course, only because the primary school that I first went to was a Catholic one. I was, as a matter of fact, the only Jewish child in the school. This actually worked to my advantage, since it made it easier for me to isolate myself from the rest of the class and find the comfort in solitude that I so cherished."
"I believe in mystery and, frankly, I sometimes face this mystery with great fear. In other words, I think that there are many things in the universe that we cannot perceive or penetrate, and that also we experience some of the most beautiful things in life only in a very primitive form. Only in relation to these mysteries do I consider myself to be a religious man. But I sense these things deeply. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves."
"During the youthful period of mankind's spiritual evolution, human fantasy created gods in man's own image, who, by the operations of their will were supposed to determine, or at any rate to influence, the phenomenal world....The idea of God in the religions taught at present is a sublimation of that old conception of the gods. Its anthropomorphic character is shown, for instance, by the fact that men appeal to the Divine Being in prayers and plead for the fulfillment of their wishes...."
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(P3) Poetical
San Francisco Haiku #7Wind grips the wet coast.
Seven hills teach us about
gull sorrow and air.Jack Crimmins
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