« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

MEMBER DIARY

Dope, Taxes and Dogs

Massachusetts Ballot Initiatives

By: kowalski (Diary)  |  November 4th, 2008 at 11:16 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Hey, if you’re smart and can get into MIT, you don’t want your life ruined by a criminal conviction for marijuana possession. It’s sooooo expensive. And let’s face it, even if you lose 20 IQ points because of your toking habits, you’ll still be at least a standard deviation ahead of the rest of the poor schlubs who are going to wash your car. Plus, you really do need to unwind after that exam in your frosh Quantum class. The Schrödinger equations are a bey-otch.

If you’d like to know why Massachusetts is the way it is, have a look at the MIT student newspaper’s voting advice on this year’s ballot initiatives here in Massachusetts. Here we have some of the smartest people in the entire country giving their hearfelt advice to some of the dumbest:

Without saying how I voted on these (I’ll leave that up to your vivid imaginations), three of the ballot initiatives in this election were pretty surrealistic when taken together:

The questions were:

1) Should we effectively decriminalize marijuana possession in amounts of an ounce or less and instead give a $100 penalty?

2) Should we lower the state income tax from 5.3% to 2.65% and eliminate it completely in 2010?

3) Should we shut down the two dog racing tracks in Massachusetts?

MIT’s students exhort each other to vote to keep the higher taxes and decriminalize the dope, but save the dogs. More dope, high taxes, just don’t hurt the pooches! They cite research from a 1993 article in the Journal of Social Studies The Social Sciences Journal as their evidence on why people need more dope with less penalty, along with keeping the taxes high. They claim that it is the criminalization of dope-smoking that leads people to use marijuana as a gateway drug. Well, as I’ve said: the hyperintelligent just don’t want to be bothered with getting busted, since they know they’re going to have jobs no matter what.

High taxes, more dope for the masses, and be kind to animals: That’s the wisdom MIT is now espousing through its student newspaper. It’s little wonder that America is going to be dependent on Russia for access to space.

Tags: ,
Get Alerts

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • kowalski

    I will say that I voted to close down the dog racing tracks: but not because of my fondness for dogs. I did it because of my fondness for humans and the fact that encouraging gambling while raising taxes and telling people to smoke more dope is a death spiral.

    • zroxx

      There is at least one good reason that one might disfavor the current dog racing establishment in MA, and that would be where the state is subsidizing or otherwise propping up what ought to be a private enterprise with taxpayer funds. This article suggests it is, citing $1.2 million in “state-subsidized racetrack funds”.

      Even persons urging a ban on dog racing cite the decline in the business, e.g. here: “Dog racing is a dying industry in Massachusetts. Between 2002 and 2007, the total amount gambled at Wonderland Greyhound Park and Raynham Park declined by 65% and 37%, respectively. Even dog track owners acknowledge their businesses are failing.“

      Seems to me the conservative thing to do is get government subsidies out of the picture and let the private enterprises sink or swim on their own.

      Suggesting dog tracks should be banned because you care about the people smacks of the same do-gooder nanny state liberalism that has driven recent actions to ban smoking. I see nothing conservative at all behind that motivation.

      • Finrod

        Then again I’ve been pro-legalization all along; marijuana is the modern-day equivalent of the 55mph speed limit– lots of people break it, and the cops enforce it to raise revenue as much as anything (plus get their SWAT teams practice in breaking down the doors of unarmed civilians).

  • DavidS1787

    Marijuana …..

    I am totally against Decriminalization of Marijuana !

    • Tamblin

      The amount of money and police time wasted busting marijuana users here in Oregon is just stupid. I’m all for keeping it illegal to operate heavy machinery (particularly cars) while stoned, but I just can’t see the sense in busting people who want to get high in private.

      I’m generally with the libertarians on this one, although I’m amenable to more state intervention when talking about drugs that are addictive and quite harmful (I’m just fine with keeping heroin illegal).

    • Han_Pritcher

      I’ve never done any drugs in my life and I never will. I find the notion of smoking marijuana distasteful and foolish. But having people do hard time for smoking a damned plant that makes them sedate and giggle a lot is just boneheaded.

      I’ve known a ton of stoners in my life. They’re harmless. It’s madness to make ‘em do hard time for doing something that seems less harmful than drinking alcohol.

      • birdmojo

        You see it as “smoking pot”. You know what we see? Smoking.

        Maybe you want to poison the rest of the world with your second-hand smoke but this is just our way of making sure that our children don’t die of various breathing disorders.

        And what about the employees in the restaurants where you want it legal to smoke pot? What if they get lung cancer?

        Maybe you should start thinking about other people and stop being so selfish.

        • Han_Pritcher

          How am I being selfish in wanting more freedoms for others? A freedom I will never exercise.

          I’m an asthmatic. You actually think I’m not concerned with second-hand smoke? If we can regulate where people smoke we can damned sure regulate where they smoke pot.

          Lousy argument, man.

          • aaronbg

            n/t

          • DavidS1787

            a fatal accident you can’t go back and rewind time to bring the people back! Unless your on TV.

            Vote

            McCain/Palin

          • Herodotus

            because right now the government is doing a bang up job regulating where people smoke pot.

          • kowalski

            I make no apologies for the fact that I consider the vast expansion in casino and other forms of legalized gambling to be a moral failure, and I wish more people opposed it on those grounds. It’s nothing like it was when I was a kid, and it’s gotten way out of hand.