A few observations on two unrelated stories. Chris Christie first.
Bridgegate has the media rethinking their initial support for Chris Christie. The press already nominated Christie and Hillary Clinton in 2016. The big question being asked in the hallowed halls of media punditry is this: Do we throw good money after bad? My unsolicited advice says NO.
Christie was a loser from the start. Forget his sordid affair with the Taqiyya the Liar, a governor from a liberal Northeast state, elected in a landslide because NJ liberals love him, is a non-starter. Never mind that he is a John McCain/Mitt Romneycare clone, the medias endorsement this far out was the kiss of death for conservatives; if not for the nomination then surely in the general.
My personal view. Christie should be a toll collector on the G.W. bridge.
Grasshoppers winning their war is a fun topic. Dirty little moralists are learning they cant legislate good behavior; so they decided to give bad behavior a try.
Lets revisit legislating good behavior.
The XVIII Amendment serves as a beacon shining on what not to do. Prohibition was an attempt to legislate the behavior of law-abiding citizens as opposed to prohibiting murder, theft, and so on.
The XVIII Amendment was such a disaster it stands as the only Amendment ever to be repealed, and it was repealed a mere 14 years after it was ratified. Those fourteen years gave the country organized crime.
Drug cartels have been operating for so long they now use military tactics to defend their incomes. Just think what organized crime bosses could have accomplished if they had 40 or 50 years instead of 14.
The Volstead Act was enforced, although not very effectively, resulting in the success of gangsters like Al Capone; especially in big cities.
The public back then understood that a few puritans didnt want anybody to enjoy life whether or not individuals took a drink every now and then. (Falling-down drunks are another matter.)
After Prohibition was repealed the government never completely eliminated the production of moonshine. Nevertheless, Prohibition was the worst legislative disaster to ever cripple this country. After the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is fully implemented it will outdo Prohibitions devastation albeit in different ways.
How goes the war?
Let me remind everyone that the Grasshoppers defeated the United Nations; a victory some wags might compare to our War for Independence:
Moving forward to today you gotta love this one:
Aint it a kick watching anti-tobacco moralists sing a different tune as they get behind legal steam for tax purposes?
And here come da tax collectors morality riding in on a horse called Mary Jane:
The parasite class always advocated decriminalizing marijuana across the board so it could be taxed to pay for healthcare and whatever else politicians want. Heather Mizeurs position is nothing more than Tax everything to pay for everything.
An escape hatch for grasshoppers
Individuals are legally entitled to make a set amount of beer, wine, and whiskey for their own consumption. Not many American drinkers make their own hooch; so taxation is not a problem for the tax collector. Not so with Mary Jane. Assuming that Mary Jane will get the same personal-use exemption John Barleycorn enjoys, tens of millions of grasshoppers will grow their own (no one knows how many are already into gardening). The process will be helped along when How To Grow books will quickly outnumber diet books on bookstore shelves.
NOTE: A flower pot, or a small backyard, is all that is required to grow your own. I predict the day will come when blue ribbons will be award to the best marijuana just as one is awarded to the best rose at local flower shows.
If Im right about this, taxes collected on retail marijuana sales will be minuscule.
Thirty or forty million grasshoppers, spread across fifty states, growing their own is more than enough to panic tax collectors in every state. Even twenty million gardening-grasshoppers can put a serious dent in tobacco sales; thereby, putting a big hole tax revenues.
The unintended consequences in making an honest woman out of Mary Jane has to take a huge bite out of cigarette sales. There is not one state that can survive that kind of a hit without increasing taxes elsewhere. I suspect that property taxes will rise dramatically in every state.
Tobacco represents a long-term income for states. The price of cigarettes is already out of sight because of taxation. The tax on tobacco will also skyrocket when Mary Jane cuts into remaining cigarette sales.
Its logical to assume that a few million will share the joy with friends. So long as they are not selling there is not much chance they will be caught or stopped.
Even if the government levies hefty fines on generous miscreants, the expense involved in catching and prosecuting every weed-whacker who shares his crop would defeat the purpose. And can you image millions of grasshoppers demanding jury trials year after year?
Parenthetically, drug cartels going legit as did Prohibition era bootleggers will not have it so easy because of the aforementioned personal-use exemption.
Social smoking
Watering holes are an integral part of the culture, not to mention the huge amount of money spent on barroom trappings, etc.
There is a time-honored, acceptable, social intercourse involved in drinking in gin mills. I think that alcohol sales will be hit hard because grasshoppers dont have to do their smoking in designated gathering places. If, as I believe, tens of millions will grow their own they wont be welcomed in Pot Bars anymore than tipplers can bring their own booze into drinking establishments.
I dont have the breakdown on beer, wine, and hard liquor, but Im fairly certain that most alcohol is consumed by customers in bars. Beer might be split fifty-fifty between bars and elsewhere.
Nor can I see private parties in homes just to do a little social smoking; at least not on a large scale. Smoking pot is not a social-gathering type activity. Grasshoppers get behind a little steam whenever the mood moves them; whereas, social drinkers dont pull out a hip flask and take a pull whenever and wherever they need a fix.
Finally, now that Mr. Happyweed is legal, I would really like to see Congress legislate the personal-use exemption?
Bridgegate has the media rethinking their initial support for Chris Christie. The press already nominated Christie and Hillary Clinton in 2016. The big question being asked in the hallowed halls of media punditry is this: Do we throw good money after bad? My unsolicited advice says NO.
Christie was a loser from the start. Forget his sordid affair with the Taqiyya the Liar, a governor from a liberal Northeast state, elected in a landslide because NJ liberals love him, is a non-starter. Never mind that he is a John McCain/Mitt Romneycare clone, the medias endorsement this far out was the kiss of death for conservatives; if not for the nomination then surely in the general.
My personal view. Christie should be a toll collector on the G.W. bridge.
XXXXX
Grasshoppers winning their war is a fun topic. Dirty little moralists are learning they cant legislate good behavior; so they decided to give bad behavior a try.
Lets revisit legislating good behavior.
The XVIII Amendment serves as a beacon shining on what not to do. Prohibition was an attempt to legislate the behavior of law-abiding citizens as opposed to prohibiting murder, theft, and so on.
The XVIII Amendment was such a disaster it stands as the only Amendment ever to be repealed, and it was repealed a mere 14 years after it was ratified. Those fourteen years gave the country organized crime.
Drug cartels have been operating for so long they now use military tactics to defend their incomes. Just think what organized crime bosses could have accomplished if they had 40 or 50 years instead of 14.
The Volstead Act was enforced, although not very effectively, resulting in the success of gangsters like Al Capone; especially in big cities.
The public back then understood that a few puritans didnt want anybody to enjoy life whether or not individuals took a drink every now and then. (Falling-down drunks are another matter.)
After Prohibition was repealed the government never completely eliminated the production of moonshine. Nevertheless, Prohibition was the worst legislative disaster to ever cripple this country. After the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is fully implemented it will outdo Prohibitions devastation albeit in different ways.
How goes the war?
Let me remind everyone that the Grasshoppers defeated the United Nations; a victory some wags might compare to our War for Independence:
Moving forward to today you gotta love this one:
Aint it a kick watching anti-tobacco moralists sing a different tune as they get behind legal steam for tax purposes?
And here come da tax collectors morality riding in on a horse called Mary Jane:
The parasite class always advocated decriminalizing marijuana across the board so it could be taxed to pay for healthcare and whatever else politicians want. Heather Mizeurs position is nothing more than Tax everything to pay for everything.
An escape hatch for grasshoppers
Individuals are legally entitled to make a set amount of beer, wine, and whiskey for their own consumption. Not many American drinkers make their own hooch; so taxation is not a problem for the tax collector. Not so with Mary Jane. Assuming that Mary Jane will get the same personal-use exemption John Barleycorn enjoys, tens of millions of grasshoppers will grow their own (no one knows how many are already into gardening). The process will be helped along when How To Grow books will quickly outnumber diet books on bookstore shelves.
NOTE: A flower pot, or a small backyard, is all that is required to grow your own. I predict the day will come when blue ribbons will be award to the best marijuana just as one is awarded to the best rose at local flower shows.
If Im right about this, taxes collected on retail marijuana sales will be minuscule.
Thirty or forty million grasshoppers, spread across fifty states, growing their own is more than enough to panic tax collectors in every state. Even twenty million gardening-grasshoppers can put a serious dent in tobacco sales; thereby, putting a big hole tax revenues.
The unintended consequences in making an honest woman out of Mary Jane has to take a huge bite out of cigarette sales. There is not one state that can survive that kind of a hit without increasing taxes elsewhere. I suspect that property taxes will rise dramatically in every state.
Tobacco represents a long-term income for states. The price of cigarettes is already out of sight because of taxation. The tax on tobacco will also skyrocket when Mary Jane cuts into remaining cigarette sales.
Its logical to assume that a few million will share the joy with friends. So long as they are not selling there is not much chance they will be caught or stopped.
Even if the government levies hefty fines on generous miscreants, the expense involved in catching and prosecuting every weed-whacker who shares his crop would defeat the purpose. And can you image millions of grasshoppers demanding jury trials year after year?
Parenthetically, drug cartels going legit as did Prohibition era bootleggers will not have it so easy because of the aforementioned personal-use exemption.
Social smoking
Watering holes are an integral part of the culture, not to mention the huge amount of money spent on barroom trappings, etc.
There is a time-honored, acceptable, social intercourse involved in drinking in gin mills. I think that alcohol sales will be hit hard because grasshoppers dont have to do their smoking in designated gathering places. If, as I believe, tens of millions will grow their own they wont be welcomed in Pot Bars anymore than tipplers can bring their own booze into drinking establishments.
I dont have the breakdown on beer, wine, and hard liquor, but Im fairly certain that most alcohol is consumed by customers in bars. Beer might be split fifty-fifty between bars and elsewhere.
Nor can I see private parties in homes just to do a little social smoking; at least not on a large scale. Smoking pot is not a social-gathering type activity. Grasshoppers get behind a little steam whenever the mood moves them; whereas, social drinkers dont pull out a hip flask and take a pull whenever and wherever they need a fix.
Finally, now that Mr. Happyweed is legal, I would really like to see Congress legislate the personal-use exemption?
