Funny, I'd think if they were impersonating military operations they would be using the M-16, which is the standard battle rifle for Mexico. I'd also think they'd be cheaper and easier to get, since the military is dirty.

While it's stupid for them to be sold anyways, it is tough to buy a gun like that. These cartels aren't just waltzing up to America and buying a few hundred guns. They're getting large numbers of them illegally without a doubt. It might even be cheaper, although I can't be sure about that.

 

 

 

My first post said that 90% of their weapons/guns are coming from legal means.

Recent news...

 

 

 

Assemblyman Introduces Measure To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol

 

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation this week to legalize and regulate the commercial production and sale of cannabis for adults age 21 or over. The proposal Assembly Bill 390: The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act is the first bill ever to be introduced in the California legislature that seeks to tax and control the sale of cannabis.

 

...

 

A recent Zogby poll of 1,053 likely voters, commissioned by California NORML and Oaksterdam University, reported that nearly six out of ten respondents on the west coast favor taxing and legally regulating cannabis like alcohol.

I wish I could believe a Zogby poll, but their methods are so damn flawed on policy that it's not even funny. They're arguably the worst "maintstream" pollster, right above Rasmussen. Second, a bill like this wouldn't pass in Massachusetts which has unbelievably high Democratic numbers (something like 85% Dems in their Senate+House). California has like 65% majorities. It won't pass, or even get much attention. I'm glad that they're trying, though.

 

 

 

New Jersey's governor has said that he would NOT veto a bill that legalized cannabis to sell and tax. I think The Governator would veto anything even if it passed, but he has been getting more socially liberal.

I agree that it's highly unlikely that this bill will get attention, let alone get passed. Interesting that these bills are finally being proposed, though.

I wish I could believe a Zogby poll, but their methods are so damn flawed on policy that it's not even funny. They're arguably the worst "maintstream" pollster, right above Rasmussen. Second, a bill like this wouldn't pass in Massachusetts which has unbelievably high Democratic numbers (something like 85% Dems in their Senate+House). California has like 65% majorities. It won't pass, or even get much attention. I'm glad that they're trying, though.

 

 

 

New Jersey's governor has said that he would NOT veto a bill that legalized cannabis to sell and tax. I think The Governator would veto anything even if it passed, but he has been getting more socially liberal.

 

 

 

Im a little confused by this, isnt the democratic party (generally) more likely to approve legalization of marijuana? Democrats being the socially liberal party in america and all. Or were you referencing a bill that failed in a very liberal state(massachusetts) as an example of why these bills are currently hopeless?

I wish I could believe a Zogby poll, but their methods are so damn flawed on policy that it's not even funny. They're arguably the worst "maintstream" pollster, right above Rasmussen. Second, a bill like this wouldn't pass in Massachusetts which has unbelievably high Democratic numbers (something like 85% Dems in their Senate+House). California has like 65% majorities. It won't pass, or even get much attention. I'm glad that they're trying, though.

 

 

 

New Jersey's governor has said that he would NOT veto a bill that legalized cannabis to sell and tax. I think The Governator would veto anything even if it passed, but he has been getting more socially liberal.

 

 

 

Im a little confused by this, isnt the democratic party (generally) more likely to approve legalization of marijuana? Democrats being the socially liberal party in america and all. Or were you referencing a bill that failed in a very liberal state(massachusetts) as an example of why these bills are currently hopeless?

 

 

 

Yes, the Democrats are more likely to approve of the legalization, however, if something like this cannot pass in Massachusetts, then I see no hope for it in California.

 

 

 

The biggest problem we have to overcome are the health care lobbyists and their patents. Marinol is the same exact thing as THC (it's an isomer), but it's patented and can be sold for lots of money by health care industries. Marijuana wouldn't give them much profit. Second, people in state governments are as liberal as their districts. So even if a conservative part of Massachusetts elects a Democrat, he might not support such legislation.

k, just wanted that to be clarified

 

 

 

I never understood the legal basis of our weird regulations, alcohol and cigarretes being legal when they are arguably worse then marijuana in certain respects.

One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

 

 

 

Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report today by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.

 

 

 

The increases in the number of people in some form of correctional control occurred even as crime rates sharply declined, by about 25 percent in the past two decades.

 

 

 

 

Here's the whole article:

 

[hide=]One in every 31 adults, or 7.3 million Americans, is in prison, on parole or probation, at a cost to the states of $47 billion in 2008, according to a new study.

 

 

 

Criminal correction spending is outpacing budget growth in education, transportation and public assistance, based on state and federal data. Only Medicaid spending grew faster than state corrections spending, which quadrupled in the past two decades, according to the report today by the Pew Center on the States, the first breakdown of spending in confinement and supervision in the past seven years.

 

 

 

The increases in the number of people in some form of correctional control occurred even as crime rates sharply declined, by about 25 percent in the past two decades.

 

 

 

At a time when states are facing huge budget shortfalls, prisons, which hold 1.5 million adults, are driving the spending increases.

 

 

 

States have shown a preference for prison spending even though it is cheaper to monitor convicts in community programs, including probation and parole, which require offenders to check in regularly with law enforcement officers. A survey of 34 states found that states spent an average of $29,000 a year on prisoners compared to $1,250 on probationers and $2,750 on parolees. The study found that despite increased spending on prisons, recidivism rates remained largely unchanged.

 

 

 

Pew researchers say that as states trim essential services like education and health care, prison budgets continue to grow. Those priorities are misguided, the study says.

 

 

 

States are looking to make cuts that will have long-term harmful effects, said Sue Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States. Corrections is one area they can cut and still have good or better outcomes than what they are doing now.

 

 

 

Over all, two-thirds of offenders, or about 5.1 million people in 2008 were on probation or parole. The study found that states are failing to increase spending for community supervision in proportion to their growing caseloads. About $9 out of $10 spent on corrections goes to prison financing. One in 11 African-Americans, or 9.2 percent, are under correctional control, compared with one in 27 Latinos (3.7 percent), and one in 45 white people (2.2 percent) .

 

 

 

Only one out of 89 women is behind bars or monitored, compared to one out of 18 men.

 

 

 

States with the highest proportion of people under some form of punishment regimen include Georgia (1 in 13), Indiana (1 in 26), Louisiana (1 in 26), and Ohio (1 in 25).

 

 

 

Peter Greenwood, the executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Evidence Based Practice, an advocacy group that favors rehabilitative approaches, said that states started ramping up their financing for prisons in the 1980s during the last big crime wave and never stopped.

 

 

 

Basically, when we made these investments, public safety and crime was the number one concern of voters, so politicians were passing all kinds of laws to increase sentences, he said. President Bill Clinton also signed legislation to increase sentences for federal convicts, he said. Now, crime is down, but were living with that legacy: the bricks and mortar and the politicians who feel like they have to talk tough every time they talk about crime.

 

 

 

Mr. Greenwood said that prisons and jails, along with their powerful prison guard unions, service contracts, and high-profile sheriffs and police chiefs, are in a much better position to protect their interests than are parole and probation officers.

 

 

 

Traditionally, probation and parole is at the bottom of the totem pole, Mr. Greenwood said. Theyre just happy every time they dont lose a third of their budget.[/hide]

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/us/03 ... tml?ref=us

 

 

 

Subsidizing the incarceration of millions of people that have never harmed anyone, with a budget that out paces EVERYTHING (social security and medicare included), but Medicaid.