Willie Nelson hit with drug charges

Speaking of things being too nuanced, my post wasn't very nuanced, it was pretty much blindingly obvious, but you still missed it. I never compared smoking pot to those other crimes - I was responding to the guy that said cops should be out busting other crimes. My response was that using that rationale, all those other - serious - crimes would be ignored in favor of murder/rape. Too nuanced for ya? Sheesh.

Regarding smoking pot - you wanna make it legal, thats fine - go talk to your legislator. America as a whole does not want it legal, neither do I. If you can't handle that, feel free to leave. Until then, the score is that it's illegal, and Willie knows that - and if he doesn't care about the law and ignores it, well the pain threshold needs to be raised on him until he does get it.

 

Willie has been smoking weed for a long long time. He made no effort to hide his smoking. One time he was on Johnny Carson and made some statement to Johnny that he might cut back on his smoking cause his lungs were burning all the time. That caused a big laugh. I guess he thinks he is not hurting anyone and likes it so he does it. I don't see this as a big deal. If you are 72 and want to smoke dope so what.

 

Eh, here we go again...

Sadly, many people buy into the misinformation that the media spews. They kinda have a history of doing that! Remember the 'babies getting raped in the Superdome' and 'people sniping from the rooftops' etc...? ALl nonsense reported by the media. Gee, thanks. That REALLY helped our reputation

No aplogies were made to the public or to our city. So the negativity somehow still propogates.

As for coming back, let's look into that shall we? Virtually every restaurant in the French Quarter, CBD, Warehouse Dist, and Uptown has reopened. A few haven't, but that is offset by new ones that didn't even exist before the hurricane.

Clearly a business doesn't reopen without thinking they can survive. And survival is based on what? A comeback.

And speaking of businesses, which one opened here a few months ago? Oh, that's right, Harrah's CASINO! Does anyone honestly believe that a business as shrewd as a casino would open up for charitable reasons? Clearly not. They are experts at making money and know that they can do so here. That says a lot.

And what else is out there? Well, outside investors are buying up real estate for development. Trump is building a 65 story building downtown, Harrah's casino just finished building a new hotel downtown, a 30 story residential building is slated for the Warehouse Dist., and nearly every major hotel will be open by December. Why would hotels open if they didn't think they could fill them? Hmmmmm. These people aren't idiots.

Then there is the revitalization project by the Superdome with the building of a 20 acre Jazz Park and a new City Hall.

All this is just off the top of my head while I am watching TV and talking on instant messanger. If you want I can go into more detail later on...

Correct, I don't think for one minute that the cops were tipped off. As most know(and as Dave stated) that stretch of I-10 is one of the major drug pipelines in the U.S. It is very common to see busses and 18-wheelers pulled over. Not a big deal.

 

I thought that is what I surmised, and besides, my comment was, if he goes in front of a court, with a record of ANY kind - and he has a record - REGARDLESS of what it is for, well, most 'criminals' are treated differently than first time offenders. (and I LIKE Willie, so don't say I'm biased against him).
If you or I get caught speeding 6 times in a year, chances are we are going to lose our license.

If you were a cop, and they popped open the door of the RV, and pot smoke fills the air, you have to do something, no matter who it is. If you turn your back and ignore it, and there is an accident down the road, you're in trouble.

I hope N.O. recovers and gets back to 100% - and I also hope nobody is dumb enough to build in an area that is lower than sea level.

 

It's much more complex than that. Ask the Dutch...they seem to be doing just fine.

 

What I said was that cops should be out busting murderers rapists and thieves, not pot smokers. Don't put words in my mouth or thoughts in my head about letting car thieves go in order to go after more serious offenders. You are projecting a false logic on my part in order to justify some vindictive agenda of your own. Read what I wrote last time. Pot smoking is a victimless crime. Get it? I don't smoke it anymore, haven't in years, but that's not the point. Not everybody is going to roll over for the extreme right-wing agenda of people like you, and no we're not going to just fade away and leave. If democracy no longer has room for a loyal opposition, then it's not a democracy anymore. But, that's what you want. You want anyone who disagrees with the party in power to "feel free to leave". Sieg Heil Mein Fuhrer!

That's the last I'm going to say because I'm here as a Ferrari owner and this is becoming way too political.

 

Wille's just an artist who contributes, like it or not, he contributes. Give him the pass.

 

Trust me, I doubt many officers really care THAT much about the stoners. But it is their job to uphold the LAW.

Also, the drug busters are trying to get big fish with cocaine, heroin, and controlled substances. They will stumble upon a few dopes with pot when trying to get the coke off of the streets. You can't just pull them from stopping drug runners because you believe pot should be legal because then you would be ignoring the other runners.

 

Contributes to what? He should be made contribute to schools and other entities by giving free lessons on why smoking pot can/may harm your health and can/may lead to harder drugs which can/may lead to an increase in crime, etc. etc. Laws are Laws. If we lived in a lawless society then the world would disintegrate. At 73, Willie should be teaching/preaching how to become a good, law abiding citizen.

 

You better go talk to the BayouBuzz then.

"Yesterday, four more people were killed in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Each day it seems we hear reports of murder or serious crime. New Orleans is once again the murder capital of the nation"

"Crime causes fear and people that are afraid will not return and rebuild the region."

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=8210

This was the first thing I pulled up. Need more? If you don't think the cops should concentrate on the big stuff a little more rather than grandstanding with a Willy bust, then have fun enjoying the show there.

 

Interesting because who is getting killed? Thugs killing thugs. So this doesn't affect law abiding citezens. They can clean house if they want!

An odd statement because you can't measure it.

What grandstanding? The cops in the city 100+miles from New Orleans did their jobs. If Willy had cocaine should they just let it slide? Not sure what you are saying. Why are you ignoring that I-10 is a drug corridor.

 

When the news broke they said New Orleans and did not distinguish. Now it looks like they are clarifying exactly where he got busted. Best of luck to all in LA.

 

WOW! That FINALLY sunk in, huh?

 

Pot is illegal. Pot users are criminals. The police arrest and put criminals in jail. Thats how it works.


Should weed be illegal? Well, that depends on whether you believe the US is a free country or not. In a nation where the citizens are indeed free, the Govt. does not have the right to tell you what you can and cannot put inside your own body. If we do not have liberty over our own bodies, we do not have liberty. When the Govt. has the power to dictate over our bodies, that is tyranny.

But you have plenty of lemmings who have no idea why weed was made illegal and who blindly believe everything their Govt. tells them. They are Free because their Govt. tells them they are free and they are not smart enough to question anything their Govt. tells them.

The US today has the highest percentage of its own population in prison not only of any nation on the earth today, but any nation in history. Thats a fact. There is a higher percentage of Americans in American prisons than there were Soviets in Stalins Gulags. Sound like freedom to you?

The drug war is a lie and has been from day 1. It has been a compete failure, unable to even effect street prices. Yet, the ongoing strategy is more of the same. Clearly its not about effecting drug use. So, what is it about?

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln said it best:

Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), U.S. President.
Speech, 18 Dec. 1840, to Illinois House of Representatives



I view good old Willy as a great American. Why? Because he recognizes what freedom is and he demands it, regardless of what his corrupt and oppressive Govt. dictates. He takes action in civil disobedience, which is a duty of all Americans. The only way freedom wins out is when the people refuse to surrender it.

Once upon a time the Govt. said slavery was ok too. That didnt make it right. Its a shame that today most Americans simply blindly believe what their Govt. tells them without question. This goes against what this nation was founded to be.




Terry

 

Amen to that.

The point is, as I said earlier, that smoking weed does not victimize anyone. No victim, no crime. Simple as that. Everything else is just government control.

Okay, let's just say that it's POTENTIAL harm that might occur to someone else (or the user) that might make them some kind of victim. In that case, cigarettes and alcohol (oh yeah, we tried that) should be illegal. Can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y? I suppose pot growers don't contribute to political campaigns.

Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent on drug prohibition. Has there been any significant decrease in use as a result? I would say not.

Oh yeah, and that one guy's idea that if it's legislated it's the law and love it or leave it, try going back in time telling that to a poor but smart black kid in the 1930s whose best hope is to become a railroad porter because of the color of his skin. Tell him to just leave the country if he doesn't like the way things are. Thank God that Martin Luther King had the courage and the vision to realize that non-violent civil disobedience (yes, that meant breaking the law) had the potential to change the MAJORITY OPINION and status quo of the time.

Without the possibility of dissent, democracy ceases to exist. I'm not leaving this country because I disagree with the majority (no matter how much some people might wish me to), I'm going to stay and fight. Fascism creeps in the dark on silent cat feet. Read your history and beware.

 

Thinkin' the same thing.