The Liberal Avenger: The Good Herb

Group Blog: Wicked liberal, wicked cool people, wicked good humor, occasional ill rhymes.

Best of LiberalAvenger.com:

The sordid tale of Michelle Malkin and her puppeteer husband Jesse - two voices, acting as one, wrapped up in a pretty package. Easy-to-digest racism for the masses.

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Writers

"At times, conservatives have even trod into arguing in favor of a war ethos (see, for instance the popular bumper sticker: "War Has Never Solved Anything, Except for Ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism and Communism"); at other times -- as in all the talk about "shock and awe" in the Iraq invasion -- they have even suggested there is a kind of beauty to violence, especially in the service of the imposition of American will. "

"Let's do the sign of the cross. It'll make us feel real boss."

- Skafish

"Look, can we all at least agree on one thing -- if the 'I didn't do it' administration is re-coronated, that come November 3, EVERYTHING IS THEIR FUCKING FAULT."

"Arbolist... Look up the word. I don't now, maybe I made it up. Anyway, it's an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who knows about trees."

- George W. Bush, USA Today, 08/21/2001

"There are no mirrors in Bush's church."

- Tim Appelo, Seattle Weekly, 12/08/2004

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends."

- Maya Angelou

"To those who consider the war a mistake but still fear the consequences of military withdrawal, we ask these questions: when will enough be enough? If not now, when?"

- An Appeal to Global Conscience (via j a c k *)

"How much productivity has been wasted, not reducing our dependence on oil, but to entice us to buy more that is made with, and which consumes for its continuance - oil. It would be as if a man who had been poisoned, rather than reaching for the emetic, reaches for another dose of the poison."

- Stirling Newberry, So We Want a Revolution, 03/18/2005


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Monday, September 19, 2005

The Good Herb

Salon.com News | The return of reefer madness

Interesting article on Salon about herb-smoking and mental illness in teenagers.

I am of the opinion that marijuana smoking isn't a terrible vice and that it is safer and less burdensome to society than alcohol. I suppose that for many this is obvious.

Should teens smoke dope? In an ideal world, probably not. I smoked a great deal of dope when I was a teen and have few regrets... In fact many of my fondest memories of my teen years were herb-influenced.

That being said, I was fortunately able to keep it under control as a young person and not mix it with school or work or other inappropriate venues. I certainly knew people who did and some of them likely suffered for it.

I stopped smoking pot when I was 17 - not because I objected to it, but because it made me paranoid. Like so many others I moved on to other drugs... Is marijuana a "gateway drug?" Hard to say. Do people become fond of alcohol or painkillers or Xanax or other more socially acceptable drugs without having danced with the good herb? Of course.

I have a teenage daughter now who, despite her protestations to the contrary, must encounter other kids with drugs sometimes. She is attending the same school that I did at my age and I can remember a brisk trade in joints being conducted in the back of history class... Things can't have changed that much in 20 years...

What's worse? A teenager smoking a little herb or a teenager going off to fight in Iraq?

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