A consumer-conscious Uniontown, Pennsylvania man called local police to complain about the quality of the marijuana he just purchased. When police arrived, the 21-year-old complained that the pot was “nasty.” A field test by the officers revealed the stash was not marijuana at all, but our boy-genius is not off the hook. He could still be charged with possession of a counterfeit controlled substance. No word yet on whether the seller takes returns.
I’ve often wondered why possession of a “counterfeit” controlled substance is a crime at all. Certainly, attempting to sell or selling the counterfeit substance could be punished as criminal fraud, but what is the public policy reason to prevent possession of , say, oregano? Do we want really want to criminalize even more conduct as we fight the Drug War?
— Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Source: AP
Intent is intent…….
http://trueslant.com/daviddisalvo/2010/04/17/ibms-crime-prediction-tech-makes-profiling-seem-like-childs-play/
Apr. 17 2010 by David Desalvo
IBM’s Crime Prediction Tech makes Profiling seem like Child’s Play
Excerpt:
My reaction to where this all will go is similar to that of Gizmodo writer Jesus Diaz, who sums it up well:
First it’s the convicted-but-potentially-recidivistic criminals. Then it’s the potential terrorists. Then it’s everyone of us, in a big database, getting flagged because some combination of factors—travel patterns, credit card activity, relationships, messaging, social activity and everything else—indicate that we may be thinking about doing something against the law.
Once we get into the business of “predicting” what people will do (for the sake of security, of course) and taking action based on the prediction, we’re on the path to denial of personal liberty. It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when it will. And I can’t help but find the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice’s use of the system as especially alarming, since the records of those in its sphere of influence could be forever tainted by information that they have the analytically validated potential to commit a serious crime. “Hey kid, you’re an official security risk for the rest of your life! Good luck with that.”
Add to all of this the potential for abuse of such a system, and there’s more than a little in this news to spark concern in the hearts of the reasonable. (end excerpt)
lottakatz,
You asked, “Am I the only one that believes that there has been a coup, admittedly accomplished procedurally, but still a coup?”
No. There’s been a coup… And we’re in trouble.
LK:
Speaking of the rally:
Rally To Restore Sanity Attendance Estimated In Hundreds Of Thousands
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/30/rally-to-restore-sanity-attendance_n_776547.html
Sterile di-hydrogen monoxide for irrigation is a controlled substance, check the U. S. Pharmocopea…
Given my struggles with words seemingly resulted in some folks wondering whether I am joking about time-corrupted-learning, brain trauma, and human destructiveness, not at all.
When something becomes too serious to express seriously, sarcastic humor may be the past peaceable refuge prior to the total failure of words and concerns and being able to express strong concerns only through violent action.
I, like other autistic spectrum people I have known well, have been on the receiving end of violence, and such violence has dramatically impacted my life. I abhor violence.
My dad’s parents emigrated from Canada circa 1900. If only I could believe that Canada might be better than the country in which I was born… I do meet the qualifications to move there.
Why do some “grown-ups” work so hard at playing the childish game of “King of the Mountain”? The irony of competing for social status is also tragic; the lower those on the top of the mountain can make it by impoverishing almost everyone else, the easier it is to be on top, even if doing that makes the top only one percent as high as working collaboratively would.
To slightly, and openly, with reasonably proper credit given, plagiarize the title of Jane Ann Moore’s book, sometimes I cry joy, sometimes I cry sorrow. Moore starts her book with a Yoruba proverb. “When the man who knows no sorrow hears weeping, he thinks it is a song.”
I think I will go to my, and my wife’s, bedroom, lie down on the bed, and cry. Sorrow. For those whose pain is unrelenting. Tears are salty and might damage the computer keyboard that I am using.
These kinds of laws remind me of my favorite indictment against King George:
“He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
Which plays right into the usurpatious actions of the Republican controlled Senate as echoed by:
“He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”
Am I the only one that believes that there has been a coup, admittedly accomplished procedurally, but still a coup?