Clever plan
The Bill and Hillary Clinton conspiracy. Clinton and Trump (Both New Yorkers) have a long history of support for mutual causes. Trump is a Clinton plant to ruin the Republican Party’s nomination process by offending all minorities. The conspiracy also includes Senator Sanders as the far left candidate to bring the far left leaning voters to the election process and by default Clinton’s candidacy. Hillary will be the next President as Obama will provide the e-mail scandal cover up. Obama gets third term (by proxy), Hillary gets to be first female President, and the Clintons will see Trump gets money!
John Daniels, Lakeport
If it were legal
The United States will NEVER be great as long as big money talks. We need to curb lobbyists and legislators from manipulating the system for the wealthy good old boys. The quality of life will never improve as long as we have doctors disciplining doctors, cops punishing their own bad apples. Our own Civil Grand Jury here in Lake County can only make recommendations.
Our country is shameful. Steal, buy and bully from Louisiana to Oregon, call it “Manifest Destiny.” We are occupiers, all of US, except the Native American
Indians and the people of Mexico. The real American heroes are the Indians who fought died defending “their land”. The poor Mexicans lost Texas because they were over populated by the flood of European immigrants. Ironic, we have about 5 of the 12 million so called mislabeled “illegals” here in California 150 years later.
If all drugs were legalized, then only the really bad people would be in jail, that would reduce prison crowding, then corrections would better be able to care for a reasonable prison population. The U.S. and the USSR incarcerate more people than other countries.
The people opposing drug legalization are the police, corrections, judges, probation. They want to keep their job. We should replace them with doctors, mental health and social workers. Hospitals, not jails! At least the drug addict will be ensured of treatment and not warehoused in jail.
If all drugs were legalized, it would not be practical to traffic. If our government and other governments bought coca leaf from the Andean countries, the product could be synthesized in the U.S. assuring quality control. Clandestine conversion is environmentally unfriendly. Petroleum products such as gasoline, kerosene, or diesel are used to infuse the leaf, potent acids refine the product.
Interdiction isn’t working. Customs and Border Protection has surpassed the 200 ton per year record. If the 10 percent seizure rate is applied, that is 2,000 tons!
The only reason law enforcement is tolerant of the marijuana laws is because of asset forfeiture and when everyone grows 10 pounds, its easy to find and generates revenue. Crime statistics down, bust a grower. Drugs = money. Cops aren’t stupid.
Nine Green, Nice
Clarification
I would like to comment on a recent letter by Mr. Sparks.
Mr. Sparks notes that every word , because it is similar by customary association to its referent, is a metaphor.” Actually, every word is a symbol. These symbols are then spoken or written as words. An analogy or simile is a comparison introduced by “like” or “as if.” An analogy would be a statement, such as “John eats like a pig.” A metaphor would be, “John is a pig.” As my long-dead professor Dr. Hayakawa would intone, “Symbols should not be confused with reality.” In other words, analogies do not exist other than symbolically. For John to eat as an actual pig, he would have to be in a sty, eating without use of his hands, fighting with his fellow pigs, and grunting, just to mention a few similarities. The brain extracts the similarities, ignores the differences, and produces a comparison that only has symbolic validity.
As for the statement that man cannot communicate directly with his own brain, I would challenge that statement. First, “the brain” is the physical organ. When one discusses symbols and thoughts, one is discussing the functioning of the brain, which introduces the conscious and sub-conscious functions. These two “levels” appear to communicate.
To mention one interesting example, there were a series of experiments at the University of Madrid in the 60s, if I remember the date correctly, involving yogis from India. In one experiment, the subject was given a lethal dose of poison in food. Several hours later, he excreted the poison without any observable ill effects. (This experiment would have been considered a violation of medical ethics in the U.S., incidentally.) In another experiment, a yoga was buried in a casket. There was only enough air for 15 or 20 minutes. The yoga was able to exist for several hours in a trance before he frantically signaled for air.
I mention these experiments because “parts” of the mind can “communicate” if one is willing to put in the years of effort and training as is the case with yogis. A psychologist might also argue that there is evidence that the conscious and unconscious levels also communicate, using such examples as dreams, psycho-somatic illnesses, etc.
Charles Moton, Lucerne
