For all intents and purposes, I am a democrat. I've got a few complaints about that but, that statement alone will be taken waaaaaay out of context so, I probably won't go into great detail as headlines will certainly read: FERRERMAN HATES BEING A DEMOCRAT!!!! Because that's surely what I meant...
Debate 101, I guess that is. It's actually very easy these days to be a democrat and a liberal too. Oh sure, everything you think, say and do is wrong but, that does make it easy. It's actually very easy to be a republican or teapartier too. All you have to do to be an effective one of those is to realize that everything liberals think, say and do is wrong.
Just about every day a new crisis comes around and gets the media in a frenzy. Sometimes there are several frenzies going on at once. Currently (as we never mind the economy and jobs) we need to mind that Barack Obama is waging a war on Christianity by forcing the Catholic church to offer contraception via insurance to their parishioners, 98% of whom use contraception despite the church's decree that they NOT do this. The Pope, having no control over his people, apparently does not want the government exercising control over his people either even though that is not what Obama is doing anyway. So, you can see why it's a HUGE crisis. We have a separation of church and state built into our Constitution and- by golly- if government comes near to crossing that line, another government needs to be elected to stop that other government from doing that by government decree, of course. Perhaps an official government decree that we are a Christian nation would solve that? Ya know, it does say "In GOD We Trust" on our money. Technically it shouldn't but, back in the 1950's, Democrats were trying really hard to ram communism down our throats and, well, that stopped that! Now, it follows, that they should take on the Catholic church because....well, I don't know. But, no less a Southern Baptist than former governor Mike Huckabee has declared that "(now) we are ALL Catholics" and Obamacare must be stopped. Not sure if Mitt Romney sees it this way or if Huck considers his Mormon self an also Catholic. Whatever, at least for now we are a Catholic nation.
You know what I think? I think it's just another lame attempt to stop Affordable Healthcare using any means necessary. I think if Huck really cared about Catholics, he'd actually be one. I think he's just pissed that Obama is president and will most likely earn re-election again in '12.
Drug testing welfare recipients is also a current whine celebre of the GOP these days. In case they can't convince Obama to eliminate welfare and other communist social safety nets, at least he could make it harder for those elitist lazy people to mooch off the taxpayers as they have been doing since FDR was running the country. They figure that, if you don't use drugs, you should have no problem taking a drug test. That would seem simple enough. In fact, the state of Florida already tests welfare recipients. Being fiscally conservative, they require that potential recipients pony up the cost of their test up-front. If you pass, you get reimbursed. If you don't pass, you get nothing. So in theory, the program pays for itself. You break even with the cost of the tests and you save gazillions of dollars by weeding out the dopers.
Not exactly. Only 2% of the recipients have failed the test. As of last week, I heard the program was $200,000 dollars in the hole. If you don't think that's a lot of money, consider that they had $200,000 MORE before when they didn't do the drug testing.
Who can you blame for this? Is it the people's fault for not smoking enough dope? If only poor people would do more drugs we could eliminate welfare! Those lazy 98% bastards just aren't helping!
I have a lot of experience with drug tests. I've taken several and always passed. Didn't even study! I'm not a drug-testing genius. I simply don't use drugs. It can be just that easy.
However, working commercial construction as I have, all the stoners I've worked with have passed drug tests too. There's a bunch of ways to pass, depending on your drugs of choice. I've known guys who simply quit smoking weed a month before a test and drank tons of water to boot. Some were able to submit someone else's pee, others used over the counter products developed to mask drug use. There's a lot of ways to fool the tests and I'm sure doper scientists have been working hard on new ways since my last test several years ago.
The thing is, those boys and girls passed the tests that I passed and there they were, smoking a joint at breaktime. What purpose did the tests serve? I think it was just to find out the 2% who aren't smart enough to pass the test. It did nothing to eliminate drugs from the work place. Sheesh- look at our prisons- you can get any drugs you want in prison, all within walking distance of your cell. If prison itself is not a deterent, how could poverty be? People are gonna get high. The Libertarian in me respects their right to do this. I may not smoke weed anymore but, if I came across some trippin' weed and didn't have to be anywhere for the rest of the evening....
While we're at testing people for drug use as a requirement for employment or welfare benefits, why stop there? Because drugs are illegal, those who have failed tests have commited crimes. Why not put them in jail? If you crunch the numbers on that due process thingy, it costs a whole bunch of billions of dollars to arrest and prosecute people for drug use. A simple test could save those billions by having them shipped off to a privatized prison somewhere as soon as they fail, where they can learn to just say "no".
Drug testing moms and dads who have fallen on hard times isn't going to help the children of those parents. It won't put food in their bellies. Despite any anecdotal evidence of 'welfare queens' you may offer up, no one is getting rich collecting welfare. It simply doesn't pay that well. Neither does unemployment and that has also been suggested as another 'gimme' that people should have to be drug tested for. As if losing your job weren't sad enough, smoking a joint to escape your misery should jeopardize that financial windfall too? Sheesh. The same people who think teachers are 'overpaid' because they only work nine months out of the year, think a corporate CEO works for his salary and million dollar bonus. What the fuck are they smoking? It's also been suggested that drug testing be a requirement to vote. Hmmm.... have they thought that one through?
So, I guess I'm a democrat and a liberal so that you may have the right to be a republican asshole. Let's face it: without us, you'd only have yourselves to complain about. And who would listen?
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