10 March 2006

Money Changes Everything

.......And generally not for the better.

I didn't pilot the flight, but some years back one of our machines was dispatched to the scene of a terrible helicopter crash.
The County Police, Drug Enforcement Agency, and S.W.A.T. teams were coordinating a surveillance/takedown of a drug operation. The DEA was using a helicopter with an Infrared scope to monitor the perpetrators house. The pilot and observer in that aircraft got so focused on watching the I/R screen, they forgot that flying the helicopter needed to be the first order of business. The pilot lost control of the bird and it filtered itself through a high tension electric line on it's way to the ground, killing the observer and critically injuring the pilot, who survived, but had a life-changing head injury.

My opinion is that we have lost "The War on Drugs".
The easiest way to cut our losses is to declare VICTORY!, legalize them, and allow the tobacco and drug companies to produce a quality, inexpensive product for those that now break our un-enforceable laws.

Benefits would be at least two-fold:
Tax receipts could go into education to keep others from going down that path,
and by taking the HUGE profits out of the drug business, you do away with much of what makes it such a big problem for us.........including killing damn fine law enforcement personnel trying to enforce these impossible-to-enforce laws.
(Pablo Escobar ended up being a huge influence on Colombian politics because of his economic power there.)

Another thing came to mind this week as a result of this Barry Bonds steroid fiasco:
It's just another illegal drug situation, driven by the huge dollars involved.

We pay these athletes sinful wages to do what they do.
Athletes like Bonds, McGwire, etc. that bring attention and fans to the sport are paid on the highest end of this "sinful" scale.

These guys risk their future health for the money and fame they can garner because of the big money involved, then, like footballer Lyle Alzado, tearfully admit their mistake on some TV interview show as they are dying of liver cancer, or some other dreadful disease.

I'm so tired of it I could scream.

Back to normal values, folks......
Let's make a list of what is really important to our lives.
And at the top of that values list, remember that not only is it true that "money changes everything",
the change it makes is frequently not something we can be proud of.

3 comments:

Purple Tabby said...

I’m inclined to agree with you GB. However, I think Sweden and Holland have had mixed outcomes from their liberal drugs laws.

But how much worse could it be?

If it keeps the druggies from stealing, killing innocent people and lets us put our tax money into improving science and math programs in school it sounds like a good plan to me!

The Old Man said...

Makes a helluva lotta sense to me. I imagine weed would be selling for the same price as it did 20 or so years ago and we'd be taxing the hell out of it.Have to have some penalty for operating a motor vehicle under the influence, though.

Flygirl said...

AMEN GB!
Something should be done, but I doubt if we see any action in our lifetime!

I've been the victim of robbery (twice!) by druggies! It's terrible when your home is broken into, your privacy is invaded, and personal valuables (regardless of actual dollar value) are stolen. I lost so many things that are not replaceable and other items with much higher dollar values...but knowing that someone entered my home was the worst loss.

These jerks don't break into houses in their neighborhoods; they come into nice areas and wreck havoc with our lifes!!!

I know, material possessions aren't suppose to be so important to us (maybe if you're a Buddhist). But, is it too much to ask that idiots shouldn't break into your home and take whatever they want? And never get caught!

I get very hot on this subject and even hotter when a law enforcement officer is killed by these low-live, so-called humans!
Ooooooh So Hot!