Is This How Marijuana Became Illegal? No, this is how Prohibition came about. It just sounds the same.

...years of marching, praying, arm-twisting, vote trading, and law drafting would be subjected to a plague of trials, among them hypocrisy, greed, murderous criminality, official corruption, and the unreformable impulses of human desire.

[Source: Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent.]

Pic of the Day - Hot Refueling

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INDIAN OCEAN (Dec. 30, 2011) Sailors conduct a hot refueling of an AH-1W Cobra attack helicopter assigned to the Red Dragons of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 268 Reinforced during night flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8). Makin Island is on its first operational deployment conducting operations in the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility in support of the Navy's Maritime Strategy. Makin Island is the Navy's newest amphibious assault ship and the only US Navy ship with a hybrid electric propulsion system. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alan Gragg/Released)

[Image courtesy of the US Navy Website.]

Basketball in Serbia. Who Knew?

Basketball in Serbia is not something I was even aware existed. I don’t follow sports very closely — I’m too busy reading books about World War Two! One of my readers, James Treadway, sent me the following story he wrote for Salon on this topic. This piece fascinated me and if you have any interest it is well worth your time reading. Jim is a freelance writer and a thoughtful observer of culture. He has spent time living in the US, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, and most recently, Serbia.

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/12/exporting_american_selfishness/

[Source: Salon.]

Pic of the Day - Live Fire Exercise

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INDIAN OCEAN (Dec. 29, 2011) A Sailor fires a .50-caliber machine gun during a live-fire exercise aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18). New Orleans and embarked Marines assigned to the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are operating in the US 7th Fleet area of responsibility as part of the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dominique Pineiro/Released)

[Image courtesy of the US Navy Website.]

Fat Americans Sinking Ships

It’s true. Americans have gotten so fat that the US Coast Guard has issued new regulations reducing the number of passengers that can be carried on a ferry boats, charter boats, and other vessels which transport passengers. Seems that the extra weight of fat Americans is destabilizing passenger vessels. The new standard is based on the US Coast Guard’s:

... new Assumed Average Weight per Person. That new weight, 185 pounds, is a full 25 pounds more than the previous average, 160, a figure put in place about half a century ago.

America, go on a diet. This is the last straw.

[Source: New York Times.]

Pic of the Day - On Guard

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A US Army soldier provides security outside Mullayan in Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Dec. 26, 2011. The soldier is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. (DoD photo by Spc. Kristina Truluck, US Army/Released)

[Image courtesy of the US Department of Defense Website.]

There Has To Be A Better Way

Because of the political decisions made decades ago to criminalize possession of even small amounts of marijuana, cocaine et al, the prison population surged. Right now, today, in the United States, there are 2.3 million people behind bars. Bizarrely, by criminalizing so many petty drug crimes, and growing the prison population, the prison-industrial complex in this country is a huge industry which has enjoyed large growth rates. There is one person employed in the prison-industrial complex for each person behind bars.

[Source: A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America by Ernest Drucker (five stars).]

Pic of the Day - Face Grab

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Eight-month-old Cooper Wagner grabs President Barack Obama's face while taking a picture with his parents, Captain Greg Wagner and Meredith Wagner, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama visited with members of the military and their families during Christmas dinner at Anderson Hall. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

[Image courtesy of the White House.]