So many things have changed in the past 40-50 years. Some changes have been good, others not so much. In certain instances, we seem to be moving backward to a more uncertain, dangerous and unscientific time.
Who would have thought after Roe v. Wade that we'd still be fighting abortion? Who could have foreseen that contraception would again become an issue and that some medieval minds would argue that a fetus is a person? The teaching of evolution, which was widely accepted, is now being attacked by religious zealots who care nothing for science and truth but only for the writings of ancient desert munchkins who adapted wild tales about a deity creating everything in six days and then becoming so tired he had to rest; or a deity who regretted creating humans at all, so arranged for a genocidal flood saving only certain animals and a degenerate old fool named Noah, who immediately following the flood proceeded to fire up the wrath of his god friend. There are ignorant folks today still looking for the mythical ark on a mythical mountain.
I've always thought it a bit strange that we legalize alcohol but put people in jail for most of their lives for the mere possession of a few grams of a weed called marijuana. Alcohol causes more death and depravity in one year that marijuana has caused since the beginning of time.
But the light has dawned in certain of our states who have legalized or intend to legalize the sale and consumption of marijuana. Colorado is one such state and it turns out that the tax monies received from marijuana sales have exceeded all expectations to the delight of those who worry about budget deficits.
But certain politicians just cannot leave people alone and continue to attempt to regulate all kinds of personal behavior. I'm no fan of tobacco because of the fact it can cause so many medical problems, but we need to allow people to live their lives and make their own decisions about such things. The abolition of alcohol did not work, nor will the abolition of tobacco.
A step toward the abolition of tobacco has been taken by the States of Colorado and Utah. They are getting ready to raise the smoking age to 21. One not too bright Utah person by name of Marla Breenum said, "By raising the age limit, it puts them [young people] in a situation where they're not going to pick it up until a much later age." Can anyone really be this stupid?
As mentioned, I've got nothing good to say about smoking. But I've nothing good to say about a lot of things, like religion, the Republican Party, Utah in general, rutabaga, George W. Bush, or brandy.
I do find it interesting, though, that certain pathetic patrons of pious nonsense feel they have the right to limit the freedom of other people - especially those powerless to resist, such as teenagers. Why the hell can't our so-called legislators leave our personal behavior alone and get busy passing laws that ban discrimination rather than allow it; that protect the 99% from the predatory 1%, that instigate job creation rather than boosting the wealth of the already rich?
Along those lines: Several states have attempted to pass laws protecting business owners who wish to use religion as a shield behind which to discriminate against people they don't like or with whom they disagree: Gays, for instance. Idaho, Kansas, South Dakota and Tennessee have tried to do this without success. Arizona, however, has actually passed such a law. And it's very likely Arizona's dim-witted governor will sign it.
It seems to me a better idea, if we have to pass such laws, to enact a statute to allow the rest of us to discriminate against asshat legislators who write and vote for anti-gay laws or anyone else we dislike on "religious" grounds. If I owned a business, I might be emboldened to discriminate by not allowing anyone into my establishment who was a politician, or carried a gun, or wore a cross around his/her neck, or sported a crew-cut, or had a visible tattoo on his/her body, or drove a Ford, or had a connection with the so-called Tea Party.
Is it just me, or do other people find the winter Olympics mostly boring? I mean, really, if you've seen one skier, you've seen them all. If you've seen one bobsled run, you've seen them all. The same goes for figure skating, cross-country skiing, luge contests, snow-boarding, Russian presidents and NBC hosts.
And who would conduct a winter Olympics where the temperature in February is warmer than it is in Central Florida? And who would put together a winter Olympics that cost his country $50 billion? Fifty billion dollars!!!
Texas is always fun to write about because so many crazies live there and so many crazy things go on there. Guess who's down in Texas these days trying to help certain Republican politicians win their political races? Ted Nugent! Who is Ted Nugent? If you don't know, that's probably for the best. Think of the south end of a horse traveling north that has diarrhea.
Ted Nugent is the lowest of the low. He's a musician and his latest stunt to gain more notoriety was to call President Obama a "subhuman mongrel." Why couldn't the press ignore him? We have enough fools we have to suffer. Nugent isn't one of them. Being a heavy-duty supporter of the NRA, Nugent probably carries a gun in his guitar. Maybe one of these days he'll play the wrong string and put himself out of our misery!
Alaska is a lot like Texas in that the people there, probably due to brain-freeze, elect really weird politicians. For example, once upon a time the people elected a governor who made a lot of noise, blew a lot of the peoples' money like she had done when merely a mayor of a piddly little town in the hinterland, and who failed to finish out her term.
It seems she desired a TV career and money more than serving the public. But it turned out nobody who mattered cared much about her. An empty head, even if blessed with bouffant hair, only goes so far. But Ms. Palin is not going quietly into the night. She can't go anywhere quietly. Nope. She's got a new Teevee reality show called "Palin's a Pumkinhead." Nah, I'm just kidding. Almost as strange, though, is the real title: "Amazing America with Sarah Palin."
This is really true! It's perfect, though, 'cause no one, absolutely no one, knows as much about 'Murica" as does Ms. Palin. So "Prepare to be amazed," warns Ms. Palin, the invincible preppy pinhead who used to live in a northern state where she shot unsuspecting and innocent wolves from helicopters.
More stuff from the strange world in which we live tomorrow. Stay tuned.
