13 Sep 2009
Malays charged over cow protest

I wonder if this was essentially the same crowd...

Six Malaysian Muslims have been charged with sedition for parading the severed head of a cow through the streets.

(link) [BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition]

19:55 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Hard times boost pot economy

What really leapt out at me was this little tidbit:

The illegal American pot harvest is worth about $35 billion a year, according to government estimates. In comparison, the 2007 bumper corn crop in the US was worth approximately $45 billion.

Now that is a mind boggling number...

A surge in marijuana farming this year may be due to unemployment as well as growing demand for the drug.

(link) [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

19:42 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Tea party organizer: Where do we go from here?

My, my! They want "their" government back:

If the tea partyers can play a part in stopping the president's health care efforts they will be poised for a much bigger challenge: taking control of Congress from the Democrats, he says.

Somebody needs to remind them that they (the Republicans) had control of Congress, from 1994-2006, and the White House from 2000-2008. They managed to rack up the largest deficits heretofore in American history, start one useless war, and fail to get the guy behind the 9/11 attacks. It was "their" Administration that pushed the trillion dollar bailout through Congress.

But even worse is the level to which the discussion of serious political issues has descended:

In Battle Creek, Michigan, a woman in her 60s says, "I really don't want to be a guinea pig for the experiment they have with the population control." In Canton, Ohio, a woman argues with an Obama supporter: "He's going after our kids to try to indoctrinate them into a national defense army."

Ignorance can be cured, but this isn't ignorance, it's stupidity. And that's nearly always fatal...

"It's opened for a leader. I don't see anyone out there that can grab it," he [Russo] says. "I'll be surprised if someone emerges. I don't see who that is."

I am reminded of an ancient Chinese proverb: Be care what you wish for - you may get it! And if and when they do get their Führer leader, the signs carried by some in the crowd may take on a whole new meaning ...

Sal Russo is charged with turning the passion on display at the conservative "tea party" events into political action. But who will lead them past Saturday's huge rally in Washington? If there is a Ronald Reagan-type out there to take the reins, Russo doesn't know who that person is. "It's opened for a leader. I don't see anyone out there that can grab it," he says.

(link) [CNN.com]

08:47 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link