THE WEEKLY
WTF?
(The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of strikezone or its owner. Neither strikezone nor its owner may be held liable for any opinions, beliefs, statements, or any other material posted in this page. All content posted in this page is the sole property of its respective owner. Reader discretion is advised.)
Why is it that people spend so much time messing around with things they can't possibly
agree on. The time spent pursuing these things borders on the insane.
There are 3 examples in no particular order to demonstrate what I mean.
Gun control:
Ok, how many out there think that new gun control laws would really help anything. If you answered," Sure
it would" , then you are in violation of the stupidity law. Gun control never has and never will cut the number
of deaths in this country. Even now guns are barely the top weapon used in murders and assaults. The second most
used weapon according to the FBI is the knife. But do you see people marching on Washington to have knives banned.
No. Do you see background checks done for the purchase of those really wicked hunting knives. No. Do you see any
exchange programs run in the big cities. No. And why not? Knives are the second leading weapons used in assaults
and murders. Surely we should all feel outraged that any 8 year old can walk into a store and buy one of these
dangerous implements. Knives are also one of the top weapons used in suicides. Shouldn't we be limiting the types
of knives a person may own. Don't we want to protect the children. Well maybe it's ok if we let knives of the hook
and tackle the third big killer. After all, knives are an important everyday tool. But what is the third big killer.
It's blunt objects. Well then shouldn't we insist that anything that can be swung and cause the death of someone,
be bolted to the floor at all times. Shouldn't professional baseball players be requires to show proof of their
identity before they take a practice swing. Of course not. The quite simple matter of fact is that guns are no
more dangerous than a knife or a bat. In the hands of a sane law abiding citizen they are the tools that help us
in our every day lives. And in the hands of the insane or the criminal they will kill. You can't stop it no matter
how many laws you pass. And even if you ban gun entirely, people will just buy a knife instead. So stop wasting
time on an issue you can't win and move on to something you can.
Legalizing drugs:.
In the 20 years of the so-called war on drugs, has anyone really seen a decrease in the availability of drugs.
Trying to stop the flow of an illegal product into the United States has only one real hope of ever succeeding.
And that hope is that the illegal product is no longer profitable. Lets face it when you have 5 kids in a shack
of a home and you can make 500,000 bucks in one trip for carrying 10 kilo's of coke: and the chances of getting
caught are 1 in 35, you are going to have people do it. It was seen all through prohibition and now the drug war.
You will never stop something that can in one shot ,with little risk, take your family from starvation to a life
of ease and comfort. And that is just from outside drugs coming into the country. To me the only answer is to legalize
drugs. Think of the advantages to this situation. First the cost of the drugs would go down dramatically. And thus
the amount of crime that is committed to pay for the drugs. If the drugs are available only though drug stores,
not unlike a liquor store, then the kids will find it harder to purchase the drugs. When I was young, it was always
easier to buy drugs than it was to say get a six pack Just because you had to find someone to buy the six pack
for you. Not to say this doesn't happen. But it was a lot easier to find a junkie. Tax revenues could be raised
as sin taxes would no doubt be put on all the products. And in turn these could be used to mount anti-drug campaigns
like those used used in anti-smoking. Drugs in the work place would not be anymore of a problem than they are now.
You can't come to work drunk even though it is legal to drink. so why should it be any different than coming to
work stoned. And the purity of the drugs would no doubt become much higher leading to fewer cases of deaths due
to improper cutting of the drug with say Draino. With all that said , I will say that I do not use drugs nor do
I advocate that others use drugs. But face facts, you can't make people do what you want them to unless you are
prepared to take away all free will. And since no one has figured a way to do that ( without drugs), I say we might
as well get more tax dollars and reduce the amount of violent crime that would come from legalizing drugs. Prohibition
didn't work and neither will the war on drugs.
Abortions:
Right up front, I am not a pro-choice person, I feel that there are other very acceptable choices to the abortion
of an unborn fetus. But ( you knew that was coming), it is another case of people being stupid if they think they
can legislate the moral behavior of others. Before Roe vs. Wade there were abortions performed in this country.
And if the abortion laws are changed, there will still be abortions performed. True, most of these abortions would
be done for the rich or those that can afford a trip to a foreign country. But they would continue. To try to make
them stop is utter folly. There will always be those that for one reason or another find it within them to commit
their souls to hell for the murder of an unborn child. I would like to stop it, but being realistic, I know that
I can't. And the sooner that those radicals on both sides realize it the sooner we can move on to other issues
that matter. So for the time being I guess you have to say that I'm" pro-can't do nothing about it" with
an idea for a compromise. And here it is. If a girl wants an abortion then I can't stop her. But I do not want
any of my money from taxes going to pay for the procedure. Thus the poor will no longer be able to have abortions
and the children of these unwed mothers can grow up in the squalor they don't deserve. I would however give tax
dollars to a program that placed a cash value on the unborn child. How many abortions are done strictly because
of the hardship that it will bring to the family. What if this hardship was turned into a financial reward for
giving up the child for adoption. And I'm talking about a big reward of say 20,000 dollars a kid. Some would say
that you can't put a price on the life of a child. Unfortunately you can, and people do. I would however limit
this cash reward to 3 kids, after which the mother would agree to be sterilized. If she did not agree to these
terms before to birth of the first child, then she simply wouldn't get the money. I am not against all abortions.
I can, in certain very dramatic circumstances, see that some abortions are in the best interest of the mother and
even child. These would include health risks and that rare case where the baby was going to be born with SEVERE
birth defects like a child born with no brain. To me it is not necessary to financially bankrupt the family or
have the state pay huge medical bills on an infant that would not live more than five minutes outside the womb,
except by the wonders of modern science. But then some would argue that there is a reason that this child should
be born. And that brings me back to my point. If you have people who can say this child should be born and others
that say no child has to be born, then there is no room for compromise. And thus you need to move on to something
else. To enter into a debate over such radically differing ideas is just stupid. There are those that will say,"When
we win we will have shown that we were morally correct". Only problem is that they won't win. Abortions will
still be conducted just not out in the open like they are done now. Girls will go down the back streets or find
a coat hanger like the did before the Supreme Court decision. So why bother wasting your time on a hollow victory.
Move on to something that you can do something about. MD
(The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of strikezone or its owner. Neither strikezone nor its owner may be held liable for any opinions, beliefs, statements, or any other material posted in this page. All content posted in this page is the sole property of its respective owner. Reader discretion is advised.)