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126 Comments
- scutter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+351) It's not our country.
2) A lot of those people are completely and totally innocent; not everyone in Colombia is a drug lord
3) Americans are buying the drugs. They aren't forcing them on us. - scutter, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33Amazing. They would rather people be blind than use drugs. How illogical.
- OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35US would do it to our own citizens if they thought they could pass it threw congress and still be reelected.
- EmileVictor, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33Because it isn't the US of A!!!
- tjordan90, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28Has the assassination of David Palmer not taught us anything?
- projectducky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Welcome, to the future. A future where, without good reasons, the government (not so) quietly starts killing off your freedom in the name of freedom. A future where, biowarfare is the norm and is taken without consideration to the possible impacts.
+digg for how stupid the american government can be (I'm american, I used to support the government, until stuff like this started happening). - steve693, on 10/12/2007, -3/+27CUZ DRUGS IZ EVIL!!!!!!! Now quiet down as I subsidise this tobacco farm!
- JimXugle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Ummm... Columbia = State Number 51 since when?
Oh Great... it's a bio Weapon too. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Why settle for Canada, why not move to say, New Zealand?
- UnknownCzar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17No no no, you read the article wrong.
They would rather the peasants be blind, rather then grow drug plants.
Easy miss-understanding. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17each day I keep finding more reasons to move to Canada.
- deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Human civilization got along just fine for thousands of years without prohibition. Other countries still do.
You cannot legislate behavior. People have always done drugs, people will always do drugs. Prohibition creates an environment in which drug dealers make money the same way bootleggers (Capone and the like) did during alcohol prohibition, the solution then was to end prohibition. The solution now is the same.
Prohibition == Profit Motive == Violent crime
U.S. drug laws are a racist, crock-of-***** excuse for allowing pharmacutical companies to be -legal- drug pushers. Just ask Rush Limbaugh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_prohibition - Silencer7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15tuna, because the provision passed the House! that means that a majority of our 435 representatives A) support blinding colombian villagers and/ or B) don't read bills they pass, both of which are ***** scary.
- colpridenyc, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Me being from Colombia I know that the drugs can be stopped by the DEA here but they are corrupt as are the Colombian government. If the DEA wanted to they could stop the drug flow completely. And when the US brags on all the money they have given the Colombian government, do you believe that crap?!?!? The Colombian government hasn't received not one dollar in bills but rather in old WWII helicopters and jammed artillery all that 2 billion dollars?? shove it up you ass America!
Now back to the issue. if they do use this chemical they kill the drugs but they also kill the farms that are owned by people who try and stay away from drugs. When all of their farm is destroyed what are ones options? They get right into drugs and this vicious cycle goes on and on. - zephc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Columbia, South Carolina?
Oh, you mean 'Colombia', the country.
(The headline has it right, but somehow the description does not) - Scruffydan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14'The CIA has been against the use of Fusarium to kill drug crops since at least 2000. At that time, one official told the Times, %u201CI don%u2019t support using a product on a bunch of Colombian peasants that you wouldn%u2019t use against a bunch of rednecks growing marijuana in Kentucky.%u201D"
Proof that common sense still exists in the US... although no word on how much is left - kremvax, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14"I hate to break it to you but China's economy is a joke. "
You couldn't possibly be more wrong. Not only have they had a trade SURPLUS for decades ( For slow kids in the audience, ask a non-American what that means...) but they also hold most of the United State's debt. The reason they've kept their currency pegged to the sinking dollar is at the request of their biggest customer. We're sending our financial reserves over there at such an incredible rate, that they can take an artificial hit on the currency to keep their prices to where we can best afford them.
Their standard of living has been skyrocketing (though not from a great starting point) while US standards of living and so-called "real wages" have slowly been declining since the early 70s.
They have interballistic nukes and the largest standing army in the world. What they don't have at the moment is a blue-water navy. But you know, there are a lot of former soviet experts and countries that would be pretty thrilled for the consulting fees to teach them how to build and run one.
If you extrapolate the trends.... - maiku00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Its insane how something like this could even be considered debatable. Insane.
- kremvax, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Well, not so much pretending to give them democracy.... I mean there are over 100 despot-ruled countries in the world right now. Many with dictators even more oppressive than Saddam Hussein. (Who was, in fairness, a twisted evil bastard.)
The important bit for our current regime is to pretend to give democracy to countries that have enormous resource reserves.
Like oil.
Why do you think we haven't invaded north korea yet? Kim Jong Il has killed, tortured and starved far more of his own people than Hussein could have dreamed of. But they don't have anything we want.
They're lucky if they have cabbage on a good day. Now if they were sitting on the second largest oilfield in the world.... we'd "liberate" em pretty darned quick. - joeshlub, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Note to self: Leave country ASAP.
- TVarmy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9No matter what your stance on drugs, I think we can all agree this is a horrible and barbaric method to control them. Tell your friends about this and write to your congresspersons. I don't want to live in a country that uses biological weapons over illegal drugs. It's not like the only people hurt will be the drug dealers. Wind will blow this fungus around, hurting everyone unfortunate enough to be near the planes. Little kids will go blind just because we can't stop drugs from getting through our borders.
- deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9And don't forget to link over consumption of alcohol with sports and sex through advertising and pop culture.
We've got alcoholics to maintain you know! - Rickler, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12you bastard! i'm halfway through season 3...
- deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Why are you all for the drug war?
- XxN3RDC0R3xX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Wait.. why is the U.S. government discussing things to do to Columbian crops?
- willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I've always thought that Columbia would be better off by legalizing and taxing the hell out of coca and cocaine exports.
Then just pour the money into schools and infrastructure. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8It saddens me that you are for the drug war. In the last 80 years over 100 billion dolalrs have been spent on prevention of marijuana use. 100 billion dollars over 80 years? Then why can I buy pot in the parking lot of wherever the ***** I want? The drug wars are useless and a waste of money. I do agree that many drugs need to be taken care of, but blinding colombians will NOT be acceptable.
- orlandogeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Actually I'd be so bold as to say we havent invaded North Korea yet because they already have nuclear weapons and Kim Jong is probably just ***** crazy enough to actually use them.
- theoallardyce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Why do people demonise drugs? To start with theres the "evil" drug dealer standing around school gates pushing to kids - what a load of ***** bollocks. Firstly, kids have no money, secondly, kids aren't ***** retarded enough to buy anything from a doggy looking guy round the corner, thirdly, any kids that do get addicted to drugs are, and I say this in the nicest possible way, being "picked out" by Darwin for the special life Olympics. Now lets move on to the retarded notion that drugs = crime to pay for drugs - why this retarded idea sticks around I will never know, perhaps people don't understand simple economics? Ok now thats out of the way with as little time wasting explanation as possible lets look at how high people act - yes its true, some people on some drugs are very likely to do stupid things like hacking people to death with a fire axe. This is a problem is deeper rooted and cannot be solved by simply sweeping the drugs under the carpet and hoping it will go away. Like retarded 14 year olds who shoot people and blame it on GTA there are some very very mother ***** mentally ill people in the world and we cannot base the security and safety of society on the principle of simply making sure these people do not get high, why not? because these are the exact same people most likely to try and get high at any cost! What needs to happen is a roundup of mentally ***** unstable people and a massive investment in the mental institutions. This is the same idea behind "guns dont kill people, people kill people" - drugs don't make people kill people, people make people kill people, instead of banning the drugs, why not ban the nut jobs?
Finally, and most importantly, I would like to point to the irrefutable and quite frankly damning evidence in the favour of drug legalisation and against the "War on Drugs": The fact that the United States government has become so obsessed with this that they are prepared to drop biological weapons on another country in order to fight this war. The fact that this war has done so little to curb gang violence and street crime over the years, the fact that people so blatantly brake the law in the use of drugs every second of the day. These facts simply demonstrate the gross incompetence of the philosophy behind the "War on Drugs". - asiaeroticacom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8FRom the Boy who cried: Terror ALERT = SEVERE ! 911 ! Child Porn!
Ok ...NOW can we do anything we want again? - dhughes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8 Whenever I see any news mentioning Dan Burton he's always talking about some insane act he supports, why they hell hasn't he been removed from office?
Advocating spraying an eye-eating fungus over another nation, if something one millionth as bad as this was tried against the US that country would be bombed into rubble the next day. - slythic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yep, noticed that too... funny how so many people get it wrong.
- elroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"I don't support using a product on a bunch of Colombian peasants that you wouldn't use against a bunch of rednecks growing marijuana in Kentucky."
be careful what you wish for. - Makyo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you've all finished hyperventilating, let's toss in a little more info....
(1) They aren't passing legislation requiring it's use, they are passing legislation to do continue doing research in it.
from http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/430/frankenfungus.shtml
Buried within the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Reauthorization
Act about to be considered by the Senate is a provision that would order ONDCP,
the drug czar's office, to revive already-shelved research into the use of toxic fungal
mycoherbicides to eradicate drug crops in places like Colombia and Afghanistan.
(2) The variant of the fusarium fungus usually discussed for this use is apparently fusarium oxysporum. It "cuts off plant vascular systems and thereby destroys [the plant]". From
http://web.mit.edu/thistle/www/v13/2/drugwar.html
Fusarium oxysporum is different from Fusarium kerititas. Various strains of Fusarium are responsible for plant problems such as: root rot, turfgrass blight, pea wilt. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusarium for links to additional information.
(3) Even though the linked article is wrong, the real legislation is still a stupid. Preliminary research has already canned the idea because Fusariaum can mutate rapidly/uncontrollably. - Dangerman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6The reality of this article is that two "drug war jihadists" are advocating it and pretty much everybody else in the government disagrees. I am as concerned about congress's behavior as much as anybody, but this article says that this isn't going to happen. Now can we go back to getting freaked out about the ***** that our reps are ACTUALLY doing? There are dumb@$$ pyscho bills being introduced everyday, most of which will never see the light of day.
- drizek, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10They want to protect Christian values here at home by blinding brown people abroad.
- deepsub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"I hate to break it to you but China's economy is a joke. "
Heh... and that's why Google violated it's own principles (-and- American values) to get a piece of China's internet economy. - tuna1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8***** 22 hour flights.
- SilentSpyder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5ColOmbia not ColUmbia.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4My friend was a camp counselor at an international camp in North Carolina... his fellow counselors were from many nations, Colombia included, and he got to know a girl from there, who told him that the Colombian people by and large resent US presence in their affairs. Makes sense all the more now when I see this.
- willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The most lasting product of prohibition, the Kennedy Dynasty.
- willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@lrm21 A pro drug war libertarian? Wow.
http://www.lp.org/issues/lp-oss.shtml -- See step 2
I'm just razzing you. I'm also a Libertarian but, I disagree with you on this point and support the party on it. - tsuroki, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Drugs from Colombia are clearly a problem in America. Obviously the only logical solution is to plaster the country in a destructive, unstoppable, rapidly-spreading biological agent that is impossible to control. Why nobody thought of this before is beyond me.
- SilentSpyder, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"I've always thought that Columbia would be better off by legalizing and taxing the hell out of coca and cocaine exports.
Then just pour the money into schools and infrastructure."
Yea, South Carolina really needs it. - Dangerman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not to be a jerk, but whoever told you that Coke is putting coke into Coke is misinformed at best. The flavors in Coke are synthetic for the most part and are based on citrus and the rather acrid tasting cola nut. Coke once was made from coke, but not since the 20's.
BTW the *caine drugs are made from lab synthesized amines, I believe, and are not farm grown. If they are actually grown it is done in the US and not abroad. Cocaine is not actually in those drugs, they simply share the same molecular source. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3well, they didn't read the patriot act. who knows if they read anything?
- CaptanAwal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3the US gives drug lords in columbia money
- alchemism, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@tuna1
You want proof that American standards of living have gone down?
Well, okay. In the early 1950s an American blue-collar factory worker could afford a new car on two-week's salary and a downpayment for a house within two months. Can you do that today? I sure as hell can't, and I'm white-collar. Americans have been using credit cards to maintain their standard of living.
Guess where in the world individual wealth is skyrocketing today like it did in the 1950s? China.
Without democracy.
You should be incredibly worried. - willcode4beer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The chinese will only be able to take over if we win "the war on drugs"
Seriously, anybody notice that the country with the highest productivity also has the highest consumption ratet of cocaine? - tuna1, on 10/12/2007, -10/+13When Chinese take over the world? Right. I hate to break it to you but China's economy is a joke. They are a banana republic that relies heavily on it's exports. They fight every year to keep their currency weak to keep their cheap prices and low wages. The only strong thing about their military is their ground forces. Not because they're well trained but because they're is so many of them. They're navy and air force are almost non-existent - where the U.S. Navy is now the equivalent to the British before WWI. As for their social stability, China can't stay Communist forever as their country grows out of isolationism and more pro-Democracy groups exponentially grows every year as censorship and the internet collide.
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