Jesse Ventura's attack on the pot laws show

[Virgil]

The recent show where Jesse Ventura called bullshit with the mouthpiece from officialdom was well received at Cannabisnews. This is link to the transcripts and comments- http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17972.shtml

The video itself is up at pot-tv - http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2365.html

It was David Corn of The Nation that put me onto the expression that the media was always reporting from the mouthpieces of "officialdom." On this show with Jesse Ventura, the government sent a parrot to spout the same old officialeze from officialdom. Jesse Ventura told him to stop the spin and talk sense. Cannabis Prohibition was ushered in with lies about blacks smoking joints and going "reefer mad" and raping white women. The leading expert the government hauled around in the 30's said he smoked marijuana and turned into a bat. There is a huge disinformational campaign that spends some $200 million of federal taxpayer money a year to demonize what is an all but benign plant.

People would see things about the media much more clearly if they would look at the lies they are told to manufacture consent for a continued cannabis prohibition. The problem is now that the majority of Americans would be for regulating cannabis like alcohol and tobacco, and the USG ignores the popular will just like the 80% that support MMJ/CC.

[VermontDem2004]

1. This is a really good article

JESSE VENTURA, HOST: Imagine an alien suddenly dropped into the 21st century America. He goes to a Monday night football game and witnesses thousands of people guzzling a liquid refreshment as fast as vendors can supply it. Observing the spectacle of the game itself, the alien is constantly distracted by fans whose behavior seems to become more and more bizarre. He watches as fights break out between half-naked fans with painted bodies.

By the end of the contest, on the playing field, he notes that most of the people around him seem to have lost their ability to walk and for some reason, their speech has changed. Words are less audible. They seem to be talking in slow motion. Once the game is over, he watches the fans stumbling toward their cars, cursing and threatening other fans.
Clearly, the alien observes, something has caused these fans to have a mind-altering experience. But whatever is going on, it seems to be acceptable behavior for this society, because all the while, many police officers observe the behavior, but remain at a distance and don't interfere.

The next day, the alien attends a lecture on a college campus. After the lecture, he's invited by some students to a party. At the party, students are sitting around drawing smoke from a bottle-like structure with water in it. The smoke is inhaled into their bodies, the conversation is friendly, calm and respectful, and music is playing in the background. But all of a sudden, many police officers arrive with guns, grab the water-filled bottle, put handcuffs on everyone in the room, and take them off to jail. The alien is totally confused.

Welcome to the United States of America, the land of hypocrisy.

[1a2b3c]

2. You should stick around here

We need more drug war threads to mix in with the millions of gun threads.

from the article: LEVENSON: I can't answer that question. I'm sure that Attorney General Ashcroft has a reason for it. It bewilders me what that reason could be. With everything else that's going on in this world, I don't understand why this particular emphasis, especially since the war on drugs has been an unmitigated failure. We keep incarcerating more and more people for longer and longer amounts of time. And all we're doing is building more jails. We're certainly not reducing the use of drugs in this country.


That about sums up what Ashcroft has in mind.

And the drug czar: RILEY: Because alcohol for better or worse, and a lot of times for worse, it's a close call, is long entrenched and ingrained part of our culture and our society. I mean you go back thousands of years. The first writing is about alcohol, the Bible, everything else. It is really hard to reach in ...

Marijuana and hemp have been the most widely cultivated plants in american history.

RILEY: Most of the violence that's associated with drugs is people who are on drugs, not drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is a crime. That's what prohibition is about. But the thing that drives it is that most of the violent crime that's committed, or most of the crime, period, that's committed are having to do with drugs. It's people who are on drugs committing violent crimes. If you make it legal, if you make it cheaper, you make it more available, you are going to have more violence, more addiction, more crime.

I would LOVE to see some proof of this statement.

RILEY: I'm a good Republican. I'm skeptical of the federal government, too. You said ...

Republican...figures.

[slackmaster]

3. I noticed Riley's misstatement about culture and society too

That wasn't just spin, it was a blatant lie.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

7. uneducated

"It's people who are on drugs committing violent crimes. If you make it legal, if you make it cheaper, you make it more available, you are going to have more violence, more addiction, more crime."

Absolutely false, even dangerously false. That is the equivalent of saying Al Capone's hitmen were out killing people because they were under the influence of alcohol. Rather, the crimewave during Alcohol Prohibition was driven directly by the Prohibition of the alcohol, not alcohol's physiological effects.

[beevul]

4. Reading the article and trans.....

He puts Tom Riley on the spot and nails him. Kinda reminds me of the old days of ALL STAR WRESTLING....

Jesse....sometimes I really like the guy.....Sometimes he can say something totally off the wall.......

In this case, hes right on the money, and making that clueless schmuck look.....well....clueless.


"VENTURA: Stop lying to us. That is not true. You know -- don't tell me that. I've smoked pot, Tom. I've admitted it. I've done it. I've done all of the big three. I've done tobacco, I've done alcohol, and I've done marijuana, Tom. Guess what? Marijuana is the least of the three, pal.

RILEY: What about ... I mean -- you did ...

VENTURA: Wake up to that. How many people smoke pot and go home and beat their wives up? How many people drink and go home and beat their wives up? Let's talk common sense here, Tom."





ROFL

[CrownPrinceBandar]

5. Finally!

Someone with some credibility standing up for reformation of pot laws! Too bad most folks will see the former Minnesota governor as a liberal attack dog and not take him seriously.
I thought it was great that Mr. Riley tried to justify the continued legaization of alcohol as it is already entrenched in society. Guess what, so was slavery at one point. What if Mr. Riley's justification was carried to that degree? He also stated that alcohol was OK because it harkened back to the Bible. Guess what? Slavery was there too (as well as religious murder and the subjugation of women). Does that make it alright?
Another implausible justification that Mr. Riley cited was that legalization would add to, and not alieveiate the probs associated with drug abuse, and that addicts would cost the taxpayers even more money. Funny, its seems the government is concerned with addicts. Maybe next we'll see outreach programs for workaholics, and finally we might get the prohibition of "super-sizing" and win the war against fat people (sarcasm).
The most plausible reason for marijuana crminalization is... (tada!) money! If pot were legal, the drug and alcohol industry would lose money as there would be another competetor on the playing field. Also, the drug companies wouldn't be happy either. Why would they want folks to self-medicate, when there are perfectly good medications they can overcharge you for? And, if pot users had carte blanche to grow their own weed, how's the goverment gonna take their bite, like they do with taxes on cigs and alcohol?
Simply put, pot will never be legal because the profiteers of the industry are not big political contributors.

[1a2b3c]

6. Most people here see him as anything but liberal

I think he is just an ordinary person taking over politics, exactly what we need. Im fed up with the professional shitbag crooks that we call our leaders. Throw the common man in there. We need another farmer for president.

[Virgil]

8. MSNBC cancels his show

This was Jesse's last show at MSNBC. He will stay on as a commentator on the 2004 elections.

[1a2b3c]

9. yeah

you cant publicly support legalizing weed and stay on with one of the major news networks.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

10. you're kidding me

MSNBC can't take dissent. First Donahue, now Ventura. Makes you wonder about Tweety, doesn't it.

[MrBenchley]

11. No surprise...

The pinhead's program drew less than 200,000 viewers the first week it finally aired, and slumped from there...

"NEW YORK - "Jesse Ventura's America" isn't very crowded.
The former Minnesota governor's MSNBC talk show debut was seen by a tiny audience of 194,000 people last weekend.
It badly trailed its cable news competition and scored fewer viewers than a rerun, taped profile of First Lady Laura Bush that MSNBC aired in the same Saturday evening time slot a week earlier, according to Nielsen Media Research figures released Tuesday."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/6954932.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp