Bay St. Louis remained one of the few places in South Mississippi this week to allow sales of “herbal incense,” or synthetic marijuana, after the city council decided to ignore recommendations from the mayor and police chief that the substance be outlawed.

The decision came Tuesday, after laborious debate and confusion over what the council was even voting on. But in the end, Councilman Joey Boudin won a 5-2 vote to allow continued sales of Spice, Bay Breeze, and other synthetic drugs to anyone 21 or older.

via Bay legalizes ‘herbal incense’.

A voice of sanity in the wilderness.

As the United States military prepares to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, the Obama administration is planning a remarkable civilian effort, buttressed by a small army of contractors, to fill the void.

via Civilians to Take U.S. Lead After Military Leaves Iraq – NYTimes.com.

Usually when a country is on the way out, they resort to the use of mercenary armies in a pathetic attempt to retain power.

The Brits used Hessians during out Revolution. That didn’t work out too well for them.

Look, the takeaway is this. If there isn’t the political will for the “fight” and you have to use mercenaries, why are we there at all?

Possession or intent to distribute herbal incense will be prosecuted in the same fashion as for the use and sale of marijuana — a Schedule I narcotic — which means a potential fine of $10,000 and five years imprisonment if convicted.

The law states “It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess material, compound, mixture, or preparation which contains a prohibited plant and which is intended to be placed in the oral or nasal cavity, is prepared in such a manner as to be suitable for smoking in a pipe or cigarette, or is to be burned and inhaled or exhaled in any manner or in any form.”

The law deems illegal any of the following plants:

• Mugwort.

• Bay Bean.

• Lion’s tail and Lion’s ear.

• Honeyweed.

• Sacred Lotus, Blue Lotus, Egyptian Lotus.

• Indian Warrior.

• Salvia divinorum.

• Dwarf Skullcap.

• Damiana.

• Zornia latifolia

via News : Herbal incense illegal (New Iberia, LA).

I’m not saying Lousiana has nothing but retarded people in office.

But after seeing what they’ve made illegal in Lousiana, that might be hard to prove.

Perhaps they are just trying to protect the illegal drug trade or some other source of political contributions.

I suppose you have some medical findings to back up making these herbs illegal. I would hate to think Louisiana just haphazardly pulling laws out of it’s ass…

Taxpayers’ money is being spent on prostitutes, lap dancing clubs and exotic holidays under schemes designed to give more independence to the disabled.

via Councils pay for prostitutes for the disabled – Telegraph.

President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”

via Politics Story – Obama Strongly Backs Islam Center Near 9/11 Site – CNBC.

Now Obama injects himself into something intended as “red meat” for the Tea Party (thrown, no doubt by someone like Dick Army or Newt).

Nothing goes together so well as politics and religion. One day they should pass a law to separate the two.

Does Obama like pushing the “Conservative’s” buttons or what!!?? Rush and Glen Beck are going to “hit” on this bait like hungry sharks…

After a dismal period of huge losses and deep cuts that culminated in the Obama administration’s bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, the gloom over the American auto industry is starting to lift.

via Detroit Goes From Gloom to Economic Bright Spot – NYTimes.com.

A less misleading way to phrase this would be “…Obama administration’s unpopular taxpayer bailout of  two more failed businesses.”

I hate knowing a reporters opinion in the first sentence. Makes the piece sound like more “optimism” (see our tagline) to me.

Because of your excellent propagandizing of our current “wars” there is a real lack of reporting/pictures of what is really going on there (besides us getting our asses kicked again). Here’s some of the good work from the last time a president wanted to play politics with “war”.

This is what you are bringing the children of the “Middle East” like that lying dead president Lyndon Johnson.

And don’t even get me started on Nixon. (Google Nixon Shock and learn why our current financial mess won’t end – we went bankrupt in 1971 and have been pretending ever since)

I guess there is some kind of “lying-asshole” test a president has to pass before he can assume office (Bush2 clearly aced it).

This bullshit cluster-fuck in the desert is as close to “war” as your piece of shit ” financial reform bill” is to real financial reform. Looks and sounds great but for some unforeseen problem, just isn’t working out as good as you’d hoped.

Let’s face it. There is so much more money to be made with these “lifetime” police actions, we may never go to war again! Anyway, there are more shootings in Detroit than Bagdad.

If that last fact doesn’t alarm Americans (which it didn’t), I don’t know what will.

If you sense bitterness in my tone it is probably my disappointment in the lack of Christianity in this “Christian Nation” of ours.

Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.

via U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know It: Laurence Kotlikoff – Bloomberg.

Are they going to shut off our cell phones and power? Cut the cable?

No.

We’ve done this before (thanks Richard Nixon). Default once – shame on you’ Default twice – shame on you again, suckers!

Nothing is going to change. No huge tax burdens, no failed Social Security, no food riots.

Well, that is until someone can do this better than we can.

Lately we’re seeing a lot of extreme examples of the bully whining, about the victim fighting back. The predatory lending system is now whining about some among the people (all too few so far) fighting back with quasi-”strategic”* defaults; Obama sending out his hack to whine about those nasty professional leftists; the Pentagon saying how mean Wikileaks is.

I think examples like this are encouraging. It means some resistance is penetrating the facade of arrogant unconcern. Everywhere we’re getting past the “ignore” stage, and the administration is running out of room on the “ridicule” stage.

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I do not like green AIGs and HAMP,

I will not eat them, Uncle Sam