Education on marijuana is every voters responsibility!

BB's take: Get educated. You can't expect the news channels to tell you anything other than the network's opinion:

Some drugs are too dangerous to be legal. Marijuana isn’t one of them.

Some 24 million Americans said in 2018 that they used marijuana in the past month — twice the number who abuse prescriptions and 12 times the number who use cocaine. Of the 70,000 fatal overdoses in America in 2017, nearly 50,000 were tied to opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deaths tied to pot are so rare the National Center for Health Statistics doesn’t track them.

It’s absurd that the federal government considers pot a Schedule 1 narcotic — a regressive stance that damages thousands of lives and squanders millions in law enforcement dollars.

   

I've recently wrote Governor Abbot and Dan Patrick and remarked that I would not support them if they kept denying the wish of the Texan voters (70% are for decriminalization on some level) concerning decriminalization of pot. Both have made it clear they will not support decriminalization or changing the marijuana laws in Texas. 

 

 No doubt the current pot that is available on the street is unregulated and supplied by the cartels and just like in the 70's, there is no gauge to determine what exactly a person is buying, making it possibly Russian roulette. Legalization and regulation would make this drug so much safer its obvious to me that this is the direction we should go.

 

 Marijuana should not be a politically partisan issue. It is a health issue and concerns everyone. You may be 100% against legalizing pot and then you find that it is the only medicine that actually works for you. Now you are a believer. Do your homework. No one can answer if this is for you or not, but you.

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Money for nothing, chicks for free

If the government promises free... free anything... it means they will raise your taxes to pay for it. They have no huge pile of money in reserve. They borrow money and give it to foreign countries, so how exactly are they going to give you something free? There are no free lunches folks. The Democratic Party is real big on offering carrots, but understand that in order to give you something, they have to take something away and that is a huge chunk of your income. The Democrats have ALWAYS raised your taxes. Remember that when you vote in 2020.

Anytime our government promises to give me something for nothing, I envision them as a used car salesman. Why do they want to give me anything when our whole system is set up to pay? Think about it.

"Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it

You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free

Now that ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya, them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

 Somewhere in a politician's life they make the conscientious decision to sell out to the system. Those that don't, get no protection from their colleagues. Those that do, get richer and become the real issue and problem. They are so caught up in the world of politics that they forget the people who voted them into office and like a unsupervised kid at a family reunion, they eat, and eat, and eat and if you don't get your share; tough noogies baby.

To them it is a dog eat dog world and you better grab everything you can while you can, cause they sure as heck are.
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Distracted Drivers Need Remedial Training!

In response to a friend complaining about traffic congestion on Garth road, I offer this vision:
BB's take: I can get on Garth at SH-146 clear down by Park Street and drive almost all the way to I-10 usually without triggering a light change. Sometimes I catch the red light near Home Depot, but then when it turns green, I can go all the way to I-10, so my experience is not the same as yours with one giant exception.

The dead-heads driving all around me appear to be on some sort of mind-numbing Quaalude-ish drug that delays their reaction to... everything. They will get me stuck at the green light 3 cars back while each of them check their phone and this is the prime reason traffic is congested IMO.
Bump in rush hour traffic and you might as well walk.

Adding more lanes or removing traffic lights will have no impact on traffic congestion until people quit driving while distracted. Road rage should become a legal sport where cars are tagged with a sign that reads "Look at me. I need remedial training!" or "Honk if you love distracted driving!".

Redefining public education in Baytown, Texas

If you could make major changes in how our public schools educate our kids, what direction would you take? I'll go first:

1. Aptitude tests every 3 years (3rd, 6th, & 9th grade) with counselors helping the children recognize their strengths.

2. No more state testing as is currently in place.

3. Reading, writing, and arithmetic heavily stressed first, followed by science, history, & geography.

4. Wood/metal/drafting classes & Home economics for both sexes as mandatory.

5. Turn one of our 3 high schools into a full fledged vocational/technical school with first rate instructors. Students will graduate as 1st class apprentice/entry level journeymen/women in whatever discipline they chose with OJT work programs taking up the 2nd half of the school day.

6. Institute community service for infractions over fining the parents (fist-fights, etc).

7. Extend recess in grade schools for over-active children instead of punishments and color-coded behavior reports.

8. Schools could become competitive based on what disciplines they offer.

Note: I realize these suggestions might not be doable, but I would like folks to explain why they are not and what they would do to make our schools better.