Recent comments

Think about this! Right now we are paying farmers to not grow on land because we have an over abundance of alot of these crops and it drives the price for that crop so low that it is more profitable for the farmers to not grow on this land. they call it CPR ground and it is still costing the taxpayers to pay these farmers to not grow on it. We have a welfare system that is so fraudulent it is pathetic. These people need jobs, not a life of welfare which again, is payed by the people who pay taxes.Why not put this land and people back to work by legalizing pot! The farmers will be able to do what they do, FARM. It would create jobs for people to get off welfare and back to contributing to society. The government could control the quality and the quantity and make it available to responsible adults at government run stores. The tax money generated by the 20 million americans that smoke pot DAILY would support schools, local government and would allow states to build lots of new prisons and harbor the real criminals. With all that extra revenue,there would be no early release of hardened criminals because of overcrowding and no such thing as getting out early because of good behavior!!! They are in jail for crimes commited, how in the hell can there be "good behavior"? Also, Take a man with a family that goes to jail for selling pot. Not only do we put him in the system, but now, with the bread winner in jail, (tax payer burden) , without his income, it forces the rest of his immediate family into the system ( welfare, food stamps) to survive. (tax payer burden)!! With legalization of pot, I think the people who are involved in the distribution of harder drugs ( meth, cocaine, heroin,etc) will stand out like sore thumbs. Also if you take all the regular joes out of the pot selling buisness, the harder drugs will lose a great deal of thier distribution networks which will make them stand out for arrest and prosecution. With all those new jail from the tax money, all arrested will have plenty of room to do out thier entire sentence. Remember, pot is consumed the exact way it is put on this earth. There is no processing to get it. All other Drugs, including alcohol are the product of man!! I know its not the perfect solution, but we have to start somewhere and I promise you that you will not stop 20 million americans a day from smoking pot!! NO WAY.

Thank you, I wish we could get everyone to see the light. Now we just need to VOTE for like minded people!!!!!!!!

Snowbird06
Kath, these pot farms are loaded with land mines! The National Guard prepares it's soldier to be keenly aware of these deadly devices, and has the knowledgeable and tactical personnel to defuse these booby traps of sorts. Remind you, these are highly trained combatant soldiers ready for Iraq...we could use them now. No more pussy footing around if pot is legal or not....the punks are destroying the woods. Damn it, get after the SOB's, either throw them out of the country or into the slammer...and let them rot like compost. Sick of this drug crap in the woods.

That's just it -- I don't consider this routine police work. People from outside our country are here growing, harvesting and selling illegal drugs. If that's not a good use of the National Guard, I don't know what is. And if people don't consider this a national emergency, no wonder we're being so sluggish in our response to it. The FLETC training for park rangers does not adequately prepare them for this line of work.

-- Jon

The National Guard is never used for routine police work. They were called out for national emergencies like Hurricane Katrina, the L. A. riots and they have been used as support for the Border Patrol.

Pot growing in the National Parks and other public lands is a big problem. But there is no national consensus to legalize marijuana and since politics is the art of the possible, legalization simply isn't going to happen. So we have to look at what is possible. The pot growers are all illegal aliens. The latest Rasmussen poll said that 79% of Americans supported the new crackdown on illegals. Arrest and deport illegal aliens and the pot fields will vanish. Set up checkpoints near the parks that grow pot for valid driver's licenses. Illegals don't have valid driver's licenses in California. Impound their trucks and their equipment.

One of these days some hapless hiker or group of hikers is going to be found shot dead near one of these marijuana fields. Those that want safe parks need to support efforts to crackdown on this crime wave.

The quote in Kurt's piece says that tent and RV Camping 'in the National Parks' is down 44%. There weren't floods in all of them. The floods and the reduction in campsites was only in Yosemite Valley, not even in the rest of Yosemite. One of the largest campgrounds in the western U. S. is in Tuolumne Meadows in the Yosemite high country.

I got it -- turn the golf course into more camping space. They can keep one hole as a driving range for historical purposes and the people clamoring for tent space will have somewhere to go.

-- Jon Merryman

@Kath:

Tent camping is not down 44%. It is at the same level as before, with about 90% occupancy. The flood just reduced the number of tent camping sites available, so the total number of nights is down. Never trust a statistics, before you have seen how it was made.

I would just love to tell you EXACTLY what I think about tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs, but we're all making this effort to be more civil now, so I'll refrain from insulting folks here, even though it is something I wouldn't hesitate to say in person. For now, you'll have to decipher the metaphors (which isn't really all that difficult).

This is a perfect job for the National Guard, not the National God.

-- Jon

What about those toxic meth labs that are stuck way into the Sierra foothills, talk about chemical junk left behind. Were dealing with a nasty breed of people that could care less about the toxic chemicals that they dump into are pristine streams and rivers surrounding our National Parks. This is a huge national issue that calls for the National Guard to eradicate these deviant criminals from their drug pens, and inflict them with the most severest punishment...off to Pelican Bay!! Remind you, this isn't a fancy play ground for cute kids that go wrong...it's a mean prison for mean people. The only problem is, most of the National Guard is stuck in Bush's war that keeps draining this countries precious resources into a endless hell basket.

Since when is being able to make personal decisions about what substances you wish to freely ingest is about "selling ones soul"? I personally disagree with Frank's suggestion that the government should get any tax revenue from the future sale of currently illicit drugs but do think that the growing of marijuana in a remote area, like Yosemite, is a small symptom of a much bigger problem. The drug war done nothing to slackened demand but has been successful in raising prices that have only made criminals richer and more powerful as well as the streets of our cities more violent.

Who's soul is really being sold?