The Pot Guy 420: Pat Robertson- 'Blames Liberals for Drug War and Overincarceration 2012'

Source:The Pot Guy 420- Reverend Pat Robertson, blaming Liberals for the War On Drugs and prison industrial complex. No, seriously.

"Pat Robertson created a firestorm when he first called for the decriminalization of marijuana in December 2010, causing even his Christian Broadcasting Network's own publicist to deny that that's what he actually meant.

Well, in a March 1 segment of "The 700 Club" that went largely unnoticed, Dr. Robertson is at it again, reiterating his call for marijuana reform and even blaming liberals for the U.S.'s over incarceration problem.

We here in America make up 5% of the world's population, but we make up 25% of jailed prisoners...

Every time the liberals pass a bill -- I don't care what it involves -- they stick criminal sanctions on it. They don't feel there is any way people are going to keep a law unless they can put them in jail.

I became sort of a hero of the hippie culture, I guess, when I said I think we ought to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.

I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of controlled substance. The whole thing is crazy." 

From The Pot Guy 420

If I were to take Reverend Pat Robertson seriously about blaming Liberals for the War On Drugs and prison industrial complex (which I don't) then Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan are Liberals. That's according to Reverend Robertson's logic and argument. (If you want to call it that) 

I don't want to blame anyone for the War On Drugs and prison industrial complex. This is a nonpartisan problem created by career politicians (Democratic and Republican) who are simply worried about getting reelected and promoted in office, who freak out about looking soft on crime and coming out in favor of alternative sentencing and rehabilitation, for our non-violent, low-risk offenders, especially our drug addicts who fill up the prisons in America. 

But if there's anything that's good about the Great Recession, it's that it's teaching taxpayers and even politicians (assuming there are politicians who care capable of learning) that there's only so much money that any government can spend, especially in tough economic times and we have to be smarter with how we spend our tax dollars. Especially our criminal justice dollars that tend to be the most expensive part of every state budget and a major part of the Federal budget. Which is why you are seeing these strange political coalitions forming like with Tea Party Populists on the Right and hipster leftists on the Left, coming together in favor of criminal justice reform.

ACLU: 'Laura Murphy on Today Show - Religious Liberty is Not at Risk'

Source:ACLU- Laure Murphy on the NBC Today Show.

"ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director, Laura Murphy discusses the recent controversy surrounding the Obama administration's announcement that it would keep in place a proposed rule that ensures that new insurance plans include coverage of contraception." 

From the ACLU 

I've never argued that the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) is a perfect piece of legislation, certainly not perfectly written. Which is what you can get from Congress and The White House when they care in complete control, where the opposition has no interest in working with you, and you are on a tight deadline to pass your legislation since you are already in an election year, which is what 2010 was. And the birth control mandate, along with medical device tax, and the Medicaid mandate, are parts of the bill that I would like to see either amended or taken out. 

As a Liberal (or Classical Liberal, if you prefer) I'm a strong believer in free speech, freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. (Call me a radical Liberal, if you want too) But that separation goes both ways. 

We don't have the right to force Americans though government force to not only accept our religious views, but to live by them. Catholics of all ethnic backgrounds, not just Irish and Italian, are overwhelmingly opposed to birth control. And then you have Uncle Sam coming in and forcing religious groups to pay for something that goes against their religious values, that they even view as a tool to commit murder. I'm not a lawyer, but this looks unconstitutional under the First Amendment.