Weer'd World

Here’s an interesting video. Evidently the dickweed in Aurora was seeing a Psychiatrist. That could mean a LOT of things, anything from ADD and Minor Depression, to serious psychotic behavior…or as is suggested in the video, a plot for an insanity defense. (I’m not a conspiracy sort of guy but who knows?)

Of course the media is doing what they do best, reading into every minor detail they can and attempting to expand it to “breaking news”. Of course it should be pretty clear that reporters attempting to break a story first are frequently getting EVERYTHING wrong.

I wonder about this “notebook of stick figures”, how clear it actually is, or if maybe its something more like this little number. Also the guy arguing against the psychiatrist is attempting to pain patient privilege at going too far. Still I can picture a variant of Tam’s little post about ammo sales:

“Hello Police this, Dr. Hed”
“How can we help you?”
“Oh well I just got out of a session with a patient and he said he gets so mad he could kill somebody.”
“Oh, do you think he means to kill somebody?”
“No, not really, it just sounds like a common verbalization of frustration and anger.”
“So what do you want us to do about it?”
“Oh nothing, just some media dipshit thinks I should tell you ever bit of word salad my patients say”

Also the antis I’m sure will want people who are seeing a Psychiatrist to give up their rights…which will of course keep people from seeking treatment, or take certain drugs (like anti-depressants or Attention Disorder meds) under the less knowledgeable over-site of their general practitioner. Not that any of this shit will solve anything, but if they can stamp out just a LITTLE bit more freedom, the better!

BTW the talk of Client Privilege made me think of this classic clip:

Andy Griffith in his latter years was a pretty extremist “Progressive”, as is Ron Howard now. I wonder if the two of them regret making this scene….

Illinois passed a higher cigarette tax and guess what happened next?

When Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill adding another dollar a pack to the state’s cigarette tax, law enforcement leaders knew they had their hands full.

John Chambers, head investigator for the Illinois Department of Revenue, says cigarette smuggling now rivals illegal drug smuggling, and street gangs are getting involved.

“Keep in mind this is very similar to drug activity, smuggling drugs, and there could be concealed compartments, false floors in the bed of a truck, much like drugs, all packed with cigarettes,” Chambers said.

In Cook County, the tax on smokes is now $4.66 a pack. In Indiana it’s $0.995. Missouri checks in at $0.17. Who could possibly have seen this coming?

The Hot Air article closes with this:

So you tried to wipe away your spending problems by raising taxes. To compound the issue, you did it under the cover of attempting to regulate personal behavior by government tax policy to discourage it. I guess this has turned into a real teachable moment, eh?

Yep, they tried to make a fast buck by taxing cigarettes, and so more people are crossing state lines to buy their smokes, and smugglers are finding enough wiggle-room in the tax to simply run smokes across the country at a profit. Now of course the police are out to find the smugglers, and I’m sure they’re increasing patrols on the boarder attempting to catch people grabbing a carton before they head back into the state, much like here in Massachusetts where police patrol the boarder with New Hampshire around Independence Day to grab people buying illegal fireworks out of state.

Sounds like a net loss to me.

Of course this is nothing new, the opening scene in Beverly Hills Cop has Eddie Murphy running a Sting on smuggled cigarettes. There isn’t even a huge need for explanation to get the audience to understand what the criminals motivation is.

Of course this is the same thing that happened with the prohibition of alcohol. When was the last time you heard of gang members and corrupt cops murdering a bunch of people over booze?

Of course this is commonplace over illegal drugs…but we can’t contemplate that inconvenient truth. (BTW all you “Legalize it and tax the crap out of it!” people take note of this…if you throw a $30 tax on an ounce of weed, how many people won’t just still illegally grow it, or import it from failed states like Mexico?)