What I found frightening was that a couple of years ago at the local high school, they sponsored a drug program – sort of a fyi for parents and kids about drugs, etc. Of course, the State Police were there saying, “Please don’t be afraid to speak to the police, we need you to work with us concerning the drug issue – we need your help” while the kids who were part of this program stood by, nodding their heads like mindless bobbleheads. I wanted to stand up and say, “Just WHO do you think you’re talking to?” – but refrained.
To: Nameless – My heart breaks for your son and your family – a terrible lesson to learn so young. I hope your son comes to realize that he is one of many in that position and that he can overcome – he’s learned a lesson early on so he’s ahead of the game. I hope he chooses to move on and rise above the garbage he’s had to endure.

Because I love my Constitutional rights, if a policeman ever asks to search my vehicle, I’ll refuse. I’m willing to spend some time waiting for a warrant to be either issued or denied. Might as well celebrate those rights while they’re there!

Yes, the police do provide a valuable service and in general I appreciate the fact that they are there.

I agree across the board.

Very nice post.

Thanks for posting that video. It was so informative that I decided to take the time to watch the video “Haggus” posted also – thanks Haggus!

By the way, please continue posting whatever strikes your fancy, even when it doesn’t relate to nutrition

Thanks. I will.

We’re living in a police state, folks.

A few years ago my son was stopped by police because he was smoking pot while driving with some friends and a girl he had just met. (Granted I don’t condone smoking pot and I realize that what he was doing is illegal.) My son was 18 at the time, taking AP classes in high school, getting good grades with the intent of becoming a history teacher someday. He had never been arrested. The officer found a very small amount of pot on my son, the minimum amount of pot on the girl which would allow arresting her with intent to sell which was somewhere between 2-3 ounces apparently.

At the police station my son requested to call his parents but was not allowed to. The officer started to talk to him about getting high, that he smokes etc., getting my son relaxed about the whole thing. The officer suspected that my son was in on selling pot with this girl. My son claimed he was not a drug dealer (true) didn’t know this girl had that much pot on her (true) and had just met her (true). The officer asked him if he knew people who sold pot. “Yes.” The officer asked what if one of your friends asked you where to get pot? My son:”I might tell them if I knew where I thought they could get some.”

After this went on for a couple of hours, the officer wrote a description of the nights events and told my son to sign. My son claimed it wasn’t really what he had said and that the officer twisted his words around enough to give a different impression. The officer used phrases like, hooked people up with drugs, etc. But being under pressure, very scared, feeling helpless, tired and under the influence, my son signed.

I called the police station the next morning and complained to this officer’s boss. I could not believe what had just happened. Big mistake! I quickly realized it was a useless attempt. As a result, my son was charged with the felony a hard core drug dealer gets, which is allowed as the driver of the vehicle. He was expelled from high school, did escape jail but was put on probation for 2 years and required to go to daily classes for almost the whole time with all of these hood rats as the officer in the video calls them. Even his probation officer constantly claimed that the whole situation was a shame and that my son didn’t belong in the system. It was a totally demoralizing, depressing and frustrating experience for him. It sent him into a downward spiral which honestly I don’t believe he will ever recover from. He does not want to go back to school and feels that this experience took too much from his life in both time and his spirit. Of course it is hard to convince young people that they still have their whole life ahead of them.

Maybe the lawyer that cost us thousands kept him out of jail. We’ll never know. The lawyer did say that if my son never talked to the police, the court probably would have dropped the charges. A tough way to learn a lesson…

A tough way, indeed. I’m sure the officer responsible went home after a hard day’s work and never gave what he did another thought. Meanwhile a young life has been totally turned upside down for the most minor of infractions. The officers involved should be ashamed. My condolences.

-MLH, your friendly federal employee (I only enforce on feds)

I’ll give it a look.

Nonetheless, I feel constrained to say the following. I check your blog for your interesting and valuable insights into nutrition which have been very helpful to me. However, I am finding your increasing number of posts on random topics quite disconcerting. Moreover, the fact that I happen to disagree with some of your “political” views is starting to spill over into my wondering about the reliability of your writings on nutrition. (I’m not trying to justify that I feel this way — just trying to be honest.)

Why not start a separate (sub)blog for these “off-topic” posts?

Perhaps the reliability of my nutritional writings should reflect on the reliability of my political writings.

MRE

You can download it from this page:

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/