Question: What activity or behavior should be a crime?

I think the vast majority of reasons that people use for honking their car horn constitutes being a crime. In my opnion, car horns could pretty much be removed and roads would be much safer than they are now.



Some examples:



- Honking your horn at the driver next to you while driving down the interstate to because you recognize them and want to give them a shout out. Um, have you ever thought that staring at them and causing them to stare at you means their are two people NOT STARING AT THE ROAD?? Not to mention that this behavior often causes windows to be rolled down and people to try to talk to each other. Oh, and the potential effect of startling the other drivers around you. So yeah, very dangerous.



- Honking your horn to get the person in front of you to move at a green light if they happened to be doing something like blinking when the light turned green. Give them a few seconds people!



- Honking your horn because someone doesn't drive the way you think they should. Okay, I know that cars were created so your awesome skills could be put on display, but give the rest of us a break. Sure, there are a ton of folks out there who probably should not have a license, but honking your horn at them is not going to make them realize that. And again, it probably scares the and everyone else who you are not directing your anger at.



I'm sure car horns had a purpose when cars were first invented, but I find them very unnecessary now. And I think if we can be ticketed for not wearing a seatbelt which places no one but ourselves in danger, then there should be tickets for honking your horn for stupid reasons which could definitely harm others.

Question: What would be the pros and cons of legalizing Marijuana?

This is a question that gets brought up a lot lately. I guess that will continue as Marijuana use gets to be more accepted. I remember not too long ago that pot use was considered to be much the same as many other illegal drugs. Now, especially since it's been approved for some medicinal applications, very few people seem to be surprised when they hear about or see another person smoking pot.



Do I think Marijuana should be legal? Well really the question is - should ANY DRUG be illegal? The Libertarian in me would love to say that there should be no laws against drug use. And to tell the truth, I'd go along with that if people could be trusted to be responsible with drugs and alcohol. But I'm already scared enough to drive at certain times at night when statistics show more people are likely to be driving under the influence of alcohol. So while I think it is really unconsitutional to prohibit any drug use, it's not really practical to say anything goes. If we are all being honest, the laws against the "hard" drugs are there to protect everyone involved. Yes, I know the argument that if you made them legal then the excitement about breaking the law would go away and then people would be more responsible. But I can't say I see that's the case with alcohol even though it's legal. There would have to be a limit on the legal use of these other drugs, as there is with alcohol. That limit would still be broken and lives would still be shattered, as it is with alcohol.



So I guess the way I'm going answer this question is to say that legalizing Marijuana would have the same pros and cons as legalizing alcohol does...



Pros:

- More people would know what the limits are and would consider the consequenses of breaking those limits.

- Taking pot off the street and putting it into the hands of regulators would likely help more responsible people from getting into too much trouble with the drug. For instance, if pot could be categorized like beer, wine, hard liquor is now, people would know how much they can take to fall within the legal limits.

- Realizing that you have a problem with addiction to pot and getting help would be easier than it is now. In that at least you can admit it and people will be somewhat more accepting. Much like alcohol is now. Let's face it - if you admit a problem with something that is legal like alcohol or gambling, people look at you differently than if you admit a problem with something illegal like pot or cocaine.



Cons

- Well, think about all of the cons related to alcohol being legal. Again, lives are shattered every day by alcohol use. People are killed. Families are broken apart.

- I can't say I know much about the effects of marijuana use. For instance, how many joints would it take to have the general side effects of a can of beer? Or should that question be the other way around (how much beer = 1 joint)? Sure, it depends on the individual user's tolerance but you see what I am getting at. I'm left to assume that marijuana is generally stronger than your basic alcoholic beverage. That being the case, then we are introducing a more dangerous drug into our society. There would clearly be consequences to that.

- All of the drugs in this discussion are gateway drugs. A little bit of alcohol many times leads to wanting more alcohol, or stronger alcohol. So a little bit of pot would likely lead to wanting more pot, or stronger pot.



So in summary - in a perfect world, marijuana would be legal because people would take it responsibly. But we are not in a perfect world so it's probably best to have as few legal drugs as possible.

Question: What's the least fun you've ever had at a place that was supposed to be fun?

Ok, I know I know. I was gonna blog more and then I stopped blogging....Again. Sorry. Ok, enough of that. Let's get on with the answer...



The year was 2001. Beverly (my wife) and I were in our early 20s. We still sorta followed the music that was popular at that time. Several bands we liked were going to be there. Creed was one of the headliners and we really liked them. Here is the lineup that year if you would like a little bit of nostalgia.



http://www.thebealestreetmusicfestival.com/2000-bealestreetmusicfestivallineup.htm



So us and another couple bought tickets. We were really excited. This was the first year where they had three days of music by a bunch of artists we actually like. Should be a lot of fun, right?



Wrong.



So the first night we get there and the main band we wanted to see was Creed. We thought we'd bring our lounge chairs and find a place to set up and just enjoy the scenery for a little while until an hour or so before Creed was supposed to take the stage. That didn't work out at all. For one, no chairs allowed. For two (is that even a term? oh well), it started raining really hard soon after we got there. And when I say hard I mean I think a tornado was close or something. We were watching Percy Sledge (of "When a Man Loves a Woman" fame - yeah, that time slot was pretty weak) and the bottom fell out. Completely miserable.



So after the rain stopped a bit, the ground was muddy. Not Woodstock muddy I guess, but still pretty darn muddy. And tons of people started flowing in the place. Before long, it was pretty much shoulder to shoulder traffic across the entire park.



Oh, and I haven't mentioned the alcohol. Now, I understand that those types of events are for partying and drinking. And even though we weren't really into that kind of thing, we knew most of the people there would be. What we did not expect was the huge crowd that basically made it impossible not to get stuff poured all over you. I think we had as much beer on us as the other folks had in them.



So anyway, we make our way over to the stage where Creed was going to be performing. The band performing at the time had just came on. Their name was Sevendust. I think I'll call them Satan's Minions or some such name like that though because they sounded more like something straight out of Lucifer's lair than anything I'd ever experienced before. Lots of yelling and screaming. Several fans in the crowd with bongs and who knows what else. Scared us to death (almost literally it felt like).



Good times.



So Satan gets off the stage and we wait for Creed to show up.



And wait...



And wait...



It's so long that one of our group decides to go back to the car and wait for us to be done. Yeah, he decided hanging out in a parking garage by himself would be more fun than waiting on and eventually watching one of the top bands of that day perform.



So Creed finally performs. Still a ton of people. Not as many crazy folks doing drugs in our area anyway, but it was really crowded and people were shoving and spilling beer all over us. Creed put on an ok show from what I recall and from what we were able to catch between watching them and trying not to get trampled on.



By the end of the night, we were completely exhausted. We went back the next couple days but didn't stay long either day really. It kept raining and the crowds were still crazy. But we had spent the money and there were a few bands we wanted to see so we braved the elements for those few bands and left ASAP each day.



That was the first and only time I've ever been to the Beale Street Music Festival. And the last time too. Never again. Never. Again.



When people tell us they are going and act excited we pretty much laugh in their face now. We are clearly not the type of people who that event is meant for. And that's fine by us.