Since everyone is overly optimistic about 2010, I’m going to be the Joe Biden to everyone’s Obama. After all, the year just started and I think it’s a little premature to say things like “Happy New Year!” We did the same thing at the beginning of 2009 and look how that worked out.  So, in the spirit of new beginnings let’s take baby steps to ensure our expectations are met this time around. Resolved to quit smoking? Cut back on your daily intake rather than trying to quit all at once. Trust me, all my friends who went the cold turkey route typically started to celebrate their progress after 2 weeks and in no time at all they were back to their old ways.  Trying to lose 10 lbs this new year? Lower your expectations and work at it 2 lbs at a time.

See, it’s easy. If you want this year, 2010, to be the happiest one ever just lower your expectations. That doesn’t mean you have to turn into a mopey pessimist, who curses everything to be doomed from the start. No, it just means you don’t have an unrealistic perception of the world around you. The economy isn’t going to be fixed overnight just like you won’t shed the weight or the smoking habit in only a couple of weeks.  Anything worth the effort typically takes time, and if we plan to do 2010 right it’s going to take patience and continued effort to ensure we don’t have another 2009 on our hands. Let’s avoid blue balls this year and bust all over 2010’s face…Ok, that analogy has officially gone too far. That said, good luck to you in 2010. And remember, we’re all in this mess together so it’s about that time we clean it up or face the reality of maggots in last night’s Domino’s box.

Paul Nawrocki isn’t asking for your gold, but this former Lehman’s executive does need a job. With a sandwich board draped over his shoulders and a doomed economy looming over his head, Paul stands in the center of buzzing Midtown Manhattan handing out his resume to anyone willing to give him a chance. However, with 10.3 million unemployed and rising, Paul is merely a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, the recently laid off isn’t the only competition for the unemployed; It’s the “I can’t believe I lost my job” vs. the 1 million “I’ve never been but need to be employed” college graduates. And this is where the other problem begins.

The younger, healthier and tech-savvier twenty-something year olds are advanced multitaskers with fresh ideas and innovative strategies. While Paul Nawrocki’s intern (assuming he has/had one) simultaneously Blackberry messages her boyfriend, updates her Facebook status and Tweets about her last final, she’s also preparing for her post-graduation job search. However, to combat the onslaught of the 2009 graduating class, Paul has gone on the offensive.  [Read more]

So I was skimming the interwebs and I came across this website, the war on drugs clock.  Basically it breaks down just how much money our government is spending to put away non-violent offenders, and just how many of them are in jail, arrested, and a bunch of other pretty staggering numbers.

Now look at these numbers, and tell me why we are in a massive economic crisis. 17 Billion Dollars?!?!? Are you fucking kidding me? That number is absolutely unreal to me, and that is only on a Federal level.  States have spent over 27 Billion on the drug war, do they realize it’s easier than ever to walk out one’s front door and have a bag in your hand within 10 minutes?  Do they realize that this will NEVER change?  Some states have, 13 at last count, with Michigan and Massachusetts on the way.  We are slowly catching on, but it certainly isn’t fast enough.

Am I asking to completely decriminalize the plant and put it in the hands of anyone and everyone?  No, absolutely not, it could easily be regulated at least as much as alcohol is to keep it out of the hands of the younger generation before they have developed to a point where they can responsibly use the drug.  But isn’t throwing almost 40 billion dollars a year at a losing battle absolutely gut wrenching?  I’d say so, especially for the number 2 cash crop in our nation.  Marijuana and hemp could easily be MAKING us billions of dollars in taxes, and stimulating our floundering economy.  Instead we choose to sit back and be robbed blind by our governments; state and federal, on a war that is more hopeless than Iraq and Afghanistan could ever imagine to be. Continue Reading