Disqus - Latest Comments for derekbill

Re: Obama: Ayn Rand Is For Misunderstood Teenagers

derekbill — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:17:46 -0000

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." -
John Kenneth Galbraith

Re: 4th Times the Charm – TIVO Service Disconnected

derekbill — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:59:55 -0000

So, is there a better way to cancel? In other words....does anyone have a success story?

My TiVo unit just went belly up (bad caps in the power supply) and repair/replacement is not a reasonable proposition given the other options in the marketplace nowadays.

Re: ABQJournal Online » BREAKING: Prostitution Investigation Expands To UNM

derekbill — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:39:44 -0000

What a complete waste of time and money. The war on free market sex is almost as stupid as the war on drugs. But I will say it's a relief that nobody got shot this time.

Re: Win a Element Case from Run Around Tech

derekbill — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:40:51 -0000

Gotta say, I'm still partial to the Vapor Pro.

Re: ABQNews: Border Patrol Recovers More Than 300 Pounds of Pot in Southern N.M.

derekbill — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:45:42 -0000

Seriously?

This story follows the same pattern time after time:

"The U.S. Border Patrol says officers working at the Santa Teresa port of entry recovered more than ______ pounds of marijuana found concealed in a ________.
The Border Patrol said the driver arrived in the U.S. on ________ driving a ________. and said he had nothing to declare. Agents instructed the driver to take his ________ to a screening area where agents used a gamma-ray and identified several items in the area of ________.
A separate inspection was conducted and officers found a false compartment and removed __________ bundles which tested positive for marijuana."

Does the Border Patrol PAY you guys to report this? Are you just trying to fill up empty space? It's like reading a weather report where it's always raining, tonight will be dark and tomorrow the sun will rise.

Please, some real news. Or at least some variety: A list of barking dogs. Cars with expired license tags. The least expensive non-fat milk on the West Side. Whelpings, number of school tardies, even elevator inspection reports would be more interesting.

Re: ABQNews: BREAKING: Suspect Bear Killed

derekbill — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:49:11 -0000

I'm pretty sure gobbledycrap has two 'b's.

Re: ABQNews: Breaking: Judges Say No to Community Custody

derekbill — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:00:51 -0000

Blaming judges is pointless. All this is academic until the teabaggers accept the fact that it costs money - as in higher taxes - to keep people in prison. As long as money is more important to conservatives than anything else, we'll see the revolving door continue to spin.

Re: ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: State's Revolving Jailhouse Door

derekbill — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 10:14:05 -0000

The law enforcement, court, and penal systems are clogged with drug and prostitution offenders. Drug users steal or turn tricks to support habits made artificially expensive by antiquated laws prohibiting sale. Alcohol prohibition taught us lessons that we've yet to apply to other substances.

Maybe now that we're on the verge of governmental bankruptcy, the old-world attitudes about legislation of morality will give way to more realistic and practical solutions. How long until conservative, traditional voters accept that declaring an end to the war on drugs is key to preventing an increase in their taxes?

Re: ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: Reagan's Record Didn't Match Rhetoric

derekbill — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:47:02 -0000

Try not to hurt yourself lifting the bucketload of mail you're gonna get on this column; Messing with the memory of St. Ronnie is heresy among your demographic.

Re: KOB.com - Burger joint borrows ideas from popular chain

derekbill — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:24 -0000

Well, I guess Stop-N-Go got the cease and desist letter from In-N-Out: The sign no longer has the 'N' between Stop and Go, and the angled yellow arrow is history as well.

Re: ABQNews: 5:45am -- Suspected Smuggler Checkmated at Border

derekbill — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:59:48 -0000

Gosh, it wouldn't be the Journal without a story about someone smuggling dope into the USA. But since you're a NEWSpaper, wouldn't it be more newsworthy if a day went by without someone being caught? Better yet, how about you have some of your reporters do a test where they hide contraband (or some green chile) in various household items, and see how many make it across the border (into the USA) undetected.

I realize that would require a lot more effort than simply reprinting U.S. Customs press releases, but it just might reverse your circulation slide.

Re: ABQNews: BREAKING: Vaughan Arrested

derekbill — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:11:20 -0000

Who cares?? I do....the State shows up to talk to him about a massive financial meltdown involving many local businesses and individuals, and he tries to escape in his car? And he doesn't have a valid license? Does he think he's above the law, or is he too dysfunctional to consider that they might check his license status? And why was his license revoked? (I'll tell you why...he got popped for aggravated DWI, careless driving, and having an open container in his vehicle.)

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:17:33 -0000

No, actually she's married to an undercover cop. Honest to God.

How about your mama?

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:45:20 -0000

Wait...what? That's all you've got? No rebuttal, no debate, just ad hominem?

If this makes no sense to you, don't blame me: Go back to school, talk to a counselor...something, ANYTHING but a comment devoid of any real argument.

Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. The War on Drugs (as well as the War on Whores) has done nothing but make things worse. At what point do you stop expecting a better result from the same moronic efforts?

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:41:12 -0000

Damn straight! Hardworking Mexicans of limited means look for work in the southwest - that part of the continent their families originally settled - and the white immigrants fearful of losing their jobs decide that the migrants' drug of choice - a plant that grows wild - is some kind of evil poison sent by the devil to turn their kids into insane zombies. And so right about the same time fat white folks realize their noble experiment - Prohibition - has been a complete failure to everyone except newly-energized organized crime, they decide to make hemp illegal. No evidence it's ever killed anyone. Instead, they re-embrace alcohol, which kills tens of millions of people a year.

We'd have a budget surplus if not for all the money we've wasted on The War On Drugs (tm).

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:30:58 -0000

Clearly, laws against prostitution are a failure. It's rare to find one in the business for any length of time who hasn't been arrested many times. We spend millions catching them, trying them, and locking them up. And yet they turn a hundred tricks for every time they're caught. Same with their customers, obviously.

And most DO start before they are of legal age. So what does that tell you? That making it illegal has worked? Legalizing prostitution for adults would allow a safe, regulated environment where proof of age is required. As in other cities where prostitution is legal, anyone patronizing an unauthorized prostitute would need to question why the woman isn't licensed, and would be risking felony prosecution and a long prison sentence. Very few take that chance.

The idea that making illegal something done in private is going to stop the activity is ludicrous. It may help naive people sleep better at night, but it does little to stop the practice, costs way too much, makes criminals out of otherwise law-abiding people, and threatens the health of all involved.

Ask the parent of any prostitute how well the law worked to keep their daughter out of the business. And for those women found buried on the west mesa, ask those same parents if their daughters would still be alive today if they hadn't had to work the streets instead of operating from a licensed establishment.

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:04:27 -0000

Lots of today's high schoolers are adults or dress like them, but that's not the point. Men cruise the streets looking for women to pay to have sex with. Unfortunately, some schools are near known cruising areas.

In cities with legalized prostitution, men don't have to cruise for sex. They go to licensed houses of prostitution, like they did 125 years ago. They pay willing young women who have been tested for STDs. They don't get mugged, and they don't have to deal with pimps or police officers paid by taxpayers to dress like high schoolers. Their transactions are taxed and they don't go home with diseases or bugs.

Pedophiles are a different breed entirely....and if we'd stop paying police to cruise Central and Craigslist, they could concentrate instead on saving our children from those very real predators, instead of hassling consenting adults.

It is a reality that resources are limited. Cops are now being asked to take pay cuts to keep their jobs. At this rate, some of them may have to moonlight as prostitutes.

Trying to enforce prohibition, whether it be on gambling, drugs, or sex, simply drives it into the black market, where disputes are settled with violence, the innocent are caught in the crossfire, and high school girls are faced with men who've confused them for hookers.

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:55:42 -0000

That case was decided in 2005, not last year. And a gun wouldn't have saved those kids. For all we know, Simon was an NRA member.

Anyone familiar with that case knows the police handled the whole thing very badly. Perhaps they were out conducting a drug or prostitution sting operation instead of saving a woman's children from their insane, violent father.

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:42:41 -0000

Nonsense. How about we just legalize all activities conducted by consenting adults in private? If you or your church or your mama are offended by something, satisfy yourself with the idea that someone will go to hell for it. Leave the rest of us alone and stop spending our tax dollars on futile enforcement efforts that actually make violent people richer, property insurance more expensive, and society more dangerous. Is that too much to ask?

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:34:57 -0000

That kind of circular reasoning (it's illegal because it's wrong, and it's wrong because it's illegal) is why we continue to waste precious money while the violence continues. And women who turn to prostitution to support drug habits that are artificially expensive? Another good example of why anti-drug laws are likewise stupid and useless. Same for gangs... they are born, grow, and thrive by satisfying the public's demand for contraband. The surest way to castrate gangs is to end the artificial profits they enjoy from illegal activities.

Legalize and tax this kind of behavior, and you will reduce the kind of crime that affects all of us: violence and property crimes. Meanwhile, you'll be filling the treasury instead of squandering it. This is obvious to all who learn from history instead of pretending it doesn't exist.

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:51:32 -0000

We'll give you another guess. No, wait..let me clarify it for you: I don't want to pay police to run around trying to make the world a safer place for people who think consensual sex between unmarried adults is immoral. Instead I'd like them to concentrate on catching pedophiles, rapists, car thieves, and murderers. You got a problem with that, or are you more afraid of victimless crimes than real ones?

Re: KOB.com - Students complain of being propositioned for sex

derekbill — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:20:53 -0000

Another attempt at legislating morality gone horribly wrong. Where prostitution is legal, people don't solicit high school students.

Re: ABQNews: Is Albuquerque Boring?

derekbill — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:05:08 -0000

Mary had just gotten back from Vegas when she called ABQ "boring". And by comparison to Vegas, or to L.A. (where Chelsea's show is taped), most places ARE boring.

Maybe the influx of movie and TV work will liven things up here a bit...or maybe they and we will prefer to keep it "boring". After all.... Palm Springs has always been pretty boring..... and that was always the idea: Dry out, chill out, and regenerate.

Re: ABQNews: 6:40am -- Nearly a Ton of Pot Seized in Weekend Busts

derekbill — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:53:02 -0000

While state and federal governments struggle to balance budgets on the backs of tortilla consumers and tea party participants, perhaps it would be beneficial to your readers for the Journal to estimate the prospective tax revenue lost from each of these seizures, along with the approximate cost of the enforcement operations, and the expenses associated with trying and incarcerating those apprehended.

Re: ABQNews: Woman Uses Jesus Christ in Attempt To Smuggle Pot

derekbill — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:13:00 -0000

Ironic, considering Jesus would almost certainly support the use of cannabis to soothe the pain of the suffering. Of course it was the most widely used medication in the world before an hysterical and racist American populace embraced the idea of its prohibition back in the 1930s.

Also, why is the Journal reporting this stuff at all? People are caught smuggling pot into the US every day, as sure as the sun rises every morning. Do people really need to read the paper to see if we're going to have daylight sometime tomorrow?