Desperate for relief from their stultifying quality of life, residents get high in Colorado -- in Governor Christie's twisted imagination
Andrew Mills of the New Jersey Ledger tokes on some Denver news not too friendly to Governor Chris Christie in Denver Post fires back at Christie's legalized pot 'snit.' Last week Christie cheesed off the good citizens of Colorado when asked if he would support legalizing medical marijuarna, on his monthly appearance on 101.5 Ask the Governor. Christie proclaimed, "See if you want to live in a major city in Colorado, where there are head shops popping up on every corner, and people flying into your airport just to get high. To me, it's not the quality of life we want to have here in the state of New Jersey."
The Denver Post shot back with the headline "Governor Christie "Put his in your pipe." The people of Colorado apparently do not feel the need for Governor Christie's advice urging people to come to their state - people are "flocking" to Colorado completely on their own despite whatever Christie may think of the deplorable conditions there.
"Hey, Gov. Chris Christie, most Americans don't need your encouragement," the Post wrote. "They keep streaming to Colorado as tourists, fall in love with the place and try to figure out some way to return — permanently. That's why Colorado's population growth has been twice the national average since 2010 and, ahem, four times New Jersey's anemic rate over that period."
So Colorado's population has grown four times as much as New Jersey, eh? These sound like fighting words to me. The Post then takes some "pot shots" at the levels of crime in some of NJ cities. (no pun intended, heh, heh, heh)
"Not that everyone in the Centennial State shares equally in the enviable lifestyle," the paper's editorial board wrote. "Colorado has its pockets of poverty, for example, and outbreaks of crime, but we're sure the governor in a state with such placid and thriving oases as Camden, Atlantic City and Newark couldn't have been referring to income inequality in his snit."
And while the paper acknowledged that legalized pot has its issues, "most voters believe the benefits will outweigh the risks." ... "So by all means, let those unfamiliar with Colorado come and see if they like it here — even if the verdict is pretty much foreordained," the board wrote.
Micheal "Rip-their-eyes-out-and-light-em-up" Drewniak tries to explain highbrow New Jersey culture to poor rubes in Colorado.
In an ironic twist the spokesperson responding for the Governor was Micheal Drewniak, yes, he same Drewniak who was revealed as showing off New Jersey's sophisticated and elegant culture in the Dunn & Gibson report when commenting about David Wildstein, "I'd like to rip his eyes out, pour gasoline in the sockets, and light him up." Be careful Denver Post editors, this is how people in New Jersey deal with their former best friends, who run afoul of the Governor's goals.
This is also apparently one of the many fun ways New Jersey culture residents express their quality-of-life in gang retaliation in traditional New Jersey culture, which Governor Christie and his gang does such a proud job of representing. This may explain why "taking one's friends out for a "regular" barbecue" never really has caught on in New Jersey as much as it has in other state. If you visit NJ remember don't ever suggest you take someone out for a barbecue or they may crap themselves. (Snark alert!)
Can Colorado match that kind of entertainment value? See what you are missing Denver Post editors? Anyhow, Drewniak speaks for Governor Christie:
"Not surprisingly they don't understand the Governor's point," said spokesman Michael Drewniak. "Colorado is spectacularly beautiful, but that doesn't mean we want to emulate them by legalizing a gateway drug and all that comes with it like they did."
What does Drewniak mean here by "not surprisingly?" Is he saying,"well, these folks are from Colorado, so it's not surprising they are confused due to the lack of oxygen getting to their brains up in those high altitudes?" Or perhaps, "we all know those mountain folks are always so high, they have no clue as to what's really going on?" Whatever it is, I can't imagine he has contributed anything to patching this "flame war" up. If this was a diplomatic effort it would appear to have "gone up in smoke."
Also, can you image strategists and large donors from the RGA and Republican National Committee rushing to call each other to figure what kind or "brilliant" secret new 2016 presidential election strategy Christie is up to escalating a flame war with Colorado - a crucial swing state?
Get out your popcorn folks, The Chris Christie gang seems ready to take the culture wars and 2016 presidential election strategy to a whole new level.
I' have posted a column I did on Christie's comments from last week in the first update.
Any bets on how long before Christie comes out and says to the people of Colorado, "Hey Denver, those are some nice lifestyles ya got there, what a shame if something was to happen to them."
It's high time Governor Christie wakes up and smells the coffee with regard to legalizing medical and even recreational marijuana. As you can read below, not only an overwhelming majority of New Jersey residents favor both, even New Jersey prosecutors are reported to favor legalization of medical marijuana and decriminalization and reduction of the ridiculous criminal penalties that are sending numerous New Jersey residents to jail destroying their employment opportunities. These laws are racist as they are disproportionately enforced on people of color, Hispanics, and the poor.
Governor Christie has made a fool of himself again. He should apologize and reverse his ridiculous position on Marijuana. Oh, yes, then he should resign for all of his other disgraceful behavior.
5:19 PM PT:
Chris Christie in no position to slam Colorado on cannabis: Editoria, says New Jersey's Star-Ledger editorial board. Earlier in the week, Governor Christie said he would never approve of medical marijuana because he did not want to see New Jersey's "quality of life" descend to that of Denver's where head shops are springing up all over the place.
"See if you want to live in a major city in Colorado, where there are head shops popping up on every corner, and people flying into your airport just to get high," Chris Christie said on a radio show Monday. "To me, it's not the quality of life we want to have here in the state of New Jersey. And there's not tax revenue that's worth that."
After bitterly noting that if Christie were "truely concerned about quality of life, he would not have sabotaged our medical marijuana program with his foot-dragging, as patients wallow in chronic pain," the Star-Ledger notes a majority of New Jerseyans and even the municipal prosecutors support legalization of marijuana.
A New Jersey lawmaker has proposed a bill that would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana like liquor, predicting we could raise $100 million a year in revenue. That's certainly a big plus. Colorado collected more than $2 million in recreational pot taxes in January.
But the real reason to legalize marijuana is the enormous amount of money and time we are now wasting by treating pot the same way we do heroin or LSD. Our state spends more than a hundred million dollars a year to arrest tens of thousands of people on marijuana charges.
The result of drug laws is not a decline in pot smoking, says the Star-Ledger, but rather just a whole lot of people, especially men of color, with unnecessary criminal records, "crushing their jobs prospects."
'Chris Christie is in no position to slam Colorado on cannabis,' says N.J. Star-Ledger editorial WED APR 23, 2014 AT 01:46 PM PDT
The SL sarcastically asks if this is a "high-quality of life," and also asks what would be so wrong with having more tourism. Then, they trash Christie's the argument that Colorado will be overrun with "drug zombies" as bogus because smoking in public, cafes, parks, and bars is still not permitted.
The Star-Ledger says Christie's citation of a recent Journal of Neuroscience study citing alterations in "brain activity" goes up in smoke, as certain parts of the brain also light up when we eat alcohol or eat certain kinds of food.
I agree with the Star-Ledger when they suggest teenagers should not be smoking dope, (their brains are still developing), but they correctly not that when marijuana is illegal it is easier for kids to get than alcohol precisely because it is illegal and creates its own illegal distribution network beyond regulation and control. Proponents of legalization make similar arguments with regard to contaminants, bacteria, pesticides, and dosages. In an illegal market no one really knows for sure what they are getting.
After slamming Governor Christie for saying marijuana will never be legal "on his watch, the Star-Ledger closes by saying:
But all things considered, Denver's looking pretty good to us.
Welcome to Christie Watch for any "cross over" readers from our marijuana communities, please join in our lively discussions, and please consider following Christie Watch, and your truly, and even joining by sending a note to a2nite, me, or any of our many Blog Admins.
Cheers.
5:37 PM PT: Thanks for recommending this folks, So I put in the flaming skull, now the whole post is improved with 20% more snark! And improved several jokes. BTW this story is completely true. In the past some people have mistakenly thought if I put a (humor alert) tag on a sentence or snark label on a post it means the whole thing is fake which is not the case. This is real life folks! I couldn't make this stuff up.
6:16 PM PT: Christie should be cautious about bringing up the idea of "gateway drug
Christie is under investigation for possible felonies, and ethics violations by two U.S. Attorneys in two states, the New Jersey Legislative Commission, and the SEC.
He is the leading poster boy for the "Don't let this happen to you" 2015 Campaign to encouraging children to avoid joining criminal gangs. (Snark alert.)
7:28 PM PT: Please check out my attempt at humorous pootie-woozle post filled with dynamics cat giifs and woozle cartoons.
'My Cat From Hell' by Jackson >Galaxy returns for 5th Season, sends out cute videos to lure humans