I have read a couple articles recently which actually don't paint the modern day Somali pirates in a negative light, and wanted to share this one that I've most recently read. And no, it's not about defending their actions or what they are doing, but it certainly paints a picture which is different from that which we read in the press.

So go and read the article and let me know what you think.

If you don't want to read this article, basically what it says is that since the collapse of the Somali government, the lack of oversight in the area is now being exploited by first world countries. Specifically by dumping waste and over fishing the areas that are around Somalia. Hopefully they're not doing these two things in the same place because that would just be stupid, but nonetheless, these actions are further hurting the now helpless Somalis by polluting their coastal waters and leaving virtually nothing left in the sea for the coastal population to make a living or even eat for that matter.

Thoughts?

Labels: news, pirates, somalia

I came across this commentary article on CNN couple weeks ago about the legalization of drugs and figured I'd share a few thoughts I have.

First of all, I truly believe that our "war on drugs" doesn't work. Just because something is illegal does not mean people don't do it. Look around, people do illegal things every day. And trust me, same goes for drugs, I was in college once upon a time. And I also don't buy the fact that making drugs legal will increase their usage. Drugs are easy to get and people who want them get them.

Secondly, though I don't think drugs are in any way a good thing, I sort of believe that what people choose to do in their own time is their own business. Granted, hard core drug users can cause other problems that don't stay in their home, I get that. But I'm mostly thinking of pot when I talk about this. What people want to do in their home should stay in their home, and I also don't believe that classifying a drug user in the same category with violent criminals is acceptable. But that's another topic.

I also truly believe that there are plenty of prescription medications and pills that people take every day and buy legally at the pharmacy, which are regulated by the FDA, are more dangerous than some of the drugs which are illegal.

Look in the news right now, the drug violence around the border and in Mexico is mostly due to illegal drug trade and trafficking. Make those drugs legal, what will happen? Sure, it won't be an overnight change, but if it's legal and regulated, then the demand for those illegal drugs will drop, and I believe that the violence that surrounds it will too. Whether the violence simply continues for other reasons, I don't know.

But what I do know is that if drugs are legal the problems won't get any worse than they currently are. Drugs will simply be handled like our current alcohol problem, hopefully parents can discuss the topic in the open, and people will hopefully still make the right decisions, the only difference will be that if they make the wrong ones they won't be criminals, and they can get support which can be provided by the taxes levied on the products they were using.

I'm curious to know where readers stand on this.

Labels: drugs, news