Pubdate: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 Source: Aspen Daily News (CO) Copyright: 2013 Aspen Daily News Contact: http://www.aspendailynews.com/submit-letter-editor Website: http://www.aspendailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/635 Author: Joe Lewis POT GRAB BY THE GOVERNMENT Dear Editor: I was going to stay out of this crap, but in the words of Michael Corleone, "They just keep dragging me back in." Aside from my misspelled word or 10, I've made a mistake I'd like to retract. Hey, you there! Yeah, you, without a faux pas now and then. Go ahead, chunk the first hunk. Anyway, I accused politicians of lying and then tried to honey it up a bit by saying they were simply bait-and-switch artists and that it was a federal crime. Well, it is but not for politicians. They are immune to this federal statute that prohibits people from being baited by advertising and promises only to be switched to a different article after they've taken the bait. Apparently this protects only consumers, not voters. What this means is that politicians cannot be held accountable for promises made to get elected. They can prolong an issue (sandbag) until the November elections so they don't alienate conservative voters. But you knew this, right? Now what they're doing is sandbagging marijuana prohibition so they can put an excise tax of 30 percent or more. However, long before anyone can remember, the government was not in the "pot business." Now it wants in but doesn't want to lose its position of control. That way, they have plenty of time to convince everyone that they've saved the economy instead of minding their own fracking business. As long as we're not hurting anyone (i.e. smoking our own pot), why can't we just be left alone? We don't need no stinkin' badges! I know I don't. And while I'm at it, why must we drive 14 miles round trip to get water that's not poison? How come that? Oh, yeah: because we live in Silt - not a pleasant word in terms of Daniel Webster's definition. Kinda like the Dumps up in Aspen. Always wondered how that happened. Used to be the manager there. Last time I was there it was a drug stop, but that was when a common question was "Hey, want a bump?" Saw Cullen Davis there one time. Now in reference to the aforementioned venues, I meant no disrespect to the residents, only to imply how they are, and have been, viewed through definition by the dictionary. Think about it Joe Lewis Silt - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom