The Goat Pen

Another story about a complicated issue and the application of the law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magaz ... wanted=all

I'm not sure how to feel about all of this. This is where the freedoms provided under the Constitution to all are severely put to test. I wonder how this would be viewed if one could determine that certain drugs damage sperm and allow for prosecution of men who partake and subsequently impregnate a woman.

60 minutes had a couple of good segments last week.

The first was on addiction. I thought the woman, oddly enough Leon Trotsky's great grandaughter,Nora Volkow did a great job of explaining how addiction works. The body thrives on dopamine, a chemical created at the pleasure center of the brain, primarily driven by food and sex,and just like dopamine kicks in when we see chocolate, chemical addiction provides the same stimulus. The problem is that some chemicals - she used the example of Vicodin - over stimulates the brains pleasure center which in turn makes the brain try to regulate the "high" by shutting off receptors that process the dopamine. Over time, the receptors just shut off completely which forces the user to try to create more dopamine to get the same high (hence the repition/addiction). The chemical intensity surpasses that of the naturally regulated high of sex/food. At some point the problem progresses to the extent that the addict has to get high just to feel normal because so many of their receptors are shut down. It may take months, years or not ever to get the brain "rewired". Last year in America, there were 210 million prescriptions given for opiate type drugs (Vicodin, Oxy-Cotin, etc.,) - enough to give every adult in the United States a 30 day supply. She laughed at the idea of "just say no" after studying and coming to an understanding for how addiction works. Your body is designed for survival of the species thru procreation and food intake - you aren't going to fight the same process designed to continue mankind by telling someone they need more will power when the chemicals create a high to the brain that is more powerful than sex or food.

The second segment was on torture. Jose Rodriguez( The John Smith of Mexicans) used to be the head of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques. He didn't really introduce anything new except how diligent he was about getting approval for torture going all the way up to Bush (well, Cheney...same thing) and continually getting approval for every technique they applied. One of the most effective was not water boarding - he said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would hold up his fingers and count to 10 because he knew they had rules about how long they would pour the water - it was putting the men in diapers and did what they called an "open face slap" (they consulted Ike Turner) which he said was an attention getter. Of course he contends the techniques were effective which is debatable but he did admit that some men, especially Mohammed were essentially unbreakable and sent them on wild goose chases that cost millions of dollars. Mohammed also threw them off the trail of Bin Laden by stopping their focus for some time on the courier (that ultimately led them to Bin Laden when they renewed their attention on him). While I am adamantly opposed to torture, I found him to be honest and dedicated. His logic is that once we were attacked on American soil the rules about how America conducts itself were changed. I don't buy that for a second but I can see how he thinks that way.

and about Bin Laden, I also don't believe the GOP wouldn't use the death of Bin Laden as a political ad had it happened on their watch. It is so much bullshit that it makes me angry to hear it. I'm voting for Romney but I am so tired of the GOP I want to vomit. They are the most dishonest, hypocritical self serving motherfuckers we have as politicians today and if Romney wasn't a strong businessman I'd just as soon the whole group just implode and go away.

also, how bad a prison guard do you have to be to let your only prisoner, a blind man, escape on your ass?

There are some Chinese guards today that will be facing a firing squad

Blind people are sneaky. Right Floater?

loved the cos--dentist trip/russel my brother etc. have to get a redd foxx album never heard any of his.
pryor/martin/newhart/murphy/cheech and chong.. all worth listening too

They transport prisoners on donkeys in China?

those guards aren't the only one in hot water. the wife/daughter and a bunch of his "underground' are all being 'detained'.

why didn't we just leave a sign in front of the embassy saying no asylum allowed.

how do you become a lawyer if you are blind anyway.

Do chinese order out for chinese?

"At some point the problem progresses to the extent that the addict has to get high just to feel normal"

Hello!

Bklyn wrote:Another story about a complicated issue and the application of the law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/magaz ... wanted=all

I'm not sure how to feel about all of this. This is where the freedoms provided under the Constitution to all are severely put to test. I wonder how this would be viewed if one could determine that certain drugs damage sperm and allow for prosecution of men who partake and subsequently impregnate a woman.

Is that a hypothetical or does drug damaged sperm actually damage the child of a clean mother?

There needs to be some law for mothers who abuse drugs that are not prescribed to them and it harms their child. Jail time? 99% of cases, I would say no. The one that resulted in death, I would say yes. You can't have addiction as an excuse as some in the article are saying.

crashcourse wrote:those guards aren't the only one in hot water. the wife/daughter and a bunch of his "underground' are all being 'detained'.

why didn't we just leave a sign in front of the embassy saying no asylum allowed.

how do you become a lawyer if you are blind anyway.

Do chinese order out for chinese?

my youngest was going through her happy meal the other day and said "I wonder if Chinese kids look at the toy and say 'Hey, I made that!'

I read in an interview with Rolling Stone that Eddie Murphy paid for Redd Foxx's funeral.

In that same interview Murphy also stated no more family movies like Shrek and Daddy Day Care. In his words, he is financially set for life, these are the gravy years and he is only going to do roles which he gets excited about - specifically more like Tower Heist where he played foul mouth street smart con man. He actually shelved Beverly Hills Cop 4 because the script sucked even though they were throwing serious money at him. No more movies he knows sucks just for money.

Politicians are all pieces of opportunist shit. You can't survive if you don't play the game in the way everyone else plays it. It's like playing football and refusing to integrate the forward pass into your offense on "principle."

I just advocate finding the issue you think is most pressing to the continuing success of our country every election cycle and vote for that. For me, it's SCOTUS nominations.

Ironically, I think both Romney and Obama would both be fairly close in the types of justices they would seat to the court.

sardis wrote:Is that a hypothetical or does drug damaged sperm actually damage the child of a clean mother?

I think it's true that some drugs do damage sperm, but the reason guys can get a pass is that you can't test for that after the case. If a child comes with a birth defect, you can't point to a man's particular drug usage as a culprit, directly. You can't check the actual spermatazoa (sp?) that fertilized the egg...and many would just argue that the major impact to damaged sperm from drug usage is degradation and motility issues. That would mean that the likelihood of the sperm reaching the egg to fertilize it are fairly remote...and if it did you could not prove that it did.

So, guys (under what we know and can prove in science today, if my understanding is correct) will continue to get a pass on this. If guys could be held liable, then the Constitutionality of the law would have firmer ground to stand on, IMO.

Yeah, Redd Foxx was broke (and still in debt to the IRS) when he had that massive heart attack. Eddie did pay for his funeral and I think Arsenio bought him a bunch of shit after the IRS came by his house and confiscated so much of his property after the put the lien on him.

Eddie Murphy helped a lot of people in Hollywood over the years. A lot of the old Black comedians who predated him got a lot of work from him.

yea - I think I respect Dave Chappelle even more after listening to him on Inside the Actors Studio right after he bolted on his show. The guy has serious integrity.

David Chappelle is a very, very smart and intuitive guy (essential for good comedy, IMO)...and self-aware. His comedy worked on many levels, but I think that ultimately was his undoing (and I do think he does/did suffer from anxiety and other psychological conditions). People who took his comedy at face value laughed and people who understood the larger comments he was oftentimes trying to make also laughed. The thing is, he couldn't figure out if too many people were the former and missing the point...and essentially laughing at the wrong things.

I enjoyed Murphy's stand up a whole lot more than his movies. "Eddie? that's nasty..."

I liked Chappell as well. You can be good at something and not enjoy doing it. I think that's the case with him. He likes being funny, just not have the pressure of performing.

I wish Murphy would go back and do an SNL...the ratings would be thru the roof.

He has great perspective talking about why he went to Africa.

He was talking about how crazy Hollywood is which is why he lives in Weedtown , Ohio.

He said Martin Lawrence is a down to earth normal dude and he got so messed up he was naked in the street shooting a gun screaming "they're trying to kill me". Basically he said - if you are an actor and you make it big, you're going to have your Africa moment.