Sasha's commentary for December 12, 2013: Same old same old

This week, Senator Liz Krueger introduced a bill that would legalize marijuana in New York State. Although I support her move, I have different motives. Not only do I believe that marijuana is harmless, but legalization, if done properly and legalization in New York extended to non-residents, could benefit the state's coffers in a form of pot tourism. Folks, get ready for a contentious 2014 in the state legislature.

And while we're on the topic of pot, there's a mom who now lives in California who smokes pot to calm the symptoms of her cerebral palsy.

Between State senators David Carlucci and Diane Savino, I'm really finding myself liking the independent Democratic caucus. The conference (caucus) leader, Jeff Klein, came out with a comment that noted that an insult by the president of a gun lobby here in New York because the president of this group had a different standard than the state's lawmakers. I still argue that the state's gun laws should be revisited to ensure they're not overly restrictive.

Personally, I think gun laws should be a little looser in Upstate New York due to practicality, or even better, the state set absolute minimum standards and each county have laws to suit their needs. Erie County might do better with stricter gun laws than Franklin County due to urbanization. I'd introduce a bill in the state legislature that would require all bills to recognize that upstate and downstate have different needs in regards to laws, and that what works for downstate might not work upstate and vice-versa. In general, New York might be one of the safest states to live in, and I wish the rest of the nation were as sane as New York. Our economy could be better though, but then again, we shouldn't complain: our economy is as large as South Korea's, even though Upstate should be able to share in that. We're not some insignificant state. Instead, we should turn it around and make it work better, which was why I voted for Andrew Cuomo back in 2010.

I feel that all SUNY schools could ban smoking on their own and shouldn't have to wait for the state legislature to act. Inaction at times can lead to action.

Steve Stockman is one of America's most conservative members of Congress, and some of his tweets are beyond heinous. Some of them are just insulting and mock abortion.

Have some money laying around? You could own your very own airport! And it's a shame that this airport was left in a ghost-like, unfinished state. Air-rail links in my book should be near mandatory.

Last Saturday, Biman Bangladesh Airlines retired its last DC-10, and a shame too. But sadly, the DC-10 is an expensive plane to operate, and compared to its successors, vastly uneconomical. But it's like an old Cadillac: a great plane to fly. Me and a penpal are working out a deal to take an MD-11 flight next summer before KLM puts their trijets up to pasture.

I don't get why this woman in Rockland County murdered her newborn.

I worked at Sears for the first part of this year, and I'd dig ditches before work there again. I have my reasons, and that I will keep to myself. But the state of the company is really depressing, and I agree that Eddie Lampert has taken a great company and run it to the ground. And another tragedy of Lampert's deal? Putting store managers against each other!

Another pitfall of Sears? $7.25 an hour. If I'm going to do well, I'd like to earn at least $10. And I agree that no one should have to work just to struggle to stay alive.

Smoking does cause premature aging, and the "horrors" (for lack of a better term) are illustrated here. I'd like to believe my Momon-like lifestyle will in general be better for my health.

A teenager in Texas is literally getting away with murder because of something called "affluenza", where he lost touch with reality because of coming from a lenient home. Something's not right about that. If it were me, I'd be in jail for life.

UPDATE: Amtrak's been canceling several runs of it's premier Empire Builder train. A few years ago, it was a well-oiled train, and now it's an embarrassment for a passenger railroad I so deeply adore. BNSF, the railroad whose tracks Amtrak uses along with Amtrak itself need to work out an agreement to get the train back on the tracks again.