June
9Needed: A Few Real 'Uppers'
Life is getting stressful these days on the front lines of the economy; even the gas station has become a combat zone.
Given the degree of consumer distress, I wonder if the government should consider dispensing something more potent that Bush’s stingy “economic stimulus payments.”
Throughout the history of combat, for example, commanders have furtively dispensed an array of intriguing substances to quell anxiety. George Washington ordered rum rations at Valley Forge (copying the play of Columbus-era ship captains). The Nazis dispensed an amphetamine called Pervitin during World War II and in Vietnam almost every soldier was smoking pot.
Time Magazine tells us this week that 12% of our troops in Iraq and 17% in Afghanistan are regularly prescribed Zoloft, Clonazepam and other anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals. So as times get tougher in this country, the new administration might devote some thought to these classic palliatives to help its citizens survive the Bush recession. A “stimulus payment” would be a lot more stimulating with a chaser of Zoloft.
Given the degree of consumer distress, I wonder if the government should consider dispensing something more potent that Bush’s stingy “economic stimulus payments.”
Throughout the history of combat, for example, commanders have furtively dispensed an array of intriguing substances to quell anxiety. George Washington ordered rum rations at Valley Forge (copying the play of Columbus-era ship captains). The Nazis dispensed an amphetamine called Pervitin during World War II and in Vietnam almost every soldier was smoking pot.
Time Magazine tells us this week that 12% of our troops in Iraq and 17% in Afghanistan are regularly prescribed Zoloft, Clonazepam and other anti-anxiety pharmaceuticals. So as times get tougher in this country, the new administration might devote some thought to these classic palliatives to help its citizens survive the Bush recession. A “stimulus payment” would be a lot more stimulating with a chaser of Zoloft.

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US troop stength at the height of the Vietnam War exceeded 500,000. The comment "almost every soldier was smoking pot" is laughable. Were you there Mr. Bart, smoking with almost everyone else, or are you one of those who likes to talk about "Nam" and what happened there with an authority that is based only on what you have overheard real veterans discuss?
Posted by: E. H. Harris | 6/10/2008 9:38:03 AM