6/30/2005 09:23:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P| This is the most recent outgrowth of the Powell Memo, a hardline ultra-conservative memo from which the bulk of what we call the Culture War has sprung. The GOP hates you.|W|P|112018115983939499|W|P|Ain't this cute?|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com6/27/2005 09:46:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|If they only would.... Doc | 6.27.2005 A sample speech/talking points approach for the Dems, since they cannot seem to get this important needle threaded right.
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"For too long, we in the Democratic party have had out doubts about the issue of cannabis prohibition. We have recognized the passionate back-and-forth debate that has ensued for almost 40 years. We have seen and many times have been complicit with the Republicans who, for a variety of reasons, have stood solidly against the ending of cannabis prohibition. But we have recognized that this has been wrong. We have been counseled and admonished by a wide variety of Americans to begin enacting changes in the US policy of cannabis prohibition. We recognize that cannabis prohibition has not significantly deterred "drug use". We recognize that cannabis prohibition has eliminated a vast source of income for those Americans who wish to use the plant for it's agricultural and industrial potentials. We recognize that these potentials have existed for thousands of years and that they are an integral part of this nation's great history. Farmers want to grow it again. Industrial entrepreneurs want to make a wide variety of products from it and not import it from other nations. And we have seen there is great medical potential inherent in this amazing plant, potentials being exploited and developed in other countries and not in America. We know there is bi-partisan support for change: Dana Rohrbacher and Ron Paul, both fine Republicans have joined with Barney Frank, Dennis Kucinich, and others to initiate and pursue industrial and medical legislation to allow American business the opportunity to begin competing with the rest of the world in the markets of hemp and medical cannabis therapies. We know there is widespread support among Americans from all walks of life to end the "war" on cannabis. We know there is widespread support among Americans for unfettered and safe access to medical cannabis. Medical cannabis deserves more studies, it is true. We know that political ideologies have sought to stifle the scientific approach to this and we see other countries forging ahead with promising cannabis-based medicines and therapies. We have decided it is unacceptable for America to be held back by a policy that has outlived whatever usefulness it may have had. From this day forth the Democratic Party of these United States will pursue a policy of ending cannabis prohibition and we encourage legislators from both sides of the isle to join together for the good of these United States and the betterment of Americans.
But fat chance, right?|W|P|111992323665131634|W|P|A sample Speech the Democrats COULD give|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com6/26/2005 07:25:00 AM|W|P|Doc|W|P|[zombienote: This little interaction is from a thread I posted at The Smirking Chimp It seems Ralph Nader is proclaiming Hemp for Victory! now. Even HE gets it, while Dems are still like deer in the headlights. What can be done with them?]
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On 2005-06-25 18:11, visagoth wrote: Many years ago I watched Taiwan farmers harvest hemp that grew on a steep hillside. So far, I haven't heard that Taiwan is succumbing to hemp madness. I used to go to a store in my neighborhood where you could buy a quart of whiskey, a shotgun and a case of 00 buckshot shells. They also sold sympathy cards. Our government worries about weird things. :-o
Definately a bizarre sense of priorities. In fact, the "9/11" hijackers escaped attention partly because searching for "druuuuugs" - particularly mary-ju-wanna - is Job 1 with them. especially with tourists coming from Canada or the Netherlands back then. Hell - they let a man across the Canadian border recently who was carrying a bloody chainsaw and sword. They saw fit to take these items but allowed them man to go on his way. He didn't have weed. Free to go. If he had had any weed we would have had a vastly different story. Weed is considered vastly more of a problem than a bloody chainsaw. A Chinese business woman was beaten and pepper sprayed by DHS guards just for being near marijuana that was apparently being sold. Reefer madnes is so much more important than most people can even imagine because of a longstanding media blackout on any substantial reporting. Long before the bullshit isue of filling the papers ith WMD propaganda the papers were filled with scare stories about marijuana. Nothing positive about the herb gets reported outside local news or "news of the wierd" as is the case with how CBS has reported medical cannabis issues in the past. For example - it is a massive state's rights issue and long-time professional journalist Alexander Cockburn reports just this weekend
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o much for the right to die in your own home, smoking a joint to take your mind off the pain. Thanks to the liberals on the U.S. Supreme Court, the feds can haul you to prison from from your death bed for smoking medical marijuana and any local authority raze your house and give the land to Walmart for a parking lot. On June 6, by a vote of 6-3, the Court ruled that Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctors' orders. The court’s apex liberal, Stevens, wrote the majority decision. The conservative Sandra Day O’Connor wrote the dissent, saying that the court was overreaching to endorse "making it a federal crime to grow small amounts of marijuana in one's own home for one's own medicinal use”. Ranged with Stevens in the majority were Ginsburg and Breyer, along with Kennedy (regarded as more conservative than this first trio), plus the supposed libertarian, Souter and Scalia, the most conceited judge in America. Of course Scalia had to file his own opinion proffering a "more nuanced" analysis, to the general effect that Congress had the right to pass “necessary and proper laws”. Then, on June 23, the Court’s liberals, plus Souter and Kennedy decreed that between private property rights on the one side, and big-time developers with the city council in their pockets on the other, the latter wins every time. The issue was one of eminent domain. Stevens wrote the majority opinion, declaring blandly that promoting economic development [translation, a Walmart in every neighborhood] is a traditional and long-accepted function of government," and that if the underpinning of a public authority wielding the bludgeon of eminent domain is “public purpose”, then "Clearly, there is no basis for exempting economic development from our traditionally broad understanding of public purpose."
Cannabis prohibition is SO important, you cannot discuss it without ending up discussing constitutional law. But buy all the guns, tobacco, alcohol, Viagra, and vioxx you want. Buy a motorcycle, go hang gliding, scuba diving or mountain climbing, but if you smoke a joint at home, you are endangering yourself and others. This "logic" is called reefer madness and it is a central part of GOP ideology. For that reason alone Dems should be pressing for the end of prohibition. And not apologizing about it.|W|P|111978592775619812|W|P|Nader says "HEMP FOR VICTORY!"|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com6/08/2005 05:31:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|County's medical marijuana users react to Supreme Court ruling No immediate changes after ruling that prosecutions may happen for users June 8, 2005 | Oregonians with prescriptions for medical marijuana say they’re worried police officers will come to their door demanding they give up their cannabis. The Alternative Medicine Outreach Program in Roseburg has been inundated with phone calls from worried patients ever since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease the pain. “They’re all scared, especially the ones who have cancer and who are in treatment now,” said Donna Eide, the clinic’s owner. “They’re asking whether they have to pull up their plants and throw them away.” [zombienote: yes... the culture of life will come and take thier medicine...because they care.] So far, no Oregon law enforcement officials are suggesting that. Instead, they are waiting for a legal opinion from Attorney General Hardy Myers on how the state plans to respond to the Supreme Court ruling. “We have to sit back and wait for the AG’s opinion on how it’s going to affect us,” Douglas County Sheriff Chris Brown said. “In many respects, it’s as gray as ever.” Brown said his office does not have access to a list from the Oregon Department of Human Services identifying those approved to participate in the medical marijuana program. The most his deputies can do is call DHS and verify whether someone they’ve contacted is enrolled in the program. Brown said he has no interest in bringing criminal action against individuals who are enrolled in the program. He said he doesn’t think federal officials would be interested in them, either, unless they were involved in a commercial growing and selling operation. [zombienote: Reefer Madness is Job 1 with Federal Law Enforcement. I have no idea where this man has been, but marijuana equals terror to the Feds and particularly to those hate-filled bastards in the Bush Administration.] Voters approved Oregon’s medical marijuana program in 1998. Doctors who prescribe cannabis must confirm that patients suffer from a debilitating or severe medical problem before they are allowed to grow their own marijuana or allowed to designate a caregiver to grow it for them. Statewide, 10,306 people are permitted to use marijuana to control their pain, including 1,008 people from Douglas County. Eide estimates that half of her clinic’s 3,000 patients are prescribed marijuana, including ones who receive treatment and who live outside Douglas County. With the attention brought from the Supreme Court ruling, Eide said she’s concerned about the public image of clinics such as the Alternative Medicine Outreach Program. “The public perception is that we’re the candy man just handing out marijuana,” Eide said. “That’s not true.” The nonprofit clinic provides primary medical care, counseling and biofeedback services. Its medical marijuana patients are mostly in their 50s or older and have tried other therapies without success. The clinic aims to reduce patients’ reliance on powerful narcotics, Eide said. [zombienote: Those powerful narcotics are part of the lucrative pharmaceutical industry, who contributes hugely to the GOP.] The clinic was started as an outgrowth of Eide’s own medical problems. She suffered from intestinal cystitis and degenerative disc disease. She underwent surgery and was prescribed methodone and Oxycodone to handle the chronic pain. Eide found it difficult to take the narcotics and still function at work. She began using cannabis and was able to reduce her use of the other drugs by 95 percent. “It’s a big thing for people with cancer and who want to stay off hard narcotics,” she said. Although the Department of Human Services announced Monday it would suspend issuance of medical marijuana cards, new applications will still be accepted and processed, agenc y spokeswoman Bonnie Widerburg said. The agency will continue to mail out letters to applicants, saying their application is complete and the information verified. Having that letter, a copy of which is sent to a patient’s attending physician, provides legal protection under Oregon’s law, whether the person has the official medical marijuana card or not, Widerburg said. Eide said she hopes the public will continue to support the medical marijuana program and that those who are enrolled don’t give up hope. “I just hope everyone sticks together through this,” she said. “Don’t disrespect us because we’re sick people. Try to have some compassion for the sick.” • You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info|W|P|111826648571915654|W|P|Medical Marijuana Patients Fear the 'Culture of Life'|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com6/07/2005 04:45:00 PM|W|P|Doc|W|P|[zombienote: Ok... I have been busy and unavailable here for awhile. But I do wish to get back in the swing of things. Check out this little turn of events. Of course, by "anti-drug campaign" is meant lying about marijuana, of course. Few things are much more important to Republicans than lying about pot. To bad dems can't wrap their pointy heads around this reality. I am slowly accepting thet they simply cannot understand the potence of this topic. It's not on TV.] Raw Story Rosanna Maietta, Newsweek’s Washington media relations manager leaves the magazine to join a public relations firm as Vice President for the White House's Anti-Drug campaign tomorrow, RAW STORY has learned. The move was announced Friday in an email to the press. She will join the international public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard. “After five years at Newsweek, I'm leaving on Monday to pursue a new adventure at PR firm Fleishman-Hillard,” she wrote. “It's been a great pleasure to work with you over the years, and I hope we will continue to do so in my new capacity: VP for the White House's anti-drug campaign.” Maietta told RAW STORY Monday she will take her new post in July. In a followup call, she stressed that she was not working for the White House, but rather for a firm that handles the anti-drug account. The U.S. Office of National Drug Policy, she said, has its own spokeperson. She declined to comment further, referring questions on a Monday ruling that overruled state medical marijuana laws to her new firm. Fleishman-Hillard has been an architect of the White House’s aggressive anti-drug campaigns, particularly with regard to marijuana. They pioneered a campaign which encouraged parents to engage their children about drug use. The firm asserts they have successfully changed perceptions about marijuana, “providing a counter-point to the many pro-marijuana messages in the media.” During a 2002 run, the proportion of stories favoring an anti-drug message increased from 26 percent to 78 percent, while the proportion of unfavorable stories decreased from 30 percent to just seven percent. The campaign’s leading messages include “the power of parents to prevent youth drug use,” “outdated perceptions about marijuana contribute to increased use,” “marijuana is addictive,” and “marijuana is riskier than you think.” [zombienote: What a loser. What a liar. The need to "change perceptions" is the need to LIE about verifiable reality. No amount of lying can change the color of the sun , nor can it make cannabis a dangerous threat to Murica. It's just not. Only morons and people with a republican agenda believe this crap. Look at all the states now which have passed medical cannabis reforms - the PEOPLE did this becasue the PEOPLE know better and the PEOPLE want this. This is pure lying.]|W|P|111817728679009051|W|P|Newsweek D.C. media manager to become PR VP for White House anti-drug campaign|W|P|xxdr_zombiexx@yahoo.com