cannabisnews.com: Weed Watch: Blowing Bad Smoke Weed Watch: Blowing Bad Smoke Posted by CN Staff on May 04, 2006 at 18:15:57 PT By Jordan Smith Source: Austin Chronicle Texas -- The honchos at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have spoken: The strange and silly idea that marijuana has any medicinal value is a hoax; a cruel, cruel hoax likely perpetrated by those dastardly drug legalizers – who, the FDA would like to remind you, clearly have absolutely no regard for your well-being, since they're actually suggesting you should smoke your medicine, as if it were actually good for you. How absurd! That's right, on April 20, the FDA issued an advisory to set the record straight – reminding folks that, as the final federal arbiters on matters concerning the safety and efficacy of drugs, they're the good guys and, by declaring that there are absolutely "no sound scientific studies" that support the use of medi-pot, they are looking out for the well-being of all patients. There are no "animal or human data" that support the "safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use," reads the advisory. And any "effort" to trump the FDA's self-professed expertise in determining such matters, the advisory continues, "would not serve the interests of public health because they might expose patients to unsafe and ineffective drug products. FDA has not approved smoked marijuana for any condition or disease indication." Clearly, the folks at the FDA got hold of some bad smoke; the FDA advisory conveniently omits any mention of a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, which concluded, in part, that there is considerable "consensus among experts in the relevant disciplines on the scientific evidence about potential medical uses of marijuana"; it was the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy that in 1997 requested that the IOM conduct a "review of the scientific evidence to assess the potential health benefits and risks" of medi-pot "and its constituent cannabinoids." The final report available at: http://newton.nap.edu/html/marimed/ concludes, in part, that the scientific data indicates medi-mari has potential "therapeutic value" for patients suffering with a number of "debilitating" conditions (including things like wasting syndrome, chronic pain, nausea and vomiting – symptoms commonly associated with AIDS and chemotherapy cancer treatments, among other things). Notably, the IOM repeatedly recommends stringent clinical trials and the need to develop an efficacious medi-mari "delivery system" to reduce, or omit, the respiratory hazards associated with smoking. (Indeed, researchers in Holland recently finished a study on the effects of ingesting medi-pot via a vaporizer, which they concluded delivers a consistent dose while omitting potentially harmful substances, like tar, ingested when smoking. Hypocritically, the quest for rigorous clinical testing in the U.S. has thus far been hamstrung by federal officials, primarily with the DEA, who have either denied – or, in some cases ignored – formal requests to grow or obtain pot for use in scientific research.) The fed-requested IOM report clearly contradicts the latest bit of anti-medi-pot propaganda issued by the FDA. Perhaps the agency could use a refresher course on the differences between science and, say, hysterics – conveniently, the IOM report provides a quick reminder: "This report summarizes and analyzes what is known about the medical use of marijuana; it emphasizes evidence-based medicine (derived from knowledge and experience informed by rigorous scientific analysis), as opposed to belief-based medicine (derived from judgment, intuition, and beliefs untested by rigorous science)." Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Source: Austin Chronicle (TX)Author: Jordan SmithPublished: May 5, 2006Copyright: 2006 Austin Chronicle Corp.Contact: louis auschron.comWebsite: http://www.auschron.com/Related Articles & Web Site:IOM Reporthttp://newton.nap.edu/html/marimed/ FDA's Weed Warhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21818.shtmlHow The FDA Celebrated 4/20http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21806.shtmlPolitics Dictate Disapproval Of Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21803.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #74 posted by Hope on May 13, 2006 at 12:44:52 PT Baling Hay Amazingly...there's been baling going on here for some people.Yes. I'm trying to enjoy it while it's here, too. I hate having to close everything up and use the AC.I'd hate not having an air-conditioned refuge in the heat of summer, even worse, though. [ Post Comment ] Comment #73 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 10:36:04 PT Hope If we don't mow the grass we'll have to bale it soon. Not really but it is getting ahead of us since we have had nice spring showers and everything looks so pretty. Soon it will be hot so we might as well enjoy the good weather while we have it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #72 posted by Hope on May 13, 2006 at 10:25:56 PT She's asleep now in the baby nest I made her on the floor. At the moment I'm all out of baby beds, cribs, play pens, swings, bouncers, high chairs, and cradles. She's so sweet, and protected, comfortable, and nested all around with quilts made by my grandmother. It's so sweet. It's joy.(She's here with me and I won't let her smother in the quilts...if any prohibs out there are of a mind that one of those damn lunatic legalizers has a baby in her care! Oh! Oh!)She's precious. I love the word, "Precious".It's a very fine, beautiful day here.Love you guys. [ Post Comment ] Comment #71 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 10:06:05 PT Hope Ahh a little ankle biter is with you. That's what we called little ones. Well this summer maybe as many as or more then a half a million people will hear Living With War. The message will reverberate for a long time and hopefully flip this around this fall.Have a Happy Mother's Day. [ Post Comment ] Comment #70 posted by Hope on May 13, 2006 at 10:00:51 PT angry rap, or drinking and sex Aye, bread and circuses.keyboard struggle [ Post Comment ] Comment #69 posted by Hope on May 13, 2006 at 09:54:50 PT Ohio? Yup. Guess they couldn't get around it. (There's somebody biting me on the arm as I type this. Chewing. Zoe. She loves keyboards!) [ Post Comment ] Comment #68 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 08:36:40 PT Be The Rain from Farm-Aid This was the most incredible play and concert. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cye0hx1SQNM&search=neil%20young%20 [ Post Comment ] Comment #67 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 08:25:50 PT Whig Thank you. I really like Joni Mitchell. I think they pulled Prairie Town from Youtube.com. I will have to remove it from my one page. I'm glad I was able to see it, hear it and enjoy it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #66 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 08:09:37 PT Living With War TV AD - Only on CNN I haven't heard LWW ad anywhere but on CNN and Comedy Central.http://streamos.wbr.com/wmedia/wbr/neilyoung/051006/neilyoung_post-generic_300.wvx [ Post Comment ] Comment #65 posted by FoM on May 13, 2006 at 07:47:51 PT Hope Yes they played Alice's Restaurant on our radio stations back in the 70s. Did they play Ohio? That song was played all the time. If you read the lyrics to Living With War you will understand what Neil is saying. LWW will be remembered by those who get to hear it since radio stations won't play it. The only music that Clear Channel wants to play is music that has angry rap, or drinking and sex in the lyrics. Peace, love and understand aren't what they want the public to hear. Think about this. Sex was not a topic of music back in the 70s. Love of life, wanting peace and love of our country was allowed on the radio. http://www.human-highway.org/lyrics/lyrics-47.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #64 posted by Hope on May 13, 2006 at 07:13:57 PT Living with War and treated like naive children. I never, ever heard Alice's Restaurant on the radio here until years after the Vietnam war was over. I'd heard of it but no one I knew had the record or tape that I know of. I never, ever heard it on the radio until YEARS after the war was over. I resent being treated that way. I blamed the guy who owned the most popular radio stations here. I guess he had the right to not play what he didn't want to play on the stations he owned...but it still makes me feel like a "subject" or something that is not allowed to choose...even music....for himself.Aaargh.A hit? Golden Oldie? Did they play it on radio stations up north?Computer is too slow to play Living with War right. Guess the government, or whoever, won't let it get air time, is going to force me to buy the CD. [ Post Comment ] Comment #63 posted by whig on May 13, 2006 at 01:31:12 PT FoM Music for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZbo-bE9LIQ [ Post Comment ] Comment #62 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 21:10:57 PT afterburner I wish I could get Q107. I have tried everything I could think of and the only conclusion I can come to is it isn't available to us in the states. I tried turning off my pop up blocker and even changing my setting to accept it with Norton. That's ok though. I am glad they are playing Living With War in Canada. They sure haven't played it once anywhere that I have heard. [ Post Comment ] Comment #61 posted by jose melendez on May 12, 2006 at 21:05:41 PT too good "Medication". Right:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/health/12depress.html "Lost". Sure:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12758667/ “absolutely nothing, zero”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12757804/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #60 posted by afterburner on May 12, 2006 at 20:58:16 PT Too Bad Freedom of Speech Means So Little to ... the Public Media. Too bad they put corporate profit ahead of the public interest. Q107 has been playing Living with War. Too bad you have to go to another country to hear the truth about the USA on the radio.Too bad the current administration are such control freaks that they value censorship above freedom. Too bad they are so afraid of the truth that they will not allow opposing viewpoints and will not let Americans make up their own minds. No wonder some 29% still support Bush: they don't *know* any better. Their dogma is showing.Thank God for the Internet. It gives us a forum to investigate and discuss the truth. However, it is a 'net. Big brother is watching. [ Post Comment ] Comment #59 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 14:06:59 PT Reviews of LWW Since LWW was released it has stirred up emotions like no other album I have ever heard. I wonder sometimes if I am just an odd person with different moral values and then we get Living With War and the Internet comes alive with opinions. They won't play it on the radio but it doesn't seem to matter thankfully. I am not alone and it is a good feeling. Amazon.com Reviews of LWW: http://tinyurl.com/fl499 [ Post Comment ] Comment #58 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 11:58:56 PT Whig We have 15 acres that are free and clear. I feel good about that. We worked hard to get it free and clear. We do have mortages on the houses and the land they are on though. When we decided to build our own home back in the late 70s we were heavily influenced by what we just lived through. Our goal is to be as independent of the system as possible when my husband retires. We never changed but kept that as our focus. My father was an accountant for a company called Western Electric. He taught me that a home is the best investment for the average person. He didn't invest in the stock market. He did what he told me to do and it worked fine for him and our family. [ Post Comment ] Comment #57 posted by whig on May 12, 2006 at 11:47:44 PT FoM I almost apologized for getting so far off into political theory, but I think you understand -- a lot of people advocate certain kinds of freedom with a conscious or unconscious blindness to a system of effective slavery. There are different kinds of slavery and we're taught about one kind where people are directly held as property, but when people are forced to work for food, shelter and medicine it's just another kind of slavery.I know the conservative/neoliberal argument that people aren't entitled to be given something for nothing, but there's a hidden variable and we aren't living in the natural state. If you could just build a shelter and live off the land it would be one thing, but the system makes you pay someone for the right even to do that. Corporations own most of our land. [ Post Comment ] Comment #56 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 11:29:28 PT Whig I believe in people who have a dream and make it become reality. I believe in mom and pop businesses. When the Malls were being built I never wanted to go to them. I don't believe in putting my money in anything that isn't real. I believe in investing in a home and a little land. What I mean by that is the stock market. Only the very rich were in the stock market when I was young. Now it seems they want everyone in the stock market. That makes a good buffer for the very rich because the poor folks are the ones that lose when it crashes. When I think of the stock market all I think is a big pyramid scheme and nothing more. [ Post Comment ] Comment #55 posted by whig on May 12, 2006 at 11:02:55 PT What's wrong with neoliberalism? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation [ Post Comment ] Comment #54 posted by whig on May 12, 2006 at 09:12:46 PT BGreen http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376 [ Post Comment ] Comment #53 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 09:03:09 PT BGreen Bush lovers will bash Bush because they are worried about losing power this fall. Politics are cruel and self centered. [ Post Comment ] Comment #52 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 09:00:53 PT whig Thank you. What a sad state of affairs we are in because of Bush and his followers. [ Post Comment ] Comment #51 posted by BGreen on May 12, 2006 at 08:59:49 PT I don't read either one, but the change is correct I checked the New Republic web site and they are in a bush-bashing mode, but their only goal is probably to prop up the chances for other neo-cons to win the 2006 elections.I don't go to any web site that intends to tell me exactly how I have to think. I tend to go to web sites that resemble my way of thinking.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #50 posted by whig on May 12, 2006 at 08:57:36 PT FoM New graphs!Approval: http://tinyurl.com/ytgznDisapproval: http://tinyurl.com/43yfh [ Post Comment ] Comment #49 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 08:50:03 PT BGreen I'm done. Is that what you wanted? [ Post Comment ] Comment #48 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 08:44:32 PT BGreen I'll fix it. Don't post anything until it's fixed or it will get lost in cyberspace. I'll let you know when I have it fixed.The New Republic is a nasty site too isn't it though? They are for republicans like National Review is aren't they? See I live in my own world removed from politics. [ Post Comment ] Comment #47 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 08:40:43 PT Whig I am too much like Neil Young to be involved in politics. I agree we need to get rid of the bad politicians and we are going to do that this fall I hope but other then that politics are sterile and mostly mean. I am for people who wear white hats. [ Post Comment ] Comment #46 posted by BGreen on May 12, 2006 at 08:38:13 PT This is how I want paragraph 5 to read Go to National Review or any number of web sites dedicated to the rantings of the mentally ill, but if you think you're going to stick around here, then you better get used to not having anybody agree with you. [ Post Comment ] Comment #45 posted by whig on May 12, 2006 at 08:33:43 PT Politics M. Simon believes that we are political, because he is political. People often view their adversaries through their own lenses.As far as his goals are concerned, he is right to reject the left while it is out of power, because he wants to be part of the power structure. And if we wanted to be part of the current power structure, we might be well advised to follow his lead. Love of power is the same as love of money, so far as this is concerned. We are invited to corrupt ourselves.As far as the political developments that are happening, the discrediting of the administration will bring the Republicans down. Which affords an opportunity for people like M. Simon to glom back onto the Democrats, and he will do so when it is advantageous, he will say, "I have always been one of you." And so he will seek power from the left again, the neoconservatives will be neoliberals.If you are given a choice between Hitler and Stalin, it is a false dichotomy.http://info-pollution.com/false.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemmaThe correct answer is, neither one. [ Post Comment ] Comment #44 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 08:21:40 PT BGreen What comment? I must be missing it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #43 posted by BGreen on May 12, 2006 at 08:15:47 PT Could you change two words? The N. R. that I was thinking of was the National Review, and not the web site I mentioned.Thanks!The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #42 posted by FoM on May 12, 2006 at 08:12:09 PT BGreen I don't see any reason to delete what you said. I am not a punk and no one here is a punk. I'm just a nice hippie, flower child, lover of peace and my brothers and sisters. I'm jamming along with Bruce Springsteen right now to a song called Jacob's Ladder. This is a great album. I never bought anything from Bruce Springsteen before. We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions what a great album.I am climbing Jabob's Ladder right now! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #41 posted by BGreen on May 12, 2006 at 08:02:22 PT FoM You are more than welcome to delete my post if you think I was too mean.I have NO tolerance for people who talk about "left" and "right," or "liberal" and "conservative."I'm never left or right, nor liberal or consevative. I more resemble a left/right/liberal/conservative, depending upon the topic.I'm a gentle, caring human who is fed up with rhetoric and power grabbing, and anybody who still proudly identifies with this administration is the antithesis of everything I believe to be true.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #40 posted by jose melendez on May 12, 2006 at 07:48:34 PT punks? M. Simon,Please consider that you are FoM's guest and respect her other guests enough to answer the objections instead of rudely flaming us and branding us as punks.That you once considered yourself left and now insist you are right yet refuse to acknowledge the fair and reasonable objections raised gives the impression you are only interested in your peculiar view of the issues at hand.Certainly, changing the subject while avoiding whig and bgreen's specific challenges makes you appear disingenuous.Nobody asked, just my not so humble opinion.My guess is that you were using writer's license to make a point in 'What did you do in the war, Daddy?'. Good luck explaining that, and I suggest you write with a more contributory and constructive form here on cannabisnews. Jose MelendezConcerned Citizens Coalition to Criminalize Prohibition Drug war is crime. We have proof. [ Post Comment ] Comment #39 posted by BGreen on May 12, 2006 at 07:39:29 PT Punks? You pathetic pig! You are a bush loving piece of trash!How dare you come here and say this to us?YOU are the reason this has gone on for so long, NEW CON!You are mentally deficient and think unlike ANY of us, but we're supposed to accept your mentally ill diatribe or else it's OUR problem? Go to National Review or any number of web sites dedicated to the rantings of the mentally ill, but if you think you're going to stick around here, then you better get used to not having anybody agree with you.You are NO different than all of the evil criminals who have ruined the life of so many good people, regardless of whatever "transformation" you might think you have gone through, PIG.If you were really changed, you'd think more like the LEAP members than the PNAC members.You're an irritating little troll, but as far as I'm concerned you don't exist. You're as insignificant as all of the other NEW CONS, and your days are numbered, you little 29%er backwash.We will win, but not by joining the enemy.This is a matter of truth v. lies, and you NEW CONS have no grasp of the truth, so an alliance with any of you won't help us a bit.The truth can't be owned, but the truth can be defended and propagated, so if your psychotic rambling is 180 degrees from the views of the entire cannabisnews family, then you are probably just the crazy uncle that should be locked in the cellar and never mentioned.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #38 posted by M Simon on May 12, 2006 at 05:50:35 PT: Alliances Or how about this one specifically about abused children:http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/heroin.htmlIt will break your heart.Here is another one on "drug abuse can be a marker for child abuse"http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/02/police-and-ptsd.htmlSo why are we persecuting the abused? (typical right wing talk, no? yep a whinger for sure - their electrons is different - you can smell the ozone coming out of the monitor - pure evil)A counter revolutionary plant? Come here to break you up? You are not that important. Now how do we make "Drug War Persecutes Abused Children" national news? [ Post Comment ] Comment #37 posted by M Simon on May 12, 2006 at 03:46:09 PT: Alliances What a bunch of punks. Can't stand a little stiring.As if you owned the movement and would control who comes to your domain.When the right is confronted with a big tent problem they grumble and make the tent bigger. They win. The left holds purges and makes the tent smaller. They lose.Perhaps there is something to be learned here. Provided you prefer political results to keeping the movement pure. The closer you come to winning the less you are going to like the newest converts. Like Lynn Nofzinger. All the people you like are on your side. To win you are gong to have to attract people you don't like. Are you up to it?BTW check out some of the stuff I have written on the nature of addiction. It is a phantom meance. How many on the right (or the left for that matter) can support such a position with science:http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/11/is-addiction-real.html Is Addiction Real?BTW as I ponted out earlier - I was very left way back. Left ideals are pretty good. It is the methods that have proved counter productive. Whole nother story.Now how do we make "Drug War Persecutes Abused Children" national headlines? [ Post Comment ] Comment #36 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 21:53:47 PT Whig These are dangerous times. It all is starting to remind me of the turmoil in our government from years ago. We saw the best and worst from people. That seems to be happening now. It's Deja Vu all over again.Yes Bush tried to say that at the end of F-9/11 right before Neil sang Rockin In The Free World. I had to get that in you know. I love this picture of Neil.http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ragland14/detail?.dir=17b6&.dnm=1e6d.jpg&.src=ph [ Post Comment ] Comment #35 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 21:44:37 PT FoM Didn't Bush try to say that once? Flubbed it, because he couldn't actually accept shame on himself.I worry that this is a dangerous time, and to trust a secret society to bring down a corrupt government is to place a lot of faith in people who have no accountability to the people. At least for now, they are acting without violence, they are exposing the truth, revealing torture, rape, murder, the mortal crimes of the administration; the petty crimes, the graft, the prostitution; and the invasions of our privacy, the spying, the lying. [ Post Comment ] Comment #34 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 21:14:16 PT Whig When we get done in by another person human nature makes us not forget it. That helps protect us from believing in that person again. The same thing would happen in political circles. First time shame on them. Second time shame on me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #33 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 20:54:56 PT FoM It is payback. Exactly. [ Post Comment ] Comment #32 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 20:44:14 PT Whig I understand now. It's like payback. [ Post Comment ] Comment #31 posted by BGreen on May 11, 2006 at 20:41:06 PT Simon says ... I'm a troll He came here to stir things up, just like every "plant" that LEO uses to disrupt peaceful movements.Leave us, you murderer.If winning means abandoning everything we believe in and supporting the war-mongering, freedom hating, evil incarnate new cons, then we would also have to change the meaning of "winning" to "being a bunch of sell-out losers."It ain't gonna happen, M. Simon, you new con fool.In my opinion you can make like a hockey player and get the puck out of here, and don't let the virtual door hit you in the butt.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #30 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 20:37:52 PT FoM Sure. It started with Valerie Plame. The administration tried to take out the professional CIA and replace it with their own political operatives. Then they just kept making things worse and worse and blamed it on the CIA when things went bad. So now the CIA returns fire by carefully leaking what's going on, including the sheer criminality, the corruption, the hookers, everything, and then on top, the domestic wiretaps. More to come, for sure.You think the CIA's never destabilized a government before? They aren't amateurs at this. [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 20:30:01 PT whig Can they do that? [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 20:24:08 PT CIA I think we're watching what happens when the CIA decides to pull the administration. [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 20:18:47 PT Whig Woo! Woo! Woo! [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 20:10:55 PT FoM Did I say 31%Now 29%!http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/05/11/bushs-approval-ratings/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 18:20:25 PT whig I understand what you are saying but I didn't understand what he was saying. I don't mind you talking about this stuff it just goes over my head. I believe in caring and peace. I don't believe we should be doing what we are doing to the people of Iraq. I don't think of religions or who is right or who is wrong. I see mothers with dead children in their arms screaming why did you do this to us. [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 18:09:47 PT FoM You know I don't vote, so I don't think I make political arguments, but there are some things that I believe in and that I talk about. I think people who advocate and cheer for war should be told it's wrong and that we don't have to agree with people to be peaceful.M. Simon came on here and he tried to act like he's our friend but he writes about invading Iran being a good thing, and he lies about having never been a drug warrior when he's written about it on his own site. I don't think we should just act like it's okay.Peace means to me that I don't use or advocate violence against people when I disagree, but it doesn't mean I can't tell them what I really think.Backwash is from the Stephen Colbert speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner where he was saying 31% isn't so bad because it means the glass is still almost 1/3 full, but then he said the last third is usually backwash and he wouldn't drink it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on May 11, 2006 at 17:37:58 PT Just a Comment I just don't understand. I don't know much about history ( I didn't ever like it ) and political arguments don't register with me. I don't like being put in a box. I know about the problems we have in our country and I want to try to help fix them. People matter and Peace is necessary. Our earth needs some serious attention too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by whig on May 11, 2006 at 17:20:49 PT BGreen Backwash. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by BGreen on May 11, 2006 at 17:08:16 PT Have we found a 31%er? It doesn't matter whether you're a new con or an old con, a con is still a con, and I wouldn't trust one as far as Angel Raich could throw one.The Reverend Bud Green [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by M Simon on May 11, 2006 at 16:58:30 PT: Alliances I will quote Winston Churchill (a renowned authority on the subject of fighting evil) on why he supported Stalin when Stalin began fighting Hitlerism."If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons." Winston Churchill [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by whig on May 10, 2006 at 20:47:12 PT M Simon I wouldn't ally with Stalinism either. [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by M Simon on May 10, 2006 at 20:42:23 PT: Islamic Subjugation of Women I guess my take on mass murder ought to be the same as yours>I will no longer work with any on the left> Given the crimes of Stalin Mao etc [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by whig on May 10, 2006 at 06:02:41 PT M Simon "People who call me a neocon favor the Islamic subjugation of women."Not true, and non sequitur."In fact I am a true neo-con."So by your own terms, since you call yourself a neocon, you must favor the Islamic subjugation of women?"War is not a bad thing if it prevents the subjugation of women."How many Americans would you kill you ensure that women have the right to bare their breasts in public?"I was never a drug warrior. Ever."http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/what-did-you-do-in-war-daddy.html"BTW the point of this little exercise is to suggest you keep on topic. You might be alienating allies."I appreciate your suggestion, but I'm not willing to make alliance with advocates of mass murder. If that alienates you, it's fine with me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by M Simon on May 10, 2006 at 04:34:41 PT: Islamic Subjugation of Women I was never a drug warrior. Ever.I was not a Christian. Ever.In fact up until the the late '70s I was as anti-war as they come. I believed in the future of socialism and the beauty of the USSR and the words of Mao.Then I began looking at results. Capitalism is an ugly system. Under it folks have more liberty and wealth. Socialism is a beautiful system. Under it people are ground down. Economically and politically.So I had to decide: beautiful system that doesn't work (read Hayek to find out why) or ugly system that does (read DeSoto to see how propeerty systems develop where ever there are groups of men).I've been a Dead Head since '67. A fan of the Airplane since '66. My policies on economics has changed some since then. :-)In fact I am a true neo-con. I once was left and now I'm right. I now believe in the destruction of tyrants. Which in case you have not been following it is official American policy. It got approved by the house by 4:1. Which means quite a few Democrats voted for it.The people of Iran are not happy with their tyranical government. In addition their government has offered to start a nuclear war. Where I come from this is not considered a good thing. Some folks even go so far as comparing this situation to one we once had with a certain Austrian corporal. So economic pressure is a good way short of bullets to get them to change their mind. If they don't change their mind it will weaken them for the final blow.===================================================As a neocon the thing I fear most is that the drug war is ended under a right wing president. Think of the headlines:Republicans Wage War On Abused Children http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2004/09/heroin.htmlSo all you lefties out there who want to discredit the war machine: defeating drug prohibition is the surest way forward.You will even get my help.Simon [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by M Simon on May 10, 2006 at 04:07:58 PT: Islamic Subjugation of Women The person who will not lift a sword in his own defence will surely die by the sword.I'm a firm believer in armed non-violence. So if some one wants to get violent, I'm prepared.Those who can defend themselves are called citizens. Those who can't are called subjects.There is a special religion for subjects. It is called in English "Submit" or "Submission". Quite popular around these parts I'm told. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by M Simon on May 10, 2006 at 03:59:57 PT: Islamic Subjugation of Women War is not a bad thing if it prevents the subjugation of women.Are you familiar with the basji of Iran?BTW the point of this little exercise is to suggest you keep on topic. You might be alienating allies.We are going to need all the help we can get. The left is going to have to work with neocons. The right is going to have to deal with communists. Both ought to bite their tongues and stick with the issues at hand. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by M Simon on May 10, 2006 at 03:54:17 PT: Islamic Subjugation of Women People who call me a neocon favor the Islamic subjugation of women.Here is something else I am against:http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/10/war-on-unpatented-drugs.htmlThe War On Unpatented Drugs [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by whig on May 07, 2006 at 19:46:43 PT M Simon We're on the same side of the world and we're in agreement on the goal, but we do not agree on methods. I tell you that the person who lives by the sword shall surely die by the sword, if you do not lay it down for plowshares first.You are at war and you know that this is Armageddon. You are trying to do what you think is required of you, to fight the enemies of Christianity, the Antichrists you think of them, and you think you will defeat them by force on the battlefield or they would defeat us. You are as certain of your just and moral purpose as am I. Though we are on the side of good in our hearts we make mistakes, and learn by them, and try to do better. But some mistakes cannot be taken back, they cannot be repaired, and I say to you that you shall not murder in the name of God and if you do you can not repair what you have done.You are a man that has seen the error of his ways before, you were once a Drug Warrior, resplendent in the battle against marijuana, which you then discovered to be not the evil you thought it to be. You learned that it was good, that it helped people to live better lives, to survive trauma, to heal their body of cancer and pain, to make them whole. Perhaps you have had the experience of cannabis yourself and found it to be good, but I make no assumption. You think it should be legal, you think it was wrong and beyond wrong that it was made criminal in the first place. You cannot undo the damage that you did when you were on the other side, but you can stop doing it, and you can repent of your mistakes and you can help the rest of us to understand, and you are forgiven it.You are making a mistake again, and I have tried to set you on the path of peace because it is the path of God and Christianity. There is no righteous war against the unbelievers, they will believe in their time and in their way and according to God's plan, and the war that matters is the one that goes on within your own spirit today. You are on your own soul journey and you must choose the right and the good or you will be told you have done wrong and you will have to face yourself.I am not the God of only one people but of all people, and there is no other God but me, saith the Lord. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by whig on May 07, 2006 at 17:07:02 PT M Simon You may be allied with us on the issue of cannabis, but I cannot overlook your advocacy of war:http://tinyurl.com/fuj2oM Simon writes:"So if we are going to war with Iran the first thing that needs to be done is preping the battlefield. You want to weaken the enemy position before attacking it. The easiest way to do that is with a spoiling attack. Such an attack is implimented against enemy formations that are massed for an attack. This disrupts the enemy while he is in the prepratory stage and as a result disorganizes or prevents anticipated attacks."I will write more to you when I have gathered my thoughts, but this is not acceptable to me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by whig on May 07, 2006 at 16:59:11 PT M Simon Where did this neocon come from? [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by M Simon on May 07, 2006 at 16:47:12 PT: Imperialism Down with Islamic Imperialism http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/2005/11/is-addiction-real.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by seattle420 on May 05, 2006 at 09:46:28 PT: weed smoke is not bad for you in anyway! it's soft healing smoke! [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on May 05, 2006 at 05:52:31 PT once again..... OK - 16,500 people per year in the US die from NSAIDS - bleeding to death because OTC and/or prescription anti-inflammatory pills have burned holes through their stomachs.Now, those drugs are LEGAL and GOOD, but cannabis is NOT medicine. Even though 100 million have SMOKED it, with untold millions doggedly trying to smoke themselves to death every day for years, and no one has ever died. Actually, no one has ever gotten lung cancer, either. Why doesn't the FDA produce ONE person who's contracted lung cancer from cannabis smoking, and did not smoke LEGAL cigarettes. They'll find that person right about the time they find the guy who used only cannabis and caused a fatal car accident. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by charmed quark on May 05, 2006 at 04:47:52 PT Wow - vaporizers mentioned You almost never see vaporizers mentioned in the main stream media. The reason is that they would invalidate a major section of the DEA's anti-cannabis propaganda - that users want to smoke it and smoking is really, really, really bad for you, so cannabis is bad medicine.In fact, the doctors well-known for making the most cannabis recommendations in California also explain vaporization to their patients. So the reality on the ground, as they say, is that medical people there already have moved away from "smoked medicine".During the study leading up to the 1999 Institute of Medicine Report, several medical cannabis activists tried to get the IOM to review the vaporizer studies as part of the report, but for reasons I'm unfamiliar with, they did not. Too bad. It might have changed their conclusions to be even more positive. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Toker00 on May 05, 2006 at 03:46:47 PT OT: Spiritualism vs. Right Wing This is relevant to our discussions about Spiritual vs. Religious. Interesting.http://www.tikkun.org/community/spiritual_activism_conference/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by whig on May 04, 2006 at 21:42:13 PT ekim I can never see those things. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by ekim on May 04, 2006 at 19:20:36 PT i on u:) http://www.magiceye.com/client/andrews.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by ekim on May 04, 2006 at 18:44:42 PT A dandy from Tandy Wednesday, May 03, 2006 A dandy from Tandy http://lastonespeaks.blogspot.com/ Underassistant Administrator of Untruth, Karen Tandy of the DEA, has an letter to the editor in the NYT today. She outdoes herself with this febrile defense of the DEA's refusal to allow acceptable grade cannabis to be grown for independent testing. The D.E.A. doesn't limit the potency of marijuana for research. The agency has registered every one of the 163 researchers who requested to use marijuana in studies and who have met Department of Health and Human Services standards. None of these researchers have sought any higher quality marijuana, but if they ever did, it could be supplied. Supplied from where? Their one schwag factory that produces all the raw product for testing? Inside the beltway they like to call this a misstatement. Round these parts they call it a baldfaced lie. Those 163 researchers are mostly shills they commissioned to get the results they wanted. The only reason no one asked for better grade testing material is because they get fired for failing to prove the schwag is harmful. Study after independent study going back well over a century has found the plant to be safe for moderate use. Modern day studies have proven its medical benefits and in fact, alternate agency disinformer, Andrea Barthwell -- formerly of the ONDCP before she was fired for that unforunate drunken incident at the office party -- is now a paid lobbyist for Sativex. Don't let the fancy talk fool you. Sativex is essentially liquid marijuana. And why would they bother to develop this all natural version when they already have synthetics that allegedly deliver the same effects? Because its chemical composition is so complex that it is the most effective when used in its whole plant state. A lot of corporate cash is riding on this one. Protecting the pharma corps' interest in marketing a prescribed delivery system is the only reason they are still vilifying the "raw" plant. Anybody can grow a weed, but only Bayer Canada can dispense the "distilled" plant. One expects possession of the natural plant will remain a crime while the pharmaceutical version, distilled from the exact same plant, will be legal only by prescription and at a hefty profit to Bayer and GW Pharma. Explains a lot about the war on marijuana, doesn't it? Meanwhile, terminally ill patients suffer in pain for lack of a effective medicine or fear of arrest for using a natural remedy to ease the pain of their dying days. It's just not right. -----------------------------------------------------------------May 5 06 4:20 Drug War NEWS 04:20 PM Terry Nelson Houston Texas USA Speaker Terry Nelson will discuss Mexico's movement to decriminalize small quantities of drugs when he is a guest on the "4:20 Drug War News". The program is heard at 4:20pm in every time zone in which it is broadcast. The broadcast is originated at KPFT, 90.1 FM in Houston, Texas & on the web at www.kpft.org. May 6 06 Cures Not Wars Rally 04:00 PM Jeff Kaufman New York New York USA Speaker Jeff Kaufman will speak at this year's "Cures Not Wars Rally". Location: Battery Park. Visit the following for a map to the rally: http://www.cures-not-wars.org/nymap2006.pdf May 8 06 A Debate Re: "Have Our Drug Laws Failed?" 04:00 PM Jim Gray San Diego California USA Speaker Judge James P. Gray will particpate in a debate with student drug testing advocate Roger Morgan. The topic of the debate is "Have Our Drug Laws Failed?" Location: San Diego State University, downstairs in the Aztec Center May 8 06 University of Washington: "Crime, Politics, and Justice" 09:00 AM Norm Stamper Seattle Washington USA Professor Katherine Beckett welcomes Former Seattle, WA, Chief of Police Norm Stamper to the University of Washington, Seattle, to present "Crime, Politics, and Justice" to students and faculty. Location: University of Washington, Seattle, Kane Hall, Room. 210. May 16 06 Medical Center Rotary Club 11:45 AM Michael Gilbert Babcock Texas USA Members of the Medical Center Rotary Club welcome Speaker Michael Gilbert for lunch and discussion of issues related to the failures of drug prohibition. http://www.leap.cc/events/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by mayan on May 04, 2006 at 18:26:33 PT SPANKED Just when you think the FDA can't get spanked any harder! BUWAHAHAHAA!!!THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Universal Admits Defeat, Removes Flight 93 Forum: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/040506admitsdefeat.htmIt was fun while it lasted... http://stopthelie.com/universal_pictures.htmlFlight 93: Index of What Really Happened: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/flight_93_index.htmlHufschmid Discusses 9/11 Movement with Louder than Words: http://www.911source.org/audio/interviews/hufschmidt_avery_rowe_bermasThe anti-‘Farenheit 9/11’: http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2006/04/26/the_antifarenheit_911.htmlTruth Will Always Out: http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1819868.phpMartial Law 9/11 Now Available For Free Download: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/020506martiallaw.htm [ Post Comment ] Post Comment