cannabisnews.com: Former Pa. Gov. Raymond Shafer Dies





Former Pa. Gov. Raymond Shafer Dies
Posted by CN Staff on December 12, 2006 at 14:07:10 PT
By Daniel Lovering, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
Pittsburgh, PA -- Raymond P. Shafer, a Republican who transformed the mechanics of Pennsylvania's government but couldn't solve its huge financial woes as governor from 1967 to 1971, died Tuesday, a hospital spokesman said. He was 89. Duane Koller, a spokesman at Meadville Medical Center, confirmed the death.Shafer, who later led a federal commission that urged the decriminalization of marijuana, was the last governor of Pennsylvania limited to a single term.
As its chief executive, he led an overhaul of the state constitution that had grown outdated, winning several constitutional changes from the Republican-controlled Legislature and voters.But by the time Shafer's term ended, the state's finances were in shambles, partly because of massive spending increases he pushed through. It was estimated that by the time Shafer left office, Pennsylvania was spending $2 million more per day than it brought in.Spending grew as the state government began giving more to education and public assistance. Under his watch, basic education funding increased by 71 percent, higher education by 47 percent and public assistance by 187 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.To try to bridge the gap, many state taxes increased. The sales tax went from 5 percent to 6 percent in 1968, the highest in the nation at the time; the cigarette tax was raised; and numerous business taxes went up.Shafer's popularity sank in 1969 when he proposed a state income tax, an idea so disliked that Shafer was once hung in effigy by 250 people in Boston, Pa., who said they were holding a "second Boston Tea Party." Shafer said he needed the tax to finance a 25 percent increase in the state budget to pay for education and welfare, but he was met with hostility when he tried to sell the idea at town meetings.The income tax proposal cost Shafer's lieutenant governor, Raymond J. Broderick, the 1970 gubernatorial election and helped propel Democrats to control the governor's office and both houses in the General Assembly. The tax was enacted soon after by the new governor, Milton J. Shapp.Shafer also oversaw big changes to the state constitution and how the administration functioned.Among other things, the changes enacted during his term included extending the term-limit for governor to two four-year terms; making General Assembly sessions last two years; allowing audits of the state's finances; and creating a unified state judicial system.He also signed legislation to create the Department of Environmental Resources, which oversaw environmental programs, state park management and mining regulation, and a law that consolidated four separate agencies into the new Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.Shafer had to call out the National Guard in 1967 to try to halt violence during a bitter strike by 15,000 steel-hauling truck drivers. The strike paralyzed the steel industry for nearly two months as thousands of steelworkers were laid off because shipping was disrupted.The drivers, who were independent contractors, wanted higher payments for deliveries and to be paid for their time spent waiting at steel mills. Shafer helped broker a deal that ended the strike, which was marked by firebombs, rifle fire and fights.Shafer's administration was embarassed in early 1968 when the state commissioner for the blind fabricated a story that six college students were blinded by the sun after taking LSD. Shafer at first said he was convinced the report was true, but held a news conference the next say to announce that it was a hoax.Shafer reluctantly signed legislation in 1970 that made Pennsylvania the first state in the nation to permit its public employees to join unions and strike. He also oversaw the enactment of the Corrupt Organizations Act, which sought to keep organized crime out of Pennsylvania businesses.After serving in the Navy during World War II, Shafer went into law practice and was elected as Crawford County District Attorney - a position he held from 1948 to 1956. He won a 1958 state senate election and became lieutenant governor under William W. Scranton in 1963.Shafer won the 1966 gubernatorial election by defeating Shapp, a Philadelphian who made millions in the cable TV industry, by more than 240,000 votes.President Nixon appointed Shafer chair of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse in 1971, around the time Shafer was named chairman and chief executive officer of Teleprompter Corp.The Shafer Commission, as it was known, in 1972 recommended that the state and federal governments decriminalize the personal use of marijuana, but continue to declare it an illegal substance."We unanimously agree that marijuana use is not a desirable behavior, and we agree that society should discourage its use," Shafer said in announcing the panel's results. "Nevertheless, we feel that placed in proper perspective with other social problems, citizens should not be criminalized or jailed merely for private possession or use."Nixon, who apppointed nine of the 13 commission members, rejected the report, saying he would not follow any recommendation to legalize marijuana.Shafer was a close ally of Nelson Rockefeller and served as counselor to him when he was vice president.Raymond Philip Shafer, the youngest of five children, was born in 1917 in New Castle. The family moved to Meadville in 1933 when his father, a minister, was appointed pastor of First Christian Church.Shafer was a high school valedictorian, got his political science degree at Allegheny College and earned a law degree at Yale.Following law school, Shafer served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945, where he received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star while serving as a P.T. boat captain and in intelligence.Shafer, a gifted basketball and soccer player, met his wife, Jane, at Allegheny College.He was elected to the college's board of trustees and served as the school's president from 1985 to 1986.Associated Press writer Jonathan Poet in Philadelphia contributed to this report.Shafer Commission: http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/Library/studies/nc/ncmenu.htmSource: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Daniel Lovering, Associated PressPublished:  December 12, 2006Copyright: 2006 Associated Press CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #36 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 16:30:02 PT
global_warming
I guess I still am not sure what you mean. I don't drink or take any medicine so maybe that's why I can't figure out what you are saying.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #35 posted by global_warming on December 13, 2006 at 16:08:02 PT
re: understanding
take your medicinehave another drinkit will come to your mindthat place of yourswhere you seeyour place
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Comment #34 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 15:58:42 PT
global_warming
I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are asking.
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Comment #33 posted by global_warming on December 13, 2006 at 15:50:52 PT
did you look?
into the eyes?of your ownership?in this life?I have, and I can cry, weep tears that will drown this disgrace, I see a world on this planet when the people can come to the alters and lay down bunches of green gifts, and forever look up to the infinite sky, and look freely into their infinite souls, and find comfort, that this place will be reconciled and the rewards of justice will fill all the baskets of comfort, beneath the stars and that place where you are.
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 15:27:52 PT
global_warming
I thought you knew. Only God. I have always been that way.
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Comment #31 posted by global_warming on December 13, 2006 at 15:09:20 PT
so where do you put your faith 
there is that here afterin the meantime all the best music and drugs cannot stop my tearsis it my tears or your tears?Why? are we those people crying?Is it because of our children?Is it because this world is filled with so much hurt?Is it because we' those people are humming some other tune,some tune that says all about freedomsome tune that says that true ownershipbelongs to the night sky
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 14:44:13 PT
global_warming
The only reason that I have faith in the Democrats is because of how the Republicans have turned us into a selfish country where enough money is never enough money. The love of money is the root of all evil and what we see happening now in our country is the result. As far as faith in any party or even any individual that isn't how I look at this issue really. What I mean is I don't put my faith in people because they always will let me down.
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Comment #29 posted by global_warming on December 13, 2006 at 14:22:56 PT
re: comment 26
fomme, sure wish i had your faith in democrats that you have.By now it is very obvious that the republicans represent the big business interests in these united states, and they would squeeze every last dime of profit into their bank accounts, yet somehow the democrats seem to me to represent some kind of litigious society where someday you will need to consult an attorney to go to the bathroom, and there will be a toll booth on every stall.I hope there is some other way that we can turn these stones into bread, without selling our souls to the devil.
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Comment #28 posted by mai_bong_city on December 13, 2006 at 11:12:19 PT
all i can say is..
amen. and thank you, honorable sir. we are richer for you and poorer for the loss.
~*
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 09:31:58 PT
Off Topic
I know how loyal this administration is to Saudi Arabia and they won't let them fight it out themselves so I guess war will keep going. I sure wish they would care enough to make us energy independent. Saudis tell U.S. They May Back Iraq Sunnis-Reporthttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13271609.htm
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 08:35:07 PT
Shafer Commission
I remember thinking back then that maybe marijuana was going to be decriminalized and then Nixon said no way. We've been fighting that mind set ever since. I hope now that the Democrats are gaining power that we will see change come in the next few years.
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on December 13, 2006 at 08:32:26 PT
Toker00 
Glad you liked it. When I hear that song I always think of a friend we had back then who would stand in the middle of the living room and lip sync the song. I always see his face. It's funny how our minds recall things from a long, long time ago.
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on December 13, 2006 at 07:04:57 PT
Raymond P. Shafer and the Shafer Commission
Thank you Judge Shafer for your commission and what you did. You were honest.I often wondered where you were and what you were doing and why you didn't fight for the truth as revealed by your commission while you still had a voice.You did a lot. You were brave and steadfast. I wish you'd fought the injustice of the marijuana laws harder while you could.Put in a good word for us to The One.
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Comment #23 posted by global_warming on December 13, 2006 at 05:35:41 PT
re: Kucinich
He's planning to run again...how about an obama kucinich ticket...allaboard, this train is starting to roll ???
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Comment #22 posted by Toker00 on December 13, 2006 at 03:52:08 PT
FoM #16
Thank you, FoM! Boy, that video really shook some things around in the attic. I remember now trying to learn that song, and I could do the first verse, and the last verse, but the middle gave me problems, and I recall wishing they were better, and enjoying the artwork on the cover better than their music. The review on that clip was a bit harsh, but Chicago they were not. I had been a Toker for about a year when I bought that album. Anything Mythical, Magical, or Mysterious, was cool by me. Those days WERE Magical. Toke.
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Comment #21 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 22:08:56 PT
ekim
No, I'm not going to heroic measures to give people what they can make for themselves. I would rather teach than do for others, even if the latter were practical on any kind of scale. The truth is that by having everyone with common knowledge nobody can ever control it again. It belongs to humanity.
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Comment #20 posted by ekim on December 12, 2006 at 20:45:57 PT
i hope Dennis Kucinich goes to the burial
and i hope a member of every reform group makes it too.i hope the writers will tell a tale of a great man who had the courage to stand up to raw power and tell it like it is.i gues PA has some of the worst drug laws on the books -was that the state that the feds sent for Tommys glass -- then nabed him for. I hope Wm.F. Buckley Jr. writes a great peice on 
Raymond Shafer
http://www.leap.cc/events
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Comment #19 posted by ekim on December 12, 2006 at 19:25:46 PT
hey whig get two hemp frisbys 
see if the loaf makes it if not beef it up last time i heard the hemp plastic was in dvd holders i hope it is becoming more common to get pellets for use in the injection process.you might have to construct --ol loaf holder--tm :) like long peices of hemp plastic and can fit together to form a nice box or holder then disasemmbled and laid flat in a envelope to be sent back for reusei am sure you can come up with a much more better idea than those but had to try.you are near excellent plastic creators
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on December 12, 2006 at 19:01:06 PT
Whig
You're welcome. Uriah Heep and this song was really big when I met my husband. Back then they played songs like this on the radio all the time.
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Comment #17 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 18:46:00 PT
FoM
Thanks. I'd never actually heard that before.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #16 posted by FoM on December 12, 2006 at 18:39:17 PT
Patrick and Toker00
Uriah Heep - The Wizard - Taleshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3oISa_8U6M
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Comment #15 posted by Toker00 on December 12, 2006 at 18:39:08 PT
Patrick
Thank you very much. I don't know why that song came to mind, but I see it had a message of Peace. How appropriate! Yes FoM, that's it. Thanks. Toke.
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Comment #14 posted by mayan on December 12, 2006 at 18:19:30 PT
Alex Jones & More
Alex Jones on Coast to Coast AM - tonight (Tues.)!!!
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/12/12.htmlTHE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...Milwaukee, San Francisco, St. Louis Join Boston Tea Party for 9/11 Truth:
http://madison.indymedia.org/newswire/display/54361/index.php(WATCH FOR UPDATES) The Boston Tea Party for 9/11 Truth going viral:
http://911blogger.com/node/4959Pressing for the Truth on 9/11:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman/publish/article_4358.shtmlAlexander Cockburn and the Politics of 9/11: 
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/121206cockburn.htmBoston 9/11 Truth:
http://www.boston911truth.org/9/11 Initiative:
http://www.911initiative.org/
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Comment #13 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 18:07:11 PT
Patrick
Doesn't that song describe us, here in our "mountain redoubt" (okay, metaphorically speaking -- a space of some elevation over the normal internet though).
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Comment #12 posted by Patrick on December 12, 2006 at 17:39:52 PT
Toker00
You are correct!Uriah Heap Album Demons and Wizards 1972The Wizard 
 
Hensley/ClarkeHe was the wizard of a thousand kings
And I chanced to meet him one night wandering
He told me tales and he drank my wine
Me and my magic man kinda feeling fineHe had a cloak of gold
And eyes of fire
And as he spoke I felt a deep desire
To free the world of its fear and pain
And help the people to feel free againWhy don't we listen to the voices in our hearts
'Cause then I know we'd find we're not so far apart
Everybody's got to be happy
Everyone should sing
For we know the joy of life
The peace that love can bringSo spoke the wizard in his mountain home
The vision of his wisdom means we'll never be alone
And I will dream of my magic night
And the million silver stars that guide me with their light 
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on December 12, 2006 at 17:37:30 PT
Toker00
Is it Demons and Wizards?
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Comment #10 posted by Toker00 on December 12, 2006 at 17:27:25 PT
Respects
for Mr. Shafer. The man was HONEST.This is terrible off topic, but I am trying to remember a song about a wizard, I believe it was by Uriah Heap, if that is even correct. Something about "He was the Wizard of a thousand Kings, and I chanced to meet him one night wondering..." I don't know. Thanks if you music masters can help, and thanks if you can't.Toke.
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Comment #9 posted by freewillks on December 12, 2006 at 16:47:40 PT
virus-induced memory loss?
The Implications this discovery has made about memory loss and the long term use of MJ. Was the short term memory loss becouse of the MJ or the common cold???????SNIPPED
“Our study suggests that virus-induced memory loss could accumulate over the lifetime of an individual and eventually lead to clinical cognitive memory deficits,” said Charles Howe, who reported the findings in the journal Neurobiology of Disease.The viruses are called picornaviruses and infect more than 1 billion people worldwide each year. They include the virus that causes polio, as well as colds and diarrhea. People contract two or three such infections a year on average.
SNIPED
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15387151/
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Comment #8 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 16:42:48 PT
OT: The other war we can't win
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003468705_peirce11.html
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Comment #7 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 16:35:14 PT
gw 
Sit down and take a load off.Do you like where we are going? Do you think the journey will have been worth while? It only took us how many years?Or was it only a single day and night? Do you dream sweet dreams or are you frightened?
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Comment #6 posted by global_warming on December 12, 2006 at 15:35:19 PT
re: D'you mind if I sit down down
take a moment to reflect?in this place where Freedom is some dreamsome forgotten place in time some place that has forgotten 
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Comment #5 posted by whig on December 12, 2006 at 15:32:56 PT
Bread unshippable
A fresh loaf was sent by second day delivery to Los Angeles, but was ruined in shipment.Those who want bread should start their own. I'll provide any helpful advice I can, but that is the limit of what I can do.
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Comment #4 posted by global_warming on December 12, 2006 at 15:07:52 PT
Well, how'd you do, Private Willie McBride?
 D'you mind if I sit down down here by your graveside?http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/noman.html
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by global_warming on December 12, 2006 at 14:38:15 PT
are you' all getting ready for Christmas?
Ready for Battle ?HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — “Churches and Temples are no longer safe in America,” says Reverend Craig X Rubin of Temple 420, who was arrested November 8, 2006, at his religious establishment by over one dozen heavily armed officers of the LAPD."http://www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=276&aid=3Temple 420 claims the Religious Freedom Restoration Act affirmed by the Supreme Court for protection. By law the Government is prohibited from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion, unless the Government demonstrates that application of the burden to the person represents the least restrictive means of advancing a ‘compelling interest.’ This was affirmed in the case of “Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal” when the church’s Schedule I hallucinogenic sacrament was seized. But, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the church’s sacrament being returned and them being allowed to continue their religious practices. "
Cannabis Church Forced to Close 
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Comment #2 posted by global_warming on December 12, 2006 at 14:31:39 PT
Let the record show;
President Nixon appointed Shafer chair of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse in 1971, around the time Shafer was named chairman and chief executive officer of Teleprompter Corp.The Shafer Commission, as it was known, in 1972 recommended that the state and federal governments decriminalize the personal use of marijuana, but continue to declare it an illegal substance."We unanimously agree that marijuana use is not a desirable behavior, and we agree that society should discourage its use," Shafer said in announcing the panel's results. "Nevertheless, we feel that placed in proper perspective with other social problems, citizens should not be criminalized or jailed merely for private possession or use."Nixon, who apppointed nine of the 13 commission members, rejected the report, saying he would not follow any recommendation to legalize marijuana."As for Nixon, I cannot write such a eulogy, for even the worms in the deepest earth avoid this diseased rotten flesh that was once called Nixon, May God Have Mercy on his wretched soul.
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Comment #1 posted by global_warming on December 12, 2006 at 14:23:46 PT
Let the record show;
That the Honerable Former Pa. Gov. Raymond Shafer was an Honarable human being who witnessed and testified in this United States.May, Raymond Shafer find that greater peace, that only the Night Sky and The Infinite Grace that he witnessed on this plane, can offer.
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