The RAnts of RA

A heart broken mother, speaking about medical marijuana…

“I didn’t try to give it to her again,” Maxim recalls. “The only thing that I look back and say I wish I’d done something different is I wish I started medical marijuana sooner, I wish I continued it, I wish I wasn’t so scared.” [Read Hailey’s story  by Valerie Vande Panne]

What right does anyone have to tell us what we can and cannot put into our bodies? I can’t even imagine how this mother feels, watching her child die. How can you look into that little face and not be moved?

WHEN SHANNON MAXIM was struggling to help her daughter through leukemia, medical marijuana was still illegal in Massachusetts. On November 6, 2012, 63 percent of Massachusetts voters approved the use of marijuana to treat conditions in circumstances where a doctor thinks the benefits outweigh the risk. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia  recognize medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and all but two of those jurisdictions permit its use in children. The federal government still considers marijuana a banned drug and has targeted medical marijuana clinics and dispensaries, primarily in Western states, for prosecution.

…

“I’ve been studying marijuana since 1967,” says Grinspoon. “I started to study it because I was so concerned about all of these young people who used marijuana, that they were harming themselves. I believed all the things everybody was told about it. My best friend at that time was Carl Sagan, and I would tell him not to smoke it, and he would say, ‘Oh, Lester, it’s harmless.’ ”

Grinspoon changed his mind after his own teenage son used marijuana when he was undergoing treatment for lymphocyte leukemia in 1971; the boy, Danny, died of the cancer in 1973. Danny found that medical marijuana eased his suffering from chemotherapy. That inspired Grinspoon to learn more. “I went to the Harvard library and started reading,” he says. “It fascinates me: one, the properties of the drug itself, and two, that I and so many others had been so misled about it.”

Trying to  contact your legislator is a nightmare.  You get that same party line: it’s a gateway drug, it kills brain cells. You know the routine.  It’s all been proven false, but hey, these are politicians who can’t just let the facts get in the way.

Heck, I’ve even contacted California congressman Tom McClintock  and received the very same spiel from him. I tried educating him on the subject.  I tried to impress upon him how important it was that he pass legislation to end the drug war.

Hopefully, you know that the state of California can, if it wants, nullify the Federal law.  Why it hasn’t, I don’t know.    Nullification is the last great hope of liberty in America, and all the states have the power to nullify any federal law they don’t like…well almost any law. The point is, California should have protected all the dispensaries, and they just sat there and did nothing. Only a small handful of districts have done anything to preserve the voter-approved Prop 215.

Some doctors argue that there may be “special dangers” for young people using medical marijuana.

Like what? The alternative is that they will die. That’s happening all too needlessly anyways! None of us are going to live forever, but for a child to die needlessly — shame on us.

Please share this. This child was killed by the medical community. They murdered her as sure as I’m sitting here typing this. Someone should be held accountable… but who? The courts, the judges, the police, the legislature?

It’s got to stop. People have a right to be healthy. Medical marijuana for anyone in need is the right thing to do.

Marijuana for kids?  Hell, yes!

Related articles

• Medical Marijuana As Treatment For Children
• State audit faults Colorado health department handling of medical pot
• Arizona Medical Marijuana Program: A product of lies?
• Audit: Oversight Lax For Medical Marijuana In Colorado
• About Marijuana
• Is Medical Marijuana Safe for Children?

Let’s face it folks, Obama is going to lose this next election. He’s going to lose to whoever wins the Republican nomination. That’s a given. You’d really have to have your head buried pretty deep to not have accepted this by now.

Easy Cheese, with a Birth Certificate!

Frankly, he would lose to a can of Easy Cheese, assuming that it were able to provide documentation to meet the age requirement. I hear you can accomplish that for under $20 online.

So, assuming you’re intelligent enough to accept that Obama is going to lose, your decision is now which Republican from those that are seeking nomination will actually represent you for the next four years.

• If you’re a progressive, you’re pretty much out of luck.
• If you’re a RINO, you’ve got quite a few options which, I’m sure, the Mainstream Media  will do their absolute best to pick the best one for you. With so many to choose from, it could take months.
• If you’re a conservative, there’s only one choice.
• If you’re a liberal, there’s only one choice. Coincidentally, it’s the same one.

Who? The invisible man, of course!

The Mainstream Media would have you believe that Ron Paul doesn’t exist. That he hasn’t won every straw poll (from Values Voters Summit  to Iowa to Florida). The thing is, he does. Not only does he have a strong following, the highest voting  consistency of any politician in the last hundred years and experience in both his own business and congress, he’s the only potential nominee that could actually gain true bipartisan support – and actually make both sides happy.

Why? Ron Paul supports states rights. He believes government has no business legislating morality, nor imposing upon the rights of human beings. While he is Pro-Life, his position is that government should not be imposing this decision on the states.

Further, Ron Paul is a Christian, but his belief in the separation of church and state is an indivisible principle. Marriage is a religious ceremony, and thus it’s  dependent on the religion to determine what is a compatible relationship. If you take government out of that equation (as it should be), there’s nothing preventing a civil union between members of the same-sex.

Unlike Obama, who has started several wars since receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, Ron Paul would actually  get America  out of the nation building business.  And since there aren’t formal declaration’s of  war for any of them, we’d have most of our men home  within 30 days.  We wouldn’t be invading other nations, either. That’s not to say Dr. Paul is against war. As a former Flight Surgeon in the Air Force, Ron Paul  has served this man’s military and  has  seen first-hand the harm it causes.  Should the USA really police the world? Of course not.

Unlike both Bush and Obama, who increased the invasions into the privacy of ordinary citizens, Ron Paul has consistently voted against any legislation  that violates the premises of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ron Paul voted against the US PATRIOT Act (that’s a misnomer if ever there was one), and said “Everything we have done in response to the 9-11 attacks, from the Patriot Act to the war in Iraq, has reduced freedom in America.”

Unlike all the other hopefuls,  Bush and Obama –  Ron Paul  acknowledges the issues of the War on Drugs. A war against a large number of the population simply can not be “won”, and should not be waged.

Ron Paul has also made clear his plans to abolish the Fed, the  Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration and bring our troops home.

Ron Paul opposes the subsidization of businesses here and abroad, and the government sponsored crony capitalism that it encourages. Cronyism, for example, is why two and a half cents worth of medication can be sold for a profit of 500,000% here in the USA.

Ron Paul supports homeschooling, a balanced budget and developing energy sources here at home, and true fiscal sanity that will encourage business growth and jobs in every community in America, possibly even saving some of those businesses left in the wake of a visit by Obama!

Assuming you haven’t completely thrown in the towel, and you’re not stupid enough to actually want a President Perry, you need to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican Primaries. For that to happen, you have to be registered Republican. Depending on the state you’re in, you need to change parties up to three months in advance.

Change now. Vote Paul. Save America.

Related articles

• Ron Paul wins Values Voter Summit straw poll (hotair.com)
• Ron Paul Wins Values Voter Summit Straw Poll; Bachman Near Top of VP List (cnsnews.com)
• GOP Strategist: Ron Paul Could Win Republican Nomination (destructionist.wordpress.com)

The next Presidential Election is just around the corner and I can hardly wait. Then I got to thinking about the way voters have really been boxed in over the years.  Laws have been enacted that have  all but guaranteed a Republican or a Democrat would lie their way to the White House.  The entire election process has been corrupted and no longer functions properly.

It just doesn’t seem to me like we are getting the bright, honest men of integrity to run for office these days. Perhaps, we need to make some changes to our current system to better the odds to encourage fine leaders to run for office.

On my wish list for changes that should be made before the next election:

Mandatory Testing for Public Employees

• Anyone running for public office, must submit to an I.Q. test. Those with I.Q.s under 80, are disqualified to run. That should weed out at least 50% of those currently in office.
• Any candidate running for office must have his own house in order. Just like most other positions of trust, prospective candidates must submit to a credit check, chexsystems and he or she must be current with all IRS obligations. That should take care of the other 50%, leaving us with a clean house.

I watch for those campaign mailers and save them each election year. I like to pull them out when I make my choices and consider how well thought out the materials are. In other words, how effectively are they using their own resources. I pay closer attention to the smaller pieces of mail because these are the people who know how to stretch a dollar bill and still get the job done.

I personally hate getting those  huge things that won’t even fit easily into our mailbox.  I know those things are costly and they are a huge waste of money. Even the elderly don’t  need 3 inch type and if they do, it makes far more  sense for that person to grab their eye glasses or magnifying glass — because if their eyes are that bad, you know they  have their own.

The  government  — those who work for the people — must start thinking before spending.  Government workers need to let people do for themselves, and stop trying to take care of everyone. It’s time you start to do the job you were hired for.   Period!

I have a question. Why is it that taxpayers are paying the freight for children to be educated at public schools? Schools keep crying for more money, but do you realize that most parents could pay less to send their child to a private school than it costs to educate a child in the public school?

If we are paying for a private school education, why are our children still expected to received a “standardized education?” Maybe that is part of the problem. We have the resources to create a tailor-made  educational system that is better suited to the needs of a growing child. Just ask John Taylor Gatto, he proved it 20 years ago.

If children are going to be continually tested and grilled throughout their academic careers, maybe we should subject the teachers to standardized testing each year as well. And while we are at it, let’s just extend it to all public workers.

Related articles

• Thousands of students transfer to private schools as Indiana implements nation’s most extensive voucher program (educblog.wordpress.com)
• Private schools’ cash boom (heraldsun.com.au)
• The Year of School Choice (cnsnews.com)