Thursday, January 27, 2011

What is your opinion regarding Marijuana?

One of the most popular topics asked of President Obama for his youtube.com town hall meeting was regarding Marijuana.  What is your opinion?

Which is closest to your beliefs regarding possession and use of Marijuana?
Marijuana possession and use should remain illegal with tough penalties.
Marijuana possession and use should be decriminalized.
Marijuana possession and use should be legal but under state regulation and sale like distilled spirits.
There should be no legal constraints regarding marijuana.
Allowances should be made for the medical prescription and use of marijuana, but it should still be a controlled substance and not for recreation.


  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Monday, January 17, 2011

M.L.King then, and now


This is the Martin Luther King that most people know, a man and his mission largely seen as history.

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied."


Few realize that on that day on which he was killed he was on his next mission; the Poor People's Campaign. It was why he was in Memphis. He was there to seek better working conditions for the City's working poor - Sanitation workers, guys who pick up the garbage.

With Selma and the voting rights bill one era of our struggle came to a close and a new era came into being. Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn’t enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t earn enough money to buy a hamburger and cup of coffee?


Economic equality for the working poor, including Appalachian Americans, Native Americans. The struggle continues. And Martin Luther King's work, and sacrifice is important today as it was 50 years ago. Economic inequality is as great today as it was then. The struggle continues.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Virginia Tech, now Tucson...

“It’s offensive to me that some congresspeople are worrying about how to protect themselves, when really it should be about who’s going to protect the citizenry,” (Lori) Haas said. “Who is going to protect me and my daughter? Who is going to protect Christina Taylor Green?”
- Lori Haas, mother of Emily Haas, VT shooting survivor.

It is time to make sure that mentally defective people and felons can not purchase a gun. Virginia Tech Review Panel Chairman, Va.State Police Superintendent Col. Gerald Massengill:



The Tucson shooter was so nutty that his community college threw him out of school. What is less clear is why he was not identified by authorities as a danger to himself or his community. Here is one clue, money:

To fill a $1 billion hole in its 2011 budget, Arizona slashed this year’s budget for mental health services by $36 million — a 37 percent cut. As a result, advocates say 3,800 people who do not qualify for Medicaid are at risk of losing services such as counseling and employment preparation. In addition, more than 12,000 adults and 2,000 children will no longer receive the name-brand medications they take to keep their illnesses in check. Other services such as supportive housing and transportation to doctor’s appointments also will be eliminated.


It is time for all Americans, including those of us who are responsible gun owners, to understand that we need to find and identify mentally ill people, give them the assistance that they need, restrain them if we must, and make certain that they can not purchase weapons.

Ut Prosim.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Republican Reps Violate Constitution

The Republican majority is off to a flying start. Reps, Jeff Sessions (member of the rules committee :) and Mike Fitzpatrick violated the Constitution just minutes after reading the Constitution, and have thrown the House of Representatives into a mess. All the legislation they voted on in their first day is now invalid. Apparently Fitzpatrick was hosting a fundraiser in the Capitol and too busy to attend to his oath. Sessions was along for the ride. Hosting fundraisers in the Peoples House is a also a violation of House of Representatives Rules. I think this is just a start for these Jackwagons.

From Politico:


It's not exactly a constitutional crisis, but two Republican members-elect missed the swearing-in on the House floor Wednesday and proceeded to participate in the legislative process -- voting, introducing bills, participating in committee hearings and speaking in the chamber -- for more than a day before the mistake was caught. "Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) missed the mass swearing-in ceremony on the House floor Wednesday but proceeded to cast a series of votes," I write for POLITICO. "Fitzpatrick participated in a reading of the Constitution on the House floor Thursday. If he paid attention to the reading of Article 6, he heard these words 'The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.'"