tczubernat

If Pot is the Only Thing Keeping Her Alive, Let Her Die

15-Mar-2007

One of the most horrifying acts of judicial barbarism in American history has just occurred, in yet another example of the insanity of our ineffective drug laws: A federal appeals court has decided that if the only thing that will keep a patient alive is medical marijuana, that individual may be put in prison, deprived of the substance, and left to die. "Oh my God," were the words that desperately ill Angel Raich, a 41- year-old Oakland, California mother of two who depends on medical marijuana for her life, uttered as the savage ruling was read.

The Supreme Court had already ruled that federal law prevailed in the Raich case over California law, which allows the use of medical marijuana. As a result, the only question before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals was whether or not a person's right to life is more important that the federal prohibition against marijuana.

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=6056

President Bush has just proposed America's first $3 trillion budget.

The President's current budget proposal promises more of the same. It freezes most spending except for national defense, which will rise by 7% for the Pentagon and 11% for Homeland Security. The grand total for the defense budget is a whopping $515 billion, and this does not include spending for Iraq!

This campaign asks you to send the following message to Congress . . .

“I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid on my behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule of law. Please stop overreacting. I understand that it will not be possible to stop all terrorist acts. I accept that. I am not afraid.”

You can send your message here.

http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=77

It seems that when an attack is mounted against God, the rational arguments against religion, get muted. The more prudent approach would be to expose the religious leaderships' failings, short comings and fallacies. Also, to question member's of a religion when they misinterpret their scriptures and/or teachings.

The video is narrated by Orson Welles and should be enjoyed by everyone, especially those who remember "School House Rock."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ABKLirW24LE

Natural events I can understand but, the question seems to go against reason.

If God is omnipotent (without want) why would He want?

Might be fun to watch as I get trashed!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1aT...

Perhaps I can get some more input, even from the same people who've answered.

By all accounts, none of the stars and planets should be here, much less us. This is the finding of the finest of sciences;physics.

I'm just curious about the rationale behind believing in this highly improbable accident, as being all there is.

It seems to me nothing can get in or out from outside of the universe. If I was to follow this, then it is more akin to a giant closed system.

The only way to consider it an open system is to allow for something outside of our universe, which can influence entropy.

(I had to place this question because all of the science apologists weren't looking in the physics section)

The Cox News service reports that food prices are up 37% from a year ago. The "Times" of London reported on December 3 that Gulf Oil states are reducing their ties to the dollar. Iran stopped conducting its oil business in dollars on December 7th.

Why are food prices rising? Why is the worldwide demand for dollars shrinking?

Changes in prices, or in the value of a currency, always reflect a change in the supply of goods and services, or in the demand for them, or in the size of the money supply, or a combination of all three.

We've touched on part of the cause of rising food prices before: government subsidies for ethanol. These subsidies divert corn from food to fuel production. That makes meat more expensive, becasue corn is used to feed cows. It also sends a signal to farmers to stop growing other crops, and start growing corn. This lowers the supply of those other crops and causes their price to rise. Meanwhile . . .

Ethanol requires more energy to produce than it delivers. That means ethanol is triple bad news. It raises your price at the pump, and at the grocery store, and it's bad for the environment. Thank you very much government. But . . .

Is ethanol enough to cause a 37% increase in food prices? We think not, especially when those price increases are accompanied by $800-an-ounce gold, and a world-wide flight from the dollar. Why have so many people traded dollars for gold, and why is the dollar losing its value overseas?

Is it because foreigners suddenly have less demand for American goods and services? This can't be the answer. The volume of American products sold abroad is roughly unchanged. Of course, not all dollars are used to buy goods and services. Many dollars are held as an investment -- as a store of value.

Is the American dollar no longer a good investment? Consider, first we had a stock market crash between 2000 and 2002. The American stock market lost nearly 38% of its value. Then there was the housing bubble, followed by the housing bust.

The housing bubble began in about 1996, but the balloon really started to inflate at about the same time the stock market was deflating. It certainly looks like money sloshed out of the stock market and into the housing market. It looks like people have been trying to find a safe place to invest their dollars.

But if the stock market and real estate turn out to be unreliable then it stands to reason that some money would then go to things like gold or to other currencies. This would explain the retreat from the dollar, but it doesn't necessarily account for rising prices for food and other goods.

There is actually one thing that explains all of these phenomena: the size of the money supply.

When the Federal Reserve expands the number of dollars certain sectors get the new Fed money first. Those sectors are . . .

* The government, and those who do the most business with the the government

* The banking system, and those who do the most business with banks

This means that you would expect to first see the impact of an expanded money supply in the Big Business and Big Banking sectors. And what did we in fact see? We saw a stock market bubble (Big Business) followed by a housing bubble (Big Banking).

Eventually the new Fed money has to work its way through the entire economy, raising prices for everything you buy. We might call this the Consumer Bubble. And what are we in fact seeing? We are seeing rising prices for consumer goods like food.

Remember what we said in our last message on this subject. New money created by the Federal Reserve works exactly like money created by counterfeiters. The people who have the new money first are able to get something for nothing (purchasing goods and services before prices rise to account for the increased money supply). We might call this the Theft Phase of the Inflationary Cycle. Then . . .

Businesses are tricked by the new money into thinking there is increased demand. This causes them to raise prices so as to maintain inventories and invest in new production. This is the Boom Phase. Then . . .

The new money works its way through the entire economy, raising all prices, which removes the impression of increased demand, causing the previous investments in inventory and expanded production to become unneeded and unsupportable. This is the Bust Phase.

This is exactly what we have seen happen. This is why the dollar is losing its value. There is no mystery.

Think about the two Alan Greenspan quotes at the top of this message. Greenspan admits that no central bank -- no Fed -- was needed under the Gold Standard. Notice the other quote. Greenspan admits that neither he nor anyone else knows how to predict what the economy will do. This is very important because . . .

The whole idea behind the Fed was that the money supply would be backed by all of the goods and services in the economy (instead of by gold), and that the managers of the Fed would increase the money supply in sync with the growth of the economy, thereby avoiding price inflation. But . . .

Greenspan admits that it is impossible for him, or anyone else, to know enough about what is going on in the economy to keep the money supply in sync with productivity. This has resulted in repeated disasters, from the Great Depression, to the Great Stagflation of the 1970s, to today.

How do we get off this roller coaster? Returning to the stability of gold would be one way. And gold would probably work even better today with our advanced ability to transfer the ownership of gold/money electronically, instead of toting it around with us. But . . .

The process of returning to a gold economy seems daunting given that the Federal Reserve and the money it creates is so interwoven with our economy. We will have more to say about this in future messages, but for now, suffice it to say that Congressman Ron Paul has devised a very elegant way to get things started.

The simple act of repealing the legal tender law, which confers a monopoly on Federal Reserve Notes, would empower transactions in gold, or any other currency or commodity the market found worthwhile. This would foster monetary competition, and competition would reduce the Fed's ability to inflate the money supply.

This one change would be a big first step toward getting off the roller coaster.

:-)

It is not enough to say "because my holy book says so," because those humans were also assuming.

We're mostly blue collar, working stiffs. Why do so many vote Republican. It can't be the guns and abortions, can it?

I have no party or political affiliations, although I am a Union carpenter.

By not obtaining warrants for wire taps he violated FISA. These warrants could have been obtained up to 72 hours after the fact.

For being the Commander-in-Chief of an army which tortured POW's. A good leader should receive praise when his decisions lead to good and when things go awry, a good leader should face the consequences. In this case, Mr. Bush violated the War Crimes Act of 1996 which implements the Geneva conventions as the law of the land.

For invading a sovereign country which had no ties to the hijackers of Sept. 11th. or Al'Quaida. Iraq was a secular nation, al'quiada a religious organization. The hijackers were Saudi Arabian and Jordanian. WMD was one of the other reasons we went to war with Iraq. That theory has been disproven.

He broke the law. He lied to Congress and the American people.

As a side note, I'd like to include a quote from Ben Franklin; "They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety"

And only from the tribes of Israel. If you believe the Bible, why hasn't that verse been considered as fact?

Revelations, not sure of the verse . . .Schneb?

Does anyone else see the insanity here?

And not answering questions directed towards them.