What possible link could there be between the subjects in the title of this post? Yes, I bit off a lot... the truth is, what links these subjects together are lies, politics, the public circus, failure to do diligent research and failure to act responsibly.
Let's investigate:
The current crisis in Congress - the so-called Federal Debt Crisis. I believe I've covered the facts surrounding the crisis. As noted, the "Tea-Party" elected Republicans have a stake in the outcome of the stand-off regarding an increase to the federal debt ceiling - something raised hundreds of times in the past without a grotesque parade. But this time around,
D-Day, as the Tea-Party elect have an oath-bound duty to cut spending, reduce the national debt, cap the national debt, and end social programs. What's ironic is that when Pres. Geo W Bush was elected President he inherited a budget surplus...
Look, I'm not into
bashing Bush, but Pres. Obama inherited quite the burden. To top it off the Congressional elections in 2010 - with the introduction of the rogue element "The Tea-Party", was a bit too much. Today, at a time of record unemployment, cuts to social services, threats to income and health benefits for senior citizens, the current House is inundated with rogue Tea-Party elect, and causing chaos in Congress. That's a fact. At the head of the House body is Republican Speaker of the House Boehner, pronounced (Bane - er). I feel sympathy for him because i believe strongly he is an experienced, intelligent man, but he is powerless to mediate among the rogue elements in the House, and so he is treading water... hoping for a miracle that will likely not arrive.
D-Day is inevitable...
Casey Anthony is a private citizen suspected of murdering her daughter Caylee in the 1st degree. Her trial was televised nationally over a number of weeks. She was found "Not-Guilty" of the charge. The prosecution perhaps aimed too high in pursuit of Justice. She was found guilty of "lying to the police", subject to a 4 year prison term, of which she served 3 years. She was released a short time ago and her whereabouts are unknown.
She will be forgotten eventually, but recently a mask of her face sold for 1 million dollars on E-Bay. That's more than most celebrities get for their memorabilia at auction. Unlike a public figure like O.J. Simpson, which i previously tried to suggest as a public figure, I can understand televising his trial. But Casey Anthony, was a private citizen. Televising her trial was inappropriate. It became nothing but a Reality TV Show, with her as the main character.
The death of Caylee Anthony is extremely tragic, and it's natural we'd want Justice to be served. But the facts in this case highlight a prosecution team over-inflated with it's own ideals... charging Casey Anthony with 1st degree murder and other charges for which they really had no proof. Early on in the case, doubt was raised in my mind that Casey may have killed her daughter based on premeditation... it seemed more likely she freaked, and accidentally killed her daughter, then tried to cover it up. But that is not what the prosecution thought...
Casey Anthony was freed... but, as a result of her trial being televised, she is one of the most "hated people" in this country.
After her release the following article emerged from MSNBC:
Casey Anthony: How does she rebuild a life?
Advocates who work with former prisoners say she'll need to establish a 'new normal'
According to the article which reveals never before disclosed facts about the life of a person, after incarceration, having been subject to arrest and incarceration, is no casual, simple to recover come effect. Yet we subject 100's of thousands of non-violent "offenders" to this reality yearly. We on the outside hardly give it a second thought... however I urge you do do so.
"Being incarcerated is a traumatic event no matter who you are and no matter how long you stay in," said JoAnne Page, president and chief executive officer of The Fortune Society, a nonprofit social service and advocacy group in New York that works with former prisoners. "I think especially when somebody’s high-profile and when it’s a hard case for people to stomach, it’s much harder."
About 730,000 people are released from state and federal prisons across the country every year, while another seven million cycle through jails annually, Page said.
“No matter what the crime was, what you want is for them to enter society as people who can be constructive in the community," she said. "If that doesn’t happen, everybody gets hurt.” - MSNBC
#4:
PATENT # 6,630,507:
Hampson , et al. October 7, 2003
Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
Abstract
Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH.sub.3, and COCH.sub.3. ##STR1##
This is a patent the Federal Government filed and owns with regards to staking a claim on medical benefits.
There are actually many other patents too, not just owned by the Federal Government.
U.S. Patent Documents
2304669 December 1942 Adams
4876276 October 1989 Mechoulam et al.
5227537 July 1993 Stoss et al.
5284867 February 1994 Kloog et al.
5434295 July 1995 Mechoulam et al.
5462946 October 1995 Mitchell et al.
5512270 April 1996 Ghio et al.
5521215 May 1996 Mechoulam et al.
5538993 July 1996 Mechoulam et al.
5635530 June 1997 Mechoulam et al.
5696109 December 1997 Malfroy-Camine et al.
6410588 June 2002 Feldmann et al.
Foreign Patent Documents
427518 May., 1991 EP
576357 Dec., 1993 EP
656354 Jun., 1995 EP
658546 Jun., 1995 EP
WO9305031 Mar., 1993 WO
WO9412667 Jun., 1994 WO
WO9612485 May., 1996 WO
WO9618600 Jun., 1996 WO
WO9719063 May., 1997 WO
99/53917 Oct., 1999 WO
Several attempts have been made over the past 40 years to have cannabis/marijuana reclassified on a federal level, with the DEA. Currently it has been classified and reclassified as a Schedule One drug.
That status conflicts with current laws enacted in 16 states, thus far, as well as 3 or more states where possession of cannabis has been decriminalized. Based on a substantial amount of scientific research (not conducted by the federal government), over the past 40 years, while a Federally sponsored
War on Drugs has been waged, proof has emerged that clearly shows cannabis is not the dangerous drug it's been made out to be. It's safer than alcohol and tobacco, and has proven medicinal value. As evidenced in the list of current patents, above.
Yet despite repeated attempts to have cannabis reclassified, the DEA has used it's Big Rubber Stamp every time a petition for rescheduling is submitted.
The first time was:
"NORML, (The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws) which began in the early 1970's as the only cannabis lobbyist group in Washington, had filed rescheduling petitions with the DEA in 1972, but was not granted a federal hearing on the issue until 1986. In 1988, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young ruled that marijuana did not meet the legal criteria of a Schedule I prohibited drug and should be reclassified. Then-DEA Administrator John Lawn rejected Young’s determination, a decision the D.C. Court of Appeals eventually affirmed in 1994."
A subsequent petition was filed by former NORML Director Jon Gettman in 1995, but was rejected by the DEA in 2001.
In 2002 another petition was filed...
May 26, 2011 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: A coalition of public interest advocacy groups filed suit this week in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to compel the Obama administration to respond to a nine-year-old petition to reclassify marijuana under federal law.
The suit was filed by attorneys Joe Elford of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and Michael Kennedy of the NORML Legal Committee on behalf of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC). The Coalition, which includes NORML and California NORML, filed a comprehensive rescheduling petition with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on October 9, 2002, challenging marijuana's Schedule I federal classification as a controlled substance with "no currently accepted medical use" and a "high potential for abuse." The agency formally accepted the petition for filing on April 3, 2003
In all cases the petitions to reclassify cannabis were all but ignored, in the latest case it took the government 9 years to act... and the petition was Rubber Stamped as usual. I note with interest that the DEA apparently submits such petitions to the Dept. of Health and Human Services; something I find of similar concern as I'd expect DHHS to be more informed:
Excerpt from:
40552 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 131 / Friday, July 8, 2011 / Proposed Rules
"Services (DHHS). DHHS concluded that
marijuana has a high potential for abuse,
has no accepted medical use in the
United States, and lacks an acceptable
level of safety for use even under
medical supervision. Therefore, DHHS
recommended that marijuana remain in
schedule I. The scientific and medical
evaluation and scheduling
recommendation that DHHS submitted
to DEA is attached hereto."
The War on Drugs is over 40 years old, and still the DEA is cemented into a 1971 ideology. An ideology not even supported by then Pres. Richards Nixon's blue-ribbon conservatives who studied cannabis, and proclaimed there was no reason to make continue criminal status. But Pres. Nixon ignored the report. As the DEA has done ever since.
One has to wonder about the Nature of a Lie? Casey Anthony was found guilty of lying to the police. Have not the DEA proven they are lying to the American people, given evidence of patents for medical value of cannabis owned by the American Government? If true, what function is the DEA employed in? What are the taxes we pay to fund the DEA supporting?
It's a circus in Washington, and President Obama PROMISED to end it... made a lot of promises.
Question is... will he come through for US?
Will the current Congress act responsibly, or be held accountable for damages they cause through oaths to special interest groups or refusal to acknowledge reality and science. As Pres. Obama said recently, some catastrophes we can't plan for, but the federal debt crisis is not one of them. Nor is the DEA's refusal to accept reality. As the following article suggests, The act of growing your own doesn't create violence:
"The Kids Are All Right, Even if Their Parents Grow Pot..." Credit: ParentDish.com
"Just because the folks next door are drug dealers doesn't mean they're bad parents.
In fact, researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children say the children of couples who operate marijuana grow rooms are often extremely healthy, physically and emotionally..."
Fact is... no one is suggesting cannabis be available to those under a legal age without a doctors prescription, but currently, the War On Drugs is hurting or has hurt millions of American citizens, including myself. Even if you may not approve of it's use, the fact is it's much safer to use than alcohol and tobacco, and as a medicinal herb it's the real thing. It has many benefits for those who want to use it, and to classify it as it currently is, as a dangerous drug, is wrong, incorrect, and harmful to society, especially a
free society. It's a plant, a safe plant, non-poisonous, non-toxic, and useful in it's natural form. The only lab that is involved in the manufacture of this plant is Nature. Put a seed in the ground and God does the rest.
Yet we subject people to severe criminal offences for this. Is that right and just?
It's time to stop the hurt, time to demand a credible government and one that is accountable. Is that too much to ask???
