Free Mary Jane!

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California Medical Assn. calls for legalization of marijuana

The state’s largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.

Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group’s new policy, attributed the shift to growing frustration over California’s medical marijuana law, which permits cannabis use with a doctor’s recommendation. That, he said, has created an untenable situation for physicians: deciding whether to give patients a substance that is illegal under federal law.

“It’s an uncomfortable position for doctors,” he said. “It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not. That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done. Then, and only then, can we know what it is useful for.”

The CMA’s new stance appears to have as much to do with politics as science. The group has rejected one of the main arguments of medical marijuana advocates, declaring that the substance has few proven health benefits and comparing it to a “folk remedy.”

The group acknowledges some health risk associated with marijuana use and proposes that it be regulated along the lines of alcohol and tobacco. But it says the consequences of criminalization outweigh the hazards.

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Meanwhile, the feds keep busting medicinal marijuana dispensaries despite Obama’s promises to the contrary.

Tobacco causes cancer and emphysema. Weed causes munchies and giggling.

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Money Haka

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Remember all the hakas the Obama FanBoiz used to do to try to convince us that Teh Precious was unbeatable?

WaPo:

The campaign said it raised $43 million from July through September, plus $27 million for the Democratic National Committee, which can accept much larger donations. That brings the campaign’s total to more than $90 million, plus $65 million more for the DNC, since Obama formally began his reelection bid.

The numbers put Obama comfortably ahead of his leading GOP rivals, who together appear unlikely to match his total for the third quarter.

Hot Air:

USA Today’s readers were told that Obama is “racing ahead of his Republican rivals.” The Hill reported that “Obama’s campaign continues to dwarf the challengers.” NPR claimed “the president appears to have raised more than all the Republicans combined.” At the New York Times, Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Confessore wrote that Obama is “once again outpacing his Republican rivals despite the country’s economic woes and his low poll numbers.”

Are these so-called watchdogs really that bad at math? In another WaPo piece claiming “Obama dwarfed his GOP competition,” T.W. Farnham reports: Rick Perry raised $17 million; Mitt Romney raised $14 million; Ron Paul raised $8.3 million (including a $500,000 transfer from his congressional campaign); Michelle Bachmann raised $4.1 million; and Herman Cain raised $2.8 million (including $175,000 personal loan to his campaign). The Hill reports Jon Huntsman raised $4.5 million (half of which was a personal loan) and Rick Santorum raised $700,000. CNN reports Newt Gingrich raised $800,000.

Those outside the establishment media will recognize that the GOP candidates’ total — excluding personal loans and campaign transfers — is $49,725,000, which is higher than the $43 million raised for the Obama campaign. Obama also raised $27 million for the DNC, but the RNC raised $23.4 million in the third quarter without having a presidential nominee (one might say Obama helped raised that money also). The GOP/RNC haul becomes $73,125,000 — again, higher than the Obama/DNC total.

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Let’s not forget that as a nobody freshman senator he raised $99 million in 2007. As an incumbent POTUS he should be able to raise twice that much.

Obama’s problem is that all the money in the world can’t make chicken soup out of chicken shit. Once people have a taste they ain’t gonna buy a second bowl.

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You Can’t Eat if You Don’t Come to the Table

In my Sunday morning blog travels, I found a link to a link leading to a story on the Russia Today website. I was introduced to RT from my digital cable box. Apparently, this is communist-leaning news from a country run by an ex-KGB gangster. They interviewed a man named Karl Denninger, who claims to be the founder of the Tea Party. If you watch the video, skip ahead about a minute to avoid a clip of a certain HBO dirtbag.

Denninger has decided that Occupy Wall Street is the new and more authentic Tea Party. Apparently, the Tea Party has been co-opted by Republicans. This new group is camping out, something he thought would be needed to get anything done.

I would have more respect for Denninger had he not trashed the Tea Party movement before they even took Congress away from the Democrats. This video from October 2010 on MSNBC, shows him telling Dylan Ratigan and the soon-to-be-canned Cenk Uygur that the Tea Party is a right-wing operation and they need to start over. This is one month before the election of 2010.

In fact, you’ll see Uygur laying out the OWS battle plan. He even goes beyond Wall Street, calling for protesting the Fed and Tim Geithner. Any surprise MSNBC traded him in for media prostitute Al Sharpton?

For Karl Denninger, the good is the enemy of the perfect. Accept no substitutes. If the Tea Party isn’t doing what he wants, they are no good to him. His website is full of Wall Street’s misdeeds and calls to action. But what calls to action? People still have to vote. A third-party is fine, but it will be in the wilderness for a decade. The last new party, the Republicans, took years to finally have real power in government. Violence won’t do it. During the French Revolution, weapons were still hand-to-hand. Now, the military can mow down a thousand people with one gunner.

The Tea Party grew up. They, the much maligned Sarah Palin and even Glenn Beck called for Democrats to join this Tea Party movement. There were no takers. They had many Republicans take up the cause. Some agreed with them, others were desperate for a coalition.

Did the GOP move the Tea Party to the right? Only if you believe their goals were already to the left. Remember, the Republicans voted down TARP in 2008. Then they were bribed into voting yes the next time. I think the Tea Party just helped to clear out some, but not all, of the cronyism in the party.

The interesting part about OWS is men like Denninger, the occasional Ron Paul supporter and even Newt Gingrich are competing with the Democratic Party to co-opt the protesters. If the Occupiers decide to shun conservatives and libertarians who are against bailouts, do they show themselves to be the arm of the Democratic Party that so many think they are already?

Sextreme sport

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FAA investigates skydiving sex stunt over California

The Federal Aviation Administration says it will look into a videotaped skydiving sex stunt to determine if the pilot might have been distracted during the incident over Kern County.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says any activity that could distract the pilot while he’s flying could be a violation of federal regulations.

Skydive Taft owner David Chrouch says he fired part-time skydiving instructor and porn star Alex Torres and hasn’t decided whether to fire the company’s receptionist, Hope Howell, who he said was Torres’ partner in the video.

The video shows the two having sex in a plane before jumping out in tandem and continuing the act midair.

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This gives new meaning to “getting it up.”

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The most open and transparent administration in history

Obama administration appeals ruling on White House visitor logs

The Obama administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that Secret Service records of visitors to the White House complex are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Justice Department filed a formal notice of appeal Friday afternoon regarding U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell’s August ruling rejecting arguments that the so-called WAVES records belong to the White House even though they are maintained and used by the Secret Service.

The decision to appeal the ruling to the D.C. Circuit would appear to be in tension with Obama’s repeated pledges to operate the most transparent administration in history. The White House announced in Sept. 2009 that it was voluntarily releasing the names of most White House visitors from Sept. 15 forward. However, the conservative group Judicial Watch sought information on visits before that date.

The position taken by the Obama Justice Department, namely that White House visitor records are presidential records and not agency records, is essentially the same one that the department took under President George W. Bush.

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Let’s listen to the howls of outrage coming from Left Blogistan:

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Day by Day

by Chris Muir

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When you lay down with dogs you get up with fleabaggers.

What’s that you say? The anti-Semites and other haters are not representative of the Occupy movement?

Then why don’t they repudiate them and toss them out?

Hmmmm?

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(Courtesy of Day by Day)

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A likely story

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Wonktard:

NYPD Arrests Woman For Closing Her Citibank Account

Be patient through the first 90 seconds — haha, attention span of a gnat! — because a remarkable little drama unfolds with protesters inside the Citibank branch communicating with protesters outside, all very reserved, collecting names and birthdates of the people about to be arrested inside. And then, brutish cops seize a woman in a business suit who is saying, “I’m a customer, I’m a customer,” and showing her Citibank checkbook. Apparently she is here to close her account, and for that she is manhandled by a bunch of thug cops who should be careful where they go from now on. Anyway, closing your account is now a go-to-jail offense.

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Oh yeah, that story makes perfect sense. A woman goes down to Citibank to close her account and gets arrested for no reason. Happens every day.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Earlier in the day, two dozen protesters were arrested at a Citibank branch when they refused a manager’s request to leave. Most were detained for trespassing.

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What? It was purely a coincidence that she brought along 24 of her closest fleabagger friends. Besides, she went outside, leaving them inside when the cops arrived. The reason she didn’t close her account before she left the bank was she realized she had the wrong bank. But her friends didn’t hear her so they stayed inside.

Scout’s honor.

BTW:

Isn’t this an implied threat?

. . . a bunch of thug cops who should be careful where they go from now on.

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