tdaxp - health_mullahs

Mexico Decriminalizes Marijuana. Good.

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 22:45:00 -0500

"Mexico to Decriminalize Pot, Cocaine, and Heroin," by Noel Randewich, Reuters, 29 April 2006, http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-29T010531Z_01_N281836_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MEXICO-DRUGS.xml.

President Fox, of the Mexican United States, isn't only repealing almost criminal laws that destroy families

Possessing marijuana, cocaine and even heroin will no longer be a crime in Mexico if they are in small amounts for personal use under new reforms passed by Congress that quickly drew U.S. criticism.

The measure given final passage 53-26 by senators in a late night session on Thursday is aimed at letting police focus on their battle against major drug dealers, and President Vicente Fox is expected to sign it into law.

The Mexican United States: Lands of Freedom

He's also mimicking Chief Justice John Roberts.

John Roberts and the Supreme Court Disparage "International Law." Good.

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:05:00 -0600

"Gonzales, Attorney General, et al. v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal et al.: On Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit," by John Roberts et al, Supreme Court of the United States, 21 February 2006, http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-1084.pdf.

While not quite as succinct as Justice Antonin Scalia's criticism of international law, Chief Justice John Roberts has officially put "international law" in its place

John Roberts: Lord of International Law

Dorm Puritanism

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 11:10:00 -0500

From an email at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Good ol' drink puritanism.

Laura Cockson Memorial Scholarship
Nominations & Application

On Saturday, March 14, 1998, Laura Cockson was killed when a car, whose driver was under the influence of alcohol. As a result of the accident a scholarship was established in Laura's name.

The $500 scholarship is awarded yearly to a student who works to promote healthy decision-making and responsibility with regard to use of alcohol among students.

Email your nominee�s name and their email address to: asun1@unl.edu. The deadline for nominations is Friday, October 28th . The actual scholarship deadline is Thursday, November 3rd . Contact the Student Government for additional information, or go to www.unl.edu/asun for a copy of the application.

This from a University that pushes homosexualism, a much more deadly recreational activity.

But one is the Left cause of the decade, and the other isn't.

Let's Tax and Spend for Better Health Care

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 09:10:00 -0500

"U.S. weighs taxing health care benefits: Unusual coalition from both the left and the right looks at ending exemption for job-sponsored plans," by Kevin Hall, Knight-Ridder, 17 July 2005, http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=379969&category=NATIONAL&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=7/17/2005.

Tax-free corporate health insurance, which super-empowers big business, is a relic of price controls from the Second World War

Today's system of employer-provided health care dates to World War II, when the federal government imposed wage caps to help the wartime economy. Unable to offer higher wages to attract scarce workers, companies competed for them by offering health insurance.

The war ended, but job-based insurance stuck. By the mid-1950s the Internal Revenue Service code favored it. Companies were allowed to deduct the costs of employee health care plans from their taxable income. For employees, those often-generous benefits were separate from taxable wages.

This pork warps the free market

Some right-leaning advocates think the tax exclusion for job-sponsored health benefits should end because it distorts the free market. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy-research center, says the exclusion leaves consumers in the dark about the real costs of health care, leading them to make uninformed decisions that ripple through the health care economy, driving up costs.

And doesn't help those who need it the most

"The tax break is regressive because people at the lower-income brackets get less benefit. It does just the opposite of what it should," said David Kendall, a senior health policy analyst at the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington, a research center for the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. "It promotes coverage for people who can already afford it."

Census Bureau data show that 82 percent of Americans who earned more than $75,000 last year had job-sponsored health plans excluded from taxation, but only 23 percent of Americans who made less than $25,000 did.

But if we ended this regressive, distorting loophole, we could afford to give health credits to all Americans

Advocates on left and right agree on this: Ending the tax exclusion should be accompanied by a new national tax-credit system for health care.

It's easy to do

Tax credits would exempt health plans from taxation up to a set dollar limit. Employers would put price tags on the benefits they provide to employees -- many already do this to remind workers why wages aren't rising -- and anything above the government-set limit would be treated as taxable income. This would allow the taxation of so-called Cadillac health plans, the generous ones that cover everything from fancy eyeglasses to hair transplants.

"The mechanics of doing it don't have to be revolutionary," said Mark Pauly, an expert on health care costs at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "The main problem now is that the exclusion makes expensive insurance look cheap."

This is a first step to solving our biggest domestic problem. Let's do it.

South Dakota v. Cuong Nguyen

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 22:45:00 -0500

"Teen gets 7 years for selling drugs," Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 8 July 2005, http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050708/NEWS/507080314/1001.

Schiavo Case Leads Conservatives to Support Euthanasia

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 20:55:00 -0500

"Re: Schiavo," by John Derbyshire, The Corner, 15 June 2005, http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_06_12_corner-archive.asp#066258.

More Derb

At the Atlanta bash last month, an audience member asked the panel whether the Schiavo case had caused any of us to change our minds about the underlying issues.

I piped up & said yes, the case had changed my mind in one respect. It had made me realise, a thing I never realised before, that I do favor euthanasia.

Ramesh asked me at some point why, if I were willing to see Mrs Schiavo have her feeding withdrawn so that she dehydrated to death over several days, I wasn't willing to just have her given a lethal injection. I couldn't think of any satisfactory answer to this, and haven't been able to since; so in all honesty, I am bound to say I favor the lethal injection, in at least some cases.

Good point.

This is why federalism is important. So when one state legalizes something, an uninformed majority doesn't snuff it out.

Conservatives for Medical Marijuana

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 13:10:00 -0500

"Medical Marijuana This AM," by Rich Brookhiser, The Corner, 15 June 2005, http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_06_12_corner-archive.asp#066200.

From the conservative Catholic "hippies" at National Review

Anyone who wants to support the Hinchey- Rohrabacher bill allowing states to permit medical use of marijuana should call his congressman (see below).

Chemotherapy, which I had in 1992, wasn't all bad. I looked very cool bald; it gave a nice grey perm when my hair came back (why couldn't it bring more hair back? can't they cut it with menoxydil?); and it did stop my unpleasant visitor.

But the nausea was not cool, and only the illegal drug worked once the legal ones had failed

John Walters says there is no medical evidence for marijuana's effects. He is a liar or an ignoramus, probably both.

More Persecution of Marijuana

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Wed, 04 May 2005 10:20:00 -0500

"Marijuana Becomes Focus of Drug War: Less Emphasis on Heroin and Cocaine," by Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 4 May 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050301638.html (from Democratic Underground).

At least they aren't investigating real crimes of hunting terrorism or anything

The focus of the drug war in the United States has shifted significantly over the past decade from hard drugs to marijuana, which now accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests nationwide, according to an analysis of federal crime statistics released yesterday.

The study of FBI data by a Washington-based think tank, the Sentencing Project, found that the proportion of heroin and cocaine cases plummeted from 55 percent of all drug arrests in 1992 to less than 30 percent 10 years later. During the same period, marijuana arrests rose from 28 percent of the total to 45 percent.

It seems to be that the only legal justification for the federal government criminalizing some drugs would be the Amendment XIII

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

A good argument might be made that a severly physically addictive drug is a de facto form of indentured servitude. But as this is a relatively loose definition, and the framers of this amendment had no problem with tobacco, the standard has to be very high

But marijuana? A non-addictive drug? One that doesn't "cause" violence like alcohol or addict users like nicotine? Why?

The answer is obvious: police puritans. There are movements actually opposed to physical pleasure. And not just opposed, but willing to use police powers to enforce their physically dreary society.

The Global War on Terror, the fight against infanticide, and civil society are all being sacrificed to make physical pleasure a crime.

Fortunately, our new Attorney General may be retooling the fight

The new statistics come amid signs of a renewed debate in political circles over the efficacy of U.S. drug policies, which have received less attention recently amid historically low crime rates and a focus on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, for example, has formed a national committee to oversee prosecution of violent drug gangs and has vowed to focus more resources on the fight against methamphetamine manufacturers and other drug traffickers.

But it is not enough. Marijuana, and many other drugs, should be legalized. The current system is absurd.

Global War on Terrorism or Global War on Drugs

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 16:00:00 -0500

"US arrests Afghan 'heroin baron',' by Jeremy Cooke, BBC News, 25 April 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4483469.stm (from Democratic Underground).

What's more important? Not having Islamist murderers kill pilots, hijack planes, and crash them into buildings? Or "saving" you for your own stupid decisions?

The government's chosen for you

An Afghan man regarded by the US as one of the world's most wanted heroin traffickers has been arrested, American officials have announced.

Federal prosecutors say the arrest of Bashir Noorzai on US territory will be a severe blow to the Afghan drug trade.

A US federal indictment alleges Mr Noorzai has been at the centre of a multi-million dollar heroin operation.

He is expected to appear in a federal court charged with conspiring to import heroin worth $50m (£26m).

Afghan Businessman Arrested by American Authorities

So instead of legalizing the drug-cash exchange, and allowing people to treat their bodies as they will, we make criminals out of Americans, Afghans, and everyone in between.

With policies like this, we risk shoving rich drug barons into the hands of our enemies.

But they also believe that the arrest may have wider implications, claiming that Mr Noorzai had close links with the Taleban and had used drug money to supply Islamic militants with arms and explosives.

Too late.

How many American soldiers will die to keep American drug users from Afghan drug suppliers? Because they sure are now.

For What Crime

noreply@blogspirit.com (Dan tdaxp) — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 00:55:00 -0500

"The Overthrowing," recited by Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, The Recitation, circa AD 620, http://www.universalunity.net/quran4/081.qmt.html.

"US accused of trying to block abortion pills," by Sarah Boseley, The Guardian, 21 April 2005, http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1464644,00.html (from Democratic Underground).

Infanticide -- baby killing -- is not new, and it is not going away easily.

When the sun is overthrown
And when the stars fall
And when the hills are moved
And when the camels big with young are abandoned
And when the wild beasts are hearded together
And when the seas rise
And when souls are reuinted
And when the girl-child that was buried alive is asked
for what she was slain
And when the pages are laid open
And when the sky is torn away
And when hell is lighted
And when the Garden is brought night
Every soul will know what it hath made ready
Oh, but I call to witness the planets
The stars which rise and set
And the close of night
And the breath of morning
That this is in truth the word of an honored messenger
Mighty, established in the presense of the Lord of the Throne
To be obeyed, and trusworthy.

Babies, both born and unborn, are being killed regularly in the world. We need to figh this. Anti-infanticide laws are one part of the fix. Another part is birth control, both before and after conception.

This makes America's latest neo-Puritanism even more enraging.

The US government is trying to block the World Health Organisation from endorsing two abortion pills which could save the lives of some of the 68,000 women who die from unsafe practices in poor countries every year.

The WHO wants to put the pills on its essential medicines list, which constitutes official advice to all governments on the basic drugs their doctors should have available.

Last month, an expert committee met to consider a number of new drugs for inclusion on the list. They approved for the first time two pills, to be used in combination for the termination of early pregnancy, called mifepristone and misoprostol. In poor countries where abortion is legal, doctors currently have no alternative to surgery.