Rushing To Disaster

So, both houses of Congress are set to vote on their "stimulus" package. Too bad they're going to vote on something that none of them have freakin' bothered to read! Or will have the time to read.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted on Thursday that none of his Senate colleagues would "have the chance" to read the entire final version of the $790-billion stimulus bill before the bill comes up for a final vote in Congress.

“No, I don’t think anyone will have the chance to [read the entire bill],” Lautenberg told CNSNews.com.

The final bill, crafted by a House-Senate conference committee, was posted on the Website of the House Appropriations Committe late Thurday in two PDF files.

The first PDF was 424 pages long and the second PDF was 575 pages long, making the total bill 999 pages long. The House is expected to vote on this 999-page bill Friday, and the Senate either later Friday or Saturday. [Editor's note: The first PDF, as posted on the House Appropriations Committee website as of 8:20 AM Friday morning, had grown by 72 pages to 496 pages, increasing the length of the total document to 1,071 pages.]

Of the several senators that CNSNews.com interviewed on Thursday, only Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) claimed to have read the entire bill--and he was speaking of the preliminary version that had been approved by the Senate, not the final 999-page version that the House-Senate conference committee was still haggling over on Thursday afternoon.

When CNSNews.com asked members of both parties on Capitol Hill on Thursday whether they had read the full, final bill, not one member could say, "Yes."

Why the rush? Well, as is being reported by Drudge, it's all because of Nacy Pelosi and a planned Europe junket to Italy and other parts, so she can receive an award from the Italians.

Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe!

Culberson made the charge on Houston's KSEV radio.

Pelosi is hoping to lead a delegation to Europe; there's a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group.

Calls to Pelosi's spokesman went unreturned.

In the rushing, Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote.

They, those people who are going to rush to vote on this measure, are going to throw us into the fire of debt for political gain. It's not like this "stimulus" is going to actually work. Quite the opposite, in fact. This will do more damage to our economy than doing nothing would. Even though it is unlikely to work in any substantive way, give your Congressional "representatives" a call or an email on this. Demand that they not vote until the bill has been read and understood. And then vote no. We, and our children cannot afford this bill.

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News, Politics, Stimulus, Obama, Libertarian

Pot. The Wonder Drug.

Yet another study has come out showing the overall efficacy of marijuana as a palliative medicine, especially in the realm of neuropathy related pain control. Lester Grinspoon, MD had an Op/Ed piece in the March 1st edition of the Boston Globe that addressed the new study and made the case for renewed study and use of cannabis as medicine. This isn't the first time that a study has been made into the efficacy of marijuana as a reliable and effective medicine for the treatment of the pain associated with the various types of neuropathic myopathy. Nor is it the first call for reform where medical marijuana is concerned.

I've touched on this before, and likely will again in the future. Medical marijuana is a subject that needs to be in the forefront of alternative treatments. Too many of the treatments for neuropathic pain do not work and have potentially serious side effects, like opiates. I had to watch my mother deal with the devastating effects of diabetic myopathy and got to see first hand how little conventional medicine was able to do for her condition. At times she was relegated to a wheel chair when she went out. She, and thousands of others like her, was relegated to a world of unending and agonising pain tat could have been alleviated by the simplest of actions. Lighting and smoking a joint.

This latest study, like previous studies will likely go unheeded by the federal medical establishment and their drug warrior bureaucrats. Spurred on by Pharmaceutical lobbyist dollars, this study will, sadly become yet another ignored footnote in the War on People and the suffering of countless people will continue unabated. Big government proponents of the Democratic wing of the Boot On Your Neck Party will do nothing and neither will their comrades in arms, the Republican wing. All we can do is ignore the laws put forth by the governments and run the risk of imprisonment or death. Even in places where medical marijuana is supposedly legal, people are imprisoned and have their medicine stolen from them by law enforcers.

As someone who faces the possibility of one day dealing with something like diabetic myopathy I welcome these studies. They tell me what I might need to know in order to maintain a decent quality of life, regardless of what some law enforcer thinks. Our lives or their laws, the answer is obvious.

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Libertarian, Medical Marijuana, News, Politics, War on Drugs