cannabisnews.com: Billionaires Less Than Honest on Pot Proposition Billionaires Less Than Honest on Pot Proposition Posted by CN Staff on November 02, 2002 at 22:58:26 PT By David Leibowitz Source: Arizona Republic Twice before, the Billionaires Three have gifted us with their Trojan-horse ballot propositions: drug initiatives sold one way in commercials but written far differently on the ballot. Twice before, this trio has hidden behind cancer patients and won at the polls. On Tuesday, we see if the third time is the charm. The Billionaires Three are New York financier George Soros, Ohio insurance magnate and self-described "functional pothead" Peter Lewis and the Valley's very own John Sperling, made rich by his founding of the University of Phoenix. This election cycle they've given us Proposition 203, which their flacks and TV ads tout as all about "medical marijuana."This isn't a lie, exactly. In its 10 pages, 203 does mention medical marijuana. It's just that this proposition mentions so much else, so much that many voters likely will never read it. For starters, there are the paragraphs where it decriminalizes not just pot, possession of up to 2 ounces would now be punishable by a $250 quasi-traffic ticket, but also crack, PCP, heroin, meth and most every other drug imaginable.No joke. Me, I'd vote yea on the pot statute but all the other drugs?As 203 puts it, "any person who is convicted of the personal possession or use of a controlled substance . . . is eligible for probation. The court shall not impose any sanction that includes incarceration in prison or jail as a condition of probation. The court shall suspend the imposition or execution of sentence and place such person on probation."So what can a judge do if our reluctant crack addict violates probation or refuses to go to court-ordered treatment?Not much. Under 203, jail will not be a possibility until after your third conviction for possession of most any drug."We don't jail our drunks," explains cancer patient and 203 spokesman Josh Burner. "We shouldn't have to jail the drug abusers and drug users."Complete Title: Billionaires Three Less Than Honest on Pot Proposition Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/1103leibo03.htmlSource: Arizona Republic (AZ) Author: David LeibowitzPublished: November 3, 2002 Copyright: 2002 The Arizona Republic Contact: opinions arizonarepublic.com Website: http://www.arizonarepublic.com/ Related Articles:When Will the Voters Finally Be Heard? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14609.shtml203 Would Mandate Fines for Pot Smokershttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14247.shtmlMarijuana Initiative Foes Fight 'Lie' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13897.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by observer on November 04, 2002 at 21:35:09 PT ''marijuana death'' Bwaa Ha Ha Ha! Leibowitz sarcastically snarls, ''That ought to be enough to satisfy the courts in the event of a medical marijuana death, don't you think?''A "medical marijuana death"? Oh brother. This stoogle lost all credibility when he got to the "medical marijuana death" part of his attempted hit piece. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by Richard Lake on November 03, 2002 at 14:17:02 PT: Cannabis and the Election Just sent this to umpteen email lists, and thought maybe some of you would find it of value:Last week I saw my congresscritter, Bart Stupak, D. 1st District announce that he is for medical cannabis at a public Upper Michigan (Yooperland) forum. Since his wife Laura is running for the state legislature it gives me a real reason to go vote, and I will.Hope you will vote, also. There is always choices, someone is better than someone else on our issues. Plus there are good initiatives in several states and local areas.But I know how hard it is to figure this all out. Luckily Joshua Tinnin has set up a set of links to a whole bunch of cannabis related voter guides at http://home.pacbell.net/jtinnin/guides/ Go there for the latest updates (or if one of the links below doesn't work), but here is what I snatched from the page today:Reformers' Voter Guides 2002DPA: http://www.drugpolicy.org/Election 2002: What It Means for Drug Policy Reform: http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/election2002/Drug Policy Alliance Conducts First-Ever Drug Policy Voters' Guide: http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/election2002/voterguide/Call Your Federal Candidates Today: http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/10_16_02candidates.cfmInitiatives 2002: http://www.drugpolicy.org/statebystate/election2002/initiatives2002.cfmDRCNet: http://www.drcnet.org/Election 2002: Governor's Races of Interest: http://www.drcnet.org/wol/260.html#racesofinterestElection 2002: The Initiatives: http://www.drcnet.org/wol/259.html#theinitiativesGlobal Hemp: http://www.globalhemp.com/Voter Guide: http://www.globalhemp.com/News/2002/November/global_hemp_voter_guide.shtmlMarijuanaInfo.org: http://www.marijuanainfo.org/U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and Governor candidate poll: http://www.marijuanainfo.org/popup.php?Source_ID=173&Source_Tbl=InfoNORML: http://www.norml.org/Marijuana-Law Reform Initiatives Certified For The November 2002 Ballot: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5426Wisconsin NORML Candidate Survey: http://www.winorml.org/elibrary/CS2002.htmVoteHemp: http://www.votehemp.com/2002 Voter Guide: http://www.votehemp.com/voterguide.html-------------------------------------------------My personal first choice to check out is the one at http://www.marijuanainfo.org/Of course I think it would be great if all the congresscritters who have signed on to support H.R.2592 "To provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various States" returned to the House. They are listed at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR02592: NOne of my friends suggested the following link as another source of info about how folks running for office think, but it does take some digging around to get their answers about cannabis or drugs: http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtmlA few folks I know personally who's bid for public office I am following - wish I could vote for them:Kenneth Schweickart, Democratic candidate in Ohio's 22nd House District, supports the legalization of marijuana. A good article about Kenneth is here: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1882/a10.html His website is http://www.ohiohouse22.com/Jodi James, Democratic Candidate, Florida House District 31 Website http://www.jodijames.orgIn Wisconsin Libertarian Ed Thompson's - former Gov. Tommy Thompson's younger brother - run for the office has attracted a fair amount of press, in part do to his position on cannabis. See: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Thompson His website is http://www.edthompson.com/Michael Plylar's run for the Colorado State House of Representatives District 57 as a Libertarian. Website http://www.plylar.org/-----------------Cannabis is in the election related news, for sure! Here are links to the most read election related cannabis news items from MAP:US NV: Marijuana Question Draws Big Contributions URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2041/a05.htmlUS MA: Nonbinding Issues At A Glance URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2004/a04.htmlUS: Questions Of Law Also Await Balloting URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2002/a09.htmlUS OH: Candidates Take Show On The Road URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2001/a06.htmlUS NV: Nevada Divided on Ballot Issue to Legalize Use of Marijuana URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1999/a04.htmlUS NV: Ballot Measures Take Aim At Smokers URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1999/a07.htmlUS NV: Editorial: Voter's Angst URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2022/a08.htmlUS: Web: The Pot War Boiling URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2015/a06.htmlUS CO: PUB LTE: McCarthy Is Candidate For Drug Law Reform URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2015/a07.htmlUS: Wave Of Ballot Measures This Fall Veers Left URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2011/a08.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by DdC on November 03, 2002 at 13:01:30 PT This is your brain on fascism... THANK YOU N.R.L.E...THANK YOU NEVADA! THANK YOU ARIZONA!¶8)1 million spent by "the 3 billionairs" is 20,000th of the yearly D.E.A.th budget of YOUR TAX DOLLARS...20 BILLION of YOUR TAX DOLLARS last year. Thats 20,000 million given to International corporations with no allegence to this country, other than extracting power and money. Exporting jobs, tobacco and meat leaving dung, CO2 and homeless or overworked and afraid parents. 20 million toke. 20,000 speak about it. Many can't for many reasons. But the voting booth is anonymous...THANK YOU ONE AND ALL WHO DARE TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST D.E.A.th MONGERS LIES...SEND THE MESSAGE. YES ON Q9!Vote YES for Life! No for D.E.A.th! http://www.nrle.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by lookinside on November 03, 2002 at 08:29:20 PT: DANA: Sounds like we have a plan. Note my email addy. Let me know when you are coming this way and we'll hook up. Lobster is definitely on the menu! (I'll have the 16oz ribeye.) [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by DANA on November 03, 2002 at 07:31:05 PT ...Lookinside... ..Thank You....weather permitting,I will probably once again be making the drive to Seattle for Christmas..It would be excellent to meet you.....If you're buying me dinner,,I want lobster!....lol...d [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by BGreen on November 03, 2002 at 07:15:30 PT Hit enter twice for a paragraph Hitting enter once won't do it. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by lookinside on November 03, 2002 at 07:08:26 PT DANA Well said....If you are ever up here in the wilds of Northern California(traffic around Sacramento is very similar to that in SoCal; just more one ton pickups.) I hope you will let us buy you dinner. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by John Tyler on November 03, 2002 at 06:29:56 PT The Billionaires Three It seems to me that these three guys have done more for American democracy than most anybody else in the last 30 years. (They have supported projects that used truth to counter government lies.) If this issue were left up to the political establishment cannabis would still be a felony in all states, and there would be no medical cannabis exceptions anywhere. These guys will get a place in the Cannabis ReLegalization Hall of Fame for their contribution to freedom and democracy. This David Leibowitz character is way off base. *** PS ... Where can I find a list of tags used for line breaks and paragraph breaks, etc., now that HTML tags are not used. My comments are not formatted well, and I would like to improve their apperance. Thanks. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on November 03, 2002 at 06:24:31 PT 203 ads I've avidly downloaded all the NRLE ads, but I haven't seen the 203 media campaign. Is it available online? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by DANA on November 03, 2002 at 01:31:13 PT ...It's lucky that this was "snipped",,, ...and It's fortunate that the remnant that was snipped will not be allowed,due to what I assume are legal ramifications,,because it's just this type of article that makes the use of profanity understandable,and almost un-f____ng avoidable!.(I hope "fill in the blanks" ,"potential,,,'do it yourself' profanity",will be allowed.[?],...I'm serious,because if "fill in the blanks" profanity is objectionable,,I will adjust my postings accordingly!.)...[[[...I must admit,,the new scrutiny makes me a bit nervous]]]]]]]......and now,,,I'm about to go into the dreaded realm of potential;"off topicness"...so be it..I'm not doing it on purpose..I'm just doing what I do..........this profanity thing reminds me of my Mom!...My Mom was absolutely SQUARE!...My Mom refused to "swear",or use ANY term that was in any way "profane"....I'm not joking...She was extremely proper, the kind of person,who would mail you a check for 2 cents,if she owed it to you.....I'm not positive,,but I dont think she ever got "drunk".She would get sorta giddy after a small glass of sherry at a bridge game,or a glass of wine on new years.,,,anyway,,I remember many an occassion,when she would be REALLY PISSED,,you know,,the way all of us get really pissed by things that happen,and we cannot avoid using our prefferred expletives,(swear words)..?...my Mom had her own special "non-profane" expletive swear words!...She refused to use ANY of the old favorites like S___,,,F___,,,,J____C_____,,G__ D____,,etc...nope,,she had her own terms....and the most severe,,bigtime,,cuss word she had,,the one that was reserved for the highest level off unavoidable pissed off ,"end of my rope","losin' it",,outburst:,,,She would be all red in the face,,,trying to resist saying something wrong!,,,,and then she'd say "DAG NABBIT!"....My brother and sister were well aware,,when the term "dag nabbit",was used,Mom was not f_______g around..She was REALLY Pissed! From now on,I will try to be as prudent as possible in commenting,because I respect whatever boundaries that now exsist under the new 'guidelines'....The guidelines are there for good reasons,and I will watch myself,and I will never purposely go out of bounds..and if the offtopicness of some of my ramblings is objectionable,or unpleasant in any way,,then I would appreciate hearing about it,,because I am not here to just goof around,and tell tall tales that might annoy people,or write posts that are considered a waste of time,or a detriment to the purpose and goal of CNews...I wont be offended if it becomes necessary to "snip" my postings due to chronic off topic misbehavior,or spaced out,discobobulated rhetoric...I was inspired by a recent post from DdC,(an excerpt follows)...I'm going to continue to do what I have done here for the last 3 or 4 years,,and that is to write what I write,,and say what I say...I will respect the profanity guidelines,,,,but DAG NABBIT,,if I wanna go off topic,,,,and someone doesnt like it,,,then find something else to read!....It is not my intent to waste anyones time with "off topic" ramblings,,,and I'm not some purposely "off topic",rabble-rouser,who is trying to bend the "guidelines",to annoy anyone,,,,nope,,,,I just do what I do,,and I say what I say.....If I go out of bounds,or my ramblings are inappropriate,,then please let me know,,,,,BECAUSE,,I can understand the concept of the need to stay "on topic",,and post comments that are within the realm of relevance,and I would respect the opinions of anyone who sincerely felt that my contributions to this site,were detracting from the purpose,or goal of CNews!...Once again...I probably said too much,,and I forgot to trash the maddening article,which was what I originally intended to do.....but at least I'm saying something......and I will keep on keepin' on doing what I do until someone gives me a good reason why I shouldn't.......Here's part of what DdC said:;.."... I won't second guess my post for PC fitness. I won't change one iota of content and if vulgarity is apropriate then so be it. I'll post the "news" as it happens. Delete away if you have to. I bring info that is truthful to the best of my ability to find out so. And if my info gets deleted no one will blame me for not giving it. I've tried to address the issue of us being above the Fascist censors, trying to pass Senate Bills censoring us from cannabis talks and giving info. I find it leaves a very bad taste. Thats why any board I am directer of isn't censored for content. But this is not a public board. Its a private board. I believe politics is a lie and censoring pertenent info makes the complete statement one is making a lie. Denies the individual their perspective and caters to the PC crowd maintaining disfunction. But I will not let those who make the choice to censor fray me from anything. After trying to scrutinize my responses for repeats or dead links I post them. Some may find some of it off topic, but I say it applies or backs up the point I'm making or I wouldn't include it in the first place. It is no one elses business to inturpret it by censoring what they deem not fitting. Thats Freedom. Thats also why most Americans prefer to follow blindly, prohibit unrationally and unquestionally believe others. Freedom means responsibility for your actions. In reality I've found speaking out will get you raises at work, while others believe it will get you fired. Only if it gets to an upperhanded fascist point from no one ever speaking out. Tyranny won't stop with politeness. So as for this board, I will post my replies and if they are censored no one will read them. Unless they write me and ask. But its not my doing. Its not my karma taking on the decision to co-dependent the public. ".......DdC is a cool cat,,,,,,,I always look forward to reading his comments,and posts.,,,, ,,,(and I feel the same if "he",is a she(?))....it could be a misintUrpretation..................d [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 02, 2002 at 23:03:41 PT Just a Note Hi everyone, Since Richard explained we aren't allowed to post the rest of the article from snipped sources I thought I should mention it just in case some haven't heard about it.Thanks! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment