cannabisnews.com: Kucinich's Own Crusade





Kucinich's Own Crusade
Posted by CN Staff on January 15, 2004 at 16:36:10 PT
By Steve Miller, Washington Times
Source: Washington Times 
Fairfield, Iowa — The smell of incense and cinnamon hangs in the air during a reception for Dennis J. Kucinich at a country mansion outside this "meditation community," a town of 9,500 and the home base of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Natural Law Party.   Star-spangled "Elect Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat, President" stickers are displayed everywhere, from the backsides of the young folks to the shoulders of the older.
"The energy is palpable, and if we hold on to that space, think of all the possibilities that raise up to all of us," Mr. Kucinich says at a 30-minute stump in the living room of Fred Gratzon, the wealthy founder of the Great Midwestern Ice Cream Company.   While the presidential front-runners blitz for votes in many of this state's towns and cities heading into Monday's influential caucus, Mr. Kucinich tills for supporters in an opulent house bordered by a cornfield.   The Ohio congressman traverses the state in a humbling maroon Ford Windstar minivan, dwarfed both physically and symbolically by the luxurious tour buses used by his bigwig Democratic rivals Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.   "Oh, he'll never win the Democratic nomination," says one elderly woman to her friend as she slips off her shoes to enter the Fairfield event, mandatory behavior among the crystals-and-hugs New Age set. "But I have to vote for him to follow my heart."   Mr. Kucinich, 57, is a one-man outpost against even his own party, a faux Gandhi-like purveyor of peace, medicinal pot and alternative medicine.   Close up on the campaign trail, the 5-foot-6-inch, 135-pound candidate is not nearly as comic-book humorous as he appears on television. He has an ease and grace that befits the one-time Cleveland mayor's considerable political experience.   But his platform — including the Department of Peace, government-paid college education for all, and Washington, D.C., as the 51st state — primarily draws the adoration of the disenfranchised, which bodes poorly for advancing his political status.   If he were to become president, he says his Cabinet would include an attorney general "who is a civil rights activist with deep knowledge of the law and some experience in taking on Wall Street" and a vice president who is "much more progressive than I am."   While front-runner Howard Dean cavorts with the support of Hollywood establishment Democrats such as Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner, and Mr. Kerry is feted through fund-raisers headlined by baby-boomer guitar strummer James Taylor, Mr. Kucinich is honored by outlaw country legend Willie Nelson and folk singer Michelle Shocked.   His earthy vibe and iconoclast stature lures many third-party adherents as well as those nonvoters who just want a break from the tired chatter of Washington, which sounds to them like the squawky adult-speak in a Charlie Brown cartoon.   "He's not [Ralph] Nader, which is good, although a vote for him is a vote for change in the system," says Ralph Hutchison, a 24-year-old volunteer who was shipped into Iowa from Cleveland to do some door-knocking.   Mr. Dean's young followers tend to wear Burberry and J. Crew attire. Mr. Kucinich carries an earnest, earthy gaggle of kids who, like Mr. Hutchison, don Army jackets and jeans and frayed sneakers.   But the man who likely won't be president insists he is not solely the alternative choice.   "I'm a mainstream kind of guy, too," says Mr. Kucinich, even though a Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll released yesterday shows him barely breathing in Iowa, with 2 percent of the vote, a step ahead of the 1 percent from never-rans Carol Moseley Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton.   Mr. Dean currently leads the Iowa contest with 24 percent of the vote, three points ahead of both Mr. Kerry and Mr. Gephardt in second place at 21 percent in the Zogby poll.   Nationally, things look even more dismal. In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, he trails even Mr. Sharpton and Mrs. Moseley Braun, with 1 percent to their 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Mr. Dean is leading the pack with 26 percent, followed by retired army Gen. Wesley Clark's 20 percent.   But Mr. Kucinich refuses to entertain a third-party candidacy, instead saying that "the reason I can win this election is that I am the only Democrat who can attract voters from the Green Party, Natural Law Party, libertarians, blue-collar Reagan Democrats. ... I can bring them back in droves."   He notes that he has won 21 of the 28 elections he has been in, including runoffs and primaries. Even today, he is enormously popular with his hometown constituents; Mr. Kucinich captured his third term in Congress by capturing his Cleveland-area district in 2002 with 74 percent of the vote.   A former copy boy for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, Mr. Kucinich first was elected to the Cleveland City Council at 23 in 1970, became mayor in 1977 and survived a recall effort by 236 votes after critics said he led the city into bankruptcy. Mr. Kucinich became a state representative in 1994, then moved on to U.S. Congress in 1996.   "I would say no one who gets elected president should do so without being a city councilman," he says. "And anyone who gets elected to city council thinks they want to be president."   Mr. Kucinich, a twice-divorced father of one 22-year-old daughter and the oldest of seven children, who spent part of his childhood living in a car, has come quite a way, as he removes his own shoes and enters the ice-cream magnate's home in Fairfield.   Former Natural Law presidential candidate John Hagelin, an Iowa resident, introduces Mr. Kucinich with breathless reverence, calling him "a great leader of the country" and a "candidate for all of those who are awake."   The next day, in the minivan en route to a rally in Marshalltown, Mr. Kucinich nibbles on a chocolate-chip cookie.   "It's vegan," he says, distractedly.   Of course it is. Nine years ago, Mr. Kucinich changed his eating habits and eschewed meat and dairy products. "I am in the best health of my life," he says proudly.   When he injured his shoulder some time ago, the one-time third-string high-school quarterback went to a doctor who healed him in an unconventional way: through alternative medicine.   "This is medicine that works, and it's 5,000 years old," he says. "My shoulder was healed with Chinese medicine. My doctor ground up some herbs in a powder, mixed it with Vaseline and some tea and made a poultice."   His support of alternative medicine has garnered Mr. Kucinich an "A+" from the Granite Staters for Medicinal Marijuana, an arm of the pro-pot Marijuana Policy Project, for stating in May that he supports medical use of the weed "without reservation."   A lover of show tunes and classical music, Mr. Kucinich devours books of all kinds, making generous notations. As he puts it, "I have an ongoing discussion with my books."   He is indeed erudite and that, along with a rather genuinely warm disposition, has some punch in front of a small room. But lacking the marquee draw of his competition, Mr. Kucinich could pull only three dozen people to a back room at the County Kitchen restaurant in Ottumwa, Iowa, last weekend.   "Does anyone want to say a few words before I start?" he asks when entering the back room reserved for his appearance. He has no takers and launches into his peace rap.   "Iraq has all the earmarks of another Vietnam," he warns to nods of agreement. Later, he tells them that "we should be building bridges in Ottumwa rather than blowing them up in Iraq."   Later, he defines what he considers the ideal political structure, likening it, somewhat symbolically, to a tent circus.   "There are a number of groups who have come to me to talk about supporting my candidacy," he says. "And I am looking to build a big tent. And inside that tent we will have three, four, five rings. There will be plenty of room for everybody in this tent."  Newshawk: SoberStonerSource: Washington Times (DC)Author: Steve Miller, Washington TimesPublished: January 14, 2004Copyright: 2004 News World Communications, Inc. Website: http://www.washtimes.com/Contact: letters washingtontimes.comRelated Articles & Web Sites:Dennis Kucinich 2004http://www.kucinich.us/Granite Staters for Medical Marijuanahttp://www.granitestaters.com/Kucinich, Proudly Individualistic, Shuns The Pack http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18126.shtmlCandidate Says Law Should Treat Pot Like Alcoholhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtmlDemocrat Kucinich Endorses Medical Pot Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16441.shtml 
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on January 16, 2004 at 21:21:05 PT
Article About Willie Nelson
ALWAYS VOCALFrom family farmers to Dennis Kucinich, Willie Nelson is the underdog's champion.January 15, 2004http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/politics/7718125.htm
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Comment #12 posted by Max Flowers on January 16, 2004 at 12:18:20 PT
Virgil For President
Man dude, you are so damn good at telling it *exactly* as it is. I only pray that your words are heeded by others outside our "choir" here.
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Comment #11 posted by SystemGoneDown on January 16, 2004 at 07:00:56 PT
Virgil
The Canadian Supreme Court practically had guns at their heads, with Bush and Ashcroft having their hands on the trigger. The more I dig into it, the more I realize how serious of an issue this is to 'them'. 'They' comfortably label marijuana as a "contreversial" issue. It gives them cause to tag the debate as a nuetral and not important. But that's the world we live in. Patients all over the country are getting arrested for utilizing pot, while the only thing we can see in the media are "....cause you were getting stoned" commercials. Pot advocates are not backed by any large organizations because they are exactly who we're going against. This is a tough battle and pot is at an unfair disadvantage. But it is impossible for us to lose. 'They' can't find anything dangerous about weed so they either a)try to link it with harder drugs. b)bring up the "....cause you were getting stoned" propaganda...........or c)bring up negative health risks of marijuana that are shunned by the scientific community.
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Comment #10 posted by Virgil on January 15, 2004 at 22:52:44 PT
CP is an overstep of federal power
Nobody thought that the federal government had the Constitutional power to prohibit alcohol. The states could and did, with Maine being the first. That is why there was a Constitutional Amendment. It is significant to note that they chose alcohol of its severe harm to society. In the paragraph below where it speaks of insanity, I wonder if he is talking about alcohol inducing depression or lead poisoning that destroys the brain.Lead used to be used in as a flatener in paint so it would not be glossy. It used to be a town had a blacksmith and barber, and a paint maker. I always thought there should be a movie about a paint maker going mad after years of handling lead, as it was just an occupational hazard.The main thing people need to get real about is federal power. That is what the Constitution is all about. The 9th Amendment says that the people have rights that are inherent to being human. The 10th Amendment says the states have all rights not expressly granted to the government under the Constitution.What changed that made everyone recognize that the most harmful substance to society needed a Constitutional Amendment and then in 1937 they could take a beneficial plant and make prohibit it. Did they find a different version of the Constitution? No. The power was userped by the federal government because the concentrations of wealth could take over one entity and obtain hedgemony where they could never take over 48 states in 1937. We see the same thing happening today with the financial institutions demanding one law that takes the Attorney Generals completely out of the picture on what has always been their duty, much less right, to protect their citixens. The Nazi line goes, it is to hard to comply with 50 state laws. Let's have just one. Of course they want to dictate policy to that one and have the judges they want on the bench. They game the system so completely and drive people into subsistance and clog the courts where things take decades, and nobody can touch their illgotten gains or slap any big judgement on them. All 50 Attorney Generals are suing in opposition to the first moves. Bill Lockyer of New York State won some big settlements, although it still made billions for the investment houses, where they would sell while lying and being investment banker at the same time. They could time things where people were absolutely positively guaranteed to make money, and when that happens it means that someone has to lose. They can also manipulate fund accounts so if it goes up it was sold out of my fund and if it goes down it was sold out of the California retirement fund.They do not want to get sued. They could care less about preditory lending practices as preditory makes money and they do not care about ethics or stacking loans on people with big fees when they are sinking. They even want credit card debt not to be erasable by bankruptcy. That bill took years to craft and got killed because it would not erase judgements against people that committed crimes at abortion centers, I believe.Let's put it this way. They appeal to people to give blood. They ask you to clean your table at McDonalds. They ask you to pump gas. They want you to give to charity. Bu$h asked people to volunteer so he does not look bad. In the meantime credit card interest is still unbelievably high for people that are in a tight and cannot get approved with new credit and they keep track of all your payments. They appeal to people to be good glue and reduce the harm while they ransack anyone they can even if it makes them homeless.Everything is on full ravage. The Constitution has been trashed and the media would never have a show on the status of federal power much less an annual series. It will probably take the BBC to do that and wake people up.The whole gaming of the system thing started with a billion dollar settlement by a utility up north. GregPalast.com is the place to find the article. They said, damned for a billion dollars we could by every politician in Warshington and they did. The government's role of regulator has been undone. We have pill companies running the FDA. We have energy companies dictatitn energy policy with maps of Iraq in the White House with Cheney. We have the undoing of the Freedom of Information act, with a nutcase Attorney General saying we will defentd our policy with taxpayer money even if we borrow a trillion dollars.The fund to set pay the 2800 families of the victims of 9/11 was a bail-out of the airline industry followed by tremendous loan guarantees. Boeing is still trying to get a $20 billion dollar lease that is superprofitable for refueling military planes that has not been on major media and they do not even need them.They want to build a system to shoot down missiles at $8 billion dollars last year. When a few test failed, they sent one missle out broadcasting a signal so another missle could hit it. Then they said, hell, we can do anything. We will deploy it without testing which is another novel idea, and do you think it deepened their pockets not to launch real rockets. Just charge the same thing and hire more friends and relatives and give bonuses and have junkets. Don't work or accomplish, just play the game.Merck got had their liabilities for AIDS vaccines protected by Congress with the Homeland Security Bill I believe. Now they are saying the more than 200,000 Gulf War Veterans got sick because of immunization. The fact that people that got the shots and went to Germany looks bad for them, but hey, depleted uranium is not harmful and marijuana is an addictive and dangerous drug.The insurance companies sent out big increases after 9/11 forcing the government to underwrite their policies by protecting them from severe settlements.The Department of Interior is concerned about transfering public assests into the hands of private companies and privatizing public parks. Just a few days ago the National Institute of Health came out recommending Universal Health Insurance- not universal health care.The pill bill is worse than anyone could describe and Daschle said the Republicans would be back wanting to change it, it is so bad. They want to reimburse companies like General Motors 28% of the cost of the medicine no matter how much they contribute. The critics that said it was an imperfect bill could not be any more kind.Every thing is on ravage. Everything is get in the loop and screw the common man. Export jobs and take the pressure off wages. Change the overtime rules that were here when I was born. Make people happy they even have a job. Just put your employee number on the time card. Don't be late. What do you mean sick days. You get one week vacation after a year of service. Do not park over the line. Don't be late. Don't say union. What do you mean raise? Your co-pay is going up. What do you mean you got hurt- take a drug test and if you are clean we have to pay for your care. Here is your United Way card, and I hope you give 10%. I do not need a reason to fire you. This is a right to work state. That means I can fire you at will.Here I am with the DEA and I arrest you. Yes we are in violation of the Constitution but might makes right, and since things are upside-down we are going to arrest you. We had your house searched under the Patriot Act and maybe they did or did not plant this plant in your house. It is our house now and if you want it back you will have to sue for it. That will be hard to do as we have your bank account. You cannot tell anyone that we entered your house or that will be another crime. Look pal, I think we should just haul you away and not tell anyone what happened to your pot-smoking ass. And the law says you cannot have an attorney and we can hold you until the war on terrorism is over and you will not be alive when that happens. Let me shoot the dog and we will go.It could not be any more screwed up than it is. Well, there is just underway a new plan to link terrorism and the drug war together. There is a good chance that is what we will see on Super Drunk Day. They really are linked, but they are linked by the biggest drug dealer of legal and illegal substances in the world- the USG. The War on Drugs and the War on Terror are just smokescreens for removing all of our freedoms. You are just a battery in the fascist machine. When you get sick or old, they will throw you on the street and let you die. There are 6.3 billion batteries and there will be more. There is only so much concentrated power and it is a private club.I am as serious as I can be. We are ruled by treason. The only reason miracle plant is illegal is because of the unconstitutional acts of the plutocracy. I do not regard any law that prohibits the use of miracle plant as valid. It is a corruption of power and denial of a fundamental freedom. The Canadian Supreme Court was wrong too.Does somebody have a picture of the enternment camps that FEMA built? I hope I get a warm location. You know what they say. When it is colder than your age it is cold. Fuck Bu$h and his treasonous cabal.
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Comment #9 posted by SystemGoneDown on January 15, 2004 at 21:28:19 PT
Virgil...................Prohibition
Let's discuss the connection between the 67 year prohibition of marijuana and the 13 year prohibition of alcohol.If there was an unfavorable matchup or breakdown of the popularity of marijuana and alcohol, it is very easy to conclude that alcohol is much easier to prohibit than marijuana because 1)liquor comes in liquid form so if it were to be prohibited- it is very easy to track because of it's mass volume. 2) The OBVIOUS reason......alcohol cannot be produced with a simple seed........The very fact that marijuana can be grown and seeds can be distributed easily, makes it very clear that marijuana prohibition is and impossible task. And ESPECIALLY impossible as people learn it as a safer and more socially compatable alternative. Not to mention the longer lasting history it has not just in the bible, but in the entire history of civilization.So one must conclude that the U.S. is ignorant to make cannabis illegal. Not because of the fact that they are trying to eradicate something that is natural, but because they think that since they have all the $$$, they feel they are CAPABLE of controlling something that a nation without $$$ can't.The people of this discraceful computerized country need to see this "marijuana debate" not just as a secondary concern, but they need to WAKE UP and see how symbolic it is of the world we breathe in. Marijuana is illegal because the corporate world cannot control it. Simple as that. And what does that tell you? It tells you that if these corrupt politicians are willing to give criminal records to 700,000 plus people, and are willing to allow peaceful herb advocates to get raped in prison just because they have COURAGE to stand up for it, that should really tell us about the control they have over us and what extend they are willing to go to maintain that control.
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Comment #8 posted by Virgil on January 15, 2004 at 20:27:39 PT
Soros and Michael Moore are on Charlie Rose
This is the same interview with Michael Moore that was on yesterday.
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Comment #7 posted by RasAric on January 15, 2004 at 20:19:56 PT
MSNBC  Kerry Puffs the magic dragon
Just saw the "toke" signal from Kerry as he was singing Puff The Magic Dragon with Peter from Peter, Paul, & Mary. Hilarious......Still voting for Kucinich though
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Comment #6 posted by Virgil on January 15, 2004 at 20:17:21 PT
Alcohol prohibition began 84 years ago 
The 18th Amendment prohibited alcohol starting on January 16, 1920. It would last almost 13 years until its failure brought the 21st Amendment that ended the experiment in December of 1933.On page 3 of this PDF document by the Cato Institute it says this about alcohol prohibition- http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa501.pdf - The great journalist and humorist H. L. Mencken wrote in 1925: Five years of Prohibition have had,at least, this one benign effect: they have completely disposed of all the favorite arguments of Prohibitionists. None of the great boons or usufructs that were to follow the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment has come to pass. There is not less drunkenness in the Republic, but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more. The cost of government is not smaller, but vastly greater. Respect for law is not increased, but diminished. In this essay that says the federal drug war is clearly unconstitutional- http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~hagerp/drugwar.html#TOP - the last paragraph of the conclusion says-In the foregoing sections, I have shown that federal involvement in the criminal justice area has no constitutional nor public policy basis. In fact, the federal government bears primary responsibility for the extent to which violent crime is a problem in the U.S., due to its continuing the unconstitutional policy of drug prohibition. If we were to end the drug war and re-legalize the currently illegal drugs, there is every reason to believe that we would very quickly see a major drop in the rate of violent crime and homicide. This is the only federal government approach to crime that is both constitutional and that will really work. Let me simplify the above paragraph. It says we are ruled by treason.
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Comment #5 posted by Nuevo Mexican on January 15, 2004 at 19:49:56 PT
Awesome news Mayan! 
and Kerry's puff was just shown on msnbc, with the music 'puff the magic dragon' playing in the background.And now a look at John Kerrys' drug policy!This is what we've been waiting for, publicity for Dennis!!!Coming up, report soon!8:55 mdt
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Comment #4 posted by Virgil on January 15, 2004 at 19:08:41 PT
DK has interview at Alternet
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17567DK is probably just ahead of his time. He is ready but the country is lost. I cannot get over how they think they will educate the children when the adults do not seem to know all that much. The functionally illiterate need to be recycled. 
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Comment #3 posted by mayan on January 15, 2004 at 18:20:57 PT
Venezuela Decrim...
Sorry if anyone has posted this already. Does anyone have more info on this?Venezuela Decriminalizes Drug Possession: 
http://www.bigleftoutside.com/archives/000313.phpThe way out is the way in...9/11 - "They wanted it to happen" - J. Buchanan:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/archive/scoop/stories/5c/7b/200401151409.4baa9d1b.html9/11 director gave evidence to own inquiry: 
http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=20040115-024012-7011rParanoid shift:
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/011004Hasty/011004hasty.html9/11 For The Truth - Mariani vs. Bush:   
http://www.911forthetruth.com/
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on January 15, 2004 at 17:39:27 PT
ekim
I missed it and was hoping that someone could tell us what it was about. I was doing an upgrade on my satellite and I was concentrating so hard so I wouldn't make a mistake I forgot about it.
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Comment #1 posted by ekim on January 15, 2004 at 17:27:14 PT
did anyone listen to Normlcast last nite----------
I hope that some one will unveil a great film at Sundance in the next 10 days. with all the talk of saving the family farm ---High on the Campaign list of talking points. I hope that the Hemp industry up in Canada will make it to the Silver Screen. Imagine how not one word was mentioned about Hemp in all the Debates not one word.today Rosie had to close down Taboo. Aint that some---- 10 million down the tubes. When will we learn that to make Millions is to tell the real story about TABOO. If she had made a compassionate story of someone being helped with Cannabis she would be reeling in the mula not forking it out. To bad as she no doubt knows someone that has been helped by the Herb. 
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