cannabisnews.com: Health Issue Goes To Pot










  Health Issue Goes To Pot

Posted by CN Staff on December 03, 2004 at 10:54:47 PT
By Danny Westneat, Times Staff Columnist 
Source: Seattle Times  

At 5 a.m. each day in Ballard, an 80-year-old grandmother named Betty Hiatt is roused by her cat, hoists herself from bed and, with a walker, inches into her tiny kitchen. There she does something she never tried in her first eight decades: She smokes a joint. When it's half gone, she waits five minutes to see if the demons in her surgery-ravaged digestive system go quiet. 
Next she takes the first of her 30 pills a day — for cancer, for high blood pressure, for pain. If she's smoked enough pot, odds are good she'll pass another blessed day without vomiting up her medications. Betty Hiatt is my friend. I met her through this column. She is a delight, an "old gal out in Ballard," as she put it the first time she called. She phones regularly, to gab about what I've written, the new library, a great book she's read. Her mind is so sharp I never suspected the rest of her body was abandoning her. One day she told me she had cancer in both breasts. That most of her small intestine was lost to Crohn's disease. And that pot helps keep her alive. I'm telling you about Betty because the Bush administration's top court lawyer stood before the U.S. Supreme Court this week and said: "Smoked marijuana really doesn't have any future in medicine." Betty is not part of that case, but it is very much about her. The federal government is arguing that what she does in her kitchen is not only morally wrong, but criminal. In fact, it makes her part of a conspiracy to legalize illicit drugs. The feds want to be able to prosecute people like Betty — or more likely Betty's suppliers — because they say marijuana has no medical value. Its only purpose is to get you high. Says Betty: "They don't know what they're talking about." No, they don't. It was Betty's doctor who suggested she try pot after five anti-nausea treatments failed. This is no crank, but a doctor at Swedish Medical Center, the Northwest's largest cancer facility. She gets joints from her son, defense attorney Doug Hiatt, who gets them from groups in the Seattle area that sell medical marijuana. Thankfully, the pot no longer gets her high, she says. "I'm one of those people who never drank because I always wanted to be in control," she says. "I was a cheap date." Betty's pot use is legal under Washington's medical-marijuana law. The feds argue that national drug laws, which say it's illegal, trump all. The whole effort is obnoxious, devoid of soul or any sense of the value of upholding more than a law's letter. It scarcely matters to me how the court rules. Buying dope so an 80-year-old can eat is a crime I'd be honored to commit. It matters to Betty, though. A few months ago she told me she would probably forgo pot — with all the misery that would entail — if it were illegal. That's what gets me. This frail woman who can't keep down her pills cares more about the system than the system cares about her. Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: Danny Westneat, Times Staff ColumnistPublished: Friday, December 03, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htmWill Justices Favor Compassion or Contradiction?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19965.shtmlMedicinal Pot Use Not Government's Concernhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19961.shtmlOur Right To Be Free from Painhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19954.shtml

Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help





Comment #38 posted by afterburner on December 07, 2004 at 06:22:55 PT
44% of Americans Medicated w/Pharma Drugs
OFF LABEL PRESCRIBING  
 Antidepressants sold as cure-all  
 Dec. 7, 2004. 07:53 AM
[Toronto Star - free subscription site]
http://tinyurl.com/6cbe3
  
 "Antidepressants are the third most popular class of drugs. Increasingly, they are being used to treat a laundry list of ailments, from shopaholicism to premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Rita Daly and Karen Palmer investigate in the latest instalment of our series A Drugged Nation." [Full Story] http://tinyurl.com/6cbe3**********US TN: PUB LTE: Drug Court Treatment Shouldn't Require Arrest http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1748/a06.html?397 Pubdate: Mon, 06 Dec 2004 
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)**********US CA: OPED: War on Drugs - A War on Liberty 
by Tibor R. Machan, Ethics professor at Chapman University, (06 Dec 2004) Orange County Register California
http://www.mapinc.org/ccnews/v04/n1747/a03.html 
44% of Americans Medicated w/Pharma Drugs
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #37 posted by Hope on December 06, 2004 at 07:20:10 PT
 "...and seemingly 
 and seemingly there isn't much you can do to positively affect change...like with events that are happening in society right now."Maybe, just by be willing to hear, we are doing more than we realize.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #36 posted by Hope on December 06, 2004 at 05:30:48 PT
Let me share that again
"Life IS hard, but you can do it."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #35 posted by Hope on December 06, 2004 at 05:28:50 PT
"...I'm still breathing because of it."
And I'm so thankful that you are. "The sad part is when that 'voice' is heard in context to things of a more than personal nature, and seemingly there isn't much you can do to positively affect change...like with events that are happening in society right now."It is sad and hard and I'm glad, that you, my friend, will admit to this phenomenon. If we are all "crazy"...maybe we aren't. I wonder at the misery and hardship of it all...society...life...all of it.Once, while I was in a state of deep personal grief, that voice said clearly to me, "Life is hard...but you can do it."He really is "something".
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #34 posted by kaptinemo on December 06, 2004 at 04:01:37 PT:
That little voice
Hope, I, too, have had plenty of that sort of thing happen in my life, and have learned to pay attention when it does. It's no exaggeration to say I'm still breathing because of it.The sad part is when that 'voice' is heard in context to things of a more than personal nature, and seemingly there isn't much you can do to positively affect change...like with events that are happening in society right now. I'm hearing that 'voice' with way to much regularity, nowadays...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #33 posted by afterburner on December 06, 2004 at 03:10:53 PT
Who's Watching the Watchers? Hint, Hint!
Who's testing, who's telling?
Dec. 6, 2004. 03:27 AM,
[Toronto Star - free subscription site]"After starting on the drug Zyban to help her quit smoking, Jennifer Edwards found she couldn't sleep. She'd lay awake in bed, heart pounding, mind racing and have to talk herself down every night."  [Full Story] http://tinyurl.com/6xgyn
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #32 posted by afterburner on December 05, 2004 at 05:18:12 PT
RE Off Topic: Battlefield Earth
I keep hearing this old song lots lately even though I don't remember hearing it when it was first released. It seems appropriate and vital that it be heard now.Ain`t It A Sad Thing by: R. Dean Taylor, 
1971. http://www.top40db.net/nfLyrics.asp?SongID=71298&ByWhat=NeedLyric&Match= "Big brown tin can
Lying in the black sand
We used to lie there and watch the day
Now the leaves have all turned to grey"Down by the river where the river don`t flow
We can`t go there no more
Down by the river where the river don`t flow
The birds don`t sing, ain`t it a sad thing"Little child upon my knee
Holds a picture of a tree
Tears in his eyes say where`d they all go
The tears in mine say I really don`t know"Down by the river where the river don`t flow
We can`t go there no more
Down by the river where the river don`t flow
The birds don`t sing, ain`t it a sad thing"Listen to the wind blowing over the land
Listen to the reasons that you don`t understand
Reach out and take my hand and we`ll run run run run"(whistling)"Down by the river where the river don`t flow
We can`t go there no more
Down by the river where the river don`t flow
The birds don`t sing, ain`t it a sad thing"Cities eating up the land
Progress eating up the past (??)
The writing`s in the slime on the sewer wall
You better look see or we`re all gonna fall"Down by the river where the river don`t flow
We can`t go there no more
Down by the river where the river don`t flow
The birds don`t sing, ain`t it a sad thing"(whistle to fade)"
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #31 posted by dr slider on December 04, 2004 at 23:17:39 PT:
Bill the cat
From his PBS show, through his speeches to his written word Bill Moyers is one of the few "respected" journalists worth listening to. Bravo for a reminder about who tends the garden.Way off topic: Anyone catch "Anonymous Rex" on scifi? Lizards among us, what'll they think of next?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #30 posted by FoM on December 04, 2004 at 22:15:31 PT
Off Topic: Battlefield Earth 
By Bill Moyers, AlterNet December 4, 2004The environment is in trouble and the religious right doesn't care. It's time to act as if the future depends on us – because it does. Complete Article: http://alternet.org/envirohealth/20666/
Save The Planet For Another Day
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #29 posted by BGreen on December 04, 2004 at 18:15:23 PT
Here's What 80-Year-old Betty CAN Inhale
Everybody needs to use this information to show what sick people are legally allowed to set on fire and inhale along with their tobacco.I've edited the list to only include the names of the legally allowed "additives" added to cigarettes. How many studies have been done on inhaling the burned vapors of these chemicals by themselves and in combination with each other?God flavored cannabis, poisons flavor tobacco.The Reverend Bud Green*************************************************************This composite list includes ingredients added to the tobacco in all of Philip Morris USA's brands sold in the U.S., including brand recipe flavors as well as the ingredients identified in the Tobacco Ingredients by Brand list. Not all of the ingredients in this list are present in each brand, and no single brand contains all ingredients. For each ingredient, this alphabetical list includes: (1) The "quantity not exceeded" (calculated from the highest level of use in a single brand and expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the tobacco), and (2) The function of the ingredient. The reason we have chosen to provide a composite list rather than a by-brand list is because this list consists primarily of flavors which, when combined in a unique, proprietary manner, give each brand its own unique flavor, taste and aroma. By providing this information as a composite list including quantities not exceeded and the function of the ingredient, we have tried to strike a reasonable balance between providing detailed information about our ingredients and protecting our proprietary brand recipes from disclosure to competitors.2-METHYLBUTYRIC ACID2-HEPTANONE2,3-DIETHYLPYRAZINE2,3,5-TRIMETHYLPYRAZINE2,3,5,6-TETRAMETHYLPYRAZINE2,5-DIMETHYLPYRAZINE3-METHYLBUTYRALDEHYDE4-(PARA-HYDROXYPHENYL)-2- BUTANONE4-(2,6,6-TRIMETHYL CYCLOHEX-1-ENYL) BUT-2-EN-4- ONE4'-METHYLACETOPHENONE5-ETHYL-3-HYDROXY-4- METHYL-2(5H)-FURANONEACETANISOLEACETIC ACIDACETOPHENONEALPHA-TERPINEOLALPHA-IONONEAMMONIUM HYDROXIDEBENZALDEHYDEBENZOIN, RESINOIDBENZYL ALCOHOLBERGAMOT OILBORNYL ACETATEBUTYRIC ACIDCARDAMOM SEED OILCAROB BEAN AND EXTRACTCELERY SEED OILCELLULOSECHAMOMILE FLOWER, HUNGARIAN, OILCHAMOMILE FLOWER, ROMAN, OILCINNAMALDEHYDECINNAMYL ALCOHOLCITRALCITRIC ACIDCLARY OILCOCOA AND COCOA PRODUCTSCOFFEE EXTRACTCOGNAC, GREEN, OILCORIANDER OILDAVANA OILDECANOIC ACIDDELTA-DECALACTONEDIACETYLDIAMMONIUM PHOSPHATEDILL OILD,L-CITRONELLOLETHYL VANILLINETHYL HEXANOATEETHYL ISOVALERATEETHYL LACTATEETHYL MALTOLETHYL OCTANOATEETHYL PHENYLACETATEETHYL PROPIONATEETHYL ACETATEFENUGREEK EXTRACTGAMMA-UNDECALACTONEGAMMA-NONALACTONEGAMMA-DECALACTONEGAMMA-OCTALACTONEGERANIOLGERANIUM ROSE OILGLYCEROLGUAR GUMHEXANOIC ACIDHEXYL ACETATEIMMORTELLE EXTRACTISOAMYL ISOVALERATEISOAMYL PHENYLACETATEISOAMYL ACETATEISOAMYL HEXANOATEISOAMYL BUTYRATEISOAMYL FORMATEISOBUTYRIC ACIDISOVALERIC ACIDL-MENTHOLLICORICE EXTRACTLIME OILLINALOOLLOVAGE EXTRACTMALTOLMATE ABSOLUTEMETHYL ISOVALERATEMETHYLCYCLOPENTENOLONEMIMOSA ABSOLUTEMOUNTAIN MAPLE EXTRACT SOLIDOAKMOSS ABSOLUTEOPOPONAX OILORANGE OIL, SWEETORRIS ROOT EXTRACTPARA-METHOXYBENZALDEHYDEPARA-TOLYL ACETATEPECTINPEPPERMINT OILPHENETHYL PHENYLACETATEPHENETHYL ALCOHOLPHENYLACETIC ACIDPIPERONALPROCESSING AIDS: CARBON DIOXIDE & ETHYL ALCOHOLPROPENYLGUAETHOLPROPYLENE GLYCOLRHODINOLROSE OIL, BULGARIAN, TRUE OTTORUM FLAVOR, NON-ALCOHOLICRUMSANDALWOOD OIL, YELLOWSCLAREOLIDESTORAXSTYRAX EXTRACTSUGAR: INVERT SUGARSUGAR: HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP 42%SUGAR: SUCROSETANGERINE OILVALERIAN ROOT EXTRACTVANILLA BEAN EXTRACT (EXTRACTIVES)VANILLINWATER
ingredients added to tobacco in all Philip Morris brands
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #28 posted by Hope on December 04, 2004 at 15:47:36 PT
somnambulists
Kap, have you ever noticed how often some somnambulists wind up urinating somewhere they shouldn't...in their sleep?I think some of the spiritual somnambulists tend to similar "spiritual" behavior.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #27 posted by Hope on December 04, 2004 at 13:49:45 PT
"that voice" in comment 18
It wasn't low or big or scary or mean or nasty. It was quiet beyond quiet and gentle.Another time I was cruising down a country highway in nice weather with the window down and the wind in my hair happily chatting with my children. That quiet voice told me to roll the window up. I didn't resist...not long anyway. Seconds later an eighteen wheeler whizzed past me, going in the opposite direction at great speed.At the very moment that the truck was exactly even with my car, a hunk of metal enforced tire tread about ten inches by 20 inches hit my driver's side window dead center. Hard. Very hard. Much, much force.Miraculously, it didn't even break the glass. I saw the glass flex inward at least an inch on impact. If it had hit me right in the head...which it would have, had I "quenched the Spirit" and left the window down, the children riding with me would also have perished in the wreckage that would have surely ensued.Am I ever glad I "heard" and listened.Yeah...it came "right out of the blue".
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #26 posted by Hope on December 04, 2004 at 13:14:11 PT
Kaptinemo, Comment 1
Kaptin, I just reread your comment again. The part about "badder badasses" really struck home this time. You are so right...as is usual.They are all out there, those worst bad asses of all. We, and anyone with even half a mind, know they are. Most of them usually try to live quiet lives and they won't mess with you or treat you badly as long as you treat them civilly and with at least a common level of decency. They aren't even nearly all felons or "of interest" to law enforcement. Most of them aren't bombs waiting to be ticked off...but some are and arrogance won't overcome them...not right away, anyway. Blood is often shed, people get hurt, people die. I am a peacemaker. I've always been one. I don't want anybody badassing on any one. It's not right. Sadly, some, if not all drug law enforcers that have given their lives for the war on drugs likely had the powerful epiphany that “it wasn't worth it“...at the moment they shed their earthly coil.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #25 posted by dr slider on December 04, 2004 at 09:44:37 PT:
Somnambulances
In this world of "determining your boundries" and keeping eternal vigilance in their defense, it is no surprise that the concept of community has evaporated (present company excluded). After all, your community is just a gaggle of "others" that are surely defending their borders as vigilantly as you...No?I say let sleeping critters lie. Let them join, lockstepped in line, as they board the boxcars for their ride to salvation. There is no "other". This collection of critters called my "body"( Which includes such countless little buddies as bacteria, neurotransmitters, and those "Starship Trooper" look alikes that live in your skin, helping with waste management.) is no more an appropriate "border" than the 62 mile "border" of space.On the first day of the Becoming We Opened.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #24 posted by afterburner on December 04, 2004 at 06:57:09 PT
And from the Other Side of the Medicine Line
DRUGGED NATION:  
 When is the risk worth it?  
 Dec. 4, 2004. 09:21 AM  
 "These days, millions of Canadians reach for prescription drugs to treat a host of conditions: from obesity to smoking, from bad cholesterol to poor sex. Do so many really need to be on these drugs - and, more importantly, how safe are they?" [Full Story] 
http://tinyurl.com/42csw [Toronto Star: free subscription site]
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #23 posted by afterburner on December 04, 2004 at 04:47:21 PT
Breaking News on "Health" Agencies
Save us from the FDA
Berkshire Eagle - 43 minutes ago http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~2575722,00.html 
Federal whistle-blower laws have helped protect public health and safety as far back as Abraham Lincoln's presidency, and now they need to be bolstered and wielded again.Health czar steps down from post
Edmonton Sun - 1 hour ago http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2004/12/04/765026.html 
WASHINGTON -- The country's health czar resigned yesterday, warning of a potential global outbreak of the flu and health-related terror attacks.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #22 posted by kaptinemo on December 04, 2004 at 02:53:51 PT:
Wherein lies the antis' compulsion
I'm told that you should never try to wake a sleepwalker, because they could suffer a bad shock. I've known a few somnambulists, and have always tried to gently get them back to bed. I've usually had success.But what happens when a person is suffering from another kind of sleepwalking? The symptoms generally are mistaken for waking behavior; they seem aware of you, they hold (mostly) rational conversations, work, etc. What if this sleepwalking has a spiritual component?I've known many people who've had traumatic experiences and afterwards, they weren't 'the same' anymore. Many were energized, walking dynamos of activity, and possessing an extraordinarily strong yet *mature* desire to help others. (When I say 'mature' I mean that they respect the thoughts and beliefs of others, and don't seek to ram their ideals down anyone's throats. Golden Rule types ready to lend a helping hand whenever.) No one could ever mistake them for sleepwalkers.But it seems that the vast majority of people in this country are not aware of their surroundings, their environment, and most of all, not aware the forces at work within it striving to ensure they remain that way. And should you try to point out evidence contrary to what they believe, well, you might want to invest in Kevlar underwear before you try. IMHO, antis are such sleepwalkers. They adamantly refuse to look at any evidence that runs contrary to their beliefs, and vilify you for trying to present it. To do so is to risk stepping off into a shadowy area that may hide an abyss. Uncertainty frightens them deeply. To entertain concepts beyond their tight little perimeter of knowledge is too threatening. They remind me of the old cartographers who used to write at the margins of their maps, “Here be monsters.”Well, I dare say that many of the readers who come here have been residing in what the sleepwalkers were afraid to venture into, and as the old saying goes, “Come on in, the water’s fine!”. There ain’t no monsters, except for the ones masquerading as humans. The ones Hell-bent on making sure you’re never going to reach your full potential. The ones who would happily wipe us out as a class if they thought they could get away with it. The ones determined to keep the somnambulists asleep. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #21 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 22:54:02 PT
:-)
Thanks. It was nice to remember.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #20 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 22:52:50 PT
Hope
That was very nice to read.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #19 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 22:49:05 PT
"stop typing"
What if we all had felt that we had been asked to turn and slap each other up side the head?I wouldn't have. I would have been scared that something like that came into my mind and I wouldn't have done it...and he knew it...I think...because I know his voice...and him...and his teachings...and he absolutely would not have asked us all to slap each other up side the head and I know him better than that. I pray and determine to not be easily fooled...by anyone or anything.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #18 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 22:41:54 PT
"what's the difference"
I guess it has something to do with the fact that they are attempting to "render" to God what is "Caesar’s" and "render" to "Caesar" what is God's. They seem to suffer under the delusion that God is weak...perhaps their god is weak...and they need to help him "enforce" things better than He's capable of doing on His own.Is it ok to have leaders who are religious? Of course. The trouble starts when they start cramming their idea of God and religion down other people's throats. It’s just as bad when atheists try to force their “religion” on others. Be the people we have to be and do it the best we can and do our jobs the best we can and trust that God, if you believe…really is able to make his own decisions and really is capable of carrying out his own will…with or without our help.Some of us believe that God is about freedom...and not repression and oppression and huge fear of angering Him. Some of us don't believe in any kind of god at all and I see no value in badgering them to "accept" it. Sharing our beliefs is one thing...shackling or attacking another with them is obscene.I’d like to share just one of the many experiences that I’ve had that strengthened my belief.The winter of 1978-79, I worked as a night temp in data entry for a huge financial organization. There were maybe 60 to a hundred people working the night shift in a medium sized office with me. From talking with my fellow workers, I knew that many of them were believers. Many of them. Our keyboards were set to click…and click they did. We were all about speed and the room was a constant clicking of keys as we entered information into the giant computers. One night, as we were all typing away as we would until the next break time….click…click…click…at a rapid rate all over the room…something…not a voice, but a voice so quiet it was more a feeling of a voice…told me to stop typing. I did…I didn’t expect anyone to notice. Everyone….every single person who was supposed to be clicking data through as quickly as we could manage…every single person…male and female…ceased to type. The silence lasted only a matter of seconds but it was deafening. No one even mentioned it later…but no one missed it.Something caused us all to do it. I think we got a “peek”…if you will. I believe that there is a Creator God…and that he has power…all power…but for some reason…love?…he gives us choices…and sometimes some people choose hideously…but he is able to prevail and can and will…as he chooses.I’ve asked him for help in this matter of ending the injustices wrought by prohibition…I think he likes to be talked to. Sometimes it looks like nothing is happening…but something in me tells me that we will find a better way…because he is leading and guiding people mercifully and quietly…but he is doing something…even if I can’t see it…and I know it’s good…and not a “snake or a rock”…he’s not that kind of Daddy.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #17 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 22:24:34 PT
One More Comment
Even Neil Young in his lyrics from RIFW knows what it's like to feel the way many of us do here on CNews.There's a lot of people sayin'we'd be better off deadDon't feel like Satan,but I am to themSo I try to forget it,any way I can.Keep on rockin' in the free world
[ Post Comment ]

 


Comment #16 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 21:58:41 PT

Hope
I have come to a point in life that religion is something I am not fond of. I don't mean there aren't good people in Church but organized religion can be dangerous because of ideas that get embedded in different religions. Most Christians like Jerry Falwell really hate people who do things that they feel are immoral. That's a sad way to live. We are suppose to be kind and forgiving and not judgmental. Politics and religion create a monster and people suffer and die because of ideology. Bin Laden's group of zealots did serious damage to us. Not a country like the bombing of Pearl Harbor but a religious zealot. What's the difference if we are run by religious zealots? 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #15 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 21:39:57 PT

You're so perceptive, FoM
I remember when all the political stuff started creeping into the church services so heavily. Sadly, I'm rather ashamed to say this now, I was a card carrying member of the Moral Majority.Aaaaargh. Looking back, I may have even passed out voter crap to my fellow church members. I was so stupid. You weren't. Good for you.I could have refused to see the truth and not changed my mind and stayed deluded...but I know better now.You ever notice how the guys who like religion and government together always use it like a weapon and never a balm?Maybe they think balm means bomb?
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #14 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 21:32:34 PT

Maybe?
Consciously or subconsciously, they believe that believers are so stupid, that they will believe what they say and ignore what they do. They seem to wave religion like a flag, to divert our eyes from what they are actually doing. Actually, they are fooling a lot of people, perhaps even themselves...but, they aren't fooling everybody.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 21:29:52 PT

Hope
One of the reasons that I stopped going to Church was when politics started entering into it all. I watched the 700 Club with Pat Robertson all the time. I started to step back and step back more and more because I knew that wasn't what a Christian should be involved in. Render to Ceasar the things that are Ceasars and you know the rest.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #12 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 21:21:05 PT

Can't you imagine what they would say?
The so called Patriotic Christians in high places in our system of government and their followers? "Oh but at times like this we've got to be tough. We can't let people run over us. We've got to blow their asses away. We've got to put the fear of our fierce weaponry, our own special delivery brand of hellfire and grief, securely in them." It's one thing if they want to be that kind of people; cruel, sudden, vicious, terrifying and aggressive...but why must they drag a God they don't even truly worship into it? Those terrible avengers, who dare to call themselves Christians as they send us and our children and neighbors to suffer and die in hostile foreign lands, can't bring themselves to even think of considering following Christ in these matters because the reality is...they despise his teachings. They go to church EVERY Sunday and profess his name but secretly despise...I mean DESPISE his teachings.So it's really not the Christian religion that these guys are trying to bring to Government...it's decidedly something else. The government is the government….they shouldn’t blame God for their atrocities and the indignities they inflict upon their fellow man in the name of that government. “Lying lips hate those they seek to deceive.”

[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #11 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 20:54:53 PT

too many love vengence
"Vengence is mine"...seemingly saith the U.S. government and war mongers..."Even if my "vengence" is directed willy nilly at whoever for whatever...it's still mine."For religious zealot's claiming to be lovers of God and followers of Christ, they sure ignore the teachings of the being they profess to follow.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #10 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 20:44:32 PT

America Isn't Perfect
You're right Hope. We will stand up for what we believe and maybe we can change the way things have become at least a little. Why did anyone vote for him? How did that happen? Everyone knows what Bush stands for and yet we will have him for 4 more years. The people of the world hate us now and I wanted the people of the world to respect us but that can't happen now. It is so horrible to think about and it's hard to understand why anyone would have voted for him. He invaded a country that never hurt us. I find that unforgiveable. The death count is rising and this administration doesn't seem to care. That hurts. I want a northern president. We need a dove not a hawk to help our problems here. Maybe the republican party was ok but it now is controlled by religious zealots and that is dangerous. I believe with all my heart that there are some people that are so unhappy that they want Armageddon to happen. They don't want to care for the earth. They just want the rapture to occur and that is so selfish to me. 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #9 posted by Hope on December 03, 2004 at 20:17:42 PT

"...what America has really become."
When you look at our history, it isn't all flags and parades and joyous bounty. It's never been perfect. It's been better than a lot of others as far as relative civility to one another is concerned. But it's always had pockets and elements of hideous injustices. It's people like us that fight and speak out against the injustice...trying to expose it for what it is...that gradually, hopefully, everyday, make it a little bit closer to better than it was.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #8 posted by siege on December 03, 2004 at 19:54:48 PT

""Death""
Texas's Prince of ""Death"" the bush so his is a death sentient.  " The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage” and there work is good so God has a place for them!!! 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 03, 2004 at 18:55:58 PT

ekim
That web site made me smile!Don't blame me! I voted for John Kerry!That's great!
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #6 posted by ekim on December 03, 2004 at 18:44:48 PT

i hope the Gop will list all drug laws also
Hard Ball had on a poor soul that had been on death row for 17 years in Tex. before he was found not guilty. show will repeat at 11. dir tv 356the main point Chris wanted to know -- looking into the eyes of the human that has suffered so, how do we stop this from happing to another.we must hold the Pra-sa-quter responsible and be able to sue him or her for acts they commit. and pay more to the defense attorneys.I do hope that this new web site will have all the information about drug laws in Ohio.The new website, http://www.blueohioan.com will be a collection of links, calendars, message boards, blogs, tools, and ideas for Democrats across the state to share. It will not be focused on specific candidates (until after primary seasons) and is not designed to further any particular group/person. It is simply a way for Dems in Ohio's 88 counties to stay in-touch and help each other win elections and continue to get organized for the battles ahead.
http://www.leap.cc/events
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #5 posted by global_warming on December 03, 2004 at 15:58:23 PT

Boxer
"She phones regularly, to gab about what I've written, the new library, a great book she's read. Her mind is so sharp I never suspected the rest of her body was abandoning her."Like Cancer, that eats away at our bodies, our society is acting like a cancer, that is attacking our sick and disabled, those that already have a death sentance are further persecuted, so that these greedy lawyers, judges and law enforcement people, can skin some more blood and money of these sickly human beings, such disgrace, and so divorced from God.How can we live as a modern people, how can we take the next bite of our food, without seeing the damage that we are doing?

[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #4 posted by cloud7 on December 03, 2004 at 14:30:06 PT

...
"This frail woman who can't keep down her pills cares more about the system than the system cares about her."Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.

[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on December 03, 2004 at 14:20:31 PT

 Kind of funny, isn't it?
That John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dealy Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas in 1963 and the perpetrators of the crime were never found, no evidence ever really uncovered. Where'd they go? There they were, gone. The gov said it was Lee Harvey Oswald and that was that.When it comes to Tom Crosslin, the dirty, filthy untermenschen of a pot grower, is callously gunned down at Rainbow Farm; the government henchmen have a hayday. They hunt down their man. Waco, too. The BATF, FBI spends days and days making sure that the inhabitants at Mt. Carmel are psychologically tortured. Flying helicopters at window level, mooning the people inside. If a tax protester makes too much noise about the illegal individual income tax, he is hounded relentlessly throughout the land. No safe quarter for the tax protester or some other such character that the gov deems a noisy nuisance. Read the story about Gordon Kahl:
http://www.patshannan.bizland.com/gordonkahlmurdercoverup.html
 
However, President Kennedy's murder is never solved to anyone's satisfaction. Hence, the plethora of websites on the internet 40 years later. This website in particular is interesting: http://www.jfkmurdersolved.com/index1.htmPaul Wellstone's death is said to have suspicious circumstances surrounding it. John F. Kennedy Jr.'s death is speculated to be of a suspicious nature, too. The Honorable James Traficant wiles away the hours in his jail cell.http://www.traficant.com/Medical marijuana patients must be hounded, too. It's not about if marijuana works as medicine or not; it is about power and control over everything that moves.We have one corrupt, fascist government hellbent to do anything and will do anything to keep it that way. Corporations are to blame (corporatism).Devoid of a soul? You bet they are. Scott Peterson is guilty of murdering his pregnant wife, a tragic death. A 100,000 dead Iraqis are merely a statistic. The real tragedy of all of this is that this is what America has really become. It ain't all that pretty. Doesn't look like freedom to me. No wonder cannabis is here for us all. Please, partake all you want. It is the only sane thing left to do. 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #2 posted by The GCW on December 03, 2004 at 12:39:36 PT

Poll
http://www.bcrnews.com/ 65% to 35%…POLL
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on December 03, 2004 at 11:22:26 PT:

Orwell's Horse, again
Go back and read ANIMAL FARM, again. Then see if you don't see some parallels, here. A woman who has 'played by the rules' all her life, in the last stages of that life and suffering terribly - would see her home invaded by masked, shouting, cursing police (remember when they were supposed to be CIVIL servants?), her frail body thrown to the floor, a pistol held to her head, her pathetic home trashed. Other elderly - and innocent! - victims of rabid DrugWarriors who have had exactly that happen to them have suffered heart attacks and died of fright.(Go to Pete Guither's Drug War Victims website at http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/stories/2003/08/17/drugWarVictims.html for the tally, and remember: these are only the ones we know about; how many others suffered the same fate?)Like Orwell's Horse, too many Americans have believed in the righteousness of the system - only to be destroyed callously, effortlessly, cruelly by that same system.Someday, as they did in Waco, I fear the DrugWarriors will attack the wrong house. Someday, they'll invade the home of someone who takes the 4th Amendment seriously enough to effectively and efficiently defend that home with his life against these masked maraders. Someday, the DrugWarriors will find that they face, instead of someone cowering in hopes of surviving the experience, someone who has nothing left to live for thanks to a terminal illness. Someone even a bigger badass than themselves. Someday, as some of them are gunned down despite their armor, and the rest are blown up, that it really was never worth their lives to do what they did to so many.I hope that it never takes that kind of bloodbath to bring the DrugWar into the public's perspective like that. But I fear, I truly do, that such a confrontation is inevitable. The boundless arrogance of the Feds makes it so. They weren't properly chastised after Waco and Ruby Ridge, and have grown ever bolder and unconcerned with Constitutional restraints. They believe that 9/11 gave them carte blanche to do what they want. The result is bound to be hopelessly, stupidly, avoidably tragic.
[ Post Comment ]





  Post Comment