Motley Moose – Archive

Now, as I know, all of you won’t agree with me on this, but think of a man, who on his dying bed is waiting to receive his prescription for an herb to help his chemo-related loss of appetite, pain and general discomfort. Would you turn him down? Marijuana has been PROVEN a magnificent medicine for many different diseases and different ailments, but people are still stern that it’s just a “street drug”, with no purpose being distributed to people, legally, or not. I’ve read the stories, leukemia, chronic pain, AIDS, epilepsy, there’s so many different ones, but should they be punished with a class 1 drug for trying to better their lives? I think not. Marijuana could do tremendous things in my eyes with the economy, medical world, and peoples minds in general. It IS a drug, however, not a drug in the way most think of drugs. Marijuana is non-addictive (physically) and has very light effects on the body, maybe a little coughing, but I’d put that over a liver or kidney that has been destroyed by pills. Now I’m no doctor, but I’d give a prescription to medical-grade marijuana for pain over giving someone a prescription to vicodin or oxycontin, same being some of the most addicting substances known to man. What would you do? All I’m saying is, look at the facts, look at the plant, and realize what we’ve all been missing until recently; marijuana is a wonder-med.

I ran across an intelligent diary on MyDD this morning (I know, I know – no sense saying it) from Bruce Webb.  Bruce is a regular at the Angry Bear Blog.

Angry Bear is the product of a half dozen Ph.D economists, an historian, and financial professionals. The writers provide individual perspectives on broad sectors of the economy based on their unique training. They look at topics as varied as worldwide trade and industrial production and US government programs and regulations like Social Security.”

In no particular order our current economists are Cactus, Divorced one like Bush, Ken Houghton, Spencer England, Stormy, Robert Waldmann, Tom Bozzo, Linda Beale, and Rebecca Wilder. Bruce Webb has added his expertise in particular on Social Security and current healthcare debate. Rusty(formerly Save the Rustbelt) adds his expertise on the health industry and mid-west. Noni Mausa is a professional writer and poet, who brings us a dose of reality.

I’ve invited Bruce and the Bears (now there’s a band name) to mix with Mooses all they like.

No one has done more “reporting” on Rightwing rallies than Faux’s own Sean Hannity. The other night, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart busted him for re-using footage from the 9/12 rally in DC, splicing it with clips from a more recent (and significantly smaller) anti-HCR rally, to back his rather outrageous claim that somewhere between 20,000 and 45,000 racist lunatics people showed up in Washington on a work day to protest health care reform.

Rupert Murdocb has a new business plan. Headzup explains.

Good luck with that Rupe!

Reuters is reporting that CNN host Lou Dobbs is leaving the 24-hour cable news network immediately because he wants a freer platform to state his opinion.

As the host of Lou Dobbs Tonight, he has been one of the most controversial figures on the cable channel for his strong views on illegal immigration and the platform he has provided for the birther movement.

“Danger! Danger!”

It’s like we’re in a Saturday morning kids scifi show… the goodguy robot  (in this case MSNBC) is telling us that the Repubs are getting ready to attack the Senate’s vote on a Health Care Plan any way they can.

To start with, more than one of the Repub Senators (led by Lamar Alexander – R, TN) have called for new “Town Hall” meetings, like the ones the House members had in August – and it looks like the groups of lobbyists are ready to bus the same people in.

When I was in High School, I worked summers as a lifeguard at the community swimming pool in my rural northern California town.  My boss, a guy named Craig, was a former student of my father’s (the local high school social studies teacher).

Sometimes, Craig’s son Josh used to come to work with his dad, along with his younger brother and sister.  Today, Staff Sgt. Joshua Keyes, 30, is a Para-rescueman or “PJ”, (Para-jumper).  He keeps lookout aboard a HH-60 G, “Pave Hawk”, helicopter, of the 55th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, United States Air Force (USAF).  In the photo above,  Sgt. Keyes provides medical care to a battlefield casualty, Saturday, October 24, 2009, in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

Ahhhh, nothing says “respect for women” quite as loudly as a photo like this, huh?

Oh, that’s not really what this diary’s about, but it caught your attention, didn’t it?

Some of you may remember Republican Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32), pictured above, from past controversies, like sorta-kinda-maybe suggesting that his own party should become like the Taliban, his ties to Jack Abramoff, and his undoubtedly deeply family-oriented decisions to hold multiple fundraisers at Las Vegas nightclubs. But now it seems he’s mouthed off in a way that is proving beneficial to his Democratic challenger in 2010 by letting slip — in language very easy to understand — what Democrats have long known, but which I truly think the GOP believes to be one of its best kept secrets.

A recent Paul Krugman column titled “Right-wing paranoia getting out of hand” has outraged wingnuts. It is doubtful this surprises anyone since wingnuttery outrage is the norm rather than the exception. The sad reality is that their outrage is usually misplaced.

A recent example of misplaced outrage was the absolutely over-the-top reaction to the announcement that President Obama planned on addressing students on the first day of school. The fact that other presidents have done the same meant nothing to the outraged Teabaggers. So what if St. Reagan did the same and made it into a political speech? That is certainly different than a black Muslim president who has an interest in education giving a speech to students.

I know there’s been a lot of press about this in recent weeks, but this is a topic that I’ve discussed with my peers and family for years, and this is a topic I personally feel very strongly about, so please forgive me.

I have had continuous healthcare coverage from the day I was born, up until my early 20s. Healthcare was never something I really ever had to think about. As far as I was concerned at that point, I would be able to walk into any hospital or doctor’s office that accepted my insurance card, and if I was sick I would magically be taken care of. I know now that was mainly because of both my youth and naivety at the time about how healthcare worked, but I digress.