Meet Rona Ambrose’ Mentor

Post #155- Meet Rona Ambrose’ Mentor

A LECTURE FROM A PISSED OFF CITIZEN

TO A POLITICIAN WHO CAN’T REMEMBER SQUAT

Senator Tom Coburn M.D. [R-OK]

An Asshole Extraordinary

July 26, 2014 I ran across this post in MMUM from James Keenan a disgruntled constituent and retired US Army Veteran. It is a letter directed to Senator Tom Coburn, the US Senator from Oklahoma, who is one of the foremost opponents of Medical Marijuana in the US Government. It was written in reply to a letter from the Senator regarding a previous contact.

On the surface it is entirely a matter of US concern with no impact on the Canadian Medical Marijuana quandary but it provides a lesson in how to counter the stupidity of the Canadian Government, Health Canada and the Canadian Medical Association with regard to lies and deception about the Medical Benefit of Cannabis.

Senator Coburn’s reply is a virtual primer on the misrepresentation and lies that our Health Minister the Dishonourable Rona Andrews spouts at every opportunity to deny benefits or support.

The reply by Mr. Keenan to the Senators that follows blows the benefit bullshit right out of the water with a barrage of commonsense and facts that I wish Rona Andrews could get drummed into her Harpo Hoe skull.

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James Keenan
EMAIL FROM COLBURN.
It's a good thing he's supposedly retiring this year!!! Notice how he claims no studies have ever proved medicinal value. They never support finding out value of illegal things then when it comes to opposition they love saying there's no proof...even in this case when by 2014 there have been over 20,000 studies that have in fact proven all kinds of medicinal value!

Senator Coburn’s Reply

" July 24, 2014
Mr. James Keenan

Dear Mr. Keenan,
Thank you for writing to express your support for an amendment introduced by senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) to the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriation bill. This amendment would restrict the Department of Justice from using appropriated funds to curtail states’ discretion with respect to marijuana laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia where some form of marijuana use has been approved. I appreciate the opportunity to hear from you.

As a practicing physician and three time cancer survivor, I oppose the legalization of marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, based upon sound public health factors. I also support the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a Category I controlled substance, and I support policies that seek to prevent and treat drug abuse.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has conducted numerous studies on the medicinal value of marijuana—and every time finds that it has no medicinal value and should not be approved as safe or effective for the American people. Recent studies have also indicated marijuana smokers have a 2.3 times greater risk of stroke, and regular marijuana smoking may damage the pituitary, which is involved in blood pressure, metabolism, and other body processes.

Furthermore, you may be interested to know that in Amsterdam, a city with a relaxed attitude toward drugs, officials have been closing marijuana dispensaries due to an increase in crime associated with their operation. California is seeing a similar increase in crime surrounding medical cannabis dispensaries. According to a 2010 Heritage Foundation report, “In Los Angeles, police report that areas surrounding cannabis clubs have experienced a 200 percent increase in robberies, a 52.2 percent increase in burglaries, a 57.1 percent increase in aggravated assault, and a 130.8 percent increase in burglaries from automobiles. Current law requires a doctor’s prescription to procure marijuana; full legalization would likely spark an even more acute increase in crime.”

While I believe marijuana is both tremendously unhealthy and destructive to society, I also recognize the rights of states to legislate on this matter. However, since the federal government mandates marijuana as illegal, we must either enforce those laws or change existing federal law. It is never in the interest of the nation to simply ignore or undermine the rule of law.

Again, thank you for your message. Best wishes.
Sincerely,
Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
United States Senator
TC: mpk"

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MY REPLY TO THE SENATOR:

Senator,
First allow me to thank you for your response to my signature and support of said bill. Since you are in a position to request your office staff to assist with forwarding prepared automated responses to so many emails supporting legalizing a piece of nature that has been in use by humans for over 5,000 years, I humbly ask that you take the time to personally read this response yourself to understand exactly what you are committed to, as it is seen from the other side of the fence as it were.

I understand that you do not share the more popular view of Cannabis that the majority of us do but surely if you truly believe there is no medicinal value in Cannabis even in its pure sanitized oil form, then you have clearly ignored every study that has been conducted to prove the medicinal value does exist. Cannabis studies that were conducted over the past 40+ years were restricted to only producing findings of negative value because of the place it holds on our country's list of Scheduled Drugs. I do agree subjecting Cannabis to combustion does create harmful elements to the user because combustion results in destroying over 60% of the item burned. But to say that proper extraction methods to produce high quality pure clean oil holds no positive medical effects is downright ignorant.

Furthermore, if you are so dead set against the consumption of cannabis in any form and in fact do protest and vote against any pro~cannabis bills, then you should be putting equal or greater effort into placing tobacco and alcoholic products on the Schedule list as well as high cholesterol foods, high sodium foods, high sugar foods, radioactive materials, and even transportation vehicles on the Schedule list because all those things cause harm to millions of people every month the world over. 

The fact that you do not support the basic human right to consume a fresh piece of nature simply because of the resulting side effects makes you not a man of The People but a hypocrite because you choose to deny Free humans their basic right to choose what to do with their own bodies yet you have freely consumed alcohol throughout your lifetime, knowing the dangers and hazards associated with alcoholic products. 

Denying someone the right to do what they wish with their own body is the basic form of slavery and you sir are supporting slavery in the highest. Why keep mature consenting adults from nature when over half of Oklahoma City's generated revenue comes from the countless liquor establishments in Bricktown? Why deny the free growing of a plant that can grow anywhere when every major city in the world has an entire section(s) of the city dedicated to getting inebriated and forgoing mental stability as well as basic motor functions? 

Why should a housewife with children in her care living under her roof be able to consume alcohol whenever she wants when a manic depressive Veteran with PTSD sitting on his couch at home alone with no children to his name be punished for drinking a cup of cannabis tea? 

Why should a police officer be able to go to a bar with his buddies on a Friday night and consume as many alcoholic beverages as he wishes when a young woman is laying in a hospital bed being bombarded with deadly radiation and the same ingredients used to make Mustard Gas, can't just lay down in her own bedroom with a vape pen filled with cannabis oil because she'd rather choose to die trying nature's cure instead of letting radiation shut down her body and destroy her beautiful long soft hair while her stomach keeps rejecting every kind of food she eats? 

Why can an 18 year old kid still in high school be able to go to the convenience store a block away from his school to buy a carton of Marbororls and a pack of Black&Milds when the 63 year old man that is grieving for his recently deceased wife can't roll a joint and look through their photo albums with a smile on his face and the joy of all those memories flooding his heavy heart that would otherwise make him miserable and likely suicidal without the help of cannabis? 

Why should a family have to pay thousands of dollars a year for seizure medicine to help stifle their child's condition when they can grow cannabis freely to produce a non psychoactive extract that can stop seizures completely with regular doses? 

Why can the girl that just graduated college go drink herself to near fatal alcohol poisoning in celebration of her accomplishment when the Veteran returning from war can't go home on leave to enjoy a few brownies made with cannabis butter to give him a few hours to unwind and be in a state of calm bliss while the memories of his Brothers and Sisters in Arms being blown to pieces circle in his head as he wonders how good of a place they are in now instead of being tortured with the thoughts of why he couldn't save them and ensure their safe return to their families that instead received a coffin and a folded flag instead of their brave loved ones?

Senator, with all due respect- who are you to decide that Free Men & Women should not be able to choose if they want to enjoy one of the greatest natural gifts of nature or not when anyone over 21 can choose to risk organ failure, alcohol poisoning, liver damage, vehicle collisions, and even death- simply by going to their local bar or liquor store? How can you stand against Free Choice but you stand by allowing the risks of alcohol and tobacco consumption to happen? 

Cannabinoids are produced in breast milk and make all the difference when it comes to the development of a new born baby's brain. It is a proven fact that babies raised on artificial milk lack key developmental nutrients as opposed to those raised on breast milk. Studies have shown it is the Cannabinoids in breast milk that are responsible for maximizing newborn development.
Cannabis fibers (hemp) could replace plastic as the new biodegradable hard plastic material. Hemp can replace wood and paper products, effectively ending deforestation and the genocide of countless species all across the globe. Cannabis Hemp can be used to make vital supplements the body needs to survive, effectively ending world hunger. Biofeuls could be produced by using the byproducts of Cannabis Hemp, effectively supplying the world with one more natural resource. 

Tylenol hospitalized over 20,000 people and killed over 500 people last year alone. Caffeine causes strokes, heart attacks, insomnia, irritability, jitters, and more, yet kids can buy it from any food store in the country. Meanwhile cannabis extract has been proven to shrink brain tumors as well as halt the growth and spread of cancer cells while activating additional immune system abilities that also attack cancer cells. Case Study 7.17.8 out of Heidelberg Germany proved that inhaling cannabis reduces symptoms of ADHD.
Muscle relaxers like Cyclobenzaprine (which I take for a Service Connected injury) are fatal if taken in abundance and can ruin someone's life by causing such drowsiness that they need frequent naps and miss most of their day which in the case of parents makes them unable to parent because they are asleep most of the day and up most of the night because laying down can increase muscle spasms beyond the control of prescription pills, whereas cannabis sativa can stop muscle spasms while allowing the user to function normally throughout the day and cannabis indica can stop muscle spasms and help people sleep. 

Crime rates in California may have increased in 2010 because drug dealers are robbing the medical surplus but this year in Colorado where anyone can buy cannabis, crimes all across the board have decreased significantly because the drug dealers aren't stealing cannabis to sell it because no-one in Colorado needs to go to a drug dealer when they can go to the local shop for their canna~needs. Tax revenue has shot through the roof in Colorado and Washington just by cannabis taxation. 

If Oklahoma got that kind of tax increase, the state could put Tornado Shelters into every school in the state within the next two years. 

Every state would have enough tax revenue to hire police officers for every school in the country and school shootings would never be a threat again.
State funded mental health organizations like Red Rock in Oklahoma City would have better funding that would lead to better resources for the community that can't afford a private mental health doctor. 

Food stamp programs would be able to be increased, allowing families with low income to afford healthy natural foods instead of relying on cheap unhealthy processed foods that cause obesity, digestive issues, high blood pressure, cancers, diseases, and an overall unhealthy lifestyle. 

No city in the US would have to lay off police officers or firefighters due to budget cuts because the revenue from cannabis sales would stimulate our economy out of recession and end drug dealings with real career criminals and cartels. 

If you really did read this whole email and you cannot come to a compromise or at least understand that the freedom of choice is worth letting The People choose our own health risks as we choose our own religions and our own ways of life, then honestly you do not belong in office. The People voted you into office to protect our freedoms as Free Humans and our rights as Americans. If you stand by letting countless Americans suffer without Cannabis but do nothing to end the abuse of alcohol and tobacco, then you are a hypocrite and more importantly sir, you are morally and ethically unfit to serve The People as a Senator. 

If you choose to ignore the hard facts I have stated above and continue to be against our basic human right to choose for ourselves what we want to put into our bodies, then I will be looking forward to you doing your moral duty of resigning from the Senate. With the turmoil our country is going through, we need Real leadership, not a manipulative hypocrite faking his way through his service to his country just so he can undeservedly live lavishly.

Respectfully,
James Patrick Keenan, Jr
U.S. Army, (Ret)

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Take that Rona and shove it up your arse!

Blaine Barrett
TheSmeeGoanGuy

The CMA Response to My Criticism

I Offended The CMA

They Requested I Shut Up!

Bonus: Today I got a letter in response to my recent critcism of Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti. He’s too damned uppity to respond himself so he had his hired help write me. LOL

Dear Mr. Barrett

I am writing to you in my capacity as CMA’s Senior Legal Counsel in regards to your most recent correspondence to the CMA President, Dr. L.H. Francescutti on the subject of medical marijuana.

While individuals are certainly entitled to differences on opinion on such subject matters, we wish to underline that some of your statements are not appropriate nor professional. Do not direct future statements of this nature to the CMA and its elected representatives. Please govern yourself accordingly.

Yours

Jean Nelson

                           <><><><><><><><><><>                                 My Reply

Dear Ms. Nelson:

Thank you for your contact if for no other reason than it’s an acknowledgement that Dr. Lou is finally reading my submissions. You might ask him to see my previous ones which were, at the start, very appropriate and professional- No response. The fact that the fool decided to out me on his ignore list prompted this one you object to. My comments are all appropriate when directed at and about Dr. Lou. They are presented in a professional manner that matches that of your lord and master and I actually resent having to lower my standards to match his in order to establish a contact.

You are CMA’s Senior Legal Counsel and obviously have to be familiar with the provisions both the MMAR and the MMRP. Why are you letting Dr. Lou get away with his continual repetition of his lie that the document doctor’s have to sign is a “prescription”? That is an outright lie and you know it.

The Letter now required by the MMRP effectively is the same MMAR Declaration confirming the symptoms qualifying an individual for a legal right to buy pot. The only change with the MMRP is the restriction of that right to purchase from only one vendor from their approved list. What Doctors sign is not a prescription but a permit to buy and the Gateway function signing will create is just Bull!

You are allowing the fool to present the CMA as a collection of cowards in denial of the benefits of Marijuana because they all fear loss of income and will lose big kickbacks and fringe benefits that Big Pharma has used to buy their loyalty and “Prescribing” drugs one hell of a lot more dangerous than pot. For heavens sake, Dr. Francescutti should be far more concerned with his followers actually killing patients with their over-prescribing of Big Pharma opiates and other drugs with fatal consequences.

I should point out that I have no need to slice up Dr. Lou’s most recent outpouring of anguish over the harassment and approach of the sales professionals for marijuana who copy the tactics of Big Pharma sales professionals promoting their poisons.

I have no need to blow his presentation all to hell because that has already effectively been done by a Teenager who before he even enters university has the ability to recognize bullshit for what it is. You might want to send him a “Shut Your Mouth” letter like you did me. Check it out, you can read it in the True North Times at http://www.truenorthtimes.ca/2014/07/26/canadian-doctors-considering-medical-marijuana/#.U9WOtm2RaK0.facebook

I have no intention of curbing my criticism of Dr. Lou when he advocates that his Physicians violate their Oath “Do no harm” and refuse to sign for a patient in pain and are content to sit back and wait for their victim to die. This asshole has caused more harm to the Medical Marijuana patient pool than any of his predecessors. There are 40,000 of them declaring they benefit from using cannabis for manifold diseases and conditions and Dr. Lou stands on his podium declaring it has “No Medical Benefit”, that there has been no valid research despite thousands of published technically valid studies, that there is great risk in its use despite 5000 years of medical and recreational use. He closes his eyes and refuses to see the benefits that changed Dr. Sanjay Gupta from an opponent into an advocate for its use. I don’t understand how he could have missed the “Weed” documentary with its national exposure a half dozen times on various networks. I believe he is fully aware of his intentional denial of benefit but he has painted himself into a corner where he simply cannot declare himself a liar.

As far as your order “Do not direct future statements of this nature to the CMA and its elected representatives.” You can shove it where the sun don’t shine! 

I intent to continue to challenge the stupidity and dishonorable conduct of both Dr. Lou and his followers in the CMA, with regard to Medical Marijuana. As long as they persist with their denial of help to me and my 40,000 fellow companions now being persecuted, I will do so using any language appropriate to the situation, witha level of professionalism suitable to that of my target.

I do not know if you believe you have any legal recourse to make me hold my tongue and I don’t really give a damn if you do. Go ahead and sue me. I can’t even afford my own medication because of CMA’s opposition. Go ahead and get me arrested and thrown in the clink. I don’t give a shit if you do. That would be an increase in my standard of living: free rent, free meals, a new circle of friends for me, and a welcome holiday for my wife.

Feel free to do anything you want. I’m not afraid of Harper, the Cops and not you. Anything you do to silence me will simply elevate my podium and public visibility to a higher level. I need all the publicity I can get

At one point in my life long past I actually believed that a Doctor was a man of Character and held the profession in high regard. Unfortunately Dr. Lou and the profession have demonstrated a complete lack of ”The Six Pillars of Character” the ethical qualities that earned my regard: .

 

Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship.

Among these Pillars, “Honesty” is the most important component of each. The battery of lies regarding Cannabis that the CMA is spouting under D. Lou’s leadership, have destroyed all Six Pillars and the image the public is getting from their attitude is that of a bunch of moral derelicts.

 I have already published this reply completely on my blog at:

http://goan-smee.blogspot.ca/

Chew on that. I look forward to your response

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

A Friend in Trouble Needs Our Help

ALL FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE+ PAY ATTENTION

ONE OF OUR FRIENDS NEEDS HELP

REGARDING THE COLUMN- SUDBURY MAN ON HUNGER STRIKE

By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star

Thursday, July 24, 2014 2:58:05 EDT AM

This column was published a couple of days ago and began:

“The use of medical marijuana is a subject many people don't want to weigh in on. Neither did I under I heard from Alexander Stewart.”

To me this is symptomatic of the ignorance of nearly all the newspaper columnists in local papers across this country. Ms. Mulligan had the integrity to admit she didn’t want to weigh in on Medical Marijuana. She probably was under the impression nobody in her community gave a damn because it didn’t concern them. Thank God the contact from Alexander served as a slap in the face and made her realize that she had a neighbour, invisible to her community, who needed her help and support. She gave that to Alexander with her column and she is to be commended for that act. Hopefully her column will be read by the citizens of Sudbury and they will begin to understand the severity of the position that not only Alex but probably more of their fellow neighbours are facing getting the only medication for agonizing conditions that works for them.

Alexander needs help and I got a brilliant idea how to try to get some for him but it all depends on YOU!

I want all of you to tale 2 minutes to send an e-mail to:

The Ontario Minister of Health - Hon. Dr. Eric Hoskins at

ehoskins.mpp@liberal.ola.org.

That’s his constituency and the people there should know what their MPP is up to LOL

For a little more punch add CC: mayor@greatersudbury.ca

All I want you to do is copy and paste this simple request I wrote:

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Subject: Please Help Alexander Stewart

Dear Minister:

I want to bring your attention to the plight of one of your patients in hospital in Sudbury and I have a request that is within your sphere of influence to do. It relates to his difficulty with Medical Marijuana and maintaining his supply of medication. He is licensed to use it , needs an extract, and he has a designated grower; both will disappear when growth becomes illegal. They are not criminals and an exception to the law should be made.

I realize it is not in you power to change the Laws of Canada could you please use your position of influence with the Minister of Justice and the Officer commanding the Sudbury Police or Detachment to simply close one eye and refuse to arrest or prosecute them as the City of Vancouver has done to accommodate the needs of Medical Marijuana Licensees

Thank you for your consideration: No reply is needed, your action is!

Best regards:

Your name.

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If anyone wants to help this man send that e-mail right now, you have the time or you wouldn’t be on the web reading this. Please do so: it’s a piddly individual request that you can turn into an effective protest action by twiddling your fingers and just sit back and watch. Just how effective is a mass appeal for mercy on the Ontario Government? With your help we’ll find out. Send your request and then share this request as widely as possible.

If you do send this e-mail you will earn my deepest appreciation but you also have the opportunity to make Alexander’s day. Send him a copy or contact him at

CC; alexstewart@rocketmail.com.

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Shake off your apathy guys and become an activist. There aren’t nearly enough bitchers and this is a golden opportunity to step up the volume on my Ghetto Blaster! Go For It!

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2014/07/24/column-sudbury-man-on-hunger-strike-in-protest

An Apology to Think About, White Boys

An Underdog Strikes Back

Bite Your Lips & Think!

At the beginning of this month I read a column in the Globe and Mail that made me feel ashamed to be White. It was a sarcastic but right on the nose comparison of Native American Culture and Values to that of my White Culture and its lack of Values and  its incessant Greed of historical note.

It really made me think and that is why I am reprinting it here. I don’t think it got enough notice and it is something that I think all my friends and contacts should read. It’s a view from another perspective that needs to be seen and hopefully considered important enough to try to understand.

It was written by Drew Hayden Taylor: a playwright and filmmaker who lives on the Curve Lake First Nation in Central Ontario. And he has earned my admiration with this work.
His article was in the Globe and Mail on Saturday, Jun. 30 2012 as

White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special:

Native people apologize back!

Canada Day has always been a mixed bag for Canada’s native people. It makes us think of many things: patriotism, flags, sunburned cottagers, barbeques and exploding fireworks. That’s the good stuff.
For some, though, it’s a reminder that it was four years ago when Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized to the first nations, Inuit and Métis inhabitants of this country for the imposition and effects of the infamous residential-school system.
Since then, much has been said and written about that apology: Did it go far enough? Too little too late? What’s next? That is something I am afraid only educated, wealthy white men in positions of power can decide.
However, some in the native community feel that perhaps we are being a little lax in not issuing an apology of our own.
We are not without some culpability. In the centuries that have passed since that fateful day of contact, we ourselves have been negligent and irresponsible in not acknowledging our liability in many regretful incidents and events in the past.
So in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to offer up these apologies to the people of Canada on behalf of the NAFNIP (native/aboriginal/first nations/indigenous people):
We hereby apologize for being so inconsiderate as to occupy land that, one day, your people would want. Even though we did not have a postal system or an Internet, this was an inexcusable oversight. We hope you are enjoying it.
We apologize for having so many politically correct and incorrect names for you to call us – everything from native to aboriginal to first nations to wagon burner to status-card number 48759375876-1.
In retrospect, to make things easier for you, we should have stayed in India, where we were originally thought to have come from. Unfortunately today it is really hard to get decent palak paneer on the reserve.
We hereby apologize for not understanding the subtle connections between God, children and sexual abuse. Some are still struggling with appreciating this association.
They are forgetting that, early in the Bible, it says, “Let there be white. And it was good.”
We apologize for wanting rights to minerals and other natural resources that exist beneath our feet. When you negotiated for our land, you meant to the Earth’s core.
We did not fully comprehend that when we were put on reserves where our rights to the land only went two or three feet below the surface.
Anything that falls down a sewer grate basically belongs to the Federal Government.
We apologize for being so concerned about the disappearances of so many native women.
We did not realize that the professional attitude of most law-enforcement agencies towards this issue was basically “out of sight, out of mind.” From now on, we’ll report any native women that go missing as white women with dark tans. That should speed up response time.
No need to thank us.
We hereby apologize for straining the Canadian health system due to our propensity towards diseases like diabetes. I know it has been said we put the word “die” in diabetes, but being introduced to all that Kraft Dinner and potato chips was definitely worth giving up the steady diet of salmon and deer.
I am sure the vegetarians are happy.
We apologize for launching so many land claims against the federal and provincial governments. One of our most ancient teachings tells us it is our sacred responsibility to make sure as many lawyers as possible are fed and looked after.
Where would they be without us?
We hereby apologize for wanting autonomy from the Federal bureaucracy of the DIA (Department of Indian Affairs). … Wait a minute, make that DIAND (Department of Indian and Northern Development). … Sorry, but I think it’s now called INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada). … No, I have just been informed the Ministry’s official name is now AANDC – short for Aboriginal Affairs Northern Development Canada. ... Now I forget what my original point was.
And though it had nothing to do with us, we are sorry for obvious reasons for the unique acronym of a once-testy office known as the Government of Ontario Native Affairs Directorate.
Finally, and perhaps most of all, we apologize for helping Canada/Great Britain win the War of 1812 against the Americans. There are many in the native community who feel Barack Obama would be a far more interesting leader than Mr. Harper.
But in our defence, who could have guessed?

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I don’t think I would have!

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

Harper’s Budgetary Bullshit

 

Post #152- Harper’s Budgetary Bullshit

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
LIES and LIES and MORE DAMNED LIES

An article by Ralph Goodale in The Huffington Post

A government's claims of economic competence must surely depend upon a sound record in certain crucial areas -- such as economic growth, debt reduction, balanced budgets and management of the tax burden.

On all four counts, the Harper regime is a serious disappointment.

Mr. Harper has the worst economic growth record since R.B Bennett. During Bennett's years, the Canadian economy barely grew at all, averaging just 0.16 per cent. Mackenzie-King's average was 5.54 per cent. St. Laurent maintained growth at 5.28 per cent.

Diefenbaker got 3.67 per cent. Pearson achieved 5.97 per cent. Trudeau's average was 3.92 per cent. For Mulroney, it was 2.33 per cent. Chrétien came in at 3.39 per cent. Paul Martin recorded 3.20 per cent.

Under Harper, Canadian growth has averaged a paltry 1.54 per cent and his trend is negative. Economic growth in each year since 2010 has been worse than the year before. Another reflection of these sorry results is stock market values which have stalled for eight year -- today they're only fractionally above where they were when the Harper years began in 2006.

With respect to debt reduction, Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio is also about where it was in 2006 (around 34 per cent).

Mr. Harper has no progress to report. Indeed, his government is adding $169-billion in new Conservative debt -- driving the accumulated total to an all-time record high at $627-billion. His earlier target for significantly reducing his debt-ratio has been postponed for eight years, until 2021.

On the issue of balanced budgets, the Harper record is laughable.

He inherited a decade of surpluses from his Liberal predecessors and surfed on that momentum for a couple of years, while over-spending by three-times the rate of inflation and undermining safeguards in the budget-making process designed to protect against adverse events. By 2008, Mr. Harper had squandered Canada's hard-earned fiscal security, creating a deficit again BEFORE the recession that arrived later that year.

The last six Harper budgets have all been deficits, continuing a long-standing Conservative tradition of red-ink. Before Mr. Harper, the last Conservative to balance a budget for Canada was Robert Borden in 1912 -- more than 100 years ago. He too inherited a surplus from a Liberal predecessor (Wilfrid Laurier) and blew it in just one year.

As for taxes, that's where Mr. Harper brags the most. But check reality!

While claiming they never raise taxes, the Harper Conservatives have in fact increased the net tax burden on Canadians in each of their last four budgets. It happens in dozens of nefarious ways which they hope you won't notice -- like taxing parking fees at hospitals and dinging Credit Unions for an extra $75-million in income tax.

One of their biggest cash-grabs has been constantly escalating Employment Insurance payroll taxes. Starting in 2011, EI premiums have been going up every year by more than $600 million. So to date, Mr. Harper has raked in an additional $3.6 billion. He says he won't force EI rates up any further, but neither will he roll them back to where they were before he imposed these job-killing Conservative payroll tax hikes.

Two other Conservative tax increases are also netting Mr. Harper big revenues.

He has hoisted a broad range of tariff-taxes on imported consumer goods -- everything from tricycles to cosmetic wigs for cancer patients -- which will extract some $333 million more per year from the buyers of such products. And small business owners are going to be paying Mr. Harper some $550 million more, thanks to new Conservative taxes imposed on them.

At the bottom line, it's Canada's middle-class that bears the biggest burden from the incompetence and grinding mediocrity that characterize Mr. Harper's economic record.

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I hope you liked this post
Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ralph-goodale/harper-government-taxes_b_3975855.html

 

The Unsung Hero of Medical Marijuana

A Tribute to a Cannabis Hero

What One Man Has Done For All of Us

 Dr. Raphael Mechoulam 

 

As it now stands the CMA (Canadian Medical Association) would rather the following interview be kept secret?

Why?

To acknowledge this man’s brilliant and positive findings re Cannabis; is to expose

their President: Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti;

to be an

IGNORANT ASSHOLE IN TOTAL DENIAL OF THE TRUTH

He has publicly declared that Cannabis has no validated curative powers and has advised all his members to refuse to help any applicant for Medical Marijuana.

Cannabis not only cures Cancer but has multiple benefits in the treatment of manifold illnesses and disabilities! Unfortunately for all members of the misnamed AMC (Association of Medical Corporations) this would result in a terrible business disruption and loss of profits.

On his website http://www.drlou.ca/ , Dr. Lou, as he prefers to be called, shows himself as an arrogant, egotistical, narcissist only interested in promoting himself as “God’s gift to Humanity”. If you should doubt this statement go to his website and be inflicted by an onslaught of self praising adjectives that demonstrate the fact. The man has no humility at all,

Dr. Lou made his “Denial of Benefit” statement following this CNN interview of Dr. Raphael Mechoulam by Dr. Sanjay Gupta in early March. It is in effect a justification and support of Dr. Gupta’s change of opinion as declared in his earlier CNN documentary Weed.

Dr. Lou had to be aware of both of these positive reports and his “Denial of Benefit” is a total crock of shit! He should be removed from any position or role in deciding the future of Medical Marijuana, but for the time being we are stuck with the arsehole.

Read on and see what he is missing with his blinders on:

Medical Marijuana and 'The Entourage Effect'

By Dr. Sanjay Gupta,

CNN chief medical correspondent

Tue March 11, 2014

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Scientist Raphael Mechoulam has made studying marijuana his life's work
• There are more than 480 natural components in the cannabis plant
• "The entourage effect" means those components may work best together

 In the early 1960s, a young postdoctoral student stumbled onto something that puzzled him.

After reading the literature on cannabis, he was surprised to see that while the active compound in morphine had been isolated from opium poppies 100 years before and cocaine isolated from coca leaves around the same time, the active component of marijuana was still unknown.

This simple observation launched his life's work.

That young Israeli researcher, Raphael Mechoulam, is now a heavily decorated scientist, recently nominated for the prestigious Rothschild Prize. More than 50 years ago, however, he had trouble starting his scientific journey.

For starters, he needed cannabis to study and didn't know how to obtain it. Eventually, he obtained his research supply from friends in the police department. The young scientist was in a hurry, and didn't want to wait to cut through the red tape required by Israel's Health Ministry.

"Yes, I broke the law," he told me when I met with him in Tel Aviv last year, "but I apologized and explained what I was trying to do."

It's a good thing the Israeli government didn't stall his progress, because Mechoulam was moving at breakneck speed.

By 1963, he determined the structure of cannabidiol (CBD), an important component of marijuana. A year later, he became the first person to isolate delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Over the ensuing decades, Mechoulam and his team continued to isolate numerous compounds from the cannabis plant.

Their work also went a long way toward illuminating how the drug works in the brain. When Mechoulam's team identified the first known endogenous cannabinoid, a chemical actually made by the brain itself, he named it "anandamide." In the Sanskrit language, ananda means "supreme bliss," which gives us some insight into what Mechoulam thinks of cannabinoids overall.

It was halfway through our long afternoon discussion that Mechoulam, now 83, pulled out a paper he had written in 1999, describing something known as "the entourage effect."

Think of it like this: There are more than 480 natural components found within the cannabis plant, of which 66 have been classified as "cannabinoids." Those are chemicals unique to the plant, including delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiols. There are, however, many more, including:

-- Cannabigerols (CBG);

-- Cannabichromenes (CBC);

-- other Cannabidiols (CBD);

-- other Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC);

-- Cannabinol (CBN) and cannabinodiol (CBDL);

-- other cannabinoids (such as cannabicyclol (CBL), cannabielsoin (CBE), cannabitriol (CBT) and other miscellaneous types).

Other constituents of the cannabis plant are: nitrogenous compounds (27 known), amino acids (18), proteins (3), glycoproteins (6), enzymes (2), sugars and related compounds (34), hydrocarbons (50), simple alcohols (7), aldehydes (13), ketones (13), simple acids (21), fatty acids (22), simple esters (12), lactones (1), steroids (11), terpenes (120), non-cannabinoid phenols (25), flavonoids (21), vitamins (1), pigments (2), and other elements (9).

Here is the important point. Mechoulam, along with many others, said he believes all these components of the cannabis plant likely exert some therapeutic effect, more than any single compound alone.

While science has not yet shown the exact role or mechanism for all these various compounds, evidence is mounting that these compounds work better together than in isolation: That is the "entourage effect."

Take the case of Marinol, which is pure, synthetic THC. When the drug became available in the mid-1980s, scientists thought it would have the same effect as the whole cannabis plant. But it soon became clear that most patients preferred using the whole plant to taking Marinol.

Researchers began to realize that other components, such as CBD, might have a larger role than previously realized.

To better understand the concept of the entourage effect, I traveled to the secret labs of GW Pharmaceuticals, outside London. In developing Sativex, a cannabis-based drug to treat multiple sclerosis, the company's chairman, Dr. Geoffrey Guy, told me the company ran into some of the same obstacles that Marinol faced.

More than a decade of experiments revealed that a whole plant extract, bred to contain roughly the same amounts of THC and CBD in addition to the other components in the plant, was more effective in reducing the pain and spasms of MS than a medication made of a single compound.

It could be that multiple individual compounds play a role, or it could be due to their interaction in the body; it could also be combination of both, Guy said.

Now, maybe this all sounds obvious. After all, eating real fruits, vegetables and other plants provides better nutrition than just taking vitamin pills with one nutrient or mineral in each. Science is showing us that we can likely say the same about cannabis.

As we move forward with creating medicines, like Charlotte's Web, for the patients who can benefit from cannabis -- this is an important point to keep in mind.

Unlike other drugs that may work well as single compounds, synthesized in a lab, cannabis may offer its most profound benefit as a whole plant, if we let the entourage effect flower, as Mechoulam suggested more than a decade ago.

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That, I think, establishes the fact that Dr. Lou is practicing Politics not Medicine. I thought Stephen Harper was a scum sucking bottom feeder but this guy is even lower and feeding off Harper’s crap.

I’ve gotta quit here!

I’m feeling NAUSEOUS just thinking about it!

Yuk!

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy

Ratfink Rona's Resume

Who Is This Bitch Rona Ambrose

She’s Damned Near Ruined Our Home

Rona Ambrose Took an Axe

Gave All Labour 40 Whacks

When She Saw What She Had Done

She Gave Health Canada 41

I never really knew a lot about Ms. Ambrose until she got involved with Medical Marijuana and set out to destroy it. I was vaguely familiar with her squelching two major strikes by Labour she didn’t like. I recently ran across this little Wikipedia summary of her backtrail: all the dead bodies she’s left behind and all the nasty insulting statements she’s made. I found this to be a new awakening as to just how good she is at enforcing her will. She’s a perfect imitation of Wonder Woman carrying her Dominatrix Gear on the hunt for her next victim. I hope you all become as disgusted as I am and helpm in obstructing her in any way possible:

Ronalee "Rona" Ambrose, PC, MP

(Born March 15, 1969) is a Canadian politician and a Member of Parliament since 2004. She serves as the Minister of Health, and Vice-Chair of the Treasury Board Cabinet committee.
In the previous Parliament, she was Canada's Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Western Economic Diversification and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. She has been a Conservative member of the Canadian House of Commons from Edmonton–Spruce Grove since 2004. She is a former communication consultant and public policy consultant for the Alberta government. When the Conservative party was in opposition, she served as its Intergovernmental Affairs critic.

Early life and education

Ambrose was born in Valleyview, Alberta and grew up both in Brazil and in Parkland County, Alberta. In addition to English, she also speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish. Ambrose has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Alberta.

Early political career

Ambrose was first elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2004 federal election.

On February 16, 2005, she made headlines after making a remark in Parliament directed at Liberal Social Development Minister Ken Dryden saying "working women want to make their own choices, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do," in reference to the Liberal national child care plan.

Ambrose calls herself a libertarian and is a fan of Ayn Rand novels such as Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.^[1] She was a member of the Trilateral Commission, as reported in Vancouver's Georgia Straight, August 24, 2006.

Ambrose was temporarily the Conservative critic for International Trade, after the defection of Belinda Stronach to the Liberal Party.

Cabinet minister

In 2006, Ambrose successfully defended her seat in Edmonton–Spruce Grove with 66.8% of the vote in the riding. She was then appointed Environment Minister in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. She was shuffled out of that position on January 4, 2007, and appointed Minister of Western Economic Diversification, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.

On October 30, 2008, Rona Ambrose was shuffled to the Department of Labour.^[2]

On January 19, 2010, Ambrose was appointed as the new Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada.

On July 13, 2013, she was appointed Minister of Health.

Minister of the Environment

On April 7, 2006, Ambrose announced that Canada had no chance of meeting its targets under the Kyoto Protocol and would have to set more "realistic" goals for cutting greenhouse gases. "My departmental officials and the department officials from natural resources have indicated that it is impossible, impossible for Canada to reach its Kyoto target. And let me be clear. I have been engaging with our international counterparts over the past month, and we are not the only country that is finding itself in this situation." said Ambrose.^[3] On June 6, 2006, in a speech she clarified with the following: "So we became the first and only country to publicly state that we know we will not reach our Kyoto targets. This was met by controversy. But we will not be the last. However, no one that follows this debate in any serious manner was surprised to find out that after years of no action on climate change, meeting the onerous targets negotiated under the Liberals was not a reality."

On April 13, 2006, Ambrose was accused of stopping an Environment Canada scientist, Mark Tushingham, from speaking publicly about his own novel. The science fiction novel, entitled Hotter than Hell, posits an alternate future in which global warming has made many parts of the world too hot to live in and has prompted a war between Canada and the U.S. over water resources. Tushingham was scheduled to speak in Ottawa at his book launch about his book and his beliefs underpinning it. However, he claimed an order from Ambrose's office stopped him. In response, Ambrose's spokesperson claimed that the speech was billed as coming from an Environment Canada scientist, who would appear to be speaking in an official capacity, even though his book is a work of fiction.

On May 11, 2006, before the House of Commons, she said "We would have to pull every truck and car off the street, shut down every train and ground every plane to reach the Kyoto target negotiated by the Liberals."^[5]

She continued her May 11 speech: "Or we could shut all the lights off in Canada tomorrow -- but that still wouldn’t be enough -- to reach our Kyoto target we’d have to shut off all the lights AND shut down the entire agriculture industry.

"Or instead we could shut down every individual Canadian household, not once, not twice, not three times, but FOUR times over to meet the Kyoto target the Liberals negotiated for Canada.

"Or, we could do what the Liberals thought was the answer faced with the realization that the target they negotiated meant shutting down Canada’s economy -- spend the money overseas buying international credits -- the Liberals had set aside up to $600 per Canadian household to be sent overseas in order to help reach the Kyoto target they negotiated for Canada."

Ambrose was criticized by Bill Graham, Leader of the Opposition, on May 15, 2006 for chairing a UN conference on climate change despite admitting that Canada will not meet its Kyoto Protocol targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Ambrose, who was leading the May 15 to 26 meetings in Bonn, Germany, repeated her claim that Canada's targets under Kyoto are "unachievable." During Question Period that day, Graham asked the prime minister if he saw the "irony" in having someone who "despises" Kyoto to chair the meeting in Germany. At the beginning of the UN conference, Ambrose stated: "I have been very honest with Canadians after the release of our greenhouse gas inventories that we will have great difficulty in meeting those targets. We believe they are unachievable.".

Ambrose told a parliamentary committee that Canada had paid its debts under the Kyoto Protocol only to have an Environment Canada official point out that the bill was still unpaid.

Continued opposition discontent over Ambrose's conduct led the NDP to table a motion in the Commons environmental committee calling for her resignation. The vote, which was held on June 21, 2006, saw the Liberals side with the Conservatives, thus defeating the motion. Had the motion passed, a vote would then have been held in the House of Commons, and, because this was deemed to be a matter of confidence, could possibly have triggered an election.

In August 2006 she stated that although the population of spotted owls in British Columbia is only 17, she does not feel they are threatened and therefore they do not merit any special protection (The Northern Spotted Owl is listed as Threatened or Endangered throughout its range in US and Canada).

On October 19, 2006, Ambrose introduced a Clean Air Act that purported to reduce the level of greenhouse emissions starting in 2020, cutting them to about half of the 2003 levels by 2050. She also introduced other regulations to industries and vehicles as well as a possible cooperation between the federal government and the provinces to create a system that would report air emissions. In an interview with the media, Ambrose denied that the Conservative government had abandoned the Kyoto Protocol despite its previous opposition to it. However, industries will have until 2010 before they are expected to reduce emissions, and the government will not have final (and voluntary) targets ready until 2020. Oil companies will have to reduce emissions on a per-barrel basis, reduction proportional to production basis.

Cabinet shuffles

News stories began to appear in late 2006 of a possible Cabinet shuffle that included shifting Ambrose from her environment portfolio. On January 4, 2007, Ambrose moved from environment to become Minister of Western Economic Diversification, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs as well as President of the Queen's Privy Council. The Environment portfolio went to John Baird, the former President of the Treasury Board. On January 19, 2010, Ambrose succeeded Christian Paradis and was named the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. On April 9, 2010 she was also named Minister responsible for the Status of Women after Helena Guergis was dismissed from Cabinet. On July 15, 2013, Ambrose was made Minister of Health and retained the title of Minister of Western Economic Diversification.

Minister responsible for the Status of Women

On September 26, 2012, Ambrose was in the news again having voted in favour of Motion 312, a motion by Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth that would have directed a Commons committee to revisit the section of the Criminal Code defining at what point human life begins. Viewing the motion as an attempt to re-open debate on abortion laws, Canadian pro-choice groups and Commons opposition parties considered her vote inconsistent with her ministerial role and prompted a call for her resignation. The motion was eventually voted down. Ambrose responded to her critics, stating her concern of discrimination against girls that is made possible by sex-selection abortion. Pro-Life groups praised Ambrose for supporting the Motion.

Honours

Ambrose has the prenomial "the Honourable" and the postnomial "PC" for life by virtue of being made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on February 6, 2006.
In 2008, Ambrose was #17 on the Western Standard's "Liberty 100" top Canadian "pro-freedom activists, journalists, think-tankers and partisans."^[

Blaine Barrett

TheSmeeGoanGuy