Medical marijuana

My stand on Medical Marijuana. To tell you the truth, prior to listening to the video and reading some of the articles (Pro & Con) I didn't think much about it. In a way I just thought that marijuana shouldn't be illegal, because whatever is prohibited just makes it more desirable, and I think the narcotics industry has grown to that extent because the 'illegal' status. That happened with alcohol, that happened with tobacco, and that happens with whatever's banned. However, it came as a surprise the billionaire industry that has actually become for the federal government by prosecuting users as well as providers. Not only by growing the prison population, but through the seizure or confiscation of property, etc.

To my surprise, also, was the stance the White House holds regarding marijuana use, and some of the facts that presents in its web-page as "Myths of Marijuana Use", within these myths is also mentioned that "smoking marijuana leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by cocaine, heroin, and alcohol" So, how come is the use of alcohol legal?

In the other hand, I found interesting that as early as John Stuart Mill times, there was concern with the abuse of power and civil liberties, and how we should prevent the government for overstepping its bounds: "The only purpose to which power can be rightfully exercised against any member of a civilized community is to prevent harm to others. His own good physical or moral is not a sufficient warrant. It cannot rightfully compelled to do so or forebear...the State shouldn't use its police powers to punished those for what they ingest"

So, I know some people would say that by hurting yourself you, also, hurt others, such as family members, etc. But doesn't happen the same way when we drink alcohol, or smoke?

It seems that by banning marijuana, the government is actually violating our sovereignty. And the implications just grow and grow in detriment of our civil liberties:

Restrictive free speech, hypocrisy of those in power, drug testing is an invasion of privacy, monitoring/punishing private behavior, seizure of private property, discriminates (confirmed) against minorities and the poor, disenfranchises citizens: not allowed to vote for life.

What is appalling is that murders and rapists are not subject to this harsh measures.

And then the medical implications, how can we allow patients to use morphine to ease the pain, but not marijuana?

We lost three valuable women this week!

One of the best known and most important political slogans of the early Women's Liberation Movement claimed that "the personal is political." That phrase was honed in reaction to struggles within the 1960s social movements out of which the Women's Liberation Movement first emerged. It captured the insight that many of what were thought to be personal problems possessed social and political causes, were widely shared among women , and could only be resolved by social and political change. However, it took women themselves to fight for these rights that now a days -surprinsingly, we take for granted !!!

Three women I admired through the years symbolized that hard work and groundbreaking, in short, they paved the way for us, and sadly, all three died this week. To share with you why I've admired them through the years, I'm posting excerpts that appeared last friday and saturday on the Union Tribune pages, and I'm quotting their articles.

"Estelle R. Ramey, The Georgetown University endocrinologist who never hesitated to craft a funny and pointed line to overturn assumptions about the physiological differences and similarities between women and men, died Friday at her home in Bethesda, Md. She was 89.

Dubbed the "Mort Sahl of the women's movement" and "George Burns with and X chromosome," Dr. Ramey burst into the headlines in 1970 when she challenged the assertion of a Democratic National Commitee official that women -with "ranging storms of monthly hormonal imbalances" - were unfit for the presidency or for handling emergencies such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. As a credentialed expert in the field, she said: "I was startled to learn that ovarian hormones are toxic to brain cells." She pointed out that President Kennedy, who had dealt with the missile crisis, had Addison's disease, a chronic, severe hormonal imbalance, and that medications to treat Addison's could result in dramatic mood swings.

"If it's testosterone the public wants in a president, as an endocrinologist I can't recommend a 70-year-old man in the White House. They should get a 16-year-old boy instead." "It seems the only thing the public doesn't want to see in a president is estrogen." U.T. J8, 09/17/06

Wasn't she lovely:)

"Ann Richards, 73: The witty and flamboyant former Democratic governor of Texas, who went from homemaker to national political celebrity and advocate for women, died Wednesday.

Gov. Richards grabbed the national spotlight with her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National convention when she was the Texas state treasurer. She reminded them that Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astair did, "only backwards and in high heels." In four years as governor, she championed what she called the "New Texas," appointing more women and more minorities to state posts than any of her predecessors. She said she entered politics to help others-especially women and minorities, who were often ignored by Texas' male-dominanted establishment. "I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I thind I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'" U.T. J-7, 09/17/06

And she did, indeed:)

Thirdly, being Mexican-Italian, I grew up reading and admiring Journalist

Oriana Fallaci. "Oriana Fallaci, a journalist whose merciless questioning succeded in making some of the world's most powerful and inaccessible people lower their guard, from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to Henry Kissinger, has died. She was 77.

Virtually all of the literary energy and passion of her final years were consumed in vehement attacks on a Muslim world she judged to be the enemy of Western civilization. Fallaci burst into the spotlight after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with a series of blistering essays in which she argued that Muslims were carrying out a crusade against the Christian West.

The daughter of an anti-fascist Resistance fighter, she joined the movement as a teenager and started her career in journalism at 16. She spent eight years covering the Vietnam War, and at the age of 61, reported on the Persian Gulf War.

In 1968, while she was covering the Mexican army's killing of young protesters in Mexico City, two bullets pierced her body, one stopping just short of her spinal cord.

Fallaci disarmed her subjects with bald questions about death, God and pity, and displayed a sinuous crafty intelligence. Among those who submitted to her grilling was Khomeini, "That's enough. I'm tired. That's enough," the Iranian leader said at the end of the session. Fallaci's interview with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in a tent in the desert lasted five days.

Kissinger said of his interview with Fallaci: "Why I agreed to it, I'll never know."

Fallaci died of breast cancer in her native Florence.

By the way, I always thought that if I ever had a daughter her name was going to be Oriana. But that's another story.

See how "The Personal is Political?" :)

Speaking of politics...the Mexican elections

Coming from Mexico and just having the presidential elections, I found it pretty interesting to see how Niccolo Machiavelli was so clear of governments and human behavior.
Nothing could depict the mexican government better than Machiavelli's "The Prince."
In it, he advices the wanna-be rulers to "Understand the importance of seeming to act morally even when committing immoral acts. " and that "Succesful rulers must be masters of deception. Often they will have to act immorally in order to survive; and they must constantly appear honest and upright, even while practicing 'how not6 to be good'." He also adviced rulers not to keep promises that are no longer in their best interest; to disguise their intentions; to inspire fear, rather than love, and if possible, to cultivate the appearance of generosity while always practicing self-interest.
Unbelievable, that's what's gone on and on for almost a century of Mexico's modern history.
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa cleaverly called Mexico "The Perfect Dictatorship," because the government's ability to held power since 1910, within, some say only 200 families, that rotate themselves in the government office, while 90% of the population lives in poverty.
So, yes, unfortunately the 2006 Mexican Presidential Election, turned out to be -again, a mockery. Don't be fool when you hear that "Mexico Avanza"

It's amazing how people that lived so many years ago, had such clarity about governments and the way these views actually relate to our times. Reading Plato, made me think about the theater-like we live in. Politicians certainly know how to play their part, and the people usually seem to accept the shows without much questioning. If the show is definitely too low in quality, it may cause some stir from the audience, but is not very often that the public demand the return of the entrance fee (a revolt) However, if the politicians make the mistake of taking their show to the wrong venue, their profits may not be what they expected. For that, political entities surround themselves with -every time, more sophisticated machineries that take care of every step of their 'productions' to guarantee their success. Plato knew this, Orwell knew this and tarkoff knows this too.