Tag-Archive for » COMMENTARY «
Efforts to legalize marijuana for recreational use are gaining momentum in Washington state and Colorado, despite fierce opposition from the federal government and a decades-long cultural battle over America’s most commonly used illicit drug.
Officials in Washington state on Friday said an initiative to legalize pot has enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in November. In Colorado, officials are likely this week to make a similar determination about an initiative there.
Supporters are prepared to possibly spend millions of dollars ahead of the November ballot, when they hope a strong voter turnout, particularly among youth, for the U.S. presidential election will aid their cause.
“Whether it’s make or break depends on what public opinion does after 2012, but in terms of voter turnout this is the best year to do it,” said Alison Holcomb, director of New Approach Washington, the initiative’s sponsor.
While 16 states, including Washington and Colorado, along with the nation’s capital, now allow marijuana use for medical purposes, cannabis remains an illegal narcotic under U.S. law – and public opinion is sharply divided on the merits of full legalization.
California voters turned back a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2010, in part because of concerns about how production and sale of the drug would be regulated.
Undeterred, supporters of the Washington state initiative say it represents the “grown-up” approach to legalization.
Sales would only be allowed to adults 21 and older through marijuana-only stores licensed by the state Liquor Control Board, which would also oversee production and processing of the drug. Laws on drunken driving would be amended to include maximum blood content thresholds for THC, the main psychoactive element in pot plants.
Colorado already has a robust regulatory system for medical marijuana that includes a registry of over 80,000 card-carrying patients and rules governing how physicians and distributors operate. Here, too, legalization advocates are stressing a rational regulatory approach.
“Voters aren’t being asked to imagine as much as they are in other states, they have seen that marijuana can be regulated and it doesn’t result in significant problems,” said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Colorado-based Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
Organizers of the Washington effort have collected over $1.1 million in campaign funds, with $250,000 of that coming from Progressive Insurance chairman Peter Lewis, public disclosure records show.
Loren Collingwood, senior researcher for the nonpartisan Washington Poll run by the University of Washington, said the initiative could pass, but that backers must spend between $2 million and $4 million to run a competitive campaign.
A poll done by the university in October found 48 percent of Washington residents support the idea of pot legalization, but that was not tied to any particular initiative.
“If young voters turn out in droves like they did in 2008 or even start to approach those numbers … then I think this will pass, but they very well may not,” Collingwood said.
Pot legalization supporters have argued for decades that prohibition has failed to curb pot use, and that the policy enriches drug cartels, hurts casual users and deprives governments of a potentially lucrative source of tax revenue.
She predicted the weather in Washington State would be very cold and icy, not that much snow. Last week they experienced one day of snow, and then a ice storm came in, which left 100′s of thousand folks without power. Kudos to you Lennis, good call.
Be sure and read her Forecast 2012, and see what else might come true.
I don’t know about you folks, but I’m tired of disgusting, disappointing, insult my intelligence television. It’s like the good, the bad, the ugly, the reality, the WTF?, the Really? tv.
Call in today Sunday at 4 pm PST or 6 pm east coast at 646-727-2914
www.blogtalkradio.com/Lennis “Talk 2 ME”
Let’s discuss with humour of course, how we can correct this situation, lol.
As a major new survey from Pew Research Center examines the generation gap in politics, we take a closer look at what, besides year of birth, differentiates one generation from the next. From the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll to the emergence of hip-hop, from “We Like Ike” to “Yes We Can,” from a man on the moon to an iPhone in the pocket, here are some highlights from each of the four generations covered in the survey.
The Silent Generation
As adults, the silent generation heard President Kennedy’s 1961 vow to put a man on the moon. In 1969, they watched it happen.
-
Members of the “silent generation” (ages 66 to 83) now view Social Security as the top voting issue, but before they were senior citizens, they witnessed the birth of rock ‘n’ roll and watched from Earth as Neil Armstrong planted the U.S. flag on the moon. The first presidential election in which they would have been eligible to vote was in 1952, when Republican Dwight Eisenhower won by a landslide against Democrat Adlai Stevenson. Many witnessed and participated in the African-American civil rights movement and mourned the death of President John F. Kennedy. When the oldest members turned 25, the Academy Award for best picture went to the 1953 romantic film From Here To Eternity, and Audrey Hepburn won Best Actress for her role in Roman Holiday. The silent generation also saw one of the most amazing upsets in sports history, when 22-year-old Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated Sonny Liston to become the boxing heavyweight champion in 1964.
Baby Boomers
The boomers came of age during the era of free love, the Vietnam War and Woodstock.
At 26 percent of the U.S. population, baby boomers (ages 47 to 65) are the largest and, more recently, the gloomiest generation. Their arrival led to a dramatic rise in demand for housing, cars and roads. They were the generation preoccupied with the Vietnam War, participants in the 1969 Woodstock Festival, and helped launch the environmental movement. After the voting age was lowered to 18 with the 26th Amendment, the first presidential election in which teens were eligible to vote was in 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon won with more than 60 percent of the vote against Democrat George McGovern. Baby boomers see themselves as ever youthful, with the typical boomer saying that old age doesn’t begin until age 72. When the oldest members turned 25, the Academy Award for best picture went to the 1971 action film The French Connection, and Jane Fonda won Best Actress for her role in Klute. Baby boomers grieved after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and saw the resignation of President Nixon after the Watergate scandal. They also saw the appointment of the first black Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, in 1967.
Generation X
Gen Xers were the first kids to play video games and tune into MTV’s music videos after school.
Generation X (ages 31 to 46) sometimes feels ignored as the “in-between generation.” These children were the first generation of “latchkey kids” with dual-income families and an increasing divorce rate among their boomer parents. They saw the end of the Cold War, the fall of communism and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. With the rise of MTV and the beginnings of the Internet, they became a technologically savvy and entrepreneurial group. They were first eligible to vote in 1984, when Republican Ronald Reagan won a second term against Democrat Walter Mondale. When the oldest members turned 25, the Academy Award for best picture went to the 1990 epic Dances With Wolves, and Joe Pesci won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Good Fellas. Generation X witnessed the end of apartheid in South Africa and the sale of the first Apple Macintosh computers in 1984.
-
The Millennial Generation
Millennials grew up in a wired world, where white ear buds are an expected accessory.
The millennial generation (ages 18 to 30) is the most diverse — 41 percent identify themselves as Hispanic or nonwhite. Millennials grew up in an environment of unrest and heightened security, coming of age in a post-Sept. 11 world. They are referred to as digital natives and are often the first consumers of the newest technologies and gadgets. They were first eligible to vote in 1992, when Democrat Bill Clinton won against incumbent Republican George H.W. Bush. When the oldest members turned 25, the Academy Award for best picture went to the 2006 thriller The Departed, and An Inconvenient Truth, about former Vice President Al Gore’s climate change campaign, won the award for Best Documentary. Though they were hardest hit by the economic downturn, millennials are still upbeat and optimistic about the future.
Former American Idol Winner Fantasia had to answer a lot of tough questions this week. Fantasia is scheduled to star as Gospel Great Mahalia Jackson in a big screen movie bio. Fantasia says no contracts have been signed. She was told the investors ran out of money, so she thinks the project is on hold. Reports came out last week producers of the Mahalia project and family members were upset with Fantasia because she is pregnant by a married man. They also claimed she lied about her pregnancy claiming she told them she was gaining weight for the role and not pregnant. Who is telling the truth here? Will this movie ever get made? Fantasia is due at the end of the year. She is not happy with the recent reports about the movie project and questions about her relationship with a married man (Antwaun Cook). This has been a difficult pregnancy for Fantasia.
**********************************************************************************************************
Who leaked Diddy’s personal info? The rapper and media mogul is working with authorities to find out who leaked his personal information from his Black American Express Card. His personal numbers and financial information were listed on a website. Whoever did it had to be close to him……. maybe a mad babymomma? Hmmmmmmmmmm!
The re-launch of the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has been slow. Oprah has returned to TV along with a new addition: The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Both shows debuted to disappointing ratings.
Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton are teaming up for the movie Joyful Noise. The movie also stars KeKe Palmer and Courtney B. Vance and opens in theatres January 13th.
Alicia Keys will be doing the music for the new Broadway production Stick Fly, which debuts later this year.
**********************************************************************************************************
Ron Isley says he is looking forward to reteaming with R Kelly for Ron’s next project. Kelly is already working on his own project. Kelly’s CD Black Panties is coming out next year. Kelly says this CD will be very sexy and explicit.
Singer Roberta Flack is getting ready to release a new music project after eight years. The CD, featuring Beatles classics, comes out in February.
**********************************************************************************************************
Singer Kenny Lattimore recently opened up about his upcoming divorce from Singer Chante Moore. Lattimore says it is a private matter and that he is not gay, responding to rumors about his sexuality. He says he wishes it would have worked out, but they have a son and will always have a bond.
Mel B wants to lose the baby weight. The former Spice Girl and babymomma of Eddie Murphy recently had a baby girl with her husband Stephen Belafonte. Mel says she wants to lose some weight. She now weighs 165 and wants to get down to 132 with the help of Jenny Craig. Mel B is going to be the spokesperson for their overseas campaign.
Producer/Composer Nile Rodgers of Chic fame has finished his book, and the release date has been moved up. The book, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story Of Family, Disco And Destiny, is coming out October 18th. It will detail his music career and his battle with cancer. Rodgers has worked with Diana Ross, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Madonna and Sister Sledge.
John Legend is now a television producer. Legend is producing a family comedy for NBC called Mixed Blessings.
Lately, we’ve been reporting on similarities of race relations in this country today as opposed to that of old. But, now there are reports that interracial marriage between African Americans and whites are on the rise. Other minority groups aren’t seeing a significant difference in their rate of marriage to whites.
USA Today reports that the study, published in the October edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family, found that in 2008, that of all black marriages, 10.7% were, in the past year, married to whites. The measure they use to show a significant increase is that in 1980, there were only 3% of said marriages.
But, Roderick Harrison, a demographer at Howard University and the Joint Center for Political and Economical Studies pointed out that we are still the least “assimilated.” The numbers show that Asians in 2008, married whites at the rate of 34% and Hispanics to non-Hispanics at 28%.
But none of this so-called benchmark of integration has done anything to remedy the lack of opportunities for black America. As the director of the Cornell Population Center and the study’s co-author, Daniel Lichter, put it, “This doesn’t imply that we’ve moved into a post-racial society.” The number of black and white marriages still remain very low.
The lead author on the interracial marriage study, Zhenchao Qian, a sociology professor at Ohio State University, suggests that the more opportunities African Americans experience by way of “higher levels of education” and in the workplace, the more interaction they have with whites on those levels, thus suggesting that African Americans have made more economical and social progress since 1980.
But as Harrison stated in the report, it still suggests ”that the divide in this country remains between blacks and everybody else.” There has not been a major exodus into opportunity for African Americans. The majority of interracial marriages between blacks and whites, by Qian’s admission, in at least the last 10 years, can probably be found between the more wealthy of the two groups.
The insinuated element of the report is that integration shows more progress, but we’re still watching the first African American President be told on the Congressional floor during his speech that he lied, we watched Troy Davis be put to death based on speculation, and our children still lag behind in educational resources.
The interracial marriage shouldn’t be weighed against opportunity and/or integration, but the report’s significance in those areas is insinuated. We are happy for those who can find happiness with anyone. That’s the hot commodity of the day. Who cares who you’re married to as long as you’re happy.
Pumps your brakes there Aries, all will be well shortly. The passing of the moon cause a few interruptions nothing to worry about, your all good. Look for love to come your way shortly, in the guise of a foreign gentleman. Different I know, but heck variety is the spice of life, and you just never know. Look for changes in your family dynamics, possibly a surprise or two, all good again. Look at February is you jump off month to start on something that has been on the back burner for months, now is the time to begin.
************************************************************************************************************
TAURUS, THE BULL 4/20 – 5/21
Money is an object this month not a play thing so remember that. You are a hard worker which is quite obvious. Just remember everyone is not your friend when it comes to loaning out money OK! Expect to hear good news in the family of another child coming, blessed event. Scroll down your investments and see what is really working for you if not, cash it out immediately. This month will be heavy laden with money issues, so be prepared. Look before you leap into anything, including your taxes.
*************************************************************************************************************
GEMINI, THE TWINS 5/21 – 6/21
When are you going to stop playing games with yourself? uh? If you don’t like something then got damn it say that. Stop putting a front on like it’s ok, when it’s not. Family issues will come out concerning money, could someone be going out of business? Know when to hold em, and when to let go. Love life is getting better and better, keep those lines of communication and understanding going and you should be fine. Love alerts for the single Gemini’s someone is watching you very close and would like to get involved with you, put those attenders out. You are in a very blessed position this month so take note my dear.
************************************************************************************************************
CANCER, THE CRAB – 6/22 – 7/22
All is not lost Cancer, is only the beginning. New things are on the horizon of your life, good decisions. Love is in the air, it is what you make of it OK. Finances will go and come, just be consistent of what you have to work with this month. There will be family matters you need to deal with, some good, some bad, just know your place in all of this. We can’t pick our family members only our friends. Cancer you are in a growing and learning period right now. So keep your mind open to all which is possible at this time. Don’t neglect the obvious.
************************************************************************************************************
LEO, THE LION 7/23 – 8/22
Center of attention does pay well uh?! lol lol Ok Leo this is your time to shine to the Manager, Directors, or even Supervisors, if you aren’t one of those already. Your ideas can take hold. Your intelligent, and forthcoming in innovative ways that helps you and the company you work for. So go in that office and tell them all about them. Make sure you document your ideas, so no one else steals them from you. This year IRS will be kind to you, so take advantage and use the money to good use. Holla!
************************************************************************************************************
VIRGO, THE VIRGIN 8/23 – 9/22
Now is the time to stand up for what you believe to be right. You’ve been quiet of late, work well, do your work to precision, kept your mouth shut. Well now is the time to shine Virgo. You have not gone un=noticed! Virgo may be the virgin, but you bring new ideas, and communication to the table so do that my friend, voices will be listening. Expect some distance in the family all is not right, but you already know that. Sometimes it is good to be quiet and just stand still, and observe. The truth always comes out and you know this too. Money will increase thru games of chance, so by a lotto or whatever ticket you just might be a big winner, how about that! Love is all around you right now, just pick one, so many to choose from my goodness, aren’t you the popular male/female go on with your badness!
************************************************************************************************************
LIBRA, THE SCALES – 9/23 – 10/23
Time to pull out all the stops, start something, and be good at it, damn it! You have been up and down in your decisions – why? Libra you know what time it is, so just do it, stop playing games. Please improve on your communications skills, you are not always easy to understand. Love is in the air as well with you too, so come on give me some Libra, folks are waiting, heh! heh! If you are a Supervisor, or Manager time to assess your staff. To many object thinking has been going on, some folks need to be fired, and some folks need to be promoted, so DO IT! Family is well, and you and a love one are planning on taking a trip, about a cruise, that sound romantic. Do what you do best Libra, just get it done please!
************************************************************************************************************
SCORPIO, THE SCORPION – 10/24 – 11/21
Well, well, well, aren’t we on top of the world. And so you should be, you’ve worked hard for your accomplishments. Be proud hold you head high, pop your collar a couple of times you deserve it! whoo-whoo Scorpio! Now back to business, a lot of traveling is in store this year, February will be your down month, to get you prepared. I see sickness in your family possibly a male figure, Father, Uncle, Brother, or Cousin. Take time out to be with them, they miss you and love you very much, also you always put a smile on that person face. Remember tomorrow is never promise, so do today what you must. Money comes and goes but it’s ok, your building up to a big kauna real soon, you will be paid for your worth, skills, ability, and education you go Scorpio – male/female, it’s your time to begin a new!
************************************************************************************************************
SAGITTARIUS, THE ARCHER 11/22 – 12/21
I love it when you call me Big Poppa, throw your hands in the air, like you just don’t care!!! lol lol And that explains you this month Sag. Damn you are on a roll, well do the damn thing then, you know what time it is. Continue to help family members, you know some folks just don’t get it, they will eventually pray tell. Well are you ready to do the full-time work, I hope so, because they are ready for you. Job openings everywhere for you Sag, part-time or full-time. My suggestion go Full Time, the economy is shaky this year, and tomorrow is not promise, so do your part to survive. Sit down with your accountant or a budget person to help you iron a few discrepancies. After that you should be alright.
************************************************************************************************************
CAPRICORN, THE GOAT 12/22 – 1/19
Well where is the fear Cappy? There is no fear or guilt in your being. Time to start a new. Finally all has come to pass, see it just took a little patience and time to come about. Business will begin to pickup and there are jobs available for your seeking. Remember charities and people who have less. February is all about new beginnings for you Cappy. Think long and hard about what it is you really want in life. Family will be family as well as friends, just remember don’t be a doormat, or used for your kindness for weakness. Stay strong and stand stall for your beliefs. Folks are watching you that you don’t even know about. Capricorn you will experience great things this year, just keep it all in perspective.
************************************************************************************************************
AQUARIUS, THE WATER BEARER 1/20 – 2/18
My, my, my we are still leading the pack. Hard work does pay off, even when you dog tired. Family surprises in store for you this year, all good! Work can be more busy than usual this month do to in climate weather, so hang on the best is yet to come. You are a hard worker and it hasn’t gone unnoticed in the least. Family ties need to be developed once again, have you been out of touched with close relatives, then make that change to do better. Have you thought about being a Mentor to someone Aquarius. Well the time is right to start that, or pair up with an organization that could use your skills and technology for the youth. Be sure to keep up with your health.
************************************************************************************************************
PISCES, THE FISH 2/19 – 3/20
Glory, glory, hallelujah you make it thru another year, thank God. You where worried and so was I for you. Lot to get done this year Pisces. For the time being, let go of old ghosts from your past and move on, this is not you. People will be who they are regardless, just know the difference. Love is in the air for you also. There is somebody you have kept on the back burner, now come on give the guy/girl a chance. They are really good people, that care about you a lot. Finances will be a little shaky this February so hold on to your pennies, and be careful were you spend them. Make sure there is a sale on, or forget about it. Family ties become much stronger. Work will be real busy for you this February so expect to work some overtime on weekends here and there. Happy Birthday Pisces you are so cool!
************************************************************************************************************
by Lennis