Showing posts with label progressive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progressive. Show all posts

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Are Marijuana Opponents Smarter Than Mother Nature or Smarter Than God?



The government has absolutely no moral, ethical, or philosophical right to outlaw a species of life. With all the debate about marijuana usage, one basic fact is being ignored: marijuana is not a chemical produced in a pharmacy. It is a species of life. The overwhelming majority of people would either credit its existence to Mother Nature or God.

Thursday, December 17, 2015

The REAL "Job Creators" Are Not the Wealthy--They're YOU!


Don't be deceived by the verbal gymnastics that refer to the rich as "Job Creators." The fact is, there is only one true creator of jobs and that is: CONSUMER DEMAND!

One writer defined "Job Creators" this way:

"In Republican/Tea Party political theory, 'Job Creators' are wealthy because they are industrious, virtuous, hard working people and can use their vast wealth to create jobs by hiring people to work for them. The idea that this euphemism is trying to convey is that taxing these people would hurt the economy because then their money would be going to the government...which will only waste tax money on things like social services." (*1)

Of course, only the rich have the money to build factories, but the only time they ever would build one is when they anticipate consumer demand for the product!

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Repealing the Death Tax Will Create a Koch Monarchy Forever


There's a great deal of fear-mongering going on when it comes to the estate tax. ALEC-led Republicans claim that the children of farmers and small businesses are losing their farms and businesses because of the estate tax.  Therefore, they argue, it should be abolished completely.

In fact, "just 0.19 percent of all deaths in 2013 resulted in (the payment of estate) tax. When 99.81 percent of all deaths don't create a taxable event, calling it a death tax is mathematically nonsensical." (*1)

The real reason for abolishing the estate tax is for the very rich to not only pass on their fortunes to their children, but to pass on their political power as well.  They want to create an America, led by a oligarchy, that's been crowned by the almighty dollar.

Monday, October 12, 2015

My Body, My Choice: One Man's Perspective


A civil right cannot be guaranteed to ANY citizen, until that civil right is guaranteed to EVERY citizen.

Many who are pro-choice are worried about women losing their reproductive rights. Perhaps they should be. After all, if the right "to do what one wants with their own body" is so basic and important, why should it be confined to the uterus only?

Perhaps if it were women who had abortions that were being piled into for-profit prisons instead of marijuana smokers, one might quickly understand this thesis.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Arizona Refuses Federal Money for the Disabled


What if there was a program that equipped disabled individuals to leave the welfare rolls and enter into gainful, tax-paying employment?

In fact, there is one and it's very popular.  Many disabled people come to Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) wanting to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, get off the welfare rolls and become tax-paying citizens instead.

So successful is the program that the federal government offers to pay three-quarters of the cost.  Yet die-hard tea-partiers in the Arizona Legislature have refused this "dirty Obama money" for several years.  As a result, people who are genuinely motivated to get off of welfare have been sitting on waiting lists, still collecting government checks, for years.

Monday, August 17, 2015

The Immigration Solution: A Market Based Approach


One of the main problems with America's immigration policy is that it tries to set numbers regardless of the country's current economic condition.  There are times when our economy is soaring and we need immigrant workers.  There are also times when our economy slows down and we don't need as much immigrant help.

If the US could devise a market-based policy for immigration that would naturally ride with these ebbs and flows, it would be fair, adaptable, and could last for generations.

Following is one such plan:

Monday, July 13, 2015

Medical Marijuana Demagoguery Proving to be Very Wrong


When Prop 203, the initiative to legalize medical marijuana, was being considered in Arizona in 2010, opponents (particularly Shelia Polk and her comrades,) feared the worst:

They predicted "trashed neighborhoods, drug cartels disguised as medical marijuana dispensaries, increased armed robberies, burglaries, murder and organized crime." (*1)

They feared then (and still do now) that medical marijuana cards are "way too easy" to obtain and that marijuana would flood the state since unused meds would be sold on the street to children.

They called medical marijuana a "smokescreen" to full legalization and that we should expect "97-98 percent of medical marijuana cardholders (to be) aged 17 to 35 and suffer(ing) from "chronic pain". (*1)

However, the most recent (2014) Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) End of Year Report, produced by the Arizona Department of Health Services (who issues the MMJ cards,) not only shows the opposite to have come true, but in the end, medical marijuana in Arizona is turning out to be small potatoes.

Monday, June 29, 2015

Is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat?



Either way, He'd probably have to stand in-line somewhere to get a government photo ID in order to vote!

It is often asked: Is Jesus a republican or a democrat?  This question always boils down to a matter of prideful self-identification--even in its premiss.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Test Cops for Steroids! /UPDATED w Petition Information


Officer Casebolt's excuse for his horrible behavior at the pool party incident in McKinney, Tx was that he had faced a great deal of stress on two previous calls regarding suicides.

(Click Here to Read the News Story)

Although such a situation would be stressful, that story doesn't make much sense.


Exactly what is it about trying to convince someone that life is worth living that would cause someone to soon pull a gun on unarmed teenagers?






As he was putting his knee on the back of a teenage girl's head, did he think to himself, "I just had a very stressful time trying to convince someone that life is precious, so I'm going to grind your face into the dirt?"

Who does that?

Do people who answer suicide prevention lines relieve their stress in such a manner?...Ever??

The stress involved in trying to prevent a suicide would be that of anxiety, not aggression!  Suicide prevention would include trying to create a calm situation; not one of anger and aggression.

So what is it that might have caused such a seemingly unnatural aggressive reaction?

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Republicans Smoke Pot Too

The Arizona GOP leadership has decided to go whole-hog against any initiative to legalize marijuana in 2016.  Many are pointing out that in 2010, Prop 203, the initiative to legalize medical marijuana won by just 4,340 votes.  They believe that if they can improve republican turnout just a little more, recreational marijuana can be defeated in 2016.

However, this school of thought forgets the circumstances surrounding the 2010 election.

2010 was a backlash election.  It was the first opportunity since the election of Obama for people to vote. Particularly in Arizona, but throughout both red and purple states, republicans won big. In Arizona, GOP turnout was quite high.  In fact, republicans won every statewide office in 2010 and in many of them, they won big.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

We Need a 21st Century Currency


If you were a business, would you spend ten cents to produce something that was worth only five?  Would you spend two cents to produce something worth only a penny?

Who on earth would make such poor decisions?  The U.S. Government, that's who!  Indeed, the government does spend two cents to produce a single penny and ten cents to produce a single nickel. (*1)  Talk about "wasteful government spending"!

Due to inflation over the many decades, we need to update our currency for the 21st century.