Weeding out the nonsense...

As i typed the dot dot dot's at the end of the title of this entry I was reminded of Herb Caen's use of the device in his column... Probably due in part to my contemplation of the herb, you know, cannabis, weed, ganja, Ja, reefer, muggles, rope, dope, hemp, pot, maryjane etc. etc. etc. inspired by the US Supreme Court's contemplation of California's medical use of the wacky weed.
A few years ago, on a trip to the doctors office for pain in my elbow (which later required surgery) i was denied the good dope and sent home with suggestion that i pop a few motrin. Unlike the bastion of conservative values Rush Limbaugh, i have never shopped for doctors who would give me prescriptions for narcotics, nor have i ever sought them on the street. They usually make me faintly itchy truth be told, and when i have had to use them, after a day or two i am really tired of the fog they produce. But, when you have torn a tendon in your body there isnt anything i have ever tried that is as effective at alleviating the pain, or at least making it seem farther away and less important.
Now then, back to the Supreme Court, and the attack on the terminally ill by John Ashcroft. When the lady with the brain tumor tells me that smoking pot makes her feel better, who am i to tell her she is wrong? Through the democratic process of citizens initiative, the people of my home state decided that doctors and patients are the best ones to make that determination, decided on in a statewide electoral poll. The idea that "reefer madness" fear mongers could deny these people something they say gives them substantial relief strikes me as flying in the face of what i grew up thinking was a cornerstone of being an American, the concept of liberty. The big brother mentality of the current administration is leading us further and further away from the ideals that were at the cornerstone of the foundation of the country. The concepts of self determination, the basic notions of personal liberty.(as an aside, i am watching Bushie right now dodging a question about Canada's move towards decriminalization of da weed...whatta pussy) I am especially fond of something Ben Franklin once said, though i can only paraphrase it, and it was directed towards those who sought appeasement with the British leading up to the American Revolution... 'Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither'
It is very disturbing how many issues keep coming up these last few years, that i wish my representatives in government would invoke these words. It seems we live in a country of full of pussies and sheep, and those who would seek to impose their personal social beliefs on others. Welcome to the New America