COLORADO (Via CNN) […]  while marijuana use is not completely legal in 48 states, according to the poll Americans remain firmly in favor of medical marijuana laws, and continue to believe that a fine, not jail time, is the appropriate penalty for the possession of small amounts of marijuana in states other than Colorado and Washington State, which has also voted to legalize pot.

How do Americans feel about the new system in Colorado, the first state in the country to allow anyone over the age of 21 to buy small quantities of marijuana from state-licensed businesses?

One-third of those questioned in the poll say the state’s new law is a good idea and 29% say it’s a bad idea. But a 37% plurality say that they want to see what happens in Colorado and other states that legalize marijuana before the decide how they feel about this matter.

Given the fact that federal law still outlaws the sale or possession of marijuana, how should the federal government handle pot in Colorado? (more…)

Serendipity strikes again 😀 – Generally the large media conglomerates, who operate on a self identity of liberal alignment, get it wrong.   However, every once in a while they can set their ideology on a side table and construct quality information.

This is one of those rare but valuable instances.

The White House is probably definitely having fits right now, because this USA Today outline destroys the Obama administration’s false claims of “al-Qaeda being on the run“.

[…] The chaos of the Arab Spring revolutions, al-Qaeda’s shift to a more bottom-up structure and a perceived pullback of U.S. influence in the Middle East are behind the spread of America’s No. 1 enemy in the world, say several analysts who study the core group in Pakistan and affiliates who swear allegiance to it.

The latest and most stark example came this week in Iraq, where al-Qaeda militants seized control of government buildings and districts of Fallujah and Ramadi, cities that were liberated from jihadist control by American troops  during the Iraq War. (link)

Excellent interactive and informative article – CLICK HERE

“It is not an easy task to unring a bell, nor to remove from the mind an impression once firmly imprinted there*”

“I’m not anti-government …. I’m just pro Freedom”.

-Ladar Levison, (the founder of secure email provider Lavabit, facing a court case because he closed his company rather than hand over encryption keys) interviewed in the interactive UK Guardian piece published November, 2013

Whether or not you think Snowden was a traitor or a hero; the fact remains that “the bell can not be unrung”.

(more…)

Jacob Appelbaum is a US citizen and core member of TOR project (funded originally to provide internet communication security).  He writes open source software, is an independent security software developer, activist hacker and passionate resister to tyranny.
He has stated in past interviews that he believes “personal privacy and institutional transparency are complementary ideas that help to create a free and open society …..Tor is part of an ecosystem of software that helps people regain and reclaim their autonomy. It helps to enable people to have agency of all kinds; it helps others to help each other and it helps you to help yourself. It runs, it is open and it is supported by a large community spread across all walks of life.”
Appelbaum eloquently discusses warrantless or “open writ” dragnet surveillance as “turnkey tyranny” and posits that the black budget agencies that engage in such surveillance are violating the 3rd Amendment Rights of US Citizens, likening the actions of the NSA to de facto “digital soldiers” being quartered in our homes without our knowledge or permission. (more…)

(Independent Journal) An Open Letter to the Obama Administration and American Citizens:

My family’s journey with securing our new insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on October 1, 2013. I have decided to write this letter to let the American people know what it has been like for us.

We are a family of four, with two little boys’ ages seven years old and three years old. My husband and I have had full time jobs for 6 years and 13 years respectively. We have been with the same two companies for those years.
We are a middle class family; we own our three bedroom two bath house, we own two cars, and previously provided our own insurance for the four of us. We have coverage through Individual Blue from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama until 12/31/13. Our premiums have been $380.00 a month, which also included dental coverage for all four of us.
On October, 1, 2013 we received our letters like other Alabamians about our new premiums and plans for 2014 from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Alabama. When I opened our letter to say I had sticker shock was an understatement. (more…)

A well known and generous doctor, father to twelve children (three of the twelve are adopted), is devastated over the violent murder of his adopted daughter, by a younger adopted sibling.  The young woman was stabbed to death multiple times in front of other siblings in the kitchen of the family’s Washington Township, New Jersey home.
The alleged murderer, 17, is in police custody, charged with murder with a determination to be made by prosecutors within 30 days on whether or not to charge him as an adult.
The family is naturally – devastated – and grapples to understand what went so terribly wrong in what they describe as their “loving, close-knit family…..”
(more…)

During his 2009 Notre Dame speech  President Obama said the federal government should accommodate religious objections to parts of the law:

“Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion and draft a sensible conscience clause. And make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded, not only in sound science, but also in clear ethics.”  – President Obama (2009)

The catholic group Little Sisters of the Poor received a temporary injunction from the Supreme Court protecting them from the controversial HHS contraceptive mandate. The injunction means that the Little Sisters would not be forced to sign and deliver forms authorizing and directing others to provide contraceptives, sterilizations and drugs and devices that cause abortions.

Now in 2014 President Obama appeals that injunction demanding the Little Sisters of The Poor should be forced to comply with the abortifacient service delivery approved within the ObamaCare.  (link)

WOLVERINES !!

Tune in to Sean Hannity’s time slot tonight at 10:00pm on Fox to hear details.  [Eric Bolling will be filling in for Sean Hannity who is on vacation.]
WASHINGTON DC – Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is leading a class-action lawsuit with hundreds of thousands of Americans against President Barack Obama’s National Security Agency (NSA) over its spying on the American people, Breitbart News has learned.
Sen. Paul will be discussing the lawsuit in an exclusive appearance on Fox News with host Eric Bolling at 10 PM ET on Friday. Breitbart News has learned that Paul will file the class action lawsuit soon in the D.C. District Court and that he will be filing it as an individual, not as a U.S. Senator. For a U.S. Senator to file a such a class action lawsuit against the President of the United States would be extremely rare.
With regard to NSA spying, this is the first class action lawsuit against such activity. This allows the American people to join together in a grassroots manner against President Obama’s NSA for the first time in the legal system, as all other lawsuits have been individuals suing against the agency.  (read more)

(Via Daily Mail)  Hospital staff in Northern Virginia are turning away sick people on a frigid Thursday morning because they can’t determine whether their Obamacare insurance plans are in effect.
Patients in a close-in DC suburb who think they’ve signed up for new insurance plans are struggling to show their December enrollments are in force, and health care administrators aren’t taking their word for it.
In place of quick service and painless billing, these Virginians are now facing the threat of sticker-shock that comes with bills they can’t afford.
‘They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!’ a coughing Maria Galvez told MailOnline outside the Inova Healthplex facility in the town of Springfield.
She was leaving the building without getting a needed chest x-ray.
‘The people in there told me that since I didn’t have an insurance card, I would be billed for the whole cost of the x-ray,’ Galvez said, her young daughter in tow. ‘It’s not fair – you know, I signed up last week like I was supposed to.’ (more…)

The last time a Democrat Politician held the office of New York Mayor was more than 20 years ago.   Mayor Ed Koch (1978-1989 ) was a lifelong Democrat who described himself as a “liberal with sanity“.  Koch later endorsed Rudi Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg, and George W. Bush – so you can tell he was not what modern politico’s would define as liberal, and by most current definitions he would not be considered a Democrat.  Koch was socially liberal, but fiscally conservative – heck he ran as an independent in 85′.
Removing the one term David Dinkins (89′-93′)  who was the city’s first black mayor, elected solely on the basis of his race,  it is intellectually honest to say the last time a left-wing liberal held the New York office was, before Ed Koch, almost 40 years ago.
The last time left-wing liberalism was used in New York policy and governance was also almost 40 years ago.   There’s a reason for that:
New York City was a nightmare under liberal policies.  It was a petri dish of crime and decay brought upon by decades of Democrat/Liberal governance.   You could not even think about walking through Central Park unless you were trying to get mugged, raped or killed.

Crime, drugs and criminal life had driven the city almost into total ruin.   No-one was safe on the subway;  hence a subway rider named Bernard Goetz famously said “enough”, and began to shoot the criminals in the subway cars. (more…)