In 2007, there were 168,900 deaths in Florida. 2,328 of these deaths were caused by pain killers (Vicodine, Oxycontin, etc.), 743 deaths were due to benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium, etc.) and alcohol was judged to have been the killer 466 times (it was in the bodies of 4,179 people that died).

The deaths from all illegal drugs (cocaine, heroine, ecstasy, etc.) came in at 989. The real kicker here, numbers of deaths from marijuana: 0. Yup, none, not a single person in the state of Florida died from the use of marijuana in 2007.

And yet marijuana is not only illegal in the United States, but people get arrested and get caught up in the system over a joint. I’m not saying that the USA should legalize marijuana, but at least decriminalize it, this was a big issue for former Senator Mike Gravel who was thrown out of the democratic presidential debates. And of course the rest of the democrats completely ignored the serious issue of a rising prison population due to bullshit.

In the Netherlands, soft drug use is viewed as a health issue, not a criminal issue. Nobody gets arrested for smoking a joint. If a police officer sees someone smoking a joint in a public place where they obviously should not be smoking (ie. not a designated coffee shop or desolate area in the park), that person will get chewed out and told to put it out, they will not go to jail over crap.

Of course, decriminalizing marijuana would eat into the profits of drugs companies, whose drugs kill more people than all street drugs combined.

photo credit: personal collection

Post from: Sirened

People always talk about how the American political process is dominated by just two parties, but did you know that our US Senate has a socialist senator? That’s right, his name is Bernie Sanders and he hails from the free loving hippie commune Ben & Jerry’s state (aka Vermont). Sanders recently appeared on The Colbert Report and explained why the United States should morph into Finland.

Post from: Sirened

Post from: Sirened

According to the spam I receive, cleaning out your colon can prevent colon cancer. So it got me thinking…is a colon cleanse right for me? Perhaps, but I don’t want to buy their products and I don’t have to. I’m not sure if this is in Kevin Trudeau’s book Natural Cures (that I have not read) but I came up with the perfect solution.

Now if only there was a food for penis enlargement…

Post from: Sirened

Now the naysayers say why should their tax dollars go towards health coverage for the poor kids? Thing is, the additional $5 billion a year that was proposed is a drop in the bucket compared to the war in Iraq. We spend $5 billion every 2 weeks over there!

And this was far from a partisan bill that was proposed as there were 18 Republican Senators in favor of the bill. The 68 Senate votes would otherwise be enough to override the ‘Deciders’ veto but they don’t have enough votes in the House.

Anyways, welcome to the world poor kids, enjoy the place that “Christians” have set up for you.

Image from this place.

Post from: Sirened

The Portland Trail Blazer’s #1 pick, Greg Oden just had surgery on his knee and will likely miss his entire rookie year. Hmm, maybe ESPN writer Bill Simmons was right when he said they should have taken Texas forward Kevin Durant.

Latino’s are infiltrating this country in more ways than one as Hurricane Humberto hits Texas and moves on to Louisiana where it will seek construction work after destruction work.

Looks like health insurance rates will rise again next year. It’s estimated that the rise will be between 8-12%, I guess it’s time for a final surge during Bush’s last term!

Bill O’ Reilly remembers 9/11 and calls out anti-American sentiment (those that do not agree with him).

Southwest Airlines continues it’s crackdown on women’s fashion.

Republican House Minority Leader John “Boner” said that 4,000 troop deaths are a “small price” to pay to defeat Al-Qaeda. Support the troops everyone!

Jury selected for Fundamentalist Christian polygamist Warren Jeffs.

The Miami Herald discusses the commonalities between Bill Belichik and Barry Bonds. And it’s more than just their heads getting bigger.

Image from this place.

Post from: Sirened

Some examples might be; how will you fix the mess George Bush has left? What role will “Slick Willy” take as a possible First Man? Is Dennis Kusinich in fact part elf? What will be Joe Biden’s next political gaff (aka pulling a John Kerry) to reduce his chances from very slim to none? Which candidate is Mike Gravel most likely to strangle? How many donuts did Bill Richardson eat today?

So many possibilities…

Post from: Sirened

According to this chart on Opensecrets.org Hillary Clinton has raised the most money at $63 million and Barack Obama has raised the 2nd most at $59 million. It really is mind boggling, we are still 6 months from the Democratic primaries (and 16 months before the general election) and just these two candidates have raised over $120 million!

Typically it’s the Republican candidates who edge the Dems in fundraising but not this time. Mitt Romney leads the Republicans with over $44 million raised and Rudy Giuliani is 2nd with over $35 million.

So the top 2 Democrats have raised more than $40 million more than the top 2 Republicans! And thus far, if you combine what all the candidates have spent it amounts to more than $130 million!

It would be one thing if politicians had zero access to having their face shown and voices heard on TV but that is far from the case. Watch any of the major news networks and your bound to see a few presidential candidates putting their 2 cents in about some pressing matter. And debates…both sides of the aisle have already had 3 of them. The debates are a free opportunity for candidates to get their message across to those that are watching.

So where does all the money go? It pays their expenses to show their faces in as many key states as possible and creating big hoopla wherever they go. Banners and posters for all, yay candidates! It pays for TV ads, I remember seeing some Mitt Romney ads here in Florida a few months back, so no surprise that he has spent the most of the candidates so far, $32 million! And it pays the salaries of key advisors who gather information on what people want to hear and thus shapes the respective political candidate’s voice.

All the money raised according to the books is from individual donations and there is a cap on the amount people are allowed to donate. The maximum an individual can donate is $2,300 for the primary elections and another $2,300 for the general elections. So when we donate, we are looking to buy our candidate, the person we feel best represents our vision and values for the direction of our nation.

So what is the best politician money can buy? Is it the candidate who most closely thinks like we do and will do their best to represent our best interests? Or is it the candidate whom we feel is the most honest and represents the best interests of the greatest number of Americans, thus having a more egalitarian vision?

This country is a republic, not a democracy. That is why we don’t have an equal voice in political matters; we elect individuals who are supposed to be more knowledgeable to make tough decisions on our behalf.

When we went to war in Iraq, the majority of Americans believed the war was just. Now the majority of Americans believe we should leave Iraq. If this was a true democracy we would already be out of Iraq, but as a republic, our elected officials have kept us there because they still believe it is in our best interests to be there.

So as an American it is very important that we purchase the best candidate for the future of our country. The stakes are high, the price tag is high and the candidate with the most money will most likely win.

Post from: Sirened

Moore also bashed CNN for being late on any coverage against the Iraq War. He bashed the mainstream media in general but since he was on CNN he focused on them and asked, when will people just stop watching you?

Moore was definitely spot on accusing CNN of being late in criticizing the Iraq War seeing as how they did not report against what the majority of Americans believed was a just war. But when more Americans started turning against the war, CNN started reporting more anti-war pieces. It’s all about the numbers…

Lou Dobbs then proceeded to mock Moore saying that he is more left wing than Hugo Chavez. Very professional stuff Lou!

Post from: Sirened

This article in the NY Times discusses a Pennsylvania study on differing hospital costs and how they affect length of stay and mortality rates. In a nutshell, it doesn’t seem to make much difference.

People think that because US healthcare is more expensive it must be better. From my experience this is definitely not true.

While living in Australia I was amazed at how I was treated by two different doctors on a few separate occasions. They were friendly, patient, thorough, cheaper and most importantly good. Both doctors’ even asked “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” Jesus, good luck finding that here! If you know of a place, please let me know.

Doctors here love to find add-ons. It’s like they are trying to up sell you on certain things (hell there is pharmaceutical advertising in some doctors offices!) and if your visit lasts a bit longer, expect to be charged more. That is simply not what this American experienced while living in Australia.

A lot of people say yeah, these countries have socialized medicine but people die waiting to get access to them. That is a flat out lie created by lobbyists and politicians. One night, my now wife who is Australian could not breath properly and we had to rush to the hospital. Upon arrival, she showed her Medicare card and was immediately taken to triage. There was zero wait time. This short of a wait time might be rare for a non emergency visit but here in the US you would be guaranteed to wait longer. Even if there was nobody waiting you would still have to fill out a load of paperwork to insure that you either have insurance or have some means to pay. If you don’t have means to pay, the hospital has every right to flat out turn you down.

But in a country like Australia, insurance means not having to have insurance. If you lose your job and lose your insurance you won’t die from the inability to pay for health care costs, a sad reality in the wealthiest of wealthy nations.

My wife had bronchitis and she was put on a ventillator and they did x-rays on her lungs. After a few hours she was released from the hospital and I said “how much is that going to cost?” “Nothing” she replied. Public hospital visits like that are 100% free in Australia for all Australians. Here in the US, without health insurance, that little 2 hour stop in the hospital will probably run you a cool $1,000 without insurance.

So it’s a little tiresome hearing our health system praised as the best and socialized medicine deemed poor and ineffective. This writer has experienced both and personally, Australia’s health system is far better as far as access, cost and quality for the average person.

Post from: Sirened