Legal Medical Marijuana from Broadway Wellness Medical Marijuana dispensary in South Denver, Colorado

How is it conceivable, in America today, that a seriously ill patient in Boulder, Colorado, may grow, purchase and have a medicine cabinet full of state-licensed medical marijuana (MMJ), while a similarly-ill patient in Cleveland may be imprisoned for pursuing the same medical treatment?

How, in the free-wheeling capitalist US of A, could some states and communities encourage free men and women to be MMJ-millionaires and patients, while MMJ-entrepreneurs and adherents in other markets are arrested... nearly 1 million of them a year.

Why would anyone choose to live in a state of Cannabis denial?

I voted Green for David Ellison* in the primary and I voted Independent in the General Election.  Here's why--Don Scipione has the means (technology) to provide ACCOUNTABILITY to residents in Cuyahoga County. 

2010 is a definitive year for the Ohio Democratic Party, as all the Democratic leaders of Northeast Ohio are entangled in webs of corruption, tarnishing the Party state- and nation-wide, to the White House, as all Democratic leaders of Ohio must explain poorer economic performance statewide than is the national average, which has been poor under Obama.... with no good vision for the state and nation for the future... with important elections upon us in November.

To keep the purple state of Ohio blue in 2010 and for 2012, where Democrats have largely been in-charge in the past, the Democratic machine needs to show it is serious about changing how it does business here in the future, while going the distance with Obama, and getting the job done in Ohio... no matter how long that takes. 

To make Northeast Ohio the Open Source Capital of the Brightest Greenest State of Earth, we must learn and import best practices from wherever in the world there is related excellence.

To develop a brightest greenest NEO we must learn best practices from regions demonstrating excellence with open source information technology, energy innovation, and agriculture systems for all crops including cannabis (hemp and marijuana).

One of the greatest tricks about living in Northeast Ohio is preventing harmful lead poisoning exposure for children and adults living here - some neighborhoods of Cleveland still have around 30% of children showing harmful levels of lead in their blood, causing permanent physical and mental harm. So it is appropriate the United States Senate has declared the week before Halloween - October 24-30 - as National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, which "calls upon the people of the United States to observe National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week with appropriate programs and activities."

In the spirit of the millions of Americans harmed by lead poisoning over the years, now dead and haunting those who cause such environmental harm on Earth today... may 2010 be the year when Northeast Ohio leaders get serious about protecting our children and adults from the trick of lead poisoning, as that is the greatest treat they may ever give to this community and themselves.

Was this reported in Cleveland?

Location

When politicians like Barack Obama, Ted Strickland, George Voinovich, Sherrod Brown, Marcia Fudge, Frank Jackson, Gary Norton and our councilpeople speak of the promise of "Clean Coal" and carbon capture and sequestration, ask the politicians how to safely capture coal slurry... especially after it has spilled... as that skill is needed in Ohio today. On October 1, 2010, Murray Energy (of Pepper Pike, Ohio) spilled 1,000s of gallons of toxic coal slurry into an Ohio stream, as reported by the Sierra Club in the video above. That is the same Murray Energy responsible for the collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine, in 2007, which "was so extensive, federal officials found no other mining disaster in the last 50 years to compare to it."

Was this reported in Cleveland?

The Sierra Club asks citizens to help stop Murray Coal from doing even more harm to our environment in Ohio...

What does climate change look like? The people of Boulder know only too well, having just dodged Colorado's worst wildfire ever - the Fourmile Canyon Wildfire.

The people of Fourmile Canyon - especially those who lost nearly 200 homes - are now climate change experts, as their sun-drenched, parched, droughted Rocky Mountain paradise went up in flames that rode hot dry winds across over four square miles of pristine forests, for days... just a few weeks ago.

Figure 1. Seasonal-mean temperature anomalies relative to 1951-1980 mean for the
most recent two summers and winters.

Climate Progress has a link today to an excellent report by NASA's top climatologist, Dr. James Hansen - “How Warm Was This Summer?” (copied below), which confirms that 2010 is equal to the hottest year on record, resulting in more extreme natural disasters worldwide this year, and forecasts worse impacts of climate change several years into the future, predicting "it is likely that 2012 will reach a record high global temperature." Meaning:

Given the association of extreme weather and climate events with rising global temperature, the expectation of new record high temperatures in 2012 also suggests that the frequency and magnitude of extreme events could reach a high level in 2012. Extreme events include not only high temperatures, but also indirect effects of a warming atmosphere including the impact of higher temperature on extreme rainfall and droughts. The greater water vapor content of a warmer atmosphere allows larger rainfall anomalies and provides the fuel for stronger storms driven by latent heat.

I often ponder what are they thinking when I reflect on the current state of modern culture and the environment. Clearly, so does Kwame Anthony Appiah, a philosophy professor at Princeton University, who published an inspiring editorial What will future generations condemn us for? in the September 26, 2010 Washington Post, below - see a poll on this subject at the Washington Post website, and participate in a poll on the same issue on realNEO here - When future generations look back on us, what will shock them most?

Matthew Harris works with a white widow marijuana plant at Marjyn Investments LLC in Oakland, Calif.
He is among 40 workers who joined the Teamsters this month. (Associated Press)

In states where medical marijuana is legal, there are a wide range of jobs created in diverse industries, including healthcare, food preparation, pharmaceutical research and development, retail, and agriculture.  In Ontario, Canada, there are over 100,000 jobs associated with marijuana cultivation alone - and most of the marijuana grown there is exported illegally to America.

A 2010 Pew poll found approximately 40% of Americans have tried Marijuana, about the same number believe marijuana should be legalized outright, and 73% of Americans - over 7 in 10 - believe medicinal marijuana should be legalized. Those polling numbers say the writing is on the wall - marijuana is becoming mainstream industry in America, as Americans get their way nationwide! Where marijuana is legal, it is a high-growth economic engine churning activity in many clusters.

Generation Blank, X, and Y (why?), meet Generation Hot. That is the term given by Mark Hertsgaard to every child on earth born after June 23, 1988 - "when humanity was put on notice that greenhouse gas emissions were raising the temperatures on this planet. The warning came from NASA scientist James Hansen's testimony to the U.S. Senate and, crucially, the decision by the New York Times to print the news on page 1, which in turn made global warming a household phrase in news bureaus, living rooms and government offices the world over."

Hertsgaard is author of the soon-to-be-released book Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth and has covered climate change, politics and the media for Vanity Fair, The Nation, Time, The New Yorker, NPR, L’espresso and other leading news outlets worldwide. In his Huffington Post article Meet Generation Hot, below, he states: "For Generation Hot, the brutal summer of 2010 is not an anomaly; it's the new normal."

As a firm, vocal supporter of Barack Obama - a blogger for Obama - I receive frequent emails from various democratic party affiliations... a recent barrage encourages me to order a free bumper sticker promoting my love for the Democratic Party - it seems they have decided they need to rebrand and reimagine themselves a bit, as "Democrats have launched the most ambitious voter-turnout effort we've ever seen for an election like the one this fall." "With this renewed focus, the Democrats have introduced a new website filled with innovations to better connect supporters with candidates, state parties, and each other -- and a new look to match that message." To me, the rebranding is poor and suggests a grade on a report-card... that grade being a "D".

What do you think - does the Democratic Party deserve a "D", since we elected Obama President... better... worse?

If you want to prove you are a true blue Democrat, the information to order your free "I got a D" bumper sticker is provided below....

The following report from Scene sets the stage for more waves of resignations, arrests and firings in the ongoing purging of corruption from the region - THANK GOD!

With this passing of Bill Mason must come a fresh look at the processes and schemes behind the Great Lakes Wind Task Force he controlled... for now, look forward to this castle crumbliing... and thank Scene for this investigation, diving far deeper into the muck of local government corruption than the Plain Dealer seems to have access or has dared to go...

Sources: Bill Mason Expected to Resign Soon, Face Charges From Feds

Posted by Erich Burnett on Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 9:00 AM

Cuyahoga County’s corruption scandal has touched almost every corner of county service except the Prosecutor’s Office. That will change in the coming weeks, according to sources with close ties to county politics. Mason is expected to resign by the second week of October, the sources say. Federal charges against him are expected within the next two months.

scheme
   [skeem] noun, verb, schemed, schem·ing.
–noun
1. a plan, design, or program of action to be followed; project.
2. an underhand plot; intrigue.
3. a visionary or impractical project.
4. a body or system of related doctrines, theories, etc.: a scheme of philosophy.
5. any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement.
6. a plan, program, or policy officially adopted and followed, as by a government or business: The company's pension scheme is very successful.
7. an analytical or tabular statement.
8. a diagram, map, or the like.
9. an astrological diagram of the heavens.
–verb (used with object)
10. to devise as a scheme; plan; plot; contrive.
–verb (used without object)
11. to lay schemes; devise plans; plot.

This is the kind of crazy shit we have to look forward to with the Republicans taking over rule of America and "The World" again - what did that Iraq war still raging cost us so far in $trillions... and 100,000s of lives... and disruption to the global economy and state of being, again?

A war with Iran. Good idea. Good for Blackwater!

U.S. should consider military force against Iran, Senator Lindsey Graham says

Published: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 2:00 AM

McClatchy-Tribune News Service  James Rosen

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Monday that the United States must be prepared to use military force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon -- and added that the last-resort step should be taken with the goal of overthrowing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Graham, a military lawyer and a senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, became the first senator to support direct U.S. military intervention in Iran, saying it should not involve ground troops but be launched by U.S. warplanes and ships.

"If you use military force against Iran, you've opened up Pandora's box," Graham told the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "If you allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon, you've emptied Pandora's box. I'd rather open up Pandora's box than empty it."

Graham's unusual public support for overturning Ahmadinejad and the ruling council of Shiite Muslim clerics that he nominally heads recalled President George W. Bush's controversial policy of regime change to invade Iraq in 2003 and overthrow dictator Saddam Hussein.

I've sadly watched the better part of an important historic block, in an important historic neighborhood, fronting an important historic park, be demolished and cleared without so much as a peep of concern from anyone in NEO, other than on REALNEO. Are we really so disengaged, or are we just so dumbfounded by the rapid succession of bad plans coming from NEO leadership that we can't keep up and focus. The block I question, today's header above (full size image here), was a wonderful grouping of interesting mixed use urban landmarks, complimenting the astounding Rockefeller Park to the west, University Circle to the south, and the surrounding Wade Park neighborhood, now a massive demolition zone that looks suspiciously like a surface parking lot. In a few short weeks, "they" have done immeasurable damage, and that is exactly how leaders in this region operate... quietly destroying what they may and explaining what they must as they must, largely through their Plain Dealer. Already, I doubt there are many people who remember the buildings just demolished here, or the many mature Rockefeller Park oak trees ripped from their roots in the haste of greed (did they have a right and permit to do that)... see the earlier demolition picture here to see the beautiful setting before this eco-disaster. Seeing the trees gone made me wonder what evil "they" lurks behind this tragedy, and of course learned this is another Carney Port Authority bond deal, this time to be repaid at the expense of Cleveland taxpayers, to enrich a new character on the "developer" scene... Michael Forlani... CEO of Doan Pyramid Electric, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, and a major Republican contributor, who has formed a new company, Veterans Development, LLC, to process $ millions in federal and Cleveland taxpayer contributions to his bottom line, this time routed through the Federal Veterans Administration. This deal is an extreme example of what is wrong in Northeast Ohio and America today.

Greenversations, the official blog of the EPA, has some excellent postings and is worth following - I subscribe to that and all the EPA email updates as they are excellent - dozens a week. Today, Greenversations highlights The Pollution Prevention Act Turns 20, suggesting "If companies, communities and consumers make a concerted effort at eliminating wastes at the source, then perhaps the theme of P2 Week in 2020 can be the arrival of the zero-waste society, one where greenhouse gas emissions, toxic exposures in the home and workplace, waste disposal in landfills and underground wells, and nutrient dumping in our nation’s waters are all a rapidly fading memory."

It is the responsibility of the citizens to make that happen through our actions, VOTING and choices today. In Northeast Ohio, with an EXCESSIVE SHARE of toxic release point sources, and pathetic EPA performance, we need NEW elected officials committed to a 0-waste 0-harm P2 2020 vision - willing to stand up to the big polluters and shut them down - shut down Mittal for real.

Definition of special note:

Patrician - adjective: 7. befitting persons of very good background, education, and refinement... as in:

PATRICIAN POLITICIAL CORRUPTION ONLY REALLY ENRICHES BLUE BLOODS

blue blood [bloo bluhd]
–noun
1. an aristocrat, noble, or member of a socially prominent family.
2. aristocratic, noble, or socially prominent lineage or relatives: They boasted a lineage of pure blue blood.

Origin:
1825–35;  trans. of Sp sangre azul. See sanguine, azure

The Cleveland Plain Dealer pimped the Opportunity Corridor into existence and has greatly disrupted our economy over that - the St. Louis-sourced publisher Terry Egger is the leader of the Opportunity Corridor whorehouse and bulldozing committee - flightless queen-bee-designee Terri Hamilton Brown exists for the Opportunity Corridor - ex-Con made Concilman Jeff Johnson pimps for it - RPM Prince Randell McShepard and Most-Made-Handmaid-to-the-Rich Ronayne Pimp for it - Gund top-gun Abbott Pimps for it - flabbergasting Cleveland Foundation flops Richards and Kuri pimp for it - and the usual suspects that profit from it pimp for it... Cleveland Clinic, all organizations UCI and all local universities, some churches and non-profits, the CDCs and their sponsors, the architects and contractors and their trolls, the unions... the web of crooks who have fucked up everything in this region for decades, and are the enablers of all the corruption now being dismantled with County and city government here, by the FBI. The state, county and city levels of government have failed and are being dismantled here, along with the entire statewide mafioso Democratic party regime and their networks of funders, contractors and colluders.

So when the incompetent, sell-out, paid-to-pimp Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaims in their latest pimping for the Opportunity Corridor that "The project is a top priority of elected, business and neighborhood leaders", I'd like to know EXACTLY who are the elected, business and neighborhood leaders that are not corrupt and benefiting financially from the Opportunity Corridor and are willing to step forward today, with the degree of corruption at all levels of leadership here, and say the Opportunity Corridor is the top priority for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio today.

I want to know, before the next election, which candidates for any offices are pimping that the Opportunity Corridor is the Top Priority of the region.

    I Love this header because I'm always thinking and praying for my boys. They are victims of the system and I'm just not fortunate enough to have alot of money which is only what they wanted but there's a bigger eye in the sky that see EVERYTHING!!!! and I hope to oneday see them again as free men before I leave this place.               LATER!!!

I've absolutely despised Plain Dealer "columnist" Phillip Morris, as a "writer" and inhuman, since he attempted to send my friend Kieth's son to the electric chair by branding him a "hate" criminal. Morris is an irresponsible psychopath.

psychosis (sī-kō'sĭs)
A mental state caused by psychiatric or organic illness, characterized by a loss of contact with reality and an inability to think rationally. A psychotic person often behaves inappropriately and is incapable of normal social functioning.

I hate Morris even more now that I know he was one of the "journalists" who helped friend-only-to-the-rich former Mayor Mike White and his partner in crime Dick Jacobs get out of jail free for all the crimes they committed together here - Morris still celebrates hisself for celebrating the corruption of that day... recounting when scumbag friend of all corrupt scumbags in town Nate Grey "didn't snitch" on his scumbag political friends, all rooted around the evil Mike White... as Morris features in his latest contemptible column today - The silence of the good allowed the unfettered plunder of the bad: Phillip Morris - offering a free guilt-if-not-jail-pass to more of Morris' scumbag friends in local politics and leadership today, asking "How did honest public officials (and there are many) sit silently (almost universally) while thieves raided the temple for so long?"

You see, this psychopath Morris doesn't understand that people who aid and abet crimes are criminals... not honest people. Lacking that basic ethical and legal understanding, Morris causes this community great harm... and has for decades. As Morris writes...

Important guest editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today asking questions about Mason all people of Northeast Ohio must ask of Mason, Campbell, Hagan, Jones, Strickland, Brown, Jackson, all Cleveland Council people, all local mainstream media agents, so many other "community leaders" and themselves...

Bill Mason, the 800-pound gorilla: David Barnhizer

Published: Friday, September 17, 2010, 3:00 AM

By David Barnhizer

In the midst of the Cuyahoga County corruption scandals, there is an unasked question about the county's "800-pound gorilla," Bill Mason. The prosecutions and investigations in this and other cases have been done by federal authorities rather than by the office of Mason, Cuyahoga County's prosecutor. The question is why the chief law enforcement officer in the county, with a staff that is wired in to virtually all the local political machinery, as revealed in a recent Plain Dealer article, was unaware of or chose to ignore the cesspool of corruption, bribery, kickbacks and special deals for friends and contributors that has been Cuyahoga County.

Given Mason's amazing political reach and obvious sophistication, it is difficult to accept any claim that he was unaware of the corruption. The investigative power of a prosecutor is also substantial, as is the ability to use the grand jury as a device to uncover wrongdoing.

Seeing Commissioner Lawson Jones on stage on his Cuyahoga commissioners' pulpit, claiming "I am not a crook", with his co-moron-in-office Tim Hagan, makes me physically ill. I shared valuable intellectual property and spent significant time trying to improve this community for such scum, believing they were honest and caring for citizens. Now I look forward to seeing Jones, his cronies and their families suffer the full consequences of their actions. As one contribution to cleaning house here in Northeast Ohio, I intend to lead a recall drive against Commissioner Jones' political protégé, Gary Norton, who was made Mayor of East Cleveland under illegal circumstances.