"Medical" Marijuana

Finally, a doctor speaks out on the medical marijuana issue, which is spreading like wildfire across Colorado and other states. Dr. Christian Thurstone, who is a board-certified child/adolescent and addictions psychiatrist and medical director of an adolescent substance abuse treatment program in Denver, speaks out today in the Denver Post. Dr. Thurston shoots down the lie that medical marijuana is being pushed for "end-stage illnesses." 70 percent of the licenses being issued in Colorado are going to young people in the demographic most likely to have addictions. He points out that marijuana is a highly addictive drug for teenagers. "When they're high, these young people make poor choices that lead to unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, school dropouts, and car accidents that harm innocent people." The medicinal value of smoked marijuana "has hardly been studied in controlled trials."

Unmitigated Gall!

President Obama says he is going to "freeze government spending." In fact, he is going to freeze one-half of one percent of government spending. The average Joe and Jane watching the speech do not know that. They think if the President says something, then it surely must be true. Unmitigated gall. Slowly, but surely, the American people will catch on.

"He's in the freezer!"

Jon's fourth grade teacher has a Friday afternoon half hour set aside for one student to be "star of the week." The student gets up in front of the class and tells the class about his family or other favorite things he or she likes to do.

Today Jon was the star, and I got to attend. Attached to the blackboard Jon had a poster filled with family pictures and adventures. The other students got to ask him questions after his presentation. Despite the fact that he is consistently on the honor roll, Jon does not really like school. I got a clue today as to why that might be. For starters, there are ten girls, and only four boys in his class!

Jon pointed to a picture of one of our cows, and said, "This is Spot. He's in our freezer now!" One little girl was aghast, because her dog is named Spot, and she thought our Spot was also a dog and that we had killed our dog and put him in the freezer. Then, an anemic little girl stood up and proudly stated that she is a vegetarian and so is her mother, so she would never put her cow in the freezer! This brought a lecture from the teacher about how there was not really anything wrong with slaughtering cows.

The star also gets to bring treats. Jon chose to make Rice Krispie candy. An obnoxious girl wearing an obnoxious "Girls Rule" tee shirt, proudly announced that she does not eat Rice Krispie candy. Jon could not have cared less, as he proceeded to proudly serve each student and made sure to get some for himself.

Am I being naive?

The January 20 Denver Post has an above-the-fold front page story about Gayle Haggard. She is the wife of Ted Haggard, who was the pastor of an evangelical megachurch in Colorado Springs. He was also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and ran several other large ministries.

Gayle has written a book entitled Why I Stayed, referring to the fact that she has stayed married to Ted, even after it was revealed that Mr. Haggard had a secret life of drug use and homosexual liaisons. She chose to forgive him and to continue to love him. That is what her understanding is of Christianity. She says she and her husband have been treated better by people whose faith - or lack thereof - was unknown to the Haggards, than they have been by fellow church members.

Mr. Haggard finally revealed the truth, after a talk radio interview with his accuser. That night, "in spite of her anger, revulsion, and pain, she started choosing to forgive" him. "I turned and slid into his arms." She said if he had not repented and if he had persisted in sin, she might have chosen differently.

I think Mr. Haggard is an extremely lucky man to have a wife like Gayle Haggard. I know I might be somewhat naive about this and other stories in the news (Sarah Palin?), but I do think Mrs. Haggard is showing us what real Christianity is all about. My wife read the same article, and thinks after Gayle gets her money from the book sales, she'll dump the no-good slug.

What do you think?

Kids

We had five baby goats born this week. This one with Sara is Hercules. The children are taking turns bottlefeeding him.

To some people it is useless junk; to others it is a treasure!

Can you believe we now have a Goodwill Outlet store? Out of curiosity I went there yesterday. Clothing is sold by the pound. The place was jammed with Mexicans, who I presume crossed the border with few belongings. There was a perfectly good rocking chair for $2.49. I would have bought it, but I had to pick up Sara, who was getting her "Sister Locks" attended to, and there would not have been room in my small car. I did buy a huge sack of books for $.49 each.

My best finds were hardback bound collections of the "Ranger Rick" Nature series magazines. The dates on the magazines were all in the 1970s. They have wonderfully written stories for children, and the pictures are fabulous. For example, last night I read two stories to Jon and Greg at bedtime. One was about an Eskimo boy who gets chased by a giant female polar bear, who thought the boy was a danger to her cubs. The other story was about "Jack Ass" penguins, which bray like donkeys, and live at the southern tip of South Africa.

Are you empathy-challenged?

The left really knows how to play the election game in the United States. They have seemingly endless amounts of money to spend on races at all levels. Perhaps even more importantly, they really know how to destroy conservative candidates. No one was a bigger threat to them coming out of the 2008 elections than Sarah Palin. In Sarah's book Going Rogue she documents how the left flooded the system with frivolous and expensive complaints. In Alaska the governor and the executive staff have to hire attorneys at their own expense to "defend themselves against ethics complaints, no matter how frivolous, malicious, or ill-conceived an ethics complaint might be." The left doesn't care; they figure personal bankruptcy has to be the result if the candidate is not rich or corrupt. They also know how to tie up state bureaucracies, so that the real business of the state does not get done.

But the final straw that helped Sarah decide to "pass the ball" was a phone call "from the other side of the world" from her son Track who was serving in Iraq. "No dishonorable discharge, Mom. You only leave if it's to move up to something more worthy."

Sarah asked Track if he thought protecting Trig and his sisters was "more worthy."
She asked if revealing the truth (her book) was more "worthy." "I'm not a quitter, Track," I finished. "I'm going to fight. And that's the point." When Track told her he was praying for her, she asked Track to fast for a day. He said, "Holy crap! Eat nothing for a whole day?" So then she asked him to fast from cussing for a day. "Hell no, Impossible over here. Next?" He agreed to give up chew for a day. As Sarah says, "That was a big darn deal."

Sarah asked herself, "how would millions more in Freedom of Information requests, ethics compaints, and lawsuits benefit Alaskans?

In her father's words, "Sarah's not retreating; she's reloading!" Of course, the left wanted nothing more than to throw Sarah out of office. Now they were criticizing her for leaving! But so were and are many empathy-challenged conservatives.

Now it was announced today that Sarah will be a regular commentator on Fox News. A caller to Dennis Miller's radio program suggested that her segment on O'Reilly should be called "Beauty and the Beast." Miller passed on the suggestion to O'Reilly's producer.

Brilliant Analysis

I hope everyone reads the brilliant analysis of Sarah Palin written by Greg Cotharn in the comments section of my recent "Going Rogue" post. I agree completely with what he said there, and I wish I could have written something nearly that spot on!

I am almost finished reading the book, but I don't have time to write anything yet. My anger at the dominant liberal media and leftists remain intact. I don't understand how anyone with a family could run for public office, but I am sure glad that Sarah Palin did.

Going Rogue!

Do you know where Sarah Palin got the title to her wonderful book Going Rogue? It was a phrase used by the top McCain staffers, who were always afraid she would say something off-the cuff. She was asked by Fox News reporter Carl Cameron about a news story that asserted the campaign was blowing off Michigan, and she answered honestly that she thought that they should not give up anywhere on any voter. That was when McCain senior staffers accused her of "going rogue." I love that she is now using that as the title for her excellent book.

I find myself being emotionally drawn to this wonderful candidate, especially when she talks about her children, her appreciation for the average Americans, her love of country, and her deep admiration for those who defend our country.

Sarah Palin's Inspirational Story

One of my favorite Christmas presents was Sarah Palin's book Going Rogue. I am halfway through it, so I will be writing more about it. The book is chronological, so the first half of the book is about her parents, her childhood, growing up in Alaska, marrying Todd, having five babies, becoming a city councilperson, then mayor, then governor of Alaska. It is very personal, and very inspiring. I really like this woman.

The best part of the book so far has been her very personal reflections about the birth of her last child, Trig. Sarah Palin truly trusts that God loves her, and her faith surely must be an inspiration to millions of people around the world. Asking her to be his running mate surely must be the best thing John McCain ever did!

But, I haven't got to that part of her life yet.

Denver, Colorado: Pot Capital of America!

Today's Denver Post has a front page story that is really eye-opening to me. Denver now has more marijuana dispensaries than liqour stores, Starbucks coffee shops or public schools! As of last week, Denver had issued more than 300 sales tax licenses for dispensaries. 170 were issued in December alone!

Alcohol and drug abuse already account for a large percentage of emergency room patients in America. There is a companion piece in today's Post about how alcohol-related problems are putting an unacceptable strain on the U.K. health system, costing their taxpayers $4.4 billion dollars a year. I wonder what will happen to our system here in America if marijuana use becomes as socially acceptable as alcohol.

I am just waiting for the day when my farmer wife comes to me saying, "Honey, I have an idea for a crop we could grow!"