Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Tuesday Night Links

1. Northwest Natural Gas Co. has asked Oregon regulators for permission to reduce rates for residential customers by 8% and commercial users by 9%.  The Portland-based company also filed a request in Washington to curb residential rates there by 9% and commercial rates by 9.5%, because of the "oceans of natural gas" in the U.S. and historic low prices.  

2. New Hampshire home sales increased in July by a jaw-dropping 52% compared to a year ago. 

3. McDonald's plans to open its first veggie-only restaurant next year in India.

4. Production of the well-known, but seldom-sold Chevy Volt electric car will be suspended for a month due to slow sales. 

5. In Phoenix, foreclosure resales in July dropped to a nearly 4.5-year low, helping the median sale price rise 25% from a year earlier, following price increases of 23.1% in June, 25% in May, and 18.3% in April. 

6. Alcohol kills. Fresno State University student dies after a night of binge drinking at the Theta Chi frat house.  And yet many Americans and politicians of both parties continue to support sending other Americans to jail for smoking weeds and preventing other sick Americans from using weeds for medicinal purposes?

7. Belize plans to enter the medical tourism business.   

27 Comments:

At 9/04/2012 10:20 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

I am not sure it is "conservatives" who want to keep pot illegal.

I think it is a drug-fighting but publicly funded establishment of agencies and interest groups, and perhaps the alcohol industry.

I mean after all, if a guy could grow pot in his back yard, how much booze would he buy? And how could you throw him in jail and put him into rehab programs etc etc etc?


You want to fight inflation? Totally legalized pot would radically lower living costs of alcoholics and heavy drinkers!

 
At 9/04/2012 11:09 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

"Alcohol kills. Fresno State University student dies after a night of binge drinking at the Theta Chi frat house. And conservatives want to send people to jail for smoking weeds and prevent people from using weeds for medicinal purposes?" -- Dr. Perry

Actually, "weeds" are currently being used legally for many medicinal purposes. As for "conservatives" wanting to "send people to jail for smoking weeds", you apparently haven't been paying attention to the Obama administration's efforts to crack down on "weeds smoking" across the country. But, hey, when the anti-conservative narrative fails ....

 
At 9/04/2012 11:20 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

Obama's DEA Raids 4 Times As Many Medical Marijuana Dispensaries as Bush in Half the Time

Ooops.

 
At 9/04/2012 11:22 PM, Blogger Cabodog said...

Cascade Natural Gas, which serves the northwest, just announced a 17% rate reduction for consumers and 20% for commercial users.

 
At 9/04/2012 11:25 PM, Blogger Che is dead said...

"A publication linked to the National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws (NORML) recently published an article which asks if President Barack Obama‘s presidency has been worse for medical marijuana users than the administration of George W. Bush. Surprisingly, they conclude that while marijuana dispensaries flourished under the Bush administration, they have been targeted more regularly by the federal government during the Obama administration. “Many of California’s most prominent and well-respected medical cannabis dispensaries and related facilities — including Oaksterdam University, Berkeley Patients Group, and Harborside Health Center (HHC) — flourished under the George W. Bush administration. But they’ll be lucky to survive President Barack Obama’s first term,” writes NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano." -- Media-ite

 
At 9/05/2012 2:22 AM, Blogger PeakTrader said...

Despite enormous propaganda, marijuana is not medicine or candy:

Myth: Marijuana Is Medicine
May 02, 2012

"The scientific and medical communities have determined that smoked marijuana is a health danger, not a cure. There is no medical evidence that smoking marijuana helps patients. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved no medications that are smoked.

Marijuana remains in schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act because it has a high potential for abuse, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and no currently accepted medical value.

The American Medical Association has rejected pleas to endorse marijuana as medicine.

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society stated that studies done to date "have not provided convincing evidence that marijuana benefits people with MS."

The British Medical Association has taken a similar position, voicing "extreme concern" that downgrading the criminal status of marijuana would "mislead" the public into thinking that the drug is safe to use.

The IOM (Institute of Medicine) further found that there was no scientific evidence that smoked marijuana had medical value, even for the chronically ill.

Gateway Drug

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported, based on a study of 300 sets of twins, that marijuana-using twins were four times more likely than their siblings to use cocaine and crack cocaine, and five times more likely to use hallucinogens such as LSD."

 
At 9/05/2012 2:48 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...

Medical tourism? That's about as close to Russian Roulette as one can get without the gun.

Something goes wrong, you've got no recourse thanks to the lack of regulatory coverage. In addition, insurance isn't going to look kindly on a venue with inadequate protections; ideally this would result in the instant voiding of coverage upon discovery or reporting of it. Finally, the competency of such doctors is in question given their non-First World locale.

 
At 9/05/2012 3:41 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

For the "politicians" who want us to follow the laws for immigration should we ignore the laws for drug enforcement?
For the hype on a major rebound in real estate prices it may be worth while to at least consider:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/home-prices-arent-rebounding-fast-200458951.html
before you have an over enthusiasm orgasm

 
At 9/05/2012 3:57 AM, Blogger Ian Random said...

I just wish they'd defederalize marijuana enforcement. Kind of like the retarded minimum wage, where state wages trump federal ones.

Isn't it funny they have to ask for permission to reduce methane rates.

 
At 9/05/2012 6:33 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

One of the things I want to point out in item No. 2, there:

Lots of time has been devoted to housing prices and sales in Arizona, California, Florida, etc. Those areas were hard hit when housing burst.

But not Massachusetts. Massachusetts has a very stable, high technology and medical based economy. Their home prices were not affected nearly as much. But Massachusetts is seeing double-digit year-over-year growth. While it may be easy to dismiss growth of that pace in other states as coming off a deep low, it's harder to do so in Massachusetts.

 
At 9/05/2012 7:23 AM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

The post has been updated to say:

And yet many Americans and politicians of both parties continue to support sending other Americans to jail for smoking weeds and preventing other sick Americans from using weeds for medicinal purposes?

 
At 9/05/2012 8:43 AM, Blogger Moe said...

Interesting that the company has to actually ask permission from the government to lower natural gas prices and save consumers millions of dollars.

Not interesting or unusual, if you are familiar with regulated utilities. They also filed for a hike last year(as stated in the article).I'm going out on a limb and guessing they file for hikes much more than they file for reductions.

 
At 9/05/2012 9:07 AM, Blogger morganovich said...

as much as it surprises me, i find myself in agreement with benji.

it's not "conservatives" per se. it's the dea, prison unions, alchol companies, and police who love the drug war search and seizure laws. many are staunch dems.

this is one of those unfortunate issues that is such a gravy train that both sides agree. obama has wielded the mace of federal power much more aggressively than bush did in going after pot dispensaries etc.

it's a both sides issue, beloved of moral reactionaries, unions, bureaucrats, and kleptocrats alike.

it's also a losing issue for the drug war proponents. there is a huge age gap in opinion on pot and other drugs. we just need to wait a decade for enough of the old reactionaries to die and the referendums will start to pass.

 
At 9/05/2012 9:20 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

we just need to wait a decade for enough of the old reactionaries to die and the referendums will start to pass.

Yup. All our problems are caused by old people. The sooner they die, the sooner young people like me can take over.

By the way, I heard there is a cancer that kills anyone over the age of 50. The only way you can not get it is to launch yourself on an iceflat out at sea. So get to it!

By the way, my above comments are completely sarcastic.

 
At 9/05/2012 9:44 AM, Blogger Paul said...

"Obama's DEA Raids 4 Times As Many Medical Marijuana Dispensaries as Bush in Half the Time"

Maybe they were confiscating it because the Choom Gang was running low on supplies.

 
At 9/05/2012 9:45 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...

Found this in that medical tourism link:

Former Belize Prime Minister to Florida for Medical Attention

That's not a good assessment of their doctors, if people of that stature have to consider the US.

 
At 9/05/2012 9:45 AM, Blogger Paul said...

"That's about as close to Russian Roulette as one can get without the gun."

Add medical tourism to the long list of topics Sethstorm knows absolutely nothing about.

 
At 9/05/2012 10:27 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

I am not sure it is "conservatives" who want to keep pot illegal.

Who said that it was? Obama was just as hard on medical marijuana dispensaries as Bush was and has been a strong supporter of the Drug War as he plays up to his supporters.

 
At 9/05/2012 10:31 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

The American Medical Association has rejected pleas to endorse marijuana as medicine.

So? This is the same group that endorsed the increased consumption of carbohydrates for a healthy lifestyle and was wrong about salt, fats, cholesterol, etc.

And the issue is about freedom. Period. The government has no right to tell mindful competent individuals what they can and can't smoke or drink.

 
At 9/05/2012 10:34 AM, Blogger VangelV said...

it's not "conservatives" per se. it's the dea, prison unions, alchol companies, and police who love the drug war search and seizure laws. many are staunch dems.

No. It is the enablers that tolerate a government presence where it does not belong. If they stood on principle rather than compromise none of these injustices could ever take place. The answer is not the police unions, prison guards, DEA, etc. It is looking at most of us in the mirror each and every day.

 
At 9/05/2012 5:03 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"New Hampshire home sales increased in July by a jaw-dropping 52%"

Not surprising as NH will be the 1st State to secede from the Union this time. Everyone wants to be on the right side of the line when the time comes, right Jon?

 
At 9/05/2012 5:15 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Found this in that medical tourism link:

Former Belize Prime Minister to Florida for Medical Attention

That's not a good assessment of their doctors, if people of that stature have to consider the US.
"

Yeah, you found it but did you *read* it?

He came to the US for facial reconstruction surgery because - from the article you didn't read - "There are no maxilloficial surgeons in Belize."

There may not be any in OIHO either. What does that say about the competence of doctors in your state?

Waiting patiently to hear how that foot tastes, sethstorm.

 
At 9/05/2012 5:37 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Medical tourism? That's about as close to Russian Roulette as one can get without the gun."

Quick sethstorm! Please, please warn all those stupid Canadians who come to the US for treatment so as to avoid long waits that they are risking their lives.

 
At 9/05/2012 5:39 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Add medical tourism to the long list of topics Sethstorm knows absolutely nothing about. "

Hold on. I need to go get a new pad.

 
At 9/05/2012 5:52 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"By the way, I heard there is a cancer that kills anyone over the age of 50. The only way you can not get it is to launch yourself on an iceflat out at sea. So get to it!"

Not so much lately, but a few years ago it seems that many polar bears had heard this same story.

 
At 9/06/2012 11:36 AM, Blogger sethstorm said...

Ron H:
I said medical tourism, not what is practiced by Canadians in the US(which is not).

But if you want to defend the "doctors" that are protected by jurisdictional arbitrage, fine. Just don't be surprised when the consequences bite you in your hindquarters.

 
At 9/06/2012 1:00 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"I said medical tourism, not what is practiced by Canadians in the US(which is not)."

What DO you call traveling to another country for medical treatment?

You clown.

 

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