One Reason Why Legalization May Not Happen

[GrassMonkey]

This is sickening! What has our country come to?

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/20/low-crime-rates-bad-for-business-so-private-prisons-require-maximum-capacity/

[greenbuddha]

Keeping prison guards and LEO, plus all the court employees with paychecks is exactly why the LEO / enforcement unions and federations oppose ANY legalization, medical MJ or recreational MJ.

 

This is also why it is so important that Washington State and Colorado, as well as all the states that have voted in medical MJ, have legalized cannabis at the state level.

 

It tells the anti-cannabis groups that we are here to stay.

 

Legalization of cannabis for recreational use is going to take place in many other states VERY soon... and WE have to support them ALL we can, otherwise WE ALL stand to lose the MJ rights we have worked hard to obtain.

[Chauncy Gardner]

This is sickening! What has our country come to?

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/20/low-crime-rates-bad-for-business-so-private-prisons-require-maximum-capacity/

 

 

A collection of sheeple being led to slaughter by big money?

[Wild Bill]

Here's another reason.

 

Big Marijuana lobby fights legalization efforts

 

Talk about a buzz kill.
Pot legalization activists are running into an unexpected and ironic opponent in their efforts to make cannabis legal: Big Marijuana.

Medical marijuana is a billion-dollar industry — legal in 18 states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Maine — and like any entrenched business, it’s fighting to keep what it has and shut out competitors. Dispensary owners, trade associations and groups representing the industry are deeply concerned — and in some cases actively fighting — ballot initiatives and legislation that could wreck their business model.

That pits them against full legalization advocates, who have been hoping to play off wins at the ballot box last fall in Colorado and Washington state that established some of the most permissive pot laws in the world. Activists are hoping to pass full legalization measures in six more states by 2016.

From the point of view of dispensary owners, legalization laws — depending on how they’re written — can have little immediate upside and offer plenty of reasons for concern. For one, their businesses — still illegal under federal law — benefit from exclusive monopolies on the right to sell legal pot, but state measures still don’t end the risks of an FBI raid or Internal Revenue Service audit. Meanwhile, those same federal laws that prohibit growing, selling and using keep pot prices high.

[Celliach]

We voted for this.  Maybe not us, personally, but the people did.  We at least voted for the politicians that did this.

[Celliach]

A collection of sheeple being led to slaughter by big money?

 

Speak for yourself.

[greenbuddha]

Here's another reason.

 

Big Marijuana lobby fights legalization efforts

 

Talk about a buzz kill.

Pot legalization activists are running into an unexpected and ironic opponent in their efforts to make cannabis legal: Big Marijuana.

 

Medical marijuana is a billion-dollar industry — legal in 18 states, including California, Nevada, Oregon and Maine — and like any entrenched business, it’s fighting to keep what it has and shut out competitors. Dispensary owners, trade associations and groups representing the industry are deeply concerned — and in some cases actively fighting — ballot initiatives and legislation that could wreck their business model.

 

That pits them against full legalization advocates, who have been hoping to play off wins at the ballot box last fall in Colorado and Washington state that established some of the most permissive pot laws in the world. Activists are hoping to pass full legalization measures in six more states by 2016.

 

From the point of view of dispensary owners, legalization laws — depending on how they’re written — can have little immediate upside and offer plenty of reasons for concern. For one, their businesses — still illegal under federal law — benefit from exclusive monopolies on the right to sell legal pot, but state measures still don’t end the risks of an FBI raid or Internal Revenue Service audit. Meanwhile, those same federal laws that prohibit growing, selling and using keep pot prices high.

 

 

Washington State and Colorado are trying to solve the conflict between  the established money guys supplying  'medical MJ' and the 'recreational suppliers' by letting the 'medical suppliers ALSO sell 'recreational MJ', so there is no loss in business by either group, we'll see.

 

But yeah, where ever greed is involved, be it by 'medical suppliers' or the 'recreational suppliers' there's going to be friction... after all, greed is greed, no matter what hype people try to apply to what their doing.   

[greenbuddha]

Speak for yourself.

 

Ok... Baaaa baaa!

[Celliach]

here's the people you need to fight.

 

20 White Males from the Power Elite Who Belong in the American Hall of Shame

A hodge podge of corporate conservatives and moderates, right-wing reactionaries and racists and lunatic libertarians.

 

Out of 300 million Americans, a few thousand wield disproportionate economic and political influence because of their positions at the pinnacle of America's corporate and media establishments or their roles as political allies (or puppets) of the corporate ruling class. C. Wright Mills described this group in his 1956 book, The Power Elite, G. William Domhoff has updated this analysis in his book,  Who Rules America? (now in its 7th edition), and Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have described how the power elite wields its influence in Winner-Take-All Politics.

Many of them have overlapping memberships on the boards of the largest corporations, business lobby groups, universities and think tanks, foundations, and media conglomerates. They are not part of conspiracy. They do not meet secretly to plot America's future. And they disagree with each other on some issues, particularly same-sex marriage, abortion and gun control. Some are corporate conservatives and moderates; some are right-wing reactionaries and racists; others are lunatic libertarians.

But they agree on the essential concerns about the economy. The top Wall Street and Wal-Mart CEOs, the media monopolists and their talk-show agitators, the billionaire benefactors, and the business lobbyists share an antipathy toward unions, progressive taxes, and government regulations that protect consumers, workers, and the environment. They fund think tanks and hire college professors to promote their views and to  cry wolf about government rules -- denying the reality of global warming, warning that raising the minimum wage or strengthening regulations on banks will "kill jobs," and attacking Obamacare (and Obama) as "socialist." They work closely with right-wing, conservative, and moderate politicians to carry out their agenda. They act on behalf of big business and the super-rich, but to translate their ideas into public policy they have to persuade voters that their agenda benefits middle class Americans -- a task that is getting harder and harder to do.

Yet even among the few thousand members of the power elite, there are a small number whose influence is greater than the others. Here is a list of the 20 most influential members of the power elite.

Congressmen Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, corporate lobbyist and Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon; Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, David and Charles Koch, Walmart CEO Mike Duke, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Wall Street titan and Fix-the-Debt funder Pete Peterson, Sen. Rand Paul, sleazy corporate front man Rick Berman, Fox News president Roger Ailes, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Radio reactionary Rush Limbaugh, casino billionaire benefactor Sheldon Adelson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue, NRA hit man Wayne LaPierre. 

As in all eras of American history, there are a handful of members of America's upper class who are traitors to their class. They sympathize with and even fund progressive causes, campaigns, and candidates. They side with the  growing movement that is emerging to challenge the domination of America's power elite.

Like Yertle the Turtle, these 20 men sit atop an unstable foundation of widening inequality and social injustice. And like Mack, the turtle at the bottom, there are more and more Americans angered and frustrated by the status quo. Polls show that most Americans  prefer "responsible capitalism" over "no rules" capitalism.

If history offers any lessons, it is that these men -- and the interests and ideas they represent -- are not invincible. Martin Luther King said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But it takes movements and activists to bend it.

 

[greenbuddha]

 

here's the people you need to fight.

 

20 White Males from the Power Elite Who Belong in the American Hall of Shame

A hodge podge of corporate conservatives and moderates, right-wing reactionaries and racists and lunatic libertarians.

 

Out of 300 million Americans, a few thousand wield disproportionate economic and political influence because of their positions at the pinnacle of America's corporate and media establishments or their roles as political allies (or puppets) of the corporate ruling class. C. Wright Mills described this group in his 1956 book, The Power Elite, G. William Domhoff has updated this analysis in his book,  Who Rules America? (now in its 7th edition), and Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have described how the power elite wields its influence in Winner-Take-All Politics.

Many of them have overlapping memberships on the boards of the largest corporations, business lobby groups, universities and think tanks, foundations, and media conglomerates. They are not part of conspiracy. They do not meet secretly to plot America's future. And they disagree with each other on some issues, particularly same-sex marriage, abortion and gun control. Some are corporate conservatives and moderates; some are right-wing reactionaries and racists; others are lunatic libertarians.

But they agree on the essential concerns about the economy. The top Wall Street and Wal-Mart CEOs, the media monopolists and their talk-show agitators, the billionaire benefactors, and the business lobbyists share an antipathy toward unions, progressive taxes, and government regulations that protect consumers, workers, and the environment. They fund think tanks and hire college professors to promote their views and to  cry wolf about government rules -- denying the reality of global warming, warning that raising the minimum wage or strengthening regulations on banks will "kill jobs," and attacking Obamacare (and Obama) as "socialist." They work closely with right-wing, conservative, and moderate politicians to carry out their agenda. They act on behalf of big business and the super-rich, but to translate their ideas into public policy they have to persuade voters that their agenda benefits middle class Americans -- a task that is getting harder and harder to do.

Yet even among the few thousand members of the power elite, there are a small number whose influence is greater than the others. Here is a list of the 20 most influential members of the power elite.

Congressmen Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, corporate lobbyist and Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon; Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, David and Charles Koch, Walmart CEO Mike Duke, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Wall Street titan and Fix-the-Debt funder Pete Peterson, Sen. Rand Paul, sleazy corporate front man Rick Berman, Fox News president Roger Ailes, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Radio reactionary Rush Limbaugh, casino billionaire benefactor Sheldon Adelson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue, NRA hit man Wayne LaPierre. 

As in all eras of American history, there are a handful of members of America's upper class who are traitors to their class. They sympathize with and even fund progressive causes, campaigns, and candidates. They side with the  growing movement that is emerging to challenge the domination of America's power elite.

Like Yertle the Turtle, these 20 men sit atop an unstable foundation of widening inequality and social injustice. And like Mack, the turtle at the bottom, there are more and more Americans angered and frustrated by the status quo. Polls show that most Americans  prefer "responsible capitalism" over "no rules" capitalism.

If history offers any lessons, it is that these men -- and the interests and ideas they represent -- are not invincible. Martin Luther King said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But it takes movements and activists to bend it.

 

 

 

Let's not be treating folks unequally here, I'm sure there are at least a few 'females' that can be added to this list as well.

 

Equal Opportunity???

 

It always seems that those with good intentions that replace the power elites, always become the 'power elites' themselves once they get a taste of the 'power'.

 

And the cycle goes on....

[Chauncy Gardner]

 

here's the people you need to fight.

 

20 White Males from the Power Elite Who Belong in the American Hall of Shame

A hodge podge of corporate conservatives and moderates, right-wing reactionaries and racists and lunatic libertarians.

 

Out of 300 million Americans, a few thousand wield disproportionate economic and political influence because of their positions at the pinnacle of America's corporate and media establishments or their roles as political allies (or puppets) of the corporate ruling class. C. Wright Mills described this group in his 1956 book, The Power Elite, G. William Domhoff has updated this analysis in his book,  Who Rules America? (now in its 7th edition), and Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have described how the power elite wields its influence in Winner-Take-All Politics.

Many of them have overlapping memberships on the boards of the largest corporations, business lobby groups, universities and think tanks, foundations, and media conglomerates. They are not part of conspiracy. They do not meet secretly to plot America's future. And they disagree with each other on some issues, particularly same-sex marriage, abortion and gun control. Some are corporate conservatives and moderates; some are right-wing reactionaries and racists; others are lunatic libertarians.

But they agree on the essential concerns about the economy. The top Wall Street and Wal-Mart CEOs, the media monopolists and their talk-show agitators, the billionaire benefactors, and the business lobbyists share an antipathy toward unions, progressive taxes, and government regulations that protect consumers, workers, and the environment. They fund think tanks and hire college professors to promote their views and to  cry wolf about government rules -- denying the reality of global warming, warning that raising the minimum wage or strengthening regulations on banks will "kill jobs," and attacking Obamacare (and Obama) as "socialist." They work closely with right-wing, conservative, and moderate politicians to carry out their agenda. They act on behalf of big business and the super-rich, but to translate their ideas into public policy they have to persuade voters that their agenda benefits middle class Americans -- a task that is getting harder and harder to do.

Yet even among the few thousand members of the power elite, there are a small number whose influence is greater than the others. Here is a list of the 20 most influential members of the power elite.

Congressmen Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, corporate lobbyist and Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist, Chase CEO Jamie Dimon; Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, David and Charles Koch, Walmart CEO Mike Duke, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Wall Street titan and Fix-the-Debt funder Pete Peterson, Sen. Rand Paul, sleazy corporate front man Rick Berman, Fox News president Roger Ailes, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Radio reactionary Rush Limbaugh, casino billionaire benefactor Sheldon Adelson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue, NRA hit man Wayne LaPierre. 

As in all eras of American history, there are a handful of members of America's upper class who are traitors to their class. They sympathize with and even fund progressive causes, campaigns, and candidates. They side with the  growing movement that is emerging to challenge the domination of America's power elite.

Like Yertle the Turtle, these 20 men sit atop an unstable foundation of widening inequality and social injustice. And like Mack, the turtle at the bottom, there are more and more Americans angered and frustrated by the status quo. Polls show that most Americans  prefer "responsible capitalism" over "no rules" capitalism.

If history offers any lessons, it is that these men -- and the interests and ideas they represent -- are not invincible. Martin Luther King said, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But it takes movements and activists to bend it.

 

 

 

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