Afternoon Update

Up Front and Personal

I hope that everyone had a good weekend. The Christmas rush is here. I tried not to get out among all those people this weekend. With the start of another week comes the debut of one of the new features as part of the blog. The Up Front and Personal segment that I will debut on Mondays. On Monday’s I will write about different issues and give analysis and my take on those issues. This will be a space where I can set the tone for the week and also give you the reader food for thought as you go through the week.
Today’s UFandP came to me while I was reading Neal’s Nuze, the highly informative and entertaining program notes of Neal Boortz, talk show host and noted Libertarian. Neal posts his daily notes on his website, boortz.com. If Joey’s Jots is a tenth as good as Neal’s Nuze, then I will be happy.
Two issues today, that of medical marijuana and also the United Nations. Medical Marijuana is one issue that I have changed my mind on over the years. Mr. Boortz has something to do with that, along with my growing understanding of the issue of states rights.
I don’t go as far as some Libertarians in saying that we should just automatically do away with the war on drugs. I do believe that we should allow the use of medical marijuana. I look at the issue two different ways. First, it is a states rights issue. Several states have passed laws allowing the use of medical marijuana and I believe that the federal government should not usurp states rights in these situations. The federal government says that the use of medical marijuana violates its laws against illegal drugs. That is the issue before the Supreme Court today. Second, I don’t believe that I or anyone has the right to tell someone who’s loved one has a terminal illness that they can’t have something to ease the pain in their last few days without robbing them of their clarity as some other pain medications do. If your loved one was dying of cancer and you could make them comfortable in their last days, wouldn’t you do whatever it took? Of course you would. Anyone who was a clear thinking human would. I believe that is at the core of this issue. That, my friends, is true compassion.
Next, the United Nations. Is there a more vile and ruthless organization in the world? Kofi “The Hutt” Annan is a human being that doesn’t care about the welfare of any country, much less the United States. He has a personal disgust for the U.S. and our policies. He doesn’t believe that any country should be sovereign. We should just all bow down to the alter of the “organization” that he is the leader of. The oil for food program only lined the pockets of corrupt men while starving the people that needed the food the program was supplying. You can bet Kofi the Hutt was cursing the people of the U.S. after President Bush was reelected on Nov. 2nd. It’s time for us to leave the U.N. and for the U.N. to leave New York.
I saw National Treasure this weekend. I wholeheartedly recommend it. I was entertained for the entire two hours. Just a very good movie. It isn’t Shakespeare, but it isn’t supposed to be. It holds your attention and that is what a movie is supposed to do. This one is going to go into the DVD library when the disc comes out. More later.