Posts Tagged ‘CNN’
16 Jun
Marijuana Advocate Gary Johnson Snubbed In CNN Presidential Debate Last Night
By Phillip Smith
CNN is holding its first televised debate among Republican presidential candidates tonight, but while the cable news network has issued invitations to several non- or yet-to-announce candidates, it is excluding one announced candidate who meets the criteria for inclusion. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, an avowed and articulate opponent of drug prohibition, was not invited to participate, and his campaign and supporters are crying foul.
CNN, along with WMUR-TV and the Manchester Union-Leader, the debate cosponsors, set the bar for an invitation at the candidate having received an average of at least 2% in at least three national polls during the month of May. According to the Johnson campaign, Johnson has met that hurdle, polling an average of precisely 2% in three national polls last month.
“It is our hope that CNN will review the criteria that has excluded two-term Governor Gary Johnson from the New Hampshire debate,” said senior Johnson campaign advisor Ron Nielson on Saturday. “Now that this information has come to light, we look forward to receiving an invitation for Governor Johnson to participate.”
But just hours before the debate airs, there is no sign CNN has changed its mind. Instead, the network will present front-runner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Godfather’s Pizza entrepreneur Herman Cain, non-announced candidate Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Most of the invitations are well-justified. According to Real Clear Politics’ aggregate poll data (which also does not include Johnson) all of the invitees are above 2%, although Santorum, at 3.2% overall, only averaged 2.67% in three May polls. Non-announced candidate Bachmann is averaging 5.1%, although that’s a decline from her May poll average of 7%.
Still, why Johnson was excluded even though he has officially announced and meets the debate criteria remains a mystery. CNN said it only wanted “serious” candidates with at least 2% of the vote, but also admitted it failed to include Johnson in its own polls.
Well, Republican-leaning drug reformers will at least have Ron Paul to listen to tonight.
(This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org’s lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
Artilcle From StoptheDrugWar.org – Creative Commons Licensing
19 May
Musical Cheek-Swabbing Festival Saturday Seeks Marrow Donors
Lyndsey Harhay, 23, of Laguna Niguel is fighting leukemia and needs a bone-marrow transplant. A fundraising festival Saturday in San Clemente aims to recruit people for the National Bone Marrow Registry.
COURTESY PHOTO
Lyndsey Harhay is battling leukemia, needs a bone-marrow transplant and hopes to be the guest of honor Saturday at a public “Save Lyndsey!” cheek-swabbing festival in the parking lot outside the Rib Trader restaurant and Ralphs at 911 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente.
Whether she can be there will depend on the ups and downs of her health, her family says, but she has had a good week so far and plans to attend.
There will be live music, face painting, a dunk tank, prize drawings and more. Food and beverages will be available, along with a chance to register as a potential marrow donor.
“We are asking the community to come and get a simple cheek swab to see if they are that special, special person who will become a hero in our family and save our beloved Lyndsey,” said Harhay’s cousin Julia Boone. “We really hope this event brings attention to the importance of being registered in the National Bone Marrow Registry and the impact you (or) anyone can have on someone and their loved ones.”
Harhay, 23, of Laguna Niguel, is the daughter of Tom Harhay, a San Clemente businessman and former fire captain in San Clemente.
The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with free snow cones and popcorn. A $2 donation is requested for hot dogs and hamburgers, $1 for soft drinks and bottled water and $5 for beer at a designated beer garden.
Proceeds will benefit the Be the Match Foundation.
BAND LINEUP
10 a.m.: Adams Attic
10:45 a.m.: All Night Pressure
11:30 a.m.: Shining Citizen
12:15 p.m.: Sailors of Neptunet
1 p.m.: Einstein and the Atoms
2:30 p.m.: Sixstep
Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127
18 May
Not Much Competition Yet in D.C. Medical Marijuana Program
Those jumping into the medical marijuana business in the District include both individuals and organizations, seasoned professionals and budding entrepreneurs. But so far, there aren’t that many of them.
To date, nine letters of intent for medical marijuana dispensaries have been submitted to the D.C. Department of Health, while 11 letters have been submitted for cultivation centers – nine by individuals or groups that are also looking to run a dispensary.
The letters of intent – copies of which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request – are the first step in gaining a license to run one of the five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers that will grow and distribute medical marijuana to qualifying patients in the District. The letters will be followed by a lengthy and expensive application process overseen by a seven-member committee that will consider everything from security plans to ANC input before granting licenses.
The letters don’t give away much, but they provide some insight into who’s looking to get into the business of growing or dispensing medical marijuana. One potential applicant for both dispensary and cultivation center licenses touts his Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, his “green thumb” and a hobby in landscaping and design; another notes that she’s part of a minority, women-owned business operated by lifelong residents.
One group looking to run a cultivation center promotes their professional capabilities – they’ve got a “professional grower…with vast experience in all aspects related to the production and operation of a horticultural facility” on staff, not to mention an Advisory Board that includes a former police lieutenant; while another is a “well capitalized” investor that has run two cultivation centers in San Diego.
There’s a few recognizable names, including Montgomery Blair Sibley (who we interviewed last November); Adam Eidinger, the owner of the Capitol Hemp shops; and Stephenie Reifkind Khan, wife of Rabbi Jeffrey Khan, who was profiled by the City Paper last year. The names of the LLCs and organizations run the gamut from innocent to devious – there’s Hope Haven and Metropolitan Wellness Center, but also District of Cannabis Cultivation Center and Jahrock.
Only a few tease out the locations they’ve scoped out for their dispensaries and cultivation centers, which have to be at least 300 feet away from schools and youth centers. Two cultivation centers would be in Northeast, one north of Bladensburg Road, the other to the south. (Sibley has been eying a location along New York Avenue NE.) One dispensary could be along Pennsylvania Avenue SE within a block of Eastern Market, another somewhere in Ward 2. (We’ve also heard of groups scoping out spots in Adams Morgan, Takoma and Tenleytown.)
While interested parties have until June 17 to submit letters of intent to the Department of Health, the small number that have been handed in so far might well be a function of a program that will be restrictive, expensive and carefully monitored. Application costs for cultivation centers and dispensaries run $5,000 a pop, while annual fees stand at $5,000 for cultivation centers and $10,000 for dispensaries. Renewals will cost $3,000, and a rejected application will cost an applicant a full 50 percent of their application fee. Each cultivation center will only be allowed to grow 95 plants at a time, meaning that profit margins could well be very, very thin – if they exist at all.
City officials say that they’d like to have the medical marijuana program fully functioning by October, but some advocates say that it won’t likely happen until 2012.
http://dcist.com/2011/05/theyre_both_individuals_and_organiz.php
12 May
Was Osama Bin Laden Growing Marijuana to Help With Kidney Problems?
Just outside Osama Bin Laden’s secret hideout investigators found a garden which included various produce as well as marijuana plants. Now, some believe that Bin Laden was smoking weed as a way of helping with his kidney problems.
In Pakistan marijuana grows wildly in many locations, so it’s not surprising the marijuana plants went unnoticed in plain view.
The grocer that Bin Laden’s lackeys purchased food from was reportedly confused about how much food they bought. Munchies? “I was curious about why they bought so much food, but I did not want to be rude by asking,” he said. Here’s an excerpt from the Daily Mail, reporting on the CNN’s discovery of the marijuana outside the Bin Laden Compound.
“High-strength marijuana plants have been found just yards from the luxury home of slain terror chief Osama Bin Laden. Hundreds of the exotic green flower have flourished for a number of years on the border of the war lord’s secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Despite being a short walk from a military training academy dubbed ‘Pakistan’s Sandhurst’, the illegal crop had remained undiscovered. But hundreds of officials have descended on the busy town this week after Bin Laden was blasted in the brain by U.S. Navy Seals.
An American reporter noticed the pungent line of plants growing in the dry fields surrounding the five-metre high concrete walls. CNN’s Nic Robertson showed to the camera the marijuana hidden alongside other crops including cabbages and potatoes.
The discovery raised the possibility that Bin Laden may have been a regular smoker of the ‘weed’ strain of the plant. Bin Laden had in recent years suffered from kidney problems which may have been eased by taking marijuana for its medicinal properties.”
Read More from DailyMail.co.uk
23 Apr
Exposed: CNN Skewed Its Poll On Marijuana Legalization
 |
| Graphic: BookRags |
| CNN reported that only 41 percent of “American adults” support marijuana legalization — but they didn’t ask anyone under 35. |
CNN.com on Tuesday released results from interviews with 824 “adult Americans” asking their opinions in the legalization of marijuana and gay marriage. But there was one big problem. They left out a big section of “adult Americans” — everyone under 35.
In response to the question, “Do you favor or oppose the legalization of marijuana?” 41 percent of “adults” said they favor it, 56 percent opposed, and 2 percent had no opinion, reports J. Grant at Our Time.
While American adults tend to be divided on controversial topics like this, what is disturbing is that CNN.com posted these results despite the fact that they include no respondents between the ages of 18 and 34.
“Regardless of your opinion, you have a right to have an opinion, and for that opinion to be factored into poll results by one of the most trafficked news sites in America,” Grant wrote. “Since 18- to 34-year-olds were kept out of the conversation entirely, this is not an accurate poll and should not be labeled as such.
Younger Americans, especially those 18 to 35, tend to be a little more open-minded about cannabis, and more focused on individual freedoms than their older counterparts.
California’s Proposition 19, during the 2010 election, showed huge support among young voters for cannabis legalization.
“Support was strongest among voters between 18 and 24, who went for it 64 percent to 36 percent,” reported John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times. “Voters between 25 and 29 narrowly backed it, 52 percent to 48 percent. But voters under 30 made up just 13 percent of the electorate, about the same as is typical in a midterm election. In presidential election years, these voters are at least 20 percent of the turnout.”
Our Time invites you to visit them on Facebook and tell them what you think about marijuana and about gay marriage.
“If we match CNN’s 824 respondents, we’ll let them know what the results would have been, if they had asked us what we think,” Grant said.
For CNN’s complete poll results, click here [PDF].
 |
| Graphic: Our Time |
