Palindromedary ~ I have to agree with Alice concerning marijuana. It has been fairly proven clinically that weed is not physically addictive. However, like many enjoyable activities it can be habit forming and can lead to a dependency. Personally, I don't find anything wrong with that. Everyone has some kind of a crutch they use. Without a doubt you do too. Not that you would share it with us on this forum; but, I'm sure you probably have to have that cup of coffee in the morning or that cup of tea. Perhaps you smoke, eat sweets, or chocolate. I'm sure you watch certain programs, listen to certain music, play certain games, read certain books, magazines, websites, or blog. Guess what? They are all mind altering experiences that can be habit forming. That is, if you don't do--whatever it is--for a while you begin to miss it. I've even heard it said that this very blog is quite an addicting experience. Go figure!

Humans are creatures of habit. As such, they tend to repeat behavior and make habits out of them. It is a very natural and good thing that they do. It is through habit that we are able to maintain our daily lives. It is because of habit that we develop lifestyles. What is a lifestyle if it isn't simply a set of daily habits? If it wasn't for habits you would constantly lose your keys and forget to lock your doors and windows at night. If it wasn't for habits you would forget to say, "thank you" to people, or "bless you" when they sneeze. Habits make our lives easier, safer, and more enjoyable. For many years marijuana was considered an evil unhealthy habit whereas cigarette smoking was perfectly acceptable. How stupid was that? 375,000 people a year died paying the ultimate price for that mistake. I think this country would be a far better place if we really had the freedom that we are always telling ourselves we have.

The problem our society has is that is compartmentalizes habits into good habits and bad habits based solely on religious pretenses that disguises and cloaks the real economic reasons behind them. In doing so it arbitrarily strips people of their natural and Constitutional freedoms to live as they chose. Personally, I really don't care what people want to put into their bodies. It is what comes out of their mouths that troubles me. Everything else is water under the bridge.

Palindromedary ~ I'm not saying I believe what the store owners attorney said, I'm just passing along an interesting story I read. What I am saying is even if Brown robbed the liquor store, it is completely irrelevant. What Brown did in the last few minutes of his life; and how Wilson reacted to him is all I'm interested in. I'm more concerned with the behavior of Wilson than Brown. Wilson is a public servant who carries a loaded gun. His behavior is far more important to me than some unarmed kid. Up until that kid met up with Wilson he was--at best--nothing more than a petty thief who's victim didn't even want to bother reporting to the police.

DAnneMarc: It makes no difference at all what the store's owners are now saying. Were they even there at the time? No one has said. That clerk was probably not the owner. The owners would probably have seen the same video that we have all seen now (at least those of us who are willing to look at it and observe the evidence in them). The owners, I believe, are most likely very afraid of what the appearance of siding with the police would do to their business. When you are living in the middle of a powder key, you don't light matches. The people that could positively ID MB and DJ in that store was the clerk who got a close up look. Problem is, would he even admit it? He is in the same position as the owners...afraid of retribution from those in the community that wouldn't hesitate to do violence against them or the store. Take a long good look, watch the video over and over again looking for items that could match the two men in the store with the photos of what was found at the site of the shooting. The photo of MB laying in the street...the clothes he was wearing...the red cap, the shorts, the shirt, the size of MB, and the diminutive size of DJ, the bracelet DJ was wearing in the store and the one that was laying in the street, the goatee MB had in the store you can clearly see as MB was strong-arming the clerk, the cigars they stole from the store at the crime scene. I'd say that unless you have spent some time scrutinizing those things that you are just plain biased and are obscuring or blocking what you probably know is the truth but just won't admit it.

Reply to #11: Kerry, your long, painful story deserves a response. Apparently you have been disabled by the quackery that seems to have run rampant in our medical system. This is one of the ugliest manifestations of a system corrupted by profit motives. Rather than becoming better healthcare practitioners and living up to their pledge to “do no harm”, these quacks are seeing to it they don’t have to pay any consequences for their malpractice, and the lives they damage and destroy along the way. Your ordeal sounds horrific and is not something I would wish on my worst enemy (except maybe Dick Cheney or George W. Bush!). If there is anyone whose story is worthy of being told to Congress, yours sounds like a strong candidate. However in light of the outcome of the recend midterm elections, I reckon it would fall on deaf ears.

Beyond that, it’s hard to know what to say to someone in your situation, who continues to suffer so hideously. If I were you, I’d keep up the fight to obtain those medical records; they are your property more than anyone else’s. Those hacks & quacks have no right to withhold them from you. It really does seem like they've got something to hide, which gives you ample reason to pursue this.

I wonder if there are any support groups for people like you who've been harmed by medical malpractice, and are familiar with whatever legal resources are available to those in your predicament.. I hope and pray you have family and/or friends as allies or advocates. What ;you've described is an awful lot for one person to deal with alone. - AIW

The lion's share of blame for the failure to indict Darren Wilson lies squarely on the shoulders of prosecutor Bob McCullough. He entered the process with the personal history of having his own father, a policeman, killed in the line of duty by an African American defendant. Any principled human being would have recused himself in the interests of not even permitting the slightest appearance of bias, but McCullough obviously had an agenda: to prevent Darren Wilson's indictment. Governor Jay Nixon could have appointed a special prosecutor, but he wanted the same result as McCullough. Any prospective grand juror goes through the voir dire process, and is asked questions like "Have you, a friend, or family member ever been the victim of a violent crime?" If you answer yes, you will be automatically eliminated from serving on the grand jury. Why are prosecutors not subject to the same process? Are they somehow impervious to bias? Our system of justice has become a bad joke. I happen to be Caucasian, but I fully understand the rage of African Americans who go berserk after such an obvious miscarriage of justice. All most white Americans want to focus on is the looting that happens in the wake of something like this, but that's because they don't have a clue about the 'white privilege" they enjoy. They rarely suffer the daily indignities African Americans suffer at the hands of too many racist cops, and simply don't have a clue.

To explain to you how I experienced this learning, I first have to back up and share with you the major questions I brought with me, and the thoughts I’d had in the preceding years thenational

To explain to you how I experienced this learning, I first have to back up and share with you the major questions I brought with me, and the thoughts I’d had in the preceding years. - See more at: http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/1997/01/prophets-way-meeting-master-stanley#sthash.wusZxWub.dpuf

Reply to #28: Palin, I don’t give a rat’s ass if Michael Brown smoked pot or had cannabinoids in his system. That has no relevance to anything. And given the sources of your information, I would not assume there is any truth to the claim this young man “attacked” Officer Wilson in his car, or that he robbed a convenience store just before he was murdered. Your willingness to believe mainstream corporate media’s version of reality whenever it suits you is something I find rather troubling.

You seem to imply that pot smokers are somehow more deserving of such a fate, especially if they’re black, and that troubles me too.

Having cannabinoids in your blood is irrelevant. Doesn’t mean squat, by the way. All it indicates is that the person smoked pot sometime within the past month. It doesn’t even prove the person is (or was) stoned at the time of the incident in question. But even if Michael Brown was stoned — so what?! Doesn’t mean shit to a tree. Hey, maybe he brushed his teeth that morning with Colgate tooth paste. How about that? - AIW

You have made the only statement I can agree with.

Thom your right being worried about the American teenager. Not only is there planet falling apart they are left a crumbling infrastructure, massive debt that is growing by the second. Health care they will never be able to afford whether it is through the ACA or private. A education system that is falling apart. WOW I need a drink this is one of the most depressing things I have ever put on this blog. Those poor kids are doomed.

Well, I don't want support people predicting future through pure nonsense, but didn't Edgar Cayce foresee flooding and severe weather changes.. I don't believe anybody can just looked into the future, but history always provides us with information to make accurate prediction for the future and maybe Edgar happen to catch a glimpse of the future, hell, I once guessed a guys weight at carnival once, anything is possible.

My point for bringing up Edgar Cayce is that people trust supernatural explanation much more then rational, reasoned, measured, logical science based explanations. You know that crazy science that does all that experimenting, data processing and scientific method, verses, the pull it out of your ass methodology based in superstition, pseudo-science, religious visions and buckshot guessing method where eventually something sticks.

Thom. present your case as a vision that came to you in a bathroom stall at Hardees and you'll get a lot more bites. Using reasoned and measured science based date will get you nowhere in a country where a vast number of population believe in angels, ghost and demons.

Science is an every changing, living process and not an absolute. But it provides us the best chance to predict future events, however, in the land of the free and superstitious we have to contend with voodoo based ideology with no rational grounding whatsoever. You're better off tell your audience that the Angel Tim sent you a vision of tomorrow and it's filled with water, blood and doom..

This is off topic, but, the events in Ferguson and elsewhere, prove that we humans are still a primitive, barbaric, and savage species, despite our technological advances.

And we won't live long enough to out grow it.