States With Medical Marijuana Laws Have Fewer Opioid Overdose Deaths

This was reported back in August 2014:

TIME: Aug. 25, 2014 by Alexandra Sifferlin @acsifferlin

Opioids for chronic pain, like OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, are meant to suppress pain. Recent data shows that not only are prescriptions for these drugs up, but rates of overdose and death are increasing as well. New research published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine shows that states with medical marijuana laws have rates of anticipated opioid-related deaths 25% lower than states that don’t allow it.

Read the full story:

 http://time.com/3175582/states-with-medical-marijuana-laws-have-fewer-opioid-overdose-deaths/

Time to retire the battle flag

Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

This flag represents something that many consider racist and bigoted. Our rights to free speech permit us to display it and use it privately or to publicly display it. It is time to remove it from any federal or state institution.

Battle Flag of the Army of Tennessee

The Confederate flag displayed today was never an official flag of the Confederate States of America. It is a war flag. A battle flag. It was proposed to the Confederate Congress in 1860 but rejected. The design was incorporated into the official flag in 1863 as a corner graphic on a plain white field. In 1865 a large red bar was added to this design and was the official flag of the Confederacy when Lee surrendered to Grant. 

Although I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, I was not familiar with the official flag. I believed the battle flag of the Army of Tennessee was the official Confederate flag. The Ku Klux Klan used it and made it popular. The TV show Dukes of Hazzard car General Lee displayed it proudly. It was used on bumper stickers, mugs, shirts, decals and thousands of Bric-à-brac and it still is. But it never was THE Confederate flag.

What was the Civil War about? Very rich guys and cotton. The South was getting extremely rich exporting cotton to Europe. In the United States, Southern cotton provided capital for the continuing development of the North. Much of the Southern cotton was trans-shipped through northern ports and federal taxes went to northern states. Abraham Lincoln promised to end slavery. The South hated that.

Was it about slavery? You bet it was. Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton. Imagine the cost of suddenly having to PAY them. It represented so much money that rich southern politicians convinced people to die over it. Cotton was worth so much money that even after the end of the Civil War across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers and landless white farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations of the wealthy in return for a share of the profits and they all got rich. Money continued to flow to the north. It was all about money.

On March 21. 1861, a speech by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate Sates of America, exposed another reason for the war. It is called the “Corner Stone” Speech.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech

http://web.archive.org/web/20130822142313/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerstone-speech/"Our new government is founded upon, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. They (the North) were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal."

Thus, the Confederate Flag as we know it is a WAR flag and the Civil War was fought over slavery and money. Only after 1865 was the reason for the war claimed to have been based on State's Rights.

The rich continue to try and control the government. Doug Hughes, now known as "the man who flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol" risked his life to bring attention to this current problem. A simple patriot and concerned about our country he performed a non-violent act of civil disobedience for election reform. He wants to get money out of politics. Now he is charged with serious crimes and will probably spend time in prison. 

To me, he is a hero.

Doug Hughes, "the man who flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol"

SineCycles

Drivetrain: 2013 Zero Motorcycles Motor: 3-phase high efficient permanent magnet  Max. Torque: 57 Nm Max. Power: 27 PS (20 kW) @ 4000 U/min Max. Capacity: 2.8 kWh Voltage: 102 V Range: 55 km (34 miles) Max. Speed: 120 km/h (75 mph) Transmission: Clutchless direct drive Battery Housing: Bruno Forcella
Heat Sink Motor Controller: Bruno Forcella
Connectivity: Smartphone app with detailed information about the motorcycle such as the time until charged, average watts per mile, total charge cycles and much more. Customizable riding modes performance profile.  Synced using Bluetooth.
https://www.facebook.com/sinecycles

Compare to the Harley Davidson Electric introduced in 2014:

The Harley looks asian in design.

The SineCycle looks more like American chopper...

 

http://sinecycles.com/

 

 

 

Fishing in Florida

Sheepshead.

I have caught my share of Sheepshead. Their teeth are freaky. They look human...

Now I can fish for FREE. 

Residents 65 years of age or older do not require a state license to fish. 

Freshwater or saltwater I get to fish all I want. 

http://myfwc.com/license/recreational/do-i-need-a-license/

 

http://myfwc.com/license/

USA #1 Single Song

March 21, 1950 - this was the Billboard top SELLING single. It remained on the top for four weeks until April 15.   It was NOT played most often on radio, in fact it wasn't played much on radio. It was, during the week of April 8, the most played on jukeboxes.

Why didn't radio exploit the trend?

What are jukeboxes? See here.

June 1968 - When I was graduating from high school this was the number one song for the period June 1 to 15.