Monthly Archives: April 2013

Federal Law Complicates State Job Protection Laws

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According to an article in the Huffington Post, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that the Colorado law preventing employers from terminating employees for activities off the job that are legal, such as the use of tobacco does not apply to medical marijuana patients. Although medical marijuana is legal in Colorado, the court determined that Federal prohibition prevents job protection under the state law. Similar problems have been addressed in other states with similar results. Arizona may be the only state that protects medical marijuana patients employment with a caveat, the protected employment must not harm the employers Federal contract or license. Federal law requires any business that does business with the Federal Government to provide a drug free workplace and have a drug testing program. The Federal law also complicates insurance agreements with employers because many insurance policies exclude claims where illegal activity is involved. Even if an employee’s job status was protected under state law, an on the job injury might not be covered by the employers insurance policy because of the Federal prohibition of marijuana.

I’m really not in favor of laws preventing employers from terminating employees for what ever reason they see fit. If I were an employer, I wouldn’t want people telling me who I could or could not hire or fire. That in itself is against the principles of freedom and is hostile to business. Isn’t the legalization of marijuana about personal freedom? Shouldn’t that freedom apply equally to everyone, including employers?

Just another good reason to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substance Act and let states sort out the legalization of marijuana. The will of the people is being circumvented by the obstructionists in Washington, who believe we should all live by their edict.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/25/colo-court-says-no-job-pr_n_3156072.html

Randy Johnson

Will Terrorism Win And Take Away Our Freedom

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It seems to me that America and the rest of the civilized world is increasingly becoming driven by fear. Fear of the next shooting, or of a bombing and will tolerate any and all efforts to keep them safe. Recently in Boston, authorities were going door to door, forcing people out of their own homes at gun point and searching them and their homes without warrants. Granted, there was a crazed gunman with improvised explosive devises on the run, and a massive manhunt in progress to capture the person, but locking down a city the size of Boston and forcing people to remain in their homes until authorities could search enough of those homes to find one person seems a little unreasonable. The media reported praise by the citizens of Boston for the swift action by authorities. But the thing that led to the bombers capture, was an observation by a citizen who went outside. I for one do not want to put my life and freedom on hold every time someone mentions a gun or a terror threat. Nor do I want to trade my freedom for safety. Mayor Bloomberg is already saying that after the Boston bombing we will have to change the way we interpret the Constitution. His idea of a free society is that we are only free to do as we are told and that government surveillance must increase as well as searches of us and our property and our right to be armed for self-defense must be taken away. When we continue to tolerate this type of action by our authorities it only encourages them to continue.

If I can’t be safe and free at the same time, then I will gladly give up safety and rely on myself for protection. I would rather live in a world with bombs going off in the streets than give up my freedom. That is what is required of our sons and daughters when sent to war and I would gladly stand with them on American streets to protect that freedom. What does your freedom mean to you?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/23/mayor-bloomberg-interpretation-of-u-s-constitution-will-have-to-change-following-boston-bombings/

Randy Johnson

The Church Should Support Marijuana Legalization But Discourage It’s Use

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You may think this is a wrong-headed notion but please hear me out. I am a Christian and have studied this idea for a number of years. First of all God intended for man to have free will. Without free will, love means nothing. Only when love is given freely without reservation is it of any benefit, not only to us, but also as love for God. If you could sum up the message in the New Testament, it would be to “Love God with all your heart and to love others as you love yourself”. There is no love in prohibiting marijuana. People who use it medicinally are denied relief and those who use it for other reasons face fines and incarceration, are denied employment and considered a danger to their own children. Marijuana prohibition was perpetuated with a series of lies and misinformation and that practice continues today, with our government hiding the truth about marijuana and refusing to acknowledge any benefits from the drug. Did you know the federal government owns patents on marijuana that describe in detail how marijuana is an effective drug to combat cancer and have known this for decades. They do not release this information because it doesn’t fit the agenda of protecting big business from competition or loss from marijuana and hemp. You may say that using marijuana is sin and separates us from God, but where are the scriptures to support that belief. Alcohol and marijuana are both used for roughly the same reasons, as a social catalyst, for recreation, for relaxation, as medication, for celebration and as a sacrament. Several references found throughout the Bible indicate that alcohol was used in celebration, for self medication, to ease pain and as a sacrament. The first recorded miracle by Jesus was turning water into wine at a wedding celebration. Clearly the bible says that drunkenness is a sin, but what about responsible use?

Deuteronomy 14:26

Psalms 104:15

Proverbs 13:5

Proverbs 20:1

Proverbs 23:21

Proverbs 31:4-7

Joel 2:19

Joel 3:18

Amos 9:14

Matthew 9:17

Mark 7:14-23

Luke 5:37-39

Luke 10:27

Luke 10:34

John 2:3-10

John 13:34

Acts 2:13

Romans 14:21

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

1 Corinthians 10:31

Galatians 5:19-21

Ephesians 5:18

Timothy 3:8

Timothy 5:23

Titus 2

Matthew 11:19

Luke 7:34

U.S. Government patent on marijuana  http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6630507.PN.&OS=PN/6630507&RS=PN/6630507

http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/marijuana-cures-cancer-us-government-has-known-since-1974/#comment-14964

Evidence is growing and statistics show that marijuana is a far safer alternative to alcohol. People want to feel better, that is the whole premise for self medication. We self medicate with over the counter medications for the most part now, but 100 years ago home remedies and patent medicines were the norm. Many of these patent medicines contained heroin, cocaine, opium, cannabis or alcohol and were readily available. Still today there is a large market for homeopathic medicines and herbs and hundreds of books written to help us find the correct dietary supplement to cure what ails us. There is little evidence that this type of self medication was harmful to society then or now. The highest estimate I have found of deaths caused by all illegal drug use per year was only 17,000 deaths. The deaths associated with alcohol are at 70,000+, not counting its association with traffic fatalities, murders and domestic violence. The deaths caused by prescription drug use, including med errors and misuse, are over 200,000 a year and tobacco kills 450,000 people a year. Overeating and lack of exercise kills 350,000 people a year. The book “Cause of Death”, lists 3 deaths cause by consumption of cannabis. Marijuana has been shown to be very promising in treating pain, spasms, wasting and even cancer. States that have legalized marijuana for medicinal use have seen a 9% decrease in traffic fatalities. The fear campaign waged against hemp and marijuana was perpetuated with lies and the truth was hidden. The reported harm to individuals and to society from marijuana use, has been grossly overstated by our government and most of the harm associated with marijuana use, is a direct result of prohibition and not caused by marijuana.  If God really wanted hemp and marijuana to be illegal, would he have needed to hide the truth to accomplish that mission?

Cause Of Death, edited by Jack Mingo, Erin Barrett and Lucy Autrey Wison

http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/30#sthash.YAU01DAL.dpbs

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000145

https://itsmycountrytoo.org/laws-built-on-lies/

https://itsmycountrytoo.org/2012/07/29/marijuana-is-safer-than-alcohol-or-tobacco/

https://itsmycountrytoo.org/2012/08/08/197/

http://ftp.iza.org/dp6112.pdf

Marijuana, like anything else can be abused. Many of you have heard that marijuana decreases motivation and I have found that to be true when used excessively, but the same could be said for television or alcohol. Like alcohol, I believe marijuana’s use should be age appropriate and regulated by ID checks for purchase. Like alcohol use, maturity has a strong bearing on the degree of abuse. Children just aren’t that good at controlling their urges, but many adults share the same problem. Giving a source of never-ending chocolate to a child would be a bad choice as most children would eat nothing but chocolate, yet as adults purchasing our own food, we have that option, but we choose other more nutritious food for the most part. That is where maturity comes in and we all mature at different rates and to different degrees. Some people never learn to make good decisions, but as a society we let them make those choices for the most part, as long as they do no harm to others.

Education is a much better option to help others lead a better life than prohibition. Prohibition robs people of free will and creates unregulated markets and crime where none should exist. Prohibition is a perfect tool to control 3 year olds who lack the reasoning and skills necessary to be self-sufficient, but as we mature and develop our capacity for reasoning and become self-sufficient, prohibition becomes a burden and even hateful when used to deny employment, the right to raise our children or when we face incarceration and fines and property we worked and paid for is confiscated. Prohibition of marijuana makes criminals out of people for choosing a safer, less harmful drug than alcohol. With an estimated 20,000,000 Americans currently using marijuana, it is very likely someone you love uses marijuana. We shop with you and dine in restaurants with you. You see us picking up our kids at school and at games and sporting events and at the movies. We blend in because we’re just like the rest of society, working, paying our bills and trying to raise our children as best we can. All we really want is to live in peace with society, yet federal law prohibits this and Congress doles out tax money and military equipment for local law enforcement to conduct paramilitary raids on homes of people accused of selling marijuana.

I can’t say that God approves of marijuana. I simply do not know and as far as I have found in scripture, the Bible is silent on this issue. Certainly abuse of marijuana would be sinful, but so is abuse of alcohol and arguably, anything done to an excess. We all have obligations and responsibilities, to ourselves, to our families, and to society, but most importantly to God. The bible stresses that we are to love one another as ourselves. To support laws, such as the prohibition of marijuana, that are based on misinformation, and motivated by greed, racial intolerance and hatred, is in direct opposition to the message of Jesus Christ. Regardless of whether use of marijuana is sinful, prohibition is a hateful way to treat people and it denies people free will.

Marijuana’s use should be discouraged because it is a drug that has a strong likelihood of abuse, and I would say that any use of marijuana that keeps us from meeting our obligations and responsibilities, to ourselves, to society, to our family or to God as abuse and sinful. Indifference to injustice and the harm it causes others is sinful as well, and it does nothing to advance Christianity.

Randy Johnson

Police Survey About Gun Control

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A few days ago my wife and I were traveling to a graduation and winging ceremony for our youngest son. We were listening to Glenn Beck on talk radio and his show was centered around a survey from PoliceOne.com of 15,595 police officers from around the country about the proposals for gun control restrictions. The questions ranged from the size of the police force and rank of the officer, to questions about magazine capacity and restrictions on (so-called) assault weapons. The results of the survey indicate that the officers that responded overwhelmingly oppose gun restrictions on magazine capacity and type of gun restrictions and support (91% approval) concealed carry among law-abiding citizens. The survey showed that 80% of the officers surveyed believe armed citizens would have decreased the casualties in tragedies like Aurora and Newtown, and 76% support school personnel being armed as a deterrent to such tragedies.

Our second amendment right is as much about protecting each other, as it is about self-protection and it is the only right that protects us from tyranny by our own government. Many good men and women have given their all in defense of our nation and freedoms and many more have risked life and limb for the same. I for one, just can’t give up that right for the fallacy of safety. If you can’t protect yourself or those around you, you are vulnerable to any who would do harm, be it armed assault, rape or robbery.

Glenn Beck article from TheBlaze.com http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/10/survey-law-enforcement-personnel-overwhelmingly-oppose-obamas-gun-control-proposals/

PoliceOne.com survey  http://ddq74coujkv1i.cloudfront.net/p1_gunsurveysummary_2013.pdf

Randy Johnson

If You Don’t Want The Right To Bear Arms Then Change The Constitution

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My right to bear arms in defense of me and mine are rights that had been honored in free societies for hundreds if not thousands of years before the Constitution of the United States was written. The founders of our nation and signers of the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution believed so much in our right to bear arms that they enshrined that right in the Bill of Rights. My right to bear arms should be the same in any state or territory of the United States. It is my second amendment right and states should not be able to deny that right, just like they can’t take away my right to freedom of religion or my right to speak out against tyranny. These rights spelled out in the Constitution were put there to protect our freedom and the right to bear arms is crucial to that end. The type of weapon that can be owned or used should not matter because the right to bear arms, among other things, is also to stop tyranny from our own government. To surrender our guns to any government would be Un-American. Congress, Presidents past and present and the Supreme Court have failed to protect that right from state and local governments and that right has been under federal attack as well. As citizens we have failed to oversee those that we elected to lead us. Without our voice, our elected officials assume we approve of what they have allowed to happen to our second amendment right. We must speak out against this tyranny now or that right will continue to be infringed.

For those of you who hate guns and want to get rid of them consider this. There are an estimated 300,000,000 guns in this country and without the government going door to door, searching houses and killing all who oppose them, these guns are not going to go away. Most of these guns at the present are in the hands of good people who believe in the rule of law and would stand in your defense if need be. But when you make criminals out of us for exercising our rights and demand that we be defenseless, that changes the whole game. Now you are going against the Constitution that many Americans have sworn to protect against all enemies foreign and domestic. For our elected officials to refuse to support that right is a direct violation of their oath of office. As long as the Constitution says that we have the right to bear arms, that right should be honored anywhere in the United States or its territories. If society can’t accept our right to bear arms, there is a set procedure to change the Constitution spelled out in Article 5 of the Constitution. But if our own government refuses to follow the Constitution, we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but subjects, ruled by decree from the elite who believe they are above the law. Either change the Constitution or honor our rights.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/charters.html

Federal employee oath of office.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Article. V. of the United States Constitution

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.

Amendment II of the United States Constitution

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Randy Johnson