More Good News in the War on (Some) Drugs

Heavy marijuana use not linked to lung cancer

"Despite popular belief, a new study shows that people
who smoke marijuana do not appear to be at increased risk of developing lung
cancer.

It seems even heavy, long-term marijuana users do not appear to
increase the risk of head and neck cancers, such as cancer of the tongue, mouth,
throat, or esophagus."

Well, it looks like another of the arguments against decriminalizing marijuana (the health one) has fallen to peer-reviewed science.

Conspiracy TV - And how to bring it back

Ok, all three conspiracy-related related shows from the major networks have been cancelled. These were, in order of quality/preference: Surface, Invasion, and Threshold. (Hmm, I hadn't noted the single name theme). I believe that these were all engaging, entertaining shows that could have a life on cable. To that end, I believe we should start a campaign to have them bring one or all (or an amalgam of all three, which I'll go into below) to the SciFi Channel, which has a history of picking up SciFI shows like Stargate SG-1. You can reach the SciFi Channel at: feedback@scifi.com

Anyway, here is my thought on how to combine Surface, Invasion, and Threshold: You have Miles, Rich, the doctor and Nimrod (from Surface) survive the tidal wave and monster and then make their way back inland. They find more clues, and stumble upon Dave (from Invasion's blog). Thinking there may be some kind of connection between the orange glowing creatures and the creation of Nimrod's species. In the meantime, Dave stumbles across the doctor's viral video of Nim's fellow monsters and tries to seek out her, Miles and Rich.

At this point, you can a few episodes of Dave and the doctor playing complicated computer tag trying to figure out if the other is legitimate or dangerous. During this time, they would both be gathering clues (including some from the military and some from the X-Files-like conspirators in Invasion and Surface. At some point, it would be revealed that Nimrod's species was engineered to counter the threat of the orange water creatures, but have become overly aggressive.

Meanwhile, the Airforce in Southern Florida would initiate a program similar to that in Threshold with the idea of tracking down Zura as well as the other hybrid escapees. Additionally, you could throw in elements of The 4400 where some of the hybrids are beneficial, but still have to be tracked down, and quarantined.

Anyway, I think that would be a good show and that SciFi should pick up invasion and Surface to make it work. It could be called Surface Invasion to combine the two and make the point that both undewater creatures do make it on land.

Democratic Political Corruption in DC

Ok, lots of people keep $90,000 in their freezer. And lots of people use their official office to funnel vast amounts of money to non-profits groups they founded. What's the big deal?

The big deal is that these are both uncommon occurrences. No one with $90,000 in cold cash keeps it in the fridge. If you're going to keep that kind of cash around, you're going to have a wall or giant fireproof safe. Plus, not only having the bribe on tape, but having Congressman William Jefferson joke about evading any FBI investigation does not help Democrats in their quest to tie the corruption issue around the necks of Republicans.

It also doesn't help, that their top member of the Ethics Committee is being investigated for corruption in using his position on the Appropriations Committee to reward his family, friends, supporters and non-profits.

What's likely to happen now that the issue is becoming bi-partisan is that Repubicans can go after Dems for corruption. And there are enough of them that have been lobbyists or engaged in dubious financial issues that Dems could be in for a rough ride. I bet RNC opposition researchers are already looking through annual financial disclosure forms are well as lobbying clients registrations and possible ties to Jack Abramoff.

The Delicious Irony of Bribery Taxes

I love the government's sentence of Duke Cunningham (The Republican Chairman of one of hte powerful Appropriations Subcommittees) for bribery. Not only does he go to jail for 8 years and 4 months, he has to pay $3.5 million in "penalties, restitution, and back taxes." It's the back taxes part that really pleases me: essentially all his bribe money (which he has to pay back) was also undeclared income which means he never paid taxes on it. He now has to pay taxes, interest and penalties on all of that money. That's like getting punished twice for the same crime - which he deserves for betraying the public trust.