County demands marijuana legalization

This paragraph from the Times Standard is hilarious!

Eric Heimstadt disagreed with the concerns of some that legalized marijuana would lead to large, corporate grows taking over the market and suffocating mom-and-pop operations like those in Humboldt County.

Was prohibition-as-protectionism actually discussed?!

And Jimmy Smith’s reason for abstention? He needs more information. Because like, the legal issues of marijuana have never come up in Humboldt County. He needs time to educate himself and make up his mind.

Amnesty bucks the Catholic Church over abortion

From adnkronos:

Norwich, 21 August (AKI) – Roman Catholic Bishop Rev. Michael Evans has announced he is leaving Amnesty International after the campaign group last week backed abortion as a human right for rape victims.

Bishop Evans, quoted by the Independent newspaper, said he will be “the first of many” to cancel his membership of Amnesty. He has been an active member of the group for 31 years.

Amnesty was founded in 1961 by British lawyer and Roman Catholic convert Peter Beneneson to campaign on behalf of prisoners of conscience. It has never been officially affiliated to the church.

Senior international Amnesty representatives overwhelmingly agreed in Mexico last week to end the group’s previously neutral stance on abortion and to condone the killing of an unborn child in certain circumstances.

These include cases of rape, incest or to save a woman’s life.

The Church is accusing AI of a “double standard” because it opposes the death penalty. AI responds:

Amnesty says it is not “pro-abortion” but supports “women’s human rights to be free of fear, threat and coercion as they manage all consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations.”

For me abortion is an easy legal issue, but a difficult moral one. My wife’s miscarriages kind of led me to an appreciation of the delicate balances in the life cycle, and I wonder if we’re devaluing life and the life process with abortion. Since I will never be faced with the decision, I’m content to leave the matter to the individual conscience of the pregnant woman. The government has no business enslaving someone, not even to save a life. As to what phase of a pregnancy does the fetus become “human” entitled to rights, well, I’d say it’s when the life can survive without the enslavement of the woman. Before that, it’s her call.

As for the Amnesty stand, please! It’s a bare minimum consideration for the woman. Better late than never.