A Silver Lining In Iowa’s Caucus Mess?

Posted on February 8, 2020 by Dave Bradley

Image (1) Iowa-Dem-Caucus-Logo_F.jpg for post 31844

I personally have never been a big fan of Iowa’s caucus system. Just because a person is born in Iowa doesn’t mean they have to adhere to supporting all of the state’s eccentricities. For instance I am also opposed to thinking that Republicans are the go to party when things get screwed up. 

My observations through a long life have been that Republicans are generally the ones who screw things up and Democrats then have to come in and clean up the mess. I note in this area that Iowa’s once vaunted public school system seems to continue on a downward trajectory as Republicans continue to pretend there is no problem. But I digress.

Sure seems like the vast majority of opinion has declared Iowa’s caucuses last Monday as a mess. I will state it this way: the instantaneous reporting of results, right or wrong, did not happen the way Americans have come to expect. There were glitches in the systems. However, at least in this instance, paper backups were put in place in case of such glitches.

So here is what I see as a couple of lessons to be learned from what transpired:

First, is it better to get the results of an election fast or accurately? I would vote for accurately over fast any day. 

In our need for speed society of the past two decades we have taken most of the checks out of our election equipment. Most of the country’s current election equipment has no real backup system, such as hand marked paper ballots, that can be used to verify electronic election machines. What has happened since the “Help America Vote Act” of the early 2000s is that there is no way to verify counts or to recount if there is a system failure. When accurate elections are the very backbone of a democracy this is very bad.

Electronic voting machines have been shown in test after test to be quite hackable by today’s mobile phones at medium distances form the voting machine itself. This certainly makes outcomes of elections questionable at best. Even beyond that, software coding for electronic voting machines is not held by the government for the people, but instead is proprietary code kept by private companies. How does the public know that the coding does not favor one side or the other, especially when there is not verifiable back up system?

While Iowa did not use electronic voting machines in the caucuses, it did use an electronic system. That electronic system got screwed up. Fortunately Iowa did include a paper back up system that consisted of paper and pens that could be hand counted. It is a slower system, but it will in the end most likely be accurate.

And to me that is the takeaway. As I have written about many times before, Ireland bought some electronic voting machines and before they were fully utilized  in actual elections they were tested thoroughly and found to be totally unreliable. Reliability and accuracy were much more important that quick results and millions of dollars of voting machines became a few thousand dollars of scrap metal.

Most other Western democracies understand that accuracy is the most important attribute of elections. They have found that paper ballots that can be preserved can be counted relatively quickly. When a government is set to rule for several years, waiting a few moments for accurate results is a very small price to pay.

So the most important thing in an election is the accuracy of the results, not the speed with which they are reported. This leads immediately to lesson #2 from Monday’s caucuses:

Balloting must be done in such a way that the ballots may be counted in public and also stored such that they can be retrieved for future recounts and audits. I would state it more simply by saying that voting should be done with paper and pencil.

Monday’s SNAFUs should be less about shaming Iowa and more about what lessons are there to be learned about a healthy democracy.

The lessons were that voting shouldn’t be done on unreliable, unverifiable voting systems, but instead on paper ballots that can be counted and stored for future recounts and audits. Real reliable and verifiable elections are the very backbone of a true democracy.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Silver Lining In Iowa’s Caucus Mess?

Rigged Trial Comes Out As Promised

Posted on February 8, 2020 by Dave Bradley

It should come as no surprise to anyone in this country or the world, especially the Republican home office in Moscow, that the impeachment “trial” that Mitchell “Moscow Mitch” McConnell promised to fix came out just as he promised it would. Working hand-in-hand with the White House, McConnell was able tp make Republicans snivel in fear at the prospect of being called a nasty name by the current president, Putin’s Puppet.

 In an op-ed in the New York Times titled In Private, Republicans Admit They Acquitted Trump Out of Fear, Democratic senator and man with a real spine, Sherrod Brown noted:  

Speaking of how fear if the current president scares Republican senators to their very toes:

Late in the evening on day four of the trial I saw it, just 10 feet across the aisle from my seat at Desk 88, when Mr. Schiff told the Senate: “CBS News reported last night that a Trump confidant said that Republican senators were warned, ‘Vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.’” The response from Republicans was immediate and furious. Several groaned and protested and muttered, “Not true.” But pike or no pike, Mr. Schiff had clearly struck a nerve. (In the words of Lizzo: truth hurts.)

For the stay-in-office-at-all-cost representatives and senators, fear is the motivator. They are afraid that Mr. Trump might give them a nickname like “Low Energy Jeb” and “Lyin’ Ted,” or that he might tweet about their disloyalty. Or — worst of all — that he might come to their state to campaign against them in the Republican primary. They worry: (list of fees including being belittle by Putin’s Pet or Fox Fake Nooz)

So watching the mental contortions they perform to justify their votes is painful to behold: They claim that calling witnesses would have meant a never-ending trial. They tell us they’ve made up their minds, so why would we need new evidence? They say to convict this president now would lead to the impeachment of every future president — as if every president will try to sell our national security to the highest bidder.

I have asked some of them, “If the Senate votes to acquit, what will you do to keep this president from getting worse?” Their responses have been shrugs and sheepish looks.

<<snip>>

One journalist remarked to me, “How in the world can these senators walk around here upright when they have no backbone?”

Just imagine what a senator, like say Joni Ernst, whose single biggest concern in the world is not what is right and best for our country, but instead is what kind of an insult Putin’s Puppet might hurl at her, might be willing to ignore to keep that from happening.  She might become a gutless, spineless, quivering mass willing to overlook even the most compelling evidence to keep from being insulted by Putin’s Pet.

Senator Grassley, himself a veteran of nonsense witch hunts of politicians from the Democratic Party, might just open a hearing on former VP Joe Biden in order to show his fealty to Putin’s Pet.

Now that Republicans have basically destroyed the constitution and given unrestrained power to Putin’s Puppet they have reason to be fearful. Democrats, however, still believe that right is what must prevail. 

Republicans in general have shown to be driven by fear. Many have noted that Mitt Romney stood up against that fear. I beg to differ on that analysis. Romney has been a quivering bowl of Jello before Putin’s Pet before and he most likely will be again. Romney like other Republicans is driven by fear. It is just in Mitt Romney’s case he is as fearful of his God as he is of Putin’s Puppet. Does this put God and PP on the same level? 

So Romney’s solution was to split his two votes and give one to his God and vote for impeachment and one to Putin’s Puppet and vote against impeachment. A Solomon like solution. It appears so far that instead of appeasing both, he has really pissed off at least one. Oh well, it was worth a try.

But you know who really has courage? A tiny lady from San Francisco name of Nancy Pelosi. Now this little lady named Nancy had the audacity, some would say the guts, to perform an act that upset Putin’s Puppet mightily. After Mr. PP gave a speech that Nancy thought was full of lies, she tore the speech up right in front of PP’s face. She has more courage in her little finger than the whole of the Republican Party of jellyfish.

The Republican Party just melted in fear of what Putin’s Puppet might do to Nancy. Of course they had to jump in early start the insults to make sure that Putin’s Puppet in any way thought they supported Nancy. Nope they had to to start sniveling and crawling in front of Putin’s Puppet immediately. For they are deathly afraid of what he will do to them, just as he is doing to Romney right now.

Yet Nancy has shown them that standing up to the bully works. But they are way, way, way too afraid to try it. Meanwhile Putin’s Puppet is getting ready to use the power of his office to go after his political enemies. How did he get the idea that he could do this? Why from the cowardly Republican Party led by ‘afraid of nicknames’ “Moscow Mitch McConnell.”

And out in Billings, Montana, a state legislator by the name of Randy Garcia believes that the constitution calls for the shooting of socialists. Patience, Randy, that won’t come true until Putin’s Puppet steals the next election.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Blog for Iowa, Joni Ernst, Republican Policy | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Rigged Trial Comes Out As Promised

The Iowa Caucuses According To Art Cullen

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Trish Nelson

Great listening to Art Cullen discuss the Iowa caucuses.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , | Comments Off on The Iowa Caucuses According To Art Cullen

Can Joni Ernst Be Trusted To Protect Health Care?

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Trish Nelson

“IowaVoices is an issue advocacy, education-focused organization that communicates with Iowans on key issues as they apply to Senator Joni Ernst and her voting record. Our aim is to persuade Senator Ernst to take progressive action on critical issues that impact her constituents while holding her accountable when she fails to do so.” Learn more at www.iowavoices.org

State of the Union – Dishonest.

Following the State of the Union, Senator Ernst Looks to Continue to Follow the Republican Double-Talk on Protecting Iowans’ Health Care 

Des Moines, Iowa – Following last night’s State of the Union address — a speech littered with lies about health care — it’s clear that Senator Ernst is playing the same game as the rest of her party. Senator Ernst and Republicans in Washington have been focused on ripping health care away from hardworking families in Iowa and across the country, all while saying they plan to protect families with pre-existing conditions — a song Senator Ernst has been singing since she entered the Senate.

Axios provided the following “reality check” after the dishonest State of the Union:

“Republicans’ repeal and replace efforts in 2017 wouldn’t have preserved the same level of protections the Affordable Care Act provides, nor would any of the plans they’ve put forward since.”

“The Trump administration and Republican state attorneys general are currently fighting in court to strike down the entire ACA — including its pre-existing conditions protections.”

At every opportunity, Senator Ernst has joined her fellow Republicans in those attacks against pre-existing protections, which would leave nearly 1.3 million Iowans at risk of losing their health care, eliminate pre-existing conditions coverage, and reinstitute an “age tax,” which AARP says would increase premiums on seniors 50 and older by five times the amount they pay now.

“The lies told at the State of the Union last night are downright terrifying for Iowa families,” said Emily Holley, executive director of Iowa Voices. “This isn’t some political game for Iowans. We are left to wonder whether we will have health coverage or pre-existing conditions protections at all while Senator Ernst continues to take special interest money from those seeking to harm Iowans care. Her record shows that Ernst has done everything she can to strip those protections away, leaving Iowans vulnerable to the whims of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. We’re calling on Iowans to speak out against these attacks on our health care and demand that Senator Ernst end the double-talk and take action to protect our care.”

###

Follow Iowa Voices on Facebook and Twitter.

Emily Holley
Executive Director | Iowa Forward
www.iowavoices.org

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , | Comments Off on Can Joni Ernst Be Trusted To Protect Health Care?

Time To Replace Trump and Take Back The Senate

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Trish Nelson


Action alert and forward plan from Indivisible posted Monday.

It’s Iowa caucus day, and Indivisibles across the nation are hard at work. But the primary isn’t the end of the line. We’re also thinking hard about the general election, which is why we’re excited to share some big news: today, we’re announcing Organizing Together 2020 — our no-longer-secret plan to beat Trump in key battleground states!

Here’s the deal: while Democrats are rightfully busy vetting a nominee, Donald Trump has gotten a months-long head start on the general election campaign in key battleground states. We know that if we wait until July to prepare for the general election then we’ll lose. So Indivisible isn’t waiting.

Today we’re co-launching Organizing Together 2020.

Organizing Together 2020 is a big new coalition that is setting up dozens of canvassing offices in the key battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. We’ll be recruiting and training election volunteers NOW instead of waiting for July when the nominee is officially chosen.

By the time we have a nominee, Organizing Together 2020 will have swing state staff hired, volunteers trained, offices buzzing, canvasses running, and resources mobilized and ready to win in the general election. Indivisible is a founding partner co-launching the effort today, and we’re working with partners from labor and groups like Vote Vets and People for the American Way to make this a very big deal.

Right now, we’ve raised about half of the budget to get this done, but we have another $440,000 left to raise to fully fund Indivisible’s part of it. Can you chip in $6 a month to support Organizing Together 2020 and all of our work? Every cent you donate to Indivisible Action will go towards defeating Trump and saving our democracy.

What comes next? We start building the army to defeat Trump. We’re planning to reach thousands of voters in every one of these key battleground states before the general election on November 3rd. That’s not going to be easy, but as always, we’ve got a plan to make it happen:

  1. Open dozens of canvass offices throughout key battleground states, because we know that early infrastructure is the key to scaling up for the general election.
  2. Drive thousands of volunteers to those offices throughout the election cycle. We are investing in our people early so that they are able to have the most effective conversations possible. We will need every single one of them in order to win.
  3. Train those volunteers to be effective canvassers — knocking on millions of doors across the country to persuade voters and get out the vote. Face to face conversations are the best way to persuade voters and turn them out to vote. We need to rely on best canvassing practices and massive scale.
  4. After the Democratic convention in July, be ready with a massive on-the-ground movement that will be ready to support the nominee and put them in office.

Yes, it costs money to do this. We’re looking to raise $440,000 in grassroots donations. Our piece of this partnership is organizing and volunteer recruitment, so that budget is mostly things like organizing tools (our SMS tool, Hubdialer, an email platform, etc.), data tools and analysis (that’s how we figure out which voters to talk to and how), electoral trainings for groups, and volunteer and organizing staff in all six states.

We say it all the time, but our work truly isn’t possible without you. We’re up against a lot of entrenched interests with a LOT of money: according to CNBC, Trump’s campaign had $102 million in his war-chest going into this year (and that’s before you count all the dark money super PACs spending to reelect him).

We don’t have to match every dollar they spend: our power comes from individual people not from hundred dollar bills. But we do need to raise enough to pay for the tools and resources that support all those thousands of volunteers.

That’s why we’re asking you to help us make Organizing Together 2020 a reality. Can you make a $6 monthly donation to launch this new initiative, support Indivisible Action, and put all our plans for this year in motion?

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Time To Replace Trump and Take Back The Senate

Two Things You Can Do Today To Help Oust Joni Ernst

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Trish Nelson


The Iowa caucuses are over and we can’t let up now.  Indivisible  is providing a fantastic opportunity to participate in ousting Joni Ernst. Many credit the organizing work of Indivisible for Democrats re-taking the house from Republicans in 2018.  If it were not for the Democrats controlling the house of representatives, Donald Trump would have gotten away with his Ukraine scam/Biden smear.  We might never have known about it.  He would not have been impeached.  It is vital that we take back the senate in November 2020.

Indivisible’s Payback Project is now targeting 9 senators including Iowa’s own Joni Ernst.

Who could resist?

Here is your post-caucus action invitation from Indivisible. 

###

When we said we were going to build a blue wave, people rolled their eyes. Now we say this:

Arizona.
Colorado.
Georgia.
Iowa.
Kentucky.
Maine.
North Carolina.
South Carolina.
Texas.

We’re going to take back the Senate. Chip in or pitch in: http://paybackproject.org

###

You can also pitch in or chip in to help the Democrats looking to unseat Joni, Eddie Mauro, Teresa Greenfield, Michael Franken, and Kimberly Graham. 

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Two Things You Can Do Today To Help Oust Joni Ernst

How Citizens United Changed The Senate

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Trish Nelson

Why Citizens United Has Fundamentally Changed The Senate and What the Citizens United Decision Does to Mitch McConnell’s Power

This excellent question was posed by Claire McCaskill last Thursday night on the eve of the Senate vote to block witnesses from testifying in the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump.  The answer was shocking and informative. It all makes sense now.

You knew it was all about the money, but extra points if you knew what Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D) Rhode Island explains next as he schools viewers on just exactly how it all works.

Posted in Blog for Iowa | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on How Citizens United Changed The Senate

Warren And The Much Cheaper Hearing Aids

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Dave Bradley

In the past couple of years I posted this video. For some reason I can’t find the link.

Here in the first 7 minutes or so we see Senator Warren discuss how she, working with Chuck Grassley were able to get OTC (over the counter) hearing aids available and dramatically reduced in price. The crux of the hearing aid story is in the first 7 minutes: 

My understanding was that this was supposed to go into effect in 2018. The bill was passed in 2017 and Trump signed it.

It is not yet in effect. Why not?

I asked when I was at Costco the other day. The employee said something about the FDA. So I checked and he was right. It is what appears to be yet another administration case of slow walking something that would be good for people.

From The Hearing Review.  

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) are pressing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its “lack of action on writing rules to allow the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids,” the US Senate Committee on Finance announced on its website.

The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act, a bill led by Grassley and Warren, was signed into law in 2017. That law allows the FDA to promulgate regulations categorizing certain hearing aids as “over-the-counter,” and sets an August 2020 deadline for such rules.

Last October, the FDA announced that writing those rules would be a priority for the agency, but “has shown no sign of progress since,” according to the announcement.

“…although hearing aids are considered prescription products, they are not generally covered by health insurance or Medicare and can cost thousands of dollars. For seniors or those on limited budgets, at these prices, hearing aids may not be obtainable,” the senators wrote.

There is a bit more at the link. 

We will try to keep our eyes on this story. After all, my family tells me I could use a bit of help on this area.

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Blog for Iowa, Charles Grassley, Elizabeth Warren | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Warren And The Much Cheaper Hearing Aids

Sunday Funday: Pandemic And The Chosen One Edition

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Dave Bradley

Dr. Rob Davidson confronts Pence about cuts to Medicaid in Des Moines Thursday:

Note: second of 2 videos at twitter link

There is a meme that has been hanging around on the internet for a long time. The meme is that everything the Chosen One touches turns to shit. This has been proven to be true over and over and over. Former associates end up in jail, projects fall apart yet somehow he still stands while people and things around him fall. I believe Rick Wilson is responsible for pointing this out.

I bring this up as we are apparently on the cusp of a possible respiratory pandemic known as the corona virus. To think that Mr. Chosen One is in charge of the country at a critical time like this feels like having Pig Pen in charge of the clean room at Apple. Don’t forget that most of the administration appointees are sycophants hired for their loyalty to the Chosen One and not for any expertise.

As noted in the above tweet at a critical time like this the administration is cutting care for those on Medicaid. Also much less reported is that the administration has drastically cut research money for the CDC. Good luck America with your new King.

Year 1 of the reign of King Donald the Sniffler.

  1. What Republican senator kept trying to get the name of the whistle blower exposed during the Q & A session this week?
  1. Which campaign has been caught holding events in black communities where envelopes with cash are handed out to some attendees?
  1. Medicaid recipients took a big hit as the administration began to turn the current program into what kind of a program?
  1. How do Republicans see the corona virus as a win for the US?
  1. Dear Leader threatened which House Impeachment manager in a tweet Sunday?
  1. How many US troops have been reported with TBI (traumatic brain injuries) from the Irani response to Dear Leader’s attack on the Irani general?
  1. Jared Kushner hyped his bona fides for brokering an Israeli / Palestinian peace plan by noting that he had read how many books on the subject?
  1. An alleged rape victim of the Chosen One made news when she served the Chosen One’s attorneys to submit what for comparison to a deposit left on her dress after the rape?
  1. Which president side attorney caused a stir during the impeachment trial when he claimed if the president thought what he did was good for the country then it couldn’t be illegal?
  1. At the rollout of the Middle East Peace Plan, the Chosen One took time to praise what cabinet member for his confrontation with an NPR reporter?
  1. Some Iowa state senators are in a snit concerning what flags are to be flown over state buildings after what flag was flown over the state capitols in November?  
  1. Saturday morning at midnight Brussels time what long awaited event took place in Britain?
  1. Former LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant died in a crash involving what kind of a vehicle?
  1. In Lebanon, Tennessee Spencer Bolton was in court on a simple drug possession charge when he approached the bench and did what?
  1. What major Republican senator was not told that the White House had a copy of the Bolton book, despite a public promise to wrk Han-in-hand with the White Hose against impeachment?
  1. Of the 15 previous impeachment trials conducted by the senate, how many included witnesses?
  1. SCOTUS ruled in favor of the administration last Monday to refuse green cards or visas to applicants who would do what if they came into this country?
  1. Attorneys General of Virginia, Illinois and Nevada sued the National Archives to certify what new amendment to the constitution?
  1. What long running, but little noticed Democratic presidential candidate dropped his campaign Friday?
  1. Four schools in Waterloo were closed Wednesday due to a social media threat to blow them up. Thursday a boy who is how old was arrested for making the threats?

McConnell selling out

Answers:

  1. Randy Paul of Kentucky.
  1. The Trump campaign  
  1. A block grant to the states program.
  1. Products will quit being made in China due to the pandemic and production will shift to the US.
  1. Adam Schiff – “he has not paid the price, yet, for what he has done to our Country!” 
  1. Just in – number has been raised to 64
  1. 25
  1. A DNA sample by March 2.
  1. Alan Dershowitz
  1. Mike Pompeo
  1. Transgendered pride flag
  1. Brexit
  1. Helicopter
  1. Sparked up a joint
  1. Mitch McConnell – jeez Trump can’t even be honest with a guy willing to throw his career away for him
  1. All 15. It is standard to have witnesses at a trial.
  1. Take any kind of government aid. Decision was 5-4
  1. The ERA
  1. Former congressman John Delaney
  1. 11 years old.

Trust us:

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Blog for Iowa, Humor | Comments Off on Sunday Funday: Pandemic And The Chosen One Edition

CBD Oil: Time To Regulate

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Dave Bradley
CBD oil

image from amazon.com

This past month we have been running a bit of an experiment in our house. We have been testing the effects of CBD oil on our various ailments as we age or on long term ailments that ‘modern medicine’ and pharmaceuticals have done essentially nothing for. 

We need to start with a little background. I will give a little overview of my ailments first:

I have had severe pain in my lower back for decades. Eventually it was diagnosed as arthritis in my spine that radiates to my hips. Over time the pain has gotten so severe that I can bare walk a block without crumpling. As a youngster I was extremely active – a runner (kind of slow), basketball and racquetball and lots of home repair. As I have aged, the pain has really increased. Specific exercises and Tylenol seemed to be my only answers – and that really didn’t do much.

As for my wife, she had an incident at age 31. After the birth of our second daughter, she had a brain hemorrhage – specifically a hemorrhage in the pons region of the brain. When I first met her neurologist after it happened his first words were ominous: “I don’t know what to tell you on what to expect. I have never known anyone who has lived through one of these.” 

The pons is a very small organ that does two things. The first is that it is the message distributor from the brain to the body. When it stopped, messages from the brain stopped. She was within seconds of dying. Thankfully a doctor actually happened to see the incident and immediately got oxygen down her throat to save her life. 

The second thing the pons does is control some eye movement. As she slowly recovered from the message problem, the eye problem – a constant fluttering in her left eye never recovered. This has drastically affected her balance over the years. The time period for all this was beginning in the 1980s. 

She became a bit of a guinea pig for various drugs. She had glasses that looked like Venetian blinds and took drugs that stopped most of her body from moving except for her eye fluttering. Over the years treatment was somewhat refined, but we were basically told that the best that could be done was a drug that smoothed out some spasticity. For decades that is what we did.

After talking of trying CBD oil for a long time a member of our family surprised me with a bottle. It was of course illegal in Iowa. Something about how people would get addicted and become druggies. This is a talking point thrown at me by another family member during Christmas. 

On first try, there was immediate relief for my back. It was amazing. We immediately found that CBD oil was legal in Illinois, so we could combine a trip to visit family with the purchase of CBD oil. As an aside this sort of paralleled my father’s trips to Illinois in the 1950s to buy alcohol because Iowans couldn’t buy anything stronger than beer. Funny how that worked out.

Over the years Iowa allowed sale of CBD oil in state. There is a store in Iowa City where we have purchased some product. The product that store carries is different than I was buying in Illinois. This caused a problem because the labelling in the product from Illinois is different than the product at the store in Iowa. I could not compare apples to apples.

So I bought some of the type product I got in Illinois over the internet at quite a savings. They even threw in a ‘thank you’ gift of some gummies. I hate gummies. In an jovial moment over the holidays one of our kids suggested my wife try the gummies. We had talked about doing that but were afraid of interfering with her other meds. So she did it.

The results were immediate. Her still remains spasticity lessened dramatically and her eye fluttered quite a bit less. So the other day we decided to see if we could find her some stronger CBD oil. We went to the store in Iowa City. Once again there was the problem of comparing apples to apples or in this case dosage strength to dosage strength. Different companies had different labelling which was very hard to compare. We bought a bottle of gummies in Iowa City that appeared to be a much stronger dosage.

When she tried the stronger gummies, her eye movement stopped almost immediately. It was simply amazing. After 40 years we seemed to have made some huge progress. We are experimenting at this time between the two gummies and perhaps seeing if she needs a full strong gummy. They are expensive $100 for a bottle of 30. And of course there is NO prescription insurance for CBD products.

The cost led me to an internet search for a comparable product. Sad to say the inconsistent labelling made that nearly impossible. Of course the reason for the inconsistent labelling is that there is little to no regulation of CBD oil. It is kind of a Wild West area for what is a medication. As popular and widespread as CBD oils are it is way past time for our government to get involved and bring it under FDA rules. A bit more on that in a minute.

My frustration led me to call the company I had placed an order with a while back. I had a long conversation with a representative concerning labelling, ingredients, dosages, purity and formulations – that is how different companies make their products. There is one thing that came out of our long conversation:

The big reason that CBD oil and marijuana type products are not being treated as other medications are is because of the strength of the anti-marijuana lobby. Were MJ and CBD be treated as medications and regulated they could put a big hurt on Big Pharma. As I hope you got from my story (and there are I bet millions more) natural products could replace lots and lots of drugs. 

Big Pharma is not the only industry that could see an effect. Alcohol could also see a big hit. And oddly enough two other big opponents of legalizing MJ and thus regulating MJ and its derivatives are the private prison industry and the union for the private prison guards.  

BTW according to a friend there are still states where possession of CBD oil can get a long stretch in jail – this is where the private prison industry gets its customers at our expense. So be careful.

Way, way, way past time to fix this. While we are at it let’s get the damned money out of politics. Plus there appears to be some very big potential benefits if marijuana and its derivatives are allowed to be researched. Some country will be doing it. Why not us?

Posted in #trumpresistance, 2020 election campaign, Blog for Iowa, money out of politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment