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Afternoon videos: Mell, Blagojevich, Med-Mar, Feigenholtz, Softball

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* If you missed it below, here’s the video of Rep. Mell’s remarks on the House floor today about her engagement…

* Several House members then rose to congratulate her. All but one was a Democrat. The lone Republican well-wisher was Rep. Mark Beaubien…

* Rod Blagojevich was on the Fox News channel last night. Watch if you dare…

And if you really have a strong stomach, Fox has posted the unedited interview. Part 1 and Part 2.

* The Illinois Family Institue has posted a video about the “addiction” problems associated with medical marijuana…

* Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and Sen. AJ Wilhelmi talk about their adoption rights bill…

* Once again, the Illinois Channel covered the annual House vs. Senate softball game. I’ve clipped the intro and posted it on YouTube. The clip features your faithful servant…

You can watch the full, higher definition video by clicking here.

* Related…

* If art bill signed, no state funds would finance Blago portrait

* No tax dollars for Blagojevich honor

* Bill to block public funding for Blago portrait heads to governor

* That didn’t take long: Black’s portrait bill headed to Quinn after minute of consideration in Senate

* Senate Nixes Taxpayer-Funded Blagojevich Portrait

* Ill. lawmakers vote to make Blagojevich pay for his own portrait

* Emanuel not subpoenaed in Blagojevich case

* Blagojevich’s book publisher folds

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 1:51 pm

Comments

So the Illinois Family Institute has a minister discussing with us the issue of medical marijuana?

Who gets their medical facts from sources like these?

If this group wished to post a YouTube video that would change minds, they would get a medical expert to discuss the problems of medical marijuana. There are many out there.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:13 pm
The Illinois Family Institute is addicted to religion, using their own logic. Cannabis is not chemically addictive, like nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and many “legal” drugs. Misinformed nonsense. The Illinois Family Institute supports locking fathers with cancer in cages for ingesting a relatively harmless plant. And instead, IFI is pushing oxycontin, percocet, and countless more harmful “legal” drugs on our kids as every recent ONDCP study shows. IFI’s status quo stance is obviously doing more harm than good to our society and the families in it and costs precious dollars and resources to boot.

Serious and respectable drug policy experts more and more are using the scientific term cannabis instead of the racially slanted slang term marijuana. IFI is not serious or respectable in the fields of physical anatomy, medicine, or addiction and they should stick to their religion where they will find no biblical commandment to lock sick and feeble human beings in cages for cannabis, but they will find one against bearing false witness about things like cannabis.

Locking people that can benefit from medical cannabis in cages is a barbaric practice that must end. We can and must be better than that.

Comment by TaxMeMore Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:26 pm
Congratulations to Rep. Mell.

Is the IFI smoking crack?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:32 pm
Did Art Turner play second…

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:36 pm
That $40,000 library looks fantastic, doesn’t it? Beautiful shelves, deep red wallpaper. Almost Presidential — surely a coincidence.

Comment by Vibes Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:45 pm
Rome is Burning, and I am running a marriage announcement service on the house floor.

Comment by Moving to Oklahoma Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 2:45 pm
Is that a brass bong in the background?

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 3:00 pm
I want to find the person responsible for stealing RB from us and offer my profound thanks. If that person is harrassed in any way for this theft I would like to start a defense fund. We can call it the F^@&!#g Gold Fund.

Comment by dupage dan Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 3:01 pm
Rich Dude I just had a flashback to 1987 with that hair You in a garage band dude?//

Comment by g man Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 3:08 pm
No amount of misinformed, angry, and archaic rhetoric from The Illinois Family Institute can change the facts:

1. The medical marijuana billis about the pain and suffering of SICK people, not about drugs.

2. We should be taking our medical recommendations from DOCTORS.

3. Noone in the history of the world has ever died from an overdose of marijuana but 1000’s die every year from morphine, vicodin, and other dangerous and addictive drugs used today for the relief needed by these patients.

4. The notion that I am sponsoring this bill as a precursor to an effort to legalize marijuana for all purposes is insulting, not only to me, but to 1000’s of our citizens who need this HEALTH CARE product for their very survival.

5. The bill proposed is for a THREE year pilot program to see if it can work in our state.

6. Over NINETY House members support the bill, but these kinds of RANTS have scared some of them to the ppoint that they are afraid to vote for good and helpful legislation that can help so many deal with the pain and suffering of very debilitating and painful illness. Maybe the IFI should learn about COMPASSION.

Comment by Lou Lang Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 3:33 pm
If you watch Part 1 of the whole interview Rod expressly says he plans on testifying at his trial.
Did we know this already? I can’t recall hearing him unequivocally say that he would testify until now…

Comment by Nikoli Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 3:33 pm
marijuana is addictive! I’ll stick to my oxycodone then since these prescription drugs are so much safer….if only I could keep them down, the nausea makes that harder….if only they had a substance i could take to fight pain and nausea…

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 4:13 pm
–The lone Republican well-wisher was Rep. Mark Beaubien…–

Really? Not even a hi-de-ho neighbor? Civility doesn’t cost anything.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 4:46 pm
I tried to watch the Rod stuff but you were right about the stomach issues. I did learn that size does matter to Rod, at least when it comes to books.

Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 4:57 pm
2. We should be taking our medical recommendations from DOCTORS.

Like the ones who recommend that ANY legalization include a well designed study to determine if it is EFFECTIVE? (We wont worry about safe, like all other FDA drugs).

There is a reason why we have an FDA. As part of the bill, pay some of the wonder ful folks at ABBOTT, BAXTER, or TAKEDA (among others fine IL firms) to design a clinical study to show once and for all if it’s effective scientifically.

That ought not to be a lot to ask.

Comment by Pat Collins Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 4:58 pm
Rod’s book collection was very telling, probably not in the way he intended, more like in a Ron Burgundy way. And what was up with Patti and the kids making all that racket in the background?

Greta kept giving off the sort of vibe of someone that knows they are in the home of a crazy guy and they are just trying to be pleasant enough to not start anything until she can safely escape.

You can tell from watching this unedited footage that Greta isn’t really buying this junk from Rod, and more to the point, that she is appalled at how sanguine Rod is in the face of near-certain imprisonment, and how impatient she is with him repeating the same spin points over and over and over and over…

I’m always disappointed with national-level celebrity reporters interviewing Rod when they only talk about the senate seat and not all the other shennanigans. I want to hear from Rod how it was Madigan’s fault that Rod was caught on tape extorting campaign contributions from a children’s hospital, in exchange for not blocking money already allocated to it, and for trading horse racing legislation with a track owner in exchange for contributions. I want him to explain how his wife can get such a huge commission on the sale of a house she never had anything to do with selling. And I want to know if the kids still get fifteen grand for their birthdays from people not related to them, who happen to later get state jobs without going thru HR procedures.
Maybe the answer is in one of those books that don’t fit neatly on the shelf…

Comment by Gregor Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 5:51 pm
Pat Collins, more than enough scientific study has already been done, mostly outside of the US where the DEA doesn’t forbid cannabis science to take place.

Marinol, which is 100% THC, has been on the market for years. Ever hear of any social problems with that drug, or kids flocking to it like oxycontin? Harmful side effects? People dying? Emergency room visits? Nope, perfectly safe, and even more safe in its natural, raw form where dosages can be better adjusted and regulated.

Unfortunately, Marinol is a man-made, synthesized drug and does not contain any of the cannabinoids that our own human bodies actually produce and it is a pill that doesn’t help extreme nausea, so Marinol lacks most of the beneficial qualities of vaporizing cannabis, for example.

Cannabis is a natural non-poisonous plant, not a synthesized drug. If we have the FDA for a reason, then neither Republican or Democrat administrations have used the FDA for that reason because they refuse medical cannabis science. We have centuries of evidence that shows not one person has ever died from an overdose of cannabis.

Frankly, I’d like to see the well-designed studies and science behind the current prohibition policies. What science was used to determine that cannabis is any more dangerous or harmful than currently legal drugs? What studies were performed that showed that prohibition was the most effective way to treat human beings that use cannabis? Where is the evidence that cannabis is chemically addictive? I’d like to see the well designed studies backing up our current policies, because our current policies have failed famously and are largely indefensible.

Spend a week in someone’s shoes that is undergoing chemotherapy, or who has MS or consistent muscle spasms, or Crohn’s, or any number of serious ailments, and you will have the proof once and for all that it does help and doesn’t hurt.

Comment by TaxMeMore Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 5:55 pm
Wow, Gregor you can mistate facts almost as good as Fitzie.
You must be a federal employee.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 6:22 pm
Proof once again that Rich Miller is one really good-looking Dude–and a good man.

Lucky Wasan!

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 6:48 pm
Thanks Rep. Lang!

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 7:17 pm
RICHARD, Take the time to get a haircut please. Dad

Comment by the Real Rich MIller Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 7:50 pm
Fox News failed to mention that Patti and Rezko paid for the home libirey

Comment by Sticky Situation Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 7:58 pm
You weren’t by chance test driving the medical marijuana before the softball game were you?

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 8:20 pm
The closer Rod Blagojevich gets to his trial the more things that he’s either touched or is going to touch, dare I say turn to CRAP.

Comment by Suspicious Activity Report Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 8:40 pm
“…Greta isn’t really buying this junk from Rod… and how impatient she is with him repeating the same spin points over and over and over and over…”

I think Rod is a goofball. But I have a hard time believing anyone who is bff’s with Sarah Palin gets impatient with unadulterated BS and the repetition of vapid talking points.

Comment by JonShibleyFan Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:05 pm
Rep. Mell I think showed great courage today and I wish her well. But I think it was rude that some legislators found it necessary to visit with others and talk on their cell phones while she had the floor.

Comment by state worker Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:08 pm
Posting from home

Well, if there are many studies attesting to the effectiveness of MM, why does the AMA call for testing as of Nov. 10, 2009?

Our AMA urges that marijuana’s status as a federal Schedule I controlled substance be reviewed with the goal of facilitating the conduct of clinical research and development of cannabinoid-based medicines, and alternate delivery methods. This should not be viewed as an endorsement of state-based medical cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana, or that scientific evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets the current standards for a prescription drug product

Comment by Pat Collins Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:18 pm
I want some of that “Ravenswood Bud” Rod and Patti have been smoking all these years. By the way Rod’s “Room of Books” looks brand new - Nice puff piece. No pun intended.

Comment by Sheridan Road Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:32 pm
I finally remember who Rod reminds me of: Bill “The Butcher” Cutting from Gangs of New York!

Comment by maestra Wednesday, Apr 28, 10 @ 9:35 pm
==RICHARD, Take the time to get a haircut please. Dad==
LOL my Dad used to say the same thing in 1967 when I had hair.

Comment by Bill Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 7:30 am
Watching the Ill. Family Institute video doesn’t change my mind on medical marijuana — I still support legalizing it — but I am seriously thinking that we need to outlaw caffeine.

Comment by the Other Anonymous Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 9:13 am
Thank you Representative Lang for your views. I know and often agree with you. However, I believe your compassion is over-riding your common sense on this. It is good to be compassionate, but it is also good to remember we live in a real world.

There are plenty of pharmaceuticals to help chemotherapy patients without pulling out a joint. Just as a patient is no longer having to yank on a bottle of Moonshine to dull pain, we no longer need to use primative and crude substitutes for real medicines. While you find it compassionate to allow a suffering patient pot, we have witnessed other states with legalized marijuana end up having a very big societal problem on their hands as this pot law becomes abused. Legalizing marijuana, even for medical purposes, has been shown to cause severe societal consequences within the states that have legalized it for medical purposes. There is a direct cause and effect regarding this issue, which demonstrates conslusively that it is better to alleviate sufferings without justifying pot.

There has been no FDA approval. So, I find it interesting that you and ninety other legislators feel that the federal FDA recommendations regarding this issue, be ignored. Which federal laws do you believe should be ignored in Illinois? What if the federal government didn’t do it’s work, as it currently fails to do in Arizona? Would you demand that we step in where the federal government drops the ball? Here, in this case, you are willing to ignor federal laws.

You can’t have it both ways.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 9:28 am
===Legalizing marijuana, even for medical purposes, has been shown to cause severe societal consequences within the states that have legalized it for medical purposes.===

Please cite your sources.

===There has been no FDA approval.===

Because of a federal ban on research. Lift the ban and let the FDA work with medical researchers.

You can’t have it both ways either.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 10:11 am
VM, first, thanks for not comparing marijuana to meth amphetamine. We’re making some progress there. Second, please do just a simple Google search before you make such an easily refuted argument.

For example, here’s a 2006 story on the issue from the NY Times. Federal policy on medicinal use of marijuana is controlled by the DEA, not the FDA, which makes research on this practically impossible.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/health/21marijuana.html

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 10:24 am
We’re making some progress there.

You’re embarrassing yourself by your berating tutorial tone. I am not your student. You are not my better. This is not your blog.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 12:38 pm
This medical marijuana stuff is really small potatoes. They knew that back in the 70s when the GA legalized it in Illinois — what a wild and crazy bunch of stoners they were!

Willie Nelson, before you saddle up for the last roundup, can you do a PSA on how one can live a long, full and successful life while smoking pot every day for recreational, not medical, use?

On a recreational level, mj is about the most harmless thing out there, in my experience, on the level of a couple of beers.

I have a visceral problem telling the sick how they can go about feeling better. Must be the Libertarian in me.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Apr 29, 10 @ 3:03 pm