Judge Says It’s "High Time" We Legalized Marijuana

A state lawmaker from San Francisco has introduced legislation to decriminalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol. It has been endorsed by a retired Orange County judge who used to be a federal prosecutor. In his view, it's 'high time' -- so to speak -- for another approach to marijuana.

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WWJD? or What could have Jesus Done?

Why do Muslims hate Women?

Stupidity is alive and well in the U.K.

London suffering from shocking rise in rare 'Victorian' diseases

London is suffering a startling rise in diseases associated with Victorian times, official figures reveal today.

Rare infectious illnesses including typhoid, whooping cough and scarlet fever have soared by 166 per cent in the past two years, with the number of cases of mumps - a disease easily prevented with vaccine - rising from 125 in 2007 to 393 last year - an increase of 214 per cent.

Justine Greening, the shadow minister for London, said infection rates in the capital are markedly higher than the national averages.

The rise could be a result of parents refusing the MMR jab after now-debunked claims in 2001 that it might be linked to autism.

Mumps can lead to hearing loss and damage the nervous system in adults.

The figures also showed cases of the highly-contagious whooping cough have quadrupled in the five years to 2007, from 63 to 252.

Symptoms include choking spells and vomiting and can cause death, especially in young infants.

Meanwhile cases of scarlet fever, which causes high fevers, rashes, and severe damage to internal organs, are up 153 per cent since 2005, with 501 infected in London last year.

Typhoid, which is associated with poor sanitation and hygiene, has risen steadily since 2004, from 45 to 127 cases per year.

The Conservatives claimed the Government was partly to blame for failing to invest enough in public health and to appoint school nurses.

Ms Greening, MP for Putney, said: 'The rise of these highly infectious and potentially fatal diseases in our city is truly alarming.

'The Government must do more to ensure the public health of Londoners.'

I wonder if the likes of Jenny McCarhthy know what kind of harm they're causing

Taliban Execute Eloping Young Lovers In Afghanistan

A young couple who tried to elope in one of the most lawless and conservative parts of Afghanistan have been publicly executed by Taliban gunmen after their parents handed them over to be tried by insurgents.

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Will somebody please explain this video to me?

I freely admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the workshop, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what the hell they're trying to say with this thing.

Why We Evolved to Cry

What’s the use of crying when you’re sad? Other animals shed tears, but humans may be unique in shedding tears of grief, and Robert Provine says that he knows why...

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The return of Big Butter Jesus

"In 3 Weeks I Will Be Put to My Death"

A Mississauga woman says she'll be the victim of an honour killing by her estranged husband, a Muslim extremist, when she's deported to Pakistan at the end of the month.

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Crazy?

2 gay men killed in Iraq after Shiite cleric condemns gays

BAGHDAD (AP) - The bodies of two gay men have been found in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City after a leading cleric repeatedly condemned homosexuality, an Iraqi police official said Saturday. The killings come after Shiite cleric Sattar al-Battat repeatedly condemned homosexuality during recent Friday prayers, saying Islam prohibits homosexuality

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What do Orthodox Jews have against women?

Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers have altered a photo of Israel's new cabinet, removing two female ministers.

Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver were grouped with the rest of the 30-member cabinet for their inaugural photo.

But Yated Neeman newspaper digitally changed the picture by replacing them with two men. The Shaa Tova newspaper blacked the women out.

Publishing pictures of women is viewed by many ultra-orthodox Jews as a violation of female modesty.

Other Israeli papers reprinted the altered images next to the original photos, with one headlining it "Find the lady".

The ultra-Orthodox community separates itself from mainstream society through its traditional religious practices and distinctive attire of black hats, coats and sidelocks for the men and long skirts and sleeves for the women.

Restrictions include using only Kosher telephones, and not accessing websites with content deemed inappropriate.

(Kosher telephones! who knew?!)

THC, Active Ingredient in Marijuana, Kills Brain Cancer

New research out of Spain suggests that THC -- the active ingredient in marijuana -- appears to prompt the death of brain cancer cells. Tell me, government, is it "medicine" yet?

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Marijuana Called Top U.S. Cash Crop - ABC News

The report, "Marijuana Production in the United States," by marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, concludes that despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, "marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy."

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More Evidence on Marijuana and Cancer

The evidence continues to mount that cannabinoids — the unique, active components in marijuana — fight cancer. The latest such study , just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows that THC can kill glioma cells through a process known as autophagy. Gioma is a particularly deadly form of brain cancer that afflicts, among others, Se

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