Jeff Matthews

Yep! R's sound a lot like D's when they need to.

Most definitely.

People shouldn't get behind the wheel after church.

In the middle of my 2nd time to make this Japanese Pumpkin soup. I made it about 2 weeks ago, and it was killer good! The first time, I just used water instead of broth. This time, I am skipping the coconut milk, too, but adding some small chunks of potato for texture.

I try to keep up on the latest in medical cannabis research. So far as I am aware, the research presently going on in Israel appears to be the most detailed and scientific. Here's a video where the state of the art is discussed in terms of the complexity of the components of cannabis. There are over 100 known strains of CBD, and they affect different parts of the body differently. It's not so simple as "weed."

I didn't consider it an overreaction.

I know. As you can see from my experience, I don't condemn it, and in fact, I think it can be a good thing. It was for me.

You mean nobody wanted to pour more money into it. You had a mandate by Uncle Sam to buy a product that was quite difficult to afford in the first place. Perfect! Throw in a subsidy because you know most Americans can't even come up with $400 to spare. That'll fix it. Not! So how do you squeeze broke people for more money?

I have done a fair amount of research on this topic. I'd like to see the report you mentioned above.

Be careful with this kind of logic. There are no long-term studies. "No evidence" does not equal "no danger."

This is a rhetorical argument. You've made the argument - over and over - for smokers to go cold turkey. Yes, it will always be the least risky, provided the smoker succeeds in abstaining. Then... there's the real world, which is far more complex and involves actual human behavior. Not all humans can just quit cigarettes so easily, no matter how many times you tell them they can. For those people, there is a large market of seemingly safer alternatives available. Patches, gums, vaping, etc. If you look at the warning labels for the patches, suicidal tendency is one of them. Go figure! Welcome to the real world. Focus on the people who can't go cold turkey. What would you say to them to make a difference? Would you say, "Keep smoking because vaping will kill you anyway?"

I don't think this is correct, unless something has changed since I last vaped about 5 years ago. I researched it quite a lot. The ingredients are propylene glycol, artificial flavors and nicotine. Propylene glycol is the same stuff they use in the fog machines at rock concerts. Not only has it been used for decades in this context, but it has been tested for short-term acute exposure in rats, etc. Based on the tests, there has been no cause for alarm. Of course, 30-year studies don't exist, so all we can do is speculate and argue about something we know nothing about in that regard. So, enjoy arguing about something you know nothing about... As for my experience, I would highly recommend it in lieu of smoking cigarettes. I smoked cigs for 30 years. It was really starting to take a toll on me. I refused/could not (you can choose) go cold turkey, so I tried vaping. It made a noticeable difference. Even though I vaped, the inflammation in my lungs was going away. I started breathing easier. The difference was clear. After a year of vaping, I gave it up. In the vaping context, you can control the nicotine levels. I tapered it down until it wasn't very strong. Then, in the fall when I got a bad cold and sore throat, I had to stop vaping for a few days. At that point, I just gave it up. It was easy to do. Vaping does have its problems, though. I noticed it gave me periodic mouth ulcers. In researching it, I found other people complaining of the same thing. The pro-vaping crowd blamed the ulcers on smoking cessation. They had some mild proof to back up their claims. Once I quit vaping, I no longer had the ulcers, so I think maybe it had something to do with vaping, as opposed to quitting cigs. It is possible 30 years of vaping might prove deadly. However, 1 year of vaping got me permanently off of cigs.

Not quite. The real question involved knowing what you can freely say vs. what will get you into trouble. There are easy cases, and then, there are some really tough ones.

Do you think the law can articulate a distinction like you are trying to express? "Moon landings? No problem. Holocausts... Now that's a different story."

Haha! Zen, it is kind of funny the way you will say stuff like, "There's this guy whose name I'd really like to mention, but..." LOL Oldie does the same thing.