The Maryland Senate voted on Saturday to allow patients access to medical marijuana at state-licensed dispensaries. The bill now moves to the state’s lower chamber.

The bill was approved overwhelmingly, with bipartisan support and without objections or discussion, by a 35-12 margin.

Maryland would join 14 other states in legalizing medical marijuana. The neighboring District of Columbia legalized it in a 1998 referendum that was only recently allowed by Congress to go into effect. The District’s city council is writing rules to establish the city’s medical marijuana policy.

Current Maryland law allows defendants charged with pot possession to cite a medical necessity defense. If a judge deems the drug to be beneficial, a maximum hundred dollar civil fine is imposed. Read the full story

The latest calculation of the National Debt as posted by the Treasury Department has – at least numerically – exceeded the statutory Debt Limit approved by Congress last February as part of the Recovery Act stimulus bill.

The ceiling was set at $12.104 trillion dollars. The latest posting by Treasury shows the National Debt at nearly $12.135 trillion.

A senior Treasury official told CBS News that the department has some “extraordinary accounting tools” it can use to give the government breathing room in the range of $150-billion when the Debt exceeds the Debt Ceiling. Read the full story

via http://www.disinfo.com/

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration plans to announce a new policy on Wednesday to curb the spread of biological weapons, but it will reaffirm the Bush administration’s opposition to an international regimen for verifying stockpiles of anthrax, smallpox and other agents.

The policy, to be disclosed in a speech in Geneva by the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, Ellen O. Tauscher, will focus on increasing health security to reduce the impact of outbreaks of infectious disease, whether natural or man-made, administration officials said Tuesday. Read the full story

WRAPUP 1-U.S. Senate healthcare bill includes public option

The White House Readies a Stealth Stimulus

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White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett was adamant on Sunday, when asked if President Obama was considering a so-called second stimulus to deal with the rising unemployment rate. “I think it’s too soon. It’s premature to say, ‘Is a second stimulus needed?’ ” she told David Gregory, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press.

But a moment later she said the White House was already looking at tax credits and other measures to further stimulate the economy. “There are a range of suggestions that are being considered right now by his economic team, and we’ll see what we come forward with,” she added. Read the full story

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The Real Reasons Behind Fed Secrecy

Last week I was very pleased that the Financial Services Committee held a hearing on the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, HR 1207. The bill has 295 cosponsors and there is also strong support for the companion bill in the Senate. This hearing was a major step forward in getting the bill passed. Read the full story

Congress Passes Legislation Ending the Federally-Guaranteed Student Loan Program

This legislation eliminates the federally-guaranteed student loan program and replaces it with 100% direct lending from the federal government. SAFRA uses the savings to fund an increase in the Pell Grant program among other initiatives. The US Senate is expected to consider its own version of the legislation within a few weeks. Read the full story

Obama lashes out at U.S. banks over student loans

TROY, New York (Reuters) – President Barack Obama criticized the largest U.S. banks on Monday for trying to thwart legislation that would overhaul federal student loan programs. Read the full story

What’s Really in Supplements?

Regulators and Physicians Raise Alarms About Dangerous Ingredients in Many Herbal Remedies Read the full story

You can watch the videos here

Senate blocks HUD grants to ACORN

The community organization is facing more bad publicity after two conservative activists posed as a prostitute and pimp and videotaped workers’ advice on getting housing and reporting income.

Washington -  The Senate voted Monday to block the Housing and Urban Development Department from giving grants to ACORN, a community organization under fire in voter-registration fraud cases.

The 83-7 vote came as ACORN , which stands for the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is receiving bad publicity related to surreptitious videos. Two conservative activists posed as a prostitute and her pimp, then released a hidden-camera video in which ACORN employees in Baltimore advised the couple on house-buying and how to account for the woman’s income on tax forms. Two other videos, aired frequently on media outlets such as the Fox News Channel, depict similar situations in Brooklyn and Washington, D.C.

If the House agrees with the Senate, ACORN could not win HUD grants for programs such as counseling low-income people on how to get mortgages.

Last week, the Census Bureau severed ties with ACORN, saying it does not want the group’s help with the 2010 count. The group, which advocates for poor people, conducted a voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some workers were accused of submitting false registration forms with names including Mickey Mouse.

Last week, prosecutors in Miami-Dade County, Fla., arrested 11 people on charges that they falsified hundreds of voter applications during a registration drive last year. ACORN tipped off authorities to the suspected fraud.

On the hidden camera controversy, ACORN says it has fired the employees involved but accuses Fox of pumping up the scandal.

In a statement, Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s chief organizer, said the tapes had been doctored and violated Maryland’s wiretapping laws.

Fox News spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer said the tapes were vetted editorially before they were aired.

The video was created by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles and posted on BigGovernment.com. Breitbart.com, which owns the website, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Czars have been around for a few decades in America now, but the ability to bypass Senate confirmation that czars have is an injustice to our system of political checks and balances necessary for democracy. Read the full story

(NaturalNews) The United States of America is devolving into medical fascism and Massachusetts is leading the way with the passage of a new bill, the “Pandemic Response Bill” 2028, reportedly just passed by the MA state Senate and now awaiting approval in the House. This bill suspends virtually all Constitutional rights of Massachusetts citizens and forces anyone “suspected” of being infected to submit to interrogations, “decontaminations” and vaccines.

It’s also sets fines up to $1,000 per day for anyone who refuses to submit to quarantines, vaccinations, decontamination efforts or to follow any other verbal order by virtually any state-licensed law enforcement or medical personnel. You can read the text yourself here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/sen… Read the full story

Hello ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome back for another Case Review Series. In this series we will be delving deep into the Kennedy-King Conspiracy (JFK, RFK, and MLK) . Was there more than on shooter on the grassy knoll? Did RFK die by the hands of an Arab Extremist? Did LBJ have both Kennedy’s killed? Did George Bush Snr. help in anyway? Was MLK assassinated by the government? Was the 60’s the year of the great “clean” up? Let’s investigate and let’s see what the evidence leads for in:

John F. Kennedy: The Case Reviewed Read the full story

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. Read the full story

Not a good look for the Clintons, President Obama, and other key democrats he has helped…

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200908251258DOWJONESDJONLINE000315_FORTUNE5.htm

NY Businessman Charged With $74 Million Bank Fraud Against Citigroup

A New York man was charged with allegedly defrauding Citigroup Inc. (C) out of $74 million in loans. Read the full story

Bill would force Obama to reveal birth documents

Hawaii state Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat, has confirmed plans to introduce legislation through which the state’s lawmakers would force the public disclosure of all President Obama’s birth documents held by the Hawaii Department of Health, including President Obama’s long-form original birth certificate.

Espero told WND his bill is aimed at “giving citizens access to birth records” under a standard of government transparency which would permit journalists to request in writing the public disclosure of vital birth records including long-form birth certificates of all persons born in Hawaii. He said it would include the release of birth records on those previously born in Hawaii.

“My decision to file the legislation was primarily a result of the fuss over President Obama’s birth records and the lingering questions,” Espero said.

Espero told WND that he believes President Obama was born in Hawaii.

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Rand Paul Enters Senate Race

From Kentucky Public Radio’s Lisa Autry

Bowling Green eye doctor Rand Paul says he will seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Jim Bunning. Paul officially declared his candidacy Wednesday, ending months of speculation. Read the full story