Even if they were consumed in the same amount, and even without being filtered, i would still expect tobacco to be more damaging simply do to the toxic cornucopia of additives found in cigarettes.

Even without a strong grass roots movement to legalize, your forgetting the single most powerful force in the country, capitalism. at some point it would have been inevitable that someone would realize how much money there was to be made through legalization and sale. Once their lobbyists went to work, legalization would be almost guaranteed.

Unquestionably. Even taking into account the dangers of smoke inhalation, one persons use of marijuana can in no way harm any other individual who does not also choose to use and with THC's LD50 of 42mg/kg (significantly less toxic than most prescribed pain relievers) most people consider it physically impossible to smoke enough marijuana to achieve an overdose. It goes without saying that the possible medical benefits of marijuana are significant ranging from pain relief to recent discoveries made in the possible treatment of diabetes; socially however there are far FAR more users who aside from their use of marijuana are law abiding citizens. legalization would relieve an enormous burden from our over taxed judicial and correctional systems, saving millions of tax payers dollars nationwide. Additionally, individuals once persecuted for their victimless crime would see one significant barrier removed from their path in search for employment or assistance in affording higher education, enriching our society overall. Legalization would cripple organized crime by removing a key source of income from criminal control. Through taxation, marijuana could become a valuable source of income for state and federal governments. Finally throughout the private sector, countless jobs would be created from R&D;, to production, to sales and distribution.

Why marijuana was ever made illegal in the first place is a better question.

but I seem to have gone on a tangent. the social aspects are more significant but this does not discount medical usefulness or the prudence of legalization.

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but it seems likely that Disney's focus will be less on pleasing fans and more on extracting as much profit as possible from a much broader audience.

I'm afraid you might have it the other way around. I do not deny that "cronyism" is a serious problem in the U.S. but it is the members of our governing bodies that are the crony's. we've seen evidence of our government being manipulated at every level by the leaders of our economic society for their own benefit, and to the detriment of all others.

lets see, assuming that diplomatic relations had degraded that far, we can only assume that the UN is no longer in the picture. wars are expensive and the U.S... lets face it if countries could declare bankruptcy we would have by now. With nobody left willing to finance our campaigns the citizens would be taxed through the roof, until the point where grass roots armed resistance movements would start coping up all over the main land. Then Great Brittan would just sit back and laugh as we tore ourselves apart from the inside out.

There are a great many types and degrees of love. I myself maintain healthy relationships with several ex-girlfriends who I had believed myself to be in a "serious relationship" with and I value them no less now then i did then. However we have seen now how marriage would have caused our relationships to degrade. Some people are so compatible in so many ways its easy to overlook the one point of contradiction what would ruin a relationship if it were forced.

Love not in spite of flaws, but because of them.

Agreed. Far too many people seem eager to make judgements with no accounting for historical or societal context.

you're taking a fairly rigid literal interpretation aren't you? isn't it a little bit of a double standard to condemn a belief based on its literal interpretation then refer only to that same interpretation when someone attempts to offer an alternative?

Fostering a self centered nature, capitalism has survived by elevating a select few to a state of financial independence while simultaneously securing support from the majority with the promise of the potential for each individual to achieve the same level of "success". This simply isn't possibly because individuals in our society gauge their own success only in relation to the success of others. If everyone were on equal footing, nobody would feel superior, or comparatively successful. The idea that capitalism will ever result in a completely equitable society is a popular mass delusion and it is this delusion that will ensure its continued use well into the future.

Capitalism itself possesses no flaws, it is simply an elegant, efficient, self maintaining, and viscous cycle which promotes and encourages only the worst natural tendencies of the human race.