I truly hate to start a diary with a question, but this has been bothering me for weeks:  Does Obama have funding from fed lobbyist (ex-lobbyist) or doesn't he?  

I ask because I hear conflicting information.  There are reputable news stories indicating that ex-lobbyists gave him money bundled with that of an individual's donations, so as to appear as if it came from an individual.  I see these individuals named and listed on www.fec.gov.  

There is also information that he took lobbyists money for his senatorial race.

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The Washington Post today recommends stricter regulations for the tobacoo industry. Good first step but what lawmakers really need to do is ban tobacco altogether.

If it really is the killer that health officials say, why not take it out and save millions of lives in the process?

Marijuanna is considered a Schedule I drug by the federal government. Requirements for Schedule I:

(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
    (B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
    (C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Tobacco fits into these requirements. The industry is getting a free ride while the companies continue to pump up the nicotine levels.

If the lawmakers and regulators are really, I mean REALLY committed to public health, someone should actually go out on a limb and ban the product altogether.  

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The Austin American Statesman reports:

The House and Senate are preparing to vote on telecommunications legislation that could affect every American who surfs the Internet, watches cable TV or uses a phone.

But no one should waste much time watching the floor debates on C-SPAN. The lawmakers admit their goal is not to pass definitive legislation in public in the coming weeks.

Instead, they want to pass separate bills, regardless of how different they may be. The final version would be negotiated, largely in private, by about a dozen senators and representatives on a conference committee.

The Senate just needs to pass "anything to get us into conference," where the real decisions will be made, House telecommunications subcommittee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said Tuesday at a telecom forum hosted by National Journal's Technology Daily.

The conference committee is where House and Senate bills are reconciled, and differences are ironed out.  What Upton is saying is that this process will be abused for the benefit of telecom interests.  Usually lawmakers keep that kind of stuff secret.  Pretty brazen, I have to say.

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