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May 19, 2008
Industrial hemp resolution derided at WI state GOP convention in Stevens Point
Posted by Gary Storck
Monday, May 19, 2008
In the Wisconsin Legislature's 2007-2008 session, Rep. Gene Hahn (R-Cambria) introduced AB 146, which would have created a state commission to look into hemp farming in WI, hemp farming being already legal under state law. I attended the hearing on April 18, 2007, where the bill was lauded by GOP committee members who ultimately joined the GOP committee chair and Democratic members in unanimously passing the bill out of committee. Still, GOP Speaker Mike Huebsch did not allow a floor vote for AB 146, despite wide support from his caucus and the public, particulary the agricultural community.
According to a post on a website called Nolan Chart, The Insurgent columnist: Hoopydoo, click here, at last weekend's GOP state convention in Stevens Point, a resolution supporting industrial hemp was not only voted down but derided by the state chair and others with the usual jokes about smoking pot. Add this to the Republican National Committee's outburst against Barack Obama's positive statements on medical cannabis click here, and you can see why the GOP is not winning over many new members these days. It is only the Ron Pauls and sometimes the Gene Hahns of the party that are showing any common sense.
Source: Nolan Chartclick here
(snip)
When Vernon Delegate Adam Bachman offered an industrial hemp amendment to the "Climate Change and Environment" resolution, the callow Priebus mocked, "I'm sorry, I thought you said industrial hemp?" prompting the typical childish snickering that was the standard reaction to radical' ideas that aren't Party Approved'.
Nonetheless, Bachman courageously went on to make a powerfully coherent and reasoned case for it's exploration as alternative fuel and clothing source, citing it's durability as a fabric, and noting Wisconsin's role as a key producer of hemp during World War II.
But ignorance won the day, as whisperings of "marijuana" and "smoking dope" suffused the majority. In the minds of the party hacks, Bachman was proposing the legalization of pot.
(snip)
Posted by Gary at May 19, 2008 01:20 PM
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