Weekend Wise Words - Frederick Douglass’s “Fourth of July” Speech

Be Smart! Be Brilliant!

"Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Speech is the most famous speech delivered by the abolitionist and civil rights advocate Frederick Douglass. In the nineteenth century, many American communities and cities celebrated Independence Day with a ceremonial reading of the Declaration of Independence, which was usually followed by an oral address or speech dedicated to the celebration of independence and the heritage of the American Revolution and the Founding Fathers. On July 5, 1852, the Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society of Rochester, New York, invited Douglass to be the keynote speaker for their Independence Day celebration." - Commentary by L. Diane Barnes, Youngstown State University

I'm including only the end of Mr. Douglass's long speech and the poem he noted by William Lloyd Garrison. Thanks to milestonedocuments.com web site:

"The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, “Let there be Light,” has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen, in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. “Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God.” In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it:"

God speed the year of jubilee
The wide world o'er!
When from their galling chains set free, Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee, And wear the yoke of tyranny
Like brutes no more.
That year will come, and freedom's reign, To man his plundered rights again Restore.
God speed the day when human blood
Shall cease to flow!
In every clime be understood,
The claims of human brotherhood,
And each return for evil, good, Not blow for blow;
That day will come all feuds to end,
And change into a faithful friend
Each foe.
God speed the hour, the glorious hour, When none on earth
Shall exercise a lordly power,
Nor in a tyrant's presence cower; But all to manhood's stature tower, By equal birth!
THAT HOUR WILL COME, to each, to all,
And from his prison-house, the thrall Go forth.
Until that year, day, hour, arrive,
With head, and heart, and hand I'll strive, To break the rod, and rend the gyve, The spoiler of his prey deprive
So witness Heaven!
And never from my chosen post,
Whate'er the peril or the cost,
Be driven.

Have a great 4th of July weekend.

Whale Wars?

There is a TV show (on cable) called, "Whale Wars" about a group called Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who fight against whalers. You know, it's pretty rewarding to think that there is a show on about what the movement was all about so many years ago. A rockin' title song, these guys are like heroes and they have their own cable show! I find it amazing.

When I was a kid, it was all about trying to get the adults to understand that we have got to start thinking about the environment. We were idiots. They thought we were nuts. But we kept pushing. Talking about it. We had kids. They talked about it. These kids grew up, took over the corporations, the Media. And now we have a show like "Whale Wars". Amazing.

The Ady Gil

Last season, in an attempt to cross the path of a Japanese whaling boat, got the Sea Shepherd's fastest boat cut in half. No one died, the board of inquiry in the end decided that both were at fault in the incident and perhaps that was the case.

Before it was cut in half

The entire thing has to do with whaling being world wide illegal. Except for certain Native populations who have been doing it for a thousand years and research issues.

Japanese Whalers

Research. That is the hole in the law. So, Japanese whalers have decided to push that law to its limits. And the Sea Shepherds have decided that someone needs to point out to them on a daily basis that they know they are full of nonsense in their contentions. And all this takes place around the coldest spots on Earth, the south pole, Antarctica. Where falling in the water can get you killed just by the water's temperature.

Capt. Paul Watson

According to Wikipedia: "The Toronto native joined a Sierra Club protest against nuclear testing in 1969. He was an early and influential member of Greenpeace, crewed and skippered for it, and later was a board member. Watson argued for a strategy of direct action that conflicted with the Greenpeace interpretation of nonviolence, was ousted from the board in 1977, and subsequently left the organization. That same year, he formed Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. The group is the subject of a reality show, Whale Wars."

It's a fascinating thing to watch, images of the waters down there, what the international crew are doing. We can all yell about the environment. Here are some people out there risking their lives, putting their money where their mouths are. Whether you agree with them or not, you have to give them credit for putting their beliefs on the line. The whalers are doing this for profit. These guys are doing it because the believe killing off something as incredible as whales, is simply immoral.

Even if you don't believe in what they are doing, they have still put on a good show. But if you do care about what they are doing, it's hard to stop watching. I would love to see a film crew on the Japanese whaler's boats to see what they are going through. I don't think they are bad people as such, just with a different mind set about what they are doing. I'm sure they think they are in the right, as they have the law on their side... sort of.

It's one of those arguments where both sides could be considered correct, especially from their own sides. I happen to believe they need to leave the whales alone. But then I think they should leave the dolphins and porpoises alone too. I know we need sanctuaries around the world to allow the fish to breed. I know we are fishing our oceans out of fish and non fish. I know we are being stupid.

For once, it's just kind of nice to see it exemplified on a weekly basis, that someone isn't screwing around about doing something about it. Even if they are a bit misguided. But I'm not so sure they are.

Creating Religion

Have you ever wondered about how religion came to be?

Was it God's Word? Was it created by chimps? Planned by Shaman? Evolved out of mud? What is it and where did it come from? Does it make any sense whatsoever?

It was created, designed, then it evolved over time (which is ironic, since the Theists like to think that evolution is a fantasy) and finally, it was crafted by those in authority, both religious and secular, and typically, royal. So, let's look at it from a rational point of view for a change. Just what do we know?

We know that all religions were created a long time ago. No kidding, right? We know they were GeoSpecific, created in a specific area and rules were applied accordingly to the primal / indigenous people who are now only 6% of the total population. Isn't it strange that if God did exist, wouldn't a religion for God, a True religion of a God, have been everywhere, perhaps spontaneously, all around the planet. Wouldn't it have been at one point everywhere, then allowed to change as that society dictated? Why would any "omnipotent Being" create a religion in one location where there was no global communication or travel? It makes no sense, not logically, or any other way.

But at one point, they were 100%. Actually they probably weren't even back then. Because that is the nature of Human Beings, not everyone will believe. The problem with that, even from the very beginning, those nonbelievers were probably beaten, run off a cliff, thrown to the carnivores on the tundra, or simply stoned, to death. As they still are in some places.

We know that through History, one religion replaced another, many times, most perhaps, absorbing an older religion, especially when the new religion had moved into the area of the old religion. Christmas, for instance, has nothing to do with Jesus' birthday, other than to celebrate it, and now even that is falling by the wayside. The term, "xmas" has nothing to do with that as it was a shorthand used by medieval Catholic monks to shorten the full word and indicated the cross, turned on it's side, so don't think it was a turn of the century New York vendor thing. It wasn't.

We know that according to Anthropologists, for instance, K. Kris Hirst, a working archaeologist before retiring in 2005 to write freelance science articles in archaeology, the oldest Neanderthals appear to be just over 30. In some cases, there are always exceptions to the rule, such as at Chapelle aux Saintes where there is evidence of some living longer beyond their ability to care for themselves.

The roots of religion were around this time or more likely, prior to even that, back when we no spoken language. But when it got its real foundation, when it was first consciously created, we lived with a median age or 30, and it's not a far stretch that they did not have lifespan to fully mature emotionally, leaving them in a more primal state than we can now achieve. Like most higher primates, humans are social animals who want to build structures outside themselves, be it with other Humans, or with paranormal beings.

Back in those years, our ancestors had no real education beyond what it took to survive. In reality, religion most likely began even further back, way back, even before Heidelberg Man, most likely while we were still sitting in trees.

The roots were set there for the religious, for magical belief systems. They needed something to fill in the gaps about their mysterious lives, the unknowns in their existence, the invisible in the dark during the periods when darkness could mean a very real death coming suddenly out of the unknown. And the unknown was a very big issue in the creation of god and religion. Evolutionary Psychology is just the beginning of this train of thought.

Humans, even pre humans, also need a buffer against life's complexities and dangers. Otherwise, a thinking being will simply self destruct. And so, religion was created by a people with no education, immature personalities, and no way to explain the unexplainable in what they experienced and saw happening all around them in life on a daily basis.

It should be understood just how easy it is to believe in a God. If you've ever gotten burned by the sun, possibly the first "God", you can understand how it could have been seen to be the "all powerful being". Then from there, to believe in an organized belief system supporting that belief, well, nothing, may be easier to believe, really. Even a neanderthal could believe in that. Doesn't that say something? And isn't it funny, all the references to God, Jesus and the Sun (Son)?

Before a "God" concept was even proposed, Neanderthal could certainly have believed in the imaginary because every time they closed their eyes in the dark, they could "see" there was something that existed beyond themselves, "out there" where things were not physical, and therefore, were scary. Dreams, certainly made people believe in the unreal and changed their lives in some cases for them. This doesn't even bring into play that of poisonings or hallucinogenic substances. Terrifying.

And so in the beginning, God and Religion were born of... fear. No really. READ the Old Testament of the Christian Bible sometime. As Humans developed it was obvious that wasn't working and so they finally needed a "friendly" and loving, or Fatherly, God. But even that is still based in the old fears and structures.

At some point, Humans learned to write and before that, they drew pictures, before that, they passed on legend by word of mouth. Once they began to write what they believed, things really took off. Once they began to understand you could write what was not true, to expand upon, to create, true religion was born. But even before writing, don't think that they weren't already very good story tellers. There is power in writing however. There is power in the God concept. People kowtow to the concept of an ultimate being and when it's unavailable for comment, that gives it even more power. Those who are the mouthpiece for that, have the capability of being the most power beings on the planet.

And so they tried to be. But those who were strongest, weren't always of a follower kind of format and typically were up against those in religious power. A good example of religious and solider would be the Templars. Finally, they scared both the secular and religious in power alike and were wiped out.

There is nothing truly surprising or difficult to understand here, other than that "faith" gets in the way of rationally seeing the Truth. Not, the "Truth", but the Truth.


So, WHY are we so surprised at how screwed up religion is, or why it has had to be changed and developed over the years by Humans and not god(s), and if a god or gods created it, then why did it need so much fine tuning, year after year after year?

The hard thing to do is to accept we are meat and bone, evolution is real, life is now, and not later after we die. I do not like that concept either, but I don't believe in ignoring what is relevant just because I don't like it. I was in a car accident once, a woman ran a red light and suddenly she was right in front of me. I didn't like it. I wanted to avoid it. But I accepted it and swerved, avoiding killing her by "T boning" her car. It saved her life. Had I simply decided not to believe in reality, she would be dead.

But that is exactly what religion does, it tells us to have "faith" in what is not real, what is obviously not so. And so we set ourselves up for some ugly truths, but so what, we'll be dead and not know it anyway. Still, we further so much unreal belief for those who remain behind us when we die and don't point out the silly uselessness of it all. It's great to have the magic of believing in Santa, but not so much to truly believe.

Did you get a call from 508-475-1324?

Did you get a call from 508-475-1324? Also report unwanted calls to help identify who is using this phone number.Country: USA Location: Massachusetts (Cambridge, Fall River, Plymouth).

Typical Telemarketer after a time telemarketing

I looked around online and found some other people got a call from these people and posted about it. I've given up a long time ago about this kind of thing. I put my numbers on the DNC - Do Not Call list. Since you can't stop it, and since I have to have a land line in my house for my DSL Internet access, and since I use a cell phone for everything, what I've done is whenever I have to give a phone number with a company or whatever, I give them my house number. Then I monitor it with CallerID and I don't answer it unless I know who it is.

Also (and this is key), I have voicemail and I put a message on there that says essentially, "I get a lot of sales people calling this number so I don't bother to answer this phone any more. If you have a legitimate reason to talk to me, please leave your name and number and why you are calling and I will get back to you as soon as I get this message. Otherwise, remove me from your call list and hang up now. Thank you." So now my biggest issue is the phone rings and I have to listen to it until voicemail takes over or they hang up.

Anyway, here are what people have said about this on forums:

"I get a recorded message that goes something like this:  This will be your final chance to lower your credit card rate."  Each time I press the option to speak with an operator and then tell that person to remove me from their call list.  Each time I am assured this will be done only to receive another call from them within a week. I have requested that they stop calling me about 50 times.  I have reported them on the "Do Not Call" complaint page."

Another said:

"I am also plagued with unsolicited calls from telemarketers and have reported them to just about every government agency I can think of. The DNC list is a joke for the most part, especially in view of the fact that the politicians who passed the bill exempted themselves, non-profit organizations, and all other entities with whom you may have done business in the past.

"The Better Business Bureau, the FCC, and (if you know the state from which the calls are being made) the Consumer Protection Agencies apparently have little or no interest in finding these unscrupulous telemarketers, much less in indicting, prosecuting, and punishing them. It's a waste of time unless a whole bunch of people gang up on the government and put a stop to telemarketing entirely. Sadly this won't happen because it represents too much revenue to the phone carriers and the U.S. Government."

Another said:

"This number calls and a recorded message states that I  am running out of time to lower the interest rate on one of my credit cards. They do not identify themselves. I pressed "1" to get a representative to find out WHO they are and how they got my number (on no call list). The rep refuses to tell me and hangs up ! I do not want these unsolicited calls and I am upset that I can get no info on them to report them."

Another said:

"Just received this voice mail (surprising) they never leave messages:

"...Account. There's no problems currently with your account. It is urgent however that you contact us concerning your eligibility for lowering your interest rates to as little as 6.9%. Your eligibility expires shortly so please consider this your final notice. Please press one now on your phone to speak with a live operator and lower your interest rate or press two to discontinue further notices. Thank you and have a great day".
Who is this?? I, too, am on the Do Not Call. Time to change the phone number."

We definitely need better legislation on this situation and the ability to go outside the country for people who do this and are offshore. And I mean, swat teams who go into another country, or work with that country's government to eradicate the situation.

I really dislike people calling me at home to sell me things. If I want something, I will go to the store myself, look it up online, or find it when I want it. I don't go to their homes to buy things from their company, and I don't want their company coming into my home. It is bad enough to have advertisements all over TV (especially PAID TV), intruding into my personal space.

Telemarketers suck. I see them as I do Municipal Meter Maids who get your car towed and ticket you. Criminals in legal jobs and uniforms. I don't mind if they ticket me, but towing my car? Theft. Unless it is a public hazard, the car shouldn't be towed and yes, I've had my car towed. One time, I was legal and they towed it (twice that happened on the same street. If it says you have to be moved by 4PM, then they shouldn't tow you till 4PM. If they need you gone by 4PM, then say, 3:30PM or 3PM. Otherwise, it comes off as a racket, doesn't it? Kind of like the telemarketers.

Need I say more?

Tormenting Telmarketers: A Game You Can Play at Home!

Everyone has gotten a call from a Telemarketer. The new Scourge of the Telephone System. Previously when the phone rang, you always wondered if it was someone you knew, or another schmuck with something to sell. Well, the time has come to turn the tables. We need to take control of our own phones. We need to take the ``market'' out of Telemarketing.

Premise:

Telemarketers take the brute force approach to making sales. If you talk to a whole bunch of people, someone will buy what you are selling.

Counter-Tactic:

Waste as much of their time as you can. For each minute that you waste means several potential customers that will not be reached. Make Telemarketing unprofitable. Hanging up only increases the changes for them to make a sale. Don't let this happen!

Hints:

Most of the preliminary stuff is done by someone making minimum wage, and reads a script. Let them finish. It's easy points, and you were watching Star Trek and weren't using your phone anyway. It's easy to keep them interested using ``attentive grunting'', similar to when your mother calls.

Remember, Telemarketers are people, too. They do choose their job (like Meter Maids). But with things as bad financially as they are, you need to get a job where you can find it. So you don't have to be mean to the peon that is calling you, but you can screw up the company for which they are calling, for. Just waste their time. You get the telemarketer their time on the phone, and you get the company for whom they are calling, absolutely nothing.

And the plus up side? They aren't bothering anyone else until you hang up.

Passion, or Death - The Harlequin Hipsters and Titanium Sporkestra

"People are dying." So begins a fascinating view of "Passion, or Death". Make up your own mind....
First of all, my sincere apologies for getting the title backward the other day (Death, or Passion, well, really doesn't make sense, does it?).

My daughter talked me into going to see a live stage show of her friends in a piece they appropriately call, "Passion, or Death".

It was put on by The Harlequin Hipsters with Titanium Sporkestra pulling up a dynamic and resounding ending, and was the HH's fourth year anniversary.

Titanium Sporkestra

Now, in their own words:

"This will be our first full length show ever. 2011 is The Harlequin Hipsters’ year to go big. We’ve been out there, pounding the pavement at every Seattle street festival, playing our fair city’s cabaret and music stages both small and large and giving our passion for dance to all kinds musicians inspiring others to dance for 4 years. Now is our chance to make something totally unique and we need your help to do it. We’re almost halfway to our goal and we have 13 days left. Please visit this link, watch the video and pledge some dollars. We can’t do this without you! Thank you!!"

It took place Friday and Saturday, June 24th and 25th in the evening at 7PM and 9PM, as Hale's Brewery's Palladium in Ballard, Washington, just outside of downtown Seattle along the waterfront, a block away fishing and other types of boats sit idle, as if waiting for a show like this to pull them out of the doldrums.

And so it happened. Let me just say, these photos do no justice to the scene, nor do the videos. I badly wanted to video the opening, because it was so cool, but I knew video couldn't do it justice, and besides, I just wanted to sit there and watch.

At the end, I simply had to video the Titanium Sporkestra as the entire place was up and dancing and jumping around. Simply, too much fun.


The show started with the musical composer, Milo Hayden, aka, Mr. Moo, from Portland, OR, playing violin. Then the players appeared and mock walked along city streets, warping both time and perception in their mind bending foray into modern daily life; what I was seeing before me was the living rut that most of us try to survive, day in and day out, until death sucks us down. The opening pulled me into a play on what would happen, "If".

What would happen if putting our passions on hold, simply to survive our lives, lives we have allowed to get out of control, were suddenly to start killing us. And after all, doesn't it?

Passion or Death program

More clever than the concept was the execution. As they started I felt a familiar feeling, "oh no, artsy nonsense that won't be backed up by equal ability to pull it off."

Show Program front

Actually, knowing my daughter's friends, I did expect it to be pretty good, but you have these preconceived notions, you know. I was soon able to relax and enjoy, become absorbed in, and luxuriate through the evening's performance, an experience perfectly offset by the opening aforementioned scene.

Show Program back

Afterward, we took off, skipping the after party, as we had a bus to catch and a ferry ride, when ended in our getting home at 2AM. But while we were waiting (forever, it seemed) for the bus, across the street the Sporkestra was gathering and finally broke into music.

Let me just say that I've always loved New Orleans attitudes toward music and I love the HBO show, Treme about New Orleans after Katrina hit. Their music in the streets and the city's desire, their passion, for music, for street musicians "busking", spontaneous outbreaks of music, song and dance, has always been for me, a strong fascination and lifelong enjoyment. How can one not?

So seeing the full band playing on the street next to a bar, in the dark off a main street in Ballard, was a perfect end to an entertaining evening.

No, I won't go into detail in case you ever get to see them perform this, but I will say you seldom get a chance to see performers performing their passions, so intimately built into a performance and I will also say, that should you ever get to attend one of The Harlequin Hipsters' (or, the Titanium Sporkestra's) happenings, simply put? Do it.

Marijuana bill officially introduced to Congress by Ron Paul, Barney Frank

Before we get started, who do you think smoked Cannabis? Here is a list of 200 well known Cannabis smokers. It is now being alleged that even William Shakespeare did and they are looking to non-invasively test his bones and teeth. That would kind of shoot down that whole, "it will make you stupid" thing, don't you think?

Arnold Schwarzenegger

How about, who do you think are the ten most successful Cannabis smokers. How about the ten smartest Cannabis smokers? You know, it really isn't that you could be more successful in not indulging, or smarter. It really is a personal choice. Just how smart or how successful do you need (or what) to be? Is it possible that without, you would not have been as (relaxed, creative?) successful, or smart? What does quality of life mean, to YOU? And whose business is it what that personal decision is? Certainly not the Government's. Or, your Mom's.

Now, let's get started....

The LA Times reported Friday that in a finally, bi-partisan move, one of the few, a Marijuana bill was officially introduced to Congress by Ron Paul, a Republican, and Barney Frank, a Democrat.

Barney Frank (D)

Ron Paul (R)

"The bill appears doomed on arrival, according to the Associated Press, which reported that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said his panel, which the proposed law is required to venture through, would not even consider it." Perhaps, a law such as this should not go through a committee such as his. If we have people who are so misinformed, so ignorant of the law and history, who are in charge of important committees such as this, there is something fundamentally wrong with our government. But, no big surprise there to most of us, right?

Lamar Smith, professional Congressional Goofball

It's about time, don't you think? Have you noticed how much you see Cannabis being used by characters on TV shows this season? It's always a sign of the times when it's time to throw in the towel for conservatives and those who ignore reality when that happens. Same sex marriage is being legalized all over the place, New York being the last to get on board; and same sex lifestyles and shows on TV/Cable are also all over the place.

This bill, the "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011," is broader and bolder than the medical marijuana bills that Congressman Frank has introduced in every Congress since 1995. The bill introduced today would allow states to determine their own marijuana laws -- not just medical marijuana laws -- without federal interference.

So maybe, just maybe, we should stop this nonsense, this infringement on American rights and give people their long over due considerations to be free Americans, free to live as they want, to be who they want in a country founded upon the ideals of freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

All, literally ALL the arguments I hear against legalizing Cannabis have to do with things that are none of those people's business. And why, is it so horrible, that people can get "high" on Cannabis and enjoy doing it? People enjoy a drink, right? And that is some kind of harmful stuff to your body, brain, liver. One has to ask, why is Cannabis so fear invoking in these ignorant legislatures and the judicial and law enforcement branches.

I'll tell you. Job security. Kick backs from drug cartels (if not to American's to our allies in places like Mexico. And finally, even people who want it legalized won't vote for it in congress because of their fear of losing their jobs do to the ignorant, religious vocal groups back home. Does the majority of America think it should be legalized. Yes. Does that matter? No, not really, because it's one of those things that should just be legal. Sometimes, our leaders should lead, do the right thing, not lie to us and do the wrong thing and call it the right thing. It's sad.

Tom Angell, media relations director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an international organization of criminal justice professionals who claim first-hand awareness of the waste and harms of current drug policies. He has said:


"No longer can reform advocates be laughed off as a bunch of Cheech and Chongs. Hopefully having this national debate will help more people to understand that marijuana prohibition harms public safety by giving drug cartels and gangs a huge source of tax-free profits, just like alcohol prohibition did for Al Capone and his colleagues during the 1920s and 30s."

Rep. John Conyers Says Marijuana Should Be Decriminalized.

Former President Jimmy Carter, a life-long humanitarian, wrote a New York Times opinion piece that says the time to end the war on drugs has come. He suggests following the advice of the Global Commission, a major facet of which is the need to end marijuana prohibition.

In yet another illustration of how the marijuana debate has gone completely mainstream, even the freshly-crowned winner of the Miss USA pageant, Alyssa Campanella, stated that she supports the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Now let's enjoy some Disinformation (by the way, Disinformation was invented by the Soviets during the Cold War in a communist attempt to subvert the "American Way") from Congressman Smith, in the LA Times article:


"Decriminalizing marijuana will only lead to millions more Americans becoming addicted to drugs [cannabis is not an addictive drug, only mentally addictive, if anything] and greater profits for drug cartels who fund violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. Allowing states to determine their own marijuana policy flies in the face of Supreme Court precedent," Congressman Smith said.

WHAT? Unbelievable. Really?! I mean, WHAT? There is so much bullshit in that statement, I don't even know where to start. First, we should fire Smith for being an idiot, ignorant, and not doing his job properly. We need intelligent and informed people in these important positions. The drug cartel issue is ONLY there BECAUSE it's illegal.

Oh my God, talk about out right lies and twisting the facts. Republicans are dangerous to the United States because they spouts lies and turn children into hamburgers, and all have children meat grinders in their basements and they ALL have basements. Yes, that's ridiculous, but it's just as accurate. Who makes these fools chairman of anything? People, we really need to start voting intelligent people to congress because this is all American's fault. YOU put guys like this in charge of our laws. Look how they handle their responsibilities. Unbelievable!

Not to mention, the things they are using as arguments against legalizing Cannabis, are simply NONE of their business. Also, Cannabis is a natural compound that grows wild as a weed, and is NOT an addictive drug, and is not a narcotic at all as has been legislated and placed next to heroin and cocaine in the restricted drugs list, both of which ARE dangerous synthetic drugs.

Next....

"The Office of National Drug Control Policy echoed some of Smith's fears and said decriminalizing pot was a nonstarter."

Surprise! But hey, it makes sense doesn't it? I mean, really, would you expect to hear the Office of National Chewing Gum Control Policy to vote to legalize Chewing Gum, were it illegal? Wouldn't that kind of kill their job? That is something I've never understood, some jobs, you should work your way out of. Like the environment, for instance. You WANT to do good work so one day your job disappears because the environment is doing so well. Right?

Next....

"Our concern with marijuana is not borne out of any culture war or drug war mentality [Righttttt....], but out of what the science tells us about the drug’s effects [we're reading very different scientific documents, have you read the ones about THC growing brain cells? Killing nausea in cancer patients? Increasing the desire to eat in those same patients? The fact that its just fun about pretty harmless when compared to alcohol?]. The facts are that marijuana potency has tripled in the past 20 years [true and I suggest growing your own, if you can legally do so, but then more potent means smoking less, and then there's always the safer "vaporizer" where you breathe in no smoke at all] and teens are using the drug at earlier ages," the office said in a statement to The Times.

That bit about teens, is not a "do not legalize it" issue, that is a parental issue, pure and simple. What has this to do with legalizing it so people stop going to jail for trying to do what should be legal for adults? Kids drink alcohol illegally too, do we make that illegal? We've seen how that goes, just as we are seeing with Cannabis. Making it illegal, does not work. It simply makes criminals out of law abiding citizens. It takes handling those teens who smoke Cannabis, out of the hands of their parents who should be dealing with it and putting it in the hands of law enforcement. Do we really want them handling this for our children, for not only doing it underage, but for it also being illegal only adding to an already difficult situation?

Putting it bluntly, children, should not drinking alcohol (but they do) and they shouldn't smoke (or use) Cannabis. From my reading, you shouldn't do things like that until you are out of your teens due to how the brain is structured. But there are other issues than simply do kids "smoke pot". There is why are so many people in jail for smoking it; why do we continue to support, as a national government effort, foreign drug cartels? You have to ask yourself, why do they support those cartels, continue to fill their coffers with billions of dollars, when legalizing it will remove that money from their corporate (yes, cartels are basically a corporation under a different name) structures.

And finally, legalizing Cannabis has a LOT to do with people being afraid of change, and lazy. Lazy especially for Law Enforcement agencies because then they would have to do some real police work, crack real crimes. Legalize Pot and law enforcement statistics will drop drastically because they will no longer be putting normal people in jail, they won't be harassing your kids anymore.

They will have to stop putting Grandma in jail, busting medical Cannabis stores. Have YOU ever called 911? Have you ever gotten put on hold? DO you realize how many people have been in the middle of violent crimes and were on hold or police were slow to arrive because the police resources were busy dealing with busting a Medical Marijuana store, or in the middle of a Cannabis bust? Do you realize how much money is freed up if we just stop, dealing with Cannabis? For those worried about illegal aliens crossing our borders, do you realize how much money that frees up for ICE once it's pulled away from ATF and DEA?

So, this law came thirty years after I said that it would be legalized within ten years, by 1980. I don't know quite what went wrong. But it's about time we rectified the situation, stopped be afraid of everything, and accept that some change, is good. As soon as I heard about it, I knew it would be squashed by the fear-mongers, the job security issues, the ignorance. And the only way to get beyond that is to keep pushing, talk about it, clear up the fears, and when people talk about the "important issues", point out that 95% of those have nothing to do with legalizing it.

Finally....

""The earlier a person begins to use drugs, the more likely they are to progress to more serious abuse and addiction -– reflecting the harmful, long-lasting effects drugs can have on the developing brain. Legalization remains a nonstarter in the Obama administration because research shows that marijuana use is associated with voluntary treatment admissions, fatal drugged driving accidents and emergency room admissions," the statement said."

Again, these issues have NOTHING to do with legalizing Cannabis. This statement incorrectly makes Cannabis look like a dangerous drug. The only danger is the same with alcohol, and in fact, that statement is far more true for alcohol. Most emergency room admissions for Cannabis are in the end, unnecessary and perception based. There have been no deaths due to Cannabis. Alcohol on the other hand, and yes, we do need to compare to a legal drug for clarity on this issue.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published a U.S. government study in 2005, estimated that 34,833 people in 2001 died from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits. Another 40,933 died from car crashes and other mishaps caused by excessive alcohol use."

Cannabis related deaths during that time period: Zero.

According to the CDC:

"Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among youth in the United States. Current marijuana use decreased from 27% in 1999 to 21% in 2009. Current cocaine use increased from 2% in 1991 to 4% in 2001 and then decreased from 2001 (4%) to 2009 (3%). Lifetime inhalant use decreased from 20% in 1995 to 12% in 2003 and then remained steady from 2003 (12%) to 2009 (12%). Lifetime use of ecstasy among high school students decreased from 11% in 2003 to 7% in 2009. Lifetime use of methamphetamines was steady from 1999 (9%) to 2001 (10%) and then decreased to 4% in 2009. Lifetime heroin use did not change from 1999 (2%) to 2009 (2%). Hallucinogenic drug use decreased from 13% in 2001 to 8% in 2007 and then remained steady from 2007 (8%) to 2009 (8%)."

So Cannabis use has decreased. What I've seen in my home area are a youth culture that is far wiser than my cohort were when I was there age. They are less interested in drugs in general, more into ecology and being productive citizens. Comparing Cannabis use now, if it's legalized to say thirty years ago, simply isn't a good gauge of where it will take us. We also don't consider those who WILL try Cannabis once it's legal, but then will STOP drinking alcohol.

I remember a very good friend who was into hallucinogens and pills, then someone introduced him to Cannabis and he immediately quite all his other drug use. He cut way back on even drinking alcohol. No one talks about that kind of behavior. Why? Because, isn't it obvious? That is how fear mongering works.

The CDC goes on to point out that the issues now, are not Cannabis use, but pills.

"While illicit drug use has declined among youth, rates of nonmedical use of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medication remain high. Prescription medications most commonly abused by youth include pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and depressants. In 2009, 20% of U.S. high school students had ever taken a prescription drug, such as Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax, without a doctor's prescription. Teens also misuse OTC cough and cold medications, containing the cough suppressant dextromethorphan (DXM), to get high. Prescription and OTC medications are widely available, free or inexpensive, and falsely believed to be safer than illicit drugs. Misuse of prescription and OTC medications can cause serious health effects, addiction, and death.^"

These are the things we need to be paying attention to and here is where the laziness comes in. It is far easier to make Cannabis the monster, when there are far uglier monsters out there attacking our kids and our nation; with issues that really are hard to go up against. Partly because these are MEDICAL issues, and not Law Enforcement issues. It has gone on for too many decades now that we treat our American citizens as criminals and incarcerate them rather than get them help.

Do the right thing. Start screaming about this to your Congresspeople. Tell them to: Stop wasting our money in government and start doing things that actual help us. Let them know we know this magic act they have been pulling on us all this time and start working, break a sweat, solve some problems and stop, putting us in jail, forcing us to live in ignorance and fear.

Do your job, Congress! Stop being so afraid of your jobs. Maybe what we need is only four years for anyone on congress. If they can't do their jobs because of fear of being voted out, perhaps they shouldn't have a continuing job for them to protect, we can simply take it away. We, after all, are THE PEOPLE.

Weekend Wise Words

Be Smart! Be Brilliant!

No, really. Go for it!

This weekend's Wise Words are from or about our Founding Fathers. I keep hearing all about how this is a Christian country and how the Founding Father's designed it that way. I think they were conscious of people's beliefs and their right to believe, but this quite obviously had nothing to do with how they saw the relationship for God and Country. Or more appropriately, Country and maybe, God. They had I'm sure, no desire whatsoever for God or religion to take over the country the way they have in past years.

They may have been Deists (belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.); and believed in "a" God, but they were by no means Theists (belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.). They didn't believe in any kind of organized religion, as you will see below.

Not at all, not from these Deists and mostly Freemasons.

So to all those Theists....

George Washington:

Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian...  He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments.  Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary...  Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative."

John Adams:

"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved-- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
                            -letter to Thomas Jefferson


Thomas Jefferson:

"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity.  What has been the effect of coercion?  To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.  To support roguery and error all over the earth."
                             - "Notes on Virginia"


Benjamin Franklin:

"I cannot conceive otherwise than that He, the Infinite Father, expects or requires no worship or praise from us, but that He is even infinitely above it."
            - "Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion",  1728


Abraham Lincoln:

"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."
                        -Spoken by Abraham Lincoln, quoted by Joseph Lewis


Now... you were saying?