Have you begun your Economic Revolution to escape your Economic Slavery?

The Fiscal War has been waged against you and your family for too long… time to defend yourself and ‘fight’ wisely.

http://SmartPeopleSmartMoney.com

Read, click, listen, watch and learn…. and DO.

Samson, you can’t travel Northern Virginia without tripping over a dozen Patrick Henry namesakes, roads, bridges, colleges, statues, etc. ha yes and the occaisional blogger.

It started long before Nancy Reagan.

The greatest challenge to corporate power was the movements of the 1960’s.  Creating a drug war was a way to try to control that and protect corporate power and the ability of the government to fight long endless wars abroad.

The Democrats pushed drug laws and the drug war.  Nixon pushed drug laws and the drug war.  Reagan pushed drug laws and the drug war as governor of CA in the 60’s.

———————————
To “PatrickHenry” ... LOL, I didn’t know someone was writing under that name.  I like it.  Just for clarity, my comment refers to the gentleman from VA who stood up and said “Give me Liberty, or give me death.”

I wonder what Patrick Henry would have thought of a government that was telling him to what he could and could not ingest or smoke. 

I wonder what he’d have thought of a world where you have to allow your blood and urine to be tested to make sure you have only the proper chemicals in your body. 

I wonder what Patrick Henry would have thought of a government that flies heat-sensing helicopters over head trying to find someone who’s growing an illegal plant.

But hey, if you want to drink the poisonous swill created by alcohol pushers every day, well, that’s just fantastic by a government that’s bought and paid for by that drug cartel.

Our founding fathers wouldn’t recognize this country.
But they’d have the guts to try to change it.

I can’t believe all you pot-heads didn’t even check out the stoner documentary I posted… jeeez.

Role your doobie brother, and take a trip on this… trust me on this one

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7400393743229742503#

I believe legalization would inspire industry and give America the stimulus we need right now.

Marjane tends to dissolve dissemblance, duplicity and subtrefuge. Participants become an amplified version of their real selves. If you’re creative, you become temporarily more so. If your a number cruncher maybe a new concept become assessible. By the same token, if you’r an a**hole, you become a bigger one.

This will never pass for he simple reason that Congress will not countenance a dose of reality.

Given the fundamentals, I’m not sure I want to see it legalized.

Truth serum scenario: Can you imagine the pressure the public could put on candidate to “partake in public” so as to get a drift of their real make up? LOL “Dude? What did you just say?”

Thank you for that superb quote redhorse. Now there’s a statesman the whole world needs at the moment: Marcus Aurelius. But his kind only comes around once every thousand years so a way has to be found to force the morally inadequate politicans most nations have to come to their senses. I’ve just been reading a book about the London bombings and the MA quote seems all the more relevant after reading it. Just another day in the cesspit that passes for the intelligence services.

The drugs laws are crazy. They don’t work and billion of dollars of taxpayers’ money is pumped into trying to pretend that they do. Why is human nature so warped and deluded that it can’t see that what didn’t work with alcohol will also not work with any other drug? Before the prohibition the mafia was a tinpot operation: by the time the prohibition ended the mafia had enough money to buy any cop, any lawyer, any judge and any politician and the situation with drugs is the same only much worse because prohibition didn’t last that long. The war on drugs has been going for decades and all it’s ever done is criminalize our children and make gangsters rich. 90% of the drugs get through and all the black market does apart from making crooks rich is corrupt the law, the police and the politicians.

Drug addiction is an illness and it makes no more sense to throw an addict in jail than it does to jail an alcoholic: none in other words. What the DEA has got going is a multi-billion dollar racket and everyone gets their cut, including the CIA.

Simply pointing the fact that most people have ‘dropped out’ of politics, even the point of voting, let alone reading something other than tv or the paper…. or yahoo news for example… or worse fox and those guys.

And lots of folks don’t understand nor debate much how we do here, whatever the point of view or core beliefs.

We need something concrete we need to offer people…. something that is ‘real’ for them right now, not getting some person ‘voted’ in from the current party system of marketing your face and name and whatever… we see it all over right now, and someone needs to pick up that trash.

Yes let’s advocate a fresh approach to the issue of governance and allowing who to govern.  This is the point of it all, isn’t it?

For starters, teaching folks about the money system, how it benefits the few… and how to really hit them where it hurts!

JUST STOP FEEDING THEM.

For example- going electric car and dumping the petro guzzler.  Money and efforts move from supporting big car corps… and supporting the burgeoning local electric vehicle market… look out your window, it is happening.. this is just ONE area to make a shift that will have longing consequences down the road… from cutting demand to new gas burners, to increasing demand for new electrics that do all the gas-ers do.

Some guy converted his old pickup into an electric for $2k.  There is a whole market of used cars of all decades ready to be converted; slapping on new rims, tires, interior and paint job…. and you’ll have a ‘restored’ car, flipped to meet current amenities.

It’s starts with YOU reading this and realizing the difference your personal choice of consumption, who’s pet food to buy, who’s carrots to go buy, etc…

“Excuse me, I can just never give up my luxuries…. oh my Mercedes… or my Harley, or my 80’ King Fisher… it makes me feel important and special… and valuable… much more than those who are walking and catching the bus surely I swear to you.”

What if everyone knew how to open a business through a corporation where in worse case scenario, their liability is limited and the money takes the hit, not their lives in jail…

Ever notice the contrast between, let’s say Robert Rizzo in Bell, CA…. and Hank Paulson in D.C.?

Paulson is protected going into and out of the position, whether public office or coporation… just the nature of the entity and how it shelters the natural person.

Rizzo is an example and scapegoat I hope we can all agree to clearly see.. while he is the puppet and stripped scarecrow which is just enough to satisfy the masses and their disgust with ‘government’ when its at ALL LEVELS the corruption and power play.

Think of public crucifixions like the old days…. but never the upper classes, clubs, pedigree or blue bloods…

Ever wonder why folks love to hear about Lohan or whomever celebrity falling meteor crashing and burning?  They tried and failed as we all wish we could succeed and thrive for generations… like they’ve done over us…

Same pony show folks, just in today’s guise.

If you can read and decipher several languages… you’ll learn more in this documentary than in one year taking a humanities class.  There are other versions.  Let it play and learn folks.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7400393743229742503#

People who do not have experience using cannabis are making laws and decisions
for those of us who have chosen to use cannabis. I would not take a Saudi
woman*s advice on how to drive in snow. Simply no experience.
If only 10% of America switched from alcohol or anti-depressant medication
to marijuana ,Big Pharma and Big Alcohol would lose billions.They will fight
legalization to the end with whatever lies and distortions they can
use .

I’m being driven to the point of exhaustion by people who insist that the government is only reacting to things that “we” are asking for when issues arise like this. Where is the notion of liberty going, when there is a daily increase of our freedoms taken away from us all under the guise of it being for our own good? Take for instance California, who by popular vote legalizes medicinal marijuana for public use. Subsequently the government begins to step in and try to tear it apart, raiding clinics and effectively shutting them down. Or the bank bailouts- the public overwhelmingly was against this action. Funny thing is, this was a great example of when the people did not follow in lockstep to the lies of these financial criminals- they called their bluff. And how did the government respond? By telling people this is for your own good (when clearly it was not) and a week later handing the money out anyway. They weren’t even close to getting the numbers right as to how much of a burden this would be, and I doubt that was an oversight. The government isn’t reacting to our predominant wishes- in my view it’s quite the opposite. It is trying to manufacture our consent. To literally create our supposed need for things that increasingly fit into a corporate agenda. I keep hearing “we” all the time, as if I myself had some kind of say into the government’s incessant meddling in our affairs. Don’t tell me I can just vote people out- Congress is passing bills that representatives don’t even read for Pete’s sake. Who do you think writes those bills? There is a dire need for individuals to learn to distinguish for themselves what is really needed as opposed to what they heard some idiot on TV tell you is. If this were overwhelmingly the case I wouldn’t consistently be hearing these gross generalizations about the will of the people. People are going to smoke anyway regardless if it’s legal, and this way California could receive some much needed tax revenue so that worse things than legalized pot are prevented from happening as a consequence.

The first tell of an abusive insane perp is their insistence that the victim is the crazy party. (Thanks HERB and DONEHISPART!) The point of TRUTHDIG (hope its’ not “hopium”) is that we haven’t ALL been driven insane. Together we can define our relationship to an often insane National reality and not be (another trait of the abusive insane perp) held in political/social isolation and neutralized by a manufactured lie.

    We’re all prone to a little kneejerk rant, and I often wish our authors would put a little more factual meat on the bone, but the great majority of posters here have knowledgable insight and comment about politics and finance. Americans are beat up (another tell of the insane abusive perp) but a long way from whipped.

    The obvious D.C. reality, and the thing that makes its’ inhabitants irrelevant to “We the people—” is fascist corporate financial influence. It prevents American dialogue and progressive action, and thrives on graft. It’s open predatory looting of Americans and intentional for profit destruction of our industrial base has destroyed entire cities and instituted massive crime and social disintegration. Then of course, there’s the War/Security/Prison Industrial Machine and a propagandist MSM. (I know I’m preachin’ to the choir.)

      In Russia, it was criminal political graft and police state totalitarianism that instituted the creation of a Black Market underworld controlled by Criminal Overlords. This ensured social/industrial disintegration and cultural collapse of the society. Then, State Security (KGB/Putin) and the Black Market Overlords represented the only viable power, finance and economy. So they merged. Call it what you want, but that’s where we’re being taken and we’re probably well on the way. The Cheney/Bush National Security State hurled us into a new world of double agents, assassins, secret prisons and “Homeland Security”. Decades ago, insane DRUG LAW and MARIJUANA criminalization was the toehold needed to begin destruction of civil rights, surveillance and criminalization of the citizen. It was out front political repression. MARIJUANA represented New Left Consciousness. Still does. And, an entire generation of dope lawyers and Disrict Attorneys made fortunes and careers out of it. They destroyed millions of lives and families. That’s why “POT” isn’t legal. And, as I tried to outline in my post below, It’s (you’ll never believe it) about the money. By the by, wasn’t Joe Kennedy a bootlegger? Wake up!! They’re all players.

      Our American Officer Corp., our C.I.A./F.B.I and the vast majority of out so called “public servants” hold the same dreams and aspirations as we. They really are the good guys. The daemonic reality is that key positions in American government are controlled by corrupt revolving door self-interested corporate fascists. Until “We the people—” are able to institute major Campaign Finance Reform we’re @#%$ed.

      A new definition of American personal political reality, a dialogue that removes kneejerk shock at the irrelevant baboon machinations of D.C. thugs, and direct action to institute major Campaign Finance Reform would represent sane political action and a new beginning.

      THE OBJECT IN LIFE IS NOT TO BE ON THE SIDE OF THE MAJORITY BUT TO ESCAPE FINDING ONESELF IN THE RANKS OF THE INSANE.  Marcus Aurelius

Redhorse: I’ve been clean and sober twenty six years, I’ve no doubt, marijuana is as harmless as it gets. The “police state” apparatus it supports and the corrupting graft driven criminal enterprise it drives isn’t.
*******
Good for you Redhorse. Is it really just accidental that this issue is now before us in a big way? I don’t think so. This is but a first step in the legalization of drugs. There are ice cream parlors in LA serving up marijuana ice cream, and the dose is potent. Just think of how much easier it is to control those who
have smoked a few joints. Karl Marx’s quote: “Religion is the opium of the people” could be turned around this present day to: “Opium is the religion of the people.” Meditation makes us more conscious thus conscience steps in, whereas many drugs quiet the conscience and all sorts of misdeeds are perceived as not only justifiable but warranted.  Drugs were available to the
military in Viet Nam for exactly this reason. I personally knew of one soldier who went to Viet Nam as a dedicated soldier only to return as a confirmed drug addict. This is the new morality, the morality practiced by those in command and their sidekicks in going to war, using drones against civilians and also other acts that result in death and destruction. Is the use of prescription drugs a way of life in Washington D.C., Hollywood, Wall Street and other parts of the country? One can only venture a guess.  If legalizing marijuana is successful in California there will be a strong drive to legalize more potent drugs, which will
lead to a more sedated constituency. There are those who do not see it this way; there shall always be divergence of opinion.

hello again. we all know the travesties of illegal
cannabis. if they put all the potheads in jail, that
will bankrupt their tax revenue stream. greedy
politicians will not change the wrongful
classification of cannabis. cannabis supporters are
beginning to become better organized, and better
funded, and i believe it will be passed in
Calleaffornia. nationally the tactic may require
overwhelming surrender to the courts, if we ever
regain consent by the will of the people. small steps
in the correct direction are going to reach the goal,
and the internet opens dialogging alike never before,
to help find these solutions. many issues need
change, but the war on our southern border (and
beyond) should prioritize cannabis legalization for
everyone. cannabis is a major issue being thrown by
politicians under the building into the basement, for
it to rot out of the conscious forefront. this issue
should be the top headline every day, until people
are no longer being murdered, nor sent to prison, nor
having lives ruined by possessing cannabis. the aforementioned prohibition law does illustrate the
evil nature of special interest lobbying on the Hill
for the capital benefit of a few, over the rights of
the many. it goes to the root of bad government.

Herb and RedHorse, great points both!!!

I personally believe WE ALL are a bit askew, regardless of pedigree or not, of money or not, of education or loving parents or not.

Who is sane?  Who is tricked?  Who is free?  Who isn’t a slave working for ‘the man’ and who has slaves of his own and he’s ‘the man’ or whatever the combination where you fall in the food chain and pecking order of the money machine / the system.

All very subjective and arguable to infinitum.

And with that, what we experience daily CANNOT BE LOGICALLY defined, yet those definitions and viewpoints are automatically heard and adhered to.  We don’t know WHY we accept the system of things.. oh yeah I do-  Because we were taught that in school as history and the ‘way things are’ and thus we accept that authority, no matter how corrupt… and of course, all other countries have corrupt governments except for good ole U.S. of A., right?  We see it all the time on TV.. FOX News told me so, so it must be so!  wow

Let them come, try and take me and you and anyone else who has broken from the program and rhythmic conditioning… they would only speed up the TRUTH of their crimes from coming out of darkness into the LIGHT.

Yet not many can stand up next to the TRUTH, can they?

It all depends on its delivery… like Acts 7… focusing on 7:51-60.

Some went off to war and shed their blood so we can discuss this from the comforts of our homes… yet will any of the top brass shed their blood for their ‘country’ or ‘freedom’ as our soldiers are Roman-trained to do so?

Some may have to shed blood here at ‘home’ in order to bring real ‘freedom’ to today’s Amerikan Citizenry.

But remember, you cannot FIX the human condition…. so today’s ‘freedom’ will be confronted and we’ll be fighting or searching for another ‘freedom’ tomorrow which at that time we would be thinking it has been taken or kept from us…

Dear Redhorse,

Amen.

Of course, to my view, all of it, the kernel of reality as well as the encrustations
of propaganda, is either seen as a great theater of dark humor or one goes
mad.  How does someone gone mad by suffocation by lies know that they had
done so?

The more delusional the person becomes in favor of the mishegoss of
manipulated perception supported by the elite, the more “normal” one is seen
to be.  As I remember it the Soviet system dealt with many dissenters by
committing them to asylums.  There is a certain logic to this since it was so
un-selfprotective to dissent that dissent itself became a symptom of a mental
condition harmful to the patient and providing an objective criteria for
incarceration.  Tyranny tries at times to be kind.

Just as Kruchev said of the impending nuclear nightmare that “the survivors will
envy the dead,” might it also be said of our special time that the informed may
come to envy the ignorant.

herb

This topic illustrates the core problem of American chaos and disintegration. The illegal marijuana issue is, like every other major topic discussed on this forum, a manufactured lie. Pick one! War, immigration, education, health care, financial reform,etc.

    Other than the gunpoint damage and corrupt legal machinations they are willing to inflict on you and your family for their personal financial gain and survival, the liers are irrelevant to any possible sane and prosperous future that might be within your power. Proof of moral bankruptcy exists in the fact that the liars knowingly lie, which carries us all toward an ever expanding daemonic void. (Again, it ain’t supernatural and it ain’t rocket science, but the consequences have obviously become socially/spiritually/nationally apocalyptic.)

    The Mexican death toll and violence has gone beyond mere “drug war” status and incorprates human trafficking, the illegal documents and firearms trade, sex slavery, kidnapping, illegal labor, murder for hire, bank robbery and money laundering to name a few. It represents a huge international financial empire that straddles both sides of the American-Mexican border. It literally dictates political reality in Mexico and has begun to do so in the United States. Why do you think you can’t have sane drug and immigration laws?

      Beginning in the sixties American political thugs used marijuana to attack and neutralize social progressives, undermine the Bill of Rights, build a national for profit prison and surveillance system and begin criminalization of American citizens.Voter role purges, random highway stops, search and seizure and privacy laws (”—we’re taking your house and bank account, where’d you get that cash—”) are quick examples. Guilty until proven innocent.

      (A quick note. People who hold opinions similar to those expressed on TRUTHDIG are beginning to appear as “terrorists and subversives” on T.V. cop shows.)

      Look!! Upward of 60% of the “drug trade” north out of Mexico is marijuana. The Mexican Cartels openly maintain armed “grow farms” in our National Forests. (I ask again. What if Bin Ladens puppy dogs set up an armed camp inside America?) Why not legalize and wipe out the criminal canker of insane drug law? Other modern nations did long ago. Simple. Because D.C. gets paid. It isn’t something else.

      Medical marijuans is legal in my State. Recently my VETCENTER Counselor mentioned it as a possible way to help with my depression and PTSD. Though I turned him down cold, I’ve been clean and sober twenty six years, I’ve no doubt, marijuana is as harmless as it gets. The “police state” apparatus it supports and the corrupting graft driven criminal enterprise it drives isn’t.

        The dangerous psychopathic liars and the manufactured for profit lie they perpetrate continues.

Corporate dictatorship will not legalize pot until they make money on it. Very simple to get booze legal a lot of folks had to die, just as with pot, smoking is safe but legalizing it cost lives!    The party is all over before it begins.  Ill never smoke weed with Willie again!

The worship of Mammon is a dedication to death.
herb

Civilization, to a first approximation was the result of folks discovering that
monocroped grains make a great source for drinkable alcohol.  The rest is the
history of how our species made itself extinct in less than two hundred
generations.

herb

Its about time this farce against the American people is brought out into the light of day.

Land of the free? Personal freedoms? hardly.

No you can’t smoke a weed grown in your garden, industry cannot utilize a more eco-friendly form of biofuel, animal feed, fibre for paper and clothing, why? because some age old corporatists bribed our elected representatives and performed the ‘media blitz’ of pure bias propaganda, same as today.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/reason-hemp-is-illegal.html

As always, follow the money. Our society is one in which money talks. Nothing else really matters.

The laws against marijuana use, are a monstrous deception, and an insult to our intelligence.  People in law enforcement should know and have heard the comment made by one of their own, that “marijuana is safer than aspirin.”  If they haven’t read this comment, they’re ignorant of the history of their subject, and are a danger to the community.  If marijuana is safer than aspirin, it’s certainly safer than booze, and it absolutely is safer than cigarettes, which kill over 1/2 million Americans each year.  Why then the strict laws that continue to exist against pot use?  These facts end the argument against pot use.  We all know the details surrounding legalization: keeping it away from children, away from people using dangerous machinery, etc.  But there is no case that can otherwise be made against marijuana use, especially when its consumption has been shown to have therapeutic value against many disorders and against intractable pain.  The only other quality inherent in marijuana use that ought to capture our attention, is that it is a mild euphoriant.  Am I to beleive that our legal system is armed against anything that brings happiness to humans?  How is it that alcohol and nicotine, are allowed to bring people either intense or mild euphoric states, but marijuana is not allowed to?  The abuse of people and their rights implied in these anti-pot laws, is a corruption of the law, and is contrary to sound legal principle.

When you see this incredible level of irratiionality, and inhumanity, I might add, in the law, you can be certain that money plays the upper hand.  The big booze houses play a large role in this travesty.  It’s hard to see how the more reputable people in the legal profession and in law eforcement, allow this tragic situation to continue.

Let us not forget that cannabis was legal until
DuPont understood hemp oils would cut into his motor
oils and body coatings (paint) for Ford Motor
Company.  Hearst newspapers understood that
indigenous and wild-growing hemp could not be
controlled the way paper pulp could, and would cut
into his investments in foresting, so both DuPont and
Hearst, who shared an interest in eliminating any
competition in their respective endeavors, got
together, developed a propaganda campaign tying hemp,
now renamed the Spanish word “marijuana” to imply an
association with it the hated Mexicans post-Spanish-
American War.  DuPont provided the funds, and Hurst
provided the stage, demanding from his reporters and
publishing sensational but false “stories” of crazed,
doped-up Mexicans crossing the border and killing
white women and other “atrocities” made up out of
whole cloth.  The tactics worked, however, and it
didn’t take long for Congress to receive letters by
the hundreds and thousands demanding that cannabis be
criminalized.  This was not to be the first or last
time the press have been a party to a criminal
conspiracy, nor the first or last example of
corporate collusion.  Nor, regrettably, was this the
first or last time fear has been used to sway public
opinion for nefarious purposes.

Suppose George Washington grew hemp… what would people think?!?

What, this is news? Potsmokers have known for a couple of dedades who’s toes they were stepping on financially, and that’s exactly where they expect the major blockage to legalization to come from. The pharmaceutical industry, along with alcohol and to a lesser extent tobacco as well, will all take major hits to the money belt if pot is made legal in all respects. They’ll take a hit that might put them out of business in some instances. I don’t think much Valium will be sold afterward, and the hangover count will be way down. That’s not to say there won’t be people out there who will stubbornly continue to destroy their livers anyway. Ignorance is rampant. I, for one, will happily stuff the bong and say thank you to the voters!

I agree with your assessment of the “marijuana problem”. It’s a pretty good drug.
As Jerry Brown’s dad said, hunting for the dangerous effects of marijuana is like hunting for a white crow.
You can’t really compare dietary choices to recreational drug use. Every society has something that it uses; often linked to religious practices.
I am more concerned that my society doesn’t value truth or human life than am about what someone puts in their own body behind closed doors.

hello. when Cal-leaf-fornia passes this resolution,
many changes will occur, but greatly reduced alcohol
consumption is doubtful. herb appeals to a different
personality than alcohol. it is a larger segment than
the vegetarian/meat opposition, but will always
remain the same proportion. weed is not for everyone,
and neither is alcohol; but the fact that alcohol has
so much profit to throw at campaigns to oppose
cannabis, demonstrates the potential clout of
legalization. this will begin the eventual
reclassification of cannabis as a nonnarcotic, and is
just another example of where Oboymamma has hitched
his horse to the wrong wagon. roll ‘em roll ‘em roll
‘em, if you got ‘em, smoke high.

I am voting for the pot propositions because it is similar to ending prohibition.  Our prisons cost too much and are full of convictions related to pot.  The cost of our prisons robs our public schools of revenue.

Money is the only term in the American equation- In fact everything uniquely American is such because of its dedication to money - Las Vegas being its Jerusalem. MacDonalds the king of fast food, is a thriving megacorp- and the uniquely American dietary contribution to the world, it’s salient feature being the bottom line -fattening it economically and physically.

Cathy - glad you mentioned big pharma since their hands
are as dirty as big liquor’s. 

(I find it amusing that the proponents of ‘free market
capitalism’ always run scared when ‘free’ competition
looms.)

“For example:  What does the billboard say “come and play come and play” ... forget about the movement.”

Rage Against the Machine

Freedom

running time 3:20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqcM5lVoteQ

haha.. nice commercial at the blog, thanks for sharing lol… she’s very convincing.

If that proposition passes, and businesses go into high swing to market… we’re going to see a plethora of product we couldn’t have even imagined…

Not to mention the smoking of it.

Very practical items like the rope, clothing, canvas, etc… the oil extracted, etc..

Yet consider this: the experiment to see if pot can ‘keep’ the masses from absolute revolt will be GUARANTEED due to the mass deluge in now another passive intoxicant.

Like that “stay thirsty my friends” ad from ‘the most interesting man in the world.’

In other words- Further feeding the farmed chattel their pharma.

Yes the income from taxes, but the tracking of customers if not cash sales… interesting to see if cash is NOT permitted.. haha, there goes the business back underground.

Yes the freedom to do whatever, but also the conscience heart-check of your children, your other younger relatives, friends, business associates, etc. seeing you / knowing you do that and THAT in their circles is not completely socially acceptable… like how cigarettes are becoming.

Besides, we know how funny AND stupid one thinks things could be when you’re high… but could you imagine your little cousin, nephew, son or daughter or their friends getting them to smoke in grade school?  Or their teacher is raving to them about how they can now bring pot plants to school for show and tell…

More diluting of sober judgment and furthering the “ME FIRST” and “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO” and “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, ITS MY LIFE, MY BODY, ETC” perspective.

Yet I too am familiar with the plant… too familiar.

Pabst Blue Ribbon?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snhiofL2Rh4

My question is, why haven’t the snack food manufacturers weighed in on this? I would imagine they have a lot to gain. Frito-Lay and Ben and Jerry’s stand to make a killing if weed is legalized, don’t ya think? But then some people will begin blaming weed for the obesity problem.

I guess y’all missed the story of the 40 marijuana growers in Oakland, California, that joined the Teamsters union, huh? Yeah, the Teamsters are in on it now, also.

Here, be sure to watch the video:

http://reason.com/blog/2010/09/20/pro-pot-teamsters-only-in-cali

...and get with the program.

Inherit The Wind,

You forgot Marinol. That’s still under patent, IIRC.

Mind altering substances?
You really don’t need it when you have your unfettered media doing such a great job of it, whether it’s the truth or a pack of lies.

Surfnow, you got it right on the money - $ is god
and thats all its about. Theres so much govt. and
industry built on prosecution of illegal drugs that
Big Bro ain’t gonna give it up for nothin’.
Alcohol became the scourge of society in the ‘20s
then they found the double dip of legalize it
w/taxes and prosecute to such a degree those that
make their own (creation of the ATF), but the same
model won’t work with pot - its too easy to grow…
so now the system won’t allow an otherwise minor
(and much safer than booz) substance to be free.
No big payoff and who cares about the common folks
anyway. Certainly not the government.

The major obstacles to sensible drug reform however are from police forces and the huge, privatized prison system. Legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of heroin and cocaine would immediately put three-fourths of our otherwise useless American police forces out ofwork- not to mention the billions being made imprisoning great numbers of our youth ( three-fourths of state incarcerations are on drug offenses- many of them non-violent offenders)

Okay, I inhale once in a while. That said, I wouldn’t smoke a cigarette for a new sports car. I appreciate my daily glass of ale. I would not discontinue that modest indulgence if maryjane were legal. The weed I partake in for insight. The ale, for relaxation. In my view, both can live together.

On the other hand, the idea of having a recreational drug in the mode of alcohol that can be grown in your back yard does not play well with many market based products. Legalization would mean that people would find personal insight as an alternative to all plethora of market-based idiocy. Exploration of the human psyche would be a distraction in a consumer based society.

Don’t forget: The big Pharma companies have fought legalization of medical marijuana for decades.  When a drug that cost $10/ week replaces anti-nausea drugs that cost $400-$500/month, who loses profits? The big pharmas.

They fought the legalization of medical heroine, which has been proven to greatly improve the quality of life of terminal cancer patients.  I watched my father die of lung cancer, fighting the narcoleptic and hallucinogenic effect of morphine, sleeping much of his last days away, know that had he been given heroin sufficient to give him relief, he would have been much more alert, slept less, and had more time in his final days for his family.  But it ain’t gonna happen in America, not while the nutty and ignorant religious right are “played” by the Republicans.

Sirota is right about almost everything but one thing: “California’s 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana…”

Prop 19 does not “legalize marijuana” like it’s being portrayed, or like most (sane) people might imagine. In fact, it creates new crimes where none exist now.

By “legal marijuana” here is what 19 does:

legalizes up to an ounce in public (don’t have 29 grams in your cars glovebox). Well, under an ounce is decriminalized now. Over an ounce? Better have a lawyer.

Makes private sales illegal. Not surprisingly, this stipulation will make the author of proposition 19 (Richard “Dick” Lee) a multimillionaire, as he owns dispensaries. Follow the money. And do keep your receipt (maybe from Dick Lees Di$pen$ary) because the burden of proof will be on you to show your 27 grams was purchased legally (and taxed heavily).

Those are 2 of 19 fine points everyone in CA should consider. It won’t be easy to fix later, like many say, because of the huge dollars involved. No one talks of “fixing” the health insurance disaster anymore, do they?

Here’s a detailed analysis that you won’t find anywhere else: Just Say Know!

http://votetaxcannabis2010.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-pro-pot-activists-oppose-2010-tax.html

Disclaimer: I am FOR legalization just like I support health care reform. We didn’t get health care reform, we got a mandate to purchase insurance. Similarly, we are not getting “legalization” with 19, we are sending an invitation to every cop in the state to carry a scale and a measuring tape.

Don’t believe me, but don’t believe they are talking about full “legalization” until you read the blog link above. Just Say Know.

Gambling, prostitution and drugs should be legalized and run by the government - people are going to do these things no matter who runs it so you might as well have the money go to the taxpayers rather than big business or the mafia. Think of the revenue the government would get - there would be balanced budgets in no time.

typo-

Perhaps applying too much human involvement to things found in nature or in a natural state shouldn’t be consumed, ingested, distilled with this and that and chilled then drank, or smoked, inhaled, snorted, etc…

Money and greed at the base of this debate and in every aspect.

Pros and Cons in legalizing or allowing anything that alters the mind, mood and disposition. 

Unfortunately, it’s all about the money and which way it flows FIRST, not so much effects left in their wake.

Perhaps ingesting things not found in nature or in a natural state without too much human involvement shouldn’t be consumed, ingested, distilled with this and that and chilled then drank, or smoked, inhaled, snorted, etc…