A Question About Pot

There seems to be a general across the country priority issue with legalizing marijuana that found it's way to trump President Obama's agenda for his fancy cyberspace town hall meeting as reported on Politico: Pot takes center stage at townhall. One of the most popular questions was about legalizing drugs.

Politico's Josh Gerstein says, "While Obama’s answer was unequivocal, it was also dismissive and didn’t explain why legalization was unwise."

The question and the President's comment:

“There was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high: that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation,” Obama said, with a chuckle. “I don’t know what this says about the online audience.”

“This was a fairly popular question — we want to make sure it was answered. The answer is no. I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy,” he said to laughter and applause from the live East Room audience of union members, teachers, business leaders and others.

We all know how a large number of local's feel about this issue. There was a lot of happy blogging recently when everyone thought President Obama actually heard the voices, wants, and needs of the people, to quote:

"Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would defer to state governments whether to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes."

I wonder if they all feel so full of hope today? I doubt it. It seems more and more that there's one heck of a big difference between what President Obama says and what he does. Here's his latest shot at a California Marijuana Medical Clinic: Drug Agents Raid SF Medical Marijuana Clinic.

Then there's his promise to take ALL combat troops out of Iraq by August 2010. Today, we learn he's been feeding everyone a line of bull right from the start. You can read about this in the interview on Democracy now with Gareth Porter: Report: Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq

Nearly four weeks ago, President Obama declared that US combat operations would end in Iraq by August 2010. Despite Obama’s pledge, new evidence has emerged that the US plans to keep combat brigades in Iraq, but they will operate under a different name.

You can read his complete report: Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq here.

Wouldn't it be nice, for once, to have a President of the United States everyone could trust and honestly believe that he's working for and defending the interest of ALL people? It took the country a while to see President George Bush's true colors, but this President is laying it on the line coming right out the gate.

IRAN - Smarter Than the Average Bear

Yep! They know a slicker when they see one.

Even Yogi knew a rat when he smelled one.

Did Yogi smell an "overture"? Joe doesn't thinks so.

You can read it here: Iran's supreme leader dismisses Obama overtures

"They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice. We haven't seen any change," Khamenei said in a speech ..."

"Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged," Khamenei said.

For its part, the Obama administration must take practical steps such as lifting a ban on selling Iran spare parts for passenger aircraft or considering unfreezing Iranian assets in the U.S., (a prominent political analyst Saeed) Leilaz said.

"They say we have stretched a hand toward Iran. ... If a hand is stretched covered with a velvet glove but it is cast iron inside, that makes no sense," Khamenei said.

Sometimes it takes a preacher to know a preacher.

UPDATE :: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A Lebanon perspective: Dialogue of the Deaf
The following is an excerpt:

It is for this reason that the Iranians want "deeds" in addition to words from Obama. They are intelligent enough to notice the change in the type of discourse Obama is adopting with them. But what comes after this? Can the black President offer them the apologies which they demand, for more than half a century of the US dealing with them badly, from toppling Mossadegh to protecting the Shah to supporting Saddam Hussein in his war against them? In other words, can he erase half a century of the history of the country that chose him as its President?

The new US President wants to give the impression that his policies are different from those of his predecessor. But a change in the language of discourse on the part of the White House will have no effect if it is not accompanied by a change in the type of response to such discourse on the part of the recipients of US messages. Without this such discourse would become a dialogue of the deaf, which is what currently seems to be taking place between Washington and Tehran

On the one hand, there is a tendency on the part of the Obama Administration to put an end to previous conflicts and to deal with international crises with a new mindset. On the other, such a step is being interpreted as the result of the defeat of the US's plans, which entails that such a defeat should be exploited by Iran, and that it should strengthen its influence in the places where it feels it has achieved victory. Obama's problem with Iran is that he is not willing to submit to such Iranian victories, nor do his country's interests allow him to do so. [For the complete article.]

--Joe

The Creeping Crud

A police state with doilies and lace curtains

Humboldt County (Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Branch) and local retail merchants are currently conducting classes in how to breed a Police State mentality in the innocent, our children. You militarize their environment and then criminalize them with knee-jerk laws ostensibly* for their protection and benefit. In other word, you make unauthorized and in some cases illegal conduct, common place.

[Some examples that come to mind were the universal 55 mph, mandatory helmet laws, seat belt and recently cell-phone laws, no smoking, growing or selling marijuana laws and lets not forget underage sex laws.]

Case in point however, starting with the Wednesday, March 11, 2009, Times-Standard Editorial: Show you care, show your ID is a classic example of do-gooder knee-jerk mentality that's really a pretense to inure** people to more loss of freedom and rights.

This fine group of people, this "editorial board made up of recovered, recovering and current smokers" says, in part:

It can actually be quantified -- the war against smoking is making headway. Fewer people are smoking, and fewer will be dying, as a result, from smoking-related diseases.

But the war is not over. Each and every time a minor starts puffing, it's the wrong start to a person's life. Immediately they set themselves up for a health disadvantage, and will have to dedicate years, if not decades, to recover, if and when they quit.

Did you notice that this is a "war"? How do they say we should fight this war? By getting "people to show their IDs when buying cigarettes, without being asked." -Make showing IDs common place.

Why?

"The logic is that if clerks start seeing people always showing their IDs when buying cigarettes, they'll begin to expect it. Thus, when a minor can't produce one, or produces one that looks fraudulent, the clerk will be on guard and thereby prevent the youth from buying the tobacco.

The campaign also aims to send a message to kids: You're outlawed from buying tobacco -- take the hint." (Emphasis add)

That editorial was followed up with the article, "County campaign reduces minors' access to tobacco" by Donna Tam where she explains the criminal rewards for selling cigarettes to minors. She identifies a do-gooder organization, Tobacco Free Humboldt and its Project Director Jay McCubbrey. This organization has enlisted use of 15 - 16 year old kids to see who will sell them tobacco and to "get the anti-smoking message out." One of these brilliant 15-year old kids says, "It's telling kids, 'Yes, people are looking for this so you shouldn't try to do it.'"

This is not about "telling kids" anything. This is pure indoctrination of children and adults alike! And it has absolutely nothing to do with anti-smoking. But, if it does, it's only peripheral, if not, incidental.

These teenagers see elder adults showing their ID "just to send a message" and they'll laugh the old fools right out of the store. And that IS the message sent. Certainly NOT what some adolescent teenager's take on life is.

The real crime done to these children, who are surrounded by smokers of every age and size is this statement,

The campaign also aims to send a message to kids: You're outlawed from buying tobacco -- take the hint."

with this nonsense,

We as a community have a responsibility to do the best we can by the next generation, and doing so in this case means making it hard, if not impossible, for a kid to get cigarettes. Let's set the example.

This is how you TALK to kids? By making them criminals? Penalizing everyone that smokes and forcing "store clerks" that have no say in the sale of tobacco to police our children? It was this kind of activity that produced these people, "Hitler-Jugend" 89 years ago, commonly known as "Hitler Youth." (Emphasis add)

This is what you quietly get today, Friday, March 13, 2009:

Updating the Militarization and Annexation of North America

- by Steve Lendman - Here's an excerpt:

... In other words, homeland militarization and occupation are planned using troops trained to kill.

The pretext is national security. In fact, they'll be on-call against another major terrorist attack, real or contrived, as well as civil unrest given the gravity of the economic crisis, its affect on millions, and likelihood that sooner or later they'll react. Armed combat troops will supplement militarized local police in case security crackdowns are ordered or martial law declared.

"Catastrophic Emergency" procedures are in place to react to situations, "natural or manmade," according to DHS/FEMA's March 2008 "Preparedness for the Next Catastrophic Disaster" policy paper. Should conditions warrant, initiatives to suspend the Constitution and declare martial law are in place, but militarizing America for business is also at issue.

It all started somewhere. So, lets set a real example.

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Joe Blow, just to be clear, is for reasonable laws and law enforcement. Legislating morality, using laws, the police and juries to send messages and educating our youth with a club is out. Children learn the truth by observing who and what we are and comparing what we do by what we say. If you don't want your kids smoking tobacco then teach them what self-respect and personal responsibility means. Then give them the tools they need to be able to use that self-respect and be responsible. Problem is, you can't teach what don't have or don't know.

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Creeping Crud : Malaise:
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

* Ostensibly:
1. Outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended: an ostensible cheerfulness concealing sadness.
2. Apparent, evident, or conspicuous: the ostensible truth of their theories.
** Inure:
To habituate to something undesirable, especially by prolonged subjection; accustom

--Joe

Gerbils and the Dumb-Down

If anyone thinks that what's happening in this country and to the World economy was caused by simple lack of oversight, moronic screw-ups or some other philosophical malaise, try thinking again. Since Ronald Reagan the Republicans have doubled the debt in their predetermined massive transfer of wealth to their enabled elite. What's happening is NO accident.

Here's one of my posts for Friday, August 8, 2008:
How The Stupid Rule

The Wrecking Crew: Thomas Frank on How Conservatives Rule

Frank writes, “Fantastic misgovernment of the kind we have seen is not an accident, nor is it the work of a few bad individuals. It is the consequence of triumph by a particular philosophy of government, by a movement that understands the liberal state as a perversion and considers the market the ideal nexus of human society. This movement is friendly to industry not just by force of campaign contributions but by conviction.”

Read the interview to learn how Ronald Regan and GHW Bush dominated Bill Clinton's agenda and how G. Bush Jr. has setup the next President.

Then there's this interview for Thursday, March 12, 2009, on Democracy Now with Michael Parenti that makes my case once again. Only it's his assessment that the goal is to make America and Western Europe just like Indonesia. According to him their doing a pretty good job, so far. You can read who they are in the complete interview here:

Michael Parenti: Economic Crisis the Inevitable Result of “Capitalism’s Self-inflicted Apocalypse” Here's an excerpt:

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about the Democrats and Republicans. You said you’re infuriated by the Republican response, because they just want tax cuts for the rich. But what about the Democrats—I mean, just now we were playing for you Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary—and the approach to this crisis?

MICHAEL PARENTI: Oh, it’s insufficient. I mean, that’s what’s coming out with your questions. It’s insufficient. They’re not dealing with systemic questions. There’s all this debate about the stimulus package. Hardly a word has come out about the Federal Reserve giving away two-and-a-half trillion dollars, just giving it away unaccountably.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain that.

MICHAEL PARENTI: The Federal Reserve just went—while we had this $750 billion stimulus package, which was passed by Congress, the Federal Reserve printed up—it can print up money and create money—and handed out over $2 trillion to the financial community in America, with no accountability, no debate in Congress and very little notice.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what’s the significance of that?

MICHAEL PARENTI: Well, the significance is that we’re going to—I mean, that’s our money, that it becomes real money when it becomes debt, and we’ve got to pay it. You see, the Republicans were never against debt; they were the biggest debt spenders there ever was. When Ronald Reagan came into office, the national debt was $800 billion. When he left office, it was $2.5 trillion. I mean, it was OK with him to spend. He also put in the biggest tax program that ever was, but it was a regressive tax. It was a Social Security tax on tens of millions of people. When George Bush, Sr. came in, the national debt went from $2.5 to $5 trillion. Clinton—I’ll give him credit for that one thing—he did try to go for solvency. But when you got to George Bush, Jr., for eight years, the debt has gone from $5 trillion to $10 trillion. And these Republicans were voting for that all along. All these spending bills were theirs. So, you see, they don’t mind debt, because debt is really a way of upward distribution. You tax the common people, and you give the money to rich creditors. It’s a very regressive way of redistributing wealth upward. So debt is fine with them.

Don't you just love these Republicans? Tell me this wasn't their longterm goal.

What do you see is the future of capitalism?

MICHAEL PARENTI: I see it as a future in which there’s going to be a lot of
suffering. I see it—the goal is to have more and more Indonesias and fewer
Denmarks and such.

And that means?

That means that even in the social democracies in Western Europe, there are going to be cutbacks, there’s going to be privatization, deregulation, greater—growth of inequities, rollbacks of human services and such, in countries that were pretty decent, countries where capitalism was reined in and held in line, to some degree, anyway.

Well, Indonesia, I mean it’s a free market paradise. They talk about free market. In
Indonesia, there are no consumer protections, there are no regulations, there is
no public medical care, there’s no public education. People just die younger.

If that's not enough you can read, Capitalism’s Self-inflicted Apocalypse by Michael Parenti.

Michael Parenti is an internationally known award-winning author and lecturer.
He is one of the nation’s leading progressive political analysts. His highly
informative and entertaining books and talks have reached a wide range of
audiences in North America and abroad.

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Here's a related commentary on SoHum Parlance II in his "WTF???" post about this subject. -- Well, when prodded just a bit he wasn't exactly at "a loss for words." A valid point, neverthe less:

March 11, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Eric Kirk

In spite of this, progressives trust the gov’t more than private industry (which they can hold accountable). Go figure…

Um. Well. The problem here is that government did not keep tabs on private industry. So let’s just say that the culpability is less. The private industry ripped us off. The public sector was negligent in preventing it.

--Joe

Eureka SWAT - Business As Usual?

If this doesn't give every law-abiding conscientious homeowner in Humboldt County pause for thought, I don't know what will.

Yeah! We know. It's carte-blanche for the police when it comes to the proliferating criminal element and all the low-life scummy trash-types. But, what happens when you're not a criminal, never were a criminal and support the law, judicious law enforcement and believe in the universal right to self-defense and someone falsely accuses you? Now it's open season on you buddy! You, your family and your poor dog, if you're unlucky enough to have one or two.

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Maryland Senate Holds Hearings on SWAT Transparency Bill

Last week, the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee held hearings on a new bill that would require every police agency in the state with a SWAT team to issue quarterly reports on how often the teams are deployed, why they were deployed, what happened during the warrant service, and what was found. It is a small but vital step toward allowing for a proper assessment of just how often paramilitary-style tactics are being used in Maryland, how often things go wrong, and whether they’re being used as advertised.

Several witnesses at the hearing described yet more terrifying wrong-door raids, in cases never before reported.

Karen Thomas told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that she heard Howard County police shoot and kill her dog in her Ellicott City living room in September 2007, while she lay upstairs on the floor, surrounded by police who had not identified themselves.

“In my mind, terrorists had just killed my son and they were going to kill me next,” she told committee members.

Thomas said that police were searching for drugs, but none were found…
Choking back tears, Boyd Petit told committee members that during an April 2008 raid on his Highland home, a police tactical team had handcuffed him and his family outside his home, at gunpoint and in front of his neighbors, while other officers searched his house.

“Our collective lives flashed before our eyes,” he said.

Petit claimed the raid on his house was prompted by a former customer, who made false allegations about him to police. He said police were searching for a specific weapon, but it was not found.

Right now, it looks like the bill will get through committee. It’s being pushed by Cheye Calvo, the Berwyn Heights, Maryland mayor who was subjected to a particularly violent but mistaken raid on his home. (Compliments of the Agitator)

--Joe

The Untouchable Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton, in her sweet deprecating way, sounds just like Golda Mier. Clinton's attitude is revealed to be totally condescending and utterly disparaging to the Palestinian people. It is an insult to any decent, moral person that calls themselves a Christian. This is the kind of thinking that justifies waging war on women and children. The question:

What if Chelsea Clinton were Palestinian?

Kralev on Diplomacy (View Blog)
POSTED March 04 2009 6:47 PM BY NICHOLAS KRALEV

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was asked an unusual question during an interview on the popular youth television show "Ali Soutik" during a visit to the West Bank Wednesday.

The interviewer read a query submitted by a young girl from a village near Ramallah: "What would you do if your daughter, Chelsea, were unfortunate enough to be born under occupation and to be born deprived of freedom and liberty?"

Here's Mrs. Clinton's answer:

"I would do what so many parents here in the West Bank and Gaza do. I would love her, I would take care of her, I would get the best education I could get for her. I would never lose hope. I would never give up of the dream of a Palestinian state, no matter what happens, no matter what people try to do to derail my dream. I would tell my daughter, and I would hope my daughter would believe with all of her heart, that she has the same opportunities for the best future that any child living anywhere does. That's what my goal would be."

This is the NEW HOPE for peace between Israel and Palestine. Hope for a two-state solution is worth about as much to the Palestinian people as it is for the American middle-class poor that think they finally got some recognition in this country; a new state of being. Read some reality:

The “S” word by Alastair Macdonald. Reuters Bureau Chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories.

--Joe

Joe's Gems

What was it the ancient Master said? "Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these [other] things will be added to you. So, never be anxious about the next day, for the next day will have its own anxieties. Sufficient for each day is its own evil."

We offer some more precious jewels to soothe the soul. Remember, if we don't happen to answer your question . . .

1. An answer brings no illumination unless one asks the right question.
2. Have the wisdom to abandon the values of a time that has passed and pick out the constituents of the future.
3. The truth that links the divine to the mundane is incomprehensible to the cerebral intelligence.
4. Experience is a journey, not a destination.
5. The bad master makes the seeker into a slave.
6. A man's heart holds his own truth.
7. Ignorance is the temple of the presumptuous.
8. All seeds answer light, but the color is different.
9. Experience will show you. A master will only point the way.
10. If you search for the laws of harmony, you will find knowledge.
11. Images are nearer reality than cold definitions.
12. Never believe a word without putting its truth to the test.
13. A pupil shows by his own effort how much he deserves to learn.
14. The key to all problems is the problem of consciousness.
15. Organization is impossible unless those who know the laws of harmony lay the foundation.
16. Exuberance brings action, but the inner light grows in silence and concentration.
17. Discernment of truth does not grow in lazy minds.
    
18. Altruism is the mark of a superior being.

Altruism:

1. the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (opposed to egoism ).

Egoism:

1. the habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's personal interest; selfishness
2. egotism or conceit.
3. Ethics. the view that morality ultimately rests on self-interest.

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--Joe