freethefly

You should read this and really try and understand it. By your account even the founding fathers are scum in your book. Why the Senate should reject the flag desecration amendment to the United States Constitution John S. ("Chip") Keating 09.11.98 Printer-friendly page For 207 years, the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution has stood as a barricade in defense of personal freedoms. Never in those two-plus centuries has this shining monument to the wisdom of our Founding Fathers been revised, much less diluted. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure that would inflict grievous harm upon the First Amendment within that Bill of Rights. The U.S. Senate is poised to consider an identical measure, Senate Joint Resolution 40, some time after Labor Day. This legislation proposes to grant Congress the power to prohibit the "desecration" of the American flag. If it passes the Senate by the required two-thirds majority (the vote is expected to be extremely close) and is later ratified by three-fourths of the states, it would become the Twenty-Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. For the following reasons, the Senate should reject this misguided and dangerous legislation. A. The History and Purpose of the Bill of Rights After establishing the framework for a democratic republic in the first seven articles of the Constitution, its proponents still faced significant opposition in a number of states. They soon realized that American suspicion of government was so strong that ratification of this new charter would require additional protections for the rights of individuals against governmental intrusion. What emerged was James Madison's brilliant Bill of Rights, with the protection of free speech being enshrined in the first of its ten amendments. The Bill of Rights is purposefully anti-democratic, placing beyond the reach of transient political majorities those rights deemed as absolutely fundamental to the survival and prosperity of a free nation. Our Founding Fathers worried, correctly, that the politically weak and unpopular among us would otherwise fall prey to the passions and prejudices of our elected officials. Abraham Lincoln captured the essence of this idea in his first inaugural address, in which he stated: "If by sheer force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify a revolution." Thus, any popular support that this proposed amendment may enjoy -- which results more from a revulsion at the act of flag desecration itself than from a dispassionate analysis of the measure's merits -- should not serve as the basis for any Senator's vote in its favor. What is required of our Senators as they weigh the profound step of rewriting the Bill of Rights is to muster the wisdom and courage evidenced by their forebears and to put little stock in the latest polling data. B. The Bill of Rights Was Conceived to Place Constraints Upon the Power of Government Over Individuals, a Principle that the Proposed Amendment Would Invert The entire Bill of Rights is about limiting the power of government and securing our individual freedoms. The proposed amendment turns that principle on its head and would place constraints upon the political expression of the people. The only amendment to our constitution which has ever sought to deprive individual liberties is the Eighteenth, which imposed Prohibition. This measure was, of course, repealed only 14 years later by the Twenty-First Amendment. Freedom of speech, including symbolic speech, is one of the inalienable rights that our Declaration of Independence proclaimed significant enough to go to war. This freedom does not emanate from Congress. It is our birthright as U.S. citizens. Elected officials seldom like dramatic expressions of political dissent. Inherent in such dissent is criticism of those in power. Under Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, members of Congress have absolute freedom to say whatever they like on the floor of either House -- with no legal consequences, even for libeling an ordinary citizen. Yet, certain of these same elected officials would like to limit the people's First Amendment rights and put beyond the reach of reason or the courts the question of whether those in power can prohibit and punish the political speech of those not in power. C. The Purpose of the First Amendment is to Protect Speech That is Unpopular The First Amendment was specifically designed to protect the expression of unorthodox views, unpopular ideas, and political dissent. Would it make any sense if it protected only orthodox views, popular ideas, and political harmony? Since when have these ever been in danger? Safe speech needs no guarantees of freedom, no Constitutional protection. The simple yet noble concept of "freedom of speech" -- which has drawn so many asylum seekers and other immigrants to our shores over the centuries -- would be rendered meaningless if it were limited to the expression of only those views deemed sufficiently agreeable or polite. As the Supreme Court stated in the 1943 case of West Virginia vs. Barnette, "No official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion ..." Our Founding Fathers were confident that the new nation they were forging would be vigorous enough to tolerate diversity and protect the rights of those expressing unpopular opinions. Indeed, that tolerance has served America well. As the United States Supreme Court noted in its opinion on the 1989 flag burning case of Texas vs. Johnson: "Our toleration of criticism such as Johnson's is a sign and source of our strength. Indeed, one of the proudest images of our flag, the one immortalized in our national anthem, is of the bombardment it survived at Fort McHenry. It is the nation's resilience, not its rigidity, that Texas sees reflected in the flag -- and it is that resilience that we reassert today." Vietnam Veteran Len Denney put it another way in a recent editorial: "If I must continue to tolerate, even protect the rights of people and beliefs that are repellent to my very soul, then so be it. It is a cheap price to pay for my freedom." D. Peaceful Protest Involving Desecration of the Flag Is a Form of Political Expression There are some who say that flag desecration is merely an act, not a form of speech, and therefore deserves no protection under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court held otherwise in Texas vs. Johnson, a ruling entirely consistent both with American history and common sense. Just as the flag is a symbol, so too is burning it a symbolic, albeit repugnant, form of expression. This, indeed, is the only possible purpose for such an act (save for Title 36, Section 176(k) of the U.S. Code, but more on that later). Our forefathers were not unfamiliar with this concept. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington himself defaced a British flag by ordering 13 red and white stripes sewn on it. That desecrated flag was called "The Thirteen Rebellious Stripes." Similar actions were taken by both sides in the Civil War. Other "mere acts" throughout our history have served as powerful, if distasteful, expressions of dissent. Vietnam War protesters burned not only flags but draft cards, and thereby helped foment debate on the wisdom of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. Although they never uttered a word, the colonists who dumped British tea into Boston Harbor sent a message heard around the world. E. The Substance Behind the Symbol Should Not Be Sacrificed in the Name of the Symbol Itself For over 200 years, the Constitution, and particularly the Bill of Rights, has governed the relationship between the government and the people, defining the powers of the former and the rights of the latter. It is, in short, an enunciation of the principles of freedom and democracy upon which our forebears founded this great nation. In this respect, it is profoundly unlike the flag which, however honored, is merely a symbol of those principles. The power of the flag is in its meaning, not its stitchery. The many brave American soldiers who have died in combat did so defending the values represented by the flag, not the flag itself. One of the most important of these values is expressed in the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech for all. As stated recently by Army veteran Keith A. Kreul, Past National Commander of the American Legion: "American veterans who have protected our banner in battle have not done so to protect a 'golden calf.' Instead, they carried the banner forward with reverence for what it represents ... Therein lies the beauty of our flag." F. As the Cornerstone of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights Should Be Amended Under Only the Most Compelling of Circumstances The United States Constitution is the "sacred text" of a nation forged upon the rule of law. Its ratification would not have been possible without the Bill of Rights, which has served since then as the single greatest instrument within the Constitution for securing the blessings of liberty enjoyed by generations of Americans. The Constitution is, quite simply, the most important document in our nation, and the Bill of Rights -- emulated around the world, but whose freedoms are guarded no more jealously than where it arose -- is its cornerstone. As such, those who would propose to tinker with it must be held to an exacting burden of proof, a proof that clearly demonstrates a compelling threat or need going to the fundamental structure of our national government. Of the 11,000 amendments proposed to our Constitution over two centuries, only 27 have been ratified -- and none of these sought to narrow or limit a freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The proposed amendment is, in stark contrast to this burden of proof, a solution in search of a problem if ever there was one. In the 221 years since the American flag was adopted, there have been fewer than 85 reported incidents of flag burning. The greatest concentration of these occurred during a five-year period, in the course of protests against the Vietnam War. Trifling with the Constitution and its Bill of Rights in response to a handful of flag burnings by a few misguided dolts would be overkill in the extreme. America is greater than that. G. The Proposed Amendment Will Invite Flag Desecration, Not Eliminate It The primary purpose behind a protester's burning of the flag is to draw attention to his or her cause, however misguided. To make flag desecration a special exception to the First Amendment will only make it a more attractive form of protest. Instead of going to jail as a vandal, trespasser or riot inciter, a flag burner would be a political prisoner and a martyr to his or her cause. Whatever publicity one could gain by burning a flag would be magnified a hundredfold were this proposed amendment to become a part of the Constitution. Such a lure would be sure to subject veterans and other good citizens to the sorry spectacle of more flag burnings, not fewer. H. The Proposed Amendment is a Form of "Compulsory Patriotism" Unworthy of a Nation that is Strong, Free, Prosperous and at Peace During an interrogation by one of his captors, Ivan Warner was shown a photograph of some Americans protesting the war by burning a flag. "People in your country protest against your cause. That proves you are wrong," said the North Vietnamese officer. "No," replied Warner, a Silver Star Medal and Purple Heart recipient. "That proves that I am right. In America, we are not afraid of freedom, even when we disagree." His answer enraged the North Vietnamese officer, giving Warner tremendous satisfaction at having turned the picture of the burning flag against his captor. "What better way to [respond]," Warner later observed about those who would burn the flag today, "Than with the subversive idea of freedom?" This past June, the Beijing-controlled legislature in Hong Kong outlawed the defacement of the Chinese flag. Other totalitarian regimes throughout history have sought solace by guarding their flags. Is this really the company we wish to keep? Black lists, loyalty oaths and other paranoid infringements of its citizens' civil liberties have been relegated to the dustbin of American history. We should not compromise our time-honored tradition of no-holds-barred political discourse to "save" a flag which has demonstrated its endurance through numerous wars, domestic unrest and other periods of great national stress. A truly free country has nothing to fear from free speech, even protest involving the desecration of the symbol of that freedom. I. Narrowing the Scope of a Fundamental Liberty is a Step Down a Slippery Slope Virtually all of the Founding Fathers faced prison (or worse) because the government of the time found their speech to be offensive. They knew from first-hand experience how essential to a free society was the protection of even the most abhorrent and controversial of political expression. As Thomas Paine observed: "He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression, for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." If one small voice can be silenced by amending the Constitution, it could happen to any or all of us. Do we really want to place in the hands of government the question of what constitutes "good" speech and what constitutes "bad" speech? And if Congress is willing to tamper with the First Amendment today, what's to stop it from slicing and dicing the other nine parts of the Bill of Rights tomorrow? One footnote invites another. After the First Amendment comes the Second. J. Respect for the Flag is Diminished, Not Enhanced, When the State Attempts to Coerce It "Old Glory" is the paramount symbol of the freedoms that Americans have treasured, and, in a great many cases, died for over more than two centuries. The profound esteem in which it already is held by the overwhelming majority of our 270 million citizens is far too great to be enhanced by criminalizing any gestures against it. What a terrible irony it would be, then, if for the first time in our history a portion of the Bill of Rights is carved away under the guise of "saving" the flag. As the Supreme Court stated in Texas vs. Johnson: "We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in so doing we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents." The flag desecration amendment would not only eviscerate the First Amendment; it would also send a signal to the world of a nation unconfident of its citizens' allegiance and of its ability to endure criticism and dissent. Any additional measure of respect that might somehow be gained through threat of imprisonment would be neither earned nor deserved. If this measure were to pass, would we really be able to look upon the flag with quite as much pride and reverence as before? K. Existing Laws Are Sufficient to Deal with Isolated Incidents of Flag Burning Most acts of flag burning already are punishable under existing larceny, trespassing or public property statutes. The First Amendment allows punishment for acts of desecration performed in such a way as to incite a riot or produce a danger to others. All four persons who desecrated American flags in 1994, for example, were prosecuted under such statutes. More laws are simply not necessary. L. Defining "Flag" and "Desecration" is Both Difficult and Likely to Result in a Flood of Litigation Nowhere in the proposed amendment are the terms "flag" and "desecration" defined. The form of any statute Congress might pass were this measure to become a part of the Constitution is, at this point, anybody's guess. The American Heritage Dictionary (Second College Edition) defines "desecrate" as "to abuse the sacredness of." Not even the most ardent veterans groups argue that the flag is a religious icon. What kind or degree of disrespect might rise to the level of "desecration," particularly where the object in question -- the American flag -- is a secular symbol? Since burning is, under Title 36, Section 176(k) of the U.S. Code, the proper method for disposing of a worn flag, how would police and prosecutors determine which burnings are "proper" and which are not? Would any improper means of handling, storing or displaying a flag -- Sections 174 through 176 of Title 36 contain 171 lines regulating these subjects -- constitute imprisonable flag abuse? As for the flag itself, would this proposed amendment permit incarceration were someone to manufacture paper towels with an American flag motif? Could you play football on a muddy field wearing a Tommy Hilfiger shirt with a flag across the chest? Could you eat an ice cream cake flag? What might happen to someone who disrespects a picture of a flag, or an actual flag with 48 or 52 stars? While criminal defense attorneys may prosper, the proposed amendment would create a nightmare for prosecutors and judges, and could be used for unintended censorship. M. The Answer to Ignorant or Repugnant Speech is More Speech, Not Less In its opinion in the Johnson case, the Supreme Court stated: "We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than by waving one's own... The way to preserve the flag's special role is not to punish those who feel differently about these matters. It is to persuade them that they are wrong." In 1976, a crowd at Wrigley Field in Chicago actually burst into a spontaneous rendition of "God Bless America" when two protesters ran onto the field and tried to burn a flag. How utterly, beautifully American a response! Arresting someone who is demonstrating peacefully, if utterly obnoxiously, only vindicates that person's hatred. Legislation cannot change the hearts and minds of men nearly so effectively as education. As to false or repugnant speech, Supreme Court Justice Louis Frankfurter once wrote: "[T]he remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." Conclusion The proposed amendment not only would be ineffective at accomplishing its stated purpose of protecting the flag from desecration; it would itself desecrate the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Americans who believe that desecration of the American flag must be outlawed are allowing an emotional reaction to something they find highly offensive overrule the well-reasoned conclusions of our Founding Fathers. For the Senate to reject this measure, in light of the passions it has aroused, will require something in ample supply at Independence Hall and Omaha Beach but exhibited all too rarely by modern politicians: courage. Sources/Acknowledgements This piece was written after a careful review of some 45 newspaper editorials, on-line editorials, on-line essays and on-line radio commentaries. (By way of background, the American Society of Newspaper Editors has taken a formal position opposing the flag desecration amendment.) I also referred to the United States Constitution, the United States Code, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, The Quotable Lawyer and The American Heritage Dictionary (Second College Edition). The purpose of this piece was to gather in one essay the strongest arguments in support of its thesis from the vast array of writings and other commentary on this subject. Where a phrase used by another author was particularly forceful or eloquent, I borrowed it verbatim. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Listed below are the sources for this piece, for verification and/or reference. For your convenience, I have also included the web site addresses where I found them. At Web site address http://www.asne.org/ideas/flagedit.htm: Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona (undated editorial) Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles, California (undated editorial) The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California (undated editorial) Denver Post, Denver, Colorado (undated editorial) The News-Times, Danbury, Connecticut (undated editorial) Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach, Florida (undated editorial) Florida Today, Melbourne, Florida (undated column by Al Neuharth) At Web site address http://www.aclu.org/forms/nytimesad060298-more.html: The Detroit News, Detroit Michigan (editorial dated 4/11/98) USA Today ("USA Weekend"), Arlington, Virginia (column by M. Franco Salvoza dated 6/8/97) Libertarian Party News, city/state unknown (column by Sandi Webb dated September 1995) Libertarian Party News, city/state unknown (column by David F. Nolan dated September 1995) The Chronicle, Durham, North Carolina (column by Ty Harris dated 10/27/95) Rome Sentinel, Rome, NY (editorial dated 2/5/97) Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts (editorial dated 6/26/98) Weekly Alibi, city/state unknown (column by David O. Dabney dated 7/2/97) Casper Star-Tribune, Casper, Wyoming (column by Charles Levendosky dated 5/4/97) Des Moines Sunday Register, Des Moines, Iowa (editorial dated 6/14/98) The Herald, Everett, Washington (editorial dated 7/20/98) Peoria Journal Star, Peoria, Illinois (editorial dated 6/6/98) Freedom Forum Online, city/state unknown (column by Phillip Taylor dated 5/7/98) Freedom Forum Online, city/state unknown (column by Phillip Taylor dated 7/21/98 Washington Post, Washington, D.C. (editorial dated 7/5/98) Minot Daily News, Minot, North Dakota (editorial dated 7/5/98) The Dickinson Press, Dickinson, North Dakota (editorial dated 7/11/98) The Fargo Forum, Fargo, North Dakota (editorial dated 7/8/98) San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco, California (editorial dated 7/19/98) ACLU Freedom Network, New York, New York (a collection of 14 essays entitled "Voices of Veterans") The Register Herald, Beckley, West Virginia (column by R. Shawn Lewis dated 5/15/98) Freedom Forum Online, city/state unknown (column by Paul McMasters dated 4/1/98) At Web site address http://www.esquilax.com/flag/article4.html: Mesa Tribune, Mesa Arizona (column by Warren S. Apel dated 6/30/95) At Web site address http://www.aclu.org/congress/1033097a.html: ACLU Freedom Network, New York, New York (column by Jamin Raskin dated 3/30/97) At Web site address http://www.freedomforum.org/speech/series/flag.amendment.latest.asp: National Public Radio, city/state unknown (radio commentary by Wendy Kaminer aired on NPR's "Morning Edition" on 6/9/98) "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***I was talking about the ass wishing him ill of deadly disese. Maybe you should go re-read the posts. That is alright, call me an ass all you want. Hell, I have been called worst. And as far as going to Hell, just an imaginary place, it does not exist so i doubt that I nor anyone else will be going there. I do not wish any disease on anyone. My wording was entirely inappropriate. It should had been, "Someday you may find yourself with...". I also apologize for the offense. Also, you do not know me and I do not know you. You stated you have cancer and I am truely sorry for this as my younger brother died of cancer several years back. I myself have HIV. My t-cell have dropped to under 300 and my viral load is above 30,000. I feel like shit on a daily basis. I live on disability (go ahead, call me a freeloader, I do not care what others think of that, hell, it is my taxes also). I recently started an embroidery business from my home in the hope of getting off of SSDI and to be able to afford decent healthcare as the government cares very little (if anything at all) about helping Americans. I am not a young kid like Rookie. Hell, when I was his age I said the very samethings. I have always worked and worked during most of my illness. Up untill it was near impossiable to take the heat and long hours. At one time I was a 6', 250 pound 1%. I now weigh less than 150. I do not care who knows about my condition. Every dz I jump at knows. If anyone has a problem with it they should talk to me about it. So far no one has gave it any thought. Also, no one has called me an ass in sometime. Now back in the day I heard quite alot......ahhh the good ol days..... "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Rookie, honestly I do not wish my illness on you or anyone else. My response was written out of emotion and wish to take it back. I do, however, wish that this country would get back on track and help those in need. I am closing in on 50 now, at one time I believed that anyone who asked the government for help was a freeloader. Why should MY money go to help someone bedridden with cancer or AIDS. It is not my problem. That is how I felt when I was young and healthy. My, my, how we change our tune when we find ourselves in a simialer situation. It is truely sad that ofton that is what it takes. I was a jerk for making fun of gay people with AIDS. Never did I ever believe that the illness they were dealing with would ever affect myself. I hope that this world, not just this country, may someday realize that we are all on this spinning rock together. That will never happen and to believe that it will is a fools wish. Peace, love and good health to everyone. Goodbye. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Rookie, I hope someday you find yourself in a desperate situation. Maybe cancer, maybe MS, maybe AIDS and after you lose your insurance and find yourself desperate for care then I doubt you will say the samething. I joined the Navy right after high school, payed for my own college, worked 6 days a week inspecting railroads across America, 7 days a week inspecting railroad throughout Mexico. I made over 50k in the earlier 90's and payed high taxes on it. I supported this government and did as I should. Now what is wrong with expecting something back in return. I did not do it all so our government can go waltzing across the planet waging war. I did it because I believed that my hard work will help me and others in a time of need. You think you are so patriotic and talk like you are king shit. News flash, you are not secured in your job, it can disappear in a heartbeat (just ask the 25,000 who are losing their jobs with GM). You think you are secured with good health, that also can change in a heartbeat. Your home and property, well that too can be taken from you. Medicine and good healthcare, again, that also can be withheld from you. A high number of people you refer to as "freeloaders" are people who have fought for this country. They are people who have toiled long thankless hours in sweatbox factories. A high number of these people lost pensions that were wasted by management. I am not religous but I will pray that with your attitude towards the people in need that you too find yourself in need and recieve none. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Feds Begin Crackdown Against Medical Marijuana Dispensaries June 24, 2005 - San Francisco, CA, USA San Francisco, CA: On Wednesday, June 22, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal agencies raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco. Apparently more than 20 residences, businesses and cultivation sites were searched and at least 13 individuals were arrested. In a separate and ongoing investigation, a federal grand jury in Sacramento indicted Marion (Mollie) Fry, MD and her husband Dale Shafer, Esq. of Cool. They were arrested at their home, charged and have pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of distributing and manufacturing at least 100 marijuana plants. Both Dr. Fry and her husband Dale have been speakers at recent NORML conferences in California. The New York Times reports that the raids and arrests were the first large-scale actions against medical marijuana clubs and providers since the Supreme Court upheld federal authority over marijuana on June 6. The Times coverage captures what may be an ominous change in federal law enforcement policy. According to Gordon Taylor, special agent from the Sacramento office of the DEA: "We will not turn a blind eye to serious and flagrant disregard for federal law. There may be those who think we can disregard the court and Congress. DEA will not be among them." "One fears this is the beginning of a massive federal crackdown to close the medical marijuana dispensaries currently serving California's patient community; one hopes that common sense will yet prevail, and the tens of thousands of medical marijuana patients in California will not be forced to search for their medicine on the black market," said NORML Legal Counsel Keith Stroup. "This looks as if the federal law enforcement officials may have misconstrued the Raich/Monson decision as a mandate to treat patients and their providers as criminals." A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department, Sgt. Neville Gittens, said in a statement that its officers "did not take part in any investigation of these clubs or take any law enforcement action against these clubs." A spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said that federal investigations reinforced the importance of "trying to protect the legitimate uses of medicinal marijuana in the state." For more information about the state of medical marijuana laws post-Raich, please visit: http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6550 These are bad, bad days to be an American. Why would any country want what is forced down our throats. I groan everytime I hear "We are for life". This form of government is far from protecting life. This government is all about control and far from protecting the people who are forced to fund it. The DEA is a sham and a gestapo type secrect police organization. These people will stop at nothing to justify what they do. To vigorously go after the sick, well now THAT is sick. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Well, you're in luck; no one die of AIDS, but AIDS related symptoms. AIDS kills. You seem to be uninformed of what this virus does to the immune system and the body in general. I fully expect to die from it as healthcare in the US is an utter shame. I was diagnosed in 1995 after a 7 month stay in Mexico. My healthcare was great during the Clinton years but since that asshole Bush got in my care is next to nothing. Why waste time on some ass who wants to burn a piece of cloth when there are so many other issues that need addressing. Unless you also have HIV or work in the field or you are a caregiver to someone who is infected or your an AIDS activist then your opinion means zero to me. Hey, walk into any AIDS clinic and shout your opinion. Your remark is the remark of a very uninformed person. I know that AIDS opens the door for OI's after it destroys the immune system. I am very well informed and do not need your small mind to tell me what it does. When one speaks of AIDS killing it is in the form of an overall generalization to cover the scope of its deadliness. Go read up on what it does and while you are at it, look at some pictures at what this virus is capable of bringing on. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Use the majority then...Show me how Pot is better than Marinol for the majority of people The proof is there. I am proof. Marinol is very unpredictable. Its effect is not immediate and can come on at a time that is not desired. Smoking is immediate and is very controlled. I have not smoked anything in a few months and cannot get marinol any more. Since the last time that I smoked I have lost 15 pounds. Down from 163 to 148. If this is not proof, what is proof. Humans have used cannabis since before written history and have done well by it. It is those who only enjoy making money off of the sick and dying that wants to shove fucking pills down your throat. Tell me Ron have you ever had to eat more than 25 pills a day. I have and it left me unable to do anything but lay in bed wishing that I would just die and be down with it all. Marijuana, at one time, was recreational for me. Never did I think that it would be a godsend that would help me function in a normal fashion but it did. I did not become a junkie from it. It did not drive me insane. I went to work each and every day. My weight was above 180. I felt great and functioned like someone who was not sick. Since not being able to get marijuana or marinol (or any meds for my illness) these days I spend very little time at the dz and more time in bed. My weight is (at last Dr. appointment, I do not have a scale) 148. I am extremely tired and cannot take being in the heat for very long. My body feels like it was hit by a freight train and I am depressed to the point that at times I think of suicide. This means nothing to the law and order types who wish to lock up the sick and dying. The true issue is that the federals do not like to be proven wrong and they have been proven wrong over and over again. They also protect the profits for the pharmacutical companies. Never mind that tax dollars and contributions pay for the majority of research. It is a crime to want to be well in this country, if you are poor. But then, Ron, from how I take it, you know very little about AIDS or any other terminal illness. The proof is there, just ask the millions of people world wide who have benefited from cannabis. Please do not take this as a slam on your opinion as I do not know whatever it is you do know about AIDS, MS, Cancer or any other illness. I do agree that the medicannabis groups should seperate from the recreational use groups to give the movement credential. As long as the uninformed relate all cannabis use with Cheech and Chong the movement for cheap yet effective medicine will be a long uphill battle. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

If that is a joke, not funny. If not, honestly, the only thing I fear is dying of AIDS. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Perhaps Bush should have used the latter as the basis for invasion, but people make mistakes. Either way, we're helping people by doing what we're doing. WMD's may have been "bad intel," but it is fact that we have saved lives and continue to save lives over there. So, where's the problem? You have got to be kidding! The death rate is at an all time high in Iraq and that country is in shambles. Saving lives? Say that to the thousands who have lost everything since the "war president" invaded Iraq. Sure Saddam is a not so nice guy but he had backing from the US up untill he invaded Kuwait. Rumsfeld once called him a great leader. My tax dollars would be better spent treating the sick and dying in this country. It is such a waste to see so much spent on death and destruction with no end in sight. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

You should go and read the flag rules and regulations. It does appear that the majority of americans are in violation. Everyone who wears a flag t-shirt or puts a sticker on their vehicle is in violation. Hell, I suspect that anyone who has ever thrown something with the flag on it into their garbage can is also in violation. THIS ENTIRE COUNTRY IS IN VIOLATION. What the hell, lets build some more prisons and just lock everyone up. My health is in shambles due to AIDS (got some real bad news from my Dr. on monday) yet my healthcare provider can do little to treat it, thanks to the freaking feds. No money to help me, yet this government will waste a major amount on trying to keep someone from burning a piece of cloth. This country has gotton so far off track from what the founding fathers had envision I feel that the American Revolution was fought in vain. Truth is this country loves war and now, I suspect, we will hear about war on flag burners. Real issues that truely effect the people are ofton overlooked. The government cares nothing about the sick and dying. Ever since the "war president" has been in office my healthcare has gone to the very bottom. Hell, I feel like burning the damn flag but I believe I will keep it for a cold night when I cannot afford heat. I doubt that you know what my healthcare cost. I do not fear flag burners, I fear a government that can change the rules any fucking time they please. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

QuoteIt is more easy than that. If you want to stop illegal inmigration, the only way to go, is to stop making the U.S so atractive to illegal inmigrants. You can do that by making sure that employers do not hire them (fine them to hell). Something to consider next time you go to the salad bar "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Possums tend to be guilty on both counts, but since they are nocturnal, why not just bring the cat food inside at night? That would take away the attraction for possums, raccoons, rats, etc.Quote I only put the food out after sun-up in the morning. The now dead possum that was making a mess under the house had plenty of chances to leave as I had ran it off and covered his hole on a number of occassions. His bad luck that he had to meet Mr. Winchester. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

RICK STEVES: A VOICE OF SANITY by Fred Gardner, (Source:CounterPunch) Regional News 08 May 2005 United States ------- "Getting High is a Little Like Cuba: When the Government Says 'No', You've Just Got to Go There" Rick Steves is a travel guide and writer who lives in Edmunds, Washington, and spends about 100 days a year in Europe. His TV shows on PBS are seen by millions of viewers like you. He is in his late 40s; sandy-haired, bespectacled, intelligent, and so calm that he seems slightly bemused even when he's expressing outrage. A family man, a church-goer, pragmatic Two years ago Allen St. Pierre of NORML noticed Steves's name on the membership list and invited him to join the advisory board and to talk at the annual meeting. "I took my pastor out for a walk," said Steves on that occasion, "And I explained to him that there's a lot of good Christians who find marijuana actually helps them get closer to God... I think that was an accomplishment there: to find a leader in your community who respects you, but would be disinclined to understand what you're doing, and take the time to explain to him. I'm trying to do that and I think we all need to do that." At this year's NORML meeting in San Francisco, Steves reprised his practical advice in a keynote talk, excerpted below. Is there anyone better suited to begin guiding this country towards sanity? ----- To me travel is accelerated living. You make more friends and you learn more per day when you're away from home than you do at home. Everything becomes very vivid. When I'm in Europe for a month I can recall every meal. Can't do that when I'm at home, it's just not that vivid.... Travel really challenges truth. You're raised thinking certain truths are self-evident and God-given, and then you get over there and you realize that people do things differently. Travel rearranges your furniture. I mean, you go to Bulgaria and this means yes ( shaking his head ) and that means no ( nodding ). And you go to France and slow service means good service. Slow service is respectful service -you've got the table all night, take your time... You go to Belgium and they dip their French fries into mayonnaise, they look at you strange if you ask for ketchup... I go to Japan and I'm in a Raokan in the middle of the night and it's cold. They don't heat their houses. And you slip on your slippers and you put on your kimono and you shuffle down the hallway you can see your breath, you're not looking forward to sitting on the toilet, but the seat is heated. That's a nice jolt... Travel carbonates your life. It makes things different, it sort of refreshes your perspective and in a lot of ways, that's like marijuana, I would say. When I started teaching I wondered if it was a noble thing to teach rich Americans to do. My image of travel when I was a kid was rich white Americans on big cruise ships in the Caribbean throwing coins, photographing black kids diving for those coins. It was a way to flaunt your affluence. Nobody thought twice about it. That's what travel was all about. Even today that notion of travel persists. For a lot of people, travel is: see if you can eat five miles a day and still snorkel when you get into . And that's not something I wanted to promote. I wanted to promote thoughtful travel. In the last few years, thoughtful travel has become more important than ever for Americans. I'm really committed to the notion that travel is a constructive, healthy thing to do. That's nothing new. Fourteen hundred years ago Mohamed said "Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you've traveled." Thomas Jefferson said, "Travel makes a person wiser, but less happy." Mark Twain traveled, and he said "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness." I travel and it turns out to be one of the last great sources of legal adventure. When you travel you realize there's things to get excited about. I grew up thinking cheese was the same size as the bread -and it's orange. Then you go over there and they've got a different cheese for every day of the year. You go into a cheese shop in Paris it's like a festival of mold. I love hanging around with my restaurateur friends in Paris. I'm their little American bumpkin and they can help me appreciate the fine points of life. She takes me into the cheese shop and picks up the moldiest one. ( As if taking a deep whiff ) "Oh, Rick, smell this cheese it smells like ze feet of angels." Now, imagine thinking that cheese smells like ze feet of angels! It just changes your perspective on things. I was in Kabul, in Afghanistan. A professor sat down next to me and said, "You're an American, aren't you?" I said "Yeah." He said, "I want you to know that a third of the people on this planet eat with spoons and forks like you do, a third of the people eat with chopsticks and third of the people eat with their fingers like I do and we're all just as civilized." I was thankful for that. He had a little chip on his shoulder and he wanted to tell every American he could meet that he's not less civilized because he eats with his fingers. I was in Eastern Turkey in a land that might be called Kurdistan some day and met a carver who was famous in his corner of the country, everybody wanted a prayer niche carved by him. And we visited with him, and he was so proud to be showing his work off to these American travelers, he lifted his chisel up to the sky and said, "A man and his chisel, the greatest factory on earth!" Wow! There's a fulfilled guy. He may not know how to turn on a computer, but he can define his own success, and I thought that was pretty cool. When you travel you just meet people, you meet people all over the place. A little while ago in Germany a little kid, like a 5-year-old kid, was just staring at me. And finally his mom said, "Excuse my son, he stares at Americans. You see, last week we were at MacDonald's and he asked me 'Why do Americans have such soft bread?'" And the mother told the kid, "Because they have no teeth." You know, travel puts you in your place. I'm as inclined as the next American to brag about how well our athletes do at the Olympics, and I grew up marveling at how great we were, it was always USA on top of that Olympic medal list. Well, then my Dutch friend said, "Well, you've got a lot of Olympic medals, but per capita, we're doing eight times as well as you." We're not used to thinking of Olympic medals in terms of per capita. It's important to broaden your perspective and it's important to bring it home -to bring it home and share it with people that way. We're trying to bring it home with out kids. Grandma and grandpa came over when my son was about four years old or three years old and after table prayers I taught him to say "Allah...Allah...Allah..." Just to freak out my dad. You've got to put people a little outside their comfort zone to share what you've learned from your travels. One thing I've learned from my travels is how Europeans are a little more progressive than us in dealing with social problems. Every time there's a death sentence commuted in the United States, there's a light show at the Coliseum in Rome. They celebrate in Europe when we commute a death sentence in the United States... And of course when you travel in Europe you realize that there is a non-criminal approach to marijuana that could be quite inspirational to American policy makers if they would just learn about it. When you think about taking a trip, you can take a trip with your marijuana or you can take a trip with your passport. It's kind of fun to take a trip without having to travel. Just put me in a nice location with a National Geogrpahic and a joint and I'm climbing Mt. Everest. That travel is really quite cheap if the dollar's too low... And you can do your actual travel and mix some appreciation of marijuana into that and it becomes kind of super-travel. A lot of Americans are not edgy enough to smoke here, where it's illegal, but it's enjoyable for them to have an opportunity to enjoy some recreational use of marijuana without the paranoia that comes with doing that publicly in the United States. First time I ever smoked was in Afghanistan. As a kid I didn't want peer pressure to make me do something my parents said I shouldn't. Over there it was just like going local. "When in Rome," you know; and when in Afghanistan, this is what you do. The bus stops and everybody stands around and watches a goat get slaughtered and passes around the bong. I mean, you stand on the rooftop of your hotel and there's chariots going by, torchlit, and the lightbulbs are all breathing and people are eating soup with their hands and they don't drop a bit. And you travel on over to Nepal and you can look right into the eyes of the living virgin goddess the Kumari Deva, you've got these slow-motion beach attacks and everybody is going "namas dei, namas dei," CHECK SPELLING I salute your virtues... and you write in your journal trying to catch all this stuff and you get home and you hardly remember where you were high and where you weren't. But when you read it there's a certain dreaminess that comes into your journal writing that you can kind of derive, it couldn't have been that great, I must have been high. When I teach a writer's workshop a lot of times people will ask me "What's a trick? How can I be a better travel writer?" One of the tricks of travel writing is to be able to experiment with your perspective -smoking pot if you want to sharpen your ability to be a good travel writer. Like photographers will experiment with light. Any good photographer's going to play around with existing light, it's a fascinating thing. Well, as a travel writer you want to experiment with different perspectives on things. When you're a keen observer you realize - you can try and kill flies forever on the bed in Cairo but if you realize that when they're rubbing their little front feet together, they're toast! You can get 'em when they're doing this... ( rubs his hands ) When you're in Shanghai you see these skyscrapers. They're throwing up the equivalent of a skyscraper every day in Shanghai, surrounded by a sea of poverty. When you write about that, it helps to see these skyscrapers as stilettos just sticking up through this fertile soil of a billion people. You've got to make your observations from a different angle so people can better enjoy them. You're looking into the eyes of Michelangelo's David and you're actually seeing him sizing up the darkness of medieval superstition right there, five hundred years ago when Florence was pulling Europe out of the Dark Ages. For 25 years I've been taking groups around Europe. We take five thousand people around Europe every year on 200 different tours... Trying to get my travelers engaged to travel thoughtfully- not just fun in the sun, not just bingo and not just shopping but thoughtful travel. Going to Europe is going to a continent where people realize that society has to make a choice. You can tolerate alternative lifestyles or you can build more prisons. But you've got to make a choice. In Europe they'd rather tolerate alternative lifestyles. In our society we'd rather build more prisons. We live in a country where the hottest thing in real estate is gated communities for the wealthy and prisons for the poor. And we're oblivious. I don't know why we don't see this as a political issue, but it's a scary thing. Europeans are quick to remind me that my country has 4% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. That's not a good statistic. Europe has learned that you cannot legislate personal morality. It's futile. It's counterproductive. The Dutch say "We're businessmen. If there's a problem, we deal with that person as if he's a future customer or partner. The Dutch have so many creative ways to solve problems. You can complain about junkmail all you want. In the Netherlands they have stickers on their mailboxes that say yes or no, so they don't get junkmail unless they want it. Americans say "We can't have pedestrian streets because then cars can't get to my shop." In Europe they have pedestrian streets with little swipe things for a credit card and you swipe it if you're a resident and the gate goes down but otherwise it's traffic free. In the Netherlands 40 percent of the traffic is on two wheels. There are entire communities in Europe that are going to be wind-powered. There's a race going on right now for that. They deal with their problems by thinking outside the box. And as Europe unites, what they're doing gets more impressive. It's easy to write Europe off as the "old world," but they've got a bigger economy and a bigger population than we do right now. 400 million people with 11 trillion dollar GDP and they're not spending half of their disposable income on the military, they're investing it in their own infrastructure. It's breathtaking what's going on there. The hard choice we're making is to find 60 billion dollars to cover our government's military needs -cutting right into people's programs that weaken our communities. In Europe those are the last things they'd be cutting. Europe knows how to deal with social problems. Prostitution? There's no disease, there's no crime with prostitution in Europe. Prostitutes have their own union.... These days when a prostitute in the Netherlands has trouble she pushes an emergency button and a pimp doesn't come, the police come. When we think about the Netherlands we think about coffeeshops. They've got loaner bongs. You can check your email. It's a community center and it's considered by law enforcement officers and health officials as a good wall between the responsible adult use of soft drugs and hard drugs. There's nothing soft about hard drugs [policy] in the Netherlands. They are anti-hard-drug. They just classify marijuana in the category of alcohol and tobacco. The law enforcement officers see it as a wonderful way to communicate with people who have problems with hard drugs. They go to the coffeeshops. After 15 years of this, the Netherlands is clear. Even people who are against drugs are in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. Teen use does not go up. The crime element around drugs goes way way down. It's tough that the United States applies pressure on them. I had people in Copenhagen tell me they had to arrest a couple of potsmokers every year just to maintain favored trade status with the United States of America. That's a pathetic thing. Coming home for me is always a little bit of a jolt. The first person that meets me at the airport is a dog. I can't help but think: "One nation under surveillance." We pride ourselves on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but we have the shortest vacations in the rich world. We've got an uptight situation about sex where even my travel shows on PBS are rated for mature audiences only -if you can imagine that. David's going to be pixilated here pretty soon. TV programmers around the United States have a list of how many seconds of marble penis and canvas breast are showing as I show art from Europe. A lot of programmers can inflict a Titian painting or a Michalengelo statue on their viewership in some conservative communities. In a lot of regards we're going in the wrong direction in this society and that's why it's good for us all to ge4t together and encourage each other and break from this huddle and go back into our communities. Jailing people for pot in Europe would be laughable. But that's not the case here in the United States. In so many ways I think we're living a lie. And that's one reason why I got involved with NORML. I just don't think if you're a successful, affluent, free country you need to embrace lies to con your electorate into this or that. We just heard that the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction was mistaken. And they all pretend they didn't know... We are routinely outvoted in the United Nations by 140 to four on environmental issues, development of the third world, the criminal court, on Cuba, on Israel. Who stands with us? Israel, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia. That's what I call a rogue nation. If there's something going on to help solve the problems of desperately poor people, there's one country that gets in the way, the U.S.A. It's us! If Canada wants to give discounted medicine for AIDS to Africa, who gets in the way of it? We do. If Americans knew this, if it could be communicated effectively, I think it would be not a very tough sell to get our country a little more tuned into the needs of the people on this planet. But we are embracing these lies. We buy this stuff. "No child left behind." "Clean skies." "I love trees." "The party of life." "Tax relief." "Death tax." All of this terminology we just embrace. They call it the "defense" department. Nobody should ever let that word go by without a challenge. It's not a "defense" department. We spend as much as the rest of the world put together on the military and you can't get elected without promising more. There's a mania in that regard; it's a big problem. We hear that we're for peace and we've got these 'Christian values,' but we're pounding plowshares into swords these days at a record pace. Somebody's got to just stand up and just say -you know, when Bush talks about freedom and liberty, he's talking about freedom to other people's natural resources and liberty to use their cheap labor. That's what they're talking about! I was down in El Salvador last week. I just wanted to see what was going on in the developing world. They've got their struggles between the left and the right down there and the leftwing party in El Salvador was almost going to win the presidential election last year and President Bush had to send his brother Jeb down there to stand by the righwinger and tell the Salvadorans "If you vote for the leftwing, we're going to stop remittances coming down from all the refugees working in the United States." Which is a third of the money in El Salvador's economy. So most of the people voted for the rightwing, against their interests, because of this threat from the United States. That's democracy these days. A leading Jesuit priest, an educator in El Salvador, says whenever he hears the term "democracy" these days, his bowels move. I've got a journal about that. If you're curious about what I learned down in El Salvador. It's at ricksteves.com One thing I'm concerned about is the mass dumbing down of our society. The stuff I've been talking about, we go "yeah, yeah, yeah," but the average person doesn't get it. It's because of fear, I think, and because powerful forces in our society have been dumbing us down. They would find it convenient if we all become just mindless producer-consumers. We've got to not let them dumb us down. Because when we're dumbed down, that's the only way political initiatives against the interest of the people in general can have a chance. The news is not news. Reality tv is not reality. When you see steroids on TV, and Michael Jackson and Terry Schiavo and so on, nobody's talking about the big issues. I mean every day, if you care about people if you're into sanctity of life, every day three times as many people who died on 9/11 die in Africa. Every day because of AIDs. That's a real problem that can be dealt with. We hear about the tsunami, and then it's gone out of the news. And nobody tells us that every week there's a tsunami worth of innocent children that die of starvation on this planet. It's just structural poverty, and America is the flagbearer of this structural poverty around the planet. As good people we can encourage our neighbors and so on to become a little more progressive. The problem with marijuana is, if they're trying to make us just mindless producer-consumers, marijuana is not good on either account. It doesn't make us want to produce more and the only thing we would consume more is cheetos. The thing this society doesn't like about marijuana is it turns people who wouldn't otherwise be poets into poets. Think of Maslow's famous hierarchy of needs. First you get your clothes and your car and your house and then you can do things that are more creative and then at the top you got "selfless actualization," helping other people. It's more convenient in our society to have barbed wire. So that we continue to consume out and out and out, not realizing that we can step over the barbed wire and live more fulfilling lives. One of the reasons why philosophically I'm into marijuana is that it's a good way to cut that barbed wire and be true to yourself and be what really is successful. To sell this propaganda it's the big-lie technique. Hitler learned that you can tell a big lie over and over again, and people believe it if you tell it enough times. We've got to recognize the propaganda. The propaganda erodes the credibility of the government, of schools, of families when it comes to marijuana. We've got a government -a White House- that spends millions of dollars advertising in the Super Bowl trying to tell people that marijuana causes teen pregnancies. And it's surrounded by beer ads! Now what's causing the pregnancies? I've got friends who are teachers and the DARE program by any teacher's assessment is somewhere between ineffectual and counterproductive. When you got a DARE officer, they'll meet with the teachers lounge, these teachers who are free spirits, Dead Poets Society kind of stuff, you know, they are cowed into silence when the DARE officer is there. You can hear a pin drop in the teacher's lounge. No one will question DARE because it's bad news for your job security if you are known as somebody who is a little bit open-minded about creative ways to deal with drugs and children. It is so exciting to go to a DARE meeting at school and question it. I mean, every parent there wants to do it but they're just too chicken. Every parent knows this is bogus but they just are afraid and this fear is what's keeping us down. At home, I have two teenage kids. My wife is a nervous wreck. Parents are taught that this is a gateway drug and it's 20 times as powerful back when we did it innocently when we were kids and all this kinds of stuff. I'm excited about having credibility with my kids. One of the perks I get for being on the advisory board here at NORML is I can invite Keith Stroup over for dinner and introduce my teenage kids to a lawyer who has dedicated his life to dedicating an ideal rather than people with a lot of money. There's a nobility in our struggle that I think can be explained a little better. My daughter just wrote a paper. She got to choose whatever topic she wanted and she chose "Why marijuana should be decriminalized. I just read the teacher's response to it two days ago. She got an 'A' but the teacher said, "We don't all have to agree with you, but it's a good paper." I think the underlying thing about this propaganda war on the part of our government against marijuana is that even more than stopping kids from drug use, what's motivating them is instilling fear in parents. Because fear is the only way they're going to keep us down. Normally, I'm not talking about the decriminalization of marijuana, I'm talking about foreign policy and 9/11 stuff and terrorism. That relates to my travel stuff more directly. But it is the same thing! Our government wants us to be afraid and the fear enables them to manipulate us this way. For goodness sakes, we've got doctors and scientists and medical experts that have to be politically correct to give our government advice. It's sort of bad news to make Hitler parallels but it's getting more and more like that. Our environmental policies, our health policies, our AIDS policies, are shaped by people who are driven by ideological agendas. I mean, tears cause AIDS now... Our government is embracing this. It's amazing to me. I was very impressed when I read on the NORML website a bulletin the Drug Czar sent out to all the prosecuting attorneys listing 20 reasons why marijuana is the devil's weed. Each one of these points is refuted very solidly on the NORML website. But that our government would be giving this trash to prosecutors with the implication that you better be running with this sort of standard....That's just really -somebody's got to stand up to that. Travel teaches you a respect for history. We should learn from history. We had this 13-year experiment with Prohibition and I think by any sober assessment, it just made a lot of criminals, filled a lot of prisons and cost our society a lot of money back in the '20s. It was big government at its worst. Today, more and more people are waking up to this prohibition that's keeping Americans who shouldn't be criminals criminals. It's causing so many people to be arrested every year. If one person is arrested for marijuana is contributing to the congestion of our prisons right now, that's one person too many. We need to balance our activism. I think your marijuana activism will be more effective if your also into the PTA and homelessness and the schools and public television or whatever. It makes me be more credible because people know I'm into other causes, also. It makes me feel more effective as an advocate of decriminalizing marijuana. We have a clear message and you've just got to have these figures. 750,000 Americans were arrested last year because of marijuana, 88% of them for simple possession. Our country blew 7 billion dollars on this. This should be a conservative issue. We can talk about the European solution. Fifteen years they've been experimentingwith treating marijuana as a medical concern rather than a criminal one. Even crusty, conservative law enforcement types like it this way. We need to pre-empt the discredit. They're going to say: You're for children abusing drugs? No, we're not for children smoking pot, we're not for hard drugs, we're not for driving when you're high, none of that stuff. But you need to pre-empt that because they'll try to discredit you right away... Responsible adult use is okay, but nobody's talking about kids getting easy access to pot. We need to shoot off that torpedo before they torpedo us with it. People think advocating for NORML is advocating for breaking a law. It's not. It's advocating to change a law -and that's a very fundamental difference. I'm not saying to smoke pot. I'[m saying it's wrong to arrest people who want to smoke pot as mature adults, or for medical use. We're not saying break the law. I want to support NORML publicly like I support travel. I think it's a matter of freedom. I think it's recess, and we need it in this society. Being high to me is a little like Cuba. Any time my government says I can't go somewhere, I feel it's one of my rights to go there. My government can't tell me I can't go to Cuba. Everyone else is going to Cuba, why can't I go to Cuba? And I don't think my government can tell me what I can do as a responsible citizen in the privacy of my own home. We need to challenge our friends. It's frustrating to me that there are so many potsmokers out there who don't even put two and two together. To me, NORML is not a charity, NORML is a service. So, happy travels, even if you're just staying home "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Ok, there an error I cant pull it up. What's the story. Muslims pissed over the flushing of the koran "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

The very people who denounce this have been burning American flags and denouncing Americans as dirty infidels for years. I don't have to say it, you know what I am thinking. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Wasn't no grizzly. We ain't got none here in Missouri. It was one tough lil old 'possum though. Should had put on the Bonehead for video. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

As I was logging on to dz.com, no more than 30 minutes ago, what the fuck do I see out in my yard but a freaking possum. Not just any possum but the possum that has been living under my house! HOT DAMN! I grab my 30-06 winchester model of 1917 and jack one round into her and proceed out of the house. By the time I come around the side that possum is on the porch having a breakfast of cat food. Obvious that the outside cat, Katana, is not doing his job. As I round the corner the possum sees me and starts into hissing me. Why you dirty freaking varmit! I level the rifle and let one fly! KA-BOOM! That possum must of flew about 20 feet before it hit the ground. To my surprise the son of a bitch is not dead! Well I ain't never seen shit like this as that possum, with it's innards now outards, takes after me. One would think that one 150gr 30-06 round would make short work of a lil old possum. Well, that possum wasn't at all happy about having it's breakfast interrupted. Let alone having it's guts now on the outside. Shit it came after me like I was a grub. Damn! I only brought one round. I smacked that possum with the barrel of my gun, knocking it on it's back. I run back inside and got me another round. When I returned the possum was again on all 4 and coming at me. Bold lil' son of a bitch. I level again and let the thunder roar! This time I take it's chest out and it drops on the spot. HOO-RAH!! I am victorious! I am the mighty hunter. FEAR NO VERMIN! "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Gotta go, they're running out of US flags at Walmart.... There is always more where those came from.....China. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Clayton Daniels is in custody awaiting trial on arson charges. He could face up to 20 years. Should have taken 30 days in the hole "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Hello..... Calling all gun control advocates. Where are you??????? I'm dying to hear your thoughts on this issue Here I am, your friendly fire, gun control advocate!!! My thoughts on this is bury them deep and when the time comes to lock and load, keep a steady hand, don't pull - squeeze. Remember children, gun control is being able to hit your target! "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Well, I won a free ticket anyways. 3 out of 6 and the non matching 3 were 1 number off.Grrrrrrrr the powers that be are fucking with me. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Go after the skiers first. Those folks are just plain fucking insane. What kind of lunatic would hurl theirself down a snow covered slope with nothing between them and the ground but a couple of sticks strapped to their freaking feet! Once their kind is rounded up the rest of us should be able to rest a little easier knowing that such behavoir will not be tolerated in a society that is based on a foundation of law set forth by a government that has your best interest in mind. Now this crap about going after skydivers, well now, that is just plain crazy. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Wish I could take one. My best friend, a black persian, died two weeks ago from lung cancer. Had him for nearly nine years "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Burn a bowl with ya on any day. I would also laugh, laugh and laugh if ya were to get drunk and fall down. Oh, by the way, I am not religous, I am agnostic. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

You think right Personally I have no problem with people who drink. They are ofton a good source of amusement when I am stoned