freethefly

I see nothing horriable about giving someone a chance to redeem themself. I would add one more condition; repay the victim. Besides small time drug users there is also those locked up for being deadbeat dads/moms, traffic offenders, public nuicance.... There is a big list of why people are confined and it is shocking to know of what extent the long arm of the law can do if its hand is wrapping its fingers around your throat. America is the extreme when it comes to legislating the population. The extreme is laws pertaining to personal action in which the person at most risk is the person commiting such action. Base jumping comes to mind. Federal law considers it dangerous. One could be confined for jumping El Capitan even though the only one at risk is the jumper. Using such logic that these laws are for protecting ones selve from ones selve then driving an automobile should also be a federal offense as should stepping into a bathtub that has no nonslip strips. Why America has 1/3 of the worlds prison population and growing daily is no wonder. Just take a look at at is considered criminal and then watch out. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

The last one reminds me of a car I saw that went up a small hill off the road and up a telephone pole. I was only a block from home so I went for the camera. When I returned it was already down. Lesson here is always carry a camera> "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

A long but interesting piece. THE WTO - THE STONER'S NEW BEST FRIEND by Tim Wu, (Source:Slate) Regional News 20 Mar 2005 United States ------- In the United States, possession and distribution of marijuana is nominally illegal. But you don't have to be Tommy Chong to know that pot's legal status is cloudy and confused. Growing and using "medical" marijuana is legal in 11 states, and in cities like San Francisco it's easy enough to find locally grown product. In addition to being inconsistent, as critics have long pointed out, the federal ban is also irrational. It treats marijuana differently than similar products for no obvious reason. People use prescription drugs, pot, and alcohol for the same purposes: to get high, relax, and dull pain. The consequences of abuse are similar: crashed cars, disease, and lots of wasted time. So, what makes marijuana special? The irrationality of U.S. marijuana policy is not news. Support of legalization has made bedfellows of people like Willie Nelson and William F. Buckley Jr., backed up by Richard Posner and Dr. Dre. And a Supreme Court decision on whether the federal laws can trump state statutes in this area is expected any day. But the strange status of marijuana may also bring down the scrutiny of a different entity altogether: the World Trade Organization and its powerful condemnation of inconsistent national laws. The American ban on marijuana is what the WTO calls "a barrier to trade," raising the question: Can U.S. marijuana policy survive the tough scrutiny of world trade law? WTO scrutiny of American drug laws may sound far-fetched, but then until recently so did WTO scrutiny of U.S. gambling or tax laws. U.S. gambling laws, like drug laws, are erratic: Online casinos are strictly prosecuted, but state lotteries and Las Vegas are tolerated. Citing such inconsistency, last November the WTO declared American gambling enforcement an "illegal barrier to trade in services." The fate of these gambling laws may be a guide to the future of American marijuana laws. Do such WTO decisions have any teeth? Yes, because unlike other international bodies the WTO understands punishment. In his tenure as U.S. president, George W. Bush has obeyed exactly one international court decision: a WTO ruling that shot down his protections for American steel. The reason even Bush listens to the WTO is that the organization knows the one thing politicians fear: angry industries, especially farmers. The WTO has the power to authorize punitive economic sanctions, and those inevitably target politically sensitive exporters--like Florida orange growers or Midwestern wheat. And to such threats even the United States responds. Just as the mob gets what it wants by threatening your family, the WTO targets farmers, and for politicians that's even scarier. Two WTO principles spell trouble for U.S. drug laws. The WTO demands that countries treat foreign products the same as domestic ones ( the "National Treatment" principle ); and it demands that when chemicals or drugs are banned, those bans be based on good science ( the "Beef Hormone" principle ). Both these requirements may present a problem for the United States in the pot wars, because neither science nor logic has ever played much of a role in American crackdowns on "reefer madness." Consider "national treatment." The basic idea is that the United States cannot tax Canadian rye whisky at $10 a bottle without doing the same to Kentucky bourbon. Under WTO law, taxing one but not the other is illegal discrimination. The analogy to marijuana is clear: Local marijuana-growing enjoys quasi-legal status in the United States, but the import of foreign marijuana is strictly banned. In trade terms, that's called illegal discrimination in favor of local producers. Does it matter that the medical-marijuana laws are the rogue efforts of a handful of states like California and Montana? No, said the WTO in its online casino case--while state laws may give rise to this inconsistency, federal systems are fully accountable for state action. U.S. states, moreover, are protecting a valuable industry. Estimates are unreliable, but the organization NORML in 1998 estimated the domestic weed industry at $15 billion, making it the nation's fourth largest: larger than the tobacco and cotton, but smaller than soybeans and corn. When local laws happen to protect a valuable local industry against imports, the WTO becomes suspicious. "Beware the Killer Drug 'Marihuana'--a powerful narcotic in which lurks: Murder! Insanity! Death!" This warning, from a 1930s U.S. government poster, raises a central U.S. defense to WTO charges: Doesn't the United States have the right to protect its citizens against harmful drugs? Yes, countries do have explicit permission to enact health-protecting trade-restrictive measures ( in trade lingo, "sanitary and phytosanitary measures" ). But import bans must also be supported by scientific risk analysis. And merely saying "Murder! Insanity! Death!" is usually insufficient. That's what the Europeans found out when their ban on hormone-fed beef was struck down by the WTO in 1998. Europeans have long been suspicious of American cattle fed growth hormones, believing that eating hormone-laden beef leads to premature sexual development. But the WTO struck Europe's beef-hormone ban for want of good science. In WTO language, Europe failed to supply a "risk assessment that reasonably supports or warrants the import prohibition." There's a difference: Unlike with hormone beef, no one denies that marijuana is harmful when abused. As with tobacco or alcohol, the United States clearly has the right to enact some controls. The problem may be justifying the distinct U.S. treatment of marijuana's health risks. The WTO rules can be read to demand that products of similar risks be treated similarly, and a cannabis pill may be a market substitute for prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. All are harmful: Prozac makes people suicidal, alcohol destroys livers, and cigarettes* are cancerous and as addictive as crack. What, the WTO may ask, makes marijuana so different? The issue is sharpened by the problem of the import of cannabis for medical purposes. The White House now denies that cannabis is a medicine, saying "even if smoking marijuana makes people 'feel better,' that is not enough to call it a medicine." But a 1999 medical study commissioned by the ( Clinton ) White House concluded otherwise, saying "the accumulated data suggest a variety of indications, particularly for pain relief, antiemesis, and appetite stimulation." Such findings cannot help the U.S. case. The United States does have a fallback defense: Marijuana makes good people bad. The World Trade Organization allows countries to enact measures "necessary to protect public morals." Which raises this fundamental question: Is it wrong to be stoned? A 1924 Daily Mirror editorial said, "Marijuana inflames the erotic impulses and leads to revolting sex crimes." And today, according to the White House, "Marijuana users in their later teen years are more likely to have an increased risk of delinquency and more sexual partners." But just because smokers drop out and have more sex, is that sufficient to sustain a morality-based barrier on trade? No one knows, but it is the kind of question that makes trade law interesting. In order for the WTO to consider the legality of U.S. drug laws, some country would have to bring a WTO complaint against the United States. Don't expect a case tomorrow, but it may just be a matter of time. An increasing number of countries--including Belgium, Holland, and Canada--have begun to allow licensed growing of marijuana, and today's growers will be tomorrow's exporters. Canada is the natural WTO plaintiff. Just as with alcohol during prohibition, Canada makes lots of money selling contraband dope to its southern neighbor. According to the Canada's National Post, Canadian marijuana is a $7 billion industry, or larger than Canada's wheat and dairy industries, and its fisheries. And the laws up north are loose. The last two prime ministers have been legalization advocates. ( Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien famously said, "The decriminalization of marijuana is making normal what is the practice. ... I will have my money for my fine and a joint in the other hand." ) And some Canadian courts have even struck down marijuana laws as violative of fundamental rights. Even Tommy Chong ( of Cheech and Chong ) is from Alberta--the Canadian complaint at the WTO could well begin, "Hey, man " The economic incentives to bring a WTO complaint are clear. For Canadian and other marijuana exporters, the American recreational and medical weed market is the big fatty. Americans smoked 1,047 metric tons of ganja in 2000--according to U.S. government estimates, worth $10.5 billion. ( The White House estimates that the average smoker goes through 18.7 joints per month. ) Every afternoon, at 4:20, millions of bowls light across the nation--and what country wouldn't want a piece of that? For many, these points may lead to questions not about the drug laws but about the WTO. But none of this should be a surprise. The WTO's reasoning is economic, and economic logic taken seriously often has radical consequences. Many economists, including Nobel-laureates Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, have long believed that American marijuana laws are irrational. And as William F. Buckley Jr. puts it, "marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could." The irony here is difficult to overstate. The same WTO that most stoners love to hate may someday be the organization that guarantees their supply. In the words of Willie Nelson, "Marijuana is an herb and a flower. God put it here. What gives the government the right to say that God is wrong?" "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

DISGRACE (Source:Charleston Gazette) Regional News US WV: Editorial: Disgrace 23 Mar 2005 West Virginia ------- Why So Many Prisons AMERICA is tainted by its horrendous rate of prisoners locked in cells. This nation jails about six times more people per capita than do Canada, England, Mexico and other countries. The United States has 2.1 million citizens in steel cages. Since it costs about $22,000 to hold each convict annually, taxpayers must cough up $40 billion-plus per year for incarceration. California spends more for prisons than for higher education. Texas is the lock-"em-up capital, with more prisons than any other state. Texas has built 100 new prisons since 1980. Why is America the world's biggest stockade? Are Americans six times more criminal than people in Canada, England, Mexico, etc.? Of course not. The disgraceful U.S. lockup rate may come from harsh, judgmental, unforgiving attitudes inherited from Puritan founders. Vast numbers of Americans are locked up for drugs. Other societies are more tolerant of addicts, but not America. Last month, a study by the state Council of Churches and two other humanitarian groups -- plus a second study by the Criminal Justice Analysis Center -- showed that the number of West Virginians in cells skyrocketed from 2,300 to more than 5,000 in the past decade. Taxpayer costs likewise doubled. The Legislature, desperate to find enough revenue to run the state government, is jarred by the soaring lockup tab. Meanwhile, county commissions are wracked by the cost of keeping defendants in regional jails. Last year, Kanawha's expense was $3.1 million. Now, Kanawha commissioners see a way to reduce the incarceration burden. They want to put nonviolent offenders on probation -- leaving them free to hold jobs -- and make them report to a center where they'll get drug counseling, GED classes, career help and the like. The commission already has hired a director for the day reporting center, and is applying for a state grant to employ counselors and officers. Freed offenders would be charged perhaps $150 a month to help pay for the liberating system. Any who slipped back into dope or crime would lose their freedom, joining the multitude in cells. Bravo. We think this is a splendid plan, and we hope the state grant is obtained. In fact, we hope the whole country utilizes such alternative sentences to the greatest degree possible. Anything that reduces the grotesque rate of Americans in steel cages will be a blessing. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Why are you in church on a sunday morning when you should be at the DZ???????????? "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

This one says I will live to be 77. The calculator at sparknotes.com said I will die at age 48 on Jan. 7th, 2009. I am only 45. The first one sounds better. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I am well aware that each "next jump" could be my last so I say "HELL YES, GEAR UP". I can think of worst ways to die. HIGH SPEED DIRT, BABY! "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Man Goes on Autosexual Rampage Cleatus Gasshole went on a sexual romp through his neighborhood this morning after consuming two quarts of valvoline and one bottle of octane booster. The combination acted as an aphrodasiac causing Cleatus to become sexually attracted to the cars on his street. A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said " all and all he is not a bad guy. He is very handy when it comes to working on cars.". Cleatus stated that cars just drove him wild. White cars, black cars, green, yellow, red. It just does not matter he proclaimed. Mostly it is American cars that revs his crank, he said, but lately he has had his eye on a little Fiat down the street. "Just the thought of carressing her Italian bumper makes my piston blow a ring", Cleatus said as motor oil dribbled from his mouth. I don't know about you, but I will be sure my gas cap is locked if Cleatus is in the neighborhood looking for a new ride. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I think the zero tolerance type enjoyed the swoosh and smack of a firm piece of lumber in the hand of the sadistic neo-she-nazi type teacher that I ofton had way back then. It wasn't untill high school that I would get a teacher that would make a dead man stand up. I blame her for my poor math grade. With all the paddling that I got in class thirty years ago I am still prone to acting out violently. Saturday at the DZ I did in fact shoot several people with rubberbands. Most were seriously injured and had to be airlifted out for emergency medical attention. I was arrested, tried by a jury of my own peers and given a paddling by a sadistic neo-she-nazi type teacher. To tell the truth I have somewhat become accustom to the paddling and eagerly await the next. THANK YOU, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!! ZERO TOLERANCE!! THANK YOU, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER!! "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I use to get the worst beatings of my life from teachers with paddles when I was a child back in the 60's. I have harboured deep hatred for any nazi like authority ever since. The goosestepping nazi mentality from then has found a new outlet through paranoia of childern with rubberbands. Remember they use to beat childern within inches of certian death for just talking in class. Now that beating childern is no longer in vogue, giving them a record seems to be the in thing. Why not get fingerprints and DNA early and they could then be more easier tracked. From shooting rubberbands to spitballs can be a very serious thing so I can see the need for DNA samples so to identify the spitball shooters of the future. Forget the fact that they demand that childern bring a very sharp item to class everyday and throughout the day teachers constantly remind the childern, the very childern they so fear and loath, to keep that item sharp. Hell, ban the pencil and give them chalk if so afraid. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

QuoteWhat's a "snow blower?" Someone who blows snowmen "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Hook up a microphone and a P.A. system and broadcast them to the whole building be sure to give it lotsa bass so to also give it that thumping feeling "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I have a female skunk that lives in a hole in the ground near the hot tub. She use to live under my bathroom floor. Chased her out and sealed up the hole. Being spring is close, I will be seeing her new kits soon. Fun to watch them play while I hang in the tub. Mama skunk is more like a pet now that we have an understanding. I won't chase her off (she only comes back, what's the use?) and she won't squirt at me anymore. As far as armadillo's, I got them too. Hell it a regular damn zoo. Chase them off or shoot them and others replace them. Learn to live with them once they are out from under the house. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

There are people out there, with my name, doing some fucked up things. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***I'm just curious...how do you plan on making sure that "she" has swallowed? Shove it to the back of her throat, keep it in untill she turns blue followed by a beer shotgunned "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Quoteits only a war crime if it happens to the good guys Why is that some folks think that just because the prickbag who is shooting at you all day suddenly runs out of ammunition he should be treated more fairly than those who still have ammunition. Fuck the dirtbag, shoot them where they lay and pray. That is the only way those boys over in hell are going to survive. The very people (used loosely) they are to flushout would cut their throats while they slept, if given a chance. Fuck civility. What really fucks the wad is the tax dollars wasted trying to imprison the very people that the feds sent into a wasteland of confusion to do a job that is the most critical. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

***Yeah, bankruptcy isn't as simple as it sounds. It will destroy your financial life. Sure you won't have to pay off debts, but good luck getting a loan for anything else. Filing was a piece of cake, my lawyer did most of the work. I had over $50,000.00, the majority in medical bills($38,000 and no med insurance). Filed and wiped it out. I have since found help with my medical expence(unless Potus and his goosestepping choursline have it their way). Did it about 8 years ago. Since then I have bought a house, several cars and a few personal loans. Best move I could had made, given the situation. If I only had a $5000.00 debt I most surely would had paid that, being that it is much like paying a car loan and not a big 50 which is more like a 30 year payback on a home loan. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

79% DIXIE. I says, I's wunda, I WUNDA, what tha HAIL happen to tha otha 21%!!!!! "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Really cool video. It was somewhat mundane untill 1:50 and then WOW. Ther is a jumper in K.C. who has an RC plane and can make it stand still on it's tail , also make it dance and walk. Real amazing to watch. Last 4th of July we did a demo into the Joplin airshow, while there we watched a guy inside a glider with two RC jet engines mounted on the wings do the same stunts, blew my mind to watch this big glider stand up on it's tail and dance in place, amazing. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

What an adrenaline rush it would had been to sit with the Doctor. A great story you must have. I hoped to meet him on my way back from Sturgis in 91. I swung down through Colorado on Hwy 70 jumping off toward Aspen to Woody Creek. I had visions off dropping acid, swilling Turkey and shooting heavy firepower while ranting all the while with HST. I had to settle for a few shots and beers and some stories from the locals. Had a good time none the less where the Doc held court. I got back on the bike pointing back towards Hwy 70 and home. When i reread, after many years, HST's essay "Security" I realize that that peice of work describes me as well as the man who wrote it. It seems, too, that most skydivers can relate to it's meaning and be able to answer his question. It was 50 years ago that he wrote it. I wonder if he re-read it after all these years. If so, what did he think when rerunning his life. Maybe he suddenly realized that he has gone way beyond the edge where one can never turn back. Whatever it was that drove him to his demise he left a mark on those who enjoyed his work. He is somehow responsiable for some of us who got hooked at a young age. I dropped acid in Vegas in the early 80's because the Doc did. It was worth it. His essay somehow was responsiable for waking me up early. The Doc went his way for whatever reason. As I write this I can imagine the Doc and his attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert.... Rest in peace hope ya got your Great Red Shark. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

i would had settled just to have a drink withe man and hear him rant. What a great picture you have "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Something the Doctor wrote many years ago. Security by Hunter S. Thompson (1955). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Security ... what does this word mean in relation to life as we know it today? For the most part, it means safety and freedom from worry. It is said to be the end that all men strive for; but is security a utopian goal or is it another word for rut? Let us visualize the secure man; and by this term, I mean a man who has settled for financial arid personal security for his goal in life. In general, he is a man who has pushed ambition and initiative aside and settled down, so to speak, in a boring, but safe and comfortable rut for the rest of his life. His future is but an extension of his present, and he accepts it as such with a complacent shrug of his shoulders. His ideas and ideals are those of society in general and he is accepted as a respectable, but average and prosaic man. But is he a man? has he any self-respect or pride in himself? How could he, when he has risked nothing and gained nothing? What does he think when he sees his youthful dreams of adventure, accomplishment, travel and romance buried under the cloak of conformity? How does he feel when he realizes that be has barely tasted the meal of life; when he sees the prison he has made for himself in pursuit of the almighty dollar? If he thinks this is all well and good, fine, but think of the tragedy of a man who has sacrificed his freedom on the altar of security, and wishes he could turn back the hands of time. A man is to be pitied who lacked the courage to accept the challenge of freedom and depart from the cushion of security and see life as it is instead of living it second-band. Life his by-passed this man and he has watched from a secure place, afraid to seek anything better What has he done except to sit and wait for the tomorrow which never comes? Turn back the pages of history and see the men who have shaped the destiny of the world. Security was never theirs, but they lived rather than existed. Where would the world he if all men had sought security and not taken risks or gambled with their lives on the chance that, if they won, life would be different and richer? It is from the bystanders (who are in the vast majority) that we receive the propaganda that life is not worth living, that life is drudgery, that the ambitions of youth must he laid aside for a life which is but a painful wait for death. These are the ones who squeeze what excitement they can from life out of the imaginations and experiences of others through books and movies. These are the insignificant and forgotten men who preach conformity because it is all they know. These are the men who dream at night of what could have been, but who wake at dawn to take their places at the now- familiar rut and to merely exist through another day. For them, the romance of life is long dead and they are forced to go through the years on a treadmill, cursing their existence, yet afraid to die because of the unknown which faces them after death. They lacked the only true courage: the kind which enables men to face the unknown regardless of the consequences. As an afterthought, it seems hardly proper to write of life without once mentioning happiness; so we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Very sad indeed. Thompson was an addiction that was hard to shake. After reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1973 I was hooked. Went through Woody Creek one year and stopped at the tavern he dranked at in hope of meeting the Great Man. Unfortunate for me he was out of town. The Doctor will be greatly missed by all he hooked with such elegant style and originality. Sadly the Doctor is out. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

FOX HUNTING, what a crock of shit. One little fox, a pack of hungry hounds and a shitload of rich, drunk , pompous assholes on horses. That is not hunting. I hunt whitetail. I spend time looking for rubs and scrapes during the rut. I am in the woods two hours before the sun is up. I will walk for miles to get to my spot. When I see my deer I shoot, kill, field dress it, haul it out, take it home and eat it. I only kill for food not for fun. Really, it is not much fun freezing your butt off for hours on end and not, at times, see a single deer all day. Fox hunting is purely a bloodlust sport and not very sporting at that. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I am thinking that you would not even need gear. RW people could turn points untill they are teleported back to altitude after coming within inches from the ground. Of course this could have an economical impact on gear sales and pilots getting airtime. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young