Open Thread

The Gala and Hall of Fame on which I was working so hard both came off very well this weekend, and now I’m taking a day to sleep it off.

What have I missed?

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29 Responses to Open Thread

  1. Duncan20903 says:

    Life is like a tree full of monkeys. When you’re on the top branches looking down all you see are smiling happy faces. But if you’re on the bottom branch all you see are assholes.

  2. Eric says:

    Former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders announces support for the legalization of marijuana, cites the damages of prohibition:
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/18/former.surgeon.general.marijuana/index.html?hpt=Sbin

  3. claygooding says:

    Dare still teaching kids to snitch parents out:

    http://www.opposingviews.com/i/d-a-r-e-teaching-kids-to-turn-in-pot-smoking-parents

    Lewis finally kicks in:

    http://www.topix.net/forum/state/ca/TKCV069K8L2D42KN6

    And rumors of Soros and RUSH friggen Limbaugh kicking in 50 grand,,,,,,,,,grain of salt on that,but if Obama came out opposed to it,he supports it and will claim he always has.

  4. Sardonnas says:

    The WSJ poll doesn’t count US residents only 🙂 So, it’s not accurate. I can vote also and am from Estonia.

    By the way the Monkeys and banana thing from Ezrydn was absolutely stunningly good. (in previous blog post)

    and Pete – best blog about Drug war. Stumbled upon it in 2008 spring and am daily reader ever since.

    So, the whole world is watching and counting days and holding thumbs for Prop 19 🙂

    Eric Holder statement and Baca’s rant will surely add some additional Yes votes, because people who were neutral or even slightly against the cannabis legalization, now come to understanding that even the Cali own state LEOs don’t obey the law of the people and that’s going to piss them off (the people ofc)

    sorry for a bit bad word placements

  5. Brian says:

    L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca says deputies would enforce marijuana laws even if Prop. 19 passes

    IRONY ALERT: “If you have a need for an ounce or less … then use your marijuana, but use it privately… If you want to do a joint in your house, do it. Leave the rest of us alone.” – Lee Baca, L.A. County Sheriff

  6. darkcycle says:

    Pete, nothing new. The wall is still crumbling and the dinosaur is still thrashing, not yet dead.
    Glad you made it through your…uh….production? Hope the audience was enthralled, the performers were inspired and the stage crew wasn’t too stoned.
    I was in a theatre group once..we had a tradition of giving the leading lady a large bunch of bananas instead of flowers after the last performance. How’s that for a non-sequiter?

  7. chris says:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11545519 internet on phones is pretty laggy, here’s the correct link

  8. Duncan20903 says:

    jhelion, I have formed a coherent theory about why potheads dominate the online polls for repeal of prohibition laws. The theory is that only people with an IQ lower than room temp are in favor of Prop 19 failing. People like that often aren’t able to read and write, much less log on and tour the Internet.

    More seriously the news paper editors hove noticed that if they poke the potheads in the eye with a sharp stick we swarm, and carpet bomb their comments sections with facts and evidence that ending the idiotic war on (some) drugs is the smart play for the country. That of course incenses the cohort of people who do have some rudimentary learning skills. It produces lots of page views.

    A number of decades ago Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy went on tour together and people paid to see them argue. Lots of people were surprised that these two men were friendly enough. Reality is they were both more interested in getting paid than political dogma. Controversy makes people rubberneck.

  9. If I had a rocket launcher says:

    Please notice that this is Duncan posting. I’m very much inclined to start using the screen name above in my Internet travel. Does anyone think it too provocative or to work in any way against our goal? There are some very violent lyrics in that song.
    ——————————————————————————————————————

    jhelion, I have formed a coherent working theory why potheads dominate the online polls for repeal of prohibition laws. The theory is that only people with an IQ lower than room temp are in favor of Prop 19 failing. People like that often aren’t able to read and write, much less log on and tour the Internet.

    More seriously the newspaper editors hove noticed that if they poke a pothead in the eye with a sharp stick we swarm, and carpet bomb their comments sections with facts and evidence that ending the idiotic war on (some) drugs is the smart play for the country. That of course incenses the cohort of people who do have some rudimentary learning skills to post their argument. It produces lots of page views.

    A number of decades ago Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy went on tour together and people paid to see them argue. Lots of people were surprised that these two men were friendly with each other. The reality is they were both more interested in getting paid than political dogma. Controversy makes people rubberneck.

  10. claygooding says:

    We must be doing pretty good at bombing the comments sections,my last three attempts to post comments at the LA Times were refused with an immediate “Data not acceptable”
    message,no matter how short non-abrasive I made it.

  11. ezrydn says:

    At my coffee meeting today with my older Mexican buds, I still asked the question, “When California legalizes, what do you think Mexico will do?” question. One of the guys, who doesn’t speak English, said, “The Mexican Congresso will take a break and hold sessions at the Embarcadero Convention Center in San Diego!”

    Needless to say, I spilt my coffee laughing, as did the others at the table.

  12. permanentilt says:

    Yeah, Obama going after smokers post 19 passing would be the best thing to happen for us. The demographic that would immediately oppose his doing so, just because its “Barry HUSSEIN Nobama” doing it, is exactly the demographic currently least likely to support reform. Honestly I HOPE he “vigorously enforce(s) federal drug laws”.

  13. darkcycle says:

    What is this fascination with Obama’s name? ‘Hussien’ is like ‘Mike’ in the rest of the world. It’s one of the most common names there is, in almost every culture but ours. There’s a bit of the old kindergarten niener-niener is attacking a name, don’t you think? It sure don’t make the posters here look smart. Leave it off will ya? And maybe say something substantial?

  14. Ben Smokes Pot says:

    I want to go to LA and get arrested by Chew Bacca just so I can sue him for wrongful arrest! LOL

  15. ezrydn says:

    Ben,

    Now you need to come down here and clean my monitor screen off. That one really caught me off guard. LOL

  16. jhelion says:

    still looking for confirmation about Limbaugh – I would think it would be listed here if it was so –
    http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1325672&view=late1

  17. allan420 says:

    aaah… I like the Chew Baca for senor Lee… and we’ve got Drug Kzar Deputy Droopy… reality is mirroring a psilocybin experience. Theater of the Absurd indeed!

    The best thing the Prohibs can do for us is keep speaking up. Soon they ALL will have their hooves in their mouths and will finally go mute (and be immobilized couse they’ll have all four hooves in their maws).

    My Ganja Calendar photo selection is down to 15 images… only have to kick out 2 more. The woman who is doing the selections for me said (enthusiastically) “I want ’em sexy!” I tried. Some of ’em are pretty damn hot. Not your standard bud close-ups, some very nice, deep, rich colors, and some are real pieces of art I do believe… besides all the regular stuff we all know about ganja I must say it’s a damn pretty plant come fall.

    The farm I was at supports 70 patients thru the year. They were just beginning harvest in the greenhouse so things were about as ripe as they could get. I’d say the plants averaged 6′ high and about 6 – 8′ across. Big colas, little nugget colas… every flower I touched was sticky and aromatic.

    … sigh…

    After over 35 years since my first cannabis oriented civil disobedient actions it was good to walk in a garden like that and see – truly – that we’ve won. The peace hasn’t been won but the cannabists aren’t going away and this is definitely a war in which we’ve gained the high ground (so to speak) and have a strategic edge (the truth). And the Prohibs have Droopy and Chew Baca as their spokes”people”… now we need a character for Calvina! Elvira maybe? But without the boobs… and maybe wearing a tee shirt that has “I’m Straight (inc) and Proud!” on it?

  18. Just me. says:

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101019/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

    Another drop in the bucket of the ‘Interdiction’ rackett. They got 105 tons of cannabis but somewhere the missed 10 other shipments. Just love how the AP put a picture of a guy shooting heroine next to a story about cannabis. What? are they trying to say cannabis is as bad a heroine?

    ”… now we need a character for Calvina! Elvira maybe? But without the boobs… and maybe wearing a tee shirt that has “I’m Straight (inc) and Proud!” on it?

    Allan420
    I was thinking of the demonic ol’lady in the restarunt in the movie “Legion” with a tee shirt saying “I’ll eat your soul legalizers !”

  19. darkcycle says:

    Allan. She looks like Ernest Borgnine in a wig. How about “Ernest”?

  20. permanentilt says:

    Uuuh darkcycle you might want to read my post again, read it slowly. I, ofcourse, have no problem with Obama’s middle name and completely understand that it is a common name, I have personally had 3 friends with Hussein in their name. But many of the people who are against reform think anyone with the name MUHAMMAD is a terrorist for Gods sake (this is no exaggeration I know people like this). These people are more desparate for any reason to oppose everything that Obama does than they are to support marijuana prohibition. So if Obama comes out against prop 19, they will automatically be for it because opposing him is priority #1, and they refuse to accept that they agree with him on ANYTHING. This is also the demographic least likely to support reform, therefore if they change their opinion of legalization, prohibition will end country wide before you can say “legalize it”.

  21. Econotarian says:

    The Alaska situation needs to be clarified:

    1) There was no pre/post legalization study with the same methodology. Thus there is no evidence that legalization increased drug use there.

    2) In 1975, it was a court case that found it legal to have under four ounces in Alaska on state constitutional grounds.

    3) In 1990, a ballot initiative still left under one ounce legal to posses.

  22. ezrydn says:

    Allan,

    Don’t use Elvira and muddy her image, please. I worked with her in TV and she’s one of the greatest gals you’d run into.

    The “Ernest” sure seems approproate, know what I mean, Ern? However, it would even be a slur against Borgnine.

    I started to say Creature from the Black Lagoon but even he had compassion. We need to find a good Calvina character/moniker for her though. She reminds me of the evil stepmother in Cinderella.

    Ever notice that Prohibitionists always look like they buy their underwear 4 sizes too small? They always have that “pinched” look about them.

  23. If I had a rocket launcher says:

    Hey, quit calling Ernest Borgnine fugly. Now c’mon, think for a second and try this one on for size: The Wicked Witch of the West. They even mass produce WWOTW dolls which look like they could be easily converted into voodoo dolls so a lot of people could enjoy sticking her with pins. http://tinyurl.com/25pm69k

    If not the WWOTW then how about Medusa?
    http://www.lataco.com/taco/wp-content/uploads/medusa.jpg She’s the spitting image of Miss Calvina albeit a dictionary picture perfect example of wishful thinking.

    Another possibility to consider is the “skin of evil” monster from a Star Trek: TNG episode.
    http://startrekreview.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/tasha-skinofevil.jpg This creature was an unintended consequence of a project by an space alien culture’s to get rid of all evil in their society. While this monster isn’t quite as scary and hideous as Miss Calvina, it could be called appropriate because Mis Calvina is herself an unintended consequence of our society trying to get rid of evil drugs.

    You know, maybe we could have a lot of fun appealing to the other Internet denizens to help come to consensus on the best possible denigration of Miss Calvina. Kind of like how “just say now” was voted into existence.

    We should petition the FDA to Calvina placed in schedule 1. While there is no doubt that she has no accepted medical use I think we’re going to have a have a bit of a problem convincing people that she has a high potential for abuse.

    Here’s a picture of a person Miss Calvina thinks is a menace to society. Well the lady in the picture sure makes me think about stocking my underground bunker with canned goods and lots of ammunition. Scary monster lady? No doubt.

    http://www.safeaccessnow.org/img/original/angel_vaporizer.jpg
    ———————————————————

    So if Obama comes out against prop 19, they will automatically be for it because opposing him is priority #1, and they refuse to accept that they agree with him on ANYTHING.

    You know before the Prop 19 campaign began I don’t think it would have been possible to get me to believe that so many potheads were going to be found in bed with Miss Calvina. But indeed, seeing is believing.

    Did you know that you can use butane as a solvent to extract an almost pure oil? It’s commonly called Butane Honey Oil or BHO for short. How in the world could a man with the same initials be genuinely against cannabis?
    ———————————————————
    Econotarian, you’ve almost got Alaska’s history correct, but not quite. The 1990 ballot initiative which passed by a margin of 55-45 in a non-Presidential election ballot in a state with a large number of conservative voters did not leave any amount of cannabis legal. The decision in Ravin doesn’t actually grant legal status to cannabis, it makes it illegal for the police to go into your home to find it in order to use it as evidence against you. Yes, two different roads to the same destination. It was done by the same conservative voters which elected Sarah Palin Governess. So conservative that the Ravin decision was based on a conservative belief that people should have their right to privacy in their homes respected. The Ravin decision was hardly the handiwork of the ass cheek on the left. That ballot initiative in 1990 did not leave any possession of cannabis legal. The 1990 initiative read:

    Under Alaska law it is currently legal for adults over 18 years old to possess under four ounces of marijuana in a home or other private place. The penalty for adults over 18 years old for possessing less than one ounce in public is a fine of up to $100. This [*pg 327] initiative would change Alaska’s laws by making all such possession of marijuana criminal, with possible penalties of up to 90 days in jail and/or up to a $1000 fine.

    http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?15+Alaska+L.+Rev.+315#H1N4

    Subsequently in Noy v State of Alaska (2003) The Alaskan Court of Appeals tossed the 1990 law into the garbage bin of history, using the 1975 Ravin decision as precedent. The decision was so cut and dried that the Supreme Court of Alaska declined to grant certiorari. This returned Alaska to the status quo before the unconstitutional 1990 initiative was passed. I admit I’m a little fuzzy on how the privacy limit was lowered from 4 ounces and 25 plants to one ounce. You can read in the 2003 decision linked above that the Appeals Court stated that the 4 ounce limit was back in force with their decision. IIRC that happened in 2006 or 2007 when the Alaskan politards were trying to get Ravin and Noy overturned through the legislative process. It’s simply stunning that politards that call themselves ‘conservative’ nevertheless have no respect for the constitutionally protected right to privacy in one’s own home. Do notice I’m referring to the US Constitution which has no overt language protecting people’s right to privacy found in it’s text. I’ve pondered the reasons for that from time to time and my best speculation is that the Founders thought the right to privacy so inviolable that it never crossed their minds to include its protection in the US Constitution. I have an extremely hard time trying to believe they thought people didn’t have such a right. It really can be hard to tell as they really had different thought processes than those of today. For instance a little digging into the 1st Amendment right to freedom of religion meant to the Founders that you were free to choose to be any of the number of varieties of Protestant. While I definitely thank them, I’m not sure they had a clue that the First’s protection would extend to a stone cold atheist such as myself.

    The new thing I just learned is that the Alaskan Constitution’s right to privacy was granted protected status by ballot initiative to amend the State Constitution added in 1972.

    It was a shame that Mr. Ravin died earlier this year. It sure seems to me that April is a bad month for potheads. Coming so close to Jack Herer’s death it didn’t get much attention from the cannabis community. That’s a genuine shame because Mr. Ravin definitely made a huge, direct contribution to the friends of freedom by taking his case to the Supreme Court of Alaska in 1975.

    Californian voters please remember to write in Tommy Chong for Governor.

  24. If I had a rocket launcher says:

    Why in the world was my comment last comment sent to moderation? Which reminds me of the posting difficulty on the LA Times blog.

    Clay I had that happen to me at the LA Times blog. I did figure it out, it was because I used the word urination/urinator and other variation of the word because we were talking about how the Maastriicht coffee shops and how that city’s crime rate is triple the national average. The know nothings have certainly locked on to that one, though they fail to mention that triple the national average would still take an act of god to get the United States crime rate down that far. Urinating in public by folks from the other EU countries is a major contributing factor of that city’s crime rate. The thing that kills me is they come into Holland to buy cannabis as well as to drink liquor. There’s no alcohol sold in the coffee shops and no cannabis sold in the bars so the foreign revelers end up pissing in the bushes. Is it just me or does anyone else think it much more likely that the consumption of drinking alcohol is a much more likely cause of urination than is cannabis consumption?

    Well to make a long story short (too late!) replacing all instances of the word ‘urinate’ with ‘needing to use the rest room’ or ‘relieve themselves’ and the comment was posted. Anyway I’ll bet you had a naughty word in your post.It doesn’t need to be one of the 7 major dirty words either. I had a post rejected on a different site for using the acronym WTF. I really think they should ask the World Taekwondo Federation to stop being so controversial and offensive.

    • Pete says:

      Why in the world was my comment last comment sent to moderation?

      Probably because of the length and the five links. I’ve rescued it.

  25. DdC says:

    PIONEERING DRUG POLICY HISTORIAN DAVID MUSTO DEAD AT 74
    A leading scholar of the history of American drug policy has died. David Musto’s “The American Disease” broke new ground when published in 1973.

    The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control
    by David F. Musto
    David F. Musto presents a penetrating assessment of the history of American anti-drug policies, and the impact of propaganda on public opinion. There is no single book that does a better job of summarizing the history of—and motivations driving—the intensive efforts directed against those who use inebriating substances, and how social controls on these people have been orchestrated within American society.

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