One of the recurring themes I enjoyed on “The West Wing” was the big block of cheese day – an annual event where White House staff would hear concerns and ideas from citizens that normally would not get the government’s ear.
The current White House is resurrecting this notion with a virtual big block of cheese day on Wednesday.
In 1837, President Jackson hosted an open house featuring a 1,400-pound block of cheese. On Wednesday, January 29th, with a nod to history (and maybe the TV show the West Wing), White House officials will take to social media for a day long ‘open house’ to answer questions from everyday Americans.
The difference, obvious in the White House explanation, was that in the big block of cheese day on “The West Wing,” the White House staffers listened. Here, they will “answer questions.” Kind of misses the point.
What’s interesting to me about this is that a few brief years ago, many of us would have seen this as an opportunity to get drug policy reform “heard” by the government. No longer. Drug policy is clearly no longer the silent topic that nobody will discuss. These days, it’s hard to even keep up with all the national discussions on the issue.
That doesn’t mean, however, that we’ll be hearing a lot about it tonight in the State of the Union address. It might happen. If it does, I would guess it would have nothing to do with marijuana legalization or medical marijuana, but rather a brief mention of racial inequalities and/or treatment needs.
Which is at least better than the last SOTU that I remember where drugs were mentioned. In 2004, the President used the SOTU to call for additional money for school drug testing.
Will the President give the war on drugs another slap in the mouth tonite? The poll so far rates chances are slim..Michelle,Patrick,Kevin,Faye,Paul and the poor misled preacher from CA are all ready trying to dig up PROOF that marijuana is more harmful than alcohol so they can prove that Obama was misleading children,,,I hope he asks them to prove he is misleading anyone about cannabis being no more harmful than alcohol.
They have everything lined up with bought studies from NIDA to attack his statement but one study,,the study where not killing anyone makes marijuana more dangerous than one of the deadliest drugs on the NIDA list.
OT sort of. Radley Balko’s morning links refer to three stories related to cannabis:
http://goo.gl/4Cw3io/
I won’t be watching the SOTU, I cannot stand to listen to Obama speak, his hesitation speech is so annoying to me I cannot stand more than a single soundbite of his noise. I’ll likely watch (or listen to) Ron Paul’s rebuttal and perhaps some other rebuttals, too (none from establishment politicians, though).
Is it SOTU or STFU?
It is like listening to Bill Riley before someone disagrees with him,,so positive and assured of his position you know it is bullshit because his lips are moving.
Answering questions is a much easier and better way to look like you’re seeking input when in actuality the desire is to control the message.
Personally I think Michelle Obama told her husband that as the first black president, if he worked to legalize weed she’d kick his ass. I’m pretty confident he’s not comfortable if that becomes part of his legacy. Obama appears to have Toker’s regret, one of the saddest conditions known to modern medicine.
The SOTU speech does remain entertaining political theater though.
It establishes what is not going to happen by promising to do it,,if he plans on building new water dykes on the 2ooK miles of river that have them and were not built by the Corp of Engineers specifications the best thing you can do in New Orleans is buy a boat.
All things considered, legalizing weed is his only chance of any kind of positive legacy. At least if he is remembered for that, it might help people forget about all the other crap. As it stands now, he’s going to be remembered as the last of the hard-core drug warriors (in addition to everything else).
It might not start out as a good legacy but 10 years down the road or sooner he would be revered as much as Lincoln and Kennedy
In 100 years he will have a bronze statue in DC and they will use Ronnie’s statue and Nancy’s skeleton to make it with.
The percentage of voters supporting marijuana legalization is going UP not down. Its a fact the Democratic party must contend with in the future. He could be leading the party into its new frontier with the most popular issue in America. If he does not, someone else surely will. It will be someones legacy. The issue is ripe and ready for the picking.
According to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 55 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization
More Evidence That Most Americans Oppose Marijuana Prohibition by Jacob Sullum http://tinyurl.com/lk6jqxg
I’ve been wondering if it was something like that…
David Remnick’s ‘Obama Profile’ hits the news.
A few hours later = ‘WTF? Ohhhww Hell NO, You’d BETTER tell Jay to get out there ASAP, and backtrack as fast as his narrow-little-hide can peddle!’
(Because – you see, even ‘back-peddling’ is done on an exercise bike in the WH these days.)
Seriously though it could’ve been his mother-in-law, Either one or both of the Bidens (Joe or Jill), and any number of other people advisers, Cabinet members, Etc.
If I had to bet, My money would be on Joe Biden, because he was
from 1987-to-1995 (*according to wikipedia, and it sounds about right*)
And the little matter of Joe being “Captain RAVE Act” for ‘forever’, and then becoming so openly shameless about it he put it as a ‘Rider’ on the AMBER Alert bill.
Along with coining the term:
And he had a hand in crafting the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988:
The Director of the ONDCP (was a Cabinet level position, Pres. Obama demoted the “Director” out of his Executive Cabinet – so there’s that…
I do wonder if this was a purposeful ‘slight’ = ‘letting Biden know who was in charge now’ – so to speak.
“The Director” who know of as the person who has a Special responsibility, which is a Noted part of the ONDCP Wiki-entry:
“Congressional issues – 2.4 Anti-legalization Policy”
Which we all know as = “The Drug Czar Must Lie” portion of the current version of the ONDCP Act.
I put it that way because, That’s the one semi-hopeful possibility I’ve entertained – that, just maybe – the Republican Obstructionists won’t “reauthorize it” = the next time it comes up for oversight/funding.
Unless, just maybe the President decides to “Man-Up” (*right now*), and deal with this crap while he still can!
(P.S. Just-in-case I wasn’t clear above, “Fuck Joe Biden”
= I’m – ‘just sayin’…)
“Fuck Joe Bidenâ€
On top of that, if that wasn’t enough. The bogus RAVE Ax failed three times before it was tacked onto the Amber Alert Bill. So far besides outlawing test kits, so Joe has deaths to wave at the cameras, from kids popping poisons test kits would eliminate. Outlawing glow sticks and bottled water if memory serves. No saving kids from dehydration and heat exhaustion on his watch. The glow sticks still have me puzzled. End of the day it has prevented NORML gatherings in case someone in attendance fires up a joint the promoters get a $250k fine. The only reason it was tacked on to Amber Alert is because the DEA sent meth to test as ecstasy, twice. Oppsi, sorry. Wish we would have released the information before they used it as evidence. Darn darn darn, my bad. Yup “Fuck Joe Bidenâ€
United Nations Drug Report Disappointing XTC v Meth!
Off Topic: Sorry to go rogue so soon, but I can’t hold this back.
I just wrote my congress critter, California Democrat Mike Thompson.
I’m trying to prepare myself for a life beyond disability payments and I’m looking into the hemp building industries and a possible sales position.
Today I learned that Hemp-based concrete aka HEMPCRETE apparently does two things that conventional cement DOES NOT.
Conventional cement SHRINKS AND CRACKS. HempCrete does neither. Why does this matter?
It matters, because this could be a possible SOLUTION to the very big problem of fracking where groundwater becomes contaminated through the failure of the cement poured around the well pipes.
Whole communities have been affected by this environmental disaster (e.g. Dish, Texas) that is becoming worse and worse with the increasing rates of production and drilling.
I’m suggesting that we should mandate the use of HEMPCRETE by legislative or executive action if it can in fact reduce these problems from groundwater contamination.
I believe this could be a significant improvement for this industry as well as for all living things near these fracking wells.
And, HempCrete SEQUESTERS CO2!!! Traditional cement shrinks, cracks,and puts CO2 into the atmosphere. Hemp-based concrete does none of those things and appears to be the far superior product. It’s also cheaper for business!
Here’s another area where removing Schedule I status for cannabis is important. No need to be importing HEMP to use for fracking when we can grow it here!
Michele Leonhart has been getting a lot of flak lately. I think for Valentines Day I’m going to send her a hempcrete book wrapped in a hemp American flag. That should tip her right over.
WARNING, the above statement may be based more on hope than reality.
Due to the biodegradable nature of HempCrete, it cannot be used for home foundations where there is prolonged contact with moisture.
Above-ground home building applications remain suitable, but possible use, at least alone, in the fracking industry may be not be feasible.
Might it be compatible as a two-layered system with conventional cement where the HempCrete was poured first and was the layer against the pipe?
see isochanvre… one factor often not mentioned is that isochanvre petrifies as it ages, become more structurally solid and longer lasting.
That hemp is illegal is truly just plain STUPID. That there is even a debate about hemp is STUPID. Here in the NW hemp is compatible with existing particle type board manufacture once the hemp fiber is chopped to spec w/ no factory retooling from tree fiber (search Conde Seber Malone WSU).
I think hempcrete coated with a non-biodegradable sealer would still reduce weight and extend structural integrity.
Have a link?
A Brief Summary of the Uses of Hemp electricemperor
Isochanvre, a rediscovered French building material made from hemp hurds mixed with lime, actually petrifies into a mineral state and lasts for many centuries. Archeologists have found a bridge in the south of France, from the Merovingian period (500-751 C.E.), built with this process.
(See Chènevotte Habitat of René, France in Appendix I of the paper version of this book.)
Hempcrete – Hemp Building Materials – Hemp For Houses
Possible Atlternative to Hollow Block/ Concrete Construction
Hempcrete is a mixture of hemp hurds and lime (possibly including sand, pozzolans or cement) used as a material for construction and insulation. It is easier to work than traditional lime mixes and acts as an insulator and moisture regulator
Washington State University has produced hemp fiberboard is lighter, twice as strong, and three times as elastic as wood fiberboard, plus it has sound proofing and pressure isolative characteristics absent from wood fiberboard. These composites are also resistant to pests, moisture, and funguses.
A number of companies are using hemp in insulation products, due to its high thermal resistance, ability to absorb and release moisture, and lack of mold growth, dust and other pollutants.
Hempcrete House google
Hemplastic or Fossil Fools Crud
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What I want to know is why the heck wasn’t I ever told that Flatt & Scruggs covered Bob Dylan’s Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 on their 1968 album “Nashville Airplane”? Also, why isn’t it common knowledge that 12*35=420?
Finger-pickin’ GOOD!
Loved it. Thanks, Duncan!
If two people do a job 24/7 and charge 5 dollars an hour each will make $420 a week.
What Does The Number 420 Signify, And Why? phish.net
Sixties Songs: For instance, Bob Dylan’s famous “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” is a possible reference, or source — 12×35=420. And Stephen Stills wrote (and Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed) a song “4+20” (first recorded 7/16/69, released on Deja Vu 3/11/70) about an 24-year-old poverty-stricken man who started and finished with nothing. (Thanks to Sherry Keel 12/6/98; and Matt Cantor, 2/12/03.) Dylan aslo mentions “4 and 20 windows” in “The Balland of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest” (on John Wesley Harding).
# Older Verse: But 420 in poetry is older than that…
4/20 2013: Smoke Out The Globe
CSNY – Stephen Stills – 4+20 (Big Sur, CA 1969)
Four and Twenty years ago
Marijuana is safer than …
Farting Cows Making Barn Expolde in Germany
The 1969 Bob Dylan-Johnny Cash Sessions: Twelve Rare Recordings
ALL-STAR HOOTENANNY Bob Dylan JOHNNY CASH Flatt & Scruggs
BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND//BOB DYLAN
WORRIED MAN BLUES//LESTER FLATT AND EARL SCRUGGS WITH MOTHER MAYBELLE CARTER
Hash schnapps with your cheese, anyone? Here, plant this….
63 and she didn’t know what Ganja was? She probably would have gotten a thorough anal probing in NM. The real reason Michele Lyinghart won’t quit in disgrace, she loves the benefits of piss tastes and anal prohibies.
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My word. Our good friend Mason Tvert certainly knows how to get the best bang for his billboard buck. I wonder if he got the idea from Ken Kesey?
Well there’s no doubt that we have the lord on our side. I’m heading out to run 20 red lights in his honor. Thank you Cheez-its!
SI has picked up the NFL issue :
“Pete Carroll believes NFL should explore medicinal pot; Terrance Knighton urges caution” http://tinyurl.com/ny3l9ro
Drugs vs. the drug war: A response to Michael Gerson by Radley Balko: http://tinyurl.com/mmbtoww
Excellent article.
“If conservatives like Gerson and Frum are truly concerned about income inequality, income immobility, social disorder, erosion of the rule of law, disrespect for for public institutions, and the dissolution of the family, it seems they should at least address the drug war’s contribution to these problems. Instead, when contemplating solutions to these problems, reforming or ending the drug war is usually the first option they take off the table.”
Some of my couchmates think I was continuing the attack on the TO because of his hatred for potheads,,not completely true.
It wasn’t his hatred for potheads he needed to be hammered over it was that he admitted that he knew marijuana was medicine from his own personal experience and he was still EAGER to do no knocks for the bounty money.
Speaking of cheese… LEAP’s Diane Goldstein body slams paul chabot:
Drug War Addict of The Year
Jimmy Fallon’s comment on FL’s supremes giving Florida voters a chance to pass a medical marijuana law:
Grandma’s cookies are about to get a whooole lot better…
I don’t remember if it was cheese day. But Obama had an open internet Q&A that was dominated by us at wh.org?. They spewed gossip and 10 people hit them before the pixels dried. They even hurled government sponsored gif images and within minutes they were converted “subvertized” into pro pot ads. Never led to much but it was a first exchange I could remember.
The drug war has also taken a toll on an institution that’s even more noble and venerated than our wallet. Drug-control zealotry has led to what constitutional scholar Roger Pilon calls “the drug exception to the Bill of Rights”:
I. Freedom of religion – except for religions involving peyote.
II. Right to keep and bear arms – except when you point one at ninja-dressed members of a SWAT team that breaks through the wrong door at 3 A.M.
III. Quartering soldiers in our houses – to be fair, I haven’t noticed any soldiers actually in the house, but some National Guard helicopters have been hovering over my backyard marijuana patch.
IV. No unreasonable searches and seizures – except mandatory random piss tests.
V. No self-incrimination – except that urine in the bottle.
VI. Right to counsel – except if the government suspects your lawyer is being paid with drug money.
VII. Right to trial by jury – except in the case of RICO property forfeitures.
VIII. No cruel or unusual punishments – except to those caught selling ‘shroorns at rock concerts.
IX. The enumeration of certain rights shall not be construed to deny others – except when it looks like you might have drugs in your car.
X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution are reserved for the DEA.
— P.J. O’Rourke
Twice in one week from Ms. Dowd at the Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/29/opinion/dowd-dealing-with-pot.html?hp&rref=opinion
Thank You Pete Seeger Requiescat In Pace
Pete Seeger, Champion of Folk Music and Social Change, Dies at 94
Pete Seeger google
Kevin Sabet’s despair is evident in this quote on mainstream advertising to the “stoner market”
“Parents who may not have taken interest in the debate before, all of the sudden want to take interest (when they see these TV commercials),†said anti-pot blowhard Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Project SAM. “They’re realizing it’s not what they voted for or what they bargained for. So I think it’s a very risky move for the companies that use advertising. They risk a backlash.â€
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/companies-are-vying-late-night-stoner-market-using-subliminal-advertising
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My god, this man is literally going off the deep end! Seriously, he’s not even making any sense if his regurgitations are judged on a scale adjusted for allowing prohibitionist parasite produced propaganda as part of a rational human being’s “reasoning”. Back in 1979 or 1980 when I was growing some of my first alleged cannabis plants I used to think that if I got a couple of dozen little ankle biters and infected them with rabies that they would provide excellent grow site security. I hadn’t thought of that lame brain idea for decades but Kev-Kev has stirred up that memory.
Now that doesn’t really communicate what I’m thinking. The prohibitionists are all suffering delusions consistent with the madness of crowds. While it does place their home addresses squarely in la-la land it’s a shared mental disease or defect. It doesn’t require or indicate that the individuals involved are actually mental defectives. Take John Walters or Calvina Fay. Neither will be able to use mental disease or defect as an affirmative defense in their war crimes trial which would occur in a perfect world. They know or should know that what they’re doing is criminal and they understand the difference between right and wrong. Hmm. Maybe Kev-Kev really is highly intelligent, has read the writings on the wall and is laying the foundation for an affirmative defense when the house of cards collapses. I hadn’t thought of that angle until just now. Nah, I really think he’s starting to display indications of organic brain disease or defect. C’mon, now he’s saying that we’re sending secret mind control messages in TV commercials!
What say you DC? Is this just another wishful thinking pipe dream or do you think it might be within the realm of possibility? I mean possible that he’s going to be meeting Nurse Ratched soon. I’ve already dismissed the idea that he’s smart enough to fake it.
Remember, we need to be sensitive and understanding if he’s really losing his mind. If each of us donates a couple of dollars we could buy him a year’s supply of tin foil and instructions on how to protect himself from our mind control efforts. Yes, it has to be tin foil. Don’t you know that the government ordered the tin foil factories to switch to aluminum foil? That’s because aluminum foil is wholly inadequate to deflect the frequency of the government’s mind control radio waves, but most people don’t know that. Do we use the same brand of mind control radio waves as the government?
All kidding aside, I honestly think that’s what I’m seeing. The man is going cuckoo for cocoa puffs. Gosh I hope he has his melt down in prime time. We can upload it to Youtube right next to the DEA agent who shot himself in the foot during a lecture on gun safety and the Deputy who overdosed on edibles and called 911 because he thought he was dying. Oh my, the irony! The ignominy! The humanity, the humanity I say!
As annoying a little ankle biter as Kev-Kev is, he really doesn’t stir much animosity in me because I believe him to be a natural born prohibitionist parasite. I don’t think it’s right to hate the scorpion for stinging the frog. It is his nature and the frog didn’t have to agree to ferry him to the other side of the pond.
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