Michael you owe NO ONE an apology. Especially the Hypocrites and Apologists. You did not make a mistake. You toked a bong. The entire Cannabis prohibition is the result of a lie. The legal alternatives are far more de-habilitating. Have the courage of your convictions.
The only time you owe anything is in the pool. Off the clock means you are an American with a Constitution guaranteeing your Free Speech. Too bad Wall Street and Madison Avenue run on Fascism.
Many wise people have used cannabis for many reasons over the centuries. It reduces stress, unlike booze that inebriates into a comatose state. The smoke is an expectorant that helps open small airways and keep dangerous SMOG and pollutants from causing lung damage and cancer.
When a government outlaws research and hides past studies from the people, and even the schools. When they give away the Treasury and make wars behind our backs. Especially war on some citizens over certain drugs and plants. It is high time the people stood up and just said no.
Appeasing liars perpetuating cannabis prohibition is not good for the 3000 kids sodomized in juvi prison. Or the thousands of kids getting chemically poisoned from pesticides sprayed in drug war zones and farm lands. Not used on Hemp that is lumped into the mix. Non psychoactive narcotic burlap, blue jeans and a nutritional source of Omega 3 in its seed.
Now making up 98% of the nations "marijuana" eradication program. Protecting the kids with more fraud? Saving them from stronger fiber than trees produce? Can't tell a jury your doctor said try it cause the judge says it ain't medicine. In spite of the 300 joints Uncle Sam rolls every month for each of the remaining IND patients.
The Ganjawar started with a lie, is maintained on lies and no one is interested in truth. Compromising on reality is insanity. The reform movement maintains the war the same as the DEA, Lawyers. Its a catch 22 because the profit they make enforcing the war and the profits they make selling synthetic alternatives to Ganja and Hemp. Keeping competition off the Dow Jones via Prohibition.
There is no reason to outlaw cannabis, let alone schedule Ganja and Burlap the same as crack. Its a plant, get over it. If YOUR kids get it then the parents should be dealt with. You don't know what YOUR kids are doing, making laws preventing me from toking won't save them. Leaving total theory to perpetuate another war product sold to employ hundreds of thousands, paid with taxes diverted from schools and health care. We're running a band aid factory and forcing citizens to walk around barefoot on paths of broken glass.
I wonder what is more ludicrous, the DEA clowns following orders kicking Polio patients, advertising Hobgoblins. Or reformers figuring out how to appease them, contemplating how many square inches a person should be allowed to have to grow X # of plants. Stop the lie and either remove Ganja from the drug listing or add cigarettes, coffee, coca cola, aspartame, fluoridation, football, dirt bikes and booze. Either case, it does not fit in the schedule #1 classification.
It is not based in reality. We can not politicize science without losing credibility. Its a joke. 13" or 11" in a foot depending on jurisdiction. How about 83ç on the dollar or $1.13. Measurements like math doesn't work if you lie. 2+2 has too remain 4 or everything fails. Ganja has to meet criteria, that it doesn't meet for a schedule#1 narcotic, ie;pcp, crack, lsd but not meth and powder cocaine. It is not physically addictive with life threatening properties or overdose or sudden withdrawal shock as does heroin and alcohol. Even if abused it does less harm to the body than normal SMOG and traffic, no comparison to chemical cigarette products. None of the pesticides or additives to make it pleasurable as Reagan used to say.
Unless you live in an Afghan cave many countries outside of US talking head censorship, know of cannabis' medicinal value. Hundreds of years in the western world and thousands in the East leave only over zealous witch hunters believing there is no medicinal value. Or that research should be buried or outlawed. Or grant the DEA total authority to deny Universities the right to do research with their own test materials, given the DEA record of fraud and corruption concerning testing and propaganda. Nothing about cannabis smoking fits Sch#1, everything about alcohol and US chemical cigarette consumption does. Yet we know how devastating prohibition was in the 20's. Its worse today with even less Constitutional rights to protect us.
Nixon lied and started a multi-trillion dollar police action removing Ganja and Hemp. With the Moral Majority DARE sermons crucifrying hard working stoners, all the while covering up Shafer's Commission results. Keeping Baby Yuppie Boomers and yellow journalists duped and frothing over a two bit Watergate break in red herring. I find it hard to believe this is still or even was then, a secret. Therefore I find it hard to believe ANY thing compromising the facts. Politicians and LEO's are not necessary concerning this issue.
Slowly we turn, State by state, inch by inch pseudo initiatives, arbitrarily enforced and constantly tweaked, are wasting resources. Abusing civil rights of patients and healthy productive gold medal winners, that can never relax and enjoy the benefits. What part of American life, let alone Dream does this resemble? Snitches, censorship and police state busting and caging sick people? Dysfunction alone can't explain this abomination. Greed and Cowardice is why it continues. Premeditated on we the people.
Just say No BS. Its just a vegetable. Lies don't spring medical side effects. Theory is a guess of the future. When past theory doesn't pan out in the present, it should be written off, not tried again and again. The only stepping stone to other drugs is Prohibition. Are you daft to think any plant can lead a human to a man made substance? Let alone one not invented. Ganja 10k-y Heroin mid 1800's. The only potency difference is connections, as in the 60's. 70's, as always. No lung damage in 10,000 years, No cancers in cultures outside of the DEA brochure to continue receiving $billions a year.
Billions of dollars and we believe it all goes to rounding up stoners and junkies? A black budget for security. So no CPA tracks down under covers busting school kids and ruining their futures for their own good. Who funds Iran Contra, killing 30,000. Who funds Panama raids killing 111. Haiti, Burma, Thailand and Philippines. No paper trail to some vast right wing thimk tanks. Besides 8 million in slot machines from the Virtuous Drug Czar Bennett, Walters mentor.
The corruption of the O.Nark D.C.P, Military/Prison and subsidiary Poisons and Pharmaid corporatists, all run on Fossil Fools, Steel and Plastic and unnecessary. Pesticides spewing on farm-workers and kids. 90 million pounds yearly on cotton, not Hemp. More abortions than clinics give. Unnecessary with Cannabis sativa. Home grown in dirt Ganja vs the Booze and White Powder Infrastructure built on chemicals, steel and plastic. No Hangovers.
SOS and yet the best reformers can get is a whine and a plea and a few run arounds. Po po pitiful us. Fighting for scraps and pats on the back and 5 second sound bites then a minute of stereotyping. Same lame funny stoner flicks, na na na na na na, defusing any serious conversation. With electors living in Neverland? Then quasi legislation or like holidays, occasional jury nullification. After the trial in some cases. Gutter science political mathematics scheduling Ganja a dangerous narcotic.
Not near as many as mandatory minimums. Losing college tuitions. Forfeitures, Confiscations, Prison rape and Corporate intimidation. Coercion to sell their plastic foods, just jump through this Unconstitutional hoop. Enough Hypocrisy, enough buzz words replacing reality you can pick up and weigh or find on a map. Ganja is or Ganja ain't. No victim No whining! No silly plea bargain religionists rehabs deterring jury trials. No censoring defenses, medical or moral, ain't no body's business if you do. Reform the reformers! We got enough puppets running the system. The Ganjawar is Reckless. Peace, Love and Liberty or the Merchants of DEAth DdC
Lott says the picture indicated a law was being broken in his jurisdiction. He said he couldn't ignore the violation just because Phelps is rich and famous.
We've now learned that since investigators began trying to build a case, they've made eight arrests: seven for drug possession and one for distribution. These are arrests that resulted as the sheriff's department served search warrants.
We've also learned that the department has located and confiscated that bong.
"No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." - P.J. O'Rourke: Writer
Michael Phelps has been suspended by USA Swimming for three months over that picture of him smoking pot from a bong.
“This is not a situation where any anti-doping rule was violated, but we decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so may people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and a hero,” USA Swimming said in a statement Thursday.
The organization has also cut off financial support to 23-year-old for the duration of his suspension.
Word is Phelps will not fight the suspension, which he says is ‘Fair.’
Michael Phelps Talks Possible Early Retirement In Wake Of The Marijuana Photos In his first interview since a photo surfaced showing him smoking marijuana from a pipe at a college party last November, 14-time Olympic medal-winning swimmer Michael Phelps says he is contemplating whether or not he will compete in the 2012 Games due to his shame over the public scandal.
Here is some of Phelps Interview with the Baltimore Sun:
“This is a decision of mine that I’m not going to make today and I’m not going to make tomorrow,” Phelps said. “It’s going to require a lot of time and energy and a lot of thinking for myself - but also talking to Bob and talking to my family and just deciding what I want to do.
“Yeah, there are still goals that I have in the pool, 100 percent. But I’m not going to let anything stand in my way. If I decide to walk away, I’ll decide to walk away on my own terms. If it’s now, if it’s four years, who knows. But it is something I need to think about and decide what I want to do.”
Merriam-Webster sham·ing: to force by causing to feel guilty <shamed into confessing>
Releasing Guilt and Shame This essence powerfully cleanses the psyche, dissolving all sense of guilt, shame, or remorse.
ReleasingGuiltandShame.htm Crime, Shame and Reintegration Braithwaite explains that the desire to avoid shame aids in the development of conscience and social bonds. He distinguishes between two types of shame: stigmatizing shame which rejects and permanently labels offenders and reintegrative shame which only rejects the offender's deed but not the offender himself.
Conferences encourage positive personal change in offenders because unlike courts, conferences allow offenders to shed their offender label and be reintegrated into the community.
Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse Formed in 1982 MAMA's approach is based on personal responsibility, informed decision making, and respect for human dignity.
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe) commander, the Nuremberg Trials
Nazism or Drug Cops
SCAPEGOATING - Blaming social problems on a cultural, racial, or behaviorial group.
PREJUDICE - Selling the public on the idea that all members of the targeted group are 'bad' people.
LIES - 'Facts', which cannot be verified, and pseudo scientific studies are used as propaganda against the targeted group. History is rewritten.
NO PUBLIC DEBATE - "These people have no right to have their viewpoiunt aired." and " Anyone who disagrees or questions us must be one of them!" Why is Ganja Illegal
DEHUMANIZATION - Characterizing all members of a targeted group as subhuman and typically capable of monstrous deeds and/or crimes.
CIVIL LIBERTIES SACRIFICED - "We must give up some of our freedoms, liberties, and rights in order to combat this menace to society."
Leary-v-US Marihuana Tax Act violated his privilege against self-incrimination
LEGAL DESCRIMINATION - Laws criminalize members of targeted group and they may be denied jobs, the right to own property and/or be restricted as to where they may live or go. famm
INFORMERS - Citizens are urged to 'turn in' friends, neighbors, co- workers and family members.
SECRET POLICE - Non-uniformed police squads set up to wage war on targeted groups utilizing deception, infiltration, espionage and entrapment.
CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY - Property and assets are seized from people who are members of targeted group. Property may be divided between the informer and the state.
REMOVAL FROM SOCIETY - Prisons, rehabilitation camps,'hospitals', executions and genocide... ("kill them all" "Zero Tolerance")
"Arbitrary and capricious" is legal language that was used by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young in 1988 to conclude that DEA was obligated under the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule marijuana as a prescription medicine. DEA Chief Administrator Robert Bonner proceeded to arbitrarily and capriciously disregard Judge Young's well researched and reasoned decision, which the Act allowed him to do.
"Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the street but also to protect the public from harmful ideas." - Robert Ingersoll - Former DEA Director (1972)
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” - Joseph Stalin
Pot Smokers Unite Against Kellogg Since Cannabis Culture Editor Marc Emery's call for a boycott of Kellogg's a few days ago for dropping Olympian Michael Phelps after he was photographed smoking a bong, pot smokers from across the globe continue to put the heat on the cold cereal company. Surprisingly, the mainstream media seems to be paying attention. full story
Boycott Kellogg Co. for Dumping Michael Phelps Cannabis Culture Magazine Editor Marc Emery is encouraging all marijuana smokers to boycott Kellogg's cereal company for dropping their sponsorship of Olympian Michael Phelps after he was caught on film smoking from a bong. full story
You have no doubt seen by now - several hundred times - the photo of gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps sucking on a bong.
As might be expected in our age of manufactured sanctimony, the pundits have gone into overdrive on the Olympic icon. "This is a sad day for Phelps," Christine Brennan moaned, in that vaunted organ of conventional wisdom, USA Today, "and a sadder day for the millions of parents and young athletes who planned their lives around his races last August. How disappointed must they be that a glorious hero, a person in whom they placed their trust, has done something illegal for which he must apologize?"
Boycott Killoggs Thats some really weird schtuff as Johnney would say...
A Grass-Roots Situation Shadowed in cycles through recent decades while other legal or illegal or performance-enhancing stimulants took turns getting all the hype, marijuana has just hollered in the case of merely the most-decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps. It has tried to yell from the recent past of the Super Bowl most valuable player, who alighted at Disney World only four months after a forgotten arrest.
tenotoge
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/24/05
Posts: 2036
Loc: International Space Station
well that has to be one of the fruitiest things I've seen in a while. As for the 8 arrested and the bong...Sheriff Lott has confiscated the bong...it was bid up to like a hundred grand. The dude's should have hid the bong a little better- because I'm not sure, but in other ass-backwards southern states possession of a bong is like felony drug paraphanelia charges.
_________________________ His semblance at the penance with a fiery spear, the penance of the four 7,200 day cycle holy lord, Magicbird Jaguar (Yaxchilan)
#1501119 - 02/14/0902:07 AM'Insane' Sheriff... with a Tank
[Re: DdC]
DdC
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/11/01
Posts: 1791
Loc: Central Coast Cannafornia
Kathleen Parker: Snap, Crackle, Pot Washington Post OpEd about Phelps, Lott, and the drug war, and she speaks with Howard Wooldridge of LEAP.
Drink and drive and it's grrrrrrrr-eat! Smoke pot and your flakes are frosted, dude. So seems the message from Kellogg's, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship contract with Michael Phelps after the Olympian was photographed smoking marijuana at a party in South Carolina.
That's showbiz, of course, but the cereal and munchie company had no problem signing Phelps despite an alcohol-related arrest. full story...
LOTT LACKS CONSISTENCY IN DRUG ENFORCEMENT
Leon Lott is doing his job. After the eight arrests he's made in the aftermath of Phelpsgate, there's no doubt about that.
But is the Richland County sheriff just trying to keep his reputation from going up in smoke? Is he going for the gusto solely because he's in the limelight?
These are legitimate questions, and while we can't know Lott's motivation, certain elements of the story do not check out.
It makes sense that he's pursuing Phelps's case. After the photographic evidence practically fell in his lap, he would have been a fool not to follow through. But the head-scratcher is his insistence on tracking down these eight others. continued...
The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department (that's them above) just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle "The Peacemaker," and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it's generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will "save lives."
Can we call this overkill, yet? Is there any weapon people like Sheriff Lott would consider inappropriate for use against American citizens?
This is just ridiculous: The Richland County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Department has acquired an armored personnel carrier complete with a turret-mounted .50-caliber belt-fed machine gun for its Special Response Team.
UPDATE: Pete Guither found a photo of the thing, and the weird origin of the name the sheriff gave it.
Sheriff Lott is using the Michael Phelps incident for his own shameless exposure and abusing his position as sheriff for political purposes. There are bound to be countless editorials on this subject this week but mine will be different: because when I started writing this, I was as high as a kite.
As soon as I heard the news that Lott had ordered the arrest of college-aged kids in connection with the Phelps bong hit, I called a very successful pot smoking friend and said, "I need to smoke." She was very confused as I am known as a staunch non-smoker, but Lott had driven me to the edge.
'Insane' Sheriff Makes Eight Arrests From Party That Produced Phelps Photo The Michael Phelps bong photo fiasco continued today as Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott arrested eight people connected to the party where the photo was taken. full story...
Pot Smokers Unite Against Kellogg Since Cannabis Culture Editor Marc Emery's call for a boycott of Kellogg's a few days ago for dropping Olympian Michael Phelps after he was photographed smoking a bong, pot smokers from across the globe continue to put the heat on the cold cereal company. Surprisingly, the mainstream media seems to be paying attention. full story...
Boycott Kellogg Co. for Dumping Michael Phelps Cannabis Culture Magazine Editor Marc Emery is encouraging all marijuana smokers to boycott Kellogg's cereal company for dropping their sponsorship of Olympian Michael Phelps after he was caught on film smoking from a bong. full story...
Speaking of Phelps, the attorneys of two of the young men that Sheriff Lott went after have spoken up, and (no surprise) the only thing Lott was after was for them to incriminate Phelps. Pete Guither
The lawyers did not release the names of their clients, but Harpootlian said that his client didn't even see Phelps smoke marijuana at the party. McCulloch said his client was out of town, and only lived at the home when the party happened. Both men have since moved.
"After they arrested him, they didn't ask him where did you get the marijuana or who sold it to you. Almost all the questions they asked him were about Michael Phelps," Harpootlian said. He added: "It was like they were busting the biggest heroin distributor in the country."
The investigators appear to be trying to build a case against Phelps from others - a tactic normally used to bring down drug dealers with a large amounts of cocaine or methamphetamine, not someone who smoked marijuana five months ago, said Chip Price, a Greenville attorney who has dealt with drug cases for 33 years.
"Never have I seen anything like this on a simple marijuana case," Price said.
#1501818 - 02/15/0911:08 PMSports Hotshots Can Rob, Rape and Pillage ...
[Re: DdC]
DdC
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/11/01
Posts: 1791
Loc: Central Coast Cannafornia
Sports Hotshots Can Rob, Rape and Pillage ... But Smoke Pot and They're Screwed by William K. Wolfrum, Shakesville While the corporate media focus on Michael Phelps, a look at some other crimes committed by sports players.
Kellogg's Wimps Out Over Phelps's Bong Hit What Century Are They Living in? Bruce Mirken, AlterNet. February 6, 2009. While hypocrisy is hardly rare in American life, Kellogg's decision not to renew his endorsement contract is really egregious.
Bush Administration Deals Eleventh Hour Blow To Scientific Freedom 1/12/2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. The Bush administration struck a parting shot to legitimate science today as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) refused to end the unique government monopoly over the supply of marijuana available for Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved research. DEA’s final ruling rejected the formal recommendation of DEA Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Mary Ellen Bittner, issued nearly two years ago following extensive legal hearings
"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people." - John F. Kennedy
The informants are watching us... But who's watching the informants?
Preliminary research indicates that up to 80% of all drug cases in America may be based on information provided by informants.
An informant can be a useful law enforcement tool – a necessary evil – if used properly. But putting police work in the hands of known criminals and blindly trusting that justice will be done is an unnecessary evil. Learn more >>
During a news conference, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said there is not enough evidence to prosecute anyone involved in the Michael Phelps marijuana case.
Monday's news conference puts an end to speculation if Phelps would be charged with smoking marijuana in Richland County.
DdC
Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/11/01
Posts: 1791
Loc: Central Coast Cannafornia
Olympic Ouster Brings Marijuana Issue To Forefront American wrestler Stephany Lee, who missed the Olympics because she tested positive for marijuana, was at home in Colorado Springs when she heard that judoka Nicholas Delpopolo had been thrown out of the London Games after failing a drug test he blamed on inadvertently eating food baked with marijuana.continued...
Phelps Breaks Olympic Medal Record - Can We Celebrate Now? Stoners everywhere are celebrating that one of their own, Michael Phelps, just won more Olympic medals than any other athlete, ever. For those who are counting, that number is 19, including 15 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. He has three races yet to come in the London Olympic games. continued...
What Michael Phelps Should Have Said Smoking pot shouldn't be a crime. Or the public's business. Radley Balko | February 2, 2009
Dear America,
I take it back. I don’t apologize.
Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months a year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture. continued...
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