TUESDAY'S JUST AS BAD

It was a brutal day. For the longest time I thought it was still Monday. Sure felt like one. My suitor turned out be a stalker. Not dangerous but totally irritating and he required way too much energy to shut down. I just spent 30 minutes on the phone with Mark about him. Turns out he's an old friend of Danny Fitzgerald of Lost Wandering Blues Band fame. It makes his behavior all the more incomprehensible.

AS predicted, he showed up on Sunday afternoon. I already had a plan for the day. He did not take the news graciously. It went downhill from there. Turns out he was stalking two other women in town before he got to me. In the end I gave his license plate to someone who could run it discretely. Details to follow.

The Appropriations Committee is on CSPAN right now, debating the medical marijuana amendment. Souder is on right now, making the usual ass of himself. (Tapping my foot, waiting for him to stop spewing his BS). He is such a sour little man. I keep wanting to call him prune face behind his back. Always raises my blood pressure when I hear him speak.

Hinchey made an eloquent statement in support of his amendment though. Glad he has some time reserved to speak again. Blood pressure dropping. Ron Paul is speaking in favor, he's a doctor and just said more people die from legal drugs than illegal drugs, and more people die from the war against drugs than by ingesting them. I would have never thought a Texas Republican would be speaking so forcefully in favor of this. I'm going to write him a thank you letter. The proponents are carrying the debate I think. The opponents all sound like authoritarians who beat their kids and they're coming out against state's rights at the same time. I do so hope they pass this.

I wrote a lot of letters today and called DC twice. The medical marijuana and the FCC amendments came up for vote. (The opponents sleazed the Med mj onto the floor a day early). I want them to know I'm watching. I'll be doing it again tomorrow against drug war funding to Columbia. I have a feeling we're going to get on first name basis down there.

************************

OUT OF THE INBOX

Received some great mail today. My friend Paul Von Hartmann forwarded an eloquent response he wrote in defense of anti-prohibition:

Current prohibitionist doctrine is an obvious and far reaching attack on fundamental human rights spelled out clearly in the U.N`s own Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the U.S. Bill of Rights. Those outlaw policies, institutions and individuals who are found to be violating fundamental moral principles, must be charged and held accountable, by an overwhelming global consensus, for credibly referenced scientific conclusions concerning rational drug control measures, and the damage being done by prohibition. At this point, in light of decades of environmental, economic, and behavioral analysis, anyone supporting current drug war policy can be identified as at least unfit to serve, if not criminally sociopathic.

The science of ethology (behavior) which includes population dynamics, provides the foresight necessary for anticipating the outcomes of various drug control policies. The most fluid, time-efficient way of moving past economically vested control mechanisms which have been legitimized through financial influence is to use recently developed ability to communicate globally, economically, influence recalcitrant drug war vested factions which have infected our society. Prohibitionist dogma is a poor excuse for extinction.

Individual responsibility for damage and injustice being done by drug prohibition has been suspended beyond moral accountabilty by too many people for too long. Until that changes, the vested interests of the chemical/military industrial complex will continue to dominate our existance, and synergistically destroy the quality of life on this planet. For many people, in all regions of the world, it already has.

for peace,

PvH

******

My sister sent her response to the story about the DA using the Terrorist Act against drug defendants. I love it when she talks like this:

Well Lib,

I just don't know what the world is coming to. Now meth is a weapon of mass destruction. Go figure. Now there are some real brain trusts involved with this stuff, so I can't say I'd want to live next to someone making meth. The danger of an explosion is very real, but I'd say unless you are in a condo or apartment, it is unlikely that an exploding meth lab is going to do damage to anyone but those involved.

What is far more disturbing is the label of "terrorist" that would be applied to an American citizen who is, granted, involved in an illegal activity, but hardly in the same league as the 9/11 hijackers. The implications of using this designation are scary. As a "terrorist" suspect, the person could be moved to a military site like GBAY in Cuba and held indefinitely. No speedy trial guarantee.

And don't think this is all right wing republican blather. Your facist left winger friends are up to some real scary stuff, also. Some liberal Nazi bitch of a professor at Chapel Hill was involved in a CA directive last year where a high school was telling students that if they were not going into the military or on to college that they could not attend their high school graduation, even though they had fulfilled all the requirements. Seems this dingbat group of ivory tower denizens decided that any young person not meeting their "vision" of a productive life plan should be shunned.

I watched very closely as school ended this year. If any NC school had tried to pull off one of these little numbers, I would have been first in line with my picket sign. Can you imagine? KGB and Gestapo come immediately to mind.

By the way, I am neither to the left or right. I do not follow any one political leaning. I prefer to pick and choose what I think is right and wrong. I vote according to a candidate's historical standing. Such as how he has voted in the past if he's been in office, etc.

I pick and choose my battles. I really must be so passionately incensed before I will give up time and energy and there are so few causes that do that for me: anything that supports children and their right to a happy and safe environment
Anything that looks like Big Brother is on the rise. We are losing our right to be autonomous. Unfortunately, in the name of greed, people flock to give these rights away. They want gun laws and drug laws and seat belt laws, etc. so they have a basis for a law suit.

A lot of people will stand in line to give their rights away if there's money in it. Those in government, and it makes no difference which party, don't want to reform anti-drug laws because there is too much money involved. Drugs are expensive because so many palms need to be greased. There was talk of a national tax that would be applied to luxury items. The idea was to tax money being made on drugs since dealers don't file tax returns. It was totally shot down. Politicians wet their pants thinking of all their slush fund monies being taxed.

Sometimes I think living in a cave looks pretty good.

And the last word goes to Annie

****************************