It's that time of year when the ghouls get restless. I'm posting this just for Eric, knowing how he likes to be prepared. Plenty more advice where that came from -- just click here. And remember, don't get mad, Get Angry.
John and I have such an unlikely friendship. While we share a common historical reference, being of the same age, we couldn't be more different in many ways. He's a morning person. I get pissy if he calls me before noon. He's punctual. I'm always late. He's reliable. I'm flighty. But our biggest difference is in our attitude towards life.
I'm a go with the flow kind of gal. I measure time by seasons, not hours or days or even months. He has a sense of urgency that I just don't possess. There's a good reason for it and I hestitate to share it, but it so informs our relationship that I almost have finally to say it out loud, in order to work it out in my own head. John is in stage four cancer and gets poisoned once a week with chemo but you could never tell to look at him. He is the healthiest person I know.
It's so ironic, while I'm lying on my couch playing Camille, popping tranqs and wallowing in my hypochondria, he's out paddling in his kayak for miles. He sent me these pictures from his last outing. He didn't say, but I think he went out with his ex-girlfriend. The clue was when he said, "the person I was with" instead of mentioning a name I wouldn't recognize anyway.
Not that I mind. I'm glad he has someone to hang out with since I'm hopelessly unavailable most of the time. Besides, I'm not the jealous kind. Good thing, since it looks like they stayed out until really late.
Either way, France has the right attitude about the bust. Buffet was detained, but not arrested, and allowed to go free after paying a fine of 300 euros - about $380. If he had been caught in the US, the courts would have been tied up with this piddling case for years and Buffet would have faced a possible prison sentence and fines of up to $100,000. Which approach makes more sense to you?
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana's active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer's patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Note that THC is the ingredient in cannabis that the pharmaceutical companies are always trying to eliminate with their synthentic versions, yet time and time again, research shows that it's the combination of elements in the natural herb that are the most beneficial. Granted, smoking marijuana is not the most harmless manner of using the plant, but with vaporizers any concern about the hazard of smoking it are virtually eliminated and it remains the most effective way to use the medicine.
In the face of this growing evidence, if our government and the corporations who own it, really cared about the health of Americans, they would be pushing to legalize the plant themselves. The only reason the pharmas continue to fund prohibition is they want a stranglehold on the profit side of the plant.
What a weird day I'm having. I slept in of course, this being the easiest work schedule I've had in the history of this gig. I'm cruising through my email and checking my blogs and catching up on my comments. I'm thinking maybe I'll go out this afternoon and take a walk cause it's the last nice day in a while. Going to be cold and raining after this. I'm getting ready to put up a post at the Detroit News when I was hit by a massive panic attack. And I'm talking huge folks. I have general anxiety all the time but this was the big kahuna.
I shouldn't be surprised. This happens to me every year at this change of season, for at least the last 20 years. I think it happens because the light is dying. It starts with some odd shifting pains in the arms and knees and then the heart starts racing. Then I'm hit with a dizzy spell that I'm sure is a sign of my impending death. I'm reminded of Fred Sanford, clutching his chest and shouting to Elizabeth that he's coming to meet her. It's the big one for sure....
The first thing to do is double dose on the tranqs. Take an aspirin for good measure. Then I take a shower and put on nice underwear. I surely don't want to die all stinky and in a ratty nightgown. Then I tidy up the house. I sure don't want them to think I was a slob when they find me dead either. By the time I'm done with that, any normal person would think -- well -- maybe I'm not really going to drop dead after all. Me, I'm not convinced. I drop another half a tranq and lie down for a hour or so. Often, I fall asleep again but today I just laid there and shivered under a bunch of blankets. I hear you get cold when you die. I guess I was practicing. I don't think I'm going to like being dead. I hate being cold.
Here it is another half a tranq and hours later and I'm still breathing, but now I'm so zoned out on the pharmas that I can barely form sentences. I spent the day leaving bizarre comments on the blogs on my blogroll and worrying about what will happen to my own blogs when I do drop dead some day. I would just disappear and no one would know why. I think I need to write a blog will, with instructions and the keys to my place so someone can at least post an announcement. But I don't know who to ask to do it. Any volunteers? Please email me.
In the interim, just in case I go in my sleep tonight, thanks to all of you my dear readers, for your company and comments and comfort along the way. And if the idiots on Capitol Hill ever manage to legalize drugs, could you ask them to name it Libby's Law?
This is big news. Homeland Security announced in an e-mail to Congress that starting next week, Customs won't be confiscating Canadian pharmaceutical imports anymore. Now they're going to put the FDA back in charge and ignore small amounts of prescription drugs for personal use. "The policy change was due to political pressure from lawmakers and people who complained they were no longer receiving their medicine."
Still, it's a good policy. If they took that attitude with all drugs, they would save billions in enforcement costs and could spend their time going after dangerous, criminally irresponsible, organized drug dealers, instead of harmless consumers.
And maybe Customs could be looking for bombs instead of bongs.
Some get into it for the money, but many of the women don't even realize they're involved in drug trade. Either way they end in jail for long terms, leaving children motherless and prey to unsavory influences. Just another argument for global legalization. [hat tip George Lessard]
And while you're checking out the Dare Generation, click over to their new MySpace page and peruse their friend's list. That should put an end to the myth that cannabis consumers are all smelly hippies and ugly girls who don't shave their legs.
Is it just me, or did I go through this same narcoleptic stage last year at the change of seasons? I was in bed by 8:30 and I slept for 12 farookin hours last night. I'm not looking to make it much past 9:30 tonight. I think I must not have slept enough on my week off because I was dreaming like crazy all night long. So many dreams I can't remember any of them but I still don't feel resolved. I almost went back in, I had time, but 12 hours was already a ridiculous amount of time to sleep. Maybe I'm coming down with something or maybe it's the change of seasons. Everyone around me is in a state of flux.
Speaking of which, my pal Preston Peet of drugwar.com is going through a very tough break-up, if indeed it is a breakup. Just checking right now I see they're still leaving each other biting messages on their MySpace pages. But whatever is going on, he's going through a rough time so any girls that understand how to use MySpace, please go over to Preston's page and leave him a suggestive message.
Erin O'Brien, I'm counting on you... It could change his whole world.
(CBS) RIVERSIDE, Calif. Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask won't prosecute people who use marijuana in accordance with state law,even though he supports the federal banning of the drug.
County supervisors voted to prohibit marijuana dispensaries and growing cooperatives in unincorporated areas. Prior to the decision, Trask issued a 10-page report supporting the ban, saying he believes federal law "clearly and unequivocally states that all marijuana related activities are illegal."
Trask said he never intended to prosecute patients.
I find his position a little confusing, but good for him for refusing to prosecute sick people.
I'm posting this piddling little marijuana eradication because it happened in my old stomping grounds in Connecticut. You wouldn't expect a bust like this to even be made public in a town like Litchfield. It's a very upscale town where movies stars and other illuminaries live.
LITCHFIELD (AP) - The president of the Litchfield Land Trust was charged with marijuana possession after more than a dozen large pot plants were found growing on conservation land. [...]
Police said they found about 15 to 20 six-foot high plants on Wednesday after being tipped off. The plants were located in a remote section of land trust property off a dirt road just west of the Bantam section of town. Police removed more than 130 pounds of plants, Officer David Cooper said.
Officers returned the next day and spotted Litwin and Barbero allegedly in the field with a small bag of marijuana. Cooper said the investigation is ongoing and it hasn't been determined that the marijuana was grown by Litwin and Barbero.
What really strikes me about this bust is that the police don't know whether they confiscated 15 or 20 plants. What? They can't count that high or were they so excited by finding the field that they forgot to count?
John was kind enough to escort me to The Office last night to see my home boys, the Stuntmen. Except for the fact that the entire crowd was chain smoking and you couldn't breathe in the house, it was a great show. These guys just get better every time I see them.
I didn't get a good shot of drummer Dave Durst but I like this one of Scott.
I got this one of Bow Bow while I trying to get one of Dave, but I thought it turned out kind of arty.
It was great to see you guys. Can't wait for you to come back to town.
Meanwhile, I'm back on the rotation and I'm off to work. More photos here.
