Your Halloween Costume Should Be

Bong Girl

Well, Tits McGee has found the best link of the day again. I was wondering what I was going to be for Halloween and this costume is just perfect for me don't you think?

Meanwhile, there's no pictures of the event yet on the usual suspect's websites but the WaPo gave the Stoney Awards a write-up. It leans toward the snarky side, but then again some of commenters at High Times agreed with the WaPo's assessment.

Jeesh, some people just don't know how to have fun.

John Walters vs. the vice voters

Thanks to MAP, we get a look behind the NYT's paywall to hear John Tierney's latest blast at the war on some drugs. Tierney takes on the drug czar's latest meddling in the citizen iniatives out West, noting the GOP is going to lose the "sinner's vote" with their shameless, hamhanded propagandizing against the measures. But here's the money quote.

They're especially prevalent in the West, where half a dozen states have legalized medical marijuana. When Californians approved one of the first medical marijuana laws, in 1996, drug warriors were so convinced it would lead to a catastrophic spike in illegal use by teenagers that they sponsored a study to document the damage. But there was no catastrophe: after the law, marijuana use by teenagers actually declined in California.

You won't hear John Walters mention that study. The ONDCP just fires the researchers that come up with studies that don't reinforce their lies and then ignores the statistical evidence that disproves their propaganda. But as Tierney points out, the really good news is that this time, the feds' unconstitutional meddling in state affairs is likely to backfire on a larger scale. Westerners are an independent lot that don't take kindly to federal interference. They're likely to vote for the measures and vote against the GOP altogether. Let's hope he's right.

Not that the Dems record on the WOsD is any better, but at least with them, there's a chance they might listen to reason.

Inside stories: coke and dope

A couple of quick links to items of interest. Time magazine runs a compelling photo essasy, Narco netherworld, which offers an inside look at the cocaine trade in Colombia. The x-ray of the drug mule was especially astounding to me. How do those guys swallow that stuff? I can't even take a whole vitamin if it's too big. I break them in half.

TomDispatch has a riveting article on the Afghan poppy trade by Ann Jones analyzing the insanity of the US driven eradication plan there. This is definitely the quote of the day.

Two years ago in Kabul I interviewed an American consultant sent by the administration to assess the "drug problem" in Afghanistan. His off-the-record verdict: "The only sensible way out is to legalize drugs. But nobody in the White House wants to hear that." He admitted that the sensible conclusion would not appear in his report.

This is the war on some drugs folks. Sensible solutions scuttled for insane programs because no one in the government wants to admit they've been wrong for the last 40 years anyway and they're addicted to the prohibition gravy train.

No such thing as bad publicity

Blogger has been a major PITA for the last three days. It's takes a dozen tries to get anything to post. I think they might be punishing me for not signing onto the beta version. But on the off chance that this will make it to the blog eventually, Loretta Nall is on the BBC website today, featured in a blog post by the incredibly rude and crude Guto Harri. I've been trying to leave this comment over there without success.

While it's true Loretta doesn't have the campaign funding of the political machine's fat cats, she is certainly a credible candidate with an impressive platform. She has a plan to make the government work for the people, rather than the people being subjegated by the government, as is currently the case.

Alabama couldn't ask for a better governor than Loretta Nall and the only reason her breasts are an issue is because of male pundits who lose their heads when they're confronted with cleavage. She's got brains to go with those boobs and it's a darn shame that none of the journalists who are titilated by this story are able to focus on the anatomy above her shoulders..

Feel free to jump in. This guy needs to be set straight. What a jerk.

Update: I take back all the mean things I said about Guto. He issued a very gracious apology in the comment section.

Can I get a Witness?

So picture this. I slept in yesterday. I had just started my coffee and someone knocks on the door. I see two guys in business suits standing on the stoop. I'm thinking, great, the feds have come to question me and I can't even make complete sentences yet. Fortunately, they were only Jehovah's witnesses and they took one look at me and appeared to be ready to run. The guy's hand was literally shaking when he gave me the brochure. They couldn't get away fast enough.

I take a look at myself in the mirror when they leave. I'm wearing pink flannel pajama bottoms with a weird print on them, a bright red Mickey Mouse t-shirt and my hair is sticking out in every direction. But the real piece de resistance was the mascara that I forgot to wash off the night before. It had run down my face. It looked like I had two shiners and possibly leprosy. I'm betting they crossed me off their list for future visits.

Word folks. If you want to get rid of those pesky door to door missionaries, this works.

Loretta Nall has got the 'mo

The Lorettalaunch is slowing down a bit this morning but she got some real steam out of that AP piece. Here's video of her appearance on Keith Olbermann's show.



I'm telling you she could score a surprise upset here and even if you don't live in Alabama, you can help on a cosmic level. Indulge me here, and spend a minute visualizing the headlines on November 8th blaring, "Loretta Nall wins with write-in campaign."

Blame it on the rain

Well I just fell apart yesterday folks. It was raining all day. I had to get up at the crack of dawn after only six hours of sleep and work all morning. Then I went to look at an apartment in town. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening staring blankly at the computer, trying unsuccessfully to put some posts together. Sometimes you just need a day off.

I'm not taking the apartment. It was sweet but the description was a bit misleading. It said it had a large kitchen and living room but the kitchen was part of the living room, basically a sink and a few cabinets in the corner of the room. I was expecting an eat-in kitchen. Not enough windows either. It was sweet and well kept and the yard and location was fabulous but it was just too expensive for the amount of space. But the real deal breaker for me was the electric heat and the power lines that cut through the yard. I don't how I didn't notice that on the drive by.

Meanwhile, I keep driving by the overpriced junk and funk house. It's still empty and I see the guy put another ad on Craig's list for it. I love that he's calling the yard well landscaped. It actually does have some sweet plantings but they're way overgrown and in bad need of serious maintainence. I may still go look at it and try to talk him down to a better rent if it's at all habitable. There's just something about that place that calls me.

Ticket to ride

Yeah, my passport came today. I have to tell you I was sweating it. Even though I'm just a B-list politic blogger, I was a little concerned they might hold it up because of my blogs. It was supposed to be processed in three days -- it's been two weeks.

But all's well that ends well. I didn't get a RFID chip and I'm good until 2016. And when they sent back the old passport, it still had the loose slip from the crossing gate at Tijuana and a pressed four leaf clover in it, that I forgot to take out when I sent it in.

I don't know why I'm so ridiculously happy about it. It's not like I can really afford to travel at the moment, but it's nice to know that if I find that perfect, too cheap to pass up trip to the Carribean, I can go.

Seeding the sprouts of the police state?

Warning: Do not read this post immediately after eating. Just when you thought the prohibs couldn't sink any lower, this one leaves me sputtering in disbelief.

It's "Red Ribbon Week" in our nation's schools, a little indoctrination of our children into the world of prohibition propaganda warriors. Radley Balko has the digusting details on one school in Virginia that apparently suspended classes for a rally on behalf of a dead DEA agent. The kids were encouraged to come to school dressed in camouflage clothing or even better Army fatigues or other military uniforms.

As Radley says, "Dressing kids up like soldiers to celebrate the militarized war on American drug users. So. Much. Wrong."

Taking drug testing into the Twilight Zone

It figures Florida would come up with the lame brained idea of drug testing librarians and library volunteers. You know, those little gray haired ladies and stoop shouldered bald men who putter around reshelving books and giving out directions to the rest rooms.

The average age of these volunteers ranges from 60-85. Chances are they're spaced out on prescription meds but it seems unlikely any of them are going to be trying to sell heroin to schoolchildren and other library patrons. As Bill Maher points out, "The last time a librarian did something really stupid and reckless on drugs was when Laura married George."

Unsurprisingly, the number of volunteers dropped to 2, after the policy was instituted. It seems our senior citizens would rather quit than drive a long distance to be subjected to a humiliating test. I have a idea though about how to clamp down on the government's overweaning interest in our pee.

Before one more new drug testing rule is made law, every politician should be forced to undergo the piss test themselves. And while we're at it, maybe we ought to subject Capitol Hill and all the state legislatures to one of those random drug sweeps they're so fond of foisting off on schoolchildren. How many of them would sit quietly for those tactics being perpetrated on themselves? And how many would pass the test?

I'm dreaming...

Whoa baby. For the last three weeks I've been on this golden schedule where I didn't have to be anywhere until 11:30 so I could sleep in every day. For the last two days I've had to get up in the dark. And it's dark and cold at 5:30am I'm telling you. Both mornings I was in the middle of a dream when the alarm went off.

Yesterday I was dreaming about Steve Sanderson of the Drunk Stuntmen. This morning I was dreaming about a former associate at my old law firm. I don't remember much about either, except both featured copious amounts of marijuana. Meanwhile, I'm done with work for today but I decided I wasn't going to take a nap and was going to watch Bush's speech instead. But I feel asleep in the middle of it and wow, did I just have a weird dream. I was dreaming that I was dreaming and kept waking up in strange places.

I was in a vacation cabin of some kind with my Dad and my sister. I was sleeping in a small room with two big screened windows on either side of the bed. I was dreaming that I was dreaming about somebody giving me a watch and three bras. There was a big commotion outside one of the windows that "woke me up" and when I looked out there was evangelical revival meeting going on. There was a strapless, really padded black bra in the bed so I put it on and went out wearing only that, and the watch, to talk to the holy rollers. Some woman insisted on putting a tshirt on me and took off the watch I got in the dream I was having and put a Jesus watch on my wrist instead.

After that it gets a little fuzzy but I found myself back in the cabin sleeping again when I was woken up by a commotion at the other window. There was a tag sale going on out there and someone had a box of kid's books that I wanted to look at. I went out again but couldn't find the books. When I went to ask the people who had them, they drove away in a red sports car. Meanwhile, there was all kinds of commotion going on out there. The scene kept morphing.

A kid walked by and complained to his Dad that the beach was eroded and there was nothing to take a picture of. I decided to take a look at the beach. I walked through a church bake sale where another middle aged woman threw me onto a big board and insisted I needed a massage. Sometimes I was naked, sometimes I had the tshirt on. At one point I had two tshirts on, as if one had slipped down to my waist.

At the bake sale, I saw this really colorful lizard sitting on a muffin. A guy said that it was good luck to stroke its tail but when I did, it bit me on the wrist and wouldn't let go. I stroked its tail some more and when he stopped biting me I grabbed it by the neck and threw him on the ground. His guts were popping out of his mouth and I said, gee, I hope I didn't kill him.

I finally got to the beach and it wasn't eroded at all. It was a huge sand bar with almost no water and surrounded by steep hills filled with shacks, like a barrio. I couldn't get a picture because there was no sun so I headed back to the cabin. This time there was a restaurant in my way and I was naked again. I tried to go through the kitchen but a girl in a wedding gown was blocking the door and told me I had to go through the dining room. By then I had the two tshirts on again so it was okay.

I finally got back to my cabin and my sister was there. She said she was going forget going to the beach and was going to the lake instead. I tried to get her to give me directions to the lake but she didn't know how to get there. Then I "woke up" in my bed in the cabin again. The dream was so "real" I checked my wrist to see if the hole the lizard put in it was still there -- it wasn't -- and neither was I wearing the Jesus watch anymore.

I was pondering the meaning of all this when I really woke up here on my couch. I swear, the dream was so vivid, I still checked to see if there was hole in my wrist and whether I was wearing a watch. Just weird. If I had a shrink, I imagine he would have had a field day deciphering the Freudian meaning of this one.

The modern farmer

There used to be a program with that name when I was a kid. It was on really early in the morning, maybe 5:00am. They were always talking about tractors. I was such an insominac at that age that I saw it all the time. This brings new meaning to the phrase.

Marek sez, "A few days ago police in Poland arrested a 17 year old kid who ran a mini-farm of cannabis inside his PC. The PC was normally used but modded to contain a light source, and keep humidity and temperature at proper levels."

Maybe I should have called this post, "The modem farmer."

Via Tits McGee who found it at Boing Boing.

Taking a position on sex

I don't often find a reason to link to the leftie blogs I read, but this one is a post anyone can enjoy. The very artistic Neil Shakespeare discovers sex at the dentist's office. Leafing through a woman's magazine while waiting in the chair, he finds an article on pet names for favorite sexual positions.

There's "THE CLAW," "THE SCREAM MACHINE," and "THE REVERSE ALLEN." It got me to thinking what I would name my favorite position. I think I might call it "Climbing Mt. McKinley" but I can't describe it because it's been so long since my last lover that I don't quite remember how it goes.

How about you folks? Anyone have a pet name for your favored method of breaching the orgasm chasm?

Loretta Nall for Governor of Alabama

Whoohoo! My pal Loretta hit the national news. She did an interview with the AP yesterday and there's 120 stories on Google News. Just about every major MSM picked it up off the wire . She's on Fox, CBS, in the WaPo. Heck even The Guardian picked up the story.

I still think she can pull it off. This is just the kind of eleventh hour attention that could make a difference and how cool would it be if a honest candidate with no money and no connections scored an upset victory? Meanwhile, I'm enjoying a residual Lorettalaunche. I'm getting hundreds of google hits. My favorite search terms:

loretta nall's tits boobs

Loretta Nall sexy

loretta nall stash boxes

about Loretta Nall underwear

loretta cleavage pics

loretta nall photo gallery

loretta nall more of these boobs

loretta nall does not wear underwear

It's crazy really. She has a lot to say about the issues but the press, and apparently the hoi polloi, gets excited by her boobs and her panties. Fine. Take a good look, but her best asset is above her shoulders.

It's okay to love her for her boobs but listen to what she has to say and vote for her for her brains. Write in Loretta Nall. She will make a damn fine governor.

Drug dealer don't want dollars

This can't be good. The dollar has been a little shaky on the world markets for quite a while but now even drug dealers prefer euros. What do they know, that we don't?

[hat tip Sharon Secor]

Nudists come out from under covers

I found this story amusing. It appears nudism is going mainstream and its practitioners are coming forward to say they're naked, or they say around these parts, nekkid and proud. As they should be. Americans are much too uptight about the human body. In Europe no one even thinks twice about naked flesh.

Funny thing about this story is many years ago, I spent a day at this Georgia nudist camp. Back then it really was little more than a couple of RVs around a pond but it did have a nice pool and some tennis courts. It wasn't anything like I expected it would be. It was just like being at any recreation area except people were nude. Nobody was weird or ogling you and I have to tell you, I played the best game of tennis I ever played in my life wearing nothing but socks and sneakers.

Punishing adults does not protect kids

Great op-ed by Mason Tvert, head of SAFER, the organization that's promoting the Colorado iniative to legalize marijuana for adults there. As he points out arresting adults for responsible use of a plant is not protecting children. In fact it's endangering them more and pushing many of them into alcohol abuse.

The opposing op-ed is misleading prohibitionist propaganda at it's best. It's incredible. These people just make up stuff. I know for a fact that the quasi-legalization of cannabis has not made its use more attractive to Dutch teenagers. I have first hand accounts from several young folks from Holland who were my neighbors for a time in Northampton, that Dutch teens mainly view it as not a big deal and most prefer not to use it themselves.

That's not to say there aren't any teens using it there. There are, and some even use it excessively and irresponsibly, but that can also be said for US teens, so legalization is not the driving factor. And while one might see a rise in reported use when those kids who already consume the plant feel they won't be penalized for telling the truth, that would protect our kids, because it would be easier to identify those who are having a problem with abuse and they would feel comfortable admitting they had a problem if they didn't fear the penalities for disclosing it. [hat tip MAP]

Hey baby, scarigami

Blogging was light yesterday because Blogger decided to shut down for most of the day. I'd complain about it more but it seems a little ungrateful to bitch about an upgrade when they provide the platform for free.

Anyway, it seems to be working well today so here's a Halloween link for you. These balloon artists created a 10-room, 10,000-square-foot, walk-through haunted house made out of 130,000 latex balloons covering everything but the floors and ceilings. It's installed in a mall somewhere near Rochester, NY so it's out of my range for a day trip, but you can see photos of the place, along with some of their other work, here. Pretty incredible stuff. It's makes the guys who sell balloon poodles on the streets of NYC look like total amateurs.

You say it's your birthday

Dawn light came up late,
went down early. Tomorrow
makes seventy-one.
~Jules Siegel

My dear friend Jules Siegel is celebrating another trip around the sun, as Elisson would say. Jules is an astounding guy. He's an incredibly articulate, relentlessly observant and intelligent writer . They probably invented the phrase "thinking outside the box" just for him.

Click over and check out his websites, maybe buy one of his books. They're all well worth the pittance he charges but don't start one unless you have time to read it through, because you'll never be able to put them down. He brings new meaning to the phrase, "riveting prose."

And if you're planning a trip to Cancun, he's been living there for decades and wrote the essential guide to the real Mexico. It's only five bucks for the on-line version and you'll save that many times over if you follow his travel tips. It would make a great gift for a friend who travels.

Happy birthday Jules. Mi casa es su casa, siempre and my world would be very empty without you in it. Saludos.

I heart Tits and other quick bytes

Well it's colder than the proverbial witch's tit around here today in the northern south. I know it's going to stay cold because the stupid ants are back. They disappear the rest of the year but come the cold weather and the little buggers move in. Who knows what the hell they eat since there's never any food in my kitchen but they love hanging out in the sink. This year I'm prepared though. Screw the natural remedies. Not one of them has worked so far. I got myself a gallon of poison. Now all I got to do is work up the nerve to use it. I'm so klutzy, I'll probably end up poisoning myself.

On a brighter note, Tits McGee left me the best present at her place. This is what I miss about living in New England. That and I never had ants in my kitchen when I lived up north. And while you're over there, check out what she got for her birthday. I should be so celebrated.

Moving on, I got this by email from my old boss JZ Souweine but it came as an attachment and I don't have a clue about how to upload audio. However providence has smiled upon us. I was cruising the party posts about the Hysterics at Eric's and the obviously brilliant Sissy has an embedded version. Tequila is good medicine. Gotta watch out for the side effects though.

And just in case you missed this one at Lisa's place, I just loved this video. Who doesn't love free hugs?

At the Fair

I've been to a lot of fairs in my lifetime and it wasn't like any other one I've seen. It was like a fair sprinkled into a really giant carnival. It still had its fair like qualities. There were some permanent buildings along the periphery that housed the traditional agricultural elements, but they were widely scattered and you had to walk through miles of midways to get to them.

The exhibit halls we made it to were mostly kind of sad. They were small and sparsely furnished with few entries. The crafts hall was mostly vendors but the flower exhibits were nice. This was my favorite of the outdoor entries. Love the plantings and the symbolism on this one.



There were hundreds of food booths, mostly featuring 25 varities of deep fried food. Woody's definitely gets the prize for best sign and most exotic menu.



There were a surprising number of freak shows. Old Fat Albert wasn't doing any trade. Not that surprising. Why pay money when you can see people who look like that at the grocery store here on any day of the week.



I would have sprung to see the fish girl but I had just turned down a heartfelt offer for a Jesus tattoo and I thought it would be bad form to visit the devil's spawn so soon after.

Pharmas for the children?

One of the greatest hypocrisies of the WOsD is the premise that it's about protecting children. With about 1 in 100 preschoolers being prescribed Ritalin it seems to me our children need be protected from the dealers of legal pharmaceuticals.

I've never heard of a dealer of illegal drugs selling to a two year old. Yet prescribing a strong antipsychotic to an infant is a legal "off the label" use for ADHD. Even with known adverse side effects. Who is our government really protecting? Children or pharma corps profits?

Our State Fair...

...is a great State Fair. Don't miss it. Don't even be late... I have that old musical running in my head but this state fair wasn't anything like that one. I'll have more to say tomorrow, and more pix, but right now I'm just going to post some photos and call it a night.

It's a really big fairgrounds. There's three midways this size. We got there in the daylight, but it was dark but by the time we made our way around the loop.

John sprang for the rides. I thought nine bucks for two people to take one rickety ride was outrageous. This ferris wheel I think went around three, maybe four times. The teacup baskets were interesting though. You didn't get the sense of going over the top when you're under the struts.

It was dark by the time we got on this ride -- against my better judgment. I should have suggested the other traditional ferris wheel but I went on this one because the pictures on the canopy reminded me of a carousel I used to love. I was glad this one was short. I was so dizzy, I could barely walk when I got off it. I can't do those lateral rides any more.

We did not go on this ride. It's not that I'm afraid of fake zombies -- well okay I am a little -- it was more that the air tends to be bad inside those rides and if memory serves, they often smell like piss.

Off to the fair

Be back later with pix I hope.

Medmar Media byte

South Dakota is set to decide medical marijuana and Marijuana Policy Project has been working in the forefront of this initiative.

Their first ad for the measure features South Dakota resident and medical marijuana patient Valerie Hannah, who was exposed to nerve gas while serving as a combat medic in the Gulf War. As a result, she suffers from a degenerative illness that causes constant deep-muscle and neurological pain, and she uses medical marijuana to alleviate her symptoms.

Hannah states, “I don’t regret serving my country. But it should not be a crime to treat my pain and suffering.”

You can see the ad here. I hope it passes. The real crime is withholding a natural medicine that works from the terminally ill people who find relief in it.

Is the internet the new heroin?

According to preliminary research, the typical Internet addict was a single, college-educated, white male in his 30s, who spends approximately 30 hours a week on non-essential computer use.

It all depends on how you define non-essential. The 80+ hours a week I spend on the computer are for entirely vital reasons. Besides, I could quit anytime I want...

Cock of the walk



As my friend Jules Siegel noted when he sent this link, those were simpler times. Imagine trying to air that today.

May I have a blog roll please

Thanks to the lovely Lisa, I've discovered another glaring omission in my Rumbler's roll. Old age is a bitch, folks. The cognitive skills are the first to go.

I thought I had him already but it appears I got him confused with
Smoke on the Water. So click over and say hey to RSM at When the Smoke Clears. It's a great blog. I love his sense of humor.

Assault with a deadly weapon - a plant

Thanks to Tits for this link. This is really bad but it is funny.

Police Find Burgers Sprinkled With Pot

LOS LUNAS, N.M. (AP) -- Three workers at a Burger King restaurant were arrested after two Isleta tribal police officers discovered that the hamburgers they ordered were sprinkled with marijuana.

The Isleta Police Department officers ate about half of their burgers Sunday before discovering marijuana on the meat. The officers used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for a medical evaluation.

Three Burger King employees were arrested and charged with possession and felony assault on a cop. I don't know what they were thinking. You can't disguise the taste of marijuana with pickles and special sauce and it's unlikely there was enough pot on the burger to get the cops high. Seems a waste of good herb to me, not to mention it makes marijuana consumers look irresponsible.

Referral of the Day

I'm the number three hit in Google for this one.

will a deferred judgement effect my career as a cop?

I don't know the answer to that but I expect his language skills might. He should have asked if it would affect his career. Personally I think the guy should think about a new job. A pre-corrupted, illiterate cop is probably not one we want on the streets.

Quick hits

I'm back on the work rotation for the week so I'll be posting as I can. Since there was a lot of drug news over the weekend, here's some lighter links to entertain you.

I'm always amazed by paper crafts. This site has patterns and instructions for various projects, including some cute pumpkins and a witch for Halloween.

For the old hippies, my pal Marc Catone sent me this link to Take me Back to the 60s. I personally don't like the forced background music and I didn't make it all the way through the program yet but it brought back some fond, and not so fond, memories. I found the furniture especially funny. Why did anyone think those plastic chairs were a good idea for living room furniture?

And here's the bargain of the week. You can order the "Too Smart to Start" board game from SAMHSA about alchohol abuse for free. I didn't check, but I assume it's only a matter of time before they do the drug abuse version, if they don't already have one.

May I have a blogroll please...

I don't know how I missed this Rumbler since she's such an active poster. I guess I'll plead so many Rumblers and so little time to check them all out. But better late than never, so say hey to Sandy of The Pea Patch. She's young, she's feisty, she drinks beer and she's a hell of good writer. Check out her stuff.

May I have a blogroll please

Say hey to Jamie Spencer (no relation) of Austin Defense Lawyer. I found him in my referrals and I really like his blog. It reminds me of Vice Squad, (which is still in semi-hiatus), in that he covers a wide range of criminal issues but he does a lot on the drug war and I love his wry sense of humor. Check him out and of course if you live in Austin and you get in trouble, you might want to give him a call. I have a feeling he's a good lawyer.

Common sense on drug policy in uncommon places

The Las Vegas Review Journal has a great editorial dissing John Walters latest appearance in the state on behalf of prohibition. The money quote:

Electioneering on the taxpayer dime is illegal in most states -- and should be for federal officials, too. Nevadans are perfectly capable of weighing the issues surrounding Question 7 and rendering judgment on their own without being browbeaten by the standard-bearer for decades of failed federal drug policy.

Mr. Walters should have stayed home.

And the the LAT clues us into a new tourist destination. It seems like an unlikely place to find a marijuana mecca, but the little town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, will vote next month on whether to make misdemeanor marijuana arrests the city's lowest law enforcement priority. It sounds like an interesting little place.

Tucked into a remote hollow in the northwest Arkansas hills, Eureka Springs has been called the most eccentric town in the state, the largest open-air asylum in the country, a place where misfits fit.

The town's population of 2,278 is a mix of conservative Christians and aging hippies who, as they tell it, wandered into the area around 1973 and never left.

My kind of town. In Arkansas. Go figure.

[hat tip to Austin Defense Lawyer]

Smoking out the "enemy" in Afghanistan

This would be funny except that it endangers our allies.

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.

General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.

"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.

"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.

Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.

"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.

You'll notice that even bombs won't burn a fresh plant, so the next time law enforcement boasts about their big eradication busts, keep in mind they're talking about wet weight, which is clearly not a legitimate way to value the haul.

Meth is good medicine?

Under the heading life's little mysteries, it turns out that while meth can cause a stroke if you take it to excess while you're healthy, meth can save your life after a stroke. It protects against further damage if administered in low doses after a stroke has occurred and in fact test animals dosed up to 16 hours after a stroke, showed that their neurons were as intact as those in animals that hadn't had strokes. Ironically, scientists discovered this accidently while trying to prove meth use causes lung damage.

It just goes to show that no currently illegal drug is entirely bad and it's a good reminder that drug use is not the same as drug abuse.

Fearless deer


I saw my buck with his harem tonight. I was walking to the store at dusk and they were grazing away in the neighbor's front yard. They watched me, watching them, for a minute and then just casually went about their business.

They're getting tame. They didn't run when I walked closer. One was always kind of keeping an eye out but they didn't get alarmed even when I was at the end of the driveway. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

Feds addicted to persecuting medical marijuana advocates

In the outrage of the week, medical marijuana champion Ed Rosenthal has been indicted on new charges in apparent retribution for having beat the government's previous "fixed" case against him.

It accuses Mr. Rosenthal, 61, of 14 felony charges that include cultivating marijuana plants; laundering $1,850, which the government says he got from selling the plants to medical dispensaries; and tax evasion. His tax returns, prosecutors said, omitted income from the sale of the plants.

Reached Friday at his home in Oakland, Mr. Rosenthal said he thought the efforts to prosecute him were part of a campaign to shutter medical marijuana sites in California and to subvert the state law allowing them.

“They want to shut me up,” he said. “They are vindictive. They don’t like anybody beating them, and they will go after you again and again until they wear you down.”

Shouldn't these agents be out there looking for those terrorists who "hate our freedom" instead of harassing harmless pot smokers who are merely trying to exercise theirs?

Government approved LSD

Am I the only one to see the irony in this? If you make or sell LSD, you go to jail. For a long time. If you force a prisoner to take LSD against his will, it's legal.

And don't you wonder where they got the acid in the first place? Does the White House have its own stash? That could explain a lot.

The victims of prohibition

I didn't blog about this last week because the NY cop that was busted only stole under a couple of hundred thousands from drug dealers. Amazingly, in the world of drug war corruption, that's kind of small potatoes. But arising out of that bust, this cop pled to stealing about $800,000 over the last few years. Math is not my strong suit but's that's almost a million isn't it, and that's just from two cops. As many as ten are implicated in this "drug ring."

Even more galling is this cop got off with a seven year sentence, as opposed to the lifetime mandatory called for, because the prosecutor spoke in his favor. He'll be out in three probably and gets to keep his police pension. Three other cops got even lighter sentences. The drug dealers they might have busted if they weren't stealing their money instead, would no doubt be in jail for much longer and they don't get pensions.

As always, I remind you, if drugs were legal, none of this would have happened.

Fly like an eagle

I swear there's an eagle following me. The last two times I walked in John's neighborhood, I saw a big bird but I just got a glimpse both times. Today on the way home, there was a eagle in somebody's front yard, eating something I couldn't see. I almost got in an accident trying to get a photo.

I pulled over and watched it for a second. It was just sitting there, waiting. I turned around to get a shot.

It's a kind of busy road at commute time and while I was fooling with the camera as I'm driving back down the road, a couple of cars came up behind me. I didn't see them until the idiot beeped the horn and scared the bird into the trees. But I saw it fly up and I swear it was an eagle. It was too big for a hawk and it didn't have the right head or tail for a wild turkey. I should have walked back. It wasn't that far.

I hope I get another chance. It sure was an impressive bird.

Pot TV now on YouTube

Marc Emery isn't lying around waiting to be extradited on bogus charges by the DEA. He's still activating on the front lines and he's now crossposting Pot TV segments to YouTube. Here's one done by Marc on Cops Run Amok. He jams a lot of his usual rapidfire commentary into it. But not all the entries are that long and you can subscribe to email alerts to new videos like this short on How marijuana helps Alzheimer's patients.

Meanwhile, I ran across this two minute video while I was watching those, from the Cannabis World Cup.



Whew. I haven't seen that much hash since 1970.

[hat tip Tim Meehan]

Supply your own punch line

I think Acidman would have liked this story. The world's only cat cloning company went out of business this week. It appears there just aren't that many people willing to shell out even the bargain basement rate of $32,000 to clone their pet kitty. In fact, in six years they only managed to sell two.

[hat tip Jules]

New start

Well, I worked today but I got off early enough to go back to the scene of last night's debacle and get my car washed. Funny, it seems to run better when it's clean. And I guess the brand new battery and full tank of gas probably helps.

Anyway, while I'm catching up on my reading, here's one of those silly quizzes. I liked the questions on this one.

Your Dominant Intelligence is Linguistic Intelligence

You are excellent with words and language. You explain yourself well. An elegant speaker, you can converse well with anyone on the fly. You are also good at remembering information and convicing someone of your point of view. A master of creative phrasing and unique words, you enjoy expanding your vocabulary. You would make a fantastic poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, or translator.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

[Via Lisa]

Gestalt and Battery

Oy, what a day. I got up this morning and the remote to the TV didn't work and the cable went out so I didn't have a TV or internet. So I decide to put together my passport renewal. It's been expired for over a year now but since I haven't been free to travel, I wasn't that motivated to do it. Amazingly, I found the photos I had taken six months ago on the first try. They hadn't improved with age. I still look like a dork in the photo.

So just as I'm done the remote starts working again and the TV comes back in the middle of Bush's speech. He's talking about Iraq. I'm thinking -- why isn't he talking about North Korea? Didn't they just explode a bomb or two? Anyway I get on the computer to try to sort things out. Connectivity is sporadic all day and of course, I lose track of time and end up rushing to the post office to send out the mail. They close early here.

Still all is momentarily well. My application is on its way and I remembered to spring for the expedited service in an attempt to avoid getting a RFID version. I even remembered to stop at the grocery on the way home for a couple of essential items. By the time I got out of the store it had turned into a beautiful afternoon so I decided I should wash the car.

I'm thinking it's turning out to be a rather good day after all. I finish the vaccuming part, which you have to do first there and I jump into the car feeling pretty efficient. It won't start. Nothing. Just clicking. I try a few different gears. I try holding the clutch down with both feet. Clicking. So I call AAA. I'm sure it's not the battery. All the little electrics are still working and the horn beeps. I'm sure I've been told a working horn is a sign of a working battery. I'm telling them I'm pretty sure it's the starter.

I call the family for a ride. We make elaborate plans with the dealer, and with each other, to figure out transportation for tomorrow. I'm beginning to see the sense in cell phones. We wait forever for the tow truck to arrive.

This really big guy in a really big truck finally shows up and kind of sweeps past us. He looks kind of pissed. We're trying to tell him stuff and he ignores us. He tries to start the car. Clicking. I told him he would click. He pops the hood and sticks his battery charger thingie on the engine and starts the effer right up. Then he smiled. I felt like an idiot.

I'll spare you the details of the convolutions necessary to get a new battery into the old girl at 7:00 at night. Suffice it to say, it's a complicated business when you live in the middle of nowhere to get these things done. Frankly, I don't really know how they did it. The matter was taken out of my hands. My job was to wait for it to be over. I'm rather good at that and I have a car that starts again. What's not to like? I'm beginning to see the sense in men as well.

My new house?



John and I went for a nice walk in town this afternoon. I wanted to check out a house I saw for rent and see how long it took to walk to it from the center. It was a pleasant route and not too long a walk. I kind of loved the place from the outside. And I adored the hood. Just my style -- funk and junk. The photo is of a neighbor's house and while there weren't any others with such gloriously tacky Halloween decorations, it kind of captures the flavor of the neighborhood.

Around the corner, there was a sweet little home with beautiful flower beds and the yard was decorated with about a dozen bowling balls pretending to be glass globes. They were every color and on every kind of stand from a concrete pillar to a flowerpot. Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot because the place was surrounded by a chain link fence.

The house is much too expensive for the size and location and judging by the amount of junk in the carport, the owner may be, shall we say, eccentric or cranky or both. But I think I'm going to call tomorrow anyway. If he would take less for the place, I'd rent it if the inside wasn't horrible. It might depend on how often he cleaned that gigantic birdcage in the window...

Confab with the big guys

I went to my first on-line blogger conference today. It was pretty cool, even though I had to use the chat function since I don't have a mic. I'm getting better at it but I'm going to have to learn to type without looking if I ever expect to get good. The meeting was about net neutrality and Bill Moyers of PBS was there. He has a new documentary airing next Wednesday about it. It's an important issue and if you love the internets, you should watch it. You can see a trailer here.

To get involved or just to see why you should care about saving the net from the telcos, who will ruin it if we don't stop them, check out Save the Internet and Free Press, (who hail from my old digs in lovely downtown Noho).

Dear Senator Hatch...

A couple of months ago a well connected music producer was busted in Dubai and was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail for possession of a small bag of cocaine. Republican Senator Orrin Hatch immediately intervened and was able to win the release of the man. His office released this statement at the time, supporting Hatch's actions.

A spokesman for Mr. Hatch said that the senator was a proponent of rehabilitation for drug offenders, and that he had worked to revise federal sentencing guidelines regarding cocaine, and, through legislation in 2005, had advocated treatment for nonviolent offenders and the easing of restrictions on medication to treat heroin addiction.

In the statement Mr. Hatch said he was "confident that this talented young man will learn from this experience."

Well, it's time for Sen. Hatch to walk that talk. Another American citizen has just been arrested in Dubai for possessing 0.14 grams of marijuana and has been sentenced to 4 years in jail. You practically need a magnifying glass to see that small an amount of marijuana.

The defendant claims he didn't even know he had it, which seems credible since it's not enough pot for even one hit and certainly wouldn't get you high. Why would he take a chance on being busted for so little? They must have scraped it off his luggage. Surely this is an even more egregious sentence than the one meted out to our cocaine carrying music producer.

Please join us in asking Sen Hatch extend his well founded concern to all American citizens and to intervene in this case as well. I feel certain this "talented young man" has also learned from this experience and will purchase new luggage the next time he travels to the Middle East.

Idiotic legislation of the week

And the award goes to New Mexico, Rep. Steve Pearce, and his "CLEAN TOWN Act" , a/k/a HR 6155, the "Communities Leading Everyone Away From Narcotics through Online Warning Notification Act." Pearce seeks to create a "drug offender registry" based on the sex offender registry model. Thankfully, so far he failed to find any co-sponsors for this folly.

As, Stop the Drug War points out in a subsequent editorial, "this registry is effectively a taxpayer-subsidized advertising campaign supporting drug dealing." Billed, as is usual, as a way to "protect" our children against drugs, what it would do is create a searchable database for kids who are looking to find a dealer.

As the editorital points out, most kids get involved in drug use through their friends, not by dealers hanging out in the schoolyard and they buy from each other. Giving them access to a database of the names and addresses of people who might be able to hook them up with better drugs at lower prices seems to me to be an exceptionally foolish idea.

I seem to have misplaced my Monday

I don't know where this day went. It sort slipped by while I was reading everyone else's blogs today. And now I have to go out for a few hours to baybsit for a friend. I do have some stuff on my mind though, so I'll be back later unless the kid totally wears me out.

Health Advisory

There's another E.Coli threat, this time in packaged ground beef . Oddly, just as with the spinach scare, it involves quite a few brands that bill themselves as organic.

If I was conspiracy buff, I might think the goods were being sabotaged by the food industry in order to put these small organic companies out of business so the corporations could take over the market.

Update: Add lettuce to that alert. Great. I just had a veggie burger with lettuce on it.

Morales beat down by White House for sensible coca approach

In case you were wondering how the US browbeats other countries into undertaking dunderheaded anti-drug programs, Boliva is a case on point. Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president and a former coca grower himself, has a perfectly sensible approach that allows a certain amount of coca to be grown for traditional uses that date back thousands of years among the population.

The nutrient rich coca leaf has provided essential sustenance in a country that suffers from great poverty and in used in everything from flour to toothpaste. He has honored his agreement with the US to eradicate a certain amount of acreage in order to contain the crops and has done so without the use of force and maintained the good will of his people in the process.

But the Bush administration is unhappy with his contention that the plant coca is not the same as cocaine and his failure to order wholesale herbicide spraying on his land. They now threaten to "decertify the country" unless he complies with their programs that have been failing for years, rather than employ his own, which has been showing positive results.

If Washington “decertifies” Bolivia in retaliation over the coca crop issue, it would cut off the $150 million the United States grants the Andean country each year. It would also mean a vote against Bolivia on the boards of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), institutions that the country relies on heavily for foreign aid.

Each year, the country receives from these institutions an estimated $400 million in loans and donations to finance social programs and build roads, schools and hospitals.

So what's a president to do? So far Morales is sticking to his promises to his people. Good for him for not caving to US intimidation. One can only hope he can stick it out and continue to provide a successful model for sensible drug policy.

Quick hits

Mayor in Iowa busted for dealing pot. It's like I always say, chances are someone you least expect smokes pot.

Hometown kids show some good sense in this editorial promoting legalization of marijuana at the UNC student newspaper, The Tarheel.

An 80-year-old man convicted of dealing crack cocaine was paroled Thursday after spending three nights in jail. I don't think he was using it though. It appears his addiction is to sex.

Felix Cocco, a World War II veteran from Pittsburgh, sold crack cocaine from his house and gave some of the drugs to prostitutes in exchange for sex, his lawyer said. [...]

Police said Cocco had been dealing drugs for nearly a year when he was arrested in November, and was caught dealing again in February. Officers said they seized crack cocaine, a digital scale and packaging materials.

Bailor told the court her client wanted to remain sexually active after his wife died three years ago and he turned to prostitutes.

I don't condone using crack but you got to give the old boy some credit for figuring out how to finance his love life.

Going in circles

Dax Montana finds the best videos. I'm posting this link especially for my friend Mike, but anyone that enjoys rocking blues will enjoy this YouTube of Billy Preston.

True story

I don't talk about my other blogs much. mostly because I don't want my right wing readers to read them and hate me, but I got this comment from Lester, a long time reader over there. I'm not sure it's true, it might be Lester's sense of humor. His wit is as unscrutable as mine, but either way, I thought it was hilarious.

whoah. I was looking for porn and got sent here via your "shapely ass" remark. small world

note: my word for verification "zemuckta"!

The word verification thing is such a drag. I had to install it because I was overrun with spam comments and I have it use it myself to reply to my commenters. Total PITA. It's usually a string of almost impossible to read random letters, but "zemuckta"!?

What a word. I love it. It almost makes it worth having the cursed feature. It sounds like Yiddish for - "you see what happens when you look for smut?"

Night of the Living Dead



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.

UPDATE: Arrgggh! Careful. They're everywhere.

Still waters run deep

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.



She's a good photographer, don't you think?

Friday Fun

Take the Breastalyser Test. Via Lil Toni who posts a shot of her own that beats out all the competition.

Buffett bagged for ecstasty

In the celebrity bust of the day Jimmy Buffett was caught with 100 tabs of ecstasy when his luggage was searched at a French airport. His spokesperson, or as the NY Post put it, his flak, denies the drug was ecstasy and says only about 20 tabs were found.

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?

Cannabis may prevent Alzheimer's

This is the big story of the day.

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.

Question of the day

Funny thing about these panic attacks. I think they're brought on by the dark but it gets better when the sun goes down. Or maybe it's just the cumluative effect of the tranqs. In any event, I'm past the Camille stage tonight and I have a burning question on my mind.

Why is it your hair always looks gorgeous, as in has never looked more perfect, when there's absolutely no chance you'll see anyone and in fact you're about to go to bed?

Pandemonium

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?

A Freilekhn Gebortstog!

Two great Americans were sharing a birthday today yesterday. Dick Tracy turned 75, (I always did want one of those two way wrist watches) and one of my blog heroes, the best Jewish Southern Cracker blogger in Blogtopia, presumably turned less than 75, but we don't know for sure because he's not telling.

Anyway, Dick -- as far as I know -- doesn't have a blog but you can click over to the inimitable Elisson and wish him A Freilekhn Gebortstog, which is supposedly happy birthday in Yiddish. I might note however, I've never heard anyone use that expression before and none of the other Yiddish speakers used it, so you might want to go with mazeltov instead. That kind of works for everything. But do drop by and leave your best wishes.

Happy Birthday El. Mazeltov from the northern south.

DEA reaches out to teens

This is hilarious in a sick kind of way. The DEA launched an online magazine called Stumbleweed. Relying on the usual outdated and cherry picked misleading quotes, it's a cornucopia of misinformation in a rather slick package. My personal favorite: Hey dude, where did my future go? Pot, motivation, and you.

The down side of this frivolity of course, is that your tax dollars are paying for this pap.

[hat tip Tim Meehan]

US to allow Canadian pharmaceuticals

I was going to post this here but decided to post it on my Detroit News blog instead so I'll just give you the money quotes here.

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.

Greeting cards run amok

Maybe it's because I'm so cranky tonight, but considering the state of the prison/industrial gulag in America, I found this to be insulting . It would have been much funnier if it was visit your corporate CEO in prison day.

Women who love too much

Mexico has a new message for its female population. Love your drug dealers from a distance or pay the price. A timely message since, "in 10 years, the number of women imprisoned in Mexico has tripled, and more than half of them are convicted for drug-related crimes, compared with just 15 percent of male criminals."

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]

SSDP hits hard on Fox News

Congratulations to SSDP's Kris Krane for wiping the floor with prohibition profiteer, Mason Duchatschek, who sells teen drug testing kits to parents for a living. Kris put the smackdown on Mason in an appearance on Fox News. Priceless video there and how sweet that it played on Fox.

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.

In the arms of Morpheus

I'm so glad it's a short week. I just have to crawl through tomorrow and I have another stretch off. I'll be back in the morning. I need more sleep. I'm not caught up on my dreaming yet.

Love bites...

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.

Riverside DA just says no to prosecuting medical marijuana patients

Good news from Riverside, CA.

(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.

Litchfield cops need remedial math?

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?

Drunk Stuntmen at The Office


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.