MSNBC - Today's near-headline news...
TOPIC: "Most in U.S. Against Legalizing Pot, Poll Shows" ***
The poll was conducted by AP-CNBC.
Among the reasons: "fear of Reefer Madness", "fear that people will use it as an 'excuse' to avoid prosecution in crimes"; "fear of the unknown..." it suggested those "over 65 years of age were particularly concerned". And MSNBC added it's own poll... "Do You Think Marijuana Should Be Legal in the U.S.?", with quite the opposite results!
As of tonight there were 15,866 votes on the poll at MSNBC... of those votes, 13,567 are in favor of legalization! That's 85.5% that say yes!
7.6% say NO.
Hey, aren't we suppose to say "NO"???
In another example about how people want change... Change.Org has hundreds of petitions a year asking the public what's on their minds, what do they want to see changed? Of the hundreds of important and noble causes, the top-most petition for change goes to (Link to Change.org): "Legalizing Medicinal and Recreational Use of Cannabis". Change.Org vows to follow through to the White house and other government to present the ten top-most petitions... this is the second year in a row cannabis reform has made the top ten.
Today on the steps of the State House in Concord, NH, over 100 supporters of legalized ganja sat on the steps and lit up... from inside the State House state police watched... no one was arrested that I've heard about, the statement from the state police was in the order of, "as long as they're peaceful..." well, ganja users are hardly aggressive... in fact, it must have taken a lot of motivation to get the stoners out of their crypts! The reason they are there is the Senate takes up the vote tonight to legalize possession of a 1/4 oz for adults, the bill the House voted overwhelmingly to approve. According to NHPR the bill is expected to fail, and if it does by chance pass, Gov. John Lynch is ready with his mighty pen to veto the bill"
... thank-you governor... you want a 4th term... you're not getting my vote!!!
For those of you unfamiliar with why this matters to me... a little history.
In the early 70's I was a complete loner; disillusioned with life; with education; I believe I was headed in one of two directions... towards suicide or a life as a serial killer - I hated people, I really did. I'd suffered a lot of bullying through much of my childhood and teenage years. I was an extreme example of a right-wing conservative... and I believed marijuana was an extremely dangerous drug!
Surprise... around 18 or 19 a close friend offered myself and another close friend some pot... Panama Red, drugs! I almost shouted "FIRE"... but stopped myself... and the three of us smoked it. What happened was the exact opposite of what I expected. For days after I kept waiting fearfully for the urge to shoot heroin, or to go through marijuana withdrawal. I felt extremely guilt-ridden, and confused. I used it again a week or so later, and each time I did, I felt more relaxed, and eventually more motivated... to face my fears.
My fears: people, education, and loneliness, and failure. Instead of becoming the "poster boy" for why marijuana is bad, I discovered my life turned around... and within a few short years I had more friends than I could spend time with, girlfriends, and my zest for education and knowledge did a 180 degree turn... and I dove into it... I discovered, though life was difficult, it was a beautiful world... and i changed. I realized my years of anger and hatred were wrong, and misguided. I shudder to think of the person I may have become... a killer? I doubt it, but I really wasn't a happy guy. And I had literally no concept of my place in humanity, that I belonged - "like the trees and the stars".
To date I have three college degrees, a BA in English, AA in Liberal Arts, and AA in medical assisting, the later I graduated Magna Cum Laude, with a 3.9 gpa. I only admit that since my gpa in HS was around 2.3, my first couple years in college about the same, my BA, ten years later I was already up to a 3.0. Yeah, marijuana destroyed me alright... not!
By the way... the historical reference to marijuana in the United States is ganja, not marijuana. And as long as news media refers to ganja as pot, we might just as well refer to alcohol as booze and moon-shine, and tobacco as cancer sticks. If anything should be regulated as a Schedule One Drug by the DEA it's tobacco... but that would assume our laws are just and rational, which they're not.
Is it any wonder the "Tea Party" is so vocal these days? Is it any wonder Second Amendment activists are holding rallies in Nation Forest near the White House?
The irony is, the other day I was part of a drug-free birthday party... aside from the cigarettes. And one of the partiers mentioned the reason pot should be illegal and prohibited is it's illegal. Wow. The bad thing about pot is it's illegal. And that makes it bad. Now that's logic for Americans to live by. Too bad it didn't work during Prohibition of alcohol, or in Wall St.
And if so many people are concerned about breaking the law, why during my daily 3 hour commute are there so many speeders and aggressive drivers on the highways? Why was one of the liquor commissioners in NH arrested for DWI the other day?
The survey says there will always be those opposed to legalized cannabis, but the majority approve of it. It is a safer alternative and in fact does have clinically proven medical benefits... much as ginseng or St. John's Wort does. The fact that cannabis is a Schedule One controlled drug and tobacco is not should be a wake-up call to most! It's like comparing the boogyman to Jeffery Dalmer - one's a myth, the other is real.
I've had my fill of "marijuana surveys"... and "government" that takes a predatory stance towards ganja with no fact to justify the harm the laws of the past 70+ years has caused. It is, time for a change.
April 20, 2010
April 16, 2010
WHY BLOG?
"Why do I blog?"
It's the newest why BobKat... over the years, I don't know how many others out there get questioned repeatedly about why I/we do what we do. Maybe it's commonplace. But, to me, when people question me, it feels personal. The true question is 'how will I make money doing that?'
I may be particularly sensitive, when being questioned, given past experiences. And so we begin...
History aside for the moment, I do it for me, and I do it with the idea that others will find my blog interesting, maybe inspiring.
It's a learning experience, a place to exercise my mind, thoughts, and although a bit on the fringe at times express myself. Others can listen. It's what I did during the 70's when I was working at the college, I wrote all around the campus, and after work at night I wrote a the college bar nearby. Legal age for alcohol was 18.
Dung is what's left of those years... that and some great, cherished memories. Quite the combo... it isn't any wonder I write... given the next 30 years that followed... the result is a mind overloaded, and writing is in my nature, and something I need to do.
I write because I can.
Since Oct. of last year I've written 70+ posts. I have 4 followers, I have 8 votes in my opinion poll (bottom of this page), and three friends that write comments occasionally.
No, profit isn't the name of this pastime... not yet anyway.
This is a good way to experiment with my writing... it's also a great way to promote those causes I believe in.
Several new posts in the works...
George, my agent, will take any further questions :-
It's the newest why BobKat... over the years, I don't know how many others out there get questioned repeatedly about why I/we do what we do. Maybe it's commonplace. But, to me, when people question me, it feels personal. The true question is 'how will I make money doing that?'
I may be particularly sensitive, when being questioned, given past experiences. And so we begin...
History aside for the moment, I do it for me, and I do it with the idea that others will find my blog interesting, maybe inspiring.
It's a learning experience, a place to exercise my mind, thoughts, and although a bit on the fringe at times express myself. Others can listen. It's what I did during the 70's when I was working at the college, I wrote all around the campus, and after work at night I wrote a the college bar nearby. Legal age for alcohol was 18.
Dung is what's left of those years... that and some great, cherished memories. Quite the combo... it isn't any wonder I write... given the next 30 years that followed... the result is a mind overloaded, and writing is in my nature, and something I need to do.
I write because I can.
Since Oct. of last year I've written 70+ posts. I have 4 followers, I have 8 votes in my opinion poll (bottom of this page), and three friends that write comments occasionally.
No, profit isn't the name of this pastime... not yet anyway.
This is a good way to experiment with my writing... it's also a great way to promote those causes I believe in.
Several new posts in the works...
George, my agent, will take any further questions :-
April 12, 2010
WHAT'S WITH THE NON-CONFORMIST?
In every society there is "the norm", a euphemism for public order. People really are individuals. And to varying degrees they attain success. How that spells out is why there are so many books.
To define the kind of public order required in a society, given all the individuals involved, there had to be laws, rules, morals, and more. But we didn't survive as a species by always following the rules. In fact, many of us rarely act 100% lawfully. I commute a long distance... I can assure you 30% at best obey traffic laws, most speed... and many really speed past. It could be worse, in Boston they also cut you off. I grew to love Boston driving... but that's for another day.
During one of my custodian days, in NH, I had worked at this school maybe 5-6 years by then. It was a great job.
During the 9+ years employed there, it began where in this Elementary/junior HS, in 1988 we could smoke wherever. Within three years we were forced to smoke in the custodian's office, where the principle also hung out. We could smoke outside, and maybe in the teacher's lounges, I am fuzzy remembering that. A year or two later, the law was passed making it illegal to smoke on school grounds; or a set distance.
What I found most interesting was when we had school events in the evening... band concert, spelling bee, penny sale, basketball game... there was always something interesting going on, this was after hours, I worked 3-11PM.
We used to place Butt receptacles at the entrances during these events. When the law took effect, no more butt receptacles. Yet people continued to mill around outside and smoke. It was my job, unfortunately to kindly ask these people not to smoke. "Damn the law, I'll smoke if I want to smoke. It's a cigarette, not pot!" And the butts accumulated on the pavement. Typical non-conformist. These were the adults attending the events.
For a couple months we started putting the butt receptacles back out. To suit the guests. Then, eventually people conformed..
This wasn't my topic, though it's relevant..
Laws are one thing, but social mores and morals are another. It's an area of human behavior that does get researched, though I feel not nearly enough.
I can only contribute my own experiences as a non-conformist, and well all the other non-conformists I knew..
I intend to discuss the price/cost of non-conformity, also the benefits to society and the individual. We'll not go the extreme... We'll take a regular guy who's actually, early on, quite the conformist . Then, he's not.
We'll examine "what went wrong"?
Our character was a member/employee of a large organization, a large group of people, most who treated him with respect.
He was a college custodian. There were some who saw that as a crime...
Enter, the Non-Conformist...
To define the kind of public order required in a society, given all the individuals involved, there had to be laws, rules, morals, and more. But we didn't survive as a species by always following the rules. In fact, many of us rarely act 100% lawfully. I commute a long distance... I can assure you 30% at best obey traffic laws, most speed... and many really speed past. It could be worse, in Boston they also cut you off. I grew to love Boston driving... but that's for another day.
During one of my custodian days, in NH, I had worked at this school maybe 5-6 years by then. It was a great job.
During the 9+ years employed there, it began where in this Elementary/junior HS, in 1988 we could smoke wherever. Within three years we were forced to smoke in the custodian's office, where the principle also hung out. We could smoke outside, and maybe in the teacher's lounges, I am fuzzy remembering that. A year or two later, the law was passed making it illegal to smoke on school grounds; or a set distance.
What I found most interesting was when we had school events in the evening... band concert, spelling bee, penny sale, basketball game... there was always something interesting going on, this was after hours, I worked 3-11PM.
We used to place Butt receptacles at the entrances during these events. When the law took effect, no more butt receptacles. Yet people continued to mill around outside and smoke. It was my job, unfortunately to kindly ask these people not to smoke. "Damn the law, I'll smoke if I want to smoke. It's a cigarette, not pot!" And the butts accumulated on the pavement. Typical non-conformist. These were the adults attending the events.
For a couple months we started putting the butt receptacles back out. To suit the guests. Then, eventually people conformed..
This wasn't my topic, though it's relevant..
Laws are one thing, but social mores and morals are another. It's an area of human behavior that does get researched, though I feel not nearly enough.
I can only contribute my own experiences as a non-conformist, and well all the other non-conformists I knew..
I intend to discuss the price/cost of non-conformity, also the benefits to society and the individual. We'll not go the extreme... We'll take a regular guy who's actually, early on, quite the conformist . Then, he's not.
We'll examine "what went wrong"?
Our character was a member/employee of a large organization, a large group of people, most who treated him with respect.
He was a college custodian. There were some who saw that as a crime...
Enter, the Non-Conformist...
April 10, 2010
THE NON_CONFORMIST... PART ONE
It is that time in human history to discuss an extremely important subject: Non-Conformity.
The term itself probably evokes a sense of alarm in many people. The term in it's very basic definition could be construed as amounting to a breakdown in society, and total anarchy. It's a fear, for some a valid fear.
The truth is, there is no black and white explanation when it comes to being a conformist and a non-conformist. I'm sure there are people out there who conform in all possible ways, to rules, regulations, laws, dress-codes, restrictions, etc. But the majority of us walk a fine line... and it's to that end I begin this new topic.
What is the cost of being a non-conformist? What are the benefits? What exactly is being a non-conformist all about?
In my future posts I want to provide insight into what the diversity between being conformist as compared to non-conformist is all about. A society does depend on both for it's survival. An imbalance makes things difficult.
Someone has to be in control if one is to conform... often this is a group, as groups work well in designing conformist rules. Given these sets of rules, a person with inalienable, Constitutional rights to free speech, pursuit of happiness, will find their way to be different. And by being different, they keep alive the "out of the box" perspective on how society is working out.
Certain of these individuals might get peeved over the way a "missing person's case" is being described, and investigated. This person might make a phone call to the family to offer assistance by providing a skill that could help in finding the missing person. This volunteer may find that his non-conformist beliefs are actually a desirable trait, one that might very well help in finding the missing person, or what happened.
In a strictly conformist society there is stagnation and minimal growth. There is little innovation, and few new ideas. Many businesses subscribe to this ideal... the rational being "we (the company) want employees that do as we say, abide by the rules, and see this similar to high-school. There are rules, and what you do doesn't deserve recognition, nor attention. We pay you, you do what we tell you to." This is conformity. Without unions, employees are pretty much at the mercy of the company they work for, IF, they are working, being as so many in this country are out of work.
I live in a country that, for the most part, respects my Constitutional Rights, including Free Speech. My right to disagree, argue, peaceably protest , write about, boycott, and promote reform... promote growth in our society. A better society. A free society. A sensible and fair society.
As a Free Society we both should realize there is flexibility in freedom, not breakage. There has to be some rules. In a democracy, those rules are voted on. They are flexible rules and subject to change. There are also rules that protect society... rules that are flexible in some cases, but that society recognizes as wrong and without question unlawful in other cases.
My purpose with this series is to investigate the non-conformist. Ultimately, most non-conformists become conformists. You only need to belong to a group to conform. Of course, there are bigger groups, and ever bigger.
Eat your broccoli...
The term itself probably evokes a sense of alarm in many people. The term in it's very basic definition could be construed as amounting to a breakdown in society, and total anarchy. It's a fear, for some a valid fear.
The truth is, there is no black and white explanation when it comes to being a conformist and a non-conformist. I'm sure there are people out there who conform in all possible ways, to rules, regulations, laws, dress-codes, restrictions, etc. But the majority of us walk a fine line... and it's to that end I begin this new topic.
What is the cost of being a non-conformist? What are the benefits? What exactly is being a non-conformist all about?
In my future posts I want to provide insight into what the diversity between being conformist as compared to non-conformist is all about. A society does depend on both for it's survival. An imbalance makes things difficult.
Someone has to be in control if one is to conform... often this is a group, as groups work well in designing conformist rules. Given these sets of rules, a person with inalienable, Constitutional rights to free speech, pursuit of happiness, will find their way to be different. And by being different, they keep alive the "out of the box" perspective on how society is working out.
Certain of these individuals might get peeved over the way a "missing person's case" is being described, and investigated. This person might make a phone call to the family to offer assistance by providing a skill that could help in finding the missing person. This volunteer may find that his non-conformist beliefs are actually a desirable trait, one that might very well help in finding the missing person, or what happened.
In a strictly conformist society there is stagnation and minimal growth. There is little innovation, and few new ideas. Many businesses subscribe to this ideal... the rational being "we (the company) want employees that do as we say, abide by the rules, and see this similar to high-school. There are rules, and what you do doesn't deserve recognition, nor attention. We pay you, you do what we tell you to." This is conformity. Without unions, employees are pretty much at the mercy of the company they work for, IF, they are working, being as so many in this country are out of work.
I live in a country that, for the most part, respects my Constitutional Rights, including Free Speech. My right to disagree, argue, peaceably protest , write about, boycott, and promote reform... promote growth in our society. A better society. A free society. A sensible and fair society.
As a Free Society we both should realize there is flexibility in freedom, not breakage. There has to be some rules. In a democracy, those rules are voted on. They are flexible rules and subject to change. There are also rules that protect society... rules that are flexible in some cases, but that society recognizes as wrong and without question unlawful in other cases.
My purpose with this series is to investigate the non-conformist. Ultimately, most non-conformists become conformists. You only need to belong to a group to conform. Of course, there are bigger groups, and ever bigger.
Eat your broccoli...
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