LIFE, LIBERTY, HAPPINESS... TOBACCO, ALCOHOL, CANNABIS

Only one "link" for this post (as I'm sure you read in my last post where posting links can land you in prison in violation of federal copyright violations). It's not a joke. It's a direct result of the fallout related to file-sharing and the record industry's unprecedented penalties levied on people downloaded copy-righted music during the 1990's. True... they had a beef, and still do, as they make no profit from pirated music downloads.  But the fallout effect is they alienate their client-base...  in that I mean, rather than take a rational approach to reduce downloading music that yields them no profit - pirated music, they act like privateers and destroy their client-base with excessive penalties and actions.

The record industry thus baked itself into oblivion as most people today think hard about buying anything related to the music industry or such. And still music is downloaded... links are posted to download sites, and people like myself now have to be concerned with is that link I posted going to net me a ten year, $2000 fine?

As I said before... a link is nothing more than a picture and an address to another place. If you go to this place and cause mayhem, that's you, not me. I only provide an address.

So my only link today... "I'm a Mom and I use Marijuana":

In lieu of other links or pictures for this post, I'll provide my own pictures (you're welcome to use them as long as you provide the source on your website or blog). This is to supplement the purpose of this post which is to discuss, "Life, Liberty and Happiness - Tobacco, Alcohol and Cannabis".

We begin with Junior, great-grandson of Henry the Magnificent...

"Junior" - Great-grandson of Henry the Magnificent

"Henry - The Magnificent"

Both these roosters are "cards"... they crack me up! Henry has mellowed over the years, and doesn't attack your feet anymore... but Junior, he's the terror of the neighborhood, and half the size of Henry. Both are Bantam roosters, meaning they are small chickens, but they sure act big!

They croon for the hearts of hens like Enie and Mynie:

"Enie and Mynie - Respectable bantam Hens"

That's Life.

Speaking of which... 

Humor aside, do you know how many people die of tobacco related causes every day? Thousands. Do you know how many die of cannabis related causes? None.

Yet, I can go to almost any store and buy tobacco products, but I can't buy cannabis products. Why? Well, because tobacco is legal, and cannabis is not. Why? Tobacco is safe enough for public consumption under FDA guidelines, but cannabis is not.

Tobacco is considered "safe" for public use; cannabis is not. Why?

WHO THE HELL KNOWS!!! Science, we're told!

What is known is tobacco has no medicinal value and it is extremely addictive. According to federal law so is cannabis. Yet, half the states in this country have recognized that cannabis does have medicinal value... as for being addictive? Cannabis has psychological addiction associated with it's use, very little physical addiction to be concerned with. 

Is tobacco a Schedule One drug? NO! Because it has zero medical value, and cannot therefore be considered a drug. Is cannabis a drug? NO! It is an herb... with medicinal value. A drug is processed in a laboratory... cannabis is a plant that god oversees.

So why do people go to prison for using, growing, possessing cannabis and not tobacco??? Good question. 

Apparently cannabis gets a person "high". Tobacco only gets a person dead or dying.

Getting high is a danger to society, or so it would appear.

But if that's true, then why is alcohol in the form of beer, wine, liquors legal and cannabis is not? Cannabis is a drug, though it is not a drug, where alcohol is a drug, but not a drug as alcohol has no medicinal value just the same as tobacco. Alcohol simply takes the edge off, gets one intoxicated to varying degrees. Cannabis does also, but it has medicinal value which makes it a drug, yet it is not recognized as having medicinal value, so is not a drug, yet it is regulated as a drug because like alcohol it gets you high.

If you're not confused yet, you should be. 

In a nutshell:

Tobacco is a poison that is smoked and can be bought in most stores. It is a very effective drug (regulated by the FDA, ATF) for slow-motion suicide.

Alcohol, gets people high, takes the edge off of a long hard day at work and is popular at parties. It can be physically addictive and can cause disease. It is regulated by the Federal bureau of ATF.

Cannabis, is used as a medicine, and to take the edge off a hard day. It is not physically addictive, does not cause disease or death, but is akin to murdering someone if you are in possession of it, use it or share it. It is regulated, if one can call it that, by the DEA, with guidelines provided by the ONDCP.

Cannabis is called marijuana by many, however, this is a misnomer with racially charged links to illegal immigrants from Mexico from whence the term marijuana originates. It also promotes early 20th century fears and prejudice regarding the seduction of white women by black men. The term marijuana was popularized during the 1920's and 30's by so called, Yellow Journalists, and made illegal primarily to try and stop the influx of Mexican immigrants into the US through southern border states. Most federal laws use the term Marihuana (sic) in legal decrees when describing cannabis, a spelling mistake that persists to this day.

Oh, Hey... not to change the subject, but what's this cat doing???

Oh that's "BobKat"... and he's hungry, and tempted!

He obviously wants that hamburger. Is that okay? Yah think? Maybe it should be illegal? I don't know, just wondering. Thinking about new prohibition laws - they're popular with politicians, in case you didn't know.  So, starting with a "Hamburger Tax Act", for cats, we could expand on the theme...  and politicians would have a new angle for election - the "getting tough on cats eating hamburgers" pledge!

The "criminal" - High on Hamburger!

You know, when I heard about Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comment that "women who are raped have an innate ability to prevent getting pregnant",  I knew I'd heard the same argument that makes cannabis illegal, and permits people to kill themselves using tobacco, or get high on alcohol. It's called IGNORANCE!!! Wherever Todd Akins went to school, if he did, I'd be doing "preventative damage control" even as I write this. Does this guy have a college degree? If so, in what? Basket-weaving? Is this the kind of person we want in government making critical decisions regarding our Life, Liberty and Happiness? 

Seriously people... don't you think it's time to be real??? Rape is a serious crime; however, cannabis use or possession is not! A cat eating a hamburger is funny, which is what the world is, sober, drunk or high on pot... doesn't make a cat eating a hamburger a criminal, nor getting stoned on a plant a crime. 

Why exactly are my taxes being spent on things like "marijuana" interdiction, prosecutions of persons caught with it and undercover operations? That must cost many billions of dollars. All to stop people from the use of of a God-Given Plant... when by law, the hypocrite says,  we can become alcoholics or smoke cancer and heart disease in the form of tobacco? 

The thing about 1 joint = like 100 tobacco cigarettes? Every single plant on earth has a different biological makeup; burning anything produces carbon monoxide, tars and gases... the difference between tobacco and cannabis is that you can't eat a cigarette, but you can eat a joint. The first is a poison, the latter is a consumable product like spinach or broccoli. 

As I've said before, I'll sit down anytime with a gov't official from like the NIH, CDC, DEA, ONDCP, FDA on National Television where you supply a tenth ounce of strong cannabis that I eat, while you eat a tenth ounce of strong tobacco. We'll see who gets sick... and I assure you it won't be me!

Seriously, we need to get real... 

I Like Hamburgers!!!

Stop The Hurt...

BOBKAT'S BIZARRE NEWS - Bunny, Rain, and Link Laws - All ridiculous!

I've been in something of a funk lately... my job is overwhelming, being single and practicing abstinence, as the federal gov't would prefer me to be is cutting into my life, liberty and happiness. Plus I'm up on the news... although as you'll soon see, I'm inclined to feel I'd rather not be.  The rash of senseless mass murders being one of them, and my own opinion that if we weren't such an uptight, control oriented society much of this senseless hurt wouldn't ever occur. But that's my opinion.

Top of the news story...

SOURCE: Fox News, Aug. 10, 2012

7 year old Connecticut girl, Kayden Lidsky, has been threatened by officials that her 20 pound pet rabbit is prohibited under law, and that she must surrender her pet to authorities immediately. The rabbit is 3 years old, and likes to "lick people... she's not a mean bunny", Kayden told WTIC - TV News. The problem apparently, is her father, and a grievance the town has with the way he's failing to maintain the property. As a result, the town has threatened Kayden and her pet bunny, to get to him, claiming it (the pet bunny) violates zoning laws. What better way for a town to get to a lazy parent than to threaten their 7 year old child and her pet bunny??? As last reported more than 1800 people had signed a Change.org petition protesting the actions of the town. 

Like any 7 year old and even one with a lemonade stand... laws are meant to protect people, and I'm supposed to believe that the town is acting in the best interests of it's citizens. Yeah. Bullshit!

Next in the news:

Man jailed in Eagle Point, Or. for collecting rain-water. Gary Harrington has collected more than 13 million gallons in reservoirs he build since 2003 when he was approved to do so. But the town recently reversed it's decision to give him a exemption to a  1925 Oregon law that makes rain-water public property. Gary has three large reservoirs, and the water in them simply fell from the sky and collected in the private locations he dug. He has been sentenced to 30 days in jail, and fined $1500. He has been told to drain his reservoirs or be subject to additional penalties. Maybe even felony possession of rain-water where he might be handed a life sentence in prison. Again, the government protecting the citizen's best interests. You can read the full story here: Man Jailed for Collecting rain-Water.

Next up:

A farmer in Vermont was busted for growing cannabis - called marijuana to those of you who still believe that misnomer for cannabis is valid despite it's link to racial prejudice against Mexicans and Black people originating in the 1930's. Apparently he got pretty upset for being busted growing a plant God gave us a right to grow and drove his tractor to the Orleans County Sheriff's dept. in Newport, VT.,  drove over several parked law-enforcement vehicles with his tractor, crushing them, then drove away.

Hey, I agree, I'd be pissed off too, but what he did wasn't right, though I can hardly blame him. Still, the problem isn't the police who only enforce the laws, since they don't make them. It's our law-makers and it's time to let them know we're angry and we're not going to take their friggin' shit anymore with these laws that help no-one and hurt most people more than they help! Problem is they don't listen. They think we think they're protecting the public good, and our self-interests, when in fact, they're protecting their own self-interests. Time to change the laws, not crush the cruisers police used to "protect" us.

You can read about this story here:

SOURCE: Fox News: Aug. 02, 2012

And finally, though this is hardly the end of the bizarre news I read everyday:

Richard O'Dwyer lives in England. In 2007 he set up a website with links to other websites, TVShack.net. On June 30th, 2010, Federal ICE officials seized O'Dwyer's website along with 6 other websites in violation of federal copyright infringements. Now all he had on his website were links to oter websites. So the seizer and penalty of 10 years in a federal prison along with a significant fine are for posting links, as according to the article that's all he had were links. Google and Yahoo publish links too, as do I... but you can bet Google and yahoo won't face jail-time... me? If it get's me out of my 3 and 1/2 hour commute and a job that feels like being in jail M-F I'm all for it. You can read about this story here AT THIS LINK: 

CIO - "Just Linking Could Get You 10 Years in Jail"

It makes me think of the following analogy: You have a friend and you decide to meet the friend in NYC. You know of a restaurant, so to get directions you look up the restaurant online. You get directions from MapQuest, print those out, and print out a picture of the restaurant from it's website to send to your friend. You mail the information to your friend. This is the essence of a LINK! By sending those directions and a picture you found online to your friend you would, according to this article, now face a potential ten years in prison and a fine. Unbelievable!!!

Again... our government looking out to protect and serve our best interests. I think not!

Paranoid anyone... well don't be. That's just the 21st Century and if most of us don't end up in jail or lose our pets, it'll be God's intervention, not luck, that keeps us safe; which doesn't seem to happen all that often. 

My advice? Dig a big hole in the ground, build a fortified shelter, stock it with enough food and water for the rest of your life and get off the national grid. Either do that or join the Church of Scientology which seems immune to most infringements by government... however, no link available, as I don't want to piss them off.

Have a wonderful day!!! Enjoy your rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and pursue your happiness by virtue of our Bill of rights.

IS THIS THE DEATH OF BATMAN?

Is Batman dead? I ask, as I'm shaking my head, as I'm sure most of us are, as to why the massacre last Friday in the Aurora CO. Cinema happened. What would motivate someone to do such a thing as murder 12 innocent people and wound 58 others?

The question here is "what would motivate"? And the suspect was apparently seeing a professional psychiatrist, who I'm sure by now has an attorney. The suspect apparently sent a notebook to her and speculation is he detailed his plan to murder people. The fact is, the notebook is protected under doctor-patient protection.

But what about the rest of the nation?

Gun sales are off the charts, again, as they always are after a tragic event like this. And people and politicians are again calling for stricter gun laws. Ted Nugent today came out and said it - "the AR15 used is one of the most popular hunting rifles in America." The killer used it as a assault rifle, but he goes onto say, he believes, the shotgun is the more dangerous weapon. And I believe him.

But none of that is really the issue. The issue are the victims, who lay in hospitals with medical bills in the millions of dollars. And the injured, and those in that theater that night! How insane to sit down and enjoy a movie and have a madman go berserk?  It's a worst nightmare. I find myself wondering, doesn't a movie theater have insurance for this sort of thing, couldn't the movie industry donate the medical costs to these poor people who have been in hell?

But that only leads me to the real tragedy yet to come. As happened after the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the federal government enacted measures for national security, on a permanent basis, that almost overnight began stripping Americans of their personal rights, freedom and dignity. Muslim Americans became the new suspect. And now, gun owners of America.

Why make more victims. Stricter gun laws won't stop these people from hurting others. The majority of Americans are responsible.

We deserve respect. We deserve logical, scientific and sound decisions to be made when it comes to public safety, not frenzied reactions.

Chicago's Children's hospital canceled the appearance of a Batman entertainer that tries to help many people. THE STORY IS HERE. Understandably the hospital is concerned. But I'm concerned that just as happened after the 9/11 tragedy, we're letting the villain win. We're succumbing to fear, and not letting ourselves get back on the horse. I'm afraid one of the most American Super heroes is Dead! 

I came out with a spontaneous joke this more during a discussion with  a someone. I was given an appointment for Oct. 31. I commented, "well, that's Halloween", to which the person replied, "yes, are you going to dress in a costume?" And I replied, "yes, but not as batman."

Later I had concerns it was a "poor joke", or in bad taste, and a co-worker made the obligatory, he agreed. 

So, when, if ever, can we joke about Batman? Admire Batman. That is the question. And if we can't, why? 

What are we really doing as a society to stop the hurt? Controlling the masses, based on the actions of a few is futile. To control the masses we would need to become a Totalitarian governed society. Is that America?

To President Obama... get your weapons straight - the killer used an AR-15, not an AK-47.Not that it matters much. As I already said, if someone wants to harm others, they can do so without guns. Prohibition and excessive control over the masses yields resistance... both intimidate and tread on the basic principals this Country values as a free nation. 

Batman must live, for us to live on. No Joker can stop Batman... Batman must/will rise again.

My sincere condolences to the victims of the Aurora CO. cinema massacre. 

WHERE'S THE HONOR IN HONOR KILLINGS?

A lot of my posts relate to cannabis/marijuana/marihuana/pot/weed/ganja/hemp/dope and personal freedom, the problem with the "War on Drugs", it's harm to society, and stopping the hurt (the) war is causing.

Why? I mean why don't I simply accept that marijuana, i.e. "drugs" are bad, and that all measures should be taken to eradicate them from society? Isn't that what a good American should believe? Are we not to feel that drugs are a blight on society? That cannabis/marijuana is a big part of that blight? Well, yeah, that's what "they" want me to believe, but I don't. I feel the blight on society are current laws and the War on Drugs. It's hurting people, millions of people around the world. We can stop that hurt; but not without a serious reassessment of what we as a society allow, but what we don't allow, also.

Lately, I've read a lot of articles relating to the murder of children, or in many cases, teens and young adults. They're called Honor Killings, but where's the honor in murdering your child/children? Where's the honor in believing you the parent know what's best for your child, however old they are, if it involves a sense of control over them, so strong, that if they don't grow up and conform, you'd murder them?

There's a popular belief that those who are involved in honor killings are Muslim. I think in general this is true, that it tends to be, statistically, a Muslim issue. But looking deeper, honor killings take place among all religions, among all parts of society. They don't always result in physical death, but rather, many honor killings attack the child's mind, self-esteem, sense of self...

When I was a child, I had a "crazy aunt", Gertrude. She lived in a small house in my town and occasionally was a part of family gatherings. Also on occasion I would go with my mother to visit her. I remember her as a nice person, not crazy, but I never thought to find out more about her - I was too young. She'd spent time in an insane asylum, and I took my family's word for, she's insane.

Years later, many years later, after my own failed attempts to establish my own independence from my family and what was expected of me, I heard the story about how against the wishes of the family, my Aunt Gertrude had moved to NYC as a young adult with "fantasy ideas of becoming an actress. She'd failed, and came home completely insane." That was the story. And it made sense suddenly to me. It wasn't that she was "insane", it was that her spirit had been broken, her self-esteem destroyed, because she defied the family expectations.

How do I know this? I suffered the same humiliation and character assassination when at age 20 I got a job as a custodian at the local community college. When I began to have sex outside of marriage. When I grew my hair long and stopped going to church. I actually refused to become a member of our church. And I remember actually being scared of my decision. The repercussions.

I spent 4 very successful years at the community college as a custodian, what my mother referred to as "a toilet bowl cleaner", though it was a whole lot better than that. I got free tuition, made many friends, got involved with really nice women and learned a lot. I broke free of the year's of bullying as a child by my peers, and gained a good amount of self-confidence. By age 24 I was ready to move West and live my adult life - except for one event that would change me forever.

The night before I was to leave for Arizona where I had a woman-friend willing to let me live while I could get settled, I called my parents to say good-bye. To be honest, I didn't want to... I got along very well with my father, but it was my mother I feared. Four years I had already endured phone calls every other night "checking on me". I'd endured family visits at my parent's home with my other siblings, or full family picnics, only to be scorned by my mother for my long hair and "lack of pride", doing what I did for work, and my free-natured hippie beliefs. My own father warned me that the "town wasn't big enough for me to live there..." it was he, my father, who suggested I move away.

That night on the phone with my mother, it came down to "who was I going to be staying with?" Well, it was a woman, a friend, but I couldn't admit that to my mother. Why? Well I tried to avert the question but ultimately admitted a woman-friend was going to let me stay with her. The result? My own mother cursed me to hell and damnation and hoped I would never find happiness, as my act was so evil and immoral I didn't deserve to succeed in life.

I was more than stunned. In an instant, every fiber of my self, my self-esteem and my self worth evaporated. I felt like a 7 year old child again. I felt deep shame and guilt. I moved to Arizona, but severely depressed, and moved back home a month later, conceding defeat. My mother took it as a success... on her part, that I had failed, as i should have failed, being the sinner I was.

The long term effects of what happened to me has a label, a psychological definition, called PTSD - post traumatic stress syndrome. But the truth of the matter is simply, I died. Spiritually, I passed on... whatever self-esteem I'd gained, whatever success relating with others, whatever friends I'd made and good experiences I'd had, died. It was made much worse from the fact i had moved back home at age 25. There was absolutely no expectation that prior to moving to Arizona that such a thing would have happened.

Yes, I was ashamed... but not because I had brought my fate upon myself living a life in defiance of that expected by my family, but because they had succeeded in defeating me as a person.

The life of my Aunt Gertrude suddenly became apparent to me years later, in my late 40's, while I struggled to communicate with my mother on yet never-ending arguments regarding life and moral responsibility. It became clear to me that my family defeated my Aunt Gertrude, that she had phoned home and that was her undoing, or that prior to when she left for the Big Apple, she had endured similar humiliation. I suddenly wished my Aunt were still alive, and felt sorrow for what she must have endured as an adult with different ideas about what life is all about.

In Part two of Honor Killings I will discuss the unfortunate, far more tragic events that lead a parent to murder their own child if they don't conform. It's not something I'm going to enjoy, but rather, something that makes me ill thinking about the abuse, and death of a child because they don't abide by the traditions of family. That we should be born, only to fulfill a set of expectations demanded of us by family tradition is unacceptable. That we become victims of such expectations is more than a tragedy in life, it's a travesty of society that control of others is deemed acceptable, so much so that our own government imprisons and subjects people to laws that are no more than efforts at moral and traditional conformity.