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INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to BobKat's Lair ®™

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A lair is a home; A castle; A burrow; A haven; a place where one should feel safe. To ensure our safety especially in one's lair, we have laws. And some laws cause more harm than good!

This is a good place. There's lots to see and do. It's apolitical while providing non-partisan news about politics, which we can't escape.

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My goal is here... to present topics which highlight the plight of people. Why, 2000 years after Caesar Augustus, are we still a people being hurt? With all our advancements in technology, medicine, communications, why are we a people still being hurt? Human nature hasn't changed much, but that doesn't mean it isn't time now for that to happen, and it is undoubtedly happening - hard to see however. This blog is part of that change and a witness to it.

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My blog is dedicated to my family, friends, mentors, and all others whom I am grateful to, and love(d).

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NOTE: Nothing included in my Blog is intended to advocate behavior illicit in nature, or in violation of man-made laws where harm to a living person, animal or the environment is involved. Person's under 17 probably shouldn't be here, though there is far worse out there. Just saying.


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February 17, 2013

MARIJUANA - THE OTHER N-WORD - PART TWO

How, you might ask, could "marijuana" be the other N-Word? It doesn't start with an N, nor does it insult a particular race of humanity; or does it?

In previous posts I've covered the topic of how cannabis became known as marijuana. I've clarified how cannabis has been used by humans for thousands of years, for religious, medical and recreational purposes. How it was omitted from two of the most influential Congressional legal actions of the 20th century - The pure Food and drug Act and the Harrison Narcotic's Act in 1903 and 1914, respectively. How in the  early 1930's as alcohol prohibition ended, and the nation was struggling to recover from the Great Depression, illegal immigrants from Mexico were flowing into the US. There seemed to be no stopping of the immigrants and southern states especially urged Congress to do something about it.

I've described how yellow journalism provided not only the key to stopping Mexican's from illegally crossing the border, but also how they were able to impose prejudice and discrimination upon Black Americans freed after the Civil War by implicating Blacks in the molestation and rapes of White women under the influence of what Mexican's called marijuana. I've explained that from the time of our first President, George Washington, we Americans grew hemp and used cannabis in medicine, and imbibed in the use of ganja for relaxation and recreation. We didn't call cannabis marijuana until the Marihuana Tax Act was passed in 1937 - and ironically, please note, our government was so inclined as to mis-spell marijuana as "marihuana", when the act was passed, and does so to this day. All laws still use the official spelling of cannabis as marihuana. But the term goes back just the same to insult both Mexicans, and Black Americans. It is, still today, the other N-Word.

GOP Senator Mitch McConnell supports a bill to legalize hemp production, especially in Kentucky, but can't help but be concerned that hemp, cannabis sativa, contains "the drug marijuana", though in much lower a dose as does the cannabis strains grown for recreation and medicine, such as the cannabis now legal in CO and WA, and some 18 other states. Hemp which is used to make rope and fabrics, that won WWII and was used exclusively in all tall ships prior to modern day battleships, is a federally controlled product listed as a Schedule One drug along with heroin, and cocaine. The 4-H club grew hemp in the early 1940's under a special program that exempted it from federal reefer Madness laws to provide hemp for use in WWII. The 4-H club consisted of children and adults. The concern in the federal government is that legalizing hemp will lead to legalization of marijuana.

Reefer Madness is still alive and well in government. The fear surrounding cannabis is vague and unsubstantiated, as the federal government has long denied research into the benefits or dangers of cannabis. The job of the Drug Czar of the US established by President Nixon is to discourage and lie about, if need be, any legitimate use for anything listed as a substance included as a Schedule One drug. That includes hemp fibers. That includes cannabis as medicine, or cannabis for recreational use. An analogy might be if alcohol and tobacco were considered drugs, which they're not, even if the FDA is currently burdened with regulating tobacco, it's not that it's considered a drug, but rather as a food substance. Imagine if alcohol and tobacco were listed as Schedule One drugs, which technically they should be? Any research into the use of either would be prohibited under law. Much as gun violence is also a prohibited subject to research.

Unfortunately it's not just research into cannabis that stymied, it's human evolution.What's that I said? How does human evolution become an issue here? We live in a "Free Country", one of the most Democratic Countries in the world. We produce some of the most violent films in the world, we prohibit discrimination of any kind among our population, and our Constitution ensures freedom of speech and religion, and the right to bear arms.

Yet we are prohibited from conducting research into some of the most basic issues that affect our society. And our society is encouraged to accept biased attitudes, such as the research conducted by the federal government in the 1970's as "proof" to support the "fact" that cannabis use caused brain damage in humans.

The Hype: Brain Damage in Dead Monkeys


In 1974, California Governor Ronald Reagan was asked about decriminalizing marijuana. After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called "Great Communicator" told the national press, "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana." (L.A. Times.)


Not true!

Additional references:

UKCIA: "Three Things Marijuana Doesn't Do" .

As well as this link:

The Vaults of Erowid:

The original basis of this claim (that marijuana causes brain damage) was a report that, upon postmortem examinations, structural changes in several brain regions were found in two rhesus monkeys exposed to THC. 

Because these changes primarily involved the hippocampus, a cortical brain region known to play an important role in learning and memory, this finding suggested possible negative consequences for human marijuana users. Additional studies, employing rodents, reported similar brain changes. However, to achieve these results, massive doses of THC - up to 200 times the psychoactive dose in humans - had to be given . (But) In fact, studies employing 100 times the human dose have failed to reveal any damage.

We've all heard I'm sure where one marijuana cigarette, or "joint" is equal to 20 tobacco cigarettes as far as dangerous to humans. How odd, as tobacco smoke is nothing like cannabis smoke, in so far as the chemicals in each plants are uniquely different. Tobacco smoke for example constricts the blood vessels in the lungs, and cannabis dilates them. Thus studies into cannabis use support the fact that cannabis smoke actually benefits those with asthma, links here:

CannabisMD.net - "Clinical research shows that THC acts as a bronchial dilator, clearing blocked air passageways and allowing free breathing."

and here:

DrugLibrary.org, "Effects of Smoked Marijuana in Experimentally Induced Asthma."

And recent research has linked cannabis/marijuana use to a higher risk of stroke. Link to FOXNEWS - "Smoking marijuana linked with higher risk of stroke in young adults, study finds."

Yet similar studies found Southern Fried Foods to be Just as Dangerous! Again, FOXNEWS link.

Yet if you read the bias carefully in each study, the former supports prohibition of cannabis, yet the latter doesn't encourage prohibition of Southern Fried Food, but rather encourages the responsible consumption of Southern Fried foods.

So why the bias? Why can't WE, the Citizens of the World's Most Free Society the world has ever known have objective research and understanding of the most basic elements in our society? Why all the Smoke and Mirrors? The answer; Ignorance; Propaganda; Politics.

I mentioned that the NH House currently is set to vote on HB 492 to legalize possession of an ounce or less of cannabis for those 21 or older, to permit the personal cultivation of the cannabis plant for personal use and the sale and taxation of cannabis in NH Liquor Stores.

As many point out, it would have seemed logical that the state with the motto - Live Free or Die that NH might have been first, prior to CO and WA to legalize cannabis use by adults, given that the majority of research regarding cannabis shows it is safer than alcohol or tobacco use. That cannabis prohibition targets minorities, and 8 of 10 of those incarcerated for drugs are Blacks or Hispanics. That rates of incarcerations in this country of those racial groups as increased ten-fold since the 1980's. That such incarcerations not only affect individuals and their families, but place a huge burden on us who pay taxes that support such arrests and incarcerations.

My pot-pipe conviction is nothing compared to the suffering of millions of minority individuals and their families. Patricia Spotted-Crow of Oklahoma for example, given a 10 year + sentence for selling one joint to a undercover cop. As a Native American she is behind bars while her mother raises her two children. Oklahoma is among the worst states when it comes to violation of our Constitutional Rights to the "Punishment Must Fit the Crime." That her one joint brings a harsher sentence than murder is an abomination!

Her one joint is equivalent to me giving my "pot-pipe" to an under-cover officer for which I paid a $100 fine in NY with the threat of One Year in Jail, for something that unknown to me was a civil violation, as the pipe I had, was not in public view, and thus was not a criminal violation. Despite the laws in NY, countless hundreds of minority persons are illegally searched everyday in NY City and found to possess cannabis... it has become a violation of human rights on an epic level in NYC targeting minorities, and has brought the full attention of the ACLU and NAACP in full focus against such discriminatory/prejudicial actions.

So what can WE as Americans do to amend this situation that has caused a blight on our society since the 1930's?

Write our elected officials, of course!

That is exactly what a friend of mine did in NH when told of HB 492. She wrote her elected State Representative, The Honorable Senator David Boutin, District 16, encouraging his support of HB 492.

She wrote:

January 31, 2013
The Honorable David Boutin
New Hampshire Senate
107 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03301

Dear Senator Boutin:

RE: HB 492-FN-LOCAL �" AS INTRODUCED
2013 SESSION
13-0443
04/03
HOUSE BILL 492-FN-LOCAL
AN ACT relative to the legalization and regulation of marijuana.
SPONSORS: Rep. Vaillancourt, Hills 15; Rep. Warden, Hills 39; Rep.
Winters, Hills 18; Rep. Lambert, Hills 44; Rep. Robertson, Ches 6
COMMITTEE: Criminal Justice and Public Safety.

[This bill: Legalizes the personal use of up to one ounce of marijuana by persons 21
years of age or older. II. Authorizes the licensing of marijuana
wholesale, retail, cultivation, and testing facilities.  III. Imposes a
tax on the sale of marijuana.]

"Please stop the hurt and legalize cannabis for personal and medicinal use.
 We should be able to grow and use herbs.  Tobacco and Alcohol kill and
they are legal!  I know because I lost a father and husband to those legal
substances.  No one has ever died from using cannabis.  People don't get
violent as they do when using alcohol or other drugs.  Legalize it.  The
money could be used to pay off the national debt. Stop the prohibition- we
have wasted too many police man hours trying to stop people from using an
herb.  The police would be better used to catch murderers and thieves and
abusers."

And Senator Boutin's reply was:

"Dear *****,"

"I respect your viewpoint, but unfortunately I do not share it. I could not support HB 492."

Did he send his reply on official state letterhead? No. Did he sign it? No. Did he offer a brief explanation or reason for his stance? No.

In effect, his response was the equivalent of saying, "Marijuana is the other N-Word - don't bother me!"

And in effect, given that recent polls have found 56% of NH citizens support legalization of cannabis, his reelection as a representative of the people of his district is bound to fail. When our elected officials put their own personal preferences ahead of their constituents  they fail as being responsible elected officials. Needless to say my friend was devastated by Senator Boutin's response  She felt he was not only very rude, but quite out of touch which her feelings, and what she had to say.

Senator Boutin's response to my friend is to us, who are educated and experienced in life, the cry of a dinosaur about to go extinct. He typifies political ignorance. He is a relic of the past, out of touch with modern day reality. He is the sort of elected official that relies on his own personal preferences when making political decisions. He does not consider scientific fact nor the rights granted American citizens.

Cannabis has been legal for recreational use in CO and WA State for over a month and a half, and the zombie apocalypse has still not happened in those states. People aren't jumping out of buildings, Black men aren't taking advantage of White women anymore than may have been prior to legalization and those states haven't seen an increase in crime. And why would they? Cannabis has been used for thousands of years and there has never been a problem associated with it's use. Reefer Madness is and always was a pathological myth... something politicians like Senator Boutin take at face value. The Bible says the "Meek Shall Inherit the Earth", it says nothing about the ignorant.

It's time our country gets real. It's time to Stop the Hurt and Stop the Ignorance of politicians like Senator Boutin. If he does not share the opinion of my friend, then why? Tell us why and provide facts to support your position. Because you see, your personal opinion means absolutely nothing, Senator. In my opinion, and the opinion of my friend you are an idiot! You likely did not even read what she wrote to you. Did you?

It's the Year 2013, and it's time politicians take people and science seriously. It's time to get real and to Stop the Hurt! It's time to end Reefer Madness and bashing people who hurt no one just because they are unconventional.

In 1972 President Nixon assembled a Blue Ribbon committee to study marijuana and drug abuse. It was called the Shaffer Committee  The findings of this committee were completely ignored by the President. A Civil War was declared against American citizens instead. The findings of the committee were in part this:

"The Commission recommended decriminalization of simple possession, finding:[T]he criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate. The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only 'with the greatest reluctance."

Additional Link:

Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding Commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon, March, 1972

February 16, 2013

MARIJUANA - THE OTHER N-WORD - PART ONE

Many years ago I stood in front of a judge in New York - the charge? Possession of marijuana.

Guilty or not guilty? I was asked.

Tough question, under the circumstances.Yet you might ask, why a tough question?

The answer, "not guilty".

So why then, did I plead guilty? The answer: I didn't have a choice.

The story: It was in 1985, and I took a weeks vacation to go back to my hometown for my sister's wedding. One of my hobbies was in the use of a metal detector, searching for buried treasure. Our country begins in the 1700's, even earlier in some respects. My hobby includes that history, and finding relics from the past. But during this weekend vacation I found a brass pipe. A pipe used to smoke cannabis - marijuana to some. I cleaned it up and it was passed around with cannabis after my sister was married.

When I drove the 12 hour drive back to Boston afterwards, that pipe was special to me. I put it on the passenger seat of my car under some stuff. In the middle of nowhere on a rural highway I sat at a traffic light waiting in a drizzling rain for a car coming in my direction to pass. As I made my left hand turn after the car passed up a hill, the light began to change to red. I made my turn while it was yellow. By coincidence a New York state trooper was just coming over the rise of the hill I turned onto, and to him it appeared I went through a red light. He pulled me over. I was about 5 hours from being back in Boston. Being back to where I called home.

He asked me to step out of my car. I had been smoking a cigarette and I kind of waved it in the air in front of me as the red lights of the cruiser flashed. I was tired. I wanted to be back home. I put out the cigarette in the ashtray, and the officer apparently was suspicious. He asked if he could search my car. I said yes. He found the pipe.

Until last year I didn't realize that the law in NY regarding cannabis was regulated towards cannabis that was in clear view. What i mean is, the law in NY State at the time as now is it is only a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana if the marijuana is in the open. If it is not in the open it is a simple fine, like a traffic violation. It doesn't matter if an officer in NY asks to search a person, the cannabis has to be in view prior to the search if under a certain amount. And what I had was a pipe, no cannabis.

I had coins - old coins and relics in my car that I'd found metal detecting that I'd shown my family and friends. I had tools in the trunk of my Saab 99, then 15 years old or so used to repair it if necessary. More state troopers showed up. My car was thoroughly searched... no marijuana, just a pipe, coins, mechanical tools and dirty laundry. They accused me of being a thief - having burglar tools and stolen coins. They suspected I was intoxicated. I explained the descriptions on all the coins in paper holders were in my handwriting, the tools to fix my car.

I was taken to State police headquarters... the officer who had pulled me over wanted the captain to give me a breathalyser. I was in hand-cuffs. The captain sat and talked to me, asked a few questions, and when the officer came back in eager to test me as I agreed to, the captain laughed, and told the officer I wasn't drunk, but if he wanted to calibrate their equipment, go for it.

I was let go. I paid a ticket for the red light through the mail. But the charge for possession of marijuana required me to drive 5 hours back to the area to appear in court, with the chance of a $1000 fine and a year in jail. My father set me up with a city district attorney who provided legal advice.  He was able to postpone the first court appearance. And again, not only did I only have a pipe found, but it wasn't in clear view and so what I didn't know then was it wasn't a a crime in the way it was being pursued.

I finally went to court, two months later. The judge was a guy 10 years or so older than me but all business - very intimidating. He made clear I could be sentenced to a year in jail if I pleaded guilty to possession. So did the attorney my dad provided for me. The key to the case according to the attorney was - had the pipe been used to smoke marijuana in the past 3 days prior to the police finding it? Answer, yes. So the question wasn't whether I was guilty, it was whether I was guilty of possession of marijuana, or was I guilty of possession of drug paraphernalia? Oddly, the penalty for the latter was more severe then simple possession. I noted the "arresting" officer, in quotes as i wasn't formally arrested or read my rights wasn't even present in the courtroom. I guess that's a myth, that they have to be present. Afraid of pissing off the judge I pleaded guilty hoping to avoid jail-time, which I did. He charged me a fine of $50 times 2 - for the appearance the attorney had postponed, meaning I paid $100. No jail time.

What I didn't know then was that I'd actually pleaded guilty to a felony conviction, as once the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001 happened, background checks became very common place when applying for a job, especially at a public place like a school, hospital, government office.

At the time of the terrorist attack I was actually working at a school... a job I wouldn't be able to have today. See, marijuana in the n-word when it comes to background checks. In the real world it is common for men to have histories of violence, domestic abuse, even being a registered sex offender. But that's men for you, ha ha... they're noted for their testosterone... and violent behavior. They're often given a chance, whereas marijuana is associated with "drug use", and rarely are drug users given a chance. Since Sept. 11, 2001 most employers ask you to include any criminal violations whether misdemeanor or felonies on the application. If one lies and they find out later you lied on your application you lose the job.

It's been 28 years since I was found in possession of that pipe, and I still live with that life sentence. I'm the nigger in the room. I'm a druggie. I may have a BA degree, a medical degree, experience as a fine, upstanding employee in many schools behind me, but today, I'm the nigger in the room. A white guy nigger. Because of a marijuana pipe.

But the times, they are a'changing... in 2012 marijuana, which I prefer not to call it as it's historically been used as a derogatory euphemism targeted towards Mexican people and Blacks, Jazz musicians and druggies, so I choose to call it by it's proper name, cannabis, is now legal for recreational use in CO and WA, in addition to some 18 states where medical use is legal.

Considering I'm treated on par with a murderer in many states how does this change my situation? Well, that depends on who you're talking to. It's fairly obvious the War on drugs as put forth starting with President Nixon, and highlighted by President Reagan is at an end.

The problem is that the war on drugs has made victims of millions of Americans, and until the federal government acts to reverse the discrimination it's produced, many of us will die criminals.

In my next post, to be published very soon, you will see where so called studies on cannabis unfairly target it as more dangerous than legal fare, simply because we're talking the difference between calories and the devil. There are politicians who could care less about righting a wrong - that rather than consider their constuency, the people that elected them, they make and maintain laws based on personal preference. You will see where health concerns for cannabis when equally set next to common foods produce unequal results, based solely on cannabis being the elephant in the room, or as I'm perceived, the nigger in the room.

NH may soon be the 3rd State to legalize cannabis, HB 492 will decide that. But if some politicians in this state have their way, that'll never happen. Why? I propsoe to show that it's their personal opinion and it has nothing to do with those who voted them into office. I propose to show that studies of cannabis in comparison with common foods is skewed by prejudicial opinion.

Cannabis has been legal now in CO and WA for recreational use since at least the beginning of the year, and despite fears of zombies and vampires, nothing has happened. The world didn't end. Reefer madness is and always has been a myth... a myth that ended my life.

Stop the Hurt! It's time we got real.



February 03, 2013

DARK KNIGHT RISING - The FUTILITY OF GUN CONTROL - The FUTILITY OF PROHIBITON

The Aurora Colorado shooter, James Holmes never watched the movie The DARK KNIGHT RISING... if he had... he wouldn't have murdered so many people in a pseudo-Joker, pseudo Batman inspired melee.

President Obama has signed into law 18 decrees designed to limit the rights of American citizens and gun ownership. We are to commend him in light of the massacre at an elementary school in Sandy hook CT.  He is pressing Congress for additional gun control legislation as is Senator Dianne Feinstein. 

People want to protect our children... and frankly, I can't blame them. My mission is to "Stop the Hurt"... however further gun control won't accomplish that end. Unless of course the White House plans on an all out war confiscating all firearms owned by American Citizens. Short of that, there is no way, as Vice President Biden admitted, to prevent future mass shootings based solely on new federal gun regulations.

What do James Holmes, Jared Loughner and other mass killers have in common?

If James Holmes had watched the Dark Knight Rising... I doubt very much he would have massacred dozens of people in a movie theater. I recently watched the movie and it's message is anything but a massacre. And these Mass Killers seem oblivious to the reality behind a movie, especially movies they don't even watch, or books they don't read. What they have in common is a separation from humanity. They live in a world of their own design. There's a lot of that around; Neo-Nazis and their zen for hatred of non Aryan people; The Assad government in Syria and the murders of countless thousands they call terrorists, when we call them rebels; Antisemitism or denial of the Holocaust; Churches who condone or look the other way when it's members or leaders violate children - as if the destruction of a child's childhood is something God would approve of or tolerate.

If there is a case for innocent by plea of insanity, James Holmes is it. Nothing about what he did would have been done by a sane person. The same with Jared Loughtner and the shooting of AZ Senator Gabby Giffords, and others, and Adam Lanza and the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school. These people are not playing with a full deck of cards. There's a difference between plotting to kill someone based on jealousy, or robbing a bank for money... these are human-like deviance. You get drunk, get into a car and drive, have an accident and kill someone - that is stupidity and shows a profound lack of judgement or self-control. These people do commit crimes and should be locked up in prisons. To commit mass murder based on a fictional idealism, like the Assad government in Syria; or indirectly a country contributes to mass murders in Mexico, for example, because the US Gov't maintains a strict and intrusive prohibition of certain plants that Americans want, and rather than resolve the issue through science and common-sense, they indirectly promote the growth of murderous gangs; this is insanity...

After Sandy Hook, millions of America citizens demanded a solution. And they should!

President Obama elected VP Joe Biden to find that solution. The solution he arrived at is gun control. A very broad subject that reaches deep into America's society. It fondles and gropes the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution.   An American citizens right to bear arms... upheld recently by the US Supreme Court.

What we don't need is wallpaper and window dressings... the President intends to ban what are called "military assault weapons"... a misnomer as no one in America without going through extreme regulatory action gets to own a military assault weapon.  They are automatic weapons, with precision far exceeding any American owned facsimile. There are many people just hanging on in America, out of work with children going to bed hungry. However since Sandy Hook and other high profile shootings, the country is buying guns and ammunition in record numbers. How are people affording these purchases? Credit cards? But the facts behind this surge in buying guns is a threat to our 2nd Amendment rights. Why? Because our government has shown it likes enacting prohibitions and Zero tolerance regulations. It get's into being a government, like government is an entity onto itself. Within days after the Sandy Hook massacre the federal government was grappling for a solution, but rather than use science and common-sense to find a solution it quickly decides guns are the problem, just as it did after the 9/11 terrorist's attacks when it decided a Patriot Act was necessary - and expanded intrusion into the lives of ordinary Americans was warranted. Soon we will have military and police drones flying overhead to watch our every move, and drones the size of dragon-flies hovering outside or inside our windows. George Orwell was correct - though off by a few decades.

New regulations would make it illegal to give your gun to a family member or friend without a universal background check. Prior to that happening requires federal registration of all currently owned guns. An FID must be required to identify all gun owners and their weapons. Further, anyone diagnosed with a mental health issue, or anyone who uses cannabis even when legal under state law cannot own a firearm. Enforcement of this prohibition would mean that 70% or more of Americans would be stripped of their right to own a firearm. It would put the 20% black-market criminal element in charge of the streets, against the 10% who are authorized to protect us. 

Many are striving to burn a paper dragon... and a lot of smoke and mirrors is what they'll get in return.

Guns can kill, and everyday someone dies from gun violence. Everyday thousands die from use of tobacco or in motor vehicle accidents. The most common way to die is to trip, fall and break your neck. It is to be a victim of depression and to kill yourself, or to let yourself die, often through alcoholism.

James Holmes never saw "The Dark Knight Rising", if he had he'd know that the movie was about hope, saving people and heroes... not villains.

The federal government wastes it's time and resources battling wars against which it has no business doing so, and often very little public support.  Hundreds of thousands of sworn law enforcement officers routinely hunt down drug users, poker players and prostitutes. They put spies in our schools called "narcs' and johns on the streets to capture deviant people. They encourage commercials that make the person playing a computer game or online poker a dangerous deviant... a loner. Paper dragons.

Since the early 1980's there has been an push to "Just Say No". For Zero Tolerance policies. Extreme control like it's some sort of made for TV reality show. School children are arrested for paper guns, and one child's interest in bombs is rewarded while another goes to prison. Has anyone considered the possibility that our society is extremely regulated and much is prohibited? Since the tragic events of 9/11 the FAA feels it has the right to conduct intrusive body searches, and schools have a right to detain and search students, and those with misdemeanor convictions need not apply for a job. In Gotham City that means you work for the mob.

Not without reservations, given the opinion of a fellow blogger, but I do believe for now anyways, the place for law enforcement is at our public schools... on a street corner. The guy making the bomb? Let's find out if they are simply a future Einstein or a danger to society? It's time to stop Zero Tolerance and bigotry and try being human.

The answer isn't a new prohibition, like gun control, or increased public scrutiny and drones outside our windows; alienating those with mental health issues - as the most dangerous freaks know how to escape detection. The solution is letting go... becoming neighborly, getting involved, sitting on your front porch again... coming out of the closet... gays, pot users, and poker players. It's about seeking treatment if you are suffering from an addiction, or you like children for sex, or you feel the urge to kill. It's opening up resources for people who need them and letting the rest of us do the best we can with what we have.

Time to end Puritanical America and live in a Free America. It's time America live based on science and knowledge, common-sense and our Constitution.

Gun control will not stop the next Sandy Hook massacre... A Free America will.




January 20, 2013

PREVENTING GUN VIOLENCE - STOPPING THE HURT

This is an unplanned post. But recently I received an e-mail from VP Biden beginning to outline the White House Plan to reduce gun violence, shooting tragedies such as those at Sandy Hook CT, or Aurora CO., as well as other schools, malls and public places.

This is a snippet of the letter I received from the VP:

"We're going to give law enforcement more tools and resources to prevent and prosecute gun crimes, and we're going to end the freeze on gun violence research that prevents the Center from Disease Control from looking at the causes of gun violence." The rest can be found here:



I don't usually write about guns or the 2nd Amendment. And sorry this post is so long - but it is. I know how to use a gun, and respect them for the tool they are. To me, a gun is a gun no matter what it looks like, or how many bullets are loaded. Being that the theme of my blog is to stop the hurt, like many other Americans I question what happened at the Sandy Hook Elementary school with 20 children slaughtered as well as 6 adults by one 20 years old person. We ask ourselves, what motivates a person to do such a thing?

The mass murderer is dead, as is common in mass killings he took his own life. But enough is known about the killer to suggest he was reacting to what he perceived to be a threat to his own freedom, that being there is talk that he suffered from a form of autism and his mother was attempting to get a court order to procure involuntary treatment, in a hospital, for his behavior issues. How much he knew about this alleged plan by his mother isn't known. Apparently enough, as his actions to shoot her multiple times while she slept, and to go Sandy Hook Elementary school where he knew his mother contributed after stealing several of her weapons makes it fairly clear he was angry. He took his anger to an extreme. Denotes to me a lack of communication between himself and his mother, a lack of alternative actions, and an image of a person backed into his own self-imaged nightmare style corner.

So why didn't he seek mental health intervention if things were so bad? I did at age twenty, though I wasn't a violent type - I didn't think thoughts of shooting people and children at a school. I wanted freedom to live my life and my mother was doing everything possible to invoke changes to how i actually did that. Plus, by then I worked at a college and therapy was free, a benefit of the job. I continued in therapy for the next 25 years, while my mother never sought therapy but rather, continued her quest to reset me on the one road that she believed was life, by using shame and guilt strategies to sway me and intervene as if I was in some sort of cult.

Troubling, to say the least. My opinion, it was not I who should have sought out therapy, but her. However that's a mute point, and it's good and smart on my part that I did not feel adverse to getting therapy. As I said, violent behavior on my part was never an issue - for me it was to free myself from my mother's tactic to force shame and guilt on me because I liked women, liked sex, and I worked as a custodian at the city college, which was in her words a disgrace to the family. My mother was fixated with the idea that her son cleaned toilets. That her son had a very good job, received good benefits and good pay never occurred to her.

Lest I stray from my goal here, it's not about me, but rather, a solution in general to the apparent surge in mass killings. Did I know about guns? Of course I did - my father owned guns, and took me shooting around age 10. I used to go hunting with my friends for ducks. I can recall having shot around 3 ducks and watching as my grandmother labored plucking their feathers so we could eat them. To me it looked like way too much work. Eventually I gave up hunting as I really felt no desire to kill wildlife when I could simply go to a grocery store for meat. That and the fact that when I first got stoned on pot I remember feelings of being peaceful took over, as in Peace and Love.

So I read with sadness that one of President Obama's solutions to random mass murders was to require a mental health provider to notify law enforcement if a client speaks of anger or suggested violence towards others. The source no doubt, is the Aurora Colorado shooter James Holmes, and his reported confessions while in therapy.

James Holmes survived, yet nothing significant has yet to come out about his motives or ways in which his violence could have been prevented. Instead, a future James Holmes need not seek therapy, as the therapist will now be required by law to report him to authorities. In this one singular example that may seem like a good thing. However in general, many people experience feelings of anger and hostility towards others - most often never resulting in a mass killing. Or even a single death. Most notable is in cases where there are deaths due to these hostile feelings, the perp rarely sought therapy in the first place. Like my mother, they weren't the one's with the problem, the victims were.

Under President Obama's new initiative to prevent future Sandy Hooks, or Aurora cinema mass killings is the requirement of a therapist to notify law enforcement of expressed anger and for the then notified authorities to seize any guns the client may own, and their family might own.

Ludicrous as most of the time the person plotting violence will not seek out therapy as that denotes accepting there may be something wrong with them-self. What the new strategies to curb gun violence do is to further alienate a troubled person from seeking mental health treatment. As my mother said often - only sick people seek help. Or their victims since the troubled person was convinced it was not themselves with the issues, but rather the victims.

Other measures the President plans to enact to stem mass killings:

A renewed ban on assault rifles and high capacity clips. When the last one expired in 2004 I think it was, there was no surge in overall gun violence, especially associated with civilian assault style weapons or high capacity clips. Overall gun violence went down according to FBI statistics. Granted, the high profile cases aforementioned do involve these devices, but they are essentially anomalies, not very common. What both restrictions accomplish in effect ie to target and regulate the liberties of  law abiding citizens who own such devices. It will do nothing to stem the random, heinous acts of mass murder we've recently become to be aware of.

Recent statistics I read supporting gun control were that there are deaths due to firearms at the rate of 32 people per day. Statistics are interesting, like the fact several thousand die every day from tobacco use,  or falling down stairs. Suicide, wow, more deaths by suicide have occurred of late due to taking of one's own life in the military than actual battlefield causalities. Sobering statistics. So what's being done to correct or alleviate this issue? The military has enacted new drug and alcohol tests. That's about it. Like my mother, the military leaders and the structure of the military has nothing to do with soldiers taking their own life. It must be drugs. The victim is at fault!

I found the following video to be of interest. There are questions as to what makes a civilian weapon into an assault weapon? There are kits one can purchase to modernize a standard rifle, like the Ruger 10-22. Such a rifle is a very common and reliable gun that shoots 22 caliper bullets most commonly at squirrels. A 22 caliper bullet is not a great defensive tool against a predator. It is the kind of bullet that is very small and one would have to be very lucky to stop a home invasion with such a weapon, let alone use it in a mass killing spree. The following video puts into perspective the inane new regulations the WH plans to implement to curb mass violence with guns:


I own a Ruger 10-22, and ironically I converted it to the Nomad Style. I like building things. The gun was a gift. Does it shoot any differently than it did before I made the conversion? No. It's still a squirrel gun. According to the video, adding one "military style" modification to a gun is making it a military weapon. With logic like that I plan on adding an armor plate to my car and a tank turret on top as a sun-roof. That creates a military style tank. If drunk drivers that kill people did the same we might get a ban on military style assault cars. The problem is driving under the influence, not the car. Duh!

In particular, again I must emphasize that any stigma to mental health resources is a very serious problem and yet, VP Biden states in the quote above that the CDC has been restricted and not able to conduct research into acts of violence involving guns. Who's brainchild of an idea was that? A "freeze" on research into gun violence and why? Were they too busy trying to locate someone who died of cannabis use? Or, maybe the NRA convinced someone in Washington to enact the freeze or an anti-gun group wanted the inevitable violence to occur so they could then rally support for anti-gun laws? ... but again why? Why a freeze, like a freeze into medical uses of cannabis?

Stupidity and special interests. There is no question that progress and a new world order that involves personal liberty and freedom is being stifled. Rational regulations are not a part of the public safety initiatives being invoked by our state and federal law-makers. Smoke and mirrors is. For example, I put colonial style shutters on my windows at home to repel home invasion attacks, rifle slots in my wall to shoot the invaders, and night-vision video cameras outside my home to see any intruders. Makes my home a military style fort. That along with my "military style" Ruger 10-22 makes this a fortress. Not. Who could be so stupid as to believe that? And yet, this is the strategy the federal government is taking to stem mass shootings.

The NRA had it right when it proposed armed guards at all public schools. Airports have armed guards, and extensive screening processes, court houses have the same. Politicians are provided armed security. Why not public schools? And why put a burden on mental heath assistance? So you hate your husband or wife? They bully you - and all you can think is your only way out is to kill them? Does this mean you're actually going to do it? You could seek out the help of a psychologist... or at least, in the past you could have. Now that therapist is required by law to be a mole.

There is violence in America, but we're not alone. We're simply different. And of course we're different. We always have been. This country was founded by Christian Puritans and Pagans. Very near to where I live is the site of the Maypole of Merrymount. They were people escaping Puritan England for a place where they could freely pursue their religious beliefs. Much persecution followed... many people were killed to bring this nation to where we are today. I'm told not one Quaker survives today - they were hunted to extinction. Quakers were a prominent religious group present in Colonial America.

Violence in America... of course there's violence! We are not civilized - we don't yet know what being civilized entails. Does it mean no guns. Does it mean no one breaking societal laws? Does it mean we should all become vegetarians? Or does it imply rationality - as when we hear the word wolf, we don't jump up with our shotguns to kill it to extinction, or we don't slaughter elephants, rhinos's and sharks to extinction because of their horns or fins?

But to suppress research of any kind, as the CDC was told to freeze all research into causes of gun violence...  when it comes to protecting the public well-being, that's plain wrong.Perhaps whoever ordered that freeze should be in front of a judge right now, facing accessory to murder charges?

It is unfortunate, unlikely that we could have prevented the past tragedies with gun violence had new regulations been in place.  What could have prevented some of the tragedy would have been common-sense safeguards. Classroom that actually locked-down. Security resources at the schools like police officers. Administrators and teachers able to protect themselves and others with their own firearm. Advanced security systems. And yes, advanced mental health reforms.

While we've been pursuing,  the pot-head, well we've completely abandoned  common-sense, have not learned from the past, and are now enacting useless regulations that only benefit the ignorant and promote a comfy feeling that "something is being done". If someone wants to conduct mass murder, or even a single murder, the regulations now being introduced will have little effect.

The problem is with society, and I don't mean that by saying we are now an immoral society. It has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with our family structure,gay couples wishing to marry and raise a child. But rather, it has everything to do with being a society that lives rationally and realistically.

Quite frankly - what President Obama and VP Biden have decided is an embarrassment and like fighting HIV with a toothbrush. Pure stupidity and shows a lack of understanding or even caring. It is smoke and mirrors... mirrors and smoke...

It's no different than book-banning... Henry Miller and the Tropic of Cancer;  Norman Mailer; Anais Nin; Jack Kerouac; George Orwell; John Fowles; Hemingway; etc...


One doesn't prevent the Charlie Manson murders; The In Cold Blood murders; the Aurora CO killings or the Green River killings by enactment of such laws and regulations currently being offered up by our President. Offering an immediate response to the Sandy Hook murders such as what the WH is doing is a sham. It's an embarrassing example of a lack of leadership and logic. A reaction to drum up sympathetic support. It accomplishes nothing.

At least they're not going after my favorite computer games like Half-Life; Max Payne; Battle-Field 1942; Bethesda's Morrowind; Oblivian; etc including movies and TV. 

The reality is... we need to make mental health therapy as popular as video games. And the President did just the opposite!

Stop the Hurt!!!