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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.

Regarding compliance with EU standards, I use no cookies, tracking devices or programs or other personal devices that may be banned in other countries. I will note however that my blog is hosted by Google and I am not responsible for any of that.

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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March 26, 2014

THE HISTORY OF DRUGS OF ABUSE IN AMERICA REVISITED

IT'S been said that "crime in America is a sty in everyone's eye". Politicians, for that reason, like to make a case for election or reelection based upon their stance of "being tough on crime!"

It's not easy for a politician to stand up in front of a crowd shouting, "I will assure you, when I'm elected there will be no rapes, no murders, no kidnappings... I will stamp out crime!" The reason it's not easy for a politician to say this is it's a given. These are crimes against humanity; it's expected laws against these types of deviant behavior will be swift and sure.

What a politician needs is a crime that's tangible, one not cast in stone. A crime that has a basis in morality, or principal. A crime such as a poor individual stealing food to feed his family. A crime where public opinion matters. A crime like reading books deemed immoral and dirty. A crime like "using illegal drugs". The former was a crime in America until 1964. The latter crime, use of "illegal drugs", took hold early in the twentieth century. It began with unprecedented legislation called the "Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906", in which all ingredients in a pharmacological mixture as well as food, must be identified and reported on the label. The obvious target of this legislation were "snake-oil cures", which often contained high levels of narcotics, alcohol or WKW (who knew what? snake venom, dung, toe jam, etc).



Narcotics; is a modern day term generally used to denote drugs based upon opiates. The list includes opium, morphine, codeine, as well as coca based extracts such as cocaine.

Opium was once a commonly used "recreational" drug in the old world. The Chinese had the biggest export market on for it. It was as lucrative as oil is today. It could be bought anywhere without question. Another more common name for it was laudanum.

It was actually another pseudo-narcotic that tipped the tide in favor of federal regulation of "drugs" and that was cocaine. The father of all modern "Drug Dealers" could be said to be John Pemberton, the inventor of Coca Cola in the late 1800's. Originally, as many are aware, Pemberton's Coca Cola contained high amounts of cocaine. Until the invention of Coke, coca and cocaine were simply another natural drug available at any store that sold extracts and herbs as medicine. The original Coca Cola soda drink was developed as yet another plant extract elixir, one promising to promote general overall health and a sense of well-being.

"Drug Stores" back in the late 1800's were also the neighborhood soda joint... where one could get a milkshake or ice-cream cone along with whatever medicinal supplies a person or family might need. The pharmacist was also the soda jerk. Unfortunately, Coca Cola proved to be very addictive, much like tobacco is today. John Pemberton himself succumbed to the effects of cocaine addiction and died in 1888 of the complications of cocaine addiction. He wasn't alone. Many died; this was the Industrial Revolution, people worked long hard hours.Unwinding at the end of the day, well just imagine what that must have been like?

Consider our current drudge of a 40-hour work week, with generally fair wages and benefits, though that is up for debate. In the 1880's, according to this research authored by Jeremy Atack and Fred Bateman, the Journal of Economic History, 1992, the average work-week was 60 hours, 10 hours a day, six days a week. One might consider the work environment back then also. The 1800's saw an end to a mostly agricultural society and a certain inseparable connection with nature. It saw a mass migration to an urban lifestyle for jobs, becoming city-dwellers. Sure, many of us know of those times as the Civil War era, the Wild West, Indian Wars, the Gold rush and Global Conquest. However, let's not forget the millions flocking to factory jobs in the cities often with unhealthy working environments and little in the way of regulations.

The result of the Civil War alone left a federal government shaken, and President Lincoln's passage of the Emancipation Proclamation further angered many people, which upset many a politician.



Now, brokering for power, politicians begin to see a hole in the "fabric of society and politics". A lot in this hole is truthfully disturbing, as in not knowing what's in that drug you're taking, or the food you're eating. But it's as if the Pure Food and Drug Act was simply a precursor to what would follow. The fact that the Chinese had taken over San Francisco and made it into an opium den, the fact that people were consuming colas and dying; those and other obvious problems prompted passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act, of 1914, which placed federal control over any drug deemed a narcotic, including opium and cocaine.

Marijuana, then called cannabis or ganja, was not included in this act. It remained legal and was a useful, commonly prescribed drug by a family physician. The most important goal of the Harrison Narcotics Act was to close all Chinese opium dens in America and end the Chinese monopoly on the market. It accomplished both goals.

Considering the "dangers of unregulated use of narcotics", one would think the government got it right for a change. This type of legislation and control of natural medicines was unprecedented in American or any society around the world. And around the world it went, eventually eliminating anything designated as a narcotic from public access, without a doctor's prescription.

Who knows what might have been, if we'd stopped there. But in 1920 alcohol production was made illegal under the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution. On the surface alcohol prohibition may seem today like it was out-right wrong, foolhardy and unwarranted. However quite the opposite is actually the truth. 

We've all heard, I think, about the Women's Temperance Movement.



Beginning in the 1820's prohibition of alcohol was being advocated. Hard liquor mostly, but the movement grew. Some of the rationale was moral, in fact a lot of the movement was held on moral grounds; but there were many women admitting their husbands would abuse them when using alcohol.

The Eighteenth Amendment was inevitable, but short-lived. It was rooted in history, slowed by the Civil War when alcohol saw a huge boost in use and acceptance. Prohibition taught us about the human psyche and freedom. The violence that occurred as a result of prohibition was unprecedented. The ingenuity of people to smuggle and distill their own alcohol was astonishing. Despite the hundred year fight by prohibitionists to ban alcohol, in 1933 the Twenty-First Amendment repealed alcohol prohibition.

However, the truth of the matter is, actually, it wasn't the violence during Prohibition that changed the collective mind in Washington, it was the need for money, for taxes. Washington was broke, the Great Depression was ravaging the US. Something had to give. That something was alcohol and taxes. And "getting rid of Mexican immigrants" taking jobs from Americans, and Blacks, who it was determined, being empowered by their new-found "freedom", had decided to take an interest in White girls. This was the early 1900's.

It might have been said then in 1937 with passage of the Marihuana Tax Act, that more taxes were on the same collective mind in Washington. But sadly, this wouldn't be true. A new kind of politics was in America... with a new Federal Bureau of Narcotics headed by the infamous Harry Anslinger - Devil's Weed (or here for the Wiki Link).Marijuana was treated like a machine gun, a "danger to youth", and the tax required growing the plant first, then claiming it in person, product at hand, only to be charged with growing cannabis without a tax stamp. It was expensive, a stamp, and it created "prohibition" as a catch-22 that wasn't found to be Unconstitutional until the 1960's. It was an experiment by governments to see what their limitations were in violating civil rights.

Next up on the chopping block: How Popular is Alcohol anyways??? The Reality of Alcohol and TV, Movies and Real Life Along Side the reality of Marijuana... Add to that 5 seconds of "sex", like a nude body and research indicates, any more than that and Americans start freaking out... okay. So maybe next time I'll spend an hour talking about baseball instead of marijuana or sex... depends upon my audience and my mood.

March 09, 2014

HOW WE CAN "STOP THE HURT" - THINKING LIKE SHERLOCK HOLMES

I know I haven't written anything new for awhile. Part of that is simply taking time watching "things" move and change. Part of that is new medications, of which I am subject, which affects the way I interact with people.

It's "interaction" within society that is the key to how society exists. And right now society is in crisis.

To understand why this is, that requires a lot of research. I will try to insert as many links as possible to conduct that research within this post. "Knowledge is power..." well in theory.

We begin with, I present, a new writer/author, Maria Konnikova


I've ordered the book...

Wish I'd written the book myself, as I already think like Holmes. 

Stopping the Hurt! That's what this is all about.

So where to begin? 

Obviously "We The People" have a Say... however, how much when it comes to foreign policy (Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria)? Not really, do you think? What about "Obamacare"? America's new version of socialized medicine? No. Not really. Okay, Child-protection? No, but...

Wow is that a wide open subject. 

A child is a human-being aged 00.1 - 20.99 years of age, with exceptions for the right to vote at age 18, smoke tobacco and join the military, age 18.

Given what we can change, what is a single-most subject of contention that American's can voice an opinion on and bring about change?

Is it our 2nd Amendment rights? Or is it marijuana prohibition? 

There's not much I can do to add to our resolve to protect our 2nd Amendment rights. However on the subject of marijuana prohibition, I have a say.

I've watched as Colorado legalized and provided legal marijuana beginning January 01, 2014. 

Washington State is soon to follow.

Many states still working on passing medical marijuana bills. 

So what exactly is happening?

There are many Americans for whom marijuana legalization is plain wrong. They feel they have justification. 

"Reefer Madness" - isn't a phrase or event that a lot of Americans are familiar with. Reefer Madness refers to a docu-drama filmed and aired in 1937 proclaiming the ultimate evil and danger that marijuana presented to our society. A film that today is viewed as a joke, if viewed at all. By the 1940's and the advent of WWII, Reefer madness was forgotten. 

Ask someone over age 70 if they've heard about it and the answer is likely, "No".

Ask them what they think about marijuana and the response is likely to be "it's wrong". 

IT'S WRONG! Period.

Or "it's dangerous..."

As in, "marijuana is a dangerous drug".

Federal Law views marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug. A S1 drug being one with ZERO Medicinal value and a very high proclivity for abuse. WIKI - SCHEDULE ONE DRUGS

So what's odd about marijuana being a Schedule One (dangerous) drug? Maybe the fact that 20 States have legalized marijuana for medical usage? Two states and a city have legalized marijuana to be regulated like alcohol... the city is Portland, ME. How can a plant deemed MOST DANGEROUS, be legal for use... ?

Obviously Federal Law is wrong. And it influences state's laws, as in the following response to a citizen of NH received from an aide to Gov. Hassan:




 Notice how the emphasis is on children and youth, not adults for which the issue is most pressing. 

The Governor of NH is opposed to legalization of marijuana... and why?

Because it would harm our young people. Nothing at all to do with freeing adults. Apparently there are no adults in NH. Rather makes the Governor of NH a Kindergarten teacher, wouldn't you maybe agree? 

Yet, our young people are already being harmed by tanning salons, tobacco, scorched meat, energy drinks, fast food, alcohol and poverty... how much more harm can marijuana cause? That is the question.

It turns out marijuana can cause a lot more harm as it's illegal and in most states seriously prosecuted... and this means SWAT TEAMS bursting into a house where marijuana is being used and machine guns pointed at a child's parent's head. Seizure of property. Loss of liberty. All because of a plant with beneficial properties. 

It's said marijuana is illegal because of the tobacco industry, Big pharma, the paper industry and chemical synthetic industries like DuPont? Okay, maybe true.

But what's really at stake here is Holmes logic and our freedom as adults to use a plant. This isn't Rocket Science or America's Most Wanted... this is about a beneficial plant, nothing more, and all the frenzy surrounding this plant. 

Hopefully the following links will enlighten/aid in your education:






January 14, 2014

MARIJUANA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR, MAGGIE HASSAN

Updated January 16, 2014; 8:30 PM; Jan. 17, 2014, 9:30 PM

Yes, I live in New Hampshire. Always loved the motto, "Live Free or Die." I've been here since 1988. I am familiar with the state and it's politics, but in no way do I understand politicians. My impression when I moved here after 7 years living in Boston was that people in NH were staunch believers in not treading on others. "Mind our own business", a Ben Franklin quote, if I'm correct. Conservative state that respected individual rights and liberty.

In the news:

Correction: Initially I wrote the next paragraph, and thought I had my facts straight...  I never said I knew the political system, in fact, it's quite intimidating in my opinion. Anyway the following mistakenly says the House voted; It wasn't the House, but rather it was a branch or another group within NH government, perhaps a committee. The actual House of Representatives (the Lower House to be specific) yesterday voted 170 to 162 in favor to legalize cannabis for adult use, for those over age 21 as we can do now with alcohol.

The New Hampshire House is voting once again to legalize marijuana. Tomorrow, January 15, 2014. If voting goes as it did the last time, what? Two years ago? It will pass with an overwhelming vote. As I recall it was something like 21 to 3. The House has passed a measure 4 times. Governor Lynch was in office I think the whole time, and every time it came up for vote, the governor would vow to veto legalization, but never had to as the senate never approved it.

That was then, this is now. We have a new governor, Maggie Hassan (who I did vote for). Last year she signed a bill into law legalizing medical marijuana and this includes five, state of the art facilities to grow the marijuana. NH became the 20th or 21st state to legalize medical marijuana. There are problems with the arrangements however. Governor Hassan refused to sin the bill into law if allowing patients to grow their own was included, or patients suffering from PTSD - most common with military combat soldiers and veterans, though equally prevalent among your citizen population. The regulatory requirements would make one think they're applying for level 3 clearance into the Pentagon. At best, in my opinion it's a compromise.

Since then, two states and one city have legalized "recreation " marijuana, and in Colorado, one of those states, adults 21 and older can now purchase at a cannabis outlet their marijuana and legally smoke it at home. They can grow it. Washington state is soon to follow; marijuana is legal there as of a year or two ago, but their state stores haven't opened yet. The city is Portland Maine.  They legalized it last year - no word on the details yet, but I was told it went into effect December 30, 2013, no plans for outlets to purchase it, possession of two ounces permitted by law. It's been widely reported Maine will be another state in 2014 that legalizes "recreational" marijuana.

There is a reason I put "recreational" in quotes. When it comes to cannabis/marijuana, the media loves to spin words, meanings, phrases and quotes... The following Top News stories from WMUR, Channel 9 in NH caught my attention. I believe they fairly portrayed both sides, gave the governor her say and day.

1) "Governor says she would veto marijuana legalization. 
Hassan says legalization would send wrong message. "

Published  6:30 PM EST Jan 13, 2014 By Josh McElveen, Political Director/News Anchor/Rep

2) "Marijuana debate heats up in NH House; House votes on (the) bill Wednesday."

UPDATED 6:24 AM EST Jan 13, 2014 By Jennifer Gannon, News Reporter

Nothing wrong with a good debate. Problem is Governor Maggie Hassan isn't willing to participate or listen. She's vowed to veto the bill if by some slim chance it passes the senate which has always voted these bills down. In the second newscast, an officer John Tholl is interviewed. A statement he made brought back memories. "Marijuana is a gateway drug. It contributes to a lot of crimes. The problem with marijuana is after awhile it's not enough. The person moves onto harder drugs. Harder crimes."

Hardly true as it's a generalization, a stereotype, hearsay. That's my opinion. Most marijuana crimes occur as for the fact marijuana is illegal. It's like when "dirty books" - Henry Miller, James Joyce, Norman Mailer were the kingpins of "dirty books", and such books reputably would corrupt and sinfully tempt the reader. Or when sex was illegal; you didn't know sex was ever illegal? It was, and still is in many countries, and extremely in-tolerated. In the US it wasn't until the early 1970's M-F sex was "legalized".

Most marijuana users are quite content with their marijuana. That's not to say human-beings don't like experimenting. They do! What it means is to draw a connection between use of marijuana and escalation to hard drugs and crime is quite a stretch - as this essentially says that marijuana users become psychotic and lose their minds. It's why often I refer to stoners as zombies... and the law enforcement experts Governor Hassan refers to must think of marijuana users exactly like they are zombies, without a living mind.

The biggest, most serious concern proponents of legalization are trying to make is, "where does the marijuana come from? Who profits from the sale? Is it untainted by chemicals, fungus, bacteria? And these to me are sound concerns. When Governor Hassan says "legalization sends the wrong message to children", we forget that it isn't about children at all. It's about adults. Liberty and freedom. Just as adults that can legally choose to buy and use all the alcohol and tobacco they want. And often, it is a major cause to health concerns. Marijuana is unique in that it can be used quite safely, and can often be very beneficial. And people are thrown in prisons for that, their lives ruined by an arrest record, for even the smallest amounts, or simply a pipe.

If it was true at all, what officer Tholl says, I'd certainly be concerned too. But I'm not. I'm more concerned about decades of lies, propaganda and deceit. But that's his opinion. I listened. That is the start of communication. However when a governor refuses to listen, that's not being a Representative of the People. And she won't get my vote a second time.

Let's voice our support and legalize marijuana in New Hampshire.

Stop The Hurt!




December 31, 2013

HUMPTY DUMPTY WISHES ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2014!!!

Edited Jan. 02, 2014; 6 PM

It helps that I had the foresight to take the last two workdays of 2013 off. I try not to be superstitious about the #13 being in the year. Historically it will be looked back upon as extraordinary, both very good and very bad.

To end the year, my thoughts have been about a fairy tale... HUMPTY DUMPTY.

Many may not remember reading about Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll's, "Through The Looking Glass", or maybe Mother Goose.

Humpty Dumpty is of course an egg:

Online Pictures of Humpty Dumpty

Who fell off a wall, and all the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again.

Reminds me...

The earliest appearance of the rhyme occurs in the late eighteenth century England and the tune is from 1870, in James William Elliott's, National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

There were many variances since. 

Lewis Carroll for example: 

WikiPedia Link: "Humpty appears in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1872), where he discusses semantics and pragmatics with Alice."
    "I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
    Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!' "
    "But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
    "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
    "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
    "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."

Or this variance:

In 1842 James Orchard Halliwell published a collected version as;
Humpty Dumpty lay in a beck.
With all his sinews around his neck;
Forty Doctors and forty wrights
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty to rights!

My own interprtation?

Fried eggs aside...

"Your Brain On Drugs" (Marijuana)!

Isn't it time we give peace a chance?

Laws and prohibition against marijuana were flawed, deeply, from the beginning. Millions of people have suffered because of the laws, few have benefited except for momentary gain. Millions of people would benefit if cannabis/marijuana were legalized beginning with de-scheduling at a federal level. Marijuana prohibition is a Humpty Dumpty, and there's no way short of declaring marijuana a dirty nuke/an instrument of terrorism than to admit, the War is over... none of the Naked King's soldiers can put Humpty (marijuana prohibition) back together ever again. The fairy tale is over. 

Congratulations - You Can Grow Machine Guns!

What Put Colorado Over The Top!










Bob Dylan/President Obama Awards Dylan Metal of Freedom
Committed Suicide Because no One Offered to Help



Life Is But A Dream!

Oh My... A Dream...

Famous President/Famous Poster
Note: cannabis leaves under portrait

A Flower


















This Is Being Human, except for the cookie...




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An Iconic Poster Enabling The War On Drugs!


Non-Violent Drug Offenders Make up the Majority Of Our Prison Population


Life Is Getting High, One Way Or Another...

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Or Becoming Deceased...

ALL DECEASED DUE TO "HONOR KILLING!"

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And when did we start to accept that friends and sex could mix?

One might ask...

What's become of civilization?

If you consider it, seriously, was 1950's Suburbia the end all/be all for civilization? Was that the ideal?

Although we now, some or many of us, enjoy a broader openness, and more humanistic life freedom and choices - like Gay marriage, legal marijuana, and affirmation of our Constitutional rights...

There is much that has gone the other way, towards totalitarian rule, infringement of our personal freedoms especially on the internet.

I personally still don't believe we have even a basic grasp on what civilization means as a society. We have problems communicating, understanding others, getting respect.

We advertise alcohol as the way to truth... as I watch many popular movies this is so very much advertised as such to the viewer... I just read an article about that very subject concerning James Bond, AKA British Agent 007: "... medically speaking he's a drunk..."

We advertise Faith in Government as the Spirit of the People; Patriotism, while true patriotism, which can be a small national unity type of act goes unnoticed, and large acts, that obviously violate our Constitutional rights are enacted as law without redress. The real problem is education so that we can adequately understand what all the changes are about.





But we still face the fact that zero tolerance means zero mindset, as in the case of this John Wayne themed cloth toy monkey with a replica John Wayne gun, seized from a lady by the TSA at an airport:

TSA SEIZES DANGEROUS WEAPON AT AIRPORT SECURITY!
LINK TO NBC NEWS ARTICLE HERE
I have a similar toy replica of a gun...

Plastic Toy Gun Replica


Realistic Replica Slide and Removable Magazine


The TSA would consider this a weapon; a student in school these days would be expelled possessing one of these toys. When we consider playthings a threat, we ought to look twice at ourselves. Toy guns are not a real threat anymore than marijuana is a machine gun!

  Reference to the fact that the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was modeled after a similar tax when it was proven to be effective against the purchase of an automatic weapon. To this day the Federal Government believes that there is a distinct similarity between the cannabis plant and Tommy guns.

Why? I seriously don't know, but as I was saying, it comes back to education.

HIPPIE NEW YEAR!!!