Hell

Internet cable cuts - sabotage

2008-02-06T16:30:05Z

Here is a sweet little piece from Richard Sauder that I found on "What Really Happened" about who and what may be behind the great cable cut of last week.
I find that the mainstream media treats the subject like it was a silly little accident that has nothing to do with bad intentions.

Connecting The Many Undersea Cut Cable Dots

by Richard Sauder

The last week has seen a spate of unexplained, cut, undersea communications cables that has severely disrupted communications in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. As I shall show, the total numbers of cut cables remain in question, but likely number as many as eight, and maybe nine or more.

Route map of the SEA-ME-WE 4 cable link

The trouble began on 30 January 2008 with CNN reports that two cables were cut off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, initially severely disrupting Internet and telephone traffic from Egypt to India and many points in between.

]]> According to CNN the two cut cables “account for as much as three-quarters of the international communications between Europe and the Middle East.“ CNN reported that the two cut cables off the Egyptian coast were “FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies”.(10) Other reports placed one of the cut cables, SeaMeWe-4, off the coast of France, near Marseille.(9)(12) However, many news organizations reported two cables cut off the Egyptian coast, including the SeaMeWe-4 cable connecting Europe with the Middle East. The possibilities are thus three, based on the reporting in the news media: 1) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut off the coast of France, and mistakenly reported as being cut off the coast of Egypt, because it runs from France to Egypt; 2) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut off the Egyptian coast and mistakenly reported as being cut off the coast of France, because it runs from France to Egypt; or 3) the SeaMeWe-4 cable was cut both off the Egyptian and the French coasts, nearly simultaneously, leading to confusion in the reporting. I am not sure what to think, because most reports, such as this one from the International Herald Tribune, refer to two cut cables off the Egyptian coast, one of the two being the SeaMeWe4 cable,(11) while other reports also refer to a cut cable off the coast of France.(9)(12) It thus appears that the same cable may have suffered two cuts, both off the French and the Egyptian coasts. So there were likely actually three undersea cables cut in the Mediterranean on 30 January 2008.

In the case of the cables cut off the Egyptian coast, the news media initially advanced the explanation that the cables had been cut by ships' anchors.(10)(13) But on 3 February the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said that a review of video footage of the coastal waters where the two cables passed revealed that the area had been devoid of ship traffic for the 12 hours preceding and the 12 hours following the time of the cable cuts.(5)(11) So the cable cuts cannot have been caused by ship anchors, in view of the fact that there were no ships there.

The cable cutting was just getting started. Two days later an undersea cable was reported cut in the Persian Gulf, 55 kilometers off of Dubai.(11) The cable off of Dubai was reported by CNN to be a FLAG Falcon cable.(10) And then on 3 February came reports of yet another damaged undersea cable, this time between Qatar and the UAE (United Arab Emirates).(6)(7)(11)

The confusion was compounded by another report on 1 February 2008 of a cut undersea cable running through the Suez to Sri Lanka.(19) If the report is accurate this would represent a sixth cut cable. The same article mentions the cut cable off of Dubai in the Persian Gulf, but seeing as the Suez is on the other side of the Arabian peninsula from the Persian Gulf, the article logically appears to be describing two separate cable cutting incidents.

These reports were followed on 4 February 2008 with a report of even more cut undersea cables. The Khaleej Times reported a total of five damaged undersea cables: two off of Egypt and the cable near Dubai, all of which have already been mentioned in this report. But then the Khaleej Times mentions two that have not been mentioned elsewhere, to my knowledge: 1) a cable in the Persian Gulf near Bandar Abbas, Iran, and 2) the SeaMeWe4 undersea cable near Penang, Malaysia.(3) The one near Penang, Malaysia appears to represent a new incident. The one near Bandar Abbas is reported separately from the one off Dubai and is evidently not the same incident, since the report says , “FLAG near the Dubai coast” and “FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran” were both cut. Bandar Abbas is on the other side of the Persian Gulf from Qatar and the UAE, and so presumably the cut cable near Bandar Abbas is not the one in that incident either. Interestingly, the report also states that, “The first cut in the undersea Internet cable occurred on January 23, in the Flag Telcoms FALCON submarine cable which was not reported.(3) This news article deals primarily with the outage in the UAE, so it raises the question as to whether this is a reference to yet a ninth cut cable that has not hit the mainstream news cycle in the United States.

By my count, we are probably dealing with as many as eight, maybe even nine, unexplained cut or damaged undersea cables within the last week, and not the mere three or four that most mainstream news media outlets in the United States are presently reporting. Given all this cable-cutting mayhem in the last several days, who knows but what there may possibly be other cut and/or damaged cables that have not made it into the news cycle, because they are lost in the general cable-cutting noise by this point. Nevertheless, let me enumerate what I can, and keep in mind, I am not pulling these out of a hat; all of the sources are referenced at the conclusion of the article; you can click through and look at all the evidence that I have. It's there if you care to read through it all.

1) one off of Marseille, France

2) two off of Alexandria, Egypt

3) one off of Dubai, in the Persian Gulf

4) one off of Bandar Abbas, Iran in the Persian Gulf

5) one between Qatar and the UAE, in the Persian Gulf

6) one in the Suez, Egypt

7) one near Penang, Malaysia

8) initially unreported cable cut on 23 January 2008 (Persian Gulf?)

Three things stand out about these incidents:

1) all of them, save one, have occurred in waters near predominantly Muslim nations, causing disruption in those countries;

2) all but two of the cut/damaged cables are in Middle Eastern waters;

3) so many like incidents in such a short period of time suggests that they are not accidents, but are in fact deliberate acts, i.e., sabotage.

The evidence therefore suggests that we are looking at a coordinated program of undersea cable sabotage by an actor, or actors, on the international stage with an anti-Muslim bias, as well as a proclivity for destructive violence in the Middle Eastern region.

The question then becomes: are there any actors on the international stage who exhibit a strong, anti-Muslim bias in their foreign relations, who have the technical capability to carry out clandestine sabotage operations on the sea floor, and who have exhibited a pattern of violently destructive policies towards Muslim peoples and nations, especially in the Middle East region?

The answer is yes, there are two: Israel and the United States of America.

In recent years, Israel has bombed and invaded Lebanon, bombed Syria, and placed the Palestinian Territories under a pitiless and ruthless blockade/occupation/quarantine/assault. During the same time frame the United States of America has militarily invaded and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and American forces remain in both countries at present, continuing to carry out aggressive military operations. Simultaneous with these Israeli and American war crimes against countries in the region, both Israel and the United States have made many thinly veiled threats of war against Iran, and the United States openly seeks to increase its military presence in Pakistan's so-called “tribal areas”.(15) Israel and the United States both have a technically sophisticated military operations capability. Moreover, the United States Navy has a documented history of carrying out espionage activities on the sea floor. The U.S. Navy has long had special operations teams that can go out on submarines and deploy undersea, on the seabed itself, specifically for this sort of operation. This has all been thoroughly documented in the excellent book, Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (New York: Public Affairs, 1998). The classic example is Operation Ivy Bells, which took place during the Cold War, in the waters off the Soviet Union. In a joint, U.S. Navy-NSA operation, U.S. Navy divers repeatedly tapped an underwater cable in the Kuril Islands, by swimming out undersea, to and from U.S. Navy submarines.(14)

This sort of activity is like something straight out of a spy novel thriller, but the U.S. Navy really does have special submarines and deep diving, special operations personnel who specialize in precisely this sort of operation. So cutting undersea cables is well within the operational capabilities of the United States Navy.

Couple this little known, but very important fact, with the reality that for years now we have seen more and more ham-handed interference with the global communications grid by the American alphabet soup agencies (NSA, CIA, FBI, HoSec) and major telecommunication companies. Would the telecommunication companies and the American military and alphabet soup agencies collude on an operation that had as its aim to sabotage the communications network across a wide region of the planet? Would they perhaps collude with Israeli military and intelligence agencies to do this? The honest answer has to be: sure, maybe so. The hard reality is that we are now living in a world of irrational and violent policies enacted against the civilian population by multinational corporations, and military and espionage agencies the world over. We see the evidence for this on every hand. Only the most myopic among us remain oblivious to that reality.

In light of the American Navy's demonstrated sea-floor capabilities and espionage activities, the heavy American Navy presence in the region, the many, thinly veiled threats against Iran by both the Americans and the Israelis, and their repeated, illegal, military aggression against other nations in the region, suspicion quite naturally falls on both Israel and the United States of America. It may be that this is what the beginning of a war against Iran looks like, or perhaps it is part of a more general, larger assault against Muslim and/or Arab interests across a very wide region. Whatever the case, this is no small operation, seeing as the cables that have been cut are among the largest communication pipes in the region, and clearly represent major strategic targets.

Very clearly, we are not looking at business as usual. On the contrary, it is obvious that we are looking at distinctly unusual business.

The explanations being put forth in the mainstream news media for these many cut, undersea communications cables absolutely do not pass the smell test. And by the way, the same operators who cut undersea cables in the Persian Gulf, Mediterranean Sea, Malaysia and possibly the Suez as well, presumably can also cut underwater cables in the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. This could be a multipurpose operation, in part a test run for isolating a country or region from the international communications grid. The Middle East today, the USA tomorrow?

What's that you say? I don't understand how the world works? That kind of thing can't happen here?

In any event, if the cables have been intentionally cut, then that is an aggressive act of war. I'm sure everyone in the region has gotten that message. I'm looking at the same telegram as they are, and I know that it's clear as a “bell” to me.(14)

It is little known by the American people, but nevertheless true, that Iran intends to open its own Oil Bourse this month (February 2008) that will trade in “non-dollar currencies”.(16) This has massive geo-political-economic implications for the United States and the American economy, since the American dollar is at present still (if not for much longer) the dominant reserve currency internationally, particularly for petroleum transactions. However, due to the mind-boggling scale of the structural weaknesses in the American economy, which have been well discussed in the financial press in recent weeks and months, the American dollar is increasingly shunned by corporate, banking and governmental actors the world over. No one wants to be stuck with vaults full of rapidly depreciating dollars as the American economy hurtles towards the basement. And so an operational Iranian Oil Bourse, actively trading supertankers full of petroleum in non-dollar currencies, poses a great threat to the American dollar's continued dominance as the international reserve currency.

The American fear and unease of this development can only be increased by the knowledge that, “Oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have set 2010 as the target date for adopting a monetary union and single currency.”(2) The American government's fear must have ratcheted up another notch when Kuwait “dropped its dollar peg” in May “and adopted a basket of currencies”, arousing “speculation that the UAE and Qatar would follow suit or revalue their currencies.”(2) Although all the GCC members, with the exception of Kuwait, agreed at their annual meeting in December 2007 to continue to peg their currencies to the American dollar,(2) the hand writing is surely on the wall. As the dollar plummets, their American currency holdings will be worth less and less. At some point, they will likely decide to cut their losses and decouple the value of their currencies from that of the dollar. That point may be in 2010, when they establish the new GCC currency, maybe even sooner than that. If Iran succeeds in opening its own Oil Bourse it is hard to imagine that the GCC would not trade on the Iranian Oil Bourse, given the extremely close geographic proximity. And it is hard to believe that they would not trade their own oil in their own currency. Otherwise, why have a currency of their own? Clearly they intend to use it. And just as clearly, the three cut or damaged undersea communications cables in the Persian Gulf over the last week deliver a clear message. The United States may be a senescent dinosaur, and it is, but it is also a violent, heavily armed, very angry senescent dinosaur. In the end, it will do what all aged dinosaurs do: perish. But not before it first does a great deal of wild roaring and violent lashing and thrashing about.

There can be no doubt that Iran, and the other Gulf States, were intended recipients of this rather pointed cable cutting telegram, for all of the reasons mentioned here; and additionally, in the case of Iran, probably also as a waning for its perceived insults of Israel and dogged pursuit of its nuclear program in contravention of NeoCon-Zionist dogma that Iran may not have a nuclear program, though other nations in the region, Pakistan and Israel, do.

I must mention that one of my e-mail correspondents has pointed out that another possibility is that once the cables are cut, special operations divers could hypothetically come in and attach surveillance devices to the cables without being detected, because the cables are inoperable until they are repaired and start functioning again. In this way, other interests who wanted to spy on Middle Eastern communications, let's say on banking and trading data going to and from the Iranian Oil Bourse, or other nations in the Middle East, could tap into the communications network under cover of an unexplained cable “break”. Who knows? -- this idea may have merit.

It is noteworthy that two of the cables that were cut lie off the Egyptian Mediterranean coast, and another passes through the Suez. During the height of the disruption, some 70 percent of the Egyptian Internet was down. (13) This is a heavy blow in a day when everything from airlines, to banks, to universities, to newspapers, to hospitals, to telephone and shipping companies, and much more, uses the Internet. So Egypt was hit very hard. An astute observer who carefully reads the international press could not fail to notice that in recent days there has been a report in the Egyptian press that “Egypt rejected an Israeli-American proposal to resettle 800,000 Palestinians in Sinai.” This has evidently greatly upset the Zionist-NeoCon power block holding sway in Tel Aviv and Washington, DC with the result that Israel has reportedly threatened to have American aid to Egypt reduced if Egypt does not consent to the resettlement of the Palestinians in Egyptian territory.(17) This NeoCon-Zionist tantrum comes hard on the heels of the Israeli desire to cut ties with Gaza, as a consequence of the massive breach of the Gaza-Egypt border by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in January 2008. (18)

What are NeoCon-Zionist tyrants to do when their diplomatic hissy fits and anti-Arab tirades no longer carry the day in Cairo? Or in Qatar and the UAE? Maybe they get out the underwater cable cutters and deploy some special operations submarines and divers in the waters off of Alexandria and in the Suez and in the Persian Gulf.

This would be completely in line with articulated American military doctrine, which frankly views the Internet as something to be fought. American Freedom Of Information researchers at George Washington University obtained a Department of Defense (Pentagon) document in 2006, entitled “Information Operation Roadmap”, which says forthrightly and explicitly that “the Department must be prepared to 'fight the net'”.(20) This is a direct quote. It goes on to say that, “We Must Improve Network and Electro-Magnetic Attack Capability. To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities.“ (20) It also makes reference to the importance of employing a “robust offensive suite of capabilities to include full-range electronic and computer network attack.”(8)(20)

So now we can add to our list of data points the professed intent of the American military to “fight the net”, using a “robust offensive suite of capabilities” in a “ full-range electronic and computer network attack.”

Maybe this sudden spate of cut communications cables is what it looks like when the American military uses a “robust offensive suite of capabilities” and mounts an “electronic and computer network attack” in order to “fight the net” in one region of the world. They have the means, and the opportunity, I've amply demonstrated that in this article. And now we also have the motive, in their own words, from their own policy statement. The plain translation is that the American military now regards the Internet, that means the hardware such as computers, cables, modems, servers and routers, and presumably also the content it contains, and the people who communicate that content, as an adversary, as something to be fought.

Oh yes, just a couple of more dots to connect before you fall asleep tonight:

1) The USS San Jacinto, an anti-missile AEGIS cruiser, was scheduled to dock in Haifa, Israel on 1 February 2008. The Jerusalem Post reported that this ship's anti-missile system “could be deployed in the region in the event of an Iranian missile attack against Israel.”(1) Are we to expect another “false flag” attack, like the inside job on 9-11 perhaps? -- an attack that will be made to appear that it comes from Iran, and that is then used as a pretext to strike Iran, maybe with nuclear weapons? And when Iran retaliates with its own missiles, then the Americans and Israelis will unleash further hell on Iran? Is that the Zionist-NeoCon plan, or something generally along those lines?

2) I have to wonder because just this past Saturday, there was a report in the news that, “Retired senior officers told Israelis ... to prepare 'rocket rooms' as protection against a rain of missiles expected to be fired at the Jewish State in any future conflict.” Retired General Udi Shani reportedly said, “The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory."(4)

Now that we know the Israeli military establishment's thinking, and now that we have a view into the American military mindset, we ought to be looking at international events across the board with a very critical, analytical eye, especially as they relate to possible events that either are playing out right now, or may potentially play out in the relatively near future, say in the time frame of the next one month to five years. These people are violent and devious; they have forewarned us, and we should take them at their word, given their murderous record on the international stage.

Contact the author at: dr_samizdat@yahoo.com

References

1) http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1202064573279&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

2) http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/business/?id=24186

3) http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2008/February/theuae_February121.xml§ion=theuae

4) http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080202132053.iohfg5ob&show_article=1

5) http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/04/2153455.htm

6) http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i03tUdyj8wf2Xa9P4trWEjqAJdyQ

7) http://www.arabianbusiness.com/510132-internet-problems-continue-with-fourth-cable-break?ln=en

8) http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=7980

9) https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/IEPM/Effects+of+Fibre+Outage+through+Mediterranean

10) http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/internet.outage/?iref=hpmostpop

11) http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/04/technology/cables.php

12) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31cable.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

13) http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/31/Cut-cable-disrupts-Internet-in-Middle-East_1.html

14) http://www.specialoperations.com/Operations/ivybells.html

15) http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2213925,00.html

16) http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=37468§ionid=351020103

17) http://www.roadstoiraq.com/2008/02/02/egypt-rejected-an-american-israeli-proposal-to-re-settle-800000-palestinians-in-sinai/

18) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/24/wgaza124.xml

19) http://www.smartmoney.com/news/on/index.cfm?story=ON-20080201-000320-0524

20) http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/info_ops_roadmap.pdf

Sir Richard Doll - Smoking and Cancer Alarm False

2006-12-09T17:02:20Z

Doll wins a place in Hell's Hall of Shame.

Sir Richard Doll celebrated epidemiologist who established that smoking causes lung cancer, was receiving a consultancy fee of $1,500 a day in the mid-1980s from Monsanto, then a major chemical company and now better known for its GM crops business.

Elevator to Hell's Hall Of Shame

The Guardian UK has reported that among Doll's papers was a very interesting 10 year consultancy contract with Monsanto which goes back to 1979 and is renewed in 1986 with a new phat fee attached.

So Sir Richard Doll went around claiming that smoking and life style were the main causes of cancer, when he knew very well that it was chemical pollution from the big petro-chemical companies like Monsanto who are to blame.

Like Luis Pasteur's death bed confession, the microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything, Doll too retracted his assertion that the cause of cancer was smoking and life style related:

Faced with growing evidence of the scientific untenability of his virtual dismissal of causes of cancer other than smoking and lifestyle, coupled with damaging revelations of conflicts of interest, Doll has suddenly retracted his long-standing dismissal of environmental causes of cancer. As a member of a recent IARC scientific working group, convened to review evidence relating tobacco smoking and cancer, Doll finally admitted:

]]> "It does look as if it's the cancers that are principally caused by hormones that are not affected by smoking. Most of the other cancers throughout the body are induced by exposure to chemicals, often environmental ones" (68). This retraction, countless cases of avoidable cancers and deaths late, has been ignored by cancer establishments worldwide.

Excerpted from Stop Cancer Before It Starts: How to Win the War On Cancer by Samuel S. Epstein, Ph.D. 2003

So Mr Doll, off to Hell's Hall of Shame for you but what about the corruption left behind?

There are some fine people like Martin Walker, author of the controversial book, "Dirty Medicine" who has tirelessly investigated and reported on the corrupt practices of the petro-chemical cartels. He exposed Sir Richard's role in many industry cover-ups over the years. It was not easy for Martin Walker and as he said himself:

I have relied to a great extent in my criticisms of Sir Richard’s role in this particular case, on what might be called circumstantial evidence, or less value-laden, ‘similar fact evidence’. I have tried to take this particular work of Sir Richard’s out of the constraints of its academic discipline, and place it in the industrial, PR and propaganda culture, which more realistically describes the public face of contentious industries. I have allowed reflections and information on the chemical industries covert tactics, to extend beyond vinyl chloride and beyond the exact period of Sir Richard’s review. This looseness of method is necessary, I think, in order to show clearly that chemical companies and academics have worked to a strategy for decades, a strategy within which Sir Richard Doll, either consciously or unconsciously, has played an important role.

Now with the discovery of the Doll's papers, perhaps some action should be taken to review his past research. After all, now he is in Hell's Hall of Shame".

Here is a nice article by Injurywatch , which lists the studies that Sir Richard Doll was involved in and what was done to skew the outcomes and what steps need to be done to rectify the system that allows for such unethical behavour on the part of our scientists and our corporations.

Renowned cancer scientist was paid by chemical firm for 20 years

Sir Richard Doll: Death, Dioxin and PVC

The Stop Cancer before it Starts Camapign

Smoking Helps Protect Against Lung Cancer

Marijuana Smokers UCLA - Study

Chemical Poisons Cause Increasing Levels Of Illness - Tobacco Blamed

Pot Shots - Taking aim at the global health monopoly

2006-11-23T19:23:21Z

Ten years ago, when Proposition 215 made it legal for California doctors to approve cannabis use by patients, you could not have convinced me that pushing for medical marijuana recognition would be the tool to free marijuana from the chains of prohibition. Still, I have some reservations but, seeing the damage Prop. 215 has already done to the pharmaceutical death monopoly, I have "high" hopes for a total success.

In a recent article in Counter Punch, Fred Gardner, the editor of O'Shaughnessy's Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical Group, makes it clear that the movement is making great inroads.

Marijuana flower close up by Bald1

Marijuana is a natural medicine that is much more effective than most of the deadly and many times addictive medicines that the pharmaceutical industry forces down our throats. The best part, though, is that addictive prescription and street drugs can be and are being eliminated by medical marijuana in an astounding percentage of patients.

It is no surprise that the corporate powers continue to "lobby" at the highest levels to keep the good herb from taking over their turf. The DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency) is working as the strong arm of the pharmaceutical racket under the War on Drugs banners they wave. If my "long term" memory is still intact, it was Dupont, introducing nylon to the world market who lobbied the Federal Government to prohibit the use of cannabis in the USA and then, through the United Nations, beyond. If you want to inform yourself about the War on Drugs and have a great laugh at the same time, tune into the Penn and Teller's Bullshit!
show and watch a 30 minute vidio featuring the Guru of Pot, Dr. Lester Grinspoon.

Now is not the time to lay back and count our blessings. It is time to act. Take responsibility for your own health and GROW YOUR OWN MEDICINE!

Herewith some replies to a survey question sent to doctors who prescribe marijuana to about 140,000 patients reporting reduced reliance on pharmaceuticals.

Frank Lucido, MD: "Chronic pain patients report reduced use of opioids, NSAIDs, muscle relaxants, sleeping pills. Psychiatric and insomnia patients reduce use of tranquilizers,

]]> SSRI antidepressants, and sleeping pills. Neurologic patients reduce use of opioids, muscle relaxants, NSAIDS, triptans and other migraine headache remedies." Marian Fry, MD: "Medications discontinued or reduced include Oxycontin, Norco, Percoset, Vicodin, Flexerol, Soma, Valium, SSRI antidepressants, and blood-pressure medications Norvasic and Hydrochlorothiazide. Approximately 1% of my patients report reduced reliance or discontinuation of seizure medication by substituting Cannabis for Dilantin and remaining seizure free. Many of my Glaucoma patients no longer require their Timoptic drops and are able to maintain normal pressures with the use of Cannabis. Many of my patients who have lost hope in conventional pharmaceutical treatments report enhanced health, decreased pain, decrease depression and an overall sense of well being despite chronic illness."

Helen Nunberg, MD is medical director of MediCann, a statewide chain of clinics through which 53,000 patients have received approvals. Nunberg reviewed records of 1,800 patients seen at nine clinics. "Prescription drug substitution is very significant," she writes. "51% of the 1,800 patients report using cannabis as a substitute for prescription medications; 48% report using cannabis to prevent prescription medication side effects; 67% report using cannabis to reduce dosage of prescription medication; 49% of patients using cannabis for chronic pain were previously prescribed an opioid (such as hydrocodone) by their personal physician."

Philip Denney, MD: "Cannabis allows significant decreased use or elimination of many prescription medications, particularly narcotics. Patients usually report decreases of 50% or better."

Tom O'Connell, MD: "Vicodin and other opioids; lithium; Klonopin; various sleep aids; and the whole gamut of psychotropic medications from Prozac to Xanax. I don't tell patients to stop taking anything, but I will suggest they discuss it with the prescribing doctor. I have the feeling that most don't."

Robert Sullivan, MD: "Opiates, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, hypnotics (for sleep), anxiolytics, neurontin, anti-inflammatories, anti-migraine drugs, GI meds, prednisone (for asthma, arthritis)."

William Eidelman, MD: "Opioids, sleeping pills, anxiolytics, SSRI anti-depressants."

Hanya Barth, MD: "Approximately 90% of my patients have at one time or another tried traditional medications for their symptoms and found that they produced significant side effects. With cannabis most patients report either being able to manage their symptoms without any other medications, or using less than they would ordinarily have to. It is not unusual to have patients come for a recommendation, bringing a whole bag of medications that they are taking. They might then return the following year saying that they no longer needed many of them and had cut back on many others.

"It is also true that most patients who were using alcohol to manage their symptoms or who were abusing alcohol or speed or opiates, etc. find that they can stop these drugs when they have marijuana. Many also report that they were using those drugs to manage certain symptoms such as pain or anxiety and then became addicted. This is especially true of certain populations, mainly the homeless and the mentally ill. Even cigarette smokers often state that they can substitute cannabis for nicotine.

"What amazes me overall is the efficacy and lack of side effects. It is not that the pain stops but that the mind doesn't fixate on the pain in the same way. In addition, the muscles that become tense around an area of pain can cause secondary symptoms, which then are relieved with cannabis. If someone is in pain and/or anxious, he or she often has a hard time sleeping. With cannabis, patients report that they are able to sleep better, wake up more refreshed, have less secondary depression and are able to function more efficiently the following day. Many hypnotics can only be taken at a certain time (not at 4 a.m., for example). However, having a puff of cannabis at that time will help them fall back asleep without a morning hangover."

Dr. A: "Narcotics, including heavy narcotics such as Fentanyl."

William Courtney, MD: "While the percentage of patients in my practice using cannabis for management of ADHD is small, those who have discovered its benefits are pleased that they can achieve control without having to continue to use Ritalin, etc."

Tod Mikuriya, MD: "Opioids, sedatives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and SSRI anti-depressants are commonly used in smaller amounts or discontinued. These are all drugs with serious adverse effects."

Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD: "A cannabis specialist soon becomes aware of two remarkable facts. The range of conditions that patients are treating successfully with cannabis is extremely wide; and patients get relief with the use of cannabis that they cannot achieve with any other pharmaceuticals.

"The testimonies that I hear on a daily basis from people with serious medical conditions are moving and illuminating. From many people with cancer and AIDS come reports that cannabis has saved their lives by giving them an appetite, the ability to keep down their medications, and mental ease. "No other drug works like cannabis to reduce or eliminate pain without significant adverse effects. It evidently works on parts of the brain involving short-term memory and pain centers, enabling the patient to stop dwelling on pain. Cannabis helps with muscle relaxation, and it has an anti-inflammatory action. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis stabilize with fewer and less destructive flare-ups with the regular use of cannabis.

"Other rheumatic diseases similarly show remissions. Spasticity cannot be treated any more quickly or efficiently than with cannabis, and, again, without significant adverse effects.

"Patients who suffer from migraines can reduce or omit conventional medications as their headaches become less frequent and less severe.

"About half of the patients with mood disorders find that they are adequately treated with cannabis alone while others reduce their need for other pharmaceuticals. In my opinion, there is no better drug for the treatment of anxiety disorders, brain trauma and post-concussion syndrome, ADD and ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are stabilized, usually with comfort and weight gain, while most are able to avoid use of steroids and other potent immunomodulator drugs.

"People who were formerly dependent on alcohol, opiates, amphetamines and other addictive drugs have had their lives changed when substituting with cannabis.

"Patients with end-stage renal disease on dialysis and those with transplanted kidneys show mental ease, comfort, and lack of significant graft-versus-host incompatibility reactions in my small series. "Diabetics report slightly lower and easier-to-control blood sugar levels, yet to be studied and explained.

"Sleep patterns are typically improved, with longer and deeper sleep without any hangover or significant adverse effects.

"Many patients with multiple sclerosis report that their condition has not worsened for many years while they have been using cannabis regularly. MS and other neurodegenerative diseases share the common benefits of reduced pain and muscle spasms, improved appetite, improved mood and fewer incontinence problems. Many patients with epilepsy are adequately treated with or without the use of other anticonvulsants.

"Patients with skin conditions associated with systemic disease such as psoriasis, lupus, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema all report easement and less itching when using cannabis regularly.

"Airway diseases such as asthma, sleep apnea, COPD, and chronic sinusitis deserve special mention because I encourage the use of cannabis vapor or ingested forms rather than smoking to reduce airway irritation."

Clinton: Circumcision - the answer to AIDS

2006-08-16T20:06:35Z

When my son was born and I held him for the first time, I checked him out from head to toe and found that he had a gauze over his penis. I ask the nurse what had happened to him and she said he was circumcised. What? I could not believe that a child born in a catholic hospital would ever be brutalized in that way. No one asked my permission. It was a done deal just like the umbilical cord. Later, I discovered that this practice is standard in all US hospitals.

Jesus had his prepuce (foreskin) removed, according to Jewish law, when he was 8 days old.
It is said that upon his resurrection, Jesus had his prepuce restored as he ascended "wholly into Heaven".

Michelangelo's David with prepuce

I ask, since males are born with a prepuce, there must be a reason for one and if Jesus' prepuce was restored, was it to make him whole? The prepuce that was removed from Jesus is now called the "Holy Prepuce". It is a relic sought after like the "Holy Grail". Like everything of historical value, the Italians claim to possess the Holy Prepuce. Perhaps they would like to use the DNA to rebuild the whole man or, don't laugh, to grow prepuces for future necessary transplants.

]]> It was the Greeks who first did skin grafts of the prepuce so as to be allowed admittance in a gymnasium because no circumcised boy was allowed to enter. Therefore, many young boys were left out due to the cultural and religious beliefs of their parents. Then a good doctor named Celsus decided to try to reconstruct a prepuce and he did so with success. The act is known as uncirumcision and was used very much in the Nazi era to cover up a man's Jewishness.

But now that all American males go around without a prepuce, it is hard to tell Jew from Gentile. Perhaps this is a form of camouflage.

It amazes me that in the 21st century we are hearing that those nasty prepuces have to be removed to save the world from AIDS. What? Yes, that is the latest fetish of the Clinton foundation's AIDS campaign. Cut off those foreskins and do away with AIDS.

In a speech to the International Aids conference in Toronto, Canada, Clinton speculates

". . . if, as many expect, trials show that it protects men and the women they sleep with from AIDS"

And he further speculates that:

"Should this be shown to be effective, we will have another means to prevent the spread of the disease and to save lives, and we will have a big job to do. It is important that as we leave here we all be prepared for a green light that could have a staggering impact on the male population but that will be frankly a lot of trouble to get done."

"Trouble to get done" is an understatement. Just go to Africa and ask a black man to give you his prepuce. Ha!

Science is science and religion is religion. Since there have been no completed trials on the prepuce subject, it would be wise to ignore this barbaric suggestion and put research money behind science not religious practice. Or one can simply put on a yellow arm band and sing "we are all Jewish" and save a hell of a lot of tax payer money that the Bush administration's neoconservative government is throwing at Clinton to aid his AIDS campaign.

Clinton, whose foundation negotiates cheaper prices for drugs and HIV tests in developing nations, said PEPFAR (Bush's plan for AIDS relief) has done a lot of good, despite a requirement that 33 percent of prevention funding be spent on abstinence-only programs.

"If you take out the 30 percent of the money that has to be spent on that - the other 70 percent is still a whopping amount of money and more money in federal aid than I think anybody else is getting," Clinton told a plenary session of the conference.

Great Bill, but please don't spend all that hard earned tax payers money on prepuce removal. It does not seem like the correct target.

Larry Silverstein's Towers

2006-06-26T18:44:06Z

I spent a good deal of time today looking over the latest news, especially concentrating on the seven 'home grown' terrorists story where the Sears Tower was supposedly the target of another al Qaida attack on the American Way. Sickened by the fact that Larry Silverstein is again the owner of the Tower (this time only one), I decided that things have gotten out of hand.

Larry Silverstein with his Twin Towers behind him

Not only do the New World Order cruds shit on us, now they are rubbing it in our faces. I do not believe that one rubs shit in the face of someone that they think can fight back, so I assume that the NWO cruds are convinced that they have us so well locked up that we are not able to do a thing about it. In a recent survey on CNN 84% said that they believe the US government had, at the very least, prior knowledge of the attacks. So why then do the NWO cruds not stop with their charade? I mean, the cat is out of the bag!

NWO organization chart: View image

The question is now, how do we take the power back from the control of the mad men who have been, thus far, successful in taking control around the world. According to the 'Commander in Chief', "our progress is incremental." Yes, like the warming of the water in the pot where you intend to boil your frog. The frog loves the nice warm feeling but as the heat raises, he finds he is no longer able to jump out! Is it the right moment to jump out or shall we enjoy the nice warmth of our false security for just a bit more?

]]> I do not propose a popular revolt, nor do I think such a move would be successful. The weapons are in the hands of the cruds. Yes, even our National Guard has been commandeered by the Feds so the States' have no militia to speak of. They were sent to Iraq with their equipment and those who have returned have been disarmed and the Pentagon is not acting to re-arm them any time soon. The States' National Guards and the returning Guards' units are being redeployed to the Mexican border to work under the Department of Homeland Security so as to secure the border from illegally fleeing Americans - oops, I mean, illegal aliens.

So, our options are few: protests in iron cages in 'free speech zones' or, like the French Revolution's 'Saboteur', start throwing clogs into the wheels of the machine.

There is also the possibility that one or more of our more patriotic generals does a Marcus Brutus act and subsequently exclaims "People of Rome, we are once again free!"

I would like to be appointed head of the commission to deal with the crud. I would round up the remaining crud and stick them all in Guantanamo. I would hire the Taleban as prison guards so as to make sure that these bad boys and girls didn't get their drug supplies and we can finally benefit from all the money that the US taxpayers have given the Taleban over the years to 'fight the drug trade in Afganistan'. So, break the habit now cruds or you will really suffer under the soaring heat in Guantanamo.

I myself am quite content to sit here in the cool of the office and put words into electronic digits in hopes of informing interested spirits of the perils we face.

Eminem - Bounty Hunter

2006-06-15T14:32:12Z

My once favorite rapper, Eminem - Marshall Mathers III - is set to play the role of Paladin in a modern day remake of the old western TV series, Have Gun, will Travel.

One has to ask WHY Eminem has decided to glorify the nasty profession of mercenary.

Was Shady brainwashed in the drug rehab clinic that he recently checked into to handle his addiction to pain killers? Does he know that he is doing PR work for the Neoconservatives Corporate Army? Yes, like Uncle Sam with the Army recruitment posters - 'Uncle Sam wants YOU'. But this time it is for soldiers of fortune also known as mercenaries or bounty hunters.

Slim Shady sold his soul?

The former Undersecretary of Defense and Comptroller of the Pentagon, Rabbi Dov Zakheim, says private contractors are crucial to filling the gaps left by cuts in the U.S. military that followed the end of the cold war. "[U.S.] Military operations will not succeed without contractors on the battlefield."

]]> Zakheim was one of the authors of PNAC - The Project for the New American Century and presumed mastermind behind the 911 attacks.

Providing mercenaries is a popular and growing business. The mercenaries in Iraq work for Halliburton and other mega corporations as security personnel. They also do the dirty work in the prisons such as Abu Graib. Another kind of paid soldiers are the Somali War Lords supported by the US military and intelligence agencies. They have recently been routed in the Somali capital by the Islamic Courts Union, a militia that backs the imposition of Islamic law in Somalia The US government can stand back and claim that they have nothing to do with the War Lords and whatever nasty things they have been doing has nothing to do with them.

The next big game is "securing the Mexican border". The States' National Guard units are being sent along the border as a stop gap measure while hired solders are trained up to replace the Guards and take over. What they do is their own business. After all, they are only hired through contractors like Blackwater who proclaims: "We have established a global presence and provide training and tactical solutions for the 21st century," adding, "Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multinational corporations and friendly nations from all over the globe."

What they do not say is that any good American who wants to flee to Mexico when the shit hits the fan will not be able to leave the US because the corporate mercenaries have closed it off. Martial law! No escape.
The DynCorp will be there to assure no one goes anywhare. They have lots of experience and are not choosy in who they hire to do their dirty work. The only requirement is a "warm body".

I just played "Will the real Slim Shady" by Eminem. That will be the last time I hear his sweet voice until the REAL Marshall Mathers III comes back from the deep sleep that he must be in. I did the same when Madonna changed her name to Esther and went to Jerusalem to glorify the new Judeo/Christian Fundamentalism. I only replayed her music when she returned to the living! I have not much hope for U2's Bono.

Just remember, they are not dead but have given themselves over to an unearthly power. Not my style!

Marijuana Smokers - UCLA Study

2006-05-25T15:59:52Z

Good news for smokers - marijuana smokers - that is!

Marijuana smoking does not cause lung cancer and even protects the lung from that scourge.
Senior researcher, Donald Tashkin, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles says the findings were a surprise as they expected to find that a history of heavy marijuana use would increase the risk of cancer from several years to decades after exposure to marijuana. "We expected that we would find that a history of heavy marijuana use – more than 500-1,000 uses - would increase the risk of cancer from several years to decades after exposure to marijuana", said Dr Donald Tashkin, who led the study. However, the team surprisingly found no link between use of marijuana and cancers. "We know that there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes. But we did not find any evidence for an increase in cancer risk for even heavy marijuana smoking."

US Tobacco is Radioactive

I'm not surprised about the findings as I am convinced that the tobacco grown in the USA is full of radiation and therefore causes cancer of the lungs. Not only am I convinced but the Surgeon General stated on national television in 1990 that tobacco radiation is probably responsible for 90% of tobacco-related cancer. Dr RT Ravenholt, former director of World Health Surveys at the Centers for Disease Control, has stated that "Americans are exposed to far more radiation from tobacco smoke than from any other source."

]]> There are two reasons for the tobacco grown in the USA is full of radiation. One is the fact that the major source of this radiation is phosphate fertilizer. The big tobacco companies all use chemical phosphate fertilizer, which is high in radioactive metals, year after year on the same soil. These metals build up in the soil, attach themselves to the resinous tobacco leaf and ride tobacco trichomes in tobacco smoke, gathering in small "hot spots" in the small-air passageways of the lungs. Tobacco is especially effective at absorbing radioactive elements from phosphate fertilizers, and also from naturally occurring radiation in the soil, air, and water.

The second reason is US tobacco is being grown on nuclear contaminated soil.
In a 1983 letter from the state of Tennessee to Oak Ridge officials, White Oak Lake is described as "the most radioactive lake in the country." The state asserted in its letter that the use of White Oak Lake as a settling basin for contaminants was unacceptable, and noted that the Clinch River acted as a pipeline for contaminants from White Oak Creek into the Watts Bar, Reservoir. White Oak Lake continues to be used as a settling basin for contaminants from the White Oak watershed. Take a look at a map and see where tobacco is grown and you will see that the highly contaminated Oak Ridge area is up wind from the main tobacco growing regions, which consequently are down wind and receive ground water from the mountains of Tennessee.

Here is a report of one of the many covered up nuclear reactor accident at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a link to an interesting article about other nuclear waste problems there.

Why is it that the US population suffers more lung cancer deaths than other countries? For example, Hungary has more active smokers than anywhere else in the world and has half the lung cancer than the US. They have more doctors per capita and their reporting is excellent. Japan, China and Greece are up there as well and their statistics are very low. (Japan did not grow tobacco on its soil until 1989 which saved them from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki fallout from the WW II bombings.)

The Oxford Atlas of the World, ISBN 0-19-520955-9, published in 1992, gives figures for cigarette consumption in different countries during the time period 1986-1988. The figures are in annual consumption of cigarettes per capita.

Operation Smoke Screen
Some readers may remember the first TV warnings in the 1950's of cigarettes causing cancer. The person who did the advertisements for the American Cancer Society was the famous actor, John Wayne. He said he had lung cancer due to smoking. However, it turned out that he actually contacted his cancer filming a movie on radioactive contaminated soil. Of the 220 persons who worked on The Conqueror on location in Utah in 1955, 91 had contracted cancer as of the early 1980s and 46 died of it, including stars John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and Agnes Moorehead, and director Dick Powell.
Check out one of these ventage ACS commercials by John Wayne.

The actors and crew were exposed to radioactive fallout from U.S. atom bomb tests in the area, no doubt, inhaling a fair amount of it in the process, and they later shipped 60 tons of hot dirt back to Hollywood to use on a set for retakes, thus making things even worse.

So who is fooling who? Why do the deaths from lung cancer keep increasing in the US when per capita consumption of tobacco has been declining over the past 25 years? Their song and dance now is that there is a very long incubation period and, passive smoking is used to explain the non smokers lung cancer. That means that people who don't smoke can be added to the statistics of tobacco related deaths. The cause of the raising cancer in the US is due to pollution by irresponsible corporations and covered up by a corrupt government.

Your best bet then, taking into account the latest news, is switching to marijuana for your smoking pleasure - that is if you are not already a healthy and happy user! But remember, organic is the only way to grow your own. And for you nicotine addicts, you can order non US brands over the internet or grow your own tobacco. It is easy and fun.

The Corporate Vulture

2006-05-10T16:46:40Z

Corporate America has gone global in an attempt to take over the whole world. In order to understand why and how they have done this I have a nice bit here that will help to clarify the situation.

I Can Fix Your Teeth, But It’ll Cost You An Arm And A Leg
by Mike Bohling
While our country has been busy hemorrhaging money, blood, and credibility, I’ve been busy thinking about the future. I’ve been trying to concentrate my efforts on thinking about MY future, but the future of the country keeps shoving my future aside and taking center stage.

People are unhappy with the direction in which America is headed. Some, like myself, are downright disillusioned. I don’t want to go into the details of what my ideals of America are, but I feel that her very foundation is being dismantled brick by brick right in front of my eyes. So much so, that it has become easier to count the bricks that are left than the ones missing.

]]> The United States that I grew up in was a much different place that the one I live in today. Back then, I felt confident in my security. Laying out a plan for the future was easy. I believed that if I worked hard, saved, invested wisely, and didn’t squander my money that I would someday retire and live out my final years pursuing my interests. That’s the way things worked back then. Now that I’ve passed the halfway point towards retirement, I’ve come to realize that it may not be so easy. The government that I once thought of as the Eagle that protected me has turned out to be just another appendage of the Corporate Vulture, looking to pick my bones.

Corporate America has become America, and our current crop of elected officials has completely validated my inherent mistrust of politicians. Maybe it’s always been that way, and I just didn’t notice. I guess I was distracted by too many years of the national media embarrassing itself week after week with the latest “Top News Story”. It hasn’t taken much scrutiny on my part to conclude that this country is owned and controlled by a handful of corporations, and that our politicians and lawmakers are owned and controlled by a hit squad of heartless lobbyists and attorneys employed by them. These Mega-Conglomerates have grown much bolder recently in showing their absolute control. And why shouldn’t they? It’s not as if Vultures have anything to fear from mere citizens or a handful of environmentalists and third party fantasizers.

When the President asks for our support in spreading “Freedom” to the far reaches of the globe currently occupied by evil-doers, he does so tongue in cheek. Oh, he’s trying to spread freedom alright, not individual freedom, not religious freedom, or even freedom from tyrannical leaders. The freedom that Dubya and his cronies hope to spread worldwide is corporate freedom. Freedom to extract. Freedom to exploit. Freedom to pollute. You might keep that in mind the next time you hear him describe his adversaries as “Freedom Haters”. Corporate freedom is slowly and deliberately killing off the middle class in America, and countries around the world are rightfully fearful that America’s brand of corporate freedom is about to be imposed upon them as well.

A cursory look at 2005’s legislature draws a pretty good picture of Congress completing another blockbuster year of passing laws designed to protect Corporate America from it’s traitorous citizens. From Credit Card company sponsored bankruptcy reform, to Imminent Domain, to handing out subsidies and tax breaks for the most profitable companies in the history of the world with last year’s Energy Bill, our lawmakers have made it very clear who they work for, and it ain’t you and me. They couldn’t even bring themselves to address the embarrassingly pathetic $5.15 minimum wage that hasn’t increased since 1997. Heck-of-a-job, Congress.

The soaring gas prices and obscene profits made by Big Oil seem like a natural place to spend some time ranting, so I will. Fuel prices are high, and they’re going to go higher, yet American auto manufacturers are still producing energy-flatulating SUV’s as fast as they can, and American consumers are still buying them. What’s even more amazing, is that the 12 mpg crowd actually believes that they’re being patriotic by buying these four-ton Tonka toys.

Last week, while I was pumping $16 worth of hi-test into my motorcycle, the woman at the next pump was griping about the $120 it took to fill up her brand new Lincoln Navigator. I considered informing her that all of those “Support Our Troops” magnets and flags were adding undue weight and wind resistance to her behemoth, and were probably reducing her fuel economy, but I didn’t want to cause a scene. I also didn’t think she would have been humored if I pointed out the irony of her complaining about gas prices while driving a troop carrier to the post office, so I put my helmet on and continued on with my 50 mpg camping trip without saying anything.

Upon reflection, I should have stuck around and had a long conversation with that Navigator Lady. I think I could have padded my retirement account nicely by selling her my Cheerios on the premise that they were Krispy Kreme seeds. Ah well, another opportunity lost.

And what does all of this have to do with me planning for my future? Well, everything. I can control how much gasoline I consume and how much I spend on non-essentials, but what has me in a sweat are the rapidly rising costs of things I have no control over. Things like health insurance and medical care, food, housing, electricity, natural gas, campground fees, and fishing licenses. (Okay, okay, campground fees and fishing licenses aren’t “necessities”, but without them what’s the point of planning for the future?).

In trying to plot out my retirement, I have to face the harsh reality that as fast as I can put money away, the Vultures (with the help of my government) are trying to devise more and more insidious ways to get their greedy talons on it. I’m worried that the economy will take a dump and take my retirement savings with it, and I worry that if the devaluation of the dollar continues at it’s current pace, that it will take a wheelbarrow full of social security checks to buy a loaf of bread. But, what really keeps me awake at night is worrying about how to stay healthy. Health care in the 21st century is becoming a luxury that only the wealthy will be able to afford.

Even if I have no income and nothing left to retire on, I know that I’ll manage. I’m pretty resourceful, and I don’t need much. I’ll be fine as long as I can keep from getting sick, or getting old. As I said earlier, this is not the America that I grew up in. In this new America, the middle class will be forced to make a choice between forfeiting a lifetime’s worth of accumulated assets for a two-week hospital stay, or handing it all over to the insurance companies during the course of twenty plus years of retirement. Either way, someday I am going to be faced with making the decision to eat and keep a roof over my head, or to go see a doctor and get that nasty cancer/stroke/heart attack taken care of.

Many of you reading this may be thinking that I have a rather pessimistic view of my future, and that isn’t the point that I’m trying to get across. I’m not pessimistic, in fact, the people who know me, know me as an optimist (I’m still confident that God will use my retirement plan for miracle practice). It’s just that I’ve grown very cynical through years of watching the country I grew up in slowly change from a place that held a secure future for me, into a place that seems to be working overtime from all angles trying to separate me from what I have earned.

To be truthful, it’s not even me that I’m worried about. I still have options. As I said in the first paragraph, the problems that face this country have taken center stage, they just happen to be the same problems that I face, trickled down. I have an idea or two about how I’ll deal with things on my end, but that won’t lessen the anxiety for the rest of you.

Mexico City Smoke-in

2006-05-07T19:27:55Z

Does anyone have any idea how many US citizens have joined the exodus to Canada. I really don't know but there seem to be a lot of stoners and peace loving folk that have packed up and moved across our northern border. In 2004 there were already an estimated one million. Because the situation in Washington has not improved, I believe there are a lot more now, despite the difficulty in getting a visa to stay.

The Canadian Exodus gave the Mexican government a good idea.

"What if we do like the Canadians and de-penalize the use of marijuana. We could get all those young and energetic gringos to come to Mexico. That would really make it tough for the USA to get the workers and soldiers they need so badly - grist for their grinder, let's say? That would make them really need our hard working people for their sweat shops and they may even send them off to war. A fair exchange."

But, no. Because of US pressure, the bill will not be signed into law just yet. US officials had voiced concern that the law could lead to a wave of drugs-related tourism across the border. President Fox having lost any spine he had will not sign the bill into law in its present form.

]]> After the Mexican president refused to sign the bill in its current form, 500 protesters held a marijuana smoke-in in Mexico City.
"Decriminalization does not create more users ... we have to decriminalize the discussion of decriminalization," said presidential candidate Patricia Mercado, of the Alternative Social-Democratic party.

A half-dozen Mexico City police officers confronted the protesters, but the crowd thronged around them shouting "Take us all, Take us all!" and the police quickly retreated.

So, for now the peace loving people will have to make due with Canada and hope the Mexicans jump on the next opportunity to change those pesky prohibition laws.

Mexicans: We are America!

2006-05-01T17:05:37Z

What happened to the good ol' days when a Mexican immigrant and his family where held in high esteem by a community? I remember when we had seasonal workers who would come and pick the potatoes, onions and garlic. We could hardly wait for their yearly return. What a joy. Music, dancing, singing was the pastime after a long day's work.

Yes, they lived in row houses and they had a lot of children all sleeping together. I spent a great deal of my childhood playing in those cramped quarters but boy, did we have a good time. One of the families, even settled down in our town and sent their children to school. I was thrilled as they were the only kids that liked or even knew how to dance. Freddy (Ferdinando) was my dance partner in one of the yearly Christmas presentations. Thanks to his love of music and inborn rhythm, we won first prize.

One year, a little Mexican girl with the most beautiful long black hair got it caught in a picking machine and died. The whole town mourned for her. We did not see those good people as immigrants. No way, because we were all immigrants ourselves. Our town was made up of Italians, Portuguese, some Germans and the rest were Cowboys - whereever they came from. We did not consider ourselves Americans. If someone asked me my nationality I said I was Portuguese even though I was born in the USA. The same for the Italians. In fact, I didn't know I was an American National until I took a trip to England and the man at the immigration counter asked me why I said I was Portuguese when I had an American passport and was born in the USA. How embarrassed I was to find that I had spent all those years thinking my nationality was Portuguese.

]]> I liked it like it was. America the Beautiful. A land for immigrants.
But what has happened that now those good people are considered illegal and even felons just because they are trying to better their lives by living the American Dream. Can we really punish them as if they were criminals? What crime have they committed by crossing the border? It is not murder, nor theft. The crime is not a crime that causes harm but rather it is a crime because the law says it is - Mala Prohibita - a crime that is only such because it is prohibited. That is different from the "Mala in Se" - bad in itself - and it should not be a crime nor prohibited and certainly not punishable.

I dream of the day when there will be no border control and people can live where they like and work where they find jobs. It is a degrading task to go to the immigration authorities to ask to stay in a country that you wish to make your home and have to be treated like a third class citizen. It has been my cross for over thirty years of living and traveling in Europe. I am a US citizen and I would not think to give up that honor but I must say that if I were Mexican I would never want to give up my citizenship to become an American. I wonder what Bush is thinking when he keeps going on waving that as a carrot to get the illegal mexicans to turn themselves in. What world does he live in?

Today will bring another show of force with the immigrants showing their strength by marching en masse and singing their version of the National Anthem in Spanish. I think we all should sing along.
You can listen to the "Nuestro Himno (Our Anthem)" here and practice a bit before joining the immigrants in their march. Yes!

Marc Emery - Rattling the Czar

2006-04-30T15:57:02Z

It's a good thing that Johnny Appleseed is not alive today to see what is happening with Mark "Potseed" Emery. The spreading of seeds has become a crime. At last the seed of another God given plant. I don't know who counted the seeds, but the claim is that Mark Potseed has spread more than 5 million of his seeds around the world with the majority of 3 million finding their way into the USA right under the Drug Czar's nose.

Mark Emery

The "Long arm of the law" is now trying to pull Emery out of Canada so he can be tried and executed in the USA. The man described by the American Drug Enforcement Agency as Canada's biggest trafficker and self-styled 'Prince of Pot', will face the death penalty if convicted in the US even though no one in Canada has ever been arrested for selling seeds.

Will the Drug Czar get his way or will Mark live to see drug prohibition repealed?

But what does Mark have to say for himself. He must have an excuse. Damn, 5 million seeds is a whole lot of pot.

]]> Here is a nice quote I came across in The Observer:

'I guess I've spent the last few years undermining the DEA and mocking their war on drugs. They are the ones with the guns; the only thing we had on our side was the plant. The only thing we could do to win was to spread the plant.

'I wanted to increase the number of people growing it, lower the price and spread it throughout the world. I wanted to start a self-financed capitalist revolution. A revolution through retail.'

That is what I call a "Grass" roots movement!

Rush Limbaugh's Drug Problem

2006-04-29T15:10:14Z

US radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been charged with fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs or "doctor shopping" to put it nicely. Of course he wormed his way out by making a deal with the prosecutors, who said that the charges would be dropped if he continues the drug rehab program and pays a chunk of money to off set the costs.

Now, what I am wondering is, will he have to pee in a jar in front of a witness while he is in rehab, and if so, will he suffer from "shy blander" syndrome and will he try to use his shyness to get around that pee test?
We can only hope he enjoys his treatment. He deserves it and worse.

Here is just an example of what he had to say on his radio show last week:

"The FDA says there's no -- zilch, zero, nada -- shred of medicinal value to the evil weed marijuana. This is going to be a setback to the long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking crowd." (Rush Limbaugh on his radio show, April 21, 2006).

So, no pot for AIDS and cancer patients but it is fine to go "doctor shopping" for highly addictive drugs like OxyContin also called "hillbilly heroin" to treat back pain.

With the FDA being staffed by Bush "The "Decider" with people of the same sort as Limbaugh, it is not surprising that more and more prohibition is being dealt out. However, I can't help but smile when I see someone like Rush getting caught in a trap that he helped set. Rush, being well connected and wealthy got away with what most others don't.

If you believe a woman named Wilma Cline, the nationally syndicated radio personality Rush Limbaugh would drive three miles from his $23 million Palm Beach, Fla., estate to a Denny's parking lot so that she could hand over a cigar box concealing dozens of tiny prescription painkillers. The loquacious Limbaugh, his housekeeper says, was often high on "hillbilly heroin."

]]> If Rush didn't have such a sick and distorted view on marijuana users, he could have used the good weed to curb his back pain and not had to commit fraud to attain his addictive pain killers. He could grow a nice plant, pick and dry the flowers and brew himself a fine drink for his pain. No withdrawal. So why not?
You know the answer. The New York Times calls it the "politics of pot."
Here is a nice item from the NY Times:

Editorial
The Politics of Pot

Published: April 22, 2006

The Bush administration's habit of politicizing its scientific agencies was on display again this week when the Food and Drug Administration, for no compelling reason, unexpectedly issued a brief, poorly documented statement disputing the therapeutic value of marijuana. The statement was described as a response to numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill, but its likely intent was to buttress a crackdown on people who smoke marijuana for medical purposes and to counteract state efforts to legalize the practice.

Ordinarily, when the F.D.A. addresses a thorny issue, it convenes a panel of experts who wade through the latest evidence and then render an opinion as to whether a substance is safe and effective to use. This time the agency simply issued a skimpy one-page statement asserting that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana.

That assertion is based on an evaluation by federal agencies in 2001 that justified the government's decision to tightly regulate marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. But it appears to flout the spirit of a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, a unit of the National Academy of Sciences.

The institute was appropriately cautious in its endorsement of marijuana. It said the active ingredients of marijuana appeared useful for treating pain, nausea and the severe weight loss associated with AIDS. It warned that these potential benefits were undermined by inhaling smoke that is more toxic than tobacco smoke. So marijuana smoking should be limited, it said, to those who are terminally ill or don't respond to other therapies.

Yet the F.D.A. statement, which was drafted with the help of other federal agencies that focus on drug abuse, does not allow even that much leeway. It argues that state laws permitting the smoking of marijuana with a doctor's recommendation are inconsistent with ensuring that all medications undergo rigorous scrutiny in the drug approval process.

That seems disingenuous. The government is actively discouraging relevant research, according to scientists quoted by Gardiner Harris in yesterday's Times. It's obviously easier and safer to issue a brief, dismissive statement than to back research that might undermine the administration's inflexible opposition to the medical use of marijuana.

Mayor Bloomberg's Summit on Gun Violence

2006-04-26T14:19:01Z

Michael Bloomberg and other like minded mayors have held a summit and signed a resolution to combat gun violence.

Great! I am all for combating violence of all types, including psychiatric mind altering drugs, propaganda and other forms of "shock and awe" that cause emotional stress. What amazes me is that guns are determined to be the cause of the violence. That is like saying that pens cause spelling mistakes and matches cause arson.

American as apple pie

When I was a child growing up in the Far West, we all had access to guns. My father had a closet full of guns and all of his five children, girls and boys, were taught how to shoot them and care for them in a responsible manner. We didn't have any violent crime committed with those guns and the idea of using one for violence, apart from shooting up an old beer can, never crossed our minds.

Although there is more per capita firepower in Switzerland

]]> than any place in the world, it is one of the safest places to be. To the delight of Americans who support the right to keep and bear arms, Switzerland is the proof in the pudding of the argument that guns don't cause crime.

The real problem of violent crime seems to be an increasingly violent mentality brought on by the use of mind altering psychiatric drugs.

Anyone investigating the cause of the most violent crimes in America can not help but find that all the persons involved where subjects of mind altering psychiatric drugs. Read the report "The rise in senseless violence in America" and see if it does not shine some light as to the real cause of violent gun crimes.

It seems to me that as long as we are not addressing the real cause of our problems, but allowing "authority" to point us in the wrong direction, we will never be able to solve important social problems.

Here are some little known facts regarding gun control over the last 100 years. I think that it will clarify what really is behind taking guns away from law abiding citizens.

"In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

"In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

"Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945,13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.

"China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

"Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

"Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.

"Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million 'educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated."

Defenseless people rounded up and exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million.

The next time someone talks in favor of gun control, ask them "Who Do YOU want to round up and exterminate?"

With guns, we are citizens.
Without them, we are subjects.

Kennedy urges Bush to cut his own throat

2006-04-24T16:17:34Z

There is no doubt that the US Christian Conservatives movement put Bush in the White House. Now they want him to behave as they see fit. They, the US Christian Conservatives don't want the bi-partisan measure that Kennedy crafted largely with Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Rio Grande

No, the Conservative Right wants to keep those "wet backs" swimming back and forth across the Rio Grande to work as slave laborers for little money and not be entitled to the same rights as citizens such as health insurance and overtime pay. This “disposable workforce” which is estimated at 53% of all farm workers is often migratory, uneducated and living at, or well below, the poverty line.

]]> You would think that the poor farmer who hires an illegal alien is the one who will suffer but not so. That is a load of propaganda. I was quite sickened hearing Bush speak of the poor farmer who will loose his farm because he can't find workers to work his land - unless, of course, the "slave" is controlled.
Those farms are held by powerful corporations. Between 1978 and 2002, the number of corporate-owned farms in the US increased by more than 46 percent.

American taxpayers spent a staggering $143.8 billion on farm subsidies over the past ten years, more than $104 billion of which 72 percent went to the top 10 percent of recipients--some 312,000 large farming operations, cooperatives, partnerships and corporations that collected, on average, more than $33,000 every year. No, it is not the poor farmer that Bush and his Conservative Right are worried about.

Not only does Bush tell lies but he also does not keep his promises to his supporters. He, as Kennedy urges, should settle for the bi-partisan solution. In that way he does not even have to throw in the towel.

I personally would like to see the free flow of people and goods with no restrictions but as long as we allow corporate avarice, we will have this form of prohibition. Illegal aliens made into felons for wishing to better their lot.

F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit from Marijuana

2006-04-21T09:38:52Z

The F.D.A has yet again favored the pharmaceutical cartel by declaring that Marijuana can not be used as a medicine, that there are no scientific studies that support its medical properties.

	Marinol, a synthetic version of a marijuana component, is approved to treat anorexia associated with AIDS and the nausea and vomiting associated with cancer drug therapy. Well, that is all fine and good but let's look behind the sheep's clothing and see what is under there. The maker of Marinol is Unimed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Which is directly connected to the Bush administration.
The real thing

]]> The patented, registered and approved synthetic drug is approved but the natural form of marijuana must be kept off the market as it has no scientifically proven benefit. That means that the The Food and Drug Administration statement directly contradicts a 1999 review by the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious scientific advisory agency.

Dr. John Benson, co-chair of the Institute of Medicine panel that examined the research into marijuana's effects, said that the FDA statement and the combined review by other agencies were wrong. The government "loves to ignore our report," said Benson. "They would rather it never happened."

A natural occurring substance can not be patented and therefore the pharmaceutical racket works to keep natural products off the market by criminalizing their use while their patented synthetic drug is approved though less effective than the natural substance and at a price that is even higher than if it were procured on the black market.