cannabisnews.com: A Good Day for Intolerance










  A Good Day for Intolerance

Posted by CN Staff on November 03, 2004 at 23:35:01 PT
By Mike Clark-Madison, and Jordan Smith 
Source: Austin Chronicle  

Intolerance and ignorance swept the polls Nov. 2 in both Alaska and Oregon where voters rejected bids to legalize marijuana for adult use (Alaska) and to expand existing medical marijuana law (Oregon). In Alaska, voters were asked to decide whether the state should allow adults to grow, possess, or buy marijuana – a measure that until just days before the election had failed to attract any substantial organized opposition.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, the opposition failed to coalesce until late last month, after headline news that a 16-year-old in Anchorage had been charged with first-degree murder for killing his stepmother and "dumping her in a freezer while high on marijuana." The tragedy – regardless of whether it was really related to marijuana – apparently dampened Alaskans' ordinarily robust individualism. In Oregon, a bid to expand the state's medical marijuana law met a similar fate. The measure asked voters to expand the amount of pot that medi-marijuana patients could legally possess, among other additions to the medi-pot law passed by Oregonians in 1998. Interestingly, according to the Salem Statesman Journal, critics of the proposal disagreed on the reasons for its failure. Predictably, Marion Co. Deputy District Attorney Stephen Dingle told the daily that the measure failed because voters could clearly see that the attempt to provide relief for seriously ill patients was in fact just a "front to legalize marijuana." Not so predictably, Richard P. Burke, executive director of the state's Libertarian Party told the paper that the reason the measure failed was that it "included too much government oversight" over the dispensing of medi-pot. Still, there were several bright spots in the medi-pot poll fights. In Montana, 63% of voters weighed in to approve legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, and in Ann Arbor, Mich., voters approved Proposal C, which legalizes medical marijuana as well as caps fines for marijuana possession for non-medi-pot users at $100, reports The Michigan Daily. In other ballot issues nationwide, 11 states banned (pending court challenges) same-sex marriage; Coloradans nixed the effort to split the state's electoral votes; Arizona voters approved a measure to require proof of citizenship from applicants for various state benefits; and Californians refused to amend the Golden State's draconian "three strikes" law, but gave their OK to a $3 billion fund for stem cell research. And, as of press time, voters in Houston were supporting the less extreme of two competing measures to limit the growth of the municipal budget without voter approval. Source: Austin Chronicle (TX)Author: Mike Clark-Madison, and Jordan SmithPublished: November 5, 2004Copyright: 2004 Austin Chronicle Corp.Contact: louis auschron.comWebsite: http://www.auschron.com/Related Articles:A2 Voters Pass Initiative To Legalize MMJhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19766.shtmlMedical Marijuana Approved http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19761.shtmlVoters Overwhelmingly Reject Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19764.shtml

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Comment #46 posted by FoM on November 05, 2004 at 20:50:17 PT
Hope
That was so nice. It would be great to get together particularly on that late election night or a night like tonight when we are trying to put ourselves back together. I am here where I live with the fireplace making the house nice and warm and feel that in a little time we'll be ok and get fired up again. Sometimes we just have to be sad or angry or silent or happy but what I like so much about CNews is people seem to know when to be kind. That is very important to me because only good can bring constructive change. I want to find peace even though we are in the middle of a major battle. That battle that so many have fought for is freedom. 
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Comment #45 posted by Hope on November 05, 2004 at 20:23:46 PT
and....
a brick of hash.
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Comment #44 posted by Hope on November 05, 2004 at 20:20:25 PT
a high school reunion
Wednesday evening it occurred to me that it would be a good time to be near you all. Maybe outside, with a big bonfire, coffee, and just sit around and talk and sort of find comfort in being together and on our common ground and understanding. A sort of an all night "wake", if you will. Hunter Thompson, like you, FoM, said that he felt "like somebody had died"...only there was no body.We've mentioned from time to time getting together, maybe after this is all over, to celebrate and meet each other. This time, when I thought about the sort of need to be all together with you all, not as a celebration like we used to hope for, but just to be a comfort to each other with our presence. It was a comforting feeling to know you guys were out there, and the light shining from the computer screen in this fairly dark room, was really the light from that campfire, and we were all just "being" and finding comfort in our mutual "being" and beliefs and non-beliefs, and fears and hopes...and Dr. Slider's "non-being"... :-)
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Comment #43 posted by FoM on November 05, 2004 at 20:04:13 PT
John Tyler 
Thanks again. That's what I wanted and it makes me smile and I really do appreciate it. The madness that swirls all around us doesn't have to destroy us particularly when we know that we aren't alone in how we feel. I am angry but I'm also at peace. Last night Jon Stewart said that we will get over it. He said a brick of hash and something else always helps. I don't think that's word for word but isn't that the truth. LOL!
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Comment #42 posted by John Tyler on November 05, 2004 at 19:54:42 PT
FOM
This site is like a community gathering place, a cyber solon or a neighborhood bar. Where like minds can discuss ideas important to them and the country. We have had a lot of the same experiences, decades of oppression, anti war activities, civil rights stuff, battling in the war on poverty, our desire for personal liberty, I could go on, and now bursting into the computer community. Wow, a heady experience.(pun intended). Sometimes, I wish we could have a convention or something, maybe a high school reunion. I'm rambling. Anyway, keep up the good work. We shall overcome.
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Comment #41 posted by FoM on November 05, 2004 at 19:36:32 PT
John Tyler 
Best web site! Thank you! What a compliment. I want this web site to be a place where we learn and are challenged and get active however a person feels they should. We have been thru the worst and best of times and that's why I still can get all fired up about CNews and all the good folks who post here. 
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Comment #40 posted by John Tyler on November 05, 2004 at 19:29:24 PT
Best Web site
This is the best web site. I come here every chance I get. FOM you are the best. My fellow contributors, I enjoy and am enlightened by your comments. To you folks who visit but don't comment I hope you gain something valuable from these people who share their knowledge and experience so generously.  
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Comment #39 posted by kaptinemo on November 05, 2004 at 06:16:03 PT:
Sorry, that's 'Authentic Journalists'
as opposed to the cookie-cutter corp-rat media we have Up Here.
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Comment #38 posted by kaptinemo on November 05, 2004 at 06:13:45 PT:
Some much needed morale boosting
It comes from our brethren Way Down South (as in 'el Sud') from Al Giordano and his Athentic Journalists:Now What? First, We Kill the Media
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2004/11/3/23150/3964Thanks to Baylen at D'Alliance (http://blog.drugpolicy.org/) for the link.
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Comment #37 posted by kaptinemo on November 05, 2004 at 04:42:46 PT:
What Dr. Slider said
People like us have been warning about the creeping fascism that used the DrugWar as a cover for its' expansion into the rest of the body politic. We were dismissed as being unhinged by illicit drug use to be taken seriously.So now? Now, Bush and his benighted ilk will believe they truly have a 'mandate from Heaven' to do as they please.America, welcome to our nightmare. The one you consigned us cannabists to when you allowed government to circumscribe the rights of *some* of your fellow citizens - 'for their own good', of course. Now you WILL see that it was never as precise or as controlled a process as you thought. Discrimination is like a weapon prone to hangfires; sooner or later, the trigger puller gets a case of backblast. Endanger JUST ONE person's rights, and you eventually place YOURS on the auction block. (In my head, I keep hearing John William's "The Imperial March" from Star Wars every time I see the latest news on the Tube. Recall the last movie, at almost the very end, with all the hordes of slave clone soldiers embarking their transports for a needless war that was fomented by the Dark Lord...who is also the Supreme Chancellor? The parallels are astonishing at times. The parallels for the new movie are bound to be painfully familiar...)I give this country only two years to pull out of this long dive before it crashes into full-on, overt fascism. Only two years to elect a group of progressives who can balance the Juggernaut that has just been unleashed. If the Democrats are not up to rallying around such visionaries as Kucinich, they're doomed as a party, and may as well start digging their political graves right now. And we WILL have Mussolini's 'corporatism'.
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Comment #36 posted by dr slider on November 04, 2004 at 21:39:10 PT:
The bearable lightness of non-being
While I joined in the emotional ride that was Election Day, I guess I got some Vulcan in me because I don't feel any of the letdown. So we're stuck with the devil we know (us drunks especially grok W), did anyone honestly trust that Kerry wouldn't have let us all down just like Carter? And Jimmy was nowhere near as beholden to the corp.s to whom prohib is a necessity as "JFK II". We were guaranteed skull-n-bones goin' in and skulls and bones is what we'll get. 100,000 and counting (just in Iraq) and "we" didn't even blink.To be and not to be, that is the answer.
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Comment #35 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 19:30:11 PT
rchandar 
Oh how well I know you are right. My husband and I am still really bummed out about Bush. I never thought he would get elected. If nothing more then how badly he did in the debates I thought people would realize how dumb he really is. He's not smart but thinks he is really great and is going full force ahead to do his thing and that's a dangerous combination. This article is how we feel right now. The Unbearable Darkness of Being: http://www.alternet.org/election04/20406/
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Comment #34 posted by rchandar on November 04, 2004 at 19:13:47 PT:
the next four years
It's sad......the next four years promise to be another episode--a long one--of murder, racism, and hatred--something which will be felt by all classes of Americans. We will reject and deride the values of love and the heart, and crudely advance into a newfound love of militarism and wickedness.sad. --rchandar
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Comment #33 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 17:54:59 PT
goneposthole
I liked what you said. I agree John Kerry is a very smart man. Maybe when the campaign started it would have been good if he would win but as time went by Kerry had to know that Bush's mess was going to be a big heartache. I think he will be one power to reckon with in the Senate. He has gained the respect of so many people. I don't know if he threw it but he in essence said it isn't worth fighting over and tearing this country to shreds while we are fighting Bush's war.
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Comment #32 posted by goneposthole on November 04, 2004 at 17:37:27 PT
John Kerry threw the election 
to the Republicans, George Bush and the marauding hordes that follow them.Actually, he is trying to deliver us from them. I have changed my mind about John Kerry; he's smarter than the average bear. Conceding the election has turned into a savvy move on his part. The Republicans will be held liable and accountable for all of the mess of this business of big government, military might and corporations bullying everybody and their brother. It all has to come to an end. Seems like the pipelines get set ablaze at regular intervals.Ain't nobody getting along in Iraq. If only the insurgents would sit down with the coalition forces and have a big smokeout party. A few hundred pounds of really good bud and everybody become friends. What do ya say? Fat chance of that ever happening? Roses and cakewalks it's not over there.George Bush said there would be no casualties. How can anybody be more witless and clueless than that? So unbelievably naive? Holy CowIf I were John Kerry, I would be the high-fiving with anybody and everybody I see.Let the Republicans wallow in the miserable mess they've created. The neocons are their buddies. As the old saying goes: "With friends like them, who needs enemies?" In the end, the neocons will be the only buddies they have.John Kerry did a good job losing the election. He's happy as a lark. Really, it was the only thing he could do and the wisest thing he could have done. It is more humbling than humiliating. Maybe George Bush will catch on? I hope so.
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Comment #31 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 14:39:11 PT

kaptinemo
That is a very good idea. I believe we can see some progress with marijuana issues but mostly medical marijuana issues. Slowly areas will decriminalize and it could become a non issue at some point. That's a beginning.
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Comment #30 posted by kaptinemo on November 04, 2004 at 14:15:14 PT:

The next two years are crucial
The window of freedom has been slowly closing, and none know this truth better than those subject to the reality of what drug laws do to a putatively 'free' people.Dididahdahdidit has shown us the basic time frame. Essentially, we have two years...unless the wild card of martial law is thrown in the hat; then, all bets are off.Two years. Given what reformers have accomplished in the last 5, with sufficent resources, we could take this further.But there's something that really needs to be said. Many of you here have seen what I am about to relate before, so, my apologies for being repetitive.Being a history buff, I was astonished when I heard a story of a former slave's encounter with a Union soldier during the Civil War. The former slave had bought his manumission and had remained in the South despite being treated as he was. When he saw his first Union soldier, he was reputed to have said "If I'd a-known you gun men was a -comin', I'd a-saved my money." He was willing to remain a slave and allow others to do the fighting and dying to free him.Sounds just like the attitude of entirely too many cannabists to me. Willing to fork out $400 for an ounce, but not willing to give even a quarter of that to organizations that are struggling to free us all...and incidentally reduce the price of cannabis back down to its' proper level.So, I have a question to ask you, and it's the single most important question for any cannabist, for upon it all is dependent:WHEN do you want to be free?I'll make a deal with you. Let's see how serious you are. First off, I don't work for MPP, and they don't know me from Joe Blo. But in January of 2005, I will make a one-time donation of $400 to MPP. That's slightly less than a quarter of my after-tax monthly salary. Giving it up will hurt. My monthly rent is half my monthly earnings, so you see that this isn't an easy pitch. But I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. They've been working their arses off these past two years, and have made some pretty impressive inroads. Because they've proven their worth, many times over, they'll get my hard earned moola.I'm asking that you pick your favorite organization and donate what you can. Let's wipe the perpetual sneer the antis have when they think about us off their mean faces and replace it with shock-widened eyes.I don't expect many of you will match my donation. Many who could do much better than I can probably won't. Okay. Fine. All I am asking you to think about is just how much is freedom to medicate without fear worth to you. I am always having to do without my medicine at the end of the month, and this will cut deep, but dammit, I'm sick of this crap. The time is *now*, people.If you're as weary of this insanity and sick and tired of having to live in fear, then this is as safe a way as you possibly have to make a difference without compromising your privacy, as you can just send them a blank money order and let them fill it out. I don't want a receipt. And I know it'll be put to good use.So...I challenge you. I challenge you to decide whether you will be free or not. Before that decision is irrevocably taken from our hands by those who really do equate freedom with licentiousness, and 'for our own good' seek to throttle that freedom. You don't have to risk a thing. And you have so much to gain. How about it?
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 14:08:02 PT

Hope
I'm sure that is time drug laws can be changed. The problem with me is I won't be active in reform in 15 or 20 years. Young people will need to take over and maybe it will happen. Medical Marijuana I see as an achievable goal. That has developed a strong base of people pushing to be heard. I'm really not depressed but trying to evaluate our future in our area of interest.
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Comment #28 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 13:54:21 PT

"I hope we can handle all this too." 
Of course we can. If they hunted down every one of us...terrible ole legalizers that we are...and killed us or "disappeared" us...others would rise up to take our place. A quest for rights and liberty can take a long,long time before it can be counted as successful...but it always...always eventually prevails.Doesn't it?

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Comment #27 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 13:37:24 PT

Hope
Siege posted information on another article and this is what I found. I've wondered with all the extra registrations why did Kerry lose Ohio. My father was an accountant. He tried to teach me about math. The polls showed overwhelming support for Kerry on MSNBC polls. I don't know where this administration will take us but it is a concern of mine. Back when 9-11 happened many people weren't sure if we could hang on thru it. I hope we can handle all this too. Kerry Won... http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
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Comment #26 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 13:28:06 PT

FoM
I'm so sorry, and I know you can't "just snap out of it"...my experience with depression taught me that. Distract yourself from it when you can see that no good ideas or postive results are coming from it. It just doesn't do one damn bit of good and it's a terrible drag. All in all it's just another day's troubles. There will always be troubles. It's just another day...and this is what is in it.You've "put your hand to the plow"...try not to "look back"...it makes your rows crooked.*smile*
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Comment #25 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 13:10:41 PT

afterburner
Thank you so much. My motto is CNews always is fair and unbalanced and leaning to the left! LOL!
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 13:04:05 PT

Hope
I don't think I can snap out of it. I really feel like it is going to be almost impossible particularly with drug laws. Bush is out to make people think like him and he doesn't have any interest in hearing how we feel. Maybe in time I will get some hope back but I was reading on the NY board I go to that people are feeling the same oppression I am. These are not reformers but they just feel overwhelmed by the way things will be now.
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Comment #23 posted by afterburner on November 04, 2004 at 12:57:57 PT

FoM, *Had* to Work?!?
We think that providing information about our issue in a balanced journalistic tradition/fashion and a place to join a terrific cyberherd and share in the joys and sorrows of our global struggle for freedom to partake of the medical sacrament, the sacramental medicine *is* work! Long May You Ride.
g --· 
b -··· 
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 12:54:25 PT

"We lost the only chance we had..."
FoM, I have to disagree...vehemently. Snap out of it, girl!

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Comment #21 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 12:46:57 PT

Hope
Thank you and I'll tell him. He's the one that sees and knows how hard this is sometimes. Sometimes it isn't hard but now it is really hard. I'm worried about the Supreme Court case because of Bush winning. He wants hard core religious people to rule the court. We lost the only chance we had for any hope for drug laws to ever change. They won't. Not with Bush and who he appoints. It's so depressing I can't seem to find hope. It's like he's trying to take us back way in the past and make us stop thinking that liberty is a right we have. Maybe Cannabis issues can change but I don't even know that with Bush in power.
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 12:39:45 PT

These first lines at Soros' site made me wonder
"Obviously, I am distressed at the outcome of the election. I hope, but don't trust, that the second Bush administration will have learned something from the mistakes of the first."Something about his very first statement struck me as having an FoM quality to it.But I thought, "Nah...can't be. She's too busy at CNews to have time to make billions of dollars, too." 
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Comment #19 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 12:32:08 PT

Stick
Thank you, Stick, for being so supportive to what your wife is doing. If it weren't for the "man behind the woman" CNews might not be here for us.Thank you for making it easier and even possible for FoM to do all she does.Thank you. 
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 11:32:03 PT

Hope
Thank you too. No I am not George Soros. That's really funny. I started doing news because I like doing news and now it's something I feel I must do. I feel like CNews means alot for different reasons to many people. My husband is so dear. Without his emotional and financial support I couldn't have kept going. He makes it easier for me to keep my mind on what's happening and finding news. If I had to work I wouldn't be able to do this.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 11:26:01 PT

dididadadidit and Everyone
This kind of news is scaring me to death. I don't want to be apart of a country that makes their beliefs what we all most do. That's not freedom. I don't know how almost anyone can think this is acceptable. This is not a Theocracy.Definition:A government ruled by or subject to religious authority. ***Should Democrats Get Religion?: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/04/politics/main653667.shtml
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 11:23:30 PT

FoM
Very happy for you here, too. It's good that your hard work is recognized and these stats are like a medal to your valor. Some hard work for good never gets recognized. It's good that your work at CNews is being applauded by all these stats.Way to go, FoM.You're a "Princess" (as opposed to a "Prince"). A very courageous and hard working one. (unless of course...you really are George Soros masquerading as FoM...then you're a Prince.)(My three year old grandson woke from a dream one day and excitedly told me his sister really was a princess, and that I and his mother were, too. A dream he had told him so. He was so thrilled and it was so sweet and innocent.) Thank you for all you do...and on that "special day" business...many, many more! Those stats have to be a very "special" gift.We love you.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 11:08:42 PT

Hope
I don't know. I'm sure many things make a web site grow but to pin one or two down I couldn't say. I'm very pleased though. 
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Comment #14 posted by Hope on November 04, 2004 at 11:01:30 PT

Stats
The greatest sustained increase in hits seems to have started occurring the latter part of 2002. Anyone have any idea why that increase started at that time?
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Comment #13 posted by dididadadidit on November 04, 2004 at 10:40:48 PT

Lights Out for America
To paraphase Churchill, "All over America the lights are going out...and it will be a long time before they are lit again."Kaptinemo correctly observes impeachment and removal of the Busch cabal as fully justified (and likely even more so for new crimes as they work into their second term). That cannot begin to happen until at least 2007, and even then, the Democrats would need in 2006 to take over the house, at a minimum, to effect such procedures. With Repignican control of all branches, they will cover Busch's ass regardless of his screwups. No impeachment will come from a Repig congress.As we descend into the black hole of a really dangerous brand of fascism, it is the shame of America that we have volunteered for it, in numbers far greater than Germany. The Germans never gave Hitler more than about 30% of the vote in his best election, whereas we have given Busch over 50%. God help us.The progress made on the local level and the protections of the courts are encouraging, as are the seeming developing interest in our site here. Maybe it is just the heavy election depression, but I can easily negate the good news with the possibilities that, 1 - - - Local progress will be negated by federal jackbooted thugs, 2 - - - The courts (having been packed with appropriate fascist judges) will stamp their approval on the federal jackboots, and 3 - - - the heavy visitation may be the enemy looking to better understand us in order to ferret out our vulnerabilities, the better to put an end to us.It's gonna be a tough 4 years. We're "Cheney'd"Cheers? Not today.? 
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Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on November 04, 2004 at 09:16:47 PT:

Pardon my impatience
I neglected to look at the bottom of the link.Lots of hits from Google; someone is VERY curious.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 09:16:23 PT

kaptinemo
I am amazed at that number too. Does this link help you? I don't understand most stats.http://cannabisnews.com/stats/webalizer
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Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on November 04, 2004 at 09:13:44 PT:

Wow! Almost 200K!
Amazing, isn't it? Lots of folks are showing an extraordinary degree of interest. And it stands to reason that few are actually antis. Really makes you think, huh? I don't suppose you can give a breakdown of the general sites accessing CNEWS? As in roughly *who* is showing interest?
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 07:47:08 PT

Some Excellent News
I always check CNews stats in the morning and yesterday we broke a record. So even though my heart is heavy I know that CNews is still important and that is uplifting news. Thank you everyone for making my dreams come true. We had 198,768 hits for the day.http://www.cannabisnews.com/stats
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on November 04, 2004 at 07:42:47 PT

schmeff 
Thank you so much. I turned off the tv news and I am listening to this ancient oldies channel on the satellite. Sometimes the best way to forget the sadness because of Kerry losing and Bush with us for 4 more years is to tune in to what makes us smile. 
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on November 04, 2004 at 07:32:52 PT:

Look up the word 'turgor'
Here, I'll make it easy for you:http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=turgortur·gor  ( P ) Pronunciation Key (tűrgr, -gôr)
n. 
The state of being turgid. 
Biology. The normal fullness or tension produced by the fluid content of blood vessels, capillaries, and plant or animal cells. In other words, turgor is the slow, steady force of nature that causes tree roots and blades of grass to develop such internal pressure they can buckle the strongest of foundations laid over them.That's what we possess. Slow, steady pressure, State by State. Nothing that has been done to us so far has been able to stop it. No vote machine chicanery, no illegally hidden ballots found in the desks of deceased public servants, no multimillion (or billion) dollar taxpayer funded propaganda campaigns. All have been tried against us, and we keep winning. The laxity of the antis and their flawed rush to repair their propaganda dike in Alaska shows just how unwieldy their efforts have become against their less ideologically musclebound and more agile opponents. Their organizational and personal attacks have become more fierce and pointed, when before they barely deigned to admit we existed.Like many here, I despaired on Wednesday morning. Not through any liking for Kerry; I've made my sentiments known regarding what I think of pols with hidden, secret loyalties. But I also knew something else; very soon, the open criminality and croneyism of this Administration and government in general will become so overwhelmingly obvious that even many mindlessly flag-waving, Anthem-singing Bush supporters will feel its' impact...and begin to wonder what they've done to deserve what is *bound* to happen. Namely, the further, rapid dilution of civil rights and the loss of their children being sucked into the maw of a draft needed to maintain the globalist empire. Sooner or later, it will become obvious, as it did with Nixon, that Bush and his Gang have caused too much damage to be allowed to continue as they have. There's more than enough reason to call for his and Cheney's impeachment and lawful replacement.Provided the Dems somehow simultaneously, magically develop a spine and dig their heels in. After the last 4 years, I'm certainly not holding my breath on that one.But, as for ourselves? We've known this was a long war, from the beginning. It's why, despite setbacks, we keep going. I'm proud to say no 'sunshine patriots' darken the pages of CNEWS. 
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Comment #6 posted by schmeff on November 04, 2004 at 06:54:14 PT

Happy Birthday
You know who you are...Thank you so much for all you do here. You are a treasure.Love (really!!!)schmeff
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Comment #5 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 04, 2004 at 05:56:32 PT

Next Step - State, County, and Local Laws.
The way I see it at this point, the most effective way to bring about change is at the state legislatures and major cities.State Legislators are much more sensitive about the wants and desires of the voters than Federal Legislators. When all the states decriminalize, and ultimately legalize, the federal government will have it's hands tied to change. No choice. I urge all activist to write and visit your state representatives repeatedly and often. If you state representatives don't want to "play ball" find out where else they are screwing up, and use it against them to get them booted.This will require aggression, but I for one will write and phone several times to make my opinion known on related issues when they come up. Baby steps, just a little change at a time. Fines, them warnings, and then normalization.No retreat, no surrender.Dennis
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Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on November 04, 2004 at 05:45:52 PT

Alaska is a military outpost
There is too much at stake for the US military to have a mind expanding substance available for consumption by military personnel. They might begin to think. That's bad.People murder other people while under the influence of alcohol all of the time. Why isn't there a 'hue and cry' for the prohibition of alcohol? Why? Why? Why?Lizzy Borden took an axe... it's been going on for centuries and not just in Alaska.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 04, 2004 at 05:43:03 PT

Obey. Allow people a place to grow cannabis!
Re: Police and infrared camera intrusions into your home. "The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail. Its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it, the storm may enter, the rain may enter, but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement," said 1800s' British Prime Minister William Pitt. Cont.CN ON: PUB LTE: Drug Laws A Threat To Individual Rightshttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1568/a07.html?397We are not asking permission to grow cannabis; it is being grown. If You don't like where it is being grown, help make another place available; because cannabis IS GOING TO BE GROWN! Guns, force, cages, threats, ignorance, etc. will not and have not stopped Us. And never ever will.Government can spend its last resource to stop Us and it will not work. 
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on November 04, 2004 at 04:08:14 PT

The Antis Have Objected to Our Piecemeal Approach
The say, don't change the state laws, change the federal law. But whenever we try they vote us down at the federal level. They say don't use citizen initiatives and court action, use the medical system, and yet the federal government harasses doctors who recommend med-pot or leans on state medical boards to do their dirty work. They say don't change city charters, use the state legislature, but then they bury cannabis-friendly laws in committee so that they never see the light of vote. They say don't change police priorities, just change the law, but then they float media scare stories to instill fear in the voters and the politicians. Blah-blah-blah.But take heart, fellow citizens, our piecemeal approach is working, our support is growing, our domain is increasing. The antis used the same approach to create cannabis prohibition in the first place. Cities and states passed cannabis prohibition laws using racist scare stories and lack of medical information. Harry Anslinger tried to get states to sign on to his Uniform Narcotics Act. Lacking sufficient support to pass the Uniform Narcotics Act, Anslinger flooded the media with horror stories alleging that marijuana [sic] promoted violent crime and persuaded the federal Congress and Senate to enact the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937, which was declared unconstitutional in 1969 by the US Supreme Court."In 1965, while crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, Leary's daughter was caught with marijuana. Leary took responsibility, was convicted of marijuana possession under the Marijuana Tax Act and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He appealed the case based on the argument that the Marijuana Tax Act required self-incrimination in order to comply with it, and therefore was unconstitutional. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with him, declaring the Marijuana Tax Act unconstitutional and overturning his conviction." --Erowid Timothy Leary Vault
http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/leary_timothy/leary_timothy.shtml{It is not widely known that the first laws against drugs passed in the early days of this century all excluded medical use; this was seen as the purview of the medical community, and not under federal jurisdiction. The first federal drug legislation, the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, taxed transactions rather than outlawing drugs outright. In similar fashion, the federal government used the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act of 1922 to, in effect, outlaw possession for nonmedical use. Someone found in possession of a drug without a prescription was presumed to have imported it illegally, or could be cited for a tax violation.{These roundabout means were taken because regulation of drugs was, at the time, understood to be a right granted to the states, not the federal government, under the 10th amendment. The Supreme Court in 1925 ruled in a case construing the Harrison Act that direct control of medical practice in the states is beyond the power of the Federal Government. The Harrison Act itself hung by a narrow 6-5 margin in the Supreme Court. Remember, it had taken a constitutional amendment to bring about alcohol prohibition. {Neither the Harrison Act nor the Import Export Act affected marijuana, which was only classified as a "narcotic" drug as an afterthought to the Uniform Narcotics Act (UNA), a legislative effort spearheaded by the AMA and the pharmaceutical industry in the 1920s and carried to fruition in the 1930s. Cannabis, not considered a nationwide menace, was included optionally. Its outlawing had complicated constitutional and logistic questions. Because marijuana, or hemp, was so widely cultivated across the US, nothing short of an acre-by-acre eradication program could end its nonmedical domestic use. This was seen as far afield of federal authority and capability. {However, the newly formed FBN (Federal Bureau of Narcotics), under the direction of Harry Ansliniger, had taken on the task of passing the legislation state by state (again, because it could not be done federally). When public interest wasn't strong enough to whip up support for the UNA's passage, Anslinger fanned the flames by launching a propaganda campaign against marijuana, the "assassin of youth" which would finally be put under control by the UNA....{ References:{Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure by Dan Baum (1996) Little Brown and Co., Boston.{The Marijuana Conviction: A History of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States, by Richard J. Bonnie and Charles H. Whitebread II (1974) University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.} --Osburn Defense Fund
 http://www.osburndefensefund.com/pages/komp.shtml Father of the Drug War http://www.heartbone.com/no_thugs/hja.htmUnravelling An American Dilemma: The Demonization of Marihuana http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/conspiracy.htm

Anslinger's Lies 
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Comment #1 posted by dr slider on November 04, 2004 at 00:42:55 PT:

Welcome to Coventry
It was a running criticism that, in Iraq, we couldn't possibly be trying to bring true democracy because the local majority would vote in a theocracy.While we were wringing our hands about Iraq, the propagandists were quietly scaring the hell into the lunatic fringe here at home. Low and behold we've voted in a theocracy.
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