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  Marijuana Eradication is Down But Seizures are Up

Posted by CN Staff on August 06, 2012 at 04:50:14 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Associated Press 

USA -- Federal data shows the number of live marijuana plants eradicated in outdoor and indoor grow operations has dropped in most states over the past three years, while the amount of bulk processed marijuana seized has doubled in that time. And authorities can’t pinpoint exact reasons. One thing is known: California, which provides the lion’s share of the millions of plants eradicated every year in the United States, saw a 46.5 percent drop in plants eradicated between 2010 and 2011, bringing down the nation’s overall numbers.
“You can’t attribute it to one factor,” said Casey Rettig, spokeswoman for Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco. Shifts in tactics from growers, weather patterns and budget cuts to local and state enforcement agencies have played roles in the significant decrease in eradication, DEA and local officials said. In 2010, authorities seized 10.32 million marijuana plants from outdoor and indoor growing operations, according to DEA data. By 2011, that number had dropped to 6.7 million plants — a 35 percent decrease. Those numbers are amplified by California, where 7.3 million plants were eradicated in 2010. The number dropped to 3.9 million plants in 2011, a 46-percent decline. In that same time span, 37 states saw their eradication results drop. Data for 2012 is not yet available. One of the most dramatic shifts came from Idaho, which saw its eradication results shrink by more than 98 percent between 2009 and 2011 — from 77,748 plants to just 786. Although, the Caribou County sheriff’s office reported raiding a farm in southeast Idaho with 40,000 plants this week. In order for a marijuana plant to be counted, it has to have a root structure, even if the plant is just inches tall, and be mature enough to yield the buds that contain the drug, said Doug James, DEA spokesman for the Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska region. But while the number of plants eradicated has dropped, the number of pounds of bulked processed marijuana confiscated has increased from 53,843 pounds in 2009 to 113,167 pounds in 2011, the data collected by the DEA shows. Some of this was seized along with eradications at growing locations. But DEA officials said the data also includes marijuana seized during traffic stops and other operations, and it’s hard to pinpoint where marijuana comes from. “You can’t necessarily measure what’s out there,” Rettig said. Teams of local, state and federal authorities have focused for years on finding clandestine marijuana growing operations in forests and wild lands around the country, using helicopters to search for plants hidden beneath the natural canopy. These marijuana grow operations, authorities have said, feature irrigation systems from nearby creeks and fertilizers that damage the local habitat. Authorities believe some of the growing operations are operated by branches of Mexican drug organizations using the forced labor of immigrants to tend the plants. Others are tended by locals. “On a professional level, I like to believe that we’re pushing them out of the area,” said Washington state Patrol Lt. Mark Brogan, who is in charge of narcotics investigations. Washington state saw its number of plants eradicated dip from over 600,000 to just over 325,000 between 2009 and 2011. But Brogan said lingering cool spring weather has also affected the crop over the past couple of years. “They’re growing in areas where they need very good conditions to cultivate a lot of plants,” he said. In California, Rettig said growers are switching from largescale forest farms with many plants to smaller, less visible plots where they can grow fewer, but bigger and higher yielding plants. There has been a change in where these plots are grown, too, with many operations moving to the agricultural region of the Central Valley, Rettig added. “Most of the smart people moved down ... and a lot of them decentralized their gardens where it’s less likely to be seen and eradicated,” said Dale Gieringer of the California chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates for legalization of marijuana. Gieringer said street prices for marijuana have dipped recently, which suggests that there is plenty of it to go around, despite the DEA’s efforts. “I would argue that, in large part, many of these formerly outdoor grows have moved indoors,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML. That marijuana “commands a higher price in the market. There seems to be greater preference for indoor grown versus outdoor grown. It could be simple market forces at work.” Budget cuts to California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting are also a factor, Rettig said. Recently, articles in the magazine GQ and the online magazine Daily Beast suggested that the Obama Administration is changing its priorities on marijuana enforcement. The Daily Beast pointed to cuts to the National Guard program that provides helicopters for marijuana searches. Rettig said the DEA’s priorities have not changed, and that they do not expect budget cuts.Source: Associated Press (Wire)Published:  August 6, 2012 Copyright: 2012 The Associated PressCannabisNews  -- Cannabis  Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 

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Comment #25 posted by afterburner on August 20, 2012 at 05:28:50 PT
Peace Caravan
Drug War 'Peace Caravan' Woos Hollywood.
By AFP - Friday, August 17 2012. 
Follow: Drug Cartels,
 DRUG WAR,
 international,
 March,
 mexico,
 Peace Caravan,
 protest,
 USA,
 violence.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2012/08/17/Drug-War-Peace-Caravan-Woos-Hollywood
- Read the entire article at Google News.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hJmScGLM9zXbEMruUc8tm3VMPOJg?docId=CNG.d1448e83ee1487fedd890a513b63af03.a1 
"Participants will head east along the US-Mexico border for over 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles), with stops in Santa Fe, El Paso, Houston, Montgomery, New Orleans, Chicago and New York before ending their journey in Washington on September 10."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #24 posted by FoM on August 19, 2012 at 17:10:12 PT
afterburner
You said: The great peril for our country is to follow the strong man bullies who take advantage of a crisis to restrict our freedoms and eliminate our jobs. I have seen this dynamic at work whenever conservatives take over governments: Mike Harris in Ontario, Steven Harper in Canada, Ronald Reagan in the U.S., Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Rick Snyder in Michigan. They are masters of bait-and-switch. They run on a platform of fiscal responsibility and job creation, but attack labor rights, women's rights and social programs when they get into power. Beware! ***I totally agree with you.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #23 posted by Hope on August 19, 2012 at 14:48:19 PT
Aaarrrgggh!
:0(Politics!!!
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #22 posted by afterburner on August 19, 2012 at 13:51:31 PT
Breathe in & Hope
John Denver - Starwood in Aspen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3myU0bGRK1Y
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #21 posted by afterburner on August 19, 2012 at 13:28:58 PT
Hope #20 
"What do you mean? 
'...the great peril or the great discovery.'"
 
The Chinese word for crisis is also the word for opportunity. It's a matter of attitude. With fear (peril), we get crisis which is a time to be exploited by conservative action . With opportunity (discovery), we get the chance to look for new ideas and forge better solutions. 
The great peril for our country is to follow the strong man bullies who take advantage of a crisis to restrict our freedoms and eliminate our jobs. I have seen this dynamic at work whenever conservatives take over governments: Mike Harris in Ontario, Steven Harper in Canada, Ronald Reagan in the U.S., Scott Walker in Wisconsin, Rick Snyder in Michigan. They are masters of bait-and-switch. They run on a platform of fiscal responsibility and job creation, but attack labor rights, women's rights and social programs when they get into power. Beware! Medicare Myths, Debunked.
Paul Waldman.
August 16, 2012.
Both the Obama and Romney campaigns say the other is trying to destroy Medicare. They can't both be right.
http://prospect.org/article/medicare-myths-debunked
About the Author:
Paul Waldman is a contributing editor for the Prospect and the author of Being Right is Not Enough: What Progressives Must Learn From Conservative Success.[Scroll down]
Check the video about Mitt & Ryan's plan to privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.Harper wants to remove the right of medical cannabis patients to grow their own medicine. Will Mitt Romney, who does not believe in nor support medical cannabis, allow the state medical cannabis programs to grow and prosper? Will Mitt turn medical cannabis over to Big Pharma for expensive pills available to the few? 
The great discovery is that if we cool down our anger and look for intelligent solutions, we can build a cleaner world with abundant jobs. If governments admit that their deadend programs have failed and search for new ideas, we can make positive changes that will help everyone in society.visions. AlterNet / By Elizabeth Wehling, George Lakoff. 154 COMMENTS. Obama v. Romney: Two Radically Different Visions Of America's Future. We've got a stark choice: do we improve the systems that have made us rich and powerful in the past? Or do we tear them down in the name of "freedom," and hope for the best? Photo Credit: Todd Benson. August 1, 2012 | America is divided about its future. Should it keep and expand the system that brought past opportunity, prosperity and freedom? Or should it dismantle that system? http://www.alternet.org/visions/obama-v-romney-two-radically-different-visions-americas-future?akid=9168.313040.qvvng7&rd=1&src=newsletter687370&t=8&paging=offbooks. AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe. 92 COMMENTS. Timothy Noah: Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Middle Class Is Disappearing. In his new book "The Great Divergence," Noah digs into the causes of America's rapidly increasing inequality. In this interview, he talks to AlterNet about what he found. August 1, 2012 | The “Great Divergence” is a term coined by Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman to describe the trend, over the past 30 years or so, of skyrocketing income inequality in the United States -- of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and the middle class growing ever narrower. http://www.alternet.org/books/timothy-noah-why-rich-are-getting-richer-and-middle-class-disappearing?akid=9168.313040.qvvng7&rd=1&src=newsletter687370&t=1&paging=off
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #20 posted by Hope on August 18, 2012 at 15:22:38 PT
What do you mean?
"...the great peril or the great discovery."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #19 posted by afterburner on August 18, 2012 at 01:00:47 PT
That's the Draft -- It's Like a Seed
I and maybe others will continue to summarize it over the next few months as our country faces the great peril or the great discovery.It grew when Mitt announced Ryan, both puppets of Grover Norquist's forever pledge. Listen to some of the reactions over at Huffington:{
Labor Party
.733 Fans
. 10 minutes ago ( 2:30 AM) 
The Ryan Plan appears to be just as toxic to those 55 and over as it is for those under that age.
 
I get a hoot out of conservatives that try to distract with re-directing to jobs that they ALREADY ran on in 2010 and FAILED TO DELIVER ON. (including the Presidents Jobs Bill)
 
Where are those jobs Boehner? You and your TP colleges have held the country hostage, got our credit rating downgraded and most of all FAILED!
 
This is what a dirt low Bagger House promised before...........ANYONE BELIEVE THEM THIS TIME? 
}{wittyprof
 If you're going to snark, learn to spell. .668 Fans
. 59 seconds ago ( 2:38 AM) 
Note to Romney: The US is not a failing corporation open for you to gut, Bain-style.
 
Our public lands, our public employees, our schools, and our futures are not yours for profit. 
} http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/17/us-house-elections-2012_n_1791650.html?1345216211John Denver Poems Prayers and Promises 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLbaRoh9wR8&feature=relatedego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.God bless.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #18 posted by Hope on August 17, 2012 at 23:38:43 PT
Dang.... Afterburner.
No wonder I couldn't get my chemically singed brain to wrap around all that. I can barely grasp the condensed version!That was a job boiling it all down that much. Thank you. I hate that you had to go to much trouble. I can better understand what you were trying to get across in your post and references, though. Thank you. I appreciate understanding what you were trying to say better. Not completely. Just better.Thanks.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #17 posted by FoM on August 17, 2012 at 07:18:41 PT
Off Topic: Twisted Road
Thank you Neil. We can't wait to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse in Pittsburgh in October. This is a good bootleg of the one new song.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pseqJsR3g2w
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #16 posted by afterburner on August 16, 2012 at 23:26:28 PT
Too Much of this Nix-Up
The cold dead hand of Nixon still controls U.S. federal Drug Policy. Nixon refused the recommendations of the Shafer Commission and ramped up the Drug War on Cannabis 
by forcing the 1970 Controlled Substances Act through Congress with Cannabis & Hemp as Schedule 1. Nixon also codified the entrenchment of his policy internationally 
by promoting the UN Single Convention, twisting the arms of allies to sign the treaty internationally and setting it in stone.The cold dead hand of Reagan still controls the U.S. economy. Reagan's advisor Grover Norquist has continued as a lobbyist to browbeat Rebublican elected officials 
into signing the Norquist Pledge never to raise taxes.Some might call these their Legacy (gift), but I call them their Hegemony (domination).Grover Norquist Quotes:
My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.
Grover Norquist.
Read more at 
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/grovernorq182534.htmlOur goal is to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub. 
Grover Norquist. 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/grovernorq395105.htmlNovember 20, 2011 7:32 PM. 
The Pledge: Grover Norquist's hold on the GOP.
comments: 1
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57327816/the-pledge-grover-norquists-hold-on-the-gop/What is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?
http://www.atr.org/taxpayer-protection-pledgeWisconsin Representative Paul Ryan signed it. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed it. Ohio Governor Kasich signed it. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski signed it (no 
surprise). Arizona Senator John McCain signed it. California Representative Dana Rohrabacher signed it. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul Signed it. Ohio Representatives Bob Latta & John Boehner signed it. Oregon Representative Greg Walden signed it. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch signed it. Texas Senator Ron Paul signed it. Texas Governor Rick 
Perry signed it. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette signed it.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/State%20Taxpayer%20Protection%20Pledge%20List_CURRENT_2012%288%29.pdf
http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/081012-federalpledgesigners.pdfSee for yourself if your Representative, Senator or Governor signed it.Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson signed it. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney signed it.:"Santorum is the third GOP presidential hopeful to sign the Pledge this election cycle, joining former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain and former New Mexico 
Governor Gary Johnson. "In 2008 Governor Mitt Romney was the first prominent candidate to sign the pledge..."
Santorum Signs ATR Pledge.
By Jared Edgerton, Contributing Writer.
http://www.politicspa.com/santorum-signs-atr-pledge/25185/The Norquist Pledge has tied the hands and votes of most Replublican politicians. The federal deficit rose under GW Bush because of tax cuts to the rich and two unfunded wars. GWB gave unrestricted funds to "too big to fail" banks as economic stimulus to ameliorate the 2008 Recession, caused by the neo-con policies of deregulation and trickle down economics which led to financial manipulation by mortgage brokers and mortgage-backed junk derivatives. When the Tea Party rose in 2010, they attacked Obama's stimulus plan which added additional funds and guarantees to the banks. They refused to fund many progams or to raise taxes, even blackmailing Obama into extending the temporary tax cut to the rich. Then, the Tea Party attacked the deficit and the debt at a time when their actions could only keep the economy from recovering. The Tea-Republican Representatives played chicken with the Debt limit and got Uncle Sam's Triple-A credit rating downgraded.The Tea-publicans are planning their conquest of the USA, cutting more wages, jobs and rights. The want to resurrect unrestrained capitalist greed for the benefit of 
the 1% (investors, owners). Big Brother bullies with no sense of history plan to allow another bubble and repeat the same transfer of wealth ponzi schemes that caused the current recession. 
Mitt Romney does not even believe in or support medical cannabis. When he is asked a question about medical cannabis on the campaign trail he belittles the reporter and dismisses the question as insignificant. When asked in an earlier campaign by a medical cannabis patient in a wheelchair if he, Romney, would arrest him for using his medical cannabis, Romney said nothing, 
turned his back and walked away.GOP lawmakers want out of tax pledge.
By Russell Berman and Bernie Becker - 11/09/11 06:00 AM ET 
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/192529-house-gop-lawmakers-want-out-of-tax-pledge12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan.
By Igor Volsky on Aug 11, 2012 at 8:27 am
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/08/11/677171/12-things-you-should-know-about-vice-presidential-candidate-paul-ryan/?mobile=ncPaul Ryan VP Full Acceptance Speech, "If you have a small Business, You Did Build That!" 
Published on Aug 11, 2012 by MichaelSavage4Prez.
Saturday, August 11, 2012 --- Paul Ryan Confirmed as Romney's VP Choice (Full Speech)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrRBXKgAxSsYou didn't build the roads, bridges and Internet that provide transportation and communication for your business, so unless you are an off-shore investor who employees only people in foreign lands by contract, you had help from the general U.S. public investment that a "drowned in the bathtub" government could not provide. 
Paul Ryan, you signed a pledge with Grover Norquist, and he considers you honor-bound to follow his orders. Is this acceptable influence over a man potentially within a heart beat of the Presidency? "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the 
governed." Declaration of Independence
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/freedom/doi/text.htmlPaul Ryan also said, "Our rights come from nature and God, not the government." The Declaration of Independence states that we "are endowed by [our] Creator with 
certain unalienable rights." Our founding fathers felt it necessary to define and restrict the powers of the federal government, and to preserve citizens' rights by 
establishing the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Are you unwilling to swear your oath of office to defend and protect the U.S. Constitution, that long-standing 
compact with the American people?Mitt Romney, you too signed this pledge with Grover Norquist. Are you willing to follow this unelected citizen if his demands undermine your sworn oath to uphold the 
Constitution of the United States of America? Seriously, Grover Norquist, are you an anarchist with only business to guide you? Are you a traitor to the nation? Gary Johnson and Ron Paul signed the Norquist pledge. Are you willing to let Grover Norquist override your Constitutional responsibility to your constituents to promote the general Welfare of the nation? THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
(Preamble) 
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
http://constitutionus.com/261 COMMENTS.
Romney's Veep Pick: Paul Ryan, Koch Ally and 'Right-Wing Social Engineer'.
In making the risky choice of picking Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney seals the deal on the Koch brothers' takeover of the Republican Party.
AlterNet / By Adele M. Stan.
Posted at August 11, 2012, 2:12am
http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/romneys-veep-pick-paul-ryan-koch-ally-and-right-wing-social-engineer?akid=9203.313040.JeXHx6&rd=1&src=newsletter691462&t=861 COMMENTS.
A Few Things To Know After the Ryan Announcement.
AlterNet / By Sarah Seltzer.
Posted at August 11, 2012, 8:31am
http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/few-things-know-after-ryan-announcementTHE HOLLIES - He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1KtScrqtbc
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #15 posted by afterburner on August 16, 2012 at 22:50:06 PT
Hope for the Future Is in our Hands
The tread that ties all that complicated stuff together is a false morality that says, "My way or the highway," "There's only one road, the free market," "Drugs are bad, mmmkay," "Our religion is right; all others are wrong." The murder of 6 Sikh worshippers in their temple by a white-supremist is evidence of increasing intolerance for Freedom of Religion, part of Amendment 1 of the Bill of Rights. My heart was troubled by this brutal slaughter of innocent worshippers in the temple of a faith protected by Freedom of Religion and having no connection to radical Islam of the terrorists.For 100 years, the Drug War, starting with the Opium Act, has been racially profiling and treating health victims as criminals. Before the Opium Act, opiate patients 
were seeking relief from pain. Suddenly overnight, they became federal and international criminals, viewed as moral degenerates. Laws intended to stop "The Pusher," 
instead ensnared end users, addicted to opiates and turning to the new black market for relief. We see this drama played out everytime a new addictive or non-addictive drug is added to government enforcement lists. Cannabis had a long history of medical use before 1937's "Marihuana Tax Act," which profiled Mexicans. Instead of letting the doctor-patient relationship control medical treatment, pain control and/or addiction, the Nations and States turned to a criminal model, 
substituting the police and the courts for the role of doctor. Unsupervised addicts, trying to pay black market prices often turned to crime, as thieves or end-supply 
chain pushers, to pay for their medicine. Without doctor supervision, the use of opiates and other banned drugs got further removed from their original medical uses as 
some rogue users sought "cheap thrills." The 1970's Controlled Substances Act enshrined the false morality approach establishing a punishment model: drugs are banned, the DEA will enforce the ban, doctors 
will be closely watched, again driving patients and addicts to the street where black market businessmen ask few questions, do not provide quality control, and enforce 
payment with street violence. The US federal government is stuffed with drug war believers, so that federal agencies, supposedly under the direction of Congress or The 
Exceutive, go rogue and continue to pursue their false morality beliefs. Daryl Gates promoted the idea that all (illegal) drug-users should to executed. Congress is 
tainted with campaign donations from Big Pill, Big Drink & Big Jail (private corporations, publically held) which led to entrenchment of Drug War bureaucracy."In the early 1970s, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared, 'there is no alternative,' to economic prescriptions to help liberalize the marketplace and 
expand trade. This approach came to be known as globalization." 30-40 years of neo-conservative "free market" economics promised a world of prosperity for all, ignored history, and failed to deliver on their promises. This unstable free market dogma led to the 2008 Global Recession/Depression. Instead of debt forgiveness to home 
owners in trouble, massive cash was given to "Too Big to Fail" banks, who did not ease credit, but used the taxpayer-supplied funds to pay more bonuses to the market 
trader/manipulators who caused the meltdown. This is where the false morality pops up: instead of letting the banks fail or prosecuting shady traders, the victims of the scam, the home owners, were blamed for their plight. They were the immoral ones and deserved to be punished, so the Tea Party Republicans preached in 2010 election and are still saying today in the run-up to the 2012 election. The Tea Party Republicans, who now control the US House of Representatives and many state legislatures, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, are intent on punishing citizens, labor, and women, to name a few. The neo-cons have only one theory, the unfettered Free Market, which displaces individual national good citizen rights. Even though their 30-40 year experiment led to the 2008 Global Recression/Depression, two years later in 2010, they were back as the Tea Party pushing the same theory.The US Federal bureaucrats and most of the Senators and Congressional Representatives have only one theory, the Drug War. Likewise, most local Chiefs-of-Police. So, 
when Obama looks for the "change we can believe in," he finds that his advisors all follow their 100 years training in the Drug War theory. Plus, the "shellacking" 
that the Big Oil-funded Tea Party Representatives gave Obama in the 2010 election seems to have made him feel that he was moving too far and too fast on drug war 
reform. However, the over-the-top unprecedented crackdown on medical cannabis has annoyed many reformers, some drifting to other candidates. Too far and too fast on 
the medical cannabis crackdown, Mr. President. You are alienating your base!Economy - one theory: unfettered Free Market, eventhough it led to the 2008 Global Recession/Depression.Drug Control - one theory: the Drug War and DEA/local police enforcement, courts, fine, prisons and probation.There has been no acknowledgement of failure in either campaign, no search for new ideas. The Drug War gets only marginally-reduced funding while schools, infrastructure and medical treatment get threatened.President Obama made it clear in a recent speech that we face a choice between two different futures.
Because of relection concerns, citizen anger, and the 2008 meltdown we are in the crises between two eras. Will we choose the dumb government approach of electing 
bullies to demean, intimidate and belittle us? Will we choose smart government approach of renewing crumbling infrastructure, promoting healthy employees and 
resisting the wholesale destruction of US government and on-shore businesses and their national workforce? Will we the voters of the nation rush headlong into the abyss in fear and anger (crisis reaction)? Will we admit the failure of one-way dogma and embrace viseral changes that expand diversity and encourage new solutions to current problems (new era preparation)?...to be continued...
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #14 posted by Hope on August 12, 2012 at 21:10:06 PT
Afterburner
Again... thanks. I'm sorry it's making you have to do go to so much trouble. But I do appreciate it.I used to could work at something I couldn't quite grasp easily. That's harder than it used to be. Seems impossible sometimes now.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #13 posted by afterburner on August 12, 2012 at 11:31:15 PT
Hope #11
I had a rough draft typed and was summarizing it. Yesterday, just before I went to work, a special news bulletin came on announcing the selection of Tea Party favorite Paul Ryan as Republican GOP VP candidate. Having heard and read his previous outrageous statements about the economy and listening to his well-rehearsed and misleading promises in his acceptance speech, I realized that his beliefs and record had to be considered in answering your original question. I am still working on a fusion of my rough draft with a response to Paul Ryan's candidacy, freedom of religion, and the Mayan prophesy of a new era starting Dec. 21, 2012.I have to start getting ready for work again soon, so my answer will take a little longer than I expected. I will post as soon as I have time to finish my plain-talk summary.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #11 posted by Hope on August 11, 2012 at 23:20:54 PT

Thanks, Afterburner.
I appreciate it. 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #10 posted by afterburner on August 11, 2012 at 07:13:12 PT

Hope #9
I'm turning it over in my mind & boiling it down. If I'm not too busy at work today, I'll post the plain-talk summary. Otherwise, I'll post it tonight. I have a mental outline but I'm getting ready for work now, with no time to flesh it out yet.
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #9 posted by Hope on August 10, 2012 at 20:45:07 PT

Afterburner
I wrote a response to your post early this morning... but apparently I didn't get it all the way to posted before I got called away.... since it's not here.There's a bit of problem with my brain. Aaargh. I can not comprehend what you are trying to tell me from these stories. Explain please for the simple minded. 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #8 posted by afterburner on August 10, 2012 at 06:02:14 PT

Hope #3
"Something is so amok. What and who seems to be forcing some fairly sensible people to act like there is a reason to keep cannabis against the law and a reason to punish people and imprison people like they do over it?"See comment #7 [RE: The Big Economic problem that's controlling governments & their responses to social problems, like cannabis prohibition - 2008 recession]: 
John Ralston Saul: The Collapse of Globalism [27:33]. Published on Aug 7, 2012 by AgendaStevePaikin.
In the early 1970s, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared, "there is no alternative," to economic prescriptions to help liberalize the marketplace and expand trade. This approach came to be known as globalization. Rising to fill the vacancy left after 45 years of Keynesianism, it made many promises, which John Ralston Saul says, have all failed. He sits down with Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss his book, "The Collapse of Globalism and The Reinvention of the World."
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90UAEtt0ta8&feature=plcp[Part 2 - hope for positive change]:John Ralston Saul: Moving Beyond Globalism (Symptoms of Global Disease & Rethinking Growth) [27:36]. 
Published on Aug 8, 2012 by AgendaStevePaikin.
What caused the economic crisis of 2008? Financial foul play? Bonus-blinded bankers? Unadulterated greed? According to John Ralston Saul, the financial crisis was a symptom of a much deeper problem. He sits down with Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss what he says are outdated ideas of growth and wealth creation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F58AkoeSpn0&feature=relmfuWith respect to cannabis prohibition, governments must admit that their present approach is not working and begin to search for new ideas. This has been happening at the state level in the USA and in many European and South American nations. We're still waiting, Uncle Sam!!!
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Comment #7 posted by afterburner on August 09, 2012 at 10:52:41 PT

WoW!
John Ralston Saul: The Collapse of Globalism [27:33].
AgendaStevePaikin 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90UAEtt0ta8&feature=plcpGovernments print money, take-on bad debts of the failed banks. Then, governments are criticized for being in debt and austerity is promoted. Then, education, infrastructure spending, social security are attacked. Never in 2600 years has austerity led to prosperity. Economics saying: "You can't push on a string."Saul in 1995: "I actually think that globalism is over, that we're now in the post-globalist era. ... When eras come to an end, you go into a vaccum. These vacuums are either very dangerous or opportunities. In order to be an opportunity, the people in charge must admit failure. ... This thoery doesn't work so what are we going to do now?"Sound familiar? Many people - citizens, pundits and politicians - are saying the War on Drugs is a failure, but it lumbers on. Will the brave continue to admit failure until it reaches a vacuum and search for alternative reaches critical mass? I think so!
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on August 08, 2012 at 09:25:55 PT

 How Long Do You Fight a War That Cannot Be Won? 
How Long Do You Fight a War That Cannot Be Won?
Tuesday, August 7 2012.
Follow:  Editorial,  Lawrence O'Donnell,  media,  MSNBC.
POT TV - MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell gives an impassioned editorial speech about the futility of the War on Drugs and asks, "How long do you fight a war that cannot be won?"
http://www.pot.tv/video/2012/08/07/How-Long-Do-You-Fight-War-Cannot-Be-Won
[2 good comments, so far]Mitt Romney: Medical Marijuana Not 'Issue of Significance', Is a 'State Issue'.
By Zach Rosenberg, Kush Magazine - Friday, May 11 2012.
Follow:   2012 Presidential Race,  interview,  Medical Marijuana,  Mitt Romney,  USA.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2012/05/11/Mitt-Romney-Medical-Marijuana-Not-Issue-Significance-State-Issue
[Remember in November!]North Dakota Likely to Debate Medical Marijuana Proposal.
By CBS News - Tuesday, August 7 2012.
Follow:   Al Jaeger,  Medical Marijuana,  North Dakota,  North Dakotans for Compassionate Care,  petition,  USA.
{
North Dakota voters are likely to have a chance this fall to decide whether marijuana may be used legally as a pain reliever, an option the Legislature has never addressed and that South Dakotans have rejected twice.Supporters of medical marijuana have been circulating a citizen initiative to put the issue on the November ballot. On Monday, Dave Schwartz, campaign director for a pro-medical marijuana group called North Dakotans for Compassionate Care, delivered petitions that he said contained about 20,000 signatures to North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger's office.The petitions need about 13,500 signatures from North Dakota voters for the initiative to qualify for a vote. Jaeger has about a month to review the petitions and decide whether they are valid. }
- Read the entire article at CBS News.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57488076/nd-likely-to-debate-medical-marijuana-proposal//Phelps Breaks Olympic Medal Record - Can We Celebrate Now?
By Ellen Komp, Cannabis Culture - Thursday, August 2 2012.
Follow:  Arts & Entertainment,  celebrities,  Michael Phelps,  smoking,  Sports.
http://www.cannabisculture.com/content/2012/08/02/Phelps-Breaks-Olympic-Medal-Record-Can-We-Celebrate-NowCasting Stoners
http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=1175072
[Great, compassionate stuff from DdC.]

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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on August 07, 2012 at 12:59:45 PT

Hope #3
"Something is so amok. What and who seems to be forcing some fairly sensible people to act like there is a reason to keep cannabis against the law and a reason to punish people and imprison people like they do over it?"Here are a few general discussions on religion, the economy and the future. They show how split the public is and why many people tend to see opponents as evil-doers:visions. 
Religion Dispatches / By Frederick Clarkson.
46 COMMENTS.
Right-Wing Rhetoric Heats Up, As Talk of Nazis Enters the Conversation.
The religious right is talking about a revolution -- and using World War II to make their case.
Photo Credit: Brian Leon.
August 1, 2012 | In March of this year, Eric Metaxas, author of a bestselling biography of the anti-Nazi German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer gave a presentation about his book to a small audience at a bookstore near the White House in Washington DC. [new paragraph]
Probably few who gathered to hear Bonhoeffer’s latest biographer expected to be asked to imagine themselves called by God to rise up against a regime that might be as heinous as the Third Reich—but as it turns out Metaxas is not unique among religious-right intellectuals in his use of the language of armed revolt. 
http://www.alternet.org/visions/right-wing-rhetoric-heats-talk-nazis-enters-conversation?akid=9168.313040.qvvng7&rd=1&src=newsletter687370&t=12&paging=offvisions. 
AlterNet / By Elizabeth Wehling, George Lakoff.
154 COMMENTS.
Obama v. Romney: Two Radically Different Visions Of America's Future.
We've got a stark choice: do we improve the systems that have made us rich and powerful in the past? Or do we tear them down in the name of "freedom," and hope for the best?
Photo Credit: Todd Benson.
August 1, 2012 | America is divided about its future. Should it keep and expand the system that brought past opportunity, prosperity and freedom? Or should it dismantle that system?
http://www.alternet.org/visions/obama-v-romney-two-radically-different-visions-americas-future?akid=9168.313040.qvvng7&rd=1&src=newsletter687370&t=8&paging=offbooks. 
AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe.
92 COMMENTS.
Timothy Noah: Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Middle Class Is Disappearing.
In his new book "The Great Divergence," Noah digs into the causes of America's rapidly increasing inequality. In this interview, he talks to AlterNet about what he found.
August 1, 2012 | The “Great Divergence” is a term coined by Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman to describe the trend, over the past 30 years or so, of skyrocketing income inequality in the United States -- of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and the middle class growing ever narrower.
http://www.alternet.org/books/timothy-noah-why-rich-are-getting-richer-and-middle-class-disappearing?akid=9168.313040.qvvng7&rd=1&src=newsletter687370&t=1&paging=offMore later.

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Comment #4 posted by ekim on August 06, 2012 at 15:27:22 PT

you have to hand it to em
to convince all most every elected lawmaker -- no matertea bagger or lefty makes no difference --to show how our national resource is being systematicallydestroyed try telling that to a oil man -- or a fisher man-or a lumber man--or a coal man--but listen to a farm manhell no.ck out the gop states being robbed of the future for it kids.where is the outrage at the feds -- not a peep
and the dems been just as sorry.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on August 06, 2012 at 12:22:11 PT

ekim, Sam and something Runruff said the other day
Ekim's article showed where legislators saw what was happened... but no one listened to them. All this money wasted on a fool's errand. Why? Why do they keep doing it, knowing it's all wrong and even unjust? Why?I expect what Runruff said is, hideously, a part of it. "Barry got schooled." That's not just paranoia. Something happened to make a man like the President, who should know better... take a stand against the people trying to end an injustice. A terrible injustice. Not a little injustice. A big injustice. A nasty, cruel, ungodly injustice and a deadly injustice.When I think of the lives lost and the resources wasted... it's beyond sickening. It's bad and why are so many people participating in and supporting it?And I wonder, what was it that was said, that was understood, that ended, more or less, killing our family and neighbors for practicing witchcraft. I even fear that maybe that superstitious fear of "witches" is still going on to some extent in a convoluted way through the "wars" and eradication efforts on "drugs" and "drug users and pushers". There are people, I know, that equate medicine, drugs and drug use... even herbs... with the practice of witchcraft and in their minds it's an affront to their perception of God. Something is so amok. What and who seems to be forcing some fairly sensible people to act like there is a reason to keep cannabis against the law and a reason to punish people and imprison people like they do over it? Whatever it is... and maybe it is totally greed, fear, and hatred.... whatever it is, is bad. Really bad.
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Comment #2 posted by ekim on August 06, 2012 at 08:54:34 PT

you have that right
http://hempology.org/CURRENT%20HISTORY/1996%20DEARADICATION.html
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on August 06, 2012 at 04:56:03 PT

hemp
I've read that most of these "eradicated" plants are actually ditchweed hemp in the midwest. Surelty this is one of the most wasteful and needless boondoggles in history!

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