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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070713.html
why am i not in new york?
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| Don't believe the DEA should be targeting terminally-ill patients whose only relief is medical marijuana, recommended to them by doctors and proven by countless scientific studies to be beneficial to persons suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, and numerous other illnesses? Me either.
Do something about it. | | |
| Here are the parallels I am envisioning to school policies prohibiting students from any speech that promotes drug use (see Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick, better known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, here at number 68):
-disciplining couples who make out in the hallways. justification: could lead towards sex, which can give you STDs or cause pregnancy, and is engaging in risky behavior.
-suspending a kid for telling his friends he thinks riding a bike without a helmet is cool.
Drugs may be risky behavior, but I really don't see the reason for punishing speech promoting drugs. It makes so much more sense to talk about it intelligently. We don't ban talking about sex. We talk about it. Teen pregnancy is down. We have media campaigns talking about the risks of smoking. Cigarette smoking has decreased dramatically. We have zero-tolerance policies in schools against drugs - half of seniors in 2006 said they had tried drugs at least once. Not talking about drugs is not going to make people stop using drugs.
Also, I really wish the White House would stop spreading lies about the dangers of marijuana use. Smoking pot is safer than taking a shot, lighting up a cigarette, and definitely much safer than driving a car. The Carter administration recommended that marijuana use be made legal, given all the scientific studies pointing to its harmlessness and medical benefits for people suffering side effects of chemotherapy or with multiple sclerosis. The American Medical Association testified before Congress advising against banning marijuana. Why does this government insist on ignoring scientific facts and instead send the DEA in to assault chronically ill patients? Marijuana is not a killer weed. It is physically impossible to overdose on THC. Plus, all you lawmakers and justice makers, yes, you, Mr. Bush, and former president Clinton, and almost every potential presidential candidate, you've already admitted taking that hit at least once in your lives. Are you a criminal? Have you moved on to harder drugs? Are you suffering long term side effects that impair your ability to rise in the world?
We need some serious self-reflection in this country, and I'm talking about reflection like former Congressman Bob Barr, one of the most vocal opponents to medical marijuana who has switched gears and now joined the Marijuana Policy Projects, not reflection like "well, drugs are bad, so they should be illegal. Hey, they're illegal, they must be bad."
All right, kids, I know music is your anti-drug or friends are your anti-drug and whatever, or maybe you're above the influence, but I suggest you do some research before you throw yourself blindly into the arms of government propaganda. Exercise that freedom to information!
I love my job...
and edwin I will get back to you!
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| Finally, I encounter this strange, endless unproductiveness that comes from being in front of a computer eight hours a day (sans a random, failed outing in search of good, fresh coffee). I have never been so unproductive in my life. I think part of it is just having nothing else to do but stare at this screen (ostensibly researching, writing, you know, something useful): there are so many hours to stare, so I might as well... just stare.
But, still thinking about issues. About questioning morality, and questioning the foundation of laws. If we can change our lives technologically, if we can revise doctrines and curriculums and worldviews, why not policies and laws and the way we approach this world?
I hope I find passionate, involved people wherever I go. This is what I thrive on.
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| Groups that are inherently political... and groups that construct ways that they don't have to be political. Power can be an ugly thing, and it's so much easier to distance yourself from it.
Yesterday, City Planning Commission certified Columbia's application for re-zoning, which begins a six-month review process that is meant to allow the community to review and express its opinion on the document, and also gives City Council the power to approve or disapprove the plan. Bollinger's e-mail was full of happy wonderfuls: we are doing everything we can to bring what a great university can bring to this area that needs our majestic influence. If I were not so immersed in this issue, I would say, sign me up! Man, do I love Alma. But reading between the lines, and reading everything he didn't write (these "hundreds of consultative meetings with community members, city government members, students, etc." were actually a few meetings back in 2004 with some of the residents who will be affected, in which Columbia suits basically announced the plan with no real intention of listening to what the community had to say, meetings with influential government members where Columbia threw a lot of money at lobbyists to champion its great cause, and repeated meetings with students that were really more Columbia defending its benevolent good intentions and again, ignoring what anyone else had to say)... makes me feel not only outraged but also somewhat helpless. The thing is, Bollinger has the power to speak, to be heard, and to be believed. Even if students know that what he is writing is tailored bullshit, most are just content to refrain from questioning further. What you don't know can't hurt you.
So much more to say and do, but a great city is calling me. | | |
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