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Saturday, May 17, 2008

I'm becoming more and more impressed with the story of a couple walking from Seattle to New Hampshire and chronicling it on a YouTube video blog. Right now they're headed through Oregon, over the Cascade mountain range. The scenic views and Will's witty commentary have his blog on my A list(my top 5% of 290 subscriptions).

Will and Brooke are walking to New Hampshire to generate awareness to the Free State Project, an organization of liberty loving individuals moving to New Hampshire. By pooling the political power of hundreds of libertarian they hope to shrink the government of New Hampshire. This of course means ending the state war on drugs in New Hampshire.

The latest installation, Day 27, covers waterfalls, mountain trails, and wildlife and more. Watch it to get the joke in the title.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Our first track is Young Jeezy's first single from his upcoming album "I Am Trap." Frankly the first few minutes of this song left me unimpressed. When the bridge hit at the 3:18 mark I was stunned. Rarely is today's popular hip hop so introspective and intellectually honest. Young Jeezy pours out his heart and examines the meaninglessness of fame and fortune.

Ecclesiastes 2

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

Young Jeezy - Put On


Rapper T.I. gives us another perspective of life as a rapper in his new track, "No Matter What." He was recently convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for weapons charges. Of course, he wasn't using the guns in a commission of a crime, rather he faced the disenfranchisement of self-defense rights because of a prior control substance conviction.

Even though his infractions have been non-violent and consensual T.I. has been singled out and harassed for the last decade by local and federal authorities. Regardless of the persecution he's faced T.I. reminds us that he's strong and he's a survivor.

T.I. - No Matter What

Next week, I'll try and return to Memphis for some hometown hip-hop. You can send your suggestions to ganjablue@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from some up-and-coming artists.

As long as prisons are profitable we won't ever see a decline in their population. Even though violent crime is down drastically from the 1970's or prison population continues to skyrocket. Every year more and more draconian steps are taken to harshly punish non-violent consensual crime, like drug possession, gambling, alcohol (the most dangerous drug) and of course dirty-dirty consensual sex. The only humor in it seems to be in this satire by Steven Colbert.



I saw this show live last night. The Texas Prison Bidness blog beat me to the post.

Ganja Blue strives to bring you news, analysis, and commentary about drug war topics and other cultural issues affecting Memphis and the Mid-South. I persistently monitor the news wires for breaking stories so that you'll get them long before they get filtered out by the mainstream media. Of course commentary can frequently be dry and boring, so I intend to flavor the dialog with entertainment news, videos, and articles relevant to the cannabis culture. Subscribe now to my updates, either via email or through your favorite RSS news reader. Please, email tips to ganjablue@gmail.com. I promptly respond to all email.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Patrick Stegal of the Memphis Defense Attorney Blog, which I highly recommend, has posted some tips for avoiding a narcotics detector dog search. He reminds us that once a police officer has finished with a routine traffic stop you are under no obligation to stick around and answer any questions:

"... if a motorist has been stopped for speeding, a dog sniff could legally be performed by one officer while another is writing the ticket. Or the officer who made the stop could run a sniff while waiting for a check for warrants. This could take fifteen minutes or more. Plenty of time to get the dog out and about, or to even wait for another one to be brought in. However, if the stop is finished the officer, without additional suspicion, cannot prolong the stop to have a dog brought in. They cannot buy time, and they cannot ask additional questions not related to the stop."
Former police officer, Barry Cooper, has said in his video Never Get Busted Vol. 1 Traffic Stops, once the officer hands you ticket the Supreme Court has ruled that you are then free to leave. If the police officer continues to talk to you or ask you questions, politely ask if you are free to leave. If he/she persists, then ask if you are being detained, "Officer, am I being detained?" If he says "yes", then shut your mouth until you can call Patrick or another criminal defense attorney.

Its important that you don't try to chit-chat, what you say will be used against you. People lie to police officers all day long and they are used to it, so even if you're telling the truth there's a good chance they won't believe you. Remember to always stay calm, courteous, and respectful. Remember, you won't ever win an argument with a police officer and loosing your cool can land you in serious trouble.

For more on how to handle traffic stops watch Never Get Busted Vol. 1 Traffic Stops, and visit FlexYourRights.org.

Here's my take on the use of narcotic detector dogs.

Pillar of morality and piety, Bill O'Reilly, not only has a problem chasing skirts at the office, he also has problems treating his production staff with respect. This comes as no surprise from someone who broadcasts images of children in simulated sex acts.



O'Reilly has no moral authority to lambaste the City of Memphis or its children on national television, over the Mitchell High School "rape dance" videos. He needs to get his own house in order first.

Bill, your feigned and hypocritical indignation is revolting.

HT: The Agitator

The saga continues... O'Reilly again featured the Mitchell High School "Rape Dance" incident I blogged about yesterday. I'm outraged that people care more about the "rape dance" than a child being shot at this same school earlier this year. Where are our priorities?

If Bill O'Reilly was seriously disgusted with the kids' dancing then he wouldn't be looping the video over and over. He wants to play video of children simulating sex on his show to titillate his audience. A grown man that wants to play video of children simulating sex acts is what disgusts me.

No video here, but Mediaverse® has the full video. The O'Reilly Factor (Mitchell High continued)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The mayor of Hailey, Idaho is throwing a crybaby fit . His constituents apparently think cannabis law is out of control, so they voted to direct the police to stop enforcing state marijuana law. What he did next defies logic.

Full Story: "The mayor, a city councilor, and the chief of police of this central Idaho city have sued the city over three pro-marijuana initiatives that were approved by voters in November.

The initiatives pose a challenge to city officials because the measures passed by voters conflict with state law.
...
The initiatives passed by voters in the Nov. 6 election would legalize industrial hemp, decriminalize medicinal marijuana, and make enforcing pot laws the city's lowest police priority. A fourth initiative, to legalize pot outright, fell just short of approval."
Mayor Rick Davis and his band of petty tyrants, City Councilman Don Keirn and Police Chief Jeff Gunter are trying to overrule the will of the people and recriminalize the plant. The bureaucrats have temporarily succeeded in delaying the implementation the measures. All four initiatives will come up for a vote again May 27, including the legalization initiative.

Turns out, not all cannabis users fit the "Stoners in the Mist" stereotype the ONDCP creates for us. It's no surprise that average middle-class individuals can enjoy cannabis and find it easy to incorporate their use into their lives. According to the press release:

A qualitative study of 41 Canadians surveyed in 2005-06 by U of A researchers showed that there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ marijuana user, but that people of all ages are selectively lighting up the drug as a way to enhance activities ranging from watching television and playing sports to having sex, painting or writing.

“For some of the participants, marijuana enhanced their ability to relax by taking their minds off daily stresses and pressures. Others found it helpful in focusing on the activity at hand,” said Geraint Osborne, a professor of sociology at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus in Camrose, and one of the study’s authors.

The study was published recently in the journal Substance Use and Misuse.

The focus was on adult users who were employed, ranging in age from 21 to 61, including 25 men and 16 women from Alberta, Quebec, Ontario and Newfoundland whose use of the drug ranged from daily to once or twice a year. They were predominantly middle class and worked in the retail and service industries, in communications, as white-collar employees, or as health-care and social workers. As well, 68 per cent of the users held post-secondary degrees, while another 11 survey participants had earned their high school diplomas.

The study also found that the participants considered themselves responsible users of the drug, defined by moderate use in an appropriate social setting and not allowing it to cause harm to others.
Government propagandists and the main stream media have been working tirelessly for the last 70 years to scare Americans into thinking that cannabis is a "demon weed" that corrupts people and drives them to lives of crime. This superstitious witch hunt has cost billions of dollars and ruined countless lives, while ignoring the fact that users are harmless, contributing members of society. The reason these propaganda campaigns fail to decrease cannabis consumption is because the claims are patently false and cannabis users know it.

... And I was not a dairy farmer.

Feds launch 'Gestapo raid' over raw milk: "'They swooped in ... like a bunch of Vikings, handcuffed me and stole $30,000 worth of my milk, cheese and butter,' he told the New York Daily News.

His case is just an example of what the government is trying to do to those who believe – based on medical results – that raw milk is better for them than the processed milk available in most grocery stores, according to Nolt's supporters."
Your tax dollars at work, you know, to keep you safe. So what do you have in your cabinets that the government might not like?

HT: The Agitator

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

WREG-TV Memphis - Updated: "Rape Dance" Investigation appears on national cable news:

"The clip labeled, 'Mitchell High School Memphis ... Rape Dat Ho,' was posted last month. It was flagged as offensive then taken down, but not before News Channel 3 recorded the clip on tape.

The images are disturbing. They are graphic and hard to watch. It shows young men and women engaging in what one parent described as 'sex with clothes on.
Are you freaking kidding me? In Memphis, TN we're seriously worried about kids simulating having sex. It's Elvis on TV all over again. Lets just make a rule that these kids have to be filmed from the waist up. Have we come that far as a city that the only thing we have to worry about is kids simulating a sex act?

To put things in perspective, there was a shooting at Mitchell High School earlier this semester. This whole ordeal is a freaking embarrassment to the city. Our city school system has completely failed our children and we're worried about kids dirty dancing, while Bill O'Reilly blows his load watching. O'Reilly is the same pervert that settled a sexual harassment lawsuit a few years ago. These are the deck chairs we're arranging on the Titanic of the city government.

The people that are blaming the kids the most are the ones that are helping them the least. Not one dime of the school system's money should be wasted on any further investigation.

The Agitator - Yet More Professionalism:

"The [Albany Police] department is facing a lawsuit from a man named Tunde Clement, who it should probably be noted does have a long history of drug offenses. But in this particular case, Clement was clean. Sheriff’s deputies confronted Clement as he was departing a bus, took him to the men’s bathroom, and searched him. When they found no drugs, they arrested him for “resisting arrest,” a charge that was later thrown out, given that you can’t arrest someone for “resisting arrest” if they haven’t committed a crime that should have resulted in arrest in the first place.

The police then strip-searched Clement, and made him squat in front of them. The claimed to have seen white powder on his anus So they took him to a hospital. Without his consent, they then administered drugs to sedate him, induced him to vomit, put a camera up his rectum, and took x-rays of him. Such drastic measures against the consent of a patient usually require officials to show some sort of imminent emergency. There was no such emergency with Clement. And still, no drugs. The hospital later sent Clement a bill for $6,800, and diagnosed him as having “hemorrhoids.”"
I think this is further evidence of the attempt to utilize the drug war to dehumanize the less fortunate in society. Lets compare the outrageous story above to the pass that Cindy McCain received when her prescription pain pill use was outed.

TalkLeft - CNN Examines Cindy McCain
But Cindy McCain wasn't just addicted to pain pills. She was investigated federally for stealing pain pills from a medical charity she headed and for having prescriptions filled in the names of the charity's employees. She admitted it. One of the doctors who wrote the prescriptions for her lost his license.

Mrs. McCain, through her lawyers, was able to get federal prosecutors to let her enter a diversion program and avoid jail.

Diversion is common in state courts for first-time offenders. It isn't in federal courts.

Reuters - Marijuana may up heart attack, stroke risk: study:

"The marijuana users in the study averaged smoking 78 to 350 marijuana cigarettes per week, based on self-reported drug history, the researchers said."
I'm not going to even argue the conclusions of this study because they do not apply to the vast majority of cannabis users. By my calculations, using 350 joints a week is smoking approximately a joint every 20 minutes for 18 hours a day. You would have to be smoking one while rolling your next, all day long. You couldn't hold a job that would pay for that much cannabis. because you wouldn't have time to smoke it all.

From the government's own numbers only about twelve percent of adult cannabis smokers smoke four or more cigarettes per day. Given that the distribution is skewed right, this study's population accounts for only the most chronic (heehee) users.

None of these drug warriors have ever been able to produce a single case of cannabis causing death, not even by heart attack or stroke. Yet, the government still wastes our tax dollars to spew this nonsensical bullshit as if it applied to responsible cannabis users.