I am glad to see so many harnessing the power of story telling to effect positive change. As Hunter S. Thompson evinced, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow! What a Ride!'”
Dear reader, do you want a safer, kinder, more secure world for future generations and our loved ones today? To achieve this transformation we must streamline the system. Uncle Sam has become a bloated evil doer, under the guise of good intentions, just as our Founders warned. No half measures, become fully engaged in making the world a better place and that's a life well spent.
Half the Sky: "Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide" is a documentary. "Inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's groundbreaking book, Half the Sky takes on the central moral challenge of the 21st century: the oppression of women and girls worldwide." Take an unforgettable journey with six actress/activists- America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, Olivia Wilde and New York Times journalist Kristof to meet some of the most courageous individuals of our time, who are doing extraordinary work to empower women and girls where they live. "These are stories of heartbreaking challenge, dramatic transformation and enduring hope. You will be shocked, outraged, brought to tears. Most important, you will be inspired by the resilience of the human spirit and the capabilities of women and girls to realize their staggering potential. HALF THE SKY is a passionate call-to-arms, urging us not only to bear witness to the plight of the world's women, but to help to transform their oppression into opportunity."
Here in America we are appalled at disgraces like female genital mutilation, children sold into prostitution. etc. but we are hardly immune to female oppression. Mariska Hargitay, the star actress from the TV show Law & Order – SUV was especially effective in pointing out how society places so little value on women at a House Judiciary hearing on the problem of rape kits not being opened across the USA.
The victims (thousands of whom have written her) interpret not testing, as a sign that the police and society do not care about rape. IMHO the victims are correct." Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired) Drug Policy Specialist at COP, CitizensOpposingProhibition, blogged at the time. "NOTE: while testifying, she cracked emotionally for about 10 seconds….very moving."
Murderers and other violent predators roam free, while we police nonviolent adult social, medicinal and religious drug use. Real warriors get their adrenaline rush making us all safer, catching violent rapist and killers! Save lives instead of ruining them. Get tough on violent crime!
Throughout history, big government has caused more harm than good; often hiding tyranny under the guise of good intentions. Our founders knew big government would always mean a gang of evildoers. The Spirit of 1776 was the Holy Spirit and is our true North.
Big corporations and governments are often lacking in conscience and empathy. These are psychopathic tendencies by definition! Big churches seem to have the same problem, in God's name! What is missing? The very qualities that allow human beings to live in social harmony. Celebrating our similarities, free trade or the free market plus building bridges of tolerance to differences in religion, race and lifestyle will create a world of abundance and peace.
Dick "Tater" Nixon's chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, wrote in his diary back in 1969, that "[Nixon] emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem [welfare] is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to ..." Nixon's motive was further corroborated in 1995 by Nixon's other aide, John Ehrlichman, during an interview with Dan Baum, author of Smoke and Mirrors, when he told Baum, "Look, we understood we couldn't make it illegal to be young or poor or black in the United States, but we could criminalize their common pleasure. We understood that drugs were not the health problem we were making them out to be, but it was such a perfect issue for the Nixon White House that we couldn't resist it."
Marijuana prohibition began and remains about racism, power and control. One in 106 whites are incarcerated. One in 36 Hispanics and one in 15 blacks are incarcerated! Prohibition is a policy still used by racists to fulfill their agenda. It is a great shame on US; we incarcerate more of our people than any other nation in the world!
Charlie Lynch, a man who even called the DEA before opening his California dispensary, still wound up convicted on federal charges.
In the video released on 4/20/12 Lynching Charlie Lynch you will get a short history lesson. In China in 2737 BC we have one of the earliest references to using cannabis as medicine. Since that time there is historical record of it having been used as medicine in Egypt, India, Greece, Italy, etc. around the globe. America's first farmers at Jamestown grew hemp. The 1870 American Pharmacopoeia list cannabis healing powers; from 1850 to 1900 marijuana extracts are the most prescribed medicines here. In 1929 Southwestern states made marijuana illegal to get rid of immigrants from Mexico and by '31 Henry Anslinger, make that "Bullshit Slinger" was our first drug czar. By '41 marijuana/cannabis was officially removed from our Pharmacopoeia.
Servants of tyranny are good at ignoring history and science while catering to the needs of special interests but very bad at determining what is best or safer for the individual or society. They play on our fears to make us more accepting of their waste of our precious lives and resources. The tobacco, alcohol and prescription drug gangs cause more death annually than all illicit drugs.
The debate over medical marijuana or cannabis is really a scandalous controversy over whether this very safe, effective, easy-to-grow herb should be allowed to compete with expensive dangerous pharmaceuticals for pennies on the dollar.
Morally bankrupt empire builders, warmongers, financiers and leaders in their pockets make capitalism abhorrent with their predatory capitalism. Predatory capitalism due to big government interference and protection destroys people, benign or ethical capitalism, America's founders' vision of the free market, creates a world of abundance for all.
Cannabis has been known for centuries to be the very best, fastest treatment for migraines and that is why Charlie Lynch began to use this medicine. He opened his dispensary because patients also testify to Cannabis' help in treating post traumatic stress, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, gastrointestinal (GI) tract disorders, Alzheimer's, Cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS and more! They swear it is an effective safer replacement for very dangerous pharmaceuticals.
Wow! Please take a few moments out of your day to view this amazing video!!
Animal and human mother's milk are packed full of cannabinoids. Breast milk is the largest natural source of cannabinoids in the world except for the cannabis plant. The true facts are cannabis plants and our bodies have inborn occurring endocannabinoids or signaling molecules that activate cannabinoid receptors within our brains. Endocannabinoids are essential to nurturing new life. Some scientists speculate that cannabinoids play a protective role in the brain, slowing the rate of disease.
Our DEA overseers have harassed the sick and dying, shamed and destroyed families, locked up and killed many (including enforcement) over one of the safest therapeutically active plants known to man. While FDA"overseers"allowed more pharmaceutical killers on the market, suppressed the truth about cannabis and failed to grant the terminally ill access to investigational drugs and treatments. They are profound regulatory failures! Both agencies exacerbate problems instead of solving them. They should be disbanded.
It is morally bankrupt to punish nonviolent adults for making a safer health choice, cannabis or marijuana, compared to other medicinal/social drugs. Less than 1% of US are actually addicted to anything illegal. Treatment is seven times cheaper than prison. Show fiscal responsibility, demand morally correct policy!
Terrorism is mutual suffering. Non-government organizations (NGOs) in unprecedented numbers worldwide are calling for denuclearization, demilitarization, economic justice and responsible corporate behavior. They know education and the nonviolent path are key to make this sea change in our behavior that will save and sustain life as we know it.
War creates a booming economy for some on the suffering of others. In modern warfare civilian casualties are consistently around 90% of the total lost! Cut the military industrial complex's budget to the bone! Be brave and end the terror by changing our intrusive, big-bully policies, both foreign and domestic. The monetary and environmental costs are staggering and the human suffering unconscionable. ZAP The State!
It is not just our right but our patriotic duty to write a "Dear John," letter to Uncle Sam (AKA: corrupt, tyrannical government) or more plainly end the relationship, abolish it and return to our roots of self-government. Today mass communication, social networking and other high-technologies allow us to band together and form a powerful united front for good over evil more easily and quickly than ever before. The web is the fastest growing communications medium in the history of the world. A powerful tool, a window of opportunity, in our war of good over evil; the Internet continues to revolutionize the way we communicate and has enormous potential for reshaping the political process. Do not allow Uncle Sam to undermine this powerful tool for positive reform. Instead: "IMAGINE THERE'S NO CONGRESS" It's really easy if you try...especially when you take note of all this pending legislation on cannabis alone.
Texas HB 594 and HB 184 are baby steps toward fiscally responsible, ethical policy but they may be the best hope we have for any protection from this legislative session. Feel free to copy and paste from this link or write your own rant. Write your Texas Legislators! Breaking news: the "Texas Medical Marijuana Act of 2013" has been turned in but has not yet been issued a number. Lon Burnam is going to sponsor the bill which would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes and relates to licensing of marijuana related agencies.
US House Bill 689, the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, would ensure that no other medical cannabis patients in states that have approved its use will have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies like in the case of Charlie Lynch. The measure also calls for the feds to reclassify cannabis so that it is no longer categorized as a Schedule I prohibited substance with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Say Hallelujah!
US House Bill 710: The Truth in Trials Act is also once again pending before the US House of Representatives. It provides an affirmative defense in federal court for defendants whose actions were in compliance with the medical marijuana laws of their state.
US Senate Bill 359 seeks to amend the US Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana and grants state legislatures the authority to license and regulate the commercial production of hemp as an industrial and agricultural commodity. "I am convinced that allowing [hemp] production will be a positive development for Kentucky's farm families and economy," said Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is the Senate minority leader. "The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real, and if there is a capacity to center a new domestic industry in Kentucky that will create jobs in these difficult economic times, that sounds like a good thing to me." Other sponsors include: Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
US Senate Bill 359 is the companion bill to House Bill 525, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013. That measure has 28 cosponsors. Eight states have already enacted statutes defining industrial hemp as distinct agricultural product and allowing for its regulated commercial production. According to a Congressional Research Service report, "The United States is the only developed nation in which industrial hemp is not an established crop." Hemp is a distinct variety of the plant species cannabis sativa that contains only trace (less than one percent) amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis. For more information, please visit:.
Additional information on pending legislation is available from NORML's 'Take Action Center
I urge you to also support US House Resolution 499: The Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013 and House Resolution 501 The Marijuana Tax Equity Act. HR 501 taxes marijuana similar to alcohol and tobacco but be sure to specify that no tax on medical marijuana; NO TAX ON Medicines or private/personal gardens! The US Congress needs to hear from reformers around the country in support of these historic measures. Send a message to leadership now!
"I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." Abraham Lincoln
Since 2006 I have awarded two free portraits yearly, each dedicated to the freedom philosophy or the American dream. I call it the, "Rebel with Just Cause Award." It is given to true American patriots; those who stand for freedom against tyranny and injustice. The real visionaries, who laid down America's laws, those who defined what an American patriot would be, were rebels with just cause. It's not just our right it's an American's patriotic duty to rebel against big government corruption. To view portraits click on 2010 Rebel With Just Cause, where you can find links to all portrait awards finished to date.
Do you feel duty bound to Save the American Dream: Self-government, freedom from big government tyranny and oppression.... and to Restore Justice, the guardian of Liberty?
If you tell the servants of tyranny they do not have your consent to police the world, the market or what we, as individuals choose as our medicinal/social drugs.... no brag, just fact, you are a Rebel with Just Cause. You may as well own up to it,
Hit "like" under the American's for Safe Access portrait at the top of McCool's Rebels With Just Cause FaceBook page.
You are a true patriot and my hero! Thanks for all you do for reform!
Save lives instead of ruining them. Join LEAP! Join COP and DownSizeDC!
Get tough on violent crime! Restore Justice, the guardian of liberty!
"Strike the root!" Be brave, that's how we end terror. All we have to do is stop being afraid, and stop acting out of fear. True patriots never forget America is the home of the free and the brave.
Revolution is Easy! Exercising your political might is just a click away. Thanks for all you do for reform!
Track your Senators' and Representative's votes by e-mail.
Changing who's in charge will not affect much. The real cause of this huge quagmire of failed policy is the beast, big government, that money hungry beast, Uncle Sam! Ma Freedom tells it like it is! The beauty of it is when we focus on down-sizing our government we regain our roots of self-government and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations and ourselves.
Compiled and written by Colleen McCool