The annual Global Marijuana March takes place the first Saturday each May in over 200 cities across the globe to protest the prohibition of marijuana. If you want to participate in the Seattle march, here are the details:
Where: Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill
When: Saturday, May 2 – 12:00 noon
People will then march down to Westlake Center between 1-2pm for a rally with guest speakers and live music.
How to rebuild a two? party system … the PIG proposal
The oddest thing about the marijuana movement is the link between marijuana activism and the traditional civil rights community.
There is an odd polarization on special issues …
GUNS … Republicans, racists, Amerika, war hawks, pro-life, black helicopters, Southerners, God, flab, survivalism,
POT … Democrats, peace movement, artists, gays, pro-choice, evil drug companies, not God or alternative gods
I wonder if there is some sort of lesson here in marketing? Hmm …
CIGS … pro-gun, Republican, artists, Limbaugh, flag, God, private heath care, Fox, anti POT
PRIUS … anti gun, Democrat, UNICEF, anti smoking, pro-peace, mass transit, taxes, education, universal health care.
FOX … smokers, God, black helicopters, evil mexicans, SUVs, war, no taxes, no education, health care as a privilege,
GAY … MSNBC, pot, anti prayer in schools, universal health care, anti smoking, PRIUS,
PRAYER IN SCHOOLS (PIS)… smokers, antiPOT, FOX, CIGs, GUNS, anti GAY, pro WAR, pro FLAG,
My suggestion .. we reorganize our parties around interests groups, called Political Interest Groups. (PIGs) Politicians would run on multiple PIG tickets, e.g. Rod McKenna could run as a FOX PRIUS PIS PIG .
Each candidate would raise money CLEARLY from the special interest groups ..SPIGS, most convinced he or she shares the candidate’s interests.
No contradictions between PIG interests would be allowed.
This is a public service announcement. Beware of a new work-at-home scam! In this scam, you can be victimized even if you don’t respond to the scammer’s ads! All that’s required for you to become a victim is to be a taxpayer. Watch out for this key phrase in the subject title: “Public records.” If you see this phrase, hang on to your wallet!!
Marijuana is a valuable natural resource that our society ignores. It’s relatively inexpensive to produce the raw plant and society could reap very valuable benefits.
For anyone planning to go, note that May 2 is Opening Day, which means traffic around the U-District and going up towards Capitol Hill is likely to be impacted (the Montlake Bridge will be up most of the day).
1 Huh? Who wants to ban Priuses, other than Mike Seely?
SJ @1,
Huh?
The sooner we take a serious look at marijuana, the faster we’ll realize that people have a right to indulge in this substance if they choose to do so. The prohibition of marijuana was largely fueled by that notoriously hypocritical pompous ass William Randolph Hearst. He associated marijuana with Mexicans, and he hated Mexicans. He also felt the hemp plant was a direct threat to the pulpwood business. Hearst was in that business because he was trying to integrate vertically and expand his empire. His program against marijuana was anti-Mexico and anti-free trade.
#1 Quite funny! But what happens when reality slams into the stereotypes and people actually cross these groups? I grew up in Iowa. Gay. Gun owner. I do like MSNBC. But I also like my cigar/pipes so not really anti-smoking (though cigarettes smell like burning hair to me).
That’s the problem with today’s poll driven politicians. They’re not real people with real (complicated/normal) views. The represent some political polling ideal of a candidate.
On the issue…for the LOVE OF GOD…just legalize pot. It didn’t work to make alcohol illegal and it’s NOT working for pot (hasn’t impacted % of use in 40 years). There is no scientific rational reason for being able to buy a CASE of vodka and a carton of cigs, but not have a single joint. That is not rational. And the argument from the other side? We have to stop the devil weed!
I recently watched a documentary on CNBC called “Marijuana Inc.”
It was pretty good and they covered both sides of the issue, although I felt with a slight bias towards the status quo.
I was surprised to learn the Federal Government spends $11 BILLION dollars per year on eradication of pot. And that is ONLY the cost of search and removal missions – nothing more.
The amount of money we spend on the drug war would be better served elsewhere.
To paraphrase Michelle Bachamann, marijuana can’t be harmful, ’cause it’s, like, “natural,” and stuff.
Forget ‘states rights’. What about personal rights? Shouldn’t republicans be against the government tell it’s citizens what they can do with their own bodies? Unless I’m impacting someone else (driving drunk, stoned, high, whatever), shouldn’t I be allowed to do whatever I want in my home? That would seem to be a ‘classical’ Republican philosophy. How come they don’t support it? Oh right, the “family values conservatives” won’t let them.
The same reason Republicans (national and state) supported government control over sex in Lawrence v Texas. Try to wrap you MIND around this. The Republicans were arguing that bureaucrats in State government should be able to have a list of state approved sexual positions. And if you and a consenting adult in YOUR house in the middle of the night with the curtains closed were having non-government approved sex, you could be arrested. The Republicans SUPPORTED that idea!! How can they PRETEND to be for anyone’s personal freedom if they think the government can define how you’re allowed to have sex with another adult in your own home. Seriously.
Now the current Republicans will argue that was just the will of the people passing such laws/initiatives. But the OLD libertarian Republicans would argue the government doesn’t have the RIGHT to make laws like that. But the “family values” conservatives rule the Republicans now, not the small government libertarians (sadly).
9, 10 & 12,
I could not agree with you more!
11 – I don’t recall who Michelle B. is at the moment, but she’s sounding like a dolt.
its a good way to keep the gentiles all doped up and working at walmart and the jew wearing his yamuka and glasses going to harvard law
Can all those stoners even find the park? Whoa! Dude!
@14,
Dude, you’re kinda fucked-up, and coming from me, that’s sayin’ something!
@16
now what ae you talking about? u see how many yamuka wearing jews are at harvard? didnt u see the onr the other day arguing with barney frank? they always look the same. male, late 20’s fairly ugly, geek build, and wearing that fucking yamuka
@17,
So, you’re anti-Semitic, I take it?
Me? I don’t care either way. If the Israelis blew up the Palestinians or the Palestinians blew up the Israelis, I’d be neutral on the event. I’d like it very much if the US would get out of the fight, thank you very much!
@18
well, i agree with you that the us should stay out of the fight, but that will never happen because aipac makes us foriegn policy, and of course i’m a nutcase so dont believe me, but two harvard professors wrote a book about it. oh wait, they’re probably the only two lying nutcase professors at harvard. so you cant believe me and you cant believe the hardvard professors , oh well we can only believe the jew sulzberger at the nyt.
@6 Politically Ink
The best thing about legalizing pot may be the incentive to find a safer way to get the effects. Smoking almost anything is a bad idea because of carcinogens. I understand that there are a number of cannabinoids that are actually legal, mainly because no oe is trying to sell them. If we just get the stuff into a more normal market and let the inventive marketers find good ways to package the stuff.
OTOH, the intensity of the pot movement seems a bit much. Whuy is this so much more important than legalizing prostitution or making
internet access cheaper and more universal? Is POT really on a par with the civil rights movement or even the movement for gun control?
Of course we all have the causes that matter most to us, but in a scale from hunger in Africa, AIDS everywhere, global warming, Iraq, torture, failure of the American car industry, ugly buildings in Seattle, the homeless, creationism, public access to the waterfront, mass transit, .. I would put pot pretty low. Someplace between the need to send men to mars and endin discrimination against fat people?
It just seems to me that far too mush of our social activity is spent on relatively stupi issues. OF course MJ should be legal! OTOH, I am NOT sure Nyquil should be legal.
@19 MOT
Yep, we do control the world even though the elders of Zion just retired!
BTW, for a small fee I can arrangefor you to have the operation!
SJ @ 20,
Can’t agree with you on gun control. To me, gun control means hitting your target.
SJ,
In a previous thread you asked what I do. I’m retired from one job and looking/preparing for another.
I’m impressed that your family is actually connected to the mafia. My only illegal activities have been getting a couple of speeding tickets in my youth.
I would still prefer our curent tax system rather than instituting an income tax in this state. I really truly believe one’s level of income and where it comes from is none of the government’s business, especially the government of Washington state.
@21
sj
actually i thought my post was actually not very hateful. first, saying aipac runs our foreign policy is not much diferent than any lobby, those with the most influence get their bidding done. and secondly, a couple of harvard profs, whose names i dont recall right now wrote a book saying exactly that. of course, you can imagine the reviews by the nyt and others
by the way sj, did you used to go by the monikor “seattle jew”? what happended?
SJ == SeattleJew. Same thing.
As for AIPAC, they no more control US foreign polcy than any one else does. I supect the biggest players are the energy/oil companies, why else do you think we supported Ibn Saud and the Shah?
In any case, most of those who do not support Israel seem to me to be more motivated by a thirst for oil than a thirst for peace. The sympathy shown for the Arabs is strikingly similar to our support for China in Tibet and lack iof support for the Kurds.
Put another way, American policy is and must be influenced by politics .. that is why we are a democracy. Israel itself, in my opinion, represents a moral obligation for all the parts of the world, including the US and the Muslim world, who .. in an all too real sense CREATED the need for a Jewish state by literally two millenia of murder and slavery.
If my dreams for Obama come true, we .. America .. will soon organize the sort of international coalition that will force the Israelis and the Arabs to come to the peace table and work out a way the siblings can live in this timy, bloody piece of land.
Something that is never mentioned about making pot legal is the possible ramifications with our food supply.
If we were still a free market country, why would a farmer continue to grow tomatoes ($2.99 pound at vons supermarket) when they could be growing pot ($1,500+ per pound). The government, once again will have to get involved with private businesses like the obama has done with the car and bank industries and dictate how a private business can operate.
How about the fact that there are eight hundred thousand arrests a year for pot? More than for all violent crime, property crime, rape, theft, murder, etc. combined? Does that help to explain the attractiveness of the issue?