There should be a strategic cannabis reserve; about 10,000 pounds should be shipped immediately to Baton Rouge and distributed to the refugees fleeing New Orleans.

New Orleans should just become the Venice of North America. It would be a groovy place.

I am curious about "drugged driving" by medical patients. Many would probably test positive anytime they were tested. Some states have said that any measurable metabolites count as "drugged driving". I hope California uses some sort of impairment test - if you are pulled over and are found too impaired to drive safely AND that impairment is due to medical marijuana - then you could be charged.

Regarding employers firing medical marijuana patients - the 9th circuit has made a number of rulings that imply this would violate the Americans with Disability Act. And the remedy is lawsuits. Of course, this doesn't apply to people who work for the Feds. And there is some question about private employers who receive federal funds and must maintain a "drug free" workspace. THAT would make an interesting legal case.

No matter how they try to propagandize and paint Cannabis as a dangerous drug (without ever really saying why it's dangerous) arresting people for marijuana use or possession is a cruel and unusual punishment and unconstitutional. Oh they say it's stronger, I say moderation is the key; they say it temporarily impairs cognitive skills; I say that's why I use it - to relax and let go of my petty issues for a while; they say it's a gateway drug, I say regulate it and get it off the streets.

ROSS GELBSPAN Katrina's real name By Ross Gelbspan | August 30, 2005

THE HURRICANE that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming.

Article Tools Printer friendly E-mail to a friend Op-ed RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed Reprints/permissions More: Globe Editorials / Op-Ed | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts When the year began with a two-foot snowfall in Los Angeles, the cause was global warming.

When 124-mile-an-hour winds shut down nuclear plants in Scandinavia and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the driver was global warming.

When a severe drought in the Midwest dropped water levels in the Missouri River to their lowest on record earlier this summer, the reason was global warming.

In July, when the worst drought on record triggered wildfires in Spain and Portugal and left water levels in France at their lowest in 30 years, the explanation was global warming.

When a lethal heat wave in Arizona kept temperatures above 110 degrees and killed more than 20 people in one week, the culprit was global warming.

And when the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai) received 37 inches of rain in one day -- killing 1,000 people and disrupting the lives of 20 million others -- the villain was global warming.

As the atmosphere warms, it generates longer droughts, more-intense downpours, more-frequent heat waves, and more-severe storms.

Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida, it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

The consequences are as heartbreaking as they are terrifying.

Unfortunately, very few people in America know the real name of Hurricane Katrina because the coal and oil industries have spent millions of dollars to keep the public in doubt about the issue.

The reason is simple: To allow the climate to stabilize requires humanity to cut its use of coal and oil by 70 percent. That, of course, threatens the survival of one of the largest commercial enterprises in history.

In 1995, public utility hearings in Minnesota found that the coal industry had paid more than $1 million to four scientists who were public dissenters on global warming. And ExxonMobil has spent more than $13 million since 1998 on an anti-global warming public relations and lobbying campaign.

In 2000, big oil and big coal scored their biggest electoral victory yet when President George W. Bush was elected president -- and subsequently took suggestions from the industry for his climate and energy policies.

As the pace of climate change accelerates, many researchers fear we have already entered a period of irreversible runaway climate change.

Against this background, the ignorance of the American public about global warming stands out as an indictment of the US media.

When the US press has bothered to cover the subject of global warming, it has focused almost exclusively on its political and diplomatic aspects and not on what the warming is doing to our agriculture, water supplies, plant and animal life, public health, and weather.

For years, the fossil fuel industry has lobbied the media to accord the same weight to a handful of global warming skeptics that it accords the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- more than 2,000 scientists from 100 countries reporting to the United Nations.

Today, with the science having become even more robust -- and the impacts as visible as the megastorm that covered much of the Gulf of Mexico -- the press bears a share of the guilt for our self-induced destruction with the oil and coal industries.

As a Bostonian, I am afraid that the coming winter will -- like last winter -- be unusually short and devastatingly severe. At the beginning of 2005, a deadly ice storm knocked out power to thousands of people in New England and dropped a record-setting 42.2 inches of snow on Boston.

The conventional name of the month was January. Its real name is global warming.

Ross Gelbspan is author of ''The Heat Is On" and ''Boiling Point."

Rev Jim

Have you planted your vote today?

Was it in their face?

Vote with a real "Victory Garden"

Save the world by waging peace

By Hallie Arnold, Freeman Staff

August 31, 2005

WOODSTOCK - Singer Art Garfunkel, charged with marijuana possession on Sunday for the second time in 19 months, faces a fine of only $200 if convicted but could be sent to jail if arrested and convicted a third time.

Garfunkel, 63, half of the folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, was charged after a state trooper pulled him over for running a stop sign at state Routes 375 and 212 in Woodstock and detected a "strong odor" of marijuana in the 2005 Buick the singer was driving, according to the police report.

A search of the car turned up a marijuana cigarette in the ashtray, police said.

It was Garfunkel's second arrest in Ulster County for marijuana possession, which is classified as a criminal violation.

In January 2004, he was charged after the limousine in which he was riding was pulled over for speeding on state Route 28 in Hurley and a trooper, smelling marijuana, found a small amount of the drug in Garfunkel's jacket pocket.

Garfunkel, who lives on East 79th Street in Manhattan, pleaded guilty in that case and paid a $100 fine and a $100 surcharge.

The lawyer who represented Garfunkel in that case, Michael Federoff, did not return a call about the singer's latest arrest.

Ulster County District Attorney Donald A. Williams said because Garfunkel has a previous conviction for marijuana possession, he faces a $200 fine if found guilty this time.

But "I don't believe fining Art Garfunkel $200 will serve as a tremendous deterrent," Williams said.

A third offense, however, could result in up to 15 days in jail, Williams said.

Garfunkel is due in Woodstock Town Court at 6 p.m. Sept. 22.

Copyright: Daily Freeman 2005

Writing him, at that address, at least once...if not twice, or three times about it, I never got a response to any of the emails.

THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...

9/11 was an INSIDE JOB : Everything else is a Distraction, The BRAINWASHING of the American people: http://www.freedomunderground.org/view.php?v=3&t=3&aid=19296

Twenty Things We Now Know Four Years After 9/11: http://www.crisispapers.org/essays-w/twenty-things.htm

Thought of a political cartoon, everyone (iraqis, generals, media etc.) hundled around in the attempt to write an Iraqi constitution in one room, split view, the US Supremes shredding our constitution in the other room...can anyone draw?

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has abandoned its policy of arresting drivers in possession of marijuana for medical use, a victory many are calling one of the most significant achievements for patients since the Compassionate Use Act of 1996.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), an organization that advocates for patients' access to medical marijuana, spent the past year collecting reports from nearly 500 patients and caregivers who have been arrested or had their medical marijuana seized by law enforcement. With this material in hand, ASA brought suit against the CHP. More than a quarter of California’s medical marijuana patients have been arrested or had their medicine seized even in cases where the patient produced a doctor’s recommendation or medical marijuana ID card.

CHP's policy change in response to the suit brings the agency in line with the state's determination that Californians should be protected under state laws, regardless of the Raich Supreme Court decision earlier this year.

ASA still has a long road ahead, working to establish legal recourse for patients in case the CHP fails to adhere to its new policy. ASA is also working to pressure local police departments and county sheriffs to bring their policies into line with that of the CHP.

They fear loss of market share. They fear criticism. Corporate media has to be as benign as possible. Taking up controvesial cultural and societal issues is not safe marketing for them.

It is not just too low on the radar. I saw continued coverage of the obese man walking across the country to lose weight.

The media are afraid of the issue of drug reform.

Howard has ridden close to 3000 miles on horse back to bring attention to the failed drug war, with no National Media.

If such a benefit were to occur Montel, David Letterman, Today Show, ect would be lining up for interviews with Howard and Misty and Sam.

A major move toward sanity ...

Poor ol' Art. He shoulda ate the doobie and run all the windows down ...

Kudu's to the CHP ... It seems that they have finally declared their allegience to the citizens of California. We'll see how they are, though, in the coming months ...

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. - Singer Art Garfunkel, who pleaded guilty last year to pot possession in upstate New York, was charged again Sunday after a marijuana cigarette was allegedly found in the ashtray of his car, state police said.

The 63-year-old Garfunkel, who lives in Manhattan, was charged after being pulled over for failing to stop his vehicle at a stop sign, The Daily Freeman of Kingston reported Tuesday.

Upon approaching Garfunkel's car, a trooper noticed a strong odor of marijuana and a subsequent search turned up a joint in the ashtray, the newspaper reported. He was issued a ticket and is due back in Woodstock Town Court on Sept. 22.

In January 2004, Garfunkel was charged with marijuana possession after state police stopped his limousine for speeding in the Ulster County town of Hurley, which is near Woodstock some 55 miles southwest of Albany. During that stop, police found a small amount of pot in Garfunkel's jacket.

The next month, he pleaded guilty and paid $200 in fines.

Garfunkel, who with Paul Simon made up the legendary duo Simon and Garfunkel, produced a string of hits in the 1960s, including "The Sound of Silence," "Mrs. Robinson," "Old Friends" and "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)."

Copyright: 2005 Associated Press

Lockyer reiterates that Prop. 215 permits usage

Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

To the delight of medical marijuana supporters, the California Highway Patrol has agreed to stop taking cannabis from motorists in routine traffic stops who have a doctor's recommendation.

The latest move in the legal battle over medical marijuana in the state came in response to a lawsuit by an advocacy group and statements by Attorney General Bill Lockyer affirming that medical marijuana use is sanctioned by California law despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"This is a huge victory for the medical marijuana movement,'' Kris Hermes, the legal campaign director of Americans for Safe Access, said at a news conference Monday. The Oakland group sued the CHP in February over its policy requiring officers to seize marijuana regardless of whether motorists presented a physician's note or an identification card from a local health agency.

An Aug. 22 memo from CHP headquarters ordered officers not to cite motorists or seize their drugs if they carry up to eight ounces of marijuana, or six mature or 12 immature plants, as long as they possess a valid state or local government medical marijuana patient or primary caregiver identification card or a signed recommendation from a physician.

"Those people will not have their marijuana seized,'' CHP Lt. Joe Whiteford said Monday.

Some counties have higher possession limits than the state, and in those jurisdictions the higher limits would apply, Whiteford said, but people from those places cannot carry more than eight ounces when traveling in other areas or they will be cited, and their marijuana will be taken.

Snipped:

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/30/BAGDTEFA3M1.DTL