Poor George, may I stand corrected,

George is not 'poor,

Toke.

My eccentric friend saw me experimenting with hemp stalk fiber and mortar and ran off yelling that we "were going to get arrested with that stuff" . . . I have not laughed so hard in years.

He's the one that insists "the FBI is putting pressure on my landlords" to have me evicted "because of my activism" (uh - except I'm the one who gave notice; whatever), and that "they are just waiting to arrest Jose as soon as he moves to his property, where they will arrest him for . . . squatting!"

see also: http://pipepeace.com/z

. . . then he offered to help me move my trailer, with his out of date, out of state licence plated two ton dually (six wheel pickup). Yawn, and no thanks. ;)

Oh, and a seperate acquaintance independently claims that his sister's school in North Georgia "is investigating Air Jose" I have not laughed so hard in years. Perhaps my six year old trap for prohibitionists is finally being sprung. . I hope they have what they will certainly need in such a case: a battery of attorneys.

EX CIA Dir . James Woolsey was the key note speaker. then later after the workshops, he was back acting like the Pres and other people from the community were his cabinet heads. Then they were told of a shock situation where the oil was disrupted and everyone in the audience could follow the events as they happen. ----ya when it gets to that point not much can be done. at the end everyone was asked to give some input as to getting off oil as we know it. So Mr. Woolsey was asked why are we not growing Hemp for fuel. He said you know i am a member of the Hemp Association. And if you take low thc hemp and grow it with higher thc the low will pollinate any higher strain hemp plant and the seeds will be half as strong so if we wanted to get rid of the higher strain we would just keep doing that.

He went on to list the wonderful uses for the plant such as high quality fiber glass and plastic for auto parts.

he told of the farmers that live up near Canada are hurting for crops that will make them money as many farmers are reporting that Hemp is bringing more money per acre in Canada than what the US farmer is getting for say wheat. Like hundreds more. I do hope that someone from the HIA will join the tour. Also someone from NREL ---Pres Bush had to rehire the fired or defunded positions of 38 researchers Join the tour as well and tell the people about Cellulose Ethanol because they do not know.

WMU has a paper making dept and i could not believe it when one of the students that were asking questions did not know that Hemp is used for papermaking. This kid must have been twenty, at any rate many were informed.

You know that the Kal area has lost tens of thousands of papermaking and related jobs in the last 10 years. Seems time that a USA University would stand up and demand to research Hemp as we are loosing jobs by the thousands. Mr Woolsey said he would get a hold of HIA and try to get someone to come to WMU and talk about Hemp. (Hurayyy_

"Membership in LEAP is open to anyone formally trained in methods of law enforcement, crime prevention and detection, and who currently or formerly was given the authority to maintain the peace, safety, and order of the community by any national, state / provincial, or local governmental agency (this includes police and federal agents; corrections, parole and probation officers, prosecutors and judges) - provided the prospective member believes the US war on drugs is failed policy and wishes to support alternatives to that policy aimed at reducing the incidence of death, disease, and addiction by ultimately ending prohibition.

Supporters are those who were never members of law enforcement but still wish to support LEAP's goals of presenting alternatives to US drug policies aimed at reducing the incidence of death, disease, and addiction by ultimately ending prohibition. Supporters will not be counted within the membership of LEAP but they will be counted as supporters and their numbers noted for release to the media. They may wish to support LEAP monetarily or through donation of goods and / or services."

http://leap.cc/members/index.htm

Tony Thompson in San Francisco

Sunday April 2, 2006

The Observer

For any other lawyer, a jail term would mean financial ruin. For Tony Serra the 10-month sentence he starts this weekend for 20 years of tax evasion will be little more than a much-needed rest.

With his long silver hair in a ponytail, his tie-dyed shirts and his admission that he smokes cannabis every day, Serra, 72, isn't like most lawyers, yet in a 40-year career he has built an unrivalled reputation of being able to win cases others dismiss as unwinnable.

What makes him remarkable is that, in a country where lawyers are among society's top earners, he has no credit cards, savings or bank account and owns no property. All his clothes are from charity shops or the Salvation Army. His net worth is whatever he happens to have in his pockets.

'I was born without a desire for material things,' he says in his downtown San Francisco office, where incense burns and ethnic prints and hand-painted murals adorn the walls. 'I am a child of the Sixties and that ideology - anti-materialism, brotherhood, non-racism - these are the things I still believe in.'

Occasionally Serra accepts payment for his services and uses the money to pay staff and bills, but for the most part he works for free. His client list has included Hell's Angels, environmental activists, Black Panther radicals and members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, which kidnapped Patty Hearst.

This is his third tax conviction. He did not pay in 1971 as a protest against the Vietnam war and served four months in prison. He forgot to pay in 1979 and got probation. His defence this time, apart from that he is 'financially dysfunctional', is that, having never profited from law, he could not possibly be liable for tax.

Serra was so poor that his five children - Shelter, Ivory, Chime, Wonder, and Lilac Bright - were put through college by his older brother, the hugely successful sculptor Richard Serra. The Internal Revenue Service saw things differently, announced that Tony Serra owed $500,000 in back taxes and demanded he be jailed. Many of California's leading lawyers attended court to testify that Serra had been their chief inspiration in taking up law. Having pleaded guilty, jail was inevitable. Serra must also pay back $100,000 at the rate of $1,500 per month.

Jury trials are the exception rather than the rule in the US. The process is expensive and the proceedings so drawn out that most defendants try to strike some kind of plea bargain. 'Most lawyers here don't like trials,' said Serra. 'But I love them. A lot of times I get attached to cases to add leverage. It shows they are serious about going to trial.'

He took on the case of an American Indian facing the death penalty for shooting a police officer in what he claimed was self-defence. Serra got him acquitted. 'In all, I've won four death penalty cases. Most of the time when lawyers talk about winning a death penalty case, they mean they managed to get the sentence reduced to life without parole. When I say I won, I mean the defendants were acquitted and walked out of court.'

In the words of one admirer, Serra 'uses his voice like a musical instrument'. He has juries hanging on his every word. His animated closing arguments often last several hours and regularly include poetry and even song.

'When I graduated I wanted to be a poet. I went around Europe on a scooter then ended up in Morocco with the expat crowd. I fell in love with a heroin addict. It was beautiful, amazing, but very self-destructive. I said to myself, "What are you doing? You're not a heroin addict. Do something else with yourself." '

He began as a prosecutor but was soon disillusioned. 'I didn't want to spend 40 years putting people in cages. I decided I'd work at setting them free instead.'

Serra's other great passion is marijuana. Much of his inspiration comes from what he calls 'cannabis consultations', and he defends as many drug dealers as he can, seeing the war on drugs as a war on civil rights. 'It hasn't stopped me from functioning as a lawyer, so I find it hard to subscribe to the view that it is harmful.'

Having smoked the drug illegally for years, Serra was recently certified to use medical marijuana to ease the pain of two hip replacements. Whether he will be allowed to continue using in prison is something his own lawyer is working on.

Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

April 1, 2006

Video: http://wcco.com/health/local_story_091150847.html

(WCCO) Medical marijuana is already legal in 11 states under tightly regulated conditions. Could Minnesota become the 12th?

For some people with debilitating diseases or chronic illnesses, smoking pot is the only relief they can get from the pain. But legalizing it for medical purposes isn't simple after years spent fighting recreational marijuana use.

Irvin Rosenfeld, a 53-year-old stockbroker from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., recently lit up a marijuana cigarette outside Minnesota's State Capitol. Rosenfeld, who suffers from a rare bone disease, is one of seven Americans who get free marijuana from the federal government.

"I am not a criminal," Rosenfeld explained, "but somebody else in your state using the same substance can be put in jail. That just doesn't seem fair."

That's exactly how Darrell Paulsen feels. He's in constant pain from cerebral palsy. He buys his pot illegally from drug dealers.

"When I smoke cannabis or use cannabis, it relaxes my muscles to the point where I don't have the pressure," Paulsen said.

The patients WCCO-TV spoke to said they don't get high from smoking marijuana -- they just get relief.

Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, says for certain people, pain can only be relieved by pot. He calls legalization the ethical thing to do.

"They got a disease or they were in an accident," Kelley said. "They didn't choose to be in that culture. That was given to them."

It's a tough call for many lawmakers who say legalizing a drug they normally fight sends a confusing message.

"There will be children that will have access to marijuana, that will experiment because of this proposal," said Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen.

If medical marijuana is ever legalized in Minnesota, it would have to be provided by private suppliers who would be licensed by the state to grow and sell it to users.

The current bill would allow 12 marijuana plants per patient, who could carry with them 2.5 ounces of usable pot. They'd also have a special card in case they were stopped by police.

Copyright: MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc.

by Sir Edward Dyer

1550 - 1607

My mind to me a kingdom is, Such present joys therein I find That it excels all other bliss That earth affords or grows by kind: Though much I want which most would have Yet still my mind forbids to crave.

No princely pomp, no wealthy store No force to win the victory, No wily wit to salve a sore, No shape to feed a loving eye To none of these I yield as thrall For why? My mind cloth serve for all.

I see how plenty surfeits oft, And hasty climbers soon do fall; I see that those which are aloft Mishap cloth threaten most of all; They get with toil, they keep with fear: Such endless cares no mind can bear.

Content to live, this is my stay; I seek no more than may suffice; I press to bear no haughty sway; Look, what I lack my mind supplies: Lo, thus I triumph like a king, Content with that my mind cloth bring.

Some have too much, yet still do crave; I little have, and seek no more. They are but poor, though much they have, And I am rich with little store: They poor, I rich; they beg, I give; They lack, I leave; they pine, I live.

I laugh not at another's loss; I grudge not at another's gain; No worldly waves my mind can toss; My state at one cloth still remain: I fear no foe, I fawn no friend; I loathe not life, nor dread my end.

Some weigh their pleasure by their lust, Their wisdom by their rage of will; Their treasure is their only trust

A cloaked craft their store of skill:

But all the pleasure that I find

Is to maintain a quiet mind.

My wealth is health and perfect ease;

My conscience clear my chief defense; I neither seek by bribes to please, Nor by deceit to breed offence:

Thus do I live, thus wild I die;

Most Men Pursue Pleasure In Such Breathless Haste They Hurry Right Past It

- Soren Kierkegaard Philosopher (1813-1855)..

THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...

Charlie Sheen Reinvigorates 9/11 Truth Movement: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/010406charliesheen.htm

Venezuelan Government To Launch International 9/11 Investigation: http://www.iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/83785

Griffin on 9/11, American Empire, and Christian Faith: http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060330034632861

Yet Another 9/11 LTE: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/opinion/letter.asp?ID=8728

In the meantime, the fire and passion of Cannabis is spreading throughout the land, everywhere you can turn, people are voting to end this prohibition, it is just a matter of time that those wise and learned ladies and gentlemen, who have been elected to represent the people smell the coffee.

You can be sure, that when their time comes, it will not be me that will offer these folks any mercy, for it would be easier to step aside, as if I never saw that rolling block of eternity coming their way.

By Fred Gardner

Weekend Edition: April 1 / 2, 2006

"There is no such thing as laziness. Laziness is only lack of incentive."

Norman Reider, MD

A graduate student in the psychology department at the University of Southern California, Sara Smucker Barnwell, has conducted a survey to assess whether or not cannabis use undermines motivation. She emailed a questionnaire to 200 undergraduates who had taken a course on drugs and human behavior, and to 100 acquaintances of a co-author, Mitch Earleywine, PhD, who in turn were asked to forward it to others. She got responses from some 1,300 people. She then analyzed the responses of everyday users (244) and those who had never used (243).