Green Harvest rejected

By the narrowest of margins, the Aloha State's Big Island Hawaii County Council has rejected a state and federally funded marijuana eradication program known as "Green Harvest." The action came during a council meeting last week, when the council tied 4-4 on whether to continue to support the widely criticized program. The tie vote meant the motion to accept the funding failed.

"Green Harvest" began in Hawaii three decades ago and has been controversial ever since. Many residents opposed the program, saying low-flying helicopters searching for pot fields disrupted rural life and invaded their privacy. Others argued that the program has done little to eradicate marijuana and even promoted the use of other, more dangerous drugs.

By the 1990s, council members heeding public complaints began expressing reservations about the helicopter missions. In 2000, they rejected $265,000 in federal eradication funds, two-thirds of the program's money that year. But the following year, they once again accepted the full amount offered.

But last week's vote means the council will say "no thanks" to $441,000 in state and federal funds for "Green Harvest." It also means the county will save the $53,000 from its own budget that would have been its share of the operation's financial burden.

Last month, the council had narrowly approved "Green Harvest" on a 5-3 vote, but that vote had to be redone because the council failed to publish the legislation in local newspapers, as required by law. That provided the opportunity for Councilman Angel Pilago to change his vote and kill the program.

"This will have long-term impacts," Pilago said. "When we institute programs we, the county government, need to look at if they are detrimental to people's rights and the health and safety of the community. That's what we do," he told the Associated Press after the vote. "It's about home rule," he said. "The county must be assertive and aggressive and not defer certain powers to the state and federal governments. We must not cede those powers."

Pilago is running for mayor of Hawaii County, and his vote on "Green Harvest," as well as his support for a lowest law enforcement priority initiative currently underway there, could help him draw a contrast between himself and incumbent Mayor Harry Kim, who is a "Green Harvest" supporter.

"My position is no secret," Kim told the AP. "I support eradication, as long as it's done in a way that is not harmful to people who should not be harmed, as far as noise and catchment systems and all those concerns. I'm against all drugs. Marijuana is an illegal drug."

Batman

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says
Kate Ravilious
for National Geographic News
February 28, 2007

Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to one scientist's controversial theory.
Earth is currently experiencing rapid warming, which the vast majority of climate scientists says is due to humans pumping huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.


Mars North Pole image

Mars, too, appears to be enjoying more mild and balmy temperatures.

In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row. natgeo

McCain, he's a Chameleon

McCain took the opportunity of today's speech to belittle Sen. Barack Obama once again for the Democratic frontrunner's willingness to meet with the U.S.'s adversaries.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is calling for a new arms agreement with Russia that finds ways to reduce the number of nuclear missiles.

So basically McCain repeatedly belittled Sen. Barack Obama for his willingness to meet with the U.S.'s adversaries while calling for a meeting with one of the U.S.'s main adversaries.


To be fair this video was made in 1870 when McCain was just a young man.

Technorati Profile

The Real Life Ministry Of Love Is Being Built

The federal government is using the illegal immigration problem as an excuse to build the detention camp apparatus that is really meant for the American people.Full Article

Could an Acid Trip Cure Your OCD?

At a handful of sites across the country, after a four-decade hiatus, psychedelic research is undergoing a quiet renaissance, thanks to scientists like Charles Grob who are revisiting the powerful mind-altering drugs of the 1960s in hopes of making them part of our therapeutic arsenal. Hallucinogens such as psilocybin, MDMA (better known as Ecstasy), and the most controversial of them all, LSD, are being tested as treatments for maladies that modern medicine has done little to assuage, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, drug dependency, obsessive-compulsive disorder, cluster headaches, and the emotional suffering of people with a terminal illness.

Full Article

GOM, second edition

I reached a milestone today, another step towards becoming a grumpy old man. I've hit the age where I don't care what other people think of me. Not all other people, I do care what my family and co-workers think of me but that's about it. I remember noticing , when I was much younger, that most old guys couldn't care less about their clothes as long as they fit and were comfortable. I'm there, I still like Nike stuff but just for the quality and comfort. My son got a new swimsuit, I was like "God, they're huge!...Is that what they where now?" Then suddenly I had a strong flashback to the words of a Rush song.
(Subdivisions)
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
(Subdivisions)
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Then I was back from the flashback (or would it be forward?) I guess I'll get a new one so as not to call unwanted attention to myself at the pool. Speaking of pools, is it normal for the water level to rise a foot when you get in? I'd better lay off the between meal snacks and stick to light beer. But on the other hand I always drink a few more of the light ones...

DOMA

In 1996 the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage "for the purposes of federal law" as a union between one man and one woman.

Many people think that that definition of marriage is the way it should be.

I think the people that liked the first definition would like this one even better.

In 1996 the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage "for the purposes of federal law" as a union between one white man and one woman.

I know that people against gay rights aren't all racists but really what's the difference?

Hating people that you don't even know because they are in a minority vs hating people that you don't even know because they are in a minority.

They sell meat?

We got a Wal-Mart add thing in the mail today. I saw that now they're selling meat. Here is the very first thing that popped into my head, I swear.

Grasshopper

Fortunately no one dropped it, so we are safe until the next move.

Blogslackeryness

I haven't been a very good blog buddy lately. I haven't been visiting many blogs or leaving comments. Believe me it's not a lack of interest, it's a lack of time. Tex jr. is learning lessons of life (job, career, employment, pentacles in the tarot) yada yada yada he, his wife and son are living here temporarily probably just a month or two. My daughter Texina, is a senior in high school this year so there are many school related activities for parents to attend. I have a lot more competition for the computer too.
I don't know about you, but sharing this list of excuses has mad me feel better about my blogslackeryness.

Ingrid Michaelson performs 'The Way I Am'

Yoshi goes surfing

Yoshi the Alaskan Malamute recovered fully from her night in the hole. She felt so good last night that she came in the house and walked upstairs (she usually stays outside).
I was upstairs with her and we were fixin' to go down the stairs and she stepped a little too far out and took a nosedive. She didn't flip, she didn't roll or anything, she belly surfed the stairs all the way down (good thing she's a girl). Everybody that was downstairs was expecting her to be hurt but I thought she would be fine and she was, just a little sore today.

Tree of Life, the Light, mother Mary

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Obama will win White House

Ron Paul thinks Barack Obama will win White House

Lori Shull
The Quindecim
May 3, 2008

Flags, signs, bumper stickers and buttons were distributed to the crowd, who were ready to make a sensation in support of their favorite political candidate, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas). When the long-shot contender for the Republican presidential ticket showed up to speak at Goucher as part of the President’s Forum, Kraushaar Auditorium didn’t even have standing room left.

They gave him a standing ovation before he even opened his mouth, and clapped during his speech more than 20 times.

And then, after listening to his libertarian ideas for over an hour, they heard him say Democratic-hopeful Barack Obama would win the rat race to the White House.

The rest of the talk, which was not written down, was a fairly run-of-the-mill campaign stump speech. Though running for the Republican nomination, he distanced himself from the party and its contemporary hawkish ways.

“The sad part is… if you don’t support it - vote against the PATRIOT Act, you’re unpatriotic. You vote against the war, you vote against the troops,” he said. “They turn it and twist it around. I have come to the firm conclusion that you can be conservative, libertarian, institutionalist - a good American and vote against the war and still be a patriot.”

His focus was on his non-interventionist foreign policy stance. He said the nation needs to focus on issues within its own borders and get out of other places - Iraq and the Middle East but also Korea, Japan and Germany.




“All empires end for financial reasons,” he said. “The Soviet Union… bankrupted themselves and one place where they really bankrupted themselves was their fruitless efforts in Afghanistan - you’d think we’d learn a lesson or two.”

The crowd was very receptive to Paul’s ideas - it interrupted him many times to applaud and every once in a while, a couple people standing in the back were seen waving full-size American flags.

Among the hundreds of people there were students, middle aged parents with their young children and older people.

Paul, however, is not the politician most Goucher students endorse. Many were there out of curiosity to hear what he would have to say, and what his supporters would do.
“I told my mom I was coming to see him and she was like ‘Oh my God, that’s the lunatic fringe!’” senior international relations major Lindsey Rich said.

Others were thrilled that he was coming. Before Paul came on stage, sophomore Emily Adams introduced him to the crowd. Adams is one of Paul’s more vocal supporters on campus and was asked by college president Sanford J. Ungar to introduce him at the event.

Paul’s speech lasted a little less than 40 minutes and ended with another standing ovation. After the speech, about 30 people raced to get in line behind microphones to ask questions of the presidential hopeful. This was the first time there was any sign that not all members of the crowd supported him.

Questions about abortion and women’s rights drew applause in favor of the students who asked, rather than the answers the Congressman gave. Though Paul is pro-life, he said he objected to the federal government’s involvement in the issue at all.

One of the themes of his speech was getting the federal government out of more issues. He wants to return to the text that is in the Constitution, rather than the big government he thinks we currently have. Though current American foreign policy, he says, is what convinced him to run for president again after his failed effort in 1988, individual liberties are what matter most.

“The big issue for me is individual liberty,” he said. “I believe that’s what’s been neglected in this country for a hundred years plus. I believe the Founders understood this issue, understood what limited government is all about and gave us a pretty darn good Constitution which unfortunately we have ignored.”

“We need more production, we need sound money, we need less taxes, we need a sensible foreign policy and [a new system] emphasizing personal liberty where creative energy would be released not suppressed.”

Where did "Happy Days" come from?

Texas gives I.O.U. for 27 years of life

Morning Edition, May 5, 2008 · James Lee Woodard walked out of a Texas prison last week after 27 years behind bars. The state now agrees that Woodard was wrongfully convicted in 1981 of killing a girl he had been dating.

Woodard is the 17th man from Dallas to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Nearly all are black. And the district attorney's office is predicting that Woodard won't be the last. npr

Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...