marijuana reform on the horizon?

I receive NORML's (National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) newsletter and had a browse today...and looks like the 'marijuana debate' might be heating up in America (finally - what happens there will impact here...)

"NORML Breaking News: California Assemblyman Introduces Legislation To Tax And Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol - February 23rd, 2009 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director

Speaking at a landmark press conference today, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced comprehensive legislation to tax and regulate the commercial production and sale of cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol.

“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes”, Assemblyman Ammiano said. “California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.” (read the full text here)

NORML's been running a marijuana law reform ad contest and hopes to air the ads on cable tv and believes it's "A Propitious Moment For Pot -Bittersweetly, the confluence of a faltering economy and greater public acceptance of cannabis has recently created very attractive advertising opportunities, coupled with media companies' increasing willingness to accept pro-cannabis law reform ads presents organizations like NORML (the opportunity) to place one or more of the winning ads from the contest on TV (or, popular Internet webpages)". I checked out the winners and runners-up... some are humorous, some serious, but all make for very interesting viewing so I thought I'd share them...

apparently Barak Obama has over the years stated 'some' support for decriminalization - even admitted to smoking, and shock, horror - actually inhaling!!!! most politicians usually fob that one off as "i didn't really drawback though"... no doubt the pro-marijuana community will be lobbying the Obama administration heavily...

There's been a rumour around for ages (I heard it years ago) that Marlboro has already designed their packaging for marijuana (to be called "Marlboro Greens" or "Marlboro Highs"?) so that when dope is legalized, they can make the transition into selling marijuana almost instantly - of course the amount of dope per joint would be regulated (and minimal?) - unfortunately that means you would spend more and more money therefore making Marlboro more and more money (they're not in it for the community service!!)... and with it being patented by the tobacco companies seeds would become a rarity and, like tobacco, it would be illegal to grow!!!!

I lean towards the decriminalization viewpoint - people (you, me, ordinary people) could then grow a couple of plants at home without worrying about being busted... guess we'll just have to see how it all plays out...

what more can I say... the mother's provided us with a wonderful recreational and medicinal herb and I'm going to enjoy her generosity... now...

did you know...

that February is Ovarian Cancer Australia's Awareness Month?? or that today is Australia's first Teal Ribbon Day - the international colour for ovarian cancer???

According to the CEO of Ovarian Cancer Australia:

"Ovarian cancer is the 6th most common cause of death in Australian women and I commend Ovarian Cancer Australia for introducing Awareness Month and for the work it undertakes in helping women with information, education and access to support groups"

Every year more than 1500 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and more than 850 will die. Unfortunately most women are not diagnosed until the disease has spread which is why it is important to know the symptoms.

Karen Livingstone, CEO, Ovarian Cancer Australia, said, "Every woman needs to know the symptoms of ovarian cancer because this disease is often misdiagnosed, as symptoms are similar to less serious conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or those associated with menopause."

The most common four symptoms, which women with ovarian cancer experience frequently and persistently, are pelvic and abdominal pain, increased abdominal size/persistent bloating, urinary frequency, and difficulty eating and feeling full quickly."

in memory of all the sisters that have died... and those that have survived....

feeling soooo old...

I tell ya, sleeping on a mattress on the floor these days is hard work... it's not as easy getting down that far, or up for that matter!!!! but at least when I sleep, I sleep more comfortably knowing me old girl hasn't got far to fall to the floor... I pretty much stayed awake at night before I dismantled the bed!!!!

I'm off for a couple of weeks now - I can spend some time with Allie and get to see what her quality of life is like now... she's still being cheeky - finding bones outside and trying to sneak them inside in her droopy old jowls!!! and having a wee dig in the garden... she's not as distressed now (nor am I!!!) and manages to find her way outside during the day... losing your sight (and not having sound to compensate) would be really freaky I would imagine... a really hard sense to learn to live without if you'd always had it...

anyway, here's some photos of 'the gang'...

I've been feeling really exhausted lately - mentally and physically - there's concern for me babe... and me mum (things to do on her 'illness front' next week)... work's been taking its toll on the mind and body - so much to do, so few who can 'perform all tasks', so those of us that can still 'do it all' (but for how long??? I have aches, pains and strains most of the time these days, and I'm pretty sure it's not all attributable to age!!!) - end up doing extra of the heavy shit and wear out quicker (I'm too old to wear out any quicker!!!!) - surely that proves we're understaffed - it at least means there needs to be a re-think about how 'incapacitated' workers duties are covered!!!

and of course there's still 'stuff' at home - the major impacting shit is the money... so now I'm going to do some recuperating myself... a bit of reading... maybe catch up with emails... have a choof... enjoy being with me gang and generally just relax.......

it's hard to believe.....

yep, hard to believe that some people still don't believe in climate change.... here's just a quick overview from the Australian Conservation Foundation...

"What’s causing the problem?

Humans are causing climate change by adding huge amounts of carbon dioxide (C02) and other greenhouse polluting gases to our atmosphere. The biggest source of greenhouse pollution is burning fossil fuels (like coal and oil) for energy.

Why is the planet warming?

Earth is wrapped in a delicately balanced ‘blanket’ of gases. Like a greenhouse in a garden, this insulating layer traps heat from the sun, and sustains life.

Human activities (like burning coal and oil) are adding huge amounts of greenhouse pollution to the atmosphere. The pollution stays in the atmosphere for many decades. Greenhouse pollution is making Earth’s ‘blanket’ unnaturally thick, and this is heating up the planet. This is commonly called global warming. The heat trap is also causing many unusual and dangerous changes to our climate and weather systems, best described as climate change.

• Temperatures have already risen 0.76°C over the past century and there is more than 90% probability that most of this global warming was caused by humans.

• Eleven of the last twelve years (1995-2006) rank among the 12 warmest years on record.

• Melting of glaciers and ice caps is already contributing to sea level rise.

• Many long-term changes in climate have already been observed. These include differences in Arctic temperatures and ice and changes in extreme weather events like droughts, heat waves and tropical cyclones."

we've had the worst heat wave and bushfires in recorded her/his-story this year...

we've got drought and heat-stressed animals... some country towns would actually ask "what's rain???"...

flooding and tropical storms aplenty...

glaciers melting at a fast rate... such beautiful creatures as the polar bear will no longer exist...

humans need to stop adapting the environment to themselves, fix what they've damaged, and start learning to adapt themselves to the environment before it's too late... 'we' are the most destructive species... when will 'we' learn to live in harmony with the world and all the creatures that inhabit it??? 'we' aren't superior in the least... inferior maybe!!!!

I'm going to spend some time with my old girl Allie now... she's 17 (and that's 119 if you take the literal 7 canine years to every 1 human year!!!)... she's been slowly losing her sight over the last few years, but has rapidly lost the tiny bit of vision she had left over the last week and gets disoriented really easily... no doubt old age is catching up with her... but I'm not enamoured of the vet we went to (worse than useless - I won't go into the incompetence, the inability to listen, the lack of empathy, the lack of any physical check - heart, eyes(!), ears, kidneys, etc. etc. - all things affected by, guess what, age!!! - even had to hassle for eye drops and an anti-inflammatory injection - and her eyes were really red - an indication something was going on!!!!)... she seems comfortable enough, but gets a bit distressed when she can't work out where she is - and she walks into things - and she fell off my bed a couple of nights in a row so I dismantled it and we're sleeping on the mattress on the floor at the moment - and she's sleeping a lot more... who knows how much her poor wee old body is deteriorating - heart, brain, everything) - watching her deterioration over the last week I doubt my babe will be with me for much longer... and there's her quality of life to think about - got some sedatives if she gets really distressed (haven't used them yet though)... i can only hope she'll drift off peacefully in her sleep when her time has come - she deserves that... and just thinking about that makes me weep....

Victoria weeps as the state burns....

I doubt there would be anyone in Victoria not touched by the death and destruction of these fires in one way or another... I have friends and family near a number of the fire locations... all safe to date... I'm thinking of you - please stay safe...

the death count is 108 and rising... many people missing... who knows how many loved pets dead or missing... countless 'farm' animals dead or injured (they're not commodities or chattels to me but sentient creatures - I don't eat or wear them but enjoy their beauty and uniqueness)... native wildlife and habitat decimated... thousands and thousands of hectares burnt... hundreds of houses lost... the destruction goes on and on... whole towns pretty much wiped out... you can view some of the devastation via the ABC website here... I have to say here the emergency services are doing an amazing job - it must be heart-wrenching... but they keep on going...

having lived in the country for a number of years - Metcalfe, Tallarook, Snake Valley - and seen the havoc that bushfires can wreak, I empathise and sympathise with the communities trying to come to terms with what's happened/happening - my heart goes out to them all... and I weep for the animals...

is this the future of our nation? record heat... record low water supplies... tinder-dry countryside... all possibly able to be dealt with, and come to terms with, if only there were no arsonists and pyromaniacs thrown into the mix... are they murderers??? I'm sure that's a debate that will be had when the immediate danger is over... and of course then there's the thoughtless idiots who throw cigarette butts out the windows of cars - are they also guilty of murder??? or at the very least manslaughter??? so many questions to be asked - so much anger to be dealt with... so much pain and suffering... and a lot of soul-searching for the nation...

Melting moments...

Did your world feel like this the last few days???

I know I felt like this after 3 days of 42+ degrees!!!!

far out, let's hope no more melting temperatures... I don't cope very well... neither does me old girl Allie!!!! and that sort of heat can wreak havoc on a person's thermoregulation...

on the relaxing, leisure side of life....

I've been reading a few biographies lately...


Cups with no handles : memoirs of a grassroots activist by Carolyn Landon

The true story of Bette Boyanton, born in St. Kilda in 1921, feminist and activist -she tried to organise the Commonwealth Match Factory women (girls would probably be more apt for that era) into the union in the late 30s - a fighter against social injustice all her life - in her later life, having, for health and family reasons, moved to the country and, having been inspired by the women's liberation movement’s campaign for women’s learning houses where "under-educated women organised their own classes in craft, drama, creative writing, first aid, nutrition, cooking, history, art, politics, health and other issues" - she was instrumental in setting up the first rural neighbourhood house - the Warragul Neighbourhood House, now called Warragul Community House.

I loved reading about her life and nominated this as my favourite summer read on the SLV voting site!!!

Connie's secret : the true story of a shocking murder and a family mystery at a time when appearances were everything by Anne Lovell

It was February 1939 when Connie Sommerlad was butchered and her brother left for dead in their family farmhouse in rural Tenterfield. The murder was brutal... Jack Kelly, a worker on the Sommerlad property, found guilty of the murder, was to become the last person to be hanged in New South Wales... but there's more to Connie's life than her death!!!!

There's a secret involved - but I'm not going to tell it here!!!! This is a real family-saga-mystery-thriller... let's not forget - it's 1939 Australia - women's place in society was that of 'damned whore or god's police' - so it's a really big secret - so read the book and find out about Connie's life - it's interesting, and very, very sad!!!!

The Lucy Family Alphabet by Judith Lucy

What more can I say??? It's Judith Lucy...

I love her dry (and dark) sense of humour. She says in her postscript that someone said to her after seeing her perform and telling jokes about her parents that she "must hate her family"... she was horrified - she loves them but has no problems seeing them as a bit weird - don't we all feel that way about our families - at least some of the time????

I think my family's weird - but it's weird in a good way - I'm sure there's a lot of comedy that could be found in most family situations... anyway, I got quite a few laughs and some nostalgic flashbacks from her memories...

if only I could stay at home all summer and read... oooh, and maybe watch dvds tooooo....

I watched a documentary - Taxi to the dark side - about the inhumanity and brutality of the torture and interrogation policies and practices of the american "intelligence" agencies (a misnomer if ever I've heard one!!!) and the military (heavily 'encouraged' by a conservative Bush administration!!!) perpetrated against those considered 'terrorist threats' by christian zealots - from Bagram to Abu Ghraib, to Guantanamo Bay detention camp... it's disgusting... it's powerful - I highly recommend it...

I was reminded of a book I read some time ago... "The men who stare at goats" by Ron Jonson - it's along the same theme... and I just discovered while googling that it's being made into a movie, 'in production now', with George Clooney, Ewen McGregor, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and a cast of 1000s apparently (not really - but there's a helluva lot of names in the credits on imdb... now that will be interesting - due out in December 2009!!!

all I need to do now is decide what to read...

just finished The keepsake by Tess Gerritsen for a quick, edge of seat mystery...

Sailor 'Lil has recommended Poppy Z. Brite... her writing is described as 'dark fantasy' and 'vampiric erotica'... one of my favourite books has been "The witching hour" from the Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice... I'd call that dark fantasy - it was definitely erotic... so if she writes in a similar vein (huh!!!) to that, I think I might like her... anyway I've decided to read "Love in vein" - edited by Poppy with a few fantasy writer's I like (but never saw as writers of erotica) in the mix... so I'll let you know what I think...