I never realized how dangerous playing pool can be…

I haven’t played pool in a few years, but there was a time I played it regularly. I don’t claim to be a great shooter, or even an above average player…but I did win a game now and then.

At no time did I ever feel like I was in danger while playing pool. The closest I came to concern was when I was stationed at Ft. MacArthur in San Pedro, with the 101st MPs, in 1971.

I road around in a patrol car with a crazed Irish giant seeking confrontations with just about anyone, and we had to go into bars where GI’s were fighting and break up the fracas. During the course of arresting a drunken soldier, I was smacked from behind with a pool stick! It’s lucky I have a thick skull and the blow didn’t kill me.

As it were, I had trouble walking in a straight line for the rest of the day. That’s the closest I ever came to experiencing violence connected to a game of pool. Note, I wasn’t playing it at the time. Now, I have to rethink the whole issue of danger and playing pool after reading about this fellow:

“A British man has had the tip of a pool cue removed from his brain after skewering himself through the eye when he slipped over during a game.

Doctors in Leeds, northern England, initially thought Andy Parsons (photo right), 31, was only hurt superficially after the accident and stitched his eyelid. But his eye failed to reopen properly after three months and an MRI scan revealed the pool cue tip was embedded in his brain.

A team of surgeons spent ten hours removing part of his skull, following the entry route of the cue and removing the tip, before rebuilding the top of his nose and brow. Parsons, from Knaresborough, told The Sun, "I know I'm lucky to be alive. I never thought pool was such a dangerous game." (source)

When the Apocalypse strikes: ‘New Agers’ wait for Aliens to come out of mountain in France this December

                       Good Day Humboldt County!

At some point in our personal travels we are all confronted with people who believe the end is near and we’re all going to die or disappear.

I thought all the hippies shed the sixties and mainstreamed. But apparently there is a new age of hippies who aren’t all about peace and love. More like death and trips to new worlds or “cycles.” They’re gathering in a little village in France as you read this. I really think the Mayan Calendar thing isn’t as cool as these aliens coming out of mountains and whisking us all off to space.

There’s other visionaries with different dates for our destruction this year, but they don’t seem to have large followings. For some reason the French locals are expecting up to 100,000 hippies to show up so they can be captured by aliens in December. The upside is it really gives tourism a boost during a tough economy in France.     

                             Straight from the news:

“BUGARACH, France, (UPI) -- Hundreds of hippies have made their way to the French village of Bugarach to await aliens they say will emerge from inside a mountain when apocalypse strikes.

About 200 New Age believers have taken up residency at the base of the Pic de Bugarach mountain, The Independent reported Sunday. Upward of 100,000 people are expected to visit the mountain before Dec. 21 when the group believes the world will come to an end. Already this year, about 20,000 people have made their way to the peak -- about twice the number of hikers all of last year.

The group believes that on its date for the apocalypse, aliens will come out of the mountain and take with them any nearby humans.

"The apocalypse we believe in is the end of a certain world and the beginning of another," said a man called Jean, who has lived in a wooded area near the forest for several years.

"A new spiritual world. The year 2012 is the end of a cycle of suffering. Bugarach is one of the major chakras [energy centers] of the Earth, a place devoted to welcoming the energies of tomorrow."

Bugarach Mayor Jean-Pierre Delord has alerted national authorities of the situation in fear of a mass suicide.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…

As It Stands: Forced multiple combat tours takes toll

            By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard
                       It was bound to happen.
  After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, a massacre brings back memories of the horrors committed against civilians during the Vietnam war - in particular, My Lai.  I’m not surprised. The military’s policy of multiple combat tours virtually assured it. How could it not have occurred?
  When I was in Vietnam (1970), only one tour was required. People did re-up voluntarily, going back for more combat tours. They didn’t have to, however. Today’s warriors have no choice about multiple combat tours. 
  I’ve heard people say because we have an all volunteer military, anyone who goes in should be ready for those multiple tours. The attitude being, “they asked for it.”  Well, yes and no.
Let’s put this whole issue in perspective. One combat tour is more than enough to cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). We learned that in Vietnam. Why was one tour sufficient back then?
Partly, because there was a draft and lots of young men were available for cannon fodder. If the military had a multiple tour policy during the Vietnam war, it would have ended long before it did. I suspect military planners knew that. Men were leaving the country to avoid serving in the military and going to Vietnam.
The medical community “in Country” during the Vietnam war, generally thought their patients were just trying to avoid doing their job. That they were cowards. Most of the time the shrinks sent their patients back to the boonies after a short “rest” period.
Imposing multiple tours back then would have been considered sheer madness. That was before anyone knew about PTSD.

We sure know about it today. The awareness about PTSD is at an all time high. That’s why it’s so maddening to see our warmongers demand multiple tours from both active duty personnel and Reservists. During Vietnam, Reservists weren’t sent into combat for even one tour.

 The only excuse for repeated tours today is there are not enough bodies to go around. By all accounts, there are record number of soldiers who served in Iraqi and Afghanistan with PTSD. The numbers are growing at an alarming rate. Programs have been implemented to deal with these cases, but for the most part, it’s been business as usual.
That tells me our military planners know the odds of getting PTSD are extremely high, even from one tour. Still, they’ve chosen to sacrifice our volunteers on the alter of their global ambitions and ideologies.
So why should anyone be surprised when highly decorated Staff Sgt. Robert Bales snapped and allegedly went on a murderous rampage?

Imagine, if you will, what this veteran of three combat tours thought when he was suddenly (with no warning of any kind) sent to Afghanistan after living safely stateside with his family. The military was even training him to be a recruiter. A well-deserved stateside break.
Reportedly, days before he suffered his breakdown, he was standing next to a friend who got his leg blown off - a critical wound.  It must have been a shock. Bales had already suffered a "concussive head injury," and lost part of his foot during his deployments in Iraq, according to a recent Associated Press report.
The New York Times reported that a senior American official said Staff Sgt. Bales had been drinking alcohol the night of the massacre. Other reports say he has financial problems. What sparked this atrocity will be argued about for months and years to come.
Those innocent women, children, and old men were more victims of our military’s insane policy of pushing people until they break, than Staff Sgt. Bale’s allegedly senseless attack.
It could have been anyone from the 3rd (Stryker) Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, stationed at Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Bales had been screened for PTSD after the head injury and had been cleared, but characterized the testing as "minimal," according to his lawyer, John Henry Browne.

Interestingly, the base's medical center is being investigated for allegedly down-grading post traumatic stress diagnoses to other mental illnesses that do not prevent deployment or qualify soldiers for disability payments. Lewis-McChord is reputedly the most troubled base in the US military. (see http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2012/0317/Did-soldier-said-to-have-killed-Afghan-civilians-come-from-most-troubled-base ).

It’s too late for those innocent people, and for Staff Sgt. Bales. We never should have gone to war in Afghanistan. Nothing has been accomplished other than garnering the absolute hatred of nearly every man, woman, and child there.

Unless, of course, you want to count a new generation of American soldiers suffering from PTSD.
As It Stands, you have to go to the source of a problem to solve it. Treating the symptoms is a waste of time…and lives.

                                                               Websites carrying this column: 
1.) Military Lawyer Reviews

2.) Multiple Choice

3.) Luxury hotel in Vietnam

4.) Law News – Gary C. Eto

5.) World News – Asia – Vietnam

6.) Notion Core

7.) Mental Breakdown

Intergalatic News: Darth ‘Cheney’ Vader gets heart transplant

Darth “Cheney”, 71, who served as vice president during the George W. Bush regime, got a heart transplant yesterday. This came as a shock to most that know him, as it has been generally assumed he never had a heart!

His lackey’s won’t say where he got the heart from, but claim that it’s the dawn of a new era for Darth Cheney Vader. As Earthlings know, Vader has a nasty habit of lying, and they suspect that his latest ploy is an effort to make people think he’s human.

Will the “Dark Side” become involved in this presidential election now that Darth Cheney has extended his evil life?  Stay tuned folks…that’s not all!

Kuwait honors shooting team with bogus national anthem

Borat fans were probably delighted to hear his version of Kazakhstan’s national anthem in a real world setting.

On the other hand, there’s a pissed-off Kazakhstan shooting team that didn’t appreciate the medal ceremony in Kuwait turning into a comedy.

Here’s what happened:

“Kazakhstan's shooting team demanded an apology from Kuwait Friday after a spoof national anthem from the satirical film "Borat" was played at a medal ceremony instead of the country's official version.

The blunder took place as Maria Dmitrienko stood on top of the podium to celebrate her gold-medal performance. But instead of the Kazkah national anthem, Dmitrienko had to listen to the song used in the 2006 smash hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

The film, made by British comic Sacha Baron Cohen, portrayed Kazakhstan as a hotbed of backward racists who drink horse urine and indulge in incest. Red-faced organizers in Kuwait apologized for the embarrassing oversight before re-staging the medal ceremony, this time with the correct version of the Kazakhstan anthem.

Kazakhstan's foreign office told local media they were investigating the incident to avoid any similar errors in the future.”  (Source)

Once upon a time we didn’t do a single sleep to get energized

                      Good Day Humboldt County!

Our journey through life requires regular sleep to gather energy for the next day. But how much sleep do we really need? I’m most rested with less than six hours at a stretch. I know people who sleep 10 straight hours in order to feel really rested.

Actually, the thought that we need eight hours of straight sleep for maximum performance the next day is a modern one. Apparently, our ancestors took “two sleeps” a day. It’s a fascinating subject and discussed here: 

“It happens to all of us, you wake up in the middle of the night and try desperately to get back to sleep but instead toss and turn until the alarm goes off. Rather than it being simply symptomatic of a stressful work week, science suggests you might be experiencing a throwback to a default pattern of human slumber. According to mounting research, the concept of a solid eight hours sleep is a fairly recent phenomenon and it's likely that our ancestors enjoyed "two sleeps" of shorter duration, separated by time awake, as opposed to one sustained period.

As the BBC's Stephanie Hegarty recently wrote, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr was the first to rediscover this behavioural trait in the early 1990s while studying the sleeping habits of humans. Plunging a group of participants into 14 hours of darkness for a month he found they fell into a distinct pattern after a period of adjustment: sleeping for four hours before waking for one or two and then sleeping a further four. Since then, Roger Ekirch, a professor in the Department of History at Virginia Tech and author of At Day's Close: Night in Times Past, has found a wealth of evidence to suggest that the single sleep is a modern occurrence, with "first" and "second" sleeps considered the norm since the beginning of human civilization.

"The pattern of our sleep has changed from a segmented or bi-phasic pattern, which existed from time immemorial, to the compressed, consolidated form to which we aspire today, but do not always succeed in achieving," Ekirch told me.” Read the rest at the Source

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Consumer complaints drive ‘Pink Slime’ from supermarket chains

         Good Day Humboldt County!

  In the course of millions of Americans culinary travels, they’ve eaten “pink slime,” at one time or another.

Most of us weren’t even aware that we were making hamburger patties from an ammonia-treated beef additive.

  The food industry refers to pink slime as a “finely textured beef” additive and has been quietly approving the crap for years.

 Social media, and the mainstream media, recently expressed worries about how safe the pink slime was to eat. Hundreds of thousands of online petitions popped up seeking to stop schools from serving it after the word got out students enrolled in the national school lunch program were being served pink slime. The Agriculture Department got the message and announced starting next fall, schools involved in the national school lunch program will have the option of avoiding the product.

It’s nice to see how quickly most of the major supermarkets are responding to customer’s concerns:

Snippet:

“Supermarket chains Kroger Co. and Stop & Shop said Thursday they will join the growing list of store chains that will no longer sell beef that includes an additive with the unappetizing moniker "pink slime."

The Kroger Co., the nation's largest traditional grocer with 2,435 supermarkets in 31 states, also said it will stop buying the beef, reversing itself after saying Wednesday that it would sell beef both with and without the additive. The chains joined Safeway, Supervalu and Food Lion, among others, who have said they won't sell beef with the filler.

The low-cost ingredient is made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts. The bits are heated to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit and spun to remove most of the fat. The lean mix then is compressed into blocks for use in ground meat. The product is exposed to ammonium hydroxide gas to kill bacteria, such as E. coli and salmonella. Whole Foods, A&P and Costco said they have never sold beef products with the additive.” (Source)

Interestingly enough, no word yet from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., - which sells more food than any other retailer in the nation. What do you think? Will Wal-Mart live up to it’s slimy reputation and keep stocking the refrigerator section with pink slime?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Are Mole Men preparing to invade Clintonville, Wisconsin?

Residents are of this small town are “shaking in their boots” or laughing like hyenas!

A mysterious loud boom went off Sunday evening in Clintonville, Wisconsin, and nothing has been the same since. Residents are reporting strange disturbance sounds like distant thunder, fireworks or someone slamming a heavy door.

The booming in Clintonville continued Monday and Tuesday nights and into Wednesday morning, prompting some residents to leave the area.

City officials say they have investigated every possible human cause. They checked water, sewer and gas lines, contacted the military about any exercises in the area, reviewed permits for mining explosives and inspected a dam next to City Hall. They even tested methane levels at the landfill in case the gas was spontaneously exploding.

Steve Dutch, a geologist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said the ground beneath them is solid, and that there are no known earthquake fault lines in the area. Officials in a city plagued by unexplained booms and bangs are hiring engineers in the hopes of finding the source of the racket, the city administrator said today. There have been numerous theories thrown out for the cause of the commotion, but my favorite has to be the one suggesting Mole Men are acting up down there!

Smithsonian Channel’s ‘Titanoboa: Monster Snake’ is an Ophidiophobian’s worst nightmare

       Warning!

Don’t watch today’s TV special (Smithsonian Channel)if you have Snakephobia (Ophidiophobia).

If you happen to be a New York commuter with a nervous disposition about our slithery friends, then be aware there’s an exhibit today (and tomorrow) in Grand Central that may ruin your day!

A monster snake is setting up home in Grand Central. OK, so it's actually an accurate replica of the largest snake ever discovered.The 48-foot monster – weighing in at a whopping 2,500 pounds – will be on display in Vanderbilt Hall. Titanoboa is thought to have lived 65 million years ago.

Here’s a link with more information on the documentary and museum exhibition. I’m sure glad Titanoboa’s descendants aren’t as big…imagine any animal, or man, today trying to take one on!

Cat makes like flying squirrel as it falls off 19 story building

      Good Day Humboldt County!

   I’ve found that pets have really improved my walk through life. They offer so much, and ask for so little.

  I especially enjoy hearing tales of animals surviving insurmountable odds. Today’s “tail” involves a one-year old cat that used up one of it’s 9 lives in a perilous plunge off a 19 story building.

                News Snippet:

“Sugar, a white furry cat, plunged 19 floors from a window in a high-rise building in Boston and – aided by her fall into a tiny mulch patch and the feline’s ability to glide a la the "flying squirrel" – lived to walk another day, animal rescue officials say.

A woman in the West End building said she saw a “white streak” go by her window early Wednesday afternoon and then saw Sugar after she hit the ground, said Mike Brammer, assistant manager of the animal rescue services department at the Animal Rescue League of Boston.

“You could see the impact crater where she actually did hit the ground and she actually lost some fur in the hole, too," Brammer said. The cat's small landing spot is surrounded by brick and concrete. “Whether cats can sometimes aim, so if it did it itself or if it was a combination of luck or both … it managed to hit that small patch of mulch, so it was very soft ground,” he said.

The feline, believed to be one year old, was aided in her fall by dynamics akin to the “flying squirrel” phenomenon, Brammer said.” (Read the whole story here.)

Time for me to walk on down the road….

‘Funny how Smart phones keep making people do dumb s**t’

I’ve heard numerous stories about people walking and texting with painful results. Some people have fallen down manholes, while others trip in pot holes, or off of curbs, or even walk right into buildings, parking meters, and stationary cars, but this is a new one to me:

“Bonnie Miller is speaking up about the dangers of texting while walking. The Benton Harbor woman plunged into a frigid Lake Michigan while trying to change an appointment on her phone. Thanks to Miller's husband and 19-year-old bystander Rebecca Van Zant, who both jumped in to keep Miller afloat until the Coast Guard arrived, the contrite texter is OK.

Tweeps are exasperated by the latest "Dumb Texting Tricks" episode, with @GongshowDuncs commenting, "Funny how smart phones keep making people do dumb s**t." On the plus side, Van Zant is even more determined to join the Coast Guard after recently failing the entrance exam by two points.”

If you’re having a bad day, take heart…your not alone

    Good Day Humboldt County!

As we walk along life’s path we often experience bad days. It’s a fact of life. It’s how we deal with these bad days that decide the severity of them.

Some people can get hit with everything imaginable and still be thankful they are alive. Others let one bad incident ruin their day.

One family in Athens, Ohio, were really lucky. A huge boulder came loose and rolled down a mountain and onto this home and two cars.

The family was in another part of the house. Their reaction had to be one of relief. The boulder didn’t kill anyone. As for the damage, hopefully the house and cars are insured. Here’s another example:

400-pound gorilla escapes, bites zookeeper at Buffalo Zoo

A 400-pound adult male gorilla named Koga escaped his cage at the Buffalo Zoo on Monday, biting a female zookeeper before being tranquilized.

The keeper who has cared for Koga since he arrived in 2007 was bitten on her hand and calf, in what officials said was an act of excitement rather than aggression.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

  

‘Pimp grade kratom’–ancient but new to you - drug is latest fad

                                                      Good Day Humboldt County!

   The road to getting high has split off into a new highway – at least for me – with the discovery of the Kratom leaf. Apparently, this potent little plant has been around for thousands of years in Southeast Asia, and people are finally getting wind of it here.

      It’s being monitored by the DEA, but is still legal to buy. Proponents claim small doses of Kratom combats fatigue, pain and depression. It’s even touted as an antidote to heroin addiction. "Kratom makes people feel pain free, strong, active and optimistic," according to the Website Kratom.com.

                                                                 News Snippet:

"Every month somebody is trying to get a new 'safe high'," said Frank LoVecchio, medical director of the Banner Good Samaritan Poison and Drug Information Center in Phoenix, Ariz. "(Kratom) is definitely not safe."

As with many herbal and chemical products on the market, science and law enforcement are playing catch-up. Little research has been done to determine the risks of taking kratom, so it remains legal and unregulated in the United States.” (source)

         Even promoters warn that daily use of kratom can lead to dependence and nasty side effects.

“A Website for the Kratom Association, which claims more than 100 members, has launched a campaign to counter what it describes as harmful and irresponsible representation of the herb — censuring or reporting sellers and head shops that market it as a "legal high," target teenagers or sell kratom adulterated with illegal drugs or other harmful substances.”

Kratom is illegal in a number of countries in Europe and Asia — most notably Thailand, where much of it is produced. It is now the third most commonly used illegal drug in Thailand, according to the DEA. In that country’s drug culture, the leaf is sometimes combined with cough syrup and Coke, tranquilizers and marijuana to produce a narcotic drink called "4x100." (source)

“Long-term daily high dose kratom consumption is reported to induce nervousness, sleeplessness, loss of libido, constipation and the darkening of skin complexion,” Kratom.com says in its "dangerous effects" section.

“Some sellers label it as "incense," claiming it is not sold for human consumption while also requiring that buyers be at least 18 years old. One variety being touted for its powerful punch is Maeng Da, which translates to “pimp grade kratom.” (Source)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Time to trick your eyes girls and guys…

I enjoy optical illusions and am always on the prowl for new ones. Here’s one worth sharing with you.

                               Are the lines below straight or are they curved?

Try putting a straight edge against the lines on your screen to test your conclusion.

Thanks to EyeTricks                Go here to see more great optical illusions.

Republican Klu Kluxer runs for Sheriff in Sand Point, Idaho

I was talking with a friend the other day, and he was telling that me that the White Supremacists are practically gone from Idaho – which at one time was the headquarters for the Aryan Nation.

Based upon this news story, I kind of doubt his assertion that ALL the hate groups have moved to Kalispell, Montana. That guy on the right, with the Confederate flag, looks pretty comfortable in that shopping center in downtown Sand Point.

“A white supremacist in northern Idaho is running for sheriff of Bonner County, saying his views on race will not influence his approach to the office.

Shaun Winkler, 33, of the White Knights of the KKK will go up against incumbent Sheriff Daryl Wheeler and Ponderay police officer Tim Fry in the Republican primary on May 15. The winner of that contest will face independent candidate Rocky Jordan in November according to the Bonner County Daily Bee.”

Here’s the thing that gets me; what party did he choose to run with? The Republicans. Not the Independent Party, the Democratic Party, or the Libertarian Party…no…the Republican Party. Could it be that Winkler knows the current GOP has been drinking a lot of spiked Kool Aid lately and his radical beliefs would find a home with them? Hmmmmmm … could be. I have a column coming up in a couple of weeks, that will go into detail about the growing number of hate groups in America that are preparing for war if President Obama is re-elected. Stay tuned.

Sexy Lady: More Marilyn Monroe memorabilia up for action

                     Good Day Humboldt County!

  Men and women loved her. Marilyn Monroe was a real person. Vibrant and full of life. Her fans are legion. Even today. Traveling down the road to fame wasn’t as easy as many people might have thought.  

  If your ready to take a stroll down memory lane, and perhaps snag a piece of Marilyn’s past, then the following auction coming up on  on March 31st, is for you:

     Never-before-seen Marilyn Monroe photos up for auction

A first issue of Playboy magazine (HMH Publishing, 1953) featuring Marilyn Monroe on the cover. The magazine, which launched in December 1953, sold for 50 cents a copy. 11 by 8 1/2 inches.
Estimate: $1,000 - $1,500  - Julien's Auctions

             Odd Marilyn memorabilia to be auctioned

Darren Julien and Martin Nolan, of Julien’s Auctions, show off an eclectic mix of items that once belonged to the iconic sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, including skis, nightgowns and a chest X-ray .

 

(below)                       Chair from Marilyn Monroe's final photo session

This Italian-style carved chair with green velvet upholstery was used in a July 1962 photo shoot with photographer Allan Grant to accompany a Life magazine article. Monroe chose her own casual clothes for the shoot. At the time of the article Monroe had just been fired from the unreleased film "Something's Got To Give."

For the auction, not just the photos are going up for sale, Nolan noted: In some cases, the rights to the photos are also up for sale -- the buyer will be able to reap royalties from republishing them. It's a good investment, said Nolan: "(Marilyn memorabilia) continue to increase year over year, it's unbelievable. ... She's still relevant today, and of course that adds value. She's a global icon." See slideshow

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Growing global movement to legalize drugs faces uphill battle

                          Editor’s Note: Complete interview with Richard Van Wickler below               

                          By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
 The War on Drugs was lost a long time ago. The fact that most people don't see the relationship between the war on drugs and alcohol prohibition is one of the greatest marketing feats of the 20th century.

  Prohibition doesn’t work. Millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted every year arresting and imprisoning drug users. One of the results is this shameful statistic: The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population, but it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners, according to an article in the New York Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all).
  Like some grim “Groundhog Day,” people are ignore the unpopular law (like the first prohibition) and become criminals. Jail follows. Soon the jails are overcrowded.
  Now, there’s a growing worldwide reform movement challenging current drug laws. Several countries are looking at drug legalization as an alternative to their failed drug policies, despite threats from the U.S. to retaliate.

The reason is no secret. America has been imposing its failed Drug War laws on the rest of the world through economic intimidation. Things are changing, however. Now, world leaders are speaking up to support legal control of all drugs.
Despite U.S. reprisals, some countries have been meeting more frequently, even looking at regional coalitions to strengthen their growing reform movement. Latin American and Caribbean leaders met last December and discussed a regional coalition for drug legalization in what is known as the Tuxtla System for Dialogue ( http://www.world-war-d.com/tag/tuxtla-system-for-dialogue/ ). 
  Last week, representatives from law enforcement agencies around the world met in Vienna at the 55th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. (http://www.idpc.net/events/55-session-of-cnd-2012).

 
  The International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global network promoting objective and open debates on drug policy has a web page (www.idpc.net) with information about last week’s events.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) - an American organization comprised of active and retired  police officers, judges, prosecutors and other criminal justice professionals - sent representatives Maria Lucia Karam, Jim Gierach, Annie Machon, and Richard Van Wickler, a currently-serving jail superintendent. 
  In an exclusive interview with Van Wickler ( http://www.leap.cc/some-of-our-speakers/richard-van-wickler-3/) I asked him a few questions about the meetings he attended and his impressions of what happened, or didn’t happen:

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                                                       READ ENTIRE INTERVIEW BELOW

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  Surprisingly, it’s not just liberals calling for an end to this losing war on drugs. Pat Robertson, a provocative voice of the right wing, recently said, “I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. This war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”
  As It Stands, the global war on drug prohibition is underway, but U.S. activists for legalization need to continue to lead the way by educating the public, and the rest of the world.

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         As It Stands interviews Richard Van Wickler (photo right)

“If prison-building is a national goal, then I suppose that would be a good reason to leave our drug use laws as they are; As a taxpayer and a professional, it is certainly not a goal of mine.” - Richard Van Wickler

As It Stands - “Can you tell me what significant recommendations came out of the March 11th meeting where a drug control framework was discussed?”

Van Wickler - “ Our sense is that every member state of the U.N. is calling for a continuation of the current path of drug-prohibition policy, evidenced by their bland and uninspired discussions of the U.S-introduced draft resolution that would reaffirm the three UN prohibition drug treaties and commemorate the centenary of the Hague Opium Convention. 
   “Proposed amendments to the US-sponsored resolution and the discussions regarding those amendments basically dealt with form rather than substance.
   “Disturbingly, the UN preaches and teaches the importance of a “single and unified voice” that operates to stifle thought, discussion and debate, making the process look more like a totalitarian process rather than a democratic one. A democratic process invites the expression of divergent opinions, beliefs and strategies, and does not dictate a ‘party line.’

 The core and threshold issue facing the delegates and the world is whether or not the world should continue the failed UN prohibition treaties and policies?  Woefully, that discussion was stymied and everything was discussed but the elephant in the room.

   “These anemic discussions clearly foreshadow the conference conclusion that will reaffirm the status quo, despite the reports by the UN Secretariat reporting the deplorable world situation with regard to drug abuse and drug trafficking, and the UNODC Executive Director’s report detailing a myriad of expensive programs and anti-drug efforts made around the world. 
  * (1) The cost of those latter efforts were to cost 1.036 billion dollars for the biennium 2012-2013 budget period, or approximately $500 million per year. Drug prohibition is big business.
  “In ramming through the status quo drug policies, the discussion of the CND and UNODC officials, delegates and even some NGOs, often repeat the same party-line expressions such as the phrase  “evidenced-based treatment,” “evidenced-based incarceration alternatives,” and “evidenced-based drug solutions” but the evidence overwhelmingly indicts current drug policies with immunity.
 “The delegates rightly recognize the long-accepted pillars of drug policy reform that include a need for prevention, treatment, education and law enforcement, but continue to ignore the economic consequences of prohibition that make drugs the most valuable commodity on the face of the earth, which puts more dangerous drugs of every sort everywhere, uncontrolled and unregulated. The missing pillar of an effective drug policy for the world remains the economic pillar. By taking the profit out of the drug business, drug trafficking would be decimated, public health would improve, corruption would be ameliorated, respect for the rule of law and the justice system would be resurrected, and the world’s moral fabric would immediately begin to heal.
    “People will little note nor long remember what has been said in Vienna this week, because the thought and content of the conversation avoided the heart of the world’s drug policy problem – prohibition. Al Capone did and would support the United Nation’s prohibition treaties.
   “Today, the drug cartels also support the United Nation’s-Al Capone prohibition policies. If the delegates put on their thinking caps, they would immediately recognize that it makes no sense for the UN Member States to be on the same side as the cartels on the prohibition issue. Since the cartels are for prohibition, the ‘good guys’ should oppose it.
  “Seeing the United Nations and the Member States delegates in action for the first time, it is stunning to see the complete avoidance of the central issue of drug policy.
Not a single Member State has called for the legalization, control and regulation of the currently illicit drugs. Not a single Member State advocates taking the profit motivation out of the world drug business, which feeds the cartels and terrorists, and corrupts the police and the kids.
   “Current drug policy outlaws illicit drugs, but at the same time, by the same rule, tempts the people of the world to engage in the most lucrative business, the drug business. The temptation works and operates to debase society and mankind with devastating effects worldwide. Not only does the war on drugs not work for its intended purpose of saving people from themselves and drug use, but the war on drugs also exacerbates most world crisis.
“The world is fraught with too much violence, too much crime, too much addiction, too many overdose cases, too many prisons, too many bullet holes, too many AIDS cases, and too many bills related to prohibition.
“The war on drugs has proved to be public enemy number one, and yet comes and goes daily to Building M at the Vienna International Center, without the need for a badge, and without question or scrutiny.”
As It Stands - “Were any changes made to the IDPC Drug Policy Guide that you found to be particularly noteworthy?”
Van Wickler - “Because these guides are so comprehensive I wanted to ask the question of Mike Trace who is the chair of the IDPC responsible for this annual report. Mike is also the former drug czar of the UK.
    “The 2010 report raised a lot of questions regarding the need for reform. Since the publication of that report, things are moving fast with respect to changes in the prohibition debate.
    “The 2012 report contains a lot of changes, most notably that it provides for specific and radical proposals and "steps to take" for member states to consider in the drug policy reform movement.”
As It Stands - “On a personal note, how much has your advocacy for drug legalization affected your       career?” 
Van Wickler - “Since I have been a member of LEAP (Dec 2007), my advocacy for drug legalization and drug policy reform has enhanced my career.  Unlike most LEAP members, I am not retired, but still on the job.  I have been in corrections for 24 years, 19 as the superintendent of a NH County jail.  
   “My superiors are very supportive of my position with the need for drug policy reform.  The NH Association of Counties awarded me with the distinction of being the County Correctional Superintendent of the year for 2011 knowing full well my affiliation with LEAP.  My membership in LEAP contributes significantly to my on going education and enlightenment about National and Global Drug policy.  
    “My encounter with other law enforcement officers is always positive, and in fact many agree that the drug war is a failure.  Unfortunately they resist the concept, which I believe, is motivated by the "pack mentality" of law enforcement work.  
    “Not everyone is secure enough in their career or social setting to venture outside of the prescribed focus on current policy. I am. My mantra is ‘it only makes sense if you consider the facts and honor the evidence,’ which is what we in law enforcement are supposed to do.”

Footnotes:
* (1) The 1.036 billion is a bullet by Jim Gierach who sat in on the budget presentation for the U.N. This is for a two year budget, allocating over one half billion to the UN for the next two years for just the office of drug control policy. Obviously there are several other tentacles to the UN which requires significantly more dollars. This figure does not include what will be spent by individual countries fighting the war on drugs.

WEBSITES CARRYING THIS COLUMN:    

1) Drug and Alcohol News

2) Generic Pills and Drugs

3) Generic Pills and Drugs

4) The Times of India

5) Prescription Search Engine

St. Patrick's Day 2012: Facts, Myths, and Traditions

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day To Ya

             Humboldt County!

 Our path today is lined with three-leaf clovers, good old Irish blarney, and bit of history. Gather round lads and lassies..tis a fine day to be happy!

“Few St. Patrick's Day revelers have a clue about St. Patrick, the historical figure, according to the author of St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography.

"The modern celebration of St. Patrick's Day really has almost nothing to do with the real man," said classics professor Philip Freeman of Luther College in Iowa. (Take an Ireland quiz.)

                                                                                             Who Was the Man Behind St. Patrick's Day?

For starters, the real St. Patrick wasn't even Irish. He was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family with a townhouse, a country villa, and plenty of slaves.

What's more, Patrick professed no interest in Christianity as a young boy, Freeman noted. At 16, Patrick's world turned: He was kidnapped and sent overseas to tend sheep as a slave in the chilly, mountainous countryside of Ireland for seven years. (See Ireland pictures.)

"It was just horrible for him," Freeman said. "But he got a religious conversion while he was there and became a very deeply believing Christian." According to St. Patrick's Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the Christian holy trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Today, St. Patrick's Day revelers wear a shamrock. Trifolium dubium, the wild-growing, three-leaf clover that some botanists consider the official shamrock, is an annual plant that germinates in the spring. Other three-leaf clovers, such as the perennials Trifolium repens and Medicago lupulina, are "bogus shamrocks," according to the Irish Times.

John Parnell, a botanist at Trinity College Dublin, said that Trifolium dubium is the most commonly used shamrock today, which lends credence to the claims of authenticity. However, he added, the custom of wearing a shamrock dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and "I know of no evidence to say what people then used. I think the argument on authenticity is purely academic—basically I'd guess they used anything clover like then."

   No Snakes in Ireland                                     

Another St. Patrick myth is the claim that he banished snakes from Ireland. It's true no snakes exist on the island today, Luther College's Freeman said—but they never did.

Ireland, after all, is surrounded by icy waters—much too cold to allow snakes to migrate from Britain or anywhere else. Since snakes often represent evil in literature, "when Patrick drives the snakes out of Ireland, it is symbolically saying he drove the old, evil, pagan ways out of Ireland [and] brought in a new age," Freeman said.

The snake myth, the shamrock story, and other tales were likely spread by well-meaning monks centuries after St. Patrick's death, Freeman said. (source)

(Related: "Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick.")

Time for me to walk on down the road…

The Mỹ Lai Massacre hastened the end of the Vietnam War - Will the massacre near Kandahar, Afghanistan have the same effect?

             

                By Dave Stancliff
 Forty-four years ago today, marks the mass murder of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians (no one knows for sure what the exact count was) in Mỹ Lai, Vietnam, by soldiers from "Charlie" Company of 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the Americal Division. 
  Second Lieutenant William Calley, a platoon leader in Charlie Company was convicted of killing 22 of the villagers in the course of the massacre. While 26 US soldiers were initially charged with criminal offenses for their actions at Mỹ Lai, Calley was singled out as the poster boy for his part in the senseless slaughter.
   Most of the victims were women, children (including babies), and elderly people. Some of the bodies were later found to be mutilated. A year later, in May 1969, the story of the mass murders hit the national and international press, stunning the world.

  I was in the Army at the time of the announcement, and remember having confused feelings when I heard he was up for the death penalty. His sentence was later reduced to three and a half years under house arrest.
  I couldn’t understand why just one person had been selected to answer for the atrocities when a whole company was involved? In retrospect, I can see the military needed someone to blame, but didn’t want to go after the entire unit. 
  The massacre increased domestic opposition to our involvement in the Vietnam War. You might call it a turning point. The three US servicemen who had tried to halt the massacre and protect the wounded were later denounced by several US Congressmen. They received hate mail and death threats and found mutilated animals on their doorsteps.
    Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr., and his crew, Glenn Andreotta and Lawrence Colburn, were recognized and decorated 30 years later for their heroism at My Lai. Andreotta had died in combat three weeks after the massacre, and so was honored posthumously.
   The fact that the massacre was successfully covered up for 18 months was seen as a prime example of the Pentagon's "Culture of Concealment.” Hiding war atrocities is impossible nowadays thanks to worldwide instant communications and the internet.

  The most recent example is the American soldier who is accused of massacring 16 villagers (mostly women and children) near Kandahar, Afghanistan. I read where he’s up for the death penalty. I also read where U.S. officials said that only one soldier, from the Stryker brigade, is being tried for leaving his base in southern Afghanistan and opening fire on the sleeping families.
   I bet that he had help. There were reports of a group of Americans in the village and elders the next day testified to multiple attacks. But only one soldier has been charged. With U.S.-Afghanistan relations in crisis, Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday openly doubted the American account of the March 12 massacre of 16 Afghan civilians, allegedly by one U.S. soldier. And Karzai told President Barack Obama by telephone that it was time to pull NATO forces from Afghan villages, the Associated Press reported.

  The shooter has been identified as a staff sergeant on his fourth combat tour. He faces an Article 32 investigation which will be conducted before any court-martial proceedings. If there is a conviction at court-martial with the death penalty imposed and all appeals exhausted, the president of the United States himself would have to sign the death warrant for the soldier's execution. 
  John Bennett was the last U.S. soldier to be executed by the military. He was hanged in 1961 after being convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old Austrian girl.
  I’m just guessing, but if I were to bet, this staff sergeant won’t be executed. If convicted, he’ll be pardoned. It is an election year. The conditions in the military haven’t changed that much since Vietnam. It looks like his lawyer will be using a PTSD defence, according to NBC News. 
  It’s a legitimate defense  (anyone with four combat tours has to have PTSD). The real issue here is the culture of war demands that warriors go unpunished for atrocities committed in combat zones. The pack mentality demands closing ranks whenever possible. I doubt if any civilian could even begin to understand this mentality. It’s not about right or wrong. 
  As It Stands, the one thing a combat veteran knows is he’s supposed to kill the enemy whenever possible. That mentality warps into a twisted reality sometimes and civilians look like the enemy, becoming acceptable collateral damage.

Scientists say sex-starved flies drown their woes in alcohol just like men!

                 Good Day Humboldt County!

  Sometimes the road to romance meets with obstacles. Ask any guy. There are times when your sweetheart says, “I’ll pass,” or, “I have a headache” (an ancient dodge).

  The reaction to this rejection sometimes leads to sucking up booze in great quantities to drown one’s sorrows. A new study claims flies react like men in this respect.

“In Friday’s issue of the journal Science, researchers propose a biological explanation for why “Not tonight, dear” may lead to “Gimme another beer.” If it proves true in people, it may help scientists find new medications to fight alcoholism.”

I’m not ready yet to thank thousands of flies for fighting alcoholism. Frankly, I resent being compared to an insect – and especially a filthy fly! I’m calling bull shit on this study, but in the name of fairness, here’s some more information:

“One by one, these eager Lotharios were put into a container with a female that had just mated. So she was really, really not interested in doing it again anytime soon. She would run away. She would kick the male. She would stick out her egg-laying organ to hold him at bay.

The male flies went through three hour long sessions of this every day for four days, enough rejection to discourage them from trying any more.

After that experience, rejected flies were put in vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced food. They consistently went for the alcohol more than did the male flies that had just mated. In fact, they evidently got plastered.”

I try hard not to envision the detailed observation of flies part – but I keep seeing a couple of researchers bent over a glass cage holding hands and taking notes!

“Some rejected males were moved to a different environment, where groups of guys mingled with receptive females. After the guys had sex, their yen for alcohol declined.

The researchers also paired thousands of other male flies with dead virgin females, so that they didn’t experience rejection but didn’t have sex either. They still hit the sauce.”

Well, I bet they did! There was no way they wanted to hump corpses! This is just all too weird. To think someone paid for this research. I sure hope it wasn’t tax-payers.

“I think it’s a pretty good bet that it will translate to humans,” said Ulrike Heberlein of the University of California, San Francisco, who led the research. If so, “one can say we could now understand why a negative experience, such as a sexual rejection, could drive somebody to drink.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…