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I just got an unbelievable email from NORML. For the first time in 25 years, there is an actual piece of legislation before congress which would COMPLETELY REMOVE the national ban on marijuana!

Keep in mind, though, it would still be up to each state individually to legalize or criminalize it, or something in between.

However, this bill, if passed, would be a GIANT LEAP towards freedom (as the title suggests). It would mean that marijuana is FULLY LEGAL in California, and it would give states the right to choose whether or not it is okay.

There’s not a whole lot else to say on this matter, so I’ll get to the important part: celebrate 4/20 tomorrow, and the day after that, on 4/21, we’re going to let Congress know that this bill needs to be passed. How are we going to do that? Here’s an excerpt from the NORML Newsletter I received:

Guys, I urge you to help out with this effort to restore freedom to America. If you are interested in receiving updates like this from NORML, I also suggest you join NORML’s newsletter (it is near the bottom left of their page).

Thanks guys.

This is a research paper which details America’s fallacies in regards to their strategies in the War on Drugs. Not only do I outline the current strategy and explain what is wrong with it, but I also offer an alternative strategy which could solve many of the problems America faces today, including drug abuse, theft, and violent crime.

Most of us are familiar with alcohol prohibition, which began in 1920 and was quickly repealed in the early 30s. During that time, the sale of alcohol was outlawed in America, and this created far more problems than it solved. Consequences of the federal government outlawing a much-used substance included increased crime rates, increased acts of violence, and one theory even suggests that use of alcohol actually increased. One would find it extremely difficult to locate an educated individual that believes prohibition had positive effects. Prohibition was an absolutely indefensible attack on personal freedom. But most people believe prohibition ended in 1933. Wrong. Soon after began another prohibition, one that for a number of invalid reasons, was largely accepted in contrast to alcohol prohibition.

To see the rest of the article, download the PDF of Uncle Sam’s War on America.

I have plans to put together a more interactive and visually interesting version of this research, but I have had many extravagant plans fall apart. Thus, I promise nothing.

Ever wonder what I do when I’m not blogging, writing, or geeking it up? Well, the truth is rather disappointing I’m afraid…I just lay around in my room all day doing gong hits. Take a gander.

The United States incarcerates more people and at a higher rate than any other peacetime nation in the world. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics the number of US residents behind bars has now reached more than 2.3 million.

We must increase the use of special drug courts in which addicted offenders are given the opportunity to complete court supervised substance abuse treatment instead of being sentenced to prison. We must eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws. We must increase the use of alternative penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. Drug defendants convicted of nonviolent offenses should not be given mandatory prison sentences. We should emphasize the criminalization of the importers, manufacturers, and major distributors, rather than just the street venders. Prisons in this country should be a legitimate criminal sanction — but it should be an extension of a fair, just and wise society.

These words are not my own. These are the words of Senator Mike Gravel, who is running for president in 2008. They display wisdom. I advise you to read up on this candidate. I would absolutely love to see a non-republican, non-democratic president win who has some common sense. I’m sick of the red-blue divide.

Click here to read up on Mike Gravel, and of course do some Googling. SPREAD THE WORD!

Click here to listen to Audio Blog

Hey guys,
This Audio Blog (I could call it a podcast, I guess, but everyone does that…) is about — you guessed it — legalization of marijuana! Seriously though, it has some really interesting statistics about death rates in America.

I actually recorded this like a week ago, and just haven’t gotten around to putting it up yet. I’ve been procrastinating it because I’ve moved my office to the basement, and I’m using the crappy wireless Internet, and things take ages to upload (or download for that matter).

But something motivated me to post this as soon as possible. My last audio blog (a rant about Cocaine Energy Drink being made illegal) got listened to by the creator of Cocaine, Jamey Kirby, and evidently the entire Redux team! He personally sent me an email! I asked for his permission to post the email on my blog, so if it’s okay by him I’ll have it up soon.

Well, it’s 4:00 AM yet again (I was up til 4 last night, and until 7 the night before…) so I best be off now.

I haven’t really said this before, but to everyone who reads my blog, thank you so much. Tonight’s email from Jamey Kirby made me realize that while I don’t get a lot of traffic here, and sometimes that gets frustrating, I do have a few loyal readers. Many thanks to those, and also to readers who just pop in for certain blogs. I appreciate you guys!

And, yes, I plan on blogging more often now. Truth be told, I was pondering giving up on this thing completely, but not after tonight’s email!! I’m here to stay.

Peace out, guys!

Oh, I almost forgot, here’s the audio file! It’s a WAV…sorry about that, I would like to do it as an MP3 but was having a rough time with it. Next time, hopefully. Enjai.

Click here to listen to Audio Blog

Update: Here’s the email I got from Jamey Kirby, founder and inventor of Cocaine Energy Drink!!!

On Jun 17, 2007, at 1:51 AM, Jamey Kirby wrote:

Dude,

I have been following your blogs on my drink and I appreciate your
effort very much. Tonight we found your latest audio blog. It made us
all (the whole management staff at Redux) very happy. We have sent it
off to various media outlets, the Jay Thomas Show, and several other
radio shows we sometimes work with; I even sent it off to the Daily
Show. I have no idea if any of them will use it, but it was so good I
had to give it a shot.

Other partners have sent your message to their congressmen and all of
their friends and contacts. We all want to thank you very much.

Oh, I am Jamey, the founder and inventor of the brand. I too was a nerd.
A year and a half ago I sold my interest in a software company I started
7 years ago and chose to use the funds to make this energy drink (along
with the funds of some of my friends). I developed device drivers for
the Windows platform mostly; file systems, filters, backup, and other
storage related system level components.

I am having a party at my home in San Diego on Saturday June 23rd. If
you are interested in coming I can send you the details. It will be a
hodge-podge of nerds, rock stars, and business people. You are very
welcome to come.

Regards,

Jamey Kirby
Senior Partner/Founder
Redux beverages, LLC
www.drinkcocaine.com

Click here to listen to Audio Blog

Click here to download Legalize Cocaine (MP3 Audio, 8:13, 7.6MB)

Can you Digg it?

The FDA has banned the energy drink known as Cocaine, saying they are “illegally marketing the drink as an alternative to street drugs.” The message is quite clear: there shall be absolutely no competing with street drugs! The FDA does not want ANY ALTERNATIVES to street drugs! There is NO reason why you should do anything BESIDES street drugs, and anything that markets itself as such IS VIOLATING FDA CODE!

Alcoholics Anonymous is to be considered a terrorist group from this point forward. All anti-drug campaigns suggesting things you should do besides drugs are illegal and must be immediately shut down. All products promoting themselves as anything other than a street drug at all is now illegal. DO NOT turn to support groups; DO NOT turn to your parents; DO NOT use Nicarette patches instead of cigarettes; DO NOT advocate exercise, creativity, thought, expression, or anything at all in the place of drug use; for if you do any of these the FDA will deem it harmful to America.

This is not freedom. This is the mark of oppression. This is completely unconstitutional. This goes against all logic. This is completely against what America should be in so many ways. This is counter-productive. This is downright insane.

No, America is not a free country. America is a place where you may have the ability to do many things that you can’t in other nations; you may be given a little bit more lenience when it comes to disagreeing with the government; and you may have a better opportunity at living a great life than perhaps anywhere else in the world. But the fact remains: if you cross the people with money; if you violate the financial interests of those in power; if you create anything that crosses the line, that demonstrates any of your supposed freedoms, then you are done.

The FDA has crossed the line here, as they have so many times before. How can I call myself American? I do not support these laws, and I will not obey them for their own sake.

UPDATE: A lot of people seem to think I’m getting far too upset over a simple energy drink. Please understand, the energy drink specifically is not the issue here. I’m sure the energy drink formerly known as Cocaine will rebrand, and they have gotten so much publicity out of this ordeal that their sales will be drastically improved. For them, this is a good thing.

But that’s not what I’m griping about. This is about our freedom. The FDA has openly outlawed something so simple and basic! This violates freedom of speech, freedom of press, and goes against freedom in general. I believe this is an open declaration of War on Freedom.

Click here to download Legalize Cocaine (MP3 Audio, 8:13, 7.6MB)

Sometimes I get angry with the FDA…I have a generally negative attitude towards the FDA…The FDA sucks monkey nuts, I can’t believe they’re wasting so much money debating stupid, pointless, RIDICULOUS things like this, when they have MARIJUANA laws to overturn, which are causing almost a million innocents to suffer yearly, and to make addictive manufactured drugs illegal!!! Chocolate? Honestly, who will benefit from allowing companies to LIE on their packaging? The companies! No American! HOW DARE THEY SPEND AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS ON SOMETHING LIKE THIS????

“The federal Food and Drug Administration is proposing to redefine the very essence of chocolate and to allow big manufacturers such as Hershey to sell a bar devoid of a key ingredient - cocoa butter. The butter’s natural texture could be replaced with inferior alternatives, such as vegetable fats. And consumers would never know. Chocolatier Gary Guittard said it best: “No one can afford to sit back and eat bonbons while America’s great passion for chocolate is threatened.”

“For every defender of traditional chocolate, there are powerful proponents who want to replace cocoa butter with vegetable oil: the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Snack Food Association. These industry titans have filed a “citizens petition” to the FDA, as the Los Angeles Times recently reported, as if there were some groundswell in society to water down chocolate.

“At the moment, chocolate requires two basic ingredients - cocoa and cocoa butter. Cocoa provides much of the flavor; cocoa butter, the texture. So if, say, Hershey wanted to make a chocolate bar without cocoa butter, it can under today’s rules. The product has to be labeled “chocolate flavored” (for it still has the cocoa in it) rather than “chocolate.” That gives the consumer a signal that something less than chocolate lies beneath the wrapping. To help defend chocolate, visit www.dontmesswithourchocolate.com and learn how to submit feedback to the FDA. ”

I just finished my massive 10-page research paper on why marijuana should be legalized.  It is titled “Cash Trumps Freedom”.  Since it is so long, I will put it up as a page rather than an actual blog.  Click here for Cash Trumps Freedom.

Please stop holding all people who smoke marijuana responsible for the actions of a few extremely, extremely stupid people.

Today is a special day. Today is the day the bill of rights came into effect on the U.S. constitution back in 1791. Unfortunately, many, if not all, of these rights have not been adhered to. Allow me to explain quite frankly.

First amendment: Freedom of speech, press, religion peaceable assembly, and to petition the government.
How is this not followed, you might ask? There is no freedom of speech when there are companies and factions of the government willing to assassinate you, should you say something that could lose them money. Kevin Trudeau is a good example of this. He says it on every infomercial: he isn’t allowed to publicly disclose his ‘cures’, since the FDA says only drugs can cure disease! Naturally it follows that the press is not free to disclose this fact to the public (yes, I’m probably breaking numerous unenforceable laws by telling you this), and the government will hear no petition against it! Yes, my friends, people have disappeared for attempting to spread the truth!

Update: There is no freedom of speech when the FDA waits for you to spend $3 million on a wise business investment, and then pounces on your business for having a controversial (and brilliant) name like Cocaine.

Second Amendment: Right for the people to keep and bear arms, as well as to maintain a militia.
But not without being considered a terrorist organization…I don’t want to say a whole lot on this issue, as I admittedly do not have a lot of facts and haven’t researched it in depth. But I can tell you this: our right to bear arms is being attacked every day!

Fourth Amendment: Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
What a joke. Yes, it may be our right not to be searched, but the truth is this: if a cop wants to search you, he’s going to do it. Because he’s got a gun, and chances are you don’t. There have certainly been unpunished instances of pigs cops forcibly searching vehicles, persons, even homes. However, more often than not, they gain your consent by lying to you. They will tell you that your sentence will be shorter if you cooperate. They will tell you that you won’t even be punished if you cooperate! But it’s all lies, and they may be legally bound to tell the truth while in uniform, but no one will ever do anything about it — at least, not the way things are headed right now.

Sixth Amendment: Trial by jury and other rights of the accused.
The key here is that you are supposed to be given a trial by an impartial jury. This is never the case. Juries are assembled by researchers who are paid to find out who will likely vote for what in any given event. These people have access to our private lives, and should we be the ideal jury member, from their standpoint, for a trial that they particularly want to win, we are theirs. And the one being tried hasn’t got a chance in hell.

Eighth Amendment: Prohibition of excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment.
If only our forefathers had been a tidbit more clear on what cruel and unusual punishment was, exactly. I could go on all day about things that are certainly cruel, but increasingly less unusual, that are being done to people for things that ought not be illegal to begin with. But since the definition is so shady, I shan’t bore you with my mere opinions.

Now, in one way or another, I’m sure the rest of the rights are being broken. I have highlighted the ones I feel particularly strongly about. My only purpose in writing this is to help you feel more aware of the dire situation our country is in. I won’t pretend I have a bad life, or that our government is a terrible dictatorship. It’s simply a bureaucracy; run by money and power. It is not the worst of places to live, and the economy thrives. But if you enjoy freedom, I hope you are not content to sit and watch things like this continue to happen. America is not the land of the free.