DRUGS!

Just a quick thought, spawned by THIS ARTICLE.

Specifically this: President Gerald Ford put an end to all public cannabis research and granted exclusive research rights to major pharmaceutical companies, who set out -- unsuccessfully -- to develop synthetic forms of THC that would deliver all the medical benefits without the "high."

The thing I don't understand about the need to remove the "high" is this: A marijuana high is a nice thing, a pleasant side-effect of a beneficial drug, yet they wish to remove it. However, on the market today are any number of drugs with side effects ranging from anxiety to hair loss to erectile dysfunction… But that's OK? Here's a little thing which might illustrate my point.

Does that not strike anyone as a bit, er, fucked up?

I love the fact that anti-depressants, that is drugs designed to make you less depressed, cause major sexual problems. Don't believe me? Here, look at THIS.

I don't know about anyone else, but having my sex drive destroyed would be more likely to INCREASE my depression, not decrease it. But then, I suppose actually easing depression isn't the point: increasing repression and social obedience is. Sex is bad, so is euphoria, and to suggest otherwise makes you a pinko, a pervert, an addict, a paedophile, a terrorist and fuck knows what else…

But back to my point, why have we put our trust in those who tell us that a "high" is an undesirable side-effect, while a limp dick is a good one?

A couple of things…

One. I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Shameless Cash-in last night. It was alright, but there was far too much in the way of CGI, and when they ran out of plot they relied on too many deeply improbable near-misses to keep it going. Sure, they all did, but never this much. I am slightly troubled by the fucking ludicrous — and totally non-Indy — basis of the story.

I did like seeing Indiana Jones getting pegged as a Red by the Janitor from Scrubs. Hahahahaaaa! Funny… Like if they'd done it with Rambo, only less carnagey…

Two. I just got rejected for a press pass by the Arrow Rock Festival. This serves both to be annoying and to further prove that all publicity people are wankers. It also gives me carte blanche — now that I don't want anything from them — to point out that their entire enterprise is doomed by the fact that everyone on the line up is shit. With the exceptions of Motorhead and Kiss, both waaaaaay past their prime and not really worth paying to see, it's a graveyard for the forgotten and the oh-god-why-won't-they-fuck-off?s of mediocre hevvy metull.

Does that make me bitter?

Gene Simmons, if you're reading this, I hold you entirely responsible for being among the frontline of artists making music a purely economic exercise. If it weren't for your sentimental value you would have been shot long ago, by some die hard fan from the Alive! era. The Elder? Pah!

Please make it brief…

The world turned upside down — Billy Bragg

In 1649
To St. George’s Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers
Came to show the people’s will
They defied the landlords
They defied the laws
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs

We come in peace they said
To dig and sow
We come to work the lands in common
And to make the waste ground grow
This earth divided
We will make whole
So it will be
A common treasury for all

The sin of property
We do disdain
No man has any right to buy and sell
The earth for private gain
By theft and murder
They took the land
Now everywhere the walls
Spring up at their command

They make the laws
To chain us well
The clergy dazzle us with heaven
Or they damn us into hell
We will not worship
The God they serve
The God of greed who feeds the rich
While poor folk starve

We work we eat together
We need no swords
We will not bow to the masters
Or pay rent to the lords
Still we are free
Though we are poor
You Diggers all stand up for glory
Stand up now

From the men of property
The orders came
They sent the hired men and troopers
To wipe out the Diggers’ claim
Tear down their cottages
Destroy their corn
They were dispersed
But still the vision lingers on

You poor take courage
You rich take care
This earth was made a common treasury
For everyone to share
All things in common
All people one
We come in peace
The orders came to cut them down

I love this song. It's Billy at his most Powah too dah Peepul and it makes some great points about the state of the planet. Whose bright idea was it to 'sell' bits of land in the first place? It's not like it actually belongs to anyone in the first place. "This Earth was made a common treasury" — not by some deity, but by a series of remarkably unlikely coincidences and chemical reactions.

So, yeah, just so's you know, next time you're taking out a mortgage to finance a home on some land, the person you're buying it off doesn't and never did own it. In fact, if you go back far enough, all you have is someone arriving somewhere and going "Mine!", which is fair enough so long as this doesn't stop others from sharing neighbouring spaces — after all, there is enough room for all of us.

Perhaps that's where the term 'mining' comes from…

New World Order!

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that we're being fucked with in every way possible. Not that I feel particularly victimised, but I'm sure THIS GUY does.

The story itself is bad enough, but I first tried to read it HERE, and when I clicked on the link at the bottom, looking for more info, I was greeted with this:



Interesting, I thought. Why would Jack Herer be leading me into a virus trap while trying to educate me about the world? He wouldn't, normally, so there must be something up…

I followed the link directly from the stopthedrugwar.org page (the same URL that MySpace blocked, incidentally) and found not one trace of anything. Nobody phished me, nor spammed me nor infected me… I did find THIS, which was revealing and scary.

So, my question is: did MySpace deliberately block the page because it had information on it that They don't want seen? I know, that sounds really paranoid, but it made me suspicious. Yeah, they could just bomb the page off the internet, but doing that wouldn't help, as authorities find out all the time with torrent sites, etc. So instead, misdirection and concealment and — most of all — discrediting Jack and everyone involved in this story by making them seem like spammers.

Who knows?

Maybe it'll happen off my page now. That would be interesting…