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Wednesday, March 31, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/31/04 05:15 | link | comments Tuesday, March 30, 2004 Who is Thomas Malthus? T.M is what we’ll call the leader of the environmental pessimists. Most known for his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798). His basic premise was this: Man, left unchecked, is capable of overproducing. In fact, if man ignores overpopulation, worldwide famine will be our doomsday. Not feeling T.M.’s un/love? Well then, perhaps you’re more of a CORNCOPIAS, or an environmental optimist. This line of thought asserts man; with greater developments in technology we can avoid ecological collapse. posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/30/04 04:39 | link | comments
The Christian Taliban Since 2001 dozens of far-right Christian fundamentalists have been quietly installed in key positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Drug Administration and on commissions and advisory committees where they have made serious progress. Three years later this administration has established one of the most rigid sexual health agendas in the Western world. It began immediately. One of George W. Bush's first acts as president was to issue an executive memorandum reinstating a global abortion "gag rule." The rule was first implemented under Ronald Reagan but revoked during the two Clinton administrations. The rule prohibited federally funded family planning providers from even discussing abortion with their clients. Bush's order reflected the views of those at farthest reaches of the Christian right, zealots who saw any means by which women controlled reproduction as unbiblical: "I would like to outlaw contraception...contraception is disgusting – people using each other for pleasure." -Joseph Scheidler, Pro-Life Action League [Read More] posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/30/04 03:54 | link | comments This Isn't AmericaBy PAUL KRUGMANThe truth is that among experts, what Mr. Clarke says about Mr. Bush's terrorism policy isn't controversial. The facts that terrorism was placed on the back burner before 9/11 and that Mr. Bush blamed Iraq despite the lack of evidence are confirmed by many sources — including "Bush at War," by Bob Woodward. And new evidence keeps emerging for Mr. Clarke's main charge, that the Iraq obsession undermined the pursuit of Al Qaeda. From yesterday's USA Today: "In 2002, troops from the Fifth Special Forces Group who specialize in the Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq. Their replacements were troops with expertise in Spanish cultures." That's why the administration responded to Mr. Clarke the way it responds to anyone who reveals inconvenient facts: with a campaign of character assassination. [Read More] posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/30/04 03:08 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/30/04 02:19 | link | comments Two Is Enough The U.S. government encourages families to have children, as many of them as possible. Child tax credits, child-care tax deductions, and family leave policies all reward parents with big broods. The pro-child policies are based partly on romantic notions about mom, family, and apple pie, but they also have a rational goal: We subsidize kids so that our next generation of workers is ready to win in the global economy. posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/30/04 02:15 | link | comments Friday, March 26, 2004 Circumcision Seen as Method to Block HIV Infection LONDON (Reuters) - Circumcised men are less likely to be infected with the virus that causes AIDS (news - web sites) because of biological reasons and not less risky behavior, scientists said on Friday. Studies have shown that men whose foreskin has been removed are six to eight times less likely to become HIV (news - web sites) positive but there has been some debate about the reason for the lower infection rate. posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/26/04 07:55 | link | comments Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Q: How many drug warriors does it take to change a light bulb? A: We believe that a balanced approach of increased interdiction, stronger criminal sanctions and a concerted propaganda campaign directed at children can reduce the prevalence of broken light bulbs by changing society. Q: How many drug warriors does it take to change a light bulb? A: No one's sure, but they are going to need a lot more money and complete control of society to do the job right. Q: How many drug warriors does it take to change a light bulb? A: GET DOWN! GET DOWN! PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD! NOW!! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT JOKE ! [This joke was brought to you by: Efficacy] posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/24/04 07:25 | link | comments International Drug Control: A Global Joke The United Nations Drug Treaties have failed miserably in reducing drug use and trafficking throughout the world. Despite overwhelming evidence of purer, cheaper and more accessible drugs, prohibitionists cling unwaveringly to failed policies. Author Peter Cohen writes, “Whatever the origin of the UN Drug Treaties, and whatever the official rhetoric about their function, the best way to look at them now is as religious texts…They [prohibitionists] pursue a version of Humankind for whom abstinence from certain drugs is dogma…” (2003). Just recently at the 47th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, not a single critique was presented on the current Regime. In spite of the commission’s decision, numerous governments are introducing and enacting legislation in violation of the UN Conventions.
Crusaders of prohibition have not only fail to eradicate illicit drug production, trafficking, and use but have actually created the most lucrative black market commodity. This black market is the source of nearly every problem associated with illicit drugs including infection, overdose, and drug-related crime including robbery and murder. It is among the most favored illicit activities by organized crime groups because of its lucrative pay and captive consumer base. In addition, incalculable resources have been diverted including not only capital but also military forces, to wage war against the global drug market and its participants.
The War on Drugs is fundamentally flawed. The solution, prohibition, is the cause of the drug problem itself. Without illegal classification, the black market of illicit drugs could not exist. The symptoms of the black market, primarily unregulated highly inflated prices of adulterated substances, has spawned a culture of crime at the cost of public safety. Prohibitionists have maintained the Regime through promoting public fear of drugs and the criminality of users. The most prevalent illicit drugs, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, are relatively safe in pure form when properly administered, far less harmful than its legal counterparts tobacco and alcohol. In addition, though drug-seeking behavior and transactions often involve serious criminal issues such as robbery and murder, these elements would not exist without black market support. What is often referred to as drug-related crime is better described as prohibition-related crime, crime that would be non-existent without prohibition.
Perhaps the lesson to be learned can be best achieved by looking at the past. There have been attempts throughout history to impose prohibition on other addictive substances, most notable alcohol and tobacco. None of these attempts thru history have gained traction. For example, during Prohibition in the United States (1920-33) violent crime escalated, yet in the ten years before and after prohibition, violent crime was substantially lower. Likewise, in 1958 Soviet Premier Khrushchev raised alcohol prices 21% to try and reduce consumption. He later conceded, declaring the program a failure. Prohibition is a fruitless battle. Previous arguments aside, humans throughout history, for a wide range of reasons, have used mind-altering substances, including for the purpose of enjoyment. This factor cannot be underestimated, as pleasure seeking is a far greater human motivator than laws. Pleasure seeking can also be applied to the motivations of drug suppliers, with the lure of profits, additionally nullifying the criminal risks taken. No amount of enforcement can win this war; intensification only promotes greater harm by raising black market prices and promoting more dangerous drugs. It is time for governments to remove the sheet over their eyes and repeal international drug prohibition. posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/24/04 06:28 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/24/04 01:46 | link | comments Tuesday, March 23, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/23/04 04:21 | link | comments The Hallucinogenic Way of Dying Almost as soon as Dr. Charles Grob secured approval to study the effects of psilocybin on Stage IV cancer patients, he faced another challenge, one nearly as formidable: recruiting 12 participants. Unlike so many other experiments in radical cancer treatment, Grob's does not offer a cure; he merely hopes to find that psilocybin, the most potent of the many compounds in psychedelic mushrooms, ameliorates a dying person's fear of death. The study targets patients relegated to "palliative" treatment, people with metastatic cancer for whom there is no reasonable hope for remission. It is a segment of the population, says the National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine – which put out a call in 2001 for "novel" approaches to palliative treatment – largely ignored by medical science. [Read More] posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/23/04 03:53 | link | comments Machiavelli in the Middle East By David Ignatius PARIS -- "It is much safer to be feared than loved," wrote the philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli nearly 500 years ago. That harsh logic can be seen in Israel's assassination Monday of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the leader of the terrorist group Hamas. It follows that for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it's better to be seen as ruthless than as weak. That's especially true now, when Sharon plans to make a concession to the Palestinians by withdrawing from settlements in Gaza. The danger in this unilateral withdrawal, one of Sharon's advisers told me several months ago, is that terrorist groups such as Hamas might think they had "won" by forcing an Israeli retreat. Israeli defense analyst Zeev Schiff explained in the online edition of the newspaper Haaretz on Monday: "The message that Israel sent out by assassinating Sheik Ahmed Yassin is that when the disengagement from Gaza is finally implemented, Hamas will not be able to claim that the withdrawal was promoted by the group's operations." [Read More] |
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/23/04 02:14 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/23/04 01:51 | link | comments
Monday, March 22, 2004
Gen X Speaks
What are you thinking when you see those first words “Gen X”? If you’re familiar with the terminology you’ll realize I’m speaking of individuals born from 1965-1980. We are also known as:
Ø The most aborted generation in American history
Ø The latch key kids, the product of the dual income family
Ø The MTV generation, typified by short attention spans, sex, & violence
Ø The target cohort of the ‘Me Generation’ of advertising
Doug Coupland, in his infamous Generation X, described his classic characters as "underemployed, overeducated, intensely private and unpredictable." And we are, we are a dark generation. Our parents tried to shield us when they could barely swim themselves. So we observed as they divorced and suffered through their jobs and wrestled to find their own happiness. We could feel their pain and education was our escape.
Our social groups have become our tribe, the people we turn to emotionally. We analyze and scrutinize, distrust ingrained in our actions. We don’t marry as young, we often opt for cohabitation, not because we despise commitment but because once were in, we’re in it for the long haul. We see our careers as part of us, part of our lives that we’re not willing to sacrifice for money alone.
We are viewed by society as a lost cause; society has already turned to the next generation. Fighting in governmental offices petitioning for bike helmet laws and parental advisories. Some state governments even provide each newborn with “Baby Beethoven” CDs to help bulk up infant intelligence.
Gen X, though part of a larger historical trend, has been neglected or at the very least, neglected. But there is uniqueness to this generation; we claim few answers. Our nature keeps us open and flexible in a way boomers can rarely relate to, but long for. We have the experience of a generation that has wandered and had to redefine home.
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 07:45 | link | comments
What does she want, volcanic Venus,
as she goes fuming around?
What does she want?
She says she wants a lover,
but don’t you believe her.
She’s a seething like a volcano,
and volcanoes don’t want lovers
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 03:55 | link | comments
Restless man’s mind is,
So strongly shaken
In the grip of the sense:
Gross and grown hard
With stubborn desire
For what is worldly.
How shall he tame it?
Truly, I think
The wind is no wilder.
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 02:59 | link | comments
Anitprop- obvious propaganda (see example)
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 02:25 | link | comments
“Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can’t stop what it’s meant to stop.
We like it.
It’s left a trail of graft and slime,
It don’t prohibit worth a dime.”
-Franklin P. Adams
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 01:55 | link | comments
TORONTO - Canada plans to make government-certified marijuana available in local pharmacies, a move that would make it only the second country in the world to allow the direct sale of medical marijuana.Officials are organizing a pilot project in the British Columbia province modeled on a year-old program in the Netherlands. [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/22/04 01:06 | link | comments
Friday, March 19, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 08:25 | link | comments
Random Testing, Disappointing Results
By Marsha Rosenbaum, AlterNet
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 03:35 | link | comments
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." So George Bush declared on Sept. 20, 2001. But what was he saying? Surely he didn't mean that everyone was obliged to support all of his policies, that if you opposed him on anything you were aiding terrorists.
Now we know that he meant just that.
But the bigger point is this: in the Bush vision, it was never legitimate to challenge any piece of the administration's policy on Iraq. Before the war, it was your patriotic duty to trust the president's assertions about the case for war. Once we went in and those assertions proved utterly false, it became your patriotic duty to support the troops — a phrase that, to the administration, always means supporting the president. At no point has it been legitimate to hold Mr. Bush accountable. And that's the way he wants it. [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 02:46 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 02:20 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 02:09 | link | comments
Elizabeth Cheney, Deferment Baby
How Dick Cheney dodged the Vietnam draft.
By Timothy Noah
"A widely observed irony is that the dovish Kerry saw combat in Vietnam while the hawkish Cheney accepted a series of student and family-related draft deferments. Cheney's unself-consciousness about this is (or at least was) so pronounced that in 1989 he told George C. Wilson of the Washington Post, "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service."
Cheney's eldest daughter, Elizabeth Cheney, likely owes her very existence to her father's avoidance of the Vietnam draft." [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/19/04 01:31 | link | comments
Thursday, March 18, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/18/04 04:46 | link | comments
People celebrating St. Patrick’s Day Wednesday can cross one topic of conversation off their lists.
Guinness bubbles really do sink.
Scientists said Monday they had finally proved that the dark stout’s creamy bubbles defy expectations and flow down instead of upwards. “Our group carried out preliminary experiments at a local pub a few years ago, but the results proved inconclusive,” said Dr. Andrew Alexander, from the University of Edinburgh’s School of Chemistry. They first thought the dark liquid flowing down as a pint was poured gave the illusion the bubbles were going down as well. Now close examination has revealed that, as a pint settles, bubbles touching the walls of the glass experience drag, similar to that a person feels sliding a finger along glass, and that prevents them floating up. The bubbles in the middle however, are free to rise, creating a circular flow within the glass that causes bubbles at the edge to be pushed downwards on the inside surface of the glass. The Edinburgh team, working with researchers at Stanford University in California have produced high-speed video footage of the sinking bubbles — to put at rest the minds of any drinkers who might have felt they were seeing things. [From Rueters;17/03/04]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/18/04 01:58 | link | comments
DEBASING DEMOCRACY
After 201 people were killed in a bombing in Madrid, America's right-wing propaganda machine swung into action. Their message: the defeat three days later of incumbent Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of the few European leaders in lockstep with the Bush Administration's approach to terrorism, was a victory for al Qaeda. Fox News: "With the defeat of Spain's ruling party, the mutant strain of Al Qaeda has a significant victory in its efforts." The Wall Street Journal editorial page: "By murdering innocents [the terrorists] were able to topple one of the pillars of the Western anti-terror alliance." David Brooks in the NYT: "Some significant percentage of the Spanish electorate was mobilized after the massacre to...throw out the old government and replace it with one whose policies are more to Al Qaeda's liking." Conservatives repeated the argument again and again – in the Washington Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Orlando Sentinel, the Kansas City Star, the National Review, the American Spectator, New York Newsday and on cable news and talk radio around the country. But despite the repetition, the assertion that the Spanish people voted to support or appease al-Qaeda has absolutely no grounding in fact. It is nothing more than an argument advanced by conservatives to discredit the democratic process for partisan political purposes. [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/18/04 01:30 | link | comments
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
neo·phyte
Etymology: Middle English, from Late Latin neophytus, from Greek neophytos, from neophytos newly planted, newly converted, from ne- + phyein to bring forth
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/17/04 04:06 | link | comments
The Maiden Name Debate
What's changed since the 1970s?
By Katie Roiphe
It was an interesting moment in the history of nomenclature when Hillary's "Rodham" slipped into the position of a middle name after her husband lost his bid for re-election as governor in 1980. In the decades that followed, political wives have been pressured to tack their husband's names onto their own (n.b. Judith Steinberg Dean and Teresa Heinz Kerry). In a way, it is an ingenious political solution: By shunting their old names into a prominent middle-name status, aspiring first ladies can signal to red states that they defer to their husbands while winking at the blue states that they still have their own names. (Or in Teresa Heinz Kerry's case, their other husband's name.) [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/17/04 03:46 | link | comments
Monday, March 15, 2004
“When people agree with me I always feel that I must be wrong.”
– Oscar Wilde
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 06:14 | link | comments
CYA- The initialized euphemism for “cover your ass” sometimes further euphemized as “posterior protection”, the bureaucratic technique of averting future accusation of policy error or wrongdoing by deflecting responsibility. [Safire’s New Political Dictionary; William Safire; 1978, 3rd Edition]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 05:33 | link | comments
“Life is an unanswered question, but let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question”
– Tennessee Williams
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 05:03 | link | comments
“When a government imposes prohibition on the sale of a commodity for which a substantial demand exists, the immutable laws of the marketplace will cause unintended, undesirable consequences to ensue. The negative impact of these consequences will far outweigh any positive results of that prohibition.” [Ending the War on Drugs: A Solution for America; Dirk Chase Eldredge, 1998]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 04:49 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 04:39 | link | comments
Spain's Ruling Party Swept From Power
posted by durani, 03/15/04 04:27 | link | comments
The Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer) has voted to expand the country's free heroin program after hearing of the overwhelmingly positive results of a two-year pilot program, the Rotterdam newspaper de Volksrant reported March 5. The pilot program is currently providing free heroin to some 300 users, who must be Dutch nationals and at least 25 years of age. The program, started in March 2002, came about as the Ministries of Public Health, Social Affairs, and Justice recognized that despite their best efforts to stop and reduce heroin use, the county had anywhere from one to two thousand hardcore heroin addicts who could not or would not kick the habit. By this summer, a thousand Dutch users could be in the program, parliament members told the newspaper.
Government officials had supported the original pilot project in part because of anticipated economic and social benefits. And they are seeing them. Public Health Minister Borst told de Volksrant that the free heroin program costs around 15,000 euro per patient annually, a far cry less than the costs of prison and petty crime associated with black market drug use.
The policy also conserves law enforcement resources, and keeps heroin users in touch with mainstream society. "All the statistics point to the fact that free heroin is the best policy," Dr. Wim Van den Brink, director of the Dutch agency to treat heroin addicts (CCBH), told the newspaper. After one year in the program, according to Van den Brink, all participants had better mental and physical health, while the number of days addicts engaged in crime to "score" heroin dropped from 14 to two per month.
The announcement that the pilot program would be not only continued but expanded is remarkable coming from a Dutch government controlled by the conservative Christian Democrats (Christen Democratisch Appel or CDA). In addition to earning its rightist stripes by appealing to anti-immigrant sentiments, and sending Dutch troops to Afghanistan and supporting the US occupation of Iraq in the face of mass public opposition, the CDA has proven no friend of relaxing drug laws.
In January 2002, as reported by the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, before they gained power, the CDA sponsored and passed a bill to prohibit the "testing" of MDMA (ecstasy) pills at raves for impurities or adulterants. For about 10 years local city governments turned a blind eye and allowed such tests at youth centers and private raves as a harm reduction measure, said the Algemeen Dagblad. Despite the obvious public health benefits, the CDA, joined with other Christian and right-wing parties banned the practice. Further, in May 2002 (The Week Online, Issue #238, May 24, 2002), the CDA floated a trial balloon about closing down hash bars and has continued to make similar noises ever since. Their ideological preferences notwithstanding, even CDA leaders, unlike their American counterparts in the US Congress or the Bush Administration, cannot challenge statistics showing the success of free heroin.
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 03:40 | link | comments
President Néstor Kirchner of Argentina asked for the forgiveness of children who were detained, stolen, or born into captivity during the military dictatorship (from 1976-1983). Each child stands to receive $75,000 in compensation from the state.
[Reported in the New York Times; 13/03/04]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 03:16 | link | comments
“I did not know myself what it was I wanted: I was afraid of life, strove to get away from it, at the same time expected something from it.”
– Leo Tolstoy
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 02:44 | link | comments
New Federalism- A political philosophy that seeks to wed the need for national action with the desire for much greater local participation. First used on 8 August 1969 by Richard Nixon. [Safire’s New Political Dictionary; William Safire; 1978, 3rd Edition]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 02:11 | link | comments
Sign. Finance and economic ministers announced the Free Town of Christiania would be closed on January 1, 2006, at which time it will become, “ a neighborhood like any other, which is open to everyone, freed of drugs, and which respects the laws of the country.” The Freetown property will sell for $33 million and put an end to the experiment in communal living. [Reported in the New York Times-13/03/04]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/15/04 01:46 | link | comments
Friday, March 12, 2004
MADRID
The terrorist attacks almost always happen in the early morning. Whether it turns out that yesterday's train-station bombings were the work of the usual suspects — the Basque terrorist group ETA — or of Al Qaeda or another group altogether, the murderers stuck to the usual timetable.
Spain has developed a customary response to these morning attacks. At noon, the local officials in every Spanish city stand outside the doors of their buildings, in heat, cold or rain, for a minute or two of silence. They're joined by anyone who wants to join them, whoever happens to be nearby. It makes a strong impression, this silence of mourning and condemnation, a collective hush maintained by people who interrupt their tasks or their errands to stand wordlessly in the middle of the street. Any curse or outcry against the murderers is usually quieted, because at those moments true condemnation consists of saying nothing. And no matter how many times the tradition has been repeated over the course of far too many years, it loses none of its force. [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/12/04 10:56 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/12/04 10:46 | link | comments
Thursday, March 11, 2004
The federal government's gross debt as of September 2003 was about $7 trillion, or about $24,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country.
posted by durani, 03/11/04 06:58 | link | comments
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/10/04 17:51 | link | comments
"A new pill in the final stages of testing shows promise in attacking two of humanity’s biggest killers by helping people quit smoking and lose weight at the same time. The drug [rimonabant], which could be available in a year or two, works by an entirely new approach — by blocking the same primeval circuitry in the brain that gives pot-smokers the munchies." [Read More]
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/10/04 13:59 | link | comments
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/10/04 13:31 | link | comments
What the Fu*k?
"See, one of the interesting things in the Oval Office—I love to bring people into the Oval Office—right around the corner from here—and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person."
—George W. Bush; Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/10/04 13:30 | link | comments
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
posted by NAKEDandALIVE, 03/09/04 16:09 | link | comments
Hooked on Heaven Lite
By DAVID BROOKS
