Winter all fun, food and frolic - America and the phony war on drugs · Monday March 15, 2010 by colin newell
Just listening to the CBC report on the current crisis in Mexico…
which is more of an American fueled crisis.
The war on drugs.
Seems America is going to crack down on drug traffic between Mexico and the U.S.A
…and between Canada and the U.S.A.
…and everywhere else and the U.S.A.
Some facts. One in every 32 American adults—are either incarcerated, on parole or probation or under some other form of state or local supervision. And 1 in 100 are behind bars… largely for non-violent drug related offenses.
The U.S. is the World leader in incarceration. China is second at 4 times the population but 18% of the rate of incarceration.
Why? Why put pot dealers in prisons?
American prisons are run by private firms. Privatized. For profit. There is money to be made with full prisons. Upwards of 2 Billion dollars (US) of profit are generated annually in these private incarceration “businesses”.
No war on drugs. No labor ready folks to be put in prison.
Here is how Canada and Europe differ on its perception of drug addition… versus the U.S. of A.
In Europe and to a much lesser extent, Canada, drug addiction is treated like a disease… a sickness. Which should be treated with sympathy, caring, empathy and treatment.
In America, it is a terrible, terrible crime and a blight on society. Watch an American news hour or an episode of Dog the Bounty hunter if you doubt my word.
But are soft drugs like marijuana a hazard to society?
I have never used illicit drugs. Never smoked marijuana. No desire.
Marijuana prohibition costs U.S. taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 829,000 individuals per year—far more than the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined – including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
And although I have never been a big fan of stoners – I did grow up in the 70’s and had my fill of harassment from pot heads and L.S.D. dropping school mates, none of whom ever posed any kind of threat to me and my family…
Other than breaking into my locker and stealing my Cheetos.
In the year 2010, the big prison eagle and the U.S. administration is eying Canada to make sure it keeps toeing the line – even our own Prime minister has spoken of building bigger and better prisons and getting tough on the rampant crime in Canada.
Canada does not have rampant crime. Violent crime is on a steady decline. In the Netherlands for instance, they are closing prisons… not enough bad people it seems. Good thing the U.S.A does not influence sensible Dutch folks.
Meantime, what we do is often what the big bad bald eagle wants us to do. With little wiggle room.
But there is always public opinion… and knowledge… and social action. – The War on crime and drugs in Canada and the U.S.A.
Keep your eyes on it.
Winter all fun, food and frolic - collapse of the bee colony · Sunday March 14, 2010 by colin newell
Colony collapse disorder – while the average person is probably completely unaware of what it is or what it means, I assure you… you may feel the effects of it before long.
Particularly if you eat.
We visited Fredrich’s Honey in Cedar, B.C. south of Nanaimo, British Columbia – ostensibly to drop off some supplies from Wisdom’s Essential Elements – a local soap maker and to pick up some bee pollen and honey for personal use.
Sounds kind of illicit doesn’t it?
Anyway – Fredrich, a wonderful 60-something bee keeper is experiencing this phenomenon known as Colony collapse disorder
It’s not really like having a house full of teenagers leaving home at the exact moment they become of majority because that could be a good thing.
Having a colony of bees, thousands of them in dozens of hives, up, pack and leave home is truly odd behavior and not entirely understood… and worthy of an X-File episode of two… heck even a feature length movie.
What is kind of creepy about all of this is that an entire community of bees hit the high road at the same time – and it could be about disease, about electromagnetic radiation, about competing pests, or the lack of cable TV and color television at the hives. Thing is, we do not know.
What we do know is that bees are important work horses in the pollination of many of the fruits and vegetables that we enjoy and often take for granted.
And being without them? Well, we just don’t know. We don’t know why and we are not clear on the long term consequences.
And if you are a big fan of food, it might benefit us all to put our minds towards figuring out what the heck is going on.
If you are a Vancouver Island resident and have the inclination, get out there and visit a working farm or bee keeper. Sweet times guaranteed… for the time being.
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Winter all fun, food and frolic - rabbits on the rampage - UVic · Saturday March 13, 2010 by colin newell
There are two kinds of creatures that live and work at the University of Victoria; invertebrates (that run the place…) and rabbits (in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha…) that have the run of the place.
The most recent body count indicated that there are over 1000 rabbits on campus – and none of them have any intention of graduating.
Because in the world of the rabbit, there are only three states:
Thinking of humping.
Humping.
And smoking a cigarette afterward.
Yes, they poop. A lot.
And dig holes.
And destroy stuff.
But it’s a harmless crime folks – because there is little, if any, intelligent life at UVic… at least from what I have seen in my 20+ years working there.
I am, of course, discounting the hard working staff (Union and professional) and the tens of thousands of hard working students self-improving to make a better World.
I am talking about the decision makers – you know, the Vee-Pee’s and executives that run the joint… whose motto is: “If it ain’t broken… break it!”
Who are generally so wishy-washy about, well, everything that they could not run a 15 cent lemonade stand without running it into the ground worrying about the actuarial implications of running a lemonade stand.
I mean, listen up… On a weekly basis I see young families bring their crawling age toddlers onto campus for the specific purpose of crawling around on feces covered green to play with the rabbits. Hello: Risk of disease. Risk of rabbit bite = 2 days of treatment in the local hospital, blah blah blah.
I give up. Maybe this is just natural selection at work.
Bottom line: The administration at UVic is utterly incapable of coming to a decision on the issue of the rabbit copulation explosion. They can’t do it. They are not built for it.
In the meantime, the rabbits screw and reproduce, dig and crap everywhere placing staff, students and toddlers at risk.
I spoke with a lovely and elderly Scottish lady with a support dog at the Finnerty Express last week… and in her intriguing Edinburgh beam me up Scotty brogue said… “All we need are a dozen Jack Russell terriers… Aye? Problem solved!”
I felt like offering her an executive VP job.
In the meantime, watch your step.
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Winter all food, fun and drink - Ending the twitter fun house... · Friday March 12, 2010 by colin newell
Happy Friday everyone and welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Sorry to have been absent for so long – dealing with that nasty Twitter addiction – and after a brief session in neediness and attention deficit rehab, I am back to make a statement.
Which is.
Stay out of deep emotional ponds… especially if you are not equipped with an suitable mind flotation device.
Because oh so many of those… please follow me and please re-tweet my every thought can drain a man’s ability to function properly in the real World.
Twitter is, for me, like a reform school or a very dysfunctional family…
and, as a social application, it should make us better not worse…
More stable… less unstable.
Better people… less like monkeys… less like the class clown.
More inclusive, engaging and interested in the social condition.
And keep in mind: I am people. And I am a monkey. And a clown.
So… Let’s get back to it shall we?
Eager to get back to the drivel you all have been so fond of.
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