New Age Citizen eLetter
Monday, August 15, 2005
www.newagecitizen.com
Issue #011
Welcome to the eleventh New Age Citizen (NAC) eLetter. The main purpose of this eLetter and NAC is to help the activist community, around the globe, become more effective in changing drug, socio-economic and environmental policies.
Please go to the following page for the web enhanced version of this eLetter which contains easier navigation and additional graphics. The easiest way to navigate is by clicking on the "Contents" hyperlinks and then using the "back" button, on your browser, to get back to the "Contents" section of the eLetter:
http://www.newagecitizen.com/NACeLetter/eLetter050815.htm
CONTENTS:
“Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism.”
Summary: “Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism.”
Possible Protest of the Dearborn Press and Guide for firing Cartoonist
US Government attempts to extradite Pot Activist Marc Emory
“New Agenda for America (NAFA)”
Adding fellow activists to the NAC eLetter
Towns Lose Tool Against Illegal Immigrants
This Johnny Appleseed Is Wanted by the Law
'Zero-energy homes' slash electric bills
Printing Out an Adobe Acrobat version of the eLetter:
I first recommend that you do this from a Internet Explorer (IE) browser. Then just click on the following link. The file will come up in Adobe Acrobat window. Just click on File and Print.
http://www.newagecitizen.com/NACeLetter/eLetter050815.pdf
Overview
Despite the “12/15” timestamp the last eLetter was sent out just before the 2004 Presidential election. So it has been nearly 10 months since I have produced the last eLetter. At the time I recommended dethroning Bush with a vote for Kerry but unfortunately Bush won a second term. Frankly, I don’t think Kerry would have done anything much differently than Bush. Both parties -- Democratic and Republican -- are far too beholden to their Multi-National Corporate “owners, to reflect the interests’ average working Americans.
Next eLetter:
* Dave Borden, Editor of “Stop the Drugwar” website will share his views on the Marijuana ReLegalization Policy (MRP) Project: also know as the “Merp” Project
Possible marketing song for “Merp” Project
To the tune of “I want my MTV”
I want my
I want my
I want my MRP
* I more comprehensive look at the “Merp Project” in terms of strategy, implementation and favorably changing demographics.
“Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism.”
I just finished a 12,400 word article titled, “Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism.” This is the first serious investigative journalism that I have done since publishing “New Age Patriot (1989 – 1997). It began when I inquired about a cartoon that was deemed “racist” by some local immigrant groups a short while ago. I have included both the main article as well as a supplemental document so that my readers can access most of the relevant sources that are cited within the main article. The thesis is that immigrant groups are increasingly labeling anyone that questions Bush’s immigration policy as racist. This is motivated by their hope that Bush will grant amnesty to the 10-20 million illegal immigrants that have thumbed their noses at our laws when he returns from his 5 week vacation in September. By “crying racism” they hope that the issues of legal and illegal immigration will not be discussed because they know that the majority of American citizens are totally against any “guest worker” or amnesty program for those that have broken our laws. Here is the summary . . .
Summary: “Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism.”
I started my morning, last Thursday July 28th, reading a Detroit Free Press article by Niraj Warikoo: “Rights groups fight immigrant's image.” The article talked about a “racist” cartoon that appeared in Dearborn Press and Guide back on June 19th. But when I read the description of the cartoon I seriously questioned whether it was really racist in any way. It seemed to me that the cartoon was merely attempting to illustrate the following caption:
"Services for legal and illegal immigrants cost taxpayers over $68 billion per year."
After reading the article I called Warikoo to for additional information. But because Warikoo never followed through, in supplying me with basic information on this story, I eventually decided to launch my own investigation.
My immediate reaction, to this cartoon controversy, was to question why none of the similar articles, which I would later read about this cartoon, ever bothered to consider the validity of the statistic in the caption. It was almost as if they wanted to change the subject rather than discuss the true costs of legal and illegal immigration. When I was done, exploring the details of this controversial cartoon, I had found that one of the groups, criticizing the cartoon, was “The Council of American Islamic Relations” (CAIR). I was disturbed when my research revealed that members of a
“On April 13, 2005, Ghassan Elashi, founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Texas (CAIR - Texas) chapter, long-time associate of CAIR's top leadership, and beneficiary of CAIR fund-raising support, was convicted on Islamic terrorism related charges in Dallas, Texas..."
Source: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/587
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2c2933%2c153402%2c00.html)
(http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/infocom/uselashi121702sind.pdf)
I was even more disturbed to read that spokesperson’s for this organization believed that Islam should eventually dominate the
Possible Protest of the Dearborn Press and Guide for firing Cartoonist
Date: Saturday August 27th
Time: 1:00 PM
Location:
South of
If after reading “Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism” you think Bill Mangold got a raw deal perhaps we could stage a protest in his behalf. We would be making the following points and demands:
(1) Reinstate Bill Mangold as a political cartoonist for all Heritage Papers
(2) Mangold’s cartoon was just illustrating that both Legal and Illegal Immigration are costing American citizens jobs; lowering wages and benefits; and costing billions in uncompensated services for illegal immigrants who are thumbing their noses at our nation’s laws. Legal and Illegal Immigration is the main factor in US population growth, which if left unchecked, will cause resource shortages in the coming years that will greatly reduce our quality of life.
(3) These Immigrant Groups that called Mangold a racist are really just trying to stop a real debate over the Legal and Illegal Immigration – something most Americans want to see stopped immediately.
If you are planning on participating send an email to:
* Put “August 27th Protest” in Subject line
* Optional: Include contact info: Name, phone number, estimate of number of people joining you for the protest.
US Government attempts to extradite Pot Activist Marc Emory
The other big issue we will discuss, in this issue, is the recent attempt, on the part of the
“New Age for America
I have also made additions to the political agenda that I have called “New Age for
(1) Universal Health Care for All American Citizens
(2) A 20-year moratorium on all immigration into the
(3) Legal Marijuana for all Adults and Medical Patients
(4) An immediate reversal to the Offshoring and Inshoring of American Jobs
(5) A strict enforcement on issues of Separation of Church and State
(6) An immediate move from so-called Free Trade Agreements to Bilateral Trade agreements
(7) A major R&D project to bring energy independence to the
(8) Increasing the "minimum wage" to a "living wage"
This can be accessed from the home page. Please submit your impressions of NAFA by clicking on “Give Us Your Feedback”, located in the left column of the NAFA frame page. I will try to make the results available in a subsequent eLetter.
“New Age Online Emporium”
When you visit the website check out the “New Age Online Emporium”
-- The Ultimate Mail Order Catalog for Social Reform Activists.
Please consider supporting NAC by purchasing "The Complete Writings of Professor Hemp" and a couple of Lei's for yourself and your friends. "The Complete Writings of Professor Hemp" is a website on a CD which can be browsed through any PC (laptop of browser) using a recent version of Internet Explorer - and does not require internet access. The primary content is composed of the entire 20 issues of "New Age Patriot" Magazine which Bruce W. Cain [AKA Professor Hemp] wrote and distributed internationally between 1989 and 1997 -- prior to launching the NAC website.
Recommended Reading
I always like to suggest this article to get up to speed with the various technical advancements that are eroding our jobs base throughout the globe.
http://www.newagecitizen.com/PDF/braindrain.pdf
Adding fellow activists to the NAC eLetter
I would like to expand our mailing list to at least 5,000 activists by years end. So if you would like to sign up a few of your friends ,to receive the Free NAC eLetter, just go to the following hyperlink and fill out the form:
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That's all for this eLetter.
Yours in Freedom
Professor Hemp
Webmaster and Editor of the "New Age Citizen" eLetter, eZine and Website"
www.newagecitizen.com
(313)563-3192
Note: The rest of this eLetter is available at www.newagectitizen.com as both a webpage and a Adobe Acrobat file that can print off and share with friends.
Select Articles
Television goes up in smoke
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050813/FEATURES07/508130340/1011/SCENE
Marijuana is hitting an all-time high on the small screen
enlarge Mary-Louise Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a widowed soccer mom who sells marijuana to support her family on Showtime's "Weeds." The TV series debuted on Monday.
In marijuana issues, "the people in entertainment really hold a lot of cards," said Brian Walker, seated in center with the cast of "Smoke This Play" at Actors Theatre this month. He created and starred in the play.
By Tamara Ikenberg tikenberg@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal
Nancy Botwin is a widowed suburban soccer mom who happens to sell marijuana to support her family. Played by Mary-Louise Parker, she's the star of Showtime's fresh half-hour dramedy "Weeds," which made its debut on Monday.
An attentive parent and a member of the PTA,
The Supreme Court may have voted against legalizing medical marijuana, but that hasn't stopped pot from cropping up all over cable TV, where you're more likely to see a joint dangling from a character's lips than a cigarette.
You can get a contact high just from watching HBO's Sunday night lineup. On "Six Feet Under," weed is as common as an after-work cocktail. Members of the Fisher family, from frustrated young artist Claire to conservative brother David to matriarch Ruth, light up regularly. Next, on "Entourage,"
Finally, on "The Comeback," the writers of the fictional sitcom "Room and Bored" are known to break out the bong for inspiration. This is hardly an endorsement of the drug, as the material they write is terrible.
When you look at the stats on marijuana use, these characters aren't that out of sync with society: According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly half of Americans over the age of 12 have tried marijuana at least once.
TV isn't the only medium where marijuana is making a statement. Willie Nelson's new album cover sports the distinctive leaf, and video games such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" feature pot in their subplots. The off-Broadway play and "Vagina Monologues" spoof "The Marijuana Monologues" was a huge hit, and radio endlessly emits the reefer-steeped rhymes of hip-hop and rap.
But the ubiquitous medium of TV is perhaps the most hallowed frontier for reefer to conquer.
Marijuana activists are pleased, for the most part, with the new wave of onscreen pot smokers. Unlike the munchie-prone misfits of the past, many of today's TV tokers are taxpaying family folks with careers and brains. And marijuana isn't the focal point when it's featured. No one makes a big deal out of it.
"It's definitely coming around," said Stephen W. Dillon, an
"Reefer Madness," a 1936 propaganda film, portrayed pot as the ultimate evil in a time when drug commission head Harry J. Anslinger was militantly crusading against cannabis use. He no doubt would have been shocked -- shocked -- by Showtime's giddy musical send-up of the movie.
Anslinger's bud-bashing reign may be history, but there are still anti-drug activists who are less than thrilled with pot's media moment.
Gary Oetjen, assistant Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge of
"Do I think TV influences the younger generation? Absolutely. They're glamorizing the usage of it and these young kids believe they can get away with it. It's always a battle," he said. "It portrays a positive aspect when it should be nothing but negative. They're allowing (kids) to believe they can get away with this and cause no harm."
Steve Dnistrian of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America expressed concern in USA Today that cannabis on cable will increase drug use among kids.
"These are trendsetting shows. They affect behavior and attitudes, particularly teens," he said in an interview with that newspaper. "When glamorization of drugs has climbed, changes in teen attitudes followed."
Steve Bloom, editor of High Times magazine, sees the rise in marijuana content as part and parcel of a free TV land.
"These are premium cable shows, and they are not censored, and they do what they want," he said. "A lot of these shows are on at 9 o' clock or later. It's up to parents to really guide their kids; if they don't want them watching "Entourage," then tell them not to. You can't program TV around the wishes of anti-drug groups."
In addition to Showtime and HBO, Comedy Central -- the only TV network to advertise in High Times, according to Bloom -- is also a bastion of bud. "Chappelle's Show" is rife with reefer references, and the subversives behind "
"It represents the TV industry mirroring what's happening in society," Bloom said. "A lot of the writers, directors and producers, probably a lot of them smoke marijuana, probably a lot of them deep down would like to see the laws changed, so they're pushing the envelope by including storylines with marijuana. They want to see it more normalized on TV, and that would hopefully usher in some slight change in society's view of marijuana."
Local playwright Brian Walker, creator and star of the pro-legalization satire "Smoke This Play," which was performed earlier this month at Actors Theatre, is encouraged by the more sophisticated status of smoking in entertainment. If it's brought from the fringes to the forefront, he believes, major changes can be made.
"If you look at the whole gay issue, it started to become not such a big deal anymore when it was on TV, and Showtime and HBO started embracing the subject matter and the regular networks started embracing it," he said. "I think marijuana could sort of follow the same street. The people in entertainment really hold a lot of cards in their hands."
In the 1980s and '90s, non-cable networks also wove pot into plots. On "Roseanne," Dan and Roseanne toked up in the bathroom after confiscating drugs from one of their kids, and on "Murphy Brown," Candice Bergen's title character smoked pot during her battle with breast cancer.
"Medical is the safe way to go when you're going to focus on marijuana," Bloom said, adding that 80 percent of Americans approve of medical marijuana use.
But nobody expects the laws to shift immediately just because public opinion and TV's new ganja generation are showing pot in a new light.
"It's not surprising that even though marijuana is being portrayed more positively in the popular culture, that public officials have not yet caught up to public opinion," said Kris Krane, associate director of NORML.
Even though the drug's image is getting an extreme makeover, there are still shows where weed is purely a punch line.
Pot fumes have long filled the air of the Forman basement on "That '70s Show," and Towelie, "
"Who can forget Towelie? He's a funny character," Krane said. "We like Towelie."
Towns Lose Tool Against Illegal Immigrants
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/13/national/13immig.html
By PAM BELLUCK Published: August 13, 2005
The strategy involved charging illegal immigrants with criminal trespassing, and in the last few months such citations were filed against at least nine people, most of them Mexicans, in the towns of New Ipswich and Hudson.
The police chiefs of those towns had said they decided to take immigration matters into their own hands because overburdened federal immigration authorities were unable or unwilling to take action against immigrants who were not considered dangerous or otherwise a high law enforcement priority.
The towns' actions received national attention, with police departments from
On Friday, the judge, L. Phillips Runyon III of Jaffrey/Peterborough District Court, said the towns' actions could not be upheld because such immigration matters must be left to federal authorities.
"The criminal charges against the defendants are unconstitutional attempts to regulate in the area of enforcement of immigration violations, an area where Congress must be deemed to have regulated with such civil sanctions and criminal penalties as it feels are sufficient," Justice Runyon wrote.
He noted that under the federal system, local police departments that want to be involved in immigration enforcement may go through a training process that allows them to become "deputies" of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. That process, Justice Runyon wrote, "is further indication that Congress intended to preclude any local efforts which are unauthorized or based on other than federal law."
After the ruling, the New Ipswich police chief, W. Garrett Chamberlain, said, "Obviously, I'm disappointed."
Chief Chamberlain was the first to file a criminal trespassing citation against an illegal immigrant. In April, he charged Jorge Mora Ramírez, 21, a construction worker from
The citations carried a $1,000 fine but no penalty of prison. Still, Chief Chamberlain said he thought they would deter illegal immigrants from entering towns that took his approach.
"I did what I feel as a police chief I felt I had to do to protect the citizens in my community, where obviously the federal government has decided not to," he said.
Chief Chamberlain added, "I don't believe that the judge has left us much room for appeal."
In
Randall Drew, a lawyer for some of the immigrants, said his clients are "glad that hopefully they will be out of the limelight and go back to their normal lives of living and working, go back to relative obscurity."
"I think they plan on staying out of Hudson and New Ipswich, N.H.," Mr. Drew added.
Michael Iacopino, president of the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he believed that the cases were the result of "a couple of police departments with other agendas that had decided they were going to ride this wave for as much as they could and get as much publicity as they could, and hopefully this is end of it."
This Johnny Appleseed Is Wanted by the Law
Canadian Pot Activist Continues
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS, The New York Times
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050813130609990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001
Sam Leung, CP / APMarc Emery speaks to supporters after being released on bail Friday.
Freshly released on bail, Marc Emery faced the camera of his Pot-TV.net Web site the other day to make an urgent appeal for money to finance his legal struggle to avert extradition to the
"Let me be the light that shines on the American gulag," he said, stern-eyed, pointing into the camera. Without notes, Mr. Emery sermonized for a half-hour about everything from the marvelous medicinal and spiritual qualities of pot to the greatness of Thomas Jefferson, "who gave
"Marijuana made me a better parent, a better lover, a better businessman," he solemnly told his supporters. Immediately after the broadcast, he was quick to add, "a better driver, too."
At 47, Mr. Emery is known as the Prince of Pot, even in his recent federal indictment in
"Marijuana made me a better parent, a better lover, a better businessman."
-'Prince of Pot' Marc Emery
A lanky Canadian with a taste for bland T-shirts and chinos, he proudly promotes himself as the leader of the sizable
But he also freely says that, outside the
"I have a master plan," Mr. Emery said in an interview in the offices of his magazine, Cannabis Culture. "I've wanted to be the Johnny Appleseed of marijuana, so if we produced millions and millions of marijuana plants all over the world, it would be impossible for governments to eradicate or control all of it."
In other words, he added, he wants "to overgrow the governments" that punish marijuana users.
Marijuana's Effects
What are the health effects of marijuana on its users? Find Out
In his crusade to make marijuana completely legal everywhere, not just in Canada, where anti-pot laws are already more lenient than in the United States, Mr. Emery has marketed his seeds and anti-prohibition message on his Web site and magazine and traveled around the country smoking marijuana in front of police stations.
As leader of the British Columbia Marijuana Party, he has run candidates across the province and has himself run for mayor twice in
To the growing annoyance of American law enforcement, he has been openly selling seeds to American growers and counseling them how best to cultivate his product and avoid the attention of the police - all with only minor harassment, until now, from Canadian law enforcement.
According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Mr. Emery has sold millions of dollars worth of seeds to growers in
"He operated his business very efficiently, making a lot of money at the expense of our kids and the American public."
-Rodney Benson, DEA Agent
"He operated his business very efficiently, making a lot of money at the expense of our kids and the American public," Rodney Benson, special agent in charge of the D.E.A. field division in
Now, his master plan is in serious jeopardy. In July, the Canadian police, working with D.E.A. agents, arrested Mr. Emery and raided his headquarters at the request of the American government, so that he might be extradited for trial in Seattle. Last week, he was freed on bail; the extradition process could take years. It is bound to stir a debate in
But for the time being, Mr. Emery's empire is in tatters. He has been forced to lay off workers at his magazine and Web site, and because he can no longer sell seeds, his ability to finance marijuana-legalization causes has dried up. He says he must move to a smaller apartment, give up his car lease and live on the equivalent of $32 a day from donations.
"Lets face it," Mr. Emery said in an interview. "I've sold millions of seeds and I've been doing it every day of my life the last 11 years. I'm so transparent that everyone from the prime minister to the guy on the street knows it."
He says he has made $4 million in profit since 1996 selling seeds in his
All the money he has made, he says, has gone into his magazine, his Internet Pot-TV news channel, his British Columbia Marijuana Party, various referendum initiatives for marijuana legalization in the
He also claims to have paid nearly $600,000 in taxes from the proceeds of his seeds, noting openly on his tax returns that he worked as a vendor of marijuana seeds.
Mr. Emery describes himself as "a responsible libertarian, not a hedonist," who extols the virtues of capitalism, low taxes, small government and the right of citizens to bear arms.
He said he grew up a social democrat, influenced by his father, who was active in trade union work. But he said his life changed in 1979 when he began reading the works of Ayn Rand, who championed individual freedom and capitalism.
"The right to be free, the right to own the fruits of your mind and effort now all made sense," he recalled. Only a few months after discovering
It was an epiphany," he said. "I had a sixth sense added to my five senses. The silence sounded different, smells were more nuanced and the brightness of the moon made it look bigger and more substantial in the sky."
The combination of
Then living in
After traveling for a while in
"Now the Goliath, now the evil empire has made its move on me," Mr. Emery told his Web site audience. But he promised that his crusade would continue "till liberty or till death."
Warming hits 'tipping point'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1546824,00.html
Siberia feels the heat It's a frozen peat bog the size of
Ian Sample, science correspondent Thursday August 11, 2005 The Guardian
A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today.
Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of
The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.
It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures.
The discovery was made by Sergei Kirpotin at
The researchers found that what was until recently a barren expanse of frozen peat is turning into a broken landscape of mud and lakes, some more than a kilometre across.
Dr Kirpotin told the magazine the situation was an "ecological landslide that is probably irreversible and is undoubtedly connected to climatic warming". He added that the thaw had probably begun in the past three or four years.
Climate scientists yesterday reacted with alarm to the finding, and warned that predictions of future global temperatures would have to be revised upwards.
"When you start messing around with these natural systems, you can end up in situations where it's unstoppable. There are no brakes you can apply," said David Viner, a senior scientist at the Climatic Research Unit at the
"This is a big deal because you can't put the permafrost back once it's gone. The causal effect is human activity and it will ramp up temperatures even more than our emissions are doing."
In its last major report in 2001, the intergovernmental panel on climate change predicted a rise in global temperatures of 1.4C-5.8C between 1990 and 2100, but the estimate only takes account of global warming driven by known greenhouse gas emissions.
"These positive feedbacks with landmasses weren't known about then. They had no idea how much they would add to global warming," said Dr Viner.
The permafrost is likely to take many decades at least to thaw, so the methane locked within it will not be released into the atmosphere in one burst, said Stephen Sitch, a climate scientist at the Met Office's Hadley Centre in
But calculations by Dr Sitch and his colleagues show that even if methane seeped from the permafrost over the next 100 years, it would add around 700m tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year, roughly the same amount that is released annually from the world's wetlands and agriculture.
It would effectively double atmospheric levels of the gas, leading to a 10% to 25% increase in global warming, he said.
Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said the finding was a stark message to politicians to take concerted action on climate change. "We knew at some point we'd get these feedbacks happening that exacerbate global warming, but this could lead to a massive injection of greenhouse gases.
"If we don't take action very soon, we could unleash runaway global warming that will be beyond our control and it will lead to social, economic and environmental devastation worldwide," he said. "There's still time to take action, but not much.
"The assumption has been that we wouldn't see these kinds of changes until the world is a little warmer, but this suggests we're running out of time."
In May this year, another group of researchers reported signs that global warming was damaging the permafrost. Katey Walter of the
Last month, some of the world's worst air polluters, including the
The deal came after Tony Blair struggled at the G8 summit to get the
'Zero-energy homes' slash electric bills
Comment: This is some good news – the possibility that one day we might actually get off the electricity grid; and save money; and generate electricity without generating greenhouse gases. I read elsewhere that photovoltaic efficiency increases by about 15% each year. BC
http://www.detnews.com/2005/editorial/0508/14/A18-279555.htm
The houses cut power consumption by 50% with solar panels and low-power appliances.
By Andrew Murr / Newsweek News Service
Nicholas and Loan Gatai used to cringe when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the
Almost unknown outside
Aside from the bright patch of solar modules on the roof,
The rest of the energy savings comes from the solar units. Set flush with the roof tiles, the two-kilowatt photovoltaic panels unobtrusively turn the sun's rays into AC power with the help of an inverter in the garage. An LED readout shows the system's electrical output.
What's not to like? Mostly the costs. The special features can add $25,000 or more to the purchase price of a house. (At