A fine version.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Much maligned, but still here.
Well here we are, monday morning.
There is a movement out there to highlight the uses of cannabis, so I thought I would add my tuppence worth.
Cannabis was made illegal in the 1930`s, with pressure from the Anglo/american oil and pharmaceutical industries.
Why indeed? When cannabis was at that time providing the main ingredient for over 50% of the worlds` medicines.
Of course, hemp/cannabis needs to be grown and tended, crude oil was freely available to those who controlled the deposits.
Close examination shows that the carbon signature of hemp oil and that of crude oil are similar, except that crude oil is not quite so "fresh and friendly". Most people have no idea that crude oil is used to manufacture "medicines".
I have even spoken with people who were unaware that polyester, nylon and rayon were made from crude oil. Which makes those clothes about 3 billion years old... ugh... disgusting.
Cannabis was used as an anaesthetic and pain relief, as an appetite stimulant, for muscle spasms, headaches, insomnia, and at the turn of the century, scientists began to realise that they could make plastics and fuel, as well as fibre and cloth.
But then all those things could be made from crude oil too!
So along came tales of reefer madness and stories of hate and horror, whilst the pharmaceuticals began to peddle their questionable wares, and of course, the internal combustion engine began to consume billions of tonnes of oil.
Rudolph Diesel,(1858-1913) the German inventor had perfected an engine that would run on vegetable oil, after showing his plans to the British and Americans, some limited production began, but after his mysterious "death/suicide/murder", the use of vegetable oil was discontinued in favour of mineral oil.
However, the German auto industry now produces diesel engines that will run on either vegoil or mineral oil.
In june this year, tired of chasing motorists who use tax-free vegoil in their cars, the British government decided to allow we brits to use up to 2,500 litres of vegoil per annum, without paying fuel tax.
(See press release: Customs and excise brief 43/07.)
I can vouch for the efficiency of using vegoil, having used it in my aging VW golf without problems for the last 6,000 miles. (no conversion kit, just 50/50 mix of veg and mineral oil.)
Hemp oil is sadly too expensive, so I tend to use sunflower oil, wonderful acceleration, and clean, oh so clean! (60 miles per gallon of cooking oil!)
WARNING, only use vegoil in your motor car after seriously checking the viability, best are German/Japanese diesel engines, on no account use in a petrol engine.
Burning fossil fuels has been a disaster, in terms of pollution, illness and wars.
The medicinal properties of cannabis are slowly emerging into the mainstream, in fact there is a prize awarded annually, the Ralph Mechoulam prize.
Last year over 400 papers were submitted, all from graduate-level writers, many of whom work for the pharmaceuticals, many of whom have research facilities in Israel.
Did you ever wonder, what was in that bottle that the Jesus fellow used as his magic annointing oil that would cure the sick?
Try a google search on "Kaneh bosom"!!!
It seems that one of the main arguments between Christ and the then mainstream Jewish establishment was that he, as an Essenian Rabbi, wanted to give the poor people free medicines and treatment, whereas the more conservative Rabbis wanted to maintain their lucrative practice of charging the sick for health care, not unlike the world today is it?
Jesus was also against the practice of money-lending with interest, but that is another topic.
For a full insight into the history of cannabis, there is a book by an American activist, Jack Herer, "The emperor has no clothes."
Available free online, it may well change forever any assumptions about cannabis being "bad".
To read today, or to save for later, click the title "Much maligned..." and that will give you a copy of his wonderful book.
The song, with its` composite artwork is the creation of an Israeli group, Boom Pam, who also do weddings and bar mitzvahs. Israel, suprisingly perhaps, is very tolerant, even supportive of the use of cannabis.
"Anything crude can do, hemp can do better... Hemp can do anything better than crude... yes it can... "
Peace.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
The voice of the people. Preguntas sobre Dios
When in my teens, life took me to Spain, where I perhaps first became aware of the similarities between all peoples.
I remember learning a song, sung by the miners and trade unionists of Asturias, in Northern Spain.
The song had come to them, from the miners and activists of South America, and is one that has stayed with me throughout my life.
This song waswritten by Atahualpa Yupanqui, (Argentina 1908-1992). Atahualpa was a poet, and a communist, who also took to arms against the government.
The song is sung by Victor Jara, (Chile, 1932-1973), also a campaigner and activist, who was tortured, (they broke every bone in his hands, then mockingly suggested he play the guitar.) and then brutally machine-gunned by pro-american forces during the coup de etat that toppled the socialist Allende.
An aproximate translation by Michael Friedman.
One day I asked:
grandfather, where is God?
My grandfather became sad
and didn't answer me.
My grandfather died in the fields,
without prayer or confession.
And the Indians buried him,
accompanied by bamboo flute and drums
In time, I asked,
father, what do you know of God?
My father became serious,
and never answered my question.
My father died in the mines,
with neither doctor, nor protection.
The color of miners' blood,
is upon the gold of the rich!
My brother lives in the woods,
yet has never seen a flower!
Sweat, malaria, serpents,
that's the life of a wood-cutter!
And don't bother to ask him
if he knows where God is.
By his house, has never passed
such an important man!
I sing my songs on the byways,
and when I'm in prison,
I hear the voices of the people,
who sing far better than I.
There is a theme on this earth
more important than God.
And it is that no-one should cough up blood
so another may live better.
Does God watch over the poor?
Maybe yes, and maybe no.
But he surely lunches,
at the table of the rich.
The images in the video seem to show exactly the sentiment sought by both the writer and the singer.
That religion and its proponents are no more than sychophantic parasites.
It is a song that has been with me for over thirty years, and I trust you will keep both the song and the sentiment alive, the spirit of the singer calls out to us all.
The words speak for the millions of poor who have died for the sake of the rich.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Corporate war.
China 1945-46
Korea 1950-53
China 1950-53
Guatemala 1954
Indonesia 1958
Cuba 1959-60
Guatemala 1960
Belgian Congo 1964
Guatemala 1964
Dominican Republic 1965-66
Peru 1965
Laos 1964-73
Vietnam 1961-73
Cambodia 1969-70
Guatemala 1967-69
Lebanon 1982-84
Grenada 1983-84
Libya 1986
El Salvador 1981-92
Nicaragua 1981-90
Libya 1986
Iran 1987-88
Libya 1989
Panama 1989-90
Iraq 1991-2002
Kuwait 1991
Somalia 1992-94
Croatia 1994 (of Serbs at Krajina)
Bosnia 1995
Iran 1998 (airliner)
Afghanistan 2001-02
And of course Iraq, 2002-?
Estimated killed in these incursions and invasions: around 10 million.
Estimated Injured, crippled and broken-hearted, homeless and desolate, several hundred million more.
There is a definite pattern here, the Corporation only bombs the weak and defenseless, and only brown and black people, or muslims.
Will the dead see justice?
Will there be a reversal?
Will the world ever forgive?
Thursday, November 01, 2007
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