welcome
Profiling exileguy
- exileguy
- exile
- exileguy - that voice behind Radio Free Exile - is a self-indulgent award winning curmudgeon emeritus, free-thinking self-important itinerant podcaster, marijuana legalization activist and enthusiast, leftist peace freak, and somewhat of a maniacal, two dimensional cartoon character, with a large ego and forehead, and a propensity for long, run-on sentences with lousy punctuation and horrific grammar that come to no point at all, but still he goes on and on and, well, you know, and on.
1.30.2009
It's Up To Us
Obama really is the president of the United States. Not only was our eight-year national nightmare over; but we now have a leader both worthy of being admired, and cool enough to be on a pop art poster in a hip café.
And we had elected him. Enough people - nearly 70 million of them - for whatever mix of reasons, had risen above ancient selfishness and prejudice to do the right thing.
Not loathing the leader of your nation is a very wonderful thing, especially if you still have some of that old love of country. That doesn't mean we won't disagree with him, or that he won't make mistakes. What it means is that it is our country again.
You may think I have far too rosy a view of Obama, and you may be right. That doesn't matter much. This does: No matter what we think of our new president, there is a mistake it is essential to avoid — expecting him to fix things for us.
1.29.2009
Painting America
Hello Everyone,
This episode is "Painting America" - is doing a painting of an object better than actually painting the object itself? There might be an answer here. Or not.
Here's the link: http://exileguy.mypodcast.com/index.html
featuring music & spoken word from:
Dan Bern - "Ballerina"
Nikki Voice - "The Rebirth"
DJ Slim - "Everybody Wants 2 Smoke"
The Postmarks - "Five Years"
Dread Daze - "Running Around The World"
PenArk - "Got You"
____________________________________________________
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exileguy's blog
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
- The United States Constitution ©1791. All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________________
1.26.2009
A Mental Journey into Creativity
A Mental Journey into Creativity
By "Brandon Thomas"
"Brandon Thomas" is a 20-year-old junior at Michigan State University where he is studying Social Science. Echoing the recurrent themes of new-found appreciation for music and nature, as well as the stimulation of creative processes frequently observed by our contributors, he suggests that the relaxation of conditioned thought underlies such positive aspects of usage.
Marijuana, the killer herb. Marijuana, makes you go crazy. Marijuana, makes you lazy. Marijuana, none of those things. I have to laugh when I hear all these afflictions that marijuana supposedly causes. I've never experienced any of them, either personally or in any of my friends or acquaintances. True, I haven't been smoking it for very long, about two years. But I smoke pretty regularly, and have had no adverse effects. In fact, marijuana has changed my life for the better. It's changed my views on a great many subjects, from music to spirituality to everyday things. It has helped me challenge long-held beliefs and to think in new ways.
One good example of how marijuana can help me think in different ways is when I'm high and listening to music. I notice that in these instances, my thoughts take on the nature of the music. Suppose I am listening to Dave Matthews Band, a favorite of mine. Some songs move fast, some move slowly, some are long, others, not so long. And the tempo varies, of course, between songs and even within the same song. So my thoughts, which are often moving through uncharted territory, move like the song. At first, there are some more or less "normal" thoughts, where I'm considering some problem or idea, but as the song moves into instrumentals, away from the organized pattern of verse-chorus-verse, so do my thoughts. They flow like a river as the music itself flows like a river, and here I have had some very unique, creative insights. As the song speeds up, so does my thinking; as it slows, my thoughts ease off. Then, as the song ends, so too does the thought pattern. Sometimes I lose my train of thought, and there is a moment of sadness, a feeling of loss. Sometimes I don't lose it and as the next song starts my thoughts move elsewhere.
Music, then, can greatly facilitate and enhance certain kinds of thinking while high. There have been times when I was stoned and listening to music that I have had multiple insights in this way, sometimes at the level of a personal epiphany. Because of these experiences, I now almost never get high without having some music playing, and I almost invariably choose some sort of "jam" band. The long, loping instrumentals fit perfectly with the kind of free-flow thinking that marijuana induces. Classic rock bands like the Allman Brothers Band or Pink Floyd are also favorites; however, I may also note that marijuana has enhanced my appreciation of music of a much wider variety. Music I had before never liked or understood suddenly "clicked," and I found myself listening to folk, classical, techno, and hip hop. In fact, I find I am better able to enjoy music in general since I started smoking; whether I'm high or not, I love music so much more these days.
There have, however, been times that I have not had music on while high. One time I happened across an old roach and decided to spark it up. It was around noon on a sunny, blue-sky day, and even though I hadn't smoked much, I experienced a very unique high, unique, at least, from what I am used to. I generally smoke in the evenings, and in fact up to that point I had never been high in the middle of the day. So smoking that day was totally new to me. My eyes were opened to what "blue" really was, for one thing, and I could not take my sight away from that beautiful bowl of electric blue sky. The sound of the wind in the trees and the birds singing was amazing in and of itself, which was why I didn't play any music. Listening to nature gave me a totally different experience from listening to music. I sat down, my body tingling with joy, and wrote several poems about random things that I saw out my window. There is no lie in saying that marijuana can increase creativity. I love to write poetry, or sometimes even short stories, while I'm high. It flows in a very different way from when I'm sober. Not necessarily better, just different. I suppose that's all that creativity is: different modes of thinking.
That is the beauty of marijuana, and why it is such a shame that this herb has been maligned for so long. Marijuana opens the mind to new pathways of thought. In daily (read: sober) life, our thoughts fall into the same old, preconditioned patterns we learned when we were young. There is nothing wrong with this in general, but it is rather limiting. We get stuck in the same thought patterns and that stifles creativity. Smoking marijuana can relax our preconceived notions of "rational" thought and free us to explore new avenues, delving into courses of thought that we would otherwise consider silly, illogical, or just plain stupid. Of course, not all of these new conclusions hold up the next day. Sometimes, the critical nature of sobriety reveals our ideas to be silly and wrong, or sometimes we realize that whatever it is we thought up while high is a very obvious notion when examined with a sober mind. But there have been many times where I have come up with new ideas, solutions to problems that do hold up in the light of sober day. The stereotype of stoners either forgetting all their insights or only thinking of totally ridiculous things is not accurate, at least in my experience.
The fact is that marijuana has added much to my life. I have always loved nature, but now it's a deeper appreciation, because I feel more connected with it. This in turn has added to my ongoing spiritual journey. I've gone from Catholic to atheist to some sort of undefined spiritual seeker in the last 4 years. Marijuana helped me see that there may be more to the world than what we can normally see. I look forward to using marijuana in the years to come to further expand my viewpoints on things. I can only hope that America will come to its senses and legalize this wonderful herb, so that we may all enjoy its benefits without worrying about jail time. If ever there were a tragic set of laws, it's our drug laws. Maybe everyone out there just needs to smoke a bowl to figure it out.
By "Brandon Thomas"
"Brandon Thomas" is a 20-year-old junior at Michigan State University where he is studying Social Science. Echoing the recurrent themes of new-found appreciation for music and nature, as well as the stimulation of creative processes frequently observed by our contributors, he suggests that the relaxation of conditioned thought underlies such positive aspects of usage.
Marijuana, the killer herb. Marijuana, makes you go crazy. Marijuana, makes you lazy. Marijuana, none of those things. I have to laugh when I hear all these afflictions that marijuana supposedly causes. I've never experienced any of them, either personally or in any of my friends or acquaintances. True, I haven't been smoking it for very long, about two years. But I smoke pretty regularly, and have had no adverse effects. In fact, marijuana has changed my life for the better. It's changed my views on a great many subjects, from music to spirituality to everyday things. It has helped me challenge long-held beliefs and to think in new ways.
One good example of how marijuana can help me think in different ways is when I'm high and listening to music. I notice that in these instances, my thoughts take on the nature of the music. Suppose I am listening to Dave Matthews Band, a favorite of mine. Some songs move fast, some move slowly, some are long, others, not so long. And the tempo varies, of course, between songs and even within the same song. So my thoughts, which are often moving through uncharted territory, move like the song. At first, there are some more or less "normal" thoughts, where I'm considering some problem or idea, but as the song moves into instrumentals, away from the organized pattern of verse-chorus-verse, so do my thoughts. They flow like a river as the music itself flows like a river, and here I have had some very unique, creative insights. As the song speeds up, so does my thinking; as it slows, my thoughts ease off. Then, as the song ends, so too does the thought pattern. Sometimes I lose my train of thought, and there is a moment of sadness, a feeling of loss. Sometimes I don't lose it and as the next song starts my thoughts move elsewhere.
Music, then, can greatly facilitate and enhance certain kinds of thinking while high. There have been times when I was stoned and listening to music that I have had multiple insights in this way, sometimes at the level of a personal epiphany. Because of these experiences, I now almost never get high without having some music playing, and I almost invariably choose some sort of "jam" band. The long, loping instrumentals fit perfectly with the kind of free-flow thinking that marijuana induces. Classic rock bands like the Allman Brothers Band or Pink Floyd are also favorites; however, I may also note that marijuana has enhanced my appreciation of music of a much wider variety. Music I had before never liked or understood suddenly "clicked," and I found myself listening to folk, classical, techno, and hip hop. In fact, I find I am better able to enjoy music in general since I started smoking; whether I'm high or not, I love music so much more these days.
There have, however, been times that I have not had music on while high. One time I happened across an old roach and decided to spark it up. It was around noon on a sunny, blue-sky day, and even though I hadn't smoked much, I experienced a very unique high, unique, at least, from what I am used to. I generally smoke in the evenings, and in fact up to that point I had never been high in the middle of the day. So smoking that day was totally new to me. My eyes were opened to what "blue" really was, for one thing, and I could not take my sight away from that beautiful bowl of electric blue sky. The sound of the wind in the trees and the birds singing was amazing in and of itself, which was why I didn't play any music. Listening to nature gave me a totally different experience from listening to music. I sat down, my body tingling with joy, and wrote several poems about random things that I saw out my window. There is no lie in saying that marijuana can increase creativity. I love to write poetry, or sometimes even short stories, while I'm high. It flows in a very different way from when I'm sober. Not necessarily better, just different. I suppose that's all that creativity is: different modes of thinking.
That is the beauty of marijuana, and why it is such a shame that this herb has been maligned for so long. Marijuana opens the mind to new pathways of thought. In daily (read: sober) life, our thoughts fall into the same old, preconditioned patterns we learned when we were young. There is nothing wrong with this in general, but it is rather limiting. We get stuck in the same thought patterns and that stifles creativity. Smoking marijuana can relax our preconceived notions of "rational" thought and free us to explore new avenues, delving into courses of thought that we would otherwise consider silly, illogical, or just plain stupid. Of course, not all of these new conclusions hold up the next day. Sometimes, the critical nature of sobriety reveals our ideas to be silly and wrong, or sometimes we realize that whatever it is we thought up while high is a very obvious notion when examined with a sober mind. But there have been many times where I have come up with new ideas, solutions to problems that do hold up in the light of sober day. The stereotype of stoners either forgetting all their insights or only thinking of totally ridiculous things is not accurate, at least in my experience.
The fact is that marijuana has added much to my life. I have always loved nature, but now it's a deeper appreciation, because I feel more connected with it. This in turn has added to my ongoing spiritual journey. I've gone from Catholic to atheist to some sort of undefined spiritual seeker in the last 4 years. Marijuana helped me see that there may be more to the world than what we can normally see. I look forward to using marijuana in the years to come to further expand my viewpoints on things. I can only hope that America will come to its senses and legalize this wonderful herb, so that we may all enjoy its benefits without worrying about jail time. If ever there were a tragic set of laws, it's our drug laws. Maybe everyone out there just needs to smoke a bowl to figure it out.
1.22.2009
1.20.2009
Holding Bush Accountable
President Obama, on his first day in office, can make a number of changes that will mark a clean break with the Bush presidency. He can, and should, issue an executive order revoking any prior order that permits detainee mistreatment by any government agency. He should begin the process of closing Guantánamo, and he should submit to Congress a bill to end the use of military commissions, at least as presently constituted. Over the coming months he can pursue other reforms to restore respect for the Constitution, such as revising the Patriot Act, abolishing secret prisons and "extraordinary rendition," and ending practices, like signing statements, that seek to undo laws.
While these steps are all crucial, however, it is not enough merely to cease the abuses of power and apparent criminality that marked the highest levels of George W. Bush's administration. We cannot simply shrug off the constitutional and criminal misbehavior of the administration, treat it as an aberration and hope it won't happen again. The misbehavior was not an aberration--aspects of it, particularly the idea that the president is above the law, were present in Watergate and in the Iran/Contra scandal. To fully restore the rule of law and prevent any repetition of Bush's misconduct, the abuses of his administration must be directly confronted. As Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen--recently tapped by Obama to head his Office of Legal Counsel--wrote in Slate last March, "We must avoid any temptation simply to move on. We must instead be honest with ourselves and the world as we condemn our nation's past transgressions and reject Bush's corruption of our American ideals."
What we need to do is conceptually simple. We need to launch investigations to get at the central unanswered questions of Bush's abuse of power, commence criminal proceedings and undertake institutional, statutory and constitutional reforms. Perhaps all these things don't need to be done at once, but over time--not too much time--they must take place. Otherwise, we establish a doctrine of presidential impunity, which has no place in a country that cherishes the rule of law or considers itself a democracy. Bush's claim that the president enjoys virtually unlimited power as commander in chief at a time of war--which Vice President Dick Cheney defiantly reasserted just last month--brought us perilously close to military dictatorship.
While these steps are all crucial, however, it is not enough merely to cease the abuses of power and apparent criminality that marked the highest levels of George W. Bush's administration. We cannot simply shrug off the constitutional and criminal misbehavior of the administration, treat it as an aberration and hope it won't happen again. The misbehavior was not an aberration--aspects of it, particularly the idea that the president is above the law, were present in Watergate and in the Iran/Contra scandal. To fully restore the rule of law and prevent any repetition of Bush's misconduct, the abuses of his administration must be directly confronted. As Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen--recently tapped by Obama to head his Office of Legal Counsel--wrote in Slate last March, "We must avoid any temptation simply to move on. We must instead be honest with ourselves and the world as we condemn our nation's past transgressions and reject Bush's corruption of our American ideals."
What we need to do is conceptually simple. We need to launch investigations to get at the central unanswered questions of Bush's abuse of power, commence criminal proceedings and undertake institutional, statutory and constitutional reforms. Perhaps all these things don't need to be done at once, but over time--not too much time--they must take place. Otherwise, we establish a doctrine of presidential impunity, which has no place in a country that cherishes the rule of law or considers itself a democracy. Bush's claim that the president enjoys virtually unlimited power as commander in chief at a time of war--which Vice President Dick Cheney defiantly reasserted just last month--brought us perilously close to military dictatorship.
1.19.2009
DOING TIME, THE MADOFF WAY
by Jim Hightower
Monday, January 19, 2009
That Bernie – what a guy!
Bernie Madoff, I’m talking about, the world-champion Ponzi schemer who has confessed to bilking some $50 billion from investors in his felonious hedge fund, wrecking lives in the process. Bernie being Bernie, though, he didn’t just pick on strangers – many of his personal friends and close associates were also suckered. In fact, he even ripped off his 74-year-old sister for about $3 million, forcing her to sell her home. As an incredulous neighbor asked, “What kind of person scams their own sister?”
Well, a person like Bernie, who’s been living his scam for years and getting away with it, so he keeps trying to get away with ever-more escalating outrages. In fact, even now, the authorities are feeding his sense of special privilege. For example, rather than being in jail – as any far lesser crook would be – he’s under house arrest, comfortably ensconced in his $7 million Manhattan apartment.
While in the privacy of his swank prison nest, Bernie has tried to stash about $300 million worth of his ill-gotten loot with friends and relatives, so his victims can't get it through court actions. For example, he sent out three packages on Christmas Eve containing more than a million dollars worth of precious gems, Tiffany watches, and such. When this ploy was detected, Madoff’s lawyer claimed that these were merely “a few sentimental personal items,” and that poor Bernie had innocently failed to realize that it was wrong to dispense assets bought with other people’s money.
Astonishingly, a judge let him get away with this, requiring only that all valuables in Madoff’s apartment be inventoried, so they can be checked periodically. But – get this – the judge allowed Bernie himself to do the inventory!
In America, if you steal a little, go to jail; if you steal a lot, go to your penthouse.
Monday, January 19, 2009
That Bernie – what a guy!
Bernie Madoff, I’m talking about, the world-champion Ponzi schemer who has confessed to bilking some $50 billion from investors in his felonious hedge fund, wrecking lives in the process. Bernie being Bernie, though, he didn’t just pick on strangers – many of his personal friends and close associates were also suckered. In fact, he even ripped off his 74-year-old sister for about $3 million, forcing her to sell her home. As an incredulous neighbor asked, “What kind of person scams their own sister?”
Well, a person like Bernie, who’s been living his scam for years and getting away with it, so he keeps trying to get away with ever-more escalating outrages. In fact, even now, the authorities are feeding his sense of special privilege. For example, rather than being in jail – as any far lesser crook would be – he’s under house arrest, comfortably ensconced in his $7 million Manhattan apartment.
While in the privacy of his swank prison nest, Bernie has tried to stash about $300 million worth of his ill-gotten loot with friends and relatives, so his victims can't get it through court actions. For example, he sent out three packages on Christmas Eve containing more than a million dollars worth of precious gems, Tiffany watches, and such. When this ploy was detected, Madoff’s lawyer claimed that these were merely “a few sentimental personal items,” and that poor Bernie had innocently failed to realize that it was wrong to dispense assets bought with other people’s money.
Astonishingly, a judge let him get away with this, requiring only that all valuables in Madoff’s apartment be inventoried, so they can be checked periodically. But – get this – the judge allowed Bernie himself to do the inventory!
In America, if you steal a little, go to jail; if you steal a lot, go to your penthouse.
1.18.2009
20 Must-Know Facts about Gaza Strip
by Bill Belew
So, what do we know?
1. Gaza Strip sits borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the South.
Gaza Strip
2. Gaza Strip is just 360 square km, (139 sq mi) exactly half the size of the Hawaiian island of Maui and two times the size of Washington DC. It has no water that isn’t irrigated.
3. Gaza Strip has just 1,500,000 people. There have been more than 1,026,000 mobile phones sold. One in five residents are online. The population is about the same as that of Idaho, three times that of Wyoming, though Wyoming is 700 times the size. It’s also about the size of the Hawaiian island - Lānaʻi
4. Gaza Strip’s population grew in 1948-49 when thousands of Palestinian refugees fled there to escape fighting between Arab and Jewish forces. Most Gazans are descendants of those refugees.
5. Today one million Gazans are UN-registered refugees.
6. Gazans live primarily in refugee camps and are fed by the United Nations
Gaza Strip Refugee Camps
7. One in five refugee dwellings in the Gaza Strip allow sewage and waste water to flow along the roads.
8. The average age in Gaza Strip is 17.6 years of age. 92% of them can read/write. More than one in six children aged 6-months to 5-years suffer from malnutrition.
9. The main languages of Gaza Strip are Arabic, Hebrew and English.
10. One of the largest sub groups in /Gaza Strip are abt 500 Russian women who married students from the area who came to Russia and were brought back. (I only think this important because, well, you TRY to tell a Russian woman she is not important.)
11. In the Gaza Strip 99.3% are Sunni Muslim and the rest are Christian (abt 10,500 people)
12. Gaza Strip does international business with Egypt, Israel and the West Bank. That’s it. Imports and exports
13. When goods are brought in or taken out of Gaza Strip, Israeli security precautions require a back-to-back system - trucks are unloaded and loaded onto Israeli vehicles on each side.
14. Israel, United States, Canada and European Union have frozen all funds to the Gaza Strip.
15. More than one in three people (34%) in the Gaza Strip are unemployed. How much different would things be if everyone had a job…I wonder out loud here? Some 4,000 people per square kilometer with nothing to do and extremist groups all around.
16. Next to Israel, Gaza Strip fears drought the most.
17. Israel maintains control of Gaza Strip’s:
* airspace,
* territorial waters
* offshore maritime access,
* the Gaza-Israel border
18. Egypt runs the southern border and governed Gaza Strip from 1948-1968.
19. An Israeli-built metal fence separates Israel and the Gaza Strip. There are tunnels under the border used to bring in goods and weapons.
20. The airport in Gaza Strip was put out of use by Israeli attacks in 2000.
1.17.2009
1.16.2009
1.15.2009
I Am an Addict
By Christopher Ferguson
(http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/070.html)
A stunning view of violent behavior and its antecedents, personal transformation by self-medication with cannabis, and the revelation of peaceful humanity at one's center.
My name is Chris and I am a 26-year-old "pot head." I do not have any current medical issues but I have been through a lot in my life and I feel that weed has helped me to get to where I am today (no, not in jail). Let me start by giving you a brief history of where I am coming from so you might see my issues more clearly.
When I was four years old, my siblings and I were removed from our biological family. Mom and step dad were needle jockeys and got caught. I was the oldest of four kids who were taken. I was put into a couple of foster homes at first, until my temper got the best of me (about 4 homes in a year or so). I thought I was missing my mom, brothers and sister, or maybe I had a mental condition. Well, to make a long story shorter, my next seven years were spent being shuffled from foster homes to group homes and back again and again. The reason for most of the moves had to do with me fighting, kicking, cussing and running away from everywhere. I went through so many psychiatric tests and so much therapy before I turned 11 - all to no avail. I was thrown out of schools and into psyche units, jail and state hospitals. I've been on about 15 different mood-altering, make-you-happy prescriptions and still the violence continued. Most places (mainly state homes) I went through provided an environment that was very nurturing to my violent, outrageous needs for an adult to pin me to the floor in restraint fashion. So, while I was taking forced pills to make me smile, I got in plenty of practice to become the violent adult (like my step dad) I was destined to become. When I was 11-15 years old, I was mostly on the run working at different carnivals to support myself. Steadily I grew more violent to the point I would sometimes plan out murder-suicides to people who had barely ticked me off.
By the time I was 16, I had been through countless institutions because of my temper. I even joined a gang in Chicago so I could be safer, as well as having a steady audience that approved of my psychotic behavior (as long as it was directed toward someone else). Well, after I got out of jail one time, I was with some of my "boyz" and we were going to go jump one kid's dad for upsetting one of the "boyz." On the way there, I ran into an older Mexican man who I asked for a cigarette. When he gave me the pack to take one, I kept the pack - what was he going to do? Well, I discovered there was a joint inside with the smokes. I had smoked pot once before, but was too drunk to realize the effect, so I smoked this one out of pure curiosity, since I was sober this time. By the end of the joint, all five of us agreed we were having so much fun that we'd better wait to jump on our friend's dad. I saw a smile for the first time even from one friend who just two days before had witnessed his sister committing suicide by jumping in front of a train after being raped by their mom's cocaine dealer. I was in no mood to fight, although I was considered the main gun on this mission. It almost scared me that I had temporarily lost my violent edge, which had become my trademark among my circle of friends. It wasn't even that I tried to snap off all the time, but I honestly couldn't help it. I had fun smoking weed that time and I started buying it on my own. I always had access to it but never cared about what it might do for me, so I hadn't experimented with it until this incident.
Well, over the next ten years I've probably averaged a joint a day and none of those days have been spent in jail or therapy or a nuthouse. In fact, the only non-traffic violations I have had since then have been for possession. I no longer think of myself as a rebel or a badass. I don't have any more violent episodes (and my wife and daughter appreciate that). I'm not on any pills or any other illegal drugs although I've tried them all. I just assumed that since the other drugs were illegal also that they couldn't be any more dangerous than the weed I liked so much. I have also had many problems in the past with my appetite, as well as difficulty sleeping. I hate to say it almost, but marijuana has completely turned my life around and helped me become a productive member of society as opposed to being a threat to everyone. The only problem is that I live in a society that would rather have me sitting in a jail somewhere drug-free and violent instead of letting me have a joint after work every day. Granted, I know the damage it will do to my lungs and brain, but I think a fried brain sits in a skull prettier than a fresh one splattered among the brains of potential victims.
I AM AN ADDICT. I'm not addicted to the THC, which makes me laugh. Nor the stems and seeds, which make me choke. Nor the social gatherings around a joint. Nor the fun I've had doing every day things under the influence. I am addicted to the new me. I'm addicted to the fact that I have broken this infamous circle of family violence that I could have easily been a MVP for. I love the fact that yesterday, today and tomorrow, no matter what happens, I will never repeat what I have escaped from. I am addicted to my own inner peace. I love the fact that I have no urge to raise my fist to even the worst of my enemies. I wish everyone could feel the way I do with or without weed. I am a drug addict and I am proud and grateful to God for showing me the way to heal myself.
(http://www.marijuana-uses.com/essays/070.html)
A stunning view of violent behavior and its antecedents, personal transformation by self-medication with cannabis, and the revelation of peaceful humanity at one's center.
My name is Chris and I am a 26-year-old "pot head." I do not have any current medical issues but I have been through a lot in my life and I feel that weed has helped me to get to where I am today (no, not in jail). Let me start by giving you a brief history of where I am coming from so you might see my issues more clearly.
When I was four years old, my siblings and I were removed from our biological family. Mom and step dad were needle jockeys and got caught. I was the oldest of four kids who were taken. I was put into a couple of foster homes at first, until my temper got the best of me (about 4 homes in a year or so). I thought I was missing my mom, brothers and sister, or maybe I had a mental condition. Well, to make a long story shorter, my next seven years were spent being shuffled from foster homes to group homes and back again and again. The reason for most of the moves had to do with me fighting, kicking, cussing and running away from everywhere. I went through so many psychiatric tests and so much therapy before I turned 11 - all to no avail. I was thrown out of schools and into psyche units, jail and state hospitals. I've been on about 15 different mood-altering, make-you-happy prescriptions and still the violence continued. Most places (mainly state homes) I went through provided an environment that was very nurturing to my violent, outrageous needs for an adult to pin me to the floor in restraint fashion. So, while I was taking forced pills to make me smile, I got in plenty of practice to become the violent adult (like my step dad) I was destined to become. When I was 11-15 years old, I was mostly on the run working at different carnivals to support myself. Steadily I grew more violent to the point I would sometimes plan out murder-suicides to people who had barely ticked me off.
By the time I was 16, I had been through countless institutions because of my temper. I even joined a gang in Chicago so I could be safer, as well as having a steady audience that approved of my psychotic behavior (as long as it was directed toward someone else). Well, after I got out of jail one time, I was with some of my "boyz" and we were going to go jump one kid's dad for upsetting one of the "boyz." On the way there, I ran into an older Mexican man who I asked for a cigarette. When he gave me the pack to take one, I kept the pack - what was he going to do? Well, I discovered there was a joint inside with the smokes. I had smoked pot once before, but was too drunk to realize the effect, so I smoked this one out of pure curiosity, since I was sober this time. By the end of the joint, all five of us agreed we were having so much fun that we'd better wait to jump on our friend's dad. I saw a smile for the first time even from one friend who just two days before had witnessed his sister committing suicide by jumping in front of a train after being raped by their mom's cocaine dealer. I was in no mood to fight, although I was considered the main gun on this mission. It almost scared me that I had temporarily lost my violent edge, which had become my trademark among my circle of friends. It wasn't even that I tried to snap off all the time, but I honestly couldn't help it. I had fun smoking weed that time and I started buying it on my own. I always had access to it but never cared about what it might do for me, so I hadn't experimented with it until this incident.
Well, over the next ten years I've probably averaged a joint a day and none of those days have been spent in jail or therapy or a nuthouse. In fact, the only non-traffic violations I have had since then have been for possession. I no longer think of myself as a rebel or a badass. I don't have any more violent episodes (and my wife and daughter appreciate that). I'm not on any pills or any other illegal drugs although I've tried them all. I just assumed that since the other drugs were illegal also that they couldn't be any more dangerous than the weed I liked so much. I have also had many problems in the past with my appetite, as well as difficulty sleeping. I hate to say it almost, but marijuana has completely turned my life around and helped me become a productive member of society as opposed to being a threat to everyone. The only problem is that I live in a society that would rather have me sitting in a jail somewhere drug-free and violent instead of letting me have a joint after work every day. Granted, I know the damage it will do to my lungs and brain, but I think a fried brain sits in a skull prettier than a fresh one splattered among the brains of potential victims.
I AM AN ADDICT. I'm not addicted to the THC, which makes me laugh. Nor the stems and seeds, which make me choke. Nor the social gatherings around a joint. Nor the fun I've had doing every day things under the influence. I am addicted to the new me. I'm addicted to the fact that I have broken this infamous circle of family violence that I could have easily been a MVP for. I love the fact that yesterday, today and tomorrow, no matter what happens, I will never repeat what I have escaped from. I am addicted to my own inner peace. I love the fact that I have no urge to raise my fist to even the worst of my enemies. I wish everyone could feel the way I do with or without weed. I am a drug addict and I am proud and grateful to God for showing me the way to heal myself.
1.14.2009
what exactly is genocide
I feel this piece is relevant to what's happening on the Gaza Strip. It is important to first universally define genocide then recognize when it occurs and finally condemn it with every quaking cell in your body.
U.N. Convention on Genocide
In addition to the general declaration of human rights, which define individual civil liberties, the convention also aims to prevent persecution of racial or ethnic groups.
Quote: "Article I: The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish."
The “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,” encompasses a total of 19 articles.
The Polish American human rights activist Raphael Lemkin played a major role in defining “genocide” in the 1940s. Lemkin, who had lost members of his family during the National Socialist’s persecution of the Jews, had assisted the U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson during the Nuremberg War Trials. In 1947, Lemkin presented the United Nations with a draft law against genocide, which was unanimously accepted in December 1948 by a vote of the UN General Assembly. It did not go into effect, however, until two years later on January 12, 1951.
Quote: "Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:
a. Killing members of the group;
b. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
c. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
d. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Genocide: the complete or partial, direct or indirect extermination of national, ethnic, racial or religious groups - the definition appears to be clear enough. And yet it proved to be riddled with loopholes: persecution and killing for political, social or economic reasons was not mentioned. These limitations had been pushed through by the Soviet Union and resulted, among other things, in the crimes committed by the Red Khmer (Khmer Rouge) in Cambodia never being recognized or punished as genocide.
Quote: "Article IV: Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals." Since the declaration was ratified in 1951, the United Nations has classified two crimes as genocide: The ethnic mass murders on the minority population of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994 and the massacre of Srebrenica in July 1995, in which approximately 8,000 Muslim men were singled out and murdered by Serbian units.
Quote: "Article VI: Persons charged with genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article III shall be tried by a competent tribunal of the State in the territory of which the act was committed, or by such international penal tribunal as may have jurisdiction with respect to those Contracting Parties which shall have accepted its jurisdiction.”
Enforcing Article VI also proved difficult. Courts were often not interested in the persecution and punishment of such crimes. And Cold War tensions prevented the establishment of an international criminal court until the 1990s. By December 2000, 139 countries had signed the so-called Roman Statute, which calls for the establishment of an International Criminal Court in the Hague.
1.13.2009
Gaza In Context
by Shenell M. Albert
In the past week, the conflict surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian occupation has escalated tremendously. A quick review of the international response to the conflict outlines the stark contrast amongst the opposing opinions of the United States' mainstream media and the rest of the world. The absence of any sort critical speech towards Israel is revolting. Despite everything we have heard in the media - Palestinians, by natural law and by the societal laws drafted by international bodies (UN, Geneva Convention, etc) of which Israel is a part of; are defending themselves against an occupying force. I feel in writing these types of pieces it's hard to be anti-Zionist without being considered anti-Semitic (there's been pretty successful propagating of that idea by the Zionists so far). Once you buy into the idea that Judaism=Israel then it's easy to settle into the concept of the sins of the Zionists are the sins of the Jews are the sins of the Israelis. These arguments force me into this sort of false tri-chotomy of extremes that I am very uncomfortable with.
So far, 450 Palestinians have been killed with more than 2000 injured. Over the past 7 years, approximately 15 Israelis have been killed compared to 5000 Palestinians. The Zionists are fighting an army of mostly untrained militants with homemade bombs that you and I could make in our garages while Israel attacks civilians with Apache helicopters and F-16 bombers purchased with the $15 million we give them per day (not a typo). All this while they violate 66 UN resolutions and ignore IAEA regulations. They claim these attacks are retaliatory actions for the breaking of the cease-fire agreement chartered in June 2008, but do not concur that they did not completely obey any of the cease-fire regulations from the day of its founding. In fact, the most intense violation of the cease-fire occurred on November 4th 2008, a day when all international eyes were cast on the American Presidential election, Israeli forces assassinated 6 members of Hamas.
The first stipulation of the cease-fire (Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza) was completely ignored. Inhabitants of Gaza were forced to eat grass, denied vital medications, denied fuel, and most importantly denied food. UNRWA convoys as well as supplies sent to Gaza by the European Union were all denied entry. Did the United States protest? No! In September 2007, American academics condemned British calls for the boycotting of Israeli universities but the world remains silent at the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza (another UN violation). In Gaza, you cannot travel across the border in either direction without Israeli permission. I have listened to nauseating accounts from friends who have been beaten by the IDF.
I am trying hard to not come off vitriolic but something needs to be done. If we go as far back as Abraham we find that the region we know as Israel is the land of the Canaanites thus rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. On the other hand, genetic analyses are mostly null and void in this context when you consider any Palestinian whose great-great-grandmother was raped by a Crusader could be genetically (Jewish) it deflates the idea. In the historical context, there is much to be said of the responsibilities of the former occupying imperial power, Great Britain.
In 1917, Britain established the Balfour declaration after much prodding from a Zionist organization in Britain who called for the creation of a Jewish state after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. When Britain received the mandate over Palestine, they created Jordan and planned to split the remaining territories between the Jews and the Arabs. When Palestinians got word of this they rejected any part of the mandate including Zionist representation - a move that has been historically considered to be proof of Palestinian anti-Semitism when it was only a defensive maneuver. At this point, Jewish immigration already begun, and the Arabs responded by rioting. It is important to note both Jews and Arabs quietly coexisted in Palestine before the migration. The British, to counteract Arab rioting, passed the "Passfield White Paper" which allowed for no more than 15,000 Jews to migrate to Palestine every year for five years. In the brief period of migration that occurred before the passing of the "Passfield White Paper", there was considerable upsetting to the economic stability in Palestine. Immigrants formed numerous collectives and adapted many Judo-centric policies including Jews-only hiring, etc. After WWII and the Holocaust, the "White Paper" was still in effect, but former migrants in Palestine organized mass illegal immigration campaigns to bring displaced Jews in Europe to Palestine. Though the "White Paper" prevented millions from coming into Palestine, under its rule hundreds of thousands still entered.
In 1945, the US and the UN, concerned for the remaining survivors of the Holocaust, (both the US and Britain refused to open their country to Jewish immigrants at this time) put considerable pressure on Great Britain to open Palestine for immigration. They finally conceded and the resulting anger led to the formation of the UN partition plan. At that time in Palestine, there were 1.2 million Arabs versus 600,000 Jews with only 8% of the land being owned by the Jewish. In the face of this clear population disparity, the UN partition plan gave Israel approximately 50% of the land.
Despite all of the transgressions branded in this history, let us consider that an Israeli who is born an Israeli cannot help that fact and cannot help that injustices may have been committed for him or her to be born an Israeli; by the same token a Palestinian is born into his or her world without choice. We become what we are by what we do, not by who our distant ancestors were. And it is precisely in this respect that today's Israel sins grievously, regardless of fantastical divine rights granted by scribes or the historical political rights granted by guilt-ridden European politicians. For it is in the simple lack of human compassion, the adamant refusal to accept the tragic historical circumstance of the people alongside whom destiny has placed the Jews of Israel (which mirrors their own prior and current tragedy), the cynical manipulation of Palestinian acts of despair to "justify" the systematic destruction of a people, their land, their history, their culture, their very ability to live lives that we could call acceptably human, that the political class of Israel, and their supporters and enablers at home and abroad, in the U.S., Europe, the Arab lands, and anywhere else, deserve the harshest reprobation that we in our unbowed consciences reserve for them. May history prove more clement to them than they have been to their victims.
In the past week, the conflict surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian occupation has escalated tremendously. A quick review of the international response to the conflict outlines the stark contrast amongst the opposing opinions of the United States' mainstream media and the rest of the world. The absence of any sort critical speech towards Israel is revolting. Despite everything we have heard in the media - Palestinians, by natural law and by the societal laws drafted by international bodies (UN, Geneva Convention, etc) of which Israel is a part of; are defending themselves against an occupying force. I feel in writing these types of pieces it's hard to be anti-Zionist without being considered anti-Semitic (there's been pretty successful propagating of that idea by the Zionists so far). Once you buy into the idea that Judaism=Israel then it's easy to settle into the concept of the sins of the Zionists are the sins of the Jews are the sins of the Israelis. These arguments force me into this sort of false tri-chotomy of extremes that I am very uncomfortable with.
So far, 450 Palestinians have been killed with more than 2000 injured. Over the past 7 years, approximately 15 Israelis have been killed compared to 5000 Palestinians. The Zionists are fighting an army of mostly untrained militants with homemade bombs that you and I could make in our garages while Israel attacks civilians with Apache helicopters and F-16 bombers purchased with the $15 million we give them per day (not a typo). All this while they violate 66 UN resolutions and ignore IAEA regulations. They claim these attacks are retaliatory actions for the breaking of the cease-fire agreement chartered in June 2008, but do not concur that they did not completely obey any of the cease-fire regulations from the day of its founding. In fact, the most intense violation of the cease-fire occurred on November 4th 2008, a day when all international eyes were cast on the American Presidential election, Israeli forces assassinated 6 members of Hamas.
The first stipulation of the cease-fire (Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza) was completely ignored. Inhabitants of Gaza were forced to eat grass, denied vital medications, denied fuel, and most importantly denied food. UNRWA convoys as well as supplies sent to Gaza by the European Union were all denied entry. Did the United States protest? No! In September 2007, American academics condemned British calls for the boycotting of Israeli universities but the world remains silent at the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza (another UN violation). In Gaza, you cannot travel across the border in either direction without Israeli permission. I have listened to nauseating accounts from friends who have been beaten by the IDF.
I am trying hard to not come off vitriolic but something needs to be done. If we go as far back as Abraham we find that the region we know as Israel is the land of the Canaanites thus rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. On the other hand, genetic analyses are mostly null and void in this context when you consider any Palestinian whose great-great-grandmother was raped by a Crusader could be genetically (Jewish) it deflates the idea. In the historical context, there is much to be said of the responsibilities of the former occupying imperial power, Great Britain.
In 1917, Britain established the Balfour declaration after much prodding from a Zionist organization in Britain who called for the creation of a Jewish state after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. When Britain received the mandate over Palestine, they created Jordan and planned to split the remaining territories between the Jews and the Arabs. When Palestinians got word of this they rejected any part of the mandate including Zionist representation - a move that has been historically considered to be proof of Palestinian anti-Semitism when it was only a defensive maneuver. At this point, Jewish immigration already begun, and the Arabs responded by rioting. It is important to note both Jews and Arabs quietly coexisted in Palestine before the migration. The British, to counteract Arab rioting, passed the "Passfield White Paper" which allowed for no more than 15,000 Jews to migrate to Palestine every year for five years. In the brief period of migration that occurred before the passing of the "Passfield White Paper", there was considerable upsetting to the economic stability in Palestine. Immigrants formed numerous collectives and adapted many Judo-centric policies including Jews-only hiring, etc. After WWII and the Holocaust, the "White Paper" was still in effect, but former migrants in Palestine organized mass illegal immigration campaigns to bring displaced Jews in Europe to Palestine. Though the "White Paper" prevented millions from coming into Palestine, under its rule hundreds of thousands still entered.
In 1945, the US and the UN, concerned for the remaining survivors of the Holocaust, (both the US and Britain refused to open their country to Jewish immigrants at this time) put considerable pressure on Great Britain to open Palestine for immigration. They finally conceded and the resulting anger led to the formation of the UN partition plan. At that time in Palestine, there were 1.2 million Arabs versus 600,000 Jews with only 8% of the land being owned by the Jewish. In the face of this clear population disparity, the UN partition plan gave Israel approximately 50% of the land.
Despite all of the transgressions branded in this history, let us consider that an Israeli who is born an Israeli cannot help that fact and cannot help that injustices may have been committed for him or her to be born an Israeli; by the same token a Palestinian is born into his or her world without choice. We become what we are by what we do, not by who our distant ancestors were. And it is precisely in this respect that today's Israel sins grievously, regardless of fantastical divine rights granted by scribes or the historical political rights granted by guilt-ridden European politicians. For it is in the simple lack of human compassion, the adamant refusal to accept the tragic historical circumstance of the people alongside whom destiny has placed the Jews of Israel (which mirrors their own prior and current tragedy), the cynical manipulation of Palestinian acts of despair to "justify" the systematic destruction of a people, their land, their history, their culture, their very ability to live lives that we could call acceptably human, that the political class of Israel, and their supporters and enablers at home and abroad, in the U.S., Europe, the Arab lands, and anywhere else, deserve the harshest reprobation that we in our unbowed consciences reserve for them. May history prove more clement to them than they have been to their victims.
Man accused of selling daughter for cash, beer
Police say father tried to get 14-year-old back after plan fell apart
GREENFIELD, Calif. - Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat. Police said they only learned of the deal after the 36-year-old man went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised. The man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking. Officers also arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with the man, but she's under California's legal age of consent and can't legally marry.
Police say arranged marriages involving underage girls have become a problem in this small Central Coast farming community.
GREENFIELD, Calif. - Police have arrested a Greenfield man for allegedly arranging to sell his 14-year-old daughter into marriage in exchange for $16,000, 100 cases of beer and several cases of meat. Police said they only learned of the deal after the 36-year-old man went to them to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made as promised. The man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of human trafficking. Officers also arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of statutory rape. Investigators believe the girl went willingly with the man, but she's under California's legal age of consent and can't legally marry.
Police say arranged marriages involving underage girls have become a problem in this small Central Coast farming community.
1.12.2009
Franken asks for certificate to take seat
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Democrat Al Franken is asking the Minnesota governor and secretary of state to issue an election certificate that would let him take office in the Senate. In letters the campaign sent Monday, Franken's lawyers argue that a seven-day waiting period has passed and he should get the signed certificate. State law requires the waiting period after the election is finalized; the election was finalized on Jan. 5, with Franken leading Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes after a statewide recount. But Coleman is suing over the result. Minnesota law appears to prevent the issuance of a certificate until that case is resolved. Franken attorney Marc Elias says the campaign believes federal law entitles him to the certificate before the Coleman lawsuit is settled.
There was no word from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The critical task of picking a three-judge panel to hear the lawsuit won't be made by the Supreme Court's chief justice, Eric Magnuson, according to a court spokesman. Magnuson is delegating the decision to Justice Alan Page, who has the most seniority. Magnuson didn't give a reason for his recusal, but he served on the state board that determined Franken got more votes than Coleman. Page has been on the court since his 1992 election in a nonpartisan race. He has been mentioned before as a possible Democratic candidate for political office. A trial is supposed to commence within three weeks of the case being filed.
In going to court, Coleman has three big challenges: raising money to pay escalating legal bills, proving the election was flawed and managing the public's desire to have the race over. "They definitely have an uphill fight on their hands," said Guy-Uriel Charles, a professor of election and constitutional law at the University of Minnesota. "Their legal theory will have to overcome a burden of proof, and then they have to find enough votes to overcome Franken's lead." That could prove difficult, since any bloc of new votes would almost surely include some for Franken. A lawsuit gives both sides options they lacked during the recount, such as accessing voter rolls, inspecting machines and introducing testimony from election workers.
Coleman's filing includes some of the points his lawyers have been making for weeks. It centers mainly around claims that hundreds of rejected absentee ballots from Republican-leaning areas should have been part of the recount, that some ballots in Democratic territory were counted twice and that election officials were wrong to use machine tallies for a Minneapolis precinct where ballots went missing.
But there are new angles, too.
The lawsuit alleges that the Canvassing Board made mistakes when determining voter intent on challenged ballots, that ineligible voters cast ballots and that some absentee ballots were erroneously opened early, raising chain-of-custody concerns.
Coleman was asked at his news conference if he was certain he'd win his legal challenge. "I can't say I'm 100 percent confident," he said. "I don't know what the outcome will be. It was a lot closer than I thought it would be."
There was no word from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Democratic Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. The critical task of picking a three-judge panel to hear the lawsuit won't be made by the Supreme Court's chief justice, Eric Magnuson, according to a court spokesman. Magnuson is delegating the decision to Justice Alan Page, who has the most seniority. Magnuson didn't give a reason for his recusal, but he served on the state board that determined Franken got more votes than Coleman. Page has been on the court since his 1992 election in a nonpartisan race. He has been mentioned before as a possible Democratic candidate for political office. A trial is supposed to commence within three weeks of the case being filed.
In going to court, Coleman has three big challenges: raising money to pay escalating legal bills, proving the election was flawed and managing the public's desire to have the race over. "They definitely have an uphill fight on their hands," said Guy-Uriel Charles, a professor of election and constitutional law at the University of Minnesota. "Their legal theory will have to overcome a burden of proof, and then they have to find enough votes to overcome Franken's lead." That could prove difficult, since any bloc of new votes would almost surely include some for Franken. A lawsuit gives both sides options they lacked during the recount, such as accessing voter rolls, inspecting machines and introducing testimony from election workers.
Coleman's filing includes some of the points his lawyers have been making for weeks. It centers mainly around claims that hundreds of rejected absentee ballots from Republican-leaning areas should have been part of the recount, that some ballots in Democratic territory were counted twice and that election officials were wrong to use machine tallies for a Minneapolis precinct where ballots went missing.
But there are new angles, too.
The lawsuit alleges that the Canvassing Board made mistakes when determining voter intent on challenged ballots, that ineligible voters cast ballots and that some absentee ballots were erroneously opened early, raising chain-of-custody concerns.
Coleman was asked at his news conference if he was certain he'd win his legal challenge. "I can't say I'm 100 percent confident," he said. "I don't know what the outcome will be. It was a lot closer than I thought it would be."
1.11.2009
A Man Called Sam
Hello Everyone,
This episode is "A Man Called Sam" - a tribute to an old friend of mine, Sam Taylor Jr., who, sadly for the survivng members of the human race, passed away a few days ago.
Enjoy his music.
Here's the link: http://exileguy.mypodcast.com/index.html
featuring music & spoken word from:
Sam Taylor Jr. - "The Stinger"
Sam Taylor Jr. - "Dark End Of The Street"
Sam Taylor Jr. - "Next In Line"
Soulfulwac - "Beats me Senses"
Sam Taylor Jr. - "Shine On Me"
Sam Taylor Jr. - "Steppin On My Gig"
Sam Taylor Jr. - "Hey Girl" ____________________________________________________
For unique & cool gifts and things from exile, check out the Radio Free Exile Shoppe, swag for the masses.
Everyone is invited to submit to Radio Free Exile. I'm always on the lookout for interesting and cutting edge Indie Music, Spoken Word, and Commentary. What have you got to lose?
To submit your material for consideration, go to:
https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=fskCM6gQzqdvYFD2PWa4SkGM
and use the widget there to upload your mp3 files directly to me.
exileguy @ myspace
exileguy's blog
exileguy @ youtube
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." - The United States Constitution ©1791. All Rights Reserved ____________________________________________________
George gets amnesty
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A giant lobster named George escaped a dinner-table fate and was released Saturday into the Atlantic Ocean after a New York seafood restaurant granted him his freedom, according to a statement from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
George the lobster was a "sort of mascot" for City Crab and Seafood in New York.
The lobster, which PETA said was 140 years old and weighed 20 pounds, had been confined to a tank at City Crab and Seafood restaurant in Manhattan when two customers alerted the animal group.
The PETA statement did not say how the extraordinary age estimate was determined, but restaurant manager Keith Valenti told CNN that lobsters can grow a pound every seven to 10 years, and he put George's weight at 18 to 20 pounds.
"I've been here for 12 years, and that's the biggest lobster I've ever seen," Valenti said.
He said the lobster had been "sitting in the restaurant's tank and acting as a sort of mascot," but when PETA got involved and requested the release, it "seemed like the right thing to do."
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement, "We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace.
"We hope that their kind gesture serves as an example that these intriguing animals don't deserve to be confined to tiny tanks or boiled alive."
Shedding the tight confines of his old restaurant display tank, George was driven to Maine by PETA members and was returned to his natural habitat on the ocean floor Saturday, the organization said.
George the lobster was a "sort of mascot" for City Crab and Seafood in New York.
The lobster, which PETA said was 140 years old and weighed 20 pounds, had been confined to a tank at City Crab and Seafood restaurant in Manhattan when two customers alerted the animal group.
The PETA statement did not say how the extraordinary age estimate was determined, but restaurant manager Keith Valenti told CNN that lobsters can grow a pound every seven to 10 years, and he put George's weight at 18 to 20 pounds.
"I've been here for 12 years, and that's the biggest lobster I've ever seen," Valenti said.
He said the lobster had been "sitting in the restaurant's tank and acting as a sort of mascot," but when PETA got involved and requested the release, it "seemed like the right thing to do."
PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement, "We applaud the folks at City Crab and Seafood for their compassionate decision to allow this noble old-timer to live out his days in freedom and peace.
"We hope that their kind gesture serves as an example that these intriguing animals don't deserve to be confined to tiny tanks or boiled alive."
Shedding the tight confines of his old restaurant display tank, George was driven to Maine by PETA members and was returned to his natural habitat on the ocean floor Saturday, the organization said.
1.10.2009
1.09.2009
1.07.2009
1.06.2009
Kitt Me Goodbye
Hi All,
It's a new year here in exile, and here's the first podcast of 2009. "Kitt Me Goodbye"
Here's the link: http://exileguy.mypodcast.com/index.html
featuring music & spoken word from:
Matthew Mars - "The Radio"
Gemini - "What are you fighting for?"
Stex Jebba - "Everything Is Left"
Roger Flensing - "Speaks of Hair"
Pat Condell - "Godless and Free"
Jack Kerouac - reads from "On The Road"
Eartha Kitt - "Champagne Taste"
____________________________________________________
For unique & cool gifts and things from exile, check out the Radio Free Exile Shoppe, swag for the masses.
Everyone is invited to submit to Radio Free Exile. I'm always on the lookout for interesting and cutting edge Indie Music, Spoken Word, and Commentary. What have you got to lose?
To submit your material for consideration, go to:
https://www.sendthisfile.com/f.jsp?id=fskCM6gQzqdvYFD2PWa4SkGM
and use the widget there to upload your mp3 files directly to me.
exileguy @ myspace
exileguy's blog
exileguy @ youtube
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
- The United States Constitution ©1791. All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________________
The truth about Gaza
The truth about Gaza
By Adam Sheets
It is crucial that one has her/his facts straight about Israel's war on Gaza. What events brought about this dreadful situation? What needs to be done to make it stop? These questions will be answered in the content of this article, using concrete facts from a variety of news sources.
Let's first investigate the recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The cease-fire began in June 2008. The terms were as follows:
1. Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza.
2. Israel would halt all military incursions into Gaza.
3. Hamas would halt all rocket attacks into Israel.
From the outset of the cease-fire, Israel did little to ease its military blockade. As a result, Gazans continued to suffer from a lack of food, fuel, financial aid, electricity, clean water, medical supplies, and more. This has been, inarguably, an attack on innocent Palestinian civilians.
* Gaza faces a humanitarian "catastrophe" if Israel continues to prevent aid reaching the territory by blocking crossing points, the head of the main UN aid agency for the Palestinians said on Friday ... Israel had restricted goods into Gaza despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory ... Israel also held up deliveries of European Union-funded fuel for the power plant, which generates about a third of the electricity consumed by Gazans... Ailments associated with insufficient food were surfacing among the impoverished coastal strip's 1.5 million population, including growing malnutrition.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 21, 2008 [1]
* A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has told the BBC she was taken aback by the "terrible" conditions in Gaza on a recent visit. Mrs Robinson said it was "almost unbelievable" that the world did not care about what she called "a shocking violation of so many human rights" ... Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control there in 2007 ... "Their whole civilisation has been destroyed, I'm not exaggerating," said Mrs Robinson ...Israel says the blockade, under which it has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid into Gaza, is needed to isolate the militant group and stop it and other militants from firing rockets into Israel. Israel came to a truce with Palestinian groups in June this year, but Mrs Robinson said this had had little effect on people's lives and "just brought a bitter taste in the mouth".
--BBC News, Nov. 4, 2008 [2]
* The UN in the Gaza Strip says it will run out of food aid in two days unle Israel's blockade - which it describes as "shameful and unacceptable" - eases. The UN refugee agency UNWRA, which distributes food to half of Gaza's 1.5m people, called the blockade "a physical as well as a mental punishment". Israel is now allowing a limited amount of fuel acro the border, but it is still blocking food deliveries ... In a statement, UNWRA spokesman Christopher Gunne said food distribution operations would end on Thursday unle Israeli authorities allowed deliveries of wheat, luncheon meat, powdered milk and cooking oil without delay. "This is both a physical as well as a mental punishment of the population - of mothers and parents trying to feed their children - who are being forced to live hand to mouth," he said ... "It is a further illustration of the barbarity of this inhuman blockade." ... "It is also shameful and unacceptable that the largest humanitarian actor in Gaza is being forced into yet another cycle of crisis management," Mr Gunne added.
--BBC News, Nov. 11, 2008 [3]
* International aid agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have said virtually no medical supplies were reaching Gaza. --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 9, 2008 [14]
* The UN has no more food to distribute in the Gaza Strip, the head of relief efforts in the area has warned. John Ging said handouts for 750,000 Gazans would have to be suspended until Saturday at the earliest, and called Gaza's economic situation "a disaster". Israel earlier denied entry to a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies... The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) distributes emergency aid to about half of Gaza's 1.5m population. "We have run out [of food aid] this evening," said Mr Ging, UNRWA's senior official in Gaza. "Unle the crossing points open... we won't be able to get that food into Gaza," he told Reuters news agency ... Also on Thursday, Israel refused permission for a group of senior European diplomats to visit the coastal enclave. It has also prevented journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the territory.
--BBC News, Nov. 13, 2008 [4]
* Since June 2007, Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. Many there hoped that policy would change, five months ago, when Hamas and Israel agreed to a truce. But while there were some increases in the amount of aid allowed in, Israel's strict restrictions on the movement of goods and people into and out of Gaza largely remained... Serious fuel shortages have led to widespread power cuts acro Gaza City. That, in turn, has caused problems in pumping water to homes, and sewage to treatment plants. Israel is preventing many aid workers, and all journalists from entering Gaza too ... "I never thought we would see days like this," says Monther Shublak, head of Gaza's water authority. "The water system was severely stretched even before this crisis, but now, things are much worse. For the last four days, around 40% of people in Gaza City have had no acce to running water in their homes at all." ... "But we are putting all of our resources into sewage pumping. The health consequences of that system totally failing are too worrying to think about, but it could happen unle things change."
--BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [5]
* Israel has refused to allow cash to enter Gaza in recent weeks to ratchet up pressure on the ruling Hamas militant group. With the supply of currency dwindling, banks have limited withdrawals over the past two weeks, and some have posted signs telling customers they cannot take out any more money ... The United Nations halted cash handouts to 98,000 of Gaza's poorest residents last week, and economists and bank officials warn that tens of thousands of civil servants won't be able to cash their paychecks next month ... "No society can operate without money, but that's the situation we are reaching in Gaza," said Gaza economist Omar Shaban ... Israel and Egypt have restricted movement through Gaza's border crossings since the Islamic militants of Hamas violently seized control of the coastal territory in June 2007. Since then, closures have been eased or tightened, depending on the security situation. But even in quiet times, when Gaza militants refrained from firing rockets at Israeli border towns, only limited shipments of food, medicine and commercial goods were allowed in... Shlomo Dror, an Israel Defense Ministry spokesman, questioned the seriousne of the currency shortage. "We are used to the Palestinians inventing things and we are looking into their claim," he said.
--Washington Post, Nov. 24, 2008 [6]
Despite the intense blockade against Gazan civilians, the cease-fire held until November 4, 2008. On that date, the Israeli military made an incursion into Gaza and killed six Palestinians. The Israeli government sought to justify these actions, saying that they suspected these Palestinians of plotting to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Palestinian fighters responded to the attack by launching rockets into Israel. Thus began the unraveling of the cease-fire.
* At least six Hamas militants have been killed after Israel's first incursion into the Gaza Strip since June's truce. Israel said its troops had uncovered a tunnel along central Gaza's frontier which had been dug by militants intending to abduct Israeli soldiers. Clashes ensued when troops were sent to thwart the threat, Israel said. One militant died, Palestinian reports say. A subsequent Israeli air strike on Hamas positions in southern Gaza killed at least five fighters, medics said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the air strike targeted militants who had fired mortars at Israeli forces... Tuesday evening's fighting broke out after Israeli tanks and a bulldozer moved 250m into the central part of the coastal enclave, backed by military aircraft, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Ramallah. Residents of central Gaza's el-Bureij refugee camp said a missile fired from an unmanned Israeli drone flying over the area injured another three Hamas gunmen. A truce between the two sides had held since it was declared on 19 June. Israel said the raid was not a violation of the ceasefire, but rather a legitimate step to remove an immediate threat.
--BBC News, Nov. 5, 2008 [7]
* An Israel Air Force air strike in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least five militants and wounded several others on Tuesday, Palestinians said. Earlier, Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Hamas gunman and wounded two others on Tuesday in the first armed clash in the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire was declared in the territory in June, Palestinian medics said ... An Egypt-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Gaza Strip was signed earlier this year, and went into effect on June 19. The IDF argued that the raid did not constitute a violation of the cease fire, but instead was a legitimate step to remove an immediate threat to Israel from Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 5, 2008 [8]
* Two weeks ago, an already fragile humanitarian situation resulting from the mounting effects of months of shortages, saw a dramatic downturn. The fighting resumed, with an Israeli army incursion into Gaza and a retaliatory barrage of militant rocket fire.
--BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [5]
As the cease-fire began to crumble, the violence from both sides intensified. Efforts to redeem the cease-fire ultimately failed.
* Palestinian armed groups in Gaza remain committed to a truce with Israel if Jerusalem reciprocates, Hamas's Gaza leader said on Friday, even as militants launched more attacks from the coastal territory ... "I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," said Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's most senior representative in Gaza. --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 21, 2008 [9]
* Hamas announced on Sunday that militant groups in Gaza have agreed to cease cross-border attacks if Israel opens crossings into the coastal territory, Ma'an news reported.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 24, 2008 [10]
* After expressing contradictory positions on Sunday, Hamas' leadership on Monday adopted a united stance: The cease-fire with Israel, which expires this Friday, will not be extended ... Hamas' spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Ayman Taha, said the movement had concluded that there was no point in extending the truce "as long as Israel isn't abiding by its terms" - though he added that talks on continuing the cease-fire were still taking place. Specifically, Taha said, Israel was supposed to have expanded the truce to the West Bank - something Hamas demanded but Israel in fact never promised - and opened the Gaza border crossings, and "this hasn't happened."
--Haaretz Israel News, Dec. 16, 2008 [11]
Following the end of the cease-fire, Israel moved closer to an invasion of the territory. The Israeli government claimed that this was the only remaining option to eliminate rocket attacks from Gaza. However, as cited in the sources above, this was clearly not the case. Israel had failed to abide by the terms of the cease-fire. For the overwhelming majority of the six-month truce, Israel had refused to ease its military blockade of Gaza to any significant degree. In addition, it was the initial violator of the cease-fire when it sent tanks and aircraft into Gaza and killed six Palestinians on November 4, 2008. In fact, there is evidence that Israel was planning to strike Gaza even while the cease-fire was still in effect.
* Barak told the assembled lawmakers that the defense establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation.
--Haaretz Israel News, Dec. 29, 2008 [16]
In the interest of peace, Hamas, and especially Fatah, have firmly established that they are willing to participate in negotiations that are based on internationally recognized borders and rights.
* On June 6, 2006, Haniyeh met Dr. Jerome Segal of the University of Maryland in the Gaza Strip ... At the end of the meeting, Haniyeh dictated a short message he asked Segal to transmit to President Bush ... In the second paragraph, Haniyeh laid out the political platform he maintains to this day. "We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don't mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and offering a truce for many years," he wrote ... Haniyeh called on Bush to launch a dialogue with the Hamas government. "We are not warmongers, we are peace makers and we call on the American government to have direct negotiations with the elected government," he wrote ... In his own letter, Segal emphasized that a state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas' de facto recognition of Israel. He noted that in a separate meeting, Youssuf suggested that the Palestinian Authority and Israel might exchange ambassadors during that truce period. This was not the only covert message from Hamas to senior Bush administration officials. However, Washington did not reply to these messages and maintained its boycott of the Hamas government.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 14, 2008 [12]
* The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Saturday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel within the 1967 borders ... Haniyeh told his guests Israel rejected his initiative ... He said the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians' national rights... In response to a question about the international community's impression that there are two Palestinian states, Haniyeh said: "We don't have a state, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank. Gaza is under siege and the West Bank is occupied. What we have in the Gaza Strip is not a state, but rather a regime of an elected government. A Palestinian state will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967." ... "Our conflict is not with the Jews, our problem is with the occupation," Haniyeh said.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 9, 2008 [14]
* The Palestinian Authority has placed a full-page advert in Israel's Hebrew newspapers to promote an Arab peace plan first proposed in 2002. The Saudi-backed initiative offers Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an end to Israel's occupation of land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It also proposes what it calls a just solution for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli government has noted "positive aspects" in the plan but has not formally accepted it ... Peace Now, and Israeli campaign group, welcomed the publication of the adverts. "On behalf of a majority of Israeli citizens who support peace with the Palestinian people on the basis of a two state solution - we embrace the Arab Peace Initiative and urge both governments to endorse it and negotiate the final status agreement in its spirit," a statement from the group said ... The text reads: "Fifty-seven Arab and Muslim countries will establish diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for a full peace accord and the end of the occupation."
--BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [13]
* U.S. President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed himself "very impressed" with the Arab League's peace plan when he discussed it with President Shimon Peres during a brief visit to Israel four months ago, Peres said Tuesday ... The plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2002 and later adopted by the Arab League, states that Israel would receive full relations with the entire Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from all the territory it captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem, plus a solution to the refugee problem. The Bush Administration has said it views the plan positively, but its own road map peace plan and the understandings reached at last year's Annapolis summit have served as the basis of its diplomatic program.
--Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 19, 2008 [15]
Since Israel began its strike on Gaza, 4 Israelis and 391 Palestinians have been killed [18]. The White House said that Israel will cease its attack when Hamas has agreed to a truce. Hamas said they are open to any cease-fire propositions. A cease-fire has been proposed, but Israel rejected this offer.
* "In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
--BBC News, Dec. 29, 2008 [17]
* Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected international calls for a 48-hour truce in the Gaza Strip to allow in more humanitarian aid... The 48-hour ceasefire plan to allow more aid into Gaza, was proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told AFP news agency that his group was open to any ceasefire propositions as long as they meant an end to the air strikes and a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
--BBC News, Dec. 31, 2008 [18]
The international community must continue to demand that a cease-fire be implemented. In order to be successful, any agreement must call for 1) an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza, 2) an end to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and 3) an end to all rocket attacks into Israel.
References:
[1] "UNRWA chief: Gaza on brink of humanitarian catastrophe." Haaretz Israel News 21 Nov. 2008. .
[2] "Gaza residents 'terribly trapped'." BBC News 4 Nov. 2008. .
[3] "UN warns over Gaza food blockade." BBC News 11 Nov. 2008. .
[4] "UN 'has run out of Gaza food aid." BBC News 13 Nov. 2008. .
[5] "Gazans despair over blockade." BBC News 20 Nov. 2008. .
[6] "Gazans using tattered notes because of cash crunch." Washington Post 24 Nov. 2008. .
[7] "Palestinians die in Gaza clashes." BBC News 5 Nov. 2008. .
[8] "Hamas: Six Palestinians killed in first IDF raid since Gaza truce." Haaretz Israel News 5 Nov. 2008. .
[9] "Haniyeh: If Israel abides by truce, so will Palestinian groups." Haaretz Israel News 21 Nov. 2008. .
[10] "Report: Gaza militants agree to cease rocket fire if Israel opens crossings." Haaretz Israel News 24 Nov. 2008. .
[11] "Agreement in Hamas: Cease-fire to end Friday." Haaretz Israel News 16 Dec. 2008. .
[12] "Haniyeh recognized Israel in 2006 letter to President Bush." Haaretz Israel News 14 Nov. 2008. .
[13] "Arab plan explained in Hebrew ads." BBC News 20 Nov. 2008. .
[14] "Haniyeh: Hamas would accept state under 1967 borders." Haaretz Israel News 9 Nov. 2008. .
[15] "Peres: Obama 'very impressed' by Arab League peace plan." Haaretz Israel News 19 Nov. 2008. .
[16] "Barak: We'll use every resource to stop 'criminal' rocket fire from Gaza." Haaretz Israel News 29 Dec. 2008. .
[17] "Israel vows war on Hamas in Gaza." BBC News 29 Dec. 2008. .
[18] "Israel rejects Gaza truce calls." BBC News 31 Dec. 2008.
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