Category Archives: Government

Cops scour the land for angels of death

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Photo: CC/tanya petrova

Photo: CC/tanya petrova

The “death with dignity” crowd in the US is in a state over law enforcement’s efforts to quash would-be Jack Kervorkians:

The internet is being kept under close watch by law enforcement to find more victims to back up their dubious prosecutions in Georgia and Arizona. Thus this is a time to be extra cautious and discreet. At trial, the defendants will be rigorously defended.

This harassment is most likely a right-wing backlash to our movement’s law reform successes in Oregon, Washington and Montana. We shall proceed.

via Law enforcement searching America for ‘assisted suicide’ cases | Assisted-Suicide Blog.

Birth of a fetish: Boston's Girls 4 Ganja

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One of the Girls 4 Ganja. Photo: Scott Gacek

One of the Girls 4 Ganja. Photo: Scott Gacek

Scott Gacek has a stoner’s dream job: Taking pictures of attractive young women, and getting blazed with them on New England’s beaches, and in other interesting spots around Boston.

Gacek started his website to raise money for MassCann and others fighting to legalize pot in Massachusetts.

But Gacek, a professional photographer who’s shot for virtually every major Boston news outlet, is just not doing Girls 4 Ganja for the money–at least not for himself.

Gacek wants folks to know that the “girl next door” might just be a toker, too:

New friends. Photo: Scott Gacek

New additions to the G4G lineup. Photo: Scott Gacek

“They are courageous, willing to come out of the “cannabis closet” and tell the world “I SMOKE MARIJUANA”. And hell, they look great doing it.

The models featured on Girls4Ganja come from all walks of life. Some are students, some are working professionals. Like most marijuana smokers, they are contributing members of society, who are viewed as “criminals” only because of the plant they choose to smoke

via Girls 4 Ganja :: Real Girls. Real Ganja..

Gacek is also working on a 2010 G4G calender, which will feature a mix of his own photos, and self-submissions.

CDC dumps $1.6 million into virtual worlds

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Photo: CC/Bryan Fenstermacher

In her head, she's already there. Photo: CC/Bryan Fenstermacher

[That's a lot of Lindens]

I can’t even ride a bicycle in Second Life without my avatar getting stuck in motion, before peddling madly into the ocean. (I know, clear my cache.)

But it is possible that less rickety virtual worlds will be useful places in which to coordinate a response to some calamity.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health are conducting a study to determine if collaborative virtual environments improve public health preparedness and response planning.

The study is funded by a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The project will use Second Life, a Web-based virtual world in which users move and interact in simulated 3-D spaces, to train public health workers in emergency preparedness.

via UIC evaluates ‘virtual world’ training for public health emergencies.

College admins hope to curtail toking on 4/20… at 4:20…

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420 at UC Santa Cruz, in 2007. Photo: CC/josh

Good times. 420 at UC Santa Cruz, in 2007. Photo: CC/josh

I think the authorities, through their lack of enforcement of whatever marijuana laws are left on the books, are pushing mass behavior toward increased cannabis use.

From the viewpoints of behavior modification and population control, pot’s got a lot going for it: The drug can produce passivity and suggestibility, and reduce aggression, and cause hormonal changes that impact reproductive health.

As for UCSC’s letter to mom and dad, I say, “Good luck with all that…”

According to a recently-sent e-mail from Felicia McGinty, vice-chancellor of student affairs, delivered to inboxes of UC Santa Cruz freshman parents, “I encourage you to talk with your student about his or her plans for 4/20. Ask direct questions about the choices they make and express your expectations regarding marijuana, alcohol or other drug use. Although students may not initiate discussion on this topic, your opinions and expectations can influence their behavior.”

via UC Santa Cruz contacts parents in attempt to curb infamous pot smoking festival – San Jose Mercury News.

Iraqi militias target gays in new pogrom

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I fear this is only the beginning for gays, not only in Baghdad, but globally, as desperately poor slobs everywhere start looking hard for scapegoats. (It’s not going too well for Jews either, if some of what I hear over the patriot radio airwaves are any indication.

And again, as in Pakistan and Afghanistan, we see that the U.S. government’s purported post 9/11 goal of creating freedom around the world was mere propaganda.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Two gay men were killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago.

via Gays killed in Baghdad as clerics urge clampdown | International | Reuters.

Feds tighten focus on regional climates

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Why us? Photo: CC/Oscar Mota

Why us? Photo: CC/Oscar Mota

The U.S. Department of Energy is looking for some out-of-the-box thinking on weather modeling, particularly at the local level.

It may be the first step by the government to effect regional  climactic changes.

Note the language (my emphasis, below) in this grant announcement. “High risk, high pay-off” is what Darpa is typically looking for, for technologies it hopes to rush onto the battlefield.

High risk, high pay-off research ideas that explore innovative new directions are encouraged; they should clearly describe how the proposed ideas have the potential to lead to breakthroughs in modeling of climate at ultra-high spatial resolutions.

via Grants.gov – Find Grant Opportunities – Opportunity Synopsis.

Pace quickens toward a global currency

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Image: Single Global Currency Association

Image: Single Global Currency Association

The idea’s been kicking around for many years: A currency, to replace the dollar, the pound, and the rest, to unite the world.

But world leaders have repeatedly warned that a single currency will effectively (and not just symbolically) eradicate the sovereignty of all nations.

Here’s a bit from a 2004 Christian Science Monitor report:

Goodbye, dollar. So long, euro and yen. Hello, dey!

Dey? It’s a proposed combination of the three currencies, which could eventually form the basis of a global currency.

A worldwide money won’t emerge any day soon. Still, it’s a longtime dream of some economists, who point out several advantages to simplifying the jumble of nearly 190 currencies.

via Are you ready for a global currency? – MSN Money.

The Dutch government in 2003 backed another effort, by disciples of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, to institute a global currency, called the Raam.

Those Nazi bastards, again?

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CC/Stephen Punter

The Archbishop of Canterbury. Photo: CC/Stephen Punter

The head  of the Anglican church warns many economies are going the way of Nazi Germany.

(Hitler boasted that his form of socialism was superior to that of the Soviets.)

Cue the “shocked” and “disappointed” pols, who will decry the mention of the Nazis in the same breath as the mega-rich.

LONDON (AFP) — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warned Monday that governments should not pursue dogmatic solutions to the financial crisis at the risk of the most vulnerable, saying that is what the Nazis did.

via AFP: Archbishop warns of dangers of economic dogma.

Whacked: Karl Rove's IT guy

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The timing stinks.

WNCT

Photo: WNCT

Karl Rove’s go-to guy for jury-rigging voting machines and squirreling away emails (to servers unknown) was about to spill the beans.

But the guy, Michael Connell, died in a plane crash. Another “accident.”

Michael Connell, the Bush IT expert who has been directly implicated in the rigging of George Bush’s 2000 and 2004 elections, was killed last night when his single engine plane crashed three miles short of the Akron airport. Velvet Revolution (“VR”), a non-profit that has been investigating Mr. Connell’s activities for the past two years, can now reveal that a person close to Mr. Connell has recently been discussing with a VR investigator how to tell all about his work for George Bush. Mr. Connell told a close associate that he was afraid that the George Bush and Dick Cheney would “throw [him] under the bus.”

via VELVETREVOLUTION.US :.