The Scene

981 views

I had the idea to come on here and tell you about the idiocy I saw tonight, then I felt like getting on my soapbox about how the Northern Europeans don’t get enough credit. Either way, both are from my point of view, and what makes that worth anything?  Intelligence? What metric shall we use for that? IQ test? Didn’t George W Bush have like a 130 and degrees from Harvard and Yale?  I don’t know, I guess we can chalk that one up to what his last name is?

At the same time, isn’t being a graduate from either of those universities supposed to be something highly coveted? Graduating from either is like a free ticket to being, at least, hired by Goldman? I’m not bitching here, I’m just trying to figure out how this stupid world works. So, even if I’m a total dumb ass with a certain last name I can somehow become a certified genius? I just wish someone could show me how the stupid cells went through a change in the  nucleotide sequence to become smart cells.

I know, I sound like James Joyce had a night with Hunter Thompson. Perhaps they are with me now, although, Joyce was kind of a whiny bitch. Oh, take your “he’s an artist” shit elsewhere. (As I’m writing this, almost every other word in my head is the “F bomb.”) Who cares about artists? What will they provide if the shit hits the fan tomorrow? Way less than an athlete that is used to pushing their body to the limits will. Don’t call me a god damned “Meat head,” I play three instruments well enough to play in a band, plus, I paint, I draw, and I do “stand up” specializing in impersonations.

These are all hobbies. Do they provide laughs and entertainment, yes, do they bring dinner home, no. I was even in Drama class in high school  straight acting in plays and musicals. That’s all well and good to be talented with that in a “civilized” society, but we are all just advanced mammals. Sometimes I don’t think we’re all that advanced. I could go on and on about how I think most of us need to be at the bottom of the food chain, but I don’t want Jessie Jackson and Piers Morgan hunting me with phallic shaped missile armed drones.

I get sick and tired of hearing about how great the Spanish and Italians were for sailing and finding the ‘New World.” The Vikings did it 500 years before assholes, when they discovered AND settled Newfoundland. The Greeks had sailing ships 1000 years before they were known to show up in Scandinavia. The peoples that had inhabited those lands were much like the Eskimos, they walked there during a time of global warming. They had very little exposure to the lands in the Mediterranean, yet they developed ships able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean before the Spanish, Italians, and Portuguese even got rid of row boats. Not only did they have rowers, but they were scared to sail out of the strait of Gibraltar, and then scared to sail more than 5 miles off of the coast.

I could go on and on about this, but again, what does my opinion matter? I’m stating facts, but what does the context matter to you? Back in high school a lot of my friends were from old San Francisco Italian families. My lady is half Italian, so don’t go all crazy on me. These friends were big into the Sopranos and Mario Puzo’s works. I felt left out, until I heard about the Irish Mob and the Scandinavian Mob. They never got caught, they weren’t flashy, they did business and kept to themselves.

There’s a reason why there’s an Italian Deli on every corner, and not a Scottish one. Living in the north sucks. The weather is horrible, the crops are few and far between, and the animals are big and angry. Fortunately, this breeds “Manifest Destiny,” which still can be witnessed to this day. Natural Selection is a bitch, and the world isn’t fair. Tonight I saw some obviously rich, but haggard looking, cougars dancing and acting a fool, whilst I was eating dinner. They think they are so special because they have money from their pudgy little balding husband. I could walk up and break him in half and take his money, but we are civilized.

Civilized just like Greece and Rome right? Should we throw Ancient Egypt in there too, Cleopatra and the Caesar, or whatever? They have done real well. Look at Greece and Italy’s banking system, they’re completely broken, and bringing down Germany’s. They didn’t learn after the fall of Greece  the Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire. All of the above are messes again, with Egypt being a lost cause, banking on the the North to save them, again.

The Vikings had it right; so did the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Picts, etc. It’s all about you and yours, who cares about anyone else? If someone else can’t hack it, why take on their burden? Furthermore, why do we let pathetic little men, who’s ancestors squeezed through the cracks, to run our lives? There’s not one politician I am afraid of one-on-one, and that is a bad thing. We should want our toughest individuals making decisions, not those living pampered lives, without any exposure to real adversity.

But, that’s what we value, good food and art, people who “understand.” Not people who “know,” and can “do.” That’s a grave miscalculation, and we will pay for it. You think I am some crazy idiot sitting behind a monitor and keyboard, but I guarantee I have had to deal with more adversity than you ever have, and have had to make decisions in such. Speaking of which, the ten year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is quickly approaching. This really isn’t even worth my time, because you are going to go back to praising Christopher Columbus and TMZ as soon as you get off here.

Anyways, I didn’t manage to use the “F word” at all, I should get a medal for that. In today’s reward system at least.

Obama’s White House is a Bully Factory

3,895 views

Here’s six claims the White House made about the sequester that are false. It’s as if they came up with a scare campaign, that didn’t work. That’s some classical bullying, scaring people into doing what you want. It’s sad, and shameful. Take a look, and click on the links for detailed explanations.

As POLITICO’s Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown report on the home page, the White House now has pulled back from issuing doomsday scenarios after some of their claims fell flat. Here are six such claims:

“You know, those Capitol janitors will not get as much overtime. I’m sure they think less pay, that they’re taking home, does hurt.” — Gene Sperling, director of the White House economic council, on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“On the issue of the janitors, if you work for an hourly wage and you earn overtime, and you depend on that overtime to make ends meet, it is simply a fact that a reduction in overtime is a reduction in your pay.” — White House spokesman Jay Carney

Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

If the sequester hits, federal prosecutors will have to “let criminals go.” — President Barack Obama

Mostly False from Politifact.com

“Federally assisted programs like Meals on Wheels would be able to serve 4 million fewer meals to seniors.” — White House fact sheet on the impact of sequestration

Two Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips” because of sequestration. — Education Secretary Arne Duncan on “Face the Nation.”

Mostly False from Politifact.com
Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“70,000 young children would be kicked off Head Start” – White House fact sheet on sequester
“Up to 70,000 children would lose access to Head Start and early Head Start services.” – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Two Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

Full article here.

gif-obama

 

A Second Word on Botany

416 views

Let’s completely take the use of Cannabis out of the equation and focus purely on “Industrialized Hemp.” I am going to provide you with facts on on said topic, but if you mention un-pollinated female plants, please see yourself out.

From the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC website here)

HISTORY FACTS

*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.

*George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.

*When US sources of “Manila hemp” (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the “Hemp for Victory” campaign to grow hemp in the US.

*Because of its importance for sails (the word “canvass” is rooted in “cannabis”) and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.

INDUSTRY FACTS

*Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.

*BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable.

*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (it’s sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein.

*Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils.

*Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.

*Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn’t yellow.

*Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp’s long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.

*The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

*Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

*While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.

*Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.

*If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana.

*Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.

*Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun’s UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.

*Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren’t maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic “ditchweed,” strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use.

*A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a “New Billion Dollar Crop.” That’s back when a billion was real money.
*Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.

LEGAL FACTS

*The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as “marijuana.” While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.

*The US State Department must certify each year that a foreign nation is cooperating in the war on drugs. The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp. Those nations are not on this list, because the
State Department can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana.

*Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United States until the 1950s. It was doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp. While Congress expressly expected the continued production of industrial hemp, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as it’s successor the US Drug Enforcement Administration, does to this day.

*Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.

*Canada now again allows the growing of hemp.

ECOLOGY FACTS

* Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely spaced to maximize leaves. Hemp is grown in tightly-spaced rows to maximize stalk and is usually harvested before it goes to seed.

*Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper.

*Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.

*Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.

*Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.

*Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.

*Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.

HEALTH FACTS

*If one tried to ingest enough industrial hemp to get ‘a buzz’, it would be the equivalent of taking 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative.

*At a volume level of 81%, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the “good” fats). It’s quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother’s milk.

*While the original “gruel” was made of hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products.

Prepared by the North American Industrial Hemp Council, October 1997

Any questions? It’s an absolute travesty that we don’t cultivate hemp, to the point where it actually makes me mad. It’s just so logical, can anyone come up with a downside? I know I can’t. This is just another case of big business getting involved to get the government to limit hemp, and thus protect their businesses. The DuPont family was largely behind it, as they knew that it was a much better way to make things like plastics. They helped to get the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 passed (wiki here).

That was 76 YEARS AGO! What is wrong with us? One of the biggest problems we have is relying on foreign oil, why don’t we grow a bunch of hemp and explore our oil resources? I know what you are thinking, that is far to0 logical.The last thing we need to be doing is cutting down trees for paper and building wood. Are we that ridiculous and wasteful? All I know is if industrialized hemp comes back, I will be long any company that gets into it. Maybe we are closer than we think? Read this article here.  An excerpt:

SEATTLE (AP) – An effort is building in Congress to change U.S. marijuana laws, including moves to legalize the industrial production of hemp and establish a hefty federal pot tax.

Now that you know the facts, what do you think?

The Scene

981 views

I had the idea to come on here and tell you about the idiocy I saw tonight, then I felt like getting on my soapbox about how the Northern Europeans don’t get enough credit. Either way, both are from my point of view, and what makes that worth anything?  Intelligence? What metric shall we use for that? IQ test? Didn’t George W Bush have like a 130 and degrees from Harvard and Yale?  I don’t know, I guess we can chalk that one up to what his last name is?

At the same time, isn’t being a graduate from either of those universities supposed to be something highly coveted? Graduating from either is like a free ticket to being, at least, hired by Goldman? I’m not bitching here, I’m just trying to figure out how this stupid world works. So, even if I’m a total dumb ass with a certain last name I can somehow become a certified genius? I just wish someone could show me how the stupid cells went through a change in the  nucleotide sequence to become smart cells.

I know, I sound like James Joyce had a night with Hunter Thompson. Perhaps they are with me now, although, Joyce was kind of a whiny bitch. Oh, take your “he’s an artist” shit elsewhere. (As I’m writing this, almost every other word in my head is the “F bomb.”) Who cares about artists? What will they provide if the shit hits the fan tomorrow? Way less than an athlete that is used to pushing their body to the limits will. Don’t call me a god damned “Meat head,” I play three instruments well enough to play in a band, plus, I paint, I draw, and I do “stand up” specializing in impersonations.

These are all hobbies. Do they provide laughs and entertainment, yes, do they bring dinner home, no. I was even in Drama class in high school  straight acting in plays and musicals. That’s all well and good to be talented with that in a “civilized” society, but we are all just advanced mammals. Sometimes I don’t think we’re all that advanced. I could go on and on about how I think most of us need to be at the bottom of the food chain, but I don’t want Jessie Jackson and Piers Morgan hunting me with phallic shaped missile armed drones.

I get sick and tired of hearing about how great the Spanish and Italians were for sailing and finding the ‘New World.” The Vikings did it 500 years before assholes, when they discovered AND settled Newfoundland. The Greeks had sailing ships 1000 years before they were known to show up in Scandinavia. The peoples that had inhabited those lands were much like the Eskimos, they walked there during a time of global warming. They had very little exposure to the lands in the Mediterranean, yet they developed ships able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean before the Spanish, Italians, and Portuguese even got rid of row boats. Not only did they have rowers, but they were scared to sail out of the strait of Gibraltar, and then scared to sail more than 5 miles off of the coast.

I could go on and on about this, but again, what does my opinion matter? I’m stating facts, but what does the context matter to you? Back in high school a lot of my friends were from old San Francisco Italian families. My lady is half Italian, so don’t go all crazy on me. These friends were big into the Sopranos and Mario Puzo’s works. I felt left out, until I heard about the Irish Mob and the Scandinavian Mob. They never got caught, they weren’t flashy, they did business and kept to themselves.

There’s a reason why there’s an Italian Deli on every corner, and not a Scottish one. Living in the north sucks. The weather is horrible, the crops are few and far between, and the animals are big and angry. Fortunately, this breeds “Manifest Destiny,” which still can be witnessed to this day. Natural Selection is a bitch, and the world isn’t fair. Tonight I saw some obviously rich, but haggard looking, cougars dancing and acting a fool, whilst I was eating dinner. They think they are so special because they have money from their pudgy little balding husband. I could walk up and break him in half and take his money, but we are civilized.

Civilized just like Greece and Rome right? Should we throw Ancient Egypt in there too, Cleopatra and the Caesar, or whatever? They have done real well. Look at Greece and Italy’s banking system, they’re completely broken, and bringing down Germany’s. They didn’t learn after the fall of Greece  the Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire. All of the above are messes again, with Egypt being a lost cause, banking on the the North to save them, again.

The Vikings had it right; so did the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Picts, etc. It’s all about you and yours, who cares about anyone else? If someone else can’t hack it, why take on their burden? Furthermore, why do we let pathetic little men, who’s ancestors squeezed through the cracks, to run our lives? There’s not one politician I am afraid of one-on-one, and that is a bad thing. We should want our toughest individuals making decisions, not those living pampered lives, without any exposure to real adversity.

But, that’s what we value, good food and art, people who “understand.” Not people who “know,” and can “do.” That’s a grave miscalculation, and we will pay for it. You think I am some crazy idiot sitting behind a monitor and keyboard, but I guarantee I have had to deal with more adversity than you ever have, and have had to make decisions in such. Speaking of which, the ten year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is quickly approaching. This really isn’t even worth my time, because you are going to go back to praising Christopher Columbus and TMZ as soon as you get off here.

Anyways, I didn’t manage to use the “F word” at all, I should get a medal for that. In today’s reward system at least.

Obama’s White House is a Bully Factory

3,895 views

Here’s six claims the White House made about the sequester that are false. It’s as if they came up with a scare campaign, that didn’t work. That’s some classical bullying, scaring people into doing what you want. It’s sad, and shameful. Take a look, and click on the links for detailed explanations.

As POLITICO’s Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown report on the home page, the White House now has pulled back from issuing doomsday scenarios after some of their claims fell flat. Here are six such claims:

“You know, those Capitol janitors will not get as much overtime. I’m sure they think less pay, that they’re taking home, does hurt.” — Gene Sperling, director of the White House economic council, on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“On the issue of the janitors, if you work for an hourly wage and you earn overtime, and you depend on that overtime to make ends meet, it is simply a fact that a reduction in overtime is a reduction in your pay.” — White House spokesman Jay Carney

Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

If the sequester hits, federal prosecutors will have to “let criminals go.” — President Barack Obama

Mostly False from Politifact.com

“Federally assisted programs like Meals on Wheels would be able to serve 4 million fewer meals to seniors.” — White House fact sheet on the impact of sequestration

Two Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“There are literally teachers now who are getting pink slips” because of sequestration. — Education Secretary Arne Duncan on “Face the Nation.”

Mostly False from Politifact.com
Four Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

“70,000 young children would be kicked off Head Start” – White House fact sheet on sequester
“Up to 70,000 children would lose access to Head Start and early Head Start services.” – Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius

Two Pinocchios from the Washington Post Fact Checker

Full article here.

gif-obama

 

A Second Word on Botany

416 views

Let’s completely take the use of Cannabis out of the equation and focus purely on “Industrialized Hemp.” I am going to provide you with facts on on said topic, but if you mention un-pollinated female plants, please see yourself out.

From the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC website here)

HISTORY FACTS

*Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food. It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.

*George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both grew hemp. Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on hemp paper.

*When US sources of “Manila hemp” (not true hemp) was cut off by the Japanese in WWII, the US Army and US Department of Agriculture promoted the “Hemp for Victory” campaign to grow hemp in the US.

*Because of its importance for sails (the word “canvass” is rooted in “cannabis”) and rope for ships, hemp was a required crop in the American colonies.

INDUSTRY FACTS

*Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies. He wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.

*BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in automobiles as part of an effort to make cars more recyclable.

*Much of the bird seed sold in the US has hemp seed (it’s sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25% protein.

*Hemp oil once greased machines. Most paints, resins, shellacs, and varnishes used to be made out of linseed (from flax) and hemp oils.

*Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.

*Kimberly Clark (on the Fortune 500) has a mill in France which produces hemp paper preferred for bibles because it lasts a very long time and doesn’t yellow.

*Construction products such as medium density fiber board, oriented strand board, and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp’s long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.

*The products that can be made from hemp number over 25,000.

SCIENTIFIC FACTS

*Industrial hemp and marijuana are both classified by taxonomists as Cannabis sativa, a species with hundreds of varieties. C. sativa is a member of the mulberry family. Industrial hemp is bred to maximize fiber, seed and/or oil, while marijuana varieties seek to maximize THC (delta 9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana).

*While industrial hemp and marijuana may look somewhat alike to an untrained eye, an easily trained eye can easily distinguish the difference.

*Industrial hemp has a THC content of between 0.05 and 1%. Marijuana has a THC content of 3% to 20%. To receive a standard psychoactive dose would require a person to power-smoke 10-12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.

*If hemp does pollinate any nearby marijuana, genetically, the result will always be lower-THC marijuana, not higher-THC hemp. If hemp is grown outdoors, marijuana will not be grown close by to avoid producing lower-grade marijuana.

*Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.

*Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun’s UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.

*Many of the varieties of hemp that were grown in North America have been lost. Seed banks weren’t maintained. New genetic breeding will be necessary using both foreign and domestic “ditchweed,” strains of hemp that went feral after cultivation ended. Various state national guard units often spend their weekends trying to eradicate this hemp, in the mistaken belief they are helping stop drug use.

*A 1938 Popular Mechanics described hemp as a “New Billion Dollar Crop.” That’s back when a billion was real money.
*Hemp can be made in to a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.

LEGAL FACTS

*The US Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties as “marijuana.” While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by fence, razor wire, dogs, guards, and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.

*The US State Department must certify each year that a foreign nation is cooperating in the war on drugs. The European Union subsidizes its farmers to grow industrial hemp. Those nations are not on this list, because the
State Department can tell the difference between hemp and marijuana.

*Hemp was grown commercially (with increasing governmental interference) in the United States until the 1950s. It was doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp. While Congress expressly expected the continued production of industrial hemp, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as it’s successor the US Drug Enforcement Administration, does to this day.

*Over 30 industrialized democracies do distinguish hemp from marijuana. International treaties regarding marijuana make an exception for industrial hemp.

*Canada now again allows the growing of hemp.

ECOLOGY FACTS

* Hemp growers can not hide marijuana plants in their fields. Marijuana is grown widely spaced to maximize leaves. Hemp is grown in tightly-spaced rows to maximize stalk and is usually harvested before it goes to seed.

*Hemp can be made into fine quality paper. The long fibers in hemp allow such paper to be recycled several times more than wood-based paper.

*Because of its low lignin content, hemp can be pulped using less chemicals than with wood. Its natural brightness can obviate the need to use chlorine bleach, which means no extremely toxic dioxin being dumped into streams. A kinder and gentler chemistry using hydrogen peroxide rather than chlorine dixoide is possible with hemp fibers.

*Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.

*Hemp can displace cotton which is usually grown with massive amounts of chemicals harmful to people and the environment. 50% of all the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton.

*Hemp can displace wood fiber and save forests for watershed, wildlife habitat, recreation and oxygen production, carbon sequestration (reduces global warming), and other values.

*Hemp can yield 3-8 dry tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.

HEALTH FACTS

*If one tried to ingest enough industrial hemp to get ‘a buzz’, it would be the equivalent of taking 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative.

*At a volume level of 81%, hemp oil is the richest known source of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (the “good” fats). It’s quite high in some essential amino acids, including gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a very rare nutrient also found in mother’s milk.

*While the original “gruel” was made of hemp seed meal, hemp oil and seed can be made into tasty and nutritional products.

Prepared by the North American Industrial Hemp Council, October 1997

Any questions? It’s an absolute travesty that we don’t cultivate hemp, to the point where it actually makes me mad. It’s just so logical, can anyone come up with a downside? I know I can’t. This is just another case of big business getting involved to get the government to limit hemp, and thus protect their businesses. The DuPont family was largely behind it, as they knew that it was a much better way to make things like plastics. They helped to get the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 passed (wiki here).

That was 76 YEARS AGO! What is wrong with us? One of the biggest problems we have is relying on foreign oil, why don’t we grow a bunch of hemp and explore our oil resources? I know what you are thinking, that is far to0 logical.The last thing we need to be doing is cutting down trees for paper and building wood. Are we that ridiculous and wasteful? All I know is if industrialized hemp comes back, I will be long any company that gets into it. Maybe we are closer than we think? Read this article here.  An excerpt:

SEATTLE (AP) – An effort is building in Congress to change U.S. marijuana laws, including moves to legalize the industrial production of hemp and establish a hefty federal pot tax.

Now that you know the facts, what do you think?

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The Day After
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