2007-08-25

Bud becomes a NORML Virgin Earth Challenge contender - $100,000 to prove Cannabis Can't Beat Climate Crisis

Jack Herer, author of the cannabis decriminalization classic, The Emperor Wears No Clothes (available free, online), is entering the Virgin Earth Challenge, anteing up US$100,000 to anyone who can prove his cannabis climate recuperation proposal cannot relieve the threat of globe climate crisis.

Even just kicking back with an iPod and some snacks, mon, might well help chill a lot of folks' obsession for More and relieve the tedium of heat stroke while pulling one's plot back from the beach.

Indeed, indulging in a good whack or two of "the Bud" might be well advised before trying to prove the impossibility of almost anything. Nonetheless, Herer's proposal proffers up some very real, potential, if improbably widely acceptable solutions to the world's current environmental fears. If more than the Netherlands and a few other nations could loosen up their drug laws, cannabis well make a significant contribution to alleviating the threat of global warming.

Herer's full proposal follows below, in keeping with its concluding plea to "Please help me spread this everywhere."

The Virgin Earth Challenge was founded by the Virgin Group's Richard Branson and Former US Vice President Al Gore. It offers US$25 million "for whoever can demonstrate to the judges' satisfaction a commercially viable design which results in the removal of anthropogenic, atmospheric greenhouse gases so as to contribute materially to the stability of Earth's climate."

Gore is now also widely renowned for his book and awarding-winning film, "An Inconvenient Truth", which presents what it calls the imminent global "climate crisis" in evocative, often edutaining terms which can be readily digested by almost anyone yet are backed by widely accepted, though not undisputed, scientific evidence.

Cannabis is also called hemp, marijuana, ganja, chronic, spliff, spleef, Bud, bohda, Buddha, pot, weed, reefer, roofer, hooch,... (You get the picture.) It is the most widely used illegal plant worldwide. It is grown quickly and easily almost everywhere, either naturally or via some of today's most sophisticated bioengineering technologies. It is readily fabricated into paper, clothing, building materials, foodstuffs, medicine and biofuels which have much less damaging environmental impacts than oil, gas and other petrochemicals.

Cannabis possession and use for personal, industrial or medical purposes is prohibited in most nations today. Todays' global prohibitions began in the early 20th Century led by most Western nations. Previously, it was criminalized almost no nations. Criminalization in the USA and the attendant "Drug War" have led to that nation having one of the world's largest prison populations and highest per capita incarceration rates.

Average annual deaths nationwide in the USA resulting directly or primarily from cannabis, "according to World Almanacs, Life Insurance Actuarial (death) Rates, and the last 20 years of U.S. Surgeon Generals' reports", amounted to none (zero, 0, zilch, nada, not even one).

For the same period:

  • tobacco was (dis)credited with 240,000-340,000 deaths,
  • alcohol "(not including 50% of all highway deaths and 65% of all murders related to alcohol)" offed 150,000+ folks,
  • "legal drug overdose, deliberate or accidental) from legal, prescribed or patent medicines and/or mixing with alcohol -- e.g. Valium/alcohol" got to 14,000-27,000 folks, while
  • "illicit drug overdose" (deliberate or accidental, from all illegal drugs) euthanaided some 3,800-5,200 folks -- one-fifth to a quarter of those shifted off by legal drugs.
Wait... What? Source: HOW DANGEROUS IS MARIJUANA COMPARED WITH OTHER SUBSTANCES? (widely available in various formats, under various titles and levels of update across the Internet via Google or other search engine)


How to Save the World [from Climate Crisis] with Cannabis, Hemp and Marijuana!

By Jack Herer, www.jackherer.com, AD.2007.Feb.14.Wed.Valentines_Day



















Home Chapters to "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" How Dangerous is Marijuana?


This is my work in progress. I'm entering it into the Virgin Earth Challenge to stop global warming.

Plant hemp, on:

  • 600 million acres of secondary farm land in the United States.
  • 600 million to 1 billion acres of secondary farm land in Canada.
  • 1 to 2 billion acres of secondary farm land in Russia and Siberia.
  • 1 to 2 billion acres of secondary farm land in Africa.
  • 500 million acres of secondary farm land in South America.
  • ? acres in Australia.
  • ? acres in Asia.
  • ? acres in Europe.

All fuel will be made of methanol or a derivative of hemp.

All fossil fuel, oil, coal, and natural gas will no longer be used. It will stay in the ground for emergency only. For example, when we had the earthquake Krakatoa, there was about two years that the sun was blocked in that area.

All paper will be made from hemp. No trees will be cut for paper. That's the way it was 130 years ago. That will save half the trees on the planet that would otherwise be cut down in the next 30 years. All the trees will be healthier and bigger.

Most building material will be made from hemp composite.

From 20 to 50 percent of all proteins for food will be made from hemp seeds. In China, from 5,000 years ago to about 150 years ago, approximately 50 percent of all food was made from hemp seeds. And 20 percent of all food in Europe. On the Chinese border from Laos to Nepal to Tibet to Afghanistan all the way up to the northern border of Upper Mongolia, 50 percent of all proteins for food is still made out of hemp, and 90 percent of all butter. This starts on either side of the border to about 100 miles away from the border.

No more cotton for clothing, unless it is raised organically. Clothing will mostly be made from hemp, bamboo, soy and flax.

Dr. Raphael Mechoulam in Israel believes that 30 percent of all medicines will be made out of cannabis or combinations of cannabis and other drugs.

The arid land from the Sahara all the way across the world will be planted with hemp.

People from 18 to 30 years of age, throughout the world, will join a different kind of military, the Hemp Corps, for planting and harvesting and packaging hemp. In return for four years of duty, they will receive four years of college paid by the government.

People will live about two year's longer using cannabis.

Everything will be a lot more fun. There will be new jobs for everybody. The auto industry will build cars mostly from hemp. Computer companies will build computers of hemp. Furniture will be made of hemp cloth and hemp composite wood.

Hemp grows everywhere, from the Equator to the Arctic Circle, from the valleys to about 6,000 feet up in the mountains. It's the healthiest of the 3 million plants that grow on Earth. It has the deepest roots. It's the only plant you can grow over and over each year, and the soil will only get better. People will be able to pay their taxes with hemp.

I wrote my book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes", 25 years ago. I have been teaching people how to save the world with cannabis/hemp/marijuana since 1979.

Prove us wrong! Prove us wrong! And get $100,000!

We hereby extend our $100,000 challenge to prove us wrong!

If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction, were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the greenhouse effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world's paper and textiles; meet all of the world's transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time... and that substance is the same one that has done it before . . . CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA!

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the only known plant that can be grown from the Equator to the Arctic Circle and to the Antarctic Circle; from the mountains to the valleys, from the oceans to the plains, including arid lands and everywhere in between. CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the healthiest plant for the ground out of the 300,000 known species, and the millions and millions of subspecies, of plants on Earth, because it has a root system that grows 10 to 12 inches in 30 days compared to one inch for rye, barley grass, etc. The roots penetrate up to 6 feet deep, pulverizing the soil and making it arable. After harvest it leaves a root system that is mulched into the ground, revitalizing the land and making it live once again. It is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plant life.

All of my information about CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA has been taken from Federal and State Department of Agriculture reports, articles from Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Pulp & Paper Magazine, Scientific American, entries from encyclopedias and pharmacopoeias, and studies from all over the world during the last 200 years. This is all public information. The United States government is hiding the fact that 125 years ago, and even as far back as 4000 BC, 80% of our economy was based on the use of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA for paper, fiber and fuel. Ten to 20% of our drug economy was based on CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA medicines, 125 years ago.

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was part of our everyday life. Virtually every farm and every plot of land in the cities and towns across the United States and the world, from 100-125 years ago and before, had a CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA patch growing. The U.S. government's cover-up of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA outrages me and it should outrage you, too. I have been studying CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA for over 30 years, and I can't believe how the U.S. government, in 90 seconds in Congress, could outlaw "MARIJUANA" in 1937, without the people realizing they were outlawing CANNABIS/HEMP, the most perfect plant for the planet! They even got other countries to outlaw it, too, after the Second World War and beyond. From 1740 to 1940, 80% of all the world's CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was grown (mostly by Cossacks, who were indentured servants), and then imported from, Russia.

I will again reiterate a few of the facts about CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA, which you already know from reading my book, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes."

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was the NUMBER ONE annually renewable natural resource for 80% of all paper, fiber, textiles and fuel, from 6,000 years ago until about 125 years ago. Furthermore, it was used for 5 to 50% of the food, light, land and soil reclamation, and even 20% or more of all medicine. Everyone, from the educated to the uneducated, the farmer to the townsperson, the doctors and the scientists used

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA products and depended on them.75 to 90% of all paper used from at least 100 AD to 1883 was made of CANNABIS/HEMP. Books, (including Bibles), money and newspapers all over the world have been mainly printed on CANNABIS/HEMP for as long as these things have existed in human history.

One hundred and 25 years ago, 70 to 90% of all rope, twine, cordage, ship sails, canvas, fiber, cloth, etc., was made out of CANNABIS/HEMP fiber! It was replaced by DuPont's newly discovered petrochemical fiber (nylon) beginning in 1937. By comparison, CANNABIS/HEMP is 4 times softer than cotton, 4 times warmer, 4 times more water absorbent, has 3 times the strength of cotton, is many times more durable, is flame retardant, and doesn't use pesticides. Fifty percent of all pesticides are used on cotton, yet cotton uses only 1% of the farmland in the U.S! CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the most health giving plant on Earth and it doesn't require pesticides or herbicides! It is the healthiest plant for human consumption, and for the Earth itself.

Eighty percent of our economy depended on CANNABIS/HEMP for paper, fiber and fuel, 125 years ago. At that time, it took 300 man-hours to harvest an acre of CANNABIS/HEMP, but with the invention of the brand new HEMP decorticator in the 1930s, it only took 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This is equivalent to reducing the labor burden from $6,000 down to $40 per acre, in today's money. Keep in mind that the cotton gin, in 1793, reduced the man-hours from 300 hours down to 2 hours to harvest and clean an acre of cotton. CANNABIS/HEMP would have taken over the cotton market, as it is far superior to cotton, and pesticide free. The role of CANNABIS/HEMP should be determined by market supply and demand and not by undue influence of prohibition laws, federal subsidies and huge tariffs that keep the natural from replacing the synthetic. I repeat, CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plants!

Of all the 300,000 species of plants on Earth, no other plant source can compare with the nutritional value of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA seeds. It is the only plant on Earth that provides us with the NUMBER ONE source, and the perfect balance of essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, globulin edestin protein, and essential oils all combined in one plant, and in a form which is most naturally digestible to our bodies.

Prior to the 1800s, CANNABIS/HEMPSEED oil was the NUMBER ONE source for lighting oil throughout the world. Until 1937-38, even paints and varnishes were 80% CANNABIS/HEMPSEED oil. CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is non-toxic and has been used to make high-grade diesel fuel, oil, aircraft and precision oil and even the NUMBER ONE vegetable oil. The U.S. Army/Navy standards purchasing specifications list HEMP OIL as the NUMBER ONE preferred lubricant for their machinery. CANNABIS/HEMP is the best sustainable source of plant pulp for biomass fuel to make charcoal, gas, methanol, gasoline and electricity in a natural way.

In 1850, 80% of all paper, fiber, fuel, and oil was made out of CANNABIS/HEMP in America and the rest of the world. This was before the discovery of coal and petroleum for energy in the late 1850s...before the start of the worst permanent pollution ever experienced on Earth... fossil fuel pollution (coal and petroleum)!!

As a medicine, the worldwide use of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA goes back at least 6,000 years. Remember, 10 to 20%t of our medicines used to be CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA based medicines. It has been found to be healthy and effective in the treatment of chronic pain, cancer, strokes, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia, AIDS wasting and many other illnesses, including simple nausea, appetite stimulant, anxiety and muscle pains, etc.

On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man," and asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule it. The DEA refused, keeping it as a Schedule I drug, which they say "has no known medical use"! Thousands of studies have been done all over the world, documenting the medical use of MARIJUANA (England, Spain, Hungary, Holland, and the U.S., just to name a few). No one has ever died from MARIJUANA in over 6,000 years of recorded history... unless they were shot by a COP!

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was also used for land reclamation until 1915. CANNABIS/HEMP was planted or left to grow feral as ground cover and on riverbanks, and not intended for harvest. It is the NUMBER ONE plant in history used to prevent mudslides and loss of watershed, and river and soil erosion on Earth. It has been illegal to grow this NUMBER ONE plant in the United States since 1937.What disgusts me the most is how the U.S. government, as well as the people, knew about

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA and praised its value and then look what happened! In literally 90 seconds, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 passed in Congress. By using the unknown name "MARIJUANA" instead of the familiar name "CANNABIS HEMP", Congress was able to accomplish this because no one knew what plant they were talking about. CANNABIS/HEMP became illegal and was replaced by petrochemical products, coal and natural gas. They made it such a banned and forbidden plant that the words "HEMP" and "CANNABIS/HEMP" were not even taught in schools from the 1940s, 50s and thereafter.

The role of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was erased from America's history (as well as most of the rest of the world's) after 1945. To prove it, think... what did you learn about CANNABIS/HEMP in grade school? High school? College? From your parents and grandparents? Nothing! (Unless it was from the underground press within the last 15 to 20 years.) The continuing suppression of this information by the U.S. government places us all in mortal jeopardy. I believe that, in order to save our planet, we must use non-fossil fuel energy.

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA, in conjunction with wind, solar, tidal and hydroelectric power, could save the planet by providing all of our energy, fuel, paper, fiber, and 10 to 20% of our medical needs, naturally. It would also reduce acid rain and chemical pollution, rebuild the soil, and reverse the greenhouse effect (no other plant can do this!).

CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA was used to make over 25,000 products before it was outlawed in 1937.Why does the U.S. government want to eradicate this seed, out of all the seeds on Earth? They want to kill the most perfect plant on the planet. We must stop this insanity and demand that the laws against CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA be 100% repealed!!

Federal Attorney General John Ashcroft, Drug Enforcement Administration head, Asa Hutchison, and White House Drug Czar, John Walters, have been given all of these proven facts and yet are still set against the legalization of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA and recognition of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIUANA knowledge. For whatever personal reasons, they refuse to believe the facts and are willing to sacrifice the future of our planet and the health of our people by keeping it illegal.

The ban of CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is so extreme and its intention is to hide the truth. The truth is that out of the 300,000 species, and the millions and millions of subspecies, of plants on Earth, CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA is the NUMBER ONE plant for our survival and quality of life here on Earth. Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government and Attorney General John Ashcroft have been calling MARIJUANA users "terrorists" and yet the government of the United States has been "terrorizing" MARIJUANA users for the last 65 years! There have been over 14 million arrests for CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA in the last 65 years, in the U.S. alone! 13 million were within the last 30 years!

No one has taken the $100,000 challenge to prove me wrong. Why? Because I am right. The U.S. government has been lying to us since the early 1900s. Do economic interests and the police have more to say than the people about the future of our planet? How angry are you for being lied to by the U.S. government about CANNABIS/HEMP/MARIJUANA? Are you willing to make a stand right now? No one can dispute this information and knowledge. YOU have to join me in this fight. Either you are on the U.S. government's side or you are on my side.

Please help me spread this everywhere. Thank you!

Jack Herer
www.jackherer.com
2/14/07

2007-08-09

VIS/ITS Byte Søup, v.2007.08.09.a [alpha]

VIS/ITS' VirtuAll Info Coms & Edu (VICE)
Information, Communications & Edutainment
VICE Info-Systems/Tech Services (VIS/ITS)

Byte S
ø up

Prioritized
Foci
: Plants & Animals, including people (PAp); Environment's Critical Here (ECH); VietNam ( VN); North America (NAm); Internetworking (iWork); Free / Libre | Linux / Opensource (FLO) InFormation or eVents ( eVs); Buddhism (Budd); Info' Technology (IT); Info' Systems ( IS: Information, IT & Us[ers]); et cetera, et tu, ...?

Here : Go Vap, Saigon, Vietnam
Now:  AD.2007.Aug.09.Wed.XXhXX.ICT
ICT = IndoChina Time = UTC/GMT + 7 hours
.XXhXX. = Byte's Time Stamp; See BeLow

Begun .00h13.

.00h14. Testing, testing
This is a test of the production and distribution scheme of one edition of the VIS/ITS BS (Byte Søup).

.08.Wed.20h22. The Schaeme [(Bootnote) 01] -- ReRun
The 1st rule of VIS/ITS is, "You don't blog about VIS/ITS." 
The 2nd rule of VIS/ITS is, "You don't blog about BS."
The 3rd rule of VIS/ITS' Bytes: "IS/IT goes with the FLO."
The 4th rule of VIS/ITS is, "See BeLow."

.08.Wed.23h13. Designed for M2GB-FG2 -- ReVised
VIS/ITS' "Bytes" is designed for collection, formating, publication and consumption using Mozilla (Firefox & Thunderbird), Gmail, Google Reader and Blogger (M2GB) -- and, sort of, for use with Feedburner and Google Groups, too (FG2, the latter for the more textually hardcore or paranoid among Us).  Upcoming:  Events and Google Calendar  tricks.

.08.Wed.23h20. VIS/ITS' BS is Available as, @

  • HTML @ SighGone, Hø!: Âm | Yin | Passive Negation - Mumblings of a SàiGòn Hộ; blog
  • HTML @ 4DM: Dương | Yang | Active Affirmation - Musings 4DM; blog
  • HTML @ Go Vap! - SighGone: Đạo | Tao | Way - From Gô Vấp, Sài Gòn; blog
  • Text @ re-creation.vietnam: "re-creation", renovation ("đổi mới" in Vietnamese) and/or new leisure activites, entertainment, education, edutainment for Vietnam (Việt Nam); mailing list, discussion group
.00h35. [eVent] Candadian Happy Hour in Saigon
When: 2007.Aug.14.Tue.18h00-20h00
Where: Cafe Central (Upstairs Lounge), Ground Floor, Sun Wah Tower, 115 Nguyen Hue, Q. 1, HCMC, VN
Who: Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (CanCham)
What: Everybody in town---you don't have to be Canadian and you don't even have to like Maple Syrup or Pate Chinois---is invited to join this very informal and popular monthly get-together.  Happy Hour discount prices and free snack foods  courtesy of Cafe Central until 8:00 P.M. (And there's a lucky draw prize opportunity too!)
How much: No admission charge! No tickets necessary!
More Info: CanCham , telephone 824 3754 or 822 8888-Extension 7305; fax 824 3751, e-mail events@canchamvietnam.org , Website www.canchamvietnam.org


.00h20. Old But Not Yet Busted: HWEx (Harper's Weekly Extracts)

The U.S. military announced that July was the least deadly
of the past eight months for American troops in Iraq, with
only 75 soldiers killed. Seventy-six U.S. senators had
visited Iraq, and 3 percent of Americans approved of how
Congress was handling the war, which was costing the
United States and Great Britain more than $4,000 each
second.

South of Baghdad, a handsome Sunni insurgent
nicknamed George Clooney was shot by members of his
own tribe and turned over to U.S. forces.

Presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani
pledged to invade Pakistan, and Colorado Republican
Congressman Tom Tancredo said that, if elected president,
he would respond to terrorism on U.S. soil by bombing the
Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

... an online video game that allows players to torture
and kill corrupt officials and their children proved so
popular in China that the game's website crashed.

In India, where dung-smoke clouds were warming the upper
atmosphere, more than 1,000 people had been killed in
recent floods, and Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was sentenced
to six years of "rigorous imprisonment" for possession
of illegal firearms. "Don't get perturbed," the judge
told Dutt, "for you have many years to go and work like
the 'Mackenna's Gold' actor Gregory Peck."

A New Zealand study found that vegans are disgusted
by sex with carnivores because meat-eaters are "composed
of the lives of others." Researchers at the University
of Texas identified 237 reasons that people have sex,
including "he smelled nice," and Bob Allen, a Florida
State Representative who sponsored a bill to curtail sex in
public parks, said that he recently offered oral sex to a
man in a park because he was afraid of black people.

A lost and distraught lovebird flew amok on a flight from
Bangkok to Manila, and ornithologists remained unsure as
to why some duck species have such long, swirly penises
or convoluted vaginas that spiral in the opposite direction
and feature pockets and culs-de-sac.

A study showed that penduline tits often abandon their
offspring in order to pursue sexual conquests, and scientists
found that a female mouse with a disabled nasal organ will
begin to exhibit masculine behavior: mounting other mice,
engaging in pelvic thrusting, and abandoning her young.
Another team of scientists had bred schizophrenic mice, and
Australian scientists said that rats can learn the risks of
consuming marijuana.

Russia annexed the North Pole, Israelis fired apples, chilis,
corn, cucumbers, mangoes, and tomatoes into the Gaza Strip,
and China declared that Tibet's living Buddhas must seek
permission from the government before being reincarnated.

-- Rafil Kroll-Zaidi

SUBSCRIBE to Harper's Weekly via web: http://harpers.org
via email: join-harpers-weekly@pluto.sparklist.com

.08.Wed. [Stupid] Court won't allow New Zealand couple name their baby son 4Real, but that's OK as they're going to call him Superman instead

Telegraph

.08.Wed. Vietnam fears - The Age


The Age
Vietnam Years
The Age - 1 hour ago
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Welcome Home Marches for Australia's Vietnam War veterans. Warwick McFadyen speaks with author and filmmaker Michael Caulfield about his new book on the war and its legacy.

.08.Wed. Traditional Media Still Losing Ground to Internet, Cable

Consumers continue to turn away from traditional, advertising-driven media while embracing paid entertainment, such as cable TV and the internet, in greater numbers, a new study finds.

.08.Wed. For Good Girls: 10 Ways To Release Your Inner Vixen

Its inevitable, whether you've been married for 10 years or in a long term relationship for 5, sex gets dull. Every woman is a siren, a Venus, a being of erotic nature. Sometimes, releasing this inner vixen is all that's needed to spark something new and remind your man that you ARE a goddess.

.08.Wed. China releases Canadian activists

Eight Tibet independence activists detained in China this week -- including three Canadians -- have been released, a spokesperson for their group said this morning.

.00h04. Teen Drug Slang: A Dictionary For Parents

Know what your kids are talking about with this guide to today's drug terms

.00h11. [Budd] Finding the way to Nirvana on stage

"They are very dramatic and I was reading one of them to my girlfriend at the time. She sort of 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the right points and I thought -- why not do the story of the Buddha."

Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism, was born in India 500 years before Christ.

via Boston NOW

.00h33. Jeff Stier: Organ-Trading is Not so Weird

Something unusual happened to me. I wrote an op-ed for the New York Post and nobody wrote to tell me they disagreed. Yet the policies I am arguing for are certainly not the norm. I argued in favor of incentives to promote organ donations.

.00h33. Matthew Chapman: At Last A Comic Book Atheist Hero

Pat Tillman, an extraordinarily square-jawed football player who gave up a lucrative professional life to go and fight for his country, was at first hailed as a hero by a military eager for good publicity. When it was discovered Tillman died as a result of "friendly fire" -- he was shot at close range in the forehead, which seems a little too friendly -- his family pressed hard for a more thorough investigation.

Lt. Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, an officer with responsibilities for Tillman's unit, complained that his relatives were being so insistent because, like Pat, they were atheists. They could not come to terms with his death. From their perspective, after all, Pat was merely "wormdirt". In other words, if they believed in God and an afterlife they would be more compliant.

An interesting point.

.00h45. [NewsFlash] 7.4 earthquake hits Java, Indonesia. Epicenter is just 70 miles from Jakarta (population ~20 million)

(USGS)

.00h49. Feminine guys better for long-term love: British study

Old But Only in VN

.08.Wed. Saigonese taken by website pyramid e-investment scam

dollar-worship120_1.gif
A group calling itself Colony Investment Management Inc. claims it can return 3% interest per day— nearly 100% per month-on any investment according to an alleged claim on the company's website at http://www.colonyinvest.net or http://music.easyvn.com/colonyinvest where the company presents itself in grammatically poor English.


.08.Wed. Wardens blamed for helping inmate get pregnant to avoid death sentence

Hanoi police have filed charges against two prison wardens for helping a female death row convict have sex and become pregnant with a male prisoner to commute her death sentence. They are seeking indictment against Nguyen Thuyen and Bui Van Quyet, former wardens of a prison in the northern Hoa Binh province, on charges of "abusing power during pubic service".

Bootnotes:
[01] Schaeme: Scheme + Scam


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