Check it out! I’m not making this up. I was lining my birdcage when I noticed this on the top of the March 1 2009 RS Comics section. It triggered a faint memory from 9 years ago, that this comic artist had died! Seriously, he’s deader than the Rocky Mountain News. I confirmed it here in Wikipedia. I wonder who they’ve been paying for these recycled strips, and how much? Somebody should tell them. If only they could stand actually reading the strip, those intrepid news-hounds would have surely been tipped off. Look, those kids are watching television instead of surfing the web, and when the little girl wants to adjust the picture on the old tube TV, she gets up and does it at the front panel. Who does that? You’d think a newspaper would have heard that he was dead. Wow, they’re being totally scammed.
Record Searchlight marijuana legalization stance is timely and courageous
Wow. Things have really changed in my hometown. Maybe you missed this giant sweep of the weather vane indicating the winds of change, but I do believe an editor of our local paper, the Record Searchlight, has just opined that we should legalize marijuana. No really. Seriously. Check it out HERE.
Ok, he only goes so far as to point to a blog that states the plainly obvious, but even that’s a big step. A huge step. Of course, he’s not the first person to hold a pro-marijuana opinion. Many people who get weed from places that are on a missouri dispensary list will advocate for full legalization, along with millions of others. Bruce Ross and I have had big differences of opinion, and I have often thought that the newspaper he edits reveals an alarming lack of common sense, but here he goes and proves me wrong. Go figure.
I am not an advocate of drug use. I am, however, an inhabitant of the real world and recognize that individuals are moral agents and should be able to decide for themselves what they put into their bodies – if they see products online that they would like to try out (https://www.leaf2go.co/INDICA_c_45.html), far be it from me to tell them otherwise. I would put marijuana use pretty low on the spectrum of illegal drug problems, unlike say meth, and the resulting tweakers. Marijuana enthusiasts can stay up date regarding the latest weed news by reading something like the speed greens blog. Marijuana is not really a major problem in society, but marijuana prohibition is pretty high up on the spectrum of societal costs, due to the resulting enabling of crime profits and criminalization of potheads. The Cheech and Chongs (and Michal Phelps) of this world are not the proportional threat to you and me that is represented by tweakers and Oxycontin addicts.
If it takes the guise of a budget problem in Sacramento to put an end to this lunacy, then so be it. All that really matters is that we examine and face the facts about the real costs versus the benefits of the current prohibition. I seriously wonder if taxing a weed that you can grow just about anywhere will actually provide any real revenue, but we really should end the idiocy and hypocrisy of our current arbitrary laws about this plant. New dispensaries opening in California will have to be compliant with california marijuana laws.
Our small town paper takes a bold stand for sanity, and I hope this puts the conversation in motion. It will be interesting to watch for the reaction. Thank you RS for your courage.
Redding’s first Flash Mob?
A weekend RS article about the Redding Electric Utility and their policy to evict residents who cannot pay for electricity drew hundreds of comments on Redding.com, making it easily among the most popular articles ever written there. A thread quickly developed that suggested a candlelight protest at a Council meeting. A quick read through reveals the usual level of these mostly anonymous “conversations” with interesting references to the Ruggles brothers lynching, and more negative commentary, mixed in with some possibly interesting ideas. It will be instructive to watch this unfold, if it does. Will this be Redding’s first Flash Mob?
The issue is complex. There are no simple answers. Nobody wants families thrown on the street. Many of those commenting seem to have only a vague notion of what it really means to live without power. Several comments spoke about kerosene heating, solar power, candles, batteries, etc. allowing one to live indoors without power.
The reality is far different.
As a listing agent for bank foreclosures, I saw the remaining evidence of families living in darkness. I saw the candles melted into puddles, and the resulting fire damage, large and small. I saw that the lack of a vacuum cleaner and hot temperatures result in carpets of flea swarms, and imagined children covered in bites. I saw children’s toys scattered amongst rat feces in the cold darkness. I saw food stored in unsafe temperatures and conditions. And back when there were dozens of families living in an abandoned and powerless work camp off Shasta Dam Boulevard, my wife, who is a schoolteacher, saw kids in her class with diseases nobody around here had seen since the nineteenth century. That’s the reality of living without electricity. No candlelight vigil will change that.
Maybe.
Like, I said, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. The subtext of the comments was predictably blaming REU as heartless, serving as the straw man for trolling. The folks of REU are your friends and neighbors. They don’t want to kick families into the street either, but living without power causes big problems. What’s the answer? I don’t know. It will be interesting to see if the flash mob/protesters have anything positive to offer besides the usual anonymous comments.
Meanwhile about a dozen homeless folks hold a City Hall vigil of their own, out of the rain, in the bleachers just west of the Civic Center. Photo taken a few minutes ago. They are not watching a game, and they are likely not online posting anonymous comments either.
I’m quoted in the RS
A good article about buying foreclosures by David Benda appeared in the RS on Sunday. It was thoughtful and accurate. Read it HERE.
Mother doesn’t go out anymore
Just sits at home and rolls her spastic eyes
But every weekend through the door
Come words of wisdom from the world outside
Sunday papers don’t ask no questions
Sunday papers don’t tell no lies
Sunday papers don’t raise objections
Sunday papers ain’t got no eyes
Joe Jackson – Sunday Papers A cool song indeed.
Fall fishing inside Redding city limits