BREAKING TABOO- "yes, we Cannibus"

Guests for today's show at 4pm PST / 7pm EST on www.newdissidentradio.com are the owner of a new smoking accessory store Bryan Connor, comedian Suzzanne Monk and correspondent Rev. Jeffrey Brunk. Tune in today for a little Pot, a little Gender discrimination and a really awesome show. Brought to you by Blaze-Jane.com

Breaking the Stereotypes: I promise - someone
you know smokes pot and he or she doesn't look like a dweeb like this dude.

 by Lakota Phillips 

“The War on Drugs, which is celebrating its 40th year, has been a colossal failure. It has curtailed personal freedom, created a violent black market, and filled our prisons. It has also trampled on states’ rights: Sixteen states have legalized “medical marijuana” — which is, admittedly, often code for legalizing pot in general — only to clash with federal laws that ban weed throughout the land.” 

The canyon of discord between those opposing the legalization of marijuana and those supporting has slowly but steadily narrowed over the past decade, especially recently as the info highway known as the internet has dispelled for some the many myths and outright lies associated with use of the drug.  Now to be clear – the federal legislation is NOT mandating that use, distribution and growth of pot be made legal. Instead it is putting it in the hands of the states, which is where it should be.  It would however, if passed as proposed, allow those 21 years and older to buy marijuana at licensed outlets. The number of stores per county would be set by the state Liquor Control Board. Also, taxes would be levied by the Liquor Control Board and could net the state an estimated $215 million a year in new revenue. I don’t have a problem with that. I’d rather see the money go into the hands of the states. Plus we tax the shit out of alcohol and tobacco – might as well throw cannabis onto the pile. The proposed measure would apply drunken driving laws to those driving under the influence of marijuana and it would allow qualified people to grow it for medical purposes without being slapped in handcuffs.

Face it. Alcoholism is far more deadly than potism. Terms like “reefer madness” and “lazy pothead” create a misguided social stereotype that keeps people misinformed. We are such suckers for negative spin in America.

Some quicky myths dispelled:

• Of the more than 800,000 people are arrested for marijuana each year, the vast majority of them for simple possession., approximately 88 percent were charged with possession only.  Them’s a lot of taxpayer court costs right there.
• Most marijuana users never use any other illicit drug – it is not a gate-way drug
• Most people who use marijuana do so only occasionally. Fewer than 10% of those who try marijuana meet the clinical criteria for dependence, while 32% of tobacco users and 15% of alcohol users do.
• Marijuana use has not been shown to increase risk of cancer.
• Marijuana has been proven helpful for treating the symptoms of a variety of medical conditions.
• Marijuana use rates in the Netherlands are similar to those in the U.S. despite very different policies.
• Unlike alcohol, Marijuana has not been shown to cause long-term cognitive impairment and There is no compelling evidence that it contributes substantially to traffic accidents and fatalities.

One of the big questions this raises though is how does it impact the possible legalization of harder drugs... and should it?

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/270520/right-marijuana-editors

BREAKING TABOO - Seeing is not Believing

Guests today: ghost hunter Karen Rontowski, actor John C. McDonnel and correspondent Davad. M. Davad. Tune in to the show at 4pm PST on http://www.newdissidentradio.com
___

Today it’s all things that go bump in the night and for once we aren’t talking about sex.

A nice big giant taboo is the paranormal. Most people get uncomfortable if asked whether they REALLY believe in ghosts or not. It’s okay to love ghost stories, and even okay to say yeah there might be something to that (as long as it’s followed with a depreciative chuckle) but tell people you’ve SEEN a ghost or that you absolutely believe in them… or reincarnation… or anything else related to the paranormal and you get that look. The one that says “you believe in santa claus too”, doncha?  In fact, we’ve been taught so well to NOT believe in anything outside the safe boundaries of this reality we stomp around in , that most people who do encounter something outside the norm tend to instantly disbelieve their own senses. Was that….? Nawwww. Did I just see….? Nawwwww.  Oh and sugah, definitely don’t run around town yelling “ghosts” with absolute conviction, because society has a nice tidy white cell with your name on it if you do. Well, unless you’re a professional ghost hunter, professional psychic, or a filmmaker (ie. entertainers.)

It is more comfortable for us to deny and discredit than to entertain an unproven possibility. That applies in most things but especially in the area of paranormal. Ironically, as a culture we LOVE to be teased and titillated with stories of ghosts and vamps and aliens and bigfoot and fairies. Horror and fantasy are huge sellers. But that’s okay because we can reassure ourselves that it isn’t real.

The need to have a nice tidy explanation for everything often compels us to either make all things possible or nothing possible. The truth usually lies somewhere in between the extremes.  The study of ghosts has taken on not only a popular mantle of entertainment, but also the trappings of very high tech science as ghost hunters track down evidence of altered existence. As with anything, you’ll have your charlatans and fame seekers that keep the doubtfires glowing, but you also have teams of people who sincerely are trying to provide that ever elusive proof that something of us exists beyond death.

A friend told me recently that all that remains are echoes of ourselves. Supernatural experiences can be explained via the science of our very complex brains where the power of suggestion and the mind’s ability to perceive illusionary images where none exist have been proven. But I don’t believe in black and white answers in a grey world. The flip side of the coin is this – while ghosts may not have been proven to exist to the skeptics’ satisfaction, neither have they been disproven to the believers’ satisfaction.

The spook factor definitely keeps life interesting. Especially when you keep company with ghosts.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Evidence-Scrutinized-The-Haunting-of-Fort-Sam/hhm8ZBJick2SnJ-QNLNmFw.cspx

(moving chair footage mentioned in the related tv station story is located near the end of their fairly long 7min video)

<---It could well be that it is no more possible to photograph ghosts than many other forms of sensory perception – sensations such as taste, smell, touch or subjective mental experiences such as dreams and visions, even thought itself. This does not mean that apparitions do not exist; rather that they may exist at a level of reality that cannot be recorded by instrumentation.

Breaking Taboo Stories for June 13, 2011

Tune in today at 4pm PST / 7pm EST to listen live on www.newdissidentradio.com.

Or catch the show on replays and in the archives this week. We're also on itunes.

Call ins are at the end of the show - 323-289-2410 or skype: lakotaphillips (add prior to show)

Guests today are actor Steve Gelder and correspondent Rev. Jeffrey Brunk.

Let Them Eat… Nothing

An Orlando ordinance restricts food donors to feeding groups of 25 or more two times per year in public spaces. A federal court ruled the ordinance unconstitutional in 2008, deciding that Food Not Bomb's activities are a protected form of free speech. But in April, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the earlier ruling.  Consequently, members of the activist group who are trying to bring awareness of the plight of the growing number of homeless have been repeatedly arrested for putting their money where hungry mouths are.

This isn’t a problem of those “shiftless vagrants” who are too lazy to get a job and expect the hard-working American public to carry them. My people -you need to grasp this – THAT America, where the middle class were busy pursuing the lovely grail of the American Dream is gone.  The people who are homeless – they could easily be your family, your friends, your loved ones… it could just as easily be you.  They are not there because they have nothing to offer society. The growing number of homeless are hungry and without homes because our society has collapsed. There aren’t enough jobs. Their homes have been repossessed due to a corrupt system. Some are the handicapped that are now out on the streets, unable to care for themselves because budget cuts have closed the programs we tried to put in place to help them. The consequences of a collapsed economy with not enough jobs have families living in cars, squatting in abandoned homes, sleeping in cardboard boxes, shanty communities, and going hungry while they try to hang on. It’s a vicious catch-22 nightmare that is nearly impossible to climb out of and which our leadership – which we elected - has all but ignored – as if the homeless will vanish if you don’t have to look at them. Now, when we need to REALLY be making aid a priority because the number of homeless is growing like crazy, we are instead allowing laws to be passed that punish anyone trying to help.

This problem will get worse. It will become one of our biggest nightmares. Think back to the great depression when the cries of misery in this country rang so loud that we remember it still, generations later. The recession will force around 2 million people into homelessness over the next year. A recent report cites “major increases in the number of homeless in 19 out of the 25 states.”  That doesn’t even take into account the huge numbers of “new adults” that have to sleep on friends’ sofas or stay with parents because they can’t find a job; can’t start their own lives.  You know that American Dream of their OWN home, where they can start their OWN family? These young adults are unable to contribute to society due to no fault of their own. They live in limbo. From 2008 to 2009, the number of unemployed in America increased by 60 percent from 8.9 to 14.3 million impacting heavily on the existing homeless situation.  Just imagine what that number will be next year and the year after.

Don’t let them snatch food from the mouths of the hungry. Don’t. The scary truth is, unless you are one of the wealthy few, the person that might not be fed tomorrow might be you.

http://floridaindependent.com/33406/twelve-activists-arrested-for-violating-group-feeding-ban-in-orlando-mayor-calls-them-food-terrorists

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/10/orlando-food-not-bombs-arrests_n_874840.html

http://www.huliq.com/10282/homeless-epidemic-spreading-cities-suburbs-and-no-longer-invisible

________________________

Contributed by Jeffrey Brunk:

"Welcome to America. You Want Combo?"

Welcome to America. A smorgasbord of opportunity awaits those who relocate to our fine, fat country. America is, after all, the land of the free and home of the Whopper. The numbers are out, rounded-off, so to speak, and the numbers are getting larger. One out of three Americans is obese. Not pudgy or ‘soft’ but obese. To try and put this in context, ponder this a moment: According to the CDC, in 2009 there were 33 states that were greater than or equal to 25% of the population classified as being obese and 9 of those 33 were equal to or greater than 30% of the population classified as being obese.

Talk about a growing population. Now it seems that immigrants to the land of milk and honey are swelling at the same rate as America’s home-grown populace. Apparently, being an American requires one to eat like an American which, in turn, causes one to eventually look like an American … fat and saggy.

America is now one of the world’s most overweight countries. This past week, I was at Disney World and marveled at the irony of the size of the people entering and exiting the ‘It’s a Small World’ attraction. I figure that it only a matter of time until the ‘Small World’ attraction features twirling, dancing and singing robotic obese children. There are those who go as far as to claim that parents of obese children are guilty of child abuse.

Our nation’s thundering herd is being blamed on everything from genetics to media to the workplace and technology. Technology? What does a serving of Google and a side of iPad taste like, anyway?

Truth be known, I suppose blame can be assigned to nearly anything when it comes to the blubbering-up of America, much like almost everything causes cancer. But when it comes down to the meat of the matter, the only cause of America’s population enlargement is a working jawbone. Each of us has one and most of us know how to use it. It’s just that many have no idea how to let the jaws rest.

Yes, welcome to America, brethren from afar. In order better serve you and enhance your experience, please pull around to the window and have your money ready. That’s how we roll in the U. S. of A.

____________________

Letter Sent today by Breaking Taboo Guest Steve Gelder:

Steve Gelder

After reading today's story about the Mayor in Orlando and his stance on feeding the homeless, I felt compelled to send him a note:


Dear Mayor Dyer,


I was disturbed and disappointed to read your stance on feeding the homeless in Orlando, and your reference to a group feeding needy people as "food terrorists".

At a time when our country faces record unemployment and greater economic problems on a daily basis, with millions homeless in need of assistance, to take a stand such as yours is inhumane and incomprehensible to me. Would America have survived the Great Depression if there had been these limits on helping our fellow citizens had been imposed back then?

It saddens me that someone chosen to lead his community has turned his back so completely on a section of it, simply because they have fallen on hard times. Shame on you, Sir.

Steve Gelder
(contact info)

If anyone else feels compelled to do the same, his email is: buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net