Thursday, September 11, 2003
As some of you may know, in America, not only is it illegal to smoke pot, but it's also illegal to sell bongs and pipes because they might be used to smoke pot by the purchaser. Anyway, Tommy Chong (of Cheech and Chong) just got sentenced to nine months in federal prison and a $20,000 fine because his name was on a bunch of bongs (more). Doesn't the US government have anything better to do than spend a fortune hassling old hippies? And it gets better. Ashcroft and Bush want these types of crimes to get the DEATH PENALTY through a combination of redefining of “drug dealing” as “domestic terrorism” and the assigning of new death penalties to “fight terror” (more).
PS. And yes, I know you can buy bongs everywhere. All of those people are at risk, and it doesn't matter if it says “tobacco bong” on the label. Also, even legitimate artists and glass blowers that rarely even make bongs are being raided and shut down. This isn't called a drug war for nothing you know. Oh, and yes, I also realize that this isn't a right-left thing; Clinton is the guy that told doctors they'd lose their license if they prescribed medical marijuana after all, and most of the impending Democrats are promising to continue the war… Hell, even everyone's favotire “lefty” candidate Dean has called for more funding for the war on drugs, and has also blocked medical marijuan laws.
Oh, and I'll also note that if the US legalized pot, it would make at least $23 billion dollars a year in new tax money for the US to improve life for Americans (more), to say nothing of the $10 to $20 billion that could be cut from the drug war budget, to say nothing of how much safer it would make America, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands of harmless people who'd no longer be in prison, and so on and so on. Of course, all that money eventually flows into the hands of the wealthy so maybe that's the whole point… It always comes back to class war, doesn't it?
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Is this spam, or is some girl telling people her email address is josie@bmezine.com? I don't think I know anyone with that name, or ever have… and it's definitely never been a valid email address for anyone at BME.
From: "Toney Revolt" <Itchyhand@prontomail.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 22:44:03 -0700
To: josie@bmezine.com
word.
yeah so i can't call long distance so u gotz to call me. yeah???
847 312 9491
btw yr pic on the profile is hoooot.
and i'm down with piercing if you don't got no one else.
Trrouble T
-- Everytime i hear the word 'culture'
i release the safety catch on my 9mm--
Thursday, September 11, 2003
It kills me to link to a diaryland page ;-) but check out what typealice is up to in Africa! It's amazing how much Africa looks like the Caribbean… Africa is just such a mystery to people living in North America, I had no idea what to expect when she told me she was heading there.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
These photos are now over seven, maybe eight years old. I can't believe so much time has gone by… Bizarre published it on the cover of their premiere issue about six years ago.
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
You can thank Jerome for this one; I'm posting it about 16 hours ahead of schedule, but I've got another one in the queue behind it so I have to rush things along — check out his website some time tomorrow afternoon or evening for even more if you like what you see below:
Other than that, I'm pounding through getting this new computer all set up. I figure it's about twenty hours of work. Probably not a bad thing as I'm feeling a bit sick right now. One of the things that I think is hard for people to understand (as in empathize with, not “get”) is just what it's like to live without a real memory; but try and imagine what it would be like if your entire world was defined by what had happened in the last 72 hours (if you're lucky; most days I only really know what I did in the morning because I've written “triggers” to my IAM page).
It's weird. I can tell stories about what happened long ago, but they're really just stories. I mean, I know the stories, but I could also tell you the story of what happened in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan and have about as much emotional attachment to it as my own life. There are a few exceptions, moments that shatter through the veil, but some days it's wonderful, and some days it's really hard to be so living in the moment. I really enjoyed Memento, and it was funny to see, “hey, I do that”, but really it feels more like being a replicant desperately clutching his little stack of photos that aren't even of his own life.
You remember the spider that lived in a bush outside your window: orange body, green legs. Watched her build a web all summer. Then one day there was a big egg in it. The egg hatched...
The egg hatched, and a hundred baby spiders came out.
And they ate her.
Implants! Those aren't your memories. They're somebody else's.
I think if I could change anything about the way I am, maybe I'd like to have my memory back.
