Bouncing around web sites regarding the Shadow Convention in Philadelphia...and to be in Los Angeles...after finding Common Cause (which did not exactly have its name all over the Shadow Covention in Philly), there was a web site beyond that with "Soros" right there.

Part of the Convention was a day on the "War on Drugs".

I saw Gov. Johnson of New Mexico, Jesse Jackson, Al Franken and some truly spell-binding kids who had lives damaged by parents and others being locked up in the "war".

Franken joked...as people rotted in jail and as cops busted heads nation-wide and as the military sprayed jungles in far off places. Jesse Jackson took the opportunity to push for Gore, not exactly a Re-Legalization activist. The Governor said it wasn't sensible to lock up so many people. etc. No indictments of who CAUSED the 'War on Drugs" (and who benefits) that I heard.



Very oddly, the group INFACT was there (see other posting in this arena)promoting the "war on drugs": nicotine division.

What's going on? One smells something fishy. Time to entertain paranoia (justifiable these days) and what stands up to scrutiny.

1) Could it be that there's high-level movement to LEGALIZE not marijuana or hemp but Monsanto's and Cargill's Bio-engineered versions with ridiculously, unnecessarlly-low THC? Some places are already thinking of making THIS legal...as opposed to natural plants. Hey...this would keep the Drug War cooking as natural cannabis remains illegal, hand over all the bizness to some real corporate gems and fracture the Re-Legalization movement as some will say...it's better than nothing. It would defeat one major purpose of the campaign to re-legalize which is to get the hell AWAY from the corporatocracy so that, with natural plants, people could be independent of that marketplace for foods, feeds, medicines, plastics and the whole litany of hemp-related things.

2) Could it be that, in conjunction with the above, we'll see a NEW, IMPROVED Prohibiton of another natural plant, namely the well-demonized (by Corporate media and Corporate-serving officials) tobacco plant. Even a lot of the Left bought into this one...shades of Reefer Madness...despite ZERO available studies of the pesticide-free, adulterant-free, dioxin-free, radiation-free (it's from phosphate

tobacco fertilizers), etc natural tobacco, the ostensible target of the crusade. All those who believe that the Clinton/Gore administraton has, incongruously, become a Consumer Advocate in this faux-attack on Big Bad "sinful"Tobacco, raise your hands. It is important to, as ever, Follow the Money.

Long story (research elsewhere...it's out there) but, for just ONE big thing, note that the Top Insurance Firms (our "health care" providers!...all "anti smoking") are huge investors in none other than top cigarette manufacturers AND cigarette adulterants' suppliers and tobacco pesticides manufacturers and cigarette paper makers (and pulp loggers, etc.)...and let your mind put together the whole Money Picture here. Could it just be that an unstudied, natural plant (despite whatever inherent risks it may have) is being scapegoated for the sake of the biggest Liability Dodge in world history? Could it be that a nice Global Prohibition will excuse police privacy invasions on anyone or in any place on the Probable Cause of a wisp of smoke? Could it be that synthetics manufacturers would really like to get that farm product (non-patentable, you see) out of the marketplace to be replaced by corporate synthetics?...just as happened with cannabis?

See http://rampages.onramp.net/~bdrake > for a good background course on the tobaco angles, at least.

Note also: Virtually every corporate funder of the Repugs and Dims has a place right there in a typical pack of industrial cigs. Big Oil, advertising, pesticides,paper and logging and pulp, chlorine, sugar, ag biz, Insurance, Investments, adhesives, mining (the fertilizers), pharmaceuticals...and even WASTE DISPOSAL. (One US- patented material that tyical cigs can be made of besides tobacco trash and a bunch of other non-tobacco substances is Municipal Paper Waste...nicely flavored, colored and scented and all. A cig could be all, or partly,trash...with a regulated shot of nicotine to keep uninformed, unprotected and insufficiently warned (to say the least) users coming back.

If there was a truly PUBLIC media, we'd know all of this YEARS ago.