we saw that...

halloween in san francisco

youtube description:

San Francisco Reclaiming's annual Halloween ritual brings together over a thousand people to dance the spiral of regeneration. A glimpse of a true Pagan ritual. Author Starhawk narrates.

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see also
daily express
vatican condemns 'dangerous' halloween
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video journal ouachita river flooding event heavy rainfall in alexandria, la

looks like kalb sent photojournalist bryant ferguson out to get some nice footage of the effects of todays heavy rainfall -- including around cloverleaf boulevard, in alexandria.

at the noon forecast, kalb weather babe, kari hall, breaks up the monotony (which is always nice) by giving viewers acid flashbacks.

UPDATED ouachita parish police jury declares a state of emergency for all of ouachita parish

gerald celente on ringside politics w/ jeff crouere

ouachita river levee bank cave-ins result in caldwell parish, la. being under a state of emergency

UPDATE:
30 october 2009 - ouachita parish police jury declares a state of emergency for the entire parish

• rapides parish under flash flood watch ...THE RAIN WILL BE COME TO AN END FROM WEST TO EAST EARLY SATURDAY MORNING
• lake wind advisory

click picture to enlargeimage courtesy google earth imagery date 24 november 2005

ten day forecast for columbia, la. kmlu reporting station
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Flash Flood Watch

stop valerie jarrett website / movement launches

www.stopjarrett.com

'snow' moose

via rense.com

These animals were photographed just north of the Wisconsin border on a highway near Marenisco , MI.

The odds of seeing an albino moose are astronomical and to see this in the upper peninsula of Michigan, near Wisconsin, is even greater than astronomical.

To see two of them together is nearly impossible.

We wanted to share these photos with as many people as possible because you will probably never have a chance to see this rare sight again.

This is a really special treat, so enjoy...more photos...

brad pitt drops his motorcycle

latest on balloon boy hoax

via google image search

city of alexandria, la's traffic roundabout praised

click picture to enlargeimage courtesy google earth imagery date 19 october 2005

mr. charles k. charrier, president of the historical association of central louisiana writes a nice letter (one page .pdf [13 kb]) to the editor in todays gannett/alexandria daily town talk about about some of the improvements made to the woodland within and the grounds around the south traffic circle.

speaker pelosi says that the commerce clause makes mandatory health care constitutional

cns news asked house speaker nancy pelosi to explain how the federal government can mandate everyone to purchase health care insurance and it be constitutional. cns news says that "pelosi dismissed the question by saying: 'are you serious? are you serious?'" before moving on to some other question.

later the speakers spokeswoman, nadeam elshami, answered some of cns news follow up questions by sending them a copy of one of the speaker's press releases from 16 september 2009 in which the speaker explained how the congress subject to article one section eight clause three of the constitution may mandate health care:

[T]he Constitution gives Congress broad power to regulate activities that have an effect on interstate commerce. Congress has used this authority to regulate many aspects of American life, from labor relations to education to health care to agricultural production. Since virtually every aspect of the heath care system has an effect on interstate commerce, the power of Congress to regulate health care is essentially unlimited.

flood advisory for the red river at alexandria, la.

red river alexandria, louisiana 19 october 2005 courtesy google earth

new cenla website: everythingcenla. com

www.everythingcenla.com

big boom at ft polk, la. today passed off as 'controlled blast'

this report isnt clear on whether it was a 2,500 pound bomb or a bomb equivalent to 2,500 sticks of dynamite exploded at fort polk, la today.

October 21, 2009

Loud boom was 'controlled blast' at Fort Polk

A loud boom heard by many Leesville residents early this afternoon, Oct. 21, was a controlled blast conducted at Range 19 on Fort Polk.

The blast consisted of a 2,500-pound demolition performed by the Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center.

Controlled blasts are planned events, and there was no danger to Leesville or Fort Polk residents, a Fort Polk news release said.. ~ gannett/the alexandria daily town talk

Scrambled jets cause sonic booms in Puget Sound-area

by KING 5 News and Associated Press

KING5.com

Posted on August 17, 2010 at 2:23 PM

Updated today at 5:08 PM

SEATTLE - Military fighter jets were scrambled to respond to an airspace violation near Air Force One in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon, causing sonic booms that scared residents throughout Western Washington.

North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman John Cornelio said the F15 jets were sent from Portland as the president was visiting Seattle after a report that an aircraft violated the restricted airspace. The small plane left the restricted air space before the jets arrived.

Pilot Lee Dailey and his passenger, Laura Joseph, were returning home after a weekend at Lake Chelan. They landed on Lake Washington in Kenmore.

"We just landed, sailed in here, nice and peaceful, pulled up to the dock and a guy came out and said I have some bad news for you guys," said Joseph. "Obama is in town and you guys violated the air space or something."

They reported that they saw jets as they flew between the Seattle area and the mountains, but said the jets didn't motion for them to land.

Once they landed, Dailey and Joseph were interviewed by the Secret Service. The Secret Service then spent about 90 mintues checking out the plane.

When the president is visiting there is a 10-mile radius from the center of Seattle and 18,000 feet up, where it is no-fly for commercial aircraft. Extended another 20 miles, to make it a 30-mile radius, there can be private air traffic if the pilot files a legitimate flight plan, if that person is in contact with air traffic control and if that person has the plane's transponder turned on.

There is no system for notifying private pilots about airspace restrictions. It's incumbent upon them to check to see if restrictions are in place.

911 call centers overloaded

Emergency agencies across Western Washington were flooded with calls from people who heard and felt a double boom about 1:50 p.m.

Residents in Pierce County ran from their homes.

"It shook my whole house," said Stephanie Walters of Lakewood.

"It rattled the whole house, the ground, everything," said Charlie Kuhn of Lakewood.

Det. Ed Troyer with the Pierce Co. Sheriff's Dept. said the 911 system was down via landlines in areas of Pierce County for a time and car and home alarms were set off by the booms.

KING 5 News was flooded with calls and e-mails from people who heard and felt the explosions. Many people reported that their homes shook.

The King County Sheriff's Office reported that about 300 calls came in to the 911 center. ~ source

health and human services sec'y kathleen sebelius seen sportin' 'the evil eye'

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www.drudgereportarchives.com
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memorandum re: investigations and prosecutions in states authorizing the medical use of marijuana .pdf

www.drudgereportarchives.com
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click here to download three page .pdf from the justice department website
or our copy here [3.8 mb]
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monday morning the justice department blog posted its much anticipated three page memo to all united states attorneys, the drug enforcement agency and federal bureau of investigation, detailing how the justice department will recognize states rights regarding the several states' medicinal marijuana law.

the feds while they do not relinquish any rights to investigate and prosecute marijuana offenses under current federal law, have determined that those (hopefully citizens only) who are honestly complying with state law are not worthy of using limited federal resources to investigate.

excerpt:

Typically, when any of the following characteristics is present, the conduct will not be in clear and unambiguous compliance with applicable state law and may indicate illegal drug trafficking activity of potential federal interest:

• unlawful possession or unlawful use of firearms;

• violence;

• sales to minors;

• financial and marketing activities inconsistent with the terms, conditions, or purposes of state law, including evidence of money laundering activity and/or financial gains or excessive amounts of cash inconsistent with purported compliance with state or local law;

• amounts of marijuana inconsistent with purported compliance with state or local law;

• illegal possession or sale of other controlled substances; or

• ties to other criminal enterprises.

[...]

Indeed, this memorandum does not alter in any way the Department's authority to enforce federal law, including laws prohibiting the manufacture, production, distribution, possession, or use of marijuana on federal property.

This guidance regarding resource allocation does not "legalize" marijuana or provide a legal defense to a violation of federal law, nor is it intended to create any privileges, benefits, or rights, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any individual, party or witness in any administrative, civil, or criminal matter.

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it seems that the ball is now in congress court. will they change federal law to be in harmony with the laws of the several states or will congress leave in place conflicting laws that the justice department is on record as saying are not worth enforcing?

in any event, it doesnt look like the medicinal marijuana issue is going to go away anytime soon. it shouldnt either because its an issue of states' rights and the states should fight the feds for control of everything.

if the feds blink on this then they will on other issues again and again. the objective is to destroy wickard v filburn and eventually a lot of other bad opinions and legal theory mumbo-jumbo.

in 2010 there will be even more medical marijuana law news -- according to the california sec'y of state ballot measure update there are three citizen ballot initiaves out gathering signatures in time to be on a 2010 ballot. supposedly at least one of the initiatives would make cannabis completely legal.

1374. (09-0022)
the tax, regulate, and control cannabis act of 2010.pdf
Changes California Law to Legalize, Regulate, and Tax Marijuana. Initiative Statute.
Circulation Deadline: 02/05/10 Signatures Required: 433,971

1377. (09-0024. Amdt. #1S)
regulate, control and tax cannabis act of 2010.pdf
Changes California Law to Legalize Marijuana and Allow It to Be Regulated and Taxed. Initiative Statute. Circulation Deadline: 02/18/10 Signatures Required: 433,971

1378. (09-0025)
common sense act of 2010. pdf
Changes California Law to Legalize, Regulate, and Tax Marijuana. Initiative Statute.
Circulation Deadline: 02/18/10 Signatures Required: 433,971

sunday, gannett/the shreveport times published a story "medical marijuana legislation growing throughout country." [.pdf]. in it, the reporter, melody brumble, informs us that since 1978 louisiana has had a mechanism in place to allow for marijuana prescriptions for glaucoma and cancer patients.

can you believe it? way back in 1978, louisiana was on the cutting edge of medicinal marijuana research.

despite dissolving the marijuana prescription review board in 1989, the legislature in 1991 added paralysis patients to the list of approved recipients.

however, no more action was ever taken by the state department of health and hospitals to promulgate rules and regulations to govern the issuing or filling of medicinal marijuana prescriptions.

then louisiana now sent us to this report in the houma paper about a california man, matthew zugsberger, who's upcoming criminal trial may set medicinal marijuana case law.

it seems mr. zugsberger has a valid california medicinal marijuana prescription. somehow he came to be in thibodaux louisiana on 19 june 2008 thats when he was arrested. his more than two pounds of prescribed medication seized and he was charged with violation of RS 40:966 possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

The question posed in Zugsberger’s case is one of "first impression" in Louisiana, his attorney Jerri Smitko of Houma wrote in a memorandum to Judge LeBlanc. The term "first impression" means that a case asks a legal question that a state’s courts have not previously ruled upon.

the story leaves a lot of unanswered questions like how did mr. zugsberger come to be arrested in the first place? also is mr. zugsberger some kind of medicinal marijuana activist? the houma paper mentioned that he has pulled a similar stunt in king county, washington. according to the houma paper mr. zugsberger won that case.

houma todays follow up report "medical-marijuana case set for trial in lafourche parish" clarifies a few things, but also goes a step further than the gannett/shreveport times by sending us to La. RS 40:1046:

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RS 40:1046
PART X-E. THERAPEUTIC USE OF MARIJUANA
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it turns out that louisiana's medicinal marijuana law is still on the books. it just needs to be updated.

mr. zugsberger's attorney, ms. smitko, seems to think that her client's innocence under R.S. 40:966 (the statute he's charged with violating) stems from part C where the law states:

Possession. It is unlawful for any person knowingly or intentionally to possess a controlled dangerous substance classified in Schedule I unless such substance was obtained directly, or pursuant to a valid prescription or order, from a practitioner...

then it sends you over to R.S. 40:978 dealing with prescriptions law. neither 40:966 or 40:978 say that a prescription must be issued by a louisiana doctor.

interestingly, the first assistant district attorney, mr. joe soignet is maintaining that mr. zugsberger is in violation of the law hence guilty of possession with intent to distribute under RS 40:1046 the medicinal marijuana law itself -- because it does call for a louisiana doctor's prescription.

what a conundrum. what about whether or not louisiana blanketly honors out of state medical prescriptions?

judge leblanc set the trial date for 22 march 2010 after denying mr. zugsberger's motion to dismiss. ms. smitko plans to appeal to the first circuit court of appeal and we should be able to learn more about the case when their opinion is posted, which probably wont be until after the first of the year or sometime after mr. zugsberger's trial.

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north american industrial hemp council
madison, wisconsin
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watch on larger screen from the internet archive
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this 1942 film "hemp for victory" produced by the u.s. department of agriculture and shown to farmers to encourage them into farming industrial hemp in support of the war effort.

as the video shows, industrial hemp is especially important to not only the naval service but to all branches of the military.

hemp is also used to make long lasting canvas clothing, textiles, paper and hi-quality products like that fire hose and even entire houses. it can be used for biodegradable plastics, health food and fuel.

we dont know if louisiana farmers are interested in planting industrial hemp or even if it will grow in louisiana -- since the agriculture department video seemed to focus on kentucky, part of wisconsin, missouri and the midwest - nebraska -- however, they should have the option of planting and marketing industrial hemp if they want.
with the port of new orleans they could ship it right on out to market.

there are several small ethanol plants in louisiana like the one near pollock in grant parish. its possible that they could produce and market hemp fuel. its the original diesel fuel.

look at all the food that can be made from hemp. shouldnt louisiana producers like zapps potato chips or any other that so desire, restaurateurs, chefs, be given an opportunity produce and market hemp food?

it looks like there could be lots of potential jobs in no telling how many different fields in industrial hemp production.

is the louisiana legislature really interested in asserting states rights or was SCR 2 just a bunch of baloney?

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related posts

attorney general eric holder: doj to comply with state law and president obama's campaign promises and stop medicinal marijuana dispensary raids

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see also the
marijuana label
in the footer of this post
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u.s. district court judge clay d. land's order of sanction against orly taitz

election returns faircloth v clark for state supreme court dist #4

28,521 (53%)------------ CLARK
25,495 (47%)------ FAIRCLOTH

693 CLARK WINS!

louisiana supreme court building - edward douglas white statue
image and more info courtesy flickr

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jimmy faircloth vs marcus clark
louisiana sec'y of state unofficial election results inquiry for date 17 october 2009

gannett puffs jimmy faircloth one last time

late thursday evening (15 october2009) gannett's alexandria, la. property the town talk posted a story out of monroe by johnny gunter the story was credited to gannett louisiana news.

we didnt know until friday morning that the story had apparently been thursday morning news in monroe.

that thursday evening 15 october story was originally captioned "faircloth agrees to drop reference of 'sanction' regarding finding." [click here for two page .pdf 15 kb] in this report gannett would have us believe that the judicial campaign oversight committee chairman meekly asked mr. faircloth "to stop referring to a ruling it made sept. 24 as a sanction against 4th district judge marcus clark." to which mr. faircloth gallantly agreed. it also gave mr. faircloth the opportunity to remind us all again about judge clark's inability to be ethical, blah,blah,blah.

by friday night however, the article had morphed into "faircloth drops 'sanction' reference, while campaign ads for clark still use it" [click here to download two page .pdf 21 kb]. the trick here is to implant into your mind that jimmy faircloth is complying with the judicial campaign ethics law and so forth while judge clark remains unethical...as usual.

judge clark has been put through the meat-grinder, for sure, but he deserves it though. he is a classic usurper and rino.

according to campaign literature paid for by the committee to elect jimmy faircloth that we picked up somewhere yesterday, under marcus clark's political party it says "lifelong democrat before switching parties to run for this race." sure thats from a faircloth ad and we have to assume that its been vetted and true and it goes back to marcus clark's ethics. is there hardly anything worse than a politician who switches parties because it's politically expedient? how can you trust someone like that? if they were honest wouldnt they would switch to independent or no party. democrat, republican they're just brands for repugnant politicians to wear dependent on which one we consumers are buying at the moment.

so dont worry about judge clark he'll be fine. the story here is about the media. see how a media monolith like gannett which controls probably two-thirds of louisiana state news and especially the news in this supreme court district can and does use its properties to shape the news and opinion while leaving out real news and information. thats not only wrong, its criminal.

the members of the louisiana judicial campaign oversight committee according to this undated fifty page [382 kb] .pdf about the judicial campaign oversight committee posted from the state supreme court website.

c.b. forgotston smacks down 'wayne from alexandria'

link to audio page

we missed the moon griffon program yesterday. according to this clip they were discussing the latest public statement to come out of the judiciary oversight committee -- the 24 september letter -- concerning the race for louisiana supreme court dist #4 seat between jimmy faircloth of pineville and judge marcus clark from monroe.

they might have also been talking about this news story by johnny gunter, which wasnt posted to gannett's alexandria paper the town talk until sometime later thursday evening.

in any event, mr. griffon phoned mr. forgotston because he's an attorney to explain the matter.

so today 'wayne from alexandria' phones in. first he admits that he didnt catch but the tail-end of the show and apparently had left a nasty voice mail about mr. forgotston on mr. griffon's phone that he apologizes for.

apparently referring to yesterdays segment with mr. forgotston, he starts in on the "misleading information on the radio." then we have to go all back through the various sanctions or opinions or whatever, regarding judge clark's inability to be ethical. "judge clark was definitely sanctioned. there were five reasons for that...for willful failure to perform his duty and on and on." yeah on and on.

by this time 'ol ryan was really blowin'-n-goin' -- one tidbit he let slip out was that it was him and "cenla gopac" who filed the complaint against judge clark.

one thing we did agree with 'ryan' about was his reference to one of judge clark's television commercials. the one we call "unethical politicians for marcus clark" where william norris a retired chief judge from the second circuit court of appeal put his arm around clark's shoulder in what ryan described as "one of the courthouse gang comes on and says 'when he was a little boy he got sanctioned and shouldnt hold that against him." that was pretty funny.

a few minutes later mr. forgotston phones in and insists that the misrepresentation that he was referring to yesterday was on the part of mr. faircloth. mr. forgotston says that ryan "is trying to obfuscate the issues."

HOAX colorado boy aged 6 floats away in a balloon

www.drudgereportarchives.com

That all ended at about 4 p.m. when Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden was in the middle of a news conference and was told the boy had been found safe. "He's at the house," Alderden said. An investigator said the boy had apparently been in the attic the whole time.

Neighbor Bob Licko said he was leaving home when he heard commotion in the backyard of the family. He said he saw two boys on the roof with a camera, commenting about their brother. "One of the boys yelled to me that his brother was way up in the air," Licko said.

The balloon was owned by the boy's parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, and tethered behind the house. cbs4denver

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marcus clark kalb interview

more later...

louisiana state university at alexandria 50th anniversary year celebration kicks-off

2010 is the 50th anniversary of the founding of lsua. to get the commemorative year started, lsua's art department led by professor roy deville in collaboration with the louisiana history museum and its director dale genius, have put together a 'vintage photographic exhibit of historic public buildings in rapides parish.'

the exhibit will open friday, 23 october 2009, with a reception in the lsua university gallery, located in the west wing of the student center. see lsua general information ten page .pdf. [170 kb].

the reception is from 6 pm to 8 pm. an informal concert of piano music will be presented from 6 - 6:30. at 6:30 louisiana history museum director dale genius will conduct a thirty minute gallery talk.

the event is free and open to the public.

for more information contact the louisiana history museum, 503 washington st., downtown alexandria, la. at telephone 318-487-8556 and visit its website at www.louisianahistorymuseum.org.