So, marijuana is legal to grow in your state. This is a guide to
teach you about organic marijuana cultivation in less than five thousand
words.
Modern gardening practices are arduous; much more
than they need be. On the other hand, organic gardening is effortless and requires no particular
body strength, nor need there be any exposure to harmful toxins that professional cultivators incorporate.
By and large, the most arduous task of your upcoming marijuana grow is reading this piece.
Your Plot
If you plan to grow outdoor, the first thing not
to do is ravage your plot with a rototiller. Some idiot over 200 years
ago began turning soil, releasing carbon dioxide and exposing microbial
life to harmful ultraviolet rays. Talk about thick as a brick - this
practice of tilling soil became an international standard for plot
preparation, and for centuries now cultivators have embraced the
technique as the norm.
Dr. Elaine Ingham, a soil biologist,
had proven in 2004 there exists a network known as a food chain that
exists beneath our soil. These consist of bacteria, fungi, protozoa,
nematodes and the like you learned about in biology class. These,
together with microanthropods, support each other in a dog-eat-dog
environment much like our animal kingdom. Gases are trapped beneath soil
for a reason: these life forms require carbon dioxide as much as living
plants do. Yet, plants through photosynthesis are easily able to absorb
what it needs through foliage. On the other hand, soil life cannot
replace what was carelessly released through tilling.
A
prospective plot may have existing vegetation or be overgrown with
weeds, which is just fine. To prepare our plot will take months, so
begin staking out your garden during the winter.
To prepare,
cover the plot with a waterproof tarp, one that will also block sun
from penetrating. Blocking water and sun causes all vegetation to die
and eventually compost. Meanwhile, microanthropods and beneficial
microbes will continue to grow into a soil food web that, when ready,
shall become a robust network to benefit your plants.
Once
time has rendered the plot surface bare and devoid of any plant life or
weeds, it is ready to grow plants. It is important to begin growing your
desired plants immediately after removing the covering, as exposure to
sun and water will allow undesired weeds to return. (At the end of the
growing season, plot should again be covered to prevent weeds from
returning and preserve the plot for the following grow season).
In
a healthy garden, weeds will return only sporadically; once the plants
are settled into the soil food chain, the microbial network will serve
the plants and not undesirable weeds. Therefore, it is important to
maintain your garden as though every beneficial microbe counts. Do not
practice any gardening techniques that destroy microbial life.
Amended Soil
The
best way to begin your plot is by purchasing soil and amendments, and
spreading the medium over your bare plot. This will allow the topsoil to
absorb and eventually take in all of the new medium, as if it were very
slow quicksand.
The medium you provide can be the key to
explosive growth. Soil amendments can include anything organic, such as
crushed sea shells, green sand, vermicompost and bio char. The more
diverse your soil amendments are, the more successful your garden will
be.
Actively Aerated Compost Tea
Next,
inoculate your garden by brewing and applying an actively aerated
compost tea. This concoction will include a billion beneficial bacteria
and fungi that will supercharge the soil food web of microorganisms
beneath, providing a fresh source of workers and food to stimulate the
entire chain. Additionally, the tea recipe can add new types of
beneficial bacteria or fungi not already present in the soil, thereby
replacing something that should already have be there. The first
application of tea to your garden is called inoculation, and once this
is done, you have a proper microbial garden.
However, to
maintain your microbial garden in it's current supercharged state, you
must take steps to prevent from destroying the abundant life you have so
carefully preserved. Keep in mind that pesticides and fertilizers of
any kind are destructive to these organic life, and should be used in
moderation. Fertilizer application should be followed up with aerated
compost tea application, sending in more troops to handle the onslaught
of dumped nutrients. Tea applications will not only prevent salt build
up or nutrient lock, but foliar application will also fortify natural
plant resistances to aphids and mold.
Pesticides, on the
other hand, are contrary to our gardening practices; they
indiscriminately kill off microbial life, leaving foliage susceptible to
pests and disease. It is best not to use pesticides of any kind.
Water Source
Proper
water is needed to support a microbial garden. Municipal water sources
include chlorine and chlorides which destroy microbial life; therefore
these chemicals must be reduced as much as possible. Reverse osmosis
water filters remove chlorine, but do little to rid water of chloride
content. Allowing your plant water to sit in an open container for a day
permits the natural release of chlorides.
Aeration is
important for your water in that it keeps the oxygen level high.
Aeration also helps with the release of chlorides. Water should be kept
at plant temperature, not warm nor incredibly cold. Water temperature
can shock your plants, and shocking plants on regular watering cycles
can be detrimental to a healthy plant microbiome.
As science advances our understanding of the human body and it's microbiome, botanists too study the plant microbiome.
As
has been proven for human life, I suggest that plants have carefully
balanced microbiomes that can suffer from irregularities as much as
humans do: inconsistent watering and light cycles will produce an
unhealthy plant.
Planting
Before you
drop your clone into the hole, be sure to toss in a measure of
mycorrhizal crystals, as these are beneficial fungi that boost root
growth and can have a huge impact on your start.
By adhering
strictly to these practices, anyone can become an expert grower and
produce a superior crop to any "professional cultivator" who still uses
pesticides and soil tilling techniques.
And by understanding the mechanics of soil biology, we gain a step further than the modern grower - who abide by bottled products and feeding schedules - having not a clue to as to how the engine works.
Quite honestly, organic gardening is also cheap. Actively aerated compost tea can be brewed for less than $1.50 per application, and by citicide (killing off the use of -cides), one can stop harming the wallet as well.
And yes, there is an increase in yield. Otherwise, why do it?
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Rhesus Monkey Marijuana Death: 40 Years Later, A Tribute
If we had a name for the rhesus monkey who died in a critical 1974 cannabis study for the U.S. government, then we could at the very least pay homage to the only mammal in history to die under the auspices of marijuana overdose.
Let's call this rhesus monkey - for the sake of this story - Herb.
In 1974, a Health/Tulane University study proclaimed that Herb received 30 joints a day for a year and had died, citing severe brain damage.
This was debunked in 1980 after NORML and Playboy sued the government over research procedures that led to such conclusion.
"The monkeys were suffocating...Three to five minutes of oxygen deprivation causes brain damage...
With the concentration of smoke used, the monkeys were a bit like a person running the engine of a car in a locked garage for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time every day.
The Heath Monkey study was actually a study in animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning". Link
Poor Herb, our marijuana-toking brother.
Herb, the rhesus monkey, will go down in as the highest mammal in history of the world.
But would he also go down as the smartest monkey in history, too?
"Heath killed the half-dead monkeys, opened their brains, counted the dead brain cells, and then took control monkeys, who hadn’t smoked marijuana, killed them too, and counted their brain cells. The pot smoking monkeys had enormous amounts of dead brain cells as compared to the “straight” monkeys. Link
Now we have scientific proof that cannabis use stimulates brain cell growth.
"Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon found that the administration of synthetic cannabinoids in rats stimulated the proliferation of newborn neurons (nerve cells) in the hippocampus region of the brain". Link
"The recent discovery that the hippocampus is able to generate new neurons (i.e., neurogenesis) throughout the lifespan of mammals, including humans, has changed the way we think about the mechanisms...of drug addiction " link
***
Speaking for myself, the death of Herb to substantiate why I should not smoke pot is one of the most heinous acts the U.S. government has ever perpetrated against my health and well being - when in fact cannabis does quite the opposite.
My government is trying to keep me in a state of unhealthiness, and I will not have it.
I've often wondered why I am so cerebral, while I puff on marijuana everyday of my life. I compare myself to people around me, family, friends, co-workers and casual acquaintances. I smoke substantially more than the next person, by a far cry.
Yet, of all the people I know, I am the only creative writer; not one single person I know has any desire to wordsmith.
But for some reason, it had never hit me that I am not any less intelligent than others around me, nor witty, nor creative, nor critical in my thinking. As a pot smoker, it was easy for me to accept that I am just plain 'normal'.
Yet I am not. I have an elevated sense of my surroundings; I have deep connections with people, even if I just met them; I have uncanny perception; I am strongly empathic; and I have an undying thirst for knowledge, just to scratch the surface.
However, my strongest suit is my empathic ability, and when it comes to a smoking brother, Herb, who died 40 years ago in a government laboratory trying to prove cannabis is unsafe - thanks, my man, for taking one for the team.
Sources:
1. http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/chapter-fifteen/
2. http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/cannabis-and-the-brain-a-user-s-guide
3. http://www.truthonpot.com/2013/07/13/scientists-discover-another-way-marijuana-helps-the-brain-grow/
Let's call this rhesus monkey - for the sake of this story - Herb.
In 1974, a Health/Tulane University study proclaimed that Herb received 30 joints a day for a year and had died, citing severe brain damage.
This was debunked in 1980 after NORML and Playboy sued the government over research procedures that led to such conclusion.
"The monkeys were suffocating...Three to five minutes of oxygen deprivation causes brain damage...
With the concentration of smoke used, the monkeys were a bit like a person running the engine of a car in a locked garage for 5, 10, 15 minutes at a time every day.
The Heath Monkey study was actually a study in animal asphyxiation and carbon monoxide poisoning". Link
Poor Herb, our marijuana-toking brother.
Herb, the rhesus monkey, will go down in as the highest mammal in history of the world.
But would he also go down as the smartest monkey in history, too?
"Heath killed the half-dead monkeys, opened their brains, counted the dead brain cells, and then took control monkeys, who hadn’t smoked marijuana, killed them too, and counted their brain cells. The pot smoking monkeys had enormous amounts of dead brain cells as compared to the “straight” monkeys. Link
Now we have scientific proof that cannabis use stimulates brain cell growth.
"Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon found that the administration of synthetic cannabinoids in rats stimulated the proliferation of newborn neurons (nerve cells) in the hippocampus region of the brain". Link
"The recent discovery that the hippocampus is able to generate new neurons (i.e., neurogenesis) throughout the lifespan of mammals, including humans, has changed the way we think about the mechanisms...of drug addiction " link
***
Speaking for myself, the death of Herb to substantiate why I should not smoke pot is one of the most heinous acts the U.S. government has ever perpetrated against my health and well being - when in fact cannabis does quite the opposite.
My government is trying to keep me in a state of unhealthiness, and I will not have it.
I've often wondered why I am so cerebral, while I puff on marijuana everyday of my life. I compare myself to people around me, family, friends, co-workers and casual acquaintances. I smoke substantially more than the next person, by a far cry.
Yet, of all the people I know, I am the only creative writer; not one single person I know has any desire to wordsmith.
But for some reason, it had never hit me that I am not any less intelligent than others around me, nor witty, nor creative, nor critical in my thinking. As a pot smoker, it was easy for me to accept that I am just plain 'normal'.
Yet I am not. I have an elevated sense of my surroundings; I have deep connections with people, even if I just met them; I have uncanny perception; I am strongly empathic; and I have an undying thirst for knowledge, just to scratch the surface.
However, my strongest suit is my empathic ability, and when it comes to a smoking brother, Herb, who died 40 years ago in a government laboratory trying to prove cannabis is unsafe - thanks, my man, for taking one for the team.
Sources:
1. http://www.jackherer.com/thebook/chapter-fifteen/
2. http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/cannabis-and-the-brain-a-user-s-guide
3. http://www.truthonpot.com/2013/07/13/scientists-discover-another-way-marijuana-helps-the-brain-grow/
Monday, September 22, 2014
Mother Should I Build A Wall
Even in the most progressive cities across the U.S., it's still quite
easy to find ignorant mothers who just want to shield their children
from the growing cultural acceptance of marijuana in their communities
(Oregonian 9/21).
Ignorance - a strong word - identifies a certain group of people who, for their own prejudices, feel entitled to speak out against the legalization/decriminalization/ recreationalizing of cannabis as an alternative.
Their voice on the matter is null and void because it does not affect them. They don't use cannabis and have a willful purpose in life to stand against it no matter what: and this is because they don't care to understand the growing body of research that supports cannabis use. And why should they?
A Right To Legitimate Business
The fact is, Pot Shops are merchants, and like it or not, they join the same communities that are already congested with other merchants who peddle wares like hard liquor, beer, wine, cigarettes, snuff, vapor pens, hooka lounges, strip clubs and porno.
Did I forget to mention bars, pubs, saloons and ale houses? Also, Portland - as the micro-brew capital of the world - hosts over 60 microbreweries in the metropolitan area alone. It almost seems like most Portland moms against legalization of pot are actually just drunks with an axe to grind.
We Oregonians celebrate Oktoberfest by way of festivals, and we certainly don't limit beer sampling to the month of October. Portland seems to host drinking festivals once a month somewhere, sometime, in some kind of unique glass.
Dare we shield our children from an entire riverfront of drunks? Nope, we bring home that souvenir beer glass, the only thing aside from a massive hangover. It's a trophy we place in our cupboards for everyday use, up until it breaks. That custom festival glass had once contained intoxicants and an evening of true hedonism was explored - because this is a legal and exotic thing to do.
In fact, alcohol consumption in America is so culturally acceptable that to most it is regarded a civil right. And while virtually no real group opposes alcohol as legal substance to imbibe, there are no legal alternatives for recreational use.
No legal alternatives to alcohol is the crux of the matter.
Mother Will They Drop The Bomb?
Mothers raise their children to demonize what the government condemns. The Feds have condemned marijuana from Reefer Madness to present. Mothers toes the line.
Mothers, your children, they are beautiful, successful, righteous even. But they are violent, are they not? Your pot-hating children usually go on to military service, or college football, law enforcement, corrections officers, security, civil servants or even emergency services. We are so proud of your honorable children, they are the backbone to our society; they provide mental and physical labors that are contrary to what marijuana use fosters.
Marijuana consumption promotes camaraderie, hosts free-thinking and inhibits aggression. These are the very three effects that run contrary to the way these services and leagues operate. A stoned defensive back would get beat to his quarterback, law enforcement would not combat crime as effectively, and the U.S. Military, well...they would laugh in your face.
But let's not play down the true effects if these people were able to partake: NFL players would mitigate their opiate intake, officers would beat and kill less people, and the U.S. Military would reduce their suicide rate by at least half.
Reflecting Compassion as a Voter
Marijuana has been proven to reduce the amount of brain cells destroyed by an evening of binge drinking by up to 40%. Tell that to people who only drink and fear marijuana. This principal pertains to the large group who could partake in marijuana but choose not to. These are naysayers who - possibly by their upbringing, military service or moral standards - have never considered cannabis an alternative for recreational substance.
These are voters who - by lack of compassion for others - have zero moral ground to vote no. They may abstain, but in the end, a no vote on marijuana in any community, city or state goes on your conscience.
Marijuana intensifies the effects of all others drugs and intoxicants, including alcohol. Don't those fancy drinks cost a bit? As a drinker, one would typically need up to a third less alcohol to reach an inebriated state when consuming marijuana. Most profound is that patients who use opiates to control pain have been able to reduce opiate dosages up to 70% when incorporating marijuana in their medication regiment. The significance of this is that during a 70 marijuana prohibition, patients the world over have been over-prescribed opiates - and millions of overdose deaths have resulted - when drug policy puts politics before people.
The American Disability Act of 1964
Over 50 years ago Congress passed the ADA. This gave unconditional rights to the handicapped, the disabled, the elderly. Of these rights came access, in the form of reserved storefront parking spaces. Without the ADA, these groups would not have their rights. Left to the states, 1964 certainly lacked a majority of compassionate voters.
Fifty years later, the mentally disabled need their rights, too - a right to a powerful plant that has no less that 150 amazing uses and treatments - a plant that we may one day prove contains all the secrets to leading a happy and full life.
But left to voters across red and blue states, here in 21st century we still see a disproportionate group of voters who lack compassion for their fellow human being.
If the ADA were left to these voters today, the disabled would not have their parking spaces.
In this light, how can anyone really oppose marijuana legalization?
Ignorance - a strong word - identifies a certain group of people who, for their own prejudices, feel entitled to speak out against the legalization/decriminalization/ recreationalizing of cannabis as an alternative.
Their voice on the matter is null and void because it does not affect them. They don't use cannabis and have a willful purpose in life to stand against it no matter what: and this is because they don't care to understand the growing body of research that supports cannabis use. And why should they?
A Right To Legitimate Business
The fact is, Pot Shops are merchants, and like it or not, they join the same communities that are already congested with other merchants who peddle wares like hard liquor, beer, wine, cigarettes, snuff, vapor pens, hooka lounges, strip clubs and porno.
Did I forget to mention bars, pubs, saloons and ale houses? Also, Portland - as the micro-brew capital of the world - hosts over 60 microbreweries in the metropolitan area alone. It almost seems like most Portland moms against legalization of pot are actually just drunks with an axe to grind.
We Oregonians celebrate Oktoberfest by way of festivals, and we certainly don't limit beer sampling to the month of October. Portland seems to host drinking festivals once a month somewhere, sometime, in some kind of unique glass.
Dare we shield our children from an entire riverfront of drunks? Nope, we bring home that souvenir beer glass, the only thing aside from a massive hangover. It's a trophy we place in our cupboards for everyday use, up until it breaks. That custom festival glass had once contained intoxicants and an evening of true hedonism was explored - because this is a legal and exotic thing to do.
In fact, alcohol consumption in America is so culturally acceptable that to most it is regarded a civil right. And while virtually no real group opposes alcohol as legal substance to imbibe, there are no legal alternatives for recreational use.
No legal alternatives to alcohol is the crux of the matter.
Mother Will They Drop The Bomb?
Mothers raise their children to demonize what the government condemns. The Feds have condemned marijuana from Reefer Madness to present. Mothers toes the line.
Mothers, your children, they are beautiful, successful, righteous even. But they are violent, are they not? Your pot-hating children usually go on to military service, or college football, law enforcement, corrections officers, security, civil servants or even emergency services. We are so proud of your honorable children, they are the backbone to our society; they provide mental and physical labors that are contrary to what marijuana use fosters.
Marijuana consumption promotes camaraderie, hosts free-thinking and inhibits aggression. These are the very three effects that run contrary to the way these services and leagues operate. A stoned defensive back would get beat to his quarterback, law enforcement would not combat crime as effectively, and the U.S. Military, well...they would laugh in your face.
But let's not play down the true effects if these people were able to partake: NFL players would mitigate their opiate intake, officers would beat and kill less people, and the U.S. Military would reduce their suicide rate by at least half.
Reflecting Compassion as a Voter
Marijuana has been proven to reduce the amount of brain cells destroyed by an evening of binge drinking by up to 40%. Tell that to people who only drink and fear marijuana. This principal pertains to the large group who could partake in marijuana but choose not to. These are naysayers who - possibly by their upbringing, military service or moral standards - have never considered cannabis an alternative for recreational substance.
These are voters who - by lack of compassion for others - have zero moral ground to vote no. They may abstain, but in the end, a no vote on marijuana in any community, city or state goes on your conscience.
Marijuana intensifies the effects of all others drugs and intoxicants, including alcohol. Don't those fancy drinks cost a bit? As a drinker, one would typically need up to a third less alcohol to reach an inebriated state when consuming marijuana. Most profound is that patients who use opiates to control pain have been able to reduce opiate dosages up to 70% when incorporating marijuana in their medication regiment. The significance of this is that during a 70 marijuana prohibition, patients the world over have been over-prescribed opiates - and millions of overdose deaths have resulted - when drug policy puts politics before people.
The American Disability Act of 1964
Over 50 years ago Congress passed the ADA. This gave unconditional rights to the handicapped, the disabled, the elderly. Of these rights came access, in the form of reserved storefront parking spaces. Without the ADA, these groups would not have their rights. Left to the states, 1964 certainly lacked a majority of compassionate voters.
Fifty years later, the mentally disabled need their rights, too - a right to a powerful plant that has no less that 150 amazing uses and treatments - a plant that we may one day prove contains all the secrets to leading a happy and full life.
But left to voters across red and blue states, here in 21st century we still see a disproportionate group of voters who lack compassion for their fellow human being.
If the ADA were left to these voters today, the disabled would not have their parking spaces.
In this light, how can anyone really oppose marijuana legalization?
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Oregon GMO Labeling: This Time It's Personal
It amazes me how an editorial board - who happen to be in the information business - can actually fit such a huge foot in their mouth (Congress likely to settle GMO food labeling dispute, Oregonian 7/21).
Food labeling provide essential information about the contents, including nutritional value, which in the U.S. are reflected as percentages of vitamins and minerals of whole ingredients and/or percentages of daily supplements.
The set of nutritional tables we presently read on the back of our food products were produced during World War II era, which is to say that our tables are based on eighty year old science. Don't look for GMO reference on Wikipedia - some of the most reputable sources contain misinformation.
Genetically Modified Foods contain only a small fraction of nutrients, suffering severe deficiencies while producing chemicals that scientists decided can help ward off pests and disease. Not only are these food products devoid of any real nutritional content, they also taste terrible. For instance, corn that taste like Styrofoam is actually very close to that: plant cellulose, low on nutritional content, high in frankenstein-like plant-produced chemicals.
Now GMO labeling requirements are the last battlefront food producers face because it would eventually lead to revised nutritional tables, pointing out wide discrepancies in GMO value versus unmodified, organically grown food.
The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, pending House legislation introduced by Mike Pompeo (R) KS and G.K. Butterfield (D) NC. is exactly the opposite of what it sounds like: it would prohibit states from mandating labels for genetically engineered foods.
The Oregonian editorial board suggestively supports this bill. This is casting a blind eye to valuable future information, much like forgetting how to file a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request.
Editorial boards are not tasked with investigative journalism, but considering the influence they wield through readership, the opinions expressed should at the very least be based on responsible journalism.
Food labeling provide essential information about the contents, including nutritional value, which in the U.S. are reflected as percentages of vitamins and minerals of whole ingredients and/or percentages of daily supplements.
The set of nutritional tables we presently read on the back of our food products were produced during World War II era, which is to say that our tables are based on eighty year old science. Don't look for GMO reference on Wikipedia - some of the most reputable sources contain misinformation.
Genetically Modified Foods contain only a small fraction of nutrients, suffering severe deficiencies while producing chemicals that scientists decided can help ward off pests and disease. Not only are these food products devoid of any real nutritional content, they also taste terrible. For instance, corn that taste like Styrofoam is actually very close to that: plant cellulose, low on nutritional content, high in frankenstein-like plant-produced chemicals.
Now GMO labeling requirements are the last battlefront food producers face because it would eventually lead to revised nutritional tables, pointing out wide discrepancies in GMO value versus unmodified, organically grown food.
The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, pending House legislation introduced by Mike Pompeo (R) KS and G.K. Butterfield (D) NC. is exactly the opposite of what it sounds like: it would prohibit states from mandating labels for genetically engineered foods.
The Oregonian editorial board suggestively supports this bill. This is casting a blind eye to valuable future information, much like forgetting how to file a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request.
Editorial boards are not tasked with investigative journalism, but considering the influence they wield through readership, the opinions expressed should at the very least be based on responsible journalism.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Sticking It To Congress: Saving The Post Office With Marijuana
In 2006, a republican-dominant congress passed a bill that G.W. Bush would sign into law, requiring The United States Postal Service provide health care, retiree benefits and pensions to it's 600,000 work force. At the time the USPS was running "in the red", a mere 2 million annually.
But the package congress wrote mandated a program - pre Obamacare - that pushed them not 2 million a year in the red - but 2.2 billion a year. In fact, one might wonder if the 109th congress actually signed the bill in red ink.
Clearly, when Congress "hamstrung" the United States Postal Service with a annual $2 billion 'financial obligation', the ultimate demise of our traditional mail system was their intention.
As deputy postmaster general Ronald Stroman points out (Some Postal Pains 8/21 Oregonian), "the Postal Service is looking for ways to extract new sources of revenue from it's national delivery system".
It may seem like an unlikely alliance, but Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is a proponent of allowing the Postal Service to deliver beer and wine, could instead lobby the Obama Administration to allow the USPS to deliver medicinal marijuana in all 21 states including the District.
If Obama were really concerned with all of the issues legal marijuana has spawned, he would not focus his attention solely on dispensary banking, but to also include protections for the people who we have been changing the law to accommodate: the consumer, the patient, the client.
It is the client that is left holding the bag when it comes to transporting legal marijuana in the U.S. If marijuana is in the vehicle and alcohol is present on the driver's breath, nearly every single state have laws that categorize these conditions as an open-shut D.U.I. conviction. Transporting marijuana - as a medicine - is not safe anywhere.
By permitting marijuana USPS delivery service, such exclusively generated revenue could conceivably propel the Postal Service into a manageable portfolio - and quite possibly defy congressional condemnation.
But the package congress wrote mandated a program - pre Obamacare - that pushed them not 2 million a year in the red - but 2.2 billion a year. In fact, one might wonder if the 109th congress actually signed the bill in red ink.
Clearly, when Congress "hamstrung" the United States Postal Service with a annual $2 billion 'financial obligation', the ultimate demise of our traditional mail system was their intention.
As deputy postmaster general Ronald Stroman points out (Some Postal Pains 8/21 Oregonian), "the Postal Service is looking for ways to extract new sources of revenue from it's national delivery system".
It may seem like an unlikely alliance, but Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., who is a proponent of allowing the Postal Service to deliver beer and wine, could instead lobby the Obama Administration to allow the USPS to deliver medicinal marijuana in all 21 states including the District.
If Obama were really concerned with all of the issues legal marijuana has spawned, he would not focus his attention solely on dispensary banking, but to also include protections for the people who we have been changing the law to accommodate: the consumer, the patient, the client.
It is the client that is left holding the bag when it comes to transporting legal marijuana in the U.S. If marijuana is in the vehicle and alcohol is present on the driver's breath, nearly every single state have laws that categorize these conditions as an open-shut D.U.I. conviction. Transporting marijuana - as a medicine - is not safe anywhere.
By permitting marijuana USPS delivery service, such exclusively generated revenue could conceivably propel the Postal Service into a manageable portfolio - and quite possibly defy congressional condemnation.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Montana Ruling Trips Up Main Stream Media
If a court makes a ruling in the backwoods and no one willing to talk, is it still a ruling?
Main stream media (MSM) refuses to report on Montana's home run hit in the ninth ending with two outs and runners in scoring position. If you belong to the 99%, I take great pleasure in revealing the game ball we call Democracy that went bounding over the park fence.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld a ban on direct corporate spending in political campaigns, rejecting Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling on Friday December 30, the last working day of 2011.
In the case of Montana, or more accurately its voters, "clearly had a compelling interest to enact the challenged statute in 1912,” wrote Chief Justice Mike McGrath for the Court’s the majority opinion. At that time the State of Montana and its government were operating under a mere shell of legal authority, and the real social and political power was wielded by powerful corporate managers to further their own business interests.
Yet, as with the Nationl Defense Authorization Act, the news falls on deaf ears, if you to listen to network television in America. All news channels talking heads primarily focused discussion on Iowa Caucus news, prefering to dance on lethal topics like abortion and dead issues as a Newt Gingrich presidential bid. Incredibly, what was left from discussion was the indefinate detention of citizens without trial or - as in this case - an unprecedented lower court ruling thrown like a log onto a fire at the beginning of election week.
As of Tuesday, January 3rd 2012, hits for 'Montana Supreme Court' in the last 7 days of news revealed only one reputable publication, The Raw Story, having bothered to cover the ruling. Other hits turned up bloggers on alter.net and a handful of assorted links. Virtually all hits carried an identical lead in, sadly indicating the same story was copied over with very little re-write.
If corporations are people, as the U.S. Supreme court tells us they are, then are corporations not silencing the very people who work for them? Is this not an aspect of discrimination that the Robert's Supreme court has overlooked?
Bloggers are one rung below website news outlets and - because they can type more than 140 characters -one rung higher than tweets. But because bloggers are free of advertising - as such revenue even websites are dependent - they are not bound to influence the end story to please an editor.
In fact, simply because the vacuum of truth compels them, bloggers are charged as curators of modern history, lest main stream media erase truth from record permanently.
Main stream media (MSM) refuses to report on Montana's home run hit in the ninth ending with two outs and runners in scoring position. If you belong to the 99%, I take great pleasure in revealing the game ball we call Democracy that went bounding over the park fence.
The Montana Supreme Court upheld a ban on direct corporate spending in political campaigns, rejecting Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling on Friday December 30, the last working day of 2011.
In the case of Montana, or more accurately its voters, "clearly had a compelling interest to enact the challenged statute in 1912,” wrote Chief Justice Mike McGrath for the Court’s the majority opinion. At that time the State of Montana and its government were operating under a mere shell of legal authority, and the real social and political power was wielded by powerful corporate managers to further their own business interests.
The Montana court agreed that past political corruption gives Montana a compelling interest in regulating corporate spending. They also pointed out that corporations can form voluntary political action committees - subject to disclosure requirements - as a way to remain politically active.
To reverse the Montana Supreme Court, however, the justices would have to extract themselves from a quandary of their own making, noted professor Rick Hasen of the University of California-Irvine Law School on his popular Election Law Blog. "If the Court were being honest in Citizens United," Hasen wrote, "it would have said something like: We don't care whether or not independent spending can or cannot corrupt; the First Amendment trumps this risk of corruption."
But by "dress[ing] up its value judgment ... as a factual statement," continued Hasen, the U.S. Supreme Court must now explain why the Montana Supreme Court was not correct to consider the factual record when it came to justifying corporate spending limits in campaign finance laws.
How the Citizens United majority will affect Montana's factual record remains hypothetical.
To reverse the Montana Supreme Court, however, the justices would have to extract themselves from a quandary of their own making, noted professor Rick Hasen of the University of California-Irvine Law School on his popular Election Law Blog. "If the Court were being honest in Citizens United," Hasen wrote, "it would have said something like: We don't care whether or not independent spending can or cannot corrupt; the First Amendment trumps this risk of corruption."
But by "dress[ing] up its value judgment ... as a factual statement," continued Hasen, the U.S. Supreme Court must now explain why the Montana Supreme Court was not correct to consider the factual record when it came to justifying corporate spending limits in campaign finance laws.
How the Citizens United majority will affect Montana's factual record remains hypothetical.
Yet, as with the Nationl Defense Authorization Act, the news falls on deaf ears, if you to listen to network television in America. All news channels talking heads primarily focused discussion on Iowa Caucus news, prefering to dance on lethal topics like abortion and dead issues as a Newt Gingrich presidential bid. Incredibly, what was left from discussion was the indefinate detention of citizens without trial or - as in this case - an unprecedented lower court ruling thrown like a log onto a fire at the beginning of election week.
As of Tuesday, January 3rd 2012, hits for 'Montana Supreme Court' in the last 7 days of news revealed only one reputable publication, The Raw Story, having bothered to cover the ruling. Other hits turned up bloggers on alter.net and a handful of assorted links. Virtually all hits carried an identical lead in, sadly indicating the same story was copied over with very little re-write.
This writer had discovered the Montana ruling through Digg.com, a user-generated news website which permits anyone to submit any story or url, regardless of who the content belongs to. In this case, the submitter was FreakoutNation, who prompted 397 diggers to dig the story into the websites Top 10 News Story listings - inappropriately titled "The Bitch Slap Heard Around The World" - not to be confused as indecent or offensive. The action of the Montana court is quite back-handed by jurisdictional standards, and serves a volley to the partisan Supreme Court of the United States.
What was inappropriate was that the slap was hardly heard from around the world. In fact, the main stream media Has been mute, mostly because every lawyer in the country has a differing opinion on where the case will next turn.
As the G.O.P. caucuses blow millions of dollars in negative character assassination campaigns while poisoning the minds of voters both local and nationwide, we are reminded once again of our brothers and sisters who have lost their homes, who are jobless, who have families to support. They are not in their current position because they are lazy or or unintelligent - they simply did not get the same equal opportunities the rest of us did. These people, whole families, whether couch-surfing or huddled en-mass in the bitter cold, are not going to benefit from the millions of dollars that are bursting from the coffers each candidate. Iowa has a homeless shelter, a 99% movement and has groups of people who are not corporations and who are neither heard from nor represented in the Republican caucuses. The sight off the poor are not reflective of the image the Republican caucuses wish to show America on prime time television. After all, this show belongs to the Job-Killing Republican party, and as with the Rose Bowl Octopus on the January 1st, the huddled masses will go unseen here in Iowa tonight.
What was inappropriate was that the slap was hardly heard from around the world. In fact, the main stream media Has been mute, mostly because every lawyer in the country has a differing opinion on where the case will next turn.
As the G.O.P. caucuses blow millions of dollars in negative character assassination campaigns while poisoning the minds of voters both local and nationwide, we are reminded once again of our brothers and sisters who have lost their homes, who are jobless, who have families to support. They are not in their current position because they are lazy or or unintelligent - they simply did not get the same equal opportunities the rest of us did. These people, whole families, whether couch-surfing or huddled en-mass in the bitter cold, are not going to benefit from the millions of dollars that are bursting from the coffers each candidate. Iowa has a homeless shelter, a 99% movement and has groups of people who are not corporations and who are neither heard from nor represented in the Republican caucuses. The sight off the poor are not reflective of the image the Republican caucuses wish to show America on prime time television. After all, this show belongs to the Job-Killing Republican party, and as with the Rose Bowl Octopus on the January 1st, the huddled masses will go unseen here in Iowa tonight.
As red America drinks the Republican kool-aid, it's the bloggoshere wherein lie the true information heroes. Main stream news outlets suck in every dime of campaign money for the fair trade of 'air time', selling empty blocks of silence where spin doctor's practice the fine art of mind manipulation while employing demographic messages which contain false-truths.
In 2008, Barack Obama spent $750 million dollars to become President of the United States. Factoring in all possibilities of where money could possibly go, one can only surmise that nearly every penny of it went to political advertising, minus some cab fare. The 2008 Presidential election did not permit corporate spending because Citizens United vs. FEC of 2008 failed to affect those races.
But 2010 bore a whole new animal, when suddenly corporate spending on political ads no longer required disclosure. Personal campaign funds across the board were emptied for campaign advertising, but what made the year remarkable was the G.O.P.'s unusual comeback in Congress.
Just when dismal polls shadowed forecasts of any Republican seats to be gained, negative ad campaigning combined with a surge in media growth had resulted in heavy losses for the Democrats. Corporate money greatly favored the G.O.P. candidates in 2010 elections, where special interests found the more willing party. Consequently, the Boner-era Republican hard-liners grew from cash to stash for the ultra-conservatives, where all the way up to the end of the 112th Congress they rode their gifted horse into the ground.
Just when dismal polls shadowed forecasts of any Republican seats to be gained, negative ad campaigning combined with a surge in media growth had resulted in heavy losses for the Democrats. Corporate money greatly favored the G.O.P. candidates in 2010 elections, where special interests found the more willing party. Consequently, the Boner-era Republican hard-liners grew from cash to stash for the ultra-conservatives, where all the way up to the end of the 112th Congress they rode their gifted horse into the ground.
Money injected into main stream news media keep the news corporations fat and healthy. Employees of any main stream news organizations receive benefit packages, salaries, paid holidays and 401k plans. These people, while still the 99%, are dis-associated with their brethren because of who they work for. While they may sympathize with the Occupy Wall Street movement, they are politically bound from participating in these movements.
In other words, if you fear for your job and for the income that it provides, because you fear for the loss of your home and food to eat, then you are compromised, my friend. Your fear governs the truth you believe and report.
Bloggers, on the other hand, are driven by a lack of truth. From the Reagan-era 80's to the infancy of computer networks throughout the early 90's, keeping in-the-know was fleeting, like an information dark age. Newspapers biased news that were affecting sensitive cultural issues, whose holdings included multi-national affiliations which swayed editorial boards to the point of inspiring authors to base fiction.
In other words, if you fear for your job and for the income that it provides, because you fear for the loss of your home and food to eat, then you are compromised, my friend. Your fear governs the truth you believe and report.
Bloggers, on the other hand, are driven by a lack of truth. From the Reagan-era 80's to the infancy of computer networks throughout the early 90's, keeping in-the-know was fleeting, like an information dark age. Newspapers biased news that were affecting sensitive cultural issues, whose holdings included multi-national affiliations which swayed editorial boards to the point of inspiring authors to base fiction.
If corporations are people, as the U.S. Supreme court tells us they are, then are corporations not silencing the very people who work for them? Is this not an aspect of discrimination that the Robert's Supreme court has overlooked?
Bloggers are one rung below website news outlets and - because they can type more than 140 characters -one rung higher than tweets. But because bloggers are free of advertising - as such revenue even websites are dependent - they are not bound to influence the end story to please an editor.
In fact, simply because the vacuum of truth compels them, bloggers are charged as curators of modern history, lest main stream media erase truth from record permanently.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Cellular Wars
The reckless year of 2011 could be described by any of the following adjectives ~ volatile; tumulus; chaotic; liberating. From the rise of the Arab spring to the eviction of Occupy Wall Street, from Big Bank bailouts to BP blow out, from dictator deaths to Head-of-State turnovers, this year has seen more action than a Herman Cain fundraiser for Single Moms.
Even if the Mayan calender promises mankind one more year on earth, could we still manage to happily and mutually exist without the luxury and comfort of our mobile smart devices?
The question is not at all rhetorical, nor is it unrealistic. For example, just in this month alone, cellular phone manufacturers, patent troll firms and convoluted legal decisions worldwide have produced a tangled skein of myriad court orders, rulings and injunctions that threaten to short circuit the Global Wireless Network as we know it.
Research In (slow)Motion
Blackberry may have put RIM in the yellow pages, so to speak, as the Canadian handset manufacturer had dominated the corporate wireless market throughout the 1990's. But the hardware giant has now been sacked in the back field in regards to their newly released Playbook Tablet, when RIM announced that - because of market saturation - the new tablet would be dumped on holiday consumers for nearly half the target price, a stock write off of $485 million.
Call it bad luck, or call it uninformed tech thieves; and if not, call it the most brilliant product debut ever devised, but the theft of $1.7 million worth of Playbook tablets from a truck stop in Illinois is hardly even worth mentioning, if it were not for the related fact that the most popular handset in history, the HTC, is banned in the U.S. beginning next year.
If it makes sense to steal flawed devices that nobody wants - and in the same week ban superior smart phones that are in high demand - then chalk my vote up for Newt Gingrich, because ying is yang, up is down and cellular signals really are driving the population of this planet batshit crazy.
Given the recent gunslinger behavior of RIM execs here and here, it is quite plausible that the Playbook - of which freight seemed to fall off the shelf before it was even thrown up - may indeed be an inside job, as RIM had stated neither the truck, the container, nor the pallets contained a single tracking device.
This is curious, considering that the rate of Christmas cargo high-jacking in the United States is trending. Gadget techies the world over salivate at the thought of acquiring pre-release smart devices, knowing full well that every second to crack it is one more second ahead of the rest of the field.
It is almost as if RIM wanted those tablets to go away.
Motorola vs. Handset Industry
Motorola, the mobile device manufacturer whose patented technology had always seemed to be on the defense side of litigation, suddenly came thundering out of the Europeans courts last week with a patent infringement ruling against roughly 85% of it's competitors, basically those of whom incorporated iOS operating systems for android. The list was far reaching, including - quite neatly - Apple.
In fact, it was safe to say that Apple had had their asses handed to them in a court of law.
Perhaps Apple's legal counsel had been ready for this, for Digitude Innovations had stepped onto the playing field by altering the landscape of legal precedent in a fashion deserving of hired goons. The patent infringement suits, filed with the International Trade Commission, included patents which had previously belonged to hardware manufacturers but were loaned or sold to Digitute in a loosely defined consortium, or cabal, who would then litigate on their behalf of the client in the event of a dispute.
Digitude is a new kind of patent investment vehicle because it seeks to team up with strategic players that can invest in Digitude not with money, but by contributing patents. The contributing entity would then get a license for all of Digitude’s patents, according to Digitude Chairman Robert Kramer.
Curiously, of the patents held by Digitude Innovations, four in particular had previously belonged to Apple. In a quiet move back in 2010 these were transferred to Cliff Islands LLC, a shell corporation whose non-exist offices included a mailing address located within the very same building of Digitude.
Founded in 2010, Digitude raised $50 million from Altitude Capital Partners, "with aims to acquire, aggregate, and license key technology areas within the consumer electronics and related technology fields in a patent consortium” — in other words, to buy up patents and then sue other companies until they settle and agree to pay licensing fees.
This, in case you've been living under a rock, is called "patent trolling".
Apple, as most of the world already knows, has recently cast aside their rosy shroud of innocence, embracing a role predominately held by Microsoft Corporation. Perhaps through the Redmond behemoth's early lessons Apple had learned the value (or profit margins) of crushing one's competition through patent law. In any event, Apple's legal counsel have been hard at work earning those salaries in courtroom battles, dispensing the so-called bitter pill - the one of which used to be Apple's drug of choice.
For Apple, negative press noise and saber-rattling is suppose to be a thing of the past, but with the waves they are us making, it's hard to believe Digitude did not stir the pot in the first place. Digitude issued a press release in April:
“Given the significant nature of this partnership and the other discussions underway, we expect to secure only one or two more such strategic partnerships in the coming months before we aggressively begin our licensing efforts.”
By these suits injunctions are in place to de-stabize the current cellular network from anyone retaining a critical mass of technology licensing to operate.
Blood On Their Hand(sets) - The North Korean Wireless Cellular Network
It's hard to imagine life behind the iron curtain, such as the NKPR, or the North Korean despot government. Even after the recent passing death-by-fatigue of Kim Jong il, the reclusive peninsula still shines about as bright as a flashlight from outer space under watch of his son, Kim Jong un.
This is not to say Pyongyang is without wireless communications. In a country where hunger, strife and cruelty prevail on every level of human existence, even possession of a cell phone just as recently as four years ago was a crime punishable by death. It is astonishing now that, at a cost equal to a years' worth of wages, over 1 million cell phones are active among the Pyongyang social elite.
Of course, TMI is an acronym as alien to the North Korean as...well, let's just say they can certainly use some accurate information.
Kim Jong un, who is a self-proclaimed Internet expert, has an ear to the ground in that all Internet traffic is limited to the confines of the state, which offer about 1,500 crap sites - much akin to cable television in the United States.
These are quality sites for the tired, the weak, the spiritless, a propaganda machine that draws uncanny parallels when loosely compared to life in the West (granted, one really has to squint to see it).
Freedom lies along the borders: China, a source of illegal smart phone smuggling and leaky wi-fi networks, provide the Korean free-thinker with a signal into the world, to sanity, to their loved ones. However, one is certain to be quick about it. Signal triangulation can result in public execution.
Unlike China's own state sponsored cellular carriers, North Korea contracts out the service. Legal phones in North Korea are operated by Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and cannot be used for international calls.
The Arab Spring
Going into Iraq in 2002, President George W. Bush proclaimed, "Let America bring Democracy to Iraq, and it will spread like wildfire throughout the Middle East". It was looked on as incredibly jingoistic.
Today, however, that statement may well be viewed as 'visionary', giving credit where it is surprisingly due. Egypt and Libya, both who managed to break their bonds, continue to negotiate new Democratic government, while Syria and Tunisia are embattled, but spirited.
Uprisings and protests were spurred on by a burdening government, while hostilities stirred to life from unjust deaths, and in spite of this, coordination of a community comprising an entire country joined together as one. Organizing themselves into One Voice and with the use of communication tools such as twitter and facebook, demonstrators, with the aid of a google employee, managed to pry President Mubarak out of office in front of a world audience - Revolution-Style.
Of Egypt, many factors contributed to the successful revolt, including droves of classified documents released by Wiki-leaks. The U.S. State Department analysis of facebook protest group Kefaya showed that American officials thought little of the Egypt uprisings. It read: “The stated goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not supported by the mainstream opposition.”
Egyptian "thank you" postcards are no doubt flooding Hillary Clinton's mailbox.
Bay Area Protest Plunge
When online hacker group 'Anonymous' called for a San Fransisco Bay Area protest in August, instructions were to assemble within the tubes of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Dubbed 'No Justice, No BART', it perhaps modeled itself after Flashmob modus operandi, the entire unit of the protest organization hinging a signal to be received via twitter and facbook.
Those instructions never came, because management for BART - who had caught wind of the demonstration beforehand - had ordered wireless wi-fi networks at specific locations to be switched off.
While detractors worldwide cried foul, transit management reserved the right by reinforcing this policy in a recent review.
This had marked the first time that cellular antennas were switched off to prevent a public demonstration anywhere in the world. It's also ironic to point out that this had occurred in a country that actually has a constitution protecting free speech, whereas many Middle Eastern monarchies sentence protesters to death.
NTSB Guidelines For Cell Phones
Take a look at the most recent recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board. It seems that our Dearly Beloved Leader, Big Brother, would like to gently remind americans that it might be a wise idea to support legislation banning the use of mobile devices while operating motor vehicles.
While we could applaud this as a genuine, conscience effort to raise awareness, the fear instilled by the possibility of an inattentive texting driver is a joyride by comparison to the absolute terror when police have the right to search and copy your mobile devices at any time, including pictures and video.
Anything can and will be used against you in a court of law.
According to IQ Carrier, your smart phone does record and track locations by GPS, and - only for the purposes of improving research - keeps a running log of websites visited, with no known removal or opt out privilege. However, don't fret: digital rights in the 21st century include your 1st amendment right to a password, and the right to shut up about it.
The computer brain in every motor vehicle can be used as evidence in a court of law, and in some states, even basic individual protections from illegal search are stripped from arrestees. Much the same case law can be equally applied to cell phones.
In theory, the only way to prove that a driver was not texting is to examine every device in the passenger compartment. If a texting ban were to be strictly enforced, then a simple Police backup application will hang all of our dirty laundry out to dry.
Cellular Towers And Our Health
To recap, one can easily understand the social risks that come with possession of a mobile device. But these only address outside influences who attempt to control by the use of sheer force.
It should be noted that the effects of cellular signals on other species who inhabitate this planet are having a time of it. The disappearing honey bees have been a subject of controversy for a decade, attributing the decreasing populations to Colony Collapse Disorder. Studies can be done with your own handset to prove how cellular signals can affect bees.
Cellular towers that are erected in populated areas often spawn skin rashes, diseased cattle, infertile ducks, spinning children and E.P.A. quotes that would scare any Mobile Giant.
And, just as Herman Cain had said; "It still ain't over yet..."
Originally published 12/21/11 http//:occpypdx.blogspot.com written by Greg Brunty
Even if the Mayan calender promises mankind one more year on earth, could we still manage to happily and mutually exist without the luxury and comfort of our mobile smart devices?
The question is not at all rhetorical, nor is it unrealistic. For example, just in this month alone, cellular phone manufacturers, patent troll firms and convoluted legal decisions worldwide have produced a tangled skein of myriad court orders, rulings and injunctions that threaten to short circuit the Global Wireless Network as we know it.
Research In (slow)Motion
Blackberry may have put RIM in the yellow pages, so to speak, as the Canadian handset manufacturer had dominated the corporate wireless market throughout the 1990's. But the hardware giant has now been sacked in the back field in regards to their newly released Playbook Tablet, when RIM announced that - because of market saturation - the new tablet would be dumped on holiday consumers for nearly half the target price, a stock write off of $485 million.
Call it bad luck, or call it uninformed tech thieves; and if not, call it the most brilliant product debut ever devised, but the theft of $1.7 million worth of Playbook tablets from a truck stop in Illinois is hardly even worth mentioning, if it were not for the related fact that the most popular handset in history, the HTC, is banned in the U.S. beginning next year.
If it makes sense to steal flawed devices that nobody wants - and in the same week ban superior smart phones that are in high demand - then chalk my vote up for Newt Gingrich, because ying is yang, up is down and cellular signals really are driving the population of this planet batshit crazy.
Given the recent gunslinger behavior of RIM execs here and here, it is quite plausible that the Playbook - of which freight seemed to fall off the shelf before it was even thrown up - may indeed be an inside job, as RIM had stated neither the truck, the container, nor the pallets contained a single tracking device.
This is curious, considering that the rate of Christmas cargo high-jacking in the United States is trending. Gadget techies the world over salivate at the thought of acquiring pre-release smart devices, knowing full well that every second to crack it is one more second ahead of the rest of the field.
It is almost as if RIM wanted those tablets to go away.
Motorola vs. Handset Industry
Motorola, the mobile device manufacturer whose patented technology had always seemed to be on the defense side of litigation, suddenly came thundering out of the Europeans courts last week with a patent infringement ruling against roughly 85% of it's competitors, basically those of whom incorporated iOS operating systems for android. The list was far reaching, including - quite neatly - Apple.
In fact, it was safe to say that Apple had had their asses handed to them in a court of law.
Perhaps Apple's legal counsel had been ready for this, for Digitude Innovations had stepped onto the playing field by altering the landscape of legal precedent in a fashion deserving of hired goons. The patent infringement suits, filed with the International Trade Commission, included patents which had previously belonged to hardware manufacturers but were loaned or sold to Digitute in a loosely defined consortium, or cabal, who would then litigate on their behalf of the client in the event of a dispute.
Digitude is a new kind of patent investment vehicle because it seeks to team up with strategic players that can invest in Digitude not with money, but by contributing patents. The contributing entity would then get a license for all of Digitude’s patents, according to Digitude Chairman Robert Kramer.
Curiously, of the patents held by Digitude Innovations, four in particular had previously belonged to Apple. In a quiet move back in 2010 these were transferred to Cliff Islands LLC, a shell corporation whose non-exist offices included a mailing address located within the very same building of Digitude.
Founded in 2010, Digitude raised $50 million from Altitude Capital Partners, "with aims to acquire, aggregate, and license key technology areas within the consumer electronics and related technology fields in a patent consortium” — in other words, to buy up patents and then sue other companies until they settle and agree to pay licensing fees.
This, in case you've been living under a rock, is called "patent trolling".
Apple, as most of the world already knows, has recently cast aside their rosy shroud of innocence, embracing a role predominately held by Microsoft Corporation. Perhaps through the Redmond behemoth's early lessons Apple had learned the value (or profit margins) of crushing one's competition through patent law. In any event, Apple's legal counsel have been hard at work earning those salaries in courtroom battles, dispensing the so-called bitter pill - the one of which used to be Apple's drug of choice.
For Apple, negative press noise and saber-rattling is suppose to be a thing of the past, but with the waves they are us making, it's hard to believe Digitude did not stir the pot in the first place. Digitude issued a press release in April:
“Given the significant nature of this partnership and the other discussions underway, we expect to secure only one or two more such strategic partnerships in the coming months before we aggressively begin our licensing efforts.”
By these suits injunctions are in place to de-stabize the current cellular network from anyone retaining a critical mass of technology licensing to operate.
Blood On Their Hand(sets) - The North Korean Wireless Cellular Network
It's hard to imagine life behind the iron curtain, such as the NKPR, or the North Korean despot government. Even after the recent passing death-by-fatigue of Kim Jong il, the reclusive peninsula still shines about as bright as a flashlight from outer space under watch of his son, Kim Jong un.
This is not to say Pyongyang is without wireless communications. In a country where hunger, strife and cruelty prevail on every level of human existence, even possession of a cell phone just as recently as four years ago was a crime punishable by death. It is astonishing now that, at a cost equal to a years' worth of wages, over 1 million cell phones are active among the Pyongyang social elite.
Of course, TMI is an acronym as alien to the North Korean as...well, let's just say they can certainly use some accurate information.
Kim Jong un, who is a self-proclaimed Internet expert, has an ear to the ground in that all Internet traffic is limited to the confines of the state, which offer about 1,500 crap sites - much akin to cable television in the United States.
These are quality sites for the tired, the weak, the spiritless, a propaganda machine that draws uncanny parallels when loosely compared to life in the West (granted, one really has to squint to see it).
Freedom lies along the borders: China, a source of illegal smart phone smuggling and leaky wi-fi networks, provide the Korean free-thinker with a signal into the world, to sanity, to their loved ones. However, one is certain to be quick about it. Signal triangulation can result in public execution.
Unlike China's own state sponsored cellular carriers, North Korea contracts out the service. Legal phones in North Korea are operated by Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and cannot be used for international calls.
The Arab Spring
Going into Iraq in 2002, President George W. Bush proclaimed, "Let America bring Democracy to Iraq, and it will spread like wildfire throughout the Middle East". It was looked on as incredibly jingoistic.
Today, however, that statement may well be viewed as 'visionary', giving credit where it is surprisingly due. Egypt and Libya, both who managed to break their bonds, continue to negotiate new Democratic government, while Syria and Tunisia are embattled, but spirited.
Uprisings and protests were spurred on by a burdening government, while hostilities stirred to life from unjust deaths, and in spite of this, coordination of a community comprising an entire country joined together as one. Organizing themselves into One Voice and with the use of communication tools such as twitter and facebook, demonstrators, with the aid of a google employee, managed to pry President Mubarak out of office in front of a world audience - Revolution-Style.
Of Egypt, many factors contributed to the successful revolt, including droves of classified documents released by Wiki-leaks. The U.S. State Department analysis of facebook protest group Kefaya showed that American officials thought little of the Egypt uprisings. It read: “The stated goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not supported by the mainstream opposition.”
Egyptian "thank you" postcards are no doubt flooding Hillary Clinton's mailbox.
Bay Area Protest Plunge
When online hacker group 'Anonymous' called for a San Fransisco Bay Area protest in August, instructions were to assemble within the tubes of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System. Dubbed 'No Justice, No BART', it perhaps modeled itself after Flashmob modus operandi, the entire unit of the protest organization hinging a signal to be received via twitter and facbook.
Those instructions never came, because management for BART - who had caught wind of the demonstration beforehand - had ordered wireless wi-fi networks at specific locations to be switched off.
While detractors worldwide cried foul, transit management reserved the right by reinforcing this policy in a recent review.
This had marked the first time that cellular antennas were switched off to prevent a public demonstration anywhere in the world. It's also ironic to point out that this had occurred in a country that actually has a constitution protecting free speech, whereas many Middle Eastern monarchies sentence protesters to death.
NTSB Guidelines For Cell Phones
Take a look at the most recent recommendation from the National Transportation Safety Board. It seems that our Dearly Beloved Leader, Big Brother, would like to gently remind americans that it might be a wise idea to support legislation banning the use of mobile devices while operating motor vehicles.
While we could applaud this as a genuine, conscience effort to raise awareness, the fear instilled by the possibility of an inattentive texting driver is a joyride by comparison to the absolute terror when police have the right to search and copy your mobile devices at any time, including pictures and video.
Anything can and will be used against you in a court of law.
According to IQ Carrier, your smart phone does record and track locations by GPS, and - only for the purposes of improving research - keeps a running log of websites visited, with no known removal or opt out privilege. However, don't fret: digital rights in the 21st century include your 1st amendment right to a password, and the right to shut up about it.
The computer brain in every motor vehicle can be used as evidence in a court of law, and in some states, even basic individual protections from illegal search are stripped from arrestees. Much the same case law can be equally applied to cell phones.
In theory, the only way to prove that a driver was not texting is to examine every device in the passenger compartment. If a texting ban were to be strictly enforced, then a simple Police backup application will hang all of our dirty laundry out to dry.
Cellular Towers And Our Health
To recap, one can easily understand the social risks that come with possession of a mobile device. But these only address outside influences who attempt to control by the use of sheer force.
It should be noted that the effects of cellular signals on other species who inhabitate this planet are having a time of it. The disappearing honey bees have been a subject of controversy for a decade, attributing the decreasing populations to Colony Collapse Disorder. Studies can be done with your own handset to prove how cellular signals can affect bees.
Cellular towers that are erected in populated areas often spawn skin rashes, diseased cattle, infertile ducks, spinning children and E.P.A. quotes that would scare any Mobile Giant.
And, just as Herman Cain had said; "It still ain't over yet..."
Originally published 12/21/11 http//:occpypdx.blogspot.com written by Greg Brunty
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