Oh Captain my Captain – Why the 4/20 events need Marc Emery back

Another April 20^th has come and gone and Pot Smokers nation wide lit up in "protest" of Canada's continued criminalization of Marijuana. However, this time the London Police under a new Chief were firm in their stance that despite past leniencies, more officers were being added to the 4/20 scene which in London takes place at Victoria Park, downtown. There were also media releases put forth to all local outlets that arrests would most certainly be made. Sure enough at 4:20pm the smokers came out and sparked up and the police did their jobs. About 3 arrests were made and 4 charges of possession were laid.

The position by the Police was that it's still against the law and charges should be laid when said laws are disregarded. Fair enough. Then you have folks arguing that this is their annual form of protest against the laws to which the police again responded that you cannot protest a law by breaking the law. Again fair enough. So if it's a protest, where were the rallies? Where were the speakers? Were there people handing out pamphlets on the uses of hemp and marijuana for other things than just to get high? It appears that 4/20 is more just an excuse for folks to get stoned with their friends than a time to ask the tough questions. Questions such as why is this archaic law still in place? Or why is a smart and heroic Canadian like Marc Emery wasting years of his life in the American prison system?

It seems almost like when Marc went to the US to serve his sentence for the sale of mere seeds online, that the movement lost it's only true voice and leader. The movement has been reduced to a flock of sheep with no shepherd. They're standing in one spot consuming the grass (pun intended) with no impetus to move forward and encourage growth. Effectively the movement seems to be dying a slow death.

Let's face it, if it's going to be seen as a protest then the "protestors" have to stand up and take some responsibility for it. It's not enough to say this is a protest and light your joint and smoke it and then go home when your stash is depleted. It doesn't achieve anything but to blow smoke in the face of the law and the law makers and the law enforcers aren't cool with that I am betting.

To say "But this is what Marc Emery did" is a fallacy too. Yes Marc lit up on the Police Station steps and outside a court house but whenever he did that he did so with the full knowledge of the law and the consequences that could befall him. He had lawyers advising him and ready to fight along side him.

Marc didn't start with pot protests though; He started by challenging laws that prohibited business owners from conducting business on Sundays. He also protested the basic rights and freedoms of information and publication concerning the bans on the American publication "High Times" magazine. He was successful on both counts. The shopping laws were eventually overturned and "High times" is now readily available in any store that magazines are sold and not merely relegated to head shops and brown paper wrapped mail subscriptions.

The fact is however that Marc is incarcerated for the very thing that he was fighting for. Not even the smoking of, the growing of or the distribution of marijuana, but the charge of "conspiracy to cultivate cannabis/marijuana". Are you serious? This is what we've come to? Accusing people of and incarcerating them for encouraging people to take matters in their own hands. So now instead of charging the guilty we're letting the legal systems charge people literally with passing on knowledge! Fact is, you can't smoke the seed and expect to get anything from it. This is American politics at it's worst.

So now with Marc in prison, where is the anger? Where is the outrage? Who's leading the marches? People have put pretty pictures on their Facebook accounts of marijuana leaves and "Free Marc" photos but this alone does not a protest make. The marijuana movement has become the cause without the rebels and we're at risk of slipping back into the era of "Reefer Madness" propaganda and who is going to step up to the plate and unite the tokers together? It's not Marc, not yet anyway. But in 4 years or less when Marc is out of prison, how much of that life is he going to want back? Not to mention that conditions of his probation will likely prohibit him from such activities and association with certain parties.

Until that time, who will be the next Marc Emery? His wife Jodie is doing everything in her power to keep him amongst us through his letters from prison and her memories of visits with him wherever they happen to have him this month. She has proven a worthy spokes person in his absence but doesn't seem to carry the same air of leadership that her husband is capable of commanding. It's time for someone to step up, someone who's read all the same books, who knows all the same laws, who knows when to act and how to act. A leader is needed who knows what direction the flock needs to turn to today, the day after and not just on April 20^th of each year.

Maybe it's not one person at all but a group of them that will rise up and collectively navigate the trenches of the marijuana legalization/decriminalization movement. However, if they don't act soon, all that Marc has built up to this point may soon be lost and we'll find ourselves again at the foot of a very steep climb. To paraphrase Gary Cooper's character in Frank Capra's 1941 film "Meet John Doe";

"Wake up Marc Emery's of the world, you're our only hope!"


 

Doin’ it for the ducks! – A neighbourhood scavenger hunt of sorts.

Yesterday I had gone for a bike trek to explore what my community had to offer. I found a paved bike trail just along the Thames North branch that crosses Highbury Rd. at one point. There were a lot of felled trees and brush covering the pathway but it is still fairly early. The common sight along all of the rivers and creeks and pathways was litter. There's nothing that can mar a beautiful bit of scenery than random litter strewn about. I had a notion to go collect it that afternoon.

Today I had a spark of Sunday morning energy after a nice big breakfast with my pal Scott. I thought, "I'm gonna go give a gift to my community and clean up along the stream behind our house!" So with glad bags, gloves and a couple of sticks and tools for fishing stuff from the creek, I set off to make my neighbourhood a nicer place for the spring.

I was kind of also doing it for the ducks. I like ducks.

When I woke up this morning I already knew I wanted to commit some time to helping out my duck friends. I can hear them through my bedroom window in the morning and it always makes me smile. I really like this neighbourhood, with a large selection of birds and critters that live near the creek, it's always nice to walk around. The neighbourhood to the north of, not quite so nice though. Probably why the clean up is needed in the first place.

One couple who seem to walk the paths a lot stopped to tell me thanks and that there was some broken glass I should watch out for. The wife told me that I was going to leave them nothing to do for the community walk next Saturday. I told her I'd be sure to leave something for them and she smiled and walked on. As her husband walked by after kicking a lot of the glass aside, he told me "You're doing a very good job!" and smiled.

At one point a 14 year old boy walked up to me with something to drop into my garbage bag. He was a clean cut looking kid in a London Knights shirt who offered that if he had gloves he would help me. I thanked him and said if I had extra gloves I'd love the help, but thanks just the same.

A little while later after acquiring a third bag to fill and a mini broom and dust pan for the glass, an 8 year old girl and two friends stopped and looked at me and said "Thank you for cleaning up that glass and making us safe. We don't like to step on it. That's very nice of you to make us safe like that." I grinned pretty wide for the next 15 minutes or so.

As I was finishing up the 3^rd bag, I was feeling pretty drained after about 2 hours walking up and down the ravine. A young father with 2 boys stopped and commended my job and to tell me he was thinking of getting his hip waders on to clean out the creek even more. It's nice to see that people stop and take an interest when they see another person doing something about it.

SO here's the best part, the list of what I found among the reeds and trees and along the side of the bridge, not for the faint of heart:

• Bag of Arabic labelled cassette tapes and Arabic written books and pamphlets. I am pretty sure I found a copy of the Koran in there!
  
• 40 odd bread bags – Hey folks, please don't feed the ducks bread. It's not good for them! If you really must feed them your bread heels, please take the bread bag with you! Seriously, folks even tie the bags to the bridge railing!!
  
• 100 odd coffee cups and lids, the bulk of which were from Tim Horton's and Macs (just around the corner).
  
• 40-50 odd water bottles, pop bottles and cans.
  
• 2 used diapers.
  
• 2 Always pads (I know they're Always because they were "The Ones with Wings!")
  
• A used pregnancy tester wand (it was blue)
  
• 25-30 filled doggy poop bags (many that had the pretty little paw prints on them) – Hey jerks, if you're aware enough to buy fancy bags to scoop your dog's shit, then be cool enough to take the damned things home and not toss them along the creek banks! OK?
  
• A rusted Bic razor.
  
• 2 or 3 bottles worth of broken glass
  
• 120 plus candy wrappers, gum packaging, chip bags etc.
  
• 2 random winter gloves. One on land, one in the creek
  
• Half of an old CRT monitor casing.
  
• A large sheet of Styrofoam
  
• Various flyer and newspaper pages.
  
• Empty Sawmill Creek tetra wine carton.
  

Funny enough I didn't see a single condom, used or otherwise. Yer welcome community walk people! ;-)

 

 

 

 

Eye&Ear, There&Hear IV: Stephen Fearing & Andy White

Eye&Ear, There&Hear IV: Stephen Fearing & Andy White

The 4th installment of my music adventures as presented by James' Brand New Blog at lfpress.com

LTC and Wi-Fi; Some assembly (& patience) required!

I am once again riding to work on the 14 Highbury bus on the LTC. Today is grey and damp as spring makes an effort to flush away the long winter. I just met an old acquaintance named Sean, a Postie, who has been riding this route for over 20 years. He said that in all his years of bussing on London Transit, his biggest complaint is the lack of timely connections between other key routes.

One thing Sean and I talked about was how high public expectations can be when changes are needed and suggested in the media etc. He's very right to point out that major projects take research, proposals, contract bidding and installation/implementation. So while the buzz on the street is "I hear they're putting Wi-Fi on the buses" I am very quick to dispel the rumour with "No, they're talking about it!" It goes to show you how simple suggestions in the media can blow up so quickly.

Imagine what would go into mobile networking of that nature. The bus systems are already connected by some sort of satellite or mobile network for the purpose of the voice stop announcements and the online real time route mapping. Building a system powerful and reliable enough to satisfy the high expectations of the average Londoner regarding their public services can't be an easy task at all. Imagine the rage when someone has to try 3 times to send an email? Oh, the potential drama!

You certainly wouldn't want the London Transit Commission just throwing a system into place and wait to see what kind of glitches present themselves of course. This would not go over well with the average Londoner. They would squawk and squeal about "tax dollars" and "high fares" and the LTC management would never live it down. It would be enough to reduce Londoners to a pitch fork and torch mob marching angrily up to Larry DuCharme's door.

So I am certainly willing to give them the time needed. The fact is that at this point they are looking at it as viable and this is good. It does not mean it's a done deal, but certainly talking about it and researching it is a step in the right direction. It would give London a chance at experiencing some cutting edge ideas and technologies. So what if not a lot of other cities are doing it yet? Why couldn't London be at the forefront for once regarding something that the people obviously want.

I have to warn you though, it won't be without it's own unique set of controversies and the number one concern will be "How will it affect our fares?"

I had proposed elsewhere that it could be a prepaid service that you buy a personalized access code for. This would be a simple way of offsetting the service costs as well as infrastructural overhead and as easy to administer as their ticket and pass sales.

Fares won't be the only stewing point however for a small yet vocal and influential group of riders who will feel that somehow they'll be put out by the extra devices on the bus. Fair enough, netbooks and laptops have cases and they're going to sit somewhere while the item is in the users lap. Maybe some won't like the noises from them? Maybe some won't like the glow?

There's no telling what kinds of inconveniences will arise from the service, so maybe a little research in other cities that have the services will help? Interview the people that use it elsewhere and get opinions & ideas from the "experts" and see how it can be presented here in London the right way the first time.

My key point being that we cannot expect this to happen over night and why would we want it to? If it's going to be a quality service, it requires quality efforts in research and implementation. Would you expect any less Londoners?


 

 

 

Live from the back seats

The purpose of today's blog is merely a test. Well, mostly a test.

I am trying to see just how easy it is to be riding and writing and it is already posing it's own set of challenges from trying to keep the netbook on my lap (on one of those old orange buses that shakes worse than a recovering junky on day 3) to learning how to use one of these netbooks . Ahhh but thou doth protest too much LeGiff!

I must say though that this is a most uncomfortable venture sitting sideways as the bus rocks side to side (I'm bouncing up and down as a result) incessantly. I am getting a cramp in my leg from trying to keep the netbook in a position where I can write. It does however highlight a need to retire the remaining dinosaurs that these orange buses are I would think. It's also making me rethink the idea that Wi-Fi on the buses will be a useful venture. Not much, but a little anyway.

This past Wednesday, a proposal was put into the LTC to implement Wi-Fi services on LTC buses. Having been very close to purchasing the aforementioned netbook I was thinking "How timely, I'm all for it!" Now I'm wondering if it's a completely practical idea. Of course, it'd be a different scenario were I trying to create this post on a tablet or an IPod touch etc.

The one thing that bothers me most is that in all debates n the subject (and other ideas posed to the London Transit Commission is that someone will bring up in blog and newspaper comments, the idea of paying for the Wi-Fi in their ticket pricing. Why does this always have to be the first concern? Can we not find ways to implement these initiatives to be self sustaining and fiscally responsible?

I truly believe that the service could be worth a $10.00 (arbitrary amount just for arguments sake) card purchase that allows the rider to have a passcode entered into the device of their choice for instant login on the buses. I am sure there are folks who feel that it should be "free" (nothing is free of course) but my fear is that the discussion will arise again about raising ticket prices, and we all know what that discussion will get us right?

(The cramp in my leg is getting worse!)

Some people have argued that there are too many gadgets on the buses taking up people's attentions. Before the electronics took over there were many ways to close yourself out from others on the bus, especially the "crazies". Newspapers, books, a Walkman etc.; there`s always been a desire for privacy or anonymity on the public bus systems.

Now in the latter half of my 80 minutes a day I am sitting in a forward facing sideways seat and am typing far more easily. The bus sways a little but not near enough to be a hindrance to writing. My little experiment is working out quite positively at this point now. As long as I get the right seats in the future I will be able to write without issues.

I'm pretty sure that anyone reading this is probably saying "WTF? Why do I care about the ease of which you can write on the bus?" Well really I am just trying to prove a point to myself and to Larry Ducharme (general manager of the LTC) that it can be done. If we had Wi-Fi on this bus I'd be just about ready to post this blog entry. Seeing as we don't you'll just have to wait I suppose ;)

Thanks for reading anyway and when I have something more significant to share with you I will be sure to blog it ASAP.