mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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When Does The Ship Come In?

July 9, 2016 — 3 Comments

Pacific

When I was a freshman a the University of Texas at Austin in 1968 I was an idealist. I was a folk singer, hum dinger. I protested the war in Viet Nam and civil rights atrocities. We thought that an egalitarian, high minded society was just around the corner. We thought the empire of fascist evil would end as soon as Barry Goldwater died. We knew less about world affairs then, but we knew that war was not only the only true sin amount nations, but also unconstitutional in the way it was being waged with no declaration. Since 1968 the United States has been at war with at least one part of the world all the time. Peace has not been achieved, and civil rights have been all but forgotten. Now we have the for profit prison system to mass incarcerate people of color, and laws designed specifically to feed that system. Our war on drugs has produced an epidemic of cheap heroin and an addiction crisis.

I was too young to march on Washington in 1963. I was busy living as an ex-pat petroleum princess in Venezuela. I spent a lot of time listening to Radio Havana because it was the only station that we got with a strong signal on the radio. I usually turned it off when Fidel went off on his speeches, but I liked the music from Cuba. Back in those days Venezuela had a natural contempt for Cuba and Fidel, and dependence on oil companies for their entire economy. This worked very well for the preteen petroleum princess, but not so well for the impoverished worker class. Like the historical Buddha I was exposed to suffering I never could have imagined in the world. The really interesting part was that my parents had no problem with the semi slavery and obscene show of wealth we enjoyed. I didn’t either until I thought about it. Now my own country has almost the same level of income disparity I observed in 1963 in Venezuela. The hippies have not yet accomplished our mission. I wonder if in the chaos and violence of this time, so similar to 1968, we might finally see the ship come in. The whole wide world is certainly watching.

Pacific

The border, the stoners, the Feds

November 7, 2012 — 2 Comments

Now that we can be relieved of the presidential politics for a minute, let us look ahead to the rapid change rolling into the future of the US. I live next to the border where incentive to smuggle is a traditional job creator in the region. Capital creation has historically been based on tax free labor and favorable agriculture laws that made ranching and farming possible in the state. We are now famous for SB1070, the state immigration law mostly banned by the Supremes. The political cartoon of our state is Barry Goldwater in drag flying a bomber over Phoenix to do the business of the people. His legacy lives, but it is demographically challenged and I believe will soon be destroyed by pure and simple economic reality. During Barry’s lifetime the border was a complete joke. All farming and ranching depended on Mexican undocumented labor. All hotels and restaurants in Arizona used the same standards. Tucson was the Mexican dirt weed capital of the great southwest, shipping untold tons to untold trillions of American pot smokers.

The only real change in the government that happened on election day was the legalization of marijuana by Colorado and Washington. Lester Holt cautioned the stoners not to break out the goldfish and Cheetos too soon, which lead to a comment that there is no Entenmann’s way out west. Yes, Brian , we do have Entenmann’s, and excellent medicinal kine bud grown right here in Arizona. Colorado, however, has an advanced business model in play that will be ready for Coca Cola as soon as either the Supremes or the dweebs in congress clear the active for Cannabis Coke. There has been much investment in Colorado into development of products ready to ship across the nation. These legally produced and consumed products replace some of the income lost by the attrition of traditional ( read tax free labor force) farming. Arizona agriculture has been decimated by draught, SB1070, and the same loss of interest in farming as a business experienced by the rest of the nation. We are out of water, but we still have plenty of sunshine. The new pharming is done indoors requiring intense electric lighting to achieve the pharmaceutical quality. Arizona can produce solar electricity, and we already have Dutch people here growing tomatoes in greenhouses.

Lawyers and lobbyists, come on down!!! Let us get real about laws that create liberty and justice for all, and laws that provide incentive for violent criminal smuggling. Arizona can be the crown jewell in the solar pharming phuture of cannabis. We can provide legal jobs and opportunity that will enrich our state tax revenues, or we can continue to play deadly tug of war with the Sinaloa cartel. Some profit from status quo. Incentives for smuggling must always include bribes, as is the nature of the beast. Some law enforcement individuals can and do become extra super wealthy from all this incentive, while the state becomes destitute. By eliminating the smuggling incentives we an make our tax dollars work for the public interest. Even if you are sure you never want to burn one the economic absurdity of pouring tax dollars into making sure nobody else does must be clear. The idea of securing the border is a good one. It is time to cut the cord for the Mexican cartels, and suck up to those cute Dutch people with all those greenhouses. You do not need to be high to see how this works.