Yesterday, the same Israeli paper ran TWO articles on Niilin, the village where Khaled and I have been shooting for the past several months (and where some of its citizens decided to open their own holocaust museum, see posts below…) On the one hand, two Palestinians were injured there yesterday in the demonstrations.

And on the other hand, the Israeli army states that in Niilin and Biilin (a neighboring village, where we have also shot, and where a villager was killed soldiers a month ago), “Gaza was easier.” The saga, and the bloodshed goes on. Of course, the “Gaza was easier” article didn’t mention once WHY the villagers in both places demonstrate weekly (because the Separation Fence cuts them off from a large percent of their olive trees and thus their income).

So how to sum up this mess? That the villagers AND the soldiers (not to mention all the citizens in Palestine and Israel) are victims of government policies that avoid peacemaking?

OMG – the best-selling authors of “Freakonomics – the Hidden Side of Everything” who now have a regular column/blog in the NYTimes, just wrote an entry called “What Would Happen if Marijuana Were Decriminalized? A Freakonomics Quorum”. 3 of the 5 guest entries are articulate pro-cannabis anti Drug War, 2 are predictably shallow Prohibitionists. And about 90% of the comments are very pro too. The tide is turning, 70+ yrs of cannabis Prohibition is coming down!

      

You gotta check out this blog! The guy’s smart,  it’s packed with info and videos, and he (Pete Guither) posts every day.

Only crit is there’s no cool graphics on it, so we had to supply our own above. Left is from a spider on cannabis, the other one is from spider on caffeine…..which is which???

(caffeine on the right)

At the site of his ancestral home in Ellajon

I’m Khaled Kasab Mahameed born in Um El Fahem in 9^th of May 1962 from a family who was deported from the destroyed Palestinian village “Ellajon” – which is Armageddon – mentioned in the holy Bible:  Revelation Chapter 16.

My father Mahmood was expelled with his family and all the inhabitants of that village in 1948 from Ellajon – accompanying other  541 Palestinian villages by the Israelis when he was 17 year old where he carried in his memory, and which he told me and my other 12 brothers and sisters later, when he was returning from the Israeli jail -  there he spent a few periods of prisonment because he was claiming for the right of his fellow Palestinians.

I was six years old when I heard about the Holocaust  first time in my life. My father said, “We Palestinians Pay the price for the Atrocities the Nazis caused the Jews in the Holocaust”. From that time my mind wanted to know – what is was Holocaust?

It took for me 4 decades to decide to establish what is now called “The first Holocaust Museum in the Arab world,” after studying Sociology and Political Science in Hebrew University, business administration in Stockholm’s University and in Haifa University, and Law in East London University.

I practice Law for my living but Holocaust research and education for Palestinians in my “free time” for my “prophecy” and by my own expenditure.

In 2004 my wife Izdihar and I, with the support of our two children – Jawdat, who is now 14,  and Asil who is now 12 -  put on the internet the first website in Arabic  about the Jewish Holocaust  - which is aimed to inform Arabs about this unique crime in human History. We established “the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education” in October 2004. Then in January, 2009, we inaugurated the second Holocaust museum in the world, in the Palestinian village of Ni’lin in the West Bank.

Next step is to inaugurate 5 Holocaust Museums in different 5 Palestinian towns.

What’s up with 4-20 (April 20, 4:20 in the afternoon)? For people who don’t smoke marijuana, it’s probably meaningless–for “marijuana culture” members, it has lore out the wazoo ears. Here’s a good summary. By the way, I did see Bob Marley (above) sing before he died, but I’m not gonna tell you how old I was when I did.

When the NYTIMES runs an article, called “Marijuana Advocates Point to Signs of Change,” that runs on April 19, and talks about all about the next day activities, you know that yes, there does seem to be signs of change towards cannabis. On the other hand, maybe it’s just PR spin by those damn marijuana advocates? 

The Times article mentions the word “medical” only once, most of it is about legalization, pure and simple. That’s an interesting issue that haunts “RxCannabis – a Freedom Tale,” and a lot of pro and anti cannabis activists. The antis say medical use is a smokescreen for full legalization. Many pros almost agree, saying that if tens of thousands of medical cannabis users don’t have psychotic breaks, it’s strong evidence that the drug isn’t as dangerous as the antis claim. What do you freaking think?? What do you non-freaks think? Will marijuana be legal for all adults to buy and use sometime in the next 3-5-10 years?? (Alcohol prohibition lasted from 1920 until 1933, a tiny number of years compared to how long marijuana has been illegal in the US).

Khaled and Hassan (Nilin resident) at the museum in Nilin

After an initial exhibit in the West Bank Palestinian village of Niilin in January, the official inauguration of the museum is next Tuesday, April 21 – Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel).
Come see for yourself how the Khaled’s work is inspiring debate and yes, starting controversy (I invited one Israeli journalist to this event, and he said “No, thanks,” saying it was undoubtedly a case of “holocaust abuse.”)
Read an article here about Niilin’s exhibit.

If you live in Israel, drive or take the bus to Modiin, getting out on Highway 443 just before entering Modiin. Then turn onto the road towards Modiin Ilit, and wait 30 meters down that road at the bus stop (and get there by 9:15 a.m.). We will drive the 10 minutes into the West Bank to Nilin. Israeli citizens, don’t worry – coming back to Israel afterwards there is a checkpoint, but IDs are never checked there. Cars are also leaving from Jerusalem. For information, please call or email Harvey: 052-801-6017,  jerusalemnewyork@gmail.com

The venerable “The Forward”, which was first published as a daily Yiddish newspaper, in 1897, published an article quoting Khaled last week – in their English edition. Definitely an evil publication, they came out early in favor of trade unions and democratic socialism – so it figures they would feature Khaled’s work at some point. 

The November 1, 1936 cover is at the top.

Judge Jim Gray makes several short appearances in “RxCannabis.” He is a standing judge in Superior Court of Orange County, and a well-known anti-Drug-War warrior. In other words, his job is secure, so he can speak out.

He’s a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (L.E.A.P. ), a unique organization with a membership that has years of experience on the front lines. Many of them are retired policemen, who are finally free to speak about the hypocrisies, corruption and waste they’ve seen for years.

In the scene above, Judge gray breaks down how marijuana is the linchpin in the entire War on Drugs. What do you think?

Our friend Don Duncan <Americans for Safe Access- aka ASA – Southern Cal director>  is above, in the L.A. dispensary he owns. And an article on medical cannabis that just appeared in the NY Times is here. Note the 60s-70s posters on the wall.

It’s beginning to seem like there’s a bit of a thaw since the Bush days <which are starting to seem like a very bad dream>. 

Harvey did a commercial for ASA a couple years ago, which appeared on several network affiliates in San Diego – several of the patients in “RxCannabis” appeared in it. Note that at least as far as San Diego is concerned, little has changed. There are STILL no dispensaries operating openly in………

(Check out Big O action figures)

One big question is: will Obama’s election change anything at all in regards to DEA aggression against patients and dispensaries? On the campaign trail Obama repeated several times, statements like this one in New Hamshire in late 2007: “I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users. It’s not a good use of our resources.”

But since his inauguration, there have been more than a few raids.  Several in LA on February 3. Then one on February 11 on MendoHealing Co-operative farm in Fort Bragg, California. The co-op President, Jean Marie Todd, 50 (who is not a medical cannabis user), was one of five people arrested. On her way to jail, she said to one of the men who arrested her, “I thought President Obama was going to call off these raids.” A Mendocino County Sheriff’s Deputy replied, “We haven’t gotten the message.”

You can read more about this last raid here, in a column by Fred Gardner, one of the best journalists writing on medical cannabis.

If you want the new Prez to feel your righteous anger, call the White House comment line here (M-F, 9am-5pm): (202) 456-1111:

And the new Attorney General, Eric Holder, can be reached here: (202) 353-1555