Good News!
From the editor…
Maine just became the second state to require GMO labelling on food-but only after other neighbouring states do the same.
Unfortunately, the legislation won’t go into effect until 5 nearby states pass similar labelling laws.
This is necessary because Monsanto and other food mega-corporations are likely to file law suits fighting the labelling laws …Monsanto has said it would sue on the grounds that the labelling law violates free speech!
Oh, the irony. Telling us what is in our food violates their right to free speech. George Orwell is truly spinning in his grave right now.
Iceland is still doing exciting things. The citizens fired their government, rewrote their constitution and have jailed the criminal bankers who bankrupted their country.
Everywhere else these vampire bloodsuckers got bonuses and bailouts, but in Iceland, they got what they deserved…a trip to the hoosegow.
The state of Colorado legalized the sale of recreational marijuana on January 1st of this year, and in the first week dispensaries reported $5 million in sales.
The state expects to collect nearly $70 million dollars in sales tax revenue this year.
Tourists are flocking to Colorado to take advantage of the legal weed. Legal sales will also begin in Washington state later this year, and other states are watching closely, and are already making plans to follow suit. Legalized cannabis looks to be a cash cow for local governments that the majority of citizens want!
President Jose Mujica of Uruguay quietly signed a bill legalizing the sale and production of cannabis late last year, making the small South American country the first country in the world to fully legalize marijuana.
President Mujica says he hopes that the legislation will neutralize criminal gangs and drug smuggling operations in his country, adding “We know we are embarking on a cutting edge experiment for the whole world.”
The Kentucky State Legislature has agreed to allow industrial hemp production in the state. Nine other states have all previously approved legislation that legalizes hemp production, but federal law actually makes growing the crop impossible anywhere in the US since it is still classified as a Schedule I drug!
Industrial hemp can be legally grown in New Brunswick, but it’s not like the government makes it easy to do. Would be hemp farmers must jump through multiple hoops and work under close government scrutiny, and are not allowed to save seeds to re-plant. Industrial hemp production could employ thousands of people in all sectors in our province, from food to fabric to fuel and more.
I just read an interesting article about the story of Rudolf Diesel, and the development of the diesel engine. He expected that his engine would be powered by vegetable oils, including hemp and seed oils. At the 1900 World’s Fair, Diesel ran his engines on peanut oil.
He imagined that his invention would enable small farmers and businessmen to economically operate diesel equipment on locally produced vegetable oils instead of petroleum, and he saw the engine as a solution to the inefficient, highly polluting engines of the time.
Rudolf Diesel died under mysterious circumstances in 1913. He vanished while on an overnight crossing of the English Channel on a mail steamer. His body was found weeks later by fishermen, and it has never been determined whether his death was an accident, a suicide or an assassination.
On a more local note, after the recent rail disaster in our sister village of Wapske, CN Rail has really stepped up to the plate and has accepted full responsibility for the accident and has assured the community that they will do everything in their power to make things right! What a refreshing attitude from a corporation, eh?
I just read this morning that in the Ukraine, protestors are holding up mirrors to the police, forcing them to “reflect” on what they are doing and what they are enforcing! What a brilliant and subversive form of protest!
Stay warm!
Stephanie Kelley
