The
Fertile Fads
The
food chain web comic, by Mike
"Soybean" Stanfill
With a big old tip o' the chapeau to Gary Larson.
New comics every Monday, Wednesday & Friday.
Bookmark
this page • Contact
me
|
|
Rope A Dope
"Make the most of the hemp seed and grow it everywhere." -
George Washington
 The
U.S. Constitution was printed on hemp.
That's Cannibis Sativa, BTW, not Cannibis Indica, famous for its THC. Sativa
is largely THC free.
Hemp was the plastic of its day. In fact, the oil from hemp can be used just
like plastic, both extruded and injection-molded.
You can eat its leaves and the seeds provide as complete a source of proteins
as soy or quinoa. The oil pressed from the seed is highly nutritious, full of
essential fatty acids, good for salads or cooking.
You can use the hurds to make lightweight concrete, the fibers to make strong,
soft clothing or tough rope. Mercedes uses it in car interiors.
Hemp requires no pesticides or herbicides, and works double-duty providing soil
control. It's among the fastest-growing plants and would be ideal for producing
biofuels.
The more you study this plant, the more you wonder what all the fuss is about.
Hemp was the #1 cash crop in America up until 1937 when it was suddenly demonized.
The US is, in fact, the only country where it is illegal to be grown.
Why? A couple of reasons.
Dupont invented Nylon and wanted to replace all the rope used by the US military
with its new wonder material. William Randolph Hearst owned large swaths of forests
and made a lot of money from his paper mills. Hemp made great rope and good paper
so both companies banded together to eliminate the competition.
Hearst's papers ran editorials about the evils of "marijuana", a term
they coined because everyone already knew hemp to be a safe and useful product.
When the public's fear of this new evil reached significant levels both companies
brought their vast economic weight to bear on Congress and soon the Marijuana
Tax Act of 1937 was passed. It imposed a $100-an-ounce tax on any hemp-related
transaction, effectively killing it as a cash crop in America.
Oddly enough, in 1942 America was unable to import enough hemp to supply its
war effort so it planted over three hundred thousands acres of hemp and built
several factories to process it. Shortly after the war the entire crop was destroyed.
In 1951, in the paranoid days of the Red Scare and Joe McCarthy the Boggs Act
was passed, adding severe penalties for all possession of the dreaded "marijuana".
Considering the vile drugs that can be concocted these days from something as
simple as allergy medicine I say it's high time to decriminalize hemp. Call or
write your congressman and take a bite out of the War On Reason.
=mike=
|
Dont
miss the
Complete John McCain Fun Facts Archive Thing
|
|
John "Stray Calf" McCain Fun Facts:
|
Recently the New York Times printed
an op-ed piece written by Barack Obama, outlining in great
detail his plans for
the US military in the Middle East.
The McCain campaign then
offered their rebuttal, which was rejected. The reason for
the rejection was, and I'm paraphrasing the words of Daivd
Shipley,
editor of the NYT, "What the hell is this?"
It seems that McCain's plans didn't include any plans, didn't
say much of anything, evidently. In Mr. Shipley's own words:
"It would be terrific
to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator
Obama’s
piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate,
in concrete
terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq. It would
also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory — with
troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis
to cooperate. And it would need to describe the senator’s
Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq
plan."
D'oh.
-------------
One more thing... did you know that John McCain, who is married
to a multil-millionaire, who alreadys gets a $60,000-a-year
military pension for being 100% disabled, also receives $25,000
a year in Social Security payments?
This wouldn't be such a big deal if he didn't publicly complain
about the SS system being a "disgrace" since old
people get money from funds provided by the young.
So give the money back, you whiny old hypocrite.
Be an example, not a rich mooch.
|
|
100% Free
Bonus Snark!
Notice how
they don't use Obama's name in this ad. Just his picture.
The McCain campaign is such a vast sack of compost the
methane emanating from it alone could solve the energy
crisis.
McCain is already on record saying his "friends" in the
oil industry
think more offshore drilling is peachy. Obama doesn't
refer to
the oil industry as "friends". Another good reason to
vote for him.
If you like the Far Left side
then don't miss Socks & Barney.
|
|
