In more than one discussion about the merits of decriminalizing marijuana use, I have heard people state that the reason that marijuana use is a criminal offence can be traced back to the efforts of a couple of influential U.S. businessmen in the 1930s. The way the narrative goes, the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst (with big investments in forest plantations) teamed up with the DuPont chemical company (with big investments in petroleum-based products) in an effort to make the growing of hemp illegal. Using the services of Henry J. Anslinger, the head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Narcotics, they supposedly embarked on a successful campaign to demonize and eventually criminalize marijuana. Do a Google search on the keywords hemp, Hearst, DuPont and Anslinger for lots of detail.
The thing that puzzles me about that story is the fact that it addresses legislation in the United States approximately 70 years ago, and in recent decades several countries including Canada have legalized the growing of industrial hemp, yet most paper is still made from trees. It seems odd to me that William Randolph Hearst could still dictate to countries like Finland that they must not use hemp for paper production.
It seems more likely to me that paper producers likely prefer making paper from trees instead of hemp for technical and economic reasons, not to mention environmental reasons (forest crops are grown over many decades with minimal site disturbance, providing a full suite of environmental benefits, whereas hemp requires annual site inputs).
Right off the top, I should admit that the only vampire movie I’ve ever seen was the old black & white 1931 Dracula movie starring Bela Lugosi.
I found it entertaining, in a creepy/campy way.
But I don’t fully understand why so many teenage girls, and women of all ages, are going ga-ga over those Twilight movies about chaste teen heartthrob blood suckers. Robert Pattinson’s abs might be more sculpted than Bela Lugosi’s, but his fangs aren’t nearly as impressive.
However I was interested to come across an article in Touchstone Magazine which claims that the stories fulfil a spiritual void:
… the reason these books are so popular: They meet a spiritual need. Mircea Eliade, in his book The Sacred and the Profane, suggests that popular entertainment, especially imaginative literature and film, serves a religious or mythic function in a secular culture. When God is driven to the periphery of the public square, the human spiritual capacity longs for exercise, and it often finds it in the “suspension of disbelief” and activity of the imagination that are available in novels and movies.
The books and films that satisfy this spiritual longing most profoundly are the ones that have religious content of some kind, sometimes any kind. Not just The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia but also Harry Potter and The Matrix contain symbolism and religious notes that resonate with readers and moviegoers.
Which brings us to Twilight. These Gothic romances featuring atypical vampires and werewolf champions are allegories about the love relationship between God and Man. They are, in fact, a re-telling of the Garden of Eden drama—with a Mormon twist. Here, the Fall is a good thing, even the key to salvation and divinization, just as Joseph Smith, Jr., the Latter-day Saint prophet, said it was. Twilight conveys the appealing message that the surest means to God are sex and marriage.
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Read the full article Mormon Vampires in the Garden of Edenhere.
It’s been a couple of months since I posted anything about climate change, so I guess it’s about time.
In January, NASA released its analysis of land and ocean temperature analysis for 2009, and declared the year in a statistical tie for the 2nd-warmest year on record, and the period 2000-2009 the warmest decade on record. Unlike my post of December 15 I haven’t bothered to produce my own updated graph, but here is one produced by NASA. (Instead of absolute temperature this shows temperature anomaly, where zero is the average for the period 1951 to 1980).
Maybe I’m missing something, but it certainly appears to me that a warming trend is occurring.
Les MacPherson has confirmed to me by email that the “leading alarmists” referred to is Dr. Phil Jones, one of the climate change researchers whose emails were hacked at the University of East Anglia recently, and the admission was made in a BBC interview. Here is what was actually said:
I’m not going to get into the concept of statistical significance, whether at the 95% or any other level, and perhaps Les MacPherson is being totally without guile in his interpretation, but I would respectfully suggest that not everyone examining the record is finding it “apparent” that “there has been no global warming for the last 15 years.”
I’m siding with the scientist rather than the opinion columnist on this one.
I must admit that, despite my right-of-centre political views, I never watch Fox news, so the only time I have ever seen Glenn Beck was in an entertaining Youtube video back in early December 2009, featuring him in his fevered indignation over scientists using a trick of the trade to reconcile historical tree ring proxy data with data from weather stations.
I came across the latest gem from Glenn Beck while browsing through The Holy Post. According to opinion columnist Charles Lewis,
Clearly my denomination is on Glenn Beck’s naughty list. But I like it so I’m staying put.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:24)
End Note 1: I don’t think that Beck is against justice, but is against “progressive liberal” ideas of justice involving government intervention. Personally I believe that the primary responsibility of Christians is at the individual level, but the Bible also calls for the “king” to help those who need it;
End Note 2: Despite the fact that I’m a small-c conservative, I support “pinko” Canadian policies like universal health care and official bilingualism, so if I were ever transplanted to the U.S., I really don’t know how I’d vote.
If you are over 40, chances are that you remember Arlo Guthrie’s version of City of New Orleans. But if you want to hear it the way it was meant to be done, take the time to watch Steve Goodman perform it, accompanied by mandolin virtuoso Jethro Burns.
I stumbled across this news story about a child pornography bust:
Tampa, Florida – Even veteran detectives call this crime “disgusting.” A Tampa man claiming to be a minister is behind bars, accused of selling child pornography out of his home.
43-year-old Eric Spandorf allegedly downloaded and sold dozens of DVD’s filled with horrific images of child pornography…
Apparently the accused man claims to be a pastor at something called Biblical Ministries.
Since the article gave a link to their website, I checked it out. Sure enough, it lists Reverend Eric M. Spandorf as Associate Pastor/Crisis Councilor (sp).
Naturally curious about where the Reverend had obtained his M. Div. degree, and where he had been ordained, I clicked on the link to “Church Staff”, where I found the following:
Eric Mitchell Spandorf was born in the year 1966 In Brooklyn N.Y. He lived there up until the age of 2. At which time he moved to Plainview long island. He was one of three children he had an older sister and an identical twin brother that died at the age of 16. He attended Plainview High School which he graduated in the year 1984. At the age of 24 he made the move to Florida where he resided in Orlando for 12 years at which time he moved to Kissimmee and now finally laid down routes in Tampa Fl. He turned to the church out of feeling despair and disappointment in life and he now is a teen counselor.
That’s it. Nothing about seminary, nothing about the ordination process.
This guy wasn’t a pastor, but a predator taking advantage of a wide open Internet to take advantage of the defenceless. Unfortunately many people reading about this case will take the Reverend title at face value, and the reputation of the church of Jesus Christ takes another blow.
I don’t doubt that there is a place for online ministry. But I also believe that pastors must be accountable. Obtaining the title of Reverend in the denomination that I’m a part of is a long, hard process. I think that is a good thing.
It’s already been almost four weeks since I mentioned the plans for Janet to take Jenn and Fiona to England, so I suppose I should give an update.
Yes they made it safely, albeit with some hassles from both US (at the Minneapolis transfer) and UK (at London Heathrow) authorities.
The girls have been enjoying their time in England. They’ve stayed with Auntie Anne and Uncle Stephen at St. Austell, and with Uncle Nigel and Auntie Kate at Falmouth, with cousins at both places to play board games and Wii with. Auntie Gillian has also been down from South Wales, and Grandpa was at St. Austell for them to nick chocolate from.
Grandma’s surgery went well, by all accounts. Family members are somewhat frustrated by the fact that they can’t visit her because the hospital has a no-visitor policy due to a virus outbreak.
A few days ago they flew across to the Isles of Scilly, where they are settling in at Pelistry and getting reacquainted with Uncle Mervyn and Auntie Stephanie and three more cousins. Today was the first day of school.
But why am I giving all these details? You can read a first-hand account at Fiona’s new blog.
I learned from Randall’s blog that Google Street View has come to Prince Albert, so naturally I moseyed over to my house.
It turns out that Google filmed my street when I was removing my old siding sometime during summer 2009. The interesting thing is that if you view the house from the north you’ll see that I’ve only removed a few siding boards.
The introductory macroeconomics course that I took a couple of decades ago didn’t stick with me very long. I don’t know if the role of government should be to steer markets or to set them free. As even the Conservative government tries to spend our way out of the current recession, I am torn between believing that stimulating the economy is a good thing vs. the fear that we are digging ourselves into too much debt. I thought that this YouTube clip – of Keynes and Hayek partying and debating economics – was an entertaining way to waste 7 1/2 minutes while brushing up on economic theory.
A handful of our friends have been aware for a couple of weeks that Janet has been considering a trip to England. I won’t go into the reasons on this blog, other than that it’s related to surgery scheduled for one of her family members.
It didn’t take long before the discussion moved from Janet taking a quick trip to the concept of Janet taking an extended trip to be with her parents.
Then the discussion progressed to the fact that our two youngest children really don’t know their grandparents very well, unlike their older siblings who spent the summer of 2009 on the island.
The upshot is that Janet, Jennifer and Fiona will be flying to London in less than two weeks, and then on to southern Cornwall. The tickets have been purchased, and the girls have been registered in a school where they will be required to wear school uniforms. The schools at both ends have been very accommodating.
Luke, Charlotte and I will carry on with life in Prince Albert. However beginning in late July I will take four weeks of vacation leave to join Janet and the girls.
After I’ve spent a couple of weeks with them on the Isles of Scilly, we’ll all continue on to Norway. Our plans aren’t fully firmed up yet, but we plan to spend the bulk of our time visiting my distant relatives in the Trondheim area, including Rindal, the village that my paternal grandparents both emigrated from, before returning to P.A. before school resumes in late August.
I spent a month in Norway in 1984, and have many fond memories. After 26 years it will be great to make it back. Some of my Norwegian relatives have been to Canada at various times over the years, and some on the Canadian side including my sister Carol have travelled to Norway, so some contacts have been maintained. I am generally a stay-at-home guy, but I am already excited about this trip.
Right off the top, I should admit that the only vampire movie I’ve ever seen was the old black & white 1931 
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