NJN Network

But the memories linger on

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee at the New Penelope, Montreal February 1967

Amazon.com’s computer must be tired because it’s getting dumber not brighter. One of my CD purchases was “Live At The New Penelope Cafe” by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Amazon.com has a computer trick that remembers what you look at or purchase. Then it decides to send you mail about new books, music or DVD’s based on what it remembers. That 1967 Montreal Quebec blues recording made the computer think I would like a dubious CD of Scottish blues singers “British Blues Quintet Live In Glasgow.” I’m having trouble with the blues in a brogue.

Their computer suggestion is dumb – live and blues. However, I’m going to find the Terry and McGhee disk and listen to it today. I was there when it was recorded, which is why I got it. 1967 Montreal, the Summer of Love-In’s at Fletcher’s Field at the foot of Mount Royal, Expo 67, partying and playing folk songs all night, watching the sun come up sitting underneath the cross on Mount Royal. Zipping my Honda scooter in and out of Montreal traffic. It was my first year away from home at 18 years old. What a life.
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By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, February 10, 2009

Boy do I feel stupid. A brand new holiday and I get it all mixed up. You can’t tell me nothing. I thought we were celebrating Family Day. It wasn’t Family Day, it was Islander Day. That’s my problem. I never believe what CBC tells me since John Jeffery took his 30 pieces of silver.

Good thing for me though cause I studiously avoided calling anyone in my family and did things that were about the Island.

So, tell me now – and this time I mean it – what did you do on Islander Day?

I’m still confused. Does that mean we’re not Islanders the other 364 days of the year?

PEI family skate

Did you go skating, to a movie, sleep in? Write a short comment. It’ll be fun to share the stories.

What did I do? Well I froze my toes at the PEI Rural Alliance rally. It was like minus 100! Peter’s speech was short, bless him. Mike Currie did a nice job. He probably didn’t think I’d say that . When I got home, Cory dropped in and we recorded his new song. Then I had the longest nap.

So write a comment and share.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, February 6, 2009, with a story from the Guardian

The middle class can smoke marijuana with impunity but the lower class will be a Police Academy training ground.

“Queens District Joint Forces Operations Street Crime Unit with the assistance of Charlottetown Police Services, arrested” the king pin of all illegal drug traffic in Charlottetown yesterday. The leader of the local Hells Angels biker gang was arrested as he exited a local well-known club for a smoke. STOP

Wrong story, start over

“Queens District Joint Forces Operations Street Crime Unit with the assistance of Charlottetown Police Services, arrested a 22-year-old male for possession of … 30 small cannabis(marijuana> plants…”
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From Drug War Chronicle

The British Columbia Supreme Court last Friday rejected a challenge to the country’s law criminalizing marijuana possession based on deficiencies in Canada’s medical marijuana regime. In cases earlier this decade, some Canadian courts had held that because Canada’s drug law did not provide for the therapeutic use of cannabis, the law was invalid. But in part because of changes already made to the program, the BC Supreme Court wasn’t buying that argument.

In response to those earlier rulings, the Canadian government created a limited medical marijuana program, whose utility was challenged in the present case. But Justice Austin Cullen ruled that even if Canada’s medical marijuana program is less than ideal, that doesn’t mean recreational pot smokers win a get out of jail free card.
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Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, Feb. 3 2009

The death of Kyle Bambrick from exposure after drinking at the out of control party at Dog Leg Golf Links, got me asking a question that doesn’t go away. Why is alcohol legal in Canada while we’re putting young people in jail for pot? Is it based on religion, science or ignorance of the facts? It’s not based on factual evidence of harm. According to the UBC Law Review 2006

,“In Canada, an average of 205,156 crashes are caused by impaired driving each year, resulting in 1,211 deaths, 74,181 injuries, and 45,174 damaged vehicles. In turn, this costs Canadians an average of $1.8 billion a year. Impaired driving is also by far the single largest criminal cause of death in Canada.” Tragedy of Kyle Bambrick – going out of business sign

After studying the issue for years, Canada almost decriminalized marijuana until the ultra-right-wing Stephen Harper government. Now we have more police officers arresting more people on pot violations. Marijuana cultivation is the largest industry in British Columbia, bigger than mining and forestry. Quebec comes in a close second. With so much hypocrisy in society, is it any wonder young people don’t see themselves as part of Canadian society?
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