Dabbling with my desktop.

As I've mentioned before I am trying to learn Linux. My preferred distribution is Linux Mint.
Recently I installed a window manager called Enlightenment, e16 version to be exact. Not really a fan of the newer e17 version, looks goods and runs good but not to my liking.

So I've been setting it up and deleted the menu activated by my left button on my mouse, this is what happens on occasion. Eventually I'll discover or read about how to get it back, this is in a good way I now know a few keyboard shortcuts. I've set it up with 4 desktop windows to work with and here they are in order. I'm looking at possible themes for when I change the backgrounds.

I think I'll get to like this once I get it set up. My first priority is to find out how to stop my mouse pointer from flickering in my web browser and also set a gtk+ icon theme I'm not sure but I think this will stop the flickering mouse problem. Second will be to get my menu back and set up to my liking.

Cleaning House on my Facebook Account

Unfortunately, I had to clean out some various groups and friends on my Facebook account. The reason is as an advocate for a sensible cannabis reform I do not want to be associated with people who give me the impression of being irresponsible in their use of cannabis. Don't get me wrong I'm all for people having the right to decide on what recreational product they consume. I have a problem with the people who give me the impression that anytime or place is acceptable. It is these people who are in my opinion the examples that is being used by the government in their continued Reefer Madness Propaganda program. It's a matter of being recognized as a reasonably respectable and responsible consumer of cannabis.

Now then some of the groups have been archived and no longer exist. So they are being deleted. I have also deleted the listed of groups that show music videos all the time, just as the people who keep flooding my wall with these videos have been deleted or hidden. I'm not interested in them, this account is for news and freewill living concepts. I don't do apps or play games with this account either. There are a few moderated groups I belong to that I believe to be overly moderated. I don't know if I will continue to stay with that group for long.

Welcome to America

Welcome to America,
home to 5% of the world's people
25% of the world's prisoners,
51% of these prisoners are for non-violent drug offenses.


Two recent local news stories I find of interest to this. Some people didn't seem to like my solution to the problem.

EZ Mart robbery and shooting

Father and son arrested for stealing trailers

Now I have a copy and paste campaign going for these stories.
It includes one of these prepared notes I keep on a notepad of my computer.


Here's a thought to consider:
We have a problem with SUBSTANCE ABUSE, both legal and illegal substances. Why don't we quit wasting our money on enforcing this failed policy? So far we have been fighting this WAR ON DRUGS for 40 years. Now I'm not a genius by no means, but I'd have to say this battle will not be won with threats of fines and/or incarcerations.

Instead of continuing to fight an unbeatable enemy, let's do something constructive with that money. Let's start by HIRING MORE POLICE TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PROPERTY from the violent criminals who show no remorse or respect for people's lives and property.

Now we also waste money on the prosecuting and incarceration of non-violent drug offenders. How about we stop that? Save that money and focus on using it for the violent criminals, for some reason we can't seem to get them off the streets and keep them locked. Well, doing this we will have the necessary space in the jails and prisons so they can serve their full sentence without parole or early release for good behavior.

Now see how easy that is, and all it took was changing perspectives of our prohibition policy, that's success can only be measured by it's FAILURE.

Or this:

Just think of the billions of dollars spent every year in promoting the failed prohibition laws that persecute, prosecute, and incarcerate non-violent cannabis (commonly referred to as marijuana) users under the claim of protecting the people from themselves.
Sorry, I don't need or want anyone to protect me from myself to that extent, this is overstepping the boundaries of your moral responsibility to the people. Your obligation as far as I'm concerned is to make recommendations or suggestions.
What we need and want is a police force and justice system that protects us from violent people who show no remorse in taking the lives of others. The money wasted on this failed policy would go along way towards putting a stop to these acts of violence.
The DEA claims that cannabis (marijuana) has a high potential of abuse, well so does alcohol and firearms. People aren't treated as criminals until after they injure or kill someone abusing alcohol and firearms.
So how can we continue to claim to have a fair system of justice?


Now, most of the people who comment on these call me an idiot or a pothead. No big deal for me, I'm not the one who is ignoring the problems this nation is facing. I also don't see anyone else posting any competent or even reasonable solution to the problems of crime.
I am questioning the concept of what is a crime, and how we should punish the people. The substance abuse problem we have is a health and social issue, not a criminal offense.
We are human and tend to make mistakes in life, if we choose to use substances and we don't use the knowledge and information available then that's our own mistakes. We know some people are more susceptible to abuse of these substances differently and you shouldn't be treated as a criminal for the use unless your abuse is associated with an injury or death.

I've been called an idiot.

At some time or other you will make a post on a news story, and some one will not agree with your post. The sad part is they will openly call you an idiot. This tells me that they have a difficult time finding a reasonable thought on their own.

What brought this about you ask? It had to do with the shooting of a convenience store clerk during a robbery. The robber didn't just take the money and run, he shot the clerk in the head. His picture is pretty clear on the video. And I have read that the suspect is in custody. I hope the clerk survives and I hope he isn't going to suffer if he survives.

Now, here's my post that justified a closed mind the right to claim I'm an idiot.

Just think of the billions of dollars spent every year in promoting the failed prohibition laws that persecute, prosecute, and incarcerate non-violent cannabis (commonly referred to as marijuana) users under the claim of protecting the people from themselves.
Sorry, I don't need or want anyone to protect me from myself to that extent, this is overstepping the boundaries of your moral responsibility to the people. Your obligation as far as I'm concerned is to make recommendations or suggestions.
What we need and want is a police force and justice system that protects us from violent people who show no remorse in taking the lives of others. The money wasted on this failed policy would go along way towards putting a stop to these acts of violence.
The DEA claims that cannabis (marijuana) has a high potential of abuse, well so does alcohol and firearms. People aren't treated as criminals until after they injure or kill someone abusing alcohol and firearms.
So how can we continue to claim to have a fair system of justice?

Billion of dollars can go a long way towards HIRING MORE POLICE OFFICERS AND PAYING THEM BETTER. Changing perspectives of our failed prohibition policies would also make ROOM IN THE JAILS FOR THESE VIOLENT CRIMINALS and maybe they will stay there long enough to serve their full sentence without parole.

I was kind enough to politely inform him that I didn't read any competent or reasonable solutions to help stop this type of violence from him or any other commenter on that news story. Now I'm not a genius, and I only have a high school diploma to show for 13 years of school. But, I do try to have an open mind and look at things in a different light.

Any way, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it.

BTW, I been called worse and I'm still alive and kicking, I tend to let ignorance roll off.

Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use

Thanks, goes to the people at NORML for this concept.


When cannabis(marijuana) is enjoyed responsibly, subjecting users to harsh criminal and civil penalties provides no public benefit and causes terrible injustices. For reasons of public safety, public health, economics and justice, the prohibition laws should be repealed to the extent that they criminalize responsible cannabis use.
By adoption of this statement, the NORML Board of Directors has attempted to define "responsible cannabis use."


Many things and activities are suitable for young people, but others absolutely are not. Children do not drive cars, enter into contracts, or marry, and they must not use drugs. As it is unrealistic to demand lifetime abstinence from cars, contracts and marriage, however, it is unrealistic to expect lifetime abstinence from all intoxicants, including alcohol. Rather, our expectation and hope for young people is that they grow up to be responsible adults. Our obligation to them is to demonstrate what that means.


Although cannabis is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and many prescription drugs with motorists, responsible cannabis consumers never operate motor vehicles in an impaired condition. Public safety demands not only that impaired drivers be taken off the road, but that objective measures of impairment be developed and used, rather than chemical testing.

"Set" refers to the consumer's values, attitudes, experience and personality, and "setting" means the consumer's physical and social circumstances. The responsible cannabis consumer will be vigilant as to conditions -- time, place, mood, etc. -- and does not hesitate to say "no" when those conditions are not conducive to a safe, pleasant and/or productive experience.

Abuse means harm. Some cannabis use is harmful; most is not. That which is harmful should be discouraged; that which is not need not be.
Wars have been waged in the name of eradicating "drug abuse", but instead of focusing on abuse, enforcement measures have been diluted by targeting all drug use, whether abusive or not. If cannabis abuse is to be targeted, it is essential that clear standards be developed to identify it.

No one may violate the rights of others, and no substance use excuses any such violation. Regardless of the legal status of cannabis, responsible users will adhere to emerging tobacco smoking protocols in public and private places.

Adopted by the NORML Board of Directors
February 3, 1996
Washington, DC 

The DEA and Redeployment of Their Services.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (commonly known as DEA) we have an unknown number of people employed by this government agency. They are suppose to be working for the people, not working for someone else's idea of what people should be. They are there and have been responsible for the defamation of character of so many good people with their continued effort to control the concept of what is acceptable. What is acceptable is of a personal nature and is up to the individual to discover for themselves. We are essentially different in all aspects of our lives. From our personal beliefs and opinions, desires and needs, and science has proven we are different in how we each react with what we consume.

So, we have to look at the products (alcohol, over the counter and prescription drugs) our government has claimed the responsibility of approving as the legal options for all the people. By claiming these products as the only legal options they are in fact stating these items are the right choice for everyone. Well, considering the amount of damages, number of deaths, the health problems, and social issues associated with them, you don't have to be a genius to see these aren't the right choices for some of the people. So I have to wonder how it's right to use threats of fines and/or incarceration in an attempt to intimidate people into believing cannabis is wrong for everyone to consume. There has been no known evidence it's wrong for all the people, just that it's the wrong for some people. Apparently this little fact is difficult for some to comprehend.

I know some people will not like this concept, but it's time to change our perspective and tactics.
So on with the decriminalizing of the illicit drugs as they are called by our government, who we employ.

Now to redeploy our employees to be of better use to the government and people of this nation. First, they are already in place so there won't be a need to relocate anyone or put more people in the unemployment line, we are just changing the status of their employment by focusing it in a different direction. Second, the direction is to save valuable revenue and to acquire more revenue in an acceptable fashion that doesn't dig into the taxpayers pockets that are stretched to their limits already.

This starts with those at the borders, they will continue to search for smuggled products. These officers will also be in charge of collecting the tariffs on the drugs coming in, if the drug cartels want to continue sending the drugs that are so profitable to them into the USA they have to pay a tariff this will cover the expenses of rehab clinics. Now we all know there will be those who attempt to smuggle drugs, they get one chance to declare them after that if they are found to be smuggling well all I can say is they've lost their drugs to the DEA who in turn have a list of people authorized to sell drugs in the USA. These retailers collect taxes but they are also able to bid on confiscated drugs.

There should be two levels of retailers one for cannabis, and another for cocaine and meth. With all the cocaine and meth coming into the states from Mexico these agents will need to conduct test for quality. The cocaine and meth being the primary concern for testing, but because of some questionable practices in the drug trade they should conduct testing on cannabis also. Me, personally I don't want my cannabis laced with anything, but I don't want people consuming poison that may kill them either. (I can't fathom why anyone would want to consume coke or meth, I just know some people are more susceptible to using them than other people are.)  We do know enough about the harsher drugs and in testing the quality should be able to verify that they are in fact a safer form of poison.

As for the cannabis, again authorized retailers the same as with alcohol. One, there are people too lazy to grow their own and they would rather pay for it. You don't have to have a permit to make your own alcohol so don't expect me to pay for the right of growing my own. Two, it will be an additional tax base for the communities that are strapped for money. Three, it will stop the wasting of money in our courts, which can be used to raise the salaries of our officers. Plus saving space in the jails for the more dangerous and violent criminals.


And yes, common sense will tell you that people will abuse these drugs, look at the history of mankind we can't seem to stop our abusing nature. The amount of abuse will not be known for a few years but, I'm betting that by changing perspectives of drug abuse there will be less of it, along with more responsible users. People like choices and they really prefer to discover for themselves what is right for themselves individually. What's right for some the people isn't always right for all the people. Just remember more people die a year from eating peanuts than they do from consuming cannabis.

The Cannabis Compromise: Getting Gritty On The Truth

First as a realist, I know there will be people who will feel offended on both sides of this issue. So we start with the present policy of prohibition. It's not working plain and simple.

The Reefer Madness Mentality is that consuming cannabis is wrong for everyone and that everyone who consume cannabis is abusing it. There is no known evidence to support either one of these claims. Fortunately, I believe there is evidence to prove there are responsible adults who use cannabis and not just for medicinal purposes but also for recreational use.
Yet, the government continues to waste billions on intimidation tactics in order to bully the people into believing that consuming cannabis is wrong for all the people. Now, I also believe that consuming cannabis is not the right choice for some people. There is evidence to suggest this to be true.

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart wrote that she rejected the request because marijuana, like other Schedule I drugs, "has a high potential for abuse," "has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States," and "lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision." She wrote that "At this time, the known risks of marijuana use have not been shown to be outweighed by specific benefits in well-controlled clinical trials that scientifically evaluate safety and efficacy."

My problem with the concept of accepted medical use is pretty simple: If a product is not right for you, your body will react to it and it will cause additional health problems. This is not an acceptable source of medicine for you.  If you consume a product and your body does absorbs it without the additional health problems then you have found an acceptable source of medicine.

On the other side of the coin is the people who have given me the impression that cannabis is the cure-all for everything wrong in our society. I'm certain that we can solve a lot of issues with cannabis, but by no means will it solve everything.
There are those I believe who are pushing the medical use as a way to legally get high, I can hope I'm wrong on this. I kind of doubt it though, the bad apples in the bushel are making the good ones look rotten. These bad apples are the examples our government uses as the excuse for continuing this failed policy.

So, here we are with people in power who are abusing the power they have. While we have people who like to use cannabis but aren't responsible enough to see what they are doing to the movement for a competent and practical solution to this issue. In order to put an end to the Reefer Madness Mentality we the people have to help those who are irresponsible to be more responsible people. There is a time to consume and a place to consume. The idea of consuming anytime or anyplace has end.

So basically, there are issues on both sides that in my opinion is wrong. The compromise is we have to accept the truth and neither side seems to be willing consider it. Yes, I'm for the legalizing, regulating and taxing of cannabis for all purposes. I also believe in educating  the people, accepting responsibility for ones actions and decisions.

2 Stories involving the abuse of alcohol that made the news this week.

Mother losses 3 year olds

And here we are again, proof that alcohol isn't the right choice of recreation for some of the people, yet it is recognized as the ONLY legal choice for all the people.

Sure she needs help, locking her up probably won't help her and it sure wouldn't hurt her. But she has to be able to admit to her self she has a problem and she has to want to help herself, before anyone can be able to help her.

This is a quote from the head of the DEA: Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said she rejected the request because marijuana "has a high potential for abuse."
She has apparently forgotten that alcohol, tobacco, and firearms have a high potential of abuse. And she has the mentality that every person who uses marijuana is abusing it needs to end.

So why are we being driven to drink if it's not the right choice for everyone? And why are people being denied the option or opportunity to discover what is right for them to consume, so that they can control it, instead of it controlling them?

I know people who drink alcohol some don't abuse it, while there are others who do. So I can't judge everyone who drinks as being alcoholics or drunks, because that's not true.

When and if this young lady decides to really look at her life, she will discover that she only has herself to blame and she will have to decide what crosses she will carry. We can only hope that her decisions will be for good of her son.

Arkansas Oden dismissed from team after 2nd DWI

Yes, here is still more proof that alcohol is not the right choice of recreation for some people, the sad part is that it's the only legal recreational product for all the people.
People are treated as criminals for possessing cannabis, but your not treated as a criminal for alcohol until after you have been caught abusing them.
Alcohol is the most additively dangerous product legally available mind altering substance, and has ruined more lives than the use of cannabis ever will.

Crashed, with no hope of recovery.

After a decent run my recycled Dell 2400 desktop finally crashed I believe. I shut it down to do a complete restart. It was acting kind of buggy. I had hoped it would do what was necessary to straighten itself out. Now I turn it on and then it kicks itself off then back on with no Dell start-up window or boot splash. I would say that the motherboard is fried. I check on it again later though.
What is a shame is that the case is a good clean case, no scratches a good power supply. I guess I could look for another motherboard for it.

I moved the hard drives to a newer case that I recently rescued found another motherboard, got it up and running. I have even downloaded a few more packages. I'm still looking for a png converter I used lately and can't seem to remember where or how I ended up with it. I do like it, this application converter screenshots to jpgs which doesn't use as much space on one hard drive.

I am going to go ahead and download the LXDE environment to tinker around with, it has a few features I have discovered a liking for. The most important one is the ability to open files in Pcmanfm as root. I have this desktop environment installed on 2 laptops at the moment and after setting them up I decided to see what they would be like on my desktop computer. The Linux Mint 9 (LTS) LXDE is loaded on a 3.3 gig hard drive with room to spare for a few extras. The last I checked I had almost 700mb of free memory, my best guess would be the the base install, swap, updating packages, and my download of prefer packages was around 2.5 gigs of hard drive.

I haven't brought myself to trash the Dell just yet, in hopes of possibly saving it. If nothing else I'll have a decent case and power supply to work with.

The DEA and redeploying their services.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (commonly known as DEA) we have an unknown number of people employed by this government agency. They are suppose to be working for the people, not working for someone elses idea of what people should be. They are there and have been responsible for the defamation of character of so many good people with their continued effort to control the concept of what is acceptable. What is acceptable is of a personal nature and is up to the individual to discover for themselves. We are essentially different in all aspects of our lives. From our personal beliefs and opinions, desires and needs, and science has proven we are different in how we each react with what we consume.

So, we have to look at the products (alcohol, over the counter and prescription drugs) our government has claimed the responsibility of approving as the legal options for all the people. By claiming these products as the only legal options they are in fact stating these items are the right choice for everyone. Well, considering the amount of damages, number of deaths, the health problems, and social issues associated with them, you don't have to be a genius to see these aren't the right choices for some of the people. So I have to wonder how it's right to use threats of fines and/or incarceration in an attempt to intimidate people into believing cannabis is wrong for everyone to consume. There has been no known evidence it's wrong for all the people, just that it's the wrong for some people. Apparently this little fact is difficult for some to comprehend.

I know some people will not like this concept, but it's time to change our perspective and tactics.
So on with the decriminalizing of the illicit drugs as they are called by our government, who we employ.

Now to redeploy our employees to be of better use to the government and people of this nation. First, they are already in place so there won't be a need to relocate anyone or put more people in the unemployment line, we are just changing the status of their employment by focusing it in a different direction. Second, the direction is to save valuable revenue and to acquire more revenue in an acceptable fashion that doesn't dig into the taxpayers pockets that are stretched to their limits already.

This starts with those at the borders, they will continue to search for smuggled products. These officers will also be in charge of collecting the tariffs on the drugs coming in, if the drug cartels want to continue sending the drugs that are so profitable to them into the USA they have to pay a tariff this will cover the expenses of rehab clinics. Now we all know there will be those who attempt to smuggle drugs, they get one chance to declare them after that if they are found to be smuggling well all I can say is they've lost their drugs to the DEA who in turn have a list of people authorized to sell drugs in the USA. These retailers collect taxes but they are also able to bid on confiscated drugs.

There should be two levels of retailers one for cannabis, and another for cocaine and meth. With all the cocaine and meth coming into the states from Mexico these agents will need to conduct test for quality. The cocaine and meth being the primary concern for testing, but because of some questionable practices in the drug trade they should conduct testing on cannabis also. Me, personally I don't want my cannabis laced with anything, but I don't want people consuming poison that may kill them either. (I can't fathom why anyone would want to consume coke or meth, I just know some people are more susceptible to using them than other people are.)  We do know enough about the harsher drugs and in testing the quality should be able to verify that they are in fact a safer form of poison.

As for the cannabis, again authorized retailers the same as with alcohol. One, there are people too lazy to grow their own and they would rather pay for it. You don't have to have a permit to make your own alcohol so don't expect me to pay for the right of growing my own. Two, it will be an additional tax base for the communities that are strapped for money. Three, it will stop the wasting of money in our courts, which can be used to raise the salaries of our officers. Plus saving space in the jails for the more dangerous and violent criminals.


And yes, common sense will tell you that people will abuse these drugs, look at the history of mankind we can't seem to stop our abusing nature. The amount of abuse will not be known for a few years but, I'm betting that by changing perspectives of drug abuse there will be less of it, along with more responsible users. People like choices and they really prefer to discover for themselves what is right for themselves individually. What's right for some the people isn't always right for all the people. Just remember more people die a year from eating peanuts than they do from consuming cannabis.

Neglect

I've went and done it again, I tend to get involved with projects from time to time and neglect my blog. My recent projects were involving the advances of educating myself in different Linux distributions and setting up of desktops to my liking.

Some know that I am also vocal about the failed prohibition policies of our twisted justice system.

My apologies for those who do actually check my blog here. I don't keep up with who or how many visit. This is my place to speak my mind in order to find peace in my heart and soul.


So on to my Linux education. I recently tested SliTaz OS on an older laptop, it is a Compaq Presaio 1670. This is a computer that has proven to be difficult to find software for, mainly because the bios has not been updated in who knows how long.  I know it's not the most up to date equipment, but I like the small size of it. SliTaz runs extremely well on it and fast. There are some issues that I will have to address if I decide to keep it. Some will be time consuming as I learn to alter the setup for my desktop. Others are just finding a way to work out some bugs. My main reason of using SliTaz was the openbox environment. It's lightweight is perfect for a limited resource computer, which I seem to have an abundance of.

I do keep returning to Linux Mint though, they have my 2 favorite desktop environments in the stable LTS 9 release. XFCE and LXDE. I like XFCE but it has too many gnome components to rely on, where as LXDE doesn't. Don't get me wrong I don't mind gnome but it is a fairly heavy OS in my opinion, this is a problem when you are working with computers that have limited resources.

This old dog hopes to eventually learn enough to compile a desktop OS of my own whether it's a remaster or not, I would like to keep my mind occupied with learning more. I have been looking at Arch, DSL and LFS to compile my own system. My last set-up before SliTaz was a Debian based system using e16 environment, honestly I like prefer e16 over e17. I'm not sure why but I guess that's a personal taste.

I have discovered that Arora is a better browser for posting on my blog. So that will be the only reason I have it on my desktop. I have a variety of browsers for different reasons and profiles. My primary choice of browser though is Seamonkey. My daughter uses Chromium on this computer, I use Kontact, Konqueror, and rekonq (parts of KDE) for my independent contracting firm Diversified SubContracting and here these are my websites that I have built using Google free services.

My wife asked why I spend so much time messing with computers, for me it's simple I know in a few years I'll not be able to get around in attics or climb up and down ladders. So, I want to learn something that in my opinion is still in the stage of expanding (Linux) and can be financially beneficial, I don't expect to get rich from it, but I do hope to support my family with it.