friendship

People asked me to write on two subjects, first i thought: No i won't. Since both are sensitive, and practically complicated subjects, but i agree people can get many things done so here are a few. (3 subjects)

One thing that i wasn't asked to write about: (lowland-)gorillas, and what they mean to africa (kongo, zimbabwe, rwanda) and the darfur region, and how we must understand the diplomacy going off there, however, is occupying me a lot. That is because the need to stop the threat off a regional conflict. It's all a matter of oil and who controls it. Humanitarian and information problems obscure much of the view of what is really going on. Since it is about oil, people should hurry to computerise these society's they perceive as undemocratic. This is a great wish, it seems less people in conflict areas have a computer then a few years ago. Because it is such a huge problem i would like to see opinions and experiences of people on the Inet to judge from.
The idea that ethiopia would invade sudan under a UN flag is unnerving. They sure have better feats, bigger needs to fill. However you can't blame ethiopia only, they have obviously been offered the money to maintain their army in the preparations of a UN-(au) attack.
Since this verges on the cannonmeat subject i disagree.

On with the real subject, meat. The whole meatindustry can be put in a very bad light.
This from two points of view, the animal, and the workers.
For the animals it is horrible, the list of wishes to improve their situation is long. It is such that we really need to make a dramastic measure to change it. A measure that means we will need to eat less meat (im a vegetarian that eats fish myself) . And that we will put our meatconsumption at a lower level still. Many people in netherlands are vegetarian, and by far more limit their meatconsumption, a majority.

The measures that need implementation are basically very well researched by the green and the new pvdd (animal party). Almost all children participating in nature activitys , have voted demonstratively pvdd in a mock election. So we have their consents, and it's the adult being childish:).
I don't know the precise proposals, since i have been occupied with foreign elections and
international affairs in the running up. A few examples though.. the cutting of live pigs-tails,
the massing of 300000 chickens in batterys. Both the examples are part of horrible situations for animals. The idea is to put legal measures to the treatment of animals, leaving the sector to solve its problems. I think this is ok, the main reason for the abuse is the good cash it makes,
therefore if the producers need to change policys by legal pressure they will.

A not very temporary drop in availability and rise of prices is certain. There is no way to have really cheap meat and a friendly treatment of animals at once. However biological meat prices are only the double of decent quality meat prices. So although there will be less meat, there can still be lots. The situation after a month or 3 would be most people would buy meat again.
Costly, but of a better and saner quality, ofcourse we can arrange for some compensation to the lower incomes, when the meat production goes up again, personally i find computers for family's with schoolgoing children of bigger importance.

The next dear point is the butchering. Butchering has never been a nice job, and in netherlands for many years has been done by butchers that often even lived in confined areas.
All workers deriving from the working or 'lower' classes. Although it has a significant impact on these peoples personalitys and views; they cope by selfhypnosis, telling themselves: animals don't notice, animals don't feel, and generally no irregularitys ever occur.

When you get to know them personally they will sometimes give perfect examples of how animals do feel. Animals begging for their lives. Well it is horrible. I thought we improved over the past few years, i was terribly optimistic. Instead of focussing to improve the conditions for animals they foccused on.....
getting young and innocent people to do the job. Young people without an income have been forced to slaughter animals under 20 years and older methods.
Since some of them ran away before the selfhypnosis set in , i know now every pig notices what happens, and it is a horrible thing that does.
So besides inhumane production there is a enormous problem of inhumane slaughter. A thing far from the eye of the public because we are not shown. Because special communitys exist for it. And because the meat industry has a big interest to hide it.
Thus by stopping the production of animals through inhumane methods,we can hopefully also improve on the slaughter procedures at the same time.

(3rd subject)
The other point is even more impopular, because it is about drugs. I have radical views on natural drugs, natural drugs don't cause cancer, and don't invoke chemical polution, they hardly have unwanted sideeffects. Only they are addictive. A thing that goes for chemical drugs as well.

Many natural drugs are a cultural (agricultural) aspect of the regions they are grown.
Opium eg. has been used by old and sick for centurys,(in the whole of eurasiafrioceania) with the added advantage humans got physiologically adapted to using them to some extend. In the regions where they are grown they tend to be a smaller problem then in the industrial areas where they sell best.

Whenever you check on psychologial matters, it appears 10% percent of people are such, (say adhd), 10% are so, say nervous, another 10% are so that they don't sleep well in the night, and yet another 10% suffer from traumas, etc.etc. Long sentence short, many people need or are better off with drugs. Many of them do get drugs prescribed. Being legally addicted to some chemical or (even forced) an outrageously mindmutilating other one.

Meanwhile, the system made us grow the grass at home under lamps.(1) It makes me angry.
Cannabis is an excellent agricultural product, that can help create a healthy soil, humans are very well adapted to the herb, since it is the first we domesticated. The seeds can be used in foodprocessing, and are very healthy and even protein rich, the leftovers can be used to make anything between spaceshuttles and children's toys, although it excells at paper and other fibric materials. The list of other uses is sheer endless because of the nr of fans that researched into it.

So the production should be focussed in warm sunny countrys . 'Coincedentually', these country's are generally poor countrys. The main reason why they are not allowed to export it in an economical way. Similarly long storys can be told about poppys and cocaine.
The actual use of drugs is so common, one thinks the actual reason the US went to afghanistan is to have a bigger say in the market on opiates. Very nice, if the farmers want to be payed
you can shoot them. Analogues to the bombing of huge areas in south america. It doesn't matter what happens to the people as long as the prices go up.

Well every legally allowed 'substance' coffee, tea, chocolate, alcohol, has been a major contributor to worldeconomy (for good or bad) . And a provider of customers of healthcare. This won't completely reverse. (at once) Definetly liberalising the drugs trade will raise the nr of users in short and middle terms. However in a free economy one could measure this to the damages done by prohibition. So measured we function at a big loss.

With good research and coaching many people could be healed using natural drugs mostly.
Minimising the damage to their system. Many people might start using a drug at some point of their lives, and never give up again. Although ... many of these people would use ugly chemicals, and have a mutilated and humiliating life after. Also if you don't trust your people to learn and experiment, they will be naive and fall into traps most of us, regular users, easily circumvent.

Basically we will have to see what happens if we let the thing loose and start regulating affairs domestically. Ofcourse we will do good for quitte a few poor economys, think south america afghanistan . marocco, cambodja. Economys that need income. Waging war against them will only make more certain of their right to grow a profitable and relatively harmless crop.

Since no valid reasons remain not to emancipate natural drugs, something else must stick behind. The maffia? well the maffia invaded afghanistan and bombed south america... how do you like it? I think it makes no sense. Legalisation will only halt the maffias influence and minimese their cashflow. Perhaps it is the fear we work less? when we have more pleasurable substances? That is a matter of mentality too. And by now we start to realise work is not so important. Because you don't need to produce more then is needed. scientific research? another such excellent excuse? So we are lab rats! ? They killed 2 billion people to have better experimentation with chemical medicins?

(1) bad energy investment