Wazron

Here's the quote: "The judge cannot direct a verdict it is true, and the jury has the power to bring in a verdict in the teeth of both law and facts." Mr. Justice Holmes, for the majority in Horning v. District of Columbia, 254 U.S. 135, 138 (1920). I'd plead for a mistrial on the basis of complete incompetence on the part of the defence lawyer. Especially in light of the fact that several members of the jury felt pressed into delivering the verdict they gave. Maybe ER's lawyers are just waiting for the appeal so they can do this at a later date and therefore make more money. It says a lot about the law system in Amerikkka when they can get away with this sort of stuff (jury pressurisation). I wonder if this right of the jury exists in Australia?? waz

This is a travesty. In America, there is a provision in law that even their Supreme Court doesn't want the American people to know, and which any breathing defence lawyer should know. An American jury has the right to render a not guilty verdict, even in the face of all evidence in the court. The council for the defence should have informed the jury of their right to acquit despite evidence!! There is no way short of a stacked jury, defence incompetence or a crooked trial that Ed could have been nailed. For references: http://www.fija.org/ The jury has an "unreviewable and irreversible power... to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge... The pages of history shine on instances of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard uncontradicted evidence and instructions of the judge; for example, acquittals under the fugitive slave law. U.S. v. Dougherty, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, 1972, 473 F.2d at 1130 and 1132. (Nevertheless, the majority opinion held that jurors need not be told this. Dissenting Chief Judge Bazelon thought that they ought to be so told.) "If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence... If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic or passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision." United States v. Moylan, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, 1969, 417 F.2d at 1006. The most quoted instruction empowering a jury to judge the law comes from a civil case. In a rare jury trial in the United States Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Jay, speaking for a unanimous Court, instructed the jury: "The facts comprehended in the case are agreed; the only point that remains, is to settle what is the law of the land arising from those facts; and on that point, it is proper, that the opinion of the court should be given. It is fortunate, on the present, as it must be on every occasion, to find the opinion of the court unanimous: we entertain no diversity of sentiment; and we have experienced no difficulty in uniting in the charge, which it is my province to deliver. "It may not be amiss, here, Gentlemen, to remind you of the good old rule, that on questions of fact, it is the province of the jury, on questions of law, it is the province of the court to decide. But it must be observed that by the same law, which recognizes this reasonable distribution of jurisdiction, you have nevertheless a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy. On this, and on every other occasion, however, we have no doubt, you will pay that respect, which is due to the opinion of the court: For, as on the one hand, it is presumed, that juries are the best judges of fact; it is, on the other hand, presumable, that the court are the best judges of the law. But still both objects are lawfully within your power of decision." Georgia v. Brailsford, 3 U.S. (3 Dall.) 1 (1794) waz [ 02. February 2003, 15:38: Message edited by: Wazron ]

Here we go again... Isn't it funny that as soon as a cache of drugs shows up with a cartoon character or some such similar logo, the police say it's for kids as young as (whatever)? Despite there being little or no reports of 12 year olds dance parties or even kids turning up in ERs after having been caught by the parents by getting lovey with the furniture while watching Hi-5 on TV... I say this to all concerned parens: if your 12 year old has enough time away from you to be able to drop Harry Potter's Hermione flavoured lovey disco biscuits, rave like a drunken monkey for 6 hours, spend an hour or two making love to inanimate objects in the house, get disappointed by the comedown and deal with the crash- all without you noticing- then you're not much of a parent. That's why these propaganda campaigns are so effective- it gets parents worried that their kids are so distant from them that they prefer chemical love to familial love. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Also, that's why I don't have kids- because government and corporations are turning them into 'parental control devices' if you know what I mean. Happy Meals are advertised the way that they are for a reason you know... cheers waz

Having tried 5HTP both with and without B6 supplementation I can say that it defeintely works better with B6. Try having the B6 in the morning (Berocca is good, and Cenovis have just released a B+C complex that's just as good, if not better, and cheaper too). I dont know about serotonin's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, I would assume that as it is a naturally occurring substance in the brain it would have good permeability. Anyone care to stump up hard research? In any case, without B3, B6 and zinc, the body will convert 5HTP into Kynurenine instead of serotonin according to 'natural highs' by Partick Holford and Dr Hyla Cass. Please note the dosage reported on: 'several hundred'. As in 200mg or 1500mg? Tested on humans or on rats or rabbits? I saw little referencing in the post. I take my B supp at 7AM and my 5HTP at 9:30PM each day (100mg). The HTP I use has B6 included at a low dose and the regimen seems to work much better than the 5HTP only product that I tried at one point. I also take Siberian ginseng, high EPA/DHA fish oil, zinc, garlic and psyllium husk in water and I include plenty of fresh tomato, celery and greens in my diet. I'm prepared to risk heart disease from 5HTP and healthy living rather than from environmental stress and sedentary lifestyle! No doubt if I had gone to see this self-proclaimed Dr. Steve ("Hi, doctor Steve!") Harris, he would have put me on Prozac or Aurorix or something equally 'safe'... which, in my experience, are really quite unpleasant to take- please forgive my subjectivity. cheers wazron

Ozzy: drooling, shambling, drug fucked wreck. I don't think he was thinking about his future when he was eating entire sheets of blotter. At least he is a 'genuine' celebrity, having done something original in his field. Sharon: If anyone on this show was going to get bowel cancer it was going to be her. Deeeeeep in denial, and what is with those little frickin dogs? Jack (?): voted most likely to suicide before 30. nuff said. Kelly: Eeeek! kill it! kill it! I watched half of one episode. I lasted until Kelly put a plastic-bottomed electric kettle on the stove and melted it, then chuck a nana when everyone else laughed at her (and rightly so). It was at this point that I realised that by watching this dross I was lowering myself to these people's level. Never saw it since. Except for once at a mates place, I caught about 30 seconds of Ozzie throwing a ham through the neighbours' window. The whole 'reality TV' thing is fucked, it's almost entirely devoid of true reality, almost like as soon as a camera gets involved it is no longer real. I guess from a philosophical standpoint it can't be considered a reality if its jut being spewed at you from a TV and you are a passive observer of past events- how is that reality? It's all a conceit, and yet another form of ethically empty space filler. Along with our junk-food lifestyle we now have junk-TV. Wanna keep the 10 year old quiet? Give em a packet of crisps and put on the Osbournes. Fill their bodies with nutrition and their minds with knowledge. waz

I hope that 'precursor chemical' wasn't 5-HTP. That's guilt by association; ecstacy users take 5HTP for serotonin boosting, therefore everyone who takes 5HTP must be an ecstacy user. Typical specious reasoning from our gov't if this is the case... My neighbour's lawn flamingo takes 5HTP because it is the only antidepressant that works for it (after 16 years of depression and three years of ineffective SSRI scrips). I'd hate to think that Big Brother was going to kick down my neighbours' door at 3am expecting to find a cache of MDMA or something that the flamingo bought... waz

Hi all, Long time no post, things have been going in a new path for me. Are there any Sagittarians out there in SAB land? I have just had a huge change of fortunes- as have most Sagittarians I know. Suddenly its like life has clicked into the right gear after spending three years gnashing cogs. I am enrolled in my western herbalists course, allowng me to become a nationally recognised herbal prescriber (Swiss extracts ahoy!). I hope to gain help in this course through the support of others on the site. DL, Torsten, that includes time spent working for cultivation houses etc. as part of my course hours, hint hint. This also means the ability to prescribe melatonin, 5HTP etc... I am glad to be back on the net and I look forward to renewing old acquaintances. Well met all. Happy Hogmanay! waz

I'm sorry you feel that way, TST. I would rather you don't place a ban on yourself- especially over something as truly inconsequential (in a spiritual sense) as the naming of this part of the site. My 2c says the name does not matter. A path you leave behind is still a path. The name of the forum is not 'others' spiritual paths' after all. Feel free to be a trailblazer here. DF, your post has roused me from my studies. I find your initial post amazing. I had no idea that you were the ultimate arbiter of matters esoteric. A lesser person might assume that your presumption bordered on arrogance but we try to be more understanding here. Folks, what we have here is a petty squabble. DF, you don't have the right to pass judgement on others, and there is no need to air your dirty laundry in front of all the other denizens. TST, I would have thought a spiritual pathfinder would be above quibbling over the names we give to things, which are not as real and important as the things themselves. The 'com' stands for community. We need to work to understand each other not judge, politick or polemicise. I hope that we can all make allowances for the things that make us different and bond over the things that make us the same. wazron [This message has been edited by Wazron (edited 29 December 2002).]

Hat to be a nitpicker, but in the interests of public safety, it must be noted that moclobemide (Aurorix) has dangerous, potentially lethal interaction with a number of other substances, especially Ecstacy, sertraline, fluoxetine, paroxetine and potentially any other SSRI-type substances. I do not recommend mixing moclobemide with any other consciousness altering substance. A friend of mine named Harvey has half a box full, untouched since he stopped them for a fortnight then switched to 5HTP. Said they made him feel worse than he felt when he wasn't on antidepressants. He's told me he wants to give them away but nobody wants them... cheeerz waz

NEEM The National Drugs and Poisons Scheduling Committee (NDPSC) discussed scheduling Neem at their June meeting but have postponed announcing their recommendation on its scheduling until October. The reason given is 'that further information about neem's benefits and safety needed review before... determination'. Chance of scheduling: unknown for sure but probably likely. COLLOIDAL SILVER: The TGA has proposed amending the Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Goods) Order so it can prevent the marketing of colloidal silver as medicine. The TGA has called for submissions concerning its proposal. You can bet any pharma-corp worth its salt will have a say on the matter. If you wish to retain access to healing tools other than those copyrighted by a bloated company on the other side of the world, better have your say while the opportunity is there. Will report the address as soon as I have dredged it out of the net. KAVA (Piper Methysticum) The TGA has proposed completely outlawing Kava after the recent and well-known case in which an Australian woman who was using kava happened to die. They support this position with a 2000 report from Rupert Stoller of the Swiss 'Pharmacovigilance Centre' that linked Kava to nine cases of liver disease. Women were affected worse than men: only one of the sufferers was a man. All of them were taking a product called 'Laitan', which rather than a naturally extracted and carefully prepared drug made from the roots of the plant, was an acetone extract @ 70% kavalactones, taken from the peel and main body of the plant. Note that in traditional kava-using societies, the root is the only part used... This link is a good one: http://www.herbalgram.org/browse.php/kavaupdate/ Bear in mind also that no evidence has been provided as to the other circumstances of the people suffering from these hepatic illnesses. There were another 34 cases reported across Germany and Switzerland, but only 3 of these were documented to be free of other hepatotoxic chemicals. Some of the chemicals also being used at the time of the afflictions included alcohol, synthetic kavain, fenfluramine, and phenobarbital. Incidentally, countries such as the US, UK and Australia do not see the rate demonstrated (1 in 170,000)- but then most of our medicinal Kava extracts are ethanol extracts rater than acetone extracts. Given the milder and far more biocompatible nature of alcohol, it might not be surprising if acetone extract of plant and peel (rather than root or alcohol-root extract) pulled some undesirable chemicals out of the material and into the extract... so get in while the getting is good folks, none of these things will likely be legal in 6 months. cheerio, waz

All I can say is... If researchers want lab rats to dose up to near-toxic levels of crank and system of a down, then paint me pink and call me 'squeaky'. waz

Originally posted by Fractalhead: Thankyou for pointing that out Jetblack, that IS the whole point. True. Score one to jetblack, a fellow non-addict. See guys, just the mention of banning alcohol (realistic or otherwise) has already provoked emotional and practical discussion between people having a wide range of perspectives on alcohol and drug use and abuse. Or a wide range of misinterpretations of your original message. Or maybe we were all drunk. I know I was when first I read this post . All we need to do to get the ball rolling is find a way of getting the public to believe that alcohol could actually be forced to be made illegal for some 'technical/legal' reason. I believe... if we can convince people that it might become illegal it would set the discussion rolling (re) drug laws... use this to explain why alcohol should be illegal... let the media and the public discuss it until they finally come to a proper explanation why alcohol should be legal while other drugs should be made illegal etc. etc... 1. It is always easier to have a drug banned than unbanned. How many drugs are banned? And now, how many drugs are available after being unbanned? (decriminalised MJ in some Australian states and territories does not count, nor does prohibition: we never had full prohibition in Australia). 2. Points of law are useless unless wielded by someone. If you start that movement, the fulfilment of your dream will be one step closer. 3. In my experience, drug laws make little sense and bad policy. However, the repression of a society is directly related to its happiness. There are many that would sacrifice the giddying dangers of freedom for the comfortable jackboot of excessive law- as long as most of those laws apply to 'real criminals' (ie pot smokers) rather than 'soft criminals' (ie corrupt politicians and greed-bloated corporations that shore them up and destroy the standard of living for hundreds of thousands of 'battlers'). Until people realise that personal harm is sometimes the workmate of free choice, they will continue to surrender freedom for security. And when that security is against being assaulted and mutilated by two psychopaths in your own home, crazed from marijuana withdrawal and willing to kill for a 'lid'... (Except the media and government will quietly hush up the fact that you're much more likely to be killed by a drunk driver or in a barroom assault)... Basically, people are sheep. Politicians tell us we need ever-stricter rules and laws, and we- the people- cry out for these laws that we need. Democracy my arse. In a population of 900 idiots and 100 geniuses, whose vote will carry the day? Good luck with your alcohol project and please don't take offence at anything I have written here. It's just the wikkid custom beer talking. Get alcohol banned and I will personally hunt you down. Juuuuust kidding! waz

Vaccinations do not really affect the root cause of Meningococcus. They also don't provide perfect protection from their target strain (or as has been pointed out, two other forms of the illness also). They do however introduce foreign animal proteins directly into the child's body, which can have severe consequences if the child turns out to be allergic to the proteins used. Statistically speaking, Australian children have far more to fear from domestic violence, motor vehicle accidents and household mishaps. Systemic Meningococcal infection is still a comparatively rare affliction. Speaking from a holistic viewpoint, I believe Meningococcal disease to be the result of the changing patterns of human hygiene. The meningococcus organism normally competes with many other bacteria within our bodies. With the rise of the 'antibacterial' scare campaign (primarily used to sell cleaning products containing excessive levels of phenyles etc) has come the rise of these better organisms. The more fragile bacteria are being affected by the high environmental levels of hostile chemicals and losing their capacity to maintain balance. Meningococcus, unchecked and able to gain a dominant niche within the host, can go into reproductive overdrive. The human organism has evolved to develop a complex defensive response to hostile bacteria. An infection can frequently generate an immunity to further infections of the same type and even to other infections as well. The first inoculation recorded in Western medical literature was to infect a subject with cowpox- a mild illness- which also conferred future immunity to smallpox, a close relative of smallpox with far more serious effects. In the present times, most people live in an environment with exceedingly high levels of phenyles and other 'antibacterial' agents, and as a consequence minor infections (such as colds) occur less often. However, if immunity is a product of infection, we may be robbing our bodies of the ability to generate defences against broad classes of bacteria and germs. Please bear in mind that this viewpoint has not been scientifically proven, however I would love to do a study on correlating environment and Meningococcal disease. Vaccination is up to you, but in this case the vaccine might not be justifiable. I woould recommend a good diet, with plenty of zinc, iron, garlic, exercise and fresh air. All of there will help fight infections the natural way- by keeping the body in balance. Remember also that we humans can live happily in a clean environment, and that we don't need to chemically sterilise our entire environment all the time. BTW: glad to see another 'gonian on the site... wazron

There's a road near my place that runs through dry Victorian light gum forest. The corners are beautifully cambered and, like quite a few twisty roads in Victoria, there's even a nasty, unmarked, descending-radius turn. The trees start at the edge of the road. Nobody lives for miles around. The road itself, although well-built, is usually littered with shredded tyres, molten patches from tyre friction, and copious quantities of nuts, bolts, screws and broken 'safety' glass. I empty my mind of fear, ensure correct setting on my Koni shockers, and concentrate on riding this blind-cornered bitch of a road more quickly and smoothly than I did the last time. It is my challenge to fate and my spitting in the face of time. When one places oneself in that situation, there is nothing but the shifting of weight, the cranking of the twistgrip, the exquisite ballet of clutch, gear and throttle. It is not a place where time matters. It is not a place where I think about a broken heart, or unpaid bills, or stress at work. I know at any curve I have a good chance of meeting a car coming at me sideways, or a screw being flicked up by my front wheel and blowing out my rear tyre while leaning into a 45km/h corner at 80 or so... and I look into the face of death and accept that any day is a good day to die, if you die in pursuit of happiness and freedom. I always feel strangely calm after Diamond Hill Road. Like my Karma has een reset and recharged. That's what I do to keep myself spiritually updated. waz

I'm a big fan of Propolis for systemic infection- try raw manuka honey. Chilli, garlic and horseradish are also good. cheers waz