'Walmart of weed' opening store in Washington, D.C.

A company dubbed the "Walmart of Weed" is putting down roots in America's capital city, sprouting further debate on marijuana — medical or otherwise.

Just a few miles from the White House and federal buildings, a company that candidly caters to medical marijuana growers is opening up its first outlet on the East Coast. The opening of the weGrow store on Friday in Washington coincides with the first concrete step in implementing a city law allowing residents with certain medical conditions to purchase pot.

Like suppliers of picks and axes during the gold rush, weGrow sees itself providing the necessary tools to pioneers of a "green rush," which some project could reach nearly $9 billion within the next five years. Admittedly smaller than a big box store, weGrow is not unlike a typical retailer in mainstream America, with towering shelves of plant food and vitamins, ventilation and lighting systems. Along with garden products, it offers how-to classes, books and magazines on growing medical marijuana.

"The more that businesses start to push the envelope by showing that this is a legitimate industry, the further we're going to be able to go in changing people's minds," said weGrow founder Dhar Mann.

Although federal law outlaws the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana, 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized its medical use to treat a wide range of issues from anxiety and back pain to HIV/AIDS and cancer-related ailments. Fourteen states also have some kind of marijuana decriminalization law, removing or lowering penalties for possession.

Nearly 7% of Americans, or 17.4 million people, said they used marijuana in 2010, up from 5.8%, or 14.4 million, in 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. A Gallup poll last year found a record-high of 50% of Americans saying that marijuana should be made legal, and 70% support medical uses for pot.

Marijuana advocates also tout revenue benefits, as well as cost and efficiency savings for not prosecuting or jailing people for pot.

Source: USA Today

Carlos Castaneda Interview with Theodore Roszak 1969

Bedrock of vaccination theory crumbles as science reveals antibodies not necessary to fight viruses

(NaturalNews) While the medical, pharmaceutical, and vaccine industries are busy pushing new vaccines for practically every condition under the sun, a new study published in the journal Immunity completely deconstructs the entire vaccination theory. It turns out that the body's natural immune systems, comprised of both innate and adaptive components, work together to ward off disease without the need for antibody-producing vaccines.

The theory behind vaccines is that they mimic infection by spurring B cells, one of the two major types of white blood cells in the immune system, to produce antibodies as part of the adaptive immune system. It is widely believed that these vaccine-induced antibodies, which are part of the more specific adaptive immune system, teach the immune system how to directly respond to an infection before the body becomes exposed to it.

But the new research highlights the fact that innate immunity plays a significant role in fighting infections, and is perhaps more important than adaptive immunity at preventing or fighting infections. In tests, adaptive immune system antibodies were shown unable to fight infection by themselves, which in essence debunks the theory that vaccine-induced antibodies serve any legitimate function in preventing or fighting off infection.

"Our findings contradict the current view that antibodies are absolutely required to survive infection with viruses like VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus), and establish an unexpected function for B cells as custodians of macrophages in antiviral immunity," said Dr. Uldrich H. von Andrian from Harvard Medical School. "It will be important to further dissect the role of antibodies and interferons in immunity against similar viruses that attack the nervous system, such as rabies, West Nile virus, and Encephalitis."

As explained by Dr. Russell Blaylock in a recent interview with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, vaccines not only do not work as advertised, but they actually damage the body's innate immunity. Rather than teach the body how to respond to infections, vaccines actually inhibit the immune system's ability to produce TH2-type cytokines, and suppress cellular immunity, which is how the body protects itself against deadly viruses and bacteria.

So once again, the myth that vaccinations serve any sort of legitimate medical purpose has been deconstructed by breakthrough science. Regardless of whether or not the mainstream medical community wants to admit it, pro-vaccine ideology is increasingly finding itself in the dustheap of outmoded pseudoscience.

Source: Natural News

Yes, Deepwater Horizon Oil Did Enter the Food Chain

Along with the death of scores of marine animals and seabirds, one of the main concerns during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the impact on the food chain. A new study clarifies that impact: Hydrocarbons from the Macondo well trickled into the ocean food chain via its tiniest members, zooplankton.

Deepwater Horizon oil was found in zooplankton up to a month after the Macondo well was finally capped, the study found. Just as other oil spill studies have found, the impacts were patchy — some zooplankton far away from the wellhead showed evidence of contamination, while other plankton close by showed lower levels of exposure.

In any event, traces of oil in these tiny creatures shows they came into contact with the spilled oil, scientists say. Given their importance as a food source for a wide range of animals, this indicates compounds in the oil did work their way into the food chain — and still are.

The study was published in last month's issue of Geographical Research Letters.

Source: Popsci

Hundreds of Israelis march in Tel Aviv to protest war with Iran

Hundreds of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against a possible Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Get all the latest updates on Haaretz.com's Facebook page Anti-war protest - Hadar Cohen - 24.3.2012

The protest came amid a recent Facebook campaign linking Israeli and Iranian citizens in their opposition to war between the two nations. Campaign leaders, however, made it clear on their Facebook page that they had nothing to do with the Tel Aviv protest march.

Last week, graphic designers Ronny Edry and his wife, Michal Tamir, unknowingly began a Facebook phenomenon when they uploaded a poster depicting Edry and his daughter with the words, "Iranians, we will never bomb your country, we [heart] you."

That one image sparked a movement of sorts, with hundreds, if not thousands, of images sent from Israel, Iran, and elsewhere in the world, in support of exposing what participants consider to be the human side of the conflict between Iran and Israel.

Read more: Haaretz

Monsanto wants to brainwash your children with 'Biotechnology Basics Activity Book'

(NaturalNews) In response to mounting public backlash from the older generation, the biotechnology industry has launched a new propaganda campaign aimed at convincing children that genetically-modified (GM) crops are not only safe, but also an improvement over natural agriculture. Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and five other major biotechnology companies and associations have collectively released the Biotechnology Basics Activity Book, a colorful guide designed to reeducate children into the false dogma of biotechnology.

The 16-page guide -- which includes word scrambles, fill-in-the-blank puzzles, and matching games -- contains an introductory paragraph that claims biotechnology boosts crop yields, improves environmental conditions, and leads to more nutritious food. Throughout the book, children are told that biotechnology is changing the world for the better, which is a complete contradiction to all available independent science. And yet this guide is reportedly slated for inclusion in some school curriculums.

"This is an activity book for young people like you about biotechnology -- a really neat topic," says the first page of the book. "Why is it such a neat topic? Because biotechnology is helping to improve the health of the Earth and the people who call it home."

You can view the entire activity book for yourself at: whybiotech.com

The guide was produced by a group known as the Council for Biotechnology Information (CBI), a pro-GMO coalition of the world's largest biotechnology companies and organizations. CBI routinely ignores independent science that shows GMOs and their growing chemicals to be dangerous, and continues to purvey the lie that GMO technologies are not only safe, but that they are superior to conventional and organic growing methods.

Read more: Natural News

Twitter sticks together with OWS protesters

Twitter Inc. refuses to give out information on Jeffrey Rae, a prominent OWS protester whose on-the-ground Twitter reporting is followed by thousands. Activists under police scrutiny say a political witch hunt has begun on behalf of “the 1 per cent”.

The microblogging service Twitter says it will not comply with the request two weeks ago by the New York District Attorney to hand over data about an Occupy Wall Street protester. Jeffrey Rae was among more than 700 activists arrested during a Brooklyn Bridge march in New York on October 1 last year.

Bloggers now say it is the beginning of authorities’ digging into the social media black hole, as Rae is now part of a chain of similar privacy requests.

And the protesters who believed Twitter was a secure way to communicate during demonstrations may have another thing coming.

Jeff Rae describes himself on Twitter as a “rabble rouser, agitator, organizer, labor activist.”

On October 1, 2011, Rae received two charges of disorderly conduct and one charge of “Horse/unauthorized Riding/ltd Use Vehicle.” After the arrest he tweeted that he was charged with “failure to obey order, prohibited use of roadway, and blocking traffic.”

That is what the NYPD calls a “disobedient civilian”.

Read more: RT