Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Hemp for Victory was a 13 minute propaganda-esque film released by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1942, urging U.S. farmers to grow industrial hemp for the war effort. Of course, it was just five years earlier in 1937 when the anti-Cannabis campaign efforts of Harry Anslinger and the Bureau of Narcotics successfully culminated in the early stages of both hemp and marijuana prohibition. Because industrial hemp is immensely productive, the federal government recognized that it needed all the hemp it could get its hands on to get an upper hand in World War II.

Essentially, the message here is a product will be legal and production encouraged so long as the government can benefit from it during wartime. Otherwise, it’s the middle finger to the people and the economy.

Title screen of Hemp for Victory.

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Lt. Governor Jerry Abramson

Kentucky Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson came to Berea College today and spoke to our entrepreneurship class. I took the opportunity to inform him about industrial hemp and why it should be immediately decriminalized (before hemp was criminalized in 1937, it was the number 2 crop grown in Kentucky behind Tobacco, and Kentucky grew more hemp than any other state).

When I first asked the question I was hounded by just about everyone in the room for being “that California kid who just knows a lot about dope.” I took the time to explain the difference between marijuana and industrial hemp, and how industrial hemp could immediately add thousands of sustainable jobs to the Kentucky economy overnight upon being decriminalized.

Abramson had never heard of the hemp issue before, but said he was “on board” and would bring it up to people at the State Capitol in Frankfort. He agreed that, at the very least, advocacy about hemp could be made. I added that if Kentucky wanted to go a step further, the state could essentially nullify the federal legal definition of hemp (which lumps marijuana and hemp together as “Cannabis,” when they are in fact separate species within the same family) as Oregon has already done in the past several years.

I told Abramson that this is what he will hear when he brings up hemp to his advisers in Frankfort: “Hemp is related to marijuana, and if it is legalized marijuana growers can and will hide their marijuana plants in hemp fields.” Of course, this reasoning is absolutely bogus because when hemp and marijuana cross-pollinate, as they do naturally, marijuana’s THC level (the chemical that gets you high) decreases.

That’s right, the potency of marijuana decreases if it is surrounded by hemp. Only boneheaded marijuana growers would even consider growing marijuana near hemp, because the quality of their pot would quickly go down the tubes. In fact, the single most effective action the government could take to weaken marijuana would be to immediately rescind anti-hemp laws and allow the growth of industrial hemp.

Click here to learn more about the criminalization history of hemp.

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Click here to view the video on YouTube.

An explanation of why I am no longer supporting Rand Paul. I supported Rand when he ran for Senate and donated to his campaign, I’ve been his constituent for two years, but I cannot support him any longer after his endorsement of Mitt Romney.

What say you?

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Today I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Lonnie Hendrix, Mayor of Hyden, Kentucky (a small town of 300 in Leslie County in Eastern Kentucky). I was blown away by Mr. Hendrix’s spiritual depth, dedication to service, and humility. He was very welcoming to our group of 15 students, who are participating in an entrepreneurship program, Entrepreneurship for the Public Good, through Berea College.

Mr. Hendrix takes no salary, has given more than half of his private wealth away over the years, and ran for Mayor despite death threats and going up against a very corrupt local system. After winning with approximately 70% of the vote his first time running, he received 94% of the vote in his reelection bid for Mayor.

If you are ever in Eastern Kentucky, be sure to stop by the Mayor’s Office and say hello to Mr. Hendrix. It is immensely refreshing to meet a civic leader who genuinely cares for the people he serves and is willing to make personal sacrifice to help the community that he loves. He is exactly what this world needs.

My sincere gratitude to Peter Hackbert and Entrepreneurship for the Public Good for making this visit a possibility.

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"The police state in this country is growing out of control." ~ Ron Paul

“The police state in this country is growing out of control.  One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities.  The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe. That is why my ‘Plan to Restore America,’ in additional to cutting $1 trillion dollars in federal spending in one year, eliminates the TSA. We must restore the freedom and respect for liberty that once made American the greatest nation in human history.  I am deeply committed to doing that as President of the United States.” ~ Ron Paul; January 23, 2012

John Mica (R.-Fla), author of the legislation that created the TSA, agrees with Ron Paul:

“The whole program has been hijacked by bureaucrats. It mushroomed into an army. It’s gone from a couple-billion-dollar enterprise to close to $9 billion. They’ve failed to actually detect any threat in 10 years.”

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“[T]he same act undertaking to authorize the President to remove a person out of the United States who is under the protection of the Law, on his own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, without having witnesses in his favour, without defence, without counsel, is contrary to these provisions also of the Constitution, is therefore not law but utterly void and of no force.”

~ Thomas Jefferson; Resolutions Adopted by the Kentucky General Assembly; November 10, 1798

This quote should be sent to every single politician (including President Obama) who thinks indefinitely detaining U.S. citizens is somehow a potential solution in the fight against “terrorism.” Our liberty is being taken by our own government, not far-off “terrorists” in the Middle East. Let’s listen to Thomas Jefferson and respect the rule of law.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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My name is David Kretzmann. I am a 19 year old student at Berea College in Kentucky; I’ve lived in Kentucky since August of 2010. Today I urgently write you to investigate the death of Abdulrahman Al-awlaki.

Within the past 45 days, three U.S. citizens have been killed at the hand of U.S. drone attacks in Yemen. The most well known of these incidents was the case of Anwar Alawlaki, the U.S. citizen born in New Mexico suspected (but never officially charged) of working with Al-Qaeda. Alawlaki was on the CIA’s public hit list, signed off by President Barack Obama, for 17 months prior to his assassination on September 30, 2011. Alawlaki’s constitutional rights as a U.S. citizen were ignored by the Obama administration, despite attempts from Alawlaki’s father and the ACLU to protect Alawlaki.

What’s even more disturbing than Alawlaki’s assassination is the death of his 16 year old son, Abdulrahman Al-awlaki, just two weeks later on October 14, 2011. Abdulrahman Al-awlaki was having a Friday night barbecue with his cousin and fellow teenage friends. A U.S. drone strike took their lives that night.

Abdulrahman Al-awlaki was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. He was an American citizen and just 16 years old. He was no less a U.S. citizen than you and I. He had no ties whatsoever to Al-Qaeda or any other militant group.

The Obama administration has been eerily silent on this matter, not so much as acknowledging that a U.S. drone strike killed a 16 year old American citizen. This is the primary reason I am writing you this letter. We need to know why Abdulrahman Al-alwaki was killed; whether it was an intentional killing (i.e. assassination), casualty of war, or a tragic misfire incident.

On November 2, 2011, hundreds of Yemeni individuals peacefully came together to protest U.S. drone attacks in Yemen. I highly encourage you to observe some of the pictures and footage that came out of this event; it is remarkable seeing these people come together to bring about a change in their country. Innocent civilians, including children and teenagers, are losing their lives in Yemen because of U.S. drone strikes. This is the heartbreaking reality for a growing number of families in Yemen, and demonstrates the urgency of the plea I bring to you today.

I know that you can, above anyone else in the Senate, bring about an investigation of Abdulrahman Al-awlaki’s death. You have proven yourself to be a principled voice of liberty, reason, and the rule of law in the U.S. Senate, and there is no one I would trust more to spearhead an investigation. At the very least, people deserve to know why their tax dollars are going to war efforts that have now taken the life of an innocent American teenager.

Please consider sharing this information with your colleagues in the Senate as well as your constituents in Kentucky. If nothing else, you can raise awareness of this incident. This should be a nationwide discussion of what Americans are willing to allow their government to do in these ongoing wars.

I write you today not for my own well being. I am doing fine here in Kentucky. But it hit me hard when I learned of Abdulrahman’s needless death. We are talking about an innocent American teenage citizen whose death has been callously ignored by our President. I am writing this for the people in Yemen who have nowhere else to turn.

Al-awlaki’s family is currently promoting a petition calling for an investigation of Abdulrahman’s death. As of this writing, 334 letters and petitions have been sent to Congress.

Let us not forget the words of President Obama:

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.”

Please work to hold the President to his word. The American people deserve to know the truth about these matters, especially when one of their own is taken in the line of war. I believe an investigation would mean much to Abdulrahman’s family, the people of Yemen, and your constituents who are paying for these war endeavors.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do personally to help you with this process.

Thank you for your commitment to life, liberty, and the rule of law. I am proud to call you my representative, and I look forward to the progress we can reach on this vital issue.

For Life, Liberty, and Justice,

David Kretzmann

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

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Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Upon seeing the “Ron Paul Revolution” T-shirt I was wearing, Galbraith said, “I wrote in Ron Paul for president.”

Treat yourself to twenty minutes of this independent thinker’s thoughts on drugs, education, debt, and a variety of issues plaguing Kentucky and America as a whole. We need more Gatewood Galbraith’s.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Galbraith talking with Berea College students (Photo by Dylan Gorski)

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