TARGET AMERICA

[DdC]

A childhood memory about to be stained... by Pete Guither

Growing up in Chicago, I have many fond memories of the Museum of Science and Industry. I spent so many hours in that place that I have as much sense memory of parts of it as I do the house I lived in as a kid. I loved science, and the museum encouraged discovery. Sure, some of the exhibits were a little hokey, but you still had fun and learned at the same time.

It is therefore with much concern that I note that the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry will be hosting the DEA propaganda device called "Target America: Opening Eyes to the Damage Drugs Cause", opening August 11 and running until December.



It's an exhibit developed in partnership with AFFNA DEA Museum Foundation, The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, The National Guard, The National Institute on Drug Abuse, The Office of National Drug Control Policy, The Partnership for a Drug Free America, and presented by McDonald's.

Additional sponsors include: Motorola Foundation, The Crown Family, Chicago Blackhawk Hockey Team, Inc., Chicago Sun Times, Richard Driehaus Charitable Lead Trust, The Brunswick Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, Aon Corporation, Bensinger, DuPont & Associates

Judd A. & Marjorie Weinberg Family Foundation, LaSalle Bank, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Reyes Holdings, Wintrust Financial, Peter B. Bensinger, Jr., William Blair & Company LLC, The Ryne & Margaret Sandberg Foundation, Steans Family Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. David O. MacKenzie, The Bernard Rinella Family Charitable Fund, J.B. Charitable Trust (Philip D. and Judith S. Block), Margaret & Philip Block Jr. Family Foundation, Mr. & Mrs. Robert W. Crawford, Jr.

Some letters to the Sun Times may be in order...

This is a continuation of the extraordinarily offensive DEA exhibit that uses pieces of wreckage from the World Trade Center with children's toys mixed in as a means of promoting the DEA!

I wrote to Lisa Miner, the press representative at the Museum over a month ago, but haven't heard anything back yet. All i wanted to know is whether, as a museum, MSI exerted any curatorial decision-making over their exhibits, or whether they just accepted it as is because it was sponsored.

TARGET AMERICA: OPENING EYES TO THE DAMAGE DRUGS CAUSE
August 11 - December 3, 2006

Most Americans are unaware of the tremendous costs associated with the production, sale and use of illegal drugs. The costs to society (estimated at more than $60 billion a year) are borne by all of us in some way. This exhibit is designed to open eyes to the myriad costs of drugs -- to individuals, American society and the world -- and to inform people of how those in the illegal drug trade are caught and brought to justice with current science and technology. Target America is an exhibit from the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum that presents both a global and historical overview of the many costs of drugs on society, as well as the drug trade's connection to terrorism.



"Liberty has never come from Government.
Liberty has always come from the subjects of it...
The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power,
not the increase of it."
Woodrow T. Wilson 1856-1924

GOPerverted Officials

President Ronald Reagan, at the urging of then Vice President George Bush, appointed Carlton Turner as the White House Drug (czar) Advisor in 1981. Soon after Turner left office, Nancy Reagan recommended that no corporation be permitted to do business with the Federal government without having a urine purity policy in place to show their loyalty. Carlton Turner became a rich man in what has now become a huge growth industry: urine-testing.

Bushladen and the Terrorists Carlyles Groups

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities
has the power to make you commit injustices."   --Voltaire

The Battle for the Hearts and... Urine of Today's Youth

"Not only are we here to protect the public from vicious criminals in the street but also to protect the public from harmful ideas."
- Robert Ingersoll, first director of the DEA

Dr. Heath/Tulane Study, 1974
The Hype: Brain Damage and Dead Monkeys (Jack Herer)

In 1974, California Governor Ronald Reagan was asked about decriminalizing marijuana.
After producing the Heath/Tulane University study, the so-called "Great Communicator" proclaimed, "The most reliable scientific sources say permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana."
(L.A. Times)

Journey for Justice Pedaling for Pot
Ganjawar: Prison Slave Labor, Rape & Pillage Deterrent

Act Retracts Financial Aid From Marijuana Users By Hilary Stohs-Krause
CN Source: Daily Nebraskan October 03, 2005 Nebraska  

Rape. Murder. Drunk driving.

None of these crimes will cost college students their Pell Grants, but walking down the street with a joint could. As of July 1, 2000, a provision in the Higher Education Act mandated that students’ eligibility for federal financial aid be suspended if they are convicted under federal or state laws of offenses involving the possession or sale of controlled substances.

SSDP
CannabisNews Justice Archives

"There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. ... We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance."
-- John Swinton, then the preeminent New York journalist, as guest of honour at a banquet given him by the leaders of his craft. Probably in 1880. Source: Labor's Untold Story, by Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, published by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955/1979.

A Lie College Students Might Want To Tell



'Murder Weed'

"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions.
You know why?
Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
- George W. Bush, US President

The assassins of youth...DARE the FRCn PDFA!


  
Many Veterans are the Enemy of the Bush D.E.A.th War

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
From Benito Mussolini contributing to the "London Sunday Express,"
December 8, 1935

Drug War Travesties

The greatest enemy of the truth is very often not the lie--delierate, contrived, and dishonest, but the myth persistent, peruasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Self Perpetuating Lies

"Another weapon I discovered early was the power of the printed word
to sway souls to me. The newspaper was soon my gun, my flag-
a thing with a soul that could mirror my own." Adolph Hitler

Nazi Con Flicts of Interest Bush Barthwell & Drugs

"If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the monster marihuana he would drop dead of fright."

This is not an overstatement.

Users of the marihuana weed are committing a large percentage of the atrocious crimes blotting the daily picture of American life.

It is reducing thousands of boys to CRIMINAL INSANITY.

And ONLY TWO STATES have effective laws to protect their people against it.

The marihuana weed, according to Mr. Anslinger, is grown, sold and USED in every State in the Union. He charges, and rightly, that this is not a responsibility of one State, but OF ALL —
and of the Federal Government. American women, aroused to this DANGER, will GET ACTION."

Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia

SCAPEGOATING -
Blaming social problems on a cultural, racial, or behaviorial group.

CorpWatch search page: Motorola

PREJUDICE -
Selling the public on the idea that all members of the targeted group are 'bad' people.

CorpWatch search page: DuPont



LIES -
'Facts', which cannot be verified, and pseudo scientific studies are used as propaganda against the targeted group. History is rewritten.

Corporate Family Value$$$

NO PUBLIC DEBATE -
"These people have no right to have their viewpoiunt aired." and " Anyone who disagrees or questions us must be one of them!"

Corporatism also exploits the Drug War

DEHUMANIZATION -
Characterizing all members of a targeted group as subhuman and typically capable of monstrous deeds and/or crimes.

LAKOTA, HEMP, AND GLOBALIZATION

PROTECT OUR CHILDREN -
"They corrupt, seduce and or destroy our children."

Corporate Predators...

"Merchants have no country.
The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment
as that from which they draw their gains."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Horatio Gates Spafford, 17 Mar. 1817, cited in Papers 14:221

Teens More Likely To Try Ganja After DEAthreats

CIVIL LIBERTIES SACRIFICED -
"We must give up some of our freedoms, liberties, and rights in order to combat this menace to society."

Former DEAth Merchant's Delusions
X Drug Czars Believe Their War Has Been Won

LEGAL DESCRIMINATION -
Laws criminalize members of targeted group and they may be denied jobs, the right to own property and/or be restricted as to where they may live or go.

Youth of Assassins!



Marijuana Legalization? No Thanks

INFORMERS -
Citizens are urged to 'turn in' friends, neighbors, co- workers and family members.

Another Sucker Mom's Take On The DEAth War

SECRET POLICE -
Non-uniformed police squads set up to wage war on targeted groups utilizing deception, infiltration, espionage and entrapment.

Demonizing Drugs

CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY -
Property and assets are seized from people who are members of targeted group. Property may be divided between the informer and the state.



REMOVAL FROM SOCIETY -
Prisons, rehabilitation camps, 'hospitals', executions and genocide...

("kill them all" "Zero Tolerance")

Marijuana Potency Through the Years

As you can see below, the prospects of ever more potent types of marijuana have kept the fires stoked over the devil's weed. Obviously, the same claims can be heard today about how super potent weed is even more dangerous than the mild benign weed your parents and grandparents were smoking. To assuage fears about what happens when the THC content hits 100 percent, simply observe that "hippies" figured out how to make synthetic THC back in 1967, hash oil clocked in as strong as 90 percent THC by the mid-70's, and that you can now easily obtain 100 percent pure synthetic THC by prescription. Visit the manufacturer's site: www.marinol.com. What they have to say about the safety of their THC product and their advice about driving while under the influence of it are particularly interesting -- especially when contrasted with the hysteria over "drugged driving."

By the way, you can get a free sample of 100 percent THC Marinol: ask your doctor.

Pot Potency? Boomers' blissfully unfazed by mere facts.



The Ganjawar Fraud

"A common practice among labourers engaged on building or excavation work is to have a few pulls at a ganja pipe or to drink a glass of bhang towards the evening. This produces a sense of well-being, relieves fatigue, stimulates the appetite, and induces a feeling of mild stimulation, which enables the worker to bear more cheerfully the strain and perhaps the monotony of the daily routine of life."
- United Nations Bulletin on Narcotics, "The Use of Cannabis Drugs in India," 1957

Cannabis Exposure Not Toxic To The Developing Brain



No Link Between Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer

For the marijuana being smoked today is 5 to 10 times more powerful than the pot some people tried 10 or 15 years ago -- the THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, factor has gone up from half a percent to 5 to 6 percent.
-- former DEA Administrator Peter B. Bensinger
Source: Newsweek, An Inadequate War Against Drugs, Jul 28, 1986, p.8



Medical Marijuana: Then and Now By Kenneth Michael White


Caricature of Herbert Hoover and the "noble experiment" of Prohibition

Drug Czar's Office "Obsessed" With Marijuana

"If the personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution inhibit the government's ability to govern the people, we should look to limit those guarantees."
- US President Bill Clinton

A Drug Warmongers Toll on the Americas

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger."
Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe) commander, the Nuremberg Trials

Virtues' of Ganja

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes. [Who will police the police?]"
- Latin proverb

The Politics of Pot



Marijuana is taken by "..... musicians.
And I'm not speaking about good musicians, but the jazz type..."
HARRY J ANSLINGER
Commissioner of the US Bureau of Narcotics 1930-1962

The shocking truth about jazz

"Wrap your chops 'round this stick of tea
Blow this gage and get high with me
Good tea is my weakness, I know it's bad
It sends me gate and I can't wait, I'm viper mad."
- "Viper Mad," Sidney Bechet with Noble Sissle's Swingsters, 1938

Jury Nullification

"The law itself is on trial quite as much as the case which is to be
decided"
Judge Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1941-1946
Souder Orders to FDA Backfiring!

"Various marijuana and hashish extracts were the first, second, or third most prescribed medicines in the United States from 1842 until the 1890s."
- Jack Herer, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes"

A Smokin'-Hot Dilemma, Pot or Imperialism?



White House Anti-Drug Ads Super Bowloney

Anti-Drug Media Blitz Plays on Terror Fear

[Brother Adam]

Thanks for another great post Ddc. We are all listening I'm sure, but I don't often respond because for those of us who know, there isn't much to say to each other sometimes.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[Brother Adam]

Thanks for another great post Ddc. We are all listening I'm sure, but I don't often respond because for those of us who know, there isn't much to say to each other sometimes.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[DdC]

I'm going to the museum by Pete Guither DWR
Thursday, August 10, 2006

So the DEA held a press conference today for the opening of the offensive DEA exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Of course, we weren't allowed to attend. Press credentials required. They wouldn't want to have to face any real questions.

However, they might have been a bit surprised. Several of the press that planned to attend had already talked to us prior to the press conference. I'd love to hear a report.

Here's our press release and, of course, our response website: DEA Targets America.

I'm heading up there in a few hours and plan to be there all day Friday and Saturday -- others will be joining me. Feel free to stop by and join in the fun. We're taking a very non-confrontational approach -- simply helping museum patrons learn more about the real costs of prohibition.

After all, as one report has already mentioned:
The goal of the exhibit, [DEA's Garrison] Courtney added, was to spark conversations that might not have started at home.

We'll be passing out flyers to spark conversations. As new articles about the exhibit come out in the press, those who can't be at the exhibit passing out flyers, can engage a conversation through letters to the editor.

Update: Chicago Tribune gives it a mostly promo-piece by Josh Noel, but it does include:
A heavy effort is made to link drugs to terrorism, and near an enormous image of Osama bin Laden it is noted that Al Qaeda has thrived in the drug trade. But the connection isn't always as clear: In the "Impact on the World" display, images from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks sit beside a photo described as "addicts getting high."

Even Bensinger had a hard time explaining it.

The exhibit also includes browned and distorted pieces of the World Trade Center, which sit in the middle of the hall beside pieces of the Pentagon.

The link between drugs and those pieces of wreckage seems circuitous at best, leading critics to say the exhibit is more like propaganda than an objective treatment of the topic.

Action Alert: Help with our DEA Museum protest.

TARGET AMERICA

[DdC]

Museum of Science and Industry embarrassed by DEA Exhibit
DWR by Pete Guither Friday, August 11, 2006

I just spent most of a day at the Museum of Science and Industry, and I have come to the conclusion that the Museum is utterly embarrassed by the exhibit they are hosting from the DEA.

It shows up in so many little things.

* A friend of mine who works at the museum told me he was holding off making a judgment until he'd had a chance to see it -- most of the museum staff had not -- but of those who had seen it, about half hated it.

* Another staff member I didn't know but struck up conversation with was upset with the museum administration. "They just sprung it on us! No advance preparation -- just 'Oh, by the way, there's a new exhibit opening tomorrow.'" He thought it was pretty stupid.

* The museum itself seems to have avoided any publicity. No press releases specifically about the exhibit -- they left that to the DEA. Very little advance info on the website -- they finally updated the website today with a bunch of information that I assume was provided by the DEA (although I don't know that for sure).

* There were no signs in the museum today saying that the exhibit existed, nor was it on the map. I had to ask for directions and finally found it -- accessing it the only way you can, by turning a hard right at the top of the second escalator, go through Networld, and the World Live Theatre, and the Whispering Gallery (ah, memories), turn right through Imaging, and then finally a left into the exhibit (which has warning sign at the door saying it might not be appropriate for children).

* It was included in today's museum newsletter, but as the third item -- after 'one month left for the Da Vinci exhibit' and 'three days left in the raffle.'

* The main sponsor - McDonald's - talks about its support of SUE at the Field Museum, but as yet doesn't even mention Target America

* Finally, the degree to which upper museum administration staff I interacted with were almost pathetically anxious to find ways to limit our ability to pass out flyers seemed like a desperate attempt to reduce visibility for the exhibit. They weren't even interested in looking at what our flyer said (they may have already known by downloading it on the website - they were expecting me). It felt more that they didn't want any attention paid to that particular exhibit.

There's good reason for them to be embarrassed. The first five minutes I spent in the exhibit, I couldn't stop laughing. Now, part of that is my knowledge of how the DEA works (something that the museum staff probably don't have), but even still -- the degree to which it was a blatant effort to manipulate people emotionally while acting as a two floor infomercial for the DEA was astonishing. The shamelessness with which they have a display about Peter Bensinger with picture and articles (Oh, that's right -- he helped fund the exhibit). Or the mere fact that they have a display on Anslinger! In fact, one of the video monitors was actually showing a DEA infomercial. Another one had Karen Tandy talking, while yet another was playing the frying pan TV commercial.

If Lisa Miner or Joel M. Asprooth from the Museum is reading this, feel free to correct me. Tell me that you're proud of the exhibit. You know from our conversation with what high regard I hold the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. As I mentioned this morning, it's my favorite museum of all time.

It seems to me that if you were actually proud of the exhibit, you'd welcome a dialog. You'd want someone to debate us and show us that we're wrong, or something. You'd think that showing people another point of view than the DEA's would be valuable, so people could make up their minds. But despite the fact that you have told me that there is approval process in the museum, and someone from outside can't just plop down an exhibit -- that's exactly what it looks like. I've worked with museum curators, and I know the process. Every single museum curator I know would find this exhibit embarrassing. And you should, too. I guess maybe you do.

More on the exhibit, and today's experiences at the museum later...

Action Alert: Help with our DEA Museum protest.


Thanks to the following partners for their generous support.

Update: Chicago Tribune gives it a mostly promo-piece by Josh Noel

2nd Update: Sun Times comes out (and they're one of the sponsors).

The exhibit has already been shown in several cities, most recently Detroit. It has drawn criticism from some groups that say it's more DEA publicity than education and that it ignores the argument that criminalizing drugs creates the lucrative, underground trade that ends up financing terrorism.

Tandy discounted the criticism. "I think it's hard for these groups because the facts aren't on their side. That's all they can say."

What a blatant dodge to avoid answering the criticism! Facts aren't on our side? Try going to http://www.DEAtargetsAmerica.com and saying that.



Prohibition Then and Now

Al Capone was not a product of alcohol. Capone was a product of the profits of alcohol prohibition. There's a good reason why there are no gang wars over alcohol distribution today.

Unfortunately, we have failed to learn the lessons from alcohol prohibition. Today's drug trade violence, criminal profits, and corruption (as well as many of the dangers of drug abuse) are a direct result of drug prohibition.



About the Exhibit

Learn more about the DEA's exhibit, complete with photos from past towns where the exhibit has traveled.
Also read some reviews and find out about the sponsors. All at our About the Exhibit page. http://www.drugwarrant.net/dea/exhibit.htm



DWR Blog: DEA exhibit at Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

TARGET AMERICA