Educate Your Mind!

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Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party
image:AotearoaLegaliseCannabisPartyLogo.png

The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (sometimes known as the ALCP) is a small political party in New Zealand (Aotearoa). It is dedicated to removing or reducing restrictions on the use of cannabis and similar substances. The ALCP describes current legislation on cannabis as being "oppressive", and says that users of cannabis are subject to "persecution". It compares laws against cannabis to the historic prohibition of alcohol.

The ALCP has never won representation in Parliament, although managed to win 1.66% of the vote in the 1996 elections. Its support has declined somewhat since that point, however - in the 1999 elections, it won 1.10% of the vote, and in the 2002 elections, it won only 0.64%. Some of this decline may be attributed to the rise of the Green Party as an independent entity - the Greens also support the reform of drug laws, but are considered to be a more viable party. Two Green MPs, Nandor Tanczos and Metiria Turei, were ALCP candidates in 1996. It has occasionally been suggested that the ALCP should dissolve, and that its members should transfer their support to the Greens - the party's leader, Michael Appleby, raised such a possibility in early 2002. The party remains in existence, however, and contested the by-election in Te Tai Hauauru in mid 2004 â?? with their candidate, Dun Mihaka, receiving 197 votes (2.52%).

Legalise Cannabis Alliance
The Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) is a political party registered in the United Kingdom with the cannabis leaf image as its emblem. In Cannabis: legalise and utilise (2000) the LCA declared its beliefs as follows:

* The use of cannabis ought to be a matter of choice and not of law
* The prohibition of cannabis is against the public interest
* The prohibition of cannabis contravenes Human Rights
* The prohibition of cannabis inhibits the use of a beneficial resource
* The legalisation of cannabis is a very important step that should be taken to benefit the people and the environment

History

In 1992 the Campaign to Legalise Cannabis International was formed in Norwich to fight politically for the legalisation of cannabis worldwide and, under the name Legalise Cannabis Alliance, this organisation was registered as a political party in the United Kingdom in March 1999. Registration occurred after Howard Marks had stood as a legalise cannabis candidate in four different constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the 1997 general election: Norwich North, Norwich South, Southampton Test and Neath. In the same general election Buster Nolan described himself as the New Millennium, New Way, Legalise Cannabis candidate in Braintree.

The first official LCA candidate in a House of Commons election was Colin Paisley in the November 1999 Kensington and Chelsea byelection. He took 141 (0.7%) of the votes. The second was Derrick Large in the May 2000 Romsey byelection. He took 417 (1.1%) of the votes.

In the June 2001 general election the LCA had candidates in 13 constituencies. Their best result was in Workington, where John Peacock took 1040 (2.5%) of the votes cast.

In January 2004 cannabis prohibition in the UK was relaxed. Cannabis had been a class B substance under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act: it became a class C substance. Many people saw this change as virtual 'decriminalisation': it was a long way short of full legalisation.

In the May 2005 general election the LCA contested 21 constituencies. This was 8 more than in the 2001 general election, but included only 6 that had been contested in that previous election. In all these 6 constituencies the LCA suffered a fall in its share of the vote, and the average share across 21 constituencies was well down from that across the previous 13. There best results were in Leigh and Worthing East and Shoreham. In Leigh, Thomas Hampson took 1.5% of the votes. In Worthing East and Shoreham, Chris Baldwin also took 1.5%.
2005 general election performance

Constituencies: Candidates: Votes: Share (%): Change:
Canterbury Rocky van de Benderskum 326 0.7 N/A
Carlisle* Lezley Gibson 343 1.0 -0.6
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Sid James Whitworth 272 0.7 N/A
Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South Alex Daszak 236 0.6 N/A
Conwy Tim Evans 193 0.6 N/A
Dorset South Vic Hamilton 282 0.6 N/A
Great Yarmouth Michael Skipper 389 0.9 N/A
Hull East Carl Wagner 182 0.6 N/A
Hull North* Carl Wagner 179 0.6 -1.1
Leigh Thomas Hampson 415 1.5 N/A
Neath Pat Tabram 334 0.9 N/A
Norwich South* Don Barnard 219 0.5 -1.0
Orkney and Shetland Paul Cruickshank 311 1.8 N/A
Penrith and the Border* Mark Gibson 549 1.2 -0.8
Surrey East Winston Matthews 410 0.8 N/A
Swansea West Steve Pank 218 0.7 N/A
Vale of Clwyd Jeff Ditchfield 286 0.9 N/A
Workington* John Peacock 381 1.0 -1.5
Worthing East and Shoreham* Chris Baldwin 677 1.5 -0.6
Worthing West Chris Baldwin 550 1.2 N/A
Ynys Mon Tim Evans 232 0.7 N/A

''*Contested also in the general election of June 2001

Please see LCA in UK Parliament elections for details of performance in other elections.

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Carpathian Germans
Carpathian Germans (German: Karpatendeutsche, Slovak: karpatskÃ* Nemci), sometimes simply called Slovak Germans (German: Slowakeideutsche), is the name for a group of German language speakers on the territory of present-day Slovakia. The term was coined by the historian Raimund Friedrich Preindel, and is also sometimes used to refer to Germans in the Carpathian Ruthenia.

Germans settled in Slovakia from the 12th to 15th centuries, mostly after the Mongol invasion of 1241, though there were probably some isolated settlers in the area of Bratislava earlier. The Germans were usually attracted by kings seeking specialists in various trades, such as craftsmen and miners. They usually settled in older Slovak market and mining settlements. The main settlement areas were in the vicinity of Bratislava and some language islands in the Spiš and the Hauerland. Until approximately the 15th century, the ruling classes of most Slovak cities consisted almost exclusively of Germans.

The Carpathian Germans were, as the Slovaks, subjected to strong Magyarization policies in the latter half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century (Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary since the around 12th century)

The status of Slovakia as a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II made life difficult for Carpathian Germans at the war's end. Nearly all remaining Germans fled or were evacuated by the German authorities before the end of World War II. Most Germans from the Spiš evacuated to Germany or the Sudetenland before the arrival of the Red Army. This evacuation was mostly due to the initiative of Adalbert Wanhoff and the preparations of the diocese of the German Evangelist church, between mid-November, 1944, and January 21, 1945. The Germans of Bratislava were evacuated in January and February of 1945 after long delays, and those of the Hauerland fled at the end of March, 1945. The Red Army reached Bratislava on April 4, 1945.

After the end of war a third of the evacuated or fugitive Germans returned home to Slovakia. However, on August 2, 1945, they lost the rights of citizenship, as did the Sudeten Germans in the Czech area and the Hungarians in the south of Slovakia (see First Vienna Award), by Edvard Beneš's Decree no. 33, and they were interned in camps (German: Sammellager) in Bratislava-Petržalka, Nováky, and in Handlová. In 1946 and 1947, about 33,000 persons were expelled from Slovakia by the Potsdam Agreement, while approx. 20,000 persons were entitled to remain in Slovakia due to special circumstances. Out of approximately 128,000 Germans in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only about 20,000 (16%) remained.

In 2004 there are fewer than 6,000 Germans in Slovakia. They have enjoyed all rights, however, since the Velvet revolution. The Carpathian German homeland association exists now to maintain traditions. The most prominent member of this group was the second Slovak president Rudolf Schuster.

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Mashed potato

This article is about the food. For the 1960s dance craze see Mashed Potato.

Mashed potato (mashed potatoes in American English) or puréed potato is a common way of serving potato in many countries, including Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is made from mashed boiled potatoes (peeled or unpeeled), with heated milk or cream and butter or vegetable oil added. A French recipe adds egg yolk for Pommes duchesse that is piped through a pastry tube into wavy ribbons and rosettes, brushed with butter and lightly browned.

The consistency of the ordinary dish depends on returning the boiled potatoes to the empty pot and heating them to drive off surplus steam, and on how finely and how fast the potatoes are mashed. If the potato cells are damaged in the process, the starch they contain makes the mashed potato sticky; a ricer, which passes the boiled potato through small openings, produces a refined texture.

Mashed potato is also an ingredient of various other dishes, including Shepherds' pie and potato croquettes.

Mashed potato may be seasoned with salt, pepper, or nutmeg. A white turnip cooked and mashed with the potatoes in a proportion of about 1:10, provides a slight "bite" that mashed potatoes proverbially lack. Alternatively, garlic may be added. In the US, mashed potatoes are often covered with gravy. In the UK, mashed potato is sold at pie and mash shops. It is often served with sausage, in this form being called bangers and mash. Mashed potato was the primary source of humour in the children's television series Bodger and Badger.

In a well-ordered American household, the top of each serving is deftly hollowed with a spoon in order to form a gravy and/or butter volcano.

Powdered mashed potato mixes are also available. A campaign for one such product (Smash) memorably launched the business of advertising agency Boase Massimi Pollitt.

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Poisoned candy scare
The poisoned candy scare, from the 1970s and early 1980s, refers to a moral panic in the United States regarding the threat that children could be in danger of ingesting razor blades, needles, or poison introduced to candy by senseless, malicious tampering.

Snopes.com ranks this as an undetermined urban myth, almost categorized as "false" due to one incident in Florida, where several people at a party came ill, for various reasons, depending on the news source. In general however, the poisoned candy fright is considered to be false altogether, and certainly blown out of proportion by the news media. In the early 1980s the old legendary "poisoned candy" scare on Halloween grew to occupy a central role in the public attention, with local news stations featuring "new information" related to "what you should know" about "protecting your children."

Several cases of poisoning related to candy are known but most of them weren't valid, although they contributed to the overall panic and perhaps sparked new incidents as well.

To this day, fire departments and hospitals encourage parents to bring their Halloween candy to be x-rayed or scanned by metal detectors for inserted razors or needles.

According to advice columnist Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby), the only verified accounts of Halloween candy tampering were perpetrated by members of the victims' families.

Example quote from Snopes: "the police investigation concluded the boy had accidentally got into his uncle's heroin stash and poisoned himself and that the family had sprinkled heroin on the kid's candy after the fact to protect the uncle."