jane!

i like the click and pick feature on the voting page

Thanks to Brian and Mike for the fab voting page!

I think with all the entries we can micro target our message Using some taxed Pot to save education would help us get parents votes will get us parents.
Using some Pot tax to raise Social Security benefits would help us get Seniors and since older White Males are the GOP’s biggest fans we can use that to steal them. Plus I want the GOP to argue against raising Social Security benefits in a recession before the election after we gave the bankers a bailout and bonuses.
Farmers feed the Munchies gets us Farm states senators plus between wind mills on farms and letting farmers sell pot to smoke, make paper, clothes etc well would we need to pay farmers at all if we made farming profitable?
I want the GOP to tell farmers No they can’t make more money.
We have several themes we can hit and with all the writers here we can cover the themes.
Then we use spotlight to get them to our targeted audience

A listing of which media on spotlight are best to target which audiences would be good if we microtarget.

Hmmm – so many good choices…

That is true. We’ve got such a bounty of suggestions we’ll be able to go back to the list whenever we need to microtarget a particular segment.

I love this!

and to think that tonight we are only voting on a portion of the entries — so many good entries

Thanks I would like to look at spotlight and just choose a from a menu click farmers, Social Security, Education, anti tax groups ( Tax Pot don’t tax us my next slogan) etc when I write diaries.

Good I didn’t see any of mine today was there voting yesterday I had net connectivity problems.

As one who partakes in herbs of all kind, I’m grateful for this effort. This drug war makes me hide and cower like I’m a criminal. And I’m most decidedly not a criminal.

tonight is the first night — so many good entries the first night that the entry deadline was extended.

Lots of fun entries. So hard coming up with a name that pithily sums up what is at stake. I had trouble doing so, anyway.

There were too many to choose from so we had to break it up — tonight is the first night. Many more to come.

Last night in the comments we were talking about having a graphics contest for the winning slogans…

Where do we send our entries? How big can they be (in MB)? Do you prefer jpeg’s tif’s or bmp’s? Should we animate them? Would you like them scored?

A list of slogans arranged by category we could work into titles or into diaries would give us the PR benefit of repeating the message.

Feel free to lobby for your favorites in the comments. I can’t but anyone else can!

Cool thanks:)

These are all good questions! Dunno. Suggestions?

I’m also watching Project Runway finale. Dying to know the real reason Maya left…

Where do I submit my latest slogan? Tax Pot don’t tax Us!

Yesterday, I sent a smallish jpeg to you at your fdl gmail. If you received it, that’s a start!

I expect we’ll get “all the above” pretty soon.

do the graphics after the winning slogan is selected

i’m not a graphics person but there should be size and format parameters. maybe have the graphics entries each be a seminal diary with the graphic on a flicker page?

I voted for “Mary Jane, Not Fiscal Pain”.

Showing we can keep this topic going for several threads over several days shows the media we have interest and energy on this topic. Lets see them dismiss it and then whine about the national debt when the Left is the only ones with ideas to fix the problem
First End the Wars Now we can use the cash for a jobs bill and get consumers spending again or we can devalue the dollar more.
The GOP says we must fight terror we say Ossama is in Pakistan Fools 8 years of robo planes have not got him what makes you think this year we will get lucky.
Second idea Tax Pot!

i liked just say no – to prohibition

Why buy a six pack grow pot!

One vote per person a day?

Just wondering I have a few slogans none today but I’d hate having too choose between 2 of mine.

I recall (maybe 20 years ago or longer), watching a panel discussion hosted by William Buckley on the subject of marijuana legalization. IIRC Buckley was in favor. It was never suggested that it should be legal without the same restrictions that apply to the sale of alcohol but nobody was able to speak without Ed Koch or Jesse Jackson interrupting with some absurd analogy about crack being sold to ten-year olds on street corners.

Back to the campaign name, I’d like something that somehow conveys that we’re talking about freedom of adults to choose their pastimes.

Third

Farmers get Wind mills to power electric tractors, trucks their homes and sell the extra power for cash. Farmers grow Pot for smoke, long lasting paper (I have several yellowing sci fi books) clothes, cattle feed etc.
As we phase in these programs we evaluate them and then lower farm payments saving the country more cash.
Plus we promote organic food and soil conservation reducing the need for chemical based fertilizer and lowering farmers costs even as we lower their fuel costs with wind and electric tractors.
This reduces oil demand so more money gets spent in our economy.

hemp seed oil can be used for biofuels

Making Pot leagal for medicinal purpores is bullshit. I live in the SF bay area. I can buy better pot at a lower cost on the street corner than I can at one of these dispenceries. All that will happen is that the black market for pot will get bigger(Tax this asshole!)

Maybe Mike will show up soon and tell us what he wants. He is the final word on all this stuff.

yep — one vote per person in each round of voting.

I had a hard time choosing — some of the ones I think are the most clever or catchy did not necessarily have the message I think we need. I chose War on Drugs = Major Fail because I feel like that has a broad appeal – it’s not about getting high, it’s about ending prohibition, it’s about the benefits of medicinal herbs, it’s about privacy, it’s about putting our tax dollars to use in positive ways instead of perpetuating the war on drugs and continuing to put our kids in prison.

Also, I’m a graphic designer and I’m looking forward to that part of the contest! My husband’s been a medical cannabis patient for more than 10 years and I have designed some materials for his co-op group. I think we should focus on the benefits of legalization for everyone, even people who don’t use pot, as opposed to using stoner iconography which can turn off the stick-in-the-mud crowd.

Fourth
By reducing the price of clothes by introducing Hemp clothes produced here we create jobs here. After all once we lose all the textile jobs here just who will buy our cotton?
It seem silly to think China or South America would import our cotton once we can’t manufacture clothes anymore.
Thomas Friedman says outsourcing is good the man never thought the idea through.
The GOP remember tried to stop the GM bailout but once we stop making cars in America why would any car company build a car plant here when labor costs are high and healthcare is not paid for by the government and drug prices for sick workers are so high.
Like it or not workers get sick. Like it or not workers pay must cover that cost.

Yeah! Looking forward to seeing the designs.

Several people noted they had done graphics over the years, so why discriminate against visual artists? The more the better!

Once legal high quality pot will find its taxable niche. Pot food, beer, pot feed beef etc will all command higher prices in the luxury taxable market.
Savings from Not having to pay farmers does mean lower taxes. More clothing making jobs means more payroll taxes.
Less money spent on fuel electric tractors, pot biofuels means less money sent to oil countries and more cash available to be spent in our economy.

i think we had more entries for this contest than we did for dick-fest.

I believe we’ve already lost all the textile manufacturing jobs. I’ve worked with screen printers for 25 years. They still order from the big “mills” on the East Coast but those are actually just clearing houses, all the garments are manufactured outside the US. Any cotton produced in the US is likely sent somewhere else for processing.

Anyway, I’m all for legalizing hemp, which will create jobs regardless of where the cloth (and other products) is produced (hopefully here).

Very good point, that last bit about not turning off the stick-in-the-mud crowd. I liked the slogan “Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Real hard to vote against that.

They build them in right to work states. Like Alabama, where they had to use pictographs because the workers were too illiterate to understand written instructions.

Yeah, the consideration with graphics file type is always got to be based on the end user needs.

jpg’s ok for internet, not so good for publishing hard copy, etc.

Hence, your ‘All Of The Above’ is gonna win . . *G*

I’d like to hear Mary Mac’s opinion, seein’s how she does that for a living . . . ;-)

Agreed we need ideas with mass appeal for the broad campaign but I think we can’t neglect the micro targeted ideas either. Maybe a separate contest to identify best micro targeting slogans and a menu to choose from of the best 5 on any given topic so we can work them into our diaries?
Repeating a message to a small audience does have benefits.

Pot is bigger than our hate of Darth???

Then we sell Pot as helping bring back outsourced jobs:)

I create everything in vector (preferably) or high-res. You can always down sample as necessary, doesn’t work the other way.

Legalize Hemp! Put America Back To Work! “g”

The whole showcasing memes that are clever by half indeed, do not present the adult need and intent into the campaign.

A pithy clever pot head 5 words campaign slogan will not get the job done.

I love the snark I’ve seen, but it’s not the job at hand being fulfilled.

Legalize It, Don’t Fight It . . .

. . . . that’s a message.

End the war on drugs, free pot users, legalize and end prohibition. Covers a myriad of issues.

Not pithy, not stoned snark, not intended to be funny or sarcastic or sardonic.

Gets the job done without annoying or alienating those pre supposed to believing weed’s the devil’s doing.

Excellent example of why we need Pot to fund education do you have a link someone should do a diary especially if we can find more examples. Is this recent post No Child Left behind? If so then No Child Left behind takes another hit.

Bingo.

Legalize It, Don’t Fight It.

Great Diary topic or maybe a series of diaries, Farm jobs, Textiles, biofuels, etc:)

Truth, Justice and the AMarijuana Way didn’t make the cut?

think of the fun we can have with the online campaign :D

Hey Jane, Hi Firedogs – woof !

hotflash carol has got it right, targeting likely voters is where it’s at -although I am looking forward to learning what it takes to bring out the youth demo and other probable stay-at-home’s, considering how heavily in favor they poll – here we go !

Heh, my first experience with vector graphics was CorelDraw.

How long’s that been gone?

LOL

And what happened to PageMaker?

Sigh, I’m old, and out of date . . . ;-)

Me too. Gotta start out that way if we intend to print stuff. Maybe those of us who do this for a living can help if the winning entry comes from someone who doesn’t.

There is such a thing as too good. I was a teenager during the 70s. Smoking pot was a social ritual. There were rules that would be bullshit if you were asleep or scrounging in the fridge after one hit.

And I didn’t know you were a grpahics geek! Way kewl!

I’m not, anymore, I WAS a wannabe, one time . . . ;-)

tonight is only the first bunch of entries to vote on

I am looking forward to learning what it takes to bring out the youth demo and other probable stay-at-home’s, considering how heavily in favor they poll – here we go !

We could use some polling see which messages we create appeal to which groups and why.

thx, I don’t remember whose slogan that was, but it was fine.

I agree. For instance, since I live in Oakland, I have to be careful about preaching to the choir. I like the idea of having a lot of different options because there are a lot of different reasons for supporting legalization.

Corel was terrible, created abominable postscript. Illustrator is still around and Photoshop now has lots of vector capability, although I don’t use it for that. I still used Macromedia Freehand frequently, although like me it is now obsolete.

Rat, I can’t even remember the difference between a rastor or vector graphic anymore . . .

LeSigh.

Illustrator and Photoshop I remember!

Never had them. Not in school or at home.

What’s hot nowadyas? For PC and MAC apps?

You’re no older or out of date than me! I used CorelDraw and then Pagemaker. But I started with prismacolors and exacto knives and wax.

Ninety-nine percent of my creative work was 30 years ago before art became an occupation. Manufactured a mountain (range) of crap after that, all to client specifications. I quit my job in 2002 to take care of my mom. Arthritis was already destroying my hands. Qualified for disability in ’06. Only do some occasional freelance now.

Adobe Creative Suite – InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator. You can’t believe how much easier everything is.

Me too. Seems to sum most of it up.

“Free Pot-litical Prisoners”

Define too good what problem are you referring too is it taxing pot?
If so well some people will want to smoke and not have the time or skill to grow their own. My sister is a notorious plant killer for example with not a bunch of free time. My brother has a garden but his garden is not big enough to grow enough for the winter months.
Also some people will want to experiment with different strains to see which to grow the best way to test them is to smoke them first.
A legal market lets you test strains from all over the world.

I’d never done anything in my life with graphics, other than in TV Production.

I was a 35 year old upper div college student (after 7 years of Junior College radio/tv).

My major was Com Studies, PR and Journ emphasis and minor.

I took a class with one of the BEST graphic design people I’ve ever met, everyone loved her.

I was so useless with hand tools and concepts it was embarassing.

I admire you folks who GOT it with hand tools, long ago.

*G*

Thanks for the comment . . . made me smile of things.,

Raster is pixels, can be scaled down but can’t be scaled up too much without incurring the jaggies. Vector is postscript and can be made any size, limited only by the capabilities of your output device.

Wow, what a trek, hoss.

Best wishes, as always, and crackers for Bob!

*chirp*

Thanks, Bob shrieks back.

Thanks!

If I can find some steady work, I want to try and get back to some paid training courses at night . . I sure hope it’s easier than before!!! lol

How many pot felons are denied the right to vote? I think Florida you lose voting rights for life? I some states you must apply to get your voting rights back plus Pot Felons like me do have problems getting jobs this whole paying for a pardon thing is only for the rich.
How many workers are stuffed into crap jobs because they got caught?
The difference in enforcement of drug laws between dark people and whites is an angle we can micro target African American voters Obama’s base with.

The voting page is pretty much unreadable in safari. I suspect a style sheet problem. Elements are overlapping, the text is huge and the table rows are way too narrow.

Hoss, I’ve NEVER had it explained to me so simply!!!

That’s it?

I gotta copy that and save it to a resource book . . . dang.

There’s something called Twitdraw and Twitpaint. You can draw and pass it on to others to add to it, if we wanted to use Twitter that way.
http://twitdraw.com/gallery.php

i’ll let the tech crew know — thanks

If I were you, I would take web design courses — I think there’s way more work for people with those skills.

Hmm, how are rastors/vectors affiliated with file types, or are they?

I guess I didn’t make the cut, despite submitting it twice.

REAL: Regulate, Educate and Legislate.

Ah well.
.

I tried that back in ’03. Didn’t have a computer at home, it was all geek to me. I was clueless, but paid my fees and showed up and got the books and binders.

It was so far over my head after the first course or two, it was embarassing.

this is only the first batch of entries to vote on. more voting with more entries tomorrow night

Seems straightforward but you’d be surprised how many “professional” artists don’t have a firm grasp.

Going to call it a night, splendid evening to all.

Hey, I got some catchy campaign music:

Spark

(OK, I just want y’all to hear my cool double-entendre song. I’m the writer, not the singer/musician. That would be a fellow named Seth Mitchell.)

g’nite rat (and bob)

The simplest explanation is that pixel-based programs like Photoshop creates a raster or a bitmap (i.e., a dot in a specific spot) and vector-based programs like Illustrator create vector graphics (consisting of mathematical, x/y coordinates that can be scaled up or down indefinitely). But these programs work together seamlessly now and you can have vector-based images in Photoshop until you decide to “flatten” or “rasterize” them into pixels.

Nite Rat:)

You in Portland?

Absolutely, gets complicated though. Photos are always raster. Most of what you see on the internets is raster. Flash can use vector, actually better because it loads faster.

If you’re still interested we can discuss specific filetypes in some future LN thread.

That’s outstanding!

At fist I thought it was some old 20′s riff done by Elton John, then I heard Carole King/Goeffen, then more and more layers!

Great work!!!

And your musician choice nails it!!!

Thanks!

Just the first night of eliminations. Yours will likely be included another night.

I appreciate the brouwn thumb reference. The only time I eveer grew a plant, my dog ate it. As to the other subject, there will always be people who will be willing to buy overpriced goods. The state of things today, the illeagal market is developed to the point that leagal buys will be a minor tick in the numbers.

Edit: I really, really have to watch my spelling!

That’s great. I just realized that I chose to listen to Green Day while I was hanging out on this thread without even realizing how perfect it was.

That’s good, I get it!

NICE ‘splanation, and thanks so much for taking the time!!!

Pixels blow up and distort because . . . because they are tied to what they or where they were (like jpg’s), x/y coordinates are like digital mapping, big or small they remain relative to surrounding space.

Am I even CLOSE . . . or making this shit up!!! lol

Thanks for all your time, sure ‘preciate it.

I’m so far behind it will take another lifetime I guess, to ‘get’ it . . . ;-)

Yes, you’re getting it!

OK, I love the Jimmy Fallon Show — Dr. Drew and the Bee Gees?
Take a look…

You are not alone…Jimmy

Imagine all the new consumers or old ones who left who don’t want to deal with the illegal market I’m thinking the suburbs!
Also we can use existing sales taxes on clothes, paper, crops, biofuels etc and tax the wages of clothing makers as we bring those jobs back to America.
It will not only be the illegal market we draw tax revenue from. Its from tax savings as we phase out farm payments. Its from jobs created and more consumer spending.
I admit beer and tobacco sales will drop.

Sorry ’bout that, it’s probably a Blue State Digital problem (the system our action stuff is on).

It’s kind of…prehistoric.

I am. (Sorry for the slow turnaround – my Clear wi-fi is acting up tonight.)

You are very kind, as always, Larue. Of my songs, it is one of my favorites.

Thank you, hfc! And Green Day has only improved over the years, and they started out pretty damn good!

Mine was acting up yesterday.

Thought you were I’m in Portland now visiting my brother I’ve been thinking of hitting Hawthorn’s bars soon I missed the place.

All you have to do is think of the outlawing of alcohol. Or do I smell the scent of sarcasm?

The study, which pulled together statistics on soil erosion from more than 125 sources, also reports that the US is losing soil 10 times faster – and China and India are losing soil 30 to 40 times faster – than the natural replenishment rate.
The economic impact of soil erosion in the US alone costs about $37.6 billion each year in productivity losses. Damage from soil erosion worldwide is estimated to be $400 billion per year.

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Soil-erosion-could-devastate-food-sector

We can grow Pot without chemicals with farming practices that increase rather than decrease the soil.

Who said outlaw? We tax booze now we make money off of those taxes even though people can legally microbrew their own beer now.

I know, I have great affection for Green Day. My son, who’s a punk rock musician, knows them a little and so I feel like I do too. American Idiot got me through the dark days of 2004.

But this issue is increasingly gaining exposure. Pioneering Scottish research into the demineralisation of earth has strengthened the case that unless vital nutrients and elements are placed back into the soil, the quality of food will deteriorate.
The SEER (Sustainable Ecological Earth Regeneration) Centre’s work builds on the work of Dr David Thomas, a primary healthcare practitioner and independent researcher, who recently made a comparison of government tables published in 1940, and again in 2002.

“Why is it that you have to eat four carrots to get the same amount of magnesium as you would have done in 1940?” he asked.

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Soil-erosion-could-devastate-food-sector

If we had sustainable farming we could have healthier food Growing Pot on a field for a few years for paper, clothes and smoke would help improve the soil then we can rotate in other crops.

BTW – you’ve brought some great facts to this thread. That’s a lot of work for the “cause.” Thanks for that (and thanks to all of the others that pulled all this info to one place.)

Anyway, give me a heads up if you decide to step out. email is mike at clubhousewreckards dot com.

Imagine all the trees we could save if Pot not trees were our paper all over the world? Pot grows fast unlike trees but trees get bigger and clean the air more as they get bigger.
World wide all trees cut for paper are replaced by pot we reduce green house gases how much?
The Cap and Trade market guys granted will not like this the Greens will.
Longer lasting tougher books made of hemp paper book lovers will like.
Comic book collectors hoping they bought the next Superman issue 1 would be thrilled with long lasting tougher Hemp paper.
Again more Microtargeting the message.

Your welcome I’m thinking of going out friday maybe the afternoon.

Left you a message on one of your blog comment threads

***for those having trouble voting using Safari browser***

you can email your vote to firedoglake [at] gmail.com

I’m not fond of most of those names. They were too in-your-face and not a good marketing tool, imho.
I’d prefer a “Yes on 420″ approach. Because I’m conservative on these things, yet progressive.

It’s a green industry with the infrastructure completely in place. It’s a multi-billion dollar world wide industry, and it’s in every town in every state in America. Seems like a lot of tax free revenue, eh?

I forgot which one I voted for, but it’s the best.

Not very easy to remember, though……

Yeah, know what ya mean….I only voted for one but it was too political, not Agricultural/taxable. I think they all were but I can’t remember. /s/

The marajuana tea partiers, it was.

I did see a lot of good bumper stickers on the voting page.

Damn good, huh?

A multi-purpose list, for sure.

How about using Instant Runoff Voting on the final round? We’d be able to vote on a larger number of entries and still get a more accurate consensus. I’ll try to suggest this again in one of the following rounds comments.

How about “Organic Koolaid”?

Canna-bisness taxes would be at an all time high.

Suzanne, There are missing tr tags in the top tables, that is likely cause the rest of it to mess up.

The programmers/coders can also add a style for width of the label, or possibly add a no br and padding.
What is happening is that each word of the label shows up on the next line, as if the table columns were way too narrow.
(there is erroneous data. that got into the table- there is a choice for “testing”and (that’s not-equals”sign)
I’m not bitching,just trying to help.

Also, there are more than one that I’d like to vote for. It makes it a hard choice, I really liked these too.

Scythians for Cannabis Freedom!
And
Stop Supporting the Cartels

Perhaps a check box where we could choose 5?

Cool! You can watch them grow

http://twitdraw.com/h5y4pg

I submitted ATM: Alcohol Tobacco Marijuana — don’t know if it got in in time, but that’s where I was headed, California’s out of money! Plus I like taking illegal out of first thoughts and replacing it with money and adulthood.

FDL could have a Book Salon with Jim Webb on that one. I quoted an extensive passage about the black-white drug injustice divide from Webb’s book A Time to Fight last year, in a comment on Daily Kos. He wrote about it so well, I’d say go read it: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2009/3/27/05120/9890/8#c8

Also note that Johann Hari quoted from Webb in his excellent article Obama Must End the War on Drugs — or Mexico and Afghanistan Will Collapse:

Senator Jim Webb has pointed out what would have happened to the young Obama: “Even as I write these words, it is virtually certain that somewhere on the streets of Washington D.C. an eighteen year-old white kid from the Maryland or North Virginia suburbs is buying a stash of drugs from an eighteen year-old black kid. The white kid is going to take that stash back to the suburbs and make some quick money by selling it to other kids.” He will grow up and grow out of it, and one day — as a wealthy professional — he will “look back on his drug use just as recreational and joke about it … just one more little rebellion on the way to adulthood.”

But the black kid “will enter a hell from which he may never recover.” He is likely to be arrested, and to go to prison. “Prison life will change the black kid, harden him, mess up his mind, and redefine his self-image. And after he is released from prison, the black kid will be dragging an invisible ball and chain behind him for the rest of his life… By the time the white kid reaches fifty years of age, he may well be a judge. By the time the black kid reaches fifty, he will likely be permanently unemployable, will be ineligible for many government assistance programs, and will not even be able to vote.” Obama wouldn’t be President. He wouldn’t even be able to vote.

Hari’s article is a clear and comprehensive summing up what’s wrong with the drug war and what’s right with legalization. The above is just one part of it. So he wrote a good article and he quoted a good passage.

Henry Ford had a car made out of hemp plastic in 1941:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgDyEO_8cI

Wouldn’t it be great if someone revived Saturn as the hemp plastic car? Just saying, I love my Saturn and after 15 years the plastic body still looks great though the trim is crumbling from rust underneath. It’s got almost 300,000 miles on it and you might think walk away from it, but instead it still looks so good you just keep fixing the mechanical things that go out. I feel so conservative!

Can’t see the choices at all in Linux’s Sea Monkey browser. Zip nada, just the page header telling us to choose from the first 200 below, which is blank.

Also, has anyone said anything about naming the poll? If nobody’s said Poll Pot yet, dibs

Go green: become WEED certified.