This UA school is offering courses on pot cultivation, and medical marijuana retail distribution is mentioned in this article: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2075528.html http://www.oaksterdamuniversity.com/oakland.html Interesting times. Abner
Recall that John Sperling, the multi-billionaire founder and principal owner of Apollo Group (University of Phoenix, etc.) has long been an advocate (and major donor) for marijuana legalization causes.
Shut up Berkeley! Oakland has so got a university!! (Ain't Oakland great?!) http://www.oaksterdamuniversity.com/oakland.html I wish that California would legalize and tax pot. It would bring lots of new money into our empty state budget accounts. It would keep our California brand and stereotype alive all around the world. (Think of what the 'Economist' would say about us!) Marijuana could be taxed at both ends, by requiring legal supplies to come from licensed farms, and by placing a hefty sin tax on sales. It would still be less expensive to consumers than illegal pot, and making it legally available at lower cost would have the added benefit of helping to drive the Mexican drug gangs out of California's open-space reserves and national parks, areas that they are turning into large-scale pot farms guarded by dangerous men with guns. Instead it would be a lucrative new crop for our legitimate farmers. I can think of even more benefits. There would be a lot fewer bar fights if everyone was stoned. Intoxicated drivers would drive too slow, not too fast. The fast-food and cool-jazz industries would absolutely flourish! It's got my vote.
I gotta agree with you on this one. The marijuana industry is ready and willing to pay hefty taxes. The stuff is being sold already, why not tax it? When I was in a B&M college working my way through, I used to be a bouncer for different seedy punk rock clubs. The ones (club goers) who always got violent were usually drinking hard liquor. The dudes smoking a blunt usually just sat around and giggled, eating pretzels or potato chips. I didn't mind them because they would not get the "Ultraviolence". The tides are changing when a Republican Gov is talking about taxing weed. Let's not forget liquor is a drug. It may be legal, but it is still a volatile drug. Abner
Bill: "Oakland has o got a university..." John: Or two. http://www.patten.edu/images/2008/HeaderLogo.gif
Are you guys kidding? The last thing in the world California needs is lower productivity. More marijuana use would be a big negative overall. It would disproportionately impact lower and lower middle-class communities. Don't kid yourselves, the educational gap between upper middle-class whites/Asians on one hand and the working class youth would increase dramatically. Great solution championed by your muscle-headed Governor Schwarzenegger.
This is what kills me. There is an individual in California that runs a legal pot establishment, pays like 300k a year in taxes to the State of California and around 600k in income tax to the man, and the DEA busts him at least one year or so... Whats even funnier, is its illegal to sell drugs in Texas, yet they have a tax stamp for illegal drugs...... so they can bust dealers for tax evasion.....
There's several, but Oaksterdam University is definitely the jewel in the crown. Holy Names University http://www.hnu.edu/ Samuel Merritt University http://www.samuelmerritt.edu/ Mills College http://www.mills.edu/ Perhaps my favorite of the bunch, the California College of the Arts. (I liked its old name better, 'California College of Arts and Crafts'.) http://www.cca.edu/about/ Oakland has a happening art scene, perhaps because there are lots of inexpensive defunct industrial spaces and a gritty urban vibe. Check this out -- http://thecrucible.org/events/fire-arts-festival There's a couple of community colleges, Laney and Merritt colleges. (Oakland really loves the name 'Merritt' - they have a Lake Merritt too, right next to downtown.) There's the Academy of Chinese Culture and Health Sciences, an ACAOM acupuncture school, and ACICS accredited Lincoln University too. CHORI is kind of academic, despite not awarding degrees. Some 200 scientists work there. http://www.chori.org/About_CHORI/About_CHORI/about_chori.html And the Chabot Observatory has some of the largest telescopes around for public use, including Rachel, their grand old 20-inch refractor. Very big with amateur astronomy clubs. http://www.chabotspace.org/visit/observatories.aspx
Bill: Check this out -- http://thecrucible.org/events/fire-arts-festival John: A month ago, daughter Mariah said, "Hey, if I can't you to Burning Man, at least check our the Fire Arts Festival at The Crucible, and you'll get a taste of it." Oh, my, yes. What an amazing evening. We were thinking that if we were traveling in Belgium or Cambodia or sometplace, we'd go far out of our way to attend something like this. And yet here it has been, a few miles from our home, for many years, and this was the first time. And without the 6-hour drive or 125 degree heat of Burning Man. Wildly recommended (if you like this kind of thing).
When it comes to industrial-strength art, San Francisco answered right back with the internationally famous Survival Research Laboratories. (SRL are now based up in Sonoma, more space and fewer legal hassles I guess.) http://www.srl.org/ On Holloween (San Francisco's biggest and most beloved holiday) back in 1996, I was walking down on 16'th street, already a bit intoxicated and a little loopy. Suddenly this truck with an old German V-1 buzz-bomb jet engine bolted to it pulls up in the middle of the street, lights up and starts throwing out a huge tongue of flame and a terrible sound. I thought 'Now that's something that you don't see every day on a city street'. http://srl.org/shows/sf_minna96/roxiepics.html