Archive for August 28th, 2009
Found on High Times
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to convert the collective intelligence of Twitter users into real-life ideas that would help the revenue-starved state.
Schwarzenegger announced this week the launch of Myidea4ca.com, a Web site that indexes ideas for California’s state government submitted via Twitter. The governor is asking people to “tweet” their ideas with the hashtag identifier #myidea4ca.
During a conversation Wednesday at Twitter’s headquarters with company founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, Schwarzenegger said Twitter has “tremendous power and insight.” He said the idea came from a Twitter user that he should autograph some state-owned cars and bicycles for sale at the Great California Garage Sale on Aug. 28 and Aug. 29. The governor said the Twitter-generated ideas also could be used for issues like solving the state’s water woes.
“Even in bodybuilding, I was always interested in what people want,” Schwarzenegger said. The governor is a frequent tweeter. He has nearly 1 million Twitter followers.
Myidea4ca.com scoops up tweets tagged with #myidea4ca, and people can then give a thumbs up or thumbs down to each idea — a function that’s commonplace on social bookmarking Web sites like Digg and Delicious. Users also can submit comments about the ideas, which are searchable by keyword, Twitter username, category, most popular, most commented and most recent.
Early results suggest that the public’s most popular idea is legalizing and taxing the sale of marijuana, a possibility Schwarzenegger himself floated earlier this year as state legislators struggled to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
NORML is proud to confirm that Norm Stamper will be speaking at the 2009 NORML National Conference in San Francisco, CA.
Mr. Stamper was a police officer for 34 years, the first 28 in San Diego, the last six (1994-2000) as Seattle’s Chief of Police. He has a doctorate in Leadership and Human Behavior, and is the author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing (Nation Books, 2005). He is an advisory board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and is a frequently featured critic of the drug war on radio and cable news outlets.
Most recently, Norm penned the forward to the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009), stating: “From my own work and the experiences of other members of the law enforcement community, it is abundantly clear that marijuana is rarely, if ever, the cause of harmfully disruptive or violent behavior. In fact, I would go so far as to say that marijuana use often helps to tamp down tensions where they otherwise might exist.”
Norm says, “Yes we cannabis” and so should you! Meet Norm and hundreds of other likeminded people at NORML’s 38th annual conference, taking place September 24-26 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown San Francisco. For registration information, please visit: http://www.norml.org/conference.
More about Norm:
Huffington Post: Thoughts on Pot vs. Alcohol from a Former Police Chief
Huffington Post: Marijuana Is No Laughing Matter, Mr. President
Huffington Post: A Former Police Chief on New Marijuana Book
RECENT POSTS
