Patty Ann Smith and Craig Smith collaborated to give us a great video for “Lend A Hand To The Farmers.” I find it a real pleasure to feature artists who make it a point to deliver an honest point of view on real situations.

Just plain wrong information can come from anywhere. Even someone who teaches at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and is a senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute may say something silly like:

“To put things crudely, there are two ways to get the increase in total spending that we call “economic growth.” One way is for government to spend. The other is for banks to lend. Leaving aside short-term adjustments like increased net exports or financial innovation, that’s basically all there is. Governments and banks are the two entities with the power to create something from nothing. If total spending power is to grow, one or the other of these two great financial motors–public deficits or private loans–has to be in action.”
- JAMES K. GALBRAITH

It seems to me that this just does not make sense.

There is only one way to get an increase in total spending that is sustainable, that is you must increase net production of “stuff”, such as agricultural “stuff”, food.

• Neither public or private debt can increase wealth.
• Wealth can only be harvested, mined or manufactured.

I cannot believe that governments and banks can create something from nothing. I do not believe in free lunches, in my experience someone always pays.

I do believe we will be hearing and reading more and more things that do not make sense. It will become even more important to take care of the essential elements of our lives.

If we are not paying our farmers, and the evidence is that we are not judging from their massive rate of bankruptcy and foreclosure, then we destroy our oldest proven financial motor.

Patty Ann Smith and Craig Smith know this much and have lent their talents to spreading the message.

Why don’t you help “Lend A Hand To The Farmers,” too?

* * * * Artist’s Statement * * * * *

Craig and I lived in rural upstate New York for several years. It is our home state,  and we have many wonderful memories of our local farmers as friends and neighbors and also from county fairs and 4H events.

We gained the richness of their lives and work. It was a happy time then. However, unfortunately, those times have changed.

A nation that does not have an abundance of small family farmers ~ is an impoverished nation in body, mind, and spirit.

And, that is where we’re at right now.

Today, for every family farmer who is being torn apart by financial devastation, it tears apart the farmer, his family, and eventually the country.

Like a hurricane or tornado, this is each farmer’s devastating private storm.

Here are a few lines from Dougie MacLeans song Solid Ground that warm my heart and say something pretty profound:

Where is the honest fool
The open soul the simple smile
Who’ll be warm and true
for the passing stranger
who may rest a while
My fathers may have said these things
and now I  know
Yes didn’t they know
The joy a shared friendship brings
And now I know
yes didn’t they know
Now we stand on solid ground
we stand on solid ground
on solid ground
It ís the land that is our wisdom
It ís the land that shines us true
It ís the land that feeds our children
It ís the land
you cannot own the land
the land owns you
It ís the land
you cannot own the land
the land owns you

Many family farmers are teachers of the natural world, and we need them more than ever, now.

I find it unacceptable that the family farmers that have been feeding us all along are becoming some of the homeless and hungry among us.

For Willie Nelson and all his Good Works!

Willie, what a pleasure it is to be even a small part of being able to help save the family farmers of this land.

We know that the health of our country is at stake in more ways than one, and that we need to continue to support what ís right and in harmony with the Universal Truths.

Peace to All
Patty and Craig Smith

Cureworks sends us the first video made from Lend A Hand To The Farmers. It seems fitting to me that it directly calls for the decriminalization of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana.

Around the world, for example in Canada, China and Eastern Europe, farmers contribute to the economic well being of their countries by cultivating Cannabis Hemp Marijuana for Raw Materials supporting multiple product groups.

A healthy economy grows from Raw Materials Producers and their ability to pay for the goods and services they require to stay productive.

When Family Farms are first driven into debt then bankruptcy and foreclosure by government policy that only further enriches bankers the entire economy loses it driving force.

Boutique Farms producing Raw Materials for Artisan Consumer Goods may be

the last example of working Family Farms in the United States

and

are insufficient to feed, cloth and shelter everyone

as they once were.

Rising oil prices and deepening economic turmoil will soon make everyone wish Family Farms could do it again.

A single known agricultural crop possesses the versatility and value to once again make Family Farms economic engines in today’s world.

A single known agricultural crop was criminalized exactly because of its versatility and value and the threat it poses to vested interests and obscene profits in Fiber, Timber, Petro-Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.

Cureworks and I agree with Willie Nelson and Marty Dread, allowing Family Farms to cultivate Cannabis Hemp Marijuana helps us all.

By Willie Nelson and Marty Dread

Lend a hand to the farmers on this land.
Put the power of production back in their hands
Lend a hand to the farmers in this time
The very future of the nation is on the line

Think of all these families
Being forced off their land
The small farmer is a chess piece
Being pushed by corporate hands

Lend a hand to the farmers on this land.
Lend a hand, lend a hand
Put the power of production back in their hands
Lend a hand to the farmers in this time, lend a hand, lend a hand
The very future of the nation is on the line

Can’t you see that
To have a healthy nation
Good food is what we need
But without the cultivators
Whose gonna plant the seeds

Lend a hand to the farmers on this land.
Lend a hand to the farmers on this land
Let’s put the power of production back in their hands
Put the power of production back in their hands.

Can’t you see
A bunch of rusted tractors
Thousands of idle hands
A nation raised on junk food
Millions of acres of wasted land

Lend a hand to the farmers on this land.
Lend a hand, lend a hand
Put the power of production back in their hands

Lend a hand to the farmers in this time
The very future of the nation is on the line

Lend a hand to the farmers
Let’s lend a hand to the farmers
Put the power of production back in their hands

Let’s lend a hand, let’s lend a hand to the farmers

{RAPPED}

At one time we had more than 8 million small family farmers on the land in this country.
Now we’re down to less than 2 million
Losing 300-500 every week.

The backbone of this country is the farmer
We’re losing our farmers
We’re losing the bottom rung on the economic ladder
If we don’t help our farmers we will go hungry

Lend a hand to the farmers and you are lending a hand to yourself.

Lend a hand to the farmers.
Put the power of production back into their hands

Lend a hand to the farmers
The future of the nation is on the line

Lend a hand to the farmers.

* * * * USA Hemp Museum Statement * * * * *

One of the many things the great Willie Nelson is known for is his campaign to restore hemp to the world. This song, LEND A HAND TO THE FARMERS is a powerful plea for salvation from the dynamic artists Willie Nelson and Marty Dread posted on the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute site.

Hemp can help us save our family farm system, key to saving ourselves.

This trillion dollar plus cash crop can finance what needs to be done to restore the foundation of our economy, the farmer. As Richard M. Davis, founder of the USA Hemp Museum, says, know your grower. Otherwise we have the toxic chemicals added for profit, like what’s happening NOW!!!

Ending hemp prohibition so farmers can have a quick cash crop to solve their economic problems can help heal our whole economy with jobs, business and investment opportunities.

Since the federal government owns about 1/3 of the land, much of America can be leased at a reasonable rate to jump start this vital energy in our economic system.

DO IT NOW by Executive Order.

Please support Farm Aid and ending hemp prohibition so that we can save ourselves.

For more ideas visit the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute founded by Willie Nelson, Jay Greathouse and Liz O’Garvey. The work being done there is extraordinarily healing. For more on hemp visit the USA Hemp Museum.

LEND A HAND TO THE FARMERS

This Button

can help secure your food supply and
reestablish the economic foundation of the United States.

Willie Nelson and  Marty Dread offer Lend A Hand To The Farmers for open collaboration to help spread the word of the need to help our primary raw materials producers,

The Farmers.

Make your own video using Lend A Hand To The Farmers as a soundtrack. Upload your video to YouTube or some other online video hosting service then contact us here or use the form below.

- or -

Record your own version of Lend A Hand To The Farmers and contact us here or use the form below. We will tell you where to send a mp3 file when you contact us here or use the form below.

- then -

If you prepare a statement to the same standards as our Press Release Submission Guidelines then we will publish it. We will tell you where to send it when you contact us here or use the form below.

Your video or recorded version of Lend A Hand To The Farmers will then be featured on its own unique web page along with your statement and an introduction by a staff writer. A link to that page will be added to this page linked to this button:

You may already be familiar with the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute “A Peaceful Solution” project. This project will be handled in much the same way.

The Story of Lend A Hand To The Farmers was the topic of an earlier post.

Now You can become the topic of a related post
on this blog.

Make a video or record your version of Lend A Hand To The Farmers and become part of the movement to secure your food supply and reestablish the economic foundation of the United States.

Here are the participating artists:

• Cureworks (+ transcription of lyrics)
• Patty Ann Smith
  

The License

Attribution Share Alike
cc by-sa
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon Lend A Hand To The Farmers even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit  Marty Dread and Willie Nelson and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.

View License Deed | View Legal Code

License Conditions

Attribution
by
Marty Dread and Willie Nelson let others copy, distribute, display, and perform this copyrighted work Lend A Hand To The Farmers — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit to Marty Dread and Willie Nelson.

Share Alike
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Marty Dread and Willie Nelson allows others to distribute derivative works of Lend A Hand To The Farmers only under a license identical to the license that governs Lend A Hand To The Farmers.

a special thank you to Monique Claus for creating the button

The backroom deals, disinformation and political slight-of-hand that ushered in the era of cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization has been fully revealed as a fraud perpetrated upon the United States population. The falsehoods stand bare and truly show that The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

The Emperor Wears No Clothes, backed by H.E.M.P. (America), Hanf Haus (Germany), Sensi Seeds/Hash Marijuana Museum (Netherlands), and T.H.C., the Texas Hemp Campaign (America), offers $100,000 to anyone who can disprove the claims made within. To quote the back cover:

If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world’s paper and textiles; meet all of the world’s transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time… and that substance is — the same one that did it all before — Cannabis Hemp… Marijuana!

If President Obama wishes to restore faith in his administration then it seems to me that freeing cannabis hemp marijuana from unjust and unwarranted persecution by the United States Government would be a step in the right direction. However, it seems President Obama has other ideas on how to treat the population of the United States.

For those hoping that Barack Obama would wage the war on drugs less aggressively than his predecessor, this is not a good sign: Yesterday he announced that the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will be Michele Leonhart, a career DEA agent who has been the agency’s deputy administrator since March 2004 and its acting administrator since November 2007. [Reason]

Steve Lendman says:

Obama’s Outreach to Americans:
Empty Rhetoric, Business As Usual

As a candidate, Obama promised change, a new course, sweeping government reforms, addressing people needs, and “ensur(ing) that the hopes and concerns of average Americans speak louder in Washington than the hallway whispers of high-priced lobbyists….”

A year later, hope is disillusion, frustration, and anger over promises made, then broken with a growing awareness that Obama represents business as usual, a reality rhetoric can’t change. …

He presides over a bogus democracy under a homeland police state apparatus, embraces torture and political persecution like his predecessor, and continues unbridled militarism, imperial wars, and a shocking disregard for the law.

A January 27 Dana Priest Washington Post article revealed a secret Obama “hit list,” the same policy George Bush authorized to kill US citizens abroad claimed to be supporting terrorism “against the United States or US interests,” whether or not it’s true. …

He embraces the same Bush administration policies, targets dissenters, Muslims, Latino immigrants, environmental and animal rights activists, and lawyers who defend them too vigorously.

He spies illegally on Americans, …

He wants all Americans monitored with a national ID card, favors preventive detentions for uncharged detainees, and opposes protection for whistleblowers and journalists to protect their identity. …

Smooth rhetoric belies Obama’s failed agenda, one he’ll continue without progressive change under new leadership that cares, what neither party offers nor ever will with priorities leaving millions out of luck and on their own.

It certainly seems President Obama and his Administration have yet to hear the population of the United States clearly. Please do what you can to raise the volume on this important central issue.

Free Cannabis Hemp Marijuana Now

The USA Hemp Museum provides convincing arguments backed up with literally books full of documented evidence on the multitude of mistakes we make as a country by allowing cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization to continue.

Become informed and you will be compelled to act.

Hemp For Victory: The Trillion Dollar Crop

Hemp For Victory: A Global Warming Solution

Hemp For Victory: The Wonder Herb

We can no longer afford the mistake of allowing cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization to harm our country, especially now when we could all benefit so greatly from this most useful of all plants.

artist: Kami Lerner

Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute invites all individuals, network members, community representatives, and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) spokespersons throughout the world to submit press releases about their methods of promoting a peaceful world through thoughts, words and deeds.

Topics Close To The Heart of Willie Nelson

• ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
• sending no more troops overseas
• bringing everyone home
• pulling our troops from all foreign countries that do not want us there
• putting our troops on the Mexican and Canadian borders to stop drug crimes
• helping Family Farmers achieve parity pricing for their produce
• legalizing marijuana
• taxing and regulating marijuana like whiskey, beer and tobacco
• legalizing hemp

Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute encourages diverse points of view on topics in a number of areas as long as they all obviously contribute to a more peaceful world. Highly opinionated judgmental criticism without a suggestion or clue for positive change may not seem appropriate. While specific criticism may be deserved in the context of communicating certain grievances suggestions for positive policy changes will always be welcome and appreciated.

Press Release Submission Guidelines

1. Make initial contact through the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute Contact Form. Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute will reply.
2. Attach your press release as a text document to your reply email.
3. Do not paste press release in the body of your reply email.
4. Press release length: Minimum 300 words, maximum 3,000 words.
5. Use 12 Point font Times New Roman Regular
6. Do not use CAP LOCK. Capitalize the first letter of words if you wish. CAP LOCK makes it harder to read. Anything submitted all caps will be discarded without reading.
7. Use a single space after sentences. Anything submitted with double spaces will be discarded without further consideration.
8. Use consistent style throughout press release.
9. All abbreviations and acronyms must be defined when you first use them.
10. You may request links with your press release.
11. Check all links before sending. Do Not include dead or under construction links.
12. You may attach a single image 500 pixels wide.

These general guidelines represent no guarantee of acceptance of any specific press release for publication by Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute.

Although it is not our policy, Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute reserves the right to ignore any submission with no explanations.

Thank you for your interest.