cannabisnews.com: Stratford Students File Suit 





Stratford Students File Suit 
Posted by CN Staff on December 06, 2003 at 07:32:56 PT
By Tony Bartelme Of The Post and Courier Staff 
Source: Post and Courier
In a federal class action lawsuit filed Friday, 18 Stratford High School students allege that a Goose Creek police officer pointed a gun at the back of a student's head, that officers waved guns in students' faces and that they used other illegal search and seizure tactics in last month's drug sweep at the school. Filed in U.S. District Court and coordinated by a group of prominent local trial lawyers, the lawsuit is the first civil action to emerge from the controversial drug search. It frames the debate as a struggle over students' constitutional rights.
The 23-page complaint begins with the Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons ... papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."It then outlines how officers burst into the school's hallway Nov. 5 with their guns drawn. It alleges that an officer pointed his gun at the back of one student's head and that, because of the commotion, students feared someone had been shot. Students also allege they were frightened by the department's drug-sniffing dog, which barked excitedly and appeared unruly. No drugs were found during the sweep."This is an open-and-shut case of excessive police force on innocent children," said Ron Motley, lead attorney for the students and their parents. "This made us a laughing stock all over the United States, and it can't be tolerated."Defendants in the lawsuit include Stratford Principal George C. McCrackin, Berkeley County School District officials, the city of Goose Creek and members of the Goose Creek Police Department. The complaint seeks an injunction preventing police and school leaders from doing similar kinds of searches in the future and an unspecified amount of monetary damages. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/filesuit.htmSource: Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)Author: Tony Bartelme Of The Post and Courier Staff Published: Saturday, December 6, 2003  Copyright: 2003 Evening Post Publishing Co.Website: http://www.charleston.net/Contact: letters postandcourier.comRelated Articles & Web Site:ACLUhttp://www.aclu.org/Solicitor To Announce Decision on Drug Sweephttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17909.shtmlPolice Could Be Charged in School Raid http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17880.shtmlShooting, Stratford Raid Draw FBI http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17849.shtmlPre-emptive Strike Hits High Schools http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17846.shtml
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Comment #56 posted by Dan B on December 09, 2003 at 07:28:06 PT
I agree, global_warming
I agree with all that you have said. I, too, am amazed at "how we, mankind, have been so easily fooled." If everyone would simply take a step back from what they are doing and look at the world objectively, we would all realize that everything is a construct--from corporations to governments to religions. We have constructed these "realities" out of our imaginations, and we believe so strongly in them that we are willing (in many cases) to die for them. However, these "realities" are not real at all. They do not have to exist. We choose to let them exist because, for one reason or another, they work for us or have worked for us in the past. Still, we do not have to buy into constructs like the imposed "value" of money, nor do we have to abide tyrannies that we ourselves have created--theocratic institutions, nations states, other governing bodies, etc. These things are constructs that everyone has to believe in in order for them to work, and their primary purpose is to maintain their own existence. That is why I make a distinction between religion and spirituality: religion is groupthink; spirituality is individual. We can break free from the "herd mentality" when we finally realize that there is no herd; there is only a construct of a herd. Cannabis prohibition is just one of these "herd constructs," an imposed construct, and it cannot exist apart from the other imposed constructs that support it: certain religious factions, governmental bodies, etc. If we break free from imposed constructs, we are able to see them for what they are, and they cease to have power over us, at least mentally. Just about everyone here at Cannabis News knows what it means to break free from these constructs because we have done so to one extent or another. Some of us attempt to meld anti-prohibition into other constructs (religious, governmental, etc.) that have worked for us, while others wish to abandon the underlying constructs altogether and start from scratch. But what we all have in common is that we see this construct--prohibition--for what it is, a corrupt system that has been imposed on us without our authorization. It is that commonality that binds us together and moves us to expose the construct as the fraud that it is. That is why we can come from a variety of backgrounds based on different and often opposing constructs, yet we stay together and focused on this mission, rather than on our differences, because we all understand that the destruction of the prohibitionist construct will benefit us all, conservatives and liberals, theists and atheists, authoritarians and anarchists.Yes, global_warming, I understand what you are saying, and I appreciate your enlightened sensibilities. Thank you.Sincerely,Dan B
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Comment #55 posted by global_warming on December 08, 2003 at 17:21:37 PT
Dan B
Hi AllI gather from your resonse (Dan B), that you understood, I was not subscribing to any -ism..The further postings, regarding gnosticism and their journies into the desert, only further illustrate mans search and escape from the demon of power and control..It amazes me, how we, mankind, have been so easily fooled.The greedy forces, plot through the night, to insure their glut of blood, the blood of the people..The refrence to 0-AD was meant to show, that the NT is a record of the political/social understanding of man, at that time, in that region.The components in our world have been struggeling for many years. Has man ever been free? History indicates not, but, history has always been written by the victors, the rich and powerful.I do not wish to instigate some kind of class war, such as the kind of Marx.It is my observation that the human specie is slowly undergoing a transformation, a gradual awakening, an awareness that is leading all life towards its unknown creator.I am thankful for religions, it does calm the masses and barbarians, it distracts them, so there is still hope.I am thankful for Mohammed, he did gather the arabs, and give them some focussed direction.As did jesus for the rest of the world.My difficulty is with the jewish-christian mindset, formed long ago, in the cradle of civilization.The theocrotical midset has been largely used against gods creations, and as god quietly avoids us, we spin our destructions, generation upon generation.The east currently has adopted the western midset, strictly for survival, but one has to wonder how different they (east) were before the growth of the western mindset.The east indicates that human cruelty was equal to western atrocities, yet much is lost, and what little can be found, is the product of western interpretaions.I'm not sure of gods intentions, but I can see, that god lives, not in the -ism but in the starry and infinite night, the vast mystery remains silent.Working towards Peace-gw
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Comment #54 posted by goneposthole on December 08, 2003 at 07:29:40 PT
maybe this will work
truismn : an obvious truthhttp://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=truismI won't take credit for this, I read it at another website:"Can't we all just get a bong."Mr. Farmer has been here before:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread13321.shtml
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Comment #53 posted by Dan B on December 08, 2003 at 07:26:58 PT
Your Word Is Far Better, Jose
Despotism is a far better descriptor than anything I suggested. My suggestions might be classified as subcategories of despotism (and, in the case of Mormonism, that is in a category all by itself because it has done a great many good things even as it has done many bad things inasmuch as it is notoriously fundamentalist). Thanks for a far better word for Orrin Hatch-ism.Dan B
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Comment #52 posted by jose melendez on December 08, 2003 at 06:13:07 PT
how about: despotism?
I see now after I posted it that Hatch was the recipient of Edwards' complaint. No word on whether Orrin Hatch will deny FBI's impropriety and unconstitutional, unlawful acts any more convincingly than Nixon's line, "I am not a crook." from: http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-spy26.htmlSome members of Congress are calling for hearings into an FBI bulletin sent to more than 17,000 state and local police agencies on Oct. 15. It warned about anti-war protests being planned for later that month in Washington and San Francisco. ''This report suggests that federal law enforcement may now be targeting individuals based on activities that are peaceful, lawful and protected under our Constitution,'' Sen. John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat who is running for president, said in a letter sent Monday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).about despotism: http://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/theoretical-anthropology/cook.htmlNazi Metaphors and Orientalism     Romila Thapar argues, in "Interpretations of Ancient History," that history texts have in the past conceptualized the Indian political system as being despotic: "The static character of Indian society with its concomitant despotic rulers became and accepted truth of Indian history. The concept of Oriental Despotism began to take shape" (Thapar. 1968: 322). Used in this context "Oriental" refers geographically to the "East," and "Despotism" to a totalitarian ruler. Historian/Anthropologist Ronald Inden, in Imagining India, comes to a similar definition: "Despotism, the arbitrary or capricious rule by fear of an all-powerful autocrat over a docile and servile populace, is the normal and distinctive political institution of the East" (Inden. 1990: 53).     Both Thapar and Inden argue that "despotism" forms a leit motif in discourses on the "East." This leit motif occurs in journalistic accounts of the BJP, and is expressed through metaphors that invoke Hitler and the actions of the Nazi Party, despite both phenomena being associated with Western, not Indian, political concepts. By correlating the BJP with Nazism the press, not so subtly, hints that the former is despotic in nature. In this manner, the BJP becomes a contemporary incarnation of the old theme of "Oriental Despotism." from: http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:88gYRjkHtwkJ:marketcrush.com/10biblio/13Mi/13MI14.htm"Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model,     and set to do exactly the work prescribed for it, but a tree ...     [sprouting] on all sides, according to the tendency of the inward forces     which make it a living thing." Once again, freedom of one's own     exposure to a variety of ideas and situations are the two necessary     conditions for human progress. Though the "quality" of human     experiences differs (the pleasures of thinking, understanding, enjoying     the arts, for example, are higher and more noble than those of eating,     sleeping or sex; it is better to be a "Socrates dissatisfied than a     fool ... satisfied"), humans are responsible to cultivate their own     potentials through making personal choices. The love of liberty can be     antagonistic to the dictates of custom. But anything that denies     individuality is, by definition, despotism.
     
Write Congress: Support the drug war crimes act.
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Comment #51 posted by Dan B on December 08, 2003 at 05:21:19 PT
Dare I Say It, Jose?
You said, "what's the -ism for Orrin Hatch?"Mormonism. Republicanism. Fundamentalism. Take your pick.Ouch!Dan B
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Comment #50 posted by Dan B on December 08, 2003 at 05:18:46 PT
E_Johnson
What I said at the beginning of the entire message was this: "You are right to point out that much of what we see done today in the name of Christianity, including the drug war, is not Christian, and I thank you for it. This comment is just to point out that the injustice was going on in the name of God or gods for thousands of years before that. That is supposed to be the reason why Jesus spoke out in the first place." In other words, I gave due credit to Christianity in its truest form, and that true form is quite evident in the worthy example you gave of Christian love when you mentioned the work of the United Methodist Church. I applaud the United Methodist Church for its efforts, and please pardon me if I sounded like I was down on everything that religious people do. That was not my intent, and I am not, nor have I ever been. In fact, my comment was intended to say exactly the opposite of what you read into it: Christianity is not at fault; our human tendency toward blind religious devotion is.My intent with the comment I made was to show that (1) using God as a tool to control humans is not historically unique to Christianity, (2) Christianity does happen to be the religion most often used in the United States to keep the masses under control, (3) but religion in general is a major part of the problem. Beyond that, I clearly made a distinction between "religion" and "spirituality" by stating, most emphatically, that "Religion works well as a tool for domination because it strikes at people's core beliefs. Spirituality is different because it operates out of compassion: what is the approach that causes the least pain and the most benefit for everyone. In this country, and perhaps all over the world, we have sacrificed our spirituality to religion. God is not our god; religion is." In other words, I make a point of defining my terms so that nobody is confused. What the United Methodist Church did was not based on the "dictatorial religion" that I describe earlier in my comment. It more accurately describes the kind of compassion that I referred to when I described "spirituality." There is a huge difference between the two (quite frankly, I resent your assertion that you have somehow moved to a higher intellectual plane because you "got over" the distinction between religion and spirituality some time ago. That statement is merely an excuse to ignore what I am saying when I make the distinction for the purpose of explaining my argument. Further, you are framing my argument in the terms you used when you were, admittedly, "an angry young liberal in the seventies." Don't confuse your distinction between the two with mine). As for your immediately picking up on the quotation by Marx and assuming that because I used his quotation, I must be a Marxist, I very explicitly stated, "Marx called religion 'the opiate of the people' (that was an insight that Marx got right, I think, although I don't agree with much of what has been done in the name of Marxism, either)." In other words, I do not agree with Marxism, including the way he thought best to deal with religion (kill it). I simply used this one well-known quotation in order to make my point. The fact that Marx said it does not make it wrong, either. To say that it does is an argumentum ad hominem: you are attacking the person rather than attacking the argument.I appreciate those who said that they appreciated what I had to say and took what I had to say in the spirit with which it was written. Of course I don't mean to say that all Christians are bad or evil or plotting against us. I only meant to say that we need to watch out for religion when it becomes dictatorial. "My point is this: religion (thus 'God' or 'the gods') has always been used as a justification for the evils perpetrated against humanity." It is right and good that we pay attention to this fact.As for Marxism, that too is a religion. That's the kind of thing that my philosophy teacher was talking about, and I think he was right. Jose Melendez makes some excellent points about -isms in his post. I should qualify my statement (or, rather, my teacher's statement) by saying that the kinds of -isms he was referring to were akin to the first quotation in Jose's comment. Tourism probably won't get most of us in trouble. Marxism will. And so will unfettered capitalism (and if you don't believe this last point, you don't have a clue what is going on economically in the world today). The free market does take care of itself . . . if by "itself" you mean the richest and most powerful people who support and benefit from it.E_Johnson, I know you have a problem with me because I defended the free speech of one of the former members of C-News who attacked you, but I wish you would get over it. Time and again, when I post something here you find a way to accuse me of being something that I am not, or you find a way to pretend that my arguments say something that they do not say. Do us all a favor, please, and get over the past. That guy is gone, and I have no plans to attack you. I write this only to defend what I have said and to clarify, not to attack you.Dan B
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Comment #49 posted by jose melendez on December 07, 2003 at 14:44:01 PT
write on!
what's the -ism for Orrin Hatch? Are these Repubs really realizing that we were right?Read on, even if you usually have aides filter all of your current events knowledge, from:http://www.washtimes.com/national/inbeltway.htmSixties flashback 
    North Carolina Sen. John Edwards wants the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate whether the FBI recently conducted surveillance of American antiwar demonstrators. 
    "This report is deeply disturbing," the Democratic presidential candidate wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, after reading a newspaper account of the contention. 
    "Law enforcement officials, of course, should take necessary and reasonable steps to ensure that demonstrations are peaceful and lawful," Mr. Edwards wrote, "but this report suggests that federal law enforcement may now be targeting individuals based on activities that are peaceful, lawful and protected under our Constitution." 
    He then saw fit to go a step further, charging that "the FBI has a history of harassing individuals based on their political views." 
    "In the 1960s and '70s when J. Edgar Hoover was the bureau director," he wrote to Mr. Hatch, "agents routinely spied on civil rights demonstrators, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and on Vietnam War protesters." 
    As for today, Mr. Edwards says guidelines developed by the Justice Department in the 1970s to govern domestic surveillance by the FBI "have been substantially weakened by Attorney General John Ashcroft." 
oops, I dropped a book and it sounded like a gun shot
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Comment #48 posted by E_Johnson on December 07, 2003 at 11:03:09 PT
The other side of the coin Dan B
I used to use this "spirituality is good, religion is bad" distinction back when I was an angry young liberal in the seventies.I have learned to get over it.Any association of humans can find a power metaphor to use to gain power over other humans. Like those who use marx, for example. Men have a power metaphor in their pants and human culture certainly has had trouble dealing with rule by basic male biology. At least the female part of human culture comprised of women who like to make up their own minds about whom they have sex with has been influenced by that power metaphor.Marxist feminists tried to demonize male biology the way Marx tried to demonize religion, but we know that men aren't evil. And neither is religion.Elaine Pagels has grappled for many years with the tranisiton of the Christ movement from a diversely populated spiritual rebellion among the underclass and marginal populations of the Roman era to a powerful religion that took over the reins of the Roman Empire when it was fading.Her conclusion was that religious Christianity offers something that individualistic Gnostic spirituality does not offer -- the protection and resources of a community.This is the good side of organized religion. And we still see it today. People join churches because this is part of the way their community functions. The local church takes up the social missions not taken up by government or the upper class.The local church gives food to the poor, the local church gives comfort to the ill, the local church prays for people in time of disasters and celebrates marriages and births holds funerals and momorials.In the Middle Ages, the local church would often provide sanctuary for poor people accused of crimes by the powerful. Back before there was due process, there was only Christian mercy on the side of the defendant. And many times -- Christian mercy did rise to the challenge.Dan B., medical marijuana was distributed from the United Methodist Church in West Hollywood for a few weeks.The church rose to the challenge of providing sanctuary to the poor being oppressed by the mighty, as has happened many many times in the past.Dan B., consider the possibility that Karl Marx had about as much humanism in him as the DEA does now.Because after all -- he was just another drug warrior, in his ignorant and ill-conceived battle against religion.Marxism killed HOW MANY MILLIONS OF PEOPLE?Dan -- I'm not up on the body count of atheist Marxism.Maybe you could tell me what the experts say now is the most reliable figure as to the number of innocent human beings slaughtered mercillessly by people who believed in Marx instead of God.
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Comment #47 posted by FoM on December 07, 2003 at 09:50:48 PT
Dan
Thank you. Very nice.
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Comment #46 posted by jose melendez on December 07, 2003 at 09:28:59 PT
-ism my medicine legal yet?
from: http://www.wccusd.k12.ca.us/stc/Waysofthinking/Lesson8A.htm “ism” is a suffix that means “the principle of” or “the doctrine of”. also, from: http://www.weisbord.org/ism.htmThe trouble with making an "-ism" out of the collected views of any person is that the adherents soon become an ingrown cult worshiping some sort of a God. They become prisoners of a set of ideas even though those ideas badly need reformulation and modernization and are no longer relevant. To put down a dissident, all an opponent has to say is: This is what Marx said, or Lenin said, or Trotsky said, or Stalin said, or Mao said. Thus adults can be turned into children, the present into the past, and movement into muttering. check out:http://archive.1september.ru/eng/2001/25/3.htmStudying new words is linguistically important: taken as a whole they mark the direction in which the language system develops.
 Analysing British dictionaries including new English words of the last three decades helps us see some characteristic features of the present-day word-building. The majority of the patterns remain productive and serve to form a lot of words. Innovations can be grouped as: 1) new meanings of long-established patterns; and 2) new patterns.
 There are a great number of words formed by means of the suffix -ism. Traditionally it forms abstract nouns denoting an action or result (baptism, organism), a typical conduct or condition (heroism, magnetism), a system or principle, a theory or doctrine (liberalism, Darwinism) and a pathological condition, especially induced by excessive use of drugs or the like (alcoholism, dwarfism). The suffix is considered to be stylistically marked: nouns containing it mainly refer to the bookish vocabulary. The suffix itself is devoid of evaluative power and denotes negatively-coloured notions only when combining with stems of derogatory character, e.g. blackguardism, facism.see also:http://muhammadanism.org/Inquiries/Islam/muhammadanism.htmhttp://www.urticator.net/essay/2/224.htmlhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/Ismhttp://www.bartleby.com/64/pages/page248.htmlthis one has been posted in lots of places on the net:http://www.muhajabah.com/islamicblog/archives/the_clipboard/006616.phpand the last -ism:http://www.theafrican.com/Magazine/Athena/8.htmNow we have another Greek word, 
"logismos", with the same root, but with as "ismos" thrown in.
That too I'm quite familiar with, the suffix "-ism" having long
ago been imported into the English language. It gives us words
like capital-ism, commun-ism, centr-ism, etc. where the
connotative burden carried by the "-ism" is to imply a "distinctive 
doctrine, cause or theory" (Webster's Collegiate) in the root
word being qualified. Webster's also confirms what is
obvious, namely that the English suffix "-ism" derives from
the Greek "-ismos" which is what we have here in the word
being considered. Therefore, we
have a literal translation of "logismos" as being "logic-ism",
or a theory or calculus of
logic, one translator having already used the term
"calculus" as a translation for "logismos", though not specifying
what kind of calculus.
high school click
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Comment #45 posted by Treeanna on December 07, 2003 at 06:52:20 PT
Nice post, Dan :)
That was really well written and presented, Dan B.Thanks.
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Comment #44 posted by jose melendez on December 07, 2003 at 06:03:05 PT
the latest in a wave of ONSCP NPR ads
'Teens who participate in extracurricular activities in school are less likely to get involved with drugs. Parents. The Anti-Drug. 'Yeah, right.So, why exclude them from extracurricular activities if they test positive on the unreasonable search and seizure known as a drug test?Is it because they are setting a bad example by enjoying chess or soccer while stoned?
boycott the drug war industry
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Comment #43 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 07, 2003 at 03:48:13 PT
History repeats itself
Once again, it seems American servicemen forced to spend a long time in a far-off country with no clear exit strategy are turning to drugs to relieve their pain. Of course, no American news agency is going to tackle the story, so it's in Pravda.
http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/12/05/51670.html
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Comment #42 posted by Dan B on December 07, 2003 at 02:11:40 PT
global_warming
"The injustice since 0-AD Have sparked many discussions Even a religion A religion that, largely has sought to disguise and confuse the facts, the facts that expose the treason and murder, of the jesus, the big mouth, who saw the demons, who chases them out."You are right to point out that much of what we see done today in the name of Christianity, including the drug war, is not Christian, and I thank you for it. This comment is just to point out that the injustice was going on in the name of God or gods for thousands of years before that. That is supposed to be the reason why Jesus spoke out in the first place. I am sure you know this, and you are just making a point about a specific religion's zealous persecution of others because that is the dominant religious force in this country, but I wanted to give a bit more history here to round out what you have said.The ancient Egyptians had their own way of misusing their images of the gods in order to put down dissent and persecute those who did not believe in their system. Their Pharoahs became associated with their gods to the point that what the pharoah said was to be taken as a direct order from the gods. Different pharoahs identified themselves with different gods, mostly either the sun or the moon god, but nobody had the right to defy the words of the pharoahs because that was tantamount to defying the words of the gods.Early Judaic tradition was also rife with tyrannical oppression in the name of God. Notice some of the ridiculous things for which a person could be either banished or killed according to Levitical law: being gay, wearing clothing made from two types of material woven together, dishonoring one's parents, cooking a baby goat in its mother's milk (which is extended to other animals by many orthodox Jews to this day, which is why a cheeseburger can be a sin), having sex with one's wife within seven days of the start of her period, etc. As time went on, the Judaic law became cumbersome and self-contradictory, and some of the religious leaders persecuted people who did not follow the letter of the law to their specifications. That was where Jesus came into the picture, as is evidenced by the many confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes, as recorded in the Bible.Of course, there are many other examples of gods used as vehicles for tyranny: sacrifices of humans in ancient Aztec civilizations, sacrifices of babies to Molech in Canaan (modern day Israel), slavery in all its forms throughout history, and more subtle tyrannies that forced people to make decisions counter to human instinct in order to appease the gods. My point is this: religion (thus "God" or "the gods") has always been used as a justification for the evils perpetrated against humanity. That is why Marx called religion "the opiate of the people" (that was an insight that Marx got right, I think, although I don't agree with much of what has been done in the name of Marxism, either). Religion pacifies us and blinds us to what is really going on, decisions that are made supposedly "for our own good" or "for the good of humanity."That is why I draw a distinction between religion and spirituality. I think that it is possible to believe in God (or a god) without becoming bogged down with dictatorial religion. If there is a God (I use "God" here as a gender neutral term; feel free to insert "Goddess" in its stead), and I choose to believe that there is, no human being knows that God well enough to assert that s/he knows what that God wants for anyone other than her-/himself. That is, the problem with religion is that we use God to force others to accept our way of understanding and living, and that is wrong. Cannabis prohibition is but one huge symptom of this larger issue. Human beings would be a lot better off if we would stop trying to force others to behave as we do and start simply paying attention to the way we behave ourselves. I once had a philosophy teacher who said, "Beware of -isms." What he meant was that any time you see "-ism" at the end of a word, that suffix points out that the system of thought is both extreme and closed. Human beings flourish when we choose to not close our minds. Pure capitalism does not work for most people (only for the rich), and pure socialism does not work for most people (only for those in power). What we need, then, is a balance, not -isms. The problem with the war on drugs, and specifically cannabis, is that it represents a huge imbalance. It has been framed as a way to help people get their lives on track when their lives have been ravaged by addiction, but it has become a way to marginalize and persecute people because of the substances they choose to take, no matter how those substances are affecting their lives. Imbalance comes when we stop conducting ourselves out of compassion and conduct ourselves instead out of a need to dominate. Religion works well as a tool for domination because it strikes at people's core beliefs. Spirituality is different because it operates out of compassion: what is the approach that causes the least pain and the most benefit for everyone. In this country, and perhaps all over the world, we have sacrificed our spirituality to religion. God is not our god; religion is. Christians supposedly believe that we should live our lives in service to others, showing others compassion and even loving our enemies. I fail to see how the drug war, perpetrated almost entirely by people who profess to be Christians, accomplishes this type of lifestyle. If you got this far, thanks for your indulgence in my ramblings.Dan B
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Comment #41 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 07, 2003 at 00:04:58 PT
Here's two real polls:
but first, may your death not be in vain Nathaniel, as you commune with the all that is!Community Turns Out For Nathaniel Jones Funeralhttp://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/12/06/jones_late.htmlProtesters Gather At District 1, Call For Chief's Resignation http://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/12/05/protest.htmlProtestors Call For Resignation From WLW Host "The current mockery being played on WLW right now regarding the death of Mr. Jones and referring to him as fat and having been viciously beaten by the police seems to make that into a christmas jingle. We find that outrageous," said Victoria Straughn Coalition of Concerned Citizens for Justice. Both Lincoln Ware of the Buzz and Cunningham said Cincinnati radio stations are just as divided as the people. Ware said many of his listeners are anti-police and admits harsh comments have been made but feels the WLW spots went too far.http://www.wcpo.com/news/2003/local/12/05/wlw.html
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Comment #40 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 22:54:03 PT
Breeze, Poll Results
These results really surprised me.***Should the Cincinnati police officers involved in the arrest of Nathaniel Jones face disciplinary action? Percentage of 26241 Votes Yes -- 5101 -- 19% No -- 21140 -- 81% 
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Comment #39 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 22:52:54 PT
How BBC would have broadcast the witch hunts
This is the BBC News. Today controversy erupted in London over the burning of witches.Yesterday the British medical journal The Lancet published a strong editorial declaring in no uncertain terms that the burning of witches was causing harm to children due to passive smoke. They called for an end to witch burnings and said that in the future all witches should be hanged to death.Government sources tell the BBC that this news is not being received very well by the Prime Minister, because of American pressure to increase the penalties on witchcraft."Reducing the penalty on witchcraft from burning to hanging would send the wrong message to children," an American spokesman told the BBC, "and there's no doubt that this is a mere stalking horse for complete legalization."
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Comment #38 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 22:47:02 PT
Virgil and Cannabis Enthusiast
Virgil, Slashdot is the site Ron told me to look at when CNews was being made to show me how the format was. I can sing but only when my dogs can hear me! LOL!Cannabis Enthusiast thank you. That was interesting. The Golden Triangle is where the Heroin that went to Vietnam came from. The drug war keeps on rolling.
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Comment #37 posted by Breeze on December 06, 2003 at 22:41:19 PT
Regarding Disclipinary action poll
Regarding this poll sponsered by the local news team in the area...
Should the Cincinnati police officers involved in the arrest of Nathaniel Jones face disciplinary action?http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/2679267/detail.htmlThe thing is that this poll allows voters to vote mulitple times- I voted for discipline action 10 times, and I have a super slow connection.
I am sure that this poll is not accurate at all!!!!
You gotta know that the men responsible know about the poll, and have told all of thier little facist friends to vote NO!!!
Especially those with faster connections, someone has even probably developed a bot to vote multiple times...
So much for online polls! :(
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Comment #36 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 06, 2003 at 22:37:35 PT
Here's the link to Kucinich...
at C-span:http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS
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Comment #35 posted by Virgil on December 06, 2003 at 22:28:53 PT
FoM, I used to wish I could sing.
Now, I wish you could sing.http://slashdot.org/ is a website that is proud it is news for nerds. I put it up because its format is highly similar to the one here.
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Comment #34 posted by Cannabis Enthusiast on December 06, 2003 at 22:28:41 PT
Drug tourism in the Golden Triangle
Another story, FoM...
Drug tourism in the Golden Triangle
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Comment #33 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 06, 2003 at 22:23:37 PT
Dennis is on now!
Thanks!How exhilarating!!!
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Comment #32 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 21:58:02 PT
Nuevo Mexican 
It is on 103 on Direct TV. They also have Pearl Jam. They will play all through December and I don't think just on the weekends. I missed Al Shapton on SNL but we turned it on now. Lots of good tv tonight. I hope we will get to see Greendale again when he starts up the tour again in 2004. This time we know the words and will be able to sing a long. I can't sing but I pretend I can! LOL!
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Comment #31 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 06, 2003 at 21:41:56 PT
Watching the convention now....
Clark just spoke, so I must've missed Dennis. I'll watch the rerun.I'm a huge fan of both Allman Bros and U-2, timeless music always stands out, like Neil young and the Moody Blues!What channel are the free concerts on FOM? I haven't been able to locate them. C-span is 210 here. Thanks!
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 21:25:40 PT
Thanks Virgil 
I read that too and thought it was so strange. Drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana! Castro saying that just made me think WHAT did he say? Too much!PS: He was right on one of them! LOL!
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Comment #29 posted by Virgil on December 06, 2003 at 21:18:11 PT
Castro said something funny
I did a search at the NYT for marijuana. It had two results with only one even worth checking out. It went to an article where he said communism in Cuba would outlast him and Bu$h. Here are three paragraphs from the article at http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-cuba-usa.htmlTop Bush aides met on Friday at the White House and decided tighter inspections of U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba and a crackdown on illegal business with the Caribbean island to enforce four-decade-old sanctions aimed at undermining Castro.The Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, created in October by President Bush to foster a democratic transition on the island and headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell and Cuban-born Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, met for the first time on Friday at the White House with Bush's national security advisor Condoleezza Rice.``This little meeting does not worry us ... they would be better off dedicating their time to drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana,'' Castro said, speaking to hundreds of school children.
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Comment #28 posted by Virgil on December 06, 2003 at 21:06:20 PT
Live from NC, it's Sunday AM
I was very impressed with the cannabis candidate, Dennis Kucinich, in his C-Span appearance from Florida with Dean sharing the stage. The webcast makes me think of two things. One is about video transmission from a candidates website and with the intention that it would be storable and burnable to what is now a $100 DVD burner. When DK first meets the question of regulating cannabis in a debate, it will be historic and hopefully that video will be viewable for all times future.The second thing that comes to mind is the practice of watching TV and having a computer on at the same time.. At DU they had a thread started just for the C-Span webcast and they have a thread up for SNL with Al Sharp ton. They had a thread for the OU and KSU football game. It is common for them to start a thread for what is on television.With Wi-Fi removing all the cords, the practice of having a computer at hand is only increasing. My Internet use only goes up as I find more stuff, I try to keep up with and run down. The first enlightenment is the enlightenment that the media is out to herd people’s thoughts. There are two kinds of people- those that divide things into groups and those that don’t. But in total seriousness, there are those that are aware that the media is out to control their thoughts and those that do not know. People at DU talk about smoking a doobie all the time and I have yet to here of someone to say “On with prohibition.” Cannabis is just too much in the social fabric to try to pull the threads out. It is there and part of the culture.. It was on SNL where a Roman soldier was questioning the three wise men by asking if the smell of what they were burning was reefer.We are winning, bit we need to win for our country and the world. The most powerful term DK needs to adopt is “Cannabis Prohibition.” If he would only say “Cannabis Prohibition is WRONG and Cannabis Prohibition has to end,” you know what would happen. The crowd would go wild. It will be historic. 
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 20:12:54 PT
I Hope This Fits Here
I have been watching this months free concerts on Direct TV. This month it is U2 and The Allman Brothers. I'm not really a fan of either group but some of their music is very very good. What I keep thinking is basically what Virgil mentioned about music. The words in some of this music shows the heart of a different culture. It's our culture. We must not ever forget what music has done for us. It has made us laugh, dream dreams, vent frustration and most important it almost always speaks truth. I hope more and more of the bands remember the power they have and direct it for the well being of everyone. That's really all. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.
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Comment #26 posted by goneposthole on December 06, 2003 at 19:57:16 PT
verdant hills
that is what the social landscape will be when the world is free of prohibition.All it takes is a little encouragement.
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Comment #25 posted by escapegoat on December 06, 2003 at 19:25:32 PT
Link to Berube article
>The offending article is the one by Berube, which you can >only read with a $75 subscription.Or here:
http://enrollment.blogspot.com/
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Comment #24 posted by escapegoat on December 06, 2003 at 19:23:35 PT
Michael Berube's email / Chon. Higher Education
It's mfb12[at]psu.edu
Michael Berube
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Comment #23 posted by Virgil on December 06, 2003 at 18:12:18 PT
Link to C-span
http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS On the right side it will ask you if you what player you want to use and if you want to watch or listen. Look for C-SPAN• RealPlayer: Watch | Listen Stand-Alone Player• Windows Media: Watch | Listen Stand-Alone Player 
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Comment #22 posted by Virgil on December 06, 2003 at 18:05:47 PT
DK is on C-Span with Dean in Florida
It is on now. It is C-Span 1 if you use the Internet and is billed as a meeting in Florida. Here is a thread on it at DU- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=840839
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Comment #21 posted by jose melendez on December 06, 2003 at 17:23:07 PT
about their attorney (grin)
World according to Ron Motley.  Even before tobacco fees, the Charleston-based plaintiff's lawyer was "worth tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of dollars. But he's about to get much richer. A billion or two or three richer....Sketching plans that would alarm many corporate executives, the 53-year-old lawyer will reinvest most of his newfound money to finance lawsuits against the makers of lead paint, operators of nursing homes, health maintenance organizations and prescription drug makers."  He calls the businesses he sues "crooks". from: http://overlawyered.com/archives/99nov1.html
bust these crooks
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Comment #20 posted by global_warming on December 06, 2003 at 16:45:14 PT
Comments
Hi AllI hope this lawsuit culinates towards a better world,
I have my doubts
EJ, hope you are feeling better soon,
Your post about the traumas made me think about the VC and the Palestinian children,..
Young and battered, willing to die,
With munitions strapped to their bodies,
Imagine the damage to their psyches?The onslaught of this demonic dominion
For 2000 years, since the murder of jesus
Has been filled with so much confusionYes knowledge has gained so much
Yet, the fundemantal questions
Have yet to be answeredOur place in this universe
Remains a mystery
Along with the mans inquiry
Into this NightThe injustice since 0-AD
Have sparked many discussions
Even a religion
A religion that, largely has sought to disguise and confuse the facts, the facts that expose the treason and murder, of the jesus, the big mouth, who saw the demons, who chases them out,..I hope that, we the people, shall engage this tyranny, face it eye to eye, for the world is dieing, as the filthy air engulfs us, and with each gasp of life, we can understand, remember, that our acts, will be remembered, by our children,..gw
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 13:21:59 PT
I Wish Ed Good Luck
I've always felt Ed has way more nerve then I ever would. 
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Comment #18 posted by The GCW on December 06, 2003 at 13:17:08 PT
Ed Forchion 
Man cited for defying demand for DNA sample
By JASON NARK
Courier-Post StaffPEMBERTON TWP.
A township man who refused to submit DNA samples to the Department of Corrections was issued a contempt of court citation Thursday.Ed Forchion was scheduled to submit a DNA saliva sample to the Camden County Probation Office on TuesdayDec. 2 as part of a new law requiring samples from people in prison or under the supervision of either a parole or probation officer.Instead, Forchion sent a defiant letter to Gov. James E. McGreevey and the Department of Corrections."I won't be there. I refuse to surrender my DNA!" Forchion said in the letter dated Nov. 27.Forchion said he received several phone calls Tuesday Dec. 2 from the state's Intensive Supervision Program informing him he would be found in contempt of court and possibly arrested.Forchion said the DNA testing violates ex post facto law and was not a condition of his 10-year prison sentence in December 2000 for possessing 25 pounds of marijuana. He served 17 months before being admitted to a 20-month intensive supervision program in April 2002. His parole ended at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.Dec.3."If they passed the law after I got convicted I wouldn't even be fighting this," he said. "You either have the Constitution or you don't. You don't go making exceptions to it along the way."On Thursday morning, Forchion said he evaded officers parked outside his home, but was served the citation at a convenience store in Wrightstown.A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 12."I am guilty of contempt," he said. "I did not give up my DNA and have no plans to do so."http://www.southjerseynews.com/issues/december/m120503z.htm420& In case You haven't heard: Kucinich put in writting that as presedent He will: "decriminalize cannabis" -"in favor of a drug policy that sets reasonable
boundaries for marijuana use by establishing guidelines similar to those
already in place for alcohol."http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17917.shtml
 
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Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 13:03:35 PT
Ponder on this for a sec
Bob Barr is out there agitating against this raid too.It's so surreal it feels hallucinatory.
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Comment #16 posted by ekim on December 06, 2003 at 12:28:40 PT
E thanks for helping even when you are hurten
Saturday, December 6, 2003
C-Span Dir Tv ch 350 Dennis will speak this evening.
Lake Buena Vista, Florida3:40 – 4:40 pm
Event: General Session II
Location: Disney Coronado Springs Resort, Coronado Ballroom
Sponsor: Florida Democratic Party
Contact: Chris Petley 850-528-54617:00 – 8:00 pm
Event: Reception honoring Senator Graham
Location: Disney Coronado Springs Resort, Patio
Sponsor: Florida Democratic Party
Contact: Chris Petley 850-528-54618:00 – 10:00 pm
Event: Presidential Forum II
Location: Disney Coronado Springs Resort, Fiesta Ballroom
Sponsor: Florida Democratic Party 
Contact: Chris Petley 850-528-5461A Prayer for America Delivered to the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action Feb.17, 2002 --------just a short clip, maybe others will post some more. 
 I offer these brief remarks today as a prayer for our country, with love of democracy, as a celebration of our country. With love for our country. With hope for our country. With a belief that the light of freedom cannot be extinguished as long as it is inside of us. With a belief that freedom rings resoundingly in a democracy each time we speak freely. With the understanding that freedom stirs the human heart and fear stills it. With the belief that a free people cannot walk in fear and faith at the same time.
 With the understanding that there is a deeper truth expressed in the unity of the United States. That implicit in the union of our country is the union of all people. That all people are essentially one. That the world is interconnected not only on the material level of economics, trade, communication, and transportation, but interconnected through human consciousness, through the human heart, through the heart of the world, through the simply expressed impulse and yearning to be and to breath free.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 12:09:21 PT
Nuevo Mexican
Isn't it all fascinating? It seems the more we are pushed the more we push back in ways that a difference can be made. Unjust laws are just that unjust laws. Unjust laws can't continue. Society is at a breaking point. All the little stepford wives and husbands too are getting weary.Enough is enough is ENOUGH!
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Comment #14 posted by Nuevo Mexican on December 06, 2003 at 12:00:30 PT
Awesome FOM! 
We are making history here, first prohibition is falling faster than you can say 'splat', and The Kush takes on Prohibition, ala Gary Johnson, and the silence is 'Deafening'!
What, did someone point out the elephant in the living room we've been pretending didn't exist? It looks that way to me!Welcome to Goosecreek, USA. First Black students, then Black Fathers (NATHANIEL JONES), then white students, and white Fathers to follow, just following standard facist procedure!More on the role drugs play in Policing, and demonizing Blacks and minorities, (as opposed to affecting Rush Limbaugh). 
'How drug use is used as an excuse to brutalize and even outright kill someone':http://ithaca.indymedia.org/media/text/00/00/07/37/From buzzflash:Confessions of a Traitor, Confessions of a QuislingTake me to the lions -- I confess my crime of dissenting against Bush and his poaching wars, his invasions and evasions;Take me to the blade -- I confess my crime of decrying against Bush's flagrant lies;Take me to the noose -- I confess my crime of giving the benefit of doubt to the enemy of democracy and rule of law: the Bush administration; Take me to the wall -- I confess my crime of believing in Bush's foreknowledge of, and complicity in, 9-11;Take me to the lethal injection room -- I confess my crime of loving the Bill of Rights;http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/12/con03366.htmlSan Franciscos' Green Mayor, answer to Arnold and bush:http://www.mattgonzalez.com/Recent history of police brutality:http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/news/7oclocknews/features/beating_041203.shtmlStruggle With Cincinnati Cops Killed Man, Coroner Says
Family Demands Answers; Coroner Says Ruling Doesn't Imply Wrongful ConductPoll:Should the Cincinnati police officers involved in the arrest of Nathaniel Jones face disciplinary action?http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/2679267/detail.htmlBush brings new respectability (sarcasm) to being RAcist on Campus, (Gee, bush is a bigot, what's so wrong with that-mentality runs rampant, with the media nodding its approval
by framing murder as self-defense by Cincinnati cop/thugs. Photos anger Penn State's Black Caucus
A student's Web site had a reference to the KKK.STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Pennsylvania State University Black Caucus called on the chairman of the school's College Republicans to resign after finding on his personal Web site a photo of a white man in blackface and another with a Ku Klux Klan reference.Chairman of the Schools College Republicans! (key word)http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7417188.htmBoycott HOme Depot, vote with your dollar by NOT shopping!http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/1204-05.htmWITNESSES SAY JONES WAS PROVOKED, this of course, is not being reported:Lawson says witnesses at the restaurant have alleged that Jones was provoked into a fight by police. “What happened in that 1:37 after (an officer) arrived that brought (Jones) to that state of mind?” Lawson asked. “You can’t start a fight, and then say it’s his fault.”“Police officers have options available to immobilize citizens, short of death,” Jackson said in a statement issued by the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
NAACP President Kweisi Mfume also chimed in, saying in a statement, “The sight of police officers repeatedly beating Nathaniel Jones with metal nightsticks is sickening and appears well outside of the norm for subduing an unarmed suspect.” He, too, is calling for a federal investigation.According to Cincinnati police, when six of its officers beat Jones into submission with their nightsticks, they were defending themselves, and following department procedure.http://wilmingtonjournal.blackpressusa.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=35885&sID=4Don't forget to remind friends and family to demand that bush stop killing Iraqis for Oil, he still thinks murder is good for his karma, please attend:Anti-war group organizing thousands of gatherings on Sundayhttp://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/4250008
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 11:56:39 PT
Being Sick
You're welcome EJ. Yes, how you are feeling is how HIV patients feel. It's a horrible way to live. With the flu we more then likely will recover but with HIV - Aids patients each day brings them more weakness and one day closer to death. That's why denying an Aids patient Cannabis infuriates me.
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Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 11:51:11 PT
This is why changing High Times could be good
This influential professor perceives marijuana activists as being primarily motivated by self interest.High Times never successfully challegned that stereotype. Indeed they fed into it.Self interest as a sick person protecting my medicine is what got me into this movement but learning about marijuana prohibition's effect on other human beings on this planet is what kept me here.FoM, thanks for your concern. I also have an infected tooth and balancing the painkiller, the antibiotics and my prednisone with my poor stomach is a real challenge. Now I understand a little of what HIV patients have to go through with those harsh drug cocktails ripping through their tender guts.
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Comment #11 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 11:19:48 PT
EJ, Chicken Soup
I am sorry to read you have the Flu. I hope you recover quickly. We really have nasty bugs floating around now. 
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Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 11:10:01 PT
This is what I wrote him
Dear Professor Berube,My Ph.D. is in physics, not in English, so I doubt that I will be able to dazzle your imagination with the same verbal skill with which you were able to dazzle mine.However, let me try.I am writing in regard to a few short words in your long essay about civility. Those few short words where you write off the marijuana activists in your classroom as a pack of self-interested bong-huggers.I will not write you a long essay documenting the history of racial, economic and gender injustice that underlies the foundation and maintenance of marijuana prohibition in America. I could do this, but I have the flu, so I won't.Instead I ask that you look at this picture:http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/filesuit.htmThe people on the floor with guns pointed at them in this photo are black students in a majority white high school in South Carolina, students who have been suspected by their white principle of possibly being involved in using marijuana.The politics of the marijuana movement are the politics of active social and political engagement with events such as this.Perhaps you might discuss the Goose Creek raid with those students you assume to be nothing more than self-interested bong huggers. Maybe you might discover there's more to them than you allowed yourself to appreciate previously.Maybe you might even apologize to those students for describing them in public as if they were dirt you might scrape from your shoe before entering your office.
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on December 06, 2003 at 11:07:33 PT:
Flashpoint
Who did the police think they were: Columbine students, acting out video games? Bad press, bad karma for the Drugwarlords, for the other drug cartel. Is a minor a "person"? Once black slaves were not considered "persons." Once women were not considered "persons." Once land tenants were not considered "persons." If a parent pointed a loaded gun at his/her own child, children's services would be working toward loss of parental custody. How dare the school as in loco parentis authorize the police to perform an act of child abuse in a public place! I maintain that schools and malls are public places.It's good to see "persons" fighting back, fighting for their rights. Long may they ride.btw, little known to USAmericans, Canadian schools have been subjected to recent school-sponsored police "drug" raids, partly due to the October 7th Ontario Superior Court ruling allegedly re-criminalizing cannabis without the benefit of a law passed by Parliament. If the medical access regulations did not keep the cannabis provisions of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act from being nullified, how can a court ruling do so retroactively, and again without benefit of a law passed by Parliament?
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act Size: 94407 bytes
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Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 10:51:16 PT
Here is his email address
Michael Berubemfb12 psu.eduI'm going to email him a phot of the Goose Creek raid.Please be polite and convince this man there's more to the marijuana movement than apolitical bong-hugging.
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Comment #7 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 10:16:32 PT
More information
Here is their email address for letters: opinion chronicle.comHere is the web site:http://chronicle.com/index.htmThe offending article is the one by Berube, which you can only read with a $75 subscription.The part of it that needs strong return comment from this community is his defamation of the marijuana reform community as a bunch of self-interested, politically unevolved stoners.
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Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 10:08:54 PT
I need a Libertarian who writes really well
I subscribe to the Chrionicle of Higher Education. There was just a long essay published by an English professor who wrote the essay to congratulate himself for tolerating a conservative student in one of his classes.The kind of guy who makes me wish he would call himself something other than a liberal because his behavior makes traditional liberalism look bad.Here is the paragraph that pissed me off:
"I knew my class contained a handful of people adamantly opposed to military action against the Taliban in Afghanistan (that put them well to the left of me), a handful of people who wanted to redraw the Middle East from scratch in the manner of Paul Wolfowitz, and a handful of people who called themselves libertarians but whose politics didn't go much beyond keep-your-laws-off-my-bong."I wrote them a letter explaing that keep your laws off my bong is a position that encompasses within it many political beliefs that he should respect and honor -- such as anti-racism (marijuana laws are used to punish people for being black), support for the young (marijuana laws used as a war against liberal youth) and economic justice (it's mostly poor people who go to jail for marijuana).But I hope that an eloquent Libertarian here will write a letter about the Stratford raid and tell this teacher that maybe these pot smoking students he dismisses like DIRT UNDER HIS SHOE are more in touch with the world of human injustice and cruelty that he will ever be from his fancy multicultural book learning, and are doing more to make America a more racially and economically just nation than he will ever do as a college teacher.Here is their email form: http://chronicle.com/help/email.php
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Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 09:57:59 PT
Hey I have an idea
Use data from the research on traumatized 18 year olds in presenting the case.This is the brain of a high school student....(picture of normal hippocampus)This is the brain of a high school student subjected to an armed drug raid at school...(picture of damaged hippocampus)That damamged hippocampus could mean a lifestime of fearing things that aren't going to happen and judging other people on that basis. A lifetime of forgetting how to feel about other people and waking up in the middle of the night frightened out of your mind.
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Comment #4 posted by E_Johnson on December 06, 2003 at 09:53:55 PT
Fighting back will help the students heal
It is very frightening to say the least to suddenly find yourself the target of an armed attack.They have found through brain scanning that the hippocampus of an eighteen year old is almost as susceptible to damage from traumatic stress as the brain of a two year old. Some very crucial brain chemistry is not completed until one passes that age. So traumatizing a gruff rebellious adult-looking person in late adolescence is almost as damaging as traumatizing a little toddler.Hard to imagine eh? Teens look so tough! They act so tough! Their brain scans show otherwise. They are as tender in some ways as small children and still need to be protected from sources of traumatic stress.So the idea that teenagers are resilient tough creatures who can take a traumatically frightening event like this and not be harmed by it forever has been proven wrong by science.Maybe these teens should incorporate that research into their complaint, since the damages they experience will be in the form of post traumatic stress.I hope they have really good lawyers who will show those students how to really fight back effectively and not be powerless victims of a system gone out of control.Their future brain development depends on it.
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Comment #3 posted by OverwhelmSam on December 06, 2003 at 09:25:46 PT:
Good! Get out the check book.
These types of federal lawsuits will roll back the insane war on drugs. In the meantime, the wonderful citizens who support police brutality will get a chance to see their taxes increase more and more to pay for suits like these.I love the way law enforcement asserts that they didn't do anything illegal. Maybe someone should staple this message to their forehead: "Just because the courts rule that a particular tactic is legal, doesn't mean that the tactic is prudent or wise at all.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 06, 2003 at 07:49:25 PT
Related Article
 17 Students File Suit Over School Drug Raid: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread17923.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on December 06, 2003 at 07:42:14 PT
With non violence.
Win - win - winIt is a sick fuck that points a gun at the head of an innocent child.It is that type of sickness that crawls the earth in search of someone to cage for using a plant. A brood of vipers.Does anyone want to know why I have little respect for police?
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