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Category: Civil Liberties (Page 3 of 5)

Reforming the marijuana laws

November 6, 2008 /

Things are starting to change. In Massachusetts, the voters overwellmingly approved a ballot initiative decriminalizing marijuana.

Defying the scare tactics of state and local officials, voters in Massachusetts and Michigan gave current marijuana policies a resounding vote of no confidence Tuesday. Massachusetts voters approved the first marijuana decriminalization initiative ever passed by voters, Michigan voters enacted the nation’s 13th medical marijuana law, and local reform measures appeared to be passing in several communities.

“Tonight’s results represent a sea change,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which sponsored the Massachusetts and Michigan campaigns. “Voters have spectacularly rejected eight years of the most intense government war on marijuana since the days of ‘Reefer Madness.’”

In Michigan, White House drug czar John Walters personally campaigned against Proposal 1, calling it an “abomination.” In Massachusetts, all 11 district attorneys warned of huge increases in teen marijuana use and other dire consequences should Question 2 pass, even though studies in the 11 states with similar laws, as well as Australia and Europe, have found no such increases due to decriminalization. Under Question 2, criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana will be replaced by a civil fine of $100, much like a traffic ticket.

This makes sense and I expect it to gain traction around the country. Marijuana cases are clogging the courts, so more jurisdictions will begin to consider these reforms.

Medical marijuana has made even more progress, and Barack Obama has pledge to stop the disgraceful practices of the Bush adminitration to use federal laws to prosecute users of medical marijuana.

We should expect significant changes in the Drug War as well. Obama will not apoint a drug czar who views medical marijuana as an “abomination” and he has been very critical of locking up non-violent drug offenders.

It’s encouraging, however, to see these changes coming from the bottom up.

Civil Liberties, Drug War, Liberals, Policy

Palin’s ethics

October 14, 2008 /

The sky is green and the grass is blue.

Sounds ridiculous – right?

Welcome to Sarah Palin’s world. Fortunately, Americans aren’t in the mood this year to buy her bullshit. The situation we face is just too serious, and she’s not a serious candidate.

Many conservative intellectuals are jumping ship, and Alaskans are getting sick of her as well. The Anchorage Daily News published an editorial today about her response to the troopergate report.

Sarah Palin’s reaction to the Legislature’s Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report “vindicates” her. She said that the investigation found “no unlawful or unethical activity on my part.”

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: “I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.”

In plain English, she did something “unlawful.” She broke the state ethics law.

Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign spinmeisters.

Because if she had actually read it, she couldn’t claim “vindication” with a straight face.

Palin asserted that the report found “there was no abuse of authority at all in trying to get Officer Wooten fired.”

In fact, the report concluded that “impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired.”

Palin’s response is the kind of political “big lie” that George Orwell warned against. War is peace. Black is white. Up is down.

Civil Liberties, Culture War, Lunatic Fringe, Politics, President 2008

ABC reports on Sarah Palin’s attempts to ban books

September 10, 2008 /

Do we really want someone this extreme in the White House? ABC reports how Sarah Palin asked the librarian at a city council meeting what she would do if Palin asked her to remove certain books from the library’s collection. The librarian made it clear she would not remove any books. Several months later Palin fired her, but then reinstated her after an uproar in the town.

Hat tip: AmericaBlog

Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Lunatic Fringe, President 2008, Republicans, Video

Time to legalize poker

August 25, 2008 /

Isn’t it time that the government stops telling us what we can do for entertainment? The GOP congress slipped in a law regulating online poker in 2006. Poker players and others who believe in basic freedoms and liberty are trying to overturn that law and ensure that this game of skill can be played without governmental interference (other than sensible oversight, taxes and regulation).

Here’s a video from the Poker Players Alliance.

Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Taxes, Video

Fortress America – Be careful bringing a laptop across the border

August 2, 2008 /

This is getting to be ridiculous.

Federal agents may take a traveler’s laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

Also, officials may share copies of the laptop’s contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The policies . . . are truly alarming,” said Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who is probing the government’s border search practices. He said he intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism. Officials said such procedures have long been in place but were disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter.

There’s no reason to have such a broad policy when it comes to U.S. citizens. It’s also unconstitutional. The “probable cause” test seems very appropriate for citizens, and a lower threshhold of reasonable concern would be appropriate for non-citizens.

This is an example where we need “activist” judges. The whole point of our constitution was the separation of powers. The sad fact is that our government, and all governments, sometimes get overzealous. They want to “protect” us, and in doing so they destroy our freedoms. That’s why we need a bunch of unelected judges to reign in our elected officials. Elected officials are too often swayed the the fears of the moment and the mood swings of the electorate.

Conservatives don’t get this. They love to demonize judges, until they need them to protect us from a government that goes too far.

Civil Liberties, Conservatives, Liberals

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