The Emperor Wears No Clothes

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sat, 03 Mar 2001 13:00:00 GMT
Deepening The Wonder

Death is a favor to us,
But our scales have lost their balance.

The impermanence of the body
Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes

Of this mysterious existence we share
And are surely just traveling through.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks

And as the Master poured, I would be reminded
That all I know of life and myself is that

We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
I would buy freely for everyone in this world

Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty
Of time and space cannot endure very long.

Death is a favor to us,
But our minds have lost their balance.

The miraculous existence and impermanence of
Form
Always makes the illumined ones
Laugh and sing.

(The Subject Tonight Is Love - 60 Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz, Versions by Daniel Ladinsky)

From the Wakin' Up with the Wolf show on Albany's PYX 106 (pix one-oh-six):

Ah, yes, divorce......., from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet -- Robin Williams

The DrugSense quote of the week:

Washington is not America. It has become an alien city-state that rules America, and much of the rest of the world, in the way that Rome ruled the Roman Empire. -- Richard Maybury

Electric Emperor contains the on-line edition of Jack Herer's The Emperor Wears no Clothes, a classic book about hemp. [drugsense]

Andrew Friedman at the Village Voice - Sacrificial Lamb: Rabbi Yitzchak Fried sold medical marijuana to undercover cops in Brooklyn. He pleaded guilty and, when given a chance by the sentencing judge to ask some questions, had a discussion about the reasons for his "crime". Mr. Fried was attempting to help people with AIDS and heroin addicts. Cannabis is a useful medicine for both. He may have convinced the judge to reduce his sentence to probation. We'll find out on April 12, in sha' allah. Rabbi Fried, I salute you. [cures-not-wars]

Jarret B. Wollstein at LP News - Asset Forfeiture: Looting America: A dog scratched Ethel Hylton's luggage at Houston's Hobby Airport, so she was arrested. As it happens, she was carrying $39K in cash: an insurance settlement and her life savings. No evidence of any wrong-doing on her part. But the police stole her money anyway. Four years later, she is still trying to get it back. This is business as usual for Amerika's drug nazis. Personally, I think the way to end this is for people to start defending their property, with extreme prejudice. When enough police departments attend enough funerals, maybe they'll figure out that they may NOT behave like criminals and get away with it. Asset forfeiture is a crime. Anyone who creates or enforces an asset forfeiture law is a criminal.

Suspicion of offenses which, if proven in court, might result in a $200 fine or probation, are being used to justify the seizure of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property. Totally innocent Americans are losing their cars, homes, and businesses, based on the claims of anonymous informants that illegal transactions took place on their property. Once property is seized, it is virtually impossible to get it back.

Libertarian Party press release - Federally felonious frog transfers, and other endangered species follies: Good examples of the absurdities caused by the endangered species act. Highlights the case of John Zentner, who moved 60 frogs and 500 tadpoles to a safer location and received a sentence of 200 days of community service, a $65,000 fine on his company, and a $10,000 personal fine. Another real good case for jury nullification.

"Thanks to federal regulations, rats, bugs, and frogs now have more rights than the people who own property in this country," said [George] Getz. "This proves once again that the federal government is one strange animal -- and the frog police are the strangest species of all."

Tom Kertscher at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Bucks fan's quick sale becomes his ticket to jail: Kevin Perlberg sold two tickets to a game, at a discount, and was handcuffed, thrown in a van with eight other offenders, and jailed for 8 hours. The fine for his offense, if found guilty, would have been $322. Scalping laws are bunk. Eliminate them. [unknown]

Zero Politics, in response to an Electronic Policy Network brief, has a good analysis of why minimum wage laws don't work:

Figuring a $5 wage: if I am a small business man who has $25/hour to spend on labor and I have 5 employees, the government requiring me to raise their pay by $1/hour won't make me any more money. So what do I do? Fire one and save $1/hour. Congrats, Communists, you've put one more person out of work.

Funny that this side of the equation is never presented.

Brent Simmons at inessential.com - Friday, March 2, 2001: a great quote in the context of an XMLBastard article bemoaning the increasing complication of XML:

Here's my take on what's wrong with the software industry. People take cool things, get them to hold still, and then poop on them.

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