End the War on Freedom

Kevin Tuma - The culprit, of Course, is the gun: cartoon commentary on the recent school murders.

Libertarianwear is "the best on the web for witty and informative libertarian shirts." They accept payment with PayPal. Ordering my Bill of Rights Non-Negotiable T-shirt was a breeze. I'll report on its quality when I get it, in sha' allah.

Mike Gray at Marijuana News - The War on Drugs Takes Another Hit: The doctor who treated Steve Kubby back in the seventies for his rare form of adrenal cancer was surprised in 1998 to find Mr. Kubby alive and running for governor. He expected him to have passed by now. "Nobody [with Kubby's form of cancer] lives longer than five years." So he did some tests... [mjn]

DeQuattro said his team tested Kubby for cognitive function before and after smoking and found his mind, memory and motor skills unimpaired. But the discovery that really jolted them was the lungs. Here they had a subject who admittedly smoked a couple hundred joints a month for 15 years -- a perfect opportunity to measure the damage from chronic high level consumption -- but they couldn't find any. "His respiratory functions are the same as for someone who never smoked at all."

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Now, thanks to anecdotal evidence like that unfolding up in Auburn, we are beginning to learn that marijuana may be something more than just a palliative. There is growing evidence here and abroad that this ubiquitous plant may in fact be a powerful healing agent with extensive and unknown applications. If it turns out to be a miracle drug instead of the devil weed, then the politicians who managed to thwart this research for the last thirty years will have some explaining to do.

John W. Conroy at Marijuana News - Marijuana as Medicine and the Law Circa 2001: in Canada, doctors now have the legal right to prescribe cannabis. Problem is, there is no legal supply. All this for a non-toxic medication that by any rational standards should be available over the counter. How long will the emperor continue to walk around naked before people wake up and notice? [mjn]

That history shows, to quote from the court in Clay that, unlike the regulation of assisted suicide, for example, the regulation of marihuana has a very short history and does not have a significant foundation in our legal tradition. In fact, it is an embarrassing history based upon misinformation and racism. As Judge McCart observed, and the Court of Appeal reiterated in Clay, marihuana prohibition was enacted in a climate of "irrational fear" based upon wild and outlandish claims that its users are driven completely insane, are immune from pain and, while in this state of maniacal rage, kill or indulge in other forms of violence using the most savage methods of cruelty.

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And all of this over a plant, known for centuries to have medicinal value and described by medical experts as a mild sedative with dependency aspects equivalent to coffee or tea. A non-toxic substance they describe as one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man in its natural form. The lethal dose ratio (LD-50) for cannabis is estimated to be around 1:20.000 to 1:40,000 which means you have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette to induce death. This means you would have to consume something like 1,500 lbs in 15 minutes to induce a lethal response. There are no known fatalities from the substance and it is considered non-toxic.

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In other words, if one applies the same criteria to marijuana as to manufactured drugs, marijuana would fall into the category of medications available without prescription over the counter.

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Maybe its "high" time we conduct some clinical trials on our politicians!

The Frog Farm is a very interesting place. I wandered there via Damaged Justice at the other Frog Farm, though it took a little doing to navigate the maze of twisty little passages. The About page is worth visiting. There are lots of good links on the There's No Government Like No Government page. Beginnings of Freedom has more links to friend and foe (know thy enemy). The Frog Farm FAQ contains a wealth of useful-looking legal information, including a good Public Servant Questionaire, not one that asks for personal information that is none of your business, but one that asks for full disclosure of who the "servant" is and why he is talking to you. Includes legal authorities for all the questions. There's a page on Cryptology & Privacy and one on Digital Money and Value. Normally, I'd let you find these links yourself, but Mr. Justice hasn't made these things very convenient to find. A game for him perhaps, or just security by obscurity? If you want to play along, start here and see if you can find the rest of the links.These pages are over a year old, hence many links are broken, but it's still good stuff. I found this via a Google search for "Damaged Justice" prompted by some email complaining about his inability to view with IE5 (on a Mac?) the Apple ad I linked to yesterday. The ad worked for me with IE5 or Opera on Windoze 2000.

Larry Anderson has a great Personal Favorites page. Lots of legal links.

The Enclave looks interesting. Another scheme for avoiding the IRS. If you're easily convinced to spend money, you probably shouldn't go here. It costs $100 to get any real information. Whether the information is worth that $100, I cannot say.

Declan McCullagh at Wired - Descramble That DVD in 7 Lines: I read this the other day but didn't bother to link to it. Now that it's on Wired... Apparently this one isn't actually illegal because you have to pass it the five-byte title key on its command line. [grabbe]

Anthony C. LoBaido at WorldNetDaily - World's 1st Internet 'nation': for some reason, WND has just discovered, or rediscovered, Sealand. It appears from their web site that HavenCo is not yet in operation. Their faq is interesting. They intend to allow any content to be served from their fortress except spam and "Material that is ruled unlawful in the jurisdiction of the originating server (Such as child pornography in the case of our flagship Sealand datacenter)". [grabbe]

7. Aren't you just trying to undermine the authority of the world's major governments?

No. We believe strongly in unfettered individual freedom, particularly in the area of electronic communications that the G8 and specifically France have recently come out against in their 13 May closed-door meetings. Free comunication can never be a crime, and by itself can never hurt anyone. Criminal acts should be pursued at the point where the act takes place, not on the common carriers that enable all individuals to do business freely, such as telephone and Internet infrastructure providers, road and transportation departments and even water and power companies for providing these essential services. The fact that public roads may be used to transport stolen goods does not justify a stop and search of vehicles at every corner.

HavenCo, in conjunction with the Government of Sealand, believes in the Philosophy of Contract Autonomy, as opposed to the Philosophy of Regulation. Our belief is that individuals and groups engaging in unsavory activities will be publicly admonished in a world where communications are free. This includes distasteful actions by governments, corporations, organizations as well as individuals.

We believe in the right of privacy, including the right to be left alone. We believe that individual freedom of communications, a central tenet in the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights and the constitutions of many nations, means being able to communicate with and ONLY with whomever you choose. This is why we support pseudonymity, anonymity and the unrestricted use of encryption techniques and tools for all.

Rep. Rick Boucher at Tech Law Journal - proposals for changes to the fair use doctrine in the context of digital and Internet media: A transcription of a talk given by Mr. Boucher (D-VA) about amending the DMCA to restore fair use. [/.]

The time, in my opinion, has come, for the Congress to reaffirm the fair use doctrine, and to bolster specific fair use rights, which are now at risk. In 1998, responding to the concerns of copyright owners, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The announced purpose was to protect from piracy copyrighted material in an environment which poses special concerns for copyright owners. They made the point that with digital technology, a copy of a copy of a copy has the same clarity and perfection as the original of the work. They also made the point that in the networked environment, with the single click of a mouse, thousands of those perfect copies can be sent people throughout the nation and the world.

The DMCA is the result of the effort by Congress to respond to those realities. There are some today who believe that the legislation went too far. For example, it creates, in Section 1201(a), a new crime of circumventing a technological protection measure, that guards access to a copyrighted work. Under Section 1201, the purpose of the circumvention is immaterial. It is a crime to circumvent the password or other gateway, even for the purpose of exercising fair use rights. There is no requirement that the circumvention be for the purpose of infringing the copyrights. Any act of circumvention, without the consent of the copyright owner, is made criminal under Section 1201.

Some now foresee a time when virtually all new material will be sent to libraries on CD ROMs, with the material encrypted or guarded by passwords. In exchange for a fee for each viewing, the password may then be used. And so it is predicted that under Section 1201, what is available today on the library shelves for free will be available on a pay per use basis only. The student who wants even the most basic access to material to write his term paper will have to pay for each item that he uses.

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As a second matter, the first sale doctrine should be made applicable for online sales of copyrighted material. If you go to a bookstore today, and purchase a book, under the first sale doctrine, you are entitled to give that book to someone else. You are entitled to sell that book to another person if that be your desire. It is a time honored doctrine which implies in the physical world. But it does not apply with any certainty in the online world. And there is an online analog to the physical world in this regard. If a person purchases over the Internet copyrighted material, whether it is music or a video clip or text of some kind, and if there is the absolute assurance that upon transfer of that material to another party, that the original version of it which was purchased is destroyed. If that condition is met, then the first sale doctrine, in my view, should apply as certainly in the online world as it does in the physical world today. And an amendment to achieve that result would be appropriate.

AP via The Dallas Morning News - Jury rejects family's suit against tobacco company: a Beaumont, Texas jury has thrown out a lawsuit against Brown & Williamson. Apparently during this lawsuit the tobacco companies admitted that tobacco is addictive. Bull. Ain't no such thing as addictive. There's only insufficient will to quit. I smoked cigarettes and pot. I did crack, acid, nitrous, and booze. I give up coffee two or three times a year. I have given up sugar a few times. I know. [market]

AP via The Florida Times-Union - House approves bill to OK ticket scalping: The Georgia House is once again attempting to restore the free market for tickets. If this bill gets past the governor, scalping concert or athletic tickets will be legal in Georgia at least 1,500 feet from the event site. Similar bills have been vetoed in the past three years. Well, at least they're trying. [market]

AP via Pioneer Planet - Ventura endorses move toward Internet sales tax: and I thought he was on our side. [market]

Sierra Times - Front Sight Firearms Training Institute: Free Gun School for Teachers: A practical answer to the shootings at Santana High School. Front Sight will train up to three "safety monitors" per school if they are so designated by the "top school district official". [sierra]

Front Sight's Founder and Director, Dr. Ignatius Piazza understands that his offer may offend some school administrators and parents who do not see arming and training selected school staff members as a positive solution to violent attacks. However, he is quick to point out that historically, his approach has worked while gun control has actually increased violent crime by shifting the balance of power to favor the criminals and lunatics. "My offer is not a new idea," says Piazza. "In the early 70's, Israel was faced with much greater problems of armed terrorist attacks on schools. The cry for more gun control was heard then too, but Israel very carefully analyzed all possible options before adopting the proactive position of arming and training their teachers. School shootings stopped and terrorists looked for easier targets."

Chandrahas Shetty at FreeOS.com - Windows rules or goes Phat? If you want the absolute easiest Linux to install on your Windows machine, try Phat Linux. It installs from a regular windows .exe or .zip and resides in a directory on your Windows drive. Only drawback is that you have to boot windows before booting Phat. It's a bit of a large download at 242MB, but the office T1 made pretty quick work of it. Requires a 386 processor, 32MB of RAM, and 565MB of hard drive space. Unfortunately, it won't boot on my Windoze 2000 machine. Fails in the same way it does for at least a couple of people on Phat's discussion group. [lt]

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