The Rice Protest
"The function of government is to provide you with service; the function of the media is to supply the Vaseline." -- L. Neil Smith
From The Federalist:
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keep moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." -- Ronald Reagan
From kaba:
"The triumph of persuasion over force is the sign of a civilized society." -- Mark Skousen
Mark Fiore at Working for Change - General Ashcroft Wants YOU! Because there's more than ONE war - Flash animation. Think the war on terrorism is the only war? Not! The war on some drugs is still alive and well and filling Amerika's prisons. [drugsense]
I put in the local mailbox yesterday a ziploc bagged 1/4 cup of rice and the quote below in a small envelope addressed to President Bush with two 37¢ stamps. This was made very easy by a group in the community where I live setting it all up. I had only to write my return address, stamp the envelope, and drop it in the box. If you don't believe in the coming war on Iraq, send some rice to GW today. The following came from here, but it's all over the web.
Dear friends:
There is a grassroots campaign begun by a local peace center with a secular focus. I am hoping that people of faith will want to participate. I am suggesting is that we who are people of faith (or not) write a faith based message instead of a secular message on their note to the President.
Place 1/2 c. uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a snack-sized bag or sandwich bag work fine). Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it in a piece of paper on which you have written:
"If your enemies are hungry, feed them. Romans 12:20. Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do not attack them."
Place the paper and bag of rice in an envelope (either a letter-sized or small padded mailing envelope - both are the same cost to mail) and address them to:
President George Bush
White House - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Attach $1.06 in postage. (Three 37 cent stamps equal $1.11). Drop this in the mail TODAY. It is important to act NOW so that President Bush gets the letters asap, preferably before the report from the inspectors comes out on the 27th. In order for this protest to be effective, there must be hundreds of thousands of such rice deliveries to the White House. We can do this if we all forward this message to our friends and family. If every Mennonite and every Church of the Brethren household sent one of these, and the tens of thousands of persons from outside these churches who think war is a mistake also send them...we are hundreds of thousands of people!
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, you've never been in bed with a mosquito."
After dropping my rice in the mailbox, I went to the range and reminded myself how much I like the Sharpshooter Supply trigger on my Savage 111. It was only 20 degrees out, so I discovered that I could load and shoot with my gloves on, something I haven't tried before.
Security Focus - Ashcroft proposes vast new surveillance powers - Herr Führer Ashcroft attempts to expand his power even more. [smith2004]
A sweeping new anti-terrorism bill drafted by the Justice Department would dramatically increase government electronic surveillance and data collection abilities, and impose the first-ever federal criminal penalties for using encryption in the U.S.
A draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 dated January 9th was obtained by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity and released Friday. The 120-page proposal would further expand many of the surveillance powers Congress granted federal law enforcement in the USA-PATRIOT Act in 2001, while increasing the secrecy surrounding some government functions.
Clay S. Conrad at Counterpunch - A Guide to Being a Real Juror - a preface about the railroading of Ed Rosesthal followed by a tutorial on getting through voir dire so you can nullify the drug laws. [rrnd]
Jacob Sullum at Reason - Jury Rigging: Ed Rosenthal never had a chance - hopefully, juries will use nullification more and more as the ferals make more and more oppressive "laws". [sierra]
Whatever one thinks of marijuana's merits as a medicine, the Constitution simply does not give the federal government the authority to override a state's judgment on this issue. As Rosenthal's attorneys pointed out in a pre-trial brief, "the class of activity involved is entirely local and does not affect, much less substantially affect, interstate commerce."
Although this is the strongest legal argument in Rosenthal's favor, in a sense it proves too much, calling into question not just the war on drugs but much of what the federal government has been doing since the New Deal. Hence it's unlikely that an appeals court will take this opportunity to affirm that there are limits to the federal government's powers under the Commerce Clause, despite the Supreme Court's recent moves in that direction.
That leaves the task of defending the Constitution to juries. "I think jury nullification is going to be part of the answer regarding states' rights in future cases," Sackett, the jury foreman, told AlterNet.
BBC News - Australians bare all in anti-war protest - 700 women posed nude spelling "NO WAR" inside a heart. And thirty women spelled "NO BUSH" with their bodies in the 20-degree weather of Central Park. [grabbe]
Roderick Long at Strike the Root - An Open Letter to Osama bin Laden - "You have become George Bush." Hehe.
David J. Miller at KeepAndBearArms.com - Black Man With A Gun - Mr. Miller joins Kenneth Blanchard's liberty-loving family. [kaba]
I am a Black Man With A Gun.
You wouldn't know it to look at me. Most people see an unarmed, 37-year-old, bearded white male; but I assure you that I am a Black Man with a Gun.
I borrowed this title from a man named Kenneth Blanchard; the original Black Man With a Gun. www.BlackManWithaGun.com He is, in his own words, "...an American of African ancestry," and he's not shy about the fact that he's a conservative Christian gun owner too.
