Arnold's Stogies Tent
"If you can, within principle, take over and adopt whatever name your enemy calls you, do so. It shuts them up very handily." -- L. Neil Smith
# Ali's Voice is the weblog of Ali Massoud, of root fame, where he is usually called "Chemical Ali" or "Ali Hassan Massoud". Added to the "Weblogs" column of the News section of my links page. [smith2004]
# Loretta Nall at the U.S. Marijuana Party Blog - Marc Emery is FREE!! - Both Marc and Greg Williams were released from jail yesterday. [loretta]
# CBC News - Marc Emery out on bail - confirmation from the mainstream press. [google]
# Marc Emery - As It Happens - mp3 of a CBC Radio interview. The full "As it Happens" August 5 radio show is available from CBC Radio here. The Marc Emery interview is about 1:15 into "part 1". [loretta]
# Jack Shafer at Slate - Meth Madness at Newsweek: This is your magazine on drugs - the methamphetamine "epidemic" is a lie. But then, everything about the war on freedom, er... some drugs, is a lie. [lew]
# Richard C. Evey at The Price of Liberty - Privacy - The Census Crisis - Mr. Evey received an "American Community Survey". He doesn't mention the possible penalties for refusing to fill it out, but he makes a good case for why you shouldn't. [price]
History lesson: The census that is required by the United States Constitution is to count the population for the purpose of determining the members of the House of Representatives for your state. That is all that is required, population count, nothing more.
When I received the survey back in 2000, I told them that there were two people living at the resident, nothing more. When the "enumerator" came to my door and told me that I did not complete the survey and that he was there to complete the form, I told him what the United States Constitution stated and that he was not going to get anything more from me. He look at me like, "How dare you question the needs of the United States Government". He told me that I was required by law to fill out the form. I told him that the United States Constitution was the law of the land and closed the door. I never heard anything after that.
# The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter - Antis Target Schwarzenegger - it's not legal for Arnold Schwarzenegger to smoke in the California Capitol building or within 20 feet of its walls, so he built a negitioation tent in the middle of the courtyard, where he, and those he's negotiating with, smoke stogies if they want. The anti-smoking nazis are up in arms about it. So much so that the California Assembly passed AB616, which would dismantle the tent. This page contains a number of stories about the fight. Go, Arnie! [slf]
"As long as I'm at the Capitol, I will be smoking my stogies down there, and I will be having people down there smoking stogies," Schwarzenegger said. "This is my negotiation tent, and no one is going to take that away. Just remember one thing: They can be passing all the bills they want. There's one person who has to sign it. That's me."
# Jim Treacher - Blowing Smoke, the movie, the blog - a weblog about the making, and now distribution of the movie Blowing Smoke. At their store, you can buy the movie on DVD ($15), and a movie poster, cap, canvas tote, T-shirt, and humidipak. The movie is about what men talk about when women aren't around, and how that changes radically when a foxy lady shows up. "My cigar is bigger than yours". Samizdata discussion here. I won't pay $15, but if it comes to a local video store, I'll pay $3. [samizdata]