Forget the Patriot Act- if you really want to know how your rights are being eroded on a daily basis, keep your eye on law enforcement desres in regards to the War on Your Neighbor War on Drugs. TalkLeft has the details.
War On Drugs
I Never Would Have Guessed
This may be the least surprising news story since Michael Jackon was accused of child molestation:
Art Garfunkel, part of the folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel, was charged with marijuana possession after police pulled his limousine over for speeding in upstate New York.
Garfunkel, 62, had a small amount of marijuana in his jacket pocket when a state trooper stopped the limo Saturday afternoon in Hurley, 55 miles southwest of Albany, the Daily Freeman of Kingston reported.
The trooper smelled marijuana after approaching the vehicle, in which Garfunkel was the lone passenger.
Garfunkel, of Manhattan, was scheduled to appear in court on January 28 on the charge, which carries a possible $100 fine, or he could respond by mail.
I guess I just missed the part where someone was hurt by Garfunkel’s behavior- you know, the part that makes this worthy of arrest and public attention. I just hope Willie Nelson steers clear of Hurley, New York.
Good News in the War on Your Neighbor
Via the Vodkapundit, we note that there is some good news from the front in the War on Your Neighbor:
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand on Tuesday a ruling that the government cannot revoke the federal prescription licenses of doctors who recommend medical marijuana to sick patients.
Without any comment, the justices rejected a Bush administration appeal of the ruling that bars the government from punishing and from even investigating a doctor’s conduct because of a recommendation that a patient use marijuana.
Good. The Vodkapundit also links to the first ever Carnival of the Capitalists, which I was notified about and forgot to link.
The War on Your Neighbor
Assholes. I really don’t have anything else to say.
The War On Your Neighbor
Nothing infuriates me more than the abuse/misuse of legislation:
The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism.
The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.
Sure, the Patriot Act was pased to fight terror and wassn’t just a prosecutorial power grab. Assholes.
Another Victory
Talk Left details another victory in Seattle:
Voters in Seattle today approved a measure strongly opposed by Drug Czar John Walters. It directs police and prosecutors to make marijuana arrests and prosecutions their lowest priority. Walters personally campaigned against the measure in Seattle on September 10.
Good.
Ashcroft- Why Does he Hate the States?
Via TalkLeft, we find a very legitimate criticism of John Ashcroft and the Justice Department:
Still licking their wounds, federal prosecutors have fired another shot at freed grass guru Ed Rosenthal, appealing the light sentence that let the convicted medical pot grower walk away a free man last month.
The motion, filed late Thursday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, does not go into any detail about the grounds of appeal, according to Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Jacobs, who would not comment on why the Department of Justice decided to appeal the sentence.
Rosenthal, who despite getting zero jail time is appealing the felony conviction, said the government’s appeal was “not surprising.”
“They are wasting more taxpayers’ money trying to put me in prison for this,” said Rosenthal. “It would be absurd, if it were not so serious.”
Rosenthal was convicted last spring of growing pot in an Oakland warehouse. The marijuana growing operation, which supplied a dispensary on Sixth Street in San Francisco, was legal under California law and had been inspected and signed off on by Oakland city officials.
The war on your neighbor continues…