Freedom

issues

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

03/01/2000 - Alabama Register Editorial
Sometimes the mind positively boggles at the absurdities
to which some Americans will go in order to emphasize their
status as victims.

Now there's a case in New Jersey where black legislators,
by claiming to be offended by a bill, are themselves acting
offensively. Their position is not only wrongheaded but bizarre.

The bill is simple: It would require New Jersey schoolchildren,
in grades three through 12, daily to recite a part of the
Declaration of Independence... read the whole story

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Episode 2 - Independence Day Weekend, 2000 - Boulder

Land of the Free?

I got some sad news last week. Peter McWilliams, author of some books that I like, died on June 14. His work included Life 101 and Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, which I mention in the Consensual Crimes section of this site.

McWilliams was suffering from cancer and AIDS, but was beating them. He did okay as long as he could keep his medication down. For him, the only effective way to do that was through smoking Medical Marijuana. This is perfectly legal in his state.

Even though what he was doing is legal in California, he was prosecuted for charges related to it in a Federal Court. The judge wouldn't allow him to tell the jury that his behavior was legal, that he was a cancer patient, or that there was a clear medical need to go on with this perfectly legal behavior. Because his defense was hamstrung in such a way, and he was bound to lose the case, he pled guilty to a lesser charge. Part of his release agreement was that he would no longer continue doing the one thing that would let him keep his medication in his stomach.

So he didn't. And on June 14 they found him dead in the bathroom, choked on his own puke. Happy birthday, oh land of the free.

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