Misty
HEART OF TEXAS

Well I'm back after this unannounced hiatus. It's been a brtual week but the one bright spot was an unexpected visit from Howard Wooldridge who stopped by our HQ on his way through the area. He wasn't riding his horse but he was wearing the hat and the T-shirt. I took him around Noho and we shook up the downtown scene for a few hours. I'm hoping the Commonwealth will move some of the pending marijuana legislation out of committee in the next session so he'll come back with Misty in the spring to do a 'Paul Revere Ride'.

It was way cool to spend that much time with him, he turns out to be a tireless educator with a sharp mind but an easygoing manner. I learned a lot about horses, and he showed me the site for The Long Rider's Guild, who describe themselves as "the world's first international association of Equestrian Explorers and the largest repository of equestrian travel knowledge in human history". It's a pretty amazing society, there's a lot more people out riding horses over vast distances than I ever realized and an amazing percentage of the members are women. It's apparently a very dangerous sport as well. Howard tells me people die on these journeys all the time.

Of course we discussed drug policy reform as well. He was lobbying recently at the Texas Statehouse for legislation passed on Labor Day of 2003, that instituted sentencing reforms for drug defendants. In this little publicized fit of sanity, Texas now has a law stating that persons convicted of personal possession of 1 gram or less of the so called hard drugs, or (and get this) 1 pound or less of marijuana, cannot be imprisoned, but must go into a treatment-probation program. Howard tells me this translates into 80,000 Texans a year who will not be incarcerated for even one day.

Will Harrell, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, was instrumental in the passage of this bill and found two Republicans to sponsor it. I had the opportunity to spend some time with Will at the DPA conference, another cordial and unassuming guy, before I saw him speak at a breakout session. He looked so young that I thought he might be on his first speaking assignment. I was surprised to discover his credentials but it heartens me to think that if he's done so much at this age, think of what he'll accomplish in his lifetime. I think it bodes well.

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HONORABLE MENTION

More news on common sense sentencing came out of California this week. U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz in a dramatic downward departure, imposed the minimum allowable sentence on 3 officers of a defunct West Hollywood cannabis club and chastised the prosecution.

To allocate the resources of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. attorney's office in this case … baffles me, disturbs me," the judge said.

It disturbs me as well. We need more jurists like this that live up to the title Your Honor.

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MISAPPROPRIATIONS

Meanwhile, here in the Commonwealth, The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released a report this week showing our state government is spending more on prisons and jails than on public higher education.

Total state spending on public higher education has dropped from $1.109 billion in 2001 to $815.7 million this fiscal year, down $293 million or 26.5 percent, the report said.

In comparison, during the same period, state spending on state prisons, county jails and parole rose from $799.3 million to $830.5 million, up 3.9 percent.

State Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst had this reaction,

"There are no words to describe how shocking it is that we're spending more money to keep people in prison than we are to educate the next generation of leaders."

They shortchange the public education system, deny low income students loans under the HEA Act, cut social services to fund prisons and then wonder why kids are becoming anarchists? It doesn't surprise me. The system is failing this generation.

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THEY ARE A'CHANGING

Talking about my generation, it seems an era is passing and High Times magazine is going mainstream. Not only is the new executive editor John Mailer going to transition away from its long standing focus on marijuana culture but will apparently be taking the magazine in the opposite direction.

"With the new High Times we're using [pot] as a metaphor," said Mailer. "So it's not a magazine about pot, it's a magazine about our civil liberties, and our tag line is 'Celebrating Freedom.' Our feeling is it's patriotic to be in High Times."

However, it seems as if Mailer might actually lead the magazine in the opposite direction than its current pro-pot stance. He told the New York Times that he will begin running stories opposed to marijuana use, including people who think pot has ruined their lives.

There's much speculation among the cannabis community on why Mailer, who admits he knows nothing about the history of the publication, is making this big shift.

Some insiders claim that the format change is being spurred by direct pressure and threats from the DEA. With the February 2003 raids on bong-makers hitting many of their biggest advertisers, the magazine is clearly deciding to target a more mainstream ad base.

Dana Larsen, editor of Cannabis Culture magazine notes this could spell trouble on his side of the border as well.

"If High Times has truly come under pressure from the DEA, then maybe that could happen to us too. We are based in Canada, so we are less easy to target directly, but the DEA could go after the stores and companies that distribute us. If they're going to go after people selling bongs, then why wouldn't they be going after the pot magazines?"

I expect it's because the prohibitionists haven't figured out how to circumvent our First Amendment protections yet. It's a point well taken though that destroying the bong industry did strip High Times of its greatest source of ad revenue and thus advance the Drug Czar's agenda of subverting our personal sovereignty.

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FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

It's not just the Drug Czar trampling our civil liberties these days. The Bush administration has destroyed in these three short years, protections that took generations of activism to win. Under the aegis of Homeland Security, we have never been in more danger from the intrusions of our own government. A few items of concern passed across the radar screen this week.

Although this first piece is about anti-war protests, these tactics are easily translated to drug reform rallies as well and I have no doubt are already being employed. The New York Times reports: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, according to interviews and a confidential bureau memorandum.

The memorandum discussed demonstrators' "innovative strategies," like the videotaping of arrests as a means of "intimidation" against the police. And it noted that protesters "often use the Internet to recruit, raise funds and coordinate their activities prior to demonstrations."

....It also noted that protesters may raise money to help pay for lawyers for those arrested.

They call this a subversive threat? This could describe any organization's activities, including the Young Republicans recent racist bake sale.

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RIGHT TO PRIVACY

The FBI does not want to stop there in their relentless pursuit to invade our privacy. For those of you who drive fancy cars with dashboard computing systems, take heed of this.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Tuesday that the FBI is not legally entitled to remotely activate the system and secretly use it to snoop on passengers, because doing so would render it inoperable during an emergency.

In a split 2-1 rulingthe majority wrote that "the company could not assist the FBI without disabling the system in the monitored car" and said a district judge was wrong to have granted the FBI its request for surreptitious monitoring.

The court did not reveal which brand of remote-assistance product was being used but did say it involved "luxury cars" and, in a footnote, mentioned Cadillac, which sells General Motors' OnStar technology in all current models. After learning that the unnamed system could be remotely activated to eavesdrop on conversations after a car was reported stolen, the FBI realized it would be useful for "bugging" a vehicle, Judges Marsha Berzon and John Noonan said.

When FBI agents remotely activated the system and were listening in, passengers in the vehicle could not tell that their conversations were being monitored.

I didn't know terrorists could afford Caddys.

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AS YOU SOW...

This last piece doesn't really have anything to do with the drug war but it does illustrate the arrogance of our Misleader on his self-proclaimed mission from God and his complete disregard for the environment. In another foreign relations coup of extraordinary bad manners, Georgie managed to piss off the Queen of virtually the only country in the world willing to call themselves our ally by allowing his goons to trample her gardens.

THE Queen is furious with President George W. Bush after his state visit caused thousands of pounds of damage to her gardens at Buckingham Palace.

Royal officials are now in touch with the Queen's insurers and Prime Minister Tony Blair to find out who will pick up the massive repair bill. Palace staff said they had never seen the Queen so angry as when she saw how her perfectly-mantained lawns had been churned up after being turned into helipads with three giant H landing markings for the Bush visit.

The rotors of the President's Marine Force One helicopter and two support Black Hawks damaged trees and shrubs that had survived since Queen Victoria's reign.

And Bush's army of clod-hopping security service men trampled more precious and exotic plants.

...The Palace's head gardener, Mark Lane, was reported to be in tears when he saw the scale of the damage.

I loathe this kind of discourtesy. I mean what head of state comes here and ruins the Rose Garden at the White House. How embarassing that our President would be such a lousy house guest.

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JOHNNY, YE LEFT TOO SOON

Last word goes to one of our most well mannered leaders, JFK. This excerpt, from a longer speech given in the last year of his life, kind of sums it all up for me today.

What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children - not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women - not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.

Amen and a happy and peaceful holiday to those who celebrate this day.

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