SOPA, PIPA and Open Thread

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Pete

Yes, Drug WarRant is protesting the crass venality and stupidity of Congress, which was ready to break the internet in a futile attempt to protect the profits of certain entertainment companies.

Just like drug laws, they’re voting on bills that they don’t understand, and for which they have no clue regarding the actual consequences.

Feel free to discuss the protests or anything else here.

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31 Responses to SOPA, PIPA and Open Thread

  1. Anon says:
    January 18, 2012 at 1:38 am

    Join the blackout

  2. Matthew Meyer says:
    January 18, 2012 at 7:59 am

    Stanislaus drug task force gets $154K from pot dispensary raid
    http://www.modbee.com/2012/01/17/2029682/stanislaus-drug-task-force-gets.html

    Federal agencies already describe medical cannabis dispensaries as nothing but drug dealers. Now local authorities have a fiscal incentive to act against state law.

    • Duncan20903 says:
      January 18, 2012 at 8:48 am

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      What really kills me about stuff like that in California is the local LE is in direct violation of the State Constitution, Article 3, Section 3.5, Paragraph(c) when they do an end run around State law like that. Where the heck is “the LAW is the LAW, blah, blah, blah” crowd when LE decides to pick Federal law over State law and violate their Oath? Cheering like the partisan hypocrites they are is where.

      P.S. just as a point in fact I briefly considered a career in LE in 1981, believe it or not. I decided I had to pass because I could neither overlook the drug laws and nor could I enforce them in good conscience.

      P.P.S. Well I was approaching desperate for a decent job at that time and had no qualifications to do anything of value. I decided to go get some qualifications instead.

      CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION

      ARTICLE 3 STATE OF CALIFORNIA

      SEC. 3.5. An administrative agency, including an administrative agency created by the Constitution or an initiative statute, has no power:

      (a) To declare a statute unenforceable, or refuse to enforce a statute, on the basis of it being unconstitutional unless an appellate court has made a determination that such statute is unconstitutional;

      (b) To declare a statute unconstitutional;

      (c) To declare a statute unenforceable, or to refuse to enforce a statute on the basis that federal law or federal regulations prohibit the enforcement of such statute unless an appellate court has made a determination that the enforcement of such statute is prohibited by federal law or federal regulations.

      • Matthew Meyer says:
        January 18, 2012 at 11:46 am

        Well, they simply allege that the dispensary is not operating legally, and let the courts sort it out, at our expense.

        All I saw in this case was that LE used fraudulent recommendations to enter the dispensary. No indication at all of the reasons they suspected the place. (Tho I think Scarmazzo was the guy clocking dollas in a YouTube video.)

        Kamala Harris’s recent statement to CA lawmakers was pretty gutless, maybe, but it did point out that the question of what “nonprofit” means in this context must be resolved.

        I think the meaning of nonprofit is pretty clear, and I’d link Wikipedia on it if they weren’t SOPAing. We need a ruling that dispensaries with proper books are legit, that would help end a lot of this local LE participation nonsense.

        • Matthew Meyer says:
          January 18, 2012 at 11:47 am

          Of course it’s possible that a dispensary’s operators could either not be charged, or charged only in state court, with the feds seizing the property as drug proceeds in a civil proceeding anyway.

          Could be a hot new trend, just think! (Or is it already?)

        • Duncan20903 says:
          January 19, 2012 at 8:51 am

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          Did you know that Sunkist is a non-profit agricultural co-operative organized under the laws of the State of California?
          What exactly does “not-for-profit” mean?

  4. darkcycle says:
    January 18, 2012 at 10:07 am

    They’ll kill the internet, don’t worry ’bout that. The alternative is out there already…look into “Packet Radio” Best part about P.R. is it doesn’t look like it’s easy to censor.

  5. darkcycle says:
    January 18, 2012 at 10:46 am

    Pentagon farms more drug war operations out to contractors, ostensibly to hide drug war expenses from chop-happy deficit hawks:
    http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/war-on-drugs-transferred-to-private.html

  6. Pingback: SOPA - PIPA | Pearltrees

  7. claygooding says:
    January 18, 2012 at 11:08 am

    US waves white flag in disastrous ‘war on drugs’

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-waves-white-flag-in-disastrous-war-on-drugs-1870218.html

    After 40 years, Washington is quietly giving up on a futile battle that has spread corruption and destroyed thousands of lives

    “”The “war”, declared unilaterally throughout the world by Richard Nixon in 1969, is expiring as its strategists start discarding plans that have proved futile over four decades: they are preparing to withdraw their agents from narcotics battlefields from Colombia to Afghanistan and beginning to coach them in the art of trumpeting victory and melting away into anonymous defeat. Not surprisingly, the new strategy is being gingerly aired in the media of the US establishment, from The Wall Street Journal to the Miami Herald.””

    Waiting with sweaty on palms for sensible policy.

    • claygooding says:
      January 18, 2012 at 11:42 am

      I think they are just changing strategy,,to fight demand by persecuting users with forced rehab,,it ain’t over until hemp is allowed on the open market.

    • Francis says:
      January 18, 2012 at 6:36 pm

      I really dislike “surrender” language as applied to the drug war. If you’re punching yourself in the face, stopping doesn’t represent “throwing in the towel” or “waving the white flag,” it just means you’ve decided to stop acting batshit crazy.

  8. warren says:
    January 18, 2012 at 11:25 am

    These politicians? want to keep us in the dark.What a pack of devious crooks.

  9. allan says:
    January 18, 2012 at 11:41 am

    From Tom Angell, Terry Nelson and the good folks at LEAP:
    Petition to Support Free Speech for Border Patrol Agents

    Petition to Support Free Speech for Border Patrol Agents

    January 18, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. EST with 318 signatures.

    Why This Is Important

    In September of 2009, border patrol agent Bryan Gonzalez was fired for expressing his views on drug legalization to a fellow agent. Earlier that year, Gonzalez had told a colleague that “legalization of drugs would end the drug war and related violence in Mexico,” adding that “the drug problems in America were due to American demand for drugs supplied by Mexico.”

    His letter of termination stated his comments were “contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol Agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and esprit de corps.”

    At no point did Bryan say that he wouldn’t enforce the laws he swore to uphold; he merely discussed the impact that these laws have.

    As a former U.S. border patrol agent and a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, I started this petition to support the free speech rights of border patrol agents like Bryan Gonzalez. Federal law enforcement officials should not lose their jobs for exercising their First Amendment rights. These men and women are on the frontlines and we should respect their insight, not punish them for it.

    Please sign this petition and tell Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Acting CBP Commissioner David Aguilar that a policy needs to be put in place that affirms the First Amendment rights of federal law enforcement officials like Bryan Gonzalez.

  10. Duncan20903 says:
    January 18, 2012 at 12:14 pm

    Vermont is calling my name again.

    • darkcycle says:
      January 18, 2012 at 2:17 pm

      Lovely place, Vermont. Nice people, too.

    • claygooding says:
      January 18, 2012 at 4:02 pm

      Purty in the fall but too far north for my thin blood,,I am looking at Co,,appx 150 miles north of present location and it looks too cold,,,so Vermont is safe from me.

      • Duncan20903 says:
        January 18, 2012 at 6:52 pm

        .
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        They make clothes and stuff to deal with that clay. They’ve also got these things that they call “furnaces” that they keep in the basement to keep the house warm.

        • darkcycle says:
          January 18, 2012 at 7:23 pm

          Roger the clothes and the furnace. A hot buttered rum (or a hot buttered nothing, in my case) is General Issue hereabouts this time of year, too. Bring yer woolies, we’re outside a fair bit.

    • addycat says:
      January 19, 2012 at 8:36 pm

      I’m from Vermont and it is indeed wonderful:) and there are LOTS of stoners! We are also finally getting with the program and getting dispensaries this year!!

  12. OhutumValik says:
    January 19, 2012 at 5:32 am

    Since this is an open thread (it is, isn’t it?), this piece of news should be on topic. Medical Xpress informs us via Sam Houston State University that a worrying number of Texan teens are practicing a dangerous form of consciousness-altering behaviour, the so-called “choking game”.

    Choking game prevalent among teens in Texas

    Nearly one out of seven college students surveyed at a Texas university has participated in the Choking Game, a dangerous behavior where blood flow is deliberately cut off to the brain in order to achieve a high, according to a study by The Crime Victims’ Institute at Sam Houston State University.

    The Choking Game, also known as the Fainting Game, Pass Out, or Space Monkey, is played individually or in groups and involves manually choking oneself or others, applying a ligature around the neck or a plastic bag over the head, placing heavy objects on the chest, or hyperventilating to attain a euphoric feeling. This practice has led to several suffocation deaths in Texas and across the country. /—/

    While preventative programs have increased to help warn adolescents of the use of illegal substances, the Choking Game is another method of achieving similar effects that has been introduced to this age group. “This ‘game,’ as it is often called, does not require obtaining any drugs or alcohol, is free, and can go undetected by many parents, teachers, physicians, and other authority figures. Most importantly, many of those who engage in this activity, do not understand that the practice can be just as deadly as the illegal substances youth have been warned against,” the study found.

    What, no demands for arresting those holding their breath? Think of the children, criminalize the Space Monkey!

    • Duncan20903 says:
      January 19, 2012 at 8:47 am

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      There are people who do that while they’re having sex. David Carradine was into it, or so it was reported.
      ———-
      Well if we want to talk about retarded laws the DC Council certainly is going for the gold. It’s now illegal to kill rodents such as squirrels, chipmunks, deer mice and white footed mice. The Virginia authorities are flabbergasted because DC exterminators are releasing the rodents they catch on the other side of the Potomac, i.e. Virginia. They’re particularly worried about squirrels that have been corrupted by the Occupy DC brigade. Evidently they’re concerned that squirrels are carriers of Socialism. No Virginia, Socialism isn’t a communicable disease.

      Oh I almost forgot, the new law requires that rodent families not be separated if possible. There’s no question this law belongs in the Stupid Hall of Fame.

      VA AG Fears DC Law May Relocate Rat ‘Families’ to Virginia

      BTW I did manage to evict all of my squirrels. Then I find out there’s also an infestation of chipmunks up there. Does anyone think a No Trespassing sign would help?

      • darkcycle says:
        January 19, 2012 at 10:06 pm

        Jeez. That’s a regular rodent motel you got there Duncan. Don’t go endangering those rodents.
        Auto-erotic asphyxiation is somewhat unusual but not as unsuual as you might think. It is most often discovered when the person is a solitary sort, and they go too far. In those cases to spare the family undue distress the cause of death is listed as suicide or more commonly accident. Sometimes they even list accidental hanging. No coroner who has been around hasn’t seen a few. Vaughn Bode, the sixties cartoonist who drew “Cheech Wizard” out of San Francisco, hung himself that way. It is supposed to give a DMT-like rush, but I’m not going to go confirm that.

        • ohutumvalik says:
          January 20, 2012 at 3:31 am

          Well, I played the “game” once at school when I was about 10 years old, still during the Soviet times, and can confirm that it’s somewhat similar to the rush one gets from inhaling “poppers” (alkyl nitrites). I wouldn’t know about similarities with DMT or other tryptamines, though.

          At the time there was nothing erotic about it, which is just as well.

          Anyway, I posted the story as an example of the pointlessness of WoSD, to illustrate the notion that mind-alteration can not and should not be controlled via (criminal) prohibition. There are, of course, other, possibly more nefarious methods of achieving a narcotic rush without taking illegal drugs. For example, huffing of lighter gas has become trendy among Estonian elementary school kids — the stuff’s unregulated and its use mostly undetectable by parents/teachers.

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