Krigen mot uønskede substanser og aktiviteter
Frank Lorvik
dette er en særdeles lite morsom "spøk") relatert til Elian-saken. De
som synes det var vel voldsomt å sende in et tungt bevæpnet og
aggressivt SWAT-lag for å hente Elian kan jo tenke seg hvordan alvorlig
syke mennesker som bruker cannabis som legemiddel opplever akkurat det
samme...
Subj: OPED: Rule by brute force
From: "RLRoot" <StopThe...@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 13:44:30 -0700
Fellow LTE writers,
The War On Drugs needs to be renamed what it really is: The War On
Unapproved Substances and Activities.
The acronym SWAT also is in need of re-identification: Sanctioned
Warfare
And Terrorism.
I have always tried to point out in my LTE's how the drug war affects or
has
the potential to affect many other areas of our lives. For those who
have
not read it, following is an excellent OPED just released by Steve Kubby
which argues along the same line.
Life, Liberty, Happiness
Rick Root
THE AMERICAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA ASSOCIATION
Monarch Bay Plaza, Box 375, Dana Point, Ca 92629
Web site: http://www.kubby.com/AMMA.html
Subscribe: AMMA-T...@list.kubby.com
4/24/00
"We are fast approaching the state of the ultimate inversion: the stage
where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the
citizens
may act only by permission; which is the state of the darkest periods of
human history, the stage of rule by brute force."
- --Ayn Rand
RULE BY BRUTE FORCE
by Steve Kubby, The American Medical Marijuana Association
Majority Whip, Tom Delay was on 'Meet The Press' recently, expressing
his
outrage over the Elian Gonzales raid by a SWAT team: "The bottom line
here
is for the first time that we know of a government agency has invaded a
private citizen¹s home without a court warrant. That is outrageous. It
is
unconstitutional and it reflects the world view of this administration."
While Congressman Delay has every reason to be outraged, he is wrong to
think this is the first time. SWAT teams invade, terrorize, abuse,
frighten, arrest, humiliate, and bankrupt sick people, every day in this
country. These raids are often undertaken with fraudulent warrants
obtained
by lies, threats and paid informants. They are just as outrageous and
unconstitutional as the invasion of the Gonzales home. Sadly, SWAT
raids
are increasingly being used as a show of brute force to threaten and
intimidate the general population into submission.
As the GOP prepares to roast the Democrats over the Elian raid, it is
important to remember that it was the Republican Party and Congressman
Dan
Lungren who passed the 1984 Ominibus Crime Bill, which first authorized
these horrible SWAT raids on American civilians.
Many people still don't believe us when we tell them how otherwise
well-mannered police behave as terrorists when they raid sick people,
but
just look at the violent and brutal tactics used by the government in
the
INS raid on the Gonzales home:
- --Photographer Tony Futamdo raced into the house just ahead of the
SWAT
team. He says people in the house were maced. He personally was knocked
down
and restrained and told he would be shot if he got up.
- --Uncle Lazaro was pinned against a wall at gunpoint with a "red dot"
visible on his head (from the laser sight). Several other people were
likewise "red dotted" and informed by agents not to move, or they would
be
shot.
- --The get-away driver of the white van wore a close fitting
face-covering
Ninja-style mask. Why?
We medical marijuana patients know from our own bitter experiences that
our
local police and sheriffs will enthusiastically adopt such practices as
"red
dotting" and Ninja masks to be used in future raids against us. We also
know that we can now expect more of our children to be snatched by SWAT
raids following the Gonzalez script. We know that we must now brace
ourselves for our own kids to be carried away from us in increasing
numbers,
at gunpoint, kicking and screaming, by female officers anxious to
emulate
the female INS agent in the Gonzales raid.
Thomas Jefferson once noted, "The two enemies of the people are
criminals
and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the
Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the
first." Too bad we didn't listen. Now, the very people who have been
elected
by us and sworn to "protect the Constitution against all enemies foreign
and
domestic" have become the domestic enemies of the very document that
empowers them.
Uncle Lazaro and the Cuban-Americans understand this. They know from
personal experience what tyrants are about and how to deal with them.
That
is why the Gonzales family is planning to sue Janet Reno and the
government
terrorists who invaded their home.
Medical marijuana patients have been slower to come to this realization,
but
we are finally understanding the lawsuits and indictments are the only
things that work against a government that can only rule by brute force.
See you in court.
--
>>>>====- Frank -===>>>
Leder ~ Initiativ for Ny Narkotikapolitikk (INN)
http://www.initiativ.org/
"I believe authoritarians are manufacturing and manipulating
public fears about drug use in order to create a police state
where a much broader agenda of social control can be implemented,
using government power to determine what movies we may watch,
determine who we may love and how we may love them, determine
whether we may or must pray to a deity. I believe the war on drug
users masks a war on democracy. After all, what is the vision of a
Drug-Free America? Millions in prison or slave labor, and only
enthusiastic supporters of government policy allowed to hold jobs,
attend school, have children, drive cars, own property. This is the
combined vision of utopia held forth by Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan,
George Bush, William Bennett, Daryl Gates, and thousands of other
drug warriors. News media and "public interest" advertising tell us
this is the America for which all good citizens yearn."
~ Richard Lawrence Miller - http://www.fear.org/prey.html &
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/media/rlmiller.htm