Suicide Searches

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 05 Aug 2005 12:00:00 GMT

Albany (NY) Times Union - Wrong and dangerous - an editorial disagreeing with a New York Assemblyman that racial profiling would improve the effectiveness of searches in New York City's subways. I sent the following letter to the editor:

Suicide Searches

I agree with the TU's August 4 editorial that Assemblyman Dov Hikind is wrong and dangerous to suggest using racial profiling to determine who to search in New York City's subways. But I disagree with your reason.

We're talking about suicide bombers here. If a suicide bomber is stopped for a search, what do you suppose he'll do? Stand there while the bomb is discovered and he is arrested? I don't think so. He'll set it off right there, killing the cops doing the searches and the people in line. Mission accomplished.

Get used to it. Suicide bombers cannot be stopped. Not even turning America into a police state by shredding the last vestiges of the Fourth Amendment will work. Searches without a warrant aren't allowed in the America I learned about in Junior High School Civics, and there's been no Constitutional amendment since then to change that fact.

Fortunately, there aren't any suicide bombers in New York's subways. At least not yet. But even if there were, searching every man, woman, child, and seeing-eye dog that goes through the turnstiles wouldn't help. It's a feel-good knee-jerk non-solution to an imaginary problem.

Unless, of course, the real problem is that the "authorities" want more power.

# I created a Free Marc Emery page, and changed the banner at the top of the left-hand column to point to it. It has an outline of Marc's predicament and links to information resources and stories. A good central repository for information about the case.

# Dana Larsen at Cannabis Culture - Emery and Williams still in jail - bail for Marc Emery was set at $50,000, but not just cash. It's $10,000 in cash plus four $10,000 "surities" from homeowners living in British Columbia who know Mr. Emery personally. Ditto for Greg Williams, but the amounts are halved. So far they haven't found four such people who can show up simultaneously at the Vancouver Court House. They've been in jail for a week. If you can help, call the BC Marijuana Bookshop at 604-684-2803. I read a couple of posts on the Cannabis Culture discussion boards saying that they've got the surities and Marc and Greg will get out today, but I haven't seen it anywhere else yet. [cannabisculture]

# Michael Cust and Peter Jaworski at LewRockwell.com - Block the Extradition of a Hero for Liberty - Good review of Marc Emery's political activism career. A good time to read or re-read my 2001 essay, The Lie of Cannabis Prohibition. Remember folks, the narcs are the criminals here. Every one of them should get life or death for kidnapping.

Mr. Cust & Mr. Jaworski have started a Free Marc Emery blog. Jason Cherniak, one of that blog's contributors, has his own Marc Emery is a Political Prisoner blog. [loretta]

# Tim Peppin at the gateway - Marc Emery must not be extradited - good Canadian editorial on why it would be criminal to give Marc Emery to the apes in the U.S. [google]

What does trouble me about Mr Emery's arrest is that it was not initiated by Canadian law enforcement. The investigation and subsequent arrest of Mr Emery was a result of the attentions of the American Drug Enforcement Administration, an agency which is now requesting his extradition. If extradited, he will be tried on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and marijuana seeds, and conspiracy to launder money. Given his unabashed involvement in the legalization movement and the simple existence of a seed distribution company bearing his name, a conviction would be assured. The maximum sentence, when convicted, is life imprisonment.

Now I understand that as a sovereign nation, the United States has the right to create and enforce any laws which it chooses, no matter how ludicrous. But Canada has the right--and the obligation--to protect its citizens from persecution deemed injust or excessive. Surely we must admit that in a country which no longer prosecutes the distribution of marijuana seeds, which in many areas willfully neglects to prosecute the traffic of marijuana, and which as a whole is considering its decriminalization, the extradition of a political activist to face some of the harshest prison sentences and conditions on the continent is inconsistent, to put it mildly.

# Patrick Maloney at The London Free Press - Emery faces biggest battle - good summary of the case and Mr. Emery's history. [google]

# Jack Herer - How Dangerous Is Marijuana Compared with Other Substances? - Marijuana has no lethal dose. Say that again. Marijuana has no lethal dose. Good statistics from the author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

# William S. Lind at LewRockwell.com - Modern War Symposium - Mr. Lind attended a symposium on modern war called by a retired USMC colonel. They were discussing how to prevent a fourth generation war in America. Their conclusion? A militia. Other than the idea of paying the militia members with stolen tax dollars, this idea is, of course, a great one. It's not new, however, being the method envisioned by America's Founders back in the eighteenth century. [clairefiles]

# Fred on Everything - Community-Based Policing: Round And Round And Back Again - why community-based policing doesn't work, except in communities where it's not necessary. [pournelle]

# Winchester Rifles & Shotguns - Model 94, Timber - chambered in the manly .450 Marlin caliber. 18" ported barrel, 4-round magazine. Fully-adjustable XS brand ghost ring rear sight. Drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Pachmayr® Decelerator® recoil pad. $610 retail. There's a review in the September 2005 issue of Shooting Times. I'm a Marlin man myself, but I'm tempted. [shooting]

Add comment Edit post Add post

Previous Posts:
Becker Knife & Tool
Free Marc Emery
Marc Emery Kidnapped
Neocons Shred U.S. Military
July 2005
Finished HBP
What Eighth Amendment?
Free Marc Emery
PGP Creator Does VoIP
FetchBook.Info

Navigation

History

Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair