LPM OnlineMay 18, 1999 |
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The version you learned as a kid: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold. Moral: Hard work and thrift pays off.
The modern American version: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can it be that, in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Then a representative of the NAGB (The National Association of Green Bugs) shows up on Nightline and charges the ant with green bias, and makes the case that the grasshopper is the victim of 30 million years of greenism. Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when he sings "It's not easy being green." Bill and Hillary Clinton make a special guest appearance on the CBS Evening News to tell a concerned Dan Rather that they will do everything they can for the grasshopper who has been denied the prosperity he deserves by those who benefited unfairly during the Reagan summers. Richard Gephardt exclaims in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Greenism Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal hearing officers that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare moms who can only hear cases on Thursday's between 1:30 and 3 PM. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he's in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him since he doesn't know how to maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. And on the TV, which the grasshopper bought by selling most of the ant's food, they are showing Bill Clinton standing before a wildly applauding group of Democrats announcing that a new era of "fairness" has dawned in America.
http://www.MomentofSilence.org/ American bombs are killing thousands of people in Yugoslavia, right now. Many of them are innocent men, women, and children. Regardless of whether Milosovic and others Serbians are guilty of war crimes, I think it is important to remember that Yugoslavian civilians are not just "collateral damage." They are human beings. As a symbolic acknowledgment of these people's rights to life and liberty, thousands of people from around the world will be privately observing two minutes of silence for them at exactly 5pm Greenwich Mean Time on Monday, May 24, 1999. (12 noon in New York, 2pm in Buenos Aires, 6pm in Paris, 8pm in St. Petersburg, etc.) Many libertarians have been helping to organize this "silent" protest. U.S. Congressman Ron Paul will be observing the moment of silence, as will Harry Browne, Steve Dasbach, David Nolan, Robert Higgs, Lew Rockwell, and David Boaz. Will you join us? #1. Add your name to the home page at http://www.momentofsilence.org/ It is a simple but symbolic contribution. #2. Use the easy "e-mail your friends" form at http://www.momentofsilence.org/participate.html This is something you can forward to your friends and family without them thinking you're a nut. Seriously. You and your Aunt Beatrice might even find that you finally agree on something. My friend and fellow free-marketeer Paul told me that after he forwarded the message to his mother-in-law she was inspired to write her first-ever letter to the Prime Minister of Canada. (Why Canada? Perhaps she's Canadian.) Mark Hilgenberg Secretary, LP San Fernando Valley, CA
ACTION ITEM! ============ Medical marijuana online campaign reaching targeted officials ... but more action is needed by MAY 31! ---> ACT NOW! Go to http://www.215Now.com WHAT IS 215NOW.COM? =================== 215Now.com is a new website launched by the Libertarian Party of California. It is named after Proposition 215, the groundbreaking voter initiative that legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal use in California back in November, 1996. Specifically, Proposition 215 exempted patients from arrest as long as the patient had written or oral recommendation from a physician to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. Other states have passed similar measures: Arizona, Alaska, Washington state, Nevada, and Oregon. In 1998, voters in Colorado and the District of Columbia passed non-binding resolutions expressing support for medical marijuana. More states are considering medical marijuana legislation. When Proposition 215 was passed in California, medical marijuana patients breathed a sigh of relief. But the problems were just beginning. The federal government immediately announced that it would prosecute doctors who "recommended" marijuana for patients. California's then- Attorney General Dan Lungren, a Republican, declared his intention to implement Proposition 215 as narrowly as possible. Even today, two and a half years since the passage of Proposition 215, patients in California and other states live in fear of harassment, arrest, and prosecution. In July, 1998, LP member, best-selling author, and AIDS patients Peter McWilliams was arrested in his Los Angeles home -- three weeks after giving a speech at the Libertarian National Convention. In January, 1999, Steve Kubby -- the 1998 Libertarian candidate for governor of California -- was arrested along with his wife Michele. Despite being legitimate medical marijuana patients, the Kubbys now faces felony drug charges. Enough is enough. The Libertarian Party of California decided to take action and launch www.215Now.com because: * Patients are not getting access to the medicine they need * Patients are being harassed by law enforcement officers, arrested, and prosecuted * Doctors are afraid to recommend marijuana for their patients for fear that the federal government will revoke their Scheduled-drug prescription license * State governments are at odds over how to proceed This is a matter of life or death for thousands of patients. You can help with just a few clicks of the mouse. 215Now.com has already produced over 7,400 emails to targeted officials in federal government! But more action is needed TODAY! You do NOT have to live in California to sign the online petition -- anyone in the 50 states can sign! After you have signed the petition, an e-mail will be sent in your name to our four targeted federal government officials: 1 -- Dr. Jane Henney, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner 2 -- Donna Shalala, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services 3 -- Janet Reno, United States Attorney General 4 -- Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy WHY THESE TARGETS? ================== Phase I of our Internet campaign is called "Reschedule Marijuana NOW!" The biggest hurdle to implementing state medical marijuana initiatives -- those that have passed and those that may soon pass in your state -- is the legal status of marijuana at the federal level. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 established five "Schedules" where drugs are listed according to their addictive properties and accepted medicinal value. Schedule-I drugs are considered most dangerous while Schedule-V drugs are most benign. Marijuana is currently a federally-listed Schedule-I drug, making it illegal for doctors to prescribe marijuana for patients. By comparison, cocaine -- considered by many a far more addictive and dangerous drug than marijuana -- is listed as Schedule-II, and doctors can prescribe cocaine for certain specific conditions. Our four targets have the power to change marijuana's legal status at the federal level. Your petition will urge them to "Reschedule marijuana NOW!" so that doctors can legally prescribe marijuana for their patients. ACTION: WHAT TO DO! =================== We want to flood our targets' offices with thousands of e-mails. And time is running out. We are planning on launching Phase II of our campaign June 1st. So we need you to act NOW during Phase I -- and sign the online petition before May 31. (1) Go to http://www.215Now.com (2) Sign the petition to reschedule marijuana NOW! (3) Pass a note to your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and associates directing them to 215Now.com. Ask them to sign the petition as well, and to pass it on to folks in their e-mail address book. (4) Do this before May 31! Remember -- we want to show the federal government that this isn't just a California issue. The more petition signers from all across the country, the better! Your state may want to pass a medical marijuana initiative in the near future -- and will face the same problems California is facing unless you act NOW! Thank you for your help. FOR MORE INFORMATION: ===================== Libertarian Party of California 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 900 Sacramento, CA 95814 916-449-3941 E-mail: director@ca.lp.org Web: http://www.ca.lp.org
Please make certain that info regarding your meetings (location, time, program, etc.) is published every month in the appropriate forum in your local paper. We are currently receiving fairly substantial phone response to our radio advertising effort. This means that there is undoubtedly a large secondary group of folks who have heard the ad but are simply reticent to call a phone number as a first point of contact with the LP. This psychology of suspicion is true among the public generally, but especially so among those with libertarian inclinations who are, of course, the very people we wish to reach. These folks are often much more comfortable with the idea of paying an anonymous visit to a regularly scheduled meeting to check things out -- assuming they can find one. It would be highly advisable for you to make one person responsible for providing meeting info to your local paper every month (those affiliates in large metro areas might wish to seek out the editor of the "Local" section of their major dailies and address your monthly note to that particular person). Given our current outreach efforts, I would be very surprised if affiliates didn't experience a significant increase in "walk-ins." Let's make sure the newly interested know where to walk in to. |
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