50 of us will outnumber the Keene Police!

[d_goddard]

I think I've made it clear I have not given up on politics in NH.  It's definitely worth a shot.

How many people get arrested at MassCann?

Only those who make a point of trying to... like, blowing pot smoke in the police officer's face and saying, "you don't got the balls to arrest me, mofo!"
The police at MassCan almost never walk deep into the crowd (unless there's a fight or medical emergency), and it's deep in the crowd that some people have been known to light up the wacky tobbaccy.

[Kat Kanning]

The time I went there didn't seem to be any arrests.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Whats wrong with hippies?

[d_goddard]

Whats wrong with hippies?

Nothing at all... until they get old and curmudgeonly

[Kat Kanning]

Brute force and mass numbers.
The typical, brutish, mobocratic tactics...

Isn't this what voting is, by definition?  Always trying to outnumber your opponents?  Isn't that the heart of all political action?  Getting the votes...i.e. outnumbering the other poor slobs.

[Tom Sawyer]

"outnumber the cops"...?
*sigh* 

Brute force and mass numbers.
The typical, brutish, mobocratic tactics of the CD crowd.

Gee Denis I started reading your message and thought yeah he has it right... until I got to the assumption that the CD crowd has a monopoly on this idea. Isn't democracy mob rule... if we get enough people we win?

The CD that you later point to that was successful is the MLK, Ganhdi, Jesus approach... which goes along with your hearts and minds approach. We all sometimes suffer from "Myopic Vision" and "Flawed Assumptions". This nonsense that either you support having to beg the legislature or you want to throw a brick through a Star Bucks window is just polarization.

Politics polarizes people most of the time... not that it isn't an avenue to pursue, just don't think that the radicals have a monopoly on turning off the citizens. I've seen folks like Caleb and Russell make friends and allies with the broader audience, while I've also watched politico's call anyone who isn't conservative commies and turn off even me who is on their side.

As an example of how radical ideas have more traction than we sometimes believe... today some progressive folks I was talking to out of the blue were speaking favorably of secession. It doesn't mean that it will happen, but if we give people a chance to see that others are unhappy and want radical change it can shift things in a favorable direction.

On the marijuana issue... people that have had love ones punished by these ridiculous laws are our best hope of having the incentive to want to change the laws. Pot is defacto legal to anyone that wants to sit in their house and get high. That is why most users are not all up in arms about it. The current enforcement (mostly) catches the "low hanging fruit", the young and minorities that are easy prey to the cops. And make no mistake about it... it is a massive jobs program for the enforcers, courts, jails and "treatment" industries. If you think the beauty shop owners fought to protect their profits... that's small potatoes compared to this.

Just my thoughts.

[davemincin]

Whats wrong with hippies?

Hey Lloyd...as best I can remember nothin! ...Believe many of the folks, spent to much
time believen what they read in the books, or watchin those specials on TV!

[slim]

Ian, I like your idea of a smoke-out but after being at porcfest I don't know what type of turnout you might get. A speaker there from Norml asked by a show of hands how many people smoked marijuana and I was shocked to see maybe 10 people raise their hands. I think it is sad that even porcupines won't even admit to smoking while in a group of Free Staters. 

[FrankChodorov]

Isn't democracy mob rule...

not if done within a deliberative body (like town meeting) as people can not be easily manipulated in direct, face-to-face, human-scale democracy.

today some progressive folks I was talking to out of the blue were speaking favorably of secession.

not if it means going back to "robber baron" capitalism - that is not progress...

[FrankChodorov]

Ian, I like your idea of a smoke-out but after being at porcfest I don't know what type of turnout you might get. A speaker there from Norml asked by a show of hands how many people smoked marijuana and I was shocked to see maybe 10 people raise their hands. I think it is sad that even porcupines won't even admit to smoking while in a group of Free Staters. 

maybe the people at Porcfest just personally think smoking pot is a dumb idea...not because it is illegal.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I must have been out getting high.  I don't remember that speaker.

[FTL_Ian]

Ian, I like your idea of a smoke-out but after being at porcfest I don't know what type of turnout you might get. A speaker there from Norml asked by a show of hands how many people smoked marijuana and I was shocked to see maybe 10 people raise their hands. I think it is sad that even porcupines won't even admit to smoking while in a group of Free Staters. 

Well, there are a number of admitted pot smokers that are heading to Keene.  It would not take a huge number to make it a newsworthy event.

[citizen_142002]

One or two cops can bust a lot of people, I don't think there's a shortage of handcuffs. All they have to do is ID you and get you at a later point.

[tracysaboe]

Ian, I like your idea of a smoke-out but after being at porcfest I don't know what type of turnout you might get. A speaker there from Norml asked by a show of hands how many people smoked marijuana and I was shocked to see maybe 10 people raise their hands. I think it is sad that even porcupines won't even admit to smoking while in a group of Free Staters. 

Or maybe they really don't smoke it. Maybe they believe their's more to freedom then being able to smoke dope.

Tracy

[d_goddard]

It would not take a huge number to make it a newsworthy event.

Not to beat a dead horse (OK, that's exactly what I'm doing) but again: a big event with news media is a good way to ensure any legislative process will fail. When governments do this kinds of thing we call it "blowback" and note how heavy-handed tactics fail to win hearts and minds.

So... humor me, do me a favor: have the biggest, most media-egaged smokeout ever -- after we do our best shot playing everything by the rules and above-board.

Paradoxially, doing a large CD after a bill fails is a good way to build momentum to try it again in 2 years' time. The people who would oppose us and be offended will have simmered down & forgotten by then; the people who would be energized by it will not.

And of course, we could win the legislative battle, in which case this would be a lovely bit of video to distribute to peaceful potsmokers worldwide