5:49 pm CDT
More on the Supreme Court's Ruling on Medical Marijuana:

Via bOING-bOING:

On politech, Declan McCullagh writes:

Today's decision in Gonzales v. Raich hints at how the Supreme Court would rule on other cases dealing with federalism. It also shows the lack of respect that six of the current Supreme Court justices have for the plain text of the Constitution: Link

Perhaps liberals will overcome their conventional distaste for Justice Thomas and read his critique of how the majority got it wrong: Link

Background: Link.

Below is GMU law professor David Bernstein's take, excerpted. It's worth reading. He's being diplomatic: another way to say it is that we live during a time of rule by men and women on the bench and in Congress, each governed by personal whims and predilections and fears. The rule of law, with a federal government properly limited by constitutional dictates, no longer exists.

Link to full text of Bernstein's analysis on politechbot.com.

9:40 am CDT
Update on Medical Marijuana

Pot Clubs, Patients Vow Business As Usual

8:32 pm CDT
Fourth Reich News



In 1991, my brother-in-law Larry was diagnosed with AIDS. Doctors did not expect him to live more than a year. But he surprised us by living seven more years-seven good years, too, all things considered. To a great extent, this was due to the combined palliative and therapeutic effects of marijuana.

Nor was he alone. Through Larry, we got to know a great many AIDS patients. Many of them used marijuana, and most experienced the same benefits: a longer, and somewhat better, life than they might otherwise have had.

This blessed relief from the ravages of a horrible disease, given to us by God in the form of a simple plant, was of course illegal. And still is. And will likely remain so for a long time, thanks to our beloved Supreme Court which ruled today that state laws do not protect medical marijuana users from federal prosecution. Only the Congress, it stated, can lift the federal ban on medical marijuana.

This will not happen any time soon, of course. This is the same Congress, you will recall, that is currently considering H.R. 1528, the most outrageous "anti-drug" legislation ever proposed.

If this legislation is passed (and there is a good chance it will be), imagine the consequences with regard to the medical marijuana issue.

For instance, if you were to learn that your sister, who has children, procured marijuana for her husband who was dying of cancer, and if you did not report this horrible crime in 24 hours, you would be committing a crime yourself, punishable by a mandatory minimum of two years in prison.

For the time being, there is little we can do about the medical marijuana issue, but we can raise our voices about H.R. 1528 and maybe we'll be heard. For more information about this fascist legislation, and to learn what you can do, go HERE.

3:06 CDT
Taser Report

Palm Beach, Florida: A 22-year-old woman is pulled over for speeding. A check on her drivers license reveals that it's suspended. The cop tells her she's under arrest and orders her out of the car. She refuses. He threatens to Taser her if she doesn't get out of the car immediately. Still she doesn't move. She is wrong, of course, but her refusal presents no threat to the officer's safety; there are other ways he and his partner, big strong men, can handle this situation. But no, having made the threat, he now must follow through; he Tasers her. Then, while she is still screaming and reeling from the pain, he orders her out of the car once more. This time she does not refuse; she says simply, "I can't." So he Tasers her again. See video of the incident HERE. Read more about it HERE.

10:48 am CDT
H.R. 1528

You're at a party. Someone passes you a joint. You take a toke, or maybe you don't; either way, you politely pass the joint along to the next guy who unbeknownst to you has been through a drug treatment program. Guess what, you've just earned yourself a minimum five-year prison sentence.

Even worse, unbeknownst to you, he's under 18, thus adding another 10 years to your sentence.

It's possible, of course, that you won't get caught committing this heinous crime; however, unbeknownst to you, a neighbor who showed up at the front door to complain about the noise saw you pass the joint. If he doesn't report the incident to the police within 24 hours, he could earn a minimum two-year sentence. Not being the kind of guy to take chances, he immediately calls the police.

The above nightmare scenario could become reality if Congress passes H.R. 1528, Defending America's Most Vulnerable: Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act of 2005.

Read more about this monstrosity (there are many more ramifications than described in the above scenario):

Sensenbrenner's Snitch-or-Go-to-Jail Bill

12:55 pm CDT
In Dubya We Trust

One of these days we're going to wake up with a different attitude. All the distrust we now feel towards our government will be gone. We will no longer believe that a conspiracy was behind the death of JFK, or that 9/11 was an inside job; in fact, we will believe only the official explanations of these events, and will believe it impossible for anyone in our government to engage in a conspiracy of any kind. And we will accept the necessity of the Patriot Act and other laws that limit our freedom, and it will never occur to us ever again to question authority on any point. We will in fact worship authority; we will bow down and pray each day to the president and never hesitate to hand over our children as cannon fodder for any war. We will see all wars as good, and there will be no atrocity our government can commit that we will not believe is justified and sanctified by God.

And oh, how happy we will be! Gone will be the paranoia that now plagues our days; gone will be the worry, gone will be the fear, gone will be the moral outrage that compels us to fight injustice and the fascist encroachments on our freedom; gone will be all negative emotions of any kind, and in their place there will be only positive emotions. If any tears will be shed at all, they will be tears of gratitude that we no longer have to protest, or write congressmen, or post news links and polemics on our blogs. This will be a great burden lifted, and it will feel very good. We will know once again the simple trust we knew as children, and will be so happy that, even if we still retained the capacity to question, we will not question how, or why, the change occurred.

But if we should perchance learn the reason for the change--if we should learn that it was brought on by the government spraying the air with a Trust Hormone--it will not bother us. For we will harbor no doubts that it was done for our own good--and, as I say, we will be happy and will not want our happiness to be undone.

Scientists Experiment With 'Trust' Hormone

12:51 pm CDT
Profit Yahweh

Roy Tompkins sent me the following link about "Prophet Yahweh." It discusses the Prophet's probable use of balloons to stage the hoax and also contains a link to some photos of the Prophet holding some balloons:

A False Prophet

Also, on the Above Top Secret message board, someone posted a list of domain names (nationofisrael.tv, brothersandsistersforpolygamy.com, etc.) owned by the Prophet:

Prophet Yahweh Exposed

10:06 pm CDT
A READER WRITES: I just read your article on the "prophet". The only thing is, the TV station picked the time and the place for the interview, so I don't see how he could have planned it to coincide with an experimental aircraft test (or how he would have a knowledge of the Air Force's experimental aircraft flight schedule, for that matter).

And I've never seen a balloon act the way that thing in the video did.

I'm not saying I think this guy is performing miracles or is in contact with UFO's - it very well could be (and the skeptic in me screams that it probably is) some kind of hoax, but if the station picked the time and the place, I don't see how it can be written off as impressive timing.

That's just my un-solicited (and I'm sure unwanted) 2 cents.

Love your website, by the way.

Thanks for writing. Your two-cents-worth is always welcome here.

Yes, the tv station picked the time and place for the interview; however, we were not told when the station told "Prophet Yahweh" the time and place. For all we know, it might have been the day before the interview, or a few hours before-ample time for the Prophet to pass this information along to a confederate whose job it would be to release the balloon. (Even a few minutes would have been ample time.)

As for the unusual movement of the balloon, I would suggest that it was tethered to a fast-moving vehicle which first sped away (in the direction of Nellis AFB), then sped back. The balloon's subsequent disappearance into "outer space" could be caused simply by releasing it.

If the UFO was not a balloon, then we are left with one other possible explanation-that the sighting was a PsyOps accomplished with top-secret military technology. If this seems far fetched, consider that it is not nearly as far fetched as a t-shirt-clad "prophet" summoning UFOs from Outer Space through the Power of Prayer; it is also not without precedent (see Jacques Vallee's "Messengers of Deception").

For such a PsyOps to succeed, of course, there would have to be some sort of collusion between Prophet Yahweh, the Air Force, and ABC-TV affiliate KTNV. This, too, is not far fetched; it would not be the first time the government and mainstream media colluded to deceive the public. And what do we know about Prophet Yahweh? Only what we have been told ...

11:32 am CDT
Plan 9 from Nellis AFB



"Future events such as these will affect you in the future ..."

The press release stated that one Prophet Yahweh (aka Ramon Watkins) had the power to summon UFOs by reading from the Old Testament and would soon demonstrate this power for the news media.

It is the sort of press release you would expect mainstream news organizations to ignore. After all, they routinely ignore press releases about real matters of vital importance such as depleted uranium, asparteme, RFID chips, chemtrails, the Bilderberg conference, and the missile that hit the Pentagon. Surely, Prophet Yahweh's extravagant claim would not be given preferential treatment over these matters; surely it too would be ignored.

But no, it got the immediate attention of ABC-TV affiliate KTNV in Las Vegas. Sensing a big story--perhaps the Biggest Story of All Time-KTNV sent a news crew to investigate.

In the news segment that was broadcast (SEE IT HERE), the t-shirt-clad Prophet Yahweh can be seen praying fervently for the UFO to appear so that people will not think him "mentally ill." The tv reporter waits patiently nearby; this is, after all, the Biggest Story of All Time, therefore worth waiting for.

Then, suddenly, just when we are about to lose faith in Prophet Yahweh, the wait is over. It happens. A Glowing Round Thing appears in the sky. It hangs there for a while, then shoots away to ... Nellis Air Force Base.

The proximity of Nellis AFB, however, greatly diminishes the value of the miracle. Nellis is the home of the top-secret testing facility Area 51, where numerous "UFOs" have been sighted over the years. Therefore, predicting you will see a Glowing Round Thing there is like predicting you will see cars on a freeway.

But at least it can be said that the timing of the miracle is impressive, somewhat. I mean, you have to marvel over the Prophet's knowledge of Area 51's schedule for testing its Glowing Round Things-assuming, of course, that this particular Glowing Round Thing belongs to the Air Force and is not a balloon released by a confederate of the Prophet.

None of these possibilities seem to have occurred to the KNTV reporter; in the video, he appears properly impressed by the miracle. And if a mainstream news reporter is impressed, we should be impressed as well, shouldn't we? Why waste our time worrying over such trivial matters as depleted uranium, asparteme, chemtrails, RFID chips, etc. when there is the far more pressing matter of Glowing Round Things in the Sky?

And take heed; we have not seen the last of these miracles. For yea, Prophet Yahweh predicts that very soon a Glowing Round Thing will appear in the skies over Las Vegas ...

'Prophet' Summons UFO for Camera: Las Vegas TV Station Captures, Broadcasts Image

Rigorous Intuition: "Prophet Yahweh" Stands and Delivers?

12:22 am CDT
Memorial Day

Twain's Ghost: Things to Remember on Memorial Day

11:20 am CDT
The World ID Card

US wants to be able to access Britons' ID cards

7:20 pm CDT
Meanwhile back at the ranch ...

My alter ego (secret identity!?) (doppelganger?) (Evil Twin?) (Good Twin!?) Bison Bill has started his own blog. There will be regular updates on all things Western: funny, fanciful, fictitious, and factual. Hope you enjoy it. You'll find it at the new, improved Bison Bill's Weird West ...

7:20 pm CDT
Hey, Wild Bill, Wait for Me!



The above sure does bring back memories. (Ah, the 50s. It all seems like such a long time ago. Come to think of it, it WAS a long time ago!) Found this image on The Imaginary World. In addition to retro ads, store displays, photos of 50s supermarkets, cereal premiums, oddball toys, postcards from forgotten theme parks, etc., you'll also discover the great cartoons of Dan Goodsell. Check it out ...

7:18 pm CDT
FBI Loses Two Rounds

Librarian Stands Up to FBI-and Wins

FBI Ordered to Release Documents Indicating Foreknowledge of the OKC Bomb

7:16 pm CDT
The Murder of Princess Di

Police Reveal They Cannot Rule Out Possibility Di Was Murdered

7:14 pm CDT
GannonGuckertGoschGate

New Leads in the Johnny Gosch Case

Gosch Case Implicates CIA, US Officials: Iowa TV