Politics: The Ceaseless Argument Over Who Gets To Do What To Whom, For How Long, And Against What Degree Of Dissent. By any measure, Alex White Plume is a remarkable man. Now 49, he was raised in the unconscionable United States' ghetto called Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, surviving a typical reservation youth-hood of fighting, drinking and womanizing. Undergoing a spiritual transition, White Plume initiated the annual Big Foot Ride in 1986. It commemorates the blizzard-lashed journey of Big Foot's band through the Badlands to their mass murder at Wounded Knee in December, 1890. For fifteen years, the Ride has offered opportunity for participants -- Indians and non-Indians -- to connect through shared experience with those who endured the journey, massacre, and aftermath. [continues 814 words]
Politics: The Ceaseless Argument Over Who Gets To Do What To Whom, For How Long, And Against What Degree Of Dissent. A few days ago, a South Dakota senator and I ran into each other. He said he'd been wanting to talk to me. "Bob, you know I will support hemp and medical marijuana as soon as the federal government endorses them." Wondering what, exactly, brought this up, I said, "That's brave." "Thanks," he said. (Two checkmarks in the "moron" column so far , none in the "sane" or "intelligent" columns.) [continues 1303 words]
Politics: The Ceaseless Argument Over Who Gets To Do What To Whom, For How Long, And Against What Degree Of Dissent. "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals to go around, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws." --Ayn Rand The most important issue on any ballot anywhere will appear on the November, 2002, general election ballot in South Dakota. Referenced by the Secretary of State as "Proposed Constitutional Amendment A", its proponents refer to it as the "Common Sense Justice Amendment", and say it will "restore common sense to the courtroom". I agree with them that it is a good start in that direction. [continues 1460 words]
Politics: The Ceaseless Argument Over Who Gets To Do What To Whom, For How Long, And Against What Degree Of Dissent. When Senator Ron Volesky (D-Huron) introduced a medical cannabis bill in the South Dakota legislature in January, he specified the appropriate medical conditions for marijuana therapy as "glaucoma and nausea from cancer chemotherapy", thus excluding all other medical conditions for which cannabis might have an application. I testified in the Senate State Affairs Committee that the conditions under which one might use cannabis legally should be broadened to all conditions in which patient and doctor concur in the therapeutic use of cannabis. [continues 1428 words]
