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Almost always, through out history, the creative dedicated, nonviolent minority has made the world a better place.

"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals. The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood." Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us, "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

Violent, hate filled, morally bankrupt, authoritarian warmongers are a different species than us, mere human beings. They use fear and propaganda to make us more accepting of their waste of our precious lives and resources. They are the opposite of true patriots; who believe in the American dream of self government and value public safety first! "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."- MLK

Our flag is a symbol of liberty, justice and freedom! It is a beacon for hope in a troubled world. Don't let its reputation be tarnished by incidents of torture and other war crimes. Recapture the Flag by demanding a government that respects human rights, leadership that rejects all forms of corruption, and elected officials who fiercely challenge anyone who seeks to undermine the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. One of 2011 Rebels with Just Cause portraits goes to Bradley Manning for posting Afghanistan war diaries on wikileaks. It is not a crime to expose war crimes.

"An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law." - MLK. Marc Emery is our hero and wins the other 2011 portrait for taking a stand for justice against a morally bankrupt, violence triggering, nightmare policy.

Prohibition is ALWAYS evil, whether the contraband is people, drugs, arms, etc. Prohibition always attracts morally bankrupt, violent people to whom the contraband is just disposable inventory or evidence. A fellow reformer at Drug Policy Forum of Texas noted, "In the 1850s, one slaver ship captain was being pursued by a British naval vessel -- Britain had made transporting slaves illegal -- and he weighted down his cargo of over 350 people and threw them overboard so he wouldn't be captured with any evidence of smuggling!" Join the discussion!

Harassing the sick and dying is an un-American activity! It is overkill and morally bankrupt to arrest nonviolent people for making a safer health choice, cannabis or marijuana, compared to other medicinal/social drugs. The people believe in self-government and self-medication. "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people. Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." - MLK

Brutal, morally bankrupt, prohibition supports despicable people who sell drugs to children, recruit them to sell to their peers and arm them to kill the competition. Across America paramilitary drug raids trigger violence rather than lessen the risk. Again, overkill, to use such force on a nonviolent health issue. All this unconscionable bloodshed is on the hands of leadership as much as those who pulled the trigger or contributed to the endless bloody slaughter. It is a policy created problem! We are all caught betwixt and between in this scandalous reefer madness war on some drugs.

“The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” - MLK The ravages of homemade meth can disappear like the deaths and blindness caused by bathtub gin ended after repeal of alcohol prohibition. Overdose deaths were unheard of before this war because overdoses were reported to medical personnel without fear of arrest.

"Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress." - MLK.

Why let murderers and other violent predators roam free, while we police nonviolent adult social, medicinal and religious drug use? Regulation, science based education and treating abuse as a medical problem is a better drug policy that increases public safety and harm reduction plus frees up billions in wasted funds to use incarcerating the violent and sexual predators.

Help end this irrational policy by writing letters with the help of DrugSense.

Six drug former czars composed an OpEd for the Los Angeles Times, laying out their senseless opposition to Prop 19. Just say NO to drug czars and warriors! Just say NOW to Prop 19!

In Oregon a Citizens' Initiative Review panel voted in support of Measure 74.

Colorado voters will be busy this fall deciding a variety of local initiatives. Passage of one measure would allow "medical marijuana-infused products manufacturers within the City of Ouray. However, voters in at least seven other Counties could ban dispensaries all together!

While DrugSense provides this information for free, it's not free to produce. Please support their unique way of following ballot initiatives by making a generous donation. They are an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so your contribution is both tax deductible and funds a great cause.

Go to these links for details concerning ballot initiatives in California, Oregon, and Colorado along with others in Arizona and South Dakota. Just say NO to any more wasted resources, unnecessary violence and destruction of lives and families! Just say NOW to Prop 19!

"During my 18 years of police service I was dispatched to zero calls generated by the use of pot. Alcohol use generated some 1300, including murder, suicide, rape, child abuse, felonious, aggravated and simple assault/battery. Pot is a much safer drug than alcohol both for the user and those around them." Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired) Drug Policy Specialist at COP, CitizensOpposingProhibition, noted recently. Howard is in California now getting a lot of press and garnering support for Prop 19.

The best way to go after the cartel's cash cow (estimated at 70% of it) is to legalize marijuana sales globally. We have the factual information available. Let's construct science based drug policies about saving and rehabilitating instead of ruining lives. Drug treatment is at least five times less costly than prison. Change to ethical policy and show fiscal responsibility!

Now is the time to insist American warriors get their adrenaline rush catching murderers and other violent predators. I understand that it will not be possible to stop all murders and rapes. However, get tough on violent crime! Restore Justice, the guardian of liberty!

Folks in the Netherlands use marijuana, it is de facto legal there, at less than half the rate of Americans and they use cocaine and heroin even less than that. In fact, crime, drug use by teenagers, HIV, overdoses and heroin use all declined after Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001. The money the Portuguese are saving on law enforcement is used for education and medical treatment.

Asthmatic medical marijuana patient Chris Diaz faces up to life in prison for a half-ounce of marijuana and three grams of hash in Brown County. Quadriplegic medical marijuana patient Chris Cain also faces charges in Beaumont.

"You've got to be kidding me. You don't give drug addicts life in prison, so why would you do that to a patient with a legitimate recommendation from another state?" asks Stephen Betzen, director of the Texas Coalition for Compassionate Care, which is lobbying for a medical marijuana bill next year in the state legislature.

"It's critical that we develop a federal medical marijuana law so that people are not treated differently in Texas than in California, and patients who need this medicine in Texas should be allowed to use it without fear of arrest and prosecution. Americans for Safe Access is committed not only to encouraging states to pass medical marijuana laws irrespective of federal policy, but also to push the federal government to develop a policy that will treat patients equitably no matter where in the US they live," noted Kris Hermes, spokesman for ASA.

We are rebels with just cause, when we exercise our right to nullify bad laws like those brave jurors who refused to convict during the Fugitive Slave Act and until FDR said the Volstead Act was licked! Jury nullification is a constitutional power tool we the people pack.

Tim Stevens, 53, who uses medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of HIV won acquittal on marijuana possession charges in 2008 in Amarillo based on a “necessity defense.” - which requires the defendant to establish that an otherwise illegal act was necessary to avoid imminent harm more serious than the harm prevented by the law he or she broke, rarely been successful in Texas, but the jury took just 11 minutes to acquit.

The debate over medical marijuana or cannabis is really a scandalous controversy over whether this inexpensive, effective, safe, very easy to grow herb should be allowed to compete with expensive, dangerous, possibly fatal pharmaceuticals and social drugs for pennies on the dollar!

"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." - George Bernard Shaw. Morally bankrupt profiteers are destroying the American dream of self government, free of tyranny and oppression. The Constitution doesn't authorize Congress to subsidize industries or grant special favors for particular businesses. Many Legislators are outright servants of tyranny; good at ignoring the rule of law, history and science while catering to the needs of special interests but very bad at determining what is best or safer for the individual or society.

The wasted resources and the destruction of lives and families will continue as usual unless we change to a regulated, community-based policy using science-based education and treatment, a safer drug policy for the user and society.

One of the 2010 Rebel with Just Cause portraits goes to Willie Nelson for his passionate support for marijuana legalization. The other will be awarded to Daniel Ellsberg for the documentary "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." The Oscar-nominated account of Pentagon insider, Ellsberg's daring endeavor to leak top-secret government papers that disclosed shocking truths about the Vietnam War and Nixon's presidency. They are our heroes of the decade, maybe the past century.

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." King continues, "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

All God's children rebel against authoritarian churches, parents and governments! Like Martin, I believe we the meek, the nonviolent, shall overcome the violent and inherit the earth. In the name of justice and humanity, the nonviolent path, respecting individual rights and ending our big bully foreign and domestic policies will make us safer.

Congress has voted to increase its own pay but decided Social Security recipients will not see a cost-of-living increase this year. Some recipients may in fact see a decrease in their checks from rising Medicare premiums. Our fearless leaders best figure out how to replace the funds they siphoned off SS in the past. November is fast approaching!

Track your Senators' and Representative's votes by e-mail

Changing who's in charge will not affect much. The real cause of this huge quagmire of failed policy is the beast, big government, that money hungry beast, Uncle Sam! Ma Freedom tells it like it is! The beauty of it is when we focus on down-sizing our government we regain our roots of self-government and secure the blessings of liberty for future generations and ourselves.

Compiled and written by Colleen McCool