Letter to the Editor
This November when Americans vote in the mid-term elections for Congress if the Democrats have passed health care reform, banking regulations, and consumer credit card protection, and if Democrats have a record of accomplishment – and they did it all without a single Republican vote – then Democrats are going to win big. So in order for Republicans to win they have to make sure that America fails. Republicans have to work against the interest of the people and then try to blame it on the Democrats in order to win.
Republicans could have chosen to work with Democrats and share in the glory of fixing the problems that they created under Bush, but Republicans chose not to do that. Republican are counting on voter anger to win. I think the idea of winning through failure is a really bad idea. Republicans have a duty to America to work in the best interest of the people rather than in the best interest of themselves.
Letter to the Editor
There’s a difference between being a follower and a leader and the Democrats haven’t figured that out. Many Dems are trying to decide of health care reform based on polling or the number of people calling their office. What Democrats should be doing is what is right for America. If they fail to pass the Senate health care bill next week we will never see reform in our life time and insurance premiums will skyrocket. I can’t imagine the Democrats wanting to get reelected after failing to pass health care reform. It seems to me that if they don’t know what to do they should just do the opposite of want the Republicans want them to do.
Letter to the Editor
Democrats are wondering what to do about health care reform. Do they vote for it or let it die? The Republicans and the big insurance companies want very much for health care reform to fail. So if the Democrats don’t know what to do, maybe they should do the opposite of what the Republicans want them to do. Democrats can win if they find the courage to make the Republicans fail to stop reform.
Letter to the Editor
People are wondering, “What will it take to get the Democrats to pass health care reform?” Well – Rush Limbaugh said that he would leave the country if health care reform passed. So Democrats – there’s your reason! Or are you holding out for Glenn Beck to make the same promise?
Letter to the Editor
There’s and old political joke that goes like this. “What is the opposite of progress? Congress!” But that joke has never been more true than it has lately. This is especially true of the Senate. I’m not sure which is worse, that a single senator held up government to settle a political score or the fact that the rest of the senate let him do it. Senators from both parties hold up important legislation and appointments to get their little piece of pork for themselves and their district. America is in big trouble and our elected officials aren’t taking their jobs seriously. “The People” are supposed to be the owners of America. But to these politicians “The People” is little more than a slogan they use in their political ads.
On January 27th the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a non decision decision in the case of the Church of Reality vs. the DEA over the church’s request for exemption for religious use of marijuana. In it’s decision the court denies the Church of Reality due process of law.
“This decision isn’t a decision for us or against us.” contends Marc Perkel, founder of the Church of Reality. “This decision is no decision at all.”
In 2006 the Supreme Court made a landmark decision in the case of Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal (the UDV case) where the court decided the religious rights trumps Schedule 1 drugs and asserts the “Strict Scrutiny” standard in dealing with claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Shortly after this decision was made Marc Perkel representing the Church of Reality applied to the DEA on March 24th 2006 for an exemption for marijuana use for church members claiming that the facts of the Church of Reality were virtually identical to what the Supreme Court already decided.
11 months later the DEA agreed that the Church of Reality might have the right to use marijuana if it met the requirements set out by the court and sent a few letters asking questions about the Church of Reality’s religious practices. In October 1st 2008 the DEA denied the church’s request for exemption in a 33 page decision. The Church of Reality appealed the DEA’s decision to the Ninth Circuit.
This case is the first case to make it to the appellate court level since the UDV case of 2006 when the Supreme Court determined religions has a Fisrt Amendment right to use Schedule 1 drugs making this a case of first impression.
Because this is a “strict scrutiny” case and because it is a case of first impression the Ninth Circuit has a higher standard of review than with most cases. Perkel, founder of the Church of Reality contends that a court can not determine a case like this with an unpublished memorandum decision that’s 2 paragraphs long. Perkel contends that in a strict scrutiny case that the court has to at least mention scrict scrutiny and recite the strict scrutiny standard. That without doing that that the decision doesn’t rise to the level of being a decision.
“What happen here I believe”, says perkel, “is that this case was never actually read by a judge. I think that a law clerk with instructions to cull the pile and reduce the case backlog wrote this decision and represented it as the decision of the 3 judge panel. I think that because I am representing myself and because I’m not a lawyer that the court thought they could pull a fast one on me and that I wasn’t smart enough to catch it. What the Ninth Circuit doesn’t understand is that there are non lawyers who also understand the law.”
This is not a case about drugs. This is a case about religion. The UDV case that the Supreme Court decided in 2006 was about drugs, and drugs won. This is the first case since the UDV case was decided to get this far through the system. This case is about religion. What defines a religion? Can a religion that is based on believing in everything that is real be a religion?
Many people might be asking, “What is the connection of a reality based religion to marijuana?”
First – the idea for the Church of Reality itself was a marijuana inspired idea. On November 7th 1998 Marc Perkel, founder of the Church of Reality was ast home smoking a joint and thinking about religion. He was wondering about the idea of the “one true religion” if there were such a thing. How would one determine what that religion would look like? “Well,” he thought, “the one true religion would believe in everything that was real.” Then the name “Church of Reality” came to mind. Was there such a thing?
The next day he did a web search (Yahoo) and there was no church of reality so he registered the domain name and the Church of Reality was born.
Not only was the idea marijuana inspired, but most of the church doctrine was written while stoned. “We don’t see ourselves as a drug based religion.” says Perkel. “However without marijuana there would be no Church of Reality and 3/4 of the church doctrine would not have been written. The inconvenient truth is, marijuana works. Marijuana actually does give the mind superior creative powers. But the Church of Reality itself isn’t about marijuana, it’s about reality. Marijuana is just a tool that helps me figure out how to get to reality, as strange as that might sound.”
Perkel uses marijuana for a variety of drug inspired ideas other than just his Church of Reality. Perkel has written hundreds of letters to the editor and has been published thousands of times. “When I’m stoned my writing is far more creative and the letter I write when I’m stoned are far more often published than the letter I write when I’m not stoned.”
Besides asking for the religious use of marijuana for inspirational thinking the Church of Reality has also asked for the religious use of medical marijuana. The Supreme Court has struck down the use of medical Schedule 1 drugs but has upheld the right to use them religiously. You have the right to pray, but not the right to stay alive. In papers filed by the Church of Reality we connect to two. We have the “Sacred Principle of Compassion” which compels us to give drugs to people who medically need drugs even if that means breaking the law.
We also have a religious concept of “self ownership” that gives a person a religious right over their own lives. In the Church of Reality everything a person does from the time they are born to the time they die is their, “Life Story” and that one’s story is one’s most sacred personal possession. So if the Supreme Court doesn’t give us a constitutional right to say alive, the Church of Reality gives you a religious right to stay alive that is constitutional. “Our doctrine,” says Perkel, “bridges the gap allowing us to both give and receive medical marijuana which is otherwise legally prohibited. These are issues that we addresses in our appellate brief that were ignored by the Ninth Circuit that we are asking the court to decide.”
“The RFRA case is more than just about drugs,” says Perkel. “It’s about other religious freedoms too.” If we get this case won we’re going to address issue of religious privacy under our Sacred Principles of Privacy. We are also going to assert a religious right to have doctor assisted life termination for the terminally ill. And we are going to assert a religious right to abortion.”
One thing to keep in mind however is that whatever the court decides, it only applies to members of the Church of Reality. “Only Realists get to smoke pot if we win. You have to accept reality as your primary basis for belief. Our request of the court is narrowly tailored to comply with the requirements of the law.”
Perkel has filed a Petition for Rehearing and a motion to dismiss the current panel and appoint a new 3 judge panel. Perkel has also written a letter to the Chiif Judge of the Ninth Circuit, Alex Kozinski, expressing his concerns that his case was mishandled and asking the judge in his administrative capacity to ensure due process of law.
“Even if the Court rules against the Church of Reality,” says Perkel, “I want it to be a real decision that I can appeal to the Supreme Court. This decision is junk. It is garbage. If a first year law student turned in this decision the teacher would send it back and tell the student to finish it. It wouldn’t be complete enough even to merit a failing grade.”
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Here’s some references:
The Church of Reality web site:
http://www.churchofreality.org
Here are links to the case filings and decisions:
DEA Rejects the our Request for Exemption
Opening Brief
Respondents Brief
Reply Brief
Memorandum Decision of the Ninth Circuit
Petition for Rehearing
Motion for new Panel
I am asking that you take this as a serious story and that it is interesting to your readers for several reasons.
1) This is about religious rights, not drug rights. This is how the Ninth Circuit treats religions.
2) It raises the question if people without lawyers are entitled to the same level of justice as people with lawyers.
3) It raises questions about if the Ninth Circuit is too big to process the case load and should be split.
4) It raises the question about the impact that the Republican filibusters are having on the courts holding up the appointment of judges that are badly needed.
5) It raises the issue of reality based religions and how they compare and contrast to faith based religions.
6) It raises the issue of the role of marijuana in society and if it should be legalized.
7) I want the court to know that the press is watching so that they don’t try to sweep us under the rug.
Feel free to contact me. I give one hell of an interview.
Letter to the Editor
Conservatives are mocking Al Gore and global warming pointing to the snow storm burying the east cost in feet of snow. Republican leader Mitch McConnell quipped “Where’s Al Gore Now?” and calling global warming “snake oil science”.
What Conservatives don’t seem to understand is that snow isn’t a product of cold, it’s a product of moisture. The warmer the planet gets the more water is in the air. That causes more rain and more snow. It’s usually warmer when it snows in the winter than on days the sky is clear. Maybe if they put down their Bibles and picked up their science books they might understand that snow happen when it rains through cold air. So more snow actually is an effect of global warming, not because it’s colder, but because it’s wetter.
So I say to my conservative friends, turn to reality. Reality changed my life, it can change yours too!
Letter to the Editor
Sarah Palin is asking us, “How is that hopey, changey thing workin’ out for ya?” Probably about as well as abstinence is working out for your family.
Letter to the Editor
There’s a difference between getting elected and assuming leadership and I’m still waiting for President Obama to assume leadership. Obama’s management style seems to be that he’s just another member of a team rather than the team captain. America is in a crisis and both the Democrats and the Republicans in Congress are acting like a class full of unruly 10 year olds with a weak substitute teacher.
I am asking you Mr. President today to take charge. I am asking you to be a leader. I am asking you to assume your role as the decider. You are the chief executive and you are in charge. You are the leader but you have yet to assume leadership. A year ago we made you the most powerful man on the planet. We gave you the power and we expect you to use it. Instead you’re like a Jedi Knight who won’t use The Force. You’re like Superman in his role as Clark Kent. You’re like Charlie Brown who just tries to keep kicking the football just to have it jerked away by Congress at the last minute.
It is time, Mr. President, for you to take charge. It’s time to open up a can of whoopass and set Congress straight. It’s OK to be reasonable and rational in the way you make decisions but please, if you are passionate about something you can at least raise your voice and show it. Here in real America things are so bad that we are waking up in the middle of the night screaming. We want to hear you scream too. The role of President was given to you. We are still waiting for you to claim it. Be the leader!
On this day when Iran has launched a rocket into space we have to ask ourselves if it is wise for the Obama Administration to cut funding to NASA and cripple our ability to put people and equipment into space. I’m old enough to remember how I felt when we first went to the moon and I was one of those people who skipped school holding my breath for 4 1/2 minutes to watch Apollo 13 made it back from an in-flight explosion on the way to the moon.
In the 60s the space race defined our national identity as explorers. TV shows like Start Trek inspired a new vision of the future. Yet now we have money to bail out banks, insurance companies, and auto makers. We have money to give tax breaks to the rich. We have money to fund war. But when it comes to our national identity as explorers, there is no money.
I want the Star Trek Future. I want America to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before. The idea that the Iranians are more interested in space than we are tells me that we have lost our national vision.
The Star Trek Future
On January 28th 2010 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals basically screwed the Church of Reality issuing a memorandum decision. As the founder of the Church of Reality I’m fairly pissed off about it. What the courts often do is to clear out the case load by letting law clerks decide cases using memoradum decisions and signing the judges name to it. That way the judges only deal with the cases the law clerks find interesting.
This is especially true of cases where the party is doing it themselves and is not a lawyer. They think that we aren’t smart enough to figure out when we’re getting screwed so they can blow us off easilly. And usually they are correct, but not with me.
The case is not over. I am going to file a motion for rehearing en banc, and I’m in the process of sending a letter to the chief judge of the court Alex Kozinski. The letter is to get their attention so that I might get some due process when they consider it. I need some public attention and public scrutiny to get a real decision out of the court.
This is a First Amendment case which under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act requires the Strict Scrutiny standard of review. It is also a case of first Impression. This is the first case to be reviewed since the UDV case of 2006 where the Supreme Court decided that religions could have schedule 1 drugs. Both sides have admitted that this is the first case. It is not the kind of case that should be disposed of with memorandum. It requires a real opinion. This was a go fuck yourself kind of decision.
The decision is an incomplete decision that relies on a statement taken out of context that I, Marc Perkel, founder of the Church of Reality somehow admitted that we can get along just fine without the use of marijuana. I made no such admission, and it is not the case. If not for marijuana there would be no Church of Reality.
I hereby challenge the legal community to read the decision and read the briefs and you tell me if you think this is a real opinion or you think I got screwed by some back room law clerk that wanted to clear cases out of the file so that the judges don’t have to be bothered. Below are links to the documents filed and the opinion.
Links:
DEA Rejects the our Request for Exemption
Opening Brief
Respondents Brief
Reply Brief
Memorandum Decision of the Ninth Circuit
DEA Denies Church of Reality Request of Exemption
Petition for Rehearing
Motion for new Panel
I am in the process of asking for rehearing. I would appreciate all the help I can get to at least get a regular opinion in this case. I realize that they might still rule against me. But I want a decision that at least makes sense.
Letter to the Editor
As someone who has been in software for over 30 years I have to ask Toyota this question, “Have you ruled out the computer?” As I understand it the cars in question are all “drive by wire” cars. Unlike the cars I drove as a teen where the gas pedal was connected to the carborator with metal rods, these days the pedal is an input device that merely indicates to the car’s computer how fast the driver wishes to go. The computer is what directly controls the engine speed.
Even if the gas pedal was actually sticking the computer could be programmed to detect a faulty pedal and shut down the engine automatically upon fault detection. Such software would be trivial to implement and could save lives until the real problem is determined. However there seems to be evidence of cases that defy the pedal theory and that Toyota should be looking at the computer.
Letter to the Editor
If President Obama and the Democrats really wanted to do something about the deficit they should have eliminated the Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2009 when they took power rather that to let them run for an additional two years. It seems when it comes to tax cuts for the rich, bailing out millionaires, baling out banks, bailing out insurance companies and big corporations, there’s no limit to the spending. But when it comes to helping out the middle class and the poor there’s no money left. We still have the Bush economy where the poor are paying welfare to the rich.
First of all the call it “Free Credit Report” but it is anything but free. I didn’t even want it for free. I just wanted to buy a single copy of my credit report. But it decided that I was signing up with Experian for their “Triple Advantage” which is really triple disadvantage. The allowed me to call a number to cancel this membership and I did, but the membership didn’t cancel.
I was printing off my credit card charges for my taxes and noticed charges from Experian Direct of $14.95 a month in addition to $29.95 that I paid them to get my “Free Credit Report”. So they ended up charging me over $100 for my free report and I’ve decided to get even with them.
Here is a recording of my call to cancel my account. This way you can hear what it’s like to deal with them. So if you think you’re going to get a free credit report frm freecreditreport.com you should think about this first and try someone else.
Letter to the Editor
Different people will see tonights election differently but one thing I think we can all agree on. Ted Kennedy is spinning in his grave. And the voters of Massachusetts just screwed the rest of us out of health care reform. You would think that America has already inflicted enough bad judgment on itself. How many times will it take before the voter realizes the laws of cause and effect?
Letter to the Editor
Obama’s success might be best described in terms of what didn’t happen rather than what did. Although what Obama accomplished is impressive, what didn’t happen is the total collapse of the US economy. America was on track to fail the way the formers Soviet Union failed and the entire world economy was on the verge of collapsing with it. Although the economy is still in serious condition the Apocalypse has been averted for now.
Over the last 8 years Bush and Cheney virtually destroyed this country. No president can undo the damage that the Republicans did in a single year. It will take a long time to recover. We have to stay the course and not go back to the failed policies that created the problems we have today.
Letter to the Editor
According to the Associated Press the tobacco industry is pleading with the Justice Department not to go to the Supreme Court fearing a decision that would devastate them. I say that it’s time to wipe the tobacco industry out. These people have killed millions of people by lying for decades about the dangers of smoking. So I have no problem giving them a corporate death sentence, letting their stockholder lose their money, and putting their employees and tobacco farmers out on the street. I doubt there is a person in America who doesn’t know someone who the tobacco industry has killed. I think it’s time we the people struck back. I just hope the Justice Department doesn’t sell out the people to protect big tobacco’s corporate profits.
Letter to the Editor
What a difference a real president makes. Obama is getting aid into Haiti faster than Bush got aid into New Orleans.
Letter to the Editor
In the new book released today “Game Change”, when Sarah Palin was chosen to run for vice president she responded that the choice was “God’s Plan”. So if it was God’s plan for her to run then what did God have in mind when she lost? Did God intend to make a fool of her? That’s the problem for those who claim their destiny was God’s plan. It makes God look like a loser. I think a more accurate description of Palin’s candidacy is “bad choice”.
Letter to the Editor
The Republicans are making a big deal about what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said about race. Republicans claim that there is a double standard claiming that some people are a lot more forgiving when a Democrat makes a racist sounding comment than Republicans get. I don’t have a problem with the double standard. Republicans have worked hard to disenfranchise blacks while Democrats have worked hard to empower blacks. Harry Reid has a strong record to fall back on. So if an old Democrat uses the word Negro it’s not that big of a deal.
I am amused however because the more of a big deal Republicans make of Harry Reid’s comments the less likely they are going to be able to get rid of their incompetent party leader Michael Steele. Democrats look forward to taking on the GOP with this year with Steele in charge.
Letter to the Editor
Every time someone tries to blow up an airplane we start asking the question, “How do we spot terrorists? Who is safe to let through?” One thing that is common to all these terrorists is a strong belief in God. No Atheists are out there blowing up innocent people. That’s because Atheists don’t have an invisible friend promising us sex with virgins in the next life if we blow up a bunch of innocent people. So when you get on a plane you might want to ask yourself who you would rather fly with, Atheists or Muslims, because an Atheist is much more interested in keeping everyone safe in this world.
Letter to the Editor
People like to describe what the Republicans are doing as politics but that’s not the word I would use. I call it treason. All they are proving is that it’s easier to destroy America than it is to fix it. All one has to do is look around at the way the country is today and know that it was the Republicans that did it to us. I think it’s time to call it like I see it. When you are out to make America fail, it’s treason.
Letter to the Editor
In spite of what you hear in the news it does not take 60 votes in the Senate to pass a bill. It is not in the Constitution nor are there any laws that require 60 votes. The 60 vote barrier is an obscure Senate rule called the filibuster which requires 60 votes to end debate and get to a vote. This is a rule that can be changed.
In 2005 when Democrats used the filibuster Republican threatened to end the practice in a move called the “nuclear option” which is a procedure for changing the filibuster rule. The mere threat of ending the filibuster caused the Democrats to back down from using it. Now the Democrats have a far larger majority in the Senate than the Republicans did and the Republicans are filibustering almost every bill. Their strategy seems to be to get America to fail and then run in 2010 on the idea that Democrats are as bad as they are. But the Democrats can put an end to the Filibuster and bring back majority rule as the Constitution intended.
So we don’t really need 60 votes to pass health care reform. We only need 50. It’s time the Democrats get tough and use the power that the People elected them to use. We need reform and this rule is in the way. The time has come for Democrats to step up and quit acting like they are in the minority and use the nuclear option and put the filibuster down. I think it would be a mistake for Democrats to allow the Republicans to steal back power in the 2010 election because of a record of failuer.
Letter to the Editor
When did Afghanistan become Obama’s war? The way I remember it Bush started the war in 2002 back when no one knew who Obama was. Now it’s Obama’s war? Give me a break! This war would have been over if Bush hadn’t pulled the troops out and sent them to Iraq to fight a useless war there. This war is Bush’s war, the Republican’s war, and the American people’s war for being stupid enough to elect Bush in the first place. It’s only Obama’s war to the extent that Obama has to clean up all the messes Bush left him, war, bailouts, deficit, and unemployment.
Letter to the Editor
Even though health care reform will actually save money all I hear out of the news media is that we don’t have enough money for health care. Not true! What we have enough money for is the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. What we have enough money for tax cuts for the rich. We have enough money for bank and insurance company bailouts. We have enough money for tax credits for big oil. We have enough money to give away trillions to the super rich, but we don’t have enough money for health care? Give me a break!
Letter to the Editor
Even though health care reform will actually save money all I hear out of the news media is that we don’t have enough money for health care. Not true! What we have enough money for is the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. What we have enough money for tax cuts for the rich. We have enough money for bank and insurance company bailouts. We have enough money for tax credits for big oil. We have enough money to give away trillions to the super rich, but we don’t have enough money for health care? Give me a break!
Letter to the Editor
Now that Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned Patrick Kennedy from receiving communion because he’s supports a woman’s right to control her own reproduction, I have a question for him. Are you willing to deny communion to priests who have sex with children? I’m curious to see how your values on child rape compare to abortion. The way I see it, it’s people like you who make me say, “Thank God I’m an Atheist”. So – prove me wrong. I challenge you. Should priests who rape children also be denied communion?
Letter to the Editor
The way I see it the health care reform bill is the people attempting to get control of our health care from the insurance companies who control health care now. The insurance companies are spending millions trying to keep the people from gaining self control. It’s now down to a power of wills between the people and the insurance industry.
We the people, who want control of our health care, have to make sure that candidates who support our point of view wins the elections over the candidates who sell out to the insurance industry. We have to commit to vote for people these people, work for these people, and donate to these people, because if they win election then we lose. And we need to make sure that the candidates understand that if health care reform fails, or they vote against our position, then it will cost them their office. Our freedom has to be stronger than their money.
Letter to the Editor
It’s kind of weird seeing the news media declaring the Republicans the winner in Tuesday’s election and that it’s some sort of referendum on Obama? Perhaps the news media is living in some alternate universe where everything is backwards? The Republicans won the governor’s races in two state elections, while the Democrats won all the federal elections increasing their majority in Congress where it counts. In one race the Republican candidate dropped out of the race and endorsed the Democrat. Seems to me that if you can’t even get your candidate to vote Republican then it’s the Republicans that should be worried about the next election.
Letter to the Editor
A warning to my Republican friends. There are a lot more people in America who want to see Obama succeed than want to see him fail. You might want to take that into account if you think you can win elections on the pro-failure platform.
