Late Update On Steve Kubby

Kubby.com has found someone to step up and take the webmasters post. This is good news for all of us who are following Steve Kubby's case. On the legal front, things aren't looking so good for Steve, as Michele informs us.

Today's court appearance did not go well. Cosgrove denied Steve's due process rights by denying the motion David Nick put forward to re-sentence Steve.

David Nick believes that this decision can be appealed just because it is a due process violation. If so, then Steve would be given an appeals attorney and the Violation of Probation trial could be delayed until the appeal is resolved.

This whole situation has nothing to due with the law and everything to do with politics.

BTW, Steve is out of Marinol on Monday the 6th.

-Michele

It doesn't look as if Mr. Kubby is going to be released any time soon, as the lawyers and judges are gearing up for what looks to be a long battle. Hopefully, getting Mr. Kubby out of the jail can be accomplished soon, amidst all of the wrangling.

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Steve Kubby, Medical Marijuana
Libertarian, Politics

A Steve Kubby Update: Webmaster Needed

Michele Kubby has posted what may be the last update for some time at Kubby.com. Their current webmaster is leaving and will no longer be able to see to their website and help Michele update. Any webmaster people out there that wish to aid them please feel free to contact the webmaster at Kubby.com.

NOTE from Jeremy (webmaster)
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Steve and Michele and everyone else that has been involved with this project. I am sorry I have to stop working on the website. The circumstances are beyond my control and in order to keep my family safe and free from harassment, I must stop performing these services. If there is anyone that can take over the updates for Michele, please let me or Michele know right away. I will help you transfer everything to your local PC, as long as you have some editing software. Thanks again, Michele and Steve, for the opportunity you gave me to work on this project and other projects. I appreciate it very much. God Bless and God Speed.

Sincerely,
Reverend Jeremy Nelson

On the legal front Steve Kubby's lawyers will be arguing his case today in an effort to straighten things out and get Steve released. We can only hope that they manage to convince the judge of the absolute necessity of freeing a man who has already lost 25 pounds and is suffering from shingles and adrenal cancer. Steve is a former Libertarian candidate for Governor of California and a Medical Marijuana Advocate.

At 8:30 AM in the morning Steve's lawyers will be arguing on Steve's behalf to fix this mess. I pray it all turns out well. Unfortunately, the girls and I will not be able to attend due to illness. Steve is aware of this and supports our children's and my need to heal.
This will probably be my last update on the website, unless someone can offer to upkeep the site for us. Steve always was the technological one,not me. Our webmaster is leaving to pursue another life.
Our family is so grateful for the support everyone has given us throughout this ordeal.
Be well and think good thoughts,

Michele

UnCivil Defence will keep updating folks as I get information.


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Steve Kubby, Medical Marijuana
Libertarian, Politics

Saying Goodbye To Harry

By now I am sure that the news has reached most folks about the passing of Harry Browne, author, former LP candidate for President, TV and radio personality and all around nice guy. Reports are that Harry died from Lou Gherig's disease at his home in Franklin, Tennessee, yesterday.

I didn't know Harry as well as many people. I only met him once, at the Libertarian National Convention in Indianapolis and he was as nice as could be, taking time out to talk with me on his way to some meeting he had to make. But, he made time to talk.We corresponded over the years about a number of subjects and even when we weren't on the same page he was a gentlemanly Southerner in every respect. Harry was always punctual in replying to my queries on one or another aspect of something, even when he was on the road campaigning or dealing with issues after his campaigning days were past. That meant a lot to me. Those email "conversations" we had cleared up a great many questions I had about him, his principles, libertarianism and more. I never failed to give him my vote when he was on the ballot. He would have had that vote anyway, but he went that extra mile and sold himself to me. That's 100% more than any other candidate has ever done for me.

Harry was against the Iraq war from the start, long before the Left side of the dominant party got going. He took enourmous amounts of heat for his stance and took it well. He stood as a sterling example to those of us who were also against the Iraq War and led by example. You couldn't ask for more than that. He spoke up when words needed saying, he didn't wait or make excuses. He spoke up, for himself and for the rest of us. That took a particular kind of courage that is all too lacking in some people.
I'm going to miss Harry. It will be a long time before we see his like again in Libertarian politics.
Rest In Peace, Harry. I'm going to miss you.

What other people are saying:
Kn@ppster
Hammer of Truth
Liberty Filter


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Harry Browne, Libertarian
Anti-War, Politics

Liberty Jihad Part Two

Headlines and stories across the spectrum keep pointing up the premise of my previous post on this subject. We are in the midst of an anti-Liberty Jihad and it is accelerating on a daily basis, especially while the Congress is in session doing their best to drive us further into the arms of the Socialist State. Today we have the further growth of the federal state where the horrendous Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is concerned. The politicians are going to amend it to make it more intrusive and expand federal power at the expense of the sovereignty of the States. Things are going poorly in Afghanistan and Iraq is pretty much in a state of civil war, despite what Mr. Bush says, so we can expect more of our boys and girls in uniform to suffer for the “Long War”. The USA PATRIOT Act is advancing in the Senate, despite lukewarm opposition from the Left faction of the BOYN’ers. Oh, did I mention that the wiretapping is probably a whole lot wider than the Attorney General said it was when he testified before the Congress?

This is what we are faced with in the course of a single day where the Anti-Liberty Jihad is concerned. How can we not feel some sense of depression and despair when this is what we face? What can any of us do when presented with opposition such as this?. Many of us can, and will go to the voting booths this November and voice our displeasure but, the simple fact is that we do not have the “hearts and minds” of the “faithful” followers and are unlikely to garner their support in sufficient numbers to affect any kind of change. That’s just a cold, hard fact of life, folks. In 35 years we have failed to win the hearts and minds of the voters in this country. They do not care, they’d rather vote for their faction of the Party than vote for freedom, because they buy into the promises and bribes that the Jihadist’s offer them and we don’t offer bribes and steal money to finance them. We do the exact opposite and they dislike that for some bizarre reason.

So, what are we to do? How do we win the battle for “hearts and minds”? While I do not think there’s a magic bullet answer, I do think there are some new directions to go in. One of my “heroes” is a man named Guy Kawasaki. Way back in the day Guy took a totally thankless job at Apple Computer, (his second there) at a time when the company was headed in the wrong direction. Guy’s job as an Apple Fellow was to Evangelize the Apple Computer. Now, as someone who was selling computers at that time, and specializing in Macs, it was not a pretty time to be a Mac Evangelista. But, with the help of Guy, his philosophies of evangelism, marketing and branding, those of us who sold Macs managed to keep the product in the public eye until they could change direction and become what they today, (they have a higher market value than Dell) . Guy has written a number of books that Liberty Evangelista could use to great effect when promoting our “product”, everything he writes about business success can be applied to the political arm of the Libertarian Movement.

We already have a large number of Liberty Evangelista out there in the blogosphere and the number is growing, albeit slowly. Perhaps we will hit critical mass before it is too late and the Jihad consumes us, as it threatens to every day. Selling is tough and selling a way of life, a philosophy and politics is even harder than selling an insanely great computer. The task is daunting, as we have seen after 35 years of attempting to sell the political side with only small successes. We've obviously got a good product, since so many people have been attempting to attach their name to it. And the Anti-Liberty Jihadist pundits so often misuse our brand and label their "anointed ones" as Libertarians that it's becoming difficult for some people to even define the word, (fortunately James Leroy Wilson isn't one of those folks). So why don't we have more success? Perhaps we need more "salespeople" and fewer politicians. More marketers and fewer historians, economists and lawyers. A good salesperson can sell anything to anybody. When that salesperson is an Evangelista to boot....it can be awesome thing indeed. It's time to quit promoting and start selling Liberty.

People will buy almost anything, but the most difficult thing to get them to buy is the thing they really need. Good salespeople can do that. Motivated and enthusiastic salespeople can make greater strides than anyone simply promoting a product. It's long past time that the Libertarian Political Wing started enthusiastically selling themselves and the politics of Liberty. The LP almost took steps to do this a few years ago but, typically, imploded when it came time to actually do it. It's time to shift gears.

So, is there another way, other than sales and "product evangelism"? Perhaps something a bit more “out there”? There may well be…I have been entertaining an idea that has occurred to me and a few others, as well. A different form of evangelism...sort of.

I think I’ll save that for the finale, though.

Liberty Jihad 1
Liberty Jihad 3


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Libertarian, Patriot Act, Apple
News, Politics, Civil Rights

Clinton Gets Something Right

While I didn't blog about this here, I did blog about it at my other Blog, The Root Beer Blog. Hey, life can't be about politics all the time....seems that Mr. Bill mentioned a pet peeve of mine while speaking to some of his brethren and urging them to all "do something", (as if their doing something didn't cause the problem in the first place!). If Mr Bill and his fellow BOYN'ers had their way we'd all be fed Government Food Supplement #24 and its other 3 varieties. It would be healthy and easily chewed and contain just what they want you to have so you can grow to be a strong citizen. They'll even come with attitude enhancing nutritional additives.

In the meantime perhaps we can get the Anti-Liberty Jihadists to remove the tariffs on sugar, the subsidies for corn and HFCS and get back to using sugar as a sweetener. Right, like that'll ever occur to them.


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Bill Clinton, Health
High Fructose Corn Syrup, Libertarian

The Liberty Jihad 1

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. -Sun Tzu

We have had an almost endless series of "Wars on...." forced upon us over the decades, almost too many to count. Wars on Drugs, Poverty, Porn, Hunger, Crime, Terror and more....and the true victims of these seemingly endless "Wars" have been Americans. Whether being victimised by being forced to pay for them, losing liberties as an "unintended consequence" or as has been the case in the War on Drugs as a target of the Drug Warriors. Now, tho the "War on...." takes the inevitable turn from the semi-hot Wars we have become used to and turned into what can only be termed Jihad. A Holy War.

Given the current power structure, its adherents and its supporters we seem to be faced with a Statist Jihad against liberty and our basic and fundamental rights as Americans. I can think of no better way to describe it. Oh, I could call it the "War on Liberty" , but that would in no way convey the true fervor felt by the supporters of the State Sponsored Jihad or the full scope of things. At some time in the past, it could easily have been described that way. Now, the acceleration of events seems too great to use such an overused phrase as "War on...". Jihad seems to work quite well.

Over the years I have often used the "Boiling a Frog" analogy to describe what the government has been doing to the people of the United States, and it has been an apt analogy, but it goes much farther than that now. With the aid of their rank and file "cultists" and "preachers" the State has managed to win the faith and support of numerous American Jihadists to their side to lend support and comfort to the religion of Statism. They have won the battle for the "hearts and minds" of many Americans and ignited a nationalistic fervor seldom seen this side of Iran. The sad thing is that many of the "followers" actually think there are two sides to the equation when, as we well know there is one side only. The State, otherwise known as The Boot On Your Neck Party.

Using stolen money, buying votes and bribing people, the politicians have spent the best part of the last century consolidating their power and removing ours. As we entered the "New Century", the gloves have come off and all pretenses are seemingly gone. Now we are faced with a multitude of depredation's perpetrated by the Jihadists. Illegal wiretapping, pre-emptive war, a National ID, a "Patriot Act" giving them more power and so many more that I don't care to enumerate. All forced upon us in the name of security in one form or another, (from outside Jihadists or from little brown people seeking work). And the "faithful" have gleefully lined up to support these measures. Giving away rights that cannot be surrendered.

Is it any wonder that the best and brightest of the Liberty movement have become discouraged? That every day more people who have chosen to work for Liberty in the political arena are abandoning it as a lost cause and retreating from that area? There almost seems to be a sense of hopelessness in many circles where the subject of affecting change via the political system is concerned. When the system of the Jihadists is weighted against you so that you spend most of your time fighting to get on a ballot in many places and you're ecstatic when you manage to retain access for a few more years it becomes rather difficult to maintain the enthusiasm. When those who are the obvious foes of Liberty gain ground day by day, what are we to do? After fighting the good fight for so many years and losing, time and again, where do we turn? Perhaps it's time to change direction. To look for a new way. A way where we can win hearts and minds.

But that'll have to wait for the next installment.

Liberty Jihad 2
Liberty Jihad 3


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Libertarian, War On Drugs, Liberty
Civil Rights, Jihad, REAL ID

The Inevitability Of REAL ID

The REAL ID Act was passed on May 10th, 2005 and supposedly was to take effect in May 2008. Many of us thought we might have a few years in which to fight this new National ID scheme. Those of us who live in Indiana were wrong. REAL ID is here, now and it is seemingly too late to do anything about it. The Indiana BMV has gone ahead and begun implementing the REAL ID Act, imposing an early implementation on the people of Indiana. I wrote on this subject a short while ago in regards to early implementation and wasn't even aware of how far along Indiana had gone down this road of bowing to the Federal Government, now I have a better idea of it and can see that it's a done deal. Living in a state run by a former member of Bush's administration and dominated by neo-conservative Republicans in the legislatures, this anti-liberty scheme was a given from the get go. No-one has even bothered to see take a look at what this means for the people of Indiana, in terms of lost liberties, increased costs, inconvenience and the increased budgetary costs. What concerns me the most is the loss of what small amount of privacy we had.

The licenses themselves will include digital information that cannot be seen but can be scanned by machines to ensure authenticity. Davis said that if the license or photo is tampered with, law enforcement, airport personnel, store clerks or others with the machines would be able to tell.

No privacy. Every Tom, Dick and Harry with a scanner will be able to access your information at a touch. It's rather interesting that no-one bothers to say what their new technologies will include. Magnetic strips? Bar codes? Or a Smart Chip, (otherwise known as RFID technology)?
Everyone involved in this is rather quiet about that and they make finding the information rather difficult. Digimarc, the company that seems to have the monopoly on this talks a lot about digital watermarking, but they also have a patent for Smart Card technology, so why wouldn't they sell that? Answer: They would and likely have sold these cards to Indiana. Come the fall your card will likely be chipped and all pretenses of a right to privacy will be gone with the wind.

Another invasion of privacy comes with the information you will be forced to divulge in order to obtain a license. Social Security numbers, birth certificates, proof of residency and a lot more, all of which have to be certified. The documents are then digitized and stored in a centralised database accessable to ANYONE with the appropriate machinery. That includes law enforcement, government, TSA and anyone else who demands it, including the grade school dropout at your local convenience store and marketing agencies. If these are Smart Cards you won't even have to give your permission to be scanned. Your card could be read when you walk through the door, if a company wished to spend the money.

Did I mention that your information is going to be shared with other states? No biggie? How do you feel about your information being shared with Canada, Mexico and any other country an organisation known as the AAMVA chooses to shares it with? Yep. The "agency" which determines who your information will be given to is not even a government agency. It's a "private" organisation which has been lobbying for years to pass a National ID/Drivers license standards scheme and they are a partner of Digimarc's. Until REAL ID came along it had been held at bay by people who had some respect for the 9th and 10th Amendments to the US Constitution. No longer, the REAL ID Act has forced states to abide by this organizations "Drivers License Agreement", (article 1, sec. 11)(.pdf). Information gathered and stored is to be shared with all signatories of the DLA...that includes Canada and Mexico and anyone else who desires to sign on in the future. I don't trust people at the BMV in Indiana considering the levels of corruption they have shown. Why would I trust Mexican bureaucrats with sensitive information?

The Indiana BMV, by adopting this technology and the REAL ID Act will be breaking state privacy regulations and possibly laws, when they implement this. They state on their website that all information is confidential.

Documents presented to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for identification purposes will be kept confidential.

How confidential will it be when anyone can scan your card and gain access to the database? I know, there will be protestations proclaiming the safety and confidentiallity of the system, but how will they deny their own words down the road?

Davis said that if the license or photo is tampered with, law enforcement, airport personnel, store clerks or others with the machines would be able to tell.

The silence from people who should be up in arms over this is saddening. "Conservatives"? Absent. Republicrats and Democrats? Silent. Libertarians? Silent. That so many people are willing to accept a National ID card or internal passport is a telling statement as to the current condition of this country. I cannot help but wonder what their reaction will be the next time they are asked to present their state approved, Smart Card "papers"? REAL ID is here, now and inevitable. Thanks to people like the Governor of Indiana, who has no clue about the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution, cowardly legislators at all levels and a complacent public we will now have identification on a par with other socialist countries around the globe.

This entire scheme stinks to high heaven and no-one, politicians, press or public have called for an accounting. Until now. What is being imposed upon the people of Indiana? What are ALL of the particulars? Why is Indiana implementing the REAL ID Act 2 years ahead of the law, while it is still being opposed in courts and by a majority of the governors of the 50 states? Could it be money? Or political favours? And, given the invasive nature of this why aren't the press and other interested parties speaking up? Indiana's motto is "Crossroads of America". Anyone who knows the story of Robert Johnson knows what happens there, too. Someone has made a deal with the devil and we'll have to pay the price.



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REAL ID, Indiana
Digimarc, Libertarian