Say the Words

Make it real. Lou Reed died from complications of Hepatitis C, not some vague or rare ailment. He died of Hepatitis C, a disease that in the US, has a significantly higher mortality rate than HIV. Say the words. This is a prevalent, dangerous disease about which way too many people know nothing.

Lou Reed, Rock ’n’ Roll Pioneer, Dies at 71

Guess who uses Lavabit?

posted on lavabit.com

My Fellow Users,
I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.
What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.
This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.
Sincerely,

Ladar Levison

Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC

American Justice

Jailed for 2 Decades in Rabbi’s Death, Unjustly, Prosecutors Say
By Michael Powell and Sharon Otterman
March 20, 2013
...Mr. Ranta could walk free as early as Thursday. In the decades since a jury convicted him of murder, nearly every piece of evidence in this case has fallen away. A key witness told The New York Times that a detective instructed him to select Mr. Ranta in the lineup. A convicted rapist told the district attorney that he falsely implicated Mr. Ranta in hopes of cutting a deal for himself. A woman has signed an affidavit saying she too lied about Mr. Ranta’s involvement....

Maybe it is time to stop seeing victory and justice in imprisonment. Just a thought.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors, 1875

November 15th, 1875
Ordinance Prohibiting Opium-Smoking Dens
Section 1.
No person shall in the city or county of San Francisco keep or maintain or become an inmate* of or visit or shall in any way contribute to the support of any place, house or room where persons assemble for the purpose of smoking opium or inhaling the fumes of opium. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty dollars and not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period of not less than ten days nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

A great new resource on speed overdose & overdo

This helps fill a big hole in our resources & is worth reading. Check it out here.

Bullying Starts at the Top

Yeah, our culture of bullying is such a mystery...nyti.ms/TIP61N
Weighing Political Risk Against Mercy for Prisoners
by Jim Dwyer January 24, 2013
"...There are cases that deserve serious consideration, but I don’t see it happening because of political risk,” Robert Dennison, the former chairman of the state’s Parole Board, said. He cited Elizabeth Gonzalez, who as a teenager had become the girlfriend of a 37-year-old man with whom she used drugs. “He sent her across the street to grab a purse; the woman fell and hit her head,” Mr. Dennison said. “She has done 17 years of an 18-to-life sentence.”

beautiful burned recycling bin

This week's sign of the (un)apocalypse.

Not one to hide my prejudices, as a general rule, I expect from District Attorneys something between the very least and the very worst. While perhaps no less convinced most DAs would sell their soul to the cause of the day...
With an attentive audience, Oneida County DA Scott McNamara absolutely got it right.
"People will say she got away with murder because of who she is, but this law was passed so people don't watch somebody die because they're afraid of jail."

Dear straight white men in America,

Like your third-party straw men, your specious claims of fiscal conservatism celebrate and protect your privilege, nothing more. For the rest of us, presidential elections speak to our personhood, whether we are full citizens or your subjects. Please, keep that shit to yourself. Thank you. Yours in exhaustion, Alli

Ignorance and malice win in NJ. Jerry gets it right.

NJ: Governor Chris Christie vetoed New Jersey's Good Samaritan Law.
No one should be afraid that calling 911 to save a life will land her in jail.
No one should die simply because witnesses would not call 911.
They do.
They will.
They will continue to.
Thank you Governor Christie.

Christie's veto ensures that many more people in his state will die absolutely preventable deaths.
It also sanctions apathy as the appropriate response to life and death situations. Another point in the war against human dignity, sir.

Meanwhile, Jerry got it right again. After sitting on his desk for what felt like ages, Jerry Brown signed AB 472 on September 17, 2012.

This bill would provide that
it shall not be a crime for any person who experiences a drug-related overdose, as defined, who, in good faith, seeks medical assistance, or any other person who, in good faith, seeks medical assistance for the person experiencing a drug-related overdose, to be under the influence of, or to possess for personal use, a controlled substance, controlled substance analog, or drug paraphernalia, under certain circumstances related to a drug-related overdose that prompted seeking medical assistance if that person does not obstruct medical or law enforcement personnel.
The bill would provide that its provisions shall not affect laws prohibiting the selling, providing, giving, or exchanging of drugs, or laws prohibiting the forcible administration of drugs against a person’s will. The bill would provide that it shall not affect liability for any offense that involves activities made dangerous by the consumption of controlled substances, including, but not limited to, driving under the influence.

Overdose Awareness Day is August 31, 2012

Learn more about overdose here & here
San Francisco event information here

• Every day an estimated 100 lives are lost to an accidental drug overdose in the US.
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of preventable death for people under the age of 65 in the US.
• Prescription painkillers were involved in over 15,000 overdose deaths in the US in 2008.
• Drug overdose death rates in the US have more than tripled since 1990 and have never been higher.
• In 2009, more than 37,000 people died from drug overdoses, the majority from prescription drugs, heroin and cocaine.
• There are approximately 50 overdose prevention programs in the US that distribute narcan at 200 different locations in 16 states.
• Overdose Prevention programs in the US have trained over 50,000 drug users and their friends or family to use narcan since 1996, resulting in 10,000 reported uses of narcan to reverse an overdose.
• The DOPE Project has trained over 4000 people in San Francisco to use narcan, resulting in around 800 lives saved!
(adapted from E Wheeler, The Dope Project)