Political Shifts in Bavaria Could Have Wide Repercussions

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“Bavaria’s booming economy and the lowest unemployment rate in Germany have meant an influx of job seekers, creating a more mobile and secular society with each passing year.  And long before they began bailing out Greeks, Portuguese and Irish, the Bavarians were bailing out the weaker states of their own country. As Germany is to Europe, Bavaria is to Germany: richer, more competitive and reluctant to keep footing the bill for the laggards.  It is little wonder that some in Bavaria, who proudly trace their history back more than 1,000 years, ask if they might be better off on their own.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/27/world/europe/bavaria-political-shifts-could-have-wide-effects.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

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Rest of World Begins to Catch Up to Daily Bell?

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“As government itself falls to pieces, we have often speculated that smaller rather than larger communities might emerge. We are all in favor of this, believing that smaller, flexible social elements are the key to happiness and prosperity.  Even within the contexts of large groups, people would likely find that if they can retain communal relationships, the bigness around them would recede. It is when depersonalized bigness is given the authority of law that trouble really begins.  When people have power over their lives and input into the larger decision-making process, the alienation and destructiveness of modern society is reduced considerably.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/4342/Rest-of-World-Begins-to-Catch-Up-to-Daily-Bell

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Voters Weigh Eased Pot Laws

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“Measures to legalize marijuana are on the ballot this fall in Colorado, Oregon and Washington state—and recent polls suggest at least a couple of the campaigns have realistic chances of success.  All three measures would legalize possession of small quantities of the drug for anyone above age 21 and allow taxable retail sales, going well beyond laws in 17 states that permit marijuana use for medical purposes. The proposed state laws are in direct conflict with federal law, which continues to outlaw marijuana, even though possession of small quantities is rarely prosecuted on a federal level.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443890304578010420862458716.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

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Jury Nullifies Felony in Cannabis Grower’s Trial

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“An NH jury has acquitted a man facing a felony for growing cannabis! It’s our first real-life case of jury nullification here in NH and the jury nullification law hasn’t even gone into effect yet. Kudos to the judge for reading a fair and easy-to-understand jury instruction about nullifying as an option! Also, it probably helped that a free stater was on the jury!  If you are an self-described anarchist or agorist and you are not registered to vote, you need to remedy that now. Being on the voter’s rolls means you could be chosen as a juror.”

http://freekeene.com/2012/09/14/huge-news-jury-nullifies-felony-in-cannabis-growers-trial/

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Michigan’s Allegan County Passes Anti-NDAA Resolution

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“By passing its anti-NDAA resolution, Allegan County now proudly joins several other state and local authorities taking a stand against the federal government’s use of the NDAA to abolish centuries old due process and habeas corpus protections.”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/12736-michigans-allegan-county-passes-anti-ndaa-resolution

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Anthony Gregory: The Right & the Drug War

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“Drug laws expose the tension within the conservative movement: devoted to localism and nationalism, freedom and law and order, today’s conservatives, if they are to mount a meaningful resistance to the unrestrained bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., must choose between their conflicting values. Many on the Tea Party right have come to regard the Bush-created Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as clumsy and despotic. They cling proudly to their guns and religion. They worry about their privacy in the face of a relentlessly growing central state. But it was the drug war that first shredded the Bill of Rights in modern times.”

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-right-the-drug-war/

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Colorado, Oregon, Washington or … Uruguay, who will be first?

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“Drug policy reform is moving along in the world and 2012 might very well be the year when marijuana will become legal in some part of the world, more precisely, somewhere in the Americas.  Uruguayan President Jose Mujica is plugging along with his marijuana legalization initiative, crisscrossing his country and the airwaves with his message, calling for a broad dialog on the issue.  Ex-presidents Rodrigo Borja of Ecuador, and Ricardo Lagos of Chile have joined the club of anti-prohibitionist ex-heads of states.  In the US, all three marijuana legalization initiatives on state ballots are gathering support left and right.”

http://www.world-war-d.com/2012/08/30/who-will-be-first-to-legalize-marijuana/

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Former DEA Heads Urge Holder to Oppose Marijuana Legalization Measures

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“Every former head of the DEA since it was created by Richard Nixon in 1973 has signed onto a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to speak out against the marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot in three Western states. The former top narcs warned that silence would be seen as acquiescence.  The former top narcs said they were ‘encouraged’ by Holder’s having spoken out against California’s 2010 Proposition 19 and by President Obama’s strong stance against legalization.”

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/sep/10/former_dea_heads_urge_holder_opp

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Jurisdictional Competition: Why the West Became Rich While Asia languished

“Europe experienced the enlightenment and industrial revolution while the empires of Asia languished.  What accounts for this dramatic shift?  I’m not going to pretend there’s a single explanation, but part of the answer is that Europe benefited from decentralization and jurisdictional competition. More specifically, governments were forced to adopt better policies because labor and capital had significant ability to cross borders in search of less oppression.”

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/jurisdictional-competition-is-why-the-west-became-rich-while-asia-languished/

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German Study: Tax Competition and Fiscal Decentralization Limit Income Redistribution

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“Fiscal competition makes it difficult for governments to expand the welfare state to dangerous levels. In other words, it is a way of protecting governments from the worst impulses of their politicians.  I can’t resist sharing one additional bit of information from the Feld-Schnellenbach paper. They compare redistribution in several nations. As you can see in the table reproduced below, the United States and Switzerland benefit from having the lowest levels of overall redistribution.  It’s no coincidence that the U.S. and Switzerland are also the two nations with the most decentralization.”

http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/study-from-german-economists-shows-that-tax-competition-and-fiscal-decentralization-limit-income-redistribution/

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