Richard Lee's Exclusive Interview After Raid

I just googled "oaksterdam raid protest" and there have been a few. I haven't read any of the articles yet so have no idea how big they were, or how many there were.

...a jockey doesn't push his horse past the finish line.

Mr. Lee may have more 'races' left in him...but the cost of entering/running the race may have been the factor for his withdrawal.
I give him a lot of credit for getting in their face, and wish him the best as this doesn't look over to me.

...by it's very nature, this thread is political.

this tme next year we will know how badly we've been hurt by this.

...keeps fingers crossed...

Crusader Rabbit said:

If we want medical cannabis to succeed we need spokespeople who look and talk like members of the other tribe.

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I have thought about this a lot relative to full legalization. I am an anti-stoner stereotype with significant cred in the business world. I am a clean cut, athletic, middle aged guy responsible for 20M in corporate profits annually. I interact at the CxO level with the world's largest enterprises.
blaa blaa blaa. I am not trying to brag and, really, I ain't all that proud of the above, I just realize that it puts me in a pretty unique position of being able to influence the "muggles." I am the guy that straight families hope their kids become and yet I get high everyday.

Quite frankly, I'd be a better face for the movement than anyone I have seen take that role.

And I'd love to do it - I could truly see it as my calling in life to make a positive difference in this world of negativity.

But there is no fucking way I'd give the authoritarian thugs that much power over me. If I didn't have a family, maybe I would be more brave, but I honestly doubt that too.

I bet there are plenty of people like me who are silenced by a government that clearly doesn't have the best interests of its constituents at heart. Until it is safe for us to raise our voices, I am afraid that nothing will change for the better.

Godless;

I hear you bro. There are countless thousands like you out there. Speak up and you will be taken down. And not just by the powers that be but also by the little people. I'm sure someone will now speak up and proclaim that you should make yourself a martyr for the cause, but I doubt that person will be someone who once worked hard for years to get someplace and then had their life destroyed. We do what we can when and where we can.

Crusader Rabbit said:

I'm sure someone will now speak up and proclaim that you should make yourself a martyr for the cause, but I doubt that person will be someone who once worked hard for years to get someplace and then had their life destroyed. We do what we can when and where we can.

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I tell myself that nearly everyday - I am a pussy for not standing up for what I believe in. But there is a voice in the back of my head that advocates for caution. It is a voice that I learned when I was 18 and homeless in Berkeley. That voice got me where I am today, so I am inclined to listen to the sweet logic of keeping your head down - values and morals are a luxury for the powerful, and, despite my position in our society, I have no political power at all.

It kills me inside, but I am fundamentally powerless because the authoritarian factions of our society are going for the throat and getting away with it. By the time that Richard Lee's current misery is over, any mark he tried to make will have long been forgotten as the war machine rolls on and on.

Godless said:

... values and morals are a luxury for the powerful ...

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Not at all. We were talking about the logic of making a spectacle of oneself in a possibly futile act of self sacrifice. Keep your head down and raise your kids to be good people.

So now it's a war on knowledge. Richard Lee was robbed for sharing idea's.

Just like the internet will be shut down because it is a free stream of uncontrolled information.

Godless said:

- values and morals are a luxury for the powerful

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for them to abuse

Will "We The People" ever see the day when freedom and justice will triumph over lobbyist money?

ijim said:

Will "We The People" ever see the day when freedom and justice will triumph over lobbyist money?

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Pitchforks and torches.