Update on Dan!

Dear Mary Lou:

I'm sorry to be so dilatory in keeping everyone updated. The last thing want is for everyone to be in the dark about Dan.

He has had several seizures in the past couple of weeks, and on Saturday,as we were returning from our house on the Bolivar Peninsula, he had a major seizure that required hospitalization. He was released that night after he was stabilized, but his blood sodium levels are very low, and we can't get them up at all. The only way that we COULD do that - get the blood sodium levels up and KEEP them up - is to further restrict his liquid intake to 1/2 a liter of liquid every day. Since that is NOT enough liquid to even keep him from severe dehydration, more limitations on his liquid intake are NOT
an option at this point. I have spoken with his oncologist today - I
just got off the phone with him, as a matter of fact - and we will be going in to see him tomorrow morning. His oncologist has the same opinion that I do: that, since there IS nothing that can be done to further limit his liquids without doing him even more harm, he does NOT recommend that we give him less liquid. He is still eating like a PIG, but dropping weight more every day, as the cancer burns him up from within.

On the PLUS side - and this is a VERY big plus - he's been MORE himself, MORE Dan, than he has been since he got sick. He still fades in and out, and he still is exhibiting Alzheimer's-like behaviours, but when he is WITH us, he's WITH us, and stays with us. He is starting to have some pain, so he is getting pain meds on a semi-daily basis; the wit, fire and passion are still there, and still come out sometimes.

We are going to Albuquerque in October, leaving on the 9th and will be
back in Houston on the 18th. This will be the last time that he goes anywhere; he is very weak, tires very easily, and is NOT sleeping at all during the night. Optimistic estimate of his lifespan is another 6 - 8 weeks.

Please remember him in your prayers. I know that you have been very busy with the Free State Project and other things as well as work and
recovering from that hurricane (I DO still watch the news!). Everything else is in the Lady's Hands - and She will not forget him.

Blessed be,

Harlan

More on Banned Books!

Dear Mary Lou,

Your LAotW (Celebrate Banned Books Week)is one of those I liked particularly [though I do not remember having ever run into one I _dis_liked! :-)], as the subject, banning books and censorship in general etc., has always touched me deeply since my earliest youth. Also, I have always liked very much what the ALA did in this field. As you may know, my original profession is publisher and bookseller. I will tell more about this some day on my websites, but at the moment I have this great text of the ALA on my main site at http://www.butterbach.net/ftoread.htm (The Freedom to Read) This is one of my oldest pages on the site (since five years or something).

Chris

In this weeks column Celebrate Constitution Week I mentioned my distaste for the mingling of the celebration of Constitution Day with the socialistic pledge of allegiance, and, a reader writes in with this alternative...

Dear Mary Lou Seymour,

Thank you for a fine column !

A while back I found somewhere on the net a proposed pledge written by
Dr. Paul Smith :

I pledge allegiance to the ideals of the American Revolution
And to the principles for which it was fought;
Individual freedom and property rights
Under an impartial system of law
With liberty and justice for all.

Personally I do like this one. Anyone else ?

For Liberty,
Trude Blomsoy
Coos Bay, OR.

Update to Join in the fight to stop spy chips

RFID Protest in Chicago!
CASPIAN members and supporters protested at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center on Tuesday, September 16th. Concerned citizens turned out to protest the worldwide launch of the "EPC network" which aims to put a spy chip in every item on the planet and track the items remotely. Chicago's Indy Media covered the event and took some fabulous pictures. Click here to see their story and photos.

The ACLU had to go to court the day before to defend CASPIAN'
s right to protest. Prior to the court filing, a McCormick Place security supervisor had told a CASPIAN member that the wearing of expressive t-shirts would be grounds for removal from the premises

My KABA email is down

Since around 10 AM today, the KABA POP doesn't work. So if anyone needs me, use my Yahoo address. libertymls@yahoo.com

Lord knows where the msgs to KABA are going, they don't bounce, they just disappear into a black hole

I've emailed Angel at KABA about this, and Support, but who knows if they're getting it either:-). Their web based email to and from itself appears to work fine, but won't take msgs from any outside server.

ML

Upsdate on Spy Chips Protest

This week's column, Stop Spy Chips! gives details on CASPIAN's fight against RFID technology.

CASPIAN encourages those who cannot attend the live protest against spychips (in Chicago Sept. 16) to post
anti-RFID images and comments to a "moblog" page at
http://stoprfid.textamerica.com
Consumers are planning to protest RFID "spy chips" at 10 AM on September 16 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Those of you who who cannot be there due to time and travel constraints can participate by protesting locally and sharing your protest sentiments virtually.

Ashcroft tour Sept 8 & 9: Buffalo, NH, Boston, NYC

Ashcroft's itinerary. details/press release from DOJ.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2003:
Buffalo, New York: 10:45 AM Hyatt Regency Buffalo
New Castle, New Hampshire :2:15 PM Wentworth by the Sea


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2003

Boston, Massachusetts : 9:20 AM EDT, Faneuil Hall
New York, New York: 12:45 PM Federal Hall 26 Wall Street (across the street from NYSE)

For more information, updates, and coverage of local protests, see BORDC Ashcroft tour page, http://www.bordc.org/Ontheroad.htm

And a note from FIJA

Greetings Mary Lou,

Thank you for the excellent article on FIJA, Jury Rights Day and our liberties.
We have Jury Rights activities going on tomorrow and Saturday across the country. Your support, enthusiasm and dedication are most appreciated by all of us in the Freedom Movement.

For Liberty in our Lifetime,
Iloilo Marguerite Jones
Executive Director
Fully Informed Jury Association
Post Office Box 5570
Helena, Montana 59604
406-442-7800
www.fija.org

Reader's LTE on jury rights

Dear Mary Lou Seymour,

I sent the following letter-to-the-editor [to my local paper]

"Allow me to start this letter with the following quotes from some of our Founding Fathers concerning the Duties of Jurors?

Jurors should acquit, even against the judge's instruction... if exercising their judgement with discretion and honesty
they have a clear conviction the charge of the court is wrong. -- Alexander Hamilton, 1804

It is not only the juror's right, but his duty to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgement and conscience, though in direct opposition to the instruction of the court. --John Adams, 1771

I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1789

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their choice, if the laws are so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they... undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow
-- James Madison

Couple these with the following quotes from early Justices:

"The jury has a right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy." John Jay, 1st Chief Justice United States supreme Court, 1789

"The jury has the right to determine both the law and the facts." Samuel Chase, U.S. supreme Court Justice, 1796, Signer of the unanimous Declaration

"the jury has the power to bring a verdict in the teeth of both law and fact. "Oliver Wendell Holmes, U.S. supreme Court Justice, 1902

"The law itself is on trial quite as much as the cause which is to be decided." Harlan F. Stone, 12th Chief Justice U.S. supreme Court, 1941

"The pages of history shine on instance of the jury's exercise of its prerogative to disregard instructions of the judge...” U.S. vs Dougherty, 473 F 2nd 113, 1139, (1972)

Now, I ask why is the RIGHT of “Jury Nullification” not currently presented to prospective Jurors? What is it that our current judges are afraid of? Could it be the true power of “We the People” that they fear
or is it the loss of their perceived power that puts this fear into them?

I challenge all judges to answer these questions for themselves and for me as one of 'We the People'. “We the People” need to know and I welcome any responses at my e-mail, jowen@zianet.com or in the pages of
this newspaper!"


Good Luck,
Jim Owen

===========

Excellent LTE, Jim! Great selection of quotes!
Mary lou

Ashcroft appearances in GA and NC Sept 5 and 6

Hello friends,

John Ashcroft will be appearing at the Georgia International Convention Center at 2:55 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, September 5. On Saturday, he will be in Raleigh at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel at noon.

As you get your demonstrations together, please let me know any details so that I can post them on the website (www.bordc.org/Ontheroad.htm). I hope you provide a spirited welcome for him!!

Let me know if there's anything we can do to help.

Sincerely,
Vanessa


Vanessa Bliss, Organizer
Bill of Rights Defense Committee
www.bordc.org
413-582-0110