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Using implied pot humor to court votes with one hand while locking people up on the other hand. But then again, the law doesn’t apply to everyone.

Certainly, the two parties are going to do everything they can to keep Johnson silenced and the chance of getting in the debates is remote, but now, with the RNC convention over, there are some signs that the Gary Johnson candidacy may have a receptive audience.

One of the prime reasons for this today is the way that Ron Paul was treated at the Republican convention.

This extraordinary extended interview for The Daily Show with former RNC head Michael Steele spoke volumes (here are some snippets)…

Stewart: “The way they treated Ron Paul and his supporters was nothing short of appalling. They didn’t give him any opportunity [...]

Steele: “What the Republican National Committee did to Ron Paul was the height of rudeness and stupidity — for this reason: Why would you alienate an individual who has the ability to attract a new generation of voters?” [...]

“They’re afraid of that which they cannot control” [...]

Check out this article:

Ron Paul Supporters Warm to Gary Johnson, Not Mitt Romney at RNC Convention

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s pilgrimage to Tampa to seek more small government, big liberty adherents and additional publicity is paying off, at least with a subset of November voters.

Apparently Johnson was one of the few treating Ron Paul with respect. And now many Ron Paul supporters are looking at Johnson, which is also starting to cause the media to pay attention:

“When the media learned that Governor Johnson was in Tampa over the weekend, he didn’t have enough hours in the day to do all the interviews they requested. Why the attention?  They had heard about Gov. Johnson’s reception at the P.A.U.L. Fest – and they were talking to Republican delegates who are saying Congressman Paul’s treatment at the convention is causing them to take a close look at Governor Gary Johnson.” 

There may well be additional opportunities for a Gary Johnson message to be heard through the likely upcoming stupidity of the Democratic National Committee as well.

Could be interesting.

It’s fascinating that the parties go so far to try to silence a third-party candidate (all the fights over ballot access and debate participation). Nobody really believes that Johnson has a chance of winning the Presidency. All we want is for his message to be heard.

And that’s the part that terrifies the Democratic and Republican leadership.

Quote of the day:

Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.

- HL Mencken

It’s a fair point, but we’re still going to do our part to speed it along a bit.

Pot-smoking driver in Saskatoon deemed not impaired

A woman who admitted to using marijuana before getting into her car has been acquitted of impaired driving, with the Saskatoon judge saying he was not convinced her ability to operate a vehicle was affected. [...]

In his decision, the judge said he was left with several unanswered questions, including:

1. What signs of impairment would one expect to see in someone who has been using marijuana?
2. How long after using marijuana would you expect to see these signs and how long would they last?
3. Can the results of drug evaluation tests taken over 1½ hours after the time of driving be reliably related back to the time the woman was stopped?
4. Was the woman’s performance in some of the tests an indication of poor balance or poor co-ordination?

On the other hand, the judge found there was plenty of evidence to suggest the woman was not impaired, noting:

1. The officer did not observe any problems with her driving as she came to the check stop, when she was directed into the check stop or when she was directed to drive out of the line of cars to a nearby parking lot.
2. She had no problems understanding the officer or answering his questions and did not slur her speech.
3. She was able to provide him with her licence without any problems and had no difficulty following the officer’s instructions or getting out of her vehicle.
4. When he asked her to take her hand off her vehicle and step away from it, she did so without problem. She did not have to hold on to anyone or anything for balance and after he handcuffed her, she had no problems walking to his police car and getting into the back seat.
5. She was polite and co-operative with the officer.

What a unique concept. Don’t convict someone for being impaired unless there’s actually some evidence that they were… impaired.

Nuevo Leon: 48 hours, 33 executed (Google translation of page in Spanish)

Apparently, this series of murders was a coordinated effort to make a statement responding to military claims that the Zetas had been weakened in the area.