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 Last
summer we started talking
about moving. There haven't been many particularly visible
signs of progress on this topic since then, since we've been
spending our time clearing the decks, documenting the house as
it was, finishing up various other projects, and celebrating
the holidays. But this
week we took a major step forward: We have rented a new space,
which will become the new office of Looney
Labs, in the attic of a close friend who owns a house nearby.
Here's what the space looks like at the moment: still mostly
empty.
This obviously brings up the question of our overall plan
for relocation. Here's our latest thinking...
As noted, the first thing we will be moving out of this house
is the business we started here. One of the reasons it will be
a big challenge for us to move is also one of the main reasons
we really NEED to: our house is overflowing. We just don't have
enough space for all of the desks and file cabinets and employees
and computers and boxes of propaganda and game parts and half-built
product and other inventory. So, we're going to start by moving
the accounting/business office over to our new space. Kristin
got the new high speed internet connection up and running yesterday,
so it's time to start moving in!
This attic apartment we're moving the business to is a long-term
temporary solution. Because our business is our livelihood, we
obviously need to make sure it can keep running smoothly during
the chaos and upheaval of the rest of our relocation efforts.
So, the first task is to set up a satellite office nearby, and
to transfer control of the company to that. Then we can pack
everything else up, figure out where we're going, and work on
getting there, all without interfering with the regular running
of the business. Eventually, when we're settled and ready, the
business office will follow and move closer to our new home,
and we can shut down the College Park office ... or maybe not.
It will also serve as a place for us to stay when we're in town,
and we may decide to maintain the College Park office apartment
indefinitely. After all, with all the friends and family in the
area, we'll often be traveling back here, so the idea of maintaining
a small apartment in the area is appealing.
The
question of where we'll move to still remains wide open.
All eyes are on the Supreme Court now, which any day could hand
down a ruling on medical marijuana that will either leave us
feeling we must move out of this country, or allow us to decide
we can stay here after all. In the former case, we're still feeling
pretty keen on the Toronto area and are planning another visit
for later this month. (Everyone says "But it's so cold up
there!" when we say we're thinking about Canada, so we want
to go visit in the very middle of the winter to see for ourselves
what it's really like up there at this chilly time of year.)
On the other hand, if the Supreme Court actually does what
it's supposed to do (which is of course to provide a check-and-balance
over the other two branches of the government by striking down
laws that go too far) then the case before them is a no-brainer.
For me, if the Supreme Court refuses to halt the arrest and incarceration
of medical marijuana users, it will be proof that there is corruption
at the highest levels of our government. The whole entire job
of those 9 people is to look at new laws, compare them to the
original Constitution, and consider if those new laws fall within
the limits of the government's power, or not. And I just don't
see how anyone can think that the Founding Fathers would have
supported laws that send people to jail for growing a plant which
many of the Founding Fathers grew themselves.
Do your own search on the text of the Constitution. You'll
find material which, taken as a whole, asserts the legality of
"intoxicating beverages" (which could be argued, it
seems to me, to include cannabis tea as well as alcohol), but
you won't find the word marijuana (nor any of its synonyms) anywhere
in our nation's charter. The only way the Drug War has been justified
up until now has been on the basis of the Constitution's "Commerce
Clause," but there's absolutely no commerce when you grow
your own and smoke it yourself! Marijuana prohibition is unconstitutional,
plain and simple, and if the Supremes don't admit it now, they
aren't doing their jobs.
Sadly, however, I believe there IS corruption at the highest
levels of our government, and I'm greatly worried that they'd
rather uphold the status quo than upset the apple cart of the
Prison-Industrial Complex. But I'm an optimist, and I do have
hope, and we have a short list of US cities we're thinking about
moving to as well, just in case. And one of these days, they'll
make an announcement and we'll know!
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