http://www.san.beck.org/Epictetus.html (Epictetus: Manuel: 'Of existing things some are in our power, others not in our power. In our power are conception, effort, desire, aversion and in a word whatever are our actions but not in our power are the body, property, reputation, rulers and in a word whatever are not our actions . . .') http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism (Stoicism: 'The Stoics did, in fact, hold that emotions like fear or envy (or impassioned sexual attachments, or passionate love of anything whatsoever) either were, or arose from, false judgements and that the sage--a person who had attained moral and intellectual perfection--would not undergo them . . .') http://www.cs.indiana.edu/statecraft/civ.dis.html (Henry David Thoreau:Civil Disobedience 'How does it become a man to behave toward the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated wit it. . . . All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable . . .') 2 in 3 Brits OK Pot & Cocaine A BBC survey examining British people's attitude to whether wannabe Tory leader David Cameron has used cocaine, has revealed that 66% of Conservative voters said it would make no difference to the issue of whether they vote for him. Eight of ten voters questioned for the BBC TV Newsnight poll said they were equally nflustered with cannabis use by MPs, reflecting the increasingly tolerant stance adopted by newspaper columnists from the Mirror to the Times. Sunday Times star writer Minette Marrin identified a generation gap, suggesting 'anyone who knows nothing personally of drugs must seem like a total dinosaur to the younger generation.' "Taking recreational drugs is not in itself a moral matter," the family values advocate argued, "It has always been one of the greatest pleasures and greatest consolations of humankind, found in all civilisations." Daily Telegraph young gun columnist Sam Leith enthusiastically agreed, singling out the mid 80s as the cusp of a newly tolerant drugs generation. "For my own curiosity, I tried making a list of substances I've used that I shouldn't have done and arrived at: speed (amphetamine), dope (marijuana), acid (LSD), ecstasy, MDMA, ketamine, amyl nitrate, cocaine, nitrous oxide, magic mushrooms, temazepam, valium, Salvia Divinorium and khat," he confessed. "This isn't the pharmacopeia of a determined drug fiend. It's pretty much what you'd expect from an average, middle class drug tourist of my age and circumstances," he said. Mirror columnist and former punk writer Tony Parsons was equally outspoken sneering 'what kind of squeaky clean, Bible bashing, prissy little puritan could grow up in the second half of the 20th century and not take drugs? Oh yeah, Tony Blair."