This is what Barack Obama wants to focus more money and more troops on.
From the BBC.
What began as celebration ended with maybe 52 people dead, most of them women and children, and others badly injured.
The US forces said they targeted insurgents in a strike. But from what I saw with my own eyes and heard from the many mourners, no militants were among the dead.
Hope…change…blah blah blah.
Turns out the boy wonder was bought and paid for to the tune of $205,795. That’s a lot of change.
Glenn Greenwald calls Obama out on his FISA capitulation:
UPDATE VII: Barack Obama got around to issuing a statement and — citing what he calls "the grave threats that we face" — he just announced that he supports this warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty "compromise":
Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .
After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year’s Protect America Act. . . It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.
It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives -– and the liberty –- of the American people.
Telling Americans that we have to give up basic constitutional rights — and allow rampant lawbreaking — if we want to save ourselves from "the grave threats we face" sounds awfully familiar. He says he will work to remove amnesty from the bill, but once that fails, will vote for the "compromise." Obama has obviously calculated that sacrificing the rule of law and the Fourth Amendment is a worthwhile price to pay to bolster his standing a tiny bit in a couple of swing states. The full Obama statement is here.
That headline may sound like a childish, personal attack if it weren’t so very true. Clearly, the guy is morbidly obese. And his idiotic proclamations about sports are approaching legendary status. Finally, we find out why his writing is so uninformed. He’s fucking blind.
But there’s one issue driving improved ratings that likely won’t be touched by all the NBA talking heads on TNT and ESPN.
Tattoos. Or rather the lack of tattoos in the conference finals.
Part of the reason more people are watching these playoffs is because the average fan isn’t constantly repulsed by the appearance of most of the players on the court. Most of the key players left in the playoffs don’t look like recent prison parolees.
The only accurate way to describe Garnett, Pierce, Duncan, Allen, Manu, Parker and even Kobe is "clean cut." Yeah, there are a couple of tattoos in that group — Duncan has something on his back, Kobe still has his post-rape-allegation tat — but the Lakers, Spurs and Celtics have far less ink on average than your typical NBA franchise.
Like most of the nonsense this guy spews, this isn’t based on any evidence or facts. It’s just his own clear distaste for tattoos projected onto the entire population of pro basketball watchers. Obviously, anyone even remotely familiar with the rosters of the remaining squads can do a quick search and come up with various examples of Kobe’s ink, KG’s ink, Chauncy Billups’ ink, Tim Duncan’s ink, or Luke Walton’s ink. But that isn’t even necessary. Whitlock’s idiotic thesis is refuted by the image that’s featured on the web page where his column appears. God bless ‘Sheed.
I don’t know shit about the House Rules or Jefferson’s Manual, but I do know a double talking bureaucrat when I see one. Henry Waxman is trying his best to get a straight answer out of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. When Darrell Issa tries to interrupt, he comes this close to getting the business end of the gavel. Great job Rep. Waxman! Now, answer my question.
Also, there are three C-Spans now?
I contacted Rep. Waxman and urged him to support HR 5843. This is his reply.
May 13, 2008
Mr. Nick Adams
8335 1/4 Blackburn Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90048-4217
Dear Mr. Adams:
Thank you for contacting me to express your support for
the legalization of recreational drug use. I appreciate your taking
the time to get in touch.
As you know, studies show that illegal drugs damage the
human brain, and many of these drugs have addictive properties
and take a huge toll on drug users, their families, and communities.
While I do not support the legalization of recreational drug use, I
believe that individuals suffering from terminal diseases such as
cancer and AIDS should receive compassionate pain relief through
drugs and therapies, including medicinal marijuana. I have also
long advocated the use of needle exchange programs as an
effective public health measure.
For decades, federal and state governments have pursued
anti-drug policies that stress punishment over prevention and
treatment. As a result, first-time nonviolent drug offenders have
overwhelmed prison systems. I believe we must bring balance to
our policy and have consistently supported significant increases in
funding for prevention and treatment programs. I have also
strongly opposed mandatory sentencing laws for first-time
nonviolent offenders.
Although we have a different perspective on this issue, I
appreciate your taking the time to contact me, and hope you will
stay in touch on issues of concern.
To learn more about my work in Congress or sign up for periodic
e-mail updates, please visit www.house.gov/waxman and
www.oversight.house.gov.
With kind regards, I am
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Member of Congress.
———————
My reply:
The Honorable Henry Waxman
2204 Rayburn House Office Building
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Rep. Waxman,
Thank you for your reply. In your letter you state the following:
As you know, studies show that illegal drugs damage the
human brain, and many of these drugs have addictive properties
and take a huge toll on drug users, their families, and communities.
First of all, we must keep this conversation specific to marijuana. By using phrases like "illegal drugs" and "these drugs" you’re attempting to lump marijuana in with significantly more dangerous and physically addictive drugs like cocaine, heroin and meth. That’s the same tactic used by the DEA, Partnership for a Drug Free America, etc. You and I both know that this is a scientifically and medically unsound comparison to make. We know this, of course, because of the findings of doctors and scientists. I pointed you toward some of those findings in my initial letter. As one of the many individuals whom you are charged with serving, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from using such transparent tactics in the future. Frankly, it’s an insult.
I contacted you specifically about HR 5843. This is a bill that would decriminalize possession of a substance that we know to be less harmful to the user and to society than alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs. Ironically all those substances can "damage the human brain…have addictive properties and take a huge toll on drug users, their families, and communities."
I eagerly await a more logical and fact-based response.
Sincerely,
Nick Adams
Specifically the freedom to listen to shitty music.
Via the BBC News:
Black Eyed Peas front man Will.i.am says the band will play in China, despite calls for artists to boycott the country over its human rights record.
When I clicked on the link to read Sandy Banks’ recent Los Angeles Times column, “What it’s like to buy medical marijuana,” I was excited about our city’s main newspaper giving some major ink to the medical marijuana issue. Early in the piece, I got a glimpse of the kind of writing I was going to be subjected to.
I’d dismissed the claim as a marketing gimmick. But it left me wondering: Could you really just walk in off the street and get marijuana?
Yes, Sandy. And it’s been that way for years now. Did she think that the 1996 Compassionate Use Act–which she says she voted for–was some sort of ruse to lure pot smokers out into the open only to round them up and cart them off to jail?
Banks then details her visit to a clinic in West Hollywood were she got to visit and actual real live doctor who told her that marijuana could help ease the pain from her arthritis. Shocking!!! After visiting a dispensary and making a purchase, she takes her weed home. That’s where the wheels fall off entirely.
At home, I couldn’t get the bottle open. My fingers weren’t strong enough to pop the top. Which is just as well.
I’m not going to smoke it. The feds don’t recognize California’s medical marijuana law. The DEA has been raiding dispensaries here; I don’t want federal agents knocking on my door.
So, on Friday, I brought the bottle into my office and my editor watched me flush it down the toilet.
The experience left me with so much to think about, it’s best I’m clear-headed while I work through it.
Just like that, what could have been an actual honest examination into the medicinal effects of marijuana on someone with a real condition that millions of people can relate to is immediately turned into a toothless piece of pablum that might be remotely titillating to the Readers Digest crowd. This kind of cowardly writing is one of the main reasons that newspapers are giant, lumbering dinosaurs destined to be rendered obsolete by the present media age. Who the fuck wants to read some middle-aged mother giggling over the shocking–SHOCKING!–revelation that it’s legal to by grass, man!!! Only to discover that she doesn’t even have the guts to smoke it.
Ignoring the fact that the DEA doesn’t arrest patients or dispensary owners in the raids, Blanks cites fear of prosecution for the reason she flushes the marijuana down the toilet. Which is exactly what they should have done with this column.
Sandy, do yourself a favor. Go back to that dispensary, get an 1/8 of the kindest shit they have, take it home and get really fucking high. And then tell your readers about that.
What is going on? Are people just that fed up with their old garments that they can’t be bothered with disposing of them properly? We’re just hanging perfectly good ties up in the bushes on Blackburn now? This tie would look great with this shirt.
