Radical Links through 2003-Feb-10

The Radical has had a busy week. There's always far more to report upon than I can handle. You could help. Make a donation. Meanwhile, here's a few tidbits from the past week:

Ed Rosenthal Jurors Denounce Their Own Verdict
Ann Harrison, AlterNet
"What happened was a travesty and it's unbelievable, unbelievable that this man was convicted. I am just devastated. ... We made a terrible mistake and he should not be going to prison for this." ... "If I had known that he was told he could grow this by the city, that would have raised some questions for me in front of the judge. ... It's a waste of taxpayer money to bring these cases and prosecute people." "The more information we get, the more we realize how manipulated and controlled the whole situation was, and that we were pawns in this much larger game. ... As residents, we voted to legalize medical marijuana and now we are forced to sit here and not take any of this into consideration?"
Kangaroo theater of the absurd, courtesy of the American tyranny.

School bans pupil's medical marijuana project
Ananova
[Student] did not smoke marijuana herself, but interviewed doctors and studied three medical marijuana patients. She did not attach any samples to her display, and her parents supervised her at every step. But Ralston Intermediate School headteacher Deborah Ferguson said projects are supposed to be hands-on, and marijuana is still an illegal drug.
Apparently, then, legality aside, according to the headteacher, if she'd smoked pot for a medical condition, this would have been okay?

Legal miracle: Court Rules in Favor of Vote Swap Web Site
Reuters
...allowed citizens to swap Gore votes in states where Bush was likely to win anyway for the Green party candidate Nader. A Nader supporter in a state with a closer contest would then pledge to vote for Gore in return. Swaps of votes for other candidates were also theoretically possible....
A victory for speech and electoral liberty, but a sad sign at the increasing irrelevance of voting to the issues of public attention.

Indian court rejects eunuch mayor
Madhya Pradesh, India, Jill McGivering, BBC
A court has said eunuchs are still technically men in a controversial ruling set to force a mayor from a job held for women. ... has thrown the political status of eunuchs throughout India into doubt. ...
One stupid gender-biased law leads to another stupid gender-based ruling, for no good reason.

The Radical has been kept away from this page the past few days, for many reasons, including, as with all caring people, tracking the news of the shuttle Columbia's horrifying destruction.

Beam Me Out Of This Death Trap, Scotty
Washington Monthly
April 1980 Washington Monthly cover story on the problems and progress of NASA's space shuttle program was written one year before Columbia's first launch in 1981.
The Space Shuttle Must Be Stopped
Time Magazine
...some analysts proposed that the shuttle be phased out, that cargo launches be carried aboard by far cheaper, unmanned, throwaway rockets and that NASA build a small "space plane" solely for people, to be used on those occasions when men and women are truly needed in space. ... Switching to unmanned rockets for payload launching and a small space plane for those rare times humans are really needed would cut costs, which is why aerospace contractors have lobbied against such reform. Boeing and Lockheed Martin split roughly half the shuttle business through an Orwellian-named consortium called the United Space Alliance.
Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings
Peter Beaumont, The Observer
Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed.
What many scientists and general followers of space travel news have been claiming for years has become a horrible reality. The atmosphere of today's NASA, the politicization and militarization and industrial-pork-barrelizing of the space program stretch back to the beginnings of the shuttle program. Now, finally, even Time Magazine calls for scrapping the shuttle and using space planes harks back over thirty years, to proposals well pre-dating the shuttle. All the more horrifying to realize the many ways the deadly and costly destruction of Columbia, or Challenger, need not have occurred.

Upstaged by the weekend's tragedy, the latest and greatest outrage in the PuriTalibaNazi Tyrants' ongoing war upon personal liberty:

Ed Rosenthal "convicted" in federal kangaroo court. Some jurors prove to be civic idiots.
Fox
... The federal jury concluded that Ed Rosenthal, the self-described "Guru of Ganja," was growing more than 100 plants, conspiring to cultivate marijuana and maintaining a warehouse for a growing operation. Rosenthal, 58, faces a maximum of 85 years in prison when sentenced June 4. ... "This was not a trial. It was called a kangaroo trial," Rosenthal, who remains free on bail, said Friday as supporters chanted: "We love you Ed." ... "There is no such thing as medical marijuana," said Richard Meyer, a DEA spokesman. "We're Americans first, Californians second." ... Jury foreman Charles Sackett III said outside court that jurors were following federal law in finding Rosenthal guilty, but he hoped the verdict would be overturned. "We had no legal wiggle room," Sackett said.
Richard Meyer is wrong. There is such a thing as beneficial use of marijuana, many of them, medical and spiritual, and he is no American, first, last, or at all, by his performance against the rights of citizens to self-medicate, enjoy their recreational or religious substances, and be true free citizens of God's universe first, and Americans somewhere after planetary denizen.... Charles Sackette III was also wrong. That jury had the very duty to free Ed if they found the law wrong.

Man Arrested for Selling Opium Poppy Pods on eBay
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters)
[Planetary Citizen, 30,] ...arrested at his Sacramento, California home, after he allegedly advertised and sold 700 dried Papaver Somniferum poppy pods between July 2000 and this month, ...[His] eBay listing allegedly contained a disclaimer that the pods were intended for decorative use only. A chemist for the Drug Enforcement Administration, however, said the pods as they were delivered to undercover agents could be steeped like tea and consumed as a controlled substance. If convicted [he] would face a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $1 million.
Twenty years and a million dollars. These tyrants are insane, cruel, and unusual.

Kenyan women protest at 'trouser police'
BBC
Women in Kenya have held a demonstration in the western town of Eldoret. They want the government to take strong action to protect them after a group of young men started assaulting women wearing trousers, stripping them naked. Some 23 men were released on bail after being charged with assault and behaviour likely to breach the peace. One of the affected women, Rachel Muzone Nganga, told the BBC Focus on Africa programme that women in Eldoret were scared to go outside. "I felt so bad, I felt so humiliated," she said. Nevertheless, she says that she will continue to wear trousers. "It is my right," she said. She said the men were members of the controversial Mungiki religious sect. They say they want to uphold the traditional values of the Kikuyu ethnic group, and support female circumcision.
MungikiPuritanTaliban, the true God who granted humankind life and will blesses such Radically Inclined soldiers as these amazing women, blesses all those in the protest for the human right everywhere!

LegoTech on Tour
http://www.eqi-clan.de/lego/lego-dope.html
We all know this situation: nothing happening online and going out for some healthy activity is just a bit to much activity.
Just for fun. Not for the kiddies.

WHO suppresses pro-cannabis health report
New Scientist
Health officials in Geneva have suppressed the publication of a politically sensitive analysis that confirms what ageing hippies have known for decades: cannabis is safer than alcohol or tobacco.
Truth never matters to the cruel and bigoted anti-liberty cultists.

DEA Chief will help run new spy agency
Cannabis Culture
...Homeland Security will be run by a scary guy - former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge - a hard-line, mean-looking drug warrior whose attitude towards human rights, freedom and law enforcement would have been well at home in Germany during the late 1930's. Ridge will be assisted by Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman from Arkansas...
Afghanistan's tyrannical Taliban were easy to topple from power in Afghanistan, for the might of the United States. Now, who will save us in the United States from the tyrannical power of the Puritan?

26 years for minor pot sales
Dana Larsen, Cannabis Culture
Nall has her theories as to why the sentencing was so extreme. "The narc was wearing a wire, and had Alexander on tape saying that he was smarter than the cops, that the dumb police would never catch him, and so on. It's a vendetta case. The cops and DA are pissed with him because he called them stupid. Plus they're just picking on poor people, like always."
Prisoner of a pathetic war waged by insane religious taboo zealots who would have no right to any power in a truely free country.

Lord George the First rumors there will be no war
Cindy Adams, New York Post
At a private secure party in a small social gathering, George Bush the elder ...put the odds of war with Iraq at: "Fifty-fifty." ...President Bush the First also said: "I'd guess there is no war."
Hmmmmmm......

Child brings dad's coke to school, dad busted on several crimes
Christoph Trappe, Iowa City Press-Citizen
...daughter brought a 2.75-gram rock of cocaine [to school]... told the principal she brought the rock from home and that it belonged to her father. "I think, in her opinion, she thought it was something that shouldn't be around the house. She just wanted to report it to somebody." ...police ...found $5,360 in counterfeit bills, several rocks suspected to be cocaine and other drug-dealing and counterfeiting equipment. ... [Dad] was spotted in [a] parking lot ...trying to sell what law enforcement officials said could have been stolen property. ... eluded two law enforcement agencies in separate high-speed chases ... Police later found his car ...and located him ...after receiving a tip about his whereabouts.... charged him with forgery, child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance. ...The 10-year-old girl now is staying with relatives... "The mantra here is safety for the child," [DHS spokesman Roger] Munns said. "The safety for the child is the determining factor ... If the child is surrounded by illegal drugs, that's certainly a factor."
Obviously, this is not a father who is putting his child's welfare first and foremost in his life, no duh. The safety of the child is indeed an issue, just as it would be if the child had brought a loaded pistol or a fifth of whiskey to school, because these are not things a ten-year-old should have within reach in a decent home. HOWEVER, the charges of "possession of a controlled substance," and potential dealing charges, are unnecessary (especially in this case!) to proving child endangerment. If cocaine were legal, this kind of father would still be incompetent. Where is the mother, the grandparents or other family?

Record industry struggles in shark-infested internet waters of 21st Century
Andy Sullivan, Reuters
...The parent of the Kazaa song-swapping service counter-sued the [Recording] industry late Monday in the same Los Angeles federal court that is hearing the industry's suit against Kazaa, whose users can download digital songs, movies, and other files for free. ... Meanwhile, technicians for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) struggled to restore the trade group's Web site after a hacking attack knocked it offline last Friday. ... believe[d] unrelated to the "SQL Slammer" virus that knocked out online databases and disabled wide swaths of the Internet over the weekend. ..."How pathetic that those who want free music don't believe in free speech," said the RIAA's Amy Weiss.
"How pathetic" that the whiney spokespoop for the monster power tyrants of music would extrapolate the acts of some hackers to "those who want free music."

Wee hours two-woman sex act in store window interrupted and women imprisoned by religious tyranny officers, who were properly booed by spectators
The Smoking Gun
2:40 AM ...charged with lewd and lascivious behavior. ...an exhibition in the window ... [officers] saw two females who were directly in front of the clear storefront window, with the lights on, engaging in sexual acts for display... As the officers confronted the two individuals the crowd outside began to "boo" ... [The women] tried to explain to the officers they were doing nothing wrong.
Let's talk about that Supreme Court ruling about "community standards." At 2:40AM in that area, was there anyone to complain? Did those who appreciated the act by far outnumber any passerby mommies out with her child in hand at nearly 3AM? There were no complaints filed. What was the real crime here? The vague notion of what is "lewd and lascivious behavior," and why it should be illegal.

40 percent of freshmen said they think marijuana should be legalized, marking a 23-year high....
Dave Newbart, Chicago Sun-Times
...An all-time low, 46.5 percent, drank beer frequently or even occasionally in the last year, down from a high of 73.7 percent in 1982. One in five students do not "party'' at all during the week. Still, 40 percent of freshmen said they think marijuana should be legalized, marking a 23-year high....
Interesting study of 280,000 first-year college students.

Rosenthal's Federal Drug Trial Turns Surreal
Ann Harrison, AlterNet
''This is the federal government at war with its own citizens and I like to think that years from now we will look back on this as a dark chapter in our nation's history,'' said California State Assemblymember Mark Leno. ''The thought of a man like Ed Rosenthal being threatened with twenty years of imprisonment is an outrage. The man is not a criminal.''
Read about the outrageous kangaroo-court tactics being used, more proof that Prohibitionism and its proponents and warriors truly have nothing to do with reasonable, intelligent, competent rule of Constitutional law.

For a group calling themselves "Accuracy in Media"...
aim.org
THE RESPECTED BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL RECENTLY PUBLISHED THREE STUDIES linking marijuana to emotional problems, including depression and anxiety, as well as schizophrenia. This should have been big news because members of the pro-marijuana lobby would like voters to believe that marijuana has “medicinal” benefits. Singer Whitney Houston’s boyfriend, singer Bobby Brown, claimed in a national television interview with Diane Sawyer that he smoked marijuana because it helped alleviate certain mental problems. “(Marijuana) seems to help me ... from going up and down,” he insisted. This is what the potheads want to believe. Sadly, Houston also admitted to extensive drug use. Her career has gone to pot.
...this squib (toward the end of the column) sure is a load of biased bilge. The studies I've previously addressed. As to the "facts," would the "prestigious" Journal be engaging in drug war distortions? This should have been big news...These articles were all over the internet newspaper pages, at least. Long enough ago they aren't on Google News search anymore, but here's links from just plain Google Search. ...members of the pro-marijuana lobby would like voters to believe that marijuana has “medicinal” benefits... "The minimal negative health effects of moderate use would be attested to by the estimated 1.5 million Canadians who smoke marijuana for recreational purposes. The real harm is the legal and social fallout." - Canadian Medical Association Journal, May 15, 2001, Vol. 164, No. 10, p. 1397 (quoted, unchecked, from drugwardistortions.org). The squib engages in ad hominem against a couple of actors to deride "potheads." Speaking of "certain mental problems," I smell a big stinky one at Inaccuracy In Media.

Drug madness reaching new depths: Arkansas now outlaws clean urine
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters)
Jay Martin, a freshman state representative, won passage through the Arkansas House of Representatives last week of his measure that will make it illegal to sell or use urine to falsify a drug or alcohol screening test. ... Maximum penalties for violating the law will be up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.
And it's not even DRUGGED pee that's made illegal, it's CLEAN pee! Of course, you have to know WHY someone would want it. "Hell, yer 'onner, I didn't know what the feller wanted my pee for, he just paid me fer it! I thought mebbe he wuz a scientist or a pree-vert." Right. You could sell it for drinking purposes legally, but not for tricking the PuriTalibaNazis who are trying to ensnare their religious enemies, folks who might be having fun. (For the record: The Radical does not support fraud.)

UK Internet Cafe Loses Music Copyright Dispute
LONDON (Bernhard Warner, Reuters)
A High Court judge Tuesday found the EasyInternet Cafe chain guilty of copyright infringement for allowing customers to download music from the Internet and copy it onto a CD for $8.16.
Again, how can the cafe manager know what a customer is legitimately or illegitimately copying onto the CD? The cafe (presumably) just serves customers who are responsible for their own copying, just like a self-serve photocopy place. And if the music is just sitting there on the internet, downloadable, copying is the whole idea, despite what the fatcats are trying to make the internet into. Whew!

I was jus' strollin' across the campus, mindin' my own dam' business, enjoyin' my smoke, when this dude...
Tyler Morning Telegraph
A 17-year-old John Tyler High School student was arrested after he was observed strolling about campus smoking a marijuana cigarette, officials said. ... The man was taken into custody ...booked ...on a misdemeanor possession charge, less than 2 ounces... [School District officials] said the charge requires a hearing before a Central Discipline Review Committee. ...Texas Education Agency requires mandatory alternative education placement... the student was arrested after a security officer observed him smoking what appeared to be an illegal substance. ...[Two officers] spotted additional marijuana in the man's vehicle. [Another officer] assisted in the arrest...
And every damn one of those people is insane. The dude was just walking along, smoking a joint. To put it in Texan, y'all are the ones with the problems.

Tyrants object to nearly everything eventually....
EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (Yahoo News/AP)
Human-Pet Massage Areas May Be Banned ...The Board of Health is considering a proposal to differentiate between animal and human clients of massage therapists. "We don't want (massage therapists) massaging animals at the same facility where humans are massaged," Health Agent Dennis Lacourse told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "Do physicians let you bring your dog into the examining room? No." ...
Hahahahaha! Who can fight "logic" like that? Personally, I wouldn't want to go to a people-and-pet massage parlor (if I wanted one for either purpose), but I fail to see the public health hazard here, if those with pet allergies are forewarned....

Electronic-age stalking
KENOSHA, Wis (Yahoo News/AP)
...stalked her relentlessly for months with the aid of a global positioning system device that police later found planted under the hood of her car. ... the system recorded her movements — to work, on dates, shopping and even to buy gasoline — [he] would show up wherever she went.
Just like the government can do it to anyone!

Lebanese drug tyrants meet resistance
BBC
Lebanese police have shot dead a man who threw a grenade during an arrest operation at a house in east Beirut. Two officers were reportedly killed and two wounded when the man hurled the grenade at their car in the Hazmieh suburb on Sunday. ...
The Radical is under no illusions that many, if not most, in the drug trade, are there for profit, not for revolution, rights, or love. They are pirates, gangsters, black marketeers such as the world has always seen, and good policemen die in the name of bad law fighting scum who would have to be in truly criminal activities if it weren't for the worst drug of all--prohibitionism.

Calif Judge won't gag Rosenthal for Federal thugs
Hampton Roads Daily Press, VA
Federal prosecutors had sought the gag order for Ed Rosenthal and his attorneys, saying they fear overheated publicity could taint the jury. In rejecting the request, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he had repeatedly instructed the jury to refrain from reading, listening to or watching accounts of the trial. "I'm not about to shackle people's First Amendment rights," Breyer said.
Now, people's right to inhale whatever they feel is right, that may be a different matter. Ninth Amendment? Tenth Amendment? Twenty-First Amendment? Never heard of 'em.

Canadian Puritan Tyrants destroy man's pot crop, steal his equipment, and hold him prisoner
Whitehorse Star, Canada
...local man [46] ...$400,000 in marijuana plants ...hydroponic grow operation ...four hundred plants, with a street value of $1,000 each, and the equipment to grow them ...marijuana possession and production of marijuana charges. ...police aren’t releasing whether the drug seizure came after a long-term investigation or on the basis of a recent tip... These sorts of seizures often come after police amass a wide variety of information, he said, including electricity and water usage. The pot has been destroyed.
Another victim of the war against personal liberty still going on in Canada.

Two Webster WI men pay toll to drug thugs for private possession, one let go
The Inter-County Leader, WI

Link broken: http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?show=localnews&pnpID=256&NewsID=421361&CategoryID=7607&on=0
During a search of the vehicle with the consent of the occupants, the officer discovered [pipes & weed]... none of the three would take claim to the evidence that was discovered
Their only real crime, according to the officer (and can we believe any of these full-time religious fanatic "drug warriors" on anything anymore?) was "swerving in its lane of traffic." Do we ever even believe the "consent" to search a vehicle wasn't induced by threat if it was given at all?

Vox Tyranni TIME Magazine shows its prohibitionist propaganda colors

Parents and school principals are always trying to scare kids with the message that smoking pot will lead to harder drugs. Well, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the grownups may be on to something. By tracking 311 pairs of Australian twins (both fraternal and identical) in which one twin used marijuana before age 17 and the other did not...
..."the grownups may be on to something"??? Time wishes it was "grown up"! The key propaganda lie in this TIME report is visible right there in the first paragraph, the first sentence. "WILL lead to harder drugs." The actual report doesn't even suggest that marijuana is a "gateway" as so many headlines have given this report. It says that there is an ASSOCIATION, a scientific term which means that pot use is one of a group of symptoms and habits which are associated together for reasons to be determined. It's like, kids that grow up urban poor frequently do drugs or alcohol. Which came first, the poor habits of self-disrespect, the poverty, the family decay, or the drugs? They all are part of a matrix, like how one may start acting differently in many ways when joining a gang, a clique, or a religion.... It is the milieux of alcoholism which makes beer on a trajectory for so many that leads to hard sauce. It is the milieux of black marketeering that makes God's good pot associated with drug culture, law-scoffing, sin, and general rebelliousness. Even the idea that "getting stoned" is like being drunk, and "getting wasted on pot" is more popular than raising one's consciousness, this all is due to cultural opposition by the Prohibitionists to God's greener truth.

Calif. Doctors want better marijuana for study
Jean Whitney, San Mateo County Times
Nearly two years after its launch here, doctors conducting a groundbreaking medical marijuana study want better quality weed from the federal government.....
Heh heh... I'll bet they did. And I wonder what the government's reply would be....

Tyrants overpower and hold Calif pot farmers prisoner, alleged Prohibition-inflated value of $1 mil
Source
LOS ANGELES -- Three people were arrested and 1,321 marijuana plants worth up to $1 million were seized in the bust of a pot-growing operation in upper Ojai. ... [Citizen] claimed it was for medicinal purposes...
And religious.... and recreational... and WHAT THE #^()@& is WRONG with these insane tyrants, so into their unAmerican gansterism against such simple human liberty?

Psycho-Shock ads from Drug Nazis during BeerFest 2003
Gail Pennington St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the Oregon Herald online? What a world
Ads from the Office of National Drug Control Policy were among the few to shift the mood. In one, a man on a subway is confronted by people who accuse him of murdering them with the money he spent for drugs; in another, a young teen is pregnant, victim of impaired judgment caused by marijuana.
David Hinckley, San Jose Mercury News, CA
SCRUB TEAM
1. Government anti-drug spot. Distraught parents and teenager, suggesting that if your 14-year-old smokes marijuana, next thing she will come home pregnant. Who thought anyone would buy this pitch? Miss Cleo? ...
From reviews of Super Bowl commercials

Pure Old-Fashioned Religious Hate
WorldNetDaily.com
"If a kafir person (non-believer) goes in a Muslim country, he is like a cow," explains Hamza. "Anybody can take him. That is the Islamic law. ... If a kafir is walking by and you catch him, he's booty.... You can sell him in the market. Most of them are spies. And even if they don't do anything, if Muslims cannot take them and sell them in the market, you just kill them. It's OK."
--Abu Hamza, long affiliated with Finsbury Park mosque, where the British have just found bioprotective suits in their frantic search for ricin terrorists....

Coca farmers fight Bolivian Prohibitionist government
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (AP)
The Bolivian government formally opened talks with coca farmers Sunday to end protests that have killed 12 people and shut down the nation's largest highway for nearly two weeks. ... Since Jan. 14, thousands of protesters have blocked the highway with tree trunks and boulders. in anger over the government's plan to eradicate illegal crops. Coca is the base ingredient of cocaine, but many Bolivians chew the leaves or use them to brew tea. About 30,000 acres of coca can be cultivated legally, but growers want the limit increased. ...
Imagine drug peace....

BERSERK POLICE EVERYWHERE
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)
...In the video, the man, suspected in residential burglaries, appeared to be flailing and kicking the restraining officers when the officer he originally fought ran up and kicked him three times....
SHANGHAI, China (Martin Fackler, AP)
Police in western China have executed a Tibetan for a string of bomb attacks in support of Tibetan independence, despite an international outcry over the fairness of his trial.
Neither side looks real good here, does it?

Government imposed smallpox program meets medical community backlash
Jessica Brown, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The fact that some hospitals are not requiring workers to be vaccinated for smallpox does not indicate a backlash to the Bush administration's immunization program, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Friday.
Imagine! Medical people not going along with a medical decision made by appointed political officials! BACKLASH! BACKLASH!

Health Data Monitored for Bioterror Warning
William J Broad and Judith Miller, New York Times
...To secure early warning of a bioterror attack, the government is building a computerized network that will collect and analyze health data of people in eight major cities, administration officials say....
A good idea on the surface, with no potentials for abuse, I'm sure....

Insane administration supported by crazed religious cultists threatens use of weapons of mass destruction against another country
Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times
...[US] military planners have been actively studying lists of potential targets and considering options, including the possible use of so-called "bunker buster" nuclear weapons against deeply buried military targets.... Administration officials believe that in some circumstances, nuclear arms may offer the only way.... Critics contend that a bunker-buster strike could involve a huge radiation release and dangerous blast damage. They also say that use of a nuclear weapon in such circumstances would encourage other nuclear-armed countries to consider using those weapons in more kinds of situations, and would badly undermine the half-century effort to contain the spread of nuclear weapons....
Which George "I'm doing it for Daddy" W. probably doesn't know about... or if he does know, doesn't understand... or if he does understand, has become too self-righteous and war-maddened to care. Oh, but they probably won't use them....

Rabid Drug Nazis abuse brain-cancer patient trying to refill valid scrip
Austin360.com
...she went to the drive-up window at a Walgreen... pharmacist on duty thought she had faked her Percocet prescription and called police... she told the officer who handcuffed her that he could call her doctor or her nurse to verify the prescription. "I told him I had brain cancer, and I had a medical information card inside my wallet,'' she said. "It didn't matter to him. He didn't believe anything I was telling him.'' ...family posted bail that night, but she was still without her medicine. ...arraigned the next day; as a condition of her release, she was required to attend a session at a drug treatment facility.
Yes, that will teach her a lesson! At least there she can make a lot of money selling her Percocet refills (which she should have no trouble filling any more now) to real druggies also sent there by the PuriTalibaNazi (il-)legal "system."

July 2001 tale of Georgia (USA) Drug Nazi soldiers out of control
WTW
...Now in the US, in Georgia, when you get busted, the drug doesn't necessarily need to be in any level immediately present, yet you can and will be held under threat of force to give the arresting agency blood or urine to prove there is some kind of drug in your system if a police officer wants to obtain your bodily fluids....
READ IT and realize, yes it can too happen to you.

Another animal revenge story
ABC/AP
A man trying to beat his dog to death with a gun was fatally wounded when it apparently went off accidentally, police said.
Sometimes there is justice known as instant karma. No word on the condition of the poor mauled dog.

Power-mad religious tyrant President burning tax dollars like a nicotine fiend chain-smokes cigarettes in quest to utterly destroy every last vestige of the Constitutional democratic republic of the United States of America
Fox
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy spent millions telling the estimated 130 million people who watch the Super Bowl that drug money is frequently routed to terrorist groups. Now the ONDCP is at it again, spending more than $4 million to launch anti-drug ads during television's most coveted advertising slot: this Sunday's championship football game.
Just think of everybody who's profiting here and you'll see why they want to keep this 1984-style war on human liberty going forever, just like junk pushers.

China Expels Democracy Activist Fang Jue
Reuters
...Fang, who has called for direct elections at all levels of government, freedom of the press and a multi-party political system, boarded a flight to Chicago from Beijing, New York-based Human Rights in China said in a statement. Fang disappeared from his Beijing home on November 4, nearly four months after he was released from prison where he spent three years on what the group described as trumped-up fraud charges....
China can't handle freedom.

Hispanic citizens harassed by Prohibitionist paranoia in Chicago, where Al Capone once got rich on another kind of Prohibition but where you can now freely drink a beer learn from history or else.
Chris Fusco, Chicago Sun-Times.
What Chicago police thought was more than $660,000 worth of dope in a pickup truck last month turned out to be hay from a Roman Catholic church's nativity scene. ... [Attorney:] "Somebody must have seen these two big bales, saw the men were Mexican and made an assumption... These guys were treated like they were cartel drug traffickers... Once we finally secure their release, we will be talking to a civil rights lawyer."
They did have a little pot, though. And they looked Hispanic and had Hispanic names.... Therefore they must be guilty if this is Bush's America?

Witchcraft blamed for lion attacks
Reuters
BLANTYRE- A rampaging pride of escaped lions killed four Malawians and then disappeared without trace, game officials said on Friday, raising fears among villagers that witchcraft may be to blame for the deaths.
We're just not as top-of-the-food-chain as we'd like to think, sometimes...! I think we'd better keep a closer eye on Malawi!

Swazi women bare bottoms to police
Tom Holloway BBC, Mbabane
Little did the lone Swaziland police officer know what he was letting himself in for when he attempted to arrest a group of women fruit and vegetable vendors. ...
Spontaneous local democracy opposing regulatory tyranny and making an excellent statement for liberty throughout!
Earlier police-mooning article
Click on picture to see original context

INS detains immigrants in days before Super Bowl
John Riley, Newsday
Sparking criticism from immigrant rights advocates, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents in San Diego have detained dozens of immigrant taxi drivers and security guards in an unusual sweep designed to eliminate threats to this weekend's Super Bowl.... "They haven't caught one person who's a terrorist or a threat," said Ali Golchin, an attorney for the Coalition of Iranian-American Organizations in San Diego. "They have basically caught ordinary working folks in technical violation of their immigration status. There are 10 million people in America in technical violation of their immigration status."
Earlier article from news24.com: War on terror used for repression

Who decides who's a digital criminal?
Bill Thompson, BBC
...It is enough to make anyone concerned with freedom of speech, freedom of association and the importance of vibrant creative culture despair at the stupidity of the law. ...
Some reflections on the issues and current events.

Lions
BBC, Africa
A pride of lions terrorising people in central Malawi have killed four people, bringing to nine the total number they have killed since Christmas.
Starving from drought. People keep being Critter Chow, though, don't we? Interesting "in this day and age...."

War on terror used for repression
Lucy Fielder - News24.com
London - The head of Amnesty International said on Wednesday governments around the world had seized on the struggle against terror as an excuse for domestic repression.
To everyone's great surprise, I'm sure.

Cable television banned in Kabul
news24.com
Kabul - Afghanistan's chief justice said on Tuesday he had shut down cable television services in Kabul because they were broadcasting un-Islamic programmes.
It's cable. People pay for it, on purpose, by request, and turn on their televisions, on purpose, for themselves. WHY is this TALIBAN TYRANT telling Afghanis what they can and cannot choose to watch? Because it's THEOCRACY, not LIBERTY
"People who filed complaints to the Supreme Court said they were airing half-naked singers and obscene scenes from movies," Shinwari said.
Puritans, Talibans, and other prudes... THERE IS AN OFF SWITCH!

Republican Senator Seeks Curbs on Computer Dragnet
Susan Cornwell/Reuters
...Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, stopped short of embracing an attempt by Democrats to block all funding for the controversial Bush administration program, known as the Total Information Awareness project. But Grassley filed a proposal in the Senate that would limit the use of funds for the program to foreign intelligence purposes. He said he wanted to "protect against abuse that could violate the privacy of our own people." ...
Sure, it's okay to violate the privacy and rights of citizens of countries other than our own, but we want to respect the rights and privacy of our own citizens. Nice thinking. Siigh

Marijuana Wafts Into Grim Israel Election Campaign
Jeffrey Heller/Reuters
... Green Leaf, which not only wants to legalese cannabis but also plant it in toxic waste dumps to soak up heavy metals, is one of 29 parties vying for seats in the 120-member parliament in the January 28 general election. "It's illogical to turn one million law-abiding citizens in Israel into criminals," the party's commercials say, alluding to the number of Israelis it believes smoke dope. A written proviso at the end of the commercials notes that Green Leaf does not advocate the use of marijuana by children, youngsters or soldiers. ... Green Leaf appears set to win at least one seat, a goal likely to remain just a pipe dream for other fringe factions in a race which has little of the comic relief from political satire and party commercials in past elections....
Would that all those troublemakers on all sides over there would just sit down and smoke a little peace-herb with one another, in the right spirit.

Saddam's Chemical Victims Still Suffering in Iran
Paul Hughes/Reuters
TEHRAN ..."Saddam Hussein is a criminal and deserves everything he gets ... I want America to start the war against him as soon as possible with U.N. backing," he wheezed from his narrow hospital bed. A truck driver for Iran's Revolutionary Guards during the bitter 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Khoshnevisan was ferrying wounded soldiers from the frontline in southwestern Khuzestan province when Iraqi planes attacked with mustard gas. ...
Just a reminder that, however lunatic our warmongering American administration has become, the objective is not unjust. America sometimes seems determined to go at the rightest causes in the wrongest way....

Malawi Vampire Claim Leads to Arrest
Yahoo News/AP
BLANTYRE, Malawi - A radio journalist was arrested Sunday for interviewing a man who claimed he was attacked by vampires, under a Malawi government campaign to quash vampire rumors. Artanizo Bellzeze, who works for a community radio station in Blantyre, was charged with broadcasting false news that could lead to public unrest.
Just kidding. The dj's real name was Maganizo Mazeze Wonder. Guess there's no freedom of foolishness in Malawi these days. Not good to stir up superstitious people. Speaking of which, the real Art Bell's website is http://www.artbell.com/.

Wins Legal Texas Lotto but Loses Prohib Cocaine Lotto
Yahoo! News/AP
[Citizen, 53,] ...just before Christmas ...[won $7.5 million in] Lotto Texas ...less than a month later ...U.S. Customs agents found 1.63 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the dishwasher and pantry of his apartment....
Wrong gamble, guy. First of all, get out of the apartment, second, hire armed guards for your new estate, and third, get a mule to hold your coke for you. Geez! The nouveau riche!

Prohibitionist madness taken to extreme: carding septagenerians!
Yahoo! News/AP
OAK CREEK, Wis. - ...[Citizen] annoyed when a Pick 'n Save clerk here recently carded him in the liquor store. He wasn't just upset because they carded him while he was buying nonalcoholic beer. He was upset because he's 76 years old. "I tell you, I was really ticked off — this little-by-little chipping away at your rights," the World War II veteran said. ...Robert Mariano, president and chief executive officer of Pick 'n Save's parent company, Roundy's Inc. [said] "People may not like it, but they understand what we are trying to do. We're just trying to do the right thing."
It's not just our rights. It's our very common sense that's being chipped away at. If people will accept this kind of insanity, they could accept anything. Why, they'd believe mere marijuana should be made illegal! Oh, wait a minute....

Pakistan Wedding feast prohibitions for people's own good continue, modified
Yahoo! News/AP
LAHORE, Pakistan - A provincial government is lifting a ban on serving food at weddings — by allowing one dish only. ...concession will be open only to wedding parties with less than 300 people. Bigger gatherings will be allowed only to serve soft drinks. Alcohol is forbidden in Muslim Pakistan, where weddings typically last for days and can cost a fortune.
When governments make rules to control people's behavior, even insane and self-destructive behaviors brought on by absurd social customs like these, does this not make government the keeper of an insane asylum? Who chooses who is the inmate? Does prohibitionism ever make more sense than education and moral persuasion? I have yet to see an instance.

Human versus animal again
Bill Hoffmann - New York Post
[South Africa - female, 19] ...jogger strangled a ostrich after the feisty bird attacked her. ...[she] suffered bruises and scratches. "I thought that the closer I stayed to it, the less it could do to me. I warned it, ‘I’m going to kill you!' " she said.
Score one for the humans. That could not have been an easy struggle. Good thinking, kid. Whew!

And speaking of humans and regulatory-minded animals...
RACINE, Wis, Yahoo News/AP
...They didn't realize why the owl in front of [Citizen]'s house wasn't moving and appeared injured: ... a zoo official carrying a large net and a snare knocked on her door. "And he said, 'I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be out front trying to catch this injured owl,'" [she] said. "I just broke out laughing. I told him it was a fake owl." ... A couple days later, a DNR conservation warden stopped by and told [her] that someone had complained and that he needed to check out the owl. He didn't think it was real, but he needed to see whether feathers came from a real owl. Possessing owl feathers violates the federal Migratory Bird Act. ... suggested she not put it back in the front yard, because bird-lovers could think it's inappropriate.
It was a fifteen-dollar Wal-Mart owl with dyed chicken feathers
...She has since put up a sign that reads, "This is not a real owl."

Judge Dismisses McDonald's Obesity Suit
Washington Post/AP
NEW YORK –– A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of New York children that claimed McDonald's food caused them to suffer health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. ... McDonald's shares were up 5 cents to $15.39 each in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Now, just like your mother told you (or should have), quit eating junk food, exercise more, and get healthier.

Judge orders ISP to reveal file swapper
Seattle Times
Internet providers must abide by music-industry requests to track down computer users who illegally download music, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a case that could significantly increase online pirates' risk of being caught. ... Verizon promised to appeal and said it would not immediately provide its customer's identity.
Yahoo! News/Reuters
...While the industry managed to shut down pioneer service Napster wo years ago, others have sprung up in its place and have attracted millions of users. ... Over the past several months the RIAA has sent out thousands of letters to schools and businesses asking them to monitor their networks for peer-to-peer use and implying that they could be held liable for infringing activity. ... The industry has also accused Internet providers of profiting from illegal downloading. On Saturday, RIAA CEO Hilary Rosen suggested that Internet providers should pay a fee to offset losses from file trading. The RIAA represents the five largest recording companies:
The definition of "illegally download music" is the real question here.... They're just using bullying tactics. They can't possibly deal with "millions of users." It's over. They've lost. The corpse is just twitching until rigor mortis sets in.

Alien Raleans' cloning wiz ordered to appear in Florida court
CNN
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — A judge Wednesday ordered the head of Clonaid to appear in court next week to answer questions on whether the alleged first human clone really exists. Clonaid Chief Executive Officer Brigitte Boisselier so far has refused to reveal where the alleged child lives and has not produced any evidence supporting the company's claim. ...
Why is this judge ordering them about this? Just what exactly is the right of a society to poke its nose into the private reproductive rights of these citizens? Would a more "respectable" outfit's claims cause them to be so ordered? (Yeah, probably.) Isn't there some presumption of some kind of unspecified guilt going on here?

Headline: Parents must not make excuses for drug use
Elaine Gohn and Roberta Lojak for the Valley News Dispatch, Pittsburghlive.com
Make sure your children know there is a rule of zero tolerance for drug and alcohol abuse. ... Don’t become your child’s enabler. ... As a parent, it is your right and responsibility to search your child’s room and personal belongings. ... If, during your search, you find what you suspect are drugs, take the substance to your local police station. ... Drug test your child. ... We approve of drug testing. We don’t feel it is a violation of children's' rights, but a way to protect them.
Whew...!

Traffic stops and just existing lead to drug busts
Amity Observer, CT
A MOTOR VEHICLE stop ...resulted in the arrest of a ...[Citizen], 25, ...charged with speeding, possession of narcotics, and failure to keep narcotics in an original container. ...released on $2,500 bond.... The passenger, [Citizen], 26, ...charged with interfering with a police officer and possession of marijuana. ...released on $500 bond .... [AND] [Two citizens] were arrested during a routine motor vehicle stop ...[Citizen], 27, ...pulled over after he went through a stop sign. ...charged with DUI and failure to obey a stop sign. ...released on $50 bond ...passenger, [Citizen], 23, ...charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana, illegal possession of drugs within 1,500 feet of a school and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. ...released on $10,000 bond.... [AND] POLICE STOPPED a car for speeding ...[Citizen], 45, ...charged with driving an unregistered motor vehicle, speeding, DUI, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. ...released on $100 bond ... [AND] POLICE WERE called ...on a report of a suspicious person [Citizen], 19, ...charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana. ...released on $100 bond ...
Bainbridge Post Searchlight, GA
...Sheriff’s Narcotics Agent ...and Parole Officer ...after receiving a drug complaint, went to the residence of [Citizen], 22.... After receiving written consent to search the premises, the officers found 21.5 grams of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine concealed under a bed mattress. In a nearby residence occupied by [two Citizens], 24 and 25, the officers, after being given consent to search, found two small bags of suspected marijuana inside a nightstand in the bedroom, as well as a large plastic bag containing several smaller plastic bags of suspected marijuana. [Citizen 22] was charged with possession of methamphetamine, while [Citizens 24 and 25] were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. [AND] [Officer] made a traffic stop on a vehicle with a cracked windshield. ...license had been suspended. ...discovered what [officer] believed to be crack cocaine on the passenger side floor board. A field test showed the material to be positive for cocaine, ... [Citizen charged] with a third offense of driving with a suspended license, windshield violation, possession of cocaine and a bench warrant with an original charge of a seat belt violation. [AND] [Same Officer] on patrol ...heard a burglary call ...noticed [Citizen], 37, ...who apparently fitted the description. ...while patting him down for weapons, the officer discovered suspected marijuana. ...charging him with possession of marijuana.... [And more arrests for pot, coke, paraphernalia, among the real crimes.]
Laurinburg Exchange, NC
...arrested a man for breaking and entering and larceny... and misdemeanor drug paraphernalia possession. [AND] Deputies arrested [Citizen], 25, ...for possession of marijuana. ...running a license plate check on a car ...saw ...passenger ...slide something under the front seat. Deputies smelled what they believed to be marijuana and a search revealed 8.2 ounces.
WIS, SC
South Congaree residents concerned about local police...town council is looking into complaints made about the police who allegedly are pulling people over for little or no reason.. ...police chief says his officers are doing nothing wrong, in fact, they're helping fight crime in the area. [One citizen] says the police are going too far, "They said it was against the law for me to have that band around my tag, so they pulled me over for that and had me out there about an hour." ...said she had to get out of her car while police searched it. ...Store manager ...says his shop's business is down at least 20 percent because people don't want to drive... People around the area also say many of the stops happen in the center of town ...but police say the town has a reputation for drug trafficking, "We're attempting to get drugs out of this community for the betterment of this community, for the people who work and live here." ... in the last six months, the department worked 177 cases of possession of drug paraphernalia and 175 cases of marijuana possession. Police say the only way they can combat their drug problem is to stop vehicles.
"Failure to keep narcotics in an original container"? And... like, that item "heard a burglary call...noticed citizen who apparently fit the description..." does this stuff smell bad to you, too? Is that "reasonable search and seizure"? I don't think so.... reads like it could be police harrassment. Which is of course admitted in the quote "Police say the only way they can combat their drug problem is to stop vehicles...." We should be concerned about the "local police" everywhere, it seems.

Thanks to Reuters Health being carried in so many papers, the headline "Early marijuana smoking tied to later drug use" or the misleading "Early Marijuana Use Ups Risk of Drug Abuse" or the utterly false "Twin study bolsters marijuana 'gateway' theory" and the like are appearing in papers everywhere... again. New twin study. Amidst the propaganda deluge is this tidbit:
...The past decade has seen a rise in the number of people entering drug treatment programs for marijuana-related problems...
Because they're ordered to because use=abuse and possession=treatment ordained by the court and everybody stays employed and profits ...except for the poor shmuck at the bottom and the Righteous Rule of Law goes spinning away...

Busted for pot, commits suicide
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI
...second man to commit suicide in a Milwaukee police station in four months.... [Citizen, 41,] arrested ...on suspicion of possessing marijuana, violating probation, operating a motor vehicle after revocation and disobeying a stop sign. ...mother said she was told by doctors that her son died of a drug overdose. She said that while she didn't dispute that her son hanged himself, she wondered how police did not notice his deteriorating condition. ...family [suing] city for $2 million.
The prohibition laws and their effects on people's lives, and their seeming deep entrenchment in our pitiful society, could make any sane person suicidally despondent.

Women report marijuana theft
Durham Herald Sun, NC
Two Durham women [21, 23] told police they were robbed at gunpoint of ...two nickel bags of marijuana, $600 of jewelry and $10 cash. Although the two have not been charged, Durham police spokesman ...said the admission that drugs were stolen were grounds for criminal charges for possession.
Yeah, what did the flakey females think, they lived in a just society or something?

Police report a busy Christmas
Tallaganda Times, Australia
A search warrant conducted at an ...address located 10 hydroponically grown cannabis plants. A quantity of dry leaf matter was also seized. ...

Police raid marijuana nursery, confiscate seedlings
Taipei Times, Taiwan
Police discovered a nursery for marijuana plants in northern Taiwan yesterday, seizing more than 4500 seedlings and arresting four suspects. ...

All that was in the e-papers, according to Google.com... within the last four hours alone....

U of Missou students gather enough sigs for a vote on med pot in Columbia, MO
Washington Post, DC or KOLR, MO or Raleigh News, NC or Anchorage Daily News, AK or CNN or, oh, here's the Google search
COLUMBIA, Mo. —A group of University of Missouri-Columbia students have gathered enough signatures to force a vote in the city on legalizing marijuana for medical use. ...
Legal medical marijuana in Missouri? Show me.

Clash on Medical Marijuana Puts a Grower in U.S. Court
DEAN E. MURPHY, New York Times
On Tuesday, Mr. [Ed] Rosenthal goes on trial in federal court in San Francisco on charges of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy. The charges stem from a business he ran growing marijuana to be sold for medicinal uses under the auspices of the City of Oakland's medical marijuana ordinance ... faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison; the conspiracy charge carries a possible life sentence. The trial has riled his many fans in the marijuana community, but its implications are far broader. At its core, Mr. Rosenthal's prosecution exposes a deepening rift between the State of California and the Bush administration over the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, with no middle ground for compromise in sight. ...
It's war alrighty! It's war for HUMAN LIBERTY against unholy psychotic tyranny.

Muncie Star Press, IN - ... He was also convicted of possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and sentenced to a year in jail, to be served concurrently with the other term.

Orlando Sentinel, FL - ...At the very least, he could have been held for weeks without seeing a lawyer and flogged after testing positive for marijuana, according to the US State ...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI - ... Yorkville - About 21 pounds of marijuana were found inside a car stopped for speeding on I-94, the Racine County Sheriff's Department reported Monday. ...

Washington Post, DC - Citing Corruption, Mexico Shuts Drug Unit ...The raids began in Tijuana, where seven agents are accused of offering to return nearly five tons of seized marijuana to drug lords in exchange for $2 million. ...

KHBS, AR - [Citizen], 24, entered his guilty plea on Wednesday to theft by threat and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. ...

Canoe News, Canada - ... Forty people were arrested and faced 135 charges, which include the production of marijuana, conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance and conspiracy to ...

Hopkinsville Kentucky New Era, KY- .. fleeing and evading police, first–degree wanton endangerment, operating on a DUI–suspended license, driving too fast for conditions, possession of marijuana ...

Inter Press Service or IPSnews.net, Uruguay... Coca-Growing Leader Threatens Government with Uprising - The Bolivian government is under pressure from Washington, which in its 10-year anti-narcotics plan calls on Latin America to reduce its marijuana and coca ...

CLEARING THE BROWSER OF SOME SAVED PAGES OF INTEREST:
Star-Ledger, NJ: A new blend: Cotton, rayon and heroin Smugglers slip drug-soaked clothes through ports Friday, January 17, 2003 BY ROBERT RUDOLPH

"AMERICA'S SECRET WEAPON," basically a local microwave-burst-based missile for disrupting electronics, splashed across the pages of Time Magazany and the world-wide web.

WDSU, LA - Ex-St. Bernard Corrections Officer Faces Drug Charge... custody at his home. He and a former inmate each face a charge of conspiracy to bring marijuana into the parish prison....

Reno Gazette Journal, NV and KRNV, NV - LAS VEGAS (AP) _ The lobbyist who moved to Nevada to head a losing bid to make it legal to possess up to three ounces of marijuana has decided to stay. ...

Oconomowoc Focus, WI - ... Other charges include possession of marijuana; possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of an unauthorized prescription drug. ...

Vancouver Sun, Canada -Home invasions link probed... victimized. But he said -- and police confirmed -- a marijuana-growing operation around the corner has been raided numerous times. ...

EurekAlert, DC - Brain molecules similar to the active compound in marijuana help to regulate alcohol consumption, according to new reports by scientists at the National ...

KMIZ, MO -90 Pounds of Marijuana Seized... A tobacco-like substance produced by drying the leaves and flowering tops of the cannabis plant, marijuana varies significantly in its potency, depending on ...

The Age, Australia - ... Debate still persists about the true nature of the narcotic used by the Assassins, but if it was indeed hash it represents perhaps the only time a cannabis derivative has been used to fuel aggression, however indirectly. ...

Opelousas Daily World, LA - ... [Citizen, 42] ...charged with improper land usage and driving under suspension, and possession of marijuana. ...

Christian Science Monitor - Cameras in the jury room fuel capital debate ... And when I heard some of their comments during deliberations, I believed them." For instance, he says, one juror asked the others: "Who hasn't smoked marijuana ...

Tarentum Valley News Dispatch, PA - ... Parents must not make excuses for drug use — ...Most testing companies offer a basic drug test that checks for substances in the following five categories: Cannabinoids (marijuana, hashish), Cocaine (crack ...

GamblingMagazine.com - Officials Tally Up Take From Gambling Raid ... alcohol. [Citizen] was also charged with simple possession of marijuana after a small bag of the drug was found in her purse. ...

Midland Reporter Telegram, TX - Judge officially sentences gunman... During the trial, Nelson acknowledged he had smoked marijuana all day and drank a large amount of gin that night, but insisted a friend of his was the shooter. ...

Kankakee Daily Journal, IL - Police Blotter for January 20 ... Kankakee police found two marijuana-filled baggies following a traffic stop on Chestnut ... [Citizen,19] ...arrested for possessing cannabis ...

Arkansas City Traveler, KS - Wichitans arrested on various drug charges ... Charges include possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1000 foot of a school, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and having no ...

Oak Ridger, TN - A Day in the Life: Police officer Nix's daily routine not a dog's ... ... Nox can find narcotics hidden in maost [sic] any place, such as under the flap covering the gasoline cap on this truck, where marijuana was hidden. ...

White Lake Beacon, MI - ... A 27-yr.-old man from Twin Lake was found staggering around a neighborhood banging on doors and windows. He was found in possession of marijuana. ...

East African, Uganda - Tobacco Leads 1998 Increase in Exports From Tanzania to Japan... Sisal hemp worth $1 million was exported to Japan last year, an increase of 57.8 per cent on the previous year's $672376. The second ...

East African, Uganda - Zanzibar Fighting a Losing War Against Drug Abuse... He listed heroin and marijuana as the most common hard drugs impounded by the drug unit, citing a recent impounding of eight kg of bhang and eight grammes of ...

Charges expected to be laid against Toronto drug cops
CBC News, Canada
TORONTO - Charges could be laid within weeks against police officers in Toronto who worked on the drug squad.... At least 10 people have launched civil suits, claiming millions in damages and all naming the same group of drug squad officers. The suits allege that drug squad officers used search warrants to rob the homes and safety deposit boxes of suspected drug dealers. They claim they were beaten and robbed by officers who were "securing search warrants to get into their abodes, or place of business with a view toward finding cash or jewelry or other valuables," said criminal defence lawyer Edward Sapiano.
Ending Prohibition won't end corruption of police agencies, but it will eliminate the motive for such corruption as this, just as surely as it will eliminate the black-market profit motive for gangs and thugs.

Female drivers to return to Afghan roads
BBC News
Women are set to take the wheel in Afghanistan after a 10-year ban, officials have said. Thirty women are to receive driving licences this weekend, the first to qualify since the collapse of the hardline Taleban regime last year. ... "It is not easy for a woman to drive in a totally male-dominated society," said ...one of the women who took the driving lessons. "We must encourage other women to take firm steps in order to achieve their rights and turn Afghanistan into an equal society for men and women."
A tall order. Allah bless 'em!

These were the last Radical Links
Eventually succeeded by the less-radical more-encompassing
Blog Heap o'Links beginning with 2002-2003
Past Radical Links through 2003-Jan-17