WRITE UP IN "THE NATION" BY MELISSA HARRIS-LACEWELL

Black by Choice

Sister Citizen
By Melissa Harris-Lacewell
This article appeared in the May 3, 2010 edition of The Nation.

April 15, 2010

President Obama created a bit of a stir in early April when he completed his Census form. In response to the question about racial identity the president indicated he was "Black, African American or Negro." Despite having been born of a white mother and raised in part by white grandparents, Obama chose to identify himself solely as black even though the Census allows people to check multiple answers for racial identity.

This choice disappointed some who have fought to ensure that multiracial people have the right to indicate their complex racial heritage. It confused some who were surprised by his choice not to officially recognize his white heritage. It led to an odd flurry of obvious political stories confirming that Obama was, indeed, the first African-American president.

When Obama marked his Census form, he offered another lesson in what has been an intensive if unintentional seminar on the social construction of race. In just a few years, decades of multiple racial formations have been projected onto him at hyperspeed; it's a bit like watching those nature films that show the growth of an apple tree from a seed in just thirty seconds. When Hillary Clinton held a significant lead among black voters, media outlets regularly questioned if Obama was "black enough" to earn African-American electoral support. When the Rev. Jeremiah Wright dominated the news cycle, the question shifted to whether Obama was "too black" to garner white votes. By the final months of the campaign, Obama's opponents charged that he was a noncitizen, a Muslim and a terrorist. In less than two years a single body had been subjected to definitions ranging from insufficiently black, to far too black, to somehow foreign and frightening.

But Obama did more than disrupt standard definitions of blackness; he created a definitional crisis for whiteness. Imagine for a moment that a young American falls into a Rip Van Winkle sleep in 1960. He awakens suddenly in 2008 and learns that we are in the midst of a historic presidential election between a white and a black candidate. He learns that one candidate is a Democrat, a Harvard Law School graduate, a lecturer at the conservative University of Chicago Law School. He also discovers that this candidate is married to his first wife, and they have two children who attend an exclusive private school. His running mate is an Irish Catholic. The other candidate is a Republican. He was an average student who made his mark in the military. This candidate has been married twice, and his running mate is a woman whose teenage daughter is pregnant out of wedlock.

Now ask our recently awakened American to guess which candidate is white and which is black. Remember, his understanding of race and politics was frozen in 1960, when a significant number of blacks still identified themselves as Republican, an Ivy League education was a marker of whiteness and military service a common career path for young black men. Remember that he would expect marriage stability among whites and sexual immorality to mark black life. It's entirely possible that our Rip would guess that Obama was the white candidate and McCain the black one.

By displaying all these tropes of traditional whiteness, Obama's candidacy disrupted the very idea of whiteness. Suddenly whiteness was no longer about educational achievement, family stability or the command of spoken English. One might argue that the folksy interventions of Sarah Palin were a desperate attempt to reclaim and redefine whiteness as a gun-toting ordinariness that eschews traditional and elite markers of achievement.

Obama's whiteness in this sense is frightening and strange for those invested in believing that racial categories are stable, meaningful and essential. Those who yearn for a postracial America hoped Obama had transcended blackness, but the real threat he poses to the American racial order is that he disrupts whiteness, because whiteness has been the identity that defines citizenship, access to privilege and the power to define national history.

In 1998 Toni Morrison wrote that Bill Clinton was the first "black president" because he "displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas." Ten years later the man who truly became America's first black president displayed few of these tropes. Instead he was a scholarly, worldly, health food-eating man from Hawaii. In this sense, Obama was the white candidate in 2008, and a substantial portion of white voters preferred Obama's version of whiteness to that of McCain and Palin.

Which brings us back to Obama's Census choice. Despite his legitimate claims on whiteness, he chose to call himself black. As historian Nell Painter documents in her new book The History of White People, white identity was a heavily policed and protected border for most of American history. A person born to an African parent and a white parent could be legally enslaved in America until 1865. From 1877 until 1965 that person would have been subject to segregation in public accommodations, schools, housing and employment. In 1896 the Supreme Court established the doctrine of separate but equal in the case of Homer Plessy, a New Orleans Creole of color whose ancestry was only a small fraction African. President Obama's Census self-identification was a moment of solidarity with these black people and a recognition that the legal and historical realities of race are definitive, that he would have been subject to all the same legal restrictions had he been born at another time. So in April, Obama did as he has done repeatedly in his adult life: he embraced blackness, with all its disprivilege, tumultuous history and disquieting symbolism. He did not deny his white parentage, but he acknowledged that in America, for those who also have African heritage, having a white parent has never meant becoming white.


About Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Melissa Harris-Lacewell, an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, is completing her latest book, Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Isn't Enough.

You can catch Dr. Harris-Lacewell's analysis often on MSNBC...

Peace-

The Nation Online

MONTHS LATER...

Hello Searchers and others...it's been awhile...be back soon...

Peace-

STUPIDITY IN ARKANSAS: YOUR NAME IS TONY ROGERS

Had a fabulous conversation with the prosecutor in the Eureka Springs/Berryville Arkansas area. Tony Rogers. Real class act. He put a violent criminal on the public payroll, and when I called to ask him about his vetting process he became extremely agitated and ended the conversation with a threat to "investigate me."

I am working on a letter to Rogers that I will post, it should be fun. Holding elected officials accountable for their actions is one of my callings in life. Nothing like holding an arrogant prick accountable for their poor decisions, especially one that is in the position of prosecutor. It's kinda like throwing a cop or judge in jail.


North Central Arkansas, you deserve better than to be Nifong-ed any longer by the likes of Tony Rogers, a belligerent horses' ass that hires violent criminals, and refuses to be accountable. Why should he? He's entitled.


We'll see...
peace

IN THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

From the Physicians for Human Rights website:


December 14, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Congress Lifts Ban on Federal Funds for Needle Exchanges Aimed at AIDS Prevention

Media Contacts:
Jonathan Hutson
jhutson [at] phrusa [dot] org
Cell: +1-857-919-5130



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Washington, DC) — Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) commends Congress for ending the ban on federal funding of syringe exchange programs intended to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"For 22 years this ban has been an obstacle to effective and comprehensive services that address HIV and other health needs of injecting drug users in the US and around the world," said PHR CEO Frank Donaghue.

More than 20 years of research in the US and internationally show that needle exchange is an effective public health approach to reducing the transmission of HIV, viral hepatitis, and other blood-borne pathogens. Research has also shown that syringe exchange programs do not encourage drug use nor increase crime rates in communities that offer these services.

"This is a huge victory for HIV and viral hepatitis prevention and a sign of hope for human rights," said PHR Senior Global Health Policy Advocate Paola Barahona. "It's hard to believe that it took 22 years for policy to catch up with common sense. Syringe exchange programs help safeguard public health by encouraging drug users to access health systems. These programs have demonstrated positive impacts on the health of individuals, families and whole communities."

There are an estimated 16 million injection drug users (IDUs) worldwide — 3 million of whom live with HIV. Almost a third of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa are attributed to injection drug use, yet as few as 8% of drug injectors have access to HIV prevention services of any kind. In the US, 16% of new cases are attributed to injection drug use.

"What many people do not realize is that the impact of the syringe exchange ban extends beyond our national borders," Barahona stated. "The ban has been applied to foreign assistance and has prohibited PEPFAR from funding this important intervention in resource-poor countries facing rapidly expanding injection-driven HIV epidemics, such as those in Vietnam and Eastern Europe. It is crucial that the Obama administration move swiftly to enact this legislation and amend PEPFAR guidance to allow funding of effective needle exchange services in countries around the world."

The bill will next go to President Obama to sign into legislation that will officially end the ban. PHR calls on President Obama and the administration to act swiftly to enact this legislation.

But the work doesn't end there.

"We need to make sure that this policy is implemented well and that these programs are properly supported in communities where they are needed across the country and around the world," concluded Barahona.

PHR's Harm Reduction Campaign advocates for the United States Government's adoption and implementation of health policies that are evidence-based, practical, rights-based and appropriate for injecting and other drug users.




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Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

IN LOVING MEMORY

On December 2, 2009, my brother lost his little boy, Asa Lyn. He was 10 months old; he was born in January.

Our family is heartbroken over the loss of Asa, his beauty and joy will remain forever.

My greatest heartfelt condolences to Adrian, Patty, and Sammie Jo, Asa's twin sister. Much love, peace, and harmony to you and your family my brother, we love you.

Asa Lyn Cook-
January 2009-December 2009

THE VANCOUVER WASHINGTON POLICE DEPARTMENT

Check out this invaluable link:

FLEX YOUR RIGHTS at flexyourrights.org

Use them, or get them taken away.

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INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM THE TELEGRAPH REGARDING ILLEGALITY OF IRAQ WAR IN 2001

As most of you know, I supported George Bush et al regarding the war in Iraq. When I finally opened my eyes to the facts regarding WMD and the "war on terror," it was too late, we were mired ass deep and then some in Iraq.

what I find extraordinary is the fact that the Brits knew it was BS from the start, and did nothing. Now they have the blood of the dead in Iraq on their hands, and me and millions of others have the blood of kids and families on our hands...Oh to turn back the clock, right?
Peace-

From telegraph.co.uk:


By James Kirkup and Gordon RaynerPublished: 4:48PM GMT 24 Nov 2009


On its opening day of public hearings, Sir John Chilcot’s public inquiry into the invasion heard that British diplomats heard the “drumbeat” of war emanating from Washington even before the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The inquiry into the war, which cost 179 lives, opened yesterday with a promise from Sir John, a former Whitehall mandarin, to "get to the heart of what happened" and "not shy away" from criticising anyone who made mistakes.

The first day of the inquiry in central London was attended by several relatives of service personnel killed in Iraq. Outside, a small number of protesters gathered, several with fake blood on their hands accusing Tony Blair, the former prime minister of war crimes.
Inside, the inquiry’s questioning focussed on British policy towards Iraq in 2001, the year George W Bush became US president.


Sir William Patey, head of Middle East policy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the time, told the inquiry that he wrote a briefing paper on the options for Iraqi policy.
“We had at the end the regime-change option,” he said, “We dismissed that at the time as having no basis in law.”

Sir William said that the UK knew that some in the new US administration wanted to topple Saddam. "We were aware of the drum beats from Washington. Our policy was to stay away from that," he said.


The inquiry heard that in 2001, the settled view of the UK government was that attacking Iraq would have been illegal under international law.

Sir Peter Ricketts, then the political director at the FCO, told the inquiry: "We quite clearly distanced our self from regime change. It was clear that was something there would not be any legal base for."


The diplomats’ evidence will focus attention on the decisions that led Mr Blair to change Britain’s policy and support the military action that removed Saddam in 2003.

Sir Peter, who also chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee, said that only weeks after the September 11 attacks, US officials began to discuss “phase two of the war on terrorism,” shifting their attention from Afghanistan to Iraq.


“We heard people in Washington suggesting that there might be some link between Saddam and [Osama] Bin Laden.” he said. “We began to get that sort of voice early on.”
Officials suggested that it was the September 11 attacks and the events that followed had ultimately shifted the British view.

In 2001, Britain and the US were committed to a policy of containing Saddam, through economic sanctions, restricting his oil sales through the oil-for-food programme, and the imposition of no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq.


The diplomats told the inquiry that the containment policy was failing in 2001, but it could have remained viable if the United Nations had agreed to new "smart sanctions" on Saddam and the return of UN weapons inspectors.

The September attacks changed that, Sir Peter said. "I think if 9/11 had not happened, we would have remained convinced that a strengthened sanctions regime, tightened, narrowed, was the right way to go and we would have continued to push to get weapons inspectors back in.”
Simon Webb, the former policy chief at the Ministry of Defence, told the inquiry that the September attacks increased Britain’s concerns about the possibility of terrorist groups obtained weapons of mass destruction from a regime like Saddam’s.


After the attacks, he said, “the focus didn’t shift to regime change, the focus shifted to
WMD. In order to order to deal with the WMD problem in Iraq, you would probably end up having to push Saddam out. That was the sequence of events. It wasn’t hopping straight to regime change.”

ANOTHER HURDLE JUMPED FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

It seems the American Medical Association is getting on board and calling for a reclassification of marijuana. It remains on the list as a Schedule I drug, the same as heroin. So, courtesy of the LA Times, here is a tidbit, you can catch the whole article here.

Medical marijuana gets a boost from major doctors group

The American Medical Assn. changes its policy to promote clinical research and development of cannabis-based medicines and alternative delivery methods.

By John Hoeffel

November 11, 2009

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research.

The nation's largest physicians organization, with about 250,000 member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive category, which also includes heroin and LSD.

In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

The decision by the organization's delegates at a meeting in Houston marks another step in the evolving view of marijuana, which an AMA report notes was once linked by the federal government to homicidal mania. Since California voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1996, marijuana has moved steadily into the cultural mainstream spurred by the growing awareness that it can have beneficial effects for some chronically ill people.

This year, the Obama administration sped up that drift when it ordered federal narcotics agents not to arrest medical-marijuana users and providers who follow state laws. Polls show broadening support for marijuana legalization.

Thirteen states allow the use of medical marijuana, and about a dozen more have considered it this year.

It's nice to be on the West Coast...Total legalization, now.

Peace-
Mike

WELL "IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY..."

This is a Mini-Documentary done by a Berliner...It is excellent.



Peace-
Mike

PROFOUND DVD EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: "THE ANGRY EYE" WITH JANE ELLIOTT

A week or so ago in my Communications class I had the pleasure of watching the short video, "The Angry Eye" with Jane Elliott.

Jane Elliot gained notoriety after Dr. King was shot in Memphis in 1968.

She began a blue eye/brown eye exercise that segregated her all white third grade class (according to Wikipedia she did not see a Black person until she was nineteen,) in tiny Riceville, Iowa into two groups: The Blue Eyes, the Superior Group, and The Brown Eyes, the Inferior Group. She had the "brownies" wear neck collars to further set them apart.

The response was stunning. The blue eyed kids were told the brownies were inferior because of their eye color, and as a result of their eye pigmentation they were unable to learn at the same level, they were unable to hold jobs, and the blue eyes should lower expectations for the brownies and then castigate them for not doing better, etc...

It didn't take long and the blue eyed kids were bossy, arrogant, and mean to the brown eyed kids, and the blue eyes actually began to do better academically, while the brownies suffered, and even brown-eyed kids that were excelling in class saw their grades and their confidence slip.

I watched a version of the exercise that was filmed on a college campus in the United States that involved young college students, and it blew my mind. The reaction from the white students was predictable yet unreal nonetheless...I believe this should be a required video in every school in the United States, it is that good, and it is that necessary.

The video that I posted is not from the vid I saw in class, however, it is just as poignant as the one I saw...we will be investing in these videos as time goes by, take the time to watch the video.


Some links:
Wiki
Jane Elliott website
IMDB -The Internet Movie Database

Peace-
Mike

ISLAM IN AMERICA: WHEN AMERICAN STUPIDITY SHINES BRIGHTLY

I am working on securing a series of interviews from a local Imam. In light of the shooting in Texas at Fort Hood, I thought it would be in my best interest, my family's best interest, and the best interest of those I will interact with in the future to have a better understanding of Islam.

I read a write up about Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter, on MSNBC, and it's rather disturbing.

It is not disturbing in the sense that most Americans, especially white Americans would think, you know the type Searchers: "That guys a Muslim...I betcha he's gots him some bombs and guns and I bet he's a-fixin to blow up (insert local shitbox .50 cent-draft-night-on-tuesdays bar here.) No, read the excerpt, the disturbing part is the local shit kickers giving a man shit who is trying to mind his own business and serve his Country at the same time.

"'Everyone else just sat down there and drunk their beer, and looked
at him, and giggled at him,' the woman said starting to cry. 'They
just would laugh at him when he walked down with his Muslim clothes...he was
mistreated. He was all alone. He went to his apartment there and was
all alone.'"

I know the type. I used to go to church with the worthless idiots, and Mrs. Searchers entire range of kinfolk in Arkansas are precisely this way. Redneck, and total pussies when it comes to individual confrontation. Like Mrs. Searchers brothers, Hank and Samuel Chris Flanagin, and the racist coward Pat Flanagin.

In addition to verbal harassment, Major Hasan also had to deal with rednecks vandalizing his vehicle.

What cracks me up about the worthless red necks is Major Hasan is educated; he is an Army Psychiatrist. That means he is a Doctor. MD. And the rednecks outside their crappy little apartment units probably have less than a GED, probably have less than a mouthful of teeth, and probably have the equivalent of a 9th grade education.

The only People I am prejudiced against and the only People I believe should be sent to re-education camps are Rednecks. No mercy, either change or be eradicated.

So, I am trying to secure at least one interview with the folks that run the local mosque. I'll keep ya posted. Peace,

Mike

Read the full article here

Thanks Washington Post and MSNBC

image credit

NEW JERSEY DEBATING MEDICAL MARIJAUNA

Good news out of New Jersey, I was unaware of this until I got a tip from a Searcher in New Jersey. Thanks NJ, fight the good fight, the enlightened ones know that Marijuana is so much more benign than Alcohol which kills upward of 100,000 people a year, and that's without vehicle deaths...it is time to legalize Marijuana, as well as row crop hemp, forget about all of these timber companies raping and pillaging the US, especially here in the PacNorthwest. Here is the story:

N.J. medical marijuana bill advances
Friday, June 05, 2009
By Trish G. Graber
tgraber@sjnewsco.com

TRENTON Ð Jack O'Brien feels shooting pain in his hands and feet that can become so intense that it wakes him out of a sound sleep.

The Cumberland County resident said the excruciating pain, resulting from a birth defect that also left him without fingers or toes, travels along his nerves all the way to his head. He takes pain medications but worries they will damage his liver or kidneys. And he says prescribed drugs leave him with little ability to function normally.

O'Brien has found that the one thing that does provide relief, without the often demobilizing side effects of pain pills, is marijuana. But he says he rarely uses it because he fears being arrested.

"I'm not a pot-head, I'm not a partier," the 54-year-old Commercial Township resident said. "But I need to live a quality of life that's better than (just) laying on the couch."
O'Brien and other New Jersey residents suffering from serious medical conditions could soon have the legal ability to use marijuana for pain relief.

Legislators are considering a controversial measure that would make New Jersey the 14th state in the nation to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The Senate has already passed the bill. The Assembly Health and Human Services Committee approved the legislation Thursday by a vote of 8 to 1, with two abstentions, after amending it to further limit access to marijuana.

The bill would give residents, with their treating doctor's recommendation, the ability to obtain a registration card from the Department of Health and Senior Services to use marijuana for medicinal purposes without the possibility of arrest, prosecution or penalties.

The drug could be obtained from one of at least six "alternative treatment centers," facilities that would be designated to grow and distribute the drug.

The initial version of the bill also allowed for state-registered users to grow up to six marijuana plants at home, but the Assembly committee amended the legislation Thursday to prohibit home-growing after hearing concerns from critics, who said it would make marijuana too widely available and vulnerable to abuse...

And that's the way the story ends, and we all know that last statement about availability and abuse is total bullshit, it's a throwback from the 1930's, and William Randolph Hearst's successful smear campaign that went with ridiculous propaganda films like "Reefer Madness" ("Tell Your Children" is the original, Reefer Madness is the re-issue title)

Peace-

Mike

OUTRAGE IN SAUDI ARABIA

I read this on MSNBC, I'm currently unaware if other news outlets have it online...So it seems a Saudi Arabian female journalist, Rozana al-Yami, and a Saudi man, Mazan Abdul Jawad had a t.v. show on in Lebanon that dealt with sex and sexual issues. Evidently this is a major fuckup in Saudi Arabia, because a Saudi court has sentenced the woman to 60 whip lashes, and the man to 5 years in prison and 1,000 lashes.

What in the fuck are we doing dealing with these people? George Bush was surely bent over for these barbarian religious freaks, and even though 19 of the hijackers were Saudi, Bush invaded Afghanistan, and Iraq, completely ignoring the fact that Saudi Arabia teaches and trains terrorists.

Another argument for renewable energy sources, cut the Saudis out of our money pool, until they can get their ridiculous asses out of the 11th century.

Lest you think, Evangelical Righties, I have eased up on you, forget about it. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if the Religious Right had their way, the Pat Robertsons, The Jerry Falwells the Pat and Chris Flanagins, the Sarah Palins, (you get the picture) they would run this country in the same fashion.

I have actually had people, religious people, in Arkansas (my dad in Illinois is no different and just as worthless) say that there should still be public whippings and executions for adultery and having sex before one is married. And this has been in the last decade. Make no mistake, I am out to eradicate the Religious Right in the United States, and Evangelical (pentecostal) religion, I know that these movements are no different than radical Islamic Caliphates. I am coming for you, Righties...

Below is an excerpt from the story and you can read the whole story here.

Saudi female journalist sentenced to 60 lashes
Program on Lebanese cable TV dealt with man's frank sex talk


via AP, through MSNBC

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi court on Saturday convicted a
female journalist for her involvement in a TV show, in which a Saudi man
publicly talked about sex, and sentenced her to 60 lashes.

Rozanna al-Yami is believed to be the first Saudi woman
journalist to be given such a punishment. The charges against her included
involvement in the preparation of the program and advertising the segment on the
Internet.

In the program, which aired in July on the Lebanese LBC
satellite channel, Mazen Abdul-Jawad appears to describe an
active sex life and shows sex toys that were blurred by the station. The same
court sentenced Abdul-Jawad earlier this month to five years in jail and 1,000
lashes.

We, as Americans, owe it to ourselves and our ideals to hammer down on the Saudi's and express our outrage by calling our Senators and Reps., as well as the White House and news outlets. While we are doing that, hammer down on the Religious Right in the US, because, as Chris Matthews said, there isn's anything closer in the US to radical Islam than the Religious Right. Conservadems are included in that blanket statement as far as I'm concerned...

Peace-
Mike

EXCELLENT COMMERCIAL FROM MEDIA MATTERS REGARDING THE FOX NEWS PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Most of you know I watched Fox News for years before I became enlightened. I was watching the Ed Show and he aired a clip from the vid below. It's five minutes or so, and well worth the time. It is a very concise rundown of propaganda promoted on Fox since we elected President Obama:

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RELIGIOUS RIGHT MOST LIKE TALIBAN IN THE UNITED STATES: CHRIS MATTHEWS OF MSNBC

I caught the video below on MSNBC, it's about 14 minutes long, but I found a 50 second clip on Huffington Post of the end of the segment with Ron Reagan and Frank Gaffney, they were discussing, of sorts, the situation in Afghanistan.

The focus of most has been on the insult Gaffney, a neocon, threw at Ron Reagan, the son of President Reagan and a radio host on Air America, you'll hear it at the end, Gaffney tells Reagan, "Your father would be ashamed of you."

Totally below the belt, and you have to expect that from a neocon, but the thing that really perked up my ears was Chris Matthews' comment at the end, I'll paraphrase it-the religious right are the closest thing we have to the Taliban in the United States, and I couldn't agree more. In parts of the U.S., the "religious right" doesn't necessarily mean those with Republican leanings. I know plenty of Democrats that are racist hatemongers.

Here's the brief write up from HuffPo:
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Right-wing neoconservative Frank Gaffney went on "Hardball" Thursday night to defend Dick Cheney but ended up just insulting his fellow guest.
After a long exchange with Air America host Ron Reagan on the war in Afghanistan, Gaffney gave up on arguing and went for a personal attack. "Your father would be ashamed of you," he told Reagan, whose father was the late president.


"Oh, Frank," Reagan replied, "you better watch your mouth about that, Frank.



And here's a brief write-up about Frank Gaffney from Steve Benen from the Washington Monthly:

Now, Gaffney probably knows he crossed a line of decency; in fact that probably why he said what he said. Gaffney's a right-wing nutjob whose job it is to say ridiculous things.


And that's really what matters here. Gaffney's insane rhetoric isn't the problem; the fact that he was invited onto national television (again) to share his insane rhetoric is the problem.

Gaffney probably isn't a household name, but inside the media establishment, he's a pretty well known figure, as evidenced by his joint appearance with Dick Cheney on Wednesday night. And when offered a major media platform, Gaffney takes full advantage.


In April, for example, Gaffney appeared on MSNBC to argue that whenever President Obama uses the word "respect" in foreign policy, the word is "code for those who adhere to Sharia that we will submit to Sharia." He wasn't kidding.

In June, Gaffney wrote a column insisting that President Obama might really be a Muslim. In March, Gaffney argued that "evidence" exists connecting Saddam Hussein to 9/11, the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, and the Oklahoma City bombing. Last September, Gaffney argued that Sarah Palin has learned foreign policy through "osmosis," by living in Alaska. (Bold is mine)

He's argued that U.S. forces really did find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but the media covered it up. He's used made-up quotes and recommended "hanging" Democratic officials critical of the Bush administration's Iraq policy. He even believes there's "evidence" to support the "Birthers," and once recommended a military strike on Al Jazeera headquarters.

So why is it, exactly, that MSNBC's "Hardball" invited Gaffney on to talk about foreign policy? What is it the viewing public can learn from listening to his unhinged perspective?
To be sure, Gaffney is certainly entitled to believe obvious lunacy, but that doesn't mean he deserves a microphone or the opportunity to convince a national television audience that his lunacy is legitimate.

Honestly, is there nothing conservatives can say that would force them from polite company? Just how nutty must far-right activists be before they're no longer invited to share their ridiculous ideas?

The right wing is getting more and more in the outfield, if any "wing" should be closely observed it is the right. And do not forget: Right Wing does not necessarily mean Republican. I cannot stress that enough.
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ANOTHER DEFEAT FOR RIGHT WING STUPIDITY; ANOTHER VICTORY FOR MEDICAL MARIJAUNA PATIENTS

Of course you know I am in favor of the legalization of Marijuana. Not ALL drugs right-wingers, so calm the hell down. I have been a medical MJ patient, and I believe people would benefit from the use of herb. My parents were Cutty Sark Scotch addicts (alcoholics) they never left home without it. Whether we were heading to South Carolina, or Wisconsin, or wherever, that damn green bottle with the yellow label came with. No wonder I have had problems with alcohol.

Another comment: My mother was an individual that could have used marijuana. For instance, if she would have just smoked a joint instead of drinking, maybe she would not have slammed my head against walls so often. Maybe she wouldn't have pulled my hair out in tufts. Maybe she wouldn't have beat me and my sister with sticks or belts or hairbrushes or shoes. Maybe she wouldn't have slapped me in my pre-adolescent face so often. And Daddy-o, you lazy bastard, maybe if you smoked a little weed you would have insisted ole Barbara gotten some psychological counseling. Surely after your wife violently attacked your daughter at the dinner table that night when she was in 7th grade (but truth be told it was just another incident in a long line of years of out of control behavior by our mother and father)....and what did you do Stanny? Sit and watch and plaintively whine, "Barbaraaa."


Yes, my parents should have smoked weed, but they were all about obeying the law, except, of course, when it came to beating up their children.


Legalize it, period.

From the Philly Inquirer, Josh Meyer, L.A. Times, author


U.S. eases prosecutions on medical marijuana


WASHINGTON - The Obama administration told federal authorities yesterday not to arrest or prosecute medical-marijuana users and suppliers, paving the way for some states to move forward with plans to create officially sanctioned dispensaries to provide the drug as relief for a series of maladies.


The move by the Justice Department ended months of uncertainty over how far the Obama White House planned to go in reversing the Bush administration's stance on the issue, which held that authorities should continue to enforce federal drug laws even in states with medical-marijuana laws on the books


In new guidelines circulated yesterday, the Justice Department told prosecutors and federal drug agents that they had more important things to do than to arrest people as long as they were obeying the laws of states that allow some use or sale of medical marijuana.

In new guidelines circulated yesterday, the Justice Department told prosecutors and federal drug agents that they had more important things to do than to arrest people as long as they were obeying the laws of states that allow some use or sale of medical marijuana.


The move clarifies what some critics had said was an ambiguous position of the Obama administration, especially in California, where authorities raided numerous clinics and made arrests over the years. Some of those raids followed Obama's inauguration in January, after, as a presidential candidate, he had pledged to stop them.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups welcomed the move as an important step toward a comprehensive national policy on medical marijuana because it will allow states to implement their own laws without fear of interference from the federal government.


In all, 13 states have some form of medical-marijuana laws. But some, like New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Michigan, have been reluctant to implement programs amid fears they would be struck down by courts or shut by authorities, said Graham Boyd, director of the ACLU's California-based Drug Law Reform Project.

In New Jersey, the state Senate approved a medical-marijuana bill in February, with bipartisan support. An amended version, tightened to address concerns that marijuana could become too readily available, awaits a floor vote in the state Assembly. If approved, it would return to the Senate for a second vote. Gov. Corzine has said he would sign the bill if the Legislature approves it.


Under the amended bill, the state would issue identification cards to patients diagnosed with a "debilitating medical condition." Those patients would be permitted to obtain marijuana from authorized nonprofit alternative-treatment centers, in person or via courier or delivery.
Roseanne Scotti, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, which favors medical marijuana, said of yesterday's Justice Department move: "We're thrilled.. . . We think it bodes very well for the future of medical marijuana in New Jersey."

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the new guidelines were adopted, in part, because federal law enforcement agencies had limited resources and need them for more pressing priorities. One of those priorities is countering the spread of violent Mexican drug cartels, which use the vast profits from their marijuana sales in the United States to support other crimes, the guidelines say.


The new guidelines stress that authorities should go after those who improperly abuse or obtain medical marijuana or use clinics as a cover for drug dealing and other illegal activity.
In particular, the Justice memo urges authorities to pursue cases that involve violence, illegal use of firearms, sale of marijuana to minors, excessive financial gains, and ties to criminal enterprises.

The change in policy was criticized by many law enforcement advocates, and some conservative groups and members of Congress. (who gives a shit? that's my comment, not the author's)
Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the decision undermined the administration's get-tough plan to attack the Mexican cartels, which he said were fueling drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

One comment regarding Lamar Smith of Texas, in the Pacific Northwest, at least on the wet side of the mountains, all of our herb is local, it doesn't come from a Mexican cartel. We here in the PacNorth believe in local sustainability, supporting our local farmers, microbrewers, and small businesses, and smoking only the best around...

Peace-take care, HEALTH CARE FOR ALL NOW!
Mike

CHE

REST IN PEACE DR. ERNESTO GUEVARA DE LA SERNA

Today, some 42 years ago, Che was killed at the hands of the U.S. and Bolivian Governments. He remains an icon, a physician, a father, a brother, an author, and a revolutionary. Rest in peace, Doctor Guevara

“Let me say, at the risk of seeming ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” Che Guevara

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CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT OBAMA

Today Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Let Rio have the Olympics; we have the President with the Peace Prize.

Peace-

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WE MUST BECOME THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

Happy birthday Mohandas Karamchand Ghandi 10.2.1869-1.30.1948