eau de porneau.

Free-Speech Case Divides Bush and Religious Right - New York Times

The solicitor general’s office does not comment publicly on its cases. But Mr. Starr, by contrast, was happy to talk about the case and the alignment against him of many of his old allies. “It’s reassuring to have lots of friends of liberty running around,” he said in a cheerful tone, adding: “I welcome this outpouring because it will help the court see that it shouldn’t go too far either way.”

The aforementioned link is merely one in the sea of articles stating that there’s now a divide between Bush and the Religious Right. This is simply not true. There’s a split between people in Bush’s administration and some legal groups that were started by key figures on the Religious Right, namely Pat Robertson.

In any case, while the kid probably shouldn’t have stood in front of the cameras with a sign that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” the whole case is bullshit. In order to buy the argument of either side, you have to accept that either drug use is immoral and its promotion should be hindered at any cost, or people should be able to say whatever they want, however they want, whenever they want.

I really don’t think that there’s anything wrong with a kid displaying a message that’s clearly a joke, even if said message is on TV. I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with people taking bong hits, or people doing so in the name of Jesus. Some may disagree with me, but that’s okay. I said it before, and I’ll say it now, again. This is a bullshit principal’s office debate that’s gone WAY too far.

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Court: Dying can be charged for using marijuana  - CNN.com

“I’m sure not going to let them kill me,” she said. “Oh my God.”

I suppose they must really believe this woman would do fine otherwise. Are you pro-life if you don’t separate the alive and well and the alive and dying? I think if you’re going to die anyway, you should be able to do whatever you want that doesn’t hurt anyone else. If it works as medicine, that’s a plus.

Could this judge be a fan of Nietzsche? Maybe he believes we’re ALL dying, and thus no special treatment should be granted to those who are legitimately dying. Even if he or she “suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments.”

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9/11 Mastermind Confesses to Attacks - New York Times

”I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z,” Mohammed said during the session, which was held last Saturday.

Mohammed claimed responsibility for planning, financing, and training others for bombings ranging from the 1993 attack at the World Trade Center to the attempt by would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes.

This stirs echoes in my head of 12th grade history when we learned about show trials and the ability they (and the events leading up to them) have in getting people to admit to pretty much anything.

Show trials, which often take place under authoritarian régimes, albeit sometimes in a democratic country, far more often than not have the purpose of eliminating or suppressing the political opponents of an organization, such as a current government or a church. In the case of Joseph Stalin, the show trials were used for political, economic, social and military reasons. For example Stalin had many of the ‘old bolsheviks’(long term members of the party)put on trial and exucuted so that he could bring his ideas forward with little to no opposition. The trials also scared the public into obeying Stalin’s regime, ultimatly making Stalin to appear untouchable to any enemies. Many of the show trials Stalin ordered though, were down to his paranoia.

Just incase anyone questions the legitimacy of the situation, the media is barred from entering the trials.

Legal experts have criticized the U.S. decision to bar independent observers from the hearings from the high-value targets. The Associated Press filed a letter of protest, arguing that it would be ”an unconstitutional mistake to close the proceedings in their entirety.”

I don’t doubt that this guy was somehow connected to 9/11, but without sounding too Michael Moore-ish, I think trials like this should be going on for a lot of people within the Bush administration, or their friends. What ever happened to finding Bin Laden?

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Nova Scotia ponders light-bulb switch

“We’re certainly moving towards that, but we’re not going to make them mandatory just now. We have to be very sensitive to a whole bunch of things that surround that - wholesalers, retailers,” Dooks said Tuesday.

He expects it could be four or five years before a ban is in place.

Dooks said changing to newer bulbs will help save money and be easier on the environment in the long run by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

What we need here is not the promise of a ban in a few years, but a ban put in place now, a liquidation of the incandescent bulbs already around, and a time limit on when to get these new (well, not NEW, because they’ve been around for about five years now) bulbs as the standard. The same thing’s been done with HD broadcasting, which will be the widely accepted norm in a year or so, thanks to similar legislation.

Is it a bad thing to be creating laws that force people to use less power?

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Teacher cuts pupil’s tongue with scissors

The teacher, a support tutor on a temporary contract, risks being fired from the elementary school.

“She is a young teacher but the episode is so serious that inexperience has nothing to do with it,” Dominici added.

Now THIS is class. I’d expect behavior like this from some old teacher who’s been thrown around by kids for the better (read: worst) half of their lives, but a new one who was on temporary contract? Fuck firing her, she needs a lot more. Psychological evaluation? Extreme therapy? Antidepressants?

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mlive.com: NewsFlash - Flint voters OK legalizing medical marijuana

Detroit, Ann Arbor and Ferndale have approved similar measures. Voters in Traverse City in 2005 approved a measure that, while not legalizing the drug, declared possession, use or delivery by a medical patient the “lowest law enforcement priority of the city.”

Opponents in Flint had said the city was already battling crime and drug problems and shouldn’t legalize marijuana use, even under special circumstances.

I understand what opponents of medical marijuana are saying, except there are two flaws. The first is that if people are treating marijuana as medicine, then to them it is no different from any other prescription medication, making it not a crime. The second is that marijuana has a far lower risk of dependency than even some over the counter drugs, and most under the counter ones.

In other news…

Chong raising cash for pot advocate

In a post to his Web log, The Blog of Chong, on Saturday, 68-year-old Chong urged his readers to attend the benefit for Rosenthal and donate to his defense. “Ed is being dogged by the feds for his marijuana work with sick people,” Chong wrote. “It is the feds who are sick.”

Merely another big name takedown in the War on Drugs. Ed Rosenthal’s about as harmful as a midget waving around a limp noodle. Let the guy do what he wants, he’s not harming anyone. As long as he stays within California he’s not breaking any state laws, only misguided federal laws. Plus, when the status quo finally reflects the will of the people, research like Rosenthal’s will be beneficial in treating a variety of ailments.

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Patenting Life - New York Times

Humans share mostly the same genes. The same genes are found in other animals as well. Our genetic makeup represents the common heritage of all life on earth. You can%u2019t patent snow, eagles or gravity, and you shouldn%u2019t be able to patent genes, either. Yet by now one-fifth of the genes in your body are privately owned.

I think everyone needs to know the information Michael Crichton conveys in this article, because the next 50, 75, 100 years of human existence is dependent on whether or not these laws can be changed. It’s crap like this that stops diseases like AIDS and Cancer from being properly researched and cured.

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NDP pushes $250,000 ‘Buy Nova Scotia’ campaign

The province needs a “Buy Nova Scotia” campaign to help struggling farmers, the NDP says.

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter proposes spending $250,000 on an ad campaign to encourage Nova Scotians to buy local produce and meat.

Dexter said the governing Tories have promised a similar campaign four times in the last eight years, but failed to follow up on it.

First of all, you’ve got to spend money to make money, and I think $250,000 isn’t enough. I think they need at least a million. Mind you, I don’t exactly know how much 250k gets you as far as advertising goes. I’d think you need more than that, though. I just think of all the BC Fresh logos I’d see around Safeway when I worked there, and there must’ve been more than $250k spent on that.

And second?

The Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture backs the proposal.

The group’s vice-president, Willie Versteeg, said the province currently makes it difficult for local producers or processors to sell to hospitals, jails or nursing homes.

“There’s a whole bureaucracy, it seems, that prides itself in throwing up obstructions to buying local,” Versteeg said.

Less than half of the food consumed in Nova Scotia is produced here, according to the federation.

This is something that need to be changed EVERYWHERE. I’d like to see statistics for consumption/production for every province. I think with all the crap we eat nowadays, supporting our local economy is a good reason to start eating more fresh produce instead of processed crap from some factory that may be located either out of the province, or even the country.

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FT.com / Companies / IT - Norway declares Apple’s iTunes illegal

“We are satisfied the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and the French UFC Que Choisir are addressing this important issue. It means that iTunes is now being told by more than 100m European consumers to offer them a fair deal,” he said.Apple signalled that it would fight efforts in Norway and elsewhere in Europe to prise open the iTunes service, though it struck a more conciliatory tone than early last year when it attacked a proposed French law as “state-sponsored piracy”.

Apple is once again taking its love slaps from Europeans who hate the iTunes Store’s DRM policy. Apple’s statements that such an act is “state-sponsored piracy” are merely rhetoric designed to demonize any effort to reform digital rights laws. These laws currently allow Apple to lock people into playing Apple-sold content on Apple software and Apple hardware. Unfortunately these policies have managed to succeed on the consumer level. If I can think of one reason, it’s because people don’t really care about the ins and outs of the restrictions, they just want to be able to download music and take it with them on the bus/in the car/etc.

Almost 100 years ago the ICC, the SEC and other bodies built up by the US Government protected consumers against bizarre, non-competitive acts by corporations that would infringe on the true competitive nature of capitalism. Now, in the digital age, these laws need to be revamped in a manner that benefits consumers, then artists, THEN labels.

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Buying bottled water is wrong, says Suzuki

“I don’t believe for a minute that French water is better than Canadian water. I think that we’ve got to drink the water that comes out of our taps, and if we don’t trust it, we ought to be raising hell about that.”

I think David Suzuki’s right. Canadian tap water is pretty good no matter where you go, and the quality of said water should not depend on any privately owned organization. I heard somewhere that with all the plastic bottles used to hold drinks in the world (that includes Coke, Pepsi, Sprite and so on) they use 150 million barrals of oil a year. I have no direct evidence to back that up, but it doesn’t exactly sound illogical.

I’m not going to run around like an alarmist and tell everyone to only suck water out of ponds, chain yourself to a tree and only buy hemp clothes, but honestly, who likes paying for water? Buy yourself a Nalgene bottle or whatever and pour one out every day before you go to work. Imagine this: You spend like $8.50, and you never have to buy a bottle of water again. You like flavoured water? Toss some iced tea powder in there or something.

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