I say hang'em!
It is human, silent and unobtrusive. I say, ban the mow-blow-and-go "gardeners"- they are not. One of the special pleasures of travel in Central America are the old fashioned loundry rituals. There, it is not question of choice. Laundry is done by women's hands and is hang outside, watched carefuly, hastily carried inside when rain comes. For many women it is the only source of income. These women, I once thought, should also be awarded all those big green prizes that go to somebody else.
I think more hanging laundry would make our USA neighborhoods safer. Perhaps the sight of children playing ouside would return with it. fib
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November 18, 2009 | 1 comments
U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry
Carin Froehlich has help from her granddaughter Ava as they hang some laundry in the front yard of her residence in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, November 12, 2009. REUTERS/Tim Shaffer
PERKASIE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Carin Froehlich pegs her laundry to three clotheslines strung between trees outside her 18th-century farmhouse, knowing that her actions annoy local officials who have asked her to stop.
Froehlich is among the growing number of people across America fighting for the right to dry their laundry outside against a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice despite its energy-saving green appeal.
Although there are no formal laws in this southeast Pennsylvania town against drying laundry outside, a town official called Froehlich to ask her to stop drying clothes in the sun. And she received two anonymous notes from neighbors saying they did not want to see her underwear flapping about.
"They said it made the place look like trailer trash," she said, in her yard across the street from a row of neat, suburban houses. "They said they didn't want to look at my 'unmentionables.'"
Froehlich says she hangs her underwear inside. The effervescent 54-year-old is one of a growing number of Americans demanding the right to dry laundry on clotheslines despite local rules and a culture that frowns on it.
Their interests are represented by Project Laundry List, a group that argues people can save money and reduce carbon emissions by not using their electric or gas dryers, according to the group's executive director, Alexander Lee.
Widespread adoption of clotheslines could significantly reduce U.S. energy consumption, argued Lee, who said dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use.
Florida, Utah, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, and Hawaii have passed laws restricting the rights of local authorities to stop residents using clotheslines. Another five states are considering similar measures, said Lee, 35, a former lawyer who quit to run the non-profit group.
'RIGHT TO HANG'
His principal opponents are the housing associations such as condominiums and townhouse communities that are home to an estimated 60 million Americans, or about 20 percent of the population. About half of those organizations have 'no hanging' rules, Lee said, and enforce them with fines.
Carl Weiner, a lawyer for about 50 homeowners associations in suburban Philadelphia, said the no-hanging rules are usually included by the communities' developers along with regulations such as a ban on sheds or commercial vehicles.
The no-hanging rules are an aesthetic issue, Weiner said.
"The consensus in most communities is that people don't want to see everybody else's laundry."
He said opposition to clotheslines may ease as more people understand it can save energy and reduce greenhouse gases.
"There is more awareness of impact on the environment," he said. "I would not be surprised to see people questioning these restrictions."
For Froehlich, the "right to hang" is the embodiment of the American tradition of freedom.
"If my husband has a right to have guns in the house, I have a right to hang laundry," said Froehlich, who is writing a book on the subject.
Besides, it saves money. Line-drying laundry for a family of five saves $83 a month in electric bills, she said.
Kevin Firth, who owns a two-bedroom condominium in a Dublin, Pennsylvania housing association, said he was fined $100 by the association for putting up a clothesline in a common area.
"It made me angry and upset," said Firth, a 27-year-old carpenter. "I like having the laundry drying in the sun. It's something I have always done since I was a little kid."
(Editing by Mark Egan and Paul Simao)
Sez Me at 05:41 PM on 11/18/09
END WAR ON DRUGS! BASTA. NO SOCIAL REFORMS WILL HELP AS LONG AS THIS GOES ON. fib
ps. as a recovering addict of alcoholic preference, i know how tough it has been to recover from my legal addiction. what hope am i going to offer to my active adict friends? this?! fib
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Gunmen kill 10 at Mexico drug treatment center By ALICIA A. CALDWELL,
Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell,
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – Gunmen burst into a drug treatment center in the northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and shot to death 10 people, the second such mass killing this month.
Police say nine men and one woman were killed in the attack just before midnight Tuesday at the Anexo de Vida center in Mexico's most violent city. Two people were seriously wounded.
Enrique Torres, a spokesman for Chihuahua state police, said Wednesday the identities of the gunmen and the motive for the attack have not yet been established.
But officials have said in the past that drug gangs may be using treatment centers to recruit dealers, or may be targeting them to eliminate rivals.
Most of the victims are believed to have been recovering addicts staying at the facility.
"Why? Why them?" said Pilar Macias, weeping after she identified the body of her brother, Juan Carlos Macias, 39. "He was recovering, he wanted to get back on the right track and they didn't let him, they didn't give him a chance."
"This is going to kill my mother," Macias said. "She's very sick and this is going to kill her."
Macias said the mother had encouraged her son to enter the facility for treatment of his cocaine addiction three months ago.
Maria Hernandez also had come to the state prosecutor's office to identify the body of her 25-year son.
"He was good, he didn't hang out with gangs, he didn't have 'narco' friends," she said. "He just began with marijuana, and then ... they killed him."
Pools of dry blood and bloodied footprints were visible Wednesday in the courtyard of the drug and alcohol rehab center where the shooting occurred.
The center is located in a poor neighborhood with dirt streets, some of which were impassable due to recent rains.
On Sept. 2, gunmen lined patients against a wall at another rehabilitation center in Ciudad Juarez and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.
Five men were killed at another rehabilitation center in June, and in August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have not said if any of the attacks are related.
Ciudad Juarez has seen the worst of the nation's drug violence, with more than 1,300 deaths this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
Early Wednesday, gunmen burst into a bar in Ciudad Juarez and shot to death five men, police said. They said they knew of no motive for the attack.
Surging gang violence has claimed 13,500 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed extra soldiers across the country to fight cartels.
Also Wednesday, police in the southern state of Guerrero reported they had found the decomposed bodies of four men by the side of a highway. Because of their poor condition, the cause of death and identity of the bodies has not yet been established.
A must see. fib
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http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=visit&lid=152
This has been the fifth attack on a rehabilitaion center in Ciudad Juarez. fib
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Arrest over Mexican drug murders
A senior member of a Mexican drug cartel has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murders of 17 people at a rehab centre, reports say.
Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, a suspected hitman and drug smuggler, was held in connection with the murders in the city of Juarez, near the border with Texas.
He has long been on wanted lists held by both the Mexican government and the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Meanwhile, a state politician and his family were killed in Tabasco state.
The bodies of Jose Francisco Fuentes - a state congressional candidate - his wife and two young sons were found with many bullet wounds at their house in the state capital, Villahermosa, according to state Attorney General Rafael Gonzalez Lastra.
Authorities in the state have in recent days arrested gunmen suspected of working for Mexico's notorious Gulf drug cartel
Turf wars
According to Mexican media reports, Mr Escajeda was arrested by Mexican troops on Friday.
Thought to be a senior figure in the Juarez cartel, he is suspected of involvement in the attack last week in which gunmen stormed into a drug treatment clinic, lined patients up against a wall and killed at least 17 of them.
The BBC's Stephen Gibbs, in Mexico, says the attack shocked even the violence-weary residents of Ciudad Juarez, where there have been an average of 10 murders every day this year.
Juarez is the setting of a vicious turf war, principally between two gangs - the Juarez cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel, which is led by Mexico's most wanted man and reported billionaire, Joaquin Guzman.
The gangs are fighting for control of the local drug market, and smuggling routes into the United States.
About 1,400 people have died in Juarez's drug violence this year.
Thousands of extra police and troops have been deployed in Ciudad Juarez to try to stem the violence.
More than 13,000 people have been killed since the Mexican government ordered the military to take the offensive against the drug gangs in 2006.
Gracias a Dios! Thanks Obama Adminstration for not messing up with the neighbor's business.
Yes we can - too! fib
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"All right!" said a grinning Ivan Rojas, a rail-thin 20-year-old addict who endured police harassment during the decade he has spent sleeping in Mexico City's gritty streets and subway stations.
But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon's drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.
Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.
"Now they will go because they can get drugs," said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. "For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use."
Enacted last week, the Mexican law is part of a growing trend across Latin America to treat drug use as a public health problem and make room in overcrowded prisons for violent traffickers rather than small-time users.
Brazil and Uruguay have already eliminated jail time for people carrying small amounts of drugs for personal use, although possession is still considered a crime in Brazil. Argentina's Supreme Court ruled out prison for pot possession on Tuesday and officials say they plan to propose a law keeping drug consumers out of the justice system.
Colombia has decriminalized marijuana and cocaine for personal use, but kept penalties for other drugs.
Officials in those countries say they are not legalizing drugs — just drawing a line between users, dealers and traffickers amid a fierce drug war. Mexico's law toughens penalties for selling drugs even as it relaxes the law against using them.
"Latin America is disappointed with the results of the current drug policies and is exploring alternatives," said Ricardo Soberon, director of the Drug Research and Human Rights Center in Lima, Peru.
As Mexico ratcheted up its fight against cartels, drug use jumped more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008, according to the government, and today prisons are filled with addicts, many under the age of 25.
Rojas has spent half his life snorting cocaine and sniffing paint thinner as he roamed Mexico City's streets in a daze. Most days he was roused awake by police demanding a bribe and forcing him to move along, he said.
"It's good they have this law so police don't grab you," said Rojas, whose name, I-V-A-N, is tattooed across his knuckles.
Rojas hit bottom three weeks ago when he could not score enough money for drugs by begging and found himself shaking uncontrollably. He accepted an offer for help from workers from a drug rehabilitation center who approached him on the street.
"Drugs were finishing me off," said Rojas, whose 13-year-old brother died of an overdose eight years ago. "I lost my brother. I lost my youth."
Juan Martin Perez, who runs Caracol, the nonprofit center helping Rojas, said the government has poured millions of dollars into the drug war but has done little to treat addicts. His group relies on grants from foundations.
The new law requires officials to encourage drug users to seek treatment in lieu of jail, but the government has not allocated more money for organizations like Caracol that are supposed to help them.
Treatment is mandatory for third-time offenders, but the law does not specify penalties for noncompliance.
"This was passed quickly and quietly but it's going to have to be adjusted to match reality," Perez said.
Supporters of the change point to Portugal, which removed jail terms for drug possession for personal use in 2001 and still has one of the lowest rates of cocaine use in Europe.
Portugal's law defines personal use as the equivalent of what one person would consume over 10 days. Police confiscate the drugs and the suspect must appear before a government commission, which reviews the person's drug consumption patterns. Users may be fined, sent for treatment or put on probation.
Foreigners caught with drugs still face arrest in Portugal, a measure to prevent drug tourism.
The same is not true for Mexico, where there is no jail time for anyone caught with roughly four marijuana cigarettes, four lines of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.
That's what concerns U.S. law enforcement at the border.
"It provides an officially sanctioned market for the consumption of the world's most dangerous drugs," San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said. "For the people of San Diego the risk is direct and lethal. There are those who will drive to Mexico to use drugs and return to the U.S. under their influence."
Don Thornhill, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor who investigated Mexican cartels for 25 years, said Mexico's rampant drug violence will likely deter most U.S. drug users, and the new law will allow Mexican police to focus on "the bigger fish."
The Bush administration criticized a similar bill proposed in Mexico in 2006, prompting then-President Vicente Fox to send it back to Congress. But Washington has stayed quiet this time, praising Calderon for his fight against drug cartels — a struggle that has seen some 11,000 people killed since Calderon took office in 2006.
"We work with Mexico every day to combat illegal drugs and cartel violence," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said when asked about the law. "And we look forward to continuing that cooperation."
_____
Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Vivian Sequera in Bogota, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Olga Rodriguez in Mexico City and Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
"(...) Apart from these big-picture analyses, it is important to catalogue all of the differences on a more specific level, as well. For example, yesterday, the Huffington Post took a look at the differences between spending on the "drug war" from 2009 to 2010. Again, the results were minimal (more in the extended entry):
In the 2010 budget, prevention takes a 10.6 percent hit while domestic law enforcement gets a boost of 2.3 percent, with "interdiction" (military and police actions designed to stem the flow of drugs into and about the country) gaining 4.4 percent. On the positive side of the ledger, treatment shows a 4.4 percent increase. And what of the never-ending seesaw battle between supply and demand initiatives? Unfortunately, demand reduction efforts (education, prevention) are down 0.8 percent, while (generally futile) supply reduction initiatives (enforcement, burning or poisoning crops) gets a 2.7 percent bump.
In terms of actual spending figures, here is the breakdown from the Obama administration itself:
Interdiction: $4.004 billion (2010) vs. $3.836 billion (2009) Domestic Law Enforcement: $3.737 billion (2010) vs. $3.654 billion (2009) Drug Treatment: $3.566 billion (2010) vs. $3.416 billion (2009) Drug Prevention: $1.602 billion (2010) vs. $1.791 billion (2009) International Enforcement: $2.160 billion (2010) vs. $2.174 billion (2009)
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Governor says he's open to debate on legal pot
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(05-06) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that the time is right to debate legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California.
The governor's comments were made as support grows nationwide for relaxing pot laws and only days after a poll found that for the first time a majority of California voters back legal marijuana. Also, a San Francisco legislator has proposed regulating and taxing marijuana to bring the state as much as $1.3 billion a year in extra revenue.
Schwarzenegger was cautious when answering a reporter's question Tuesday about whether the state should regulate and tax the substance, saying it is not time to go that far.
But, he said: "I think it's time for debate. I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues - I'm always for an open debate on it."
The governor said California should look to the experiences of other nations around the world in relaxing laws on marijuana.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has introduced a bill to regulate marijuana like alcohol, with people over 21 years old allowed to grow, buy, sell and possess cannabis - all of which are barred by federal law.
California voters in 1996 legalized marijuana for medical use with permission from a physician.
Ammiano said he was pleased the governor is "open-minded" on the issue and added that he was sure the two could "hash it out."
Under Ammiano's proposal, the state would impose a $50-an-ounce levy on sales of marijuana, which would boost state revenues by about $1.3 billion a year, according to an analysis by the State Board of Equalization. Betty Yee of San Francisco, who chairs the Board of Equalization, supports the measure.
"This has never just been about money," said Ammiano, who has long supported reforming marijuana laws. "It's also about the failure of the war on drugs and implementing a more enlightened policy. I've always anticipated that there could be a perfect storm of political will and public support, and obviously the federal policies are leaning more toward states' rights."
An ABC News/Washington Post poll last week found that 46 percent of Americans favored legalization of small amounts of pot for personal use, double the number who supported that a decade ago. A Field Poll also released last week found that 56 percent of California voters supported legalizing and taxing marijuana.
In March, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would take a softer stance on medical marijuana dispensaries, with drug enforcement agents targeting only those who violate state and federal law. California is one of 13 states that allow marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation.
Many law enforcement organizations oppose changes in marijuana laws. The California Police Chiefs Association, in a report last month, concluded that marijuana dispensaries constitute "a clear violation of federal and state law; they invite more crime; and they compromise the health and welfare of law-abiding citizens."
But the head of that association said he, too, is open to a debate on legalizing pot.
"We keep walking around the 5,000-pound elephant in the room, which is should marijuana be legal?" said Bernard Melekian, president of the association and chief of police in Pasadena.
The Board of Equalization analysis predicts that legalization would drop the street value of marijuana by 50 percent and increase consumption by 40 percent.
Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization, said the governor's comments about marijuana are part of a "tectonic shift" in attitudes toward the issue.
"I think, frankly, the public is going to drag the politicians into doing what is right," he said.
Chronicle staff writer Matthew Yi contributed to this report. E-mail Wyatt Buchanan at wbuchanan@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/06/MNO617F929.DTL
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Decriminalizing All Drugs: The Case of Portugal
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
When Portugal decided in 2001 to become the first nation in Europe to eliminate criminal penalties for possession of all drugs, from marijuana to heroin, critics warned that the decision would result in “drug tourists” flocking to the conservative Catholic country. Legalizing drugs would surely exacerbate Portugal’s narcotics problem and its high levels of hard-drug use, lamented opponents.
Justice Department Moves to Equalize Cocaine Sentencing For All Races
Friday, May 01, 2009
The federal government may finally be moving towards eliminating the unequal sentencing in U.S. drug laws that punish users of crack more than cocaine. Key government and judicial officials testified at a congressional hearing on Wednesday that the disparity in federal mandatory sentencing for crack users has unfairly targeted African Americans since the 1980s, when the so-called “crack laws” were first installed.
Mexican Army special forces parade commemorating the 198th anniversary of Mexico’s independence at the Zócalo Square in Mexico City, September 16, 2008.
The need to improve public security in Mexico is clear... But, to be effective, any strategy to address security must also deal with the rampant impunity for military abuses committed during public security operations.
(Mexico City) - Mexico is failing to hold members of the military who commit human rights violations accountable, undercutting its efforts to curb drug-related violence and improve public security, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 76-page report, "Uniform Impunity: Mexico's Misuse of Military Justice to Prosecute Abuses in Counternarcotics and Public Security Operations," details 17 cases involving military abuses against more than 70 victims, including several cases from 2007 and 2008. The abuses include killings, torture, rapes, and arbitrary detentions. Not one of the military investigations into these crimes has led to a conviction for even a single soldier on human rights violations. The only civilian investigation into any of these cases led to the conviction of four soldiers.
"The need to improve public security in Mexico is clear," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "But, to be effective, any strategy to address security must also deal with the rampant impunity for military abuses committed during public security operations."
The abuses continue because they go unpunished, the report says, in large part because most cases are investigated and prosecuted by the military itself through a system that lacks basic safeguards to ensure independence and impartiality.
Among the problems with the military justice system are that the secretary of defense wields both executive and judicial power over the armed forces, military judges have little job security and may reasonably fear that they will be removed if they adopt decisions that the secretary dislikes, civilian review of military court decisions is very limited, and there is virtually no public scrutiny of military investigations and trials.
As a result, the report says, the Mexican military court system is failing miserably to provide justice in cases involving military abuses against civilians. In a May 2007 case, for example, soldiers detained eight people after a shootout between the military and alleged drug traffickers. Soldiers took the detainees, none of whom were involved in the shootout, to military installations, where the soldiers beat and kicked four of them, placing their heads in black bags, and forcing them to lie on the floor blindfolded. A federal prosecutor requested that the military investigate the soldiers. The military closed its criminal investigation in a month and sent it to the archives, arguing there was no evidence that the soldiers had committed a crime.
In another example from August 2007, five soldiers detained a man, held him incommunicado in military installations for over 24 hours, beat and kicked him, placed a cloth bag on his head, tied his arms and feet, poured water on his face while they hit his abdomen, and applied electric shocks to his stomach. A federal prosecutor requested that a military prosecutor investigate the case. Despite the existence of medical exams documenting the torture, the military closed its investigation, determining it did not find evidence that the soldiers had committed a crime.
The report notes that Human Rights Watch asked senior Ministry of Defense officials in January 2009 for examples of serious human rights violations prosecuted by the military that resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of military personnel. The officials responded that there had been many such cases, but were only able to recall one case, from 1998. Despite repeated requests from Human Rights Watch, the Ministry of Defense has failed to provide a list of such cases and a copy of the decision in the 1998 case.
The military invokes the Code of Military Justice, which grants jurisdiction to military courts when military officers commit common crimes while "in service," and a strained constitutional interpretation to justify exerting jurisdiction over the abuse cases, the report says. Civilian prosecutors have generally backed off when the military seeks jurisdiction over a case.
But this outcome is not prescribed by Mexico's Constitution, which allows for military jurisdiction only for "crimes and faults against military discipline." It is also inconsistent with a recent binding Supreme Court decision, which defined military "service" as "performing the inherent activities of the position that [he or she] is carrying out." While the court did not explicitly state that all military abuses against civilians should be sent to civilian prosecutors and courts, serious abuses such as rape and torture clearly cannot be considered "inherent activities" of the military. The military's practice is also inconsistent with international standards requiring effective, independent investigation and prosecution of abuses.
"Mexico has failed to take the issue of military abuses seriously," said Vivanco. "Until it does, its stated commitment to the rule of law means very little."
A Human Rights Watch delegation led by Executive Director Kenneth Roth presented the report's findings this week to several members of President Calderón's cabinet, including the interior minister, the federal attorney general, and the military attorney general. Human Rights Watch urged the Calderón administration to ensure that serious military abuses against civilians are prosecuted by civilian officials in civilian courts.
Why all this has happened?
A week ago, when you thought about Mexico priorities, what came on your mind? WAR ON DRUGS, CARTELS, THE MILITARY IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, DEATHS AND KIDNAPPINGS... Now we have a REAL human/animal problem to deal with, not a legislation-created problem!!!!
Stop the nonsense of THE WAR ON DRUGS! That's my take on the policy.
We shall see soon where the pig flu originated. I am openly curious. After all it could be Northern people and southern pigs. A mutation on human-animal virus. But - just to safely locate pigs in the history of the Americas - they came here from Europe, and damaged a lot of local life since. fib
Update 1: April 28 11:08 pm PDT
It most likely originated from pigs only, two of them:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/fib/gGxpJW
Update 2: It did travel south of Mexico. Two to Honduras - one of the persons was deported from the USA:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/fib/gGxpJJ
A week ago, when you thought about Mexico priorities, what came on your mind? WAR ON DRUGS,CARTELS, MILTARY IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, DEATHS AND KDNAPPINGS...
Stop the nonsense of THE WAR ON DRUGS! fib
April 28, 2009
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Josh Nelson
Editor: http://EnviroKnow.com
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Originally at EnviroKnow: The Politics of a Potential Pandemic: From Sebelius to Smithfield
Several political dynamics are running immediately beneath the surface of news coverage of the swine flu outbreak. First and foremost, the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary is being held up by GOP Senators because she is - GASP - pro-choice. More importantly, a growing chorus of bloggers and Mexican media outlets are pointing to an American-based company, Smithfield, as 50% owner of the Mexican farm where the swine flu is believed to have originated.
Sebelius Confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary
This story will receive significant attention today as the Senate prepares to vote sometime in the afternoon or evening. Joe Sudbay has the text of the unanimous consent agreement, which indicates that we could see a vote by 6pm today. Sudbay's critique of the GOP obstructionism on this is a thing of beauty. SEIU has a petition running and I'm assuming that won't be all we'll hear from them on this. Greg Sargent has a bit of a back and forth between spokespeople for Senators Reid and McConnell, and his conclusion hits the mark: "The filibuster over an abortion controversy is still throwing a hurdle in the way of this nomination, despite the flu epidemic."
Of greater immediate consequence than the Sebelius confirmation, are the dozens of other top officials at the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services who have also not yet been confirmed. The Post notes that:
Vacant positions include the department's assistant secretary for health affairs and chief medical officer, and the leaders of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, all of which would play significant roles in battling a pandemic.
Evidence points toward Smithfield-owned Farm as source of Swine Flu
Tom Philpott at Grist was way out in front of this one on Saturday morning. He points to several great sources which I'll summarize below, but I want to stress that you should read his excellent piece on this.
A lot of pig shit is one thing; a lot of highly toxic pig shit is another. The excrement of Smithfield hogs is hardly even pig shit: On a continuum of pollutants, it is probably closer to radioactive waste than to organic manure. The reason it is so toxic is Smithfield's efficiency. The company produces 6 billion pounds of packaged pork each year. That's a remarkable achievement, a prolificacy unimagined only two decades ago, and the only way to do it is to raise pigs in astonishing, unprecedented concentrations.
The Sebelius angle will fizzle out after she is confirmed by the United States Senate. Barring further GOP obstructionism in the face of an emergency (which we can't rule out), she will be confirmed this evening. But the larger story, the story of industrial agriculture, of force feeding animals, of drinking water contamination, of the very conditions that made the outbreak possible, is just beginning to unravel. As this story plays out it will provide us with a golden opportunity for a broader dialogue on the sustainability of our food, environmental, trade and agricultural policies. Lets not squander this opportunity.
I'll be following the story at EnviroKnow as I am able, but here are some folks you should really be reading on this topic:
James M. Wilson at Biosurveillance Natasha Chart at Sustainable Food Tom Philpott at Grist Paul Revere at Effect Measure Charles Lemos at MyDD
SAN FRANCISCO — On Monday, somewhere in New York City, 420 people will gather for High Times magazine’s annual beauty pageant, a secretly located and sold-out event that its sponsor says will “turn the Big Apple into the Baked Apple and help us usher in a new era of marijuana freedom in America.”
They will not be the only ones partaking: April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year’s “high holiday” carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.
“It is the biggest moment yet,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who cited several national polls showing growing support for legalization. “There’s a sense that the notion of legalizing marijuana is starting to cross the fringes into mainstream debate.”
For Mr. Nadelmann and others like him, the signs of change are everywhere, from the nation’s statehouses — where more than a dozen legislatures have taken up measures to allow some medical use of marijuana or some easing of penalties for recreational use — to its swimming pools, where an admission of marijuana use by the Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was largely forgiven with a shrug.
Long stigmatized as political poison, the marijuana movement has found new allies in prominent politicians, including Representatives Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, who co-wrote a bill last year to decrease federal penalties for possession and to give medical users new protections.
The bill failed, but with the recession prompting bulging budget deficits, some legislators in California and Massachusetts have gone further, suggesting that the drug could be legalized and taxed, a concept that has intrigued even such ideologically opposed pundits as Glenn Beck of Fox News and Jack Cafferty of CNN.
“Look, I’m a libertarian,” Mr. Beck said on his Feb. 26 program. “You want to legalize marijuana, you want to legalize drugs — that’s fine.”
All of which has longtime proponents of the drug feeling oddly optimistic and even overexposed.
“We’ve been on national cable news more in the first three months than we typically are in entire year,” said Bruce Mirken, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, a reform group based in Washington. “And any time you’ve got Glenn Beck and Barney Frank agreeing on something, it’s either a sign that change is impending or that the end times are here.”
Beneficiaries of the moment include Norml, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates legalization, and other groups like it. Norml say that its Web traffic and donations (sometimes in $4.20 increments) have surged, and that it will begin a television advertising campaign on Monday, which concludes with a plea, and an homage, to President Obama.
“Legalization,” the advertisement says, “yes we can!”
That seems unlikely anytime soon. In a visit last week to Mexico, where drug violence has claimed thousands of lives and threatened to spill across the border, Mr. Obama said the United States must work to curb demand for drugs.
Still, pro-marijuana groups have applauded recent remarks by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who suggested that federal law enforcement resources would not be used to pursue legitimate medical marijuana users and outlets in California and a dozen other states that allow medical use of the drug. Court battles are also percolating. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments last Tuesday in San Francisco in a 2007 lawsuit challenging the government’s official skepticism about medical uses of the drug.
But Allen F. St. Pierre, the executive director of Norml, said he had cautioned supporters that any legal changes that might occur would probably be incremental.
“The balancing act this year is trying to get our most active, most vocal supporters to be more realistic in their expectations in what the Obama administration is going to do,” Mr. St. Pierre said.
For fans of the drug, perhaps the biggest indicator of changing attitudes is how widespread the observance of April 20 has become, including its use in marketing campaigns for stoner-movie openings (like last year’s “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantánamo Bay”) and as a peg for marijuana-related television programming (like the G4 network’s prime-time double bill Monday of “Super High Me” and “Half Baked”).
Events tied to April 20 have “reached the tipping point in the last few years after being a completely underground phenomenon for a long time,” said Steven Hager, the creative director and former editor of High Times. “And I think that’s symptomatic of the fact that people’s perception of marijuana is reaching a tipping point.”
Mr. Hager said the significance of April 20 dates to a ritual begun in the early 1970s in which a group of Northern California teenagers smoked marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m. Word of the ritual spread and expanded to a yearly event in various places. Soon, marijuana aficionados were using “420” as a code for smoking and using it as a sign-off on fliers for concerts where the drug would be plentiful.
In recent years, the April 20 events have become so widespread that several colleges have urged students to just say no. At the University of Colorado, Boulder, where thousands of students regularly use the day to light up in the quad, administrators sent an e-mail message this month pleading with students not to “participate in unlawful activity that debases the reputation of your university and degree.”
A similar warning was sent to students at the University of California, Santa Cruz — home of the Grateful Dead archives — which banned overnight guests at residence halls leading up to April 20.
None of which, of course, is expected to discourage the dozens of parties — large and small — planned for Monday, including the top-secret crowning of Ms. High Times.
In San Francisco, meanwhile, where a city supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, suggested last week that the city should consider getting into the medical marijuana business as a provider, big crowds are expected to turn out at places like Hippie Hill, a drum-happy glade in Golden Gate Park.
A cloud of pungent smoke is also expected to be thick at concerts like one planned at the Fillmore rock club, where the outspoken pro-marijuana hip-hop group Cypress Hill is expected to take the stage at 4:20 p.m.
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An Encounter with Politics and History by James D. Cockcroft
"Mexico's Hope is recommended reading for anyone wanting a succinct and articulate overview of contemporary Mexican politics and economic development." — THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Mexico's Hope tells the dramatic story of the making of modern Mexico. In the course of providing compelling analysis of the causes for the vast divide between Mexico's rich and poor, James Cockcroft illuminates the stark contrast between the country's corrupt political system and its people's democratic aspirations.
Mexican economic development is distorted and uneven, Cockcroft explains, because of a longstanding collusion between foreign interests and a domestic ruling class. He describes why important challenges to elite power, including the revolution of 1910-1920 and the 1968 student rebellion, failed to break the grip of the dominant classes.
With particular attention to the contributions of women, Indians, workers, and peasants, Mexico's Hope is informed by the conviction that the country's most promising prospects today lie in the quest of its poorest people for social justice and democracy—from the recent Zapatista uprisings in Chiapas to ongoing electoral efforts on the left.
About the Author JAMES D. COCKCROFT has written and edited many books, includingIntellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900-1913 (1968), Mexico (1984) Outlaws in the Promised Land (1986), and Neighbors in Turmoil (1989).
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...AND FOR EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S IN BETWEEN, SEE "SIN NOMBRE", A MOVIE YOU WILL NOT FORGET TOO SOON. FIB
DEA says Mexican drug cartels are creeping south
WASHINGTON – Mexican drug cartels are creeping south into Central America, U.S. drug enforcement officials said Wednesday, as the Obama administration put new pressure on drug kingpins ahead of the president's trip to Mexico City. Drug Enforcement Administration officials said there are growing signs the stepped-up law enforcement efforts on the U.S.-Mexico border are driving the cartels south toward Central America.
"We're looking at what happens south of Mexico as well, because that's just as important as what's happening on our border," said DEA Chief of Operations Thomas Harrigan. "With more and more success the Mexican government has, literally they're pushing these cartels further south and potentially it could be a problem in Central America."
It's already happening, said Anthony Placido, the DEA's chief of intelligence.
There have been significant seizures of cartel weaponry in Guatemala, and shootouts among Mexican cartels with operations in Central American countries. The cartels "definitely have" moved south, said Placido.
"We've seen running gun battles in places like Guatemala and Honduras between rival Mexican cartels," he said.
Last month in an appearance before Congress, U.S. State Department official David Johnson said that Central American officials "have identified gangs, drug trafficking and trafficking of arms as the most pressing security concerns in that region."
The acting head of the DEA, Michele Leonhart, told reporters that more efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border alone will not be enough to dismantle the cartels.
"A seizure on the border is not going to break the backs of the cartels. What breaks the backs of the cartels are the partnerships with the U.S. and Mexican counterparts in country, in Mexico," she said.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the DEA's assessment on the cartels moving south is a serious concern. She said the violence moved based in part on enforcement on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
"It is an ever-changing environment that we have to face," she said.
Napolitano spoke in El Paso, Texas, where she announced she has picked Alan Bersin, a former federal prosecutor, to take the new post of "border czar" to oversee efforts to end cartel violence along the border and slow the tide of people crossing illegally into the United States.
Separately, the White House on Wednesday announced that three Mexican organizations had been added to a list of suspected international drug kingpins: the Sinaloa cartel, Los Zetas and La Familia Michoacana.
The move came a day before President Barack Obama travels to Mexico.
The three Mexican groups were added to the U.S. government's blacklist of drug syndicates, known commonly as the Drug Kingpin Act and aimed at financially cutting off significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations and operatives worldwide.
Those on the list are denied access to the U.S. financial system and all trade and transactions involving U.S. companies and individuals.
La Familia Michoacana, also known simply as La Familia, moves massive amounts of cocaine from Colombian drug dealers, according to U.S. officials.
Los Zetas was formed by ex-military men who became hit men for the other cartels.
The Sinaloa cartel, often referred to as the Mexican Federation, began in the 1970s and now controls most of the seaports along the Pacific coat of Mexico, officials say.
The president has already promised to dispatch nearly 500 more federal agents to the U.S.-Mexico border, along with X-ray machines and drug-sniffing dogs."
Associated Press writers Liz Sidoti and Eileen Sullivan in Washington and Alicia A. Caldwell in El Paso contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090415/ap_on_go_pr_wh/drug_war
"Colombia captures top drug lord
Colombian authorities have arrested the country's most wanted drug lord, the government has said.
Daniel Rendon Herrera, known as "Don Mario", was captured early on Wednesday near Necocli in north-western Colombia, officials said.
The government had offered a bounty of up to $2m (£1.3m) for information leading to his arrest.
Colombia is a major global supplier of cocaine. Drug trafficking has fuelled the country's decades-long conflict.
Earlier this year Daniel Rendon Herrera offered his gunmen almost $1,000 for each police officer they murdered, as security forces closed in on his network.
Once a paramilitary in a now-demobilised group, he had refused to surrender as part of a peace deal.
Instead he used paramilitary networks to build up a personal army of up to 1,000 people, also striking a deal with left-wing Farc rebels, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott reports from the capital, Bogota.
Authorities had been tracking him for months, but he had always managed to stay one step ahead of them until now, he says.
More than 500 anti-narcotics police commandos were involved in the operation to arrest him, Efe news agency reported.
He is accused of smuggling hundreds of tons of cocaine from an area on the Caribbean coast controlled in the 1990s by his brother - a paramilitary leader who is now in prison.
When authorities have cut off the head of drugs cartels in the past, several more heads have grown, and there could now be a period of bloodletting as others try to take over, our correspondent adds.
Much of the cocaine produced in Colombia is smuggled into the US through Mexico, where there has been a sharp rise in drug-related violence."
Story from BBC NEWS:
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Mexican Congress debates legalizing marijuana
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press Writer
Monday, April 13, 2009
(04-13) 14:13 PDT MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) --
Mexico's Congress opened a three-day debate Monday on the merits of legalizing marijuana for personal use, a policy backed by three former Latin American presidents who warned that a crackdown on drug cartels is not working.
Although President Felipe Calderon has opposed the idea, the unprecedented forum shows legalizing marijuana is gaining support in Mexico amid brutal drug violence.
Such a measure would be sure to strain relations with the United States at a time when the two countries are stepping up cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking. The congressional debate — open to academics, experts and government officials — ends a day before President Barack Obama arrives in Mexico for talks on the drug war.
Proponents had a boost in February when three former presidents — Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico and Fernando Cardoso of Brazil — urged Latin American countries to consider legalizing the drug to undermine a major source of income for cartels.
The congressional discussion takes on a subject "that had been taboo" in our country, said opposition lawmaker Javier Gonzalez, adding that his Democratic Revolution Party supports legalizing personal marijuana consumption.
"What we don't want is to criminalize youths for consuming or possessing marijuana," he said.
Calderon, whose six-year terms ends in 2012, has proposed legislation that would offer users treatment instead of jail time but stop short of legalizing or decriminalizing possession.
In 2006, Mexico backed off a law that would have abolished prison sentences for drug possession in small amounts after the U.S. protested.
"It's clear that a totally prohibitive policy has not been a solution for all ills," said Interior Department official Blanca Heredia. "At the same time, it's illusory to imagine that complete legalization of marijuana would be a panacea."
Heredia urged lawmakers to keep in mind that drug use is rising in Mexico. She said the number of people who have tried drugs rose from 3.5 million in 2002 to 4.5 million in 2008, while the number of addicts rose from 307,000 to an estimated 465,000.
Mexico's drug violence has surged to unprecedented levels since Calderon launched a military-led offensive against powerful trafficking cartels in 2006. Since then, more than 10,560 people have been killed, mostly in violence between rival gangs.
Lawmakers are not discussing a specific proposal, and the debate is not expected to result in concrete action. Lawmakers have said they want to hear various viewpoints before they begin considering proposed bills for legalizing marijuana."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/13/international/i141342D29.DTL
Calderon’s Drug War Fails to Keep Civilians Safe
New America Media, News Analysis, NAM contributor, Posted: Apr 07, 2009 newstrust_icon = 'http://newstrust.net/images/ntbuttons/newstrust_review_link.gif';
