Month: April 2012

Obama Justice and medical marijuana – Salon.com: “President Obama gave an interview to Rolling Stone‘s Jann Wenner this week and was asked about his administration’s aggressive crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, including ones located in states where medical marijuana is legal and which are licensed by the state; this policy is directly contrary to Obama’s campaign pledge to not “use Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws about medical marijuana.” Here’s part of the President’s answer:

I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law. I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books” . . . .

The only tension that’s come up – and this gets hyped up a lot – is a murky area where you have large-scale, commercial operations that may supply medical marijuana users, but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users. In that situation, we put the Justice Department in a very difficult place if we’re telling them, “This is supposed to be against the law, but we want you to turn the other way.” That’s not something we’re going to do. 

Aside from the fact that Obama’s claim about the law is outright false — as Jon Walker conclusively documents, the law vests the Executive Branch with precisely the discretion he falsely claims he does not have to decide how drugs are classified — it’s just extraordinary that Obama is affirming the “principle” that he can’t have the DOJ “turn the othe way” in the face of lawbreaking. As an emailer just put it to me: “Interesting how this principle holds for prosecuting [medical] marijuana producers in the war on drugs, but not for prosecuting US officials in the war on terror.  Or telecommunications companies for illegal spying.  Or Wall Street banks for mortgage fraud.”

That’s about as vivid an expression of the President’s agenda, and his sense of justice, and the state of the Rule of Law in America, as one can imagine. The same person who directed the DOJ to shield torturers and illegal government eavesdroppers from criminal investigation, and who voted to retroactively immunize the nation’s largest telecom giants when they got caught enabling criminal spying on Americans, and whose DOJ has failed to indict a single Wall Street executive in connection with the 2008 financial crisis or mortgage fraud scandal, suddenly discovers the imperatives of The Rule of Law when it comes to those, in accordance with state law, providing medical marijuana to sick people with a prescription.”

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The Most Surreal Moments In Film – Films – ShortList Magazine: “Surreal Moments On Film “

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46 Businesses With Hilariously Bad Names | Business Pundit: “46 Businesses With Hilariously Bad Names”

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Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012: “Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily.

Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky’s brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. It could run out of fuel and go super-nova at any time.

When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we’d see a second sun, Carter says. There may also be no night during that timeframe.

The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says… or it could take longer. The explosion could also cause a neutron star or result in the formation of a black hole 1300 light years from Earth, reports news.com.au.”

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San Diego High School Picks Lesbian Homecoming King « Alan Colmes’ Liberaland: “A San Diego school is receiving hate mail and calls after naming a lesbian couple homecoming king and queen. Superintendent Bill Kawba says much of the hate responses came from non-residents.

Kowba says San Diego Unified School District rejects intolerance and he supports the decision made by students.

Senior Rebeca Arellano (left) was crowned king on Friday and her girlfriend, Haileigh Adams, was named homecoming queen”

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Top drug reformer: ‘Obama is worse than Bush’ on marijuana policy | The Raw Story: “Rob Kampia (pictured, left), director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), has been working on drug policy issues for 17 long years, and during that time he’s seen a dramatic shift toward legalization in the U.S. political climate.

Unfortunately for reform advocates, he told Raw Story recently that the shift in presidential politics has gone in the exact opposite direction. “We started MPP when Clinton was president,” Kampia explained. “Clinton was horrible. Bush was worse than Clinton… and Obama is worse than Bush.”

But it’s not all bad news, he said. ”Congress has generally become more receptive. If you were to take the pulse of Congress, you’d see we have more support for medical marijuana, as well as ending marijuana prohibition entirely, in Congress now than we did a decade ago, there’s no question.”

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Apple: Greenpeace’s Cloud Math is Busted » Data Center Knowledge: “Apple says it will use 20 megawatts of power at full capacity in its North Carolina data center, about one-fifth the amount estimated by Greenpeace in a report that is sharply critical of Apple and other data center operators for relying upon “dirty” energy sources to power their cloud computing operations.

Apple’s statement raises questions about the credibility of the estimates in the Greenpeace report, and illustrates the difficulty of seeking to estimate data center power usage – a detail that many companies are unwilling to disclose on their own.”

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For Army troops, prescription drugs may add to fog of war – latimes.com: “More than 110,000 active-duty Army troops last year took antidepressants, sedatives and other prescription medications. Some see a link to aberrant behavior.”

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Marijuana advocates blast Obama over Oaksterdam University raid | The Raw Story: “Six organizations looking to reform U.S. drug laws urged President Barack Obama to halt raids on medical marijuana providers following the raid on Oaksterdam University in California.

“Our coalition represents the views of tens of millions of Americans who believe the war on medical marijuana patients and providers you are fighting is misguided and counterproductive,” Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project, National Cannabis Industry Association, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) wrote in a letter to the President.

Oaksterdamn University, which trained people to work in the booming medical marijuana industry, was raided by federal agents on Monday.”

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