Another good week for the sensible drug policy and prison reform crews, at least in the press:

• Ethan Nadelmann, founder and director of the Drug Policy Alliance, debunks the myths of the drug war.
• Seth Sandronsky, on repealing Cali’s Three-Strikes Law.
• Anthony Papa, communications specialist for DPA, on New York’s Drug Gulags and ill-conceived Rockefeller laws.
• Nomi Prins, on reversing our zeal to incarcerate.
• David Reutter on the over-crowded under-regulated Pennsylvania jails.
• SF8 to enter pleas for 1971 charge in January 08.
• Rob Kampia, of the Marijuana Policy Project, on marijuana regulation.
• Sanho Tree, of the Institute for Policy Studies, on the evolution of the Drug War.

Today, in Ron Paul Quote of the Day, we bring you footage of our favorite boobs at the McLaughlin Group (sharpest mind, best sources, hardest talk!) discussing why RP deserves to be a runner-up to Oprah and Obama for Most Charismatic Person of the Year on their dippy lil’ awards show. Okay, more importantly, we are using the RPQOTD feature to bring you this footage of John McLaughlin’s most incredible outfit, ever. I guess this raises the question: why don’t I always watch this show?

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys0HgHLpy98&eurl=http://www.ronpaulnation.com/]

Remember how Mitt Romney said he watched his Pa, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, march with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Era? On Wednesday, his campaign clarified that the remark was meant figuratively. The Detroit Free Press has the shcoop:

“He was speaking figuratively, not literally,” Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said of the candidate. The campaign was responding to questions raised by the Free Press and other media after a Boston publication challenged the accuracy of Mitt Romney’s account. In a major speech on faith and politics earlier this month in Texas, Mitt Romney said: “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.”

He made a similar statement Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He said, “You can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights.”

Jack and Jill Politics adds, “Romney’s campaign is also saying that reports of Romney being with Salt-and-Pepa and Heavy D up in the Limousine were also not meant to be taken literally.”

And this guy has a girlfriend. Gives new meaning to blue balls.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XV0I6Q70Yw]

God bless the internet for bringing this all right to my lap:

• Senate confirms ICE director Julie Meyers despite that pesky blackface incident. [ColorLines, AP]
• Vlad Putin kickin’ it with Japanese Judo Champ [Wonkette]
• Mike Huckabee comments on Britney Spears’ barefoot-n-preggers lil’ sister. [Political Punch]
• Top 10 Hottest Videos of 2007. [Alternet]
• The Committee to Elect Friedrich Nietzsche brings you Immanuel Kant: Wrong for America:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-cmNdiFuI&eurl=http://leftpalate.com/]

Okay, so it’s not a Ron Paul quote, but it is a quote about Ron Paul’s connections to the American Nazi Party. Good enough, if not better. Bill White, Commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party, writes: “He really is someone with extensive ties to white nationalism and for him to deny that in the belief he will be more respectable by denying it is outrageous - and I hate seeing people in the press who denounce racialism merely because they think it is not fashionable.”

Having spent MLK day 2007 outside New Orleans’ St. Bernard Housing Project while residents fought to reenter their homes, I am exceedingly troubled by reports of the current situation down there. Today, city police used violence to fend off protesters outside the city council vote to proceed with the public housing demolition. The AP reports:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Despite occasionally violent protests outside, the City Council voted Thursday in favor of demolishing some 4,500 public housing units, a milestone in the city’s effort to balance its heritage and its hurricane rebuilding efforts. The unanimous vote to permit the federal government to tear down four public housing developments — a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists — followed hours of debate and periodic clashes in the street. Police used chemical spray and stun guns as dozens of protesters tried to force their way into the packed City Council chamber. One woman was sprayed and dragged from the gates. Emergency workers took her away on a stretcher.

Read more…

Two victories in Congress for the sensible drug policy crew this week:

• Congress lifted their ban on the DC needle-exchange program yesterday,  after 9 years of prohibiting the city from using any resources to combat the spread of disease among users by funding needle-exchange.
• Congress decided to slash the Drug Czar’s Anti-Drug propaganda budget. Below, a CurrentTV video mocking the ineffective Anti-Drug propaganda targeted at America’s youth over the years.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-t8HsHNN-k&eurl=http://ssdp.org/ads/]

In case you missed my last post on the matter, here’s the deal: HUD is set to demolish thousands of public housing units in New Orleans’ largest housing projects. City residents have been protesting since HUD announced these plans, but the demolition is still scheduled to take place.

The Coalition to Stop the Demolition needs your help:

This Friday, there was a Louisiana State Court Order postponing all demolitions at C.J. Peete, Lafitte, and St. Bernard until the CityCouncil of New Orleans approves that decision. CityCouncil announced it will take this matter up on Thursday December 20, 2007. The Coaliton will hold a press conference this Tuesday to demand that they vote NO!

CONTACT ELECTED OFFICIALS - Please contact these people and ask them to stop the demolition

George Bush - President - 202-456-1111
Alphonso Jackson, Secy of HUD - (202) 708-1112
Sen. Mary Landrieu, 202-224-5824; Fax: 202-224-9735
Sen. David Vitter - (504) 589-2753, DC Office (202) 224-4623
Rep. William Jefferson Phone: (202) 225-6636; FAX: (202) 225-1988
Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin - 504.658.4900
New Orleans City Council Members:
Arnie Fielkow - (504) 658-1060 AFielkow@cityofno.com
Jacquelyn Clarkson - (504) 658-1070 JBClarkson@cityofno.com
Stacy Head - (504) 658-1020 SHead@cityofno.com
Shelley Midura - (504) 658-1010 SMidura@cityofno.com
James Carter - (504) 658-1030 JCarter@cityofno.com
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell - (504) 658-1040 CHMorrell
Cynthia Willard-Lewis - (504) 658-1050 CWLewis@cityofno.com

It is commonplace to spend the month of December reflecting on the year that has passed. This year (at least when it comes to reflecting on the liberal/independent media) Alternet has done that reflection for you. Check out their Top 10 Best Environment Stories, Top 10 Rights & Liberties Stories, Top 10 Sex & Relationship Stories, and Top 10 Reasons Why I broke up with God of 2007.

More after the jump.

more »

For 4 1/2 months, Rhode Island’s 17-year-old offenders were tried, sentenced and incarcerated as adults. Fortunately the General Assembly overturned this ill-conceived law in October, but they did not make the reversal retroactive, leaving a group of ‘gap kids’ in the adult system. Chief Public Defender John J. Hardiman discussed the problem of retroactivity in Superior Court yesterday. He argued that the juveniles’ Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection had been violated, and he asked Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini to transfer 61 pending juvenile felony cases to Family Court. The ProJo reports:

Hardiman said the only reason legislators passed the law was to save money, and if they’d bothered to ask the state prison director, they’d have known the measure wouldn’t save a dime. Calling the law “arbitrary and capricious,” Hardiman questioned why these 17-year-olds should remain in adult court, saying, “There is no compelling state interest to maintain these children here.”

But Procaccini said legislatures do a lot of things that don’t work out as intended. And he quoted from an opinion that the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued in a Rhode Island case, saying, “Equal protection is not a license for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness or logic of legislative choices. The judiciary may not sit as a super legislature to judge the wisdom or desirability of legislative policy determinations.”

Procaccini will hear further arguments from the PD and prosecutor this Monday before issuing a ruling. Whatever his ruling, it will apply to all of RI’s ‘gap kids.’

Fresh on the heels of a decision by the New Jersey General Assembly to eliminate the death penalty, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr. presided over a case questioning the death penalty… on a basketball court. Here’s the scoop, courtesy of the Times:

Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr. of Superior Court usually presides over his cases in a courthouse. But with seven of the nine residents of Connecticut’s death row expected to appear before him — defending their claims that Connecticut’s death penalty discriminates against minorities — state officials had deemed no courthouse secure enough.

So Judge Fuger turned the prison’s basketball court into a real court. His bench — little more than a wooden desk, swivel chair and microphone — sat on one sideline. At half court, lawyers spoke at a lectern, flanked by plastic folding tables.

In May 2005, the State of Connecticut executed serial killer Michael Ross by lethal injection. Before that, the State had not made use of capital punishment for decades. The seven death row inmates are now awaiting a decision from Judge Fuger, although it may be months before he reaches a conclusion. For more info, check out this study on the death penalty in CT, 1973-2007.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is planning to spend $762 million to demolish 4600 apartments in New Orleans’ public housing projects. HUD, which seized control of the local housing authority years ago, intends to replace these housing units with 1000 units at market rate–each costing over $400,000.

Demonstrators gathered outside the New Orleans City Hall today to protest. Leslie Eaton reports for the Times:

Though local and federal housing officials say the storm-damaged projects were inhuman places to live and should not be rebuilt, some protesters accused the government of a darker motive behind the demolition plan. They contended that the government’s real aim was to keep the poor, mostly female, almost entirely black residents of public housing from returning to their city, to their homes.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuQv4eAsvGE] more »

I feel compelled to update my post from yesterday, Governer Carcieri <3 Our Troops, with this photo. How could I let this slide? It’s too good to be true.

Thanks to William Pierce for slammin’ this baby up on the Facebook.

Hillary has been playing in the mud too much… looks like she slipped. Katharine Seelye reports in the Times:

William Shaheen, the Clinton aide who raised questions about Barack Obama’s drug use during an interview with The Washington Post this week, is stepping down from the campaign.

David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, called the move “the right thing to do.”

Guess what? While we’ve been whining about the snow and our inability to party hearty, life has continued elsewhere! Today, the New Jersey General Assembly voted to end the death penalty. The New York Times reports:

TRENTON — The death knell for New Jersey’s death penalty was sounded on Thursday as the General Assembly approved a bill eliminating capital punishment, a move that clears the way for Gov. Jon S. Corzine to sign the measure as early as Monday.

Mr. Corzine said he would act quickly. “It will be very, very prompt,” he said at news conference on Thursday. “I’m sure it will be within the next week.”

Once he signs the bill, New Jersey will become the first state in the modern era of capital punishment to repeal the death penalty.

There are currently eight men on death row in New Jersey. The NJ Department of Corrections will decide how to handle ‘em after Corzine signs the bill, which gives inmates 60 days to petition the sentencing court to commute their sentences to life in prison with no possibility of parole and to agree to abandon their right to any further appeals.