Massachusetts Gone To Pot Cops Won't Ticket
Marijuana Users

post from uncomfortably numb on 06 January 2009 12:21:00 PM. © uncomfortably numb

Boston, MA (AHN) - Police departments across the state of Massachusetts reportedly will not ticket people in possession of marijuana, even if they are caught smoking it.Officials say a new law that decriminalizes having small amounts of "pot" makes it impossible to enforce penalties because it is poorly written."We're just basically not enforcing it right now," said Mark R. Laverdure, chief of police in Clinton, a Central Massachusetts town of about 8,000 residents, told the Boston Globe....

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Obama Picks Panetta as CIA Director (Washington
Post)

post from memeorandum on 06 January 2009 12:20:06 PM. © memeorandum

Washington Post:
Obama Picks Panetta as CIA Director — President-elect Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA.

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Burris denied entry to Senate (CNN)

post from memeorandum on 06 January 2009 12:20:06 PM. © memeorandum

CNN:
Burris denied entry to Senate — (CNN) — Roland Burris was denied entry to the Senate chambers on Tuesday as he tried to claim the seat once held by President-elect Barack Obama. — Burris said the secretary of the Senate rejected his credentials, and therefore he would not be allowed access to the floor.

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A Tale of Greed, Water, Blood & Oil

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 06 January 2009 12:17:31 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Knowing of my interest in food and water, a dear Australian friend of mine sent me a copy of the BBC's excellent investigative team, Panorama, which was aired Down Under recently. The documentary showed how many Fijians are falling ill and dying from[...]

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40 Palestinians killed in IDF strike on UN school
(Haaretz)

post from memeorandum on 06 January 2009 12:15:00 PM. © memeorandum

Haaretz:
40 Palestinians killed in IDF strike on UN school — Israel Defense Forces tank fire killed up to 40 Palestinians at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medical sources at two hospitals said. — The attack brought the Palestinian death toll to nearly 600 in Israel's 11 …

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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RULES.

post from Ezra Klein on 06 January 2009 12:13:00 PM. © Ezra Klein

Also from Tim Fernholz -- the kid is good! -- comes some analysis of a quietly important change in the House Rules.The most interesting adjustment is a modification of the motion to recommit, one of the few ways that the minority party in the House can[...]

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Hat in the Ring

post from Talking Points Memo on 06 January 2009 12:13:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Labor lawyer and author Tom Geoghegan announces he's running for Illinois' 5th District, Rahm Emanuel's seat. Don't know what his chances are -- he seems more like the type of guy you'd like to see in the House than the type who actually gets there. [...]

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Pelosi's power move leaves House Republicans
fuming (Molly K. Hooper/The Hill)

post from memeorandum on 06 January 2009 12:10:15 PM. © memeorandum

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:
Pelosi's power move leaves House Republicans fuming — House Democrats are poised to approve new rules that will significantly increase their authority while taking the bullets out of the few legislative weapons Republicans have in the lower chamber. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) …

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Timber company backs out of controversial road
deal with Forest Service.

Last week, ThinkProgress noted that Forest Service chief Mark E. Rey, who is a former lobbyist for the timber industry, was trying to “push through a change in U.S. Forest Service agreements that would make it far easier for mountain forests to be converted to housing subdivisions.? The last-minute rule change would primarily have benefited Plum Creek Timber, the largest private landowner in the United States. But now the company has decided that it will no longer pursue the changes “given the lack of receptivity” to the idea. Rey claimed the company’s decision was “not good news for the federal government or the public at large.”

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The Bush Depression's Silver Lining

Glenn Reynolds writes:

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF WE TOPPLED SADDAM HUSSEIN, gas would be cheaper than it was in 2001. And they were right!

Professor Reynolds is confused regarding the cause of the drop in gasoline prices. The Iraq War did not lower gas prices (in fact, there is strong evidence it raised petroleum prices). The Bush Depression did. From the article cited by Reynolds:

The tumble in [gasoline] prices, from a high of more than $4.05 in early July, has meant incredible savings. Republicans said Democrats should issue a mea culpa. "I wonder if the same people who blamed the president for the increase in prices will now credit him with the reduction in prices. It's only fair," said Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican.

(Emphasis supplied.) Indeed, Bush and Republicans should be thanked the way Hoover and Republicans were thanked for driving down commodity prices during The Great Depression - by decades in the political wilderness.

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