THE FAT LADY SANG

Well the flags are flying at half-staff in the Red Sox Nation today. The dream is dead for another year. I think the fans have finally stopped believing in the curse, but that underlying fear that the armageddon will arrive if the Sox win the pennant is harder to overcome. I suppose it would have been the end of life as we now know it but I was willing to take that chance.

No matter, there's always next season when you're a Sox fan and to tell you the truth I'm a little relieved to be able to get back to work again. I'm pretty much useless during playoff season when my team is in the running and the drug war has not stopped while we were mesmerized at Fenway.

Check in again later tonight and we'll be catching up on the news.

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BLACK FRIDAY

The mood was defintely somber at the City tonight, verging on funereal. The lights were dimmed and so were the moods. Everyone was exhausted but none could deny that it had been a great playoff. Besides in lovely downtown Noho, there's always a reason to celebrate. Shannon, and her fiancee Aric, were celebrating her 30 something birthday and lightened the atmosphere considerably with their good spirits. All the best to you my dear. Hope the rest of your evening was fun.

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FROM THE ASHES

The Boston Phoenix published the story on last week's Drug Czar Propaganza in Boston and they delivered in spades. Not only is the lead article a great analysis of how the prohibitionists orchestrate these events to prevent intelligent discourse on the subject, but of their fear of being confronted with direct questions that would expose their fradulent data.

The entire issue is worth reading. Check out the special section on "Drugs: Why can't politicians face facts?" All five are worth reading, including the excellent editorial, Reefer madness, redux.

From whence comes the quote of the day:

This is madness.

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While you're on the site, check out their charming farewell to Narco News. Al once worked there, they occassionally published his freelance work and they were one of the very few papers with the gravitas to publish the Banamex story. They're still one of the better main stream sources left in the media world. No small accomplishment in today's political climate.

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A PAUSE IN LA PAZ

Speaking of Narco News, the site may be only moments away from ceasing publication however, as I predicted, Al Giordano has laced up his running shoes and he's now posting the breaking news out of Boliva at blazing speed on BigLeftOutside. If you want news of the Latin Americas, look for it there from now on.

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I received more news from Boliva today via another Narco News J-School alum, Ramon Acevedo. There's no link so I leave you an excerpt from the article and more of the photograhs which I have heard are worth 1,000 words apiece.

This is an extraordinary story developing in Boliva right now. 200,000 ordinary people said, we have had enough with the exploitation of our class and are doing something about it, at literal risk of their lives. They just forced their corrupt president to resign. Americans could take a lesson from their courage.

From the article, Bolivia's Gas War Intensifies:

Bolivia's president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, maintains that the millions in revenue from the sale of gas to the U.S. will create jobs and stabilize the Bolivian economy. He has promised that the money generated will go directly into funding for education and healthcare. But many Bolivians believe that foreign companies and Bolivian business and political leaders will be the only ones to benefit from the sale.

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