LOOSE ENDS
I took some time today to update the template a little. Blogger emailed me about a new site feed, so I installed it and edited the header while I was at it. The sub-title now reads Voices, instead of A Voice, to better reflect the collective nature of the content. And since I'm in this tidying up mode today, I have a few odd items I've been holding for a while that I don't you to miss.

I took a moment to send NORML's automated letter to CBS regarding the Superbowl ads that we spoke of here earlier.

The pre-written letter is fine, but I deleted it entirely and wrote my own. It still only took a few minutes and they send it to CBS and also to a wide range of media outlets in your area. It felt very satisfying to know I had reached that many people with so little effort. Try it.

Ann Harrison posted a story at Alternet offering her usual in-depth reportage on the two California medical marijuana patients that were arrested in the courtroom by the feds, moments after having state charges dismissed.

In Washington state, Monica Ginn says she grows marijuana for medical uses, but she wasn't allowed to use that defense at her trial on drug charges. An all too common occurrence in the federal government's continuing war on non-violent, middle-aged cannabis consumers. Not surprisingly, without the ability to present a defense, she was subsequently found guilty.

Wired reports on a growing Tokin' Resistance in support of Tommy Chong. Also a non-violent middle aged man, I might add.

Mark Kleiman finally said something I absolutely agreed with on the shutdown of a government sponsored data collection program called Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM).

And last, but far from least, Barry Crimmins responds to the 2004 SOTU Address, sentence by sentence. Crimmins political quips run far beyond just the drug war, but I leave you with his answer to this remark George W made in defense of the Patriot Act.

GWB: For years, we have used similar provisions to catch embezzlers and drug traffickers. If these methods are good for hunting criminals, they are even more important for hunting terrorists.

Terrorists aren't criminals?

Oh yeah and the War on Drugs has been every bit as effective at interdicting drugs as the war on terror has been at eliminating terrorism. And goodness knows had the war on embezzlement ever even taken place, you'd have had many fewer dollars in your campaign chest.

Oh, and if you read the whole thing, Barry refers to this lockdown. Here's the link to another reason to boycott Walmart.