New bill would end federal marijuana prohibition - San Jose Mercury News

New bill would end federal marijuana prohibition - San Jose Mercury News: "Members of Congress will bring forth a bill Thursday that supporters say is the first ever introduced to end federal law's blanket prohibition of marijuana.

The legislation -- authored by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas -- would limit the federal government's role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or interstate smuggling, letting people legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states that allow it without fear of federal prosecution."

With executive pay, rich pull away from rest of America - The Washington Post

With executive pay, rich pull away from rest of America - The Washington Post
Dean Foods chief executive Gregg L. Engles owns this $6 million home in an elite suburb of Dallas

Brazil's high court OKs 'Marijuana Marches' - CSMonitor.com

Brazil's high court OKs 'Marijuana Marches' - CSMonitor.com
Rio de Janeiro
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/opinion/20geoghegan.html
Calls to change the strategy of the so-called "war on drugs," coined by former US President Richard Nixon 40 years ago, have been growing across the globe. The Global Commission on Drug Policy just released a new report calling for alternative strategies, like legalizing marijuana.


Kofi Annan, George Shultz say drug war a failure

Legalization of drugs spreads in Latin America. Will the US follow?

But here in Brazil, it was unclear whether those who agree with the commission's recommendations would have the chance to voice their agreement with legalization – even as their well-regarded former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso chaired the commission.

Several anti-prohibition marches have been banned by state governments since 2008, based on an interpretation an article of the Brazilian penal code, which gives fines and up to six months in jail for those involved with “apologies for crime or criminals.” São Paulo police had broken up one such demonstration three weeks ago with tear gas.

IN PICTURES: Legalize marijuana?

But in 2009, the vice attorney general, Deborah Duprat, solicited Brazil's Supreme Federal Court to address the issue. She noted that former President Cardoso often promotes legalization of marijuana in interviews with the press.

The country's highest court ruled last Wednesday that the “March of Marijuana” could be held, saying that the march is promoting legalization of marijuana while not authorizing the use of the substance during the event.

“This so-called March of Maconha [Marijuana], at times when it was banned, they started to do the March of ‘Pamonha’ and everyone knew what was being talked about. Because freedom is much more creative than any prohibition,” said Justice Cármen Lúcia after ruling in favor of holding the marches.
'March of Freedom'

The “Marijuana Marches” were just about marijuana at the outset, but have grown into a medley of causes after the court ruled in favor of the protesters' right to free speech.

“Defend the legalization of marijuana, and of abortion!” read one banner on Rio de Janeiro’s Saturday march, one of about 40 organized across the country. “Feminists against neoliberal terrorism!” “The new Forest Code is a shame,” referring to the proposed code that will amnesty farmers who illegally deforested land.

With the ban lifted, the colorful and noisy demonstration on the Copacabana beach renamed itself the “March of Freedom.”

Jandira Queiroz, a lesbian activist, came to fight "for the freedom to love," she says. She said she was participating in the international "Slut Walk" movement that protests the statements made by a Toronto police officer who told university students they could avoid sexual assault by not dressing provocatively. “It’s a movement to not blame women for being raped,” Ms. Quieroz says, adding that she is concerned that "Brazil is living a very strange time" with regards to freedom of expression.

Renato Athayde Silva, one of the organizers of the Rio march, says that most of the demonstrations around the country had occurred calmly although there were reports of an altercation between security forces and marchers in Belo Horizonte. Organizers and police put the number of marchers in Rio between several hundred to as high as over a thousand, he says. “It grew a lot during the walk,” Mr. Silva adds.

“We all have the right to express what is inside of us,” says Nanda Shakti, an elegant visual artist painted in colorful makeup, as she picked up her bronze cymbals to join a discordant band of trombones, drums, and tambourines. “My specific cause is this: The freedom of expression, be it for whatever reason.”

Conan O'Brien Dartmouth Commencement Speech: 'Failure Is Freeing' (VIDEO)

Conan O'Brien Dartmouth Commencement Speech: 'Failure Is Freeing' (VIDEO) Just for grins

Britain healthcare: British fear 'American-style' healthcare system - latimes.com

Britain healthcare: British fear 'American-style' healthcare system - latimes.com: "act that millions of their cousins across the Atlantic have no insurance and can't afford decent treatment is a farce as well as a tragedy." Ask a Briton to describe "American-style" healthcare, and you'll hear a catalog of horrors that include grossly expensive and unnecessary medical procedures and a privatized system that favors the rich. For a people accustomed to free healthcare for all, regardless of income, the fact that millions of their cousins across the Atlantic have no insurance and can't afford decent treatment is a farce as well as a tragedy.

The Japanese Have Developed a Wearable Emergency Toilet [Video]

The Japanese Have Developed a Wearable Emergency Toilet [Video] What would you do in a toilet emergency? Go in the woods? Poop your pants? No, a far more civilized way to do your business is to put on this trash bag and squat down on the spot.

Not surprisingly, this emergency toilet comes straight out of Japan and involves pellets that absorb waste and solidify it into a weird, gelatinous goo.

Sitting down? The world's most extreme toilets - Technology & science - Tech and gadgets - Luxury Tech - msnbc.com

Sitting down? The world's most extreme toilets - Technology & science - Tech and gadgets - Luxury Tech - msnbc.com: "Vertebrae toilet
Courtesy of Nerd Approved

The Vertebrae isn't so much a toilet as it is an entire bathroom hinged along a single vertical spine. It includes everything from an adult-size shower and a kids-size shower on top, to storage and controls in the middle, to a sink and a toilet at the bottom. That means you can wash your hair, brush your teeth and go to the bathroom at the same time. Of course, you can do all of this in a standard shower, but this solution eliminates the shame. Price not available"

Francisco Solomon Sanchez Kills Himself After 10 Tries

Francisco Solomon Sanchez Kills Himself After 10 Tries After at least 10 documented suicide attempts spanning several years, Francisco Solomon Sanchez finally succeeded in killing himself last Friday, reports the Pasadena Star-News.

The 41-year old man from Duarte jumped from the 210 Freeway overpass and was hit by at least one car. The LA County Coroner ruled that his death was a suicide.

Sanchez had actually jumped from the same overpass in 2003, and used prosthetic legs as a result of that failed attempt. His efforts have landed him in mandatory psychiatric evaluation in the past, but health and safety officials are limited when it comes to mental health interventions. In LA County, people can be held involuntarily in a psychiatric health facility for up to 72 hours. The person can be held for an additional 14 days against his or her will only if certain criteria are fulfilled

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD: Dying with Your Rights On: Mental Illness, Civil Rights and Saving Lives

Lloyd I. Sederer, MD: Dying with Your Rights On: Mental Illness, Civil Rights and Saving Lives: "Linda Bishop was found dead, presumably from starvation and hypothermia, in a home she had broken into in New Hampshire several months after she had a two-year psychiatric hospitalization. Her last journal notation was in January 2008, and her body was accidently discovered in May."

Ayn Rand: The GOP’s Favorite Bonkers Demagogue - The Daily Beast

Ayn Rand: The GOP’s Favorite Bonkers Demagogue - The Daily Beast: ": OK, your supposed laissez-faire Valhalla, with no taxes or regulations—this is not just some theory of yours. This world existed long ago, he put it to her; the problem was that people with power cheated and stole and exploited other people, so society made rules to try to prevent those things from happening. In response, Rand simply denies that this was the case and blames all corruption on the state, which would be news to, among many others, the men—and women, and children—who worked twelve hours a day, six days a week until the government constricted the capitalists’ freedom by stopping it."

Homeless feeding: 3 members of Orlando Food Not Bombs arrested for feeding homeless at Lake Eola - Orlando Sentinel

Homeless feeding: 3 members of Orlando Food Not Bombs arrested for feeding homeless at Lake Eola - Orlando Sentinel: "Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan 'Keith' McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the international Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s."

InvisiblePeople.tv

InvisiblePeople.tv

Why We Must Learn to Love Weeds - WSJ.com

Why We Must Learn to Love Weeds - WSJ.com: "Weeds are, in this sense, paradoxical. Although they follow and are dependent on human activities, their cussedness and refusal to play by our rules makes them subversive—and the very essence of wildness"

U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right | Threat Level | Wired.com

U.N. Report Declares Internet Access a Human Right | Threat Level | Wired.com: "The report, by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, comes the same day an internet-monitoring firm detected that two thirds of Syria’s internet access has abruptly gone dark, in what is likely a government response to unrest in that country."

Knowledgebase-Panhandling Ordinance, City of Orlando

Knowledgebase-Panhandling Ordinance, City of Orlando: "Please remember that this ordinance was drafted based upon the drafting requirements and authority granted to a particular city or town in its charter and in general law. These drafting requirements and the authority exercised in this ordinance might not apply to your city or town.

Please confer with your city attorney or an MTAS legal consultant, or both, before using this ordinance as a model."

SimplyUnacceptableReport.pdf (application/pdf Object)

SimplyUnacceptableReport.pdf (application/pdf Object) NATIONAL LAW CENTER
ON HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY
“Simply Unacceptable”:
Homelessness and the
Human Right to Housing
In the United States
2011