- Bolivian President Resigns Amidst Mass Protests
- 18 Die in Simultaneous Bombings in Northern Iraq
- Shiite Cleric Al-Sadr Condemns Iraq Gov't & Occupation
- International Criminal Court to Probe War Crimes in Sudan
- Nuclear Lab Whistleblower Severely Assaulted
- Plans for $2.2B Sports Stadium in NYC Falls Apart
For weeks, tens of thousands of indigenous Bolivians have led an uprising against the government, demanding the nationalization of the country's energy resources and an overhaul of the constitution. Last night, President Carlos Mesa went on national television and announced he was stepping down. We go to Cochabamba, Bolivia to speak with Jim Shultz of The Democracy Center.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the federal government can prosecute the sick for the medical use of marijuana, even in states where it is legal. In a 6-3 ruling, the court agreed with the Bush administration that the regulation of controlled substances, including marijuana, is the province of Congress without exception.
Earlier this week Ryan Johnson and his wife crossed into Canada to escape serving in the military. Over the past month they have traveled across the United States and then into Canada with help from a new underground railroad that has formed to help war resisters. During a stop in New York, Johnson joined us in our studio to explain why he is heading to Canada.
It is a technique worthy of the mob reigning supreme over the modern technological media, in combination with the fear that the media barons have of offending their corporate benefactors in the White House, Republican Congress and GOP judiciary.
The Mainstream Media seems to have abandoned all common sense.
Newsweek didn't cause any riots; the Christian Crusade against the "Infidel" led by Bush is what caused the riots. The record of humiliating, brutalizing, torturing and killing Muslims is as clear as the barbaric photos that came out of Abu Ghraib (and there are others, apparently even more malicious, that the Bush Administration won't release to the public).
The thugs in the White House know how to throw the press into a hysterical fit of irrelevance. But the truth is that Karl Rove could just gently blow and the White House Press Corpse, with the exception of Helen Thomas, would fall over.
The Busheviks don't need to beat up too heavily on the D.C. press. Most of them just want to transcribe the latest propaganda pronouncement and get to lunch.
The White House is saving the domestic mob enforcers for the rest of us.
"The power of state governments to enact and enforce state medical marijuana laws is not affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling," said Allen Hopper, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Drug Law Reform Project. "State laws allowing the use of medical marijuana still offer patients significant protection."
In its decision, the Court overturned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the federal government could not enforce federal marijuana laws against the cultivation, possession and use of medical marijuana by the plaintiffs, Angel Raich and Diane Monson. Angel Raich suffers from several conditions that cause severe, chronic pain, including an inoperable brain tumor, fibromyalgia, endometriosis, scoliosis, uterine fibroid tumors and rotator cuff syndrome. Her doctor warned the Court that she is likely to die if unable to use medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is also the only effective treatment that eliminates Diane Monson’s severe back pain and spasms.
Lyle e-mails to note Kevin Pina's "Open Letter to Human Rights Watch: Stop Dismissing Victims of Haitian Police" from The Black Commentator:
As an independent journalist living in Haiti who puts his camera between the Haitian police and demonstrators to cover this story, I am deeply disappointed with your letter because it falls short of demanding the Haitian police be investigated for documented cases of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings. Not only does this place journalists such as myself in greater danger, but I wonder how I will explain your position to the families of the victims slaughtered by the Haitian police who are merely asking for justice and accountability? Do I tell them that Human Rights Watch agrees with the Haitian police that their loved ones are expendable because they are suspected of being members of "armed gangs claiming affiliation with former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide?" Despite the fact that it is well-documented they were shot in cold-blood during a peaceful demonstration? Do I tell them Human Rights Watch agrees with the documented tactic of the Haitian police of planting guns on the corpses of unarmed demonstrators after they kill them? If you disbelieve me then trust you own eyes and visit HaitiAction.Net: “UN Accommodates Human Rights Abuses by Police in Haiti,” May 8, 2005.
Look at the 35 images of the handiwork of the Haitian police with your own eyes and know that this is what you are dismissing with your half-hearted and, apparently biased, human rights work in Haiti.
Martha e-mails to note Danny Schechter's News Dissector which is "jam packed full of the usual incredible information" but she wants to spotlight an e-mail from Ted Glick that Schechter highlights:
"There is no question that former top FBI guy Mark Felt's decision to provide information to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in the early '70s was one important part of what led to Richard Nixon's eventual resignation from office in August of 1974. But, not surprisingly, the corporate media have left out the decisive factor which led to that result: the sentiments and the actions of the U.S. American people at the grassroots.
"From the fall of 1973 to the fall of 1974 I was one of the national coordinators of the National Campaign to impeach Nixon (NCIN). Over the course of a few short months, this effort grew to include working local contacts in 33 states and over 100 cities and towns.
"During the three months of February, March and April of 1974, we organized a national lobby-in in Washington, D.C., a national conference in Chicago and a national demonstration of 10,000 people in D.C. on April 27th hat received widespread media coverage.
"Looking back over thirty years later, it's easy to think that Nixon's resignation was a foregone conclusion once Woodward and Deep Throat hooked up and the organized cover up of widespread illegality on the part of the Nixon administration began to be revealed. But this was not the case.
"There were prominent liberals, for example, who publicly opposed impeachment on the grounds that it would be better to have a weakened Nixon in office than an empowered Gerald Ford, Nixon's Vice-President. This was the argument made by Nicholas Von Hoffman, a Washington Post columnist, in a piece published on December 26th, 1973."
Tuesday, June 7, 12:30-2 PM
National Council for Research on Women's Annual Conference
Panel discussion
365 5th Avenue
New York City
Wednesday, June 8th also in NYC:
New York, NY:
Wednesday, June 8, 6:00 pm
East Coast book release party for Start Making Sense!
Pioneer Bar
218 Bowery (between Prince and Spring)
New York, NY
Free and open to the public.
For more information, visit http://www.alternet.org/sms/21859/
Friday, June 10, 8 PM
Replant Haiti: The First Annual Concert for the Reforestation of Haiti
Carnagie Hall
154 West 57th Street
New York, NY
Tickets: $35, $50, $75, $100
Available at Carnegie Hall Box Office (212-247-7800)
and from Mapou Productions (917-769-8986)
Thursday, June 16th in Fort Worth:
Fort Worth, TX:
Thurs, June 16, 2:15 pm
23rd Annual NAHJ Convention and Media & Career Expo
Panel discussion
Fight the Power: Reclaiming Our Nation's Media Policies
Fort Worth Convention Center
For information about conference registration, visit www.nahj.org
We'll do The Daily Howler later today (there's no new Howler up as I get ready to send). I'm rushing to get this up, more so than usual due to the Stop the Next War Now online discussion.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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