Sentiment I could have never predicted experiencing:

I almost wish Ralph Nader was running.
guns AND prisons? please.
Gun opponents up in arms as Jerry Brown aids NRA
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
It may come as a surprise to many of his Democratic supporters, but Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown has gone to bat for the National Rifle Association.
The NRA's cause: urging the U.S. Supreme Court to guarantee the ability of gun owners across the land to keep and bear arms.
Last year, the high court struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C., ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment's right to bear arms applies to individuals who keep a gun at home for self-defense. But the court made it clear the ruling applied only to the District of Columbia, a federal enclave.
Now, gun advocates are challenging Chicago's handgun ban, asking the Supreme Court to rule that the Second Amendment equally applies to the states. And there was no shortage of states - 34 in all - jumping on the bandwagon in support of the court hearing the case.
In July, before the court agreed to take the case, Brown went so far as to file his own friend-of-the-court brief asking that Chicago's gun ban be overturned - arguing that if the court doesn't act, "California citizens could be deprived of the constitutional right to possess handguns in their homes." ....

I enjoyed this too much not to share.

In Defense of New York
By Charles M. Blow
Representative John Shadegg of Arizona really knows how to put on a show.
Earlier this month, he used a live baby as part of a quasi-ventriloquist act on the House floor. Creepy? Yes. Still, we let it slide.
But he doesn’t get two passes in a row. Monday, he took a swipe at Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City for saying that the city could handle the security for the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Shadegg sniped, “I saw the mayor of New York today said ‘We’re tough. We can do it.’ Well mayor, how are you going to feel when it’s your daughter that’s kidnapped, at school, by a terrorist?”
Say what you will about New Yorkers, but question our toughness, you will not.
Whether a civil or military trial would provide the best chances of securing a conviction while simultaneously signaling to the world a righting of America’s moral compass is a fair debate. But questioning whether New York City can handle the trial is an insult.
(By the way, what’s with this business of the mayor’s daughter being kidnapped? It sounds like the plot of a Jackie Chan movie.)
We New Yorkers live with the threat of terrorism every day — on our trains, in our high-rises, in our plazas. But we’ve learned to cope. Not by being afraid, but by being vigilant. Bringing Mohammed to Manhattan isn’t going to move the needle much.
A police spokesman told Reuters that “eight terrorism plots against the city have been scuttled since 2001, including plots to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and the retaining wall at ground zero.”
Yet the city didn’t blink. Schools still opened, trains still ran and the Naked Cowboy still serenaded gaggles of grown women who giggled like schoolgirls.
So Mr. Congressman, how many terror plots have been squashed in your district? Take your time. I’ll wait.
We love this city, and nothing and no one will make us afraid to be in it. We refuse to be cowed by cowards — not by those hiding in the Hindu Kush or by those hyperventilating in the halls of Congress.
And what galls us most is having watched for years as politicians like Shadegg used fear-mongering about 9/11 and the threat of attacks as a political tool.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani used it to sidestep the extreme racial divisiveness he fostered in the city. Former President George W. Bush used it as a Trojan horse to ravage our civil liberties. Dick Cheney is still using it to shield his transgressions.
Let us be clear: The fear tactics that work in the hinterlands don’t work here.
We rose from the ashes of the Twin Towers. We don’t need a puppeteering politician from Phoenix lecturing us about being tough in the face of terror.

whiskey and the narc!

proud of this guy. really.

Chicago Club Accused Of Racism Over Dress Code
by David Schaper
Six college students from St. Louis accuse a popular Chicago nightclub of using a dress code banning baggy pants to racially profile them, denying them entrance to the club on a recent Saturday night. ....
Murayi says he tried pleading with the bouncer and a manager. Another student suggested that they all go back to their hotel and change, but Murayi says the manager told them they still wouldn't be allowed in.
"Alarm bells went off in my mind automatically," said Murayi, a double major in math and economics from Aberdeen, Md. He says he has been targeted by such dress codes before.
"A lot of times, baggy-jeans policies are used, in my opinion, to reject a certain demographic, mostly black men, from being allowed entry into certain places," Murayi said.
Murayi and other Washington University students say white members of the class who wore pants that were just as baggy were allowed into Mother's. In an experiment of sorts, he exchanged jeans with white student Jordan Roberts to see if Roberts could get in.
"Jordan's about 3 inches shorter than me and about 40 pounds lighter than me," Murayi said. "He said he felt like a clown; his pants were ridiculous, but he just walked up and was allowed in." ....

let me get this straight....

police officers deserve forgiveness, but drug runners without two quarters to rub together have to rot in prison? where did we find this guy?

New S.F. chief seeks amnesty for officers
Heather Knight,Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Discipline cases against dozens of San Francisco police officers would be dismissed under an amnesty program proposed by Chief George Gascón.
The new police chief told The Chronicle on Wednesday that he wants to see "the great majority" of roughly 75 discipline cases pending before the civilian Police Commission end with little or no punishment for officers accused of minor misconduct.
Those cases, he said, include charges such as use of inappropriate language, being discourteous, failing to properly fill out a police report or a first-time misdemeanor drunken-driving arrest. They would also most likely involve first-time offenders rather than officers with a long history of complaints against them.
"We don't get anything out of taking a pound of flesh," Gascón said. ....


Sep 2, 2009 7:44 pm US/Pacific
New SFPD Chief To Make Tenderloin A Priority
There is an air of desperation in San Francisco's Tenderloin as the needy line up for soup kitchens, and those suffering from mental illness or drugs make the streets their home. But San Francisco's new police chief is planning on making the cleanup of the Tenderloin a priority of his administration. ....

worth repeating

even though you know Dan Choi's story, his interview on out in the bay is well worth your time.
Lieutenant Dan Choi: He chose to come out on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC in March and one month later he was discharged from the U.S. Army — even though he is an Arabic translator, a West Point graduate, and has served in Iraq. Meet Lt. Dan Choi, a Christian, a first generation Korean-American, and a brave and unapologetic leader of the push to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Choi talks with host Marilyn PIttman about his ordeal, his ideals, and his new role as a gay leader.
download it here

monty mommy

more snuggeting

sunday is heroin day in the nytimes

apparently Russia has not been paying attention.

Russia, Plagued by Heroin Use, to Press U.S. on Destroying Afghan Poppy Crops
By Ellen Barry
MOSCOW — During talks this week with his American counterpart, Russia’s top drug enforcement official, Viktor P. Ivanov, will press the United States to step up efforts to destroy Afghan poppy cultivation, which he said was feeding a devastating drug problem in Russia. ....
“I would call on the United States to use defoliation from the air,” Mr. Ivanov said. ....

The main source of heroin to Boston is Colombia, where we have spent billions on poppy and coca eradication. >>
Low Price, High Power Raise Heroin Deaths
BOSTON -- A lethal combination of rock bottom prices combined with a spike in the potency and availability of heroin on Massachusetts streets has led to an increase in the number of heroin-related deaths in recent years. ....
read the article here and look at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Death report here

Wales OD prevention program = headline tease

I responded to this headline with curiosity and enthusiasm. Upon reading the article, not so much. I was imagining texting codes that triggered situation-specific advice or the steps to follow for rescue breathing .... something of substance, anyway. Certainly not already ubiquitous, unproductive catch phrases:
Addicts get text overdose advice
Drug users in Swansea are being asked to sign up to be sent mobile texts on what to do if they overdose and how to reduce their addiction risks.
Messages such as "Overdose: Don't panic. Put them in the recovery position, dial 999" will be sent out.....

TEXT EXAMPLES
•OVERDOSE: Don't panic. Put them in the recovery position, dial 999, ask for an ambulance and stay with them until the ambulance arrives
•OVERDOSE:If someone is going to inject it is safer NOT to use on their own. Don't mix drugs
•DUMPING WORKS ( gizmos, spokes, spoons or fliters in public spaces is NOT OK. Keep everybody safe and dispose of them properly
•NEVER SHARE cookers, spikes, spoons or filters. Identify your own works to avoid any mix ups.