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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
July 12, 2013
A Colorado entrepreneur is pushing to make buying marijuana nearly as easy as shopping for heirloom tomatoes.
Justin Hartfield, the CEO of a Denver-based website that maps and collects reviews on marijuana dispensaries, is currently shepherding an initiative that would allow “organic cannabis farmers markets” in the city of Boulder.
Colorado legalized recreational weed in 2012, and regulators at the state level are working out the rules that brick-and-mortar recreational pot shops will have to follow when they open their doors next year. Hartfield wants local officials in Boulder to push even further, allowing the creation of markets like the ones now used to haggle over white asparagus and organic lavender.
“I got news for you: Marijuana is legal in Colorado,” Hartfield, a longtime marijuana activist, said. “It’s no longer a drug in a sense. It’s a plant. It’s a commodity. There’s no reason not to allow trade in it openly.” .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/12/marijuana-farmers-markets_n_3586943.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037&ir=Politics
Marijuana Farmers Markets Proposed In Boulder
A Colorado entrepreneur is pushing to make buying marijuana nearly as easy as shopping for heirloom tomatoes.
Justin Hartfield, the CEO of a Denver-based website that maps and collects reviews on marijuana dispensaries, is currently shepherding an initiative that would allow “organic cannabis farmers markets” in the city of Boulder.
Colorado legalized recreational weed in 2012, and regulators at the state level are working out the rules that brick-and-mortar recreational pot shops will have to follow when they open their doors next year. Hartfield wants local officials in Boulder to push even further, allowing the creation of markets like the ones now used to haggle over white asparagus and organic lavender.
“I got news for you: Marijuana is legal in Colorado,” Hartfield, a longtime marijuana activist, said. “It’s no longer a drug in a sense. It’s a plant. It’s a commodity. There’s no reason not to allow trade in it openly.” .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/12/marijuana-farmers-markets_n_3586943.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037&ir=Politics
July 12, 2013
Part II
Published on Jul 11, 2013
http://www.democracynow.org - Journalist Barrett Brown spent his 300th day behind bars this week on a range of charges filed after he used information obtained by the hacker group Anonymous to report on the operations of private intelligence firms. Brown faces 17 charges ranging from threatening an FBI agent to credit card fraud for posting a link online to a document that contained stolen credit card data. But according to his supporters, Brown is being unfairly targeted for daring to investigate the highly secretive world of private intelligence and military contractors. Using information Anonymous took from the firm HBGary Federal, Brown helped discover a secret plan to tarnish the reputations of WikiLeaks and journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian. Brown similarly analyzed and wrote about the millions of internal company emails from Stratfor Global Intelligence that were leaked in 2011.
We speak to Peter Ludlow, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University, whose article "The Strange Case of Barrett Brown" recently appeared in The Nation. "Considering that the person who carried out the actual Stratfor hack had several priors and is facing a maximum of 10 years, the inescapable conclusion is that the problem is not with the hack itself but with Brown's journalism," Ludlow argues. He adds that the case against Brown could suggest criminality "to even link to something or share a link with somebody."
Good Democracy Now! piece that provides a window into what the surveillance state is really about
Part I
Part II
Published on Jul 11, 2013
http://www.democracynow.org - Journalist Barrett Brown spent his 300th day behind bars this week on a range of charges filed after he used information obtained by the hacker group Anonymous to report on the operations of private intelligence firms. Brown faces 17 charges ranging from threatening an FBI agent to credit card fraud for posting a link online to a document that contained stolen credit card data. But according to his supporters, Brown is being unfairly targeted for daring to investigate the highly secretive world of private intelligence and military contractors. Using information Anonymous took from the firm HBGary Federal, Brown helped discover a secret plan to tarnish the reputations of WikiLeaks and journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian. Brown similarly analyzed and wrote about the millions of internal company emails from Stratfor Global Intelligence that were leaked in 2011.
We speak to Peter Ludlow, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University, whose article "The Strange Case of Barrett Brown" recently appeared in The Nation. "Considering that the person who carried out the actual Stratfor hack had several priors and is facing a maximum of 10 years, the inescapable conclusion is that the problem is not with the hack itself but with Brown's journalism," Ludlow argues. He adds that the case against Brown could suggest criminality "to even link to something or share a link with somebody."
July 12, 2013
Speaking of the Right to Keep Employees Isolated and Uninformed ...
Thursday, 11 July 2013 10:46
By Ann C Hodges and Ellen Dannin, Truthout | News Analysis
Occasionally comments on the articles in this series question why we discuss cases decided decades ago. Our purpose is to raise awareness of the ways in which the National Labor Relations Act has been "judicially amended" to hurt workers' rights.
As a result of judicial amendments, many today see the law as powerless. But the NLRA would not be powerless if it were interpreted as written and as Congress intended. The law still has the power to transform labor relations and give employees fair treatment, if only we will defend that power.
These judicial "interpretations", many made long ago when unions were stronger and union membership was much higher, contributed to the decline of unionization and persist in their devastating effects in today's economic climate. The erosion of NLRA rights through past and current "interpretations" continues to deprive workers of their rights and weaken unions. Today's article discusses two recent decisions that erode employee rights.
Last week, we discussed the 1991 decision in Lechmere, which narrowed the NLRA's definition of employee to bar employees who did not work for Lechmere from coming onto Lechmere's shopping center property to talk to Lechmere's employees about the benefits of unionizing. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/17377-speaking-of-the-right-to-keep-employees-isolated-and-uninformed
Speaking of the Right to Keep Employees Isolated and Uninformed ...
Speaking of the Right to Keep Employees Isolated and Uninformed ...
Thursday, 11 July 2013 10:46
By Ann C Hodges and Ellen Dannin, Truthout | News Analysis
Occasionally comments on the articles in this series question why we discuss cases decided decades ago. Our purpose is to raise awareness of the ways in which the National Labor Relations Act has been "judicially amended" to hurt workers' rights.
As a result of judicial amendments, many today see the law as powerless. But the NLRA would not be powerless if it were interpreted as written and as Congress intended. The law still has the power to transform labor relations and give employees fair treatment, if only we will defend that power.
These judicial "interpretations", many made long ago when unions were stronger and union membership was much higher, contributed to the decline of unionization and persist in their devastating effects in today's economic climate. The erosion of NLRA rights through past and current "interpretations" continues to deprive workers of their rights and weaken unions. Today's article discusses two recent decisions that erode employee rights.
Last week, we discussed the 1991 decision in Lechmere, which narrowed the NLRA's definition of employee to bar employees who did not work for Lechmere from coming onto Lechmere's shopping center property to talk to Lechmere's employees about the benefits of unionizing. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/17377-speaking-of-the-right-to-keep-employees-isolated-and-uninformed
July 12, 2013
WASHINGTON -- Denying climate change isn't new for Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe. But in a Senate floor speech Wednesday night, Inhofe added a conspiratorial wrinkle -- proposed new carbon dioxide regulations are meant not to curb greenhouse gases, but to curb people's freedom.
Inhofe was reacting to President Barack Obama's recent speech detailing his administration's intention to restrict emissions from coal-powered power plants. Inhofe pointed the language that officials were using as evidence they're trying to hide their true intentions, noting that environmental advocates and the administration are using the phrase "carbon pollution" rather than manmade global warming, which Inhofe said he doesn't believe in.
"Their goal is not to protect the American people, it is to control them," Inhofe said. "They want top-down control, and carbon dioxide regulations will give this to them."
Inhofe argued that the administration is furthering its ends by giving talking points to "alarmists" who, he explained, are "people who believe the world is coming to an end, and it's all man's fault." .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/james-inhofe-climate_n_3582585.html?1373583247&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
Inhofe Happens
WASHINGTON -- Denying climate change isn't new for Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe. But in a Senate floor speech Wednesday night, Inhofe added a conspiratorial wrinkle -- proposed new carbon dioxide regulations are meant not to curb greenhouse gases, but to curb people's freedom.
Inhofe was reacting to President Barack Obama's recent speech detailing his administration's intention to restrict emissions from coal-powered power plants. Inhofe pointed the language that officials were using as evidence they're trying to hide their true intentions, noting that environmental advocates and the administration are using the phrase "carbon pollution" rather than manmade global warming, which Inhofe said he doesn't believe in.
"Their goal is not to protect the American people, it is to control them," Inhofe said. "They want top-down control, and carbon dioxide regulations will give this to them."
Inhofe argued that the administration is furthering its ends by giving talking points to "alarmists" who, he explained, are "people who believe the world is coming to an end, and it's all man's fault." .....................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/james-inhofe-climate_n_3582585.html?1373583247&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
July 11, 2013
A freelance photographer working for National Geographic was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor criminal trespassing in Garden City, Kan., The Associated Press reports.
George Steinmetz, a New Jersey-based aerial photographer, was taking pictures of a feedlot outside Garden City from a paraglider prior to his June 28 arrest with paraglider instructor Wei Zhang. They were held briefly at Finney County jail and each was released on $270 bond.
The Huffington Post reached out to Steinmetz, who would not comment on the advice of his attorney. Steinmetz's work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Smithsonian magazine and in February was featured on NBC's "Today" show. Steinmetz often works from a motorized paraglider, a lightweight machine with a small engine and parachute that he assembles.
Finney Country Sheriff Kevin Bascue told AP the two men were charged because they didn't have permission to take off from private property and hadn't told anyone they intended to take photos. Calls by The Huffington Post to Finney County attorney Susan Richmeier for further explanation were not immediately returned. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/george-steinmetz-arrested-feedlot_n_3575593.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037&ir=Politics
National Geographic Photographer Arrested Taking Photos Of Kansas Feedlot
A freelance photographer working for National Geographic was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor criminal trespassing in Garden City, Kan., The Associated Press reports.
George Steinmetz, a New Jersey-based aerial photographer, was taking pictures of a feedlot outside Garden City from a paraglider prior to his June 28 arrest with paraglider instructor Wei Zhang. They were held briefly at Finney County jail and each was released on $270 bond.
The Huffington Post reached out to Steinmetz, who would not comment on the advice of his attorney. Steinmetz's work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Smithsonian magazine and in February was featured on NBC's "Today" show. Steinmetz often works from a motorized paraglider, a lightweight machine with a small engine and parachute that he assembles.
Finney Country Sheriff Kevin Bascue told AP the two men were charged because they didn't have permission to take off from private property and hadn't told anyone they intended to take photos. Calls by The Huffington Post to Finney County attorney Susan Richmeier for further explanation were not immediately returned. ........................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/george-steinmetz-arrested-feedlot_n_3575593.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037&ir=Politics
July 11, 2013
from truthdig:
Secret Intelligence Court a Precursor to Tyranny
Posted on Jul 10, 2013
By William Pfaff
The current of awkward revelations concerning the clandestine or publicly misrepresented practices of the present and recent American administrations goes on. A long exposition in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune from July 8 concerns a widely unknown American secret court dealing with intelligence actions. The court decides whether certain actions are or are not legal, issues its rulings in secret and creates a new body of American law (or lawlessness, when it contravenes established public and constitutional law, which it is accused of doing). This is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The justification for this secret court—as is usual in the development of 20th century secret police states—is national security. The American case differs from the prominent earlier examples of such states in Bolshevik Russia and Nazi Germany, in that this American secret court operates behind a screen of what seem to be guilty obfuscations, which their authors know will not stand up to serious examination. Such obfuscations simply provide the rationales for concealment of this legal mechanism from public, press, and all but a certain number of congressmen and senators, all willing to provide the simulacrum of oversight because of their personal commitment to the belief that the United States makes itself secure by walking on what former Vice President Richard Cheney melodramatically described as “the dark side.”
It is the public who gets left in the dark about this, so as to protect the system.
The “dark side” of international combat or security operations, such as political assassinations, kidnappings, use of torture, or secret and illegal sequestrations or imprisonments, has on the whole seemed to have produced more American national humiliation, disrepute,and political blowback than advantage. It also is not entirely new; it is a characteristic of bureaucracies. ...............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/secret_intelligence_court_a_precursor_to_tyranny_20130710/?ln
Secret Intelligence Court a Precursor to Tyranny
from truthdig:
Secret Intelligence Court a Precursor to Tyranny
Posted on Jul 10, 2013
By William Pfaff
The current of awkward revelations concerning the clandestine or publicly misrepresented practices of the present and recent American administrations goes on. A long exposition in the New York Times and International Herald Tribune from July 8 concerns a widely unknown American secret court dealing with intelligence actions. The court decides whether certain actions are or are not legal, issues its rulings in secret and creates a new body of American law (or lawlessness, when it contravenes established public and constitutional law, which it is accused of doing). This is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The justification for this secret court—as is usual in the development of 20th century secret police states—is national security. The American case differs from the prominent earlier examples of such states in Bolshevik Russia and Nazi Germany, in that this American secret court operates behind a screen of what seem to be guilty obfuscations, which their authors know will not stand up to serious examination. Such obfuscations simply provide the rationales for concealment of this legal mechanism from public, press, and all but a certain number of congressmen and senators, all willing to provide the simulacrum of oversight because of their personal commitment to the belief that the United States makes itself secure by walking on what former Vice President Richard Cheney melodramatically described as “the dark side.”
It is the public who gets left in the dark about this, so as to protect the system.
The “dark side” of international combat or security operations, such as political assassinations, kidnappings, use of torture, or secret and illegal sequestrations or imprisonments, has on the whole seemed to have produced more American national humiliation, disrepute,and political blowback than advantage. It also is not entirely new; it is a characteristic of bureaucracies. ...............................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/secret_intelligence_court_a_precursor_to_tyranny_20130710/?ln
July 11, 2013
from truthdig:
This Year’s Best-Kept Secret: The Next Generation of Community Radio
Posted on Jul 10, 2013
By Amy Goodman
A microphone and a radio transmitter in the hands of a community organizer imparts power, which some liken to the life-changing impact when humans first tamed fire. That’s why the prospect of 1,000 new community radio stations in the United States, for which the Federal Communications Commission will accept applications this October, is so vital and urgent.
Workers toiling in the hot fields of south-central Florida, near the isolated town of Immokalee, were enduring conditions that U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy called “slavery, plain and simple.” Some worked from dawn to dusk, under the watch of armed guards, earning only $20 a week. Twenty years ago, they began organizing, forming the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Ten years later, working with the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Prometheus Radio Project, the workers started their own radio station, Radio Consciencia, to serve the farmworker community and inform, mobilize and help the struggling workers forge better lives.
As the largest media corporations on the planet have been consolidating during the past two decades, putting the power of the media in fewer hands, there has been a largely unreported flowering of small, local media outlets. An essential component of this sector is community radio, stations that have emerged from the Low-Power FM (LPFM) radio movement. This October, community groups in the U.S. will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to apply to the FCC for an LPFM radio-station license. But the mainstream media are hardly reporting on this critical development.
“This is a historic opportunity for communities all over the country to have a voice over their airwaves,” Jeff Rousset, national organizer of the Prometheus Radio Project, told me on the “Democracy Now!” news hour. “The airwaves are supposed to belong to the public. This is a chance for groups to actually own and control their own media outlets.” The Prometheus Radio Project formed in 1998. It was named after the Greek mythological hero who first gave fire to humans to make their lives more bearable. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_years_best-kept_secret_the_next_generation_of_community_radio_20130710/
Amy Goodman: This Year’s Best-Kept Secret: The Next Generation of Community Radio
from truthdig:
This Year’s Best-Kept Secret: The Next Generation of Community Radio
Posted on Jul 10, 2013
By Amy Goodman
A microphone and a radio transmitter in the hands of a community organizer imparts power, which some liken to the life-changing impact when humans first tamed fire. That’s why the prospect of 1,000 new community radio stations in the United States, for which the Federal Communications Commission will accept applications this October, is so vital and urgent.
Workers toiling in the hot fields of south-central Florida, near the isolated town of Immokalee, were enduring conditions that U.S. Attorney Doug Molloy called “slavery, plain and simple.” Some worked from dawn to dusk, under the watch of armed guards, earning only $20 a week. Twenty years ago, they began organizing, forming the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. Ten years later, working with the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Prometheus Radio Project, the workers started their own radio station, Radio Consciencia, to serve the farmworker community and inform, mobilize and help the struggling workers forge better lives.
As the largest media corporations on the planet have been consolidating during the past two decades, putting the power of the media in fewer hands, there has been a largely unreported flowering of small, local media outlets. An essential component of this sector is community radio, stations that have emerged from the Low-Power FM (LPFM) radio movement. This October, community groups in the U.S. will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to apply to the FCC for an LPFM radio-station license. But the mainstream media are hardly reporting on this critical development.
“This is a historic opportunity for communities all over the country to have a voice over their airwaves,” Jeff Rousset, national organizer of the Prometheus Radio Project, told me on the “Democracy Now!” news hour. “The airwaves are supposed to belong to the public. This is a chance for groups to actually own and control their own media outlets.” The Prometheus Radio Project formed in 1998. It was named after the Greek mythological hero who first gave fire to humans to make their lives more bearable. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_years_best-kept_secret_the_next_generation_of_community_radio_20130710/
July 11, 2013
Yes, this an assertion somewhere in the bowels of GD today. You can't make this sh*t up.
Sincerely, WTF?
Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales right-wing shills?
Yes, this an assertion somewhere in the bowels of GD today. You can't make this sh*t up.
Sincerely, WTF?
July 11, 2013
CLEVELAND—John Rocker is still making noise, a decade after the disgraced pitcher last played in the big leagues.
Rocker told a Cleveland radio station this week that performance-enhancing drugs made Major League Baseball “more entertaining” during the steroids era.
Rocker told WKRK-FM on Tuesday: “Honestly, and this may go against what some people think from an ethical standpoint, I think it was the better game.”
“At the end of the day when people are paying their $80, $120 whatever it may be, to buy their ticket and come watch that game, it’s almost like the circus is in town,” he said. “They wanna see some clown throw a fastball 101 m.p.h. and some other guy hit it 500 feet. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2013/07/10/john_rocker_says_baseballs_steroids_era_was_more_entertaining.html?cta=bottom&utm_expid=6682428-0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2F
John Rocker, still a moron
CLEVELAND—John Rocker is still making noise, a decade after the disgraced pitcher last played in the big leagues.
Rocker told a Cleveland radio station this week that performance-enhancing drugs made Major League Baseball “more entertaining” during the steroids era.
Rocker told WKRK-FM on Tuesday: “Honestly, and this may go against what some people think from an ethical standpoint, I think it was the better game.”
“At the end of the day when people are paying their $80, $120 whatever it may be, to buy their ticket and come watch that game, it’s almost like the circus is in town,” he said. “They wanna see some clown throw a fastball 101 m.p.h. and some other guy hit it 500 feet. .......................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2013/07/10/john_rocker_says_baseballs_steroids_era_was_more_entertaining.html?cta=bottom&utm_expid=6682428-0&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thestar.com%2F
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Gender: MaleHometown: Detroit, MI
Member since: Fri Oct 29, 2004, 12:18 AM
Number of posts: 77,072