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"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 31 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: At Least They Didn't Prosecute My House For It - Announcing A Week Off 'On The State Of Nevada' Because I 'Had Too Much Marijuana To Explain'Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 37:59 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
Among her comments: “Seven years and this case is riddled with holes…This guy has been there seven years, seven years. He might have been taken there at the age of maybe 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. I don't know what he is doing there…Your case has been gutted…The case is in shambles…This case is riddled with holes...The United States Government knows it is lousy…This is a case that's been screaming to everybody for years…This is a case unlike all the rest of them. This does not involve intelligence. This does not involve any particular high-level government agency doing the intelligence at all. Did anybody see him do it or didn't they see him do it?”
She concluded: “The time has come to face the music...for seven years the guy sat down there, being subjected to the conditions that the United States Government has subjected him to since the day they picked him up in Afghanistan…It is not fair to keep dragging this out for no good reason...We're not going to wait and wait until you come up with another piece of evidence…This case is an outrage to me…There is only one question here, did the guy throw a grenade or didn't he throw a grenade. That's the issue. Right? If he didn't do that, you can't win. If you can't prove that, you can't win.” [In Full]

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 30 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Profiting From What Can Cure You - Solving The California Social Services Budget Cut Problem In Rural Areas... Grow Medical MarijuanaPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 15:04 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
Today, there will be a "Beer Summit" between 70+ year old black disabled Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the Cambridge police officer Justin Barrett who (spewing racial slurs) took him down and arrested him for being allegedly being disorderly and surly to the officer on HIS OWN PROPERTY, and president Obama who said the officer 'acted stupidly'... They're going to discuss...? Over a cold beer.
They've got yer Posse Comitatus hangin' - Secretary of Defense Gates has OKed a possible civilian population deployment for the military to 'combat' Swine Flu' if there is a pandemic. They will ostensibly work with FEMA.
There is a new Wild Horse Protection Act that would add 20,000 acres of roaming land, stop the herd cull, and fund neutering/birth control for those beautiful free-range animals at a cost of only $7 million dollars. 
"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 29 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Believing Things That Just Plain Aren't True - Delusion, Rationalization, The Nutcase Fringe, And The 'Birther' Conspiracy Theory That President Obama Is Not An American CitizenPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 12:27 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
The US backed Iranian paramilitary group(MEK) "brainwashed cult members" to be "detoxified." by the nominal Iraqi 'government':
BAGHDAD, March 27 -- Iraq's national security adviser said Friday that the government intends to move an Iranian opposition group from its sanctuary near the Iranian border to a location where leaders and "brainwashed cult members" will be separated and the latter "detoxified."
Mowaffak al-Rubaie's remarks about the future of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, were his most detailed to date on how his government intends to deal with an issue that has been an irritant in relations between Iraq's government, which has built close ties with Iran, and the U.S. government. The group received support from Saddam Hussein's government and has been designated a terrorist organization by the State Department, but U.S. officials credit the MEK with providing information about Iran's nuclear program.
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Members of the group "should understand that their days in Iraq are numbered," Rubaie told Western journalists at a briefing in the Green Zone. "We are literally counting them."
Iraqi officials, including Maliki, have in recent months publicly lambasted the group, generally during or after official visits to Iran.
The U.S. military has protected the group's camp in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.
[In Full at the Washington Post]
Work done... Kurdish 'massacres' blamed on Saddam.
The walking postman may be a thing of the past soon, along with Postal facility closings and 5-day-only delivery service.Probably like most of you, I am engaged in a daily attempt to make up my mind about President Obama. I was an early supporter. And as a former Washington "player," I am aware how difficult is his position. I began to worry when he failed to grasp what I have seen to be the early window of opportunity for a new administration -- the first three months -- when the government is relatively fluid. As the months have flown by, I have seen that there are many positive things, mainly in his eloquent addresses on world problems, notably his speech at the University of Cairo on world pluralism, but also quite a few negative things. With sadness and alarm I find that my list of the negatives keeps on growing. Among them are the following... [In Full]
This highly recommended, if heart-rending, story from the Colorado Springs Gazette tells of a group of soldiers that returned from Iraq only to fall prey to severe mental illnesses that were largely self-medicated through, and as a result exacerbated by, drug abuse. The soldiers in the applicable unit have committed serial acts of violence, including murder, since their return. Although painful to read, the article focuses on one of war's inevitable costs, a facet that rarely if ever gets the attention it merits (in fact, the cultural reluctance to acknowledge the severe mental trauma of war often leads to untreated - or self-treated - conditions that only get worse).
COIN Doctrine also requires that the soldiers involved develop (or already have) some level of cultural sensitivity/knowledge, that they show restraint in the use of
This is especially true when they are required to make multiple, prolonged deployments in the pursuit of those COIN-recommended troop levels. In Iraq, we didn't even reach those vaunted ratios, and the effort to keep a lesser number of boots on the ground still wreaked havoc:
"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 28 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: They Called It "The Stanford Experiment" - The Police And 'Authority' In American SocietyPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 15:14 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
Citizens who have been wrongfully locked up in immigration jails can't reclaim the months or years they spent behind bars, but some of them are seeking restitution and suing the U.S. government.
Hundreds of U.S. citizens have been detained and, in some cases, deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Chronicle revealed in a special report Monday. Legal experts say the numbers have grown as immigration detention has tripled over the past dozen years to 33,000 inmates at a time.
Cesar Ramirez Lopez, a San Pablo truck driver, won a $10,000 settlement in 2007 after he was held for four days by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents even after his lawyer convinced ICE investigators that he was a citizen.
"When ICE came and detained me, I told the officer I was a citizen," said Ramirez Lopez, 25. "They told me they didn't want to hear it, that I was going to get deported."
Others - detained for months or years and in some cases even deported - are suing for much more. Among them are:
-- Pedro Guzman, a mentally disabled man born and raised in Southern California, who was deported in 2007 to Mexico, where he survived by eating out of garbage cans for three months while his frantic mother searched for him...
[In Full] (San Francisco Chronicle)
The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted in 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Twenty-four undergraduates were selected out of 70 to play the roles of both guards and prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building. Those selected were chosen for their lack of psychological issues, crime history, and medical disabilities, in order to obtain a representative sample. Roles were assigned based on a coin toss.[1]

"In 1978, an end was negotiated to an almost year-long standoff with police (over housing code and H&S issues between the MOVE organization and the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania).Note: "Their sentencing judge has publicly admitted that he has no idea who shot the one bullet that they are all being held accountable for..."
MOVE failed to relocate as required by the court order.[3] When the police later attempted entry, Philadelphia police officer James J. Ramp was killed in a shootout. Seven other police officers, five firefighters, three MOVE members, and three bystanders were injured.[4] As a result, nine MOVE members were found guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of a police officer. Seven of the nine became eligible for parole in the spring of 2008, and all seven were denied parole.[5][6] Parole hearings now occur yearly."
[In Full]
"Attention, MOVE: This Is America! You must abide by the laws of the United States!” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sambor declared through a loudspeaker, minutes before the May 13, 1985 police assault on the revolutionary MOVE organization’s home...
...That morning police shot over 10,000 rounds of bullets into their West Philadelphia home, and detonated explosives on the front, and both sides of their house." Source
Photo: Philadelphia Pennsylvania police use a State Police helicopter to satchel bomb the re-located MOVE communal house in 1985. The satchel charge was four pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex illegally obtained from the FBI. "The resulting explosion caused the house to catch fire, igniting a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost an entire city block.[8] Eleven people, including John Africa, five other adults and five children, died in the resulting fire.[9] Ramona Africa and one child, Birdie Africa, were the only survivors...""All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 27 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: The Travus T. Hipp Economic Plan For The State Of California - Shrinking The Prison Budget By Prioritizing Who Gets ImprisonedPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 9:53 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 24 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: My 'War'- Keeping Up With The News Media In A Time When Knowledge Is No Longer PowerPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 7:17 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |

Sometimes the jobs moved to Arizona. Sometimes they moved to China. And sometimes, thanks to Silicon Valley's tech prowess and prolific work force, the jobs just went up in a puff of smoke. [In Full, NUMMI just the latest in Silicon Valley's long history of manufacturing job losses]

"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 23 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Spun 'Hons'... From 'Party Girl' To 'The Party's Over' - Amphetamines And Women[Pop Out Player? Click Here] Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 12:20 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad -- the United States' largest and most costly overseas diplomatic mission, with 1,873 employees -- is overstaffed and must be reduced to a size more in keeping with the evolving U.S.-Iraq relationship and budget constraints, government auditors said in a report issued Wednesday.Meanwhile, Iraqi PM al Maliki visits Washington... Informed Comment's Juan Cole on "What al Maliki wants from his trip to Washington"
The State Department's inspector general said that although the U.S. presence in Iraq will become more civilian as the military withdraws over the next two years, the embassy "should be able to carry out all of its responsibilities with significantly fewer staff and in a much-reduced footprint." The reduction "has to begin immediately," the report said, before Foreign Service officers complete their next assignment bidding cycle and other employees are extended or hired.
Nearly 30 provincial reconstruction teams, the principal U.S. vehicles for development and governance projects in Iraq, will be phased out over the next 2 1/2 years, the report said, with the overall American presence reduced to the embassy and "possibly two or more consulates." [In Full]
First, he wants the United Nations Security Council to remove Iraq altogether from Chapter 7 status under the UN Charter. After the Gulf War, the UNSC put Iraq into a kind of receivership, with sanctions, demands for disarmament with regard to unconventional weapons, and restrictions, in which the UNSC had a say on Iraqi policies. Also, 5% of Iraq's oil income went to pay reparations for the destruction it caused during the war. One of the reasons Iraq did bilateral status of forces agreements with the US and with the UK was that they wanted to avoid having any more UNSC resolutions authorizing foreign troops in Iraq. Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh, according to Reuters, said that Chapter 7 status "handcuffed Iraq, restricted its sovereignty and burdened it with the crimes of the former regime." On a visit to the UN HQ, al-Maliki said that "Iraq no longer poses a threat to the international community," and so the sanctions "are no longer necessary." (For a formerly colonized country, being under Chapter 7 is way too much like being recolonized, and ending that status is paramount for an Iraqi nationalist like al-Maliki).In Junk Food News for America... An obit:
In Washington, al-Zaman says, al-Maliki also wants...[In Full]
LOS ANGELES -- Gidget the Chihuahua, the bug-eyed, big-eared star of 1990s Taco Bell commercials who was a diva on and off the screen, has died. She was 15. Gidget suffered a massive stroke late Tuesday night at her trainer's home in Santa Clarita and had to be euthanized, said Karin McElhatton, owner of Studio Animal Services in Castaic, which owned the dog.
Although she was hard of hearing, Gidget was otherwise in good health up to the day of her death, eating well and playing with her favorite squeaky toys... [In Full]
Gonzo Gastronomy: How the Food Industry Has Made Bacon a Weapon of Mass Destruction
"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." July 22 2009 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: A Short (Because no one's managed to stay longer than that) History Of Military Attempts To Dominate Afghanistan, Baluchistan, And EnvironsPrefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [192kbps VBR 9:41 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Twitter This Commentary |
Oakland Cannabis Regulation and Revenue Ordinance
(Text of Oakland Measure Z Tax and Regulate / Lowest Enforcement Priority ballot initiative submitted to City Clerk Feb 19, 2004; approved by 65% of Oakland Voters Nov.2, 2004)
Section 1: TITLE
Oakland Cannabis Regulation and Revenue Ordinance
Section 2: FINDINGS
The people of Oakland, California find as follows:
WHEREAS it is a goal of the people of Oakland to keep drugs off the streets and away from children, and to eliminate street dealing and violent crime; and
WHEREAS each year California spends over $150 million enforcing cannabis (marijuana) laws, expending valuable law enforcement resources that would be better spent on fighting violent and serious crimes; and
WHEREAS medical and governmental studies have consistently found cannabis to be less dangerous than alcohol, tobacco and other drugs; and
WHEREAS otherwise law-abiding adults are being arrested or imprisoned for nonviolent cannabis offenses, clogging our courts and jails; and
WHEREAS controlling and regulating cannabis so that it is only sold by licensed businesses would undermine the hold of street dealers on our neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS in the face of the severe state and local budget crises, the revenues from taxing and licensing cannabis would help fund vital Oakland city services; and
WHEREAS the current laws against cannabis have needlessly harmed patients who need it for medical purposes, and impeded the development of hemp for fiber, oil, and other industrial purposes; and
WHEREAS it is the hope of the people of Oakland that there will be state and federal law reform that will eliminate the problems and costs caused by cannabis prohibition;
THEREFORE the people of the City of Oakland do hereby enact the following ordinance establishing the cannabis policy of the city. [In Full @ CA-NORML]


