Argentina Decriminalizes Marijuana
Argentina’s supreme court ruled unanimously on Tuesday that punishing adults for personal marijuana use is unconstitutional. The decision is grounded in common sense. What you put into your body is your business as long as you don’t infringe upon the safety and rights of others. The Argentine court ruled that: “Each adult is free to…
Sen. Edward Kennedy 1932-2009
Ted Kennedy’s political career paralleled the evolution of liberalism in the United States. Here’s what writer, professor, and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich had to say about Kennedy’s legacy: America has had a few precious individuals who are both passionate about social justice and also understand deep in their bones its practical meaning. And…
NRDC Criticizes EPA For Ignoring Contaminated Drinking Water
A commonly used herbicide has been making the news lately because of spikes in the chemical’s levels found in the drinking water of Midwestern and Southern towns. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report Monday documenting the levels of atrazine in the water and calling out the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for ignoring…
Laal, Pakistan’s First Communist Rockers
NPR did a nice segment on Pakistan’s Laal, whose name means “red” and whose music matches “revolutionary poetry” with traditional South Asian beats. Check out the group’s video for the title track of their debut album, Umeed-E-Sehr, or “hope of a new dawn,” below. Laal’s red star rose last year, when then-president Pervez Musharraf removed…
Juanes’s Cuban Peace Concert Draws Protests, Death Tweet
The “Peace Without Borders” concert organized by Colombia singing star Juanes has provoked death threats, demonstrations, and old-fashioned record burnings from militant Cuban exiles in Florida. On August 15, Juanes told police that someone had sent him a Twitter message stating, “I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right…
Andy Warhol’s Crazy Closet
Who else beside Andy Warhol would have an autographed photo of a naked Jacqueline Onassis stuffed in a carboard box for decades? Warhol was apparently the ultimate pack rat, and the Andy Warhol Foundation is coughing up $600,000 for archivists to make sense of his collection. Warhol was never one to throw things away. In…
Hold That Fish Taco
Turns out that if you’re eating fish, you’re eating mercury. A U.S. Geological Survey recently sampled fish taken from 291 streams across the country and, reports the Associated Press, “[t]he toxic substance was found in every fish sampled.” And nearly a quarter of the samples had mercury levels exceeding what the Environmental Protection Agency has…
Treating Heroin Addicts With…Medical Heroin
It’s so crazy it might just work! Actually, it does work. A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that pharmaceutical diacetylmorphine (heroin) works better than methadone at weaning addicts from the drug. Drug addictions, especially opiate addictions, are a complicated problem. It can take long stays in treatment for an addict to…
Mexico Decriminalizes Drugs For Personal Use
In an effort to reduce police corruption and free up resources for police to take down drug kingpins and traffickers, Mexico has decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illegal recreational drugs. Is decriminalization enough to help put an end to the border violence and shut down the drug cartels? I highly doubt it, and experts…
Barney Frank Gets Frank
The above video shows a woman comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler at a town hall meeting. She is one of many supporters of Lyndon LaRouche who commonly believe, among other things, that MySpace and Facebook and videogames should be banned, Obama’s health care plan is a Nazi policy, we still need to fight the British…