No lung cancer link to heavy cannabis medication

Not the Bob Marley School of Medicine?

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. Tashkin's group at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA had hypothesized that marijuana would raise the risk of cancer on the basis of earlier small human studies, lab studies of animals, and the fact that marijuana users inhale more deeply and generally hold smoke in their lungs longer than tobacco smokers -- exposing them to the dangerous chemicals for a longer time.--Marc Kaufman, Washington Post Staff Writer

Thanks to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Update, 19:02 MST: Chris Williams to be sentenced Friday.

Missoula, Rapid City at risk to deadly parasites in dog, cat poop

New Zealand is considering banning cats and not just because they are killing endangered birds.

Science Daily brought two stories of how microbes carried by domesticated animals are altering the human gene pool. On dogs:

Rodolfo Villarreal, Juan Palacios, Keith Parker and Lilian Calderon carried out the study, "Gene inflammatory expression profiling in right versus left ventricles in young urbanites: What is the long-term impact of myocardial inflammation in the setting of air pollution?" The researchers are from the University of Montana (Palacios, Parker, Calderon), the Instituto Nacional de Pediatria in Mexico City (Calderon) and the Big Sky High School in Missoula, Montana (Villarreal).

Missoula and Rapid City have long histories of wood-burning stoves and air stagnation alerts.

Here is the really creepy part: these toxins are crossing the blood/brain barrier allowing bacteria from mice and dog feces to infect the hearts and brains of children in Mexico City. Higher dog concentrations led to increased rates of infection. The researchers concluded that:

•polluted air can create inflammation, even in the hearts of young individuals
•the right ventricle responds differently than the left
•endotoxins play a role in the inflammation

On cats, Science Daily says:

A number of studies also confirm that mental diseases like schizophrenia, depression and anxiety syndrome are more common in people with toxoplasmosis, while others suggest that toxoplasmosis can influence how extroverted, aggressive or risk-inclined an individual's behaviour is.

Tester talks Citizens United with Maher; Baucus wants amendment

Ep. 269 January 25, 2013 - Overtime

Montana Street Fighter offers a local perspective here. Baucus piece in the Billings Gazette.

Bill Maher brings his irreverent, usually bawdy perspective to the Santa Fe Convention Center 17 February.

Readers of Mount Blogmore know the wisdom and patience of bearcreekbat: attorney, judge or law professor my guess. Here's a stolen snip:

So there is the disconnect. While the Federalist Papers help us understand the Constitution, they simply do not address the subsequently proposed Bill of Rights. Please understand, I agree with Heller and MacDonald, but neither case asserts that the 2nd Amendment limits the power of the federal government to enact reasonable regulations on guns, ammo, and their use. Thus, the argument is about what is reasonable, not what the 32nd Amendment prohibits.

Jambo best at Souper Bowl XIX

In what might be best described as lines on an ant hill at a benefit that raised $60,000 for The Food Depot, a diverse march of humans sampled soups in four categories prepared by area restaurants. An hour of burning more calories than ingesting walking from entry to entry proved to be both a tribute and a grand display of species cooperation.

Adele Oliveira writes in The Santa Fe New Mexican:

For the fourth year in a row, Jambo Café won the coveted Best Soup award for its tangy, smooth spiced coconut cream guava lime soup with crispy plantains. The restaurant has now won in all four categories: savory, cream, seafood and vegetarian. This year, Jambo’s soup (which also won in the cream category) was velvety yet light, dominated by citrus notes and a balance of sweet and savory flavors. Each soup cup was topped with a cilantro leaf and a smattering of fried plantains cut into matchsticks.

The longest line snaked its way to Mr. Obo's Jambo entry: we knew why instantly after tasting. Sweet potato fries draw us to his dining room regularly.

Our Lady of the Arroyo and this interested party agreed on all the winners except savory: she liked Pasqual’s squash soup (it won) while I liked the lamb soup from Dinner for Two. We picked winner Luminaria for best vegetarian (sweet and smoky roasted red pepper potato soup with pineapple and mango salsa) and Santa Fe Culinary Academy's seafood entry: a lobster bisque with tiny cheese biscuit.

Special mention to the talented chef at Kingston Residence of Santa Fe and his beet soup with a tiny dollop of sour cream with a hint of horseradish.

Every offering was delightful beyond description.

Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers react to hospital's denial of foetal personhood

Taking a break from raping children, bishops in the parent church are girding their loins for capitulation after a catholic hospital in Colorado argued in a recent lawsuit that a fetus is not a person.

Sez the AP in the Washington Post:

The arguments were made in papers Englewood-based Catholic Health Initiatives filed in 2010 to persuade a judge to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against St. Thomas More Hospital in Canon City. They appeared to contradict the church’s centuries-old stance that life begins at conception. The lawsuit was filed after Lori Stodghill and the 7-month-old fetuses she was carrying died in the hospital’s emergency room.--Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

In a related story published at US Catholic:

The Catholic Church’s position on gun control is not easy to find; there are dozens of speeches and talks and a few documents that call for much tighter regulation of the global arms trade, but what about private gun ownership? The answer is resoundingly clear: Firearms in the hands of civilians should be strictly limited and eventually completely eliminated.

Sidearms for the pre-born.

Bumper sticker in Santa Fe: Gravity is just a theory.

Photo: Madeline Kurtz

Montana bill seeks to establish public/religionist instruction

ACLU of Montana has had its hands full as it tries to keep up with that state's christofascists. After vowing appeal of Donaldson, et al. v State of Montana, it has turned attention to creationism in public instruction. Maryb takes aim at HB 183:

An act encouraging the Board of Public Education to emphasize critical thinking in instruction related to controversial scientific theories on the origin of life; clarifying the duty of the Board of Public Education to include the basic instructional program in the Board's standards of accreditation; encouraging teachers to foster critical thinking; protecting teachers who present alternative viewpoints regarding controversial scientific theories.

HB 104 would make a woman's uterus a crime scene after a miscarriage.

Montana's red state legislature is leading in the nut race with South Dakota while New Mexico's is coming up on the outside with the fetus as evidence of rape bill.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph: give me strength.

NM PA fighting cannabis politics

New Mexico Physicians Assistant, Richard Rubin has lost his license to practice and his Drug Enforcement Agency authority to prescribe drugs.

His attorney contends it is part of a conflict between two state bureaus. A shrink named Steve Jenkusky, who is addicted to revenues from Big Pharma, was appointed to the state medical board by earth hater Governor Susana Martinez, addicted to Big Oil. Psychotropic and painkiller meds have skyrocketed during her tenure.

Peter St. Cyr wrote in the Santa Fe Reporter:

In effect, Rubin is a casualty of the legal complexity governing medical professionals: While the Compassionate Use Act governs their participation in the medical cannabis program, a wholly different law—the Medical Practices Act—governs the state Medical Board. In December 2011, an unnamed “community physician” complained to DOH about Rubin, writing in a letter that he was “potentially completing medical certification without clinical evaluations.” On Feb. 9, 2012, according to records, Jenkusky filed a complaint against Rubin with the NMMB for “promoting non-evidence-based care that could harm this patient.” Rubin, for his part, contrasts the use of medical cannabis with that of historic psychiatric treatments such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies.

There you have it.

The legislature is considering outright legalization of cannabis.

Washington Governor Jay Inslee was encouraged by his recent discussion about legal cannabis with US Attorney General Eric Holder according to a story in the Seattle Times:

The governor added that Holder’s questions show he is “going to be fully attentive” to Washington’s evolving law. Inslee said it’s no surprise that Holder would take his time to fully evaluate the implementation of I-502.

Arizona's legislature is grappling with its own MMJ law.

A bill being introduced to the Texas legislature seeks to provide for a medical necessity defense in court.

Update, 15:00 MST, 25 January: US Food and Drug Administration wants to move some of the more dangerous opioids from Schedule III to II and prevent nurse practitioners and physicians assistants from prescribing them according to NPR.

Cannabis far safer than opioids

South Dakota's Attorney General Marty Jackley has taken thousands in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.

He is party to a lawsuit seeking to nullify ObamaCare while using the "pot is illegal under federal law" argument to satisfy his earth hating handlers.

Legal drugs cause tens of thousands of deaths in the US every year and liver damage is assured for users of Oxycontin, Lortab, and Vicodin, especially when used with alcohol. Addiction to these synthetic killers making Big Pharma rich can even lead to suicide.

Israel ran to the door, and heard his son cock the gun. And then, the blast.--Rob Stein, NPR

Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in Denver, Colorado told News24 of Cape Town, South Africa where legalization is also being considered:

Dagga, or marijuana as it is known in the US, was recently legalised for personal consumption in America and several organisations, including the HIV Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the Lymphoma Foundation of America (LFA) have expressed support for medicinal research into the drug.

Just say now!

Sirota: expect right wing terrorism to continue

The NRA spent $3 million greasing DC's revolving door in 2012.

After his right wing-owner/broadcaster canned David Sirota for his leftist leanings he has come out swinging with this essay in Salon. He says:

There are four revealing stories to be gleaned from the Aggrieved Conservative Backlash™ to an exhaustive and sober new West Point Combatting Terrorism Center report on “Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.” Regularly championed by conservatives, this particularly pernicious strain of “political correctness” says we somehow can’t talk about (or in this case, even study) anything that offends the political ideology of the conservative movement.

Are YOU ready for holy war?

The State of Washington announced schedule of cannabis fora.

Happy 18th, Ms. Kurtz

Humanity self-immolating

Happy sabbath, christians: you won, the species is killing itself.

At a meeting of the American Geophysical Union, scientists, Brad Werner among them, asked a question: “Is Earth Fucked?”

Why shout out the blunt question on everyone’s mind? Werner explained at the outset of the presentation that it was inspired by friends who are depressed about the future of the planet. “Not so much depressed about all the good science that’s being done all over the world—a lot of it being presented here—about what the future holds,” he clarified, “but by the seeming inability to respond appropriately to it.” Resistance, Werner argued, is the wild card that can force dominant systems such as our current resource-chewing juggernaut onto a more sustainable path. Werner hasn’t completed that part of his model, so we’ll have to wait to find out what happens.--Jonathan Mingle, Slate

Japan's flat economic growth means she is consuming resources at slower rates and other nations haven't figured out how to do it yet.

Legalize automatic weapons and end restrictions on the sale and possession of rocket propelled grenade launchers now.

Let's get it over with. Let the carnage begin.

And now, a public service announcement.

ALEC, Big Pharma linked to gun violence

Huh: Zoloft, Prozac, Effexor, Ritalin and Paxil all seem to weave through gun violence. They all love the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), too.

Ok, so Natural News is a capitalist rag with ties to Herbalife, also in the news. Its editor is freaking nuts and a delusional christian wacko; but, he links psychoactive drugs manufactured by those who helped craft ACA to mostly young men going postal as the Whole Foods CEO calls ObamaCare "fascism" and more. Chilling:

Prominent rifle manufacturer killed in mysterious car crash days after posting psych drug link to school shooters.

RT @ConspiracyWATCH. More here.

There have been movements afoot in red state legislatures to limit lawsuits against medical providers and the pharmaceutical industry usurping the power of end-users to sue for damages caused by their products: the gun industry is already immune to such class actions even as they collude in violent deaths.

Richard Rubin, a New Mexico physician's assistant, is suing the state medical board and other officials after he lost his license for prescribing cannabis legally under statute:

He cites the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act, which states: "A practitioner shall not be subject to arrest or prosecution, penalized in any manner or denied any right or privilege for recommending the medical use of cannabis or providing written certification for the medical use of cannabis pursuant to the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act."

Is this a great country or what?

1872 Mining Law: Wyo to swap land for rare earth exploit

More Canadian miners are taking advantage of Wyoming's continued assault on the Bear Lodge and western Black Hills.

The Sundance Times' Sarah Pridgeon tells readers:

Rare Element Resources has initiated a land exchange that, if approved by the Board of Land Commissioners, will allow the company to acquire 640 surface and mineral acres of State Trust Land near Warren Peak, adjacent to the planned Bull Hill Rare Earth Mine. In exchange, the State of Wyoming will acquire 400 acres of additional land in the Little Grand Canyon area, says Lisa Reinhart, Office of State Lands and Investments. The exchange will aid RER in its development of the Bull Hill Rare Earth Mine, allowing waste rock and low grade material to be stored after extraction from the Forest Service land upon which the mine will sit. The detailed analysis is now available for public review on the website at lands.state.wy.us and the comment period is open until March 15, while the final Board consideration date is anticipated for April 11.

AP Photo/Gillette News Record, Steve Remich from Rapid City Journal

The industry's rooters have been saturating the media with propaganda ahead of Congressional review of the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act. Comes this from Bloomberg's Jim Snyder:

"It's astounding in this time of trillion-dollar deficits that we aren't looking more closely at revenue off of public lands," Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in an interview. "This would be a very good place to do it." Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., estimated the U.S. could generate about $3 billion over 10 years with a 12.5 percent royalty and other fees on hardrock mining. In his 2013 budget, President Obama included a royalty rate of 5 percent for new mining operations.

Salazar out; Schweitzer in?

Montana is not Oregon but it could look more like Colorado next cycle.

NPR is reporting that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is leaving in March. From an AP story in the Missoulian:

He is the latest Cabinet secretary to leave the administration as Obama heads into his second term. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Pentagon chief Leon Panetta, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are also leaving. The administration official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the announcement of Salazar's departure has not been made.

interested party has learned that former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is at the top of the list to replace him: he is on several Cabinet short lists and would be foolish not to entertain a post with the Obama Administration.

In an interview with Dan Testa, Schweitzer said about being Secretary of Energy:

I wouldn't be a very good secretary. I can't even type. I want to change the world and I'm afraid that putting your feet in concrete in Washington D.C. is probably not the place to change the world.

Looks like former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is at the top of the list, too.

Most Montana watchers expect Senator Max Baucus to have a primary contender after he announces a 2014 Senate run later this year. Gov. Schweitzer would devastate Baucus in a primary as he can make money very quickly and win in a really ugly campaign.

Won't happen: Schweitzer will not run against Max. Either Baucus retires or the Gov. finds something else to do.

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford announced a run for his state's US House seat: recall that another former governor, Bill Janklow won South Dakota's House seat and held it for a disastrously short time. Some say a better idea for Schweitzer might be to run for the House seat Steve Daines will have fucked up in two years.

You have to admit it would be a bag of fun watching the Gov. in a Senate confirmation hearing; and, if anyone could bring some credibility to Interior Schweitzer could even though he knows that living in DC sucks regardless in which post he chooses to serve.

USDA should be split among Interior, HUD and HHS. Forest Service should go to BIA Forestry and look more like hybrid between US Fish & Wildlife Service and Bureau of Reclamation. BIA Forestry and the Park Service are cooperating on some projects. DHS is assuming many firefighting roles leaving the FS with far less budget leverage. Such an opportunity would help tribes like CSKT and many others to become better stewards of land as part of heritage. Would love to see a name change that solidifies those communities’ futures.

The United States Geological Survey is losing its director, Marcia McNutt as she announced her departure.

Oh, and by the way: the KeystoneXL pipeline will never be built regardless of its convenience as a political football.

Update, 17 January, 11:00 MST: Schweitzer mentioned; Grijalva choice of enviros according to MSNBC.

14:32 Energy's Chu stepping down: The Atlantic.

Update, 22 January, 12:31 MST: former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal on earth haters' wish list.

Update, 23 January, 11:00 MST: former Michigan Governor Granholm could be DoE head.

Mr. President: please put Gov. Gregoire in EPA and Gov. Brian at Interior.

Top ten Colorado cannabis strains

Willam Breathes at Denver's Westword Blog.

10) Chemdawg - Denver Kush Club($25/eighth)

9) Super Silver Sour Diesel Haze - Colorado Alternative Medicine($40/eighth)

8) Platinum OG - DANK Colorado
($40/eighth)

7) Headband OG - Colorado Wellness Inc.

6. Pootie Tang - The Golden Goat($40/eighth)

5) 707 Headband x Maui (greenhouse grown) - Grassroots Grown($25/eighth)

4) Super Lemon Haze -New Age Medical($30/eighth)

3) Golden Goat - Tea Pot Lounge (Pink House Mile High)($35/eighth)

2) 707 Headband Shatter - Green Dream Health Services$40/gram

1) Ghost OG - Trill Alternatives($40/eighth)

Wounded Knee rumored to be on block

The Wounded Knee Massacre Site is up for sale -read the text on the photo #complicated twitter.com/lastrealindian…
— lastrealindians.com (@lastrealindians) January 15, 2013

Tim Giago's piece on today's Wounded Knee posted at indianz.

Hickey: state revenues too reliant on sin?

As a rule, religionists get pilloried at interested party.

South Dakota representative and Sioux Falls pastor, Steve Hickey has been sounding more like a progressive than a member of the earth hater party lately: he posted some questions for his dying red state at his blog. Lifted from Voices Carry:

Many economists agree it’s only a matter of time before America faces the consequences of decades of the devaluation of the Dollar, unsustainable spending, irresponsible consumption and unbridled debt accumulation. Regardless of whether or not we agree a day of reckoning is inevitable, it is the responsibility of our state elected officials to do more than wait and see if and when for example, the Dollar ceases to be the World’s Reserve Currency.

Hickey dislikes video loottery even as I hate it: it destroys through class warfare and discriminates against a single income base contributing to addiction, desperation and crime. Capitalism relies on coveting, after all.

South Dakota's governor has proposed drug courts for persons caught possessing less-than-felonious amounts of cannabis: a measure clearly meant to reduce costs of law enforcement, overcrowding in state facilities, and the associated burdens to society. Legislation being prepared is apparently designed to address addiction but stigmatizes and shames persons for whom the use of cannabis should be as protected as it is for carrying a firearm.

Rep. Hickey laments the state's reliance on the dole from the feds as he fails to embrace the obvious revenue possibilities of the responsible cultivation and consumption of a relatively safe adults-only pastime, not to mention a renewable source of protein, and some likely pending industrial ag wet dream like Monsanto GMO cannabis.

It's hard not to wonder whether civil war is on the horizon: can any common ground be found?

Bacteria in pink slime killed Minnesota man; gun war was planned

The Rapid City Journal is reporting that legislators in the chemical toilet plan to hype economic development in a failed red state. Here is how companies in South Dakota treat end-users:

Minnesota health officials suspect that E. coli tainted ‘lean finely textured beef’ made by Beef Products, Inc., sickened at least five people in the state in 2009, killing one of them. Now, as BPI pursues a lawsuit against ABC News and two former USDA microbiologists who raised objections about their product, the company must defend itself from accusations that treating beef trim with ammonia did not kill deadly pathogens.--DAVID KNOWLES / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Feeding this shit to students forced into school lunch programs is child abuse.

Boycott this stupid state. The toxic environment in the backwater is pervasive and pernicious: flee South Dakota while you still can.

How cap and trade could solve the debt ceiling hassle.

In the '60s and '70s the NRA pushed gun control out of fear of the Black Panther Movement and now the temporary spikes in gun and ammo sales are boosting stock prices for weapons manufacturers.

But this spike will collapse as people barricade themselves in their homes and the NRA wins as President Obama's measures to keep the economy from tanking fail.

It's as if the NRA planned the last ten years of gun violence in the US as we are fucked no matter what happens.

Black Hills, sage steppe proposed for new bombing range

ip photo

Ellsworth Air Force Base operations are closed today because Gaia is tired of white people in South Dakota killing children in Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere for awhile; but, it is part of a proposed expansion of bombing practice according to Tom Lutey writing in the Billings Gazette:

Ellsworth Air Force Base officials say plans for a South Carolina-sized training area over portions of four western states are moving ahead. A key piece of the approval process, a final environmental impact statement, has not been finalized. Spokesman Maj. Matthew Reese said the EIS is out of Ellsworth’s hands. The base has moved on to arranging meetings with state and tribal governments in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.

There were numerous concerns when the Air Force held public hearings about the 27,500-square-mile Powder River Training Complex in 2009. Two years ago, U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, D-Mont., asked the Air Force not to expand the PRTC into southeastern Montana.

Several years ago a B-1 crashed in Carter County: a responding volunteer firefighter from Alzada told this interested party the multi-million dollar aircraft was brought down by a rancher with a .30-30 Winchester.

Thune is christian nationalist, earth hater

Senator don Juan Thune (earth hater-SD) voted for President Obama's American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

South Dakota's junior senator is on a statewide apology tour after his party's unrelenting, brutal assaults on women, civil liberties, and the Earth.

His staff just penned early damage control a position paper for him in a local newspaper blaming the Environmental Protection Agency for not completely caving to the industries that paid him big money to defeat former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Here's an excerpt lifted from the Rapid City Journal:

In late December, the Obama White House announced that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson would be leaving her post as the agency’s top official. With Jackson in charge at the EPA, Otter Tail Power, which was the lead developer of the Big Stone II project in South Dakota, made the decision in September 2009 to pull out of the project, citing uncertainty associated with proposed and existing federal environmental regulations.

Even now, Big Stone relies on the dirtiest coal as it spreads mercury, lead and other heavy metal oxides over Minnesota and other downwind states after courts ended most cross-state pollution compacts.

Thune blames the EPA for causing utility rate increases ignoring his own party's election to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission even as it trumpets that price gouging.

Senator Thune's campaign contributors have teamed up to force EPA to allow toxic compounds in uranium extraction.

He is in the minority party in the Senate so his only hope is to compromise with Democrats in his efforts to end federal environmental protection in his dying state.

The Journal is a GOP-owned publication that owes its existence to favors for that party: it chose a Thune photo taken when the politico was a mere child having just graduated from a California bible college.

Recently, veteran Mitchell Daily Republic reporter, Denise Ross mentioned on Bill Janklow's idea of public radio that if John Thune really intends to enter the 2016 presidential race he will have to succeed at some policy initiative: a feat left undone in his laggard six years in the Senate.

This senator is rumored to be a womanizer. His hometown of Mud-ro, a homely, barren outpost on I-90, announced the dedication of a public building named in his father's honor: gawd....

New Mexicans: drink beer, pee in Rio Grande for Texas; PPP: NRA image in toilet with US House

ip photo: Bosque del Apache.

Water wars are hardly new in the Southwest. Texans backed earth hater Susana Martinez for governor believing they could call in favors after she was elected.

Now, water use goes to the Supreme Court of the United States. New favorite journo, John Fleck sez at the ABQ Journal:

The suit also names Colorado, as a third party in the compact, as a defendant. But the brief makes clear that Texas’ beef is entirely with New Mexico’s water management.

RT @jfleck

Reader suggests New Mexicans drink a lot of beer and pee in Rio Grande to help boost deliveries to Texas: http://bit.ly/UUgJ5u #WestWAter

From an AP report posted at a local teevee outlet:

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the litigation was filed after negotiations with New Mexico were unsuccessful. The agency says New Mexico is violating the 1938 Rio Grande Compact that governs how water is shared by Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

But New Mexico Attorney General Gary King said a 2008 agreement between two water districts unfavorably changed the allocation of water to his state. King said Texas is trying to force New Mexico to abide by an unfair agreement and called the lawsuit "tantamount to extortion."

Both states tried to resolve the issue in 2011, during negotiations that involved Rio Grande Commissioner Patrick Gordon, New Mexico officials and the commissioner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

New Mexico scored a D- in Public Integrity's accountability grading while Texas got a D+.

Nathan Johnson tells readers of the Yankton Press Dakotan that the US Army Corps of Engineers is reducing releases from Gavins Point on the Missouri River as downstream states also threaten legal action against the water-rich upper basin.

Stormwater is on trial in a number of cases according to SCOTUSblog.

Public Policy Polling is releasing results of recent rankings. Among them:

The NRA's focus on putting more guns in schools is likely what's driving the decline in the organization's image. Only 41% of voters support the organization's proposal to put armed police officers in schools across the country, with 50% opposed.

Colorado Springs boasts 13th gayest city in the US according to Advocate: Denver made honorable mention.

Why cannabis should be legal for adults: CNN.

Snow: yes, there are liberals in Pierre

Gary Snow operates Gary Snow [and] Associates Inc.: a company that provides environmental consulting and contracting services throughout South Dakota. He is a former staffer of the late Sen. George McGovern and wrote this in the Pierre Capital Journal:

Before the tar is heated and the chickens plucked, I hasten to define what I mean by that egregious label. As the editor was generous in pointing out in his column, “liberal” comes from the same Latin base as “liberty.” This may be a surprise to our conservative community, but there are actually people who live in Pierre who believe that Christianity may not hold all the answers. There are many other examples that define the liberal and conservative label, such as the right to choose, eminent domain, environmental stewardship, prison reform, unemployment benefits, health care reform, racism and reconciliation – the list is endless. Liberals don’t just make stuff for us to use or all live in California. They live among us and continue to push for things that never were and believe our greatest days are in the future and not in vain attempt to return to an imaginary past.

A-mother-fucking-men.

Law enforcement industry dividing spoils from Interstate 90/25 cannabis commerce

Most right-wing media outlets continue to stigmatize cannabis by referring to the herb using the 'm' word. Spokane, Washington's Spokesman Review is one example: it services many red state readers downwind of its blue state address.

Eastbound I-90 through Idaho is among the first of a multitude of lucrative traps for unwitting cannabis rights pioneers.

High-grade cannabis grown in Washington, Oregon and Northern California is worth about $1,800 to $2,500 a pound locally. But in Chicago the price jumps to $5,000 a pound and can climb even higher on the East Coast, law enforcement officials say. The Idaho State Police patrol division is seeing a surge in marijuana seizures. In 2012, troopers confiscated more than 660 pounds in 45 traffic stops involving at least a pound of pot. Most of that was in the Boise area along Interstate 84, followed by the I-90 corridor in North Idaho.

The trade group for Washington’s self-regulated medical marijuana industry is pushing for changes in state law that will help bring production and distribution out of the shadows, said Greta Carter, executive director of the Coalition for Cannabis Standards and Ethics. “The more that cannabis can be routed into legitimate markets, where we can tax and we can regulate and control it, the less appealing the underground economy becomes,” Carter said. --Scott Maben, The Spokesman Review

Jonathan Martin in the Seattle Times says the legislature may be weighing changes, that Carter is pushing for new laws to protect patients from arrest and to explicitly allow medical cannabis dispensaries. Colorado Public Radio provided similar testimony touting that state's providers' rigorous oversight.

If states want to control sales and punish minors for possession these might be some realistic inaugural steps: odd that they appear analogous to the operation that sent Montana's Chris Williams to federal prison.

Bob Newland tells readers that efforts are underway to introduce kinder, gentler language in South Dakota law and Montana's legislature is being seated: the red state nut race drags on.

If President Obama is seeking a replacement for Attorney General Eric Holder it's been quiet.

Yep: I-90 and I-25 intersect here, just a few miles from Pumpkin Buttes.

Canada, US facing indigenous insurgency

The emergence of warrior societies led by veterans of the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and Kosovo has unified young people in North America's tribal regions. Movements are growing from the Mohawk Nation in Quebec and New York to the Lakota strongholds in South Dakota, among the descendants of the Arapaho in the Mountain West, south to the Navajo Nation and into the border regions of the Tohono O'odham.

From Al Jazeera English:

In recent years in particular, Canada's indigenous communities have shown the will and potential to grind the country's economic lifelines to a halt through strategically placed blockades on the major highways and rail lines that run through native reserves well outside of Canada's urban landscape. There are more than 800 outstanding native land claims held against the Canadian government. And in many First Nations communities there is deep crisis, with poverty, unemployment and overcrowding the norm. According to figures from the Assembly of First Nations, more than 118 First Nations lack safe drinking water and some 5,500 houses do not have sewage systems. Almost one half of homes on native reserves are in need of "major repairs", compared with 7 per cent of non-native homes. Natives suffer a violent crime rate that is more than 300 times higher than Canada's non-native population, while natives represent 18.5 per cent of the male prison population and one-quarter of the female population, although natives only constitute 4 per cent of the total population.

In the US, where sovereignty rights, culture and language resurgence and growing capital resources from burgeoning black markets are building alternatives to hopelessness, suicide, and repression in Indian Country, deaths from firearm violence are higher than in any ethnic group.

South Dakota and Montana are in the cross hairs:

When Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau last spring initiated her “Schools of Promise” program to transform the state's lowest-performing schools — all of them on Indian Reservations in the eastern half of the state — she looked at what it would take to change failing schools on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Peck Reservations. "We learned very quickly that it went far beyond academics,” she said. “There is a lot of trauma in these communities.”

Professor Newquist seems to agree.

Is 2011 finally the year of Red Power?



This post was previously published 16 March, 2011.

Loser Pawlenty shunned at Iowa speech

Former Iowa governor now USDA Secretary Vilsack sees a food, farm and jobs bill in 2013.

Last election cycle, rabid, cat shit-insane christian earth hater Michele Bachmann won a beauty contest in Iowa then went on to temporarily lead an otherwise feckless field of candidates in the laughable GOP presidential primary. Like clodwork, she has already introduced yet another bill in the 113th Congress to repeal ObamaCare.

Fellow Minnesotan and former governor Tim Pawlenty, a member of the Church of the Holy Roman Kiddie Diddlers, who likely blew a GOP win having spent a year campaigning and millions in political contributions in the state by prematurely ejaculating his candidacy after that otherwise meaningless straw poll, has apparently asked too much money to speak at Iowa State University.

From an AP piece posted at a local teevee outlet:

Pawlenty’s agent told school officials his speaking fee was $25,000 plus expenses. Institute director Dave Peterson wrote that fee was “well beyond” what the institute could afford, but started asking others whether they could “cobble together enough” university funds from elsewhere.

Iowa, Idiots Out Wandering Aimlessly, got a C+ in accountability.

NOAA: Global warming confirmed

Caterpillar boycott a response to profits from Israel settlements in Palestine.

Surprise: US 29th healthiest country!

The National Weather Service in Aberdeen links the Anthropocene to planetary warming.

A new compilation of temperature records etched into ice cores, old corals, and lake sediment layers reveals a pattern of global warming from 1880 to 1995 comparable to the global warming trend recorded by thermometers. In addition to their shared long-term trend, many smaller-scale features also appear in both the paleoclimate and instrument temperature records. This paleoclimate dataset used 173 independent proxy datasets to draw a record from 1730 to 1995. For example, the warm interval of the 1940s in the global surface temperature record also appears in the paleoclimate record. Both records also show that the global warming in the last 15 years of the record (1980–1995) is significantly faster than that of the long-term trend (1880–1995).--NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)

EPA turns up heat on Iowa as Big Sioux suffers chlorine spill

An interview with live audience featured Vice President Walter Mondale today on Minnesota Public Radio. Icymi:

The US Environment Protection Agency is giving the Iowa Department of Natural Resouces five years to ensure that livestock producers clean up their acts; but enviros say the state won't have the resources to inspect suspect polluters and provides loopholes for offenders.

Perry Beeman writes in the Des Moines Register:

The EPA issued a blistering report on July 12, and said a preliminary investigation into the environmental groups’ allegations found that the DNR is not properly permitting, inspecting or fining large hog confinements and other livestock facilities subject to permit requirements. Peter Thorne, director of the University of Iowa’s Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, told the EPA in a letter that each confinement should be inspected once a year — not once every five years as the EPA suggests.

Both Iowa US Senators voted against the fiscal dealio.

Meanwhile, Kelly Thurman reported a multimillion gallon spill into the 13th most polluted waterway in the US. From the Sioux Falls Argus Leader:

A high level of chlorine can kill fish. Since the water ran into the river the city’s environmental division has done several tests on the water but no fish kills have been detected, said Robert Kappel, the city’s environmental manager.

Robert Perciasepe, the acting director of EPA is considered the likely successor to departing Lisa Jackson after her highly successful term at the agency.

Red state failure: Montana's assault on civil liberties continues

If you are a cop or clergy you're probably a psychopath.

Missouri River Drug Task Force detectives and informants who framed a Bozeman man should be forced to identify themselves.

Quantities were not specified in court documents except in one case when detectives said they could hear the informant saying he wanted to buy a quarter ounce. During one interaction, the seller was heard describing the marijuana [sic] as “West Coast sour diesel.”--Jodi Hausen, Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Scum of the earth is the only way to describe those who would abridge the rights conferred by the First Amendment while holding the Second Amendment as an absolute.

Armed with another black budget for these fuckers Montana scored a miserable D+ in state accountability to its residents.

Can Montana really afford this network to score a few ounces of weed? WTF!?

Are you aspiring to South Dakota's 'F' in accountability, Montanans? Reverse the Wyomingization of Montana now!

Jake Wagner is MRDTF Lieutenant in Gallatin County: call him at 406-582-2110 and urge him to stand down.

Happy Stupid-Gregorian-Calendar-That-Makes-No-Sense-To-Anyone Day.

Boycott Montana.