Acclaim to Louisiana for Its Legalization of Medical Marijuana

Laws in 24 states and in three territories now reflect an awareness, a sensibility and a compassion the federal government continues to resist for reasons it does not make clear, although they may include fealty to the pharmaceutical industry and to the private prison industry.

 

At least spring brought the resignation of Drug Enforcement administrator Michele Leonhart, who was nominated by George W. Bush, was renominated by President Obama and is perhaps best known for her spectacularly disastrous attempts in front of Congress to defend the racist, dishonest, wasteful, destructive and cruel war on marijuana -- including on medicinal cannabis.

Leonhart also impeded research of the substance.  But the pressure that caused her exit was actually due to the revelation of use of public money by some agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration to hire prostitutes at parties held by drug cartels abroad.

Mourning a Diligent, Intrepid Champion of Truth & Justice

Vincent Bugliosi, who died Saturday, was known mostly as the lawyer who carried out the successful prosecution of Charles Manson for his notorious murders and who chronicled that prosecution in Helter Skelter, the best-selling true crime book ever.

Bugliosi
("Democracy Now!")

I learned of Bugliosi as he promoted his book The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President, which is an expansion of his piece "None Dare Call It Treason: Five Supreme Court Justices Are Criminals in the Truest Sense of the Word," which generated more feedback than did anything else The Nation had ever published.

Bugliosi had already lambasted the High Court upon penning No Island of Sanity: Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton: The Supreme Court on Trial, which analyzes the decision that allows for a civil lawsuit against an incumbent president of the United States to be heard and therefore distract him from his exceptionally important duties.

In the book The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, which is the subject of two documentaries, Bugliosi spells out a case according to which Bush is guilty of having unlawfully killed thousands of US troops by ordering them into Iraq under pretenses he knew to be false.  For as long as Bush lives without a pardon for the misconduct at issue, that case can be brought against him, with regard to any said victim, in a criminal court whose jurisdiction covers the final residence of the victim.

Bugliosi's magnum opus is Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which proves beyond all doubt the murder of the 35th chief executive of this country was committed by Lee Harvey Oswald and which proves beyond a reasonable doubt the crime did not result from any conspiracy.

Bugliosi, with his apt frankness and his passionate devotion to logic and to the rule of law, set a shining example of citizenship, including by waging two campaigns for district attorney of the County of Los Angeles.  Neither ended in victory but he attained a record of 105-1 in felony jury trials as a deputy DA and managed to produce the album Greatest Latin Love Songs of the Century.

Bernie Punctures the Myth of Conservatism as Mainstream

The major news-outlets' coverage of the candidacy of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic presidential nomination, while quite unfair, is vast enough to surprise some of us when we consider that the ex-representative has spent his career fighting abuse by corporations and that corporations own an overwhelming majority of the US media and would be satisfied by the election of frontrunner and ex-sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), whose campaign logo fittingly includes an arrow that points rightward.

Sanders ("Democracy Now!"),
Clinton (Minh Ngo / Dept. of State)

The former secretary of State, not yet validating her campaign staff's remarks that say she understands the need to "work for and earn" votes, has been so elusive as to allow the traction Sanders has attained via an abundance of interviews and of crowded town-hall-style meetings.  Reason would lead us to expect that the appeal of his openness will only grow as Clinton waits another week to hold her kickoff rally, holds it in one of the few least accessible locations in the Big Apple, and waits until weeks from now before she holds events at which she will engage voters who will not be preselected.

With so much of the national spotlight on Sanders, he is skillfully utilizing his opportunity to do something that is of great importance not only for his candidacy but for future left-wing candidacies across this land and that has been done by others but not, in recent years, by anyone with as prominent a platform: boldly advocate liberal stances, concisely explain their wisdom, sharply defend them, and mention that a strong majority of them are popular.

The propaganda according to which liberalism (despite its responsibility for the foundation of this country and for every progression in its history) is generally opposed by the public has persuaded most liberals to drop -- or never develop --  the confidence required to maintain this nation's course toward the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution.  The example the former mayor of Burlington now sets is likely to encourage many liberals to (re)gain such confidence.

The widespread support for leftist ideas is evident in statistics such as the following.

Praise to Nebraska for Its Abolition of the Death Penalty

Facts about the racist, classist, cruel, erroneous, ineffective, costly and otherwise objectionable aspects of capital punishment in the United States are available here.

Courage Celebrated & Demonstrated at the Academy Awards

Here are previews of three of my favorite Oscar-winning films that inspire us to be courageous.  After the titles are the years of release, the categories of the Oscars these productions won, and the winners' names, which link to video of their acceptances.

ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000)

Actress in a Leading Role: Julia Roberts

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006)

Documentary Feature: director Davis Guggenheim
Original Song: Melissa Etheridge

MILK (2008)

Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn
Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black

 

The following are brave statements delivered at Academy Award ceremonies.  These remarks drew reactions that indicate Hollywood is not as liberal as it is often said to be.  Again, years cited are of release.

Declining the award for Actor in a Leading Role for Marlon Brando's

performance in THE GODFATHER (1972), Sacheen Littlefeather refers to

a deadly confrontation between American Indians and the US government.

Accepting the award for Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance

in JULIA (1977), Vanessa Redgrave refers to death threats from people who

sought the termination of her career because of her defense of the Palestinians.

Accepting the award for Documentary Feature for BOWLING FOR

COLUMBINE (2002), director Michael Moore refers to the invasion of Iraq

and to tactics the Bush-Cheney administration employed to scare the public.

Why I Would Support Stein over Sanders

Jill Stein MD announced Friday she has formed a committee to explore the option of pursuing the Green presidential nomination after winning it in 2012 and subsequently receiving the highest percentage of the popular vote of any female contender for president of the United States ever -- a percentage triple the one garnered by the previous standard-bearer of her party.  Those who accepted that nomination in 2000, 2004 and 2008 declined to go for it again.  Now, all who share Stein's basic vision should stand by to take advantage of her consistent and respectable leadership.

Stein (Stein '12 campaign), Sanders
(US Senate Historical Office)

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has values similar to those of Stein and also might seek the highest office in this land but has not used his stature as an independent official to help build a third party, which the public needs and wants*.  The ex-mayor of Burlington apparently remains unwilling to do so.

Additionally, the longest-serving independent member of Congress in history says if he were to wage a campaign outside the major parties, he would suspend it if in fear of being "a spoiler."  Assuming the Democratic nominee in that case would be a corporatist such as former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, though, I assert the adage, "One cannot spoil what is already rotten."

Nonetheless, Sanders seems inclined to run as a Democrat if at all even though the Democratic Party has -- despite continual polls showing most in that party and in this country at large are liberal on most issues -- followed the Republicans rightward for decades and would therefore be unlikely to welcome him, a socialist.  Furthermore, I thought the highlight of a Democratic bid by Sanders could be his performance in the primary debates, yet we read Clinton is thinking of simply ducking such confrontations.

As this nation endures an unemployment rate of 23.2%, the largest gap in wealth since before the Great Depression, and other urgent problems, we should not want the entry of a presidential candidate who might, in effect, pull a bait-and-switch by setting forth a leftist platform that will draw people into the political process and then, upon losing the primary race, encouraging them to vote for the status-quo in the general election.

If Sanders were to somehow clinch the nomination, his coattails would -- barring a deep revolution in the party -- be rolled out for, mainly, the same type of Democratic politicians who have resisted the overwhelming majority of his ideas thus far.  The Green standard-bearer, however, surely will head a slate that is devoted to populism and lead a party that will keep fighting for it beyond the next administration.

UPDATE: Great thanks to Mayor David Doonan (G - Greenwich, NY) for publishing this entry at Green Papers and sharing it on the website, Facebook page and Twitter page of the Green Party.

*Gallup's description of the Democratic Party as center-left is false.  Both major parties are center-right.

At Hearing That Features Kissinger, CodePink Demands His Arrest

Amy Goodman delivered the following report this morning as host of Democracy Now!

Socialist Response to the State of the Union Address, 2015

Tuesday, as she did last year, Councilwoman Kshama Sawant PhD of Seattle, who was elected citywide in 2013 and is a member of the Socialist Alternative Party, rebutted the annual speech by President Obama to Congress.

Granny D's Rebellion to Save Democracy Continues

Soon after arriving at the New Hampshire headquarters of the Kerry/Edwards campaign in order to help do its work, I noticed, on the wall, a newspaper clipping about the US senatorial race in that state and was fascinated to learn the Democratic nominee was 94 years old.  She was named Doris Haddock but was better known as "Granny D" and had earned international attention in 1999 when walking from Los Angeles, CA, to the US Capitol to raise awareness of the need for campaign finance reform.

Haddock ("Democracy Now!")

Although the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, a.k.a. "McCain-Feingold," became law, Haddock was continuing her fight by challenging Republican incumbent Judd Gregg with a candidacy she kicked off by walking across the Granite State.

The great-grandmother authored Walking across America in My Ninetieth Year, You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell and Granny D's American Century in addition to being the subject of the documentaries Granny D Goes to Washington and Run, Granny, Run! as well as of the plays Go, Granny D! and Granny D: The Power of One.  She died at age 100 but had lived to blast the decision of the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.  That decision allows unlimited, corporate, independent expenditures intended to influence public elections.

Today, the third walk organized by New Hampshire Rebellion -- a division of Open Democracy, which Haddock founded -- for campaign finance reform concludes at the State Capitol in Concord.  Events along the way included a presentation by law professor Zephyr Teachout, author of Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin's Snuff Box to Citizens United.  Last year, Teachout ran for the nominations of the Working Families Party and the Democratic Party for governor of New York against incumbent Andrew Cuomo, who remains under federal investigation for shutting down a commission that had begun to probe some of the biggest contributors to his campaign.

Yesterday on Bloomberg TV's With All Due Respect, the Fordham University faculty member reiterated her support for a populist challenge to former secretary of State Hillary Clinton (whose previous campaigns were brimming with donations from special interests) for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The NH Rebellion is determined to ask every presidential candidate in the upcoming cycle, "What specific reforms will you advance to end the corrupting influence of money in politics?"  The voters had better elect the one who has the best answer.

Barbara Boxer's Greatest Hits

Barbara Boxer, the junior senator from California, announced Thursday she will not seek re-election.  Her current term, which is her fourth in the upper chamber of Congress, will expire in January 2017.  Here are some reasons why I have considered Boxer to be the least disappointing Democrat in the Senate ever since Russell Feingold of Wisconsin left that body in 2011.

Boxer (US Senate
Historical Office)

Four years after no senator joined 13 representatives in their objections to the illegitimate Electoral votes from Florida, Boxer partnered with the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio to challenge the illegitimate Electoral votes from Ohio, forcing Congress to debate and vote on whether to certify them.  Boxer was the lone senator to join the mere 31 representatives who opposed certification.

At the hearings on the nomination of Condoleezza Rice PhD to be secretary of State -- a nomination Boxer was one of just 12 Democrats to vote to reject -- Boxer grilled Rice on lies she told as George W. Bush's wife national security advisor, especially about the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- an operation of which Boxer was among only 21 Democratic senators to vote against authorization.

Boxer was one of merely three cosponsors of Feingold's proposal to censure Bush for his misconduct with regard to surveillance by the National Security Agency. 

Chairing the Committee on the Environment and Public Works, Boxer deflated her colleague James Inhofe of Oklahoma for trying, at a hearing on climate change, to prevent any of his time from being used by former vice president Albert Gore Jr. to answer questions the denier of climate change was asking him.

Lastly, I fondly recall Boxer's fine job at comedy in the episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm entitled, "The Anonymous Donor."