"Seattle Speaks: Marijuana Policy" (Get free tickets or watch live online)

Seattle Channel:

Seattle Speaks is a live, interactive show on Wed. May 19 at 7 p.m. Get free tickets or watch on cable channel 21 or online.

Washington State allows the use of medical marijuana, but should we go farther? Join the conversation with host C.R. Douglas as we discuss public safety concerns, cost issues and more surrounding the possibilities of regulating marijuana.

Upcoming Broadcast Times:
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 7:00 p.m. (LIVE)
Thursday, May 20, 2010 3:30 a.m.
Thursday, May 20, 2010 2:00 p.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 6:30 a.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 11:00 a.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 3:00 p.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 3:30 a.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 2:30 a.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 4:00 p.m.

Alter: "Secrets From Inside the Obama War Room" (with video)

Jonathan Alter (Newsweek) with video (01:15):

The first of 10 "AFPAK" meetings came on Sept. 13, when the president gathered 16 advisers in the Situation Room in the basement of the White House. This was to be the most methodical national-security decision in a generation. Deputy national-security adviser Tom Donilon had commissioned research that backed up an astonishing historical truth: neither the Vietnam War nor the Iraq War featured any key meetings where all the issues and assumptions were discussed by policymakers. In both cases the United States was sucked into war inch by inch. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Alter presents a portrait of a "tough guy" president who stands up tall before his military advisers.

"Seattle Speaks: Marijuana Policy" (Get free tickets or watch live online)

Seattle Channel:

Seattle Speaks is a live, interactive show on Wed. May 19 at 7 p.m. Get free tickets or watch on cable channel 21 or online.

Washington State allows the use of medical marijuana, but should we go farther? Join the conversation with host C.R. Douglas as we discuss public safety concerns, cost issues and more surrounding the possibilities of regulating marijuana.

Upcoming Broadcast Times:
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 7:00 p.m. (LIVE)
Thursday, May 20, 2010 3:30 a.m.
Thursday, May 20, 2010 2:00 p.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 6:30 a.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 11:00 a.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 3:00 p.m.
Friday, May 21, 2010 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 3:30 a.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 11:00 a.m.
Saturday, May 22, 2010 6:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 2:30 a.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, May 23, 2010 4:00 p.m.

FREE!! "Seattle Speaks: Marijuana"‏ (Updated)

UPDATE: You can watch the event LIVE ONLINE HERE.

Town Hall Seattle:

Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 7 – 9pm

Downstairs at Town Hall, enter on Seneca Street

For just over a decade, Washington State has allowed the use of medical marijuana, but some say we should go farther. How do you think we should regulate marijuana generally? Broadcast live and online at the Seattle Channel, this 90 minute interactive forum will lay out the history of marijuana policy locally and nationally, explore the potential revenues/costs associated with policy changes, discuss the potential for addiction, and the implications for our neighborhoods. Panelists will be drawn from across the spectrum of science, policy, enforcement and advocacy. C.R. Douglas will moderate the conversation “in the round”, to offer you a chance to share your opinions, and electronic polling during the event will gauge responses from both the live and online audiences. Admission is free, but registration is required at www.brownpapertickets.com LEARN MORE Take a Pre-Event Poll on Your Attitudes on Marijuana

Howie P.S.: "Sting, Soros, Montel And More: We Are The Drug Policy Alliance" (Ethan Nadelmann):

We are Americans who are embarrassed and disgusted that our nation leads the world in incarceration. And we are people from all around the world who wish that the U.S. - and other governments as well - would ground their drug policies in science, compassion, health and human rights. We are people who work tirelessly to advance the incremental drug policy reforms that can help people today and tomorrow, and we are the visionaries who never forget that our struggle is ultimately about changing the ways we deal with drugs in global society. That's why we are the Drug Policy Alliance.

"Right Wing Reacts With Rage To First Muslim American Miss USA: ‘An Odd Form Of Affirmative Action’"

Think Progress:

Last night, the Miss USA pageant crowned Miss Michigan Rima Fakih the 2010 Miss USA. Fakih, who hails from the large Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan, is a Lebanese American and the first Muslim to ever win the crown. (Miss USA 1983 Julie Hayek was reportedly the first Arab American to get the title).

In winning the title, Fakih defeated first runner-up Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard, who garnered headlines when she responded to a judge’s question about immigration policy by saying that she was “perfectly fine” with Arizona’s radical new immigration law. Just as they erupted over Carrie Prejean’s loss in the Miss USA contest 2009, the right is again alleging a liberal bias against Woolard. But many more right-wingers are enraged over Fakih’s crowning:

– Conservative radio host Debbie Schlussel blamed Fakih’s win on a supposed “politically correct, Islamo-pandering climate” in America and labeled her a “Lebanese Muslim Hezbollah supporter with relatives who are top terrorists.” [5/16/10]

– Right wing pundit and Fox contributor Michelle Malkin ranted that “Fakih’s cheerleaders are too busy tooting the identity politics horn to care what comes out of her mouth” and that “the Miss USA pageant didn’t want to risk the wrath of the open-borders mob.” [5/16/10]

– Conservative author Daniel Pipes, who was briefly appointed by former President George W. Bush to the U.S. Institute of Peace, opined that “this surprising frequency of Muslims winning beauty pageants makes me suspect an odd form of affirmative action.” [5/16/10]

– Fox News’s Gretchen Carlson complained that Woolard’s “informed opinion” may have cost her the crown, and said that Fakih may have won because we live in a “PC society.” [5/17/10]

“This is the real face of Arab Americans, not the stereotypes you hear about,” said Fakih supporter and Arab American Zouheir Alawieh following her win. “We have culture. We have beauty. We have history, and today we made history. … She believed in her dreams.”

Update--Fakih attended a Catholic high school and told pageant judges that her family celebrates both the Christian and the Muslim faiths.

"Miss Michigan shows Arabs' diversity" (with video)

Detroit Free Press with video (03:31):

Draped in a Guess dress, Rima Fakih glided
across the lawn of her parents' home in Dearborn
on a Friday night to greet her guests.
"Ahlan!" she exclaimed to a cousin, using the
Arabic word for "hello."
"How are you?" she then asked a friend in
English, beaming.
The blending of cultures -- Arab and American
-- was evident at Fakih's farewell party two
weeks ago as she prepared to leave for Las
Vegas, where she is to compete Sunday in the
Miss USA beauty pageant. The Dearborn resident
with roots in Lebanon hopes to become the first
Miss USA who is Arab American. MORE...

Updated: 60 Minutes: "Deepwater Horizon's Blowout" (video)

UPDATE: Amy Davidson (The New Yorker) with video from the US Navy (01:17):

“I have to say though I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle,” President Obama said this morning. He was talking about the testimony of executives from BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, the companies behind the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (and not, say, about his own game of make-believe with Hamid Karzai). “The American people cannot have been impressed with that display, and I certainly wasn’t.” So what is he going to do about it? (Bold by Howie).



CBS News, video (14:23), Part 1:

Scott Pelley speaks to one of the survivors of the deadly Deepwater Horizon oil rig blast who was in a position to know what caused the disaster.

Part 2 (11:59):

Scott Pelley investigates the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion that killed 11, causing the ongoing oil leak in the waters off of Louisiana. One survivor talks about his harrowing escape and what happened after he got off the burning rig.

Howie P.S.: Jason Leopold Tweets "Story on BP whistleblower/Atlantis FIRST REPORTED BY ME that 60 mins swiped 2nite w/o credit after contacting me."

"SNL Takes on Oil Companies" (video)

SNL (NBC), video (02:26).
Howie P.S.: It's not as funny as it is realistic.

"Is Obama Serious About Ending the War on Drugs?"

Coletta Youngers (AlterNet):

Obama has promised to do away with the war on drugs. So far, policy is lagging.---The rhetoric has changed. According to new U.S. "drug czar" Gil Kerlikowske, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Obama administration doesn't use the term "drug war" because the government shouldn't be waging war against its own citizens. In March 2009, U.S. Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke described the opium poppy eradication effort in Afghanistan as "the most wasteful and ineffective program that I have seen in 40 years." He bluntly stated that the U.S. government had wasted millions of dollars on a counterproductive program that generates political support for the Taliban and undermines nation-building efforts. And in his trip to Peru this past April, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela noted that the fundamental problem is not coca cultivation itself, but poverty and inequality.MORE...

"CNN: The Stimulus Lowered Taxes" (video)

DemRapidResponse, video (01:26).

H/t to Darryl.

"Afghan war costs now outpace Iraq's"

"President Obama made clear Wednesday that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan would remain long after troops are withdrawn, a process he hopes to begin in July 2."

USA Today:

The monthly cost of the war in Afghanistan, driven by troop increases and fighting on difficult terrain, has topped Iraq costs for the first time since 2003 and shows no sign of letting up.

Howie P.S.: More of the bad news (which has been anticipated by opponents of Obama's Afghan strategy),here.

"OFA/DNC phonebanking against Sestak and for Specter"

AMERICAblog:

For years, Specter was a Republican. Sestak is a real Democrat. Doesn't OFA have better things to do?

If Specter wins, and I really hope he doesn't, I wonder how all of these loyal Democrats are going to feel when Specter isn't worried about Democratic primary voters anymore. Arlen Specter worries about one person: Arlen Specter. He's as craven as politicians get. So, win or lose next week, Specter will dump Obama and the Democrats if that's in his best interest. Everyone knows Obama can't count on Specter to "continue working on his behalf." Because Specter works on behalf of Specter.

Howie P.S.: No like.

Media Matters: "Myths and falsehoods about Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination"

Media Matters delves deeply into the weeds on the Kagan nomination. This is an exercise for which I can't develop an appetite even though my good friend Ari Melber says

Let's learn more about her. She's not Sarah Palin and she's not an umpire. Here's hoping the White House will free Elena Kagan. Or that she frees herself.

.

"Sen. Cantwell questions BP America Pres & Chair Lamar McKay - who pays for Gulf Oil Disaster? " (video)

firedoglake, video (03:54):

Sen. Cantwell questions BP America Pres & Chair Lamar McKay - who pays for Gulf Oil Disaster?

H/t to Darryl.

Kerlikowske: "New drug control strategy signals policy shift"

AP:

The new drug plan encourages health care professionals to ask patients questions about drug use even during routine treatment so that early intervention is possible. It also helps more states set up electronic databases to identify doctors who are over-prescribing addictive pain killers.

"Putting treatment into the primary health care discussion is critical," Kerlikowske said in an interview.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pointed to research showing that kids who reach their 21st birthday without developing an addiction are less likely to develop an addiction when they're older.

"The goal here is to prevent and treat substance abuse before it becomes life threatening," she said.

The policy shift comes in the wake of several other drug policy reforms since Obama took office. Obama signed a measure repealing a two-decade old ban on the use of federal money for needle-exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV. His administration also said it won't target medical marijuana patients or caregivers as long as they comply with state laws and aren't fronts for drug traffickers.

Earlier this year, Obama called on Congress to eliminate the disparity in sentencing that punishes crack crimes more heavily than those involving powder cocaine.

Some drug reform advocates like the direction Obama is heading, but question whether the administration's focus on treatment and prevention programs is more rhetoric than reality at this point. They point to the national drug control budget proposal released earlier this year, for example, which continues to spend about twice as much money on enforcement as it does on programs to reduce demand.

"The improved rhetoric is not matched by any fundamental shift in the budget or the broader thrust of the drug policy," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors drug policy reform.

Nadelmann praised some of Obama's changes, but said he is disappointed with the continued focus on arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating large numbers of people.
FULL STORY.

Joe Bageant: "Lost on the Fearless Plain"

Joe Bageant:

The big problem at the moment though, for us as sentient beings, is:

What to do when I get out of bed each day? Give money to the Democrats? Move out of the country? Stay and fight the bastards?

Throwing money at frauds and fools doesn't work. Moving to Mexico or Canada takes money in a time when money and jobs are scarce everywhere. As for staying and fighting, really fighting, there is not one person reading this who is going to go strangle the sleazy fucks having martinis on Wall Street with their pet Senator. Nobody reading this is going to instill genuine physical fear, which is the only thing such lizards might respond to. We are left to work within the system, as per the hologram's directive. Their system. Ha! MORE

"Meet Elena Kagan" (video)

WhiteHouse.gov, video (03:22)

Seattle: "Panhandling legislation vetoed"

Timothy Harris (Real Change):

Last week, as nearly everyone by now knows, Seattle’s newest panhandling legislation was vetoed by Mayor Mike McGinn. Few believe that Licata, Harrell, Rassmussen, or O’Brien can be flipped to make a veto-proof 6-3 council majority. The ordinance, one of five points of a public safety plan offered by Tim Burgess, appears dead.

Most media coverage has been hostile to the to the point of hysteria. The Seattle Times published a vindictive, near-libelous editorial about the council vote. KING5 dishonestly counter-posed the veto and the mayor’s refusal to commit to 20 new cops on the news anchor’s preferred timeline. On KCTS Connects, a news analysis panel — with Republican strategist Chris Vance, long-time Democratic party strategist Kathy Allen, Joni Balter from the Seattle Times, and the PI’s Joel Connelly editorial board — engaged in something akin to Orwell’s 5-Minute Hate. They said the mayor had just lost mainstream Seattle with his “out of touch” leftism. Balter predicted that women voters would abandon in droves those who opposed this ordinance. She called O’Brien a puppet and McGinn “the ventriloquist.”

When the downtown interests lose a round, ugly spectacle ensues. If ever the need for independent media voices has been apparent, it is now.

The best thing that could happen now is for everyone concerned about Seattle safety — and this includes the mayor, all the councilmembers, Real Change, the ACLU, the NAACP and homeless advocates — to work on the real problems with which we are faced: gang activity, open-air drug dealing and the violence that follows, rising youth violence in the South End. More effective deployment of police is part of the solution. Increased mental health services, expanded treatment options and increased human services outreach would help a lot as well. We all agree on this.

The worst thing that could happen is that we quickly find ourselves back in the same place, pouring our energy into a divisive fight that misidentifies the problem and punishes those who have the least for an economy they don’t control.

Either way, we’ll be there, organizing to win. Please support Real Change’s Spring Fund Drive. Our success this year, our capacity to organize, our quality weekly reporting, all depend upon your reader support. Visit our website at realchangenews.org, or send your gift to Real Change, 2129 Second Ave., Seattle, 98121. Thank you.

Democracy Now!: "Pioneering African American Actress, Singer and Civil Rights Activist Lena Horne, 92, Dies" (with audio and video)

Democracy Now! with audio and video (14:17):

Lena Horne enjoyed a six-decade singing career on stage, television and in film. She was the first black woman to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio. She helped break racial boundaries by acting alongside white entertainers, but she was segregated on screen so producers could clip out her singing when the movies ran in the South.
In the 1950s, she was blacklisted in part because of her friendship with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. In 1963, Lena Horne took part in the March on Washington alongside Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory and was part of a group, which included authors James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, that met with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to urge a more active approach to desegregation. We air a rare 1966 interview with Lena Horne from the Pacifica Radio Archives and speak to her biographer, James Gavin. [includes rush transcript]

"Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Real Financial Reform, Now!" (video)

UPDATE: Ben Smith reports on the "Bipartisanship of the fringe" that backed the "Audit the Fed" bill which just passed 96-0 in the Senate.

bravenewfilms, video (04:45):

"As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, this is what I said on the floor of the House in 1999 as I voted against the major bank deregulation bill: This legislation, in its current form, will do more harm than good. It will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers; increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses; diminished credit for rural America; and taxpayer exposure to potential loses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers; a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry; and further concentration of economic power in our country.

Frankly, it didn't take a PhD in finance to reach that conclusion. If you give unlimited license to Wall Street speculators, no one should be surprised when the result is greed on steroids."