While I detest the role he has played in undercutting open, honest debate in this country, I still feel sorry for Rush Limbaugh, given the private hell he’s apparently been living with for some time, and the sudden transformation of it into a very public hell. But anyway, this timeline from Kynn at Shock & Awe makes fascinating reading: Rush Limbaugh hearing loss timeline.

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, has a new book out: Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market. He looks at the free-market side of the marijuana, sex, and undocumented-worker stories, pointing out some interesting facts along the way. Like, marijuana has now passed corn as the US’s leading cash crop, and the black-market business in drugs, pr0n, and illegal labor now constitutes nearly 10% of the US GDP. Schlosser’s conclusion is that as a country we’re deeply screwed up, with high-profile public morality masking a depraved underbelly.

A few links: The book’s first chapter, as excerpted by the New York Times, a review in the Times, and an interview with Schlosser at bookpage.com.

As commented upon interestingly by Sungo at Sungo’s Journal, check out the story of Antron Singleton, rap artist, aspirer after fame, and cannibal.

A little wise-ass knavery for your Saturday, courtesy of our good friends in Chile (as reported by Ananova, via Dave Barry’s blog): Kermit rolls a joint in joke email.

Update: Still haven’t been able to find a copy of the actual movie, dangit, but Hiro found this, which gets pretty close: Rana Gustavo. Hm. And now that I think of it, I wonder if that sequence of images actually is the “animated clip” that the Ananova article refers to. But whatever.

Something I find really interesting is the way society and the media conspire to maintain the life-cycle of big exposés. A story breaks, with all its shocking revelations; reporters swoop in, stories get filed, and then what? Maybe some things actually change: laws are passed, powerful people resign their positions, the guilty are punished, the innocent exonerated. Or maybe not. Maybe nothing much at all changes. The cameras and TV lights are boxed up and shipped off somewhere else, the big papers stop covering the story, and the people left behind do their best to pick up the pieces and move on with their lives. Or sit in their jail cells counting the months to their hoped-for parole. Anyway, a nice object lesson in all this is a recent story from Nate Blakeslee of the Texas Observer, covering the aftermath of the bogus drug convictions in Tulia, Texas: Can You Hear Me Now?

Courtesy of Hiro: “This information is only for kids who are smart and mature enough to respect the dangers involved with injecting heroin…”

from the good-luck,-Diogenes dept.

Silly-ass N.Y. Times login required (cypherpunk98/cypherpunk works, among others), but the story is too good to pass up: Boomers’ Little Secret Still Smokes Up the Closet, in which we learn of the heartbreak of parents who want to go along with the Just Say No message being taught to their kids in school, while still sparking up the occasional doob. Gee, daddy, what is that smell on your clothes?

from the strange-bedfellows dept.

How did I go so long without hearing about Christians for Cannabis?

from the more-heat-than-light dept.
A loyal lies.com reader, Shadowwalker, submitted the following story. I normally wouldn’t run something without a link, but in this case the story itself is interesting enough to serve as a nice break between my incessant Israeli-Palestinian postings. At least that’s what I decided. Follow the link below, or scroll down, to read the story itself, which, as near as I can tell, is a fictional account of nefarious goings on in the Douglas, Wyoming, police department, as reported by someone with truly atrocious spelling.
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from the wonder-if-it’s-one-of-the-Colonel’s-11-secret-herbs-and-spices dept.

From Guardian Unlimited comes the story of Bi Jingxiang, the owner of a restaurant in Beijing, who has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for sprinkling ground opium on his spicy fish dishes. The District People’s Court apparently didn’t buy his claim that the drug is a traditional condiment renowned in his hometown for its many beneficial effects.

from the don’t-make-me-come-over-there dept.

Joseph Frederick, in addition to suffering the stigma of having two first names, was suspended from his high school recently after he hoisted a banner reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at an off-campus event. Now he, along with the Alaska Civil Liberties Union, are suing the school for violating his free-speech rights. Among the things the suit alleges is that the school’s principal doubled Frederick’s 5-day suspension to 10 days after the boy quoted Thomas Jefferson to her.

from the don’t-bogart-that…-whatever-that-is dept.

From Reuters (via Yahoo News) comes the story of five Australian drug activists arrested for publicly smoking what appeared to be a 36-inch joint. Except it actually wasn’t; a spokesman explained that the item was simply a prop made with tobacco and “legal herbs”. Police were unimpressed, saying the protesters would be charged anyway, for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and, especially, for making them look stupid.

from the posted-at-4:20-(UT)-on-4/20,-no-less dept.

From the LA Times comes an article describing the cultural phenomenon of “420” (or 4:20, or 4/20) as a reference to pot smoking. No, it turns out not to be a police code, or a reference to Hitler’s birthday. The real story of where the term came from is a pretty cool example, though, of how weird associations like this come into being. Something to think about at 4:20 today…

from the another-drug-war-propaganda-related-death dept.

From ABC News comes this 20/20 story about 16-year-old Brandy French, who died after taking Ecstasy for the first time, while the friends who gave her the drug spent hours, literally, trying to decide if they should risk calling 911 or taking her to a hospital. Now the girl’s father is suing her friends, hoping to send a message to others who might find themselves in a similar situation. Too bad he didn’t name the Partnership for a Drug-Free America in the suit, for the role that organization plays in fostering the environment of fear and ignorance that leads to deaths like these.

from the lies,-damn-lies,-and-Texas-narcotics-officers dept.

Guardian Unlimited has the story of the dropping of charges against Tonya White, a woman accused of selling cocaine to Tom Coleman, a narcotics officer whose undercover investigation during 1998 and 1999 led to the arrests of 43 people. The problem in White’s case was apparently that she didn’t live anywhere near Tulia, Texas (the site of the alleged drug sale), and was able to produce bank records proving she was in Oklahoma, hundreds of miles away, at the time Coleman says she was selling him drugs. White’s attorney says the outcome shows that Coleman, who worked alone and used no audio or video surveillance, was simply a liar willing to send innocent people to prison to further his own career.

from the kids’ll-stick-anything-in-their-mouths dept.

From CNN comes this story of a 12-year-old Nigerian boy who arrived in New York yesterday on a British Airways flight, then became ill, went to the hospital, and told police he had swallowed 87 condoms filled with heroin in return for a promise of $1,900 for smuggling the drugs into the U.S. The boy is in stable condition, facing charges, while the investigation continues.

from the have-a-cookie dept.

From Guardian Unlimited comes the story of a claim by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB – the successor to the KGB) that CIA agents secretly administered psychotropic drugs to a Russian defense worker in an effort to obtain information from the man. A CIA spokesman and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow declined comment.

from the want-some-candy,-little-girl? dept.

According to an article in the Washington Post, The Food and Drug Administration has cracked down on three online pharmacies that were selling nicotine-containing lollipops, saying the “smoking cessation products” had not been tested for safety. FDA attorney David Horowitz explained that “we at FDA understand the tobacco industry’s need to find innovative ways to promote tobacco use among children, but they need to follow the rules.”

from the do-as-I-say,-not-as-I,-well,-you-know dept.

From Reuters’ Oddly Enough (via Yahoo News) comes this unlikely item: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be featured in an upcoming ad campaign from the good people at NORML, in which the billionaire financial-information mogul is quoted as saying, in reply to a question on whether he ever smoked pot, “You bet I did, and I enjoyed it.”

from the they-gave-him-lousy-grades-as-a-student,-too dept.

The Guardian has the story of Yale University’s decision to join other colleges in reimbursing students who lose federal financial aid due to drug offenses. Under a law passed in 1998, but not enforced until our current education President took office, students convicted of drug possession can lose their financial aid money. The Bush alma mater joins Hampshire College, Swarthmore, and Western Washington University in its decision to offer scholarships to affected students. “It’s really about fostering diversity,” explains Yale spokesperson Tom Conroy. “Some people, including President Bush, apparently, think hard drinking is all that higher education has to offer today. We want people to know, though, that a rich, vibrant tradition of marijuana, cocaine, and LSD use that is alive and well at Yale University.”