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Today's
Stories
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
November
20, 2007
Oren
Ben-Dor
Why Israel Has No "Right to Exist"
as a Jewish State
Wajahat
Ali
An Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Alan
Farago
The Dark Arts and the Bush Dynasty
Marjorie
Cohn
Musharraf Plays Bush for a Fool
Ralph
Nader
Green is Gold?
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Whistleblower Launches a New Attack on Rigged
Tribunals
Sara
Olson
When Going AWOL is the Only Escape
Dave
Lindorff
Likelihood of Iran Attack Gains Credence
Paul
Krassner
The First Amendment, a Dialogue
Website
of the Day
Joanne Mariner on Torture
November
19, 2007
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Why Congress Won't Reform
China
Hand
The U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan
Allan
Nairn
Sitting Around Talking, in Indonesia
Uri
Avnery
How to Get Out?
David
Macaray
The Chalice that Poisoned the Labor Movements
Dave
Lindorff
Democrats in Future Shock: They Could Lose It All in 2008!
Bill
Quigley
Twenty Thousand Protest at Ft. Benning; Eleven Face Federal Criminal
Trials
Ron
Jacobs
Sitting on the Group W Bench: War, Thanksgiving and Arlo Guthrie
Sunsara
Taylor
Legalized Rights for Fertilized Eggs?
Binoy
Kampmark
Why Steve Irwin--You're Dead!
Heather
Gray
Another Look at W.E.B. DuBois
Website
of the Day
The Meat Market
November
17 / 18, 2007
P.
Sainath
Neoliberalism's Price Tag: 150,000
Farm Suicides in India
David
Rosen
The Scarlet Hypocrites: Republicans,
Christians and the Politics of Adultery
Mike
Whitney
Pentagon Cover Up: 15,000 or More US Deaths in Iraq War?
George
Wuerthner
Saving the Big Wild
Brenda
Norrell
The Case of Jim Main, Jr: In Montana, Indians are Guilty Until
Proven Innocent
George
Ciccariello-Maher
Of Submarines and Loose Screws
Karim
Makdisi
Lebanon is Hanging by a Thread
Marie
Trigona
Wal-Mart in Argentina
Valerio
Volpi
The Catholic Church, Incorporated
Fred
Gardner
The Straight-Ahead Runner
Robert
Fantina
The White House Press Office
Mike
Ferner
Thank God for the Senate Republicans!
Missy
Comley Beattie
The Radical Majority
Kenneth
Couesbouc
Circles of Power
Patrick
O'Hayer
A Portrait of Mailer and a Young Poet
Poets'
Basement
Davies, Buknatski and Ford
November
16, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Vices of Hillary Clinton: Secrecy,
Intransigence and War
Dave
Zirin
The Indictment of Barry Bonds: Busted by a Broken System
Gary
D. Barnett
A Day in the Life of an Unwilling Federal Agent
Alan
Farago
Sprawl, Mortgage Fraud and Political Corruption
Dave
Lindorff
Two Brothers and Two Scandals
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: "What Should be Done with Those Protesters?"
Robert
Ovetz
Cargo Ships in Paradise: Shipping Lanes Threaten the Yosemite
of the Sea
Brenda
Norrell
"Today We Experienced America:" Arresting Indigenous
People on the Border
David
Swanson
Wolf Blitzer Loses Democratic Debate
Peter
Letheby
Outside the Box on the Great Plains
Website
of the Day
Why Activism Fails
November
15, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Hillary Clinton in Arkansas
Adolfo
Gilly
The Spirit of Revolt
Peter
Bohmer
10 Days That Shook Olympia
Andy
Worthington
The Trials of Omar Khadr: Gitmo's Child Soldier
Gray
/ Derks
Obama's Pitch to South Carolina's Black Churches Affronts Gay
Groups
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Liberating Pakistan
Dave
Lindorff
Where's the Party?
Christopher
Brauchli
Tipping Point: the Politics of Gossip
Anthony
Papa
Racism as Law: Crack Cocaine Sentences
Martha
Rosenberg
Merck's Big Write Off
Ben
Terrall
Thank You, Ehren Watada
Website
of the Day
On the Colorado: Drought, Climate Change and Water Supplies
November 14, 2007
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
The Making of Hillary Clinton
James
Petras
Venezuela Between Ballots and Bullets
Al
Giordano
Campaign 08: Don't Trust Anyone Over 50
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lobby
Andy
Worthington
Innocents and Foot Soldiers
Stephen
Lendman
Torturing Palestinian Detainees
Fatima
Bhutto
Aunt Benazir's False Promises: the Dismantling of Pakistani Democracy
Martin
Smith
Norman Mailer and the "Good War"
Jeff
Leys
Slip Sliding Away: House Votes on War Funding
Website
of the Day
Why the Writers are Striking
November
13, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Hillary's Big Problem and How Bill
Can Fix It
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Mailer and Us: the Writer as Fighter
Robert
Bryce
The Pakistan Fuel Connection
David
Macaray
The Teamsters and the Hollywood Strike
Mike
Whitney
Bulletins from the Titanic
Ralph
Nader
Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers
Nikolas
Kozloff
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
Jordan
Flaherty
Education Versus Incarceration in Tallulah, Louisiana
B.
R. Gowani
Dear Mrs. Bhutto
Website
of the Day
Monty Python: "Fuck You, Very Much FCC"
November
12, 2007
Vicente
Navarro
Why Hillary's Health Care Plan Really
Failed
Ben
Brown
Letter from Ho Chi Minh City: a Tribute to My Vietnam Vet Father
Omar
K.
A Pakistani Lawyer's Testimony: Life Under the Brutal Emergency
Sadia
Abbas
The Roots of Pakistan's Political Crisis: Corrupt Elites and
a Kleptocratic Military
Farzana
Versey
Mailer's Miasma
Richard
W. Behan
The Political Crimes of Complicity
Paul
Krassner
Asshole of the Year: Congratulations Tim Russert!
Cindy
Sheehan
Faith and War
Peter
Stone Brown
The Return of Levon Helm
Dave
Lindorff
Dennis, You are Not Alone
Website
of the Day
Police Attack in Olympia
November
10 / 11, 2007
Alain
Gresh
Uncle Sam's New Backyard: How to Turn
a Region into a Graveyard
Mike
Whitney
For Whom the Closing Bell Tolls: the Last Dead Bull on Wall Street
Ron
Jacobs
A View from the Pakistani Left: an Interview with Farooq Tariq
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The First Dambuster: a Coyote Story
Alan
Farago
Tangled Up in Blue: a Brief History of Florida Environmentalism
Binoy
Kampmark
When Language Drowns: Torture in America
Robert
Fantina
Legitimizing Torture
Fred
Gardner
Psychological Torture in the Name of Family Values
Ayesha
Ijaz Khan
The General in His Labyrinth
Nicola
Nasser
NATO's Southward Drift
Philip
Rizk
The Blame Game in Gaza
Michael
Dickinson
Condom Nation: the Pope vs. Terry Higgins
Joel
S. Hirschhorn
The Grand Delusion: a Conspiracy of Two Parties
Paul
Krassner
Flunking Out of the Electoral College
Wadner
Pierre /
Joe Emersberger
The Ongoing War on Journalists in Haiti
November
9, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
In the Kandil Mountains with the
PKK
Mohammed
Hanif
Musharraf and the Drunk Uncle
John
Ross
Blackwater Goes to Mexico
Mike
Whitney
Ron Paul, Big Media's Invisible Candidate
Tom
Barry
In Latin America, the Hillary Clinton Policy is the Bush Policy
Corporate
Crime Reporter
Is the AFL Trying to Derail Single Payer Health Care?
Badruddin
Khan
Pakistan and the Israel Lobby
David
Macaray
The WGA STrike: the Empire Strikes Back
Martha
Rosenberg
The Blood Sport of Vice Presidents
Website
of the Day
Stryker Blockade!
November
8, 2007
Kathleen
& Bill Christison
Meeting the Other in Israel and
Palestine
William
Loren Katz
Waterboarding in American History
Mike
Whitney
The Long Fall: a Market Without Parachutes
Sheldon
Richman
Why Woodstock May Have Saved John McCain's Life
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Solidarity with Pakistan's Lawyers
Marc
Gardner
The Victims of "Jessica's Law": Parolees Without Rights
(or Homes)
Jackie
Corr
The Big Fish from Whitefish: Montana, the Last Retreat of the
Investment Banker?
Brenda
Norrell
Between Bombs and Border Walls
Dave
Lindorff
Ridiculing Impeachment at the New York Times
China
Hand
Rewriting the History of the Sudan Calamity
Sen.
Russ Feingold
FISA and America's Basic Freedoms: Let's Not Repeat the Mistakes
of the Patriot Act
Website
of the Day
The Welfare Poets Meet Hugo Chavez
November
7, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
Dollar's Fall Collapses the American
Empire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: Can't the Democrats End the War By Not Bringing
the Funding Bill to the Floor?
Vijay
Prashad
The Apotheosis of Bobby Jindal
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Educating Pakistan: What Mukasey Can Teach Musharraf
Alan
Farago
To Bee or Not to Bee? The Politics of Colony Collapse
David
Macaray
The Writers' Guild Strike: Is There an Ice-Breaker?
Nikolas
Kozloff
The Case of the Slimy Senator: Chuck Schumer Greenlights Mukasey
Charlotte
Laws
What We Learned from Stephen Colbert's Presidential Campaign
Daniel
White
Zahid's Story
William
Cook
The Politics of Servility: Congress and the Israel Lobby
Website
of the Day
Safe Lawns
November
6, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Welcome to Year 27 of the Reagan
Revolution
Ralph
Nader
Who Determines the Price of Oil?
Andy
Worthington
The Torture of Ali al-Marri
Pam
Martens
Wall Street Metes Out Street Justice to Citigroup
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan's Dark Future
William
Schroder
The Return of Water Torture
Stephen
Lendman
Punishing Gaza
William
Blum
Cuba and Original Sin
Former
US Intelligence Officers
A Memo on Torture, Intelligence and Mukasey
November
5, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
How I Spent the Eighth Brumaire
Russell
Mokhiber
Pelosi and Me: The Democrats and Single Payer
David
Macaray
How to Turn Workers Against Each Other (and Make Them All Poorer)
Gary
Leupp
General Musharaff's "State of Emergency"
Dave
Lindorff
Those Minot Nukes
Ludwig
Watzal
Israel's Dilemma in Palestine
Patrick
Cockburn
Tensions Ease in Iraqi Kurdistan
Peter
Stone Brown
John Fogerty Makes Peace with His Past
Michael
Simmons
Yo! What Happened to Peace?
Website
of the Day
Petition: In Defense of the Morton West HS Antiwar Students
November
3 / 4, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Pakistan Sinks Deeper into Night
David
Price
Army's Price Salesman of Counterinsurgency
Manual Seeks to Defend Stolen Scholarship
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Splitsville
Alan
Farago
The Housing Crash, Suburban Sprawl and the Crisis of the American
Middle Class
Paul
Krassner
He's Back! Don Imus Meets Michael Richards
Rannie
Amiri
Why the U.S. is Safeguarding Iraq's War Criminals
P.
Sainath
Indexing Humanity, Indian Style
Ayesha
Ijaza Khan
Pakistan in a Daze
Robert
Fantina
Is the Bush Administration Talking Itself Into a War With Iran?
Seth
Sandronsky
The Politics of Health Care in California
Ron
Jacobs
The Bebop of Baraka
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for Arab Dignity
Heather
Gray
When Capitalists Get a Free Ride
November
2, 2007
Dr.
Mary Pipher
Acting on Conscience: Psychologists
and Abusive Interrogations
Saul
Landau
How Pete Stark Became a Pariah
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo as House Arrest
Sharon
Smith
A Tale of Two Stadiums
Gary
Leupp
Fascist Beatifications: the History and Politics of Sainthood
Gregory
Harms
The Chorus of Slander on Palestine
Christopher
Brauchli
Racism in High Places
Peter
Morici
The Falling Dollar and the Stubborn Trade Deficit
Dave
Lindorff
The Easy Way to Stop the Looming US Attack on Iran
David
Penner
Zombie Nation
Website
of the Day
Fall in Yosemite
November
1, 2007
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Wages of Hegemony
Patrick
Cockburn
The Most Dangerous Dam in the World
Dave
Lindorff
The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
Jonathan
Feldman
The Strange Political Economy of Death in the South
Mike
Ferner
They Met the Resistance in Iraq
William
S. Lind
A Question for Would-Be Presidents
Diana
Johnstone
"Fascislamism" Versus "Shoah Business"
Jacob
Hornberger
The War on Telephone Privacy
A..K.
Gupta
The Apocalypse will be Televised
Lyuba
Zarsky /
Kevin Gallagher
The Enclave Economy of Mexico's Silicon Valley
Felice
Pace
Does the SPLC Equate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism?
Website
of the Day
This One's for You, Ed Abbey
October
31, 2007
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans' Broken Criminal Justice
System
Rev.
William E. Alberts
A Trail of American Blood: From the White House to CBS News
Ray
McGovern
Attacking Iran for Israel
Eric
Walberg
Poisonous Espionage: Litvinenko and the New Cold War
V.
G. Smith
The Second Death of Guy Môquet
Luis
J. Rodriguez
"Social Cleansing" from Guatemala to LA
Sheldon
Richman
Bush has Time to Run the World
Walter
Brasch
A Real Halloween Scare
Website
of the Day
Boogie Rocks!
October 30, 2007
David
Price
Pilfered Scholarship Devastates Gen.
Petraeus's Counterinsurgency Manual
M.
Shahid Alam
The Pakistan Question
Andy
Worthington
The Epiphany of Matthew Waxman: a Government Insider Turns Against
Gitmo
Patrick
Cockburn
The Bicycle Bomber of Baquba
Anthony
Papa
The Twisted Logic of Drug Laws
Floyd
Rudmin
What "All Options are on the Table" Really Means
Sherwood
Ross
Giuliani and Torture
Website
of the Day
The Worst Lobby? You Decide
October
29, 2007
Lisa
Hajjar
Inside Israel's Military Courts
Joe
DeRaymond
The Politics of Lethal Injections
Patrick
Cockburn
The High Stakes in Iraqi Kurdistan
Isabella
Kenfield /
Roger Burbach
Corporate Murder in Brazil
Fred
Gardner
The Frivolous Investigation of Dr. Sterner
Farzana
Versey
Caricaturing Islam
Stephen
Fleischman
The Greening of the Oligarchy
Marcelle
Cendrars
The Congressional Rip Cord
Eamonn
McCann
Dan Keating, the Last of the Republican Irreconcilables
Martha
Rosenberg
For Halloween, Ann Coulter Dresses as .... Ann Coulter!
Website
of the Day
Campaign 2008
October
27 / 28, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Dam That Isn't There
James
Bovard
Breaking Down an Innocent Man: The FBI's Right to Threaten Torture
Ralph
Nader
Beyond the Rule of Law
M.
Reza Pirbhai
The Wahhabis are Coming, the Wahhabis are Coming!
Robert
Sandels
Pay the Invaders! Cuba, Claims and Confiscations
Jacob
G. Hornberger
Ruling By Decree
Missy
Beattie
The Arsonists in the West Wing
John
Ross
U.S. Eyes on Oaxaca
Robert
Fantina
Condi Rice, the Imperial Cheerleader
Ron
Jacobs
Labor at the Crossroads
Ali
Moayedian
In Search of Logic About Iran
David
Michael Green
What If We Had a President Who Didn't Give a Damn About Terrorism?
Poets
Basement
Block, Davies and Ford
Website
of the Day
Bring 'Em Home: a Music Video
October
26, 2007
Brian
Cloughley
Revenging Bloodshed
Saul
Landau
Portrait of Rudy
Ahmad
Al-Akras
Getting Justice in the HLF Case
Franklin
Lamb
Does "Loving" Lebanon Mean Never Having to Say You're
Sorry?
Mike
Whitney
Murdoch's Cuckoo's Nest
Dave
Lindorff
Home of the Brave? Reducing US Casualties By Killing More Civilians
Alan
Farago
A Castro Behind Every Bush
Yifat
Susskind
Conscripting Feminism into the War on Terror
Website
of the Day
Dead Life in a Political Prison
October 25, 2007
Jeffrey
St. Clair /
Joshua Frank
Iraq's Environmental Crisis
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Homes of the Crash Test Dummies
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Fraudulent War on Terror
Col.
Dan Smith
The Politics of Paranoia: Jane Harman's War on the First Amendment
Alan
Farago
The Way to Paradise?
Chris
Kutalik
The Lesson of the Chrysler Rebels
Brian
McKinlay
John Howard and the Curse of Bush
Cindy
Sheehan
Pete, Nancy, George and WW III
Website
of the Day
Support the America's Program!
October
24, 2007
Natalie
Washington-Weik
White Fantasies About Race-Based
Intelligence
Andy
Worthington
The Guantánamo Suicides
Michael
Birmingham
What Happened in Nahr Al Bared?
Corporate
Crime Reporter
The Nuclear Democrats
Tariq
Ali
Bush's Cuba Detour
Farzana
Versey
Imagining Serfdom in a Scarf
Dave
Zirin
White Noise
James
Murren
What "Support Our Troops" Means
Todd
Chretien
Looking Reality in the Face
Martha
Rosenberg
What Came First, the Chicken or
the Cage?
Website
of the Day
Hillary Clinton on Nuclear Power
October
23, 2007
Ralph
Nader
Bush's Catastrophic Rhetoric
Lawrence
R. Velvel
Goldsmith Stands Convicted--By His Own Mouth: How a Harvard Law
Professor Justified Rendition at the Bush Justice Dept.
Vijay
Prashad
The Nuke Deal is Dead
Bonnie
Bricker /
Adil E. Shamoo
The True Cost of War for Oil
Dave
Lindorff
Christopher Dodd's Make or Break Moment
Mike
Whitney
The Big Squeeze
Farzana
Versey
Race with the Devil
Stanley
Heller /
Ben George
Something New from the Antiwar Movement
Marcelle
Cendrars
You Too Can Confront the Holy Executive
Regan
Boychuk
Burma and Haiti: Comparing the Media Response
Website
of the Day
King Corn
October
22, 2007
Ishmael
Reed
Should Blacks Go Green?
Marjorie
Cohn
Mukasey and the Constitution: Another Loyal Bushie
Rannie
Amiri
Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?
Diane
Farsetta
Time to Pay for Payola: the FCC and Pundit-for-Hire Armstrong
Williams
Todd
Alan Price
Renewing No Child Left Behind: A Hurricane Katrina Aimed at Public
Education
Robert
Jensen
The Quagmire of Masculinity
Stephen
Lendman
The UAW Leadership Sells Out Its Workers
Jemima
Khan
The Kleptocrat in an Hermes Headscarf
Sunsara
Taylor
David Horowitz Can't Handle the Truth
Binoy
Kampmark
No Ideas, Please: the Australian Elections
Website
of the Day
Support the Center for International Policy
October
20 / 21, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld
Tariq
Ali
A Massacre Foretold
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Greetings from Echo Park
Andy
Worthington
The Shame of Diego Garcia
Mike
Whitney
Housing Flameout
Daniel
Wolff
Play It As It Lays
David
Rosen
Deviants on Parade: Folsom St. Fair and America's 4th Sexual
Revolution
Saul
Landau
David and Goliath in Iraq
Ron
Jacobs
COINTELPRO and the Panthers
Robert
Fantina
The Strange Love of Mitt Romney and Bob Jones
David
Heleniak
Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm
Joe
Allen
Hoffa Brown-Nosing at UPS
Prairie
Miller
Lions for Lambs
Poets'
Basement
Gibbons, Holt and Buknatski
Website
of the Weekend
Crash!
October
19, 2007
John
Ross
Che's Mexican Legacy
Sheldon
Rampton
Shared Values Revisited: a Case Study in the Limits of Propaganda
Rahul
Mahajan
A Tale of Two Atrocities: Blackwater and Haditha
Devra
Davis
Deadly Secrets: Chemical Pollution and Cancer
Christopher
Brauchli
Blasphemous Science
Wadner
Pierre
Haiti After the Deluge
Bill
Quigley
Jailed for Justice
Website
of the Day
Textbook Sticker Shock
October
18, 2007
Saree
Makdisi
Academic Freedom is at Risk
Meg
Dwyer
What I Learned from 9/11: Who Wouldn't Want Us Dead?
Alevtina
Rea
Sketches of Russian Life
Norman
Solomon
The United States of Violence
Kristoffer
Larsson
Something is Rotten in Sweden
Harvey
Wasserman
Nukes are Back and So are We
Website
of the Day
Eve Ensler: "A Filibuster Would Stop This War"
October
17, 2007
Steve
Niva
Counter-Insurgency, American-Style
Andy
Worthington
The Case of Mohamed Jawad
Alan
Farago
The Credit Shock
Russell
Mokhiber
The New Billionaire-Criminal Class
Sharon
Smith
Democrats, AWOL When It Mattered
Mike
Whitney
Time for the Banks to Face the Hangman
Robert
Fantina
Iraq, Iran and the US: Business as Usual
Chris
Irwin
Where Have All the Rednecks Gone?
Website
of the Day
Sex Ed at Oral Roberts University
October
16, 2007
Peter
Linebaugh
Doris Lessing and the Dynamite
Prize
Paul
Findley
Follow the Leader: The Open Secret About the Israel Lobby
Robert
Bryce
Inconvenient Corrections: Al Gore's Wacky Facts
Uri
Avnery
The Mother of All Pretexts
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Iraqi Genocide
Ray
McGovern
What Did Nancy Pelosi Know About NSA Spying and When Did She
Know It?
Norman
Solomon
The Pro-War Undertow of the Blackwater Scandal
Martha
Rosenberg
The Curse of Cymbalta
William
S. Lind
Out of the Frying Pan
Joel
S. Hirschborn
Time to Boycott Voting
Website
of the Day
Pipeline Through Paradise: Big Oil's Arctic Play
|
November
26, 2007
Guns and Greed
in the Emerald Empire
Northern
California Pot Chronicles
By MARK SCARAMELLA
A cautionary tale, versions of which
have happened in Mendocino County, and will continue to happen
all over the Emerald Empire.
On January 9 of this year,
Rex Farrance, 59, a long-time technical editor of PC World Magazine,
was murdered in a home invasion robbery. Farrance, at the apparent
behest of his son, had a large indoor grow going in his home
in Pittsburg in the East Bay. Last week three men, Tremaine Amos,
25, of Bay Point, and Darryl Hudson and Montrell Hall, both 23
and both of Pittsburg, were charged with Farrance's murder, and
the associated robbery and burglary.
According to the San Francisco
Chronicle's report on the filing of charges, Farrance's family
believes the killers decided to target the home after learning
from a friend of Farrance's son that marijuana was being grown
in the home and that there was lots of cash on the premises.
Farrance's son, Sterling Farrance, told authorities that his
father let him grow medical marijuana, and that the entire operation
was legal, not that the alleged invaders cared whether it was
legal or not. Contra Costa County Prosecutor Harold Jewett told
the Chronicle that he didn't want to discuss why he thought Farrance
was killed. "I'm not going to get into the detail surrounding
why the defendants did what they did or exactly what they did,"
Jewett said, before adding, "Without regard to the legality
of the extensive marijuana-growing operation that was taking
place in the residence, we regard Mr. Farrance as an innocent
victim in this case."
Of course, Mr. Farrance was
an innocent victim. But there's more to the story than that,
and it only took a few minutes of on-line searching to find the
police theory of the case, written, apparently, by Pittsburg
(California) Police inspector John Conaty and posted on the California
Police Chief's Association's website:
On Tuesday, January 9, 2007
just after 9:00pm, 59-year old Rex Farrance was at his home on
Argosy Court in Pittsburg, CA working on his computer while his
wife of 16 years, Lenore Vantosh, was asleep in their bedroom.
Four masked men, at least one of them armed with a .22 caliber
revolver, kicked in their front door, and demanded money. Rex
ran to his room in an apparent effort to alert his wife of the
robbery and retrieve his personal handgun. He was confronted
by the intruders in his bedroom and shot once in the chest. He
died an hour later at a local hospital. Rex and his wife had
lived on Argosy Court for several years and were considered polite
and friendly, but somewhat private, according to their neighbors.
They had two adult children; their 19 year-old son Sterling maintained
a room at the house, but usually stayed with his girlfriend in
a neighboring city. Rex was a well-respected senior editor for
PC World Magazine. In the Farrance home officers found 109 marijuana
plants in different stages of cultivation, 3.7 pounds of cultivated
marijuana (mainly consisting of dried stems, branches and leaves),
two digital scales, and packaging commonly associated with marijuana
sales. Rex and Sterling were heavily involved in marijuana cultivation.
In an interview with Sterling, he asserted the marijuana cultivation
and consumption were legal under the guidelines of the California
Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215) that was passed by California
voters on November 6, 1996. We believe the intruders in this
violent home-invasion robbery and murder knew about the marijuana
cultivation operation and assumed marijuana and money would be
at the house. We have confirmed that a relatively small amount
of money (less than $500) and several handguns were taken. [Mr.
Farrance was a hunter.] We suspect marijuana was also taken,
although we have not been able to confirm this because Lenore
did not know exactly how much marijuana was on hand at the home.
Neither Rex nor Lenore had a prescription to use marijuana. Rex
had smoked some marijuana two days prior to his murder on his
birthday, but prior to that hadn't smoked in years. Lenore did
regularly smoke marijuana to relieve pain, but was afraid that
her job as a registered nurse might be in jeopardy if she got
a prescription to use marijuana. Sterling did have a prescription
to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. He obtained it from
a medical doctor at Norcal Healthcare System in Oakland, CA.
He had been in a vehicle collision in 2005, which he claimed
resulted in residual back pain. He also claimed to have suffered
from migraine and tension headaches his entire life so he obtained
the prescription which allowed him to become a card-carrying
member of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative; they also
issued him a 'Grower's Certificate.'
Prior to getting a prescription
for marijuana, Sterling did smoke marijuana on occasion to help
alleviate his back pain and chronic headaches. When Sterling
purchases marijuana from the cooperatives, he usually goes to
the cooperative in Richmond, CA because they are the cheapest.
He can buy an eighth of an ounce for $40 in Richmond, as opposed
to $60 from the cooperative in Pacheco, CA. He openly suggests
that the Pacheco Cooperative is 'there just to take advantage
of the law and make money.' Rex knew Sterling used marijuana
for medicinal purposes and according to Sterling, Rex came up
with the idea to grow marijuana so Sterling would not have to
spend so much money buying the marijuana at the Cannabis Cooperatives.
Rex purchased the necessary equipment to cultivate the marijuana
(grow lights, fertilizer, etc...), while Sterling purchased marijuana
clones (a branch from a live plant that can be placed in a rooting
solution and soil, eventually rooting into a plant.) Sterling
admitted that he and his father knowingly grew more plants than
they were allowed (12 immature or 6 mature per qualified individual
in Contra Costa County) because they wanted to pick the 'best'
plants to harvest. They would discard the rest.
They clearly had a sophisticated
cultivation operation that included a High Pressure Sodium light,
fluorescent lights, Mylar reflective sheets, premixed chemical
solutions to lower the Ph levels in the local water supply, and
a ventilation system including remote electrical ballast. Sterling
claimed he learned about marijuana cultivation strategies by
talking with people at the Cannabis Cooperatives. Sterling also
said he and Rex purposely grew most of the marijuana in the attic
as a security measure to hide the operation from anyone of 'questionable
nature.' Sterling claimed some of the plants belonged to another
friend who also had a 'grower's license,' but the friend later
denied this and admitted that he and Sterling had conspired to
tell this story because Sterling and his father had more plants
than they were allowed. The friend, who also has a prescription
to use marijuana, occasionally helped manicure the plants, in
turn receiving about 12% of the finished product. Sterling would
receive about 20% and Rex would keep the rest. The friend also
asserted that Sterling got a prescription to smoke marijuana
to 'get stoned legally, and to just get high.' The friend openly
admitted that Sterling shares his marijuana with other friends
who do not have a prescription but just want to 'get high.' Sterling
adamantly denied he or his father sold marijuana to 'people on
the streets, only to other people with medical marijuana cards,
and occasionally to friends.' Sterling never registered with
the State Department of Health Services, as he can voluntarily
do pursuant to SB 420 because he had never heard about the registration
program.
High Times Magazine added the
following detail: After the intruders entered the Farrance bedroom
"the robbers then struck Mrs. Vantosh-Farrance with a gun
and fatally shot Farrance in the chest. 'He came bursting in
the room,' Vantosh-Farrance said of her husband as he ran from
the intruders. 'I said, "What's going on?" He said,
"We're being broken into".' Vantosh-Farrance said she
barely had time to react before the men went after her. 'Then
they came for me, started screaming at me and pulling at me to
get out of bed and "find the money, bitch." They kept
saying that to me, and then I felt a whack on my head,' Vantosh-Farrance
said."
One on-line comment about the
case asked, "How can a 19-year-old minor, who is prohibited
from imbibing in alcohol, obtain a license to farm, harvest,
process, package, distribute and use marijuana? Since a person
has to be 21 years old to drink a beer, it would seem prudent
to have an age requirement associated with being a big-time medical
dope dealer."
If urban pot dispensaries are
selling their medicine for $40-$60 per ounce, that's $5120/pound
@$40/eighth, and $7680/pound @ $60/eighth. Locally, we understand
the wholesale marijuana is selling for $2500-$3000 a pound, which
is a pretty sweet markup by any measure when it reaches buyers
at $40 to $60 an ounce. And it's all tax free. You can make even
more if you can grow and process your own medical pot and sell
it for at least $40 per ounce, and if you don't have to pay the
black market $2500-$3000 per pound, it wouldn't take long to
recover your modest growing costs, would it?
*
* *
The minutes of a recent Mendocino
County Criminal Justice Committee meeting predictably add to
the existing confusion of pot policy, and put the cart miles
ahead of the horse. Some of the issues piled on to the ever-growing
agenda included: departmental fees and procedures; landlord and
renter rights and obligations regarding cultivation and/or disclosure;
enforcement procedures and availability of enforcement personnel;
confidentiality rights of growers, patients, and renters... Let's
stop here for a moment and remember that medical pot is technically
medicine and therefore probably falls under the Health Information
Protection Act. Additionally, confidentiality would keep robbers
and home invaders from looking up the names and addresses of
prospective targets. But if the information is considered confidential,
how will neighbors know if grows are legal? And so on through
the infinite, and infinitely premature policy possibilities.
County Supervisor Mike Delbar
said he was worried about the use of the term "legal parcel"
and also about "sensitive" locations. Delbar wanted
to know how renters would get documentation from landlords acknowledging
cultivation on their property, how nuisance abatement would be
enforced, and how the plant count would apply to a single legal
parcel that is zoned for multiple residences.
Delbar didn't mention it, but
if medical marijuana growing is considered agriculture, and weed
is certainly more ag-like than industrial-scale wine making,
does that mean that it falls under the Mendo's "right to
farm" rule, which generally means that ag activity is exempt
from nuisance rules?
Supervisor John Pinches said
that the current language in the draft dispensary ordinance would
force both the Laytonville and Fort Bragg dispensaries to close
if they are not "grandfathered-in." Pinches thought
that a requirement for each dispensary to obtain a use permit
would address issues such as location, hours, size, parking,
and security on a more individualized case-by-case basis.
"Parking"?
If the dispensary or cultivation ordinances have to address parking
then we're really in trouble. Do pot patients qualify as handicapped
for the purposes of parking space allocations? We have 19 handicapped
parking spaces at the Boonville Fairgrounds, more spaces than
are allotted by San Francisco General Hospital's emergency room.
We'd need a hundred and nineteen handicapped parking spots in
Boonville alone if the 215 brigades were entitled to handicapped
parking slots.
Committee Chair/Supervisor
Jim Wattenburger brought up the increasingly signficiant issue
of pot growing being a major fire hazard, pointing out that he
has a proposal from a local firefighter which would require a
$250 per plant administrative fee. According to Wattenburger's
problematical pot math if 25% of growers declared, that might
mean up to 1.8 million plants with fee collections of over $62
million. Yeah, right, dude, you'll get every penny, no problem.
And balance the budget to boot.
County Counsel Jeanine Nadel
may have ensured that nothing remotely resembling reasonable
pot regulation is ever produced in Mendocino County. Nadel recommended
that Mendo's Planning and Building Services be consulted regarding
establishing "reasonable and enforceable provisions within
the proposed ordinances."
Mendo's Planning and Building
depaartment is the same department which, after seven years of
debate alternating between weirdly contentious and tediously
bizarre, came up with such an unwieldy and unmanageable grading
ordinance proposal that nobody liked. Mendo thus became the only
county in the state without a grading ordinance. Now, it's starting
to sound like the same thing's going to happen with medical pot.
Meanwhile, it'll be every patient for himself out there in the
wild, wild Mondo-Mendo of pot growers, pot cops, pot thieves,
and home invasion punks.
*
* *
A pot raider with the Mendocino COMMET team told us recently
that while on a bust of a large-scale Mexican Cartel grow in
Potter Valley last month, cops found a shed in the middle of
several large gardens. As officers approached the shack, they
encountered four snarling pit bulls. The dogs were only briefly
stymied by the pepper spray shot straight into their eyes. (Urban
cops typically shoot hostile dogs out of hand. Mellow Mendo prefers
to subdue them.) Unable to get past the dogs, and loathe to shoot
them, the cops called in an the Mendocino Animal Control specialists
to snare the animals during the brief moments the dogs were distracted
by the spray. While the dogs were fending off Animal Control's
sprays and snares the cops entered the shed where they found
dozens of pounds of dried, processed marijuana, all in neat plastic
packages, and one young Mexican man who seemed to be the only
processing worker on hand. He was arrested on the spot, but it
was obvious a number of other persons had been involved in the
operation.
Also discovered in the shed
was what one officer described as a "Trimpro Trimmer,"
a fancy commercial contraption which uses a fine mesh screen,
forced air and rotating fan-like knife blades to (coarsely) trim
the marijuana to bud size, leaving a garbage bag full of leaves
and marijuana dust in a catch bag at the bottom of the device.
Trimpro Trimmers sell for about $2,000, more if you want the
high-end version.
Mark Scaramella is the managing editor of the Anderson Valley Advertiser and
a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. He can be reached at:
themaj@pacific.net
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