] Casting doubt on a basic principle of U.S. anti-drug
] policies, an independent study concluded on Monday that
] marijuana use does not lead teenagers to experiment with
] hard drugs like heroin or cocaine.
]
] The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy
] Research Center countered the theory that marijuana acts
] as a so-called gateway drug to more harmful narcotics, a
] key argument against legalizing pot in the United States.

Study: Marijuana May Not Lead to Hard Drugs

If you were about to be put to death, what you you eat?

Final Meal Requests

] "But since Sept. 11 and the government's expansive
] campaign of monitoring and detention, people are turning
] to the 82-year-old organization to help safeguard their
] liberties. Among them are conservatives who made the
] phrase "card-carrying member of the ACLU" a political
] insult, but who are signing up. "

This is good to hear... Conservatives spent a decade talking smack about the ACLU because the Christian right likes perpetuating misconceptions about the first amendment with the goal of establishing religion. This obviously conflicts with the general conservative notion of upholding "individual liberties." This is the most central contradiction in modern conservative thought. Of course the Libertarians have been saying that for years.

ACLU Membership up

] "Actor Robert Redford (news), in an op-ed opinion piece
] published in the Los Angeles Times, accused the Bush
] administration on Monday of "lack of leadership" for
] failing to wean the United States from dependence on
] fossil fuels.
]
] The actor, a longtime solar power advocate, warned that
] the nation's wasteful use of gas and oil created
] political problems abroad and air pollution at home."

Not that any of the current oil oligarchy is even going to think about listening to this. Unless they corner the market on alternative energy.

Redford Says Patriotism Means Weaning US from Oil

] "Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor the DMCRA! "

There is a law on your side... You ought to support it.

Electronic Frontier Foundation Action Center

] "If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before
] passage, here is what will happen to you:
]
] Every purchase you make with a credit card, every
] magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription
] you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or
] receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank
] deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you
] attend all these transactions and communications will go into
] what the Defense Department describes as "a virtual, centralized
] grand database." "

This is a little more juicy...

You Are a Suspect

] In the digital age, a diamond is not a girl's best
] friend. A high-definition television set is.
]
] After interviewing 1,000 men and women, the Consumer
] Electronics Association found that 58 percent of women
] would prefer to own a HDTV set than a 1-karat diamond
] ring. CEA's study, which was released on Tuesday, said
] that 64 percent of women would rather have a digital
] camera than a pair of half-karat diamond stud earrings.

This is what I like to hear. The girlies are getting hip to the tech goodies. I hate buying jewlery. (And that last sentence will guarantee that any girl who sees my blog will not date me..)

Wired News: Diamonds? Who Cares? Give Me HDTV

"The fact that we're having this discussion at all is a symptom of the polarizing effect that Bush and his top dogs have had on the United States since assuming office and even more so in the hard-right free-for-all that followed the Sept. 11 attacks."

Ted Rall IS the mainstream voice of American communism, and as with all political extremes, unsubstantiated paranoid conspiracy theories are par for the course on ANY day, regardless of any "polarizing effect" offered by the current environment. The radical left is almost indistinguishable from the radical right, especially in this regard.

Having said that, I *LOVE* paranoid conspiracy theories, and this is a particularily GOOD one. A political link to the Ron Brown plane crash! A missing black box! This is the stuff that the Art Bell show is made of! So, I heartily recommend this one. Imagine if its true! What can we expect come 2004? Oh, the drama!

Yahoo! News - THE (POSSIBLE) ASSASSINATION OF PAUL WELLSTONE

] Overlawyered.com explores an American legal system that
] too often turns litigation into a weapon against guilty
] and innocent alike, erodes individual responsibility,
] rewards sharp practice, enriches its participants at the
] public's expense, and resists even modest efforts at
] reform and accountability.

Overlawyered.com: Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Microsoft's efforts so far to obstruct Xbox mod chips have been relatively trivial, and simple for the modders to circumvent. The most recent redesign, for example, was dealt with inside a week. But on his recent Australian adventure Microsoft president Steve Ballmer dispensed one of the clearest policy statements on Xbox so far - Microsoft intends Xbox to be a closed system and to stay that way, and will use both technical and legal avenues to protect it.

...

...Ballmer said that Microsoft might have to reconsider selling Xbox in Australia, or seek changes in the law.

...

It's been suggested to us several times recently that there is a growing need for a Free Hardware Foundation - this is beginning to have a certain logic, we think.

...

Agreed. I am really tired of Steve Ballmer. Dude, you *LOST* the server market, get over it. You are going to lose your core OS business. Trying to stop unlicensed software didn't work for the NES and they *THRIVED* from it!!! Subsidized hardware sales was a technique mastered by Sony way before you had a clue...

Stick to applications, that's what you do best.

Ballmer baulks at Oz Xbox chippers charter