Having problems with message search?
-----forwarded email begins-----
Dana Beal <dana@...> wrote:
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 22:02:23 -0400
From: Dana Beal <dana@...>
Subject: GMM 2005 #43: Marc Emery Seized by DEA in Extra-ordinary Rendition!; Cincinnati, London Make 87 Cities Already Signed up for May 6, 2006--the Million Marijuana MarchImportant: get your city on the list for the Million Marijuana March, May 6, 2006!So far we have confirmed 87 cities:
Albuquerque
Amsterdam
AntwerpAthensAtlantaAuckland
BakersfieldBaselBernBirminghamBoiseBoone
BoulderBudapestBuenos AiresCalgaryCapetownChicoChristchurchCincinnatiCordobaDallasDarwinDunedinEugeneFayettevilleFlorianopolesFt. Smith
HachitaHalifaxHartfordKansas CityJyväskalaKnoxvilleKristiansandLausanneLethbridgeLimaLocarnoLondonLos AngelesLuxembourgLuzernLyonMinneapolisMoscowNagaokaNashuaNanaimoNashvilleNew YorkNicosiaNimbinOgdenOsloPaiaParisPhoenixPortlandPortlandPragueRaleighRio de JaneiroRoanokeRomeRosarioRostockRotterdam
SalemSan DiegoStavangerSteamboat SpringsSteven's PointSt. LouisStockholmTel AvivThunder BayTorontoTraverse CityTromsøeTrondheimTucsonViennaWarsawWashington, D.C.Wellington
Zürich---------
There is also some international MMM networking going on at
this CannabisCulture.com message forum:
http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=current
-------------------------
Million Marijuana March. Banners, posters, handbills,
flyers for 2004 and 2005 MMM. Adapt for your needs! Click:
http://gallery.marihemp.com/mmm2004flyers
http://gallery.marihemp.com/mmm2005flyers
Or go to this other big MMM photo gallery. Click:
http://gallery.encod.org/mmm
and then click on "mmm2004"
and then "Banners Posters Handbills"
Many of the MMM 2004 banners, posters, flyers, and
handbills were converted from PDF files to the gif and jpg
images found here. The freeware Adobe Acrobat Reader and the
freeware IrfanView were used.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
http://www.irfanview.com - IrfanView is a free image editor
that is useful for adapting these flyers and banners for
your needs. Download the full-size gif images since they use
far fewer kilobytes compared to the 640x480 and 800x600 jpg
versions of the same image. JPG image files are mainly for
photos and images with lots of color gradation. GIF image
files are much better for flyers and banners. IrfanView caneasily edit, reduce, or enlarge gif and jpg images.*****!!!Global Marijuana March--May 6, 2006: Updates, Reports!!!*****PLAN TO LEGALIZE AFGHAN OPIUM PRODUCTION DRAWING ATTENTIONA proposal to deal with Afghanistan's opium crop through purchase for medical uses rather than eradication may see pilot projects start as soon as next year.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/senlisplan.shtml-------------------------------From: schmoontherun@...Dana, Here is No 70 for you:
London: Cannabis Trust. Event websites:
http://www.cannabistrust.com . Blog:
http://www.newsoftheweed.com. Email:
support@... . Contact: Andy Cornwell,
Chris schmoo. Tel/text: 07976825086 or 07869125620.all the best, chris
--- Dana Beal <dana@...> wrote:
>> This seems kind of sparse for a listing. No
>> organization listing for
>> Cannabis Trust, w. postal address, even though it's
>> in the email. No
>> schmoo, either.
>>
>> London: Andy Cornwell: andy@... tel:
>> 0207 485 3337.
>> (mobile: 07976825086). Event website:
>> http://www.cannabistrust.com
>>
>> As for the exact date, it could be a Sunday event
>> one day after all
>> the Saturday events in regional demonstrations
>> around Britain. It
>> seems better to do it a little later in May rather
>> than postponing it
>> all the way into June, if you can't do it May 6 and
>> 7th
>>
>> You can tell Andy and the others that our count for
>> MMM/2006 stands
>> at 69 cities, so London could be number 70!>> --------------------------------------From jean pinheiro <rhasttaff@...>Florianopoles:rhasttaff@...my contact : +55 47 369 20 43 zipcode : 88.215.000 country: Brazil--------------------------------------------------------------SEARCH AND SEIZURE: FLEX YOUR RIGHTS PROVIDES CITIZENS' GUIDE TO REFUSING NEW YORK SUBWAY SEARCHES The controversial new random search policy in New York City has prompted a controversial new web site section from the civil liberties organization training organization. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/subwayguide.shtml------------------------------------------------------DRUGGED DRIVING: NO CONVICTION BASED JUST ON MARIJUANA TRACES, MICHIGAN APPEALS COURT RULES Prosecutors in Michigan will have to prove that drivers were actually intoxicated to convict them under the state's drugged driving law, a court has ruled.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/michigan.shtml--------------------------------New Listing by Phone:Cincinnati: the Happy Hemptress <hemptress@...> hemptress@... 513-684-HEMP [Hemprock Productions, P.O. Box 18253, Erlanger, KY 41018 ] http://www.hemprock.com-------------------------THE SENSENBRENNER EFFECT: FEAR, FIRING, AND FALLOUT ON THE HILLA Congressional staffer who was the root of much drug war evil for more than 10 years has apparently been fired -- but no one wants to talk about it.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/fearandfallout.shtml----------------------------------------------------------------------BREAKING RANK: A TOP COP'S EXPOSE OF THE DARK SIDE OF AMERICAN POLICINGSeattle's former top cop calls foul on the state of affairs in American policing today.http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/breakingrank.shtml-------------------------------------------------------------------------------EMERY BUSTED!From: "Tim Meehan" <tim_meehan@...>Subject: [DrugWar] Canada: Wire: B.C. marijuana store raided, leaderarrestedhttp://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1122667113835_118076313/?hub=TopStoriesB.C. marijuana store raided, leader arrestedCTV.ca News StaffPolice raided a marijuana seed store run by the B.C. Marijuana Partyleader in Vancouver Friday.Vancouver radio station CKNW reports that the warrant cited a requestfrom U.S. officials.Leader Marc Emery was not at the store as police arrived with a searchwarrant shortly before 11 a.m.Police say he has been arrested in Halifax.Party spokesperson Kirk Tousaw said he had not spoken to Emery since theraid"I can express a pretty significant disappointment that police wouldchoose to go this route to go after Marc and others who have beenoperating there for years with no harm to anyone," said Tousaw.Emery and two other people are accused of conspiracy to manufacturemarijuana, conspiracy to distribute seed, and money laundering."The timing stinks. They do it on Friday so that they can keep you injail the maximum amount of time before you can be released on bail,"said Tousaw.From: "Tim Meehan" <tim_meehan@...>Subject: [DrugWar] MARC EMERY ARRESTED IN NOVA SCOTIAFrom Chris Goodwin:Cliff Giffin from the Main Desk at MUMM's Hempfest Campgrounds in theAnnapolis Valley Just Confirmed Marc Emery was arrested outside a localstorefront in the Downtown of Lawrencetown, (just out side Halifax Ithink)My God... I hear there may even be an EXTRADITION ORDER for Marc Emery,Marijuana Man and Michelle. This is the worst news ever. I'll keep youall posted.From Eco2Man:http://www.cannabisculture.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1126068&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=The money laundering charge is probably a roundabout way for the DEA totry to shut down Pot.TV and CannabisCulture.com by cutting off thesource of funding for awhile. By convincing Canada to spend monthschecking every account for Marc Emery businesses. Hoping that Canadawill shut down those businesses while the audits go on.I think some serious thought should be given to mirroring Pot.TV andCannabisCulture.com on other servers paid for by other people. I believethere is some way to do this and keep the same URLs. So that if Marc'sservers are taken down, the mirror servers can take up the slack.The info is what the DEA probably wants to stop most. Because it is aconstant alternative news source to corporate media drug war propaganda.----- Original Message -----From: "Tim Meehan" <tim_meehan@...>Subject: [DrugWar] EMERY EMPIRE RAIDED AT REQUEST OF UNITED STATEShttp://usmjparty.blogspot.com/2005/07/bcmp-arrest-and-search-warrant.htmlWell-known Vancouver pot activist arrested in extradition bid by U.S. - Yahoo! News - http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20050730/ca_pr_on_na/marijuana_party_raidSubject: [DrugWar] Video: Halifax Police Press conference on the arrest ofBCMP leader Marc Emeryhttp://www.canada.com/toronto/video/GN050729halifaxpolice.html--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2006 MMM world map. May 6, 2006 Million Marijuana March. Cities sorted by region. World Cannabis Day. Cannabis Liberation Day. Global Marijuana March. Worldwide since 1999. The first Saturday in May, or that weekend, or thereabouts. Rallies, marches, concerts, events, meetings, parties, raves, info-tables, stands, booths, etc..http://www.geocities.com/tents444/mmm2006map.htm and
http://corporatism.tripod.com/mmm2006map.htm and
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/mmm2006map.htm andhttp://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/mmm2006map.htm
Click the region names in the left chart column to go to their city lists.Click the "countries" link to go to the list of countries.Worldwide.
MMM (Million Marijuana March).City list and world map:Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
************************* BUSHWHACKED!! ***************************************************METHAMPHETAMINE: CONGRESSIONAL DRUG WARRIORS KEEP UP PRESSURE ON DRUG CZAR Republican drug warriors used a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday to renew their criticism of the Bush administration for proposed budget cuts that would affect programs that target methamphetamine. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/397/congressvsczar.shtml
Prosecutor in CIA Leak Case Casting a Wide Net
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705I.shtml
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war.
White House to Withhold Nominee's Tax Returns
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705J.shtml
Senate Democrats and liberal interest groups immediately assailed the decision to withhold the more recent files, sharpening a dispute over the nominee's record.
John Roberts and the Federalist Society - Democracy Now
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705K.shtml
There is growing focus on an organization that Supreme Court justice nominee John Roberts claims he cannot remember if he joined or not: the Federalist Society. Amy Goodman speaks with Alfred Ross of the Institute for Democracy Studies, who uncovered John Roberts' membership in the right-wing organization.
Civil War Specter Spurs New Iraq Exit Plans
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705L.shtml
Growing pessimism about averting civil war in Iraq, as well as mounting concerns that the US military presence there may itself be fueling the insurgency and Islamist extremism worldwide, has spurred a spate of new calls for the United States to withdraw its 140,000 troops sooner rather than later.
Cartoonist Trudeau Defends 'Turd Blossom' Reference
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/072705M.shtml"I felt that [President] Bush's nickname for Rove was illuminating, 'Turd blossom' has so many connotations, none of them flattering. It's a small masterpiece of nastiness."From: arianna@...T H E H U F F I N G T O N P O S T
Judy Miller: Do We Want To Know Everything or Don't We?
Posted July 27, 2005 at 8:17 p.m. EDT
Not everyone in the Times building is on the same page when it comes to Judy Miller. The official story the paper is sticking to is that Miller is a heroic martyr, sacrificing her freedom in the name of journalistic integrity.
But a very different scenario is being floated in the halls. Here it is: It's July 6, 2003, and Joe Wilson's now famous op-ed piece appears in the Times, raising the idea that the Bush administration has "manipulate[d]" and "twisted" intelligence "to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." Miller, who has been pushing this manipulated, twisted, and exaggerated intel in the Times for months, goes ballistic. Someone is using the pages of her own paper to call into question the justification for the war -- and, indirectly, much of her reporting. The idea that intelligence was being fixed goes to the heart of Miller's credibility. So she calls her friends in the intelligence community and asks, Who is this guy? She finds out he's married to a CIA agent. She then passes on the info about Mrs. Wilson to Scooter Libby (Newsday has identified a meeting Miller had on July 8 in Washington with an "unnamed government official"). Maybe Miller tells Rove too -- or Libby does. The White House hatchet men turn around and tell Novak and Cooper. The story gets out.
This is why Miller doesn't want to reveal her "source" at the White House -- because she was the source. Sure, she first got the info from someone else, and the odds are she wasn't the only one who clued in Libby and/or Rove (the State Dept. memo likely played a role too)... but, in this scenario, Miller certainly wasn't an innocent writer caught up in the whirl of history. She had a starring role in it. This also explains why Miller never wrote a story about Plame, because her goal wasn't to write a story, but to get out the story that cast doubts on Wilson's motives. Which Novak did.
This version of events has divided the Times into two camps: those who want to learn everything about this story, and those who want to learn everything as long as it doesn't downgrade the heroic status of their "colleague" Judy Miller. And then there are the schizophrenics. Frank Rich is spending his summer in the second camp, while at the same time writing some of the most powerful and brilliant stuff about the scandal: "This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit...is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped up grounds... That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war."
But this unmasking -- if it is to be complete -- has to include Judy Miller and the part she played in the mess in Iraq. Of course, the division over Miller is nothing new... it predates her transformation into media martyr by many months. For an early look at this rift, check out Howard Kurtz' May 2003 reporting on the way Miller ferociously fought to keep Ahmad Chalabi, her top source on WMD, to herself and the anger it caused at the paper. And also the paper's extraordinary mea culpa from May 2004, in which its editors admitted that the Times' reporting on Iraq "was not as rigorous as it should have been" -- yet steadfastly refused to even mention the less-than-rigorous reporter whose byline appeared on 4 of the 6 stories the editors singled out as being particularly egregious. "It looks," the Times' public admission concluded, "as if we, along with the administration, were taken in." And yet just two months earlier, Times Executive Editor Bill Keller called Miller, who was one of the main reporters "taken in," a "smart, well-sourced, industrious and fearless reporter." Nothing about her less than "rigorous" reporting. Nothing about her reliance on Chalabi being less than "well-sourced."
Any discussion of Miller's actions in the Plame-Rove-Libby-Gonzalez-Card scandal must not leave out the key role she played in cheerleading for the invasion of Iraq and in hyping the WMD threat. Re-reading some of her pre-war reporting today, it's hard not to be disgusted by how inaccurate and pumped up it turned out to be. For chapter and verse, check out Slate's Jack Shafer . For the money quote on her mindset, look to her April 2003 appearance on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, where, following up on her blockbuster front page story about an Iraqi scientist and his claims that Iraq had destroyed all its WMD just before the war started, Miller said the scientist was more than a "smoking gun," he was the "silver bullet" in the hunt for WMD. The "silver bullet" later turned out to be another blank -- and the scientist turned out to be a military intelligence official.
Amazingly, however, even as her reporting has been debunked -- and her sources discredited -- Miller has steadfastly refused to apologize for her role in misleading the public in the lead up to the war. Indeed, in an interview with the author of Bush's Brain , James Moore, she, in the words of Moore, "remained righteously indignant, unwilling to accept that she had goofed in the grandest of fashions," telling him: "I was proved fucking right."
As recently as March 2005, in an appearance at Berkeley, she stubbornly refused to express regret. Indeed, she showed that she shares a key attitude with the Bush administration: an unwillingness to admit mistakes when faced with new realities. She even compared herself to the president, saying that she was getting the same information he was getting... and suggested that since he hadn't apologized, why should she? Maybe she's angling for the Tenet treatment: promote faulty intel, get a Medal of Freedom. Miller also echoed the words of Don Rumsfeld ("You go to war with the Army you have") when she justified her flawed reporting on WMD by saying "You go with what you've got." Really? Wouldn't it be better to wait until what you've got is right?
It's nice that Bill Keller is visiting Judy in jail giving updates about how hard this is for her, having to be away from her family and friends. But it would be even nicer if we'd had some acknowledgement from Miller of her complicity in sending 138,000 American soldiers away from their family and friends. And, unlike Miller, they won't be returning home in October. Indeed, as of today, 1,785 of them won't be returning home at all.
This story gets deeper with every twist and revelation, including the reminder (via Podhoretz) that Fitzgerald had a previous run in with Miller over her actions in a national security case, and the speculation (via Jeralyn at TalkLeft) that Fitzgerald is considering seeking to put Miller under criminal contempt, rather than the civil contempt she's now under.
But one thing is inescapable: Miller -- intentionally or unintentionally -- worked hand in glove in helping the White House propaganda machine (for a prime example, check out this Newsweek story on how the aluminum tubes tall tale went from a government source to Miller to page one of the New York Times to Cheney and Rice going on the Sunday shows to confirm the story to Bush pushing that same story at the UN).
So, once again, the question arises (and you can't have it both ways, Frank): when it comes to this scandal, do you want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth or do you want the truth -- except for what Judy Miller wants to keep to herself?
Judy Miller: How Deep Do Her Connections Run?
Posted July 28, 2005 at 10:39 p.m. EDT
The more I'm reading about Judy Miller and her actions leading up to and during the early days of the war, and then through the unfolding Plame-Rove-Libby-Gonzalez-Card scandal, the more I'm struck by the special access and relationships she enjoyed with many of the key players in the Iraq debacle (which, at the end of the day, is really what Plamegate is all about).
For starters, of course, we have her still unfolding involvement in the Plame leak. Earlier this month, Howard Kurtz reported that Miller and Libby spoke a few days before Novak outed Plame -- and I'm hearing that the Libby/Miller conversation occurred over breakfast in Washington. Did Valerie Plame come up -- and, if so, who brought her up? There is no question that Miller was angry at Joe WilsonŠ and continues to be. A social acquaintance of Miller told me that, once, when she spoke of Wilson, it was with "a passionate and heated disgust that went beyond the political and included an irrelevant bit of deeply personal innuendo about him, her mouth twisting in hatred."
Miller's special relationships go much further than Scooter Libby, Richard Perle and the rest of the neocon establishment. Take her involvement as an embedded reporter during the war with the Pentagon's Mobile Exploitation Team (MET) Alpha -- the unit charged with hunting down Saddam's WMD. As extensively reported by both Kurtz and New York Magazine's Franklin Foer, Miller's time with the unit was highly unusual.
First, there was the fact that she landed the plum assignment in the first place. It would give her first dibs on the biggest story of the war... the hoped-for reveal of Saddam's much-touted WMD (with much of the touting done by Miller herself and her special sources). Was this the reward for her pro-administration prewar reporting?
Foer cites military and New York Times sources as saying that Miller's assignment was so sensitive that Don Rumsfeld himself signed off on it. Once embedded, Miller acted as much more than a reporter. Kurtz quotes one military officer as saying that the MET Alpha unit became a "Judith Miller team." Another officer said that Miller "came in with a plan. She was leading them... She ended up almost hijacking the mission." A third officer, a senior staffer of the 75th Exploitation Task Force, of which MET Alpha was a part, put it this way: "It's impossible to exaggerate the impact she had on the mission of this unit, and not for the better."
What did Miller do to create such an impression? According to Kurtz, she wasn't afraid to throw her weight around, threatening to write critical stories and complain to her friends in very high places if things didn't go her way. "Judith," said an Army officer, "was always issuing threats of either going to the New York Times or to the secretary of defense. There was nothing veiled about that threat."
In one specific instance, she used her friendship with Major General David Petraeus to force a lower ranking officer to reverse an order she was unhappy about. (Can we stop for a moment and take the full measure of how unbelievable this whole thing is?)
Miller also had a special, ten-year relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, which led to the MET Alpha unit, which had no special training in interrogation or intelligence, being given custody of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, Sultan. Miller was even allowed to sit in on the initial questioning of Sultan -- a turn of events that didn't go down well with some Pentagon officials.
Miller apparently ended up developing an especially close relationship with Chief Warrant Officer Richard Gonzalez, the leader of the MET Alpha unit. Along with puffing him up in some of her dispatches -- once describing his "meeting tonight with Mr. Chalabi to discuss nonproliferation issues" -- Miller took the unusual step of taking part in the ceremony where Gonzalez was promoted, actually pinning his new rank to his uniform (has the bizarreness of all this hit you yet?).
Later, when Miller's reporting came under serious fire, Gonzalez was only too happy to return the favor, writing an impassioned response to the Times' Iraq reporting mea culpa. "We have been deeply disturbed," Gonzalez wrote in a letter to the Times that was co-signed by a pair of his colleagues, "by the mischaracterizations of the operation and of [Miller's] reporting... We were particularly disturbed by the recent New York Times editor's note apologizing for having been 'taken in' by WMD 'misinformation' and citing one article she wrote while embedded with our unit... We strongly disagree with that assertion and remain firmly supportive of the accuracy of her accounts of the events she described, as well as other articles she wrote while embedded with our unit." Wow. I'm kinda surprised he didn't sign it "JM + MET Alpha, N.A.F (Now and Forever)".
But Gonzalez and his pals seem to be the only ones standing behind the accuracy of Miller's reporting. Even the administration is no longer barking up that tree, with top weapons hunter Charles Duelfer closing his investigation this spring saying that the search for WMD "has been exhausted" without finding any -- while at the same time dismissing the Miller-touted claim that WMD had been shipped to Syria just before the U.S. invaded.
So the WMD investigation has ended. But the investigation into Judy Miller's role -- both in the WMD fiasco and the Plame scandal -- is just beginning.© 2005 TheHuffingtonPost.com, LLC--------------------------------The CIA and the War on Drugs. July 21, 2006.
Pulse of the Twin Cities - Locally Grown Alternative Newspaper.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
http://pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1949
THE FIX:
Thursday 21 July @ 21:29:55
Cover - NewsThe CIA and the War on Drugs
by Ed Felien
Preface
The British East India Company exercised monopoly control of the growing of opium in India and its transport and importation to China as early as 1750. Chinese Emperors objected. They issued edicts against its use. Foreign traders were ordered to surrender their opium in 1839. The British sent in warships, beginning the First Opium War. In 1841 the British defeated the Chinese. The Chinese had to pay a large indemnity and surrender Hong Kong. A little later some Chinese threw chests of opium into the sea in imitation of the American Revolution. The British were not amused. The British and French renewed hostilities toward the Chinese, beginning the Second Opium War. The British won large indemnities and the importation of opium was legalized in 1856.
As early as 1800 the British Levant Company was purchasing opium in Turkey for importation to the U. S. Smuggling was the sport of the ruling class in the first years of the 19th century. In 1805 Charles Cabot (of the Boston Cabots) was involved in trade from the British to the Chinese, and John Jacob Astor purchased 10 tons of opium in Turkey to sell to the Chinese. A lot of that opium found its way to America, either directly through importation to New York City or through the immigration of Chinese and consequent opium dens in San Francisco.
Heroin was invented by Heinrich Dreser in 1895 while working for Bayer Drug Company. Bayer introduced it as a substitute for morphine. By 1903 heroin addiction had risen to alarming rates. By 1924 heroin was made illegal and the black market and the underworld were born.
In the early years of the 20th century, Corsican gangsters purchased opium from Turkey and from Burma through the French colony of Vietnam. They refined it in Marseilles, making it into heroin, and they brought it to New York to be distributed by the Mafia.
World War II, the Mafia and the OSS
World War II disrupted trade routes. Germany controlled much of the eastern Mediterranean, and the Japanese controlled Burma and Vietnam. The French convinced Hmong farmers to cultivate opium to insure a regular supply, but distribution routes to the United States were upset because Mussolini had virtually wiped out the Mafia in Sicily.
With Lucky Luciano in prison and the European connections cut off, the American Mafia was in a sad state of disrepair in 1942. But then, Mafia kingpin Meyer Lansky had a great idea: "Why not join the war effort, liberate Sicily and restart the business?" He was able to sell the OSS (the Office of Strategic Services, the early precursor of the CIA) on his idea that the Mafia in Sicily would operate as a local resistance movement. The Mafia would assist in the liberation of Sicily if they could run Sicily and Naples after the United States left. Also, Luciano would have to be released from prison. The OSS agreed and thus was born the first of many "bargains with the devil" that was to become the mold in which all future relations with the underworld and criminal class were cast. Most people in the OSS probably had no idea of the extent of the relationship. Many of those who did turned a blind eye to the role the Mafia played in the transportation of heroin to New York City. But some others did see the OSS setting up the drug smuggling operation on very similar lines to what would happen in Vietnam. [See, in particular, "A Pledge Betrayed," Part 5, The OSS in Europe.]
Vietnam
When the French lost at Dienbienphu in 1954, they agreed to leave Vietnam. They and the Viet Mihn agreed to a temporary partition of the country into North and South Vietnam, and then in a year there were to be national elections and unity. Eisenhower, in his book, "Mandate for Change," admits the United States couldn't let elections happen because the Communists would have won them. So, even though the United States signed the agreements and said they would abide by them, the United States sent "advisors" into South Vietnam to set up a series of puppet governments to maintain the fiction of two Vietnams. The CIA also inherited the Meo tribes and the Hmong in the mountains. These people had been clients of the French, now they were clients of the Americans. They continued to grow opium and planes still flew the opium to Marseilles, but now they were U.S. planes from Air America, the new CIA charter airline.
Narconon International says in the 1950s, before there were overt hostilities, "U. S. efforts to contain the spread of Communism in Asia involves forging alliances with tribes and warlords inhabiting the areas of the Golden Triangle, (an expanse covering Laos, Thailand and Burma), thus providing accessibility and protection along the southeast border of China. In order to maintain their relationship with the warlords while continuing to fund the struggle against communism, the U. S. and France supply the drug warlords and their armies with ammunition, arms and air transport for the production and sale of opium. The result: an explosion in the availability and illegal flow of heroin into the United States and into the hands of drug dealers and addicts."
The general rule in dealing heroin is to cut it 10 times. If you bought it, and you're going to sell it, you should cut it 10 times. That means adding powdered sugar or powdered milk to dilute the heroin to one-tenth its strength. An overdose on heroin happens when the drug has not been cut. But that's the street talk at the bottom of the food chain. At the top of the food chain, the CIA is bringing in tons of opium. They buy it as raw opium from the Hmong and sell it to processors in Marseilles. They don't cut it 10 times, but they do raise the price 10 times. They then use the money to buy guns and ammunition for drug lords back in the mountains. There has never been an accounting of the cash that changed hands during the Vietnam War, but it would be criminally naive to believe that many CIA operatives didn't become very rich in the buying and selling of drugs and guns.
This raises another problem: The intelligence community that is supposed to provide impartial information upon which policy makers can make reasonable judgments has a financial interest in the continuation of hostilities on behalf of drug lords and gangsters. It is a classic example of the tail wagging the dog.
Iran/Contra
One of the people playing in the Golden Triangle during the Vietnam War was Ollie North. He was a gung-ho, kick-ass-kind-of-guy. For fun he'd go out into the jungle at night with his body painted and play commando, and, during the day, he worked with the CIA in Laos. When Reagan took office in 1980, North was the guy in the basement of the White House that McFarlane could go to with black box problems. Reagan wanted to fund the Contras who were fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Congress had ordered that no money be spent to fight this legitimate government, but Reagan was determined, even after he had been warned that to do so was an impeachable offense. The solution was to talk to Ollie. Ollie went down to Honduras (where Negroponte, our new National Security Czar, was ambassador) and met with the Contras. He found them to be familiar types (they were dealing cocaine). He came back and met with the Mafia types where he had been unloading Vietnamese opium and heroin and arranged for the sale of the cocaine. Then he went to Iran to arrange for the purchase of Russian made guns and ammunition (so they couldn't be traced back to the White House). Once he got the planes rolling, with military and CIA security clearances, the triangle ran itself. The Contras would deliver the cocaine to a private airbase in Costa Rica. They'd get cash for the coke.
Richard Secord, Ted Shackley and Thomas Clines or one of Ollie's other buddies from Nam would fly the coke to an airbase in Florida and it would be delivered to the Mafia, who would pay 10 times the last amount. The cash (or some portion of it) would fly to Iran and buy guns, and the guns would fly to Costa Rica or Honduras to be given to the Contras. It was a great plan. Everyone got rich and nobody got hurt, except the people of Nicaragua and the people in the United States that got addicted to cocaine. And a Congressional investigation didn't even lay a glove on 'em.
Yugoslavia/Albania
Under the Clinton Administration things were going to be different. They were going to focus on "strengthening democratic governments" rather than covert activities. They were going to "foster law-abiding behavior and promote legitimate economic opportunity," presumably in contrast to supporting drug lords and gangsters. It didn't quite turn out that way.
Most cynics agree that the United States tilted against the Yugoslav government because they wouldn't play ball with U.S. business interests. Every other country in Eastern Europe had rolled over and played dead when Bechtel and others came in to buy up their infrastructure-telephones, water, electricity, basic industry, etc. When Yugoslavia resisted, right-wing interests and the CIA decided to implode the country. They began to support former fascist elements that were willing to secede from the country. The support for the Ustashe elements in Croatia (the SS equivalents during the Nazi occupation) was among the most morally repugnant. Soon the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was calling for an independent Kosovo. There were atrocities committed on both sides. Serbs were trying to cleanse themselves of Albanians, and Albanians were trying to eliminate Serbs.
Slobodan Milosevic was portrayed in the Western press as a ruthless dictator, and the KLA were portrayed as freedom fighters. The truth was that the KLA was made up of Albanian drug lords who were the principal suppliers of heroin to Europe. Europol (the European Police Organization based in The Hague) wrote a report that detailed the connection between the KLA and Albanian drug gangs. CIA support for the KLA had been active since the early '90s, so the pattern should not be surprising. The CIA helps the drug lords bring out the heroin, turns it into money, buys guns, gets the guns back to the KLA.
Old hat and new friends.
In an article in the Montreal Gazette, Michael Levine, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, confirmed the connection: "They protected them in every way they could. As long as the CIA is protecting the KLA, you've got major drug pipelines protected from any police investigation."
Afghanistan
9-11 gave the CIA an opportunity to reclaim old friends and old sources of opium. The original opium production in Afghanistan was the exclusive property of the British Levant Company beginning in the 18th century. The drug warlords were well known and established friends of British and American intelligence. When the Taliban outlawed the production of opium, the warlords were out of business. Afghanistan went from the leading producer of opium under the former government to zero production under the Taliban. The drug lords were ready and willing accessories to the U. S. invasion.
Our man in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is another old friend of the company. Wayne Madsen wrote on January 23 on the website Canada's Centre for Research on Globalization, "According to Afghan, Iranian and Turkish government sources, Hamid Karzai, the interim Prime Minister of Afghanistan, was a top adviser to the . . . UNOCAL Corporation which was negotiating with the Taliban to construct a Central Asia Gas (CentGas) pipeline from Turkmenistan through western Afghanistan to Pakistan."
Madsen says, "Karzai maintained close relations with CIA Director William Casey, Vice President George Bush, and their Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) interlocutors" during the Mujahedeen war. "Later, Karzai and a number of his brothers moved to the United States under the auspices of the CIA. Karzai continued to serve the agency's interests, as well as those of the Bush family and their oil friends in negotiating the CentGas deal, according to Middle East and South Asian sources." (ww3report.com)
Today Afghanistan produces three-quarters of the world's opium. The sources of cultivation are protected by the CIA and the U.S. military. The drug lords who harvest and collect the opium are protected by the CIA. The transport of the opium to heroin processing plants is protected by the CIA. The delivery of the heroin to distributors in the U.S. is protected by the CIA. The only sensible conclusion is that the CIA is in control of heroin distribution in the United States. The major question is who are the people making money off of this? And how has it affected U. S. policy toward Afghanistan?
Colombia
Bush's budget for this year includes $750 million for the War on Drugs in Colombia. This money is for the Colombian military and for spraying coca fields. That sounds innocent enough, until you realize that the largest growers of coca and the largest dealers in cocaine are the large landowners who control the government and the military. Paul Wellstone was critical of this kind of aid before he died. Everyone in Colombia who has a patch of land grows coca. It's a better cash crop than coffee. The government is interested in wiping out the small landowners, eliminating the competition, and protecting the large landowners. They spray the small farms and contaminate the land so nothing will grow on it.
CIA involvement in the drug trade in Colombia has deep roots. In 1980 they teamed up with Klaus Barbie (the Butcher of Lyon, the Nazi war criminal) to stage a Cocaine Coup, that failed.
Conclusion
In the 19th century the British fought two Opium Wars to gain the freedom to impose opium on the Chinese people. In the past 50 years the CIA has started and supported more wars than we can count. We haven't begun yet to talk about Africa and the rest of South America. They have done this to support reactionary regimes and to suppress popular movements abroad, and they have financed their adventures by selling drugs to young people here in America.
It is way past time for Congress to hold them accountable. There must be a Congressional investigation of the role of the CIA in the international drug trade. We need to follow the money. Who profited? And how did this affect U. S. foreign policy? ||
Ed Felien is the publisher of Pulse of the Twin Cities.Send this announcement to a friend | Printable Version
PLEASE SEND LETTERS AND RESPONSES TO:
PULSE OF THE TWIN CITIES
3200 Chicago Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407
612-824-0000
Fax: 612-822-0342
www.pulsetc.com
editor@... musiceditor@...
calendar@... adsales@...classifieds@... webmaster@...---------------------------------------------------------------------From : stevenconliff@...Ben: In the Scoop case, you decided spontaneously to spit on a target of opportunity. With no premeditation, you could not possibly have had time to consider ramifications -- would someone misinterpret? panic? That is acting with reckless disregard of consequences, in the eyes of prosecutors and judges. I haven't read the federal assault statute. It may define breathing or bleeding on a federal officeholder as assault; it may or may not apply if the target is not an officeholder but merely a federal contractor. But if intent is a necessary element, and you can prove you took affirmative steps to avoid fulfilling that requirement, to avoid causing injury or panic, and no injury or panic ensued, then I think you should be acquitted. It's a crapshoot. But my old civics teacher (Justice Douglas' reactionary cousin) taught me we owe the kids better odds than they get from thinking somebody set rules in stone back in paleolithic times. You and I and Lt. Darden at the State House set precedent every time we pick and choose our battles. If someone wanted to pie, let's say Karl Rove, they would be better off carefully considering, documenting and explaining their preparations and precautions than sneaking around to avoid a bogus conspiracy charge. -sec
> From: Ben Masel <bmasel@...>
> To: "Steven Conliff" <stevenconliff@...>
> Subject: Re: precedent
> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 10:55:20 -0500
>
> You have to register at Booman to post comments
>
> On Thursday, July 28, 2005, at 06:09 AM, Steven Conliff wrote:
>
>> bDESPAMmasel@...
>>
>> Hey Ben. Read your comments on the Booman Tribune site. Couldn't figure out how to reply. Feel free to pass this on.
>>
>> The only way to make pie-throwing or spitting into assault is to prove reckless disregard, since clearly harder, sharper, more reliable weapons are everywhere available to anyone who intends physical harm.
>
>
> [that's Ohio, (and Wisconsin's) definition of assault. Federal's different. The Masel precedent, from spitting at Scoop.]
>>> In the Rhodes case we were able affirmatively to show Froggy and I took precautions NOT to hurt the Governor - discarded a hard-crusted cherry pie in favor of the soft banana cream, held strategy sessions, etc. When I was found in contempt for your line ("What's the matter, don't you want your ounce of flesh?"), the appeals court again considered my intent. It concluded that since I was pointing out the judge's failure to sentence me for the lesser crime of disorderly conduct, in the tumult over the assault acquittal, I in fact was doing the court a favor, not impeding the administration of justice, a necessary component of contempt. Mere disrespect will no longer do it. At least 12 persons charged with contempt have won reversals by citing this "Conliff precedent." It is an important one to have upheld and not overturned with half-baked imitations. Remember, some Cleveland Maoists did get themselves convicted of assault for pieing an 80-year-old radio commentator. Context and finesse are all-important. Love to all.-secwww.stevenconliff.comFrom: stevenconliff@...Yer right there pal, Patriot Act makes any discussion of law pretty much moot.
> From: Ben Masel <bmasel@...>
> To: "Steven Conliff" <stevenconliff@...>
> Subject: Re: precedent
> Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2005 18:34:59 -0500
>
> My case set precedent that in a federal context, "any unpermitted touching" constitutes assault. we lost 2-1 in the 7th Circuit, (the dissent was Abner Mikva.) Decided not to seek certiorari to the Supremes. All the cases I've seen that cite this particular US v Masel involve prisoners and Federal Correctional staff.>
> Ohio relies on the commonlaw definition of assault. NY, California, (Willie Brown pieing), and Federal jurisdiction do not.
>
> The Court in my case relied on language in the 1971 Congressional Assasination, Kidnapping, and Assault Act, a last minute Amendment from Sam Ervin, which a distinguished a misdemeanor for "Assault without injury" from the Felony "Assault with Injury." The distinction's moot since PATRIOT made any violation of the statute a "Terrorist Offense" carrying life.--------------------------------------------------------------------------****!!! IBOGAINE TREATMENT NOW EURO 1500 IN HOLLAND--CALL SARA, 0113134-624-1770 !!!****From:ptpeet@... Subject:Re: [Ibogaine] (OT) Re: [Ibogaine] Wireheads
A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY & A
FIRE ON THE DEEP <
Who wrote these?
Peace and love,Preston PeetFrom:ptpeet@... Subject:Re: [Ibogaine] (OT) Re: [Ibogaine] Wireheads
Neil Gaiman did amazing art with his
Sandman series but his novels haven't done anything for me.<
American Gods was pretty cool though.
Peace and love,Preston PeetFrom:dana@... Subject:Re: [Ibogaine] (OT) Re: [Ibogaine] Wireheads
Vernor Vinge. I can lend them to you. Great books. "God Shatter" is a lot like what happened to Philip Dick, or Ibogaine.Dana/cnwFrom:dana@... Subject:[Ibogaine] Emery seized by Forces of Satan; Sacrament of Transition Declares Him Martyr and Candidate for Sainthood
I can do that, you know.
Dana/cnw
North American Apostolic Delegate, Sacrament of Transition
EMERY EMPIRE RAIDED AT REQUEST OF UNITED STATES
Cannabis activist and two others arrested
By Jennifer Garner
Canadian police acting under orders from US officials raided the
headquarters of the British Columbia Marijuana Party (BCMP) in Vancouver
today (Friday, July 22).
The search warrants were authorized at the highest levels of the
provincial government in concert with a cross-border US-Canada law
enforcement pact authorized by the a US-authored Mutual Legal Assistance
in Criminal Matters treaty (MLAT) between the US and Canada.
The US has issued extradition orders for Marc Emery, who was arrested
while traveling in Halifax to a hemp festival, as well as two others who
work with Emery on television productions and other endeavours.
American officials accuse Emery of "a conspiracy to produce marijuana
and distribute marijuana seeds, and money laundering."
The DEA and other agencies are claiming that by selling seeds to
pot-growing Americans, Emery is engaged in a criminal enterprise with
the growers.
"Their activities resulted in the growing of tens of thousands of
marijuana plants in America," claims US federal attorney Jeff Sullivan.
"[Emery] was involved, allegedly, in an illegal distribution of
marijuana in [the United States.] He is a drug dealer."
Vancouver police armed with a search warrant raided the legendary store
in the heart of Vancouver's "Vansterdam" district.
Chris Bennett, manager of Pot-TV who was onsite when the BCMP center was
raided today, said he is particularly angry that Canadian police were
acting as enforcers of American drug laws.
"They're taking him down to face charges in the United States of
America, where sentences are much harsher that one would face in
Canada," said Bennett.
Emery has been arrested for marijuana-related "crimes" many times
before, but those other arrests involved local Canadian charges and
jurisdictions. Today's charges are far more serious because they involve
US federal laws that stipulate mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years
or more.
Last year, Emery served 90 days in a Saskatoon, Canada jail for passing
a joint.
American officials are seeking Emery's extradition, which could take six
months to a year. If they do seek to extradite him, he will become
another high-profile cannabis activist seeking to fight off American
attempts to prosecute him.
Renee Boje, whose husband works for Emery at BCMP, has been fighting for
years to quash a US extradition order that seeks to take her from Canada
to face prosecution for cannabis in America. Her legal costs have beenfunded by Emery.
According to witnesses, police have chained the BCMP doors, put barriers
on the windows, and are dismantling the store to seize business records,
seeds, computers, and other materials.
The raid took place at 11 am. As of late Friday afternoon, there was no
official statement from Emery or any of those arrested with him.
If past behavior is any indication, however, Emery is likely to be
unrepentant, and will fight the charges and extradition vigorously in
front of judges and in the court of public opinion.
The law enforcement treaty (MLAT) that snared Emery and his compatriots
is part of a global American network of treaties allowing the US to use
foreign police agents to investigate and arrest foreign citizens.
MLAT's help the US to violate civil rights protections and other
constitutional protections that would normally be afforded to citizens
by their own countries.
The first US bilateral MLAT entered into force with Switzerland in 1977.
The treaties are seen as a powerful tool of US foreign policy and
hegemony. Dozens of countries have entered into MLAT's with the US since
1977, and the treaties are seen as a way for US police and prosecutors
to arrest people no matter where they live, and even if they are not
guilty of a serious crime in their home country.
The treaties favor prosecutors and police, and make it virtually
impossible for defense attorneys to advocate for clients snared by MLAT
operations.
MLAT's have been criticized in other countries. Critics say US MLAT
actions against foreigners violate international law, compromise human
rights, and violate national sovereignty.
The Irish Human Rights Commission has complained about a US-Ireland MLAT
that allows CIA agents to secretly question Irish citizens on Irish soil.
The MLAT signed by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and the US
Ambassador to Ireland James Kenny, gives sweeping powers to US
authorities operating in foreign countries, including the right to seize
documents, check bank accounts and carry out searches of property.
The Irish Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said it would be examining the
agreement, which was pushed through with the promise that it would only
be used to assist the US "war on terror."
Human rights activists in Ireland are particularly concerned that
interrogations can be carried out in secret, and that the costs of CIA
operations in Ireland will be paid by Irish taxpayers.
The cross-border MLAT efforts sometimes involve enforcement of the
United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances that was finalized worldwide on November 11, 1990.
It is possible that Emery and his associates would be charged with
violating this Convention. In past years, UN officials have condemned
Emery by name.
The raids leave many questions unanswered.
Although Emery is the highest profile marijuana activist in the world,
who publicly airs reality television shows portraying all aspects of
marijuana culture and who hosts marijuana connoisseur events like the
Toker's Bowl, he is by far not the only person selling marijuana seeds
across international boundaries.
Vansterdam insiders note that while police were raiding Emery's store on
West Hastings Street in downtown Vancouver, other marijuana seed
businesses were still open for business, and people were smoking
marijuana while watching the raid.
The issue of selective prosecution is also raised by insiders who note
that US and Canadian officials are aware of massive cross-border
organized crime operations that involve guns, hard drugs, and other
illegality on a scale that dwarfs Emery's marijuana seed business. And
yet it's Emery, who donates all the money he earns to non-profit
pro-marijuana causes, who is targeted in an unprecedented raid ordered
by the US.
Protesters are on hand at Emery's store in Vancouver. The man who has
provided bail money, attorneys, and other support for so many marijuana
arrestees now finds himself in the clutches of the US government which
he, his magazine, and his website so accurately describe as atotalitarian and imperialist hit squad.
For the man who is often called "The Prince of Pot," today's arrest is
the ultimate showdown.
After leaving jail last year, Emery said, "Once you get over your fear
of whatever they can do to you, you become empowered to just live as if
marijuana is legal, without much concern for the consequences they
threaten you with. Whatever they do to me- arrest, incarceration, even
if they kill me- it's not going to make me live in fear. We're going to
continue to show them that marijuana should be legal, that our culture
is harmless and vibrant, and that it is the drug war, not the cannabisculture, which threatens public order and safety.
To join the Mindvox ibogaine list just send an email to ibogaine-subscribe@... if you please.
Nothing more to it. You don't have to write anything in the subject or text area.-------------------------------------------------------------
******************************************************************************The following list is for internal use of Million Marijuana March Organizers. Many [personal addresses] in brackets are listed so that our affiliates can mail posters, buttons, etc. to each other, BUT are not for posting on websites. If you wish to put this list up on a website, consult with www.cures-not-wars.org to see what we've actually displayed. To get on the poster for 2006-update your contact details & add your city to this List:
----------snip-------------end of forwarded email----------------------
Photo galleries. Cannabis events worldwide.
http://gallery.marihemp.com/mmm 
MMM (Million Marijuana March).
First Saturday in May, or that weekend, or thereabouts.
Hundreds of different cities worldwide since 1999.
2005 city list, links, world map:
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/mmm2005map.htm
Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page
Offline 
Send Email