"Every time it rains here, Kris Holstrom knowingly breaks the law.Who owns Colorado's rainwater? - Los Angeles Times
Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain."
Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and, Rehabilitation Act (1980)
Since most (50%+) of people are currently in jail for nonviolent drug offenses, the birth of the "drug war" probably more than doubled the number of "criminals".
Coincidentally, a major piece of antidrug legislation was introduced in 1980: [the] Drug Abuse Prevention, Treatment and, Rehabilitation Act [of 1980]
Just Say "NO" to Drugs!
"Russian military aircraft flew just 500 feet over two U.S. Navy ships this week as the ships participated in a joint military exercise with South Korea in the Sea of Japan, according to U.S. military officials."
"Thousands of Iraqis held without charge by the United States on suspicion of links to insurgents or militants are being freed by this summer because there is little or no evidence against them."La Crosse Tribune - 7.0
Holder rescinds Ashcroft-era FOIA guidelines - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency"A presumption of openness," is now supposed to guide federal agencies' responses to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Attorney General Eric Holder today sent a memo to agency heads that reverses FOIA guidelines that have been in place since Oct. 12, 2001. The Bush-era presumption, established by then-attorney general John Ashcroft, was that agencies should first assume that information should not be released -- and put most of the burden on the requester to prove otherwise.
Former Vice President Cheney also believes, according to these same memos, that the federal government can send troops to burst into the homes of American citizens without a search warrant, despite the Fourth Amendment's protection against such unreasonable searches. He believes that the federal government has the right to arrest an American citizen on American soil and hold him in prison without charges. He believes that the federal government can listen in on your phone conversations without a court order.
Cheney believes that the federal government can ignore the Geneva Conventions, binding treaties largely written by the United States, signed by the president and ratified by the Senate. He believes that the federal government can commit torture, despite laws and treaties making torture a crime.
As the Washington Post reported, "Starting in January, 2002, Cheney turned his attention to the practical business of crushing a captive's will to resist. The vice president's office played a central role in shattering limits on coercion of prisoners in U.S. custody, commissioning and defending legal opinions that the Bush administration has since portrayed as the initiatives, months later, of lower-ranking officials."
"The Fed program adds up to serious money. The most recent balance sheet released by the Fed shows that $314 billion U.S. dollars are currently doled out to foreign central banks under the foreign exchange program. That's down from a December peak of nearly $600 billion, as central banks have repaid some of the loans."
"As you might guess from the title, Taylor concludes that blame lies primarily with the Federal Reserve's unreasonably low interest rates for much of the last decade. He also points an accusatory finger at "the failure to rein in Fannie and Freddie" (meaning Rep. Barney Frank and other Democratic congressional enablers) and "the lack of clarity in the operation" of last fall's financial bailout plan (meaning the Bush administration, plus congressional leaders who drafted the legislation)."
"The Obama administration, siding with the Bush White House, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights
In a two-sentence court filing, the Justice Department said it agreed that detainees at Bagram Airfield cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detention. The filing shocked human rights attorneys."
Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union."
Soros sees no bottom for world financial collapse | U.S. | Reuters
"Without any fanfare, pharmaceutical companies have been raising the prices of many of their drugs by 100 percent or more, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota."
Hey, gotta get ready for the gov't paying for it...
