The Largest Minority

October 2nd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

The CIA, or “American Gestapo” as Truman called the agency, has had one of its covert activities revealed once again. Sadly, the recovered coke stash above will never be shown in the mainstream media unless Britney decides to flash her vagina in front of it. Luckily for us, the wonders of the internet allow you to see both whenever you want. Much respect to our friends at BoRev for the following.

Remember how the Bush Administration “decertified” Venezuela—whatever that means—for “failing to cooperate in the war on drugs”? And how Venezuela was all like, “look we would have cooperated if your drug agents weren’t the ones dealing half the drugs in Venezuela?” And the Bush Administration was like “bullshit you’re making that up”?

Well, heh heh. Earlier this week a plane went down in the Yucatan Peninsula, carrying 2.3 tons of cocaine of Colombia to the U.S. And it turned out to be “one of the planes chartered to the CIA for the renditioning of kidnapped prisoners.”

On a side note, the Iranian Parliament recently passed a non-binding resolution which states that “the aggressor US army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror.” The move is seen as a reply to our Senate voting in favor of the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which declares Iran’s revolutionary guard a “terrorist organization” for supposedly intervening in our illegal occupation of Iraq. The main difference between our government’s claim and theirs is that they actually have evidence to support their claim. The resolution calls the US Army and Central Intelligence Agency terrorists due to America’s use of nuclear weapons during World War II, depleted uranium in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq, as well as support for Israeli crimes and the torturing of terror suspects. All in all, that’s a rather short summary of all the atrocities our military and CIA have committed. It’s nice of them to let us off so easy.

August 27th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

The ACLU is suing the Drug Enforcement Administration on behalf of a truck driver who had $23,700 of his own money seized by DEA agents at a weigh station in New Mexico. Anastasio Prieto of El Paso gave a state police officer permission to search his truck to see if it contained “needles or cash in excess of $10,000.” Prieto told the officer he didn’t have any needles but did have a large amount of money since he does not like banks, and customarily carries his savings as cash.

Border Patrol agents used drug-sniffing dogs to search his truck, but found no evidence of illegal substances. Officers took his money regardless and turned it over to the DEA. Despite his objections, agents for the DEA photographed and fingerprinted Prieto without charging him for any crime. DEA agents told Prieto he could receive a notice of federal proceedings to permanently forfeit the money within 30 days, and that he’d need to prove it did not come from illegal drug sales in order to get it back.

The ACLU’s lawsuit states that the DEA violated Prieto’s right to be free of unlawful search and seizure by taking his money without probable cause and by fingerprinting and photographing him. It continues, “Mere possession of approximately $23,700 does not establish probable cause for a search or seizure.”

New Mexico’s ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson says that Prieto needs his money to pay bills and maintain his truck. “The government took Mr. Prieto’s money as surely as if he had been robbed on a street corner at night,” Simonson said. “In fact, being robbed might have been better. At least then the police would have treated him as the victim of a crime instead of as a perpetrator.”

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August 23rd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

A newly proposed law in California would establish a five-year pilot program for farmers to grow industrial hemp in four counties. The law would also define “industrial hemp” as separate from marijuana under the state’s health and safety code.

Hemp is a sustainable and environmentally friendly crop which contains less than 1 percent of THC. It is used in skin products, as fertilizer, medicine, building material, fabric, paper, fuel, and can be converted into fully biodegradable plastics. The United States is the only industrialized nation where hemp is not an established crop, much to the delight of oil, coal, and chemical industries which benefit from the ban.

Cultivation of hemp is currently illegal under US federal law thanks to the lobbying of the aforementioned groups. The California Narcotic Officers’ Association has testified that the passage of such a bill would only make law enforcement more difficult because farmers might hide illegal marijuana in their legal hemp fields. I could be wrong, but it seems like this association is either admitting that they’re too incompetent to do their jobs correctly, or they’re making the case for the legalization of marijuana so that they’re not forced to make the distinction. Either way, I say let the layoffs begin.

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August 2nd, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Despite what Traitor Joe and Mr. Straight-Talk Express might say, the outlook of soldiers serving in Iraq is not so sunny. Perhaps it’s because they’ve served so many tours, or perhaps it’s because they’re simply not as stupid or deceitful as the aforementioned politicians.

A new form of treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is proving to be successful for not only war veterans, but for the animals themselves. I hope there are enough abused birds to go around, since 25 percent of vets have been shown to have mental health problems. Kids, if you have a pet parrot, start beating the hell out of it. It just may save the life of a returning soldier.

June 22nd, 2007 by Calypso

Children with physical and mental deformities in the Nigerian town of Kano are considered the lucky survivors of a controversial 1996 drug trial by Pfizer. The pharmaceutical giant used hospitalized children, sick with meningitis, as guinea pigs for an experimental and unregistered antibiotic called Trovan. While Pfizer claims that the survival rate for the drug trial was at 94 percent, with only 11 out of 200 children dying, Kano officials state that over 50 children actually died.

The Nigerian government started an expert medical panel to review the drug trial after being pressured by families affected and rights groups. The panel concluded that the experiment was “an illegal trial of an unregistered drug”, and a “clear case of exploitation of the ignorant”.

Anas Mohammadu who was 3-years-old at the time of the trial fell ill and was taken to hospital by his parents. His father still burns with anger over the situation. “My son was ill and we took him to the hospital like any other family would. Then the Americans and some local Nigerian doctors injected Anas with this evil drug.” Anas, now 14-years-old, dreams of becoming a soldier but his dream seems unlikely as the trial left him with weak, wobbly legs, and a permanently drooling mouth. He is made fun of in school, and even daily tasks like getting water from a well can be difficult as he gets tired easily and can be pulled by the slightest weight.

Hassan Sani described how his daughter Hajara, now 14-years-old as well (pictured above left), became deaf and mute thanks to Pfizer. Mr Sani said “the American doctors took advantage of our illiteracy and cheated us and our children. We thought they were helping us.”

Many blame Pfizer’s experiment for the mass rejection of polio vaccinations in many northern Nigerian areas. Some Muslim preachers think it was a western plot to sterilize Muslim women. Pfizer denies any wrongdoing, saying that “verbal consent” was given by the parents, and that the trial was medically, scientifically, regulatory, and ethically “sound”. They added that the experiment followed Nigerian regulations and saved many lives. Moreover, they argue that such allegations are “highly inflammatory and not based on all the facts”.

A decade onwards, the Nigerian government is suing Pfizer for $7 billion in damages suffered by the families of the children who passed away and those still suffering from side effects. The Kano state government is filling separate charges against Pfizer. However, money will never be enough to compensate for dead or disabled children. Mr. Sani expressed his anger, saying; “In addition to the compensation, they should be killed like the children they have killed.”

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June 20th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

Take action with the Drug Policy Alliance to end the “war on drugs”. Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance states that, �We now imprison more people for drug law violations than all of western Europe, with a much larger population, incarcerates for all offenses.� Additionally, the United States has a higher percentage of its black population in prison than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.

h/t Brasscheck TV

May 5th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

We’ve seen time and time again that our visitors are more than just blog readers, they’re activists! I don’t often use exclamation points, but that one was well deserved. In part to your response to an Action Alert titled �Alternative Medicine Under Fire� (which has since expired and been removed), alternative medicine has been protected from the FDA and big drug companies.

Crystal Olson drew my attention to the cause in the first place, and had this to say:

“Good news update!!! Thanks for being a part of it, and your readers as well!! Good job… health freedom choices are protected once again! (For now.)”

So kudos to all of you who signed that petition before the end of last month. Your voices ARE being heard and you ARE making a difference.

Your activism just saved supplements from being turned into “untested drugs”! Big Pharma will be back, but today, we can do a victory dance!…

…Congress has accepted the following amendment to S.1082 - Enhancing Drug Safety and Innovation Act of 2007 - from Sen. Durbin.

It appears that Congress heard our concerns! Hundreds of thousands of messages to FDA no doubt reverberated through the halls of Congress. The amendment was adopted by the Senate 94 to zero.

Sec. X08. Rule of Construction

Nothing in this title (or an amendment made by this title) shall be construed to affect–

(1) The regulation of dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act; or
(2) The adverse event reporting system for dietary supplements created under the Dietary Supplement and Nonprescription Drug Consumer Protection Act.

Like many victories in Congress, you hardly ever get everything you want. Leading supplement industry lawyer, J. Emord, originally proposed exempting all “foods” from the new law (Counsel stated: “It is a fundamental tenet of food and drug law that foods and food ingredients are presumed to be safe and have to be established to be adulterated only if they present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” This approach would have offered even greater protection for natural products, but we are grateful that enough members of Congress heard the loud shout from the public and responded so quickly to at least protect DSHEA products — the power of Internet politics at its best.”

April 30th, 2007 by Manila Ryce

As is their custom, Family Guy attacked the Bush administration pretty successfully last night. They took a shot at Cheney for… well, taking shots. And took shots at Bush for… well, also taking shots, but with a different connotation.

The Griffin�s move to Texas where Chris and Meg must sneak onto Bush�s ranch and steal a pair of his underwear in order to be initiated into the Texas Youth Club. This is perhaps a reference to the bizarre initiation rituals of Skull and Bones, to which G. W. Bush was/is a member. Cheney is shown guarding the place with his infamous boomstick, which strikes terror into the faces of old men everywhere. Quail, not so much.

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