Medical marijuana symbol posted on a fence that encloses a ‘legal’ garden in California. (Photo courtesy http://peacecorpsonline.org/)

CA medical marijuana advocates concerned about Obama appointments

By Malcolm Maclachlan (published Thursday, November 20, 2008) In this year’s presidential election, medical marijuana advocates in California were pretty clear on which candidate they were rooting for. On multiple occasions, Democrat Barack Obama has pledged to end the federal raids that have bedeviled the state’s dispensaries for years under the Bush administration…

Daily Grunge Report

The awe-inspiring site of the Grand Canyon. (Photo courtesy Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Bush officials moving fast to cut environmental protections

By Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — In the next few weeks, the Bush administration is expected to relax environmental-protection rules on power plants near national parks, uranium mining near the Grand Canyon and more mountaintop-removal coal mining in Appalachia

Daily Grunge Report

Not So Delicate Balance

New intelligence report says Pakistan is ‘on the edge’

By Jonathan S. Landay and John Walcott | McClatchy Newspapers WASHINGTON — A growing al Qaida-backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army’s reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America’s key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment.

Pool image by Mark Wilson / Getty Images / MCT Rather than producing valuable intelligence or keeping terror suspects off the streets, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base practices radicalized detainees, and for many served as a ’school for Jihad,’ or holy war. (Photo courtesy McClatchy News Service DC)

SPECIAL REPORT — GUANTANAMO: BEYOND THE LAW

ABOUT THIS SERIES
An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.
‘The most comprehensive reporting and gathering of facts on the matter to date. Bravo McClatchy.’ — Free-4-Now

A photographer walked among Humvees during a ceremony at the transfer of U.S. equipment to the Afghan Army this year on the outskirts of Kabul. (Musadeq Sadeq/The Associated Press)

U.S. pushing through dozens of foreign weapons deals

By Eric Lipton Published: September 14, 2008 WASHINGTON: The Bush administration is pushing through a broad array of foreign weapons deals as it seeks to re-arm Iraq and Afghanistan, contain North Korea and Iran, and solidify ties with onetime Russian allies.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki and Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr (photo date and source unknown)

By Leila Fadel | McClatchy Newspapers BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has been on a roll, and American officials are getting worried.

‘White Paper’ Drafted before NIE even Requested National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 254 Posted – August 22, 2008 For more information contact: John Prados – (202) 994-7000 Washington D.C., August 22, 2008 – The U.S. intelligence community buckled sooner in 2002 than previously reported to Bush administration pressure for data justifying an invasion of Iraq, according to a documents posting on the Web today by National Security Archive senior fellow John Prados.

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(US Navy photo)

by Tim King Salem-News.com American troops are asked to fight and die for the freedom of other nations while the government strips them of their own. MySpace is one of the sites soldiers are unable to access. (FORT BENNING, Georgia) – We reported on May 16th 2007 that the U.S. government appeared to be on the verge of relaxing its complete blackout of MySpace and YouTube on all U.S. military computers. (see: DoD Will Listen to Internet Companies at Roundtable Discussion Thursday) I can tell you over one year later that it apparently never happened.

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