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SHOULD SCOOTER LIBBY'S LAWYER BE DISBARRED? Law school dean Lawrence Velvel says, Maybe he should, if he sat idly by while client Libby spouted lies. What lies at the core of Zionism? Michael Neumann tortures Alan Dershowitz, without a warrant! "Sex-mad adulterer from British aristocracy claims to have 'revolutionized' philosophy." Yes, Bertrand Russell, they mean you! Alexander Cockburn on Smearing 101 in the British press. Get the answers you're looking for in the subscriber-only edition of CounterPunch ... CounterPunch Online is read by millions of viewers each month! But remember, we are funded solely by the subscribers to the print edition of CounterPunch. Please support this website by buying a subscription to our newsletter, which contains fresh material you won't find anywhere else, or by making a donation for the online edition. Remember contributions are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558 |
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December 3 / 4, 2005 Saul Landau Ralph Nader December 2, 2005 Stan Goff Mike Ferner Christopher Brauchli Niranjan Ramakrishnan Manuel Talens Peter Phillips J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. Website of
the Day
December 1, 2005 John Walsh,
MD Ron Jacobs Jenna Orkin Joshua Frank Tiffany Ten
Eyck Missy Comley Beattie Eli Stephens Elaine Cassel Website of
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November 30, 2005 Allen / D'Amato Mike Whitney Kevin Zeese Norman Solomon Ramzy Baroud Dave Lindorff Stephen Soldz
November 29, 2005 Phil Gasper Behzad Yaghmaian Joshua Frank Walter A. Davis Gary Leupp Len Colodny Jeffrey St.
Clair Bill Quigley Website of
the Day
November 28, 2005 Chris Reed David Isenberg Ron Jacobs Norman Solomon Justin E.H. Smith Mickey Z. Mike Whitney David Swanson Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
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November 26 / 27, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Saul Landau Ralph Nader Brian Cloughley John Ross Gary Leupp Fred Gardner Christopher Brauchli Dave Lindorff P. Sainath Timothy J.
Freeman Lila Rajiva Eric Ruder Seth Sandronsky Joaquin Bustelo Lewis Alper Will Youmans Phyllis Pollack St. Clair /
Vest Barbara LaMorticella Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
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November 24, 2005 James Petras Bob Shirley Mike Fox Niranjan Ramakrishnan Greg Moses Alexander Cockburn
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/ Mike Hersh Ralph Nader Michael Donnelly Mike Ferner Pierre Tristam Marshall Auerback Website of
the Day
November 21, 2005 Mike Marqusee Josh Frank Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Russ Baker Robert Jensen Paul Craig
Roberts
November 19 / 20, 2005 Fred Gardner Rep. Cynthia McKinney Ron Jacobs David Vest J.L. Chestnut,
Jr. John R. Bomar John Ross Phillip Cryan Dave Lindorff Dick J. Reavis Jeremy Scahill Dan Wright John Stanton St. Clair / Vest / Walker Phyllis Pollack Dr. Susan Block Poets Basement
November 18, 2005 Michael Neumann Dave Lindorff Michael Donnelly Mark Chmiel
/ Andrew Wimmer Don Monkerud Tom Kerr Trish Schuh
November 17, 2005 John Walsh Rep. John Murtha Brian J. Foley CounterPunch
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November 16, 2005 John F. Sugg Noam Chomsky Dave Lindorff Evelyn Pringle Sam Husseini Pierre Tristam Greg Bates Farrah Hassen Bill Christison Website of
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November 15, 2005 Todd Chretien Leah Caldwell Frederick Hudson Harry Browne Jason Leopold Ingmar Lee Diana Barahona Tom Andre Website of the Weekend
November 14, 2005 Diana Johnstone Paul Craig Roberts Conn Hallinan Joshua Frank Christopher
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Smith Ben Tripp St. Clair /
Vest Poets' Basement Website of
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November 10, 2005 Peterside,
Ogon, Watts and Zalik Pat Williams Steve Higgs Jimmy Massey Lucson Pierre-Charles Anthony Newkirk Lawrence R.
Velvel Website of the Day November 9, 2005 Gary Leupp Tariq Ali Chris Floyd Elaine Cassel Joshua Frank Alison Weir Diana Johnstone
Paul Craig
Roberts Roger Burbach Ron Jacobs Ralph Nader Jim McGrath David Bloom Stan Goff
November 7, 2005 Dick Reavis Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff Eli Stephens David Swanson M. Junaid Alam Matt Reichel Naima Bouteldja Jeff Halper Website of the Day
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Velvel Diana Johnstone Roosa / Nevins Niranjan Ramakrishnan John Ross Mike Whitney Mark Engler Juliano Mer-Khamis Ron Jacobs Jill S. Farrell Missy Comley
Beattie Mitchel Cohen Evelyn J. Pringle Reza Fiyouzat Charles Sullivan Zachary Richard Ben Tripp St. Clair / Vest
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Lind Daryl G. Kimball George Beres Peter Montague
November 3, 2005 James Petras Saul Landau Rep. Cynthia McKinney Michael Dickinson Joshua Frank Remi Kanazi Reza Fiyouzat Website of the Day
November 2, 2005 Cockburn /
St. Clair Robert Oscar Lopez John Walsh Brian J. Foley Ramzy Baroud M. Junaid Alam Todd Chretien Bruce K. Gagnon Website of the Day
November 1, 2005 Ron Jacobs Gary Leupp John Ross Bill Quigley Joseph Nevins Dave Lindorff Linda S. Heard Heather Gray Michael Dickinson Jeffrey St. Clair
October 31, 2005 Elaine Cassel Mark Weisbrot Mike Whitney Norman Solomon Farooq Sulehria Nicole Colson Madis Senner Paul Craig
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October 28, 2005 Jared Bernstein Virginia Tilley Phil Gasper Jennifer Matsui Manual Garcia,
Jr. Monica Benderman Jason Leopold Dave Lindorff
Saul Landau Stuart Hodkinson Ingmar Lee Lila Rajiva Ilan Pappe Niranjan Ramakrishnan Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Cockburn / St. Clair
October 26, 2005 Kathy Kelly Gary Leupp Mike Marqusee Eric Ruder Patrick Cockburn Joshua Frank J.L. Chestnut, Jr. Website of
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October 22 / 23, 2005 Alexander Cockburn Billy Sothern Saul Landau Ralph Nader Behrooz Ghamari Brian Cloughley Diana Barahona Fred Gardner Lee Sustar Patrick Cockburn Laura Carlsen James Petras Joshua Frank Manuel Garcia,
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October 21, 2005 Dave Lindorff Winslow T. Wheeler Col. Dan Smith Norman Solomon Madis Senner Michael Donnelly
Dave Lindorff Ray McGovern Jeremy Brecher
/ Patrick Cockburn Kevin Zeese Ross Eisenbrey Randy Shields Justine Davidson After Lucas
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Weekend Edition Pot ShotsOregon NORML Honors GrowersBy FRED GARDNER For a long time C Notes naively assumed that a "cannabis cup" competition was simply an excuse to indulge. We wondered how anybody, after sampling one strain, could judge the effect of any strain sampled subsequently? Oregon NORML resolves this fool's paradox by doing the judging over the course of several weeks (patients get one gram per day to evaluate) and announcing the results at an awards dinner preceded by a day of medical and legal panels. This year 25 growers entered the competition by donating strains and 28 patients served as judges. Strains were evaluated on a scale of 1 to 10 for "appearance," "aroma," "taste," "smoothness (is it easy on your lungs?)", "potency (how strong is the strain?)," and "medicinal effect (how well does it work for your individual condition?)." Medicinal effect was given double weight in the scoring. The awards dinner was held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at the Ambridge Center in downtown Portland. First-prize winner David V. said, "This is a dream come true," as he accepted a blue ribbon from organizer Madeline Martinez, and you could tell he meant it. The winners will make cuttings available to patients through Oregon NORML later this month. ("Dynamite," the overall winner, also took first prize in smoothness, taste, and aroma.) Many growers wish they had access to an analytical lab so they could determine the true content of their plants and breed strains in which different cannabinoids predominate. Rick Bayer, MD, a Portland internist who chaired the legal and medical panels, was asked by a patient in a wheelchair about the best strain for spasticity. "That's a good question," Bayer reflected in an interview afterwards, "and you don't want to recommend a strain that's uninformative or misleading or named after somebody's cat." According to Bayer, the strains that score highest for medicinal effect were relaxants rather than stimulants, Indicas rather than Sativas. More than 70 people attended the panels -including 11 lawyers who will pick Up 5.0 hours' worth of continuing-legal-education credits from the state bar. A highlight of the medical session was a report by nurse Ed Glick concluding that Oregon patients who use cannabis to treat various physical conditions also experience reduced anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Oregon's Medical Marijuana Program, which is administered by the Department of Health Services (DHS), does not recognize that psychiatric problems can be alleviated by cannabis. Glick's data will be presented to DHS, which is authorized by law to expand the list of conditions treatable by cannabis. DHS turned down a request to add anxiety in 2000. Oregon law will change on January 1, 2006, when Senate Bill 1085 takes effect. (Its author, State Sen. Bill Morrisette, was thanked profusely at NORML's awards dinner.) Patients and caregivers will be allowed to possess a pound and a half of dried herb and to grow six flowering plants and 18 vegetative plants under one foot tall. SB 1085 recognizes the reality of the grower -"the person responsible for the growsite"- who needn't be a patient or caregiver. It limits to four the number of patients the growsite can serve. Thus the maximum number of plants in a garden will be 24 flowering and 72 starts -just below the number that triggers a mandatory-minimum sentence under federal law. One provision calls for "a system to assist law enforcement in identifying legal medical marijuana patients and the addresses of grow sites" Which sounds like Big Brother will be watching, but not to worry: "law enforcement must identify themselves to access information. The information may only be used to verify registration under OMMA, and law enforcement may not share that information for any purpose with any other entity (for example, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration)." Little Brother will be watching and he promises not to tell Big Brother. Under the revised law, growing and distributing medical marijuana must be a non-profit enterprise -literally. "Patients and caregivers may reimburse the person responsible for a marijuana grow site for the costs of supplies and utilities associated with the production of marijuana for the registry identification cardholder. No other costs associated with the production of marijuana for the registry identification cardholder, including the cost of labor, may be reimbursed." Grant Higginson, MD, director of the state's medical mj program (which had registered 12,040 patients and 5,791 caregivers as of November 1), took part in the panel on the revised law. The Oregon hosts were grateful for his presence, but a participant from California, Tod Mikuriya, MD, came away critical of the role Higgnison has played. Mikuriya says that Higginson, as Oregon's Public Health Officer, is the final arbiter on whether psychiatric conditions should be listed as treatable by cannabis and thus bears responsibility for the negative decision in 2000. (A C-Notes source says that decision was probably made by then-governor John Kitzhaber, himself a physician.) Some Oregonians who wish to use cannabis to treat depression, etc., have told their doctors they're experiencing nausea from taking Prozac or some other corporate antidepressant. The docs then approve cannabis use to treat the nausea and the patients keep filling their Prozac prescriptions to provide the all-important documentation. Which is ridiculous, dishonest, costly, demeaning to all involved, and legally necessary. Documentation talks, reality walks. Mikuriya decries "the increase in collection of certain kinds of data -especially grow-site addresses" that Oregon's revised law will mandate. He calls it "a perfect set-up for prohibitory pogroms." Having attended Reed College and trained at the State Hospital in Salem, Dr. Tod (who sometimes refers to himself as an anarchist) has a longterm perspective on Oregon politics. "There would appear to be an Oregonian tradition of civil-service job creation. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission still lives to dis-serve the public with their chain of state liquor stores, which has existed since I attended Reed over half a century ago. As a cost-saving measure it would be simpler to turn over OMMP to the OLCC so they could take their cut. Too late and impossible -the Department of Health Services got there first to develop a self-serving, self-justifying fiefdom in perpetuity. With impending implementation of Administrative Rule, the OMMP becomes the OLCC with tentacles and snooping powers. Unfortunately, due process and privacy have been suborned under medical guise. Accountability and transparency are unknown values. "Excessively elaborate practice standards are now mandated, yet International Classification of Diseases coding is not required. It is simply incompetence not to include this information, which is required on all insurance claims and would be extremely useful for research purposes. OMMP's priorities and overall preoccupation with eligibility, exclusion, and surveillance reflect improper priorities that were not intended or mandated by Oregon voters. "California anarchy plays out quite differently. Psychiatric disorders are included through 'any other condition for which marijuana provides relief.' [Mikuriya's own contribution to the wording of Prop 215.] The decision is made by a physician exercising clinical judgment -not an opaque, political, unresponsive panel." And whereas any licensed California physician can approve cannabis use by patients, Mikuriya notes, Oregon's new law defines the requisite physician-patient relationship, "opening cracks where the pry bars of prosecutorial inquiry can be inserted." Mikuriya also criticizes Oregon's program for failing to establish a testing program to protect patients from herb contaminated by pesticide residue, fungi, molds, and bacteria. "If surveillance is desirable," he comments, "it should be for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the patient and the health of the environment." Above all, Mikuriya wants to see the Oregon program "collecting data that will enable research to be conducted for evidence-based treatment." As for the new law's non-profit clause, Dr. Tod diagnoses "Institutional denial. Denial that this medicine is a fungible commodity at the level of gold in value. Setting in place legislatively that there should be no compensation of growers for anything except supplies and utilities guarantees that there will be illicit transactions. This institutional denial provides both a breeding ground for covert compensatory activity and forestalls any taxation. It's straight out of Gulliver's Travels." Fred Gardner is the editor of O'Shaughnessy's Journal of the California Cannabis Research Medical Group. He can be reached at: fred@plebesite.com
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from CounterPunch Books! The Case Against Israel By Michael Neumann  Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair          Sick of sit-on-the-Fence speakers, tongue-tied and timid? CounterPunch Editors Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair are available to speak forcefully on ALL the burning issues, as are other CounterPunchers seasoned in stump oratory. Call CounterPunch Speakers Bureau, 1-800-840-3683. Or email beckyg@counterpunch.org.               |
