Women Born Transsexual

From The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/get-busted-for-marijuana-_b_1199896.html

Tony Newman
Director of Media Relations, Drug Policy Alliance
Posted: 1/11/12

No one has ever died from smoking marijuana. But getting busted with a small amount of marijuana has led to countless tragic deaths.

This week, Shelley Hilliard, a 19-year-old woman from Detroit, was killed after working as a police informant. On October 20, Hilliard was arrested for a small amount of marijuana. The police offered her a way out: She could set up a drug deal. She called a drug dealer and said she had someone who wanted to buy $335 of cocaine and marijuana. When the dealer showed up he was arrested. The dealer was released, and three days later Hilliard was found dead in the streets. The dealer has been charged with murder.

Hilliard tragic death brings back memories of Rachel Hoffman, the 23-year-old, Florida State graduate from Tallahassee who also worked as an informant after she was busted with a small amount of marijuana and Ecstasy. Hoffman was sent alone on a “buy and bust” and was given $13,000 to buy Ecstasy, cocaine and a gun. The men shot Hoffman five times, stole her car and credit card, and dumped her body into a ditch. This week Tallahassee approved a $2.6 million settlement with Rachel’s parents.

These two women should still be with us on this earth, but were instead pawns in an unwinnable drug war that led to their violent deaths.

There are so many sick aspects of the failed drug war, but law enforcement’s forcing people with a drug arrest to choose between draconian prison sentences or becoming an informant is one of the most nauseating. My friend and colleague, Anthony Papa, was sentenced to 15-years-to-life after a bowling buddy convinced him to drop off an envelope of cocaine in exchange for $500. The bowling buddy had been busted for drugs and the police said he was facing a long mandatory minimum drug sentence unless he could help them bust more people. The more people he helped them set up, the less prison time he would get. So he ruined his friend Papa’s life (and many others) by setting him up in a drug sting.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/get-busted-for-marijuana-_b_1199896.html

From Raw Story:   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/14/anonymous-posts-media-moguls-information-online/

By David Ferguson
Saturday, January 14, 2012

In protest of a pending anti-piracy measure currently before the U.S. Congress, the hacker group “Anonymous” has posted personal information about two of the most powerful men in media, Time Warner Chief Executive Jeffrey L. Bewkes and Sumner M. Redstone, head of Viacom and CBS.

In an action it calls “Operation Hiroshima”, the “hacktivist” group has declared all-out war on the media and government figures it holds responsible for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), according to the New York Times‘s “Media Decoder” blog.

SOPA and its Senate companion bill, called the “Protect I.P. Act” (PIPA) aim to stop online piracy of copyrighted materials like movies, T.V. shows, and video games by granting private companies and the government greater authority to shut down websites both within the U.S. and abroad. Activists and Internet professionals argue that the bills give outside agencies too much control over Internet content and could result in censorship and the erosion of free speech.

From The Santa Rosa Press Democrat:   http://santarosa.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2012/01/news/ex-panther-leader-mlk-was-moral-center/

By JULIE JOHNSON / The Press Democrat
Sunday, January 15th, 2012

Two very different men held court in Santa Rosa Sunday evening with more than 500 people — one a radical who wanted action and revolution, the other a preacher of peaceful resistance whose memory lives on long after his death.

Though their tactics appeared radically different, former Black Panther Elbert “Big Man” Howard told more than 500 people in Santa Rosa High School’s auditorium that Martin Luther King, Jr. fueled his belief that people could demand change.

“Through Dr. King, I found my moral center,” Howard said. “Stay the course. Stay united. All power to the people.”

Howard, a Forestville resident, spoke at Santa Rosa’s annual celebration of the slain civil rights leader’s birthday. The holiday is recognized Monday and used by many as a day of volunteering and service.

Howard and King represent two forces that galvanized African American men and many others to have the courage to march, said Rev. Donald Pete with Community Baptist Church.

“We all felt we needed to be free, but how you do it was the question,” Pete said.

King carved a path of dignity and morality, he said. The Panthers showed young men things could be different right now.

Howard told the crowd that King laid the groundwork for his group’s activism. He remembers walking to the back of the bus where he was forced to sit, well aware that he was still paying the same fare as white customers.

Continue reading at:  http://santarosa.towns.pressdemocrat.com/2012/01/news/ex-panther-leader-mlk-was-moral-center/

File under: This has got to be a sick fucking joke…

Talk about fooking clueless…

I have a better idea, get rid of all royalty.

From The Guardian UK:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/15/queen-royal-yacht-diamond-jubilee-gove

Exclusive: Education secretary proposes taxpayers fund gift – likely to cost at least £60m – to mark ‘momentous occasion’

Patrick Wintour, political editor
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 January 2012

Michael Gove has brushed aside Britain’s economic problems to propose the public donate a new royal yacht to the Queen as a mark of respect during this year’s diamond jubilee celebrations, according to a confidential letter to fellow ministers.

In the letter, which has been sent to Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary and minister overseeing the celebrations, and to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, Gove at one point comes close to suggesting that Britain’s dire economic climate means that a large-scale celebration is required to lift the country’s spirits.

The education secretary writes: “In spite, and perhaps because of the austere times, the celebration should go beyond those of previous jubilees and mark the greater achievement that the diamond anniversary represents.”

The Liberal Democrats privately expressed surprise at the proposal, which is likely to cost at least £60m, at a time of national austerity.

Meanwhile Tom Watson, the Labour party vice-chairman, said: “When school budgets are being slashed, parents will be wondering how Gove came even to suggest this idea.”

Gove, an enthusiastic monarchist, writes in the letter: “I feel strongly that the diamond jubilee gives us a tremendous opportunity to recognise in a very fitting way the Queen’s highly significant contribution to the life of the nation and the Commonwealth.”

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/15/queen-royal-yacht-diamond-jubilee-gove