Wednesday, September 18, 2002

DEA Raids Hospice & 1st Niece Gets Kid Gloves QUOTES OF THE DAY "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed...And the earth brought forth grass herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good." - - The Bible (Genesis) RHINO HERE: On Tuesday, the Mayor of Santa Cruz California stood on the steps of City Hall assisting in a medical marijuana giveaway. This after the September 5th raid by federal DEA agents on WAMM, the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, a cooperative catering to terminally ill patients. FULL STORY ON THE RAID AT: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-09-16-raid-usat_x.htm The feds stormed the place in the early morning with guns drawn, chain saws whirring, leveling the pot garden, handcuffing ailing patients including a paraplegic, and arresting the hospice's founder/director Valerie Corral, a woman known as the Mother Teresa of The Compassionate Use Movement. All this in spite of California voters approving a ballet initiative decriminalizing the use of pot for medical purposes, and in spite of Santa Cruz law enforcement and City Hall lauding the work of the hospice. So much for compassionate conservatism and state's rights. Meanwhile, shurb's niece gets kid glove treatment in spite of repeated drug offenses while the rest of Florida's drug offenders get slammed in jail. DETAILS ON THE FIRST NIECE AT: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/nbush1.html The essay below by Arianna Huffington says it as well as I could hope to. 8:42:03 AM    comment

A Crack House Divided By Arianna Huffington, September 16, 2002 I feel nothing but sympathy and concern for Noelle Bush. Her latest stumble on the rocky road to recovery -- being caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehab center -- shows that she is in desperate need of help. As a parent, I can also easily empathize with the anguish Noelle's father, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, must be experiencing. And I'm in total agreement with his insistence that his daughter's substance abuse problem is "a private issue." But when I think about the heartless stance the Governor has taken toward the drug problems of those less-fortunate and well-connected than his daughter, my empathy turns to outrage. While Noelle has been given every break in the book -- and then some -- her father has made it harder for others in her position to get the help they need by cutting the budgets of drug treatment and drug court programs in his state. He has also actively opposed a proposed ballot initiative that would send an estimated 10,000 non-violent drug offenders into treatment instead of jail. I guess what's good for the goose, gets the gander locked away. Of course, Jeb's wildly inconsistent attitude on the issue -- treatment and privacy for his daughter, incarceration and public humiliation for everyone else -- is part and parcel of the galling hypocrisy that infects America's insane drug war on every level. TO SEE THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, GO TO: http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/091602.html Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law ( http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html ). All copyrights belong to original publisher. "RHINO'S NEWS BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. Feedback is encouraged and can be emailed to him at: rhino@kifaru.com RHINO'S WEB SITES: http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207 (RHINO'S NEWS WEBLOG - PRESENT & PAST) http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) 8:27:10 AM    comment

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