by TChris

A panel convened by People Against Injustice in New Haven asked whether the drug war is really a race war. There's little dispute that the drug war has had a disproportionate impact on nonwhite offenders.

[W]hile black and Latino men make up just 6 percent of the state's population, they comprise more than 70 percent of the prison population. Is that because they are more criminal?

Not really, said Cliff Thornton, director of Efficacy, a drug reform group in Hartford and Green Party candidate for governor. "Blacks and whites are arrested on drug charges in equal numbers," he said, "but at every stage in the criminal justice process, the ratio of people of color who are caught in the system goes up."

by TChris

Following the president's lead of disregarding inconvenient laws, federal agencies have grown increasingly reluctant to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.

Requests for information ranging from historical records to federal contracts usually take months and sometimes take years to be filled; most departments missed the Feb. 1 deadline to send legally required annual reports to the Justice Department (and many still haven't been submitted) and the Justice Department hasn't produced an annual summary of FOIA reports for two years.

President Johnson's observation when signing FOIA -- "A democracy works best when the people have all the information that the security of the Nation permits" -- is equally apt today.

The BBC reports on a new study that finds people with a certain gene variation are more likely to become dependent upon cocaine.

The Institute of Psychiatry has ... identified a gene variation where cocaine would more markedly inhibit a protein that controls removal of key mood chemical dopamine in the brain. Two copies of the variant made people 50% more likely to be cocaine abusers.

The details:

[Cocaine's] key effect is that it strongly inhibits the action of a protein - DAT - which controls removal of excess dopamine from the junctions between nerve cells in the brain. This leads to nerve cells effectively being overloaded with dopamine, which is thought to contribute to the "high" associated with taking cocaine.

Not everyone is touting the study:

Washington Post Photo

Army Sgt. Michael J. Smith, the soldier depicted in this infamous Abu Ghraib abuse photo, goes on trial this week in Ft. Meade, accused of dereliction of duty and maltreatment of prisoners.

He is also accused of using his dog to threaten two other detainees and for allegedly engaging in a contest to make detainees urinate and defecate out of fear. Smith's military attorney declined requests to comment.

But here's an interesting twist:

Actor George Clooney defends being a liberal on Huffington Post. He reminds us there is no shame in being a liberal, in fact, it's a source of pride. It's not just our right to question authority, it's our duty.

For those of us who have been questioning authority our entire adult lives, professionally and personally, Clooney's words are very welcome. I hope some Senators and Congresspersons take his words to heart. Liberal values are American values.

Although his website is already up, it won't be official until tomorrow. Democrat Ned Lamont will challenge Joe Lieberman for his Senate seat.

"People want a good debate of the issues. They don't want a rubber stamp for their senator," said Lamont, 52, who is scheduled to announce his candidacy at a 4 p.m. ceremony at the Old State House.

Lamont, of course, is an underdog. But he offers a refreshing change from Lieberman on the issues.

Due to server problems, now fixed, voting in the Koufax semi-finals has been extended through Monday. If you had trouble getting your vote in yesterday or today, or haven't yet voted, there's still time. TalkLeft is nominated for Best Single Issue blog. I'd really appreciate your vote so TalkLeft makes it to the semi-finals. We haven't had any votes in days.

You can vote by leaving a comment that simply says "TalkLeft" here -- or if you'd like your ballot or identity to be secret, you can e-mail Dwight or Mary Beth and just say "TalkLeft for Best Single Issue Blog."

For all the Koufax Award categories, go here. You can only vote once in each category.

An official of the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal says preliminary autopsy results show Milosevic died of a heart attack.

I'm counting the hours until the return of the Sopranos tonight. There's lots of media articles on the show today, but be careful, some give away too much. If you weren't a viewer before, you can catch up here. There's also this video recap of Season Five.

And leave it to Newsweek to find a link between the show and the Bush administration:

Sopranos:
America's true First Family is back, with better ratings and firearm-safety record than White House.

Update: Did any of you watch it? What did you think? I thought it was very dark, edgy, angry and ominous. It seems like the feds and snitches are going to play a bigger role this year.

Unless you have a strong aversion to blood and gore, check out Newsweek's five page account of Navy Doctor Richard Jaddick's tour of duty on the front lines of Iraq.

This week will mark the third anniversary of Bush's pre-emptive war in Iraq, a war that was based on misinformation at best and lies at worst.

As Bush promotes his war this week in the news, I hope bloggers will counter with calls to exit.

Bump and Update: Raw Story has the full transcript. Analysis: Georgia10 at Daily Kos, Firedoglake and Glenn Greenewald. Sen. Feingold has a fact sheet up on his site detailing the illegalities of the NSA program. Crooks and Liars has the video of Frist's response.

My view: Great move by Feingold. I'm against wasting time and energy on a doomed impeachment mission. The censure motion will continue to heap bad press on Bush and his autocratical presidency. More and more Republicans will fear being aligned with him in 2006. It might even sway some voters.

*******
This morning, on "This Week with George Stephanopolous", Sen Russ Feingold announced he would introduce a censure resolution against President Bush for his warrantless NSA surveillance program. He said the program is tantamount to high crimes and misdemeanors. Crooks and Liars has the video. From the transcript:

by TChris

Karl Rove's strategy of pandering to religious extremists helped the GOP take control of the White House, Congress, and a number of state legislatures. Now the monster he nurtured may be coming back to devour the party that fed it.

Missouri Republicans are divided in their response to a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution that would protect stem cell research. Apart from the potential that stem cell research has to improve the lives of people afflicted with injuries and disease, some fruits of the research are sure to be lucrative. That's one reason the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry backs the ballot measure.