Opening arguments were held today in the trial of Tampa Professor Sami Al-Arian.

In his opening statement, Al-Arian's attorney, William Moffitt, characterized him as a scholar and political activist who spoke out with strong words against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories but committed no crimes.

"The evidence will show that this case is about Dr. Al-Arian's right to speak, your right to hear him and the attempt of the powerful to silence him," Moffitt told jurors.

The Government claims Al-Arian was the end-all and be-all of Palestinian terror financing.

Sami Al-Arian was at one time "the most powerful man in the world" in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, federal prosecutor Walter E. Furr III told jurors in his opening statement.

He and four others are charged with 53 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. Background from our May 15 post:

Update: Never mind, the assault had no connection to his whistle-blowing activities.

This is scary.

Los Alamos whistleblower "Tommy Hook is still hospitalized today after being brutally assaulted over the weekend," the Project on Government Oversight is saying. "A group of three to four assailants threatened Hook to keep silent, in apparent reference to his upcoming Congressional testimony on fraud at Los Alamos."

Update: NORML has more on the bill.

From Marijuana Policy Project:

The U.S. Supreme Court puts the medical marijuana issue in Congress' court ... Urge your member of Congress to vote for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment!

Digby weighs in.

The plaintiffs in the case say they will continue to smoke pot.

The decision seems counter-intuitive to me from a practical standpoint. Under federal law, possession of marijuana for personal use is a misdemeanor. Growing even one plant is a felony. So, what the decision does is encourage pot smokers to engage in a business transaction by buying marijuana in the marketplace, so as not to get tagged with a cultivation felony. Had the court ruled the other way, the marketplace would be diminished for these users as they could grow their own in the privacy of their own homes. Go figure.

[Note, I'm purposely avoiding hyper-technical legal issues like whether buying marijuana constitutes distribution or aiding and abetting distribution. The federal law doesn't refer to buyers or sellers - it prohibits distribution which means "to deliver." Technically, by buying marijuana, one could be said to be participating in a delivery or aiding and abetting it, and even though I disagree, that's not the point here.]

In support of accused actor Russell Crowe, who spent the night in a Manhattan jail, accused of throwing a telephone at a hotel clerk which carries a possible penalty of four years in jail, here's his side of the story.

Crooks and Liars has the video to yesterday's segment featuring a debate between Richard Ben-Veniste (former Watergate special prosecutor) and G. Gordon Liddy (convicted Watergate burglar.) Ben-Veniste won by miles.

I'm on a blogger conference call with Bob Geldof of Live Aid, arranged for by Joe Trippi and John Hindrocket of Powerline. I'll update after the call is over.

In a non-partisan effort, Joe Trippi of JoeTrippi.com and John Hinderaker of Powerlineblog.com will be hosting a Live 8 Blog Conference Call with special guest, Live 8 organizer, Sir Bob Geldof.

The Live 8 concert series has been set up to raise awareness to the issue of ending poverty in Africa prior to the leaders of the G8 meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland. This event is crossing both political and musical spectrums and now we are hoping to cross the blogosphere as well.

Update: It's still going on. We're asking Sir Geldof questions now. He's so passionate on the subject.

This is not a campaign to raise money, it's one to influence policy. They want bloggers to spread the word. If you're a blogger, lend your voice. This is a campaign to do three things:

In November, 2004, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bill to provide an affirmative defense in federal prosecutions for people who comply with state law in the use of medical marijuana. From the press release by the Marijuana Policy Project:

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), joined by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Jim Jeffords (I-VT), have introduced the first-ever Senate bill to ensure that federal juries hear the full story when medical marijuana patients and providers, operating legally under state law, are tried on federal marijuana charges.

S. 2989 is similar to H.R. 1717, the "Truth in Trials Act," introduced by a bipartisan House coalition last year and inspired in part by the case of Ed Rosenthal. In January 2003, Rosenthal was found guilty of felony marijuana cultivation charges by a jury that was not allowed to consider that the marijuana was for medical use by seriously ill patients and was grown with the authorization of the city of Oakland, California.

Justice O'Connor, joined by Justices Rehnquist and Thomas:

There is simply no evidence that homegrown medicinal marijuana users constitute, in the aggregate, a sizable enough class to have a discernable, let alone substantial, impact on the national illicit drug market–or otherwise to threaten the CSA regime. Explicit evidence is helpful when substantial effect is not “visible to the naked eye.” See Lopez, 514 U.S., at 563. And here, in part because common sense suggests that medical marijuana users may be limited in number and that California’s Compassionate Use Act and similar state legislation may well isolate activities relating to medicinal marijuana from the illicit market, the effect of those activities on interstate drug traffic is not self-evidently substantial.

by TChris

The Justice Department today won another victory in its war against pot smokers, while advocates of states' rights -- not to mention seriously ill patients who now face federal prosecution for using a medicine many states would like them to have -- are the losers.

By a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that state laws providing medical marijuana users and providers with protection against state prosecution are no shield against federal prosecution.

Federal authorities may prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug. The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses.

The decision in Gonzalez v. Raich is summarized here.

Lea Fastow, wife of Enron former CFO Andrew Fastow, left the downtown federal detention center this morning, where she has been serving her year sentence on an income tax violation connected to the case, and arrived at a half-way house where she will be serving the last five weeks of her sentence.

Hand-in-hand with her soon-to-be-imprisoned husband, Lea Fastow walked out of a downtown Houston prison before dawn today.....The 43-year-old wife of former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow looked healthy in a white polo shirt and jeans, with a pink sweater folded over her arm, as she emerged from the Federal Dentention Center moments before 4 a.m., just as sprinklers started up. She stopped briefly on the sidewalk at 1200 Texas Avenue to speak to a reporter and photographers before being whisked away in a private car to the halfway house where she'll stay until July 10.

"It's been a tough year, but it's supposed to be a tough year,'' said Fastow, a stay-at-home mom before going to prison. "I am going home to my family soon. That's exactly what I'm looking forward to.''