The Independent reports that street prices have dropped so low for drugs in Britain that a line of cocaine is less expensive than a glass of wine. [link via Raw Story.]

The figures show widespread falls in the price of heroin, ecstasy, cannabis and cocaine....Ecstasy prices have dropped from £14 a tablet to just £4, although it costs as little as £1 in some parts of the country.

The figures are expected to embarrass the Government, which just last week relaunched its war on drugs. Hey, Prime Minister Blair, maybe war is not the answer. Why not increase the treatment options and reduce the demand? Why not declassify and remove penalties for minor user offenses and decrease the profit margin for sellers? Increasing penalties doesn't work, just look at the U.S. Do you want 1 of every 140 British residents in jail? It gets pretty expensive. Especially when you're fighting a war in Iraq.

by TChris

Bobby Frank Cherry recently died of cancer, ending a life sentence that was imposed two-and-a-half years ago, after he was convicted of participating in the 1963 bombing of Montgomery's Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

The violence of that explosion injured 20 people and ended the lives of four black children -- 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins and 11-year-old Denise McNair. ... Though we did not call it so at the time, the act that killed them was an act of terrorism as brutal in its callousness as the Mideast terrorism we now condemn.

Nancy Grape finds in Cherry's death "a timely chance this Thanksgiving weekend to remember that long before this country was set off in blocs of red and blue states, it had been shriven by a far deeper conflict, this one in colors of black and white." She asks a timely question: is the Bush administration's Justice Department committed to the struggle for civil rights? (TalkLeft's background coverage of the Department's lessened attention to the enforcement of civil rights laws is here.)

by TChris

Kevin Winson called the police when his 16-year-old daughter came home drunk. His attempt to teach her a lesson backfired when she returned the favor, leading police to his hidden stash of drugs and guns.

by TChris

The filibuster protects the minority party from the tyranny of the majority party, and Republicans did not hesitate to use it (most famously, to keep Abe Fortas off the Supreme Court) when they were out of power.

Republican senators, including Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio, used a filibuster in 1995 to block President Bill Clinton's nominee for surgeon general. Bill Frist, now the Senate majority leader, supported a filibuster of a Clinton appeals court nomination.

But now that Republicans command a Senate majority, some of the same senators view the filibuster as antithetical to democracy. Frist now considers the filibuster of a judicial confirmation to be "intolerable." Apart from being a hypocrite, he's wrong.

The Republicans see the filibuster as an annoying obstacle. But it is actually one of the checks and balances that the founders, who worried greatly about concentration of power, built into our system of government. It is also, right now, the main means by which the 48 percent of Americans who voted for John Kerry can influence federal policy. People who call themselves conservatives should find a way of achieving their goals without declaring war on one of the oldest traditions in American democracy.

by TChris

Yesterday, TalkLeft discussed the potential consequences of the Supreme Court's decision in Ashcroft v. Raich, a case that will be argued tomorrow. For still more coverage of the interesting clash between two opposing, conservative views -- the desire to promote states' rights by restricting the federal government's ability to enact legislation that purports to regulate interstate commerce while having only an intrastate effect, and the desire to punish marijuana smokers -- The New York Times provides this background about Angel Raich and the issues that her case presents.

There is a lot riding on the outcome of Ashcroft v. Raich , which will be argued Monday in the Supreme Court. If the Court rules for the Government, lawful medicinal users in nine states may be out of luck. While it will still be lawful for them to use marijuana under state law, the feds will still be able to prosecute them. The Marijuana Policy Project is not giving up, no matter which way the court rules:

"The most important thing to know is that this case will not impact the right of states to enact their own medical marijuana laws," said Rob Kampia, executive director of MPP, which is based in Washington, D.C. "If the Supreme Court rules our way, the federal government's war on patients will come to an abrupt end in the 10 states with medical marijuana laws, On the other hand, if the Court rules against us, then we're back to where we started -- patients will be protected from arrest under state law, but not under federal law."

Many believe that Iraqis are worse off now than before the U.S. invasion. Jeanne at Body and Soul has the details, found at Juan Cole and Chris Bertram. Crime, for example, has skyrocketed in Baghdad.

“Our morgue was designed to cope with between five and ten bodies a day,” explained Kais Hassan, the harrassed statistician whose job it is to record the capital’s suspicious deaths. He gestured into the open door of a refrigeration unit at the stomach-turning sight of tangled corpses inside, male and female, shaded with the brown and green hues of death. “Now we’re getting 20 to 30 in here a day. It’s a disaster.”

Figures compiled at the central mortuary, on file and indisputable, shine a light through the murk of estimate and rumour surrounding casualty rates in Iraq. Of the 6,635 suspicious deaths in Baghdad recorded this year at the city’s Medical-Legal Institute, the complex incorporating the central mortuary, more than 75 per cent were killed by a bullet. Stabbing is the next most common cause of death.

Those that work in the mortuary are divided as to whether things are worse now than under Saddam. Jeanne notes perceptively:

Saving Iraqi lives is a noble cause. But to justify continued war, you need to show how the result can reasonably be attained. Without that, all you have is brutality wrapped up in nice words -- which, if I recall, was pretty much the way this war began.

San Diego has a court for the homeless where violators get a handshake intstead of jail time. The court is viewed as a model for the country and has been earning praise from all quarters.

Homeless court is now in session at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter. The bailiff is armed but the public defender tries to put everyone at ease: "There's one assurance," he tells them, "nobody goes into custody today."

Launched at the request of homeless veterans 15 years ago, the program has grown into a model for cities across California and beyond that want to help the homeless resolve misdemeanor offenses which can make them ineligible for government aid or drivers' licenses - a major barrier to normal life.

"We can just see the snowball effect of a warrant, a traffic ticket, a fine," says Superior Court Judge Gordon Baranco, who presides over a new homeless court in Northern California's Alameda County. "You can't pay a fine if you don't have any money; you can't give a probation officer an address if you don't have a home."

This is the feel-good article of the day. Enjoy it.

Meet your new big brother: The Department of Transportation. Along the same lines as the national ID card, the government is working on developing and implementing a nationwide system for tracking drivers of vehicles. This hit the news in September, but we've seen very little about it.

The agency is the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office.

Most people have probably never heard of the agency, called the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office. And they haven't heard of its plans to add another dimension to our national road system, one that uses tracking and sensor technology to erase the lines between cars, the road and the government transportation management centers from which every aspect of transportation will be observed and managed.

So much for accountability for misdeeds that occur on your watch. The Pentagon reports that Maj. General Geoffrey Miller, who was in charge of Guantanamo prison from 2002 to 2004 as well as Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, where widespread torture and abuse occurred, has been promoted:

Miller ran Guantanamo Bay from October 2002 to March 2004 and has been credited by senior Pentagon officials with improving the amount of useful intelligence gleaned from terrorism suspects held there. In August 2003, Miller was sent to Iraq to provide advice on the screening of detainees, their interrogations and the collection of intelligence. Among his recommendations was that military police be actively involved in ``setting the conditions'' for successful interrogations.

Miller's promotion puts him in a senior staff position at the Pentagon.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller will be the Army's assistant chief of staff for installation management, with responsibility for the housing, environmental and other support operations at Army bases.

Meet the new boss in Iraq. He's Maj. Gen. William Brandenburg. His background:

.... [he was] deputy commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, based in Hawaii, since August 2003. He served much of his career in the infantry, mostly in Europe and the United States. He also was chief of staff of the Army's 5th Corps, its largest organization in Europe.

[comments closed, thread appears to have been hijacked.]

In the past two months, the number of Iraqi detainees held by the U.S. has doubled to approximately 8,300. The number is expected to increase in the coming weeks. Anxious to overcome negative perceptions caused by the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the U.S. says it has turned over a new leaf:

Detainees in U.S. military custody are kept in recently constructed camps with climate-controlled tents, a visitation center and three hot meals a day. For the most cooperative prisoners, there are movies and a library.

The U.S. says the Red Cross is satisfied with the new procedures:

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which in the past was sharply critical of the handling of Iraqis in U.S. custody, has been "very positive" in its recent reports and expressed "no significant" concerns, Miller said. "We're down to talking about the type of toothbrush being issued to detainees," he said.

Just like the Holiday Inn? We'll wait to hear what the detainees and the Red Cross have to say when they speak for themselves.

Say hello to American, Christian nation. Just three weeks after the elections, Republicans in Congress are already planning how to wield their increased majority power. Among the first items on their list: Passing faith-based legislation.

With Minority Leader Tom Daschle leaving the Senate and Republican gains in both chambers of Congress, supporters of President Bush's faith-based initiative hope to quickly pass into law next year legislation providing tax incentives for donations to faith-based and other charities. "We plan to move it as one of the first things," said Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican and sponsor of the measure.

What's more, some conservative Republicans want to resurrect Bush's older, more objectionable "charitable choice" plan:

Charitable choice applies to some federal grant programs and allows faith-based groups to receive federal funds while maintaining their religious nature, including hiring only people of their same faith.

"We want to come back to it," said Rep. Mike Pence, Indiana Republican and incoming chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee. "We've got a new Senate and a conservative mandate from millions of voters who said 'yes' to traditional values."

Don't look for the Democrats to save us.