"Beginning February 1, drug dealers and officials involved in narcotics face possible execution in an effort to make Thailand drug-free within three months, the government has declared."

"Tell them [dealers] to stop selling drugs and leave the communities for good or they will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace," Interior Minister Wan Nor Matha told citizens."

Apparently speed is the number one demon drug in Thailand, even more so than heroin. We'd recommend the U.S. not send our fighter pilots over there.

The AP is reporting that Ex-Gov. Ryan Issued Hundreds of Pardons while in office.

Once again, we salute former Governor Ryan. The majority of the pardons he issued were for "ordinary people pleading to purge their records of minor offenses. Many blamed their crimes on immaturity, drug addiction, an abusive childhood or falling in with the wrong crowd. Their offenses included credit card and insurance fraud, shoplifting, sexual abuse, battery and drug possession."

Many states allow exungement for these offenses. Others don't. The pardons allow these people who have already served their time or other consequences of their convictions, to be free of the stigma when applying for jobs and/or professional licenses. We can't think of a better way of ensuring that these former offenders become productive members of the workforce, with a chance to move up the ladder, than to pardon them.

During a closed-door hearing this past Thursday, the Judge in the Zacarias Moussouai case granted Moussaoui's motion for access to al Qaeda suspect Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh, who has been in military custody for some months now.

This is important because it may prompt the U.S. to dismiss the federal criminal case against Moussaoui in favor of trying him in a secret miltary tribunal proceeding. See here. For some background, see here .

From the evidence disclosed to date, we lean towards believing, as do the French, that Moussaoui was a member of al Qaeda but he was not part of the September 11 plans, rather, he was going to be used in some later or related attack. The evidence appears scant that he was intended to be the "20th hijacker" as charged by the Government. If this is the case, then the Government may not be able to prove its conspiracy charge against Moussaoui --and may not be able to obtain the death penalty for him. Bin-al-Shibh could corroborate this, thus Moussaoui has the right to approach him to determine if indeed this is what he would say if called as a witness in his trial--or to obtain information from him that might lead him to other evidence to support this.

We think the best resolution, as we said here,

...is for a compromise to be worked out where the Government drops the death penalty request against Moussaoui if Moussaoui pleads and agrees to a life sentence thereby avoiding the need to call Binalshibh at all. Whatever happens, it should occur publicly. The Government should not be allowed to hide behind a veil of secrecy in this case as it has with Padilla and Hamdi and the other detainees."

You can access all of our Moussaoui posts since last June here and prior to that, our almost daily CrimeLynx coverage here (scroll down to Moussaoui) and here.

Massive protests are planned for New York City and elsewhere February 15. United for Peace has all the details.

Join United for Peace & Justice for massive anti-war protests in New York City on Feb. 15 and San Francisco on Feb. 16. These demonstrations are part of a world-wide day of opposition to war against Iraq. From Bangkok to San Juan, from Johannesburg to Rome, the people of the world will speak out in what the London Daily Mirror says may be "the largest ever mobilization against war."

In the most serious suicide attempt yet among the Guantanamo detainees, a prisoner in his 20's was found hanging in his cell. Officials would not say whether the man was on life support or would survive, however, the situation was serious enough that his home country (not revealed to the public) was notified.

The latest attempt comes at a time when commanders, grappling with despair among long-held detainees facing neither trial nor charge, are building barracklike compounds for some prisoners as part of a reward system for cooperation with their captors. More than 600 prisoners from 43 countries are now held in seven-by-eight-foot cagelike cells. An undisclosed number of them are under suicide watch.

Vienna Colucci, an international justice specialist at Amnesty International, confirmed the possibility of a link between the prisoners' detention and the suicide attempts.

'Prisoners' limited contact with the outside world and the uncertainty of their futures, combined with other conditions of treatment, may cause severe physical and psychological damage, particularly when imposed long-term or indefinitely,'' she said.

``That prisoners are repeatedly attempting to take their own lives indicates the human cost of the indefinite legal limbo into which they have been thrown.''

Medical personnel at one point last year reported that dozens of prisoners had tried to kill themselves. McWilliams later said fewer than a dozen episodes fit the strict definition of a suicide attempt and that others qualified as ``self-harm incidents.''

None of the earlier suicide attempts resulted in a prisoner's being declared in ''serious condition,'' a military spokesman said, adding that the hanging victim was the only detainee in custody at Guantánamo now in serious condition.

Why are we still holding these men in the absence of criminal charges and so long past the time when they would have divulged any helpful information to their captors if they had it? Given the increasing likelihood that U.S. troops are headed to war in Iraq, aren't we just providing that country's leaders with an excuse to cruelly treat any of our military personnel who are captured? We certainly think so.

Cancer patient Steve Kubby, a transplanted Calfornian and medpot practitioner is begging Canada for asylum, claiming U.S. drug warriors are out of control.

Kubby and three fellow Californian medical marijuana activists with "arrest warrants outstanding, prosecutions pending, jail terms unfulfilled" in the U.S., and threatened with deportation or extradition, have filed suit in Canada seeking asylum as political refugees. A hearing will be held in March to determine whether they can stay in Canada or must be returned to the U.S.

Kubby, a one-time California Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, was diagnosed with malignant adrenal gland cancer in the early 1970's. "In the span of a few years, he underwent four surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Nothing seemed to stop his steady decline. Unchecked, doctors say adrenal cancer usually spreads through the vital organs. Kubby says he was told he shouldn't expect to live beyond five years, and likely would die of a heart attack or stroke."

"Marijuana became his life preserver quite by accident, he says, with the help of a soon-famous friend, a pre-law student named Cheech who became half of "Cheech and Chong. "

This is a great story article that reads like a novel, go read the whole thing.

Then, check out the Kubby family's home in Home is Where the Hash Is, and learn about Pot-TV, an Internet streaming video site run out of Vancouver’s B.C. Marijuana Party headquarters. The Kubbys tape a few programs a week for the site from their home--usually containing news updates about various busts and legal cases. This work pays the Kubbys about $25k a year and allows them to have Canadian work visas.

Kubby has a medical marijuana exemption from Health Canada that allows him to travel anywhere in Canada with 360 grams of pot--that's enough to fill a one lb. coffee can. He is also allowed to possess six pounds in his home and grow 59 plants.

"It is truly a North American paradox: This man U.S. law officers called a drug trafficker is considered by Canadian health officials simply to be a very sick fellow."

One by one, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley lists the failings of Bush's SOTUS in The State of the Unilateralist Case , in today's Washington Post. He begins,

The State of the Union address was President Bush's opportunity to make the case for a unilateral invasion of Iraq. He failed to do so in a convincing manner. How we get rid of Saddam Hussein is as important in the long run as just getting rid of him. If we do it the wrong way, our action could seriously damage larger national interests.

This failing resonated with us the most.

4. Bush's strong remarks ignored the fact that military actions often have unpredictable consequences. For example, the 1991 Persian Gulf War led to a continuing U.S. presence in the Islamic holy land -- something the British and French always avoided -- and radicalized a generation of Muslims, helping to create the atmosphere for the emergence of Osama bin Laden. This time, what will happen when the shooting stops is far from clear. If we are to be seen as more than transparent hypocrites, we will have to not only win a war and maintain a military presence in Iraq, but also to preside over the development of democracy in a country that makes the former Yugoslavia seem homogeneous. This is a multi-year commitment that could take thousands of U.S. lives and billions of dollars, yet there appears to be no plan for carrying it out. The president has not leveled with the American people about the cost of democratization, nor has he built popular support for occupation. By telling the American public only half the story now, he risks great national division later.

Unfortunately, a new poll by ABC and the Washington Post shows that 66% now approve of Bush's plan for military action in Iraq. 51% say they approve even without U.N. approval.

Update: History Professor Tom Spencer of Thinking Things Through explains the flaws in the new poll. (Thanks, Skippy, for the link)

"The New Jersey attorney general's office has opened an investigation into allegations that a secret society of rogue state troopers has harassed minorities and women among their ranks."

The cops' secret group is called "The Lords of Discipline." This is scary stuff.

Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, defeated in his last re-election bid may run again , according to the Washington Post.

"I'm taking a very close and hard look at it," Barr told the Associated Press. "I hope to make a decision with family very shortly." He is believed to be leaning toward running in the state's 6th Congressional District, a mostly Republican area just north of Atlanta. The occupant, Rep. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), plans to run for the Senate in 2004."

In other election news, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) is considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

A Los Angeles janitor who was serving a prison sentence of 70 years to life for a robbery that he denied committing won his freedom Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"Jason Kindle, 34, whose conviction was reversed by an appeals court last year, has been behind bars for three years. The prosecution moved to dismiss because the case against Kindle got weaker as new evidence became available."

Blogger reaction to the Columbia tragedy today:

Glenn Reynolds.com: Mourn and Move On--Glenn makes the case for not letting this roll back the space program, but rather, forging ahead.

Stephen Green of Vodkapundit: Bad Day for Bitterness --Eloquent, with similar thoughts to Glenn, including criticism of NASA.

Patrick Nielsen Haydenquotes the William Gibson weblog: "nobody ever said it would be risk-free. If it were, it wouldn’t be glorious. And it’s only with these losses that we best know that it really is."

Atrios: "To those who think it's inappropriate to mourn some lives more than others - well, it's the only way we can mourn at all."

Calpundit: "We learn from our mistakes, but we should never allow fear of failure to keep us from pushing the boundaries of what we can accomplish. Death — and recovery from death — are a fundamental part of the human condition, a lesson that we are re-learning rather more often than we'd like in the first few years of the 21st century."

This Washington Post article is really good too--"People who work on the program understand that failure is part of the enterprise. When he retired in 2001, Dan Goldin had a message for the assembled NASA staff at headquarters in Washington: "Be bold and don't fear failure. Treat failure as a blessing, because mediocre goals are poison."

Alex Gourevitch of American Prospect exposes Ashcroft's foreigner registration program as perhaps not being mandated by Congress at all. As to whom the program has brought in so far:

To date, the program has not been a complete waste of effort: Martinez points out that it has led to the arrest of "a wife beater, narcotics dealer and very serious violent offenders." But that isn't exactly the same as catching terrorists. And if what we really want is to catch wife beaters, narcotics dealers and violent offenders, the Justice Department should simply require everyone in America to show up and register.

RTWT.