Newly Elected Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. ( R ) said last week he would sign legislation to legalize medical marijuana, "giving new hope to advocates who say the drug can help relieve nausea from chemotherapy and other debilitating conditions."

"A doctor, a nurse and a cancer survivor are among the lawmakers drafting marijuana bills.
Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Dist. 11) of Owings Mills, a physician, wants to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana under strict controls. Two doctors would have to sign off on the prescription and follow up to see how patients are responding to treatment."

"Morhaim envisions the state government eventually growing and distributing marijuana to ensure consistent quality and control."

"We prescribe drugs much more dangerous than marijuana," Morhaim said. "We prescribe narcotics, we even prescribe cocaine on occasion. Like any medical tool, it's going to help some people and not others."

If Maryland enacts a medical marijuana bill, it could have a national impact, "both because Ehrlich is a Republican and because Maryland would be one of the first states on the East Coast to pass medical marijuana legislation. It also would put the issue directly on Congress' doorstep."

Marijuana use is thought to benefit patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma, nausea, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

Erlich is not a johnny-come-lately to the issue. While serving in Congress, he was one of a few Republicans to co-sponsor a medical marijuana bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA.)

Update: In other medical marijuana news, students at the University of Missouri have gathered enough petition signatures to force a vote before the City Council on legalizing marijuana for medical use. On Tuesday, the Council will vote either to pass the measure or put it before the voters on April 8.

The proposal was written by law student Anthony Johnson. According to Johnson, the measure also decriminalizes personal possession of small amounts of pot.

The Boston Globe reports that speculation on Rehnquist's retirement is growing.

Gary Hart will be speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City Tuesday on national security issues. The text of the speech will be available sometime after 6pm EST on Hart's new website, GaryHart News. The speech is entitled "In Search of National Security in the 21st Century."

Wednesday, January 22, Hart will be in Ames, Iowa speaking on Political Corruption and Campaign Financing.

Then he heads back to New York, and on Friday morning, January 24, he will speak at John Jay College of Criminal Justice on "Homeland Security After 9/11."

Lisa English of Ruminate This is on top of an important story the mainstream press needs to pick up on. The head of the Center for Public Integrity has charged that media companies are essentially buying political favor through hundreds and thousands of fancy all expense paid trips being given to politicians and FCC employees, respectively. Lisa and Democracy Now point out that the FCC, under Michael Powell's leadership, is aiming to remove the last vestiges of regulation on our media. The bottom line will be a media that is owned by very few -- and the likelihood of their corporate agenda reflecting the liberal ideology is nil. They see political endorsements on the horizen with further consolidation and deregulation, as well as a host of other problems.

From Democracy Now:

Columbia Law School yesterday held a public hearing on the Federal Communications Commission's plans to loosen or scrap all remaining media ownership rules. The hearing was at the instigation of unions and media activists, originally organized by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Writers Guild of America, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Media Access Project and others.

The six rules under review include:

*the ban on broadcasters owning television stations that reach more than 35 per cent of the country * the prohibition of mergers between the four largest TV networks

• and the prohibition from owning a newspaper and broadcast outlet in the same market.

If those rules are scrapped, a single CEO could theoretically own all of the largest media outlets in the country. The event featured all-day panels where media activists, public interest advocates, representatives from think tanks and Hollywood guild members outnumbered industry reps like Viacom's Dennis Swanson, Fox Entertainment Group's Ellen Agress and David Poltrack of CBS.

You can listen to the tapes from the Columbia Law School hearing here. You can download a free copy of the Center for Public Integrity's report, Off The Record: What Media Corporations Don’t Tell You About Their Legislative Agendas here.

"Three top Bush administration officials said today they would welcome exile for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and one, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, signaled the United States might allow Hussein to escape war crimes prosecution if he voluntarily steps down."

"Today's comments appeared to be a signal to Hussein that a bargain might be in the offing. "To avoid a war, I would personally recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country and their families could be provided haven in some other country," Rumsfeld said on ABC's "This Week." "I think that that would be a fair trade to avoid a war."

Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are also said to support asylum for Hussein. The U.N. Security Council is applying pressure, as are citizens around the world. Some Arab nations are said to be trying to convince Hussein to step down. Perhaps if his safety in another country can be guaranteed to his satisfaction, he'll consider it. It sure beats going to war.

Political Wire reports on the rise of Hillary Clinton, and Republican fear that she may be a VP candidate in 2004.

We have always been a big supporter of Hillary. We chronicled her 2000 election campaign for U.S. Senate, from September of 1999 through election day of 2000, in a special section we called "Run, Hillary, Run".

We think Hillary should be President rather than Vice-President, although, keeping with our belief that the Dems need to get away from centrist candidates, we'd certainly support a Hart-Clinton ticket. But we suspect she's gunning for 2008, not 2004.

We'd like to see her change her position on the death penalty (like her husband and Al Gore, she supports it), but she is a co-sponsor of the Innocence Protection Act, and that's a good start.

"A federal appeals court has ruled the Internal Revenue Service committed fraud and acted deceptively after giving secret deals to two pilots in return for their testimony against 1,300 other pilots who had bought into the same tax shelters."

"The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned a previous ruling against the pilots who were found guilty of tax evasion and were ordered to pay more than $2 billion in penalties.
In order to remedy the IRS misconduct, the court ordered that all the pilots should receive the same deal that one of the pilots received."

The case is CIR v. Dixon and you can access the opinion here.

Jim Henley of Unqualified Offerings recounts his day at the protests yesterday. Here's a bit of it:

Finally we came to the counter-protest. There was even less to it this time than last - maybe three-dozen Freeper types lining a half block leading to the Navy Yard entrance. And as we approached, they began chanting:

Your Red roots are showing!
Your Red roots are showing!
Your Red roots are showing!

Me with my PEACE NOW SOCIALISM NEVER sign. Ronit with her NYC WANTS AL QAEDA sign. Teresa with her very specific Not THIS War, and Patrick and Teresa who have been leading us through renditions of "America the Beautiful," "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and even, hard as it is to sing, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Well, about two thirds of this last, since I skipped several lines by accident. My companions had fine singing voices and on those occasions where we were close enough to other marchers, several joined in.

Let us remember the core principle though: the counter-demonstration can afford to be dinky, because the counter-demonstrators are already slated to get what they want.

It's a long and thoughtful piece, you ought to go read the whole thing.

Max Sawicky's account is here.

And from Eric at the Hamster:

attended the antiwar march in Washington DC on Saturday afternoon and, needless to say, it was a success.

The speakers at the protests emphasized that because of the blistering cold temperatures a lot of people thought there would be a small and timid turnout. As seen, those critics were wrong. All people, from toddlers to grandmas; hippies to military veterans; capitalists to Marxists; lesbians to college frat boys attended the rally in support of America against a disastrous foreign policy called the Bush doctrine.

The Bush doctrine is a ruinous plan that calls for American solders and Iraqi civilians' lives to be exchanged for the capitalist pursuit of oil. As many signs at the protests read, this proposed war was nothing more than 'blood for oil.'

These are the people that care about America. There were the grandparents I met who were afraid that their grandsons would die for a chicken hawk administration. There were the humanitarians and idealists who were concerned about the havoc another war would bring to Iraq. There were also liberalists who believe that international institutions like the United Nations are the answer, and not the enemy, in American foreign policy.

There was opposition, of course. Perched on a Citibank balcony were people claiming they stood in support of America's soldiers, and subsequently in support of American foreign policy. The Georgetown College Republicans, in all their infinite wisdom, held banners proclaiming their patriotism. As one protester, upon seeing the suit-wearing Republicans remarked, “I think they're sipping wine-glasses.”

At times the message of the rally got off topic. Some people used the rally's large audience to lobby for other causes. At one point, an Israeli and Palestinian got into a verbal confrontation. Yet these deviations were slim and few. The people who descended on DC came to march for peace, and save this country, and its soldiers, from an endless and unnecessary Bush war that will take American lives.

Mad Kane has outdone herself (again) with her Dubya Does College Comic Strip.

Unrelated but interesting comment on Pete Townsend from Smythe's World. Here is the correct link to the referenced document.

And via Political Parrhesia, the Republicans in Congress are in fear of Hillary Clinton's increasing clout and urging others to keep their legislative distance from her.

How uninformed are Americans about the 9/11 hijackers? Check out Sideshow and see the latest poll numbers showing that far too many believe most or some of them they were citizens of Iraq.

Former Senator Gary Hart has launched a website on his 2004 decision. He was on ABC's This Week discussing it.

We're all in favor--Hart's bid will fuel discussion and debate--he's a very smart man. With a sense of humor:

Hart, who practices international law in Denver, has been married for 44 years. When Hart was asked earlier this month how he would answer questions about the Rice episode, he laughed and said: "Maybe it won't come up."

Mr. Hart practices law in the same building we do--we run into him in the elevator from time to time. We'll try to engage him in conversation more, and report here on anything we learn.

Update via Instapundit: Here's the link to Hart's Website.

There's an Instapundit, Senior--what a great guy he sounds like!

Red Hot News which calls itself "The Internets Largest Media Site". We are impressed and are bookmarking it and adding it to our Alternative News Sources immediately.