The Colorado Secretary of State confirmed today that the initiative to legalize adult personal possession and use of marijuana has obtained enough signatures to be on the November ballot.

The measure would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 years and older. It would also allow for people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their home. Special stores would be allowed to sell marijuana, but communities would also have the option of banning those businesses.

More here. The taxed proceeds will go to benefit education.

The full text of the initiative is here.

Pierce on The War on Drugs: PED Edition.

Open Thread.

A suspect has been taken into custody in a school shooting in Chardon, Ohio. As of now, one student has died and four are wounded. Chardon is 30 miles outside of Cleveland.

The student opened fire at 7:30 am in the cafetera.

Comcast just interrupted programing for 3 minutes with an emergency child abduction alert. Only there was no information and instead a carpet cleaning commerical and radio bit about the Denver Broncos played annoyingly.

It was the kind of alert that comes on for hurricanes and testing of the emergency broadcast system. One child going missing is not a national or community-wide emergency. It's a local police issue. Emergency interruptions should be limited to dangers to everyone in the community.

It's bad enough Amber Alerts are broadcast on highway signs. They are dangerous distractions, just like texting while driving. Drivers' eyes should be on the road, not trying to read details of a crime alert. To have them forced on us in our own homes is even worse. [More...]

Here's Wikileak's announcement about its publication of more than 5 million Strator e-mails. The e-mails were obtained in December by activists associated with Anonymous.

The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods...

Wikileaks says the emails "contain privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks." [More...]

The Oscars are about to start. I'm really looking forward to Billy Crystal.

Here's a Cheat Sheet.

Update: Billy Crystal's best line:

“Nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like millionaires handing each other gold statues.”

The skit was good, his singing not so much.

Where to watch online?

• TV Guide's Fashion Cam -- Just started.
• MTV Live Stream
• On the Red Carpet Live

Who looks great to you? Who missed by miles? Fast Photogalleries: New York Times and BBC News

Here's a ballot for the nominees. Who are you rooting for to win?

FARC has announced it will free its hostages and cease economic kidnapping.

Since I will shortly be turning my attention to the Oscars, here's an open thread for other news, all topics welcome.

Please visit The Mercy Campaign.

Today's news in Indonesia and Australia focuses on the abysmal conditions described in a book "The Kerobokan Hotel." The book describes Kerobokan Prison as a hellhole.

Since the book was written, programs have been launched at the prison aimed at rehabilitation and bettering conditions. While those programs are worthy of praise and continued support, with more than 1,000 inmates in a space built for 300 (now down to 900 after some agreed after the riots to move to prisons closer to their homes in Java), it's nowhere near enough -- particularly when the corruption of guards, who dole out better treatment for those who pay, remains and non-violent drug offenders are on death row. [More...]

STEPHANOPOULOS: [JFK's speech on church state separation] has been read, as you know, by millions of Americans ... Why did it make you throw up?

SANTORUM: Because the first line, first substantive line in the speech says, "I believe in America where the separation of church and state is absolute." I don't believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country. -ABC News

(Emphasis supplied.) More on separation of church and state here.

It's 65 degrees in Denver today, way too nice to stay at a computer. For those of you not as fortunate, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

It's back to the High Court for MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom. The Crown has appealed the order granting him bond, and a hearing has been set for Tuesday.

The Crown Prosecution is not representing the people of New Zealand in this case, it is representing the United States. In other words, the Crown probably couldn't care less that Kim DotCom is on bail, it's just doing what the FBI has requested.

The U.S. has until March 5 to file its extradition request.