HAVANA HIP HOP FEST TO INCLUDE ERYKAH BADU
The 9th edition of Havana's Rap Festival Hip-Hop'2003, scheduled for this month, will be attended by several foreign artists. According to sources from the organizing committee, artists from the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Great Britain, Brazil and Canada have confirmed participation in the event. Among the special guests is the US singer Erykah Badu, who has won several Grammy Awards and three Platinum Records in the United States and abroad.
According to experts, Badu is among the best performers of the so-called un-soul style, characterized by a fusion of hip-hop and soul, with some elements of jazz. Other special guests are the groups Trop 305 and Tomorrouz Weaponz, and the disc jockey Tony Touch, all from the United States.
Cuba will be represented by the groups Obsesion, Doble Filo, Cubanitos 20-02, Primera Base, Cubanos en la Red, Aninimo Consejo, Eddy K, Familia's Cuba Represent, Sexto Sentido, Alto Voltaje and Papo Record.
(Cuba News Digest)

WEED STRONGER THAN LSD
DEA has issued a nationwide warning about salvia divinorum, a legal hallucinogenic herb from Mexico that officials describe as stronger than LSD.
(NY Daily News, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

BLACKLISTING FEDERAL JUDGES
Ashcroft has ordered federal prosecutors to start collecting information on federal judges who give sentences that are lighter than those suggested by federal guidelines.
(NYT, unearthed by Kate Varner)

OYEZ, YEAH, YEAH!
Getting audio recordings of landmark legal arguments is becoming as easy as downloading the latest Snoop Dogg single.
For the first time, Internet users can download, edit and swap many of the U.S. Supreme Court's greatest hits.
(Washington Post, unearthed by mich248)

PICKERING A FIGHT
By Emily Bazelon
It's nice to see conservative lawmakers deferring to a judge's belief that some criminals deserve a second chance. Except these are the same lawmakers who spent their last term chipping away at the power of federal judges to reduce criminal sentences.
(Slate, unearthed by Kate Varner)

LAWYERS ATTACK BUSH TACTICS
A bipartisan group of prominent New York lawyers, former federal judges and former government officials has launched a fierce attack on the Bush administration’s conduct in the war on terror, charging that the detention of suspected terrorist Jose Padilla is unconstitutional.
(NY Observer, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

TEENAGE JACKASSES!
Four teenagers were charged Saturday with attacking homeless people with a stun gun as they slept and videotaping the assaults.
(Atlanta Journal Constitution, unearthed by Kate Varner)

FANTASY JUSTICE
Modeled after fantasy sports games, this blog is devoted to cases the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing this coming term. Participants will predict the outcome of each case and how each justice will rule; points will then be awarded based on the number of cases and justices correctly predicted.

(unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

REGGAETON DEBUTS AT MADISON SQUARE
A Spicy Mix of Salsa, Hip-Hop and Reggae, the music got a name, reggaeton. It spread across Puerto Rico and has made inroads in Miami and New York. And on Saturday night, reggaeton is bound for Madison Square Garden, in a concert headlined by reggaeton's leading innovator, Tego Calderon, and featuring two dozen other rappers and disc jockeys.
(NYT)

TALIBAN KILLING CLERICS
...third senior Muslim cleric killed by Taliban assassins here in the last 40 days.
(NYT)

TERRORISM AND CIVIL SOCIETY AS INSTRUMENTS OF US POLICY IN CUBA
Using the debate centering around the island nation's recent crackdown, Phillip Agee relates his experiences as a CIA agent and the US' not-so-secret campaigns of subversive action campaigns againts Cuba.
(Granma, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

REPORT FROM SANTIAGO: 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
The following are some some impressions of the celebration in Santiago of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, held in Santiago de Cuba, Saturday July 26th, 2003 and attended by Fidel Castro.
(Walter Lippman, unearthed by Cuba News Digest)

BUSH IS 'LIBERAL SPENDER'
The Bush administration's newly released budget projections reveal an anticipated budget deficit of $450 billion for the current fiscal year, up another $151 billion since February. Supporters and critics of the administration are tripping over themselves to blame the deficit on tax cuts, the war, and a slow economy. But the fact is we have mounting deficits because George W. Bush is the most gratuitous big spender to occupy the White House since Jimmy Carter. One could say that he has become the 'Mother of All Big Spenders.'
(CATO Institute)

ETYMOLOGICAL DISCUSSION WORTH KNOWING

(Smoking Gun, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

VENCEREMOS BRIGADE CHALLENGES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
The eighty members of the 34th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade arrived at Havana's Jose Marti Airport tonight on a Cubana Airlines flight from Toronto.The Brigade has never asked for, or accepted, a license for travel to Cuba. The Brigade challenges the right of the U.S. government to restrict travel to Cuba and calls for an end to the travel ban and to the economic blockade. At 8:30 AM on August 4th, the Brigade will return on foot across the International Peace Bridge in from Ft. Erie, Ontario, Canada to Buffalo, New York, to announce its return from Cuba. The Brigade will be joined by supporters on both sides of the international border.
(Cuba News Digest)