HIGH HOLY DAYS
The Rev. Richard A. Arko, 40, a Roman Catholic priest accused of growing marijuana in his church living quarters was charged Jan. 22 with illegal cultivation of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony, possession of criminal tools and illegal use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
(KANSAS CITY STAR, unearthed by Bill Messick)

GITMO CHILD PRISONER CLAIMS GOOD TREATMENT
A 15-year-old Afghan boy released after spending a year at the U.S. prison for terror suspects in Cuba says he underwent almost no questioning while in detention but got plenty of schooling, prayer and good food.
(SEATTLE TIMES, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

THAT'S WHY IT'S THE FIRST AMENDMENT!
"The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has issued a subpoena asking Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, to produce all records relating to a November 15, 2003 antiwar conference at the University called 'Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!' The conference was sponsored by the Drake Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and was followed the next day by a demonstration at the Iowa National Guard Headquarters in Johnston, at which 12 protestors were arrested on misdemeanor charges."
(COMMON DREAMS, unearthed by Paul Whitehurst)

DOPE TAX CONSTITUTES DOUBLE JEOPARDY
Using factors described in a United States Supreme Court case, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals found the Wisconsin drug tax to constitute criminal punishment, thus overturning - on Double Jeopardy grounds - a 20 year drug trafficking conviction sentence.
(Suggested by Paul Whitehurst)

CUBA DIARY
In Cuba necessity demands simplicity... Despite the simplicity of day-to-day life, the mechanics of Cuban society are very difficult to decipher...The word "esperar" in Spanish means both to wait and to hope. The double definition of this word is appropriate for Cuba.
(CAPE COD CHRONICLE, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

GOP SPIES ON DEMS
"Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media."
(BOSTON GLOBE, unearthed by Common Dreams)

MILITARY DEFENDER SAYS TRIBUNALS ARE UNFAIR
Marine Corps Maj. Michael Mori, the military lawyer for David Hicks, the Australian captured in Afghanistan and being held as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay, criticized the military tribunal process and said it will not allow a fair trial.
"Using the commission process just creates an unfair system that threatens to convict the innocent and provides the guilty a justifiable complaint as to their convictions."
(REUTER'S, unearthed by Common Dreams)

MARKETING 101
So, are you pleased that Lipton is the tea of choice of Saddam Hussein? Have you figured out a way to leverage that into a marketing strategy? Maybe, "Time for a Des-pot of Tea"?
(WASHINGTON POST, unearthed by Jay Lewis)

UNFAIR COMPARISONS TO HITLER?
Comparisons of Bush to Hitler are counterproductive hyperbole, something to which O'Reily , Miller , Limbaugh and Trotter are no strangers. (Even if true - or substantiated - Trotter's irrelevant statement that MoveOn was part of a socialist movement is the modus operandi for the network commentators she once criticized .) MoveOn correctly points out that they were not the ones making the comparison, that it was merely one of the films being judged (and which lost). But, if we were compiling a list, pursuant to the First Amendment's authorizations of poetic license, the attack on freedoms and the establishment of concentration camps would surely top the list.
"The United States has held three child detainees at its military base in Guantanamo Bay for more than a year and the Pentagon said on Thursday it has no plans to move or free them, despite international pressure.
A defense official said doctors estimated the boys were 13-15 years old and were deemed 'enemy combatants' along with about 660 prisoners being held at the base in Cuba after the U.S. invasion in Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America."
Other teen-agers, aged between 16-18, were also being held at the U.S. base along with the older prisoners. The military official declined to provide any details on detainees aged between 16-18.
(FINDLAW)

CUBA'S BIOTECHNICAL CAPACITY INCREASING
"Exports of Cuban biotechnology products increased by 30% during the three-year period 2001-2003. According to Daniel Codorniu, first deputy minister of science, technology and the environment (CITMA), in Havana, the Cuban synthetic vaccine against Type B Haemophilus influenzae (Hib), which causes meningitis, pneumonia and otitis during early childhood, constituted the most important achievement of 2003...
Quimi-Hib presents - according to clinical studies - 99.7% long-term protection against a bacterium that causes the death of half a million babies on the planet.
(GRANMA, unearthed by Cuba Daily News Digest)

LOCALS ESTABLISH ALTERNATIVE NEWS SITE
Mobilefreepress.org is a nonprofit internet news source working to unite progressive citizens of Mobile, Alabama, and the surrounding area.
Part of a network of sites that are using the internet as a "tool of free speech and democracy," the site is a welcome counterpoint to other local information sources. It has the cartoon works of two of my old friends Dan Silver and Walter Darring.
(Suggested by LeeAnn Waterss)

BUSH LEAGUE DEMS
"The Clinton/McAuliffe/DLC chieftains who run the DNC are fully prepared to tank the election rather than turn over the reins of power to a new party organization. Which, after all, is one of the things Dean has promised."
(BABELOGUE)

AN INFORMED ELECTORATE?
"The Internet, a relatively minor source for campaign news in 2000, is now on par with such traditional outlets as public television broadcasts, Sunday morning news programs and the weekly news magazines. And young people, by far the hardest to reach segment of the political news audience, are abandoning mainstream sources of election news and increasingly citing alternative outlets, including comedy shows such as the Daily Show and Saturday Night Live, as their source for election news."
(PEW RESEARCH CENTER, unearthed by Jay Lewis)

AMERICAN GULAG
"Two years on, the rules of law continues to buckle under the weight of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay."
(HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH)

GUATEMALA AWARDS CUBAN BRIGADE HIGHEST HONOR
"The Order of Quetzal was presented by Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo as a tribute to the 1,700-plus Cuban medical personnel who have offered their services in remote areas of this nation since the Havana government responded to an appeal for aid in the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, which passed through Central America in November 1998."
(GRANMA, unearthed by CubaNews Digest)