Michael Whitney

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is pushing a bill that aims to put yet more people in jail for using marijuana, even hoping to create a crime for “conspiracy to possess” marijuana that could put people in jail for planning to fly to Amsterdam with their friends to smoke pot.

That’s bad enough, and luckily Nancy Pelosi pulled the bill off the House’s fast track. But Lamar Smith continues his war on marijuana, hilariously suggesting on Fox News that Barack Obama is “encouraging the use of marijuana.”

But Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML, took to the pages of The Hill newspaper to give a reality check to Lamar Smith’s lies.

At Netroots Nation 2010 in Las Vegas, Firedoglake blogger Jon Walker participated in a panel with drug policy reformers called “Marijuana Policy and Politics.” I liveblogged a good amount of the discussion at our FDL Elections blog, but if you want to relive the glory, this is your chance! Below is the entire 94 minute discussion on marijuana legalization.

Just wanted to write a quick note to all the FDL peeps at Netroots Nation. If you’re here, let us know! We’d love to meet up with you. We’re going to try to put together an ad hoc Firedoglake Caucus, so stay tuned for info on that.

Finally, if you’re here and tweeting, let us know your Twitter name in the comments. We’ll include you in the FDL NN10 twitter widget on the sidebar of the homepage.

Earlier this afternoon, I received a phone call from a DNC fundraiser who used the BP Oil Disaster as a pitch to donate to the Democratic Party. When I answered the call from an Austin, TX based number, the woman on the other end promptly thanked me for my past support, and asked if I would like to renew my commitment to the DNC.

The Department of Homeland Security wants to make a “one-stop shop” for the disaster response under a .gov URL. That means shutting down the current site, and taking another look at who has access to post on the site, with government deciding control of the content and message. So why did DHS allow BP to walk off with the mailing list of everyone who signed up for information about the disaster?

Joe Lieberman’s Senate Homeland Security committee passed this week a “cybersecurity” bill that would expand the President’s powers and control of the Internet in a national emergency. In addition to Lieberman, the bill’s sponsors include Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Susan Collins (R-ME). But it was Collins’ defense of the bill that should send shivers up the spines of anyone who cares about the Internet.

At yesterday’s House Energy and Commerce committee hearings with the executives of BP, Exxon, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron, Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) suggested Lamar McKay should commit ritual suicide instead of resigning.

Dr. Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist, former commercial fisherman, and Exxon Valdez survivor, appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night to discuss what she called a massive coverup by BP of all aspects of the disaster.

Slipped into this Reuters piece is the news that BP has hired Goldman Sachs as “advisers” for unknown purposes, in addition to Pete Peterson’s Blackstone Group and Credit Suisse Group. It’s funny because if the Vampire Squid lived in the Gulf of Mexico, it’d be choking to death on BP’s oil. Assuming, of course, it doesn’t actually thrive on crude oil.

I just received several emails from FDL diarist Marta Evry, who’s making her way from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans as we speak. She took some photos along the drive. Commentary and photos below are hers. – MW<