Open Thread

So, what’s going on? I really can’t handle watching the conventions in the hopes that someone, somewhere, will mention drug policy, so any who are, please let me know if anything important happens. (Also, I’m working on a major addition to Drug WarRant that’ll take some time as it seems to be expanding to about a dozen web pages.) Probably the entirety of my convention watching will be through the greeters of rich white Oligarchs
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I am curious as to whether Denver police are busting folks for marijuana and going against city rules during the convention. They may be too busy playing police state.
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One thing I’ve learned so far — PUMA (or those claiming to be them) seems to be doing a good job of demonstrating how not to protest. It’s a lesson that drug policy reformers can take to heart (although we’ve never taken the angry, bitter, ineffectual approach).
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Colleen McCool does some nice portraits of rebels who are trying to make a difference. She has finished her 2008 Rebels With Just Cause Awards — Americans for Safe Access and the Ron Paul Love Revolution. In case you missed it, check out her portrait of Howard Wooldridge in 2006.
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John McCain, druggie? Apparently, McCain’s been taking drugs that have serious side effects

A variety of abnormal thinking and behavior changes have been reported […] Some of these changes may be characterized by decreased inhibition (e.g., aggressiveness and extroversion that seemed out of character), similar to effects produced by alcohol and other CNS depressants. Visual and auditory hallucinations have been reported as well as behavioral changes such as bizarre behavior, agitation and depersonalization. […] Complex behaviors such as ‹sleep-drivingŠ (i.e., driving while not fully awake after ingestion of a sedative-hypnotic, with amnesia for the event) have been reported.

Shouldn’t he be taking something safer, like, oh, I don’t know… marijuana?
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Marijuana found in fire chief’s vehicle!!! Everybody panic!
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Update: Libertarian candidate Bob Barr was on the Colbert report. Maybe I missed something because he was mumbling, but it appears all he had to say in this national exposure opportunity was that he enjoyed sharing a cigar with Al Gore and that Libertarians believe in letting people make ice cubes out of glaciers if they want to.