More people in prison - more burden on the taxpayers.

Way to go FEDS!

(*cough* LOSERS! *cough*)

Dan made enemies, that is, and then Dominic is stuck trying to get somebody to talk to him. I think this explains why Feit and Barnett struggle so much to explain why things happen in this town: you burn your rep to the ground and nobody will talk to you. Then decisions get made and you sit on the outside wondering why.

Give them some time to cool their heads. And maybe folks should call off their crucifictions as well.

Good point.

That said, I hope Dan sends the hack plaque.

How fucking stupid are you?

I like the Stranger, I like most of the writers. But as someone pointed out in another slog post recently, you guys aren't the scrappy young upstart paper raging against the big city rags anymore. You are a legitimate source of news and information for a lot of people. The Force is strong with you, how do you want to use it?

And I actually asked Dom to change the header on this post. I thought it was a bit harsh. Me! Mr. Meanypants! Okay, I'm off to this fundraiser for ex-Times employees...

Wanna feel sorry for someone? Don't feel sorry for poor Mike Carter or his double at the PI. Feel sorry for the 830,000 people busted for marijuana offenses last year—80% for possession. Reporting like the crap in the Times and PI today keep the War on Drugs roaring along, and they deserve to be slapped for it.

Thank FSM that somebody's calling out these "news" people on their unbearable shit.

It's not just the establishment media's total failure to accurately report on the War on Drugs--it's EVERYTHING: the Bush administration, the economy, healthcare, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US as a state sponsor of torture, and on and on and on.

The establishment media's not even bothering to try to make their right-wing propaganda and lies even remotely believable anymore.

And then it's a mystery to these dicks that newspaper circulation is dropping like a lead balloon as people look elsewhere for some kind of honest information.

Well, duuuuuuhhhhh.

It's time to Just Say No to both the War on Drugs and the War on Countries Starting With The Letter I.

Both are abysmal wastes of time and scarce taxpayer resources.

Meanwhile, the Red Bushies still get high just as often. And still avoid combat service.

The Stranger makes no claim of being unbiased. They openly advocate positions. Their bias is open. They are an alternative paper, and intentionally smart ass.

But both the Seattle Times and the PI claim to be above all that. They claim to be unbiased journalists (other than their op/ed pieces). To be objective. To question. To tell both sides of a story. You never see a story about gay rights in the Times or the PI without them also throwing in a quote from some raving right wing nut job, for balance.

So where is the balance in these articles? Where are the questions? Seattle overwhelmingly voted to de-emphasize pot busts a couple years ago. It is obvious that a majority of Seattle residents either don't give much of a fuck about pot smokers, or think it should be legalized altogether. You'd think reporters in Seattle might take that into consideration when reporting on a big splashy pot bust.

If pot wasn't illegal, all they'd have is a couple of nurseries selling nursery supplies (like every other nursery in the state), and some people growing plants in their house (like the orchids and violets in my front window).

So why spend all that time, money, and effort to bust a few grow operations? Do such raids work? Are they cost effective? Are they unnecessarily dangerous, either to the police or the suspects? Do they actually reduce the amount of pot on the streets? Do they make us any safer? Would simply legalizing it make us safer? Does filling our prisons with everyone involved in pot growing or smoking help or harm society in any measurable way? Now that those businesses have been shut down, did they ask all the remaining employees (most of whom probably had no idea about the sales to pot growers) how they will pay their rent next month?

These are all legitimate objective questions... none of which were asked by the "reporters". The reporters didn't ask anyone other than the cops giving the press release any questions. Nothing from the defendants. Nothing from people who advocate for any other position for dealing with drug issues besides locking everyone up.

This is not unbiased reporting. This is advocacy journalism... Advocating for the DEA.

It's just that you're supposed to rape, then pillage, then then burn. Rape, pillage, burn. In that order. Is that so hard? This burn, pillage, and rape shit is not helping. It's poorly thought out.

If you want 50 inches about the war on drugs and how much all these things cost, maybe you could give a guy a couple of days.

Responsible journalism doesn't come out of thin air.

Deadline pressures doesn't excuse what Carter and his double at the PI busted out today. Carter wrote 14 paragraphs on that DEA press conference. There was a photo and the story jumped. And you want us to believe that Carter just couldn't possibly make a single phone call to, say, NORML, or former SPD chief Norm Stamper (surely they have his number on file), and obtained one, single, measly balancing quote? We're not asking for an anti-drug war screed. Only for the balance the Times practically snaps itself in half auto-fellating itself about providing the "community."

You know, the same community that overwhelmingly approved I-75—despite the Times urging a "no" vote on the initiative that made busts for marijuana possession the SPD's "lowest law-enforcement priority."

And since when does "Do a story on the [police busting X]" equate to "Do a one-sided, biased piece that presents just one side of the story—the state's, the Fed's, the SPD's—to the exclusion of all other sides of this story"? Oh, wait, I know since when: since the start of the glorious War on Drugs.

What he said:

The reporters didn't ask anyone other than the cops giving the press release any questions. Nothing from the defendants. Nothing from people who advocate for any other position for dealing with drug issues besides locking everyone up.

This is not unbiased reporting. This is advocacy journalism... Advocating for the DEA.

marijuanaconversation.org

These reporters simply did their jobs. Interpretation and judgment are labeled as "commentary" and neither was presented as such. Or in the Times' case, interpretation and judgment fall on the useless op/ed pages - when it's not NYT warm-ups.

Until you've done your time at a daily, shut your steaming pie hole.

Dominic - Next time disguise your voice and say you're from the Seattle Weekly.

Just as soon the Stranger clears out the editors box of 3-year-old recycled stories about Seattle City Hall's poorly operated green building.

Snoooooooze.

If found guilty of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana, they face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison and a $4 million fine.

This is for selling gardening supplies.