SEATTLE—A push to legalize marijuana on the West Coast is picking up steam as Washington lawmakers and pot proponents in California and Oregon propose separate measures.

The Washington state legislature will hold a preliminary vote Wednesday on whether to sell pot in state liquor stores, though even its authors say the bill is unlikely to pass. The same day in California, backers of a well-funded ballot measure to legalize marijuana are expected to file more than enough signatures to put the initiative before state voters in November. Read the full story

Feds reject Army snub of Texas plant

GAO decision buoys Sealy plant’s effort to keep truck contract Read the full story

For four decades there have been rumours that Marilyn Monroe’s death was not a simple suicide. Now a Los Angeles-based Australian writer and director, Philippe Mora, has uncovered an FBI document that throws up a chilling new scenario.

BOBBY KENNEDY’S affair with the screen idol Marilyn Monroe has been documented, but a secret FBI file suggests the late US attorney-general was aware of – and perhaps even a participant in – a plan “to induce” her suicide.

The detailed three-page report implicates the Hollywood actor Peter Lawford, Monroe’s psychiatrist, staff and her publicist in the plot.

The allegations suggest the 36-year-old actress, who had a history of staging attention-seeking suicide attempts, was deliberately given the means to fake another suicide on August 4, 1962. But this time, it is suggested, she was allowed to die as she sought help.

The document, hidden among thousands of pages released under freedom-of-information laws last October, was received by the FBI on October 19, 1964 – two years after her death – and titled simply “ROBERT F KENNEDY”.

It was compiled by an unnamed former special agent working for the then Democrat governor of California, Pat Brown, and forwarded to Washington by Curtis Lynum, then head of the San Francisco FBI. Despite a disclaimer that it could not be sourced or authenticated, it was considered important enough to immediately circulate to the FBI’s five most senior officers, including director J. Edgar Hoover’s right-hand man, Clyde Tolson.

The report was in effect buried for decades as a classified document, and even the released version contains censored sections. Never before mentioned despite thousands of articles, books and documentaries about her death, it details aspects of Kennedy’s on-and-off affair with the movie star, including sex parties and a lesbian dalliance, as well as her emotional departure from 20th Century Fox and descent into depression.

Critically, it raises an alleged conspiracy, apparently overseen by Lawford, for Monroe to unwittingly commit suicide with the drug Seconal, a barbiturate used to treat insomnia and relieve anxiety. The document gives no precise reason why she would be killed but hints it may be linked to her threats to make public her affair with Kennedy, as other conspiracy theories have previously claimed. It states in part: “Peter Lawford, [censored words blacked out] knew from Marilyn’s friends that she often made suicide attempts and that she was inclined to fake a suicide attempt in order to arouse sympathy.

“Lawford is reported as having made ’special arrangements’ with Marilyn’s psychiatrist, Dr Ralph Greenson, from Beverley Hills. The psychiatrist was treating Marilyn for emotional problems and getting her off the use of barbiturates. On her last visit to him he prescribed Seconal tablets and gave her a prescription for 60 of them, which was unusual in quantity especially since he saw her frequently. On the date of her death … her housekeeper put the bottle of pills on the night table. It is reported that the housekeeper and Marilyn’s personal secretary and press agent, Pat Newcomb, were co-operating in the plan to induce suicide.”

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http://www.smh.com.au/

You can read H.R. 2943 by clicking here. (PDF file)

H.R. 2943: Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009

To eliminate most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use, and for other purposes. Read the full story

Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%

For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession — until now. Read the full story

Healthcare overhaul bill clears Senate Finance Committee

Sen. Olympia Snowe is the sole Republican to side with Democrats as the bill passes, 14 to 9. Her support for the bill requiring health insurance for all Americans is seen as victory for Obama. Read the full story

The Washington Post:

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

– At long last, the Senate Finance Committee will vote on Chairman Max Baucus’s health-care bill. If the bill can’t gather at least one Republican vote — that means you, Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine), above — expect Baucus’s name to be taken in vain by angry liberals who watched the protracted process the Montana Democrat oversaw in the name of bipartisanship result in a bill that left them less than pleased. Read the full story

Is ACORN funding ban unconstitutional?

The hastily passed House ban on ACORN funding last week launched a thousand press releases and a thousand talk radio rants, but it might take a single lawsuit to blow it out of the water. Read the full story

Obama open to newspaper bailout bill

The president said he is “happy to look at” bills before Congress that would give struggling news organizations tax breaks if they were to restructure as nonprofit businesses. Read the full story

White House wants to kill royalty-in-kind program

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today told Congress he would kill a controversial program that allows energy companies to use actual oil and natural gas — instead of cash — to pay the government royalties for drilling on public lands. Read the full story

ABC News reported that a bomb threat forced Tea Party planners to evacuate their building last night:

On the eve of what organizers call a ‘Big Ol’ TEA Party’, the Washington, D.C., offices of FreedomWorks were evacuated by DC Metro police on Friday afternoon after the conservative organization reported to authorities at 3:42 pm ET that it had received a bomb threat. Read the full story

Olbermann Offers “Special Comment” On Joe Wilson: ‘You’ve Embarrassed The Nation‘

On “Countdown” tonight host Keith Olbermann offered a “Special Comment” about Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yelling out “you lie” during President Obama’s speech last night to a joint session of Congress. Olbermann concludes that the only thing more offensive and embarrassing than the lack of civility Wilson displayed in “shouting at the President like he was a referee at a ball game and you were a drunk in the stands,” is that Wilson was glaringly wrong in a comment that has “embarrassed the nation.”

Olbermann digs deeper to uncover Wilson’s sometimes tumultuous relationship with the truth.

This is good news for Ron Paul and his Campaign for Liberty. There have been threats by the Fed and others that auditing the Fed would have devastating consequences for the American, and world, economy. What exactly are they hiding?

Check out the videos from Ron Paul and others for some more information on this topic. Read the full story

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. Read the full story

Bill would force Obama to reveal birth documents

Hawaii state Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat, has confirmed plans to introduce legislation through which the state’s lawmakers would force the public disclosure of all President Obama’s birth documents held by the Hawaii Department of Health, including President Obama’s long-form original birth certificate.

Espero told WND his bill is aimed at “giving citizens access to birth records” under a standard of government transparency which would permit journalists to request in writing the public disclosure of vital birth records including long-form birth certificates of all persons born in Hawaii. He said it would include the release of birth records on those previously born in Hawaii.

“My decision to file the legislation was primarily a result of the fuss over President Obama’s birth records and the lingering questions,” Espero said.

Espero told WND that he believes President Obama was born in Hawaii.

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Two parties can’t agree on what to do about the economy

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – America’s two political parties don’t agree on much, but there’s one thing they do concur on: Even one job lost is one job too many.

After the Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, the fewest in nearly a year, partisans rushed to deplore the state of the economy. See full story on the jobs report. They praised their own efforts, and condemned those of the other side.

“The worst may be behind us,” President Barack Obama said. The economy is moving in the right direction, with job losses only half as bad as when he took office. “We are turning this economy around,” Obama said.

“We are not in recovery yet, but we are starting to create the stability necessary to get us there and we will not be satisfied until we see robust monthly job growth,” said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. “These figures are a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do on behalf of America’s workers.”

Twelve million Americans have benefited from the increase in unemployment benefits that was included in the stimulus bill, Solis said. Chronic unemployment has surged to record levels in this recession, with more than a third of 14.5 million employed Americans having been without work for more than six months.

Sotomayor picks up another GOP vote

WASHINGTON — Judge Sonia Sotomayor picked up another Republican vote Wednesday, but supporters from both parties said the underwhelming GOP support for the nation’s first Latina Supreme Court nominee could produce a political backlash.

“This is not a helpful moment for Republicans among Hispanics,” said Florida’s Sen. Mel Martinez, one of seven Republicans who have committed to vote for Sotomayor. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., became the latest name on the list when he announced his support for her in a Senate floor speech.