Friday, August 22, 2008

Austin Musician Sentenced As Narco-Terrorist Under Patriot Act

Austin Sound

Jake Mitchell, the drummer for Austin’s Boxing Lesson, was sentenced a couple of weeks ago to 60 months in federal prison on marijuana charges. What makes Mitchell’s case particularly unsettling is that he was charged under the Patriot Act and has been branded a Narco-Terrorist. The band went public with the details today as Mitchell prepares to begin his sentence early next month, hoping to raise awareness of his case for the pending appeal and help support him and his family as they have lost everything. And the details only get more distressing.

According to the Boxing Lesson’s publicist, Ryan Cano, Mitchell’s wife is currently serving a six month sentence as a conspirator for not turning her husband in. While Cano acknowledges that the operation Mitchell was running out of his house in 2006 was certainly much more elaborate than a simple case of his growing pot for personal use, the fact that he was charged, and sentenced, under Patriot Act laws that have essentially branded him a domestic terrorist seems particularly ludicrous and disheartening.

UPDATE
Contrary to our initial information, Mitchell was NOT charged under the Patriot Act, and has not been branded a “narco-terrorist.” His appeal against his 60 month sentence and conviction for both manufacturing and conspiracy to manufacture over 100 marijuana plants is, however, focused on the questionable tactics by the Austin Police Department in pursuing their sting operation against Mitchell, namely the un-warranted use of drug dogs outside of the house and, as the Chronicle reports today, the controversial policy of the APD using utility information to spot potential illegal operations.

friday reads

Scott Horton: More Prosecutorial Mischief in Mississippi


Texas Criminal Justice By the Numbers


VetVoice: John McCain Needs to Lay Off the POW Talk


I found the clitoris here.

friday random ten

random_ten
Photo by Ryan McManus



Keg Party at the Lake
Voltage
Superstar Rock-N-Roll (2000)


Straitjacket Fits - Bad Note for a Heart
Skin to Wear (Stripped Mix)
Straitjacket Fits
Bad Note For a Heart 12" (1990)


Tilly and the Wall - Bottoms of Barrels
Rainbows in the Dark
Tilly and the Wall
Bottoms of Barrels (2006)


Jon Wayne - Texas Funeral
Is That Justice?
Jon Wayne
Texas Funeral (1992)


 - The Believer: 2005 Music Issue
Decora (Yo La Tengo cover)
Spoon
The Believer: 2005 Music Issue


The Octopus Project - One Ten Hundred Thousand Million
The Adjuster
The Octopus Project
One Ten Huundred Tousand Million


The Clean - Compilation
Two Fat Sisters
The Clean
Compilation (1986)


Robbers on High Street - Tree City
Japanese Girls
Robbers on High Street
Tree City (2005)



Make Like We're Not Sad
Boy Mouse, Girl Mouse
The Family Twee


Giant Sand - Official Bootleg Series, Volume One - Build Your Own Night, It's Easy
Scorcher
Giant Sand
Official Bootleg Series, Volume One- Build Your Own Night, It's Easy (1996)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

my tornado

thursday reads

WilliamOckham: The Strange Case of Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul (Part 2)


At least 55 people have been killed in twin suicide bombings outside a munitions factory in the Pakistani town of Wah, police say.


China sets record for jailing Olympics protesters.


Froomkin: Revisiting Katrina


Glenn Greenwald: Journalists and Their Good Friends in the White House


Four More Newspapers Intend To Drop AP Over Rates


McCain feels for the poor billionaires.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

wednesday reads

bmaz: The Gitmo Shrinks Find Their Super Ego And Cowboy Up


Pentagon planning to send up to 15,000 troops to Afghanistan.


Rachel Maddow finally gets her own show.


Two more car bombings in Algeria today.


Muxtape is down.


Pat Green gets a cold one.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

tuesday reads

Billmon: Anatomy of A(nother) Fiasco


Juan Cole: The fall of Bush's man in Pakistan


Richard Cummings: Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels


David Neiwert: Right-wing violence and mental illness


The Anthrax Files


Keith Olberman: Countdown Special Comment to John McCain "Grow Up!"

Monday, August 18, 2008

Squandering our freedoms through our imperial delusions

I am expressing in the book, in a sense, what many of us sense, even if many of us don't really want to confront the implications. The Congress, especially with regard to matters related to national security policy, has thrust power and authority to the executive branch. We have created an imperial presidency. The congress no longer is able to articulate a vision of what is the common good. The Congress exists primarily to ensure the reelection of members of Congress.

As the imperial presidency has accrued power, surrounding the imperial presidency has come to be this group of institutions called the National Security State. The CIA, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the other intelligence agencies. Now, these have grown since the end of World War Two into this mammoth enterprise.

But the National Security State doesn't work. The National Security State was not able to identify the 9/11 conspiracy. Was not able to deflect the attackers on 9/11. The National Security State was not able to plan intelligently for the Iraq War. Even if you think that the Iraq War was necessary. They were not able to put together an intelligent workable plan for that war.

The National Security State has not been able to provide the resources necessary to fight this so called global war on terror. So, as the Congress has moved to the margins, as the President has moved to the center of our politics, the presidency itself has come to be, I think, less effective. The system is broken.

Bill Moyers Interviews Andrew J. Bacevich

monday reads

Christopher Moraff: Feeding the Beast


Chris Floyd: Fear, Procurement, Profit: Permanent War and the American Way


The results of the new Pew Survey on News Consumption (taken every two years and released this afternoon) suggest that viewers of the “fake news” programs "The Daily Show"and "The Colbert Report" are more knowledgeable about current events (as judged by three test questions) than watchers of “real” cable news shows hosted by Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly and Larry King, among others -- as well as average consumers of NBC, ABC, Fox News, CNN, C-SPAN and daily newspapers.


Frank Rich The Candidate We Still Don't Know


Pain lingers for wrongfully convicted man.