ALJAZEERA: …The poll, Pew Research Center’s first comprehensive look at drug policy since 2001, suggests that Americans are not only supportive of less harsh laws for marijuana, but also for hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.

This will immeasurably help the Republican Party, which relies far more on large campaign donors who give the maximum campaign contributions. In the past year, Republican congressional political party committees have struggled to raise funds, as compared to their Democratic counterparts and the RNC. The court’s decision now frees donors to make contributions of $32,400 to all three party committees every year.

NEW YORK TIMES: … There is finally the sense here, after years of international aid and effort geared toward improving Afghan’s women’s lives, that women have become a significant part of Afghan political life, if not a powerful one.

A team of investigative reporters borrowed from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, report the following:

The company moved $8bn in profits from the US to Switzerland to take advantage of a special 4 per cent to 6 per cent corporate tax rate it negotiated with the Swiss government, according to the report from Mr Levin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations…

This is not meant to be critical of the Lancaster Newspapers, but we note that the Intelligencer Journal New Era’s newsstand price is 75 cents and the Lancaster Sunday News’ is $2.00.

The oceans are rising at a pace that threatens coastal communities and are becoming more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by cars and power plants, which is killing some creatures or stunting their growth, the report found…

The site promised that when the site came back up it would send an “one-time email” to frustrated visitors “for you to return and complete your enrollment.” …

I rarely saw him rush to a decision when circumstances allowed him time to gather information, analyze, and reflect… As a participant in that decision-making process, I always felt more confident about the outcome after thorough deliberation. When the occasion demand it, though Obama could make a big decision – a life-and-death decision – very fast.”

One of the things that disturbs us about Wolf is that he is from a county reputed to be one of the most corrupt in the state. He has hung out and provided support to some of the most unsavory officials.

The DEA is notorious for undermining efforts to simply study the medical benefits of marijuana by ignoring decades of scientific studies, blocking research, and issuing outright lies about marijuana. The DEA’s actions have shown us that it will do anything to maintain the drug war status quo.

Only 5% of cellphone-related crashes occur because the driver is texting. The majority of the accidents involve drivers distracted while talking on handheld or hands-free cellphones.