From the Huffington Post

The U.S. Supreme Court handed medical marijuana patients and advocates a resounding victory on Monday, refusing to hear a case brought by San Diego County, which has long chafed at implementing statewide medical marijuana laws.

The state of California, in an effort to systematize the 1996 voter-approved initiative, required localities to implement identification card programs for patients with doctor approval in 2004. Such ID cards are required to enter medical marijuana shops in California and can be shown to police officers who find patients in possession of marijuana.

San Diego County, however, argued that the federal ban on marijuana trumps the state law, meaning they are not required to follow the state law. The county filed suit in 2006. Both the San Diego Superior Court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected the argument, which was followed by the California Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case in 2008.

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Gold and black-clad fans with Steelers’ iconic Terrible Towels waving in the air or tucked into their back pockets partied into the early morning hours Monday in an impromptu block party across Pittsburgh to celebrate the team’s historic sixth Super Bowl win.

Thousands of people gathered in the city’s Oakland neighborhood near the University of Pittsburgh and also along the quirky strip of bars known as the South Side. City officials had anticipated the large crowds, and had about 400 police on the streets as a precaution.

Moments after the Steelers sealed the 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Tampa, Fla., revelers poured out of area bars, and some broke out in song, bellowing Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

Yellow confetti swirled in the air, people released gold and black balloons and Super Bowl championship paraphernalia was up for sale in the middle of the street.

Pittsburgh police didn’t report any major problems, but there were pockets of trouble, mostly in the Oakland section.

Police arrested more than 100 people for failing to disperse from various locations, at least one for arson, and two others for drunken driving. Couches and several garbage containers were set on fire, and several vehicles were overturned as police responded to more than 400 emergency calls during the game and a similar number in the 2 1/2 hours after it ended, city police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.

One officer suffered a possible broken arm and some revelers broke windows, threw bottles at police — including a state trooper on horseback — and engaged in fights, Richard said. Large numbers of police in riot gear and on horseback were out in force, surrounding one fire and keeping the crowd back in an effort to let it burn out.

Police in riot gear patrolled the South Side on bikes and in cars, letting the loud and rowdy celebration run its course.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that some sort of city celebration would likely be held Tuesday or Wednesday, but details still need to be worked out.

Crowds spilled out of the doors of Primanti Bros., Pittsburgh’s famous gut-busting sandwich shop.

Rocky Plassio, a 32-year-old high school teacher from the suburb of Washington, had his 3-year-old son, Noah, perched on his shoulders. The elder Plassio made sure his son didn’t miss the celebration.

“The last time the Steelers won, he was an infant,” Rocky said. “If you’re from Pittsburgh, the Steelers are really part of your culture. It’s in your blood.”

Nearby, Jim Jacobs, 43, had his 8-year-old son, Marcus, on his shoulders and 9-year-old Luke by his side. They traveled from the suburb of Mt. Washington and, even when the Steelers were losing late in the game, Marcus was preparing for the celebration.

“We’re going to have a hard time getting them up for school tomorrow, and they are home schooled,” Jim Jacobs said about 90 minutes after the game ended.

Brittany Barcoay, 21, drove seven hours from Liberty University in Virginia just to be in her hometown for the Super Bowl and celebrated outside the South Side bar Town Tavern, which sported a “Steeler Tavern” banner.

“I have never had so much pride in my city, ever,” said Barcoay, decked out in a Jerome Bettis jersey.

Bars were packed in the area popular with college students and the 20-something crowd, with music blaring.

One man carried a life-size cutout of President Barack Obama, with a Terrible Towel draped around the neck, while a one-man band played in the middle of a blocked-off street and photos of players were projected onto the sides of buildings.

Dan Decriscio, 51, returned to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia and had the chance to celebrate yet another NFL title.

“This is awesome,” Decriscio said. “I’ve been here for every Super Bowl. Every one is great. From the first one with Chuck Noll to Mike Tomlin; this is Christmas in February.”

In one neighborhood south of Pittsburgh, people lit fireworks and ran outside and cheered after the game.

When the Steelers last won the Super Bowl in 2006, thousands of drunken fans celebrated in the streets and several small fires were set.

Pittsburgh schools delayed openings two hours Monday to allow for the celebration, but other schools were following suit after the victory. TV news stations were scrolling school delays for Monday as if it were a snow day.

From HuffingtonPost.com:

In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting “inappropriate” comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election.

On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa. The election of America’s first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center — a record in modern presidential elections.

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But it is the beginning of the end.

America was founded upon the very idea of the white man reigning. America was conceived by conquering, colonial, Christian Europeans. They vanquished the continent’s native population, and enslaved Africans to build their nation.

But America’s independence was won by men who talked of Freedom. The result: America was born with two opposing Manifest Destinies. One was the desire to build a new empire for the European on emptied land. The other was the ideal of a new nation where all Men are free.

The entirety of American history is the result of this split personality, the two sides trying to reconcile themselves — from the 3/5ths Clause in the Constitution, to the Civil War, to the Civil Rights movement. These conflicts were the direct result of the presence of Black people in America, a constant reminder to the white man that his ideals meant nothing if he did not pursue them to their logical end. Every election since then has been a referendum on where we lean on this question: Are we a patriarchal, white, Christian nation? Or are we a multicultural democracy?

For the past two presidential elections, the contest between these two ideas was so close that small acts of fraud kept power in the hands of the party that most represents the interests of the patriarchy. For eight years, the Republicans squandered our treasure on missions to expanding American supremacy against foreign and domestic foes both real and imagined. Faced with the prospect of four more years of war and financial ruin, the American electorate chose overwhelmingly tonight to reject American triumphalism and replace it with American realism.

The Republicans lost for the same reason that all patriarchies eventually lose. The rule of the privileged creates corruption and greed. Corruption and greed inevitably produce ideas so foolish and breed people so incompetent that they burn their own house down. It took just eight years for the idiot son to destroy everything his fathers had built.

The Democrats won for the same reason that all democracies eventually win, by including and inspiring all people. The Democrats, after decades of paying lip-service to Black Americans and taking the Black vote for granted, finally yielded to a powerful candidate who represented Black folks’ interests — not just for who he is but for what he believes. But in so doing, the Democrats tapped into something they never expected: A new generation of young whites who wanted to close the chapter on America’s racist past and be a part of America’s multicultural future.

Obama or not, we are all going there. But the road will not be easy. The Klu Klux Klan of old may not be marching in the streets, but the forces of white supremacy are still very much here. Some of them are skinheads and militiamen with guns and explosives. Others are corporate men who seek to preserve their financial and skin privilege through the power of their money; through their ability to hire, or not hire. Still others are politicians who will use this opportunity to claim that racism no longer exists, and that its remedies should be withdrawn. Right now, these people are all cornered. And a cornered animal is the most dangerous. There will likely be decades of struggle as the political pendulum swings back and forth, as the former powers-that-be adjust to the new philosophical and demographic reality. Some of our foes will go quietly. Others will not. But go they will. Hopefully, the Secret Service will do its job. We must also do ours. Stay vigilant.

Obama’s ascendance to the nation’s highest office will open horizons and create higher aspirations for Black Americans. A Black family will now occupy the same White House from which Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. But a Black Camelot will not immediately heal our country’s split personality, and certainly will not change the facts on the ground for many Black Americans — still the poorest, still without good schools, without decent housing, without health or child care, still without fulfilling jobs that pay a living wage. Even if president-elect Obama is everything we hope he is, it will take more terms than he could legally fill to put all Americans on an equal footing.

Tonight, we are a country changed, and we are a country unchanged.

Tomorrow, America takes her first steps toward her true Manifest Destiny, the multicultural democracy.

“Barack Obama is on the verge of a victory, perhaps a decisive victory, in the race for the White House. The national polls have all consolidated into a range of roughly Obama +7.”

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