Pubdate: Thu, 04 Jul 2013
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2013 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Al Kamen and Emily Heil
Page: A17

THE CAPITOL TODAY? DON'T HARSH ITS MELLOW, DUDE.

The flag flying over the Capitol on the Fourth of July might look like
your typical Old Glory. But you probably won't notice the fibers that
make it special. It's believed to be the first hemp flag to flutter
over the dome since the government began outlawing marijuana's
less-recreational cousin back in the 1930s.

Colorado hemp advocate Michael Bowman is the man responsible for
getting the flag, made from Colorado-raised hemp and screen-printed
with the Stars and Stripes, up there.

He cooked up the idea while lobbying Congress this year to include
pro-hemp measures in the massive farm bill. That legislation failed
last month, of course, but the seed of the hemp flag had been planted.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) gave Bowman an assist with the details,
which included working with the Capitol's flag office. (The flag
program allows people to buy flags flown over the Capitol, so they
rotate in new Old Glories nearly every day.)

"It's a powerful symbol," Bowman says, adding that the red, white and
blue flying over the Capitol is a reminder of the role that hemp
played in the founding and early days of the country. Betsy Ross's
flag was made of hemp, he notes, and Colonial settlers even paid their
taxes in the crop, which was used for all kinds of goods, from rope to
fabric to paper. Those Conestoga wagons heading west were covered in
canvas fashioned from hemp fibers.

So, he thought having it fly on America's birthday seemed pretty
appropriate.

After its Capitol flight, the flag will make its way back to Colorado,
where it will fly over the state capitol building in Denver. After
that, Bowman is sending it on a tour of statehouses in states where
legislation is pending that would legalize hemp. One of the first up:
Vermont.

And while advocates are quick to point out that hemp lacks the THC
content beloved by stoners, this will still be one high-flying flag.
Changing of the clerks

The justices of the Supreme Court may be headed off to Europe and
other places for the summer, but the high court still made some
history this week, with the retirement of William Suter, who'd been
the clerk of the court for the past 22 years.

To put this in perspective, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is only
the 17th chief justice of the United States. Suter, who's retiring at
the end of August, is just the 19th clerk of the court. (The clerk's
office, among other things, oversees court filings, handles the docket
and records all the court's actions.)

In addition, it's probably a safe assumption that Suter is - and will
forever be - the only clerk of the court in history who has a picture
in his office of himself and Elvis Presley in 1958, when Elvis was in
basic training at Fort Hood, Tex.

Scott S. Harris, who's been the Supreme Court's legal counsel for 11
years, is replacing Suter. Harris was an assistant U.S. attorney
before going to the high court in 2002.

Harris is the son of former U.S. attorney and then U.S. District Judge
Stanley Harris. Of much more import to Nationals fans, Harris is the
grandson of Bucky Harris, the baseball Hall of Fame member who, among
other things, was the player-manager of the 1924 Washington Senators
baseball team that won the city's only World Series.

Friend request, hidden

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul apparently does not subscribe to the maxim
of keeping its friends close (never mind its enemies).

A Loop fan tells us that a sign posted outside the embassy written in
both Dari and English invites local "friends" to share information
they might have gleaned about terrorist activity. The sign, which was
posted years ago, we're told, remains in place even though the
security perimeter has grown and tightened so much that the area is no
longer accessible to average Afghans.

"The U.S. embassy would be grateful if any of our friends who have
information on terrorist activity or threat information to please come
to this gate," the sign reads. But . . . they can't. Maybe it's time
to take down the sign - or assign a new destination for those looking
to drop a dime on terrorists?
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MAP posted-by: Matt