You can’t tell the rest of us about how you’re the last bastion of independent democracy while letting your bosses make a mockery of that upstandingness every single day. There’s always a risk in this kind of protest, sure, but in the end the greater risk is looking like you don’t notice, or don’t care, what is being done in your name.

This is another powerful indicator have how radically the politics surrounding marijuana reform have changed in the past decade. As little as ten years ago publicly supporting marijuana legalization was seen as a real political liability. Now there politicians in contested elections, like Baumgartner and King Country Sheriff Steve Strachan, endorsing legalization right before the election, presumably in attempt to make themselves more popular with voters.

This weekend, the Seattle Times endorsed Initiative 502. If the initiative is approved by the voters of Washington State it would legalize marijuana for adult 21 and old. It would also tax and regulate the sale of marijuana.

It is now almost guaranteed that next year’s voters in both Washington State and Colorado will get to decide on marijuana legalization ballot initiatives. In both states legalization campaigns have managed to gather signatures well in excess of what is necessary to qualify to get an initiative on the ballot.

In one of the largest day of raids on marijuana dispensaries since President Obama took office, at least 14 dispensaries were hit in Washington state yesterday in a coordinated set of actions. The DoJ claims it was in support of enforcement of state laws, even though the Administration has acted consistently to undermine those state marijuana laws.