Friday, February 11, 2005

Thanks, filchyboy I had to temporarily suppress all humility to post this one, but I couldn't resist. It's such a wonderful post from Christopher Filkins that means a lot to me, and I wanted to share it: I've been reading Salon Blogs since, well, when they started (or at least publicly available) me thinks. There are some great writers & journalists round these parts, far far better than I; this piddly thing. Anyway the best so far is Pete Guither's Drug War Rant. Pete has a knack for cutting right through the drug war misinformation and slight of hand. His reports are stoic in the face of horrible stories, facts, and circumstances of this most odious of travesties the pundits call the drug wars. Salon (or some other organ) would be well served by hiring his ass. I'd love to see more attention paid to this issue. Josh Marshall, I'm talking to you. How come the drug war is never ever ever ever ever questioned in polite company in the media? It's so fucking frustrating. [ed. note. I don't mean to infer that Mr. Marshall writes in polite company. ] [ed. note. err, or that Mr. Guither's writing is written among the impolite. ] Yes, it is frustrating. Mr. Filkins then goes on to provide a good suggestion over at Radio Free Blogistan: With all of this new found interest in online "journalists" such as Jeff Gannon getting access to the White House briefings I hope we'll soon see more folks with access to the White House. ... ...Wouldn't it be nice to see Pete Guither grilling Bush on the drug war. God knows I'd like to drill him on gay marriage. Someone, anyone, pay for this poor hack to fly to Washington. I work cheap. Don't even need an entourage or a ticket to ride. I'm with you. Day passes to the White House briefings are fine with me. Got my list of questions handy. Just need to pick a pseudonym. 10:27:01 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Read these... Via Last One Speaks, comes this fascinating and delightful piece by Dana Larsen: What's In Popeye's Pipe? The evidence is circumstantial, but it is there, and when added together it presents a compelling picture that, for many readers at least, Popeye's strength-giving spinach is meant as a clear metaphor for the miraculous powers of marijuana. Radley Balko talks about rights and gets some scary email. Robert Sharpe comes out with one of his usual outstanding letters, this time on heroin treatment (making the same points I did earlier). And he has a great tag line: Putting public health before politics may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message. 9:44:05 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []