Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Tom DeLay's trip to la-la land As reported all over the web today, Tom DeLay officially acknowledged that Republican leadership has absolutely no concept of fiscal conservatism. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an "ongoing victory," and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget. [...] Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good." This is so delusional that it really belongs in the Onion, not the Moony Times. But just in case Tom would like some suggestions for fat to cut (and he couldn't find any in the transportation bill), I've got two words: Drug War Let's take the DEA budget and put it toward rebuilding New Orleans. 9:38:42 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

New Orleans stories The depressing clean-up effort... In New Orleans's downtown, most of it on higher and drier land, authorities allowed business owners to check their buildings Monday. Dump trucks with claws plucked the growing piles of debris from street corners and the air rumbled with the sound of generators. "The least we can do is clean up our own streets," Wallace Kimbrough, 43, said as he pried debris out of the storm drain beside his home in the French Quarter. "Hey," he exclaimed, holding up a plastic bag he pulled from the muck. "Somebody lost their marijuana seeds." [Thanks to Laura] The helicopters finally arrive to assist New Orleans residents... ...you know what the police were doing here where I live? Flying their helicopters looking for marijuana growing in people's backyards. They swooped on a guy who ran out in his backyard and tried to burn down his four pot plants when he heard their copters coming. [Via Last One Speaks] 9:15:59 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Guru of Ganja continues fight Ed Rosenthal is appealing his 1 day and time served federal conviction for medical marijuana. In case you've forgotten, this was the case where he was not allowed to mention medical marijuana or the fact that the city had deputized him to grow medical marijuana in his court trial. After finding him guilty, the jurors discovered the true facts and were pissed. Of course, prosecutors are also appealing. They want him to serve 2-5 years. Should be entertaining. (More here) 9:07:56 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug War Deadlock Caught this press release about a new book coming out from Hoover Institution Press: Drug War Deadlock: The Policy Battle Continues (Hoover Institution Press, 2005), edited by Hoover research fellow Laura E. Huggins It's a collection of articles, OpEds, letters and such by major players on both sides of the drug war debate. Contributors include Howard Abadinsky, St. John's University; Scott Barbour, Greenhaven Press; Ronald Bayer, Columbia University; William J. Bennett, Heritage Foundation; Ted Galen Carpenter, Cato Institute; Lou Dobbs, CNN; David Duncan, Duncan and Associates; Milton Friedman, Hoover Institution; Bruce D. Glasscock, Plano, Texas, police department; Asa Hutchinson, former administrator of Drug Enforcement Agency; James A. Inciardi, University of Delaware; Bruce D. Johnson, Special Populations Research; Charles Levinthal, Hofstra University; Robert J. MacCoun, University of California, Berkeley; Duane McBride, Andrews University; Joseph D. McNamara, Hoover Institution; Ethan A. Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance; Robert Peterson, attorney; Peter Reuter, University of Maryland; John Jay Rouse, Sacred Heart University, retired; Thomas Szasz, State University of New York Health Science Center; John Stossel, ABC News; Yvonne Terry, University of Michigan; John P. Walters, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; and James Q. Wilson, University of California, Los Angeles. That's quite a group. What's really incredible is that you can download all the chapters of the book for free as pdf files at the Hoover Press website. And there are some classics in there. Milton Friedman rips apart Bennett's Don't Surrender: The drug war worked once. It can again. thesis. And who can forget Lou Dobbs' August 2003 OpEd: A War Worth Fighting [which Ethan Straffin and I enjoyed trashing back then]? I haven't read it all yet. But it sure seems to have a delightful range of writings from differing viewpoints (and seeing such things side-by-side always seems to highlight the pathetically weak structure of the prohibition arguments). 8:11:29 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []