Sunday, February 5, 2006

Jonathan V. Last, Wanker of the Day Jonathan V. Last is the online editor of the Weekly Standard who rather famously described the torture at Abu Ghraib: Worse happens in frat houses across America ... bad pictures with some guys playing naked Twister. It's bad, but we don't want to get too crazy. In addition to his enjoyment of the innocent pleasures of torture, he's a big fan of the drug war, and the ONDCP in particular. He rhapsodizes about the drug war in today's Philadelphia Enquirer: We Are Winning the War on Drugs, in which he uncritically, and without context, parrots ONDCP talking points. In conclusion, he practically gets down on his knees to fellate the Drug Czar: Next week, the ONDCP will release a report outlining their order of battle for 2006. Director John Walters is not the type to go running for the nearest TV camera. Yet the quiet success he has overseen is a powerful reminder that the bad guys are not 10 feet tall; that failure is not inevitable; that the war on drugs is a war worth fighting; and that we're fighting it well. 2:59:30 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Happy Super Bowl Here's something to watch in preparation for the big event. Super Bowl - White House Office of National Drug Control Policy: Subway Ride -- A classic. Remember this? The ONDCP used taxpayer money to buy a Superbowl ad to attempt to shift the blame for their failed policies. The drugs and terrorism ad campaign ended up receiving extraordinary ridicule (some decided that the moral of it was that pot smokers should be sure to "buy American"), and the Libertarian Party and Drug Policy Alliance both responded with newspaper ads that put the blame for drug-profit-funded terrorism where it belonged -- on John Walters and international drug policy. 1:12:43 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

I get a little scared sometimes... It's not that I'm scared of the things I'm supposed to fear. Al Qaeda and terrorist attacks are less frightening to me than the ongoing destruction of the constitution by our own government. But given our recent... incompetence... in foreign affairs, and our long-standing willful stupidity in international drug policy, the potential for near-future disaster is appalling. First, take a look at Venezuela (where the DEA has clearly been a vehicle for political spying, sabotage, and the creation of instability) and Bolivia (where oppressive U.S. drug policy actually vaulted Morales to power). Instead of looking at how we might adjust drug policy to work with these countries better, or finding a way to open up dialog, what do we get? Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld likened Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Adolf Hitler, reflecting continuing tension in relations between the United States and the Latin American government. [...] "I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," Rumsfeld added. "He's a person who was elected legally _ just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally _ and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others." Oh, yeah, that'll help. Is this a setup for some future action? Closer to home, we have Mexico, with all the drug violence that is a result of our drug war. And the major players in the violence are former (and current) Mexican police, former (and current) Mexican soldiers, and assassins trained by the U.S. government (Los Zetas) who switched sides. Link A 216-page federal court file obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows how the Sinaloa drug cartel last year bought police protection at three levels of government, run by three political parties, to maintain its hold on Acapulco. So we already here a situation that we created through the drug war that has overrun established law enforcement mechanisms through corruption. If it continues, how will the U.S. react? Particularly when they see this... IED's Among Weapons Seized in Laredo Raids Believed tied to Mexico drug war, not Middle Eastern Terror Improvised explosive devices, the home made bombs which have killed and maimed so many U.S. troops in Iraq, were among the items seized in three raids in the Texas border city of Laredo, federal officials said today. Julie Myers, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters here today that the raids at three homes in Laredo, on January 12, January 27, and yesterday, seized stacks of automatic weapons, grenades, gunpowder, ammunition, and drugs, as well as IEDs. Chavez, Morales, Hitler... IED's, narco-terrorists, U.S. soil... The seeds are planted. But can we survive if the U.S. decides to take its beloved drug war up to the next level? 12:36:24 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []