Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Sen. Grassley tells Bush to fire the Drug Czar Des Moines Register today In a conference call with Iowa reporters, Grassley [R-Iowa] said: "I think the president ought to fire the drug czar." He said that he wrote Walters calling for more action on meth and the response he received was "basically, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo." Walters and the Office of National Drug Control Policy continue to place much more emphasis on fighting marijuana use, said Grassley. Now, this doesn't make Grassley a friend of Drug Policy Reform by any means -- he's still a hard-liner who doesn't get how the drug war works. But it's nice to see the falling out -- Grassley thinks he's actually fighting the drug war, while Walters knows it's about demonizing marijuana for political and financial reasons. 6:12:36 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Slightly Off Topic I'm recommending that you advance order Glenn Greenwald's new book "How Would a Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok." While I don't know if the drug war is specifically mentioned in the book, it has a lot of relevancy, as the book deals extensively with the further destruction of the fourth amendment. I also know that Glenn is strongly opposed to the Drug War (as he has demonstrated through his willingness to let me post about the drug war at his highly popular site). The book is currently #2 in the Amazon best-seller list and it doesn't even come out until May. The big discussion today in the blogs is Net Neutrality. See Libby's post for an overview and some excellent links. Congress is acting this week, and they may be acting without thinking it through very well (surprise, surprise). While I'm not a big fan of government regulation, it seems possible that, in this case, government regulation may be needed to prevent private regulation and to insure the continued free flow of the internet. Posting here has been slightly sporadic and will continue to be so, as this is an extremely busy time for me. End of the semester extra work, plus: Last week a student group I advise held a four-square marathon to raise money for scholarships. They went for 61 consecutive hours (and I was there for about 50 of them). I've been Musical Director and Pianist (actually, the entire orchestra) for a delightful student-directed production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" that was performed this past weekend. This Friday, I'm playing background jazz piano for a stylish art exhibition and sale. Saturday, I'm going to Iowa to get back together for the first time with the cover rock band I played with in the early 1980s. We'll be playing a lot of Doors and Wilson Pickett music, as well as preparing for a gig in May where we'll back up the incredible Becca Sutlive (who also happens to be our lead guitarist's daughter). I'm also busy with lots of photography work. But I'll try to keep posting as much as I can. Be sure to read the comments, as many of the regulars here provide more good material there, and visit the messageboard as well. 1:14:28 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []