Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Bloody Ribbon Week Via Radley Balko and Mark Kleiman, comes the most sickening observance of "Red Ribbon Week" imaginable. If classes had been held in a forest yesterday at Marshall Middle School in Fauquier County, it would have been difficult for teachers to take attendance. As the first bell rang, students bounded into hallways wearing twig- and branch-imprinted jackets or sporting fatigues stamped U.S. Army. Principal Christine Moschetti said the school asked the students to don the martial clothing to show support for "the fight against drugs." She wore a leafy, oversized camouflage T-shirt that she had bought at Wal-Mart for $5. Camouflage Day at Marshall was tied to a national anti-drug campaign called Red Ribbon Week that began Monday. The week commemorates a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was slain on duty in Mexico in 1985. Organizers with National Family Partnership, a Florida-based group, said thousands of schools nationwide are participating through such activities as encouraging students to sign drug-free pledges or sponsoring spirit weeks. Camouflage Day to fight drugs? This is what it immediately brought to my mind... On May 20, 1997, Esequiel Hernandez, Jr. [pictured right] was herding his family's goats 100 yards from his home on the US-Mexican border in Redford, Texas, as he did every day. Six days before, he had turned 18 years old. Unknown to Esequiel or any of the other residents of Redford, a group of four Marines led by 22-year old Corporal Clemente Banuelos had been encamped just outside the small village along the Rio Grande River for three days. After watering his small flock of goats in the river, Esequiel started on his way back home when the Marines began stalking him from a distance of 200 yards. The four camouflaged Marines were outfitted with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment and weapons. Esequiel carried an antique .22 caliber rifle -- a pre-World War I, single shot rifle to keep wild dogs and rattlesnakes away from his goats. The autopsy showed that Esequiel was facing away from the Marines when he was shot. He probably never knew the Marines were watching him from 200 yards away. Thus it was that a 22 year-old United States Marine shot and killed an innocent 18 year-old boy tending his family's goats. This outrageous act was the inevitable consequence of a drug prohibition policy gone mad. Esequiel Hernandez was killed not by drugs but by military officers of the United States government. Is this what Principal Christine Moschetti wants to glorify? Or how about some of these? What kind of irresponsible "education" is this? 7:31:39 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

On voting strategies Phillip Smith has a good discussion piece up at StoptheDrugWar: Third-Party Candidacies vs. Voting for the Lesser Evil It's certainly a topic worth talking about -- there are a few races out there this time with third-party candidates that have strong drug policy reform views, so what do you do? My view? If you've got a third-party candidate that's doing the right thing, vote for them. The fear of the "Nader" effect is overblown, in my opinion, and it's good to keep the third party door open. If you're in one of those rare situations where you have someone in Congress who really supports drug policy reform (Hinchey, Frank, Paul) vote for them, regardless of party. Otherwise, when it comes to Congress, vote Democrat. This is not an endorsement of the Democratic party as much as it is an understanding that the current version of the Republican party is exceptionally dangerous to freedom in our country. There are two additional factors: a Democratic Congress is more likely to pass the Hinchey amendment (stopping the feds from harassing medical marijuana states); and a Democratic Congress means that Mark Souder loses his subcommittee chairmanship. When it comes to state and local races, vote for the person that is best on drug war and freedom issues regardless of party. Certainly, the Democrats, as a whole, have not acted responsibly in the drug war -- in some cases they've been atrocious, with their "me, too!" approach to the drug war bandwagon. And it's quite possible that in two years, or four years, I'll be advising you all to vote Republican. But now, there are too many reasons for advocating for split government, and for sending a strong message that government based on fear, lied, demonization, and restricting the freedom of Americans is unacceptable, whether it's the Drug Czar's activities or government wiretapping of U.S. citizens. While the following doesn't specifically mention the drug war, it's relevant and important, written by the excellent conservative blogger John Cole at Balloon Juice: We need to get rid of the authoritarians, we need to get rid of the big-spenders, the religionists and the gay-bashers, the liars, con-artists, crooks, and thieves, and we need to start over. I really look forward to the day where I have the high ground on tax related issues because my party is not spending us into bankruptcy. I look forward to the day when my party, when faced with difficult scientific questions, turns to the experts (rather than turning on them) instead of Sen. Inhofe and James Dobson and Randall Terry. I look forward to the day when my party once again has enough of a moral standing that we should even be allowed to discuss human rights and torture in foreign regimes. I look forward to the day when we can, with a straight face, argue that we are the party of small government -- after, of course, we get rid of the religionists who are trying to dictate who we can love, who we can sleep with, who gets to determine what we watch on tv, and who gets to determine our end of life decisions. I look forward to the day when it is once again the Democrats who look crazy. But for right now, it is the GOP that is out of touch, out of control, and drowning in its own hubris. It is time to throw them an anchor, and it looks like there are a lot of people lining up on the docks to do just that. I'm ready to help throw that anchor. 9:37:09 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []