Wednesday, March 21, 2007

My anti-drug [h/t To the People 8:46:21 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

DOJ wants to hide the truth from juries about interrogations This disturbing post from Glenn Greenwald details some revelations that have come from the documents related to the firing of U.S. attorneys. It was revealed that the DOJ (and other agencies within the government, including the DEA) have resisted the idea of videotaping interrogations. The DOJ solicited the views of all federal law enforcement agencies -- the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshall's Service -- and each of them vigorously opposed mandatory recording. In doing so, one of the principal arguments was that they wanted to conceal from jurors the conduct of law enforcement agents in interrogating defendants and obtaining confessions, because that conduct would appear coercive and improper to jurors. As Glenn notes: The difference between recording v. no recording is not whether the conduct of federal agents will be an issue in a trial. The difference is whether there will be an accurate or inaccurate record of what these law enforcement agents are doing to extract statements and obtain confessions. Yet here, every federal law enforcement agency is expressly arguing against recordings because they want to conceal from the jury what they did (or because they want to conceal what the defendant actually said). Welcome to America. 10:11:11 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Thank God for Willie Nelson Just watched Willie on the Colbert Show. A fairly brief appearance and he really didn't get a chance to talk much, but he did get to sing a few notes. During the show, there must have been a dozen marijuana references, including one from Ambassador Richard Holbrooke (who also sang with Willie and Stephen), with Willie dutifully adding "Wheat? I thought they said 'weed.'" Everybody loves Willie. And everybody knows he smokes pot. And nobody thinks that it's wrong. Five minutes with Willie Nelson can wipe away the effects of months of reefer madness lies from prohibitionists, and you start to believe that everything really could be OK. I think America would be a much better place if our leaders all spent a couple of hours in Willie's trailer. 1:09:08 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []