Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Just one more reason to get rid of Alberto Gonzales Not that we need any more... but in his testimony today, he was asked by Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, who has introduced a bill to reduce the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity, what the DOJ thought of it. Gonzales replied: "Personally, as I sit here today, I'd say that where we're at today is certainly reasonable. We think crack is more dangerous. It's related to, I think, addiction more quickly. It's more related to more dangerous crimes. The effects of it, I think, are more dangerous. So from a law enforcement perspective, it makes sense to have the kind of sentences that exist today." Where we're at is reasonable? Makes sense? I'm sorry, but why isn't Gonzales spending the next 55 years in prison for what he's done to this country? He's much more dangerous than crack. [Via Tim Grieve] 10:52:34 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Drug war on crack Ian Welsh has a very good article at firedoglake: The Assault on Due Process and Civil Liberties, where he notes that the current attacks on our rights related to the war on terror and the increase in executive power didn't just spring to life out of thin air -- they were spawned from the drug war. The joke about the "War on Terror" is that it's the "War on Drugs... on crack". As with most good jokes, it hurts and it's funny, because it's true - the "War on Drugs" is where America lost a lot of its civil liberties and due process. [...] Of course, many things did start under Bush - torture, repeal of habeas corpus and so on. But it's worth remembering, at the end of the day, that what has happened in the last 6 years did not happen in a vacuum - it was an acceleration of a trend that already existed towards the land of liberty becoming a land where due process was only something that some people, the right sort of people, had access to. It is, of course, something we've been talking about for years. 12:17:23 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []