Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Obama: Send me to the White House, but send other black men like me to the Big House Via TalkLeft come a Boston Globe column by Derrick Z. Jackson about Barack Obama. Remember that Barack Obama got to where he is today because he never got caught. That vacillation became evident as he kept talking about crack-vs.-powder sentencing, which has come to symbolize racial injustice in criminal justice. He said that if he were to become president, he would support a commission to issue a report "that allows me to say that based on the expert evidence, this is not working and it's unfair and unjust. Then I would move legislation forward." That was a puzzling statement because the US Sentencing Commission, created by Congress in 1984, has long said the system is not working and reaffirmed in April that the 100-to-1 ratio "significantly undermines" sentencing reform. Obama asked if he could make a "broader" point. "Even if we fix this, if it was a 1-to-1 ratio, it's still a problem that folks are selling crack. It's still a problem that our young men are in a situation where they believe the only recourse for them is the drug trade. So there is a balancing act that has to be done in terms of, do we want to spend all our political capital on a very difficult issue that doesn't get at some of the underlying issues... [emphasis added] So I guess we'll just have to put up with the massive drug war destruction if Obama is President, so we don't waste too much political capital. None of Obama's pet summer school and early childhood programs will mean very much if Mommy and Daddy are in jail. 12:49:59 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Transform joins the U.N. Congratulations to Transform Drug Policy Foundation for their recognition as special consultative NGO status to the United Nations. Transform has been doing excellent work in opening up the dialogue for alternative approaches to drug policy in the UK and Europe in particular. They'll only be one voice among many at the U.N., but it's a voice that must be heard. And their downloadable publication: After the War on Drugs: Tools for the debate is outstanding. 9:14:20 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Race and the transformation of criminal justice If you haven't read Glen C. Loury's article Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?, you may want to check it out. It's a pretty powerful picture of incarceration and race -- not all about the drug war, but obviously the drug war is a significant element in the equation. 9:00:00 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

An obscene amount of money for Plan Mexico $1.2 billion A U.S. plan to help Mexico fight drug traffickers and their widening violence could cost as much as $1.2 billion over a three-year period, U.S. and Mexican officials close to the talks said Tuesday. "That's what's on the table," said one official speaking on condition of anonymity, though the official cautioned that talks are ongoing and anything can change. $1.2 billion. You could send 60,000 kids through four years of college and pay for all their tuition and fees with that kind of money. It'll be used to pay for advanced weapons, plus aircraft and eavesdropping technology. That's right. Advanced weapons to use in your own country. That's a recipe for disaster. You think the drug cartels can't get hold of their own "advanced" weapons once they feel threatened? Then what do the civilians do? Hide? Escape? Cross the border? The plan, formally called a "regional security initiative," would represent a departure for the Mexican government, which has accepted only limited U.S. aid in the past out of a sense of nationalism and fears that more significant aid would come with strings attached. It would also represent an acknowledgment by Mexico that its military-led offensive against drug traffickers is falling short of its goal of controlling violence. Hmm, yeah. That didn't work, did it? Could have told you that (I think I did). So since the military-led offensive didn't work, let's just pour more money and violence at the problem? As usual, the DEA has its head stuck... somewhere. Like other Latin American countries, Mexico faces tough challenges from drug traffickers who are battling over a $325 billion global drug market, said Anthony Placido, the Drug Enforcement Administration's chief of intelligence and assistant administrator. The counternarcotics financial plan is "not about money," he said. "This is about what you can do with those dollars." ??? I guess that means that we shouldn't be thinking about the fact that it's costing $1.2 billion, but rather about what that money will buy (weapons, corruption, violence?) 8:51:05 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []