Monday, May 12, 2008

We're getting snubbed by... Ecuador Unless we own their government and have it heavily on payroll, we're not particularly popular in Latin American countries these days. Ecuador Opposes Outpost in American War on Drugs They don't like our war on drugs, either. As someone who works in the arts, I like President Correa's hiring decisions: In a shake-up of the armed forces in April, Mr. Correa picked Javier Ponce, a poet who advocates less military cooperation with United States, as defense minister. And Ponce makes the obvious point: "Should Ecuador have a base in Miami? Or New Jersey?" Mr. Ponce, 59, said. "The decision of the government is not to renew this accord." 10:21:28 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Oh, the lies they love to tell so well Glenn Greenwald is always on top of government abuse of power, and recently he's been all over the case of the military analysts for the major networks that were being prepped by the government to feed propaganda to us, their employers. Mona, over at the art of the possible, helps to put it in perspective from our point of view... But tax-payer subsidized psy-ops is nothing new; the DEA has been doing it for years, as for example by publishing a "debate manual" (originally titled How to Hold Your Own in a Drug Legalization Debate) to use during exchanges with those advocating drug-policy reform. (But the DEA counsels avoiding any debate at all, if possible.) We've been paying for the government to fund lies and propaganda defending its own tyrannical powers since well before Bush and 9/11. Yep. We're used to it. The important thing is not to get complacent about it. There's something horribly, treasonously wrong in a country of the people, by the people and for the people, where the government functions by lying to the people. 9:31:08 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []