Doomed by the incoherence of a foreign policy defined largely by biblical notions of the struggle between good and evil, the Bush Administration thrashes about in its hunt for the devil. Sadly, all that has produced are shopworn enemies that were once our surrogates in battles we would rather forget. That is the case with Saddam Hussein, whose war against Iran in the 1980s was decisively aided by a United States eager to protect pro-Western Arab oil sheikdoms from the contamination of Iran's virulently anti-American Islamic revolution. Hussein's use of chemical weapons, now cited with horror in the Bush Administration's daily demonization of Hussein, occurred early in that war and was well known to US officials, who at least implicitly condoned his war crimes. [continues 687 words]
Critics Call Bill Draft an Invasion of Privacy Clark County School District officials want Nevada lawmakers to grant them more access to job applicants' criminal histories of drug-related offenses -- a demand critics call an invasion of privacy for people who have already completed their court-ordered punishment. Certain state licensing boards in Nevada are now granted full access to an applicant's history, including expunged drug offenses, but school districts are not. A bill draft proposed for the 2003 legislative session by the school district would change that. [continues 762 words]
SACRAMENTO -- Declaring that the war on drugs has unjustly been extended to the seriously ill in California who use marijuana at the advice of their physicians , hundreds protested at the state Capitol on Monday, calling on the federal government to leave people's medicine alone. The estimated 500 demonstrators, which included public officials from around the state, came here by the busloads, including a caravan from Los Angeles County all to urge federal officials to respect California's landmark, voter-approved medical marijuana law. [continues 1036 words]
General Sessions Judges Talk Shop At Jackson Event After viewing slides of an actual methamphetamine user, General Sessions Judge Susan Johnson said she's never felt worse. "What this drug does to people is just horrific," said Johnson, who is a part-time judge and attorney in White House, a town that straddles the Robertson and Sumner county line in Middle Tennessee. "I haven't had any meth cases in my counties and I hope that I won't," Johnson said. The closest the area has come to an actual meth case occurred when police discovered meth in a vehicle stopped on Interstate 65. [continues 234 words]
I can sympathize with those who use medical marijuana to relieve pain and possibly contribute, however, limited, to the quality or comfort of their life. But in leveraging the desire of most to help the sick, there are those, not necessarily by intent, whose own political agenda benefits from an alignment to the medical marijuana movement. If the real value of medical marijuana is cultural rather than medicinal, then time will define and resolve the argument through medical research. I do have some difficulty accepting the premise that inhaling smoke into one's lungs is beneficial. [continues 160 words]
The leaders of a right-wing paramilitary organization in Colombia were indicted yesterday on charges of conspiring to smuggle 17 tons of cocaine into the United States and Europe over the past five years. Top Stories Attorney General John Ashcroft, at an afternoon press conference, said the government would seek the extradition of Carlos Castano, leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish initials AUC, along with two of his top lieutenants, Salvatore Mancuso and Juan Carlos Sierra-Ramirez. [continues 571 words]
Her mornings are never that good anyhow, since she wakes up with a leg that is withered from polio. Still, this particular morning was truly bad. She opened her eyes and saw five federal agents pointing rifles at her head. "Get your hands up!" one of them yelled. "Get out of bed!" yelled another. She told them she was sorry, but she couldn't, she was crippled. They put her in handcuffs and again told her to "get up!" Again, she said she couldn't, because she used leg braces and crutches, and she needed her hands for those. [continues 523 words]
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk's run for governor should go down in history for her willingness to address directly the outrages of our state corrections system. The pointed debate between Falk and Attorney General Jim Doyle was the first real public dialogue on the issue in recent memory. Falk called for a leaner corrections system, with more and cheaper alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders, especially those caught up in the never-ending war on drugs. Falk asserted that Wisconsin could save much of our nearly $1 billion annual outlay on prisons if we took up a more enlightened policy, such as that exhibited by our neighbor Minnesota. [continues 856 words]
I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: Canadian Senators Must Have Been Smoking Something" (9-10-02). Why not follow the lead of the U. S. drug policy? Perhaps Canada can beat the U. S. incarceration rate. (One out of every prisoners in the world sits in a U. S. jail or prison). Why not prohibit other potentially unhealthy or dangerous products? You can start with tobacco, alcohol and high-fat foods like cheeseburgers and doughnuts. Think of all the jobs this would create. [continues 78 words]