Drug War

I doubt seriously I would make a good President; I'm sure I would be every bit as big an asshole as any other but I would differ in that I would begin every daily briefing, every Congressional session with a reading of the Constitution rather than a prayer. It would be my hope that eventually, the words would sink in and effect some much-needed change.

Class: Sociology 203
University Mandated Assignment
Due Date: 4/15/2029

Assignment: Discuss the sociological ramifications of the Presidential Lottery held on November 7, 2007.

Additional Class Notes: As you know, the Presidential Lottery was never held again, due to the public outcry. You may use as reference the still small minority who continue to try to re-introduce the Presidential lottery. If you do, be prepared to analyze in depth the claims that the actions of that day are the only thing that allowed our country to (using their language) “turn back from the slide into a Nazi type Fascism so prevalent among the ruling class at the time.” And unless you can provide incontrovertible proof that Mr. Bush, or anyone for that matter, survived the destruction at the old Verizon Center, please don't regale me with your fantasies they are living on a Tropical Island. The attached diary entry may be used to compare and contrast what officially happened, to what did happen, and to what was planned.

As per University rules, the best paper on campus will be printed in the University Times.

There are several special interest high profile taxbuck-funded long-running campaigns to report on, and most of these so-called WarOns are going quite well for the bureaucracies that run them and the bureaucrats who directly benefit from them. Item: War On Poverty. This war has been a very successful project for the Lefty-whimpery-whiny social welfare crowd since President Johnson launched it in 1964. Because of the various change-as-needed definitions of "poverty" the program will never run out of "welfare fodder."

This week Congress is again grasping for more control over the health of American children with the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Parents who think federally subsidized health care might be a good idea should be careful what they wish for.

Despite political rhetoric about a War on Drugs, federally-funded programs result in far more teenage drug use than the most successful pill pusher on the playground. These pills are given out as a result of dubious universal mental health screening programs for school children, supposedly directed toward finding mental disorders or suicidal tendencies. The use of antipsychotic medication in children has increased fivefold between 1995 and 2002. More than 2.5 million children are now taking these medications, and many children are taking multiple drugs at one time.

Thought of the moment:
I'm a libertarian, with all the ethical baggage that entails. No cheating, no stealing, no controlling others, and no supporting of those that do. I also once considered myself a proud supporter of the Libertarian Party. Unfortunately the LP has accumulated too many large scale questionable acts for me to continue. This week's article brings to the fore the latest slide of the LP into the dust bin of libertarian history.

MJ

- Current Article: -
Too late to Barr the door, by Garry Reed
http://www.reasontofreedom.com/too_late_to_barr_the_door.html
In the true style of "Do anything to get power" by a politician: Bob Barr --once considered the most fanatical Drug Warrior in Congress-- first loses his 2002 re-election bid, partly though $50,000 in Libertarian Party issue ads, and now in late 2006 accepts a leadership position within the LP. What exactly is the LP thinking?

If you're a member of the Libertarian Party, or even just a frustrated libertarian, you might consider the Boston Tea Party as a less corrupt replacement.

Libertarian Party press releases: "Libertarian Party Launches TV Ad Campaign Targeting Rep. Bob Barr on Medical Marijuana." "Medical marijuana ads play role in defeat of U.S. Rep. Bob Barr." "Former Congressman Bob Barr Accepts Leadership Position within the Libertarian Party." Comment: "The LP spends $50,000 to defeat Barr and now they're Strange Bedfellows. What next, Nancy Pelosi for Public Relations Director?"

Specifically, I will document and discuss the significance of two foundational principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution: limited government and residual individual sovereignty. I will explore how these twin foundational presumptions evince a morality of American law itself, a set of higher values by which to gauge the legitimacy of ordinary laws. Subordinate to the Constitution are ordinary laws, enacted by a legislative majority, that tell citizens what specific actions are punishable. These ordinary laws often reflect "public morality"—i.e., the passions, prejudices, and moral beliefs of a portion of the citizenry. But are they legitimate exercises of governmental power? Should we restrain our neighbor's liberty because she engages in an activity we consider icky, gross, or just plain wrong? This book will argue that the answer is no because public morality—based laws are immoral exercises of governmental power, inconsistent with the morality of American law.

There is a political phenomenon known as “blowback”. It represents the unintended consequences of foreign policy actions. For example, the United States and Great Britain overthrew a functioning democracy in Iran in 1953. Then, after years of extreme repression under the Western-backed Shah, the Iranian people finally rose up and installed an Islamic regime fundamentally hostile to the West.

A crack team of undercover Center for Disease Control operatives apprehended 57 allegedly overweight men, women and children consuming suspected high-calorie junk food in the food court of a Washington DC area shopping mall. "It's necessary to stop suspected obese people from gaining additional weight before they become a risk to themselves or the public," explained a department spokescrat while justifying the preemptive operation. "Just because people don't intend to get Heart disease, high blood pressure or strokes is no excuse for public obesity."

Congressman Sensenbrenner knows how to win the Drug War. He wants to forcibly turn us all into Deputy Dawgs. His bill, introduced last May, would require every person in the USSA to rat out everyone who has ever so much as copped a contact high from a wayward puff of pot.

Anyone who fails to fink on family or friends lands in lockup. If Men won't inform on their Moms, if Dads don't denounce their daughters, if Lilo flinches at snitching on Stitch -- and then won't help convict them -- they become prison fodder themselves.

Is your movement to change the laws within the federal government really based on legislating your moral values or is it merely a power tool for control?  What was taught to us in Sunday school was to form a personal relationship with Jesus to improve our ability to be better, more moral individuals.  When did this desire turn to wanting control over other people's actions and eventually wanting the government to set the rules?

The highest court in the country has flopped fish-belly upward in the ugliest ongoing exhibition of anti-Constitutional cowardice since Franklin Socialist Roosevelt threatened to pollute the power and privilege of that pompous panel by adding additional arbiters. The black-robed jurists are now nothing more than submissive enablers for their fellow freedom-defiling federalcrats, supine before the power of the political Mafiosi.

The toadying began in earnest in 2003 with Campaign Finance Deform, when the jaded Justices hand-delivered Congress the "right" to ban political speech.

Any fees sought by governments for operation are entirely voluntary.  Nothing in the Constitution gives any government the authority to criminalize an individual's decision not to pay a tax.  Perhaps civil penalties for nonpayment are appropriate, such as retraction of the right to vote, but the only valid legal consequence for nonpayment of a so-called good tax is social opprobrium (disapproval of one's peers).

Saturday Night (7/2/05) I spent most of the night listening to the American people's discussions on the appointment of another Supreme Court Judge.  As far as our American opinions go it comes down to whether the Government has the right to step into our personal choices or whether the individual still keeps his freedoms.

The biggest telltale of our loss of fundamental liberties is the longstanding war on drugs.  That officially corrupt and venal megasystem of prohibition and punishment has resulted in an outrageous loss of life, liberty, and property of millions of Americans.  Collateral damage—exclusive of drive-by shootings of children, gang warfare destroying neighborhoods, police predation—amounts to $500 billion annually.