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Joan, Joan, Joan, you insufferable hyperbolist (now don't choke on your
snuff. I'm joking here. I never met a hyperbolist I didn't like - you
can think of me as the Will Rogers of all things vitriolic and
vituperative.)<br>
<br>
But, having said that, you said:<br>
<br>
" I can see, however, that
one very rich user escaped the consequences of his actions because
of his last name, his family fortune, and his lucky, lucky
connections. I can see that a powerful white guy can snort until he's
forty and rise to the highest office in the land."<br>
<br>
Proof? Have you been spending too much time reading Atrios or The
Democratic Underground? Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. Is it
possible he was just a casual or infrequent user? At
this point, as far as I know, only Bush (well maybe a potential dealer
or two) and his maker have the
definitive answer. <br>
<br>
Then you continued:<br>
<br>
"And I can see that
he does not use this experience and the bully pulpit he inherited to
argue that users can be redeemed; he has not used it to insist that
drug treatment programs work better than incarceration; and,
finally, he has not used his experience and his power to call an end to
the wasteful, pointless, destructive War on Drugs"<br>
<br>
So no level of political expediency is tolerated? Did you give a
pass, at least with your vote, to John Kerry when he said he was
against gay marriage but that the states should decide it? Do you deny
a politician's need for coalition building? Conversely, did you award
any
credit to Dick Cheney when he disagreed with the president about gay
marriage and said "Freedom belongs to everyone." Does a politician's
zeitgeist completely affirm or discredit all other virtues? Do you deny
that a president needs to pick his fights as only one or two reforms
will ever become law?<br>
<br>
Just askin'.<br>
<br>
Secondly, I meticulously ran through Mark Solomon's list and I can't
seem to find the cuts in drug treatment programs you mentioned.
Perhaps I missed it due to my moderate dyslexia (it's true... the
reason that I cannot proof my own work, spell, and I read at an
agonizingly slow pace.)<br>
What I noted were the reductions I outlined in Safe Schools (Safe and
Drug Free Schools State Grants) and research for Alcohol Abuse
Reduction. Correct me if I'm wrong. I got the budget info I used from
the ODCP web site.<br>
<br>
Now I love Penn & Teller (libertarian brother's in arms and all)
but, I'll defer to the 15% figure I used from my history with the
National
Mental Health Association. It's true that AA does not track diddly.
Referring to AA as a faith based program however, is much like
referring
to Unitarians as Christians (you know, Moses and the 10 suggestions.)
True, the construct of a higher power is the overriding tenet, but they
provide no definition of what a higher power is. But hey, it's also
estimated that some 30 million people worldwide think the program
works. Who am I to criticize?<br>
<br>
I am however, completely against the whole faith based initiative.
It's not that I am anywhere close to being an ideologue on the
separation of church and state, I just understand the well chronicled
history of the government "helping." Sure enough it will soon become
not an "initiative", but another government run set of programs. I'll
let charity do charity's work and leave governance up to the morons we
put in office.<br>
<br>
Last, I so enjoy that, on the issue of legalizing drugs, you have much
in common with William F. Buckley, Jr., George Will, Milton Friedman
and George Schultz (I've always admired his tattoo.) I truly hope that
in pointing this out I've not set off your gag reflex into an chronic
cadence resembling something like the last stanza of God Bless
America. If I did, I'm sorry... very sorry.<br>
<br>
db<br>
<br>
Joan Opyr wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="midBAY10-DAV2357A130D0EE610805A706C5620@phx.gbl">
<div>Hello, Dave,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>You won't get any argument from me re: the legalization of
drugs. Let's legalize them, tax them, and start selling them out of
the liquor store next door to Howard Hughes and the laundromat. I
would say that we could then dedicate the revenues raised to treatment,
but we see how well that worked with the tobacco settlements. The
money went largely to balance bloated state budgets. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I would add one caveat to your lecture, Dave (or possibly two).
We can trace the so-called War on Drugs back much further than Reagan.
Nixon signed into law several bills that criminalized use, and he, in
turn, was simply following in the footsteps of the late twenties',
early thirties' crackdown on cocaine. The War on Drugs has worked
about as well as Prohibition. A lot of users in jail; a lot of
organized crime lords with billion dollar fortunes. And still, crack,
and coke, and heroin, and Ecstasy, and meth as far as the eye can see.
There's nothing you can't get right here in little Moscow, ID. Hell,
there's nothing you can't get in jail.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Now, as to my other caveat -- you declare that what Bush has or
has not learned from his experience is beyond my ability to know. With
all due respect, Dave, I call bullshit. Actions speak louder than
words, and if you'll take a look at the Bush budget cuts that Mark
Solomon posted to this list a week or so ago, you'll find that drug
treatment programs are scheduled for a very nasty hit Now, can I see
inside Bush's heart? No. (That skill, it would seem, belongs to Bush
alone. Remember how he looked into Vladimir Putin's heart and saw that
it was pure, sweet, and on the level? Works well, doesn't it, this
cardiac, Oval Office, X-Ray business?) I can see, however, that
one very rich user escaped the consequences of his actions because
of his last name, his family fortune, and his lucky, lucky
connections. I can see that a powerful white guy can snort until he's
forty and rise to the highest office in the land. And I can see that
he does not use this experience and the bully pulpit he inherited to
argue that users can be redeemed; he has not used it to insist that
drug treatment programs work better than incarceration; and,
finally, he has not used his experience and his power to call an end to
the wasteful, pointless, destructive War on Drugs. I don't see any
difference, in fact, between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton on this
issue. As Mr. Bush is both a reformed user and a born-again Christian,
I think there <u><strong>ought</strong></u> to be a difference. A
big, compassionate (if not conservative) difference. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Now, just an FYI that might be of general interest: Alcoholics
Anonymous -- one of the first faith-based treatment programs -- doesn't
have a 15% success rate. No one knows for certain what their success
rate is because they don't publish statistics. An internal memo
(acquired by none other than Penn & Teller for their HBO show, <strong>Bullshit</strong>)
suggests that AA's success rate is about 5%, exactly the same rate as
no treatment at all. And yet this is the program that is most often
mandated by the courts. I think that's a problem A big, faith-based
initiative kind of problem.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</div>
<div> </div>
<div>PS: Whatever is in Mr. Bush's heart, I'm just glad I'm not
Laura. My pretzel bill would be through the roof. </div>
<br clear="all">
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