Just what we need: a retread Republican Drug Czar

The so-far pretty accurate rumor mill is now reporting that President-elect Barack Obama intends to appoint 18-year-Minnesota-Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad as his new drug czar. Ramstad, a recovering alcoholic himself, is a strong opponent of medical marijuana and a believer in marijuana as an addictive drug.

He is also a strong proponent of mandatory workplace drug testing, even when there are no safety and security ramifications to the job.

I was disappointed with the Eric Holder nomination, in that he has consistently supported tougher enforcement and tougher sentencing guidelines even from non-violent drug-users, and this, to me, is a second strike on the domestic drug war agenda.

Comments

Mike W. said…

"He is also a strong proponent of mandatory workplace drug testing, even when there are no safety and security ramifications to the job."

He wants the government to force employers to drug test their workers? Incredible. Under what reasoning?

It's a shame that it seems there will be no easing of the farcical "War on Drugs" regardless of whether the Dems or Republicans are in power.

December 12, 2008 at 1:12 PM

Comment Rescue (?) and child-related gun violence in Delaware

In my post about the idiotic over-reaction to a New Jersey 10-year-old posing with his new squirrel rifle , Dana Garrett left me this response: One waits, apparently in vain, for you to post the annual rates of children who either shoot themselves or someone else with a gun. But then you Libertarians are notoriously ambivalent to and silent about data and facts and would rather talk abstract principles and fear monger (like the government will confiscate your guns). It doesn't require any degree of subtlety to see why you are data and fact adverse. The facts indicate we have a crisis with gun violence and accidents in the USA, and Libertarians offer nothing credible to address it. Lives, even the lives of children, get sacrificed to the fetishism of liberty. That's intellectual cowardice. OK, Dana, let's talk facts. According to the Children's Defense Fund , which is itself only querying the CDCP data base, fewer than 10 children/teens were killed per year in Delaw

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

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