Sundown on Tuesday, September 29, marks the beginning of the
Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur, day of atonement. Judaism is
not alone among the world's religions in setting aside a
time for personal reflection and repentance through fasting
or self-sacrifice -- Catholics observe Lent, for instance,
and Muslims observe Ramadan to name two -- indicating that
an understanding of the value of setting aside a time for
taking stock of one's actions, for acknowledging wrongdoing
and seeking forgiveness is deeply embedded in the human
spirit.
In honor, then, of Yom Kippur, the oldest of such
traditions, I write today in respectful suggestion to a
handful of people who might want to spend some time in
communion with their maker, if not this week than certainly
soon, seeking forgiveness for behavior which, under any
rational understanding of the intent of a supreme being,
must be considered sinful.
Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey, for her
steadfast refusal to consider the advice of either the
world's scientific community or her own commission on AIDS
to allow implementation of syringe exchange programs in that
state. New Jersey has the third-highest rate of injection-
related AIDS in the nation and ranks near the top in the
incidence of childhood HIV infection, which is nearly always
caused, indirectly, by dirty needles.
Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey, who, during the past year has
proffered blatant misinformation regarding the medicinal
potential of cannabis, the efficacy of needle exchange, the
commercial viability and practical applications of hemp,
domestic policies and their impact in such nations as
Switzerland and The Netherlands, the impact and intent of
the US policy for which he is an apologist, and the nature
and intentions of those with whom he disagrees.
Rep. James Traficant, (OH) for continuously pushing for
legislation which would further militarize the U.S.-Mexican
border, despite the fact that his district is more than a
thousand miles away from that border and despite the fact
that representatives from border districts, whose
constituents would bear the costs and dangers of such
legislation, have voiced grave concerns over such plans.
Speaker Newt Gingrich, once a sponsor of pro-medical
cannabis legislation and a staunch opponent of the broad
powers of the FDA over the lives and decisions of doctors
and patients, for shepherding through the House legislation
that hides behind the FDA approval process for the purpose
expressing opposition to the personal choices of medical
cannabis users everywhere.
House Republicans, for overwhelmingly supporting legislation
which would both further militarize the civil conflict in
Colombia and attempt to dictate the actions of newly elected
President Andres Pastrana to the detriment of his courageous
and delicate peace plan.
And again, for their willingness to speak out about the need
to get the government out of the lives of Americans while
hypocritically championing the single most intrusive
government policy in existence, the "right" of the
government to go to any lengths to find and to punish those
who would ingest, into their own bodies, unapproved
substances.
House Democrats, for their willingness to compromise their
"core values" of civil rights, help for the disadvantaged
and the reigning-in of corporate power in the name of a
policy that is imprisoning enormous numbers of the poor and
the non-white, as well as those who choose either a medicine
or an intoxicant that is not owned and patented by either a
pharmaceutical, liquor or tobacco company.
President Clinton, for bemoaning an invasion of his privacy
in the Lewinsky affair, while presiding over a drug war
which arrested over 600,000 people for possession of a plant
in 1997.
The list goes on, of course. But the point is that war, the
most terrible and destructive of all human endeavors, is
being waged as domestic policy by a generation of American
leaders in the false name of morality itself. And while
this is not to suggest that the people named above should
observe the ritual of any particular religion or belief,
perhaps the coming of Yom Kippur can at least serve as a
reminder to them that given their behavior over the past
year, a little atonement is definitely in order.
Adam
J. Smith
Associate Director
