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Company That Killed Iraqi Civilians Gets Lucrative Drug War Contract

What do you do when you've been kicked out of Iraq for killing civilians and your company's reputation is in shambles? Fear not, the drug war is always hiring, and there's nothing on earth you could do to disqualify yourself from employment in the accountability-free industry of international drug prohibition.
While Blackwater's mercenaries beg for mercy for killing a baby and 19 other people in Baghdad on Sunday, they're already working on another lucrative government contract on yet another foreign adventure: the "war on drugs." [Village Voice]
Details are sketchy since the government doesn't report eagerly on the creepy deals it makes with baby-killing mercenary groups. But Village Voice says they're building giant remote-control surveillance blimps.

It remains unclear what these blimps will be used for or what other secretive drug war endeavors Blackwater will be undertaking, but this much is for sure: it will all be phenomenally expensive and it won't change a damned thing.

Prison Art Gallery: Talk and Art Show by Artist Wellington Waters

Don't miss the next free Justice Sunday reception at the Prison Art Gallery. It's a talk and showing of art by ex-prisoner artist Wellington Waters. Wellington spent decades in prison, but he didn't leave empty handed. He came out with important artistic and design skills that allowed him to become employed at Kinkos, where he worked his way up to manager. He also started his own graphic design company, Waters Edge Grafixx, which now has several prestigious clients. Wellington designed the terrific flyers for the recent highly successful "From Prison to the Stage" show at the Kennedy Center. Not only did Wellington leave prison five years ago with important skills, but he took a supportive staffer with him. They were married after his release and remain in that happy state today.

National Mobilization to the Governor's Los Angeles Office

Over the past several years, the Bush administration's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has victimized patients and providers throughout California, undermining state law and stooping to new levels to shut down access for sick and dying patients in California. ASA has been working for the past five years to thwart the DEA's efforts, but as they escalate their tactics, we too must escalate our response and actions! We must put an end to the attack on patients and providers!

The NY Parole Board: How it Works & How to Change it

Join the New York Campaign for Telephone Justice at a special meeting this month! Susan Wright, President of the Coalition for Parole Restoration, whose husband has gone before the parole board 6 times, will answer questions about the current parole process, present her work to change the parole system, and let you know how you can get involved.

Chris Dodd Advocates Marijuana Decriminalization

Nothing to see here. Just another presidential candidate appealing to voters by observing the absurdity of the way marijuana users are treated in America.

Dodd also pledges to protect medical marijuana and reform the crack/powder sentencing disparity. Notice how he lumps these issues together. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the democratic drug policy platform.

Department of Justice Spends Millions on Munchies

I suppose you can't go around raiding medical marijuana dispensaries and prosecuting legitimate pain doctors on an empty stomach:
An internal Justice audit, released Friday, showed the department spent nearly $7 million to plan, host or send employees to ten conferences over the last two years. This included paying $4 per meatball at one lavish dinner and spreading an average of $25 worth of snacks around to each participant at a movie-themed party.

More than $13,000 was spent on cookies and brownies for 1,542 people who attended a four-day "Weed and Seed" conference in August 2005, according to the audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. [AP]
As galling as it is that we're footing the bill while federal narc soldiers gorge themselves and plot new ways to arrest us all, I'd rather see this money spent on munchies than machine guns. But it does suck that my tax dollars are helping subsidize a brownie-infested "Weed and Seed" conference that I didn’t even get invited to. I guess there's no reason to waste a press pass on a malicious blogger who's just gonna call the whole thing evil and whine that the brownies at the NORML conference were more memorable.

If nothing else, it's now clear that waging a callous barbaric war on their fellow citizens hasn't cost the feds their appetite.

When Cops Ask For Machine Guns, You Know the Drug War Has Failed

If the drug war supposedly reduces crime and violence, how come we keep reading things like this?
Citing a dramatic increase in the availability of high-powered, semiautomatic assault rifles -- like the one used Thursday to kill a Miami-Dade County police officer -- Miami Police Chief John Timoney has for the first time authorized patrol officers to start carrying similarly lethal weapons.

A burgeoning ''arms race'' between police and heavily armed drug gangs forced him to sign the new policy earlier this week, Timoney said. [Miami Herald]
It is just amazing that there are machine gun battles breaking out in major American cities, and drug policy reform is still considered a politically suicidal fringe position. Meanwhile, the prohibitionist peanut gallery continues to pronounce with pride the glorious progress we've made towards preventing people from partying.

Miami Police Chief John Timoney nails it:
''This is really a failure of leadership at the national level. We are absolutely going in the wrong direction here,'' Timoney said. 'The whole thing is a friggin' disgrace.''
I couldn’t have put it better myself, except he's not even talking about drug policy. He's referring to gun control, which wouldn't even be necessary if we stopped the endless brutally violent war we've decided to wage against each other on our own soil.
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