Last Thursday
the LAT ran a story about the federal Drug Enforcement Administration Agency thugs raiding a medical marijuana dispensary. Included in the photo gallery was a photo of a long-haired guy with a pistol at his belt and a Blackwater T-shirt. (The Times later pulled the photo but it’s all over the blogosphere.) Does that mean the DEA is now hiring the private paramilitary outfit that the Iraqi government wants out of that country because of some shoot-first incidents to do their dirty work against sick people and states’ rights? Not necessarily, of course. Blackwater started as a state-of-the-art firing range/training facility for law enforcement people of all kinds, and it’s possible the guy just got a “cool” t-shirt at some Blackwater training session, or at some other event.
One may hope this kind of nonsense becomes a more prominent issue in the current election. Barack Obama has in the past said he would end raids against dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws, but he hasn’t exactly made it a prominent campaign theme and he’s been known to change positions. It would be nice to see some reporters hold his feet to the fire on this one.
Given the tactics that the Republicans routinely employ (and are now employing), Mr. Bock, I think the last thing you want reporters or anyone else to do is “hold Obama’s feet to the fire” on this issue. If he says anything capable of being construed as supporting reform of our drug laws, he’ll be immediately pilloried as soft on crime, coddling criminals, etc etc etc - you can recite the litany of evils as well as I can. I suspect there are reasons Obama doesn’t highlight these sorts of issues, and not giving McCain ammo is a big one.
I quite agree that the DEA is overreaching and that drug laws need major reworking - and that Blackwater is a national embarrassment (or worse - the seed of a domestic Jannisary unless we disassociate them from the government pronto). But there’s a time and a place for things. To me, one of the most egregious blunders of the Clinton administration was its very public attempt to overturn the military’s ban on gays right after taking office - a morally correct stance, to be sure, but one that not only was taken at a politically inopportune time, but which gave opponents of the administration immediate and meaty ammo to use against it. The result was a humiliating retreat and “don’t ask don’t tell” - an institutional atrocity of a policy that’s been used far more aggressively against gay servicemen and women than the older policy ever was. Lincoln’s careful incrementalism in timing and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation is to me a far more rational way to go. But then, he was smarter than either of us . . .
Dope Smoker Bock,
You can buy Blackwater shirts on websites….It means nothing that this guy is wearing a tee shirt with it once entry is made and the place is secure. He is doing grunt work loading dope into a truck. That’s right, dope, not medicine!
Gee, and Mr. Landsbaum thinks I’m nasty to him . . .
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