See I disagree. How can you shift blame to a party that is doing it on purpose? Do you blame the death of an antelope on a lion? No, theres no blame to place in that situation. The lion is simply doing what it is there to do.

The real blame would be on the citizens for allowing it to happen. i laugh at everyone who says "Obama why arent you doing the "right" thing? I blame you for this and that" Ha

Those that are in the "system" are there to do a good job making your country more comfortable for you in your eyes. Imagine if you were there watching it happen. It's exactly how corporations work. My superiors make decisions that keep the whole company running. it takes money to run the government in the same way money runs a corporation. i am not claiming conspiracy here these are facts. Our system is an economy based on money.

Thats why a lot of decisions that are made are made exclusively for keeping the money flowing in the way it already is. MOST of the decisions that managers make at my company directly effect me in the same way it does in my country. BUT those CEO's and managers dont work at my level, they dont see how their decision effect me. And even when we tell them this is why this is a bad choice and this is how it effects us they dont change there mind.

In the eyes of low level people like me at my company making money takes spending money. And that doesnt mean on yachts and vacations. Yet, the way the system works in corporations, if the company is making good profits it directly reflects in the size of the bonus checks. So it indirectly makes them penny pinch and do messed up things to make the company more money/bigger bonus checks.

For instance, we constantly buy cheaper and cheaper material and tools. That decreases the amount of budget spent, increases my supervisors numbers, his bonus check, his boss's bonus check... ect ect.

That doesnt make her stupid, it means that she doesnt share YOUR opinion on things. Maybe she is ignorant that there is a better way, but how is it any different that YOU are sitting on a computer not doing anything to make it better, doing your job and staying quiet, and yet you impose that SHE should be doing something other than just her job?

You call it "agenda" I call it career. How do you know that she is aware of the fact that what she is doing is false? Or that your way is a better choice? Not only that you think she is at the top? That she could just go around and turn the whole thing upside down and change the laws without anything coming back on her?

I sure as hell wouldnt want to be in her shoes standing there defying MEGA corporations or people in power WAY above her destroying the money flow. She would be killed or imprisoned for some false thing she had never done. And the whole while everything would go back to normal like it never happened.

Is she? What does she gain from her position? Money? Power? Are these things that she prefers over other people's freedom and cognitive liberty? I'd posit that the answer to these questions is probably, "Yes."

Might she actually be dumb...I suppose it's possible, but look at the manner in which she dodges the questions and maintains absurd statements as truth, she's clearly adroit enough to play at politics with "the big boys." Might she be naive and believe all drugs are bad...again I suppose it's possible, but it's also hard to believe that anyone in the upper echelons of the DEA is really clueless as to what they're doing. There are certainly numerous documents that show the opposite is true.

As I said before, there's no real evidence to call her either stupid or naive, she's clearly just repeating "the party line." To dismiss her as stupid is to underestimate your enemy to a tremendous degree. Imo, anger is an appropriate response to such people, but don't let that overtake your ability to unpack the enormous complexity or malevolent aims of the machinery of prohibition.


It was a rhetorical question...I'm not worried about what you're doing. I'm happy to share the activist work I've done in my local community as well as larger communities in relation to anti-prohibition projects if you're interested, but as you said you're not, I won't bother you with it

I never said Obama was not to blame...he's unquestionably a piece of the problem. However, as long as you're focused on Obama, I would posit that you're missing the bigger picture. He is but one infinitesimally small puzzle piece in this global 3d puzzle. Sure, he bears a small piece of the blame, but so what? What does it matter? That strikes me as getting upset at an ipod not playing because of a scratch on the screen, when in fact the back is ripped open, the hard drive has suffered a head crash and the battery has been pulled out.

The drug war serves very specific people and very specific interests. Look at the contracts for private prisons...look at the contracts for prison-manufactured (read: slave labor) goods...look at the contracts to stock prison commissaries. Then look at the people on the boards of the corporations who are getting these contracts and the lobbyist groups that they are tied to and (in the cases where they're not explicitly on the corporate boards) the politicians involved in negotiating these contracts. Follow the money and it's apparent how much of a non-issue anything Obama (or really any other president) is with regards to prohibition. There are arguments that could be made for Nixon, but again, at that point there were not yet major corporate interests entrenched in and perpetuating this system.

As to your comments on voting, in the words of Emma Goldman:
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal"

Obama is stacking government with highly unqualified friends and cronies. He has appointed at least a dozen cabinet level officials aka czars who totally circumvented the congressinal vetting processs because of the way Obama cleverly established his inner circle. Its not a ludicrous proposition. Its fact. Every president does it and that doesnt make it OK.

I got news for you, I dont have any problems that I am laying at Obamas feet.

I was raised with traditional American values that taught me to deal with my problems and resolve my own problems through family, friends, and hard work, not cradle to grave handouts and bankrupt social/ecconomic policies.

I believe that McCain would have appointed experienced Statesmen with adequate qualifications. Would he have been a better president? Yes? Would he have been better for the war on drugs? NO! McCain would have been worse than Obama for sure.

The War on Drugs is lost. It was lost because it was wrong. It is wrong to continue to waste money on failed policy. It is also, IMO, wrong for anyone to support him just because he is the liberal option.

America is stuck in this fukked up loop and the reason is we vote for who we feel is the leser of both evils. That must end if we want to change this corrupt system.

We must say no to both parties and vote for real change.

Oh yea, and do I think Mitt will do any better? The answer is no. Mitt will udoubtedly tighten the screws on the flow of illegal drugs and items used in the extraction or manufacture of those drugs.

The only candidate that was in the running that had a chance to really change things was Ron Paul.

Obama is not to much different than Bush was. Both liars. Both thieves. Both take care of their own special intrest groups first.

hear, hear!

Vermin Supreme 2012

Seriously though, we need to end this farce of a system. Now. Great post Ice House.

LOL

Vermin Supreme 2012

lmmfao

I don't know guys there is undoubtably some progress in this area. Many states have Medical MJ polices and studies are starting to come in about the positive effect of psychedelics like DMT: The Spirit Molecule and the recent Mushrooms study from St. Judes. While there is still a ton, and I mean a ton of work to be done to loosen the hold, we are no doubt heading there.

I agree. I think we are getting much closer. I believe the way things are is just the natural order of social evolution. Our society is still very young and there is much for us to learn. Especially how to live. We will eventually figure it out, but be aware there are many bumps along the way of progress.

Do you mean, for example, like his choice of running mate...?

Has anyone ever heard of the 100th Monkey? This comes from a study done in the Atomic age when the government was running test about the toxicity of radiation on a deserted island full of Monkeys. One of the scientist showed a couple of Monkeys how to wash their coconut husks in the river so the radiation would be washed away thus preventing those monkeys from getting radiation poisoning. The number of Monkeys washing husks in the river gradually increased until it reached a critical number, a critical mass of Monkey intelligence , 100, then instantaneously all of the Monkeys started washing their coconuts in the river ensuring the survival of the island dwelling Monkeys. I like to think our society might encounter a similar phenomenon! When the knowledge is spread and a critical number of people in society have a rock hard foundation of open-mindedness society will blossom like a beautiful flower. I believe this and I hope it comes true in my lifetime. Some of us know on an individual basis how to be open-minded, nonjudgmental, kind, charitable, loving, and friendly. But if we juxtapose those ideals with society we see the stark contrast, however I believe once a critical mass of people is obtained society will be what it should be!!! Believe it

Just saw the video , wow I don't even know what to say. So I guess if you want to work for DEA you have to be dead already. It is very clear from her eyes just look in them. There is absolutely nothing there. That lady is totally dead. What a sad, poor human without a soul.

This person needs lots of love I guess she never knew what it is. Probably abused a lot while a little child. People like this are very easy to manipulate and brainwash so no wonder she was chosen to do this nonsense job.

This is a nice example what kind of people are running our societies. Do you still wonder why is our world in total chaos?

Enough said.

Peace

No better, and no worse. That is kind of the point.

Anyone in his position would be a pathetic lackey of the corporatocracy because the system is designed that way. In any election, you get to choose between Tweedledee & Tweedledum.

Obama was probably groomed for this from back in his Harvard days, and kept in the pocket as a card to play. I feel he was probably supposed to be deployed 4 or 8 years later than he was, but the faith in our democracy was so shattered due to 2 stolen elections in a row and widespread recognition of voter fraud, e-voting machines being rigged and the like that they figured the only way to restore faith that our votes actually matter was to stage this "unprecedented" landslide victory for a candidate that on first glance seems to be an outsider/change-agent who doesn't fit the mold. The divisive nature of race in the backwards US of A was sure to occupy a huge slice of the public's attention and thus allow their man to quietly be even more "conservative" than even Bush Jr. was with his mandate of fear due to 9-11.

The fact is, that if you are buying into this whole liberal v. conservative theater, you are simply not paying attention. You are buying the brainwashing hook, line & sinker.

Sorry. That's just the way it is.

As for the tit-for-tat here about who is doing what to change things, I can tell you (as someone who has fought the good fight on the front lines of this issue for decades) that there are no simple solutions. We have come a long way by actively changing the society's perception of drugs via a long fought PR campaign to polish marijuana's public image. I personally circulated 215 and was privy to the conversations between Jack Herer & Denis Peron (who wrote the initiative). Medical Marijuana was a conscious attempt to push the US towards inevitable legalization. It is a kind of NLP seed. Everytime anyone anywhere even says or thinks the phrase "Medical Marijuana" they are planting a subconscious seed that forces people to see the evil weed in a new light. It destroys the anti-MJ propaganda from within because obviously something that is medical can't be all bad and certainly doesn't deserve to be Schedule I (with no medicinal value whatsoever). This mindworm we planted in 1995 has spread from California around the nation and the world. This year, public polls have finally shown a majority of US citizens support Marijuana Legalization! (with some polls showing as much as 57% in favor) Even in the early 70's that wasn't the case.

@Ice Housee:

I hate to single you out and challenge your "traditional values," but I have to say that they are an illusion.

Which glorious time in the US history would you have us return to? There were certainly times when middle class and rich white men were doing pretty well, and were even sheltered enough from reality to not be forced to connect their affluence to its source in slavery, imperialism, native genocide, oppression and grand larceny. It, however, had nothing to do with morality or hard work.

It is sad to think that people could even imagine this to be the case. You genocide 96% of the inhabitants of a land that you didn't ever have to pay for, and then build the cities and infrastructure on the backs of oppressed Chinese, indentured servants and unpaid slaves (stealing 80 million people from a continent that only had about 300 million inhabitants)... meanwhile the beneficiaries of this system can sit on their verandas drinking lemonade and bourbon.

This idea that some conservative values and hard work built an America that is vanishing due to ignorant, illiterates taking over "your" government is frankly vile & pernicious. I'm sorry, but it doesn't befit someone who is clearly intelligent and educated on other subjects.

"America is stuck in this fukked up loop and the reason is we vote for who we feel is the leser of both evils. That must end if we want to change this corrupt system.

We must say no to both parties and vote for real change"

I just can't understand why people still think the voting system is going to get us out of this mess.. to even think that process is actually still legitimate and that the choice is really left up to the voters seems like such an illusory position. I think we're way way past that point

this is all why I have not voted for years. I dont see it contributing anything. One puppet for another?

Word. We don't always see eye to eye, you and I, but I'm with you on this one.

My man, James Ellroy, also put it pretty succinctly when he said:

"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.

Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truths and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."

I believe without USA dictating the drug laws(at least back then) the drug laws would be different worldwide.
The drug war can be compared to other US evil accomplisments such as slavery. No wonder there's so much hate towards USA worldwide...

Here's another one saying that if the science disagrees then they would rather shut down research than change their agenda.

http://www.maps.org/medi...well_shut_down_research/

Of course illegal drugs are bad. And all the legal ones like Alcohol and Tobacco are good!

Long live a healthy, disease free nation!!

Nice take! I wish he would have brought that up to her.