Dear Mr. Gaydou;
I am writing to urge you not to take any action against Press columnist David Mayo following his arrest for growing pot at his home. He is a good writer who has served the Press well for 20 years and does not deserve to see his career collapse due to a crime that is becoming increasingly difficult to understand.
America’s War of Drugs is an abysmal failure that has ruined lives, enriched gangsters and corrupted governments around the world. The harm caused by the “war” has far exceeded the harm caused by the use of drugs, and it is only a matter of time before the nation wakes up to this and changes its approach.
If Mayo had been caught driving drunk, it would have been disappointing, but not a job-ending event. Growing pot at his home put no one at risk and posed no danger to anyone. It should be viewed for what it is: a minor infraction, not the revelation of some moral depravity that warrants banishment and unemployment.
This country needs an honest and open dialog about the drug policies that have failed so miserably. Unfortunately there can be no such dialog because of the prevailing attitude where misguided morality trumps common sense. I can’t even submit this letter to the Press for fear that it will be held against me personally and that I will somehow be seen as “pro-drugs”.
I hope incidents like swimmer Michael Phelps’ bong episode will help move the dialog forward. When put into the context of Alex Rodiguez’s steroid use, it should be obvious which person is truly damaging sports.
I suspect a majority of your readers consider pot to be a harmless indulgence, but that this majority is so afraid of the other side that they would never publicly admit it. I don’t think it will help Kellogg in the long run to throw out Phelps, and I don’t think it will be any better for you if the Press trashes Dave Mayo.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Granholm Drops the Ball (as usual)
What is it about Governor Granholm that she refuses to ever deal with the tough topics? She's at the end of her career in Michigan due to term limits and still can't make the difficult decisions that need to be made. Does she really think she has a shot at the Supreme Court and that they key is to do nothing dramatic to spoil her chances?
In her State of the State speach she said nothing about the need to dramatically reduce prison spending. This is the most obvious place in the budget to make serious cuts - but it is going to involve putting her self out there and taking some risk (which she never does). Prisoner are going to have to be released, and it is inevitable that some of them are going to do something bad. Her job is to make the case, explain it to the voters and do it. She knows it has to be done, but wants someone else to take the heat.
The other key failure was to talk about raising the gasoline tax. The state's roads are a disaster and with every passing month, the eventual costs multiplies. Adding 20 cents will barely be noticed in day-to-day price fluctuations but she doesn't have the guts to tell voters why it makes long-term sense and has to happen.
If she proceeds in her budget with an "across the board cut" she will only be confirming that she has no ability to make decisions and would rather resort to the cheapest political tactic in the book.
I worked hard to get her elected and she has accomplished nothing.
In her State of the State speach she said nothing about the need to dramatically reduce prison spending. This is the most obvious place in the budget to make serious cuts - but it is going to involve putting her self out there and taking some risk (which she never does). Prisoner are going to have to be released, and it is inevitable that some of them are going to do something bad. Her job is to make the case, explain it to the voters and do it. She knows it has to be done, but wants someone else to take the heat.
The other key failure was to talk about raising the gasoline tax. The state's roads are a disaster and with every passing month, the eventual costs multiplies. Adding 20 cents will barely be noticed in day-to-day price fluctuations but she doesn't have the guts to tell voters why it makes long-term sense and has to happen.
If she proceeds in her budget with an "across the board cut" she will only be confirming that she has no ability to make decisions and would rather resort to the cheapest political tactic in the book.
I worked hard to get her elected and she has accomplished nothing.
The Worst Generation
$18 billion in Wall Street bonuses, a multi-million dollar redecoration of Merrill Lynch’s chief executive’s office, former Senator Tom Daschle’s $5 million income in two years, Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
How can I read all this and not conclude that the Baby Boomer generation is the exact opposite of the World War II generation that preceded it – the Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw so aptly put it.
The boomers had it all handed to them by parents who survived the Depression and won the last truly just war. The boomer elites were given the best educations money could buy and the financial and moral wealth of the greatest country in history. And what did they do with it? They spent it on themselves.
They exploited the system to enrich themselves and leave the next generations with a decaying infrastructure, a degraded environment, a failing educational system and debt as far as the eye can see. They left the next generations with a system that I can only describe as corrupt, where the top 1% take the spoils, and everyone else is left to scrape by.
President Obama represents a new generation tasked with cleaning up the garbage left behind by the boomers. It is a monumental task that will take another generation to complete. He needs to both re-build the country’s physical infrastructure, and more importantly, our moral infrastructure and the belief that the American system is both just and fair. He needs and deserves our support.
How can I read all this and not conclude that the Baby Boomer generation is the exact opposite of the World War II generation that preceded it – the Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw so aptly put it.
The boomers had it all handed to them by parents who survived the Depression and won the last truly just war. The boomer elites were given the best educations money could buy and the financial and moral wealth of the greatest country in history. And what did they do with it? They spent it on themselves.
They exploited the system to enrich themselves and leave the next generations with a decaying infrastructure, a degraded environment, a failing educational system and debt as far as the eye can see. They left the next generations with a system that I can only describe as corrupt, where the top 1% take the spoils, and everyone else is left to scrape by.
President Obama represents a new generation tasked with cleaning up the garbage left behind by the boomers. It is a monumental task that will take another generation to complete. He needs to both re-build the country’s physical infrastructure, and more importantly, our moral infrastructure and the belief that the American system is both just and fair. He needs and deserves our support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)