Joealbero mentioned a guy by the name of Chris Llinas, an attorney who was disbarred after a conviction of (I think) evidence tampering involving a healthy, or unhealthy (depending upon one's perspective) chunk of cocaine. But in Joe's retelling of the tale, Llinas was guilty of distributing this high-end drug to children..... thing is, I can't find anything in print to substanciate that claim, so I suspect it's a lie.
Listen, I've never seen Llinas. I wouldn't know him if I bumped into him in my linen closet. And I'm not going to defend his actions, but I do believe we need to address the decades-long government propaganda campaign against recreational drug use. But why? Not one of our so-called leaders has ever been able to articulate exactly why someone who uses drugs should go to prison.... I mean so what, if someone wants to get high? Who does it hurt, except the user? ... And before y'all get your irish dander up and strap on an ignorant sense of pretend indignation, tell us what the government has done to resolve the problems associated with drug use.....I'll give you a hint: not a goddamned thing... matter of fact, they've just made the problems much, much worse.
"Oh," our elected officials whine, "drugs destroy minds and families and communities, and get people killed, so we're going to fix it." .... Yeah, right.... this is what they've done to "fix" the problem: When the dimwitted Ronald Reagan was elected, he saw to it that penalties were vastly increased for both simple possession and distribution. And he got public support for that through a propaganda campaign that included a claim that these dark men were coming into neighborhoods to get children addicted to drugs. And that the drugs were coming from communist narco-terrorists in South America, which was all part of a fiendishly clever plot by the Soviets to take over the world. And a lot of mind-bogglingly ignorant voters bought that line of crap because they were too lazy and stupid to check the facts against the claims.
The result was that the risks associated with distribution got a lot higher, the availability decreased only slightly, and it set of a nation-wide turf-war among dealers and the price and potential profit margin went through the roof. Washington, D.C. has several consecutive banner years where the homocide rate was staggering.... the same was true of New York, Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles and Miami..... Did that shit-for-brains policy work? Nope.... Matter of fact, it just made the problem much, much worse. Because, it wasn't just the dealers and users getting hurt and killed, it was innocent bystanders- kids, moms and dads, who took bullets meant for others. In made minority and poor communities much more dangerous places to live, so businesses left those communities and conditions and the sense of economic desperation got even worse for those in need of good-paying jobs. And without money, education or transportation, the only jobs they could find were right in their own neighborhoods, which were drug-related. And as more people entered the marketplace, the greater the risk became and so the price of the product had to increase to compensate for that risk. And as the profit margin increased, so did the competition for turf.
And, make no mistake, this is not just a lesson in ancient history.... the policies are still with us. You see it every day in courts and prisons. Crack cocaine will get you a much stiffer prison sentence than powder cocaine.... and ya know what the difference is between the two.... Nothing. Crack is pure cocaine. Powder cocaine is crushed pure cocaine with a inert ingrediant added to increase the weight and profit margin. That's the difference... none.
So are our fearless leaders solving the "drug problem?" No, because they're not addressing the real issue, which is that drug use is not the primary problem: Drug use is a symptom of much larger emotional and societal problems... and unless those issues are resolved first, then drug abuse and antisocial behavior issues will continue to degrade us all... Ya want peace, then demand real social and economic justice.
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45 comments:
Look, you Idiot! Perhaps you've never had a friend or child that has absolutely no control of their life because they're so addicted to your friendly drugs?
Some people have excessive personalities, Idiot! Granted, there are some who can handle anything in moderation. We have a serious problem in this Country because of drug abuse and it's called, CRIME!
As for Llinus, somewhere along the chain his participation with laundering money and hiding drugs for the main king pin was what brought him to his knees.
Much of what I know you won't read in the papers because I had the inside scoop on this asshole and he's got to be one of the luckiest pussies I've ever heard of in my life.
I'll laugh the rest of my life thinking back to his letter to all the local attorneys asking for them to please draft letters to the Judge stating just how fine a man he was. IDIOT! He also begged for a job after he's released.
Llinus is in Jail/House Arrest because of his illegal activity involving drugs!
Joe, Joe, Joe..... you appear to be irritable..... maybe you're constipated.... I mean, it sure seems like you're full of shit.... two words of advice; prune juice.
..... Now, on to the subject at hand: If you'd read my comments, and are at all functionally literate, you'd know that I made no comments that would lead even a half-bright chimpanzee to believe that I advocate drug use. What I said was that our so-called leaders (particularly those who hold themselves out as law-and-order patriots who support the Constitution) have failed miserably at controlling the devastation visited upon this nation by both drug use and their own increasing repressive efforts to control it. In fact the very efforts they employ to reduce drug use and dependence now create at least as much harm to families, communities and American Liberty as drugs do, IF NOT MORE SO.
As to your friend, child, or loved one, being so controlled by drugs that you cannot reason with them (and here, we'll ignore, for the sake of this discussion, that you are not a reasonable or even reasoning man) as hard as it is to hear, you need to come to terms that this person has made a choice in that they value the solace that drugs give them more than they do the love and help you are offering. Nothing is free, and I don't need to tell you that.... everything is a trade-off.... You can't have a perpetual stone and a meaningful career, or a loving and close family or even an education. By the same token, you can't raise your children in a physically and/or emotionally abusive environment and expect they will have a life that is free of drugs and alcohol and that they will show you the love and respect you believe you are due.
On a personal level, I note that you are remarried and you are fighting for custody of a grandchild. Taken together, I'm left to wonder if the "loved one" that is hopelessly mired in drugs is your child and parent to the grandchild for whom you are seeking custody. And if that's the case, then I can see why you would have problems gaining custody. After all, that would mean that you bear some responsibility for the way that loved-one turned out and their decision to medicate himself into oblivion.... so why would any sane person left you do it again, particularly when you continually demonstrate an inability to modulate your behavior.
"I mean so what, if someone wants to get high? Who does it hurt, except the user?"
RT, you are seriously delusional or really, really misinformed if you believe that.
Parents of addicted children suffer terribly helplessly watching their child go down the road of drug addiction. Children of parents who abuse drugs also suffer and may inherit the prediliction for substance abuse and start using themselves.
Casual drug use may be ok for some, but for others it leads down a dangerous path that hurts more than just the user.
yowzahead,
Thanks for sharing that information. As others may want to look into our children's past, perhaps they might understand that there are others fairly close to us that have/had children who are now in very serious drug trouble and cannot rebound. Perhaps, (without my exposing too much) others can come to understand where I was actually heading with my earlier comments?
Nevertheless, (IMO) it is the CHILDREN that suffer the most and that's why I feel the owner of this Blog Site has his head up his ass with this post.
I know I retired a few years ago in the hopes of relaxing and enjoying this stage of our lives and instead we are starting all over again raising a child.
My guess, (and it's only a guess) is that we'll have our hands VERY full years from now doing everything we can to make sure this child heads down the right path. The chances of this child abusing drugs down the road are very high, if you know anything about drug abuse in parents and then children.
So rather than going on the attack Rat, know we're doing more than most are willing to do to better a child's life/future and we have far more reason to think your post is flat out stupid. I don't think you're stupid, just this particular post.
My hope is that NONE of you have to experience this in your lives and that your children are blessed with more fortunate futures, especially for their children's sake. Happy New Year All.
Yowza: "I mean so what, if someone wants to get high? Who does it hurt, except the user?"
I was hoping someone would catch that. Alas, you misconstrued the meaning as literal rather than satirical and meant to elicit a response. But you are correct in that we are talking, to one degree or another, about two different subgroups; those who use recreationally, and those who self-medicate... although, I could mount a legitimate argument that even those who use recreationally are likely to begin a long slide into self-medication....Be that as it may, we are talking here about a failed government policy whose authors must themselves been high when they crafted and adopted it. Both the policy and the laws associated with its enforcement are contradictory, shortsighted, completely ineffective and unequally applied.
In order to see this problem for what it is, everyone needs to agree that the policy that has been in place for the last 100 years is bankrupt. It is not remotely producing the desired results... That's because we're demanding that law enforcement officials cure a public health problem of pandemic proportions. So, instead of dealing with the emotional, physical and familial relations issues that give rise to drug use and abuse, officials have almost universally chosen to address the issue only after illicit substances have greatly exacerbated the original problem. ... AND (bless their dimwitted little skulls) they deal with it by stuffing those afflicted with the problem in prisons- reasoning perhaps, that if voters can't see the problems in their neighborhoods they will conclude the problem is solved, or at least under control.... Never mind the fact that this policy provides neither treatment nor prevention of the problem. .. Yes, yes, I know the public is told that such services are provided to convicts in prison, but it's a lie. The role of prisons is to provide the public with means for revenge and retribution of transgressions (real and imagined) against it.
The problem with this solution is that eventually those evildoers are released from prison... Now society has someone on their hands who probably has little education, few job skills AND unresolved mental, emotional and drug-related issues. Now add to this problem the individual's family -- his wife, children, his siblings an parents and all those others who have both contributed to the issues at hand and are themselves victimized by circumstances they cannot control and have few, if any public resources for help.... what happens now?.... Well, nothing, actually, because Uncle Sam doesn't have a Plan B; they insist that Plan A (the current policy) is working. So the process begins again--either with the same person or the succeeding generation.
Now, there will be those -- Dick and Joe and Hadley Whiplash leap immediately to mind-- who will say the solution is longer prison sentences or even death sentences. But all that's going to do is to devote more of a finite amount of money to a program that we already know doesn't work. We need to invest serious time and money into a public health policy that includes early intervention with both the individual child and his family. If we can provide corrective behavior modification and mental-health treatment, then we'll have far less of a need for VERY expensive cops, courts and prisons. As a bonus, society gets a happy, healthy individual with a good job, a home and a decrease likelihood of dysfunctional and criminal children.
WOW!
Oceanshaman, I must admit, I'm impressed as well as pleased. Your "words" do in fact sound like a man who is well on his way to recovery and we "all" deserve a second chance. That being said, I wish you well.
On another note, I must admit that I'm seriously pissed off that a man who did what you did is sitting here on the Blogs participating in SOCIETY when you committed VERY serious crimes. You're a very fortunate man.
Rat,
I just can't believe all you are saying here. Nevertheless, it's your Blog and whatever makes you feel better, go for it. I do not agree with you and that's what makes healthy debate. Jennifer and I are being responsible for three other human beings who cannot and or will not.
kba is a Zookeeper at the Salisbury Zoo, looks like Dan Ciancitto. Anyhow, his words speak clearly about who these people are down there and they're so jealous of Jennifer it isn't funny. At least I'm man enough to use my real name. Only a pussy would go after a man like Art Goetz, (a 78 years old Marine who served in 4 Wars) my father in law.
They say 80% of Zookeepers are gay. Need I say more?
RT, you are one long winded dude.
There's something to be said for brevity.
Can't you make a point without droning on so much?
SBYNEWS recently had a post regarding why most local blogs fail. The real reason my be that people are afraid to post anything anywhere for fear of retaliation.
Rat,
My father in law has served our country as a Marine to allow you and I the freedom we now share in these United States.
If you're going to pull comments, pull the ones that attack this man out of respect. kba is over the top and you know it.
Yes Joe, I knew you would disagree with me. I also knew you would offer no legitimate argument in support of your position.... That's just how conservatives are... fearful of change and unwilling or unable to articulate the reasons for that fear.
Joe:
If your father-in-law served this country for the reasons you say he did, then he knows, as well as anyone, the value of free speech and I'm sure he supports that right. She, made no attack on your FIL, she responded to your attack, which I spiked.
My arguement would be, of what experience do YOU have in this matter?
In all honesty, I would hope none and that may explain your position better. It would also make you a fortunate man as I don't envy anyone in this position.
Nevertheless, my comment was honorable and fair and you can only come back with an atack rather than respect. It's your nature, I'm starting to understand you better by the day.
Yowza:
It was only 520, or so, words. That's about the same length of a medium-sized newspaper story. ... If you have trouble concentrating, get your eyes checked, stop swilling alcohol, and have your doctor evaluate you for Attention Deficit Disorder.... there are medicines to help you focus your attention.
I'll not be back.
I made no attack upon you Joe... I simply commented upon something which I anticipated. Further, I have read enough of your writing to determine that you are indeed an arch-conservative in your personal, social and political perspectives. And if you had read my 12/06/06 [FEAR AND LOATHING IN THE CONSERVATIVE CAMP]post regarding a the psychological profile of conservative thinking, you would know that you fit that profile almost perfectly. So this is not about you, the person, this is about your mindset.
As to my qualifications: I majored in English (tha's the one where you learn how to think and reason) minored in poli-sci, and have nearly 20 years of experience writing about and covering, in the journalistic sense, government, politics and public policy.... now show us your bona fides to validate your expertise in politics, please.
Oh yeah... I forgot to wish you and your a very happy new year.
*POOF*
....and there goes Joe, off in typical melodramatic fashion.
"I majored in English (that's the one where you learn how to think and reason)"
Actually, you don't learn critical thinking or reasoning skills as an English major. For that you should have majored in Philosophy or Critical Thinking studies.
I would think an English major who claims to have journalism experience could make a point more succinctly.
"If you have trouble concentrating, get your eyes checked, stop swilling alcohol, and have your doctor evaluate you for Attention Deficit Disorder"
I suffer from none of these afflictions, I simply recognize when someone's ego is inflated and they think what they write is always worth reading no matter how long and boring it is.
Two things Yowza:
First, among the elective courses I took, were logic, linquistics and psycho-linguistics (a graduate-level 500 series class)... I passed all of them with As and Bs.... I knew more about writing and thinking when I was a senior in highschool than you now know.
Secondly, I'm certain that you are not compelled under a court order to read, or even visit this blog. So, if you don't like it, leave. It's that simple..... I mean, you've yet to make any appreciable contribution to this discourse... all you've really done is attack and whine about Joe's comments. But I tell ya whatm Buddy: at least he's contributing. The fact that you are not leads me to wonder if perhaps you lack the intellectual capability to do so.
I did contribute earlier in this post.
Why is it that any time someone disagrees with your reasoning you go on the attack? If you are such a reasoned thinker, then why attack someone you don't even know and ascert that they unneducated, drug addicted or just plain stupid just because they disagree with you? A truly reasonable person would not do that.
Why must you take every comment about your blog so personally?
If you're going to claim to be an expert on everything you write about then you are inviting criticism.
Is your ego so fragile that you can't take ANY criticism? Is that what you learned as an Enlgish major?
Yowza:
.... [huge sigh]... I make no claim of expertise. But I do have the education, training and experience to competently comment of the subjects at hand.... and I generally confine those comments to the subject matter.
That said, I also will not hesitate to call "bullshit" when someone like you proffers an opinion that has no bearing on the question at hand, or is unsupported by rational argument.
The purpose of this blog, Yowza, is to give you and others (myself included) a venue to pose questions of socio-political import for discussion. My sincere hope is that others will join me in intellectual discussions and perhaps exchange ideas and the reasoning behind them, to such a degree that we arrive at some level of consensus, or at least understanding.
Listen, when I came here 12 years ago, I was dismayed at the level of ignorance displayed by so many of the residents. Over time, I have come to believe, perhaps charitably, that it is not stupidity that controls the outback, but intellectual laziness. This blog is my effort to encourage the employment of thinking and reasoning skills. To that end, you are free and even encouraged to disagree with my opinions. But if you are going to do so, then support your position with something other than name calling and unsubstantiated ridicule. Understand the opinion, grasp it, deconstruct it and weigh it against your own. Then respond with your own thoughtful and thought-provoking comments.
"support your position with something other than name calling and unsubstantiated ridicule."
I have never called anyone a name on your blog, but you certainly have called others names. And my ridicule is not unsubstantiated, just unrecognized by you because you take it all so personally and can never admit someone else has a point.
But thank you oh educated one for providing all of us lazy minded locally born folks here in the "outback" with some much needed intellectal exercises. Before this blog we could barely watch the tv news without needing to look words up in the dictionary.
You're a kind and giving man to do so much for us ignorant locals. What would we have done without all you big city folks moving here and providing us with intellecutal stimulation?
Why, my ma and pa would still be using the outhouse and I'd only have second grade education if it weren't for folks like you. Without you I may not have been able to go to college and get an MBA, so thank you again for your thoughfulness. I and all of us here in the "outback" owe you a debt of gratitude for pulling us out of our ignorant stupor.
you're welcomed, Yowza.... So you're saying you finally got indoor plumbing? Great.
"Before this blog we could barely watch the tv news without needing to look words up in the dictionary."
.... no need to now, either. The local TV news is laughable and never uses polysyllabic terms... that would take more effort than they want to expend.
I really respect Joe, but I see that he will never embrace a Libertarian view re the so called "War on Drugs." I've lost friends and family to drugs, there was no lack of people there to help them, to pray for them, to plead with them, to call the law on them. What happened? America's war on drugs will never be won because there's too much money in it. Legalize drugs? Ain't gonna happen! Less money for the dealer and the corrupt pols they pay off, not to mention the crooked cops. Honest cops ( who for the most part could care less about the druggies themselves) stand to lose all that candy the DEA throws at them. Some police departments sole "raison d'etre" is the crusade agaist drugs, and all the nice tactical toys that come with it. Trial lawyers will lose all those clients. No matter who is in office the whole mess will keep right on truckin.' We've dug ourselves into a hole and lost the shovel. I don't have solutions other than you start at home, steer your kids straight, and hope for the best. My parenting days are done, My daughter has a good life and a successful career. I'm thankful for that, it was very hard work, and elements of luck enter into things as well. I admire Joe for the committment he's undertaken. Nobody needs to be "dissin" him or his father-in-law. It shows a lack of class.
Damn Swampy, that was very well said.... yo've given me a pleasent surprise this evening.
You're right Dick, I wasn't clear on what I meant... perhaps I should have said I was shocked at that lack of worldliness, sophistication and intellectual sense of curiousity. But my comment was not just aimed at the so-called "locals." It was aimed at the residents.
Okay, it was a culture shock of biblical proportions, but maybe no more so than if I had moved to Norman, Ok, or just about anywhere in Texas (they think Goerge Bush is a fine president), or anywhere else except for the political center of the universe, which was where I lived. MAybe what I expected when I moved here was to meet the same kind of people I knew in DC.... maybe not so highly educated, but certainly sharp and smart and intellectually curious.... Hell, I just figured those traits were part of the human condition... alas, they are not, and the gallows-humor one-liner among the come-heres is that as soon as you cross the bay bridge onto the easter shore, the average IQ of the population drops 15 points.... those less chartible say the decrease is much more precipitous.... Again, I don't know if I agree with that because I don't think it's a matter of stupidity as much as it is laziness.
And that laziness has even crept into my own brain, and I too often find myself settling for my own endeavors being "good-enough" instead of "as good as I can do."
That's why I began this blog- to re-engage my mind... to think and reason and argue with others of similar or dissimlar perspectives.... when my father-in-law was well into his 80s he was still razor-sharp. He owned a calculator but used it only to check his work on complex engineering equations. I once saw him calculate and correct a 30-year mortgage contract based upon a 5.65 percent interest rate over the term of the loan.... it was wonderous enough that he did it with pencil and paper in about 5 minutes, but what was really amazing is the fact that he looked at the contract, told us it was wrong and then proved it. And I'm convinced he could do that because he exercized his mind every day.
I'm 51 years old and I don't want to become a George Bush, a Dam Quayle, a Ronald Reagan, or some other doddering old fool who only dimmly recalls a time when he could engage in a coherent conversation.... do you?
Rock on Wit! Even a blind pig (like me) gets an acorn every now and then. Ciao.
"as soon as you cross the bay bridge onto the easter shore, the average IQ of the population drops 15 points"
So Ratturd why did you cross the bay and why do you stay if you think we are all intellectually lazy?
Check out this blog:
worcestercountymaryland.blogspot.com
Indrid... welcome.... you understand, of course, that while we encourage spirited debate, you are obligated to supply your own damned cudgel... now to the question at hand; You posed the question "why did you cross the bay and why do you stay if you think we are all intellectually lazy?"
.... and I would point out (1) that I quoted others, and (2) that even if the words came directly from my mouth, you perhaps missed teh reference to "average" and made no reference to "all," as you did..... you see the difference, I'm sure. As a matter of fact, I can say without hesitation that I have met and been lucky enough to befriend a few intellectually gifted and geniunely nice people in this venue. Moreover those people who fall, in my humble estimation, into the former catagory are those the local voters have elected from time to time. It's those people who are elected and connected and through hubris suddenly believe they are smart enough to enact their own agendas at the public's expense....It's not so much that they were evil masterminds bent on high crimes and misdemeanors that was frightening--- it was that they sought to line their own pockets and those of their friends with schemes from the Wile E. Coyote playbook that was so scary. ...It was the fact that in 1993 county leaders spent nearly a million bucks to try to prevent a minority voting district being established, despite the fact that case law on the issue had been settled 20 years prior. And two years later, Ocean City officials tried to exempt the town from the First Amendment in order to reduce competition to boardwalk shop owners, so the city could collect more taxes from them..... this is the public face of the Eastern Shore... this is why the come-heres think so many of the locals are quaint, at best, and dumb shorebillies at worst..... does that perception have merit?.... It's a stereotype, and stereotype are based on fact but, like a caricature drawing, taken to clownish proportions, so to some degree, the answer is yes.
___________________________
Dick:
Insular..... no, I think not.... it's an entirely too diplomatic a term. This is the Information Age, when geography is no longer a barrier to informed analysis.
Yup I do watch the news on the Fox channel out of DC every morning.... but it's news, not propaganda.... b'sides, I think one of them newsladies is real cute.
ya think Joe is still mad at us?
I think his day of reckoning has arrived. A lot of people are turning away from him because of his arrogance. That's a shame, I do think he could have made a difference if he hadn't let his ego run amuck!
River Rat
You don't mean to say that Joey has an oversized ego do you?
Becasue if so, that means he has an undersized pecker.
Don't know about the pecker thing?????
Have to ask his wife. But I'm about sick and tired of being told I'm an idiot everytime I turn abound. But I'm in good company because all us bloggers are idiots in his eyes.
Have you looked at Maryland Townies blog site yet. When someone is so damn mad that they dedicate a blog to denounce another blogger that's bad!
Ego?.... I thought it was big car= small richard... but big ego=little richard makes no sense.... do the math...
yeah, well when yu get to be our age ALL our body parts start playin' tricks on us
Well dang, how long ya gonna wait?
okay... well anyway, welcome Sam Chase to my blog
I don't get that when i go to his site....i just get called an Idiot like everyone else.
What's the big secret. Jennifer left him for a smarter man?
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