Obama Sells Out America's Youth with Eric Holder

[WillowTree]

your dismissive attitude towards hate crimes is troubling DD. Do you ignore that people do actually target people specifically out of hate?

I know nothing about crack or powder cocaine. I was simply offering a possible reason for the difference.

Personally I think people who are caught USING drugs should be sent to treatment but people caught SELLING drugs should be thrown in jail.

I don't ignore it,, nowadays it's fashionable to pick on old white christians..

 

[AVG-JOE]

Here is a dumb question...

Why do We, The People want to restrict the ADULT use of recreational drugs?

I thought freedom was supposed to be precious around here... Shouldn't we be free to be as stupid as evolution allows? Sure if someone gets high and kills someone with their car, they should go to prison, but not for being high.

-Joe

 

[WillowTree]

Here is a dumb question...

Why do We, The People want to restrict the ADULT use of recreational drugs?

I thought freedom was supposed to be precious around here... Shouldn't we be free to be as stupid as evolution allows? Sure if someone gets high and kills someone with their car, they should go to prison, but not for being high.

-Joe

and then you want the taxpayer to cover your stupidity in the form of health care right??? no! "say it ain't so JOe."

 

[bk1983]

and then you want the taxpayer to cover your stupidity in the form of health care right??? no! "say it ain't so JOe."

who do you think pays for the inmates housing,healthcare,food,clothing and public defender??

 

[Ravi]

BAC, from what I could find, Holder is for stiffer penalties for dealers, not users. If that is true, you are grossly mischaracterizing the guy.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

But, but, Obama is BLACK! That's HISTORIC! And Eric Holder? He's BLACK TOO! More History! Yay! For the first time in my life, I'm proud of my country. If you weren't black yourself I'd call you a racist.



Liberals seem to be getting a little case of buyers remorse. Too bad.

I'm not a liberal

I didn't vote for him, thus no remorse

Don't let my being black stand in your way .. feel free to call me a racist .. as if I give a damn

 

[WillowTree]

who do you think pays for the inmates housing,healthcare,food,clothing and public defender??

we do, and if it becomes legal,, how much more do ya think we will be paying,, if they are running the streets overdosing and offing people??? it's of no consequence to a liberal I know!! just have fun eat, drink, drive, and everybody **** the rich guys..

 

[bk1983]

we do, and if it becomes legal,, how much more do ya think we will be paying,, if they are running the streets overdosing and offing people??? it's of no consequence to a liberal I know!! just have fun eat, drink, drive, and everybody **** the rich guys..

you are so simple minded,, where do you get your info from?

watching boyz in the hood doesn't give you a proper understanding

of the subject at hand.

 

[Silence]

I don't do "diatribe" but it's my article.

If it had been someone else's I would have posted the link .. as I always do.

Obviously you found nothing in it factually incorrect .. so you reached for GOPer logic.

I barely skimmed it actually. I tend to ignore hyberpole from both sides. It's pretty useless when forming an logical and fact based opinion.

 

[BlackAsCoal]

BAC, from what I could find, Holder is for stiffer penalties for dealers, not users. If that is true, you are grossly mischaracterizing the guy.

Not only did his stiffer penalties for dealers/distributers/anyone who buys a friend a bag NOT work, Holder believes that all mj use is criminal, including medical mj use .. and he wants users and even first time dealers with small amounts locked up.

He changed what was a misdemeanor into a 5 year prison sentence.

No mischaracterization whatsoever

 

[BlackAsCoal]

I barely skimmed it actually. I tend to ignore hyberpole from both sides. It's pretty useless when forming an logical and fact based opinion.

Then logically, you should also withhold your uninformed opinion.

 

[Ravi]

Not only did his stiffer penalties for dealers/distributers/anyone who buys a friend a bag NOT work, Holder believes that all mj use is criminal, including medical mj use .. and he wants users and even first time dealers with small amounts locked up.

He changed what was a misdemeanor into a 5 year prison sentence.

No mischaracterization whatsoever

Do you have a link to back that up, because I couldn't find anything about him wanting to make using have a stiffer penalty.

 

[AVG-JOE]

and then you want the taxpayer to cover your stupidity in the form of health care right??? no! "say it ain't so JOe."

If the taxpayer is going to cover my tobacco-stained lungs and my liquor-shriveled liver, why the **** not? Especially if the tax collectors are smart enough to make me pay for it via taxes collected on legal distribution of recreational drugs.

-Joe

 

[del]

Do you have a link to back that up, because I couldn't find anything about him wanting to make using have a stiffer penalty.

In addition, U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview that he is considering not only prosecuting more marijuana cases but also asking the D.C. Council to enact stiffer penalties for the sale and use of marijuana.

“We have too long taken the view that what we would term to be minor crimes are not important,” Holder said, referring to current attitudes toward marijuana use and other offenses such as panhandling.

Holder said he hopes to discourage some of that activity by being tougher on marijuana crimes. New guidelines should be in place by the end of the month, he said, noting that the District could learn from New York’s “zero-tolerance” policy. There, crime plummeted when police aggressively enforced quality-of-life crimes, including panhandling and public drinking, which gave officers an opportunity to check for drugs, guns and outstanding warrants.

“If you take these so-called minor crimes seriously and treat them fully, it has a ripple effect,” Holder said.

WashingtonPost.com: Marijuana's Violent Side

it's 12 years old so i don't know how he feels about it today. i'm more concerned with his support of the patriot act than this to be honest with you.

he didn't exactly distinguish himself with the rich pardon either, but that's more of a "joe the plumber" distraction, IMO.

 

[bk1983]

we do, and if it becomes legal,, how much more do ya think we will be paying,, if they are running the streets overdosing and offing people??? it's of no consequence to a liberal I know!! just have fun eat, drink, drive, and everybody **** the rich guys..

well first of all the non violent drug users would be out of prison. in case

you didn't know they do make up the majority of the prison population.

the costs to run and staff a prison are enormous. we are talking counselors,

doctors,dentists,cost of food,cost of clothing,mental health medication

and services. then you have the extra court cost, for judges prosecutors

public defenders, jurys, probation officers the list goes on and on. All paid

for by the taxpayer. Do you really think they would be running the streets

and offing people if they could get a pack of marijuana ciagrettes from

walgreens for $4? Instead they are sitting in prison on taxpayers dime,

meanwhile the war on drugs continues to make no progress. The availability

of drugs on the street are even greater, a 14 year old can buy a bag of weed

no problem, yet he will be denied trying to buy a pack of cigarettes.

 

[Ravi]

In addition, U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview that he is considering not only prosecuting more marijuana cases but also asking the D.C. Council to enact stiffer penalties for the sale and use of marijuana.

“We have too long taken the view that what we would term to be minor crimes are not important,” Holder said, referring to current attitudes toward marijuana use and other offenses such as panhandling.

Holder said he hopes to discourage some of that activity by being tougher on marijuana crimes. New guidelines should be in place by the end of the month, he said, noting that the District could learn from New York’s “zero-tolerance” policy. There, crime plummeted when police aggressively enforced quality-of-life crimes, including panhandling and public drinking, which gave officers an opportunity to check for drugs, guns and outstanding warrants.

“If you take these so-called minor crimes seriously and treat them fully, it has a ripple effect,” Holder said.

WashingtonPost.com: Marijuana's Violent Side

it's 12 years old so i don't know how he feels about it today. i'm more concerned with his support of the patriot act than this to be honest with you.

he didn't exactly distinguish himself with the rich pardon either, but that's more of a "joe the plumber" distraction, IMO.

Thanks.

 

[del]

Thanks.

always a pleasure

 

[BlackAsCoal]

Do you have a link to back that up, because I couldn't find anything about him wanting to make using have a stiffer penalty.

Eric Holder Nips Marijuana in the Bud and Invents a Time Cover Story

Barack Obama's selection of Eric Holder as his attorney general is a very discouraging sign for anyone who hoped the new administration would de-escalate the war on drugs. As Dave Weigel noted earlier today, Holder pushed for stiffer marijuana penalties when he was the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and the details are strikingly at odds not only with Obama's signals regarding marijuana but with his opposition to long sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. According to a December 1996 report in The Washington Times excerpted at TalkLeft, Holder wanted "minimum sentences of 18 months for first-time convicted drug dealers, 36 months for the second time and 72 months for every conviction thereafter." He also wanted to "make the penalty for distribution and possession with intent to distribute marijuana a felony, punishable with up to a five-year sentence." The D.C. Council made the latter Holder-endorsed change in 2000.

Holder thought New York City's irrational, unjust crackdown on pot smokers was a fine idea and worth emulating, saying "we have too long taken the view that what we would term to be minor crimes are not important." His rhetoric on the seriousness of marijuana offenses was indistinguishable from that of the most zealous Republican drug warrior
Hit & Run > Eric Holder Nips Marijuana in the Bud and Invents a Time Cover Story - Reason Magazine

The NY crackdown ..

To Catch a Leaf
New York City's little-noticed crackdown on pot smokers

In 2001, shortly before Michael Bloomberg became a candidate for mayor of New York, an interviewer asked him if he'd ever smoked marijuana. "You bet I did," he said, "and I enjoyed it."

Yet as mayor, Bloomberg has presided over what a recent report from the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) calls a "marijuana arrest crusade," seeking to punish pot smokers for an activity he enjoyed with impunity. This little-noticed crackdown, which began under Rudy Giuliani, has disproportionately affected young black and Hispanic men, engendering resentment, distrust of the police, and disrespect for the law.

While marijuana arrests have risen between two- and three-fold nationwide since 1990, the increase in New York has been much more dramatic. "From 1997 to 2006," sociologist Harry Levine and drug policy activist Deborah Small note in the NYCLU report, "the New York City Police Department arrested and jailed more than 353,000 people simply for possessing small amounts of marijuana. This was eleven times more marijuana arrests than in the previous decade."

Based on their analysis of arrest data and their interviews with police, arrestees, and public defenders, Levine and Small conclude that the pot busts are largely a byproduct of the NYPD's aggressive "stop and frisk" tactics. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police may briefly detain people they suspect of involvement in criminal activity and, as a precautionary measure, pat them down for weapons. Taking advantage of this Fourth Amendment loophole, New York City police stopped and frisked people more than half a million times in 2006.

In the vast majority of cases, these stops do not result in arrests. But sometimes people are carrying small amounts of marijuana. Since police cannot legally search for drugs without probable cause, Levine and Small found, they typically trick or intimidate people into revealing their pot, at which point they can be arrested.

Such trickery not only exposes the contraband; it changes the nature of the offense. Under state law merely possessing a small amount of marijuana (up to 25 grams, about seven-eighths of an ounce) is a citable offense similar to a traffic violation. But having marijuana "in public view" is a misdemeanor.

The NYPD makes about 35,000 such arrests each year. Although marijuana possession is either the only or the most serious charge in these cases, the arrestees are nevertheless handcuffed and taken to a police station, where they are fingerprinted and photographed, and they usually spend a night in jail, an uncomfortable, degrading, and often frightening experience.

Contrary to what you might expect, Levine and Small found that people arrested for marijuana possession in New York generally are not smoking pot in public. "Before being approached by the police," they note, "most people arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession...were actually not guilty of what they were charged with."

Why do police waste time and resources manufacturing crimes? Levine and Small note that busting pot smokers is a relatively safe and easy way to pad arrest figures, which creates the illusion of productivity, and generate overtime pay, a practice known as "collars for dollars."

From the collars' perspective, getting arrested for a trivial, victimless offense, which saddles them with criminal records that can impair their ability to obtain an education and make a living, is humiliating and embittering. It is especially rankling because police seem to be targeting poor black and Hispanic men for treatment that would not be tolerated if it were aimed at affluent white New Yorkers.

Survey data indicate that among 18-to-25-year-olds, the age group where the pot busts are concentrated, whites are more likely than blacks or Hispanics to smoke marijuana. Yet Levine and Small found that in New York blacks and Hispanics are, respectively, five and three times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

For pot smokers caught in the NYPD's dragnet, is Bloomberg's position on marijuana—"I enjoyed it; you'd better not"—hard to accept? You bet it is.
To Catch a Leaf: New York City's little-noticed crackdown on pot smokers - Reason Magazine

Reservations: Eric Holder's Scary Philosophy....

U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. said in an interview that he is considering not only prosecuting more marijuana cases but also asking the D.C. Council to enact stiffer penalties for the sale and use of marijuana.
Daily Kos: State of the Nation

In 1996, Holder proposed cracking down on marijuana users and sellers, a policy perspective which was and—assuming he still holds it—is completely antithetical to President-Elect Barack Obama’s promise to end federal crackdowns on medical marijuana dispensaries.
Washington City Paper: City Desk - Eric Holder, Extreme Drug Warrior

The only people confused are Obama supporters who voted for him thinking he would take a sane and rational approach to the miserably failed war on drugs .. which was a terribly uninformed thought.

Obama is a ***** of the highest order and he isn't going to do anything that make the right-wing mad .. he isn'tb going to do anything that requires real courage, like shunning chants of "soft on crime" by the right.

With Obama, talk about him not wearing a flag pin and he'll slap one on everyday .. talk about his wife and he'll hide her .. talk about him being muslim and suddenly everybody around him is jewish .. on and on.

The man is a ***** .. don't expect courage on anything.

 

[editec]

FYI, more people went to prison for marijuana related crimes under Clinton that any previous President.

Anyone who thinks these so called liberals are remotely interested in killing the full employment for cops, prison guards, judges and lawyers drug laws is sadly mistaken.


Thro in the fact that is prohibition is not only counter productive and ends up causing the taxpayers a small fortune is entirely irrelevant to them.

The fact that those evil laws are destroying productive people's lives, also not very important to them.

Power and control is what it's all about folks.

Power and control for power and control's sake, too, I might add.

The prohibition on Alcohol lasted thirteen years.

The prohibition on hemp is going on its 70th year.

Do we have more or less people who smoke dope than we had in the 1930s?

 

[DiamondDave]

And back to the "if it feels good, do it... it's all ok" mantra....

No editec... drugs are really not a good thing... even if some stoners, hippies, and weirdos like to try and associate them with the word "recreational"

And now waiting on more of the "but.. but... but... alcohol" retort