The Perper-trator

Well, the suspense is over, the text messages have been sent, and now Joe Biden has been announced as Barak’s running mate. Whoo hoo. So is Joe just another great guy, ready to be the other half of “Yes we can”? Do we really care? “Yes we do”. Let’s take a look at Joe “RAVE UP” Biden.

If anybody can be held responsible for the modern drug war (well, second to Nixon), it is he. As chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus (now called the United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control), he wrote the laws that created the US Drug Czar. Wow, what a success that has been, especially if you only measure the number of people placed in prison on petty drug crimes. Quite a growth industry as the percentage of people in state and federal institutions for drug related offenses increased over 50% from 1995 - 2003.

Anybody familiar with the legislation he introduced and rammed thru both houses in 2002-3? The Rave Act, which was attached to the Amber Alert legislation, was a drug warriors dream. It had a brilliant name “Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy” Act and acronym (maybe only second to the PATRIOT Act). And not only would folks doing Ecstasy in a club be thrown under the bus, but the club owners were liable for the actions of their patrons. No matter if the club owners acted in good faith or not, they could have their clubs taken and be charged with felonies. How lovely Joe, two birds with one stone. Did anyone see this as an attack on entertainment that the establishment didn’t like or understand? Anyone see this as another sad chapter in the war on people? Yeah, some did. and did. and did.

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Wow, what a bonus presidential election year. Usually there are only 2 candidates I won’t vote for, but this year we have the Libertarian Party offering up Bob Barr. My God folks, could you have picked up a worse candidate? What’s the matter, wasn’t Kenny G available? Could the LP have made themselves more irrelevant than they have been? In a year where Ron Paul starts to get attention on some of the real issues this country faces, the LP offers up Bob Barr. So now there are 3 that I can ignore.

And my friends and colleagues ask “So, what do you think about Barr? Wasn’t he the foam-at-the-mouth leader of the Clinton impeachment? The guy that was so pro-Patriot Act? Who denied the District its ability to manage its own problems re: medical marijuana? Who still is not just anti-immigration, but who is rabidly anti-immigrant?”

Yeah, that Bob Barr. Who now says he’s sorry for voting for the Iraq War. Who says he’s sorry for supporting the drug war. Who says he’s sorry for the Patriot Act. Sorry. Yup, he sure is.

Shit, where is Harry Browne now? Don’t roll over Harry, this too shall pass…

..and the devestatingly handsome.  congrats on another recognition.

What beautiful words, “I forgive you.” No matter who says it. No matter if it is said out loud. No matter if you say it to yourself. I forgive you. What a transformational statement that probably holds the future of the relationship between people.

When I forgive another for some action, it allows me to breathe freely again. Forgiving allows me to move on beyond the moment and secure the relationship for the future. I forgive you. How hard it is to say. How hard it is to feel. How hard it is to believe.

Can’t I remain in the place where I was wronged by another? Doesn’t it feel good to be the victim and savor the taste of personal hurt? Isn’t it easier to be hurt and angry, ensuring that all other colors (except red) are excluded from my sight?

Why not languish in the pool of superiority when I’ve been proven ‘right’ and another is ‘wrong’? Don’t I feel so much better to know my place above the other?

I forgive you. I forgive me. Shouldn’t I beat myself up to prove to others how pitiable i am? When I’ve hurt another, how can i forgive myself? Is that who I am? do i deserve to ‘let me off the hook’?  I forgive me.

Maybe then I can forgive you.

The last sibling in my Dad’s family died last week. Aunt Esther was about 102 (dates somewhat uncertain, but who’s counting after 100?) and was doing damn well for a gal in her shape, er…, at her age. My Dad was one of 9 brothers and sisters that came to the US with their parents in 1918.  I guess somewhere they’re a complete set again.

A couple of more victims of the madness we call our drug war. SWAT Team members storm the house of the mayor of Berwyn Heights, MD trying to ascertain the owner of a package of pot that was delivered on the porch.  In the moments after breaking down the front door (oops, forgot we didn’t have a no-knock warrant) the lead state hero shoots the mayor’s two dogs.

Maybe the state will figure out a way to prove that the dogs committed suicide rather than face their owners being busted.  Do you actually think an apology will be forthcoming from the SWAT Team heroes ?  Guess the mayor should be damn happy that his family wasn’t blown away. Course if he was black (hey, his dogs were black, right?  hmmm…), the final results would probably be different.  First, there would be very little newspaper coverage. Second, it wouldn’t have just been the dogs lying face down in a red puddle.

He’ll probably be billed for the time spent by these heroes as they ransacked his house and interrogated him and his family. UPDATE: Oops, maybe we got the wrong mayor.

When my bird Xena read about all of this, she was heard mumbling about moving to Amsterdam.