Incarcerex

City Councilman Young Dares to Tell the Truth

We’re losing the war on drugs,” said Young, D-District 12. “When teenagers are getting gunned down on the street because of the drug business, then we have to rethink our approach.

(hat tip to commenter matt.)

Not since Kurt Schmoke has the city seen such honesty from it's politicians. Of course, the city is handcuffed by federal, and though most do not acknowledge it, international law through the UN and other trade agreements. There is no way the city could truly legalize drugs, however it is voices such as Young's and Schmoke's before him which will dissuade this country from our folly.

But can't we even discuss it like adults? Apparently not.

“Mayor Sheila Dixon is opposed to the decriminalization of drugs,” spokesman Anthony McCarthy said.

City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also disagreed.

“She understands that the drug trade is 99 percent of the root cause of violence,” said Shaun Adamec, her spokesman. “But it’s an idea that needs to be addressed on a national level.”

Yeah, lets discuss the next crime plan that won't work at all. Mr Young, have you considered a Mayoral run?

Citywide Candidates, Where do you Stand on Decriminalization?

Sheila Dixon and Keiffer Mitchell have no comment. Taking a stand against the war on drugs is nothing new for Baltimore pols. Former Mayor and current Dean of Howard University, Kurt Schmoke had the courage to tell the truth and call a bad idea a bad idea, despite the political ramifications (which as I recall, were two successful terms as Mayor).

Update: This is bit old now, but Gregory Kane had a great editorial on Dixon's crime plan, and how it was absent even a mention of treating drug addiction or decriminalizing drugs and treating them as a public health crisis. Why?

Decriminalizing drugs and treating addiction as a health problem were notably absent from Dixon's list of proposals. I can't blame her. Suggesting bold, risky and innovative proposals is no way to get elected mayor.

Will any viable Democrat dare utter the "D" word? I share in Kane's doubts, but I value his normally conservative voice advocating a radical change in perspective.

2007 Baltimore City Democratic Primary Roundup 6/5/07

Round 'em up.

Classic Earl Weaver

Sums up my feelings being an Oriole's fan recently. Warning, extremely graphic language contained in the following clips.

Earl Weaver on Manager's Corner



Perhaps the Orioles are now in Baltimore for one specific reason...

Hat tip to The Hedgehog Report (the best source for Republican Commentary in Maryland)

Glen Greenwald Gets it Right as Usual

Check it:

It is easy sometimes to lose sight of how extreme a period this is in America's history, how profoundly our national character has been degraded and how fundamentally our country's core has changed over the last six years.

I just have to pull some more:

To the extent that the "conservative base" has split with the President at all on the question of "expanding governmental authority and power," it has been on the ground that they think he has not expanded such power and authority enough. They crave more.

The "conservative base" in the last GOP presidential debate reserved their cheers for Mitt Romeny's moronic call to "double Guantanamo," and for Tom Tancredo's yearning for Jack Bauer. The more enthusiastically a candidate defended torture and lawless detentions, the louder the cheers were. The "conservative base" favors torture, and arbitrary detention powers, and oversight-less surveillance -- even beyond what the Bush administration has embraced.

Oh man, and finally (emphasis mine):

The reason that it is news that the U.S. tortures, but not news that Al Qaeda does, is because Al Qaeda is a barbaric and savage terrorist group which operates with no limits, whereas the U.S. is supposed to be something different than that. Isn't it amazing that one even needs to point that out?

No one pans modern conservatism as well as Glen Greenwald.

Baltimore Mayoral Race on the Web

Please check out my review of the websites of the Democratic candidates for Mayor of Baltimore City in 2007.

Greenwald: Fred Thompson far from a Regular Conservative Guy

Greenwald as usual, is right on target.

There is nothing in Fred Thompson's life that he has actually done that makes him "a tough guy" in the sense Fineman means it, nor is there anything that makes him a "cultural conservative." If anything, what his life actually is -- his behavior in reality -- seems to negate those characterizations.

But the illusion of manliness cliches, tough guy poses, and empty gestures of "cultural conservatism" are what the Republican base seeks, and media simpletons like Fineman, Halperin and Matthews eat it all up just as hungrily. That's how thrice-divorced and draft-avoiding individuals like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh become media symbols of the Christian "values voters" and "tough guy," "tough-on-defense" stalwarts.

And it's how a life-long Beltway lobbyist and lawyer who avoided Vietnam, standing next to his twenty-five-year-younger second wife, is held up by our media stars as a Regular-Guy-Baptist symbol of piety and a no-nonsense, tough-guy, super-masculine warrior who will protect us all.

Read it all.