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Lou's Blues
America's favorite floppy-jowled populist took aim at the gang at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition this week. Dobbs' reporter actually tries to deliver a straight news package. But Dobbs' of course doesn't do straight news anymore. And all this drug war capitulation talk nearly sends Lou into apoplexy. A few favorite excerpts from the broadcast:
DOBBS:...But despite the idiocy that surrounds border security, there is another idiocy rising up.
A group of law enforcement agents now say that effort is actually fueling drug trafficking and violence, and they say the answer is to end the war on drugs.
[...]
DOBBS: This idea of legalizing meth, Ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, what in the world are these people thinking about?
WIAN: Well, they say that the war on drugs has been a massive failure. That despite all the money that we've spent, the massive amount of resources, law enforcement resources and time, drugs are cheaper now than they've ever been, easier to obtain than they've ever been.
DOBBS: Right.
WIAN: More deadly than they've ever been and more addicts than we've ever had.
DOBBS: All that's true. But why in the world — you know, Casey, and you I have reported on that border. I've done reporting on that border for 30 — in that border in Mexico for more than 30 years. You and I both know that this country has never taken seriously either border security or shutting down those drug cartels. And that if we wanted to do it and we had the will to do it, we could do it, in short order.
Ah yes. Because it's only "lack of will" that's keeping us from winning this whole "drug war" deal once and for all.
Lou's closer is particularly weird:
And whether you're a libertarian, or whatever one might be, the fact is, we've got to get serious about not eating our young, which is what this nation is doing right now.
Setting aside the general creepiness of the analogy, I'd say that the wholesale feeding of young people into an unforgiving criminal justice system is a more apt description of "eating our young" than lacking the cojones to drop bunker-busters on Monterrey.
Entire transcript here .
|2.7.07 @ 11:45AM|#
" And that if we wanted to do it and we had the will to do it,
we could do it, in short order."
Git'cher Gloves Off, Amurrica! We Got Us Some Work Ta Do!
Dobbs/ Buchanan '08
-----------------
Fifteen or twenty years ago, I actually thought Lou was a pretty
smert guy.
Warren|2.7.07 @ 11:53AM|#
OK I'm backtracking on everything I said yesterday in the (day
before yesterday) thread about the woman that wanted to cut off her
own legs.
In Lou Dobbs case "He's nuts, he needs to be locked up for his own
good", is perfectly sound reasoning and in accord with libertarian
principals.
Alex|2.7.07 @ 11:57AM|#
We have got to finally, for once and for all get tougth and
fight a real drug war.
1) You get caught with any illegal substance, life in prison
without parole, no appeals alowed.
2) You get caught dealing, or with amounts that are "intent to
distribute", death penalty, to be carried out immediatly following
trial, no appeals allowed.
3) You are suspected of using or dealing, all your, your families
and friends possesions are taken away. 5 years in jail and you are
no longer allowed to have a job or get welfare, social security or
health care.
4) Randomly test everyone, you fail, life in prison.
5) Search everything entering the country.
6) Declare war on all source countries and bomb them all and kill
everyone there.
7) Build 100s of more prisons.
8) Hire millions more cops and guards.
9) Finance everthing through slave labor in prisons.
10) Implant GPS devices in everyone to monitor blood chemistry and
alert authorities if any substance is found.
11) Make all OTC drugs by prescription.
12) Ban alcohol, tobacco and caffeine.
13) Ban all opiate, and other prescriptions that may be addictive,
even for medical use.
lunchstealer|2.7.07 @ 12:17PM|#
drop bunker-busters on Monterrey
Pfft. Everybody knows you only need bunker busters against hardened
targets. Since they go off underground, you don't get enough area
of effect. Monterrey's not a good application for those kinds of
bombs. Daisy-cutters are the way to go there. Or, if that's "too
extreme" for you a few cluster bombs, or wave after wave of
incendiary bombs. And it's really for their own good too. Just
think of the boom to their economy when they have to rebuild the
entire country! Jobs for everybody!
|2.7.07 @ 12:53PM|#
I don't think we can refute the unreasoning, horrified response
that Dobbs demonstrates. We just have to socialize people out of
it.
The power of the "All that's true, but..." non-argument lies in the
perception that it is common sense which everyone agrees with. Once
drug warriors realize that it is not, they will have to argue on
the merits.
|2.7.07 @ 1:00PM|#
Dang, Alex, why be so lenient? Just carpetbomb the neighborhoods where they find drugs and leave it at that.
|2.7.07 @ 1:13PM|#
i avoid getting into these arguments by pointing out that there
can be no debate as long as the rightous feel that "no price is too
high" to protect our young from the dangers of illicit drug
use.
it is amusing though that i originally thought of the line in the
sand argument as a way to promote dialogue, but it turns out that
many drug warriors are proud of the limitlessness of the
"sacrifices" they are willing to make in the name of eradicating
drug use.
mike
Brad Warbiany|2.7.07 @ 1:36PM|#
Hmmm... We're eating our young by tossing bunches of them in
prison for nonviolent drug offenses. And we're eating the others by
taxing them to death paying to throw the "criminals" in jail.
If Dobbs wants us to stop eating our young, perhaps he should put
down the fork.
|2.7.07 @ 2:22PM|#
Lou, Lou, Lou, put down that coffee cup, NOW!! Everyone knows that caffeine is an entry level drug!! It comes from Columbia, maybe bankrolled by the dude from Venezuela. I've been sending my kids to the playground to buy a kilo now and then from the trunk of a car. If I get caught I'm going to rehab. Hey, I'm a white guy.
|2.7.07 @ 2:39PM|#
How many times must I say this? The war on drugs is not a failure. It's been one of the most successful government programs ever.
|2.8.07 @ 8:12AM|#
Alex:
You have some excellent ideas, but they would cost tens of
billions. No, what the government needs to do is engineer
microscopic, self-replicating parasites that can reside in
marijuana and opium plants.
Once these parasites enter into the blood stream, they make their
way to the brain stem, and slowly grow. The host would become very
susceptible to suggestion, making them open to anti-drug
propaganda. However, by that time, it would be too late. As the
parasite...crawls...the host would fall into madness. And
then...death.
Yes, this is a bit icky. But make omelet, break eggs, yada yada
yada.
Larry A|2.8.07 @ 12:03PM|#
The power of the "All that's true, but..." non-argument lies
in the perception that it is common sense which everyone agrees
with. Once drug warriors realize that it is not, they will have to
argue on the merits.
Not really. Drug warriors, like the war on guns, war on poverty,
war on gays folks, cannot afford to argue on the merits of their
positions. There are among them who know the truth and are hiding
it for other motives, and those who will not allow themselves to
see the truth.
What has to happen is for everyone else (or at
least a significant minority of us) perceive that their arguments
aren't "common sense."
Edward|2.9.07 @ 12:55PM|#
Libertarians assume that our species is rational while unwittingly providing ample evidence that it isn't. We all cherry pick evidence to bolster our preferred orthodoxy and ignore everything that undermines it. Realism is the enemy of all ideology.
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