Getting smart with the "war on drugs", and responding to a House Negro.

Now this is what I am talking about. Even folks in law enforcement are finally getting wise about the drug problem in this country.

"First the California NAACP endorsed it. Now the National Black Police Association voiced support for a measure to legalize marijuana.

On the common sense marijuana meter, score it black folks 2, white folks 0.

Proposition 19, on the California ballot to legalize, tax and regulate pot, is a measure that's time has come.

Too many public resources are wasted chasing petty pot dealers, and there is growing evidence that marijuana laws are unevenly applied by police in the streets when it comes to race.

But race has little to do with why marijuana should be legalized. It simply isn't a big deal for many Americans these days. It makes little sense to criminalize an act that lots of Americans take part of in the quiet and privacy of their own homes.

I would rather see the money used for pot prosecution go for violent criminals - the type of people who really lower the quality of our lives...." [Story]

I say amen! And, for the record, yes I am Jamaican, but I never touch the stuff. Hell if it wasn't for these pictures I wouldn't even know what it looks like........

Here in Philly we are taking steps to make possession of the stuff a summary offense. Which is a step in the right direction. The court system is overloaded as it is with cases that shouldn't be there. Let's start thinking outside the box with this war on drugs, people.

Finally speaking of being on drugs; I hate to give this blogger some shine, but she called me out, so I have to go there. (I feel like Derek Jeter going to bat against Little League pitching, but this is the path I chose.) Girlfriend is my current HNOTD, and apparently she took offense.

"Yesterday, a blogger styling himself as the Field Negro dubbed me the "House Negro of the Day":

(JULIETTE OCHIENG) I SWEAR SOME OF YOU NEGROES MUST GET PAID BY THE WORD TO SAY DUMB STUFF. THIS CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER CALLS THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO A "SECURITY RISK". SAYING DUMB S#*T JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN IS ALWAYS HNB

[Link added by me; don't worry--it leads to my post, "Beacon."]

Field Negro--may I call you Negro?--would it actually hurt you to expound on why you think my opinion is "dumb?"

Show you lack of "dumbness" by explaining to your readers how building such a mosque--set to be funded and "pastored" by a person who has continually called for the the implementation of Sharia law in the United States--is not a security risk. Take it step by step.

I can further defend my position. Are you capable of defending yours? I'd sure like to read it. You never know--if you're premises are sound and your conclusion follows logically from them, I would be compelled to change my opinion. In case you have never heard of this concept, it's called 'intellectual honesty.' Try it, you'll like it--eventually.

Otherwise, I merely write you off as one of the conditioned."

Ms. House Negro, you may call me whatever you like, just as long as you don't call me collect. Now let me "expound" -just a little-on why I think your opinion is dumb:

You argue that putting this Mosque two blocks from Ground Zero would put Americans at risk because the leader of the Mosque believes in a strict form of Islamic law. (Sharia) That, in of itself, is ludicrous. I am not connecting the dots between an interpretation of an ancient religious philosophy and bombs dropping on suburbia. And, just for argument sake, let's assume that Faisal Abdul Rauf does believe in the most negative and regressive form of Sharia law as you allege; what difference would it make if he built his Mosque a block from Ground Zero or in Jersey City?

But my rebuttal above assumes that you were right about Rauf and his position when it comes Sharia Law. You were not. Only a person whose mind has been poisoned by right wing ideology -A poison that was inflicted by the likes of Newt Gingrich- could view a man who has published writings such as this in such spurious and mendacious manner. Parroting right wing talking points to score "brownie points" with your ideological soul mates does not make you a critical thinker, or, for that matter, someone capable of "intellectual honesty". It makes you a fraud, and a fraud of the worse kind: one whose sole purpose in life is to remain in the comfort of a poorly constructed house.

I hope you didn't trip over my steps.