Interesting People mailing list archives
Change in Washington
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:39:51 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Date: January 15, 2009 11:11:29 AM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: anonymize if you post this subject: Change in Washington Please anonymize and kindly consider posting to IP list -----------------------clip----------------------------Somewhere during the election cycle I submitted an idea to the Obama camp and, not surprisingly, they added me to their newsletter. Yesterday I was
invited via a customized letter from a 'Valerie Jarrett' of theObama-Biden Transition Project to participate in something they call 'the
Citizen's Briefing Book'. Valerie writes: "It's an online forum where you can share your ideas, and rate or offercomments on the ideas of others. The best-rated ones will rise to the top,
and after the Inauguration, we'll print them out and gather them into a binder like the ones the President receives every day from experts andadvisers. If you participate, your idea could be included in the Citizen's
Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama." Yesterday marked the start of the third round of citizen comments and voting. The topics are varied but in each of the three rounds the "top issue" proposed by the citizenry and voted to the top of the list is basically the same issue. Before we get to that issue I'd like to point out a few things: in 2005 Forbes Magazine writes:"Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the
U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of () and the potential revenue gains from the U.S." in 1995 Walter Cronkite, arguably the greatest newsman of the last century, presented on the Discovery Channel a new idea: "Well, it seems to this reporter that the time has come for President Clinton to do what President Hoover did when () was tearing the nation apart: appoint a bi-partisan commission of distinguished citizens () a blue-ribbon panel to re-appraise our () policy right down to its verycore, a commission with full investigative authority and the prestige and
power to override bureaucratic concerns and political considerations.Such a commission could help us focus our thinking, escape the cliches
of () in favor of scientific fact, and more rationally analyze the real scope of the problem, answer the questions that bedevil us, and present a comprehensive drug policy for the future. We cannot go into tomorrow with the same formulas that are failing today. We must not blindly add to the body count and the terrible cost of (), only to learn from another Robert McNamara 30 years from now that what we've been doing is, "wrong, terribly wrong." Goodnight." In July 2006 the BBC reported: "[Professor David Nutt, a senior member of the Committee] The Science Select Committee said the present system was based on historical assumptions, not scientific assessment. BBC News has seen details of asystem devised by government advisers which was considered by former Home
Secretary Charles Clarke" So what is "The Topic":If you haven't figured it out by now, the topic at hand is the failed war
on drugs. In each of these three forums held on Obama's Change.gov site the top issue has been the same, often by a large margin (currently only 7%). If the citizens, through their voting, truly want this issue discussed why is nobody in today's major media even addressing it? Change.gov "popular ideas" http://tinyurl.com/99sou4 More links, the first might be an eye opener: Proposed reclassification chart (BBC): http://tinyurl.com/2y93pu Reclassification plan (BBC): http://tinyurl.com/mn2ka Friedman & 500 top economists Support (Forbes Mag): http://tinyurl.com/7vwe3h Cronkite's Summary (drcnet.org): http://tinyurl.com/9tonmt Cronkite Video (you tube): Part one of the 6 part video http://tinyurl.com/86uru3 My rant:Is it not obvious to every thinking person that resolving this prohibition
would reduce law enforcement costs dramatically? Did you know that lobbying by DuPont, who held the patent on nylon rope, helped destroy the market for hemp rope?Did you know that farmers in America were required to grow help to support
the revolutionary war? Did you know that Anslinger pushed for marijuana laws based on racial issues? (Only colored people smoked DOPE). Why are the Dutch so much smarter than we? Has anybody in the media even seen the citizens briefing book? http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/ideaList.apexp?c=09a800000004fo6&lsi=2 ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Change in Washington David Farber (Jan 15)
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- Re: Change in Washington David Farber (Jan 15)