Change in Washington

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

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From:
Date: January 15, 2009 11:11:29 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: anonymize if you post this  subject: Change in Washington

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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 the
Obama-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 offer
comments 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 and
advisers. 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 very
core, 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 a
system 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









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