Brief Wrap Up

1) New York's state legislature finally did something and got Pataki to get off his ass and change the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Too bad the changes made are pretty insignificant. Yes, 8 to 20 is better than 15 years to life just for having a couple of ounces of drugs, but it still doesn't do anything about the real problem: mandatory minimums. Mandatory mininums should never, ever exist. They handcuff judicial discretion and jeopardize the three-branch system of government.


The changes were simply not far-reaching enough. While I do personally know some people who stand a good chance at getting out of prison now, I also know a whole bunch more guys who were sent up river for an unjust amount of time for whom these reforms will have no effect.

I'm also afraid that now that we have won a little ground, that people will walk away thinking they have won the war. We are far from reaching our goal, and I think a lot of people don't and won't realize it. I would love to talk about this more, but I don't have the time right now.


2) Everybody must read Mark Morford's column in the San Francisco Gate from last week. Yeah, I'm biting Sullivan's style by linking this, but it is a great piece of writing. Bam!


3) Read this, this,
this, and this

If you haven't figured it out yet, they're all on the same topic: troops questioning the war.

On a personal note, I just got to say that when a soldier asks Rumsfeld "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles" it really burns my britches. I mean, who does this soldier think he is? How dare he question the war! Doesn't he know that by doing so he puts our soldiers in harms way? Does he not support our troops? I liked soldiers better when they were cool and just wanted more Marlboro's, not when they actually question why their lives are placed in needless danger. You know, I'm pretty sure war is dangerous enough without our government shortchanging the troops.