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August 15, 2010
Giant Steps Backward
Today is one of those days that’s tough on optimists.The lead story in today’s NYT confirms my worst fears about the direction being taken by the Obama Administration: now well into its second year, it seems more deeply committed to failed policies; not just of their immediate predecessors, but also of the first Nixon Administration, which launched our disastrous war on drugs right after starting secret wars in Laos and Cambodia trying to salvage “victory” in Vietnam (or at least avoid the onus of “losing").
The reasons for their failures are as old as history: foreign invaders are resented by every population, especially if they are culturally different and their duties include killing the people they claim to be protecting. “Victory” in Afghanistan became even more elusive when killings by drone aircraft became a form of extra-judicial murder and it had to be admitted that some had been misdirected against innocent civilians.
Closer to home, the administration's support of Mexican President Calderon’s escalation of the drug war against Mexico’s cartels is more of the same; its outrageous death toll is ample evidence that it won’t succeed.
Finally; that marijuana is both the principal target of border interdiction and better palliation than the Pharmaceutical industry can offer for our distracted society's most common mood disorders is either tragic or ironic, depending on one's point of View.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at August 15, 2010 06:36 PM