Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 18:09:30 -0400 From: libertarianman27@home.com Subject: [lpaz-repost] Todd Andrew Barnett <libertarianman27@home.com> wants you to help oppose the John Walters drug czar nomination To: SSGSkyfire@aol.com, Sacred-Grove@egroups.com, michigan-pagans@egroups.com, apag4life@egroups.com, USAkane10@aol.com, HallowsEve1031@aol.com, libertarianman27@home.com, pagolibertarian@egroups.com, LPUS@dehnbase.org, lpaz-repost@yahoogroups.com Reply-To: libertarianman27@home.com
Please take two minutes to contact the Senate in opposition to the nomination of John Walters for the office of Director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (the "drug czar"). Walters is a fanatic who has enthusiastically praised the Peruvian military's practice of shooting down aircraft suspected of being used by drug traffickers. Last month, two American missionaries were killed in such a shoot-down, inevitable casualties of an extraordinarily reckless and immoral practice that violates international law.
Visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/walters/ to send a free e-mail or fax to your two US Senators asking them to vote NO on the Walters nomination. When you are done call them on the phone to make greater impact. Even if we don't succeed in stopping the nomination, raising our voices now will put pressure on the administration to moderate their drug policies.
Shooting down airplanes isn't the only extreme view John Walters holds on this issue. In 1996, Walters testified before Congress in opposition to the Sentencing Commission's recommendation to lower federal crack cocaine penalties to the same level as powder cocaine. Walters has dismissed the problem of racial bias in drug enforcement as an "urban myth," despite overwhelming evidence that such bias is rampant; for example, African Americans make up only 13% of the nation's drug users, yet account for more than 70% of drug incarcerations. His recommendation on cocaine penalties was made despite a consensus among srious observers of criminal justice that powder cocaine enforcement is also carried out in a racially discriminatory fashion.
As Deputy Director of ONDCP during the previous Bush administration, Walters favored incarceration over drug treatment and education. He has lobbied Congress for stiffer penalties for nonviolent drug offenders, and opposed state laws exempting medical marijuana users from criminal penalties.
In 1996, Walters coauthored a paper entitled "The Clinton Administration's Continuing Retreat in the War on Drugs." In truth, however, the Clinton Administration escalated the drug war, imprisoning more people for drug offenses than during the preceding Reagan and Bush administrations combined. To characterize the harsh Clinton drug war record as a "retreat" is to elevate partisan politics over truthful discussion and to show a deep disrespect to the American people on an issue of the greatest importance.
In short, the Walters drug record is one of propaganda, extremism and disregard for issues of racial equality. John Walters is unfit to lead the nation on drug policy, and should be rejected by the US Congress.
The Walters nomination has been criticized by mainstream news outlets such as the New York Times and the Economist, even by the conservative flagship magazine National Review. Visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/walters/ to access this and other information and to send a message to the Senate against this retrograde nomination -- and please call or fax your two US Senators and urge them to vote against the confirmation of John Walters as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Visit http://www.senate.gov to find out how to reach them, or call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Time is of the essence!
Community email addresses: Post message: lpaz-repost@onelist.com Subscribe: lpaz-repost-subscribe@onelist.com Unsubscribe: lpaz-repost-unsubscribe@onelist.com List owner: lpaz-repost-owner@onelist.com Web site: www.ArizonaLibertarian.org
Shortcut URL to this page: http://www.onelist.com/community/lpaz-repost
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/