yet another bloodbath caused by unconscionable U.S. drug policy

Unsurprisingly, the U.S. media, while dutifully reporting the ongoing street violence in Jamaica, has been rather lax in reporting the true cause of these events: The War On Drugs.

The real story is that the USDOJ has for months been exerting pressure on the Jamaican prime minister to arrest and extradite a Jamaican "drug lord" wanted in New York on drugs and weapons charges. The prime minister, finally bowing to this pressure, went into his stronghold in a Kingston slum with guns blazing. Results were predictable: at least 60 killed so far, most of which appear to be innocent bystanders.

"The violence shows no signs of abating and has spread to adjoining neighborhoods." The linked article, of course, contains no word of criticism or analysis regarding the wisdom of provoking a massive gun battle in the streets of a densely populated neighborhood for the purpose of (slightly) inhibiting the supply of cocaine and marijuana to the United States, where, needless to say, there is a rather high demand for this product.

Jamaica, of course, does not appear to have much of a drug problem, per se, except insofar as its neighboring country, a wealthy and powerful global hegemon (that would be us), is apparently rather insistently forcing its own "drug problem" onto Jamaica (and into its streets, with maximum deadly violence, accompanied by the inevitable social and economic disruption).

A policy with these results is clearly sociopathic, and begins to approach my own personal definition of "evil".

Hope and Change, Ctd

Noted apartheid advocate governor Jan Brewer has written a letter to President Obama requesting that he dispatch military drones to patrol the Arizona-Mexico border. She is "aware of how effective these assets have become in Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom". Yes, so, so effective.

Any doubt that this will happen sooner or later? Why not just skip the half-measures and deploy B-52s dropping cluster bombs? Or better yet, just salt the entire border with anti-personnel mines. But I guess that might be a bridge too far for our Peace Prize Winner -- at least until the crazies scream loud enough so that not doing it becomes a "political liability" or some such.

Hope and Change

In an escalation of the drug war, and to "blunt" attacks by xenophobic and racist assholes in Arizona, Obama is sending 1,200 troops and half a billion dollars to Mexican border:

President Barack Obama is ordering up to 1,200 additional National Guard troops to the border area and requesting an additional $500 million from Congress to slow the flow of migrants.

In addition to the troops, the funding will be used to increase Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security activities at the border with Mexico “to include increased agents, investigators, and prosecutors, as part of a multi-layered effort to target illicit networks trafficking in people, drugs, illegal weapons, and money,” an administration official said Tuesday.

LOST (Spoiler!@#$%^%)

I think "they all died in the plane crash" is a pretty good ending. And the finale was a well-executed, crowd-pleasing tear-jerker. The final 4 seasons never measured up to the first two, but I'm glad I watched to the end. Solid A- as far as these things go (not every series can end as brilliantly as The Sopranos, after all).

"what worked and what didn't work"

Obama announces a commission to investigate the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Quote: "I want to know what worked and what didn't work in our response to the disaster, and where oversight of the oil and gas industry broke down."

Two points here: (1) You're going to find out "what worked"? That will be a very short list indeed. (2) The "oversight of the oil and gas industry", if there is such a thing, is in a state of breaking down, right now, as we speak, with every passing moment. Whatever BP is doing to ameliorate the situation -- and I assume they are doing quite a lot (out of self interest, of course, not out of any kind of concern about the damage itself) -- they are expending even more of their resources in an effort to obfuscate the true extent of the disaster and to protect themselves against the resulting damage to themselves.

"they did so reluctantly"

Another $33.5 Billion for our various wars. Add that to the money already appropriated by our Nobel Peace Price winner and our Democratic congress, and that oughta get us through the next coupla months. Great country we have here.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate committee on Thursday approved another $33.5 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq this year, although some members said they did so reluctantly.

...

Chairman Daniel Inouye said he hoped the Senate would act on the legislation by the end of May. The money comes on top of about $130 billion that Congress already approved for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars through September 30 of this year.

headlines you won't see

Armstrong implicated in cheating scandal

Disgraced fellow cyclist alleges Armstrong cheated death through the use of scientifically advanced techniques such as drug injections, irradiation of body parts, blood transfusions, other cutting edge medical technology.

Armstrong denies charges; says: "I beat cancer through hard work and determination alone."

Jack Bauer is Hannibal Lecter (with a Righteous Vendetta)

Greatest episode of 24 ever? The beady shit-scared Nixon Face of President Charles Logan as Jack Bauer dramatically closes in.

Ok, maybe not the greatest episode ever. But definitely the best 24 scene ever. (The one in the auto-tunnel (obviously).)

By the way: Blog Note: I'm thinking I'm going to post some stuff here from time to time. Probably not any long form commentary, just links and some snark, on occasion.