Tuesday, February 5, 2002
Drugs and Terror: Understanding the Link and the Impact on America
From Rob Walker I snagged a defense of the Super Bowl drugs==terrorism ads.
Buying and using illegal drugs is not a victimless crime-it has negative consequences that can touch the lives of people around the world.
My view is that the negative consequences
are largely attributable to the fact that the large demand for these illegal products is supplied entirely by criminals. Is that a tautology?
I might not be thinking too clearly, because I've been listening to music from the battle scene at the beginning of Gladiator. It's really cool - Holst's Mars: The Bringer of War is quoted throughout. I have that track repeating along with another tune from the movie, Now We Are Free (recorded by Enya). I guess I could switch to some other songs, but I'm kind of hypnotized by it.
More on drugs and terrorism
Mark Pilgrim
Lots of people have weighed in on thejust say no, or the terrorists winanti-drug commercials from last night's superbowl. Reactions:
Dave Winer
What's coming next. A link between abortion and terrorism?
John Robb
We support terrorism more through the purchase of fine oil products than drugs
David Kurtz
I almost choked on a pretzel
Andy Kashdan
the ads forgot to mention that the war on drugs is what makes it such a profitable business for terrorists
Rob Walker
Of all the various attempts to use tragedy to make a point, this is among the most transparently manipulative
Geov Parrish
this particular argument is nonsense on several levels
Ken Hagler
as a Libertarian I favor legalizing drugs
Rob Bender
there is a serious logic flaw here
MetaFilter
Is the war on drugs back in full force?
Kuro5hin
Logically speaking... the only alternative is legalize it
Free Republic
Blame the politicians who refuse to change America's expensive and counter-productive drug laws
indymedia
The government has gone out on a limb with this campaign
As Enron Turns
Even on a website with seemingly unlimited bits and bytes, there's never enough space to write about Enron's latest twists and turns.
There's really no way for me to keep up with all the fact-is-stranger-than-fiction stuff I keep hearing about this case.
Decoding Enron
...rather than being a thriving corporation brought down by accounting shenanigans, Enron at its core may have been a corporate mirage created to deceive the public while enriching insiders.
The Connectivity Infrastructure
Doc Searls
Why is it that consumers, backbone providers and big software and entertainment companies still don't know what the Net is all about? Bob Frankston has one answer.
Metaphors of Terror
George Lakoff
Everything we know is physically instantiated in the neural system of our brains. What we knew before September 11 about America, Manhattan, the World Trade Center, air travel, and the Pentagon was intimately tied up with our identities and with a vast amount of what we took for granted about everyday life.
Time to think big
CalledBeyond the Big Dig, the campaign will feature stories by the Globe's architecture critic Robert Campbell and other reporters, lively debate on the Globe's editorial and op ed pages, four programs on WCVB's Chronicle show, an interactive site on Boston.com, two largescale community meetings in April and May and a town forum in Faneuil Hall on May 30.
The Central Artery is coming down, and a mile long strip of public space will become available for development. It bothers me (although it doesn't really surprise me) that with all the money and all the talk that has gone into the Big Dig, there's still not much of a plan for what to do with all the newly freed space. Part of the problem (I think) is that the state owns most of the land, and the Turnpike Authority is the default manager. Thus the government entity that has the most interest in the land (the city of Boston) has very little legal authority. This ought to be changed.
The stock you love to hate
Alex Beam
Do you know why I own Philip Morris stock? Just to tick you off.
I don't own any Philip Morris stock (at least not directly - I'm sure there's some of it in my mutual funds). However, this is not for any philosophical reasons - I just prefer not to invest in individual companies (although I suppose there's some philosophy in that...). I don't smoke cigarettes, but as long as you don't blow smoke in my face, I don't see how it's any of my business what you do to your body.
Super Bowl anti-drug/terrorist ads were dishonest 'Super Bowloney'
Libertarian Party Press ReleaseThe War on Drugs is a price support system for terrorists and drug pushers, he [Ron Crickenberger] said.It turns ordinary, cheap plants like marijuana and poppies into fantastically lucrative black market products. Without the War on Drugs, the financial engine that fuels terrorist organizations would sputter to a halt.
I don't use illegal drugs, and don't condone their use, but the War on Drugs is one war that I (perhaps naiively) think we might be able to end.
Why Is There So Much Money in Politics?
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk
We ought to be asking ourselves why corporations and interest groups are willing to give politicians millions of dollars in the first place. Obviously their motives are not altruistic. Simply put, they do it because the stakes are so high. They know government controls virtually every aspect of our economy and our lives, and that they must influence government to protect their interests.
Jason Kottke
IFILM has all the 2002 Super Bowl ads archived.
I didn't notice these while watching the game, but Philip Morris had two anti-smoking commercials directed at kids. While I agree with the message that kids should be discouraged from smoking, there's something about the messenger that bothers me...
Then there were the two commercials from the "White House Office of Drug Control Policy"...
where do terrorists get their money?
if you buy drugs
some of it might come from you.
I don't know if terrorists get their funding from drug money. Probably some of them do. (Although the Taliban actually banned growing poppies...) However, the argument that drug use supports terrorism falls apart when you consider the reason that selling drugs is a high profit activity - it provides an item which is in high demand, but whose supply is artificially contrained by prohibition. Without that prohibition, marijuana and poppies are just a couple of weeds. So...
where do terrorists get their money?
if you criminalize drugs
some of it might come from you.
OTOH, I thought the Bud Light: Bird Handler was really funny.
