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Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War!
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INSIGHT
"Tyranny, like fog in the well known poem, often creeps in silently
'on little cat feet.'" --Ronald Reagan {} "Those who know how to win
are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of
their victories." --Polybius {} "Power when wielded by abnormal
energy is the most serious of facts." --Henry Brooks Adams {}
"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." --Henry David
Thoreau {} "Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired." --Titus
Maccius Plautus {} "To fear the worst oft cures the worse."
--William Shakespeare {} "The study of history is a powerful
antidote to contemporary arrogance." --Paul Johnson {} "A government
that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of
Paul." --G.B. Shaw {} "Democracy and socialism have nothing in
common save one word -- equality; socialism seeks equality in
restraint and servitude, while democracy seeks equality in liberty."
--Alexis de Tocqueville
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UPRIGHT
"The real threat, as seen by the ACLU, is that religious behavior
might give secular behavior a bad name, and that is, surely,
unconstitutional." --William F. Buckley {} "For a man without a
sense of God's eternal kingdom is but half free, and will always be a
slave to the loneliness and desperation of slow-growing time." --Doug
Bandow {} "From the students of today will come the teachers,
lawyers, journalists and other influential citizens of the future.
That is scary." --Nat Hentoff ++ "American parents have surrendered
their responsibility for the education of their children to government
-- and increasingly to the Imperial Federal Government. The results
aren't good." --Neil Boortz {} "When whites questioned the
conventional wisdom on [race] issues, it was considered bad form; when
blacks did so, it was treason.'' --Justice Clarence Thomas {} "It
was abortion that introduced Americans to the concept of disposable
human life." --Charles Colson {} "The surest way to avoid being
drawn into a war is to deter it." --Paul Greenberg ++ "We cannot
just pretend that none of this is happening, that all is well with
China, and that it really is evolving into a democratic state. Only if
we delude ourselves will we endanger our own liberties." --Paul M.
Weyrich ++ "Highest we place the strategic interests of the United
States. And these demand that the PRC should feel the high cost of
reckless behavior." --Wm. F. Buckley ++ "The incident in the China
sea has made it clear to those who did not want to admit it that China
isn't a strategic partner after all." --Phyllis Schlafly ++ "In still
Red China, it's still '1984'." --Paul Greenberg ++ "When the Chinese
government and the Chinese people disagree, the people get mowed down
by tanks." --Mona Charen ++ "One thing we can expect is more bull
from the China shop." --Lyn Nofziger
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EDITORIAL EXEGESIS
"[Democrats express] a sense of weariness that Clinton, even out of
office, is in such a familiar fix: in damage-control mode for behavior
that most other leaders of his party find hard to defend."
--Washington Post
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SECOND OPINION
DEA -- DOA
"If the zeal to eliminate drugs leads this state and nation to forsake
its ancient heritage of constitutional liberty, then we will have
suffered a far greater injury than drugs ever inflict upon us. Drugs
injure some of us. The loss of liberty injures us all." --Chief
Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
Events this week have brought the "war on drugs" to the forefront of
national attention. The Bush administration appears poised to name
John Walters director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Walters is reportedly a "hard-liner" who favors stringent enforcement
of drug laws and long prison sentences for drug users.
Last Friday, missionary Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter
were killed in Peru when their aircraft was mistaken for a drug
trafficker's plane and shot down. The deaths of these two innocents
are heartrending, raising hard questions about the cost-benefit
calculations for the drug war.
Just what are the real costs of the war on drugs, in terms of social
divisions, criminal gang facilitation, criminal justice system costs,
costs of increased public and private security, military
interventions, and costs to families caught up in the drug war?
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports arrests of 40,383
offenders in 1999. The central government spends about $18 billion a
year in the drug war. Americans spent approximately $66 billion on
illegal drugs in 1998 -- the price of those drugs inflated by their
illegality. Drug users committed millions of crimes to fund their drug
habit. The Wall Street Journal reports: "The federal prison population
in the U.S. is expected to soar by 31.8% by the 2006 budget year,
driven by mandatory drug sentences, even as the state prison
population levels off." The Department of Justice notes that in 1998,
drugs directly claimed the lives of 15,973 children. And the number of
drug gang involved young people killed, together with their innocent
victims, is perhaps equal to that figure. U.S. Customs estimates that
only 5 percent of the illegal drugs entering the United States are
intercepted.
(A footnote: If drug/gang-related murders committed with guns were
removed from our national mortality statistics, the Left's trademark
"gun problem" argument would lose its "statistical credibility" as the
number of deaths drops below even those in some European nations that
have outlawed handguns entirely.)
Current drug laws follow the Prohibition model, an experiment that
failed miserably with alcohol in the 1920s, after enactment of the
18th Amendment in 1919. That misguided endeavor was repealed by the
21st Amendment, ratified in late 1933, leaving the Constitution silent
on matters of drug use. (In fact, the Constitution lists only three
federal crimes: treason against the United States, piracy on the high
seas, and counterfeiting.)
Nevertheless, principles to guide lawmaking on the subject may be
derived from general powers assigned constitutionally to the Congress,
to the several states and to the people of the United States. The
Constitution's Article I, Section 8, assigns Congress the "power to
.. regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several
states, and with the Indian tribes," and "to define and punish
piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against
the Law of Nations; to ...make rules concerning captures on the land
and water...." These assigned powers place Congress fully within its
constitutional perimeters in making laws restricting importation of
drugs across U.S. borders and across state boundaries within our
nation. And defining international drug trafficking as illegal is
clearly within Congress's proper constitutional purview.
All other aspects of lawfulness of citizen drug use are left to the
state and local levels of government: This is assured by the 9th
Amendment's guarantee that rights not enumerated in the Constitution
are retained by the people, taken together with the 10th Amendment's
statement on federalism.
However, the DEA, with its existing activities, is incompatible with
this model of federally distributed drug policing powers. The DEA's
current structure dates to 1973, as the organization serves to enforce
the Controlled Substances Act passed by Congress in 1970. And the DEA
targets citizens who never themselves cross state or national borders,
or deal directly with others who do. Drug enforcement officers, most
of whom are competent and professional, are thus tasked with
prosecuting the drug war in a manner absolutely doomed to failure --
because fundamentally mismatched with our constitutional system of
government.
While the deaths of Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter have
received international attention, there is little coverage of the
people wrongly killed in our own country during drug raids. Criminal
justice professor Peter Kraska, of Eastern Kentucky University, has
found that police deployment of paramilitary squads has increased over
900% since 1980, and that local law enforcement agencies often rely on
federally affiliated military-style commando units to execute drug
warrants. Kraska has noted that over the last five years, more than
230 episodes have resulted in death or serious injury from drug
enforcement actions involving SWAT team raids on private homes --
often at wrong addresses or with unnecessary use of paramilitary
forces.
Illustrative of these domestic drug enforcement tragedies is the death
of 11-year-old Alberto Sepulveda on September 13th in Modesto,
California. After a 19-month federal drug investigation, combined
raiders from the DEA, the FBI and the Stanislaus County Drug
Enforcement Agency burst into the home Moises Sepulveda shared with
his wife and two sons. Alberto quickly complied with orders to lie
face down on the bedroom floor. Within seconds, a SWAT officer's
shotgun discharged into Alberto's back, killing him. "[I]f the SWAT
team is there, tragic accidents like this are much more likely to
happen. Is it worth putting an entire family at risk, for what is
sometimes a small amount of drugs, or small-time dealers?" asked
criminologist Kraska. (No drugs or weapons were discovered in the
Sepulveda home, and only $3,000 in cash.)
Among similar controversial incidents: In September 1999, SWAT team
members fatally shot Denver resident Ismael Mena, 45, while forcing
their way into the wrong house. In Southern California in a 1999
nighttime raid, Compton resident Mario Paz was shot in the back by
SWAT officers from nearby El Monte. Police later admitted they had no
evidence that the Paz family was involved in trafficking; they merely
had information the home had been used by a drug suspect.
And in Lebanon, Tennessee, five "intruders" broke through the front
door of the home of Mr. John Adams, 64, and his wife -- in the middle
of the night. Mr. Adams did what most Americans would do under similar
circumstances -- he attempted to defend his wife with a weapon he had
at hand, a shotgun. The intruders returned volley, shooting Mr. Adams
multiple times. He died shortly thereafter. That was the third
incident in a span of mere weeks, in which paramilitary police teams
executed narcotics search warrants at the wrong locations -- with
fatal consequences. In this case, the search warrant was for the house
next door.
This latest victim's name -- John Adams -- is supremely ironic. Our
Constitution's 4th Amendment established: "The right of the people to
be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath and
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized." Several drug-related measures
before Congress contrarily authorize warrant-free searches (for
instance, S. 2516, "The Fugitive Apprehension Act").
As Rep. Ron Paul aptly summed up, "Despite the various pleas for
federal correction of societal wrongs [including drug use and abuse],
a national police force is neither prudent nor constitutional. The
argument is that states are less effective than a centralized federal
government in dealing with individuals who flee one state for another
to avoid prosecution. The Constitution preserves the integrity of
states, and provides the means for them to exact penalties from those
who violate their laws, and the Constitution provides for the return
of fugitives from one state to another. There is, of course, an
inconvenience imposed upon states in working with one another, rather
than relying on a national police force. But there is a greater cost
to individual liberty from a centralized police power."
Upon review of the "total cost" of drug prohibition, and the
constitutionality of this futile exercise, The Federalist takes the
position that the current "war on drugs" presents a far greater risk
to liberty than the use of drugs ever has or ever will. We favor
restoration of federally separated and distributed drug laws and
policing authorities, with nuanced, rational dispensing of
proportionate justice that distinguishes addicts or abusers who harm
only themselves from those whose drug profiteering injures or
endangers others. As columnist Deroy Murdock observed: "The
alternative is to continue a War on Drugs that has torched $146
billion since 1990 while rolling and smoking the Bill of Rights."
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DEZINFORMATSIA
This week's "Non Compos Mentis" Award: As if the Leftmedia (CNN et
al.) were not already sufficiently Red, Barbara Streisand announced
that she wants to start her own television network. **We suppose it
would be called "BSTV." {} "So you can look me in the eye and say
that you are a President committed to cleaning up the environment."
--NBC's Matt Lauer to George Bush **Can't really imagine a
"journalist" in Walter Cronkite's era asking such an arrogant
question. ++ This week's "Leftmedia Eco-theology" Award: "Is it
gonna take some kind of a real catastrophe? I mean, does an iceberg
have to come floating down the Hudson before somebody stands up and
goes, 'Oh, yeah'?" --CBS talkinghead Bryant Gumbel on "global
warming." ++ This week's "Leftmedia Buster" Award: "This defines the
[Leftmedia's] perspective: Business represents the private interest,
the profit motive: Selfish Greed. The leave-no-tree-behind
environmental extremists, on the other hand, automatically are the
'public interest'." --L. Brent Bozell
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LEFTOVERS
>From the "Boogers and Hanks" File: "The numbers don't add up, and I
know there's boogers and hanks in them details." --Demo Rep. Cynthia
McKinney in a press release on Mr. Bush's tax plan. {} "I've waited
almost 20 years for the Democratic Party to shape up, and it keeps
getting worse." --Ralph Nader {} "...[T]he will of the people is
null and void." --Los Angeles Lefty mayoral candidate Antonio
Villaraigosa
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VILLAGE IDIOTS
This week's "Consummate Village-Celeb" Award: "My becoming a
'Christian' upset [Ted Turner] very much -- for good reason. He's my
husband and I chose not to discuss it with him -- because he would
have talked me out of it. He's a debating champion." --"Hanoi" Jane
Fonda **Ted could not outdebate a chimpanzee -- and, Jane, Christians
are best know by their deeds -- not their words. {} This week's
"Character-Deficit Disorder" Award: "[The Boy Scouts] are actively
and publicly participating in discrimination [against homosexuals.]
It's a real shame." --Stephen Spielberg, commenting on his resignation
from the BSA's national advisory board. {} From the "Village Academic
Curriculum" File: In addition to wearing his mother's scarves,
58-year-old Jarrett Pence, a government school psychologist in Punta
Gorda, Florida, "paints his nails to look like flags of his favorite
countries," according to the Associated Press. After being cited for
"poor judgment and erratic behavior, [Pence] filed a discrimination
complaint against his supervisors, saying if women are allowed to
paint their nails and wear scarves, men should be able to, too."
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SHORT CUTS
"...[T]he best reform of all would be to get rid of the current
federal income tax, and replace it with ... nothing." --Vin
Suprynowicz {} Interview exchange: "Well, that depends on your
definition of 'romantic'." -- "I see you're adopting the Clinton
defense." -- "Something happened, I just can't remember what." --
"Nice segue into a Ronald Reagan." -- "If truth be told, I passed out.
The rest is a blur." -- "Vintage Ted Kennedy." --J.P. Toomey in the
comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon" {} "They elected the symbol of
Ebonics to the presidency of this nation. There ain't no brother in
Oakland, or anywhere else, that would run the phrase or mix up the
words the way this cat does. It raises serious questions about whether
he's really white." --San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown on President
Bush {} "Just as abortion-loving Democrats maintain that no one is
in favor of abortion, they now claim they also want to make taxes
safe, legal and rare." --Ann Coulter {} "United States Senators take
the business of being a Senator very, very seriously. If they thought
they could get away with it, they would wear togas." --Rich Galen
Night Lines:
Leno.... Monday, President Bush will celebrate his one-hundredth day
in office. When asked about it, Bush said, "Gosh a hundred days, has
it been a year already?" .... Last Sunday was Earth Day and in
Malibu they had a big two-mile nature walk. This is the only place in
the world where people load up the Lincoln Navigator and drive 150
miles -- burning 40 gallons of gas -- then walk two miles to preserve
the environment. .... Did you see the rioting in Quebec at the big
Summit of the Americas? Quebec is a French word meaning Cincinnati. As
usual, they showed the protesters burning the American flag. I'll tell
you something, that American flag was made in Mexico and is being
burned in Canada, so free trade works! .... Al Gore has put on the
pounds. He's gotten big! Isn't it ironic. He always wanted to distance
himself from Bill Clinton, and now he is out of politics and
overweight. He IS Bill Clinton! In fact, the next time he goes to a
Buddhist temple, he'll be mistaken for the Buddha! .... Sad news.
Ted Turner and Jane Fonda have ended their separation and filed for
divorce. Jane immediately left to spend time with her loved ones --
the North Vietnamese!
Letterman.... Monday is the first one hundred days of the Bush
Presidency. He's accomplished a lot in those first 100 days. He's
nicknamed all the members of Congress and invited Billy Crystal over
for dinner in the White House. .... Last Sunday was Earth Day --
or, as George W. refers to it, Sunday! .... Today Al Gore stepped on
the scales and demanded a recount! .... Bill Clinton has a home
about 20 minutes north of here in a town called Chappaqua. Bill has
nothing to do, so he goes to this bar to hang out. He enjoys going to
bars more now, the more he drinks the more women look like Paula
Jones!
(**) Denotes Editor's Comment
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