prison camps

Everybody must get stoned

I can’t imagine why this would be so:

Marijuana is the top cash crop in the US, a report released on Monday says.

It says that despite intensive eradication plans, $35bn (£18bn) worth of the illegal drug is produced a year - more than corn and wheat combined.

The study was prepared by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst who advocates reform of US marijuana laws.

Using government reports, Mr Gettman estimates that 10,000 metric tons of marijuana are produced annually in the country.

So, why can’t the Republicans let “the magic of the marketplace” do its work, and stop throwing all these hard-working entrepreneurs in jail?  Read more 

The Bush gulag: Where are the bodies? Press won't ask

Once more let’s do some very simple arithmetic:

  1. We know that we’re holding thousands of prisoners (estimates range from 7,000 to 35,000).
  2. Gitmo holds only 500.
  3. So, where are the missing thousands? The only alternatives I can think of:
    1. They’ve been released
    2. They’re still in jail
    3. They’ve been disappeared.

Barring divine intervention, the bodies of the missing thousands occupy time and space in this world. Where are they?

Which door would you choose? (a), released? (b), still in jail? Or (c), disappeared?

Today, we have two stories on the Bush gulag, one from WaPo, and the other from AP.

Notably, neither comes close to answering the question:

Where are the missing thousands?

In fact, both stories fail to answer the question, both by orders of magnitude.  Read more