Pot’s danger downgrade in new anti-drug ads sends a mixed message. It's in conflict with years of propaganda.
Please imagine a teenager sitting on his friends couch, holding that first joint. This is a big leap for him, ignoring years of indoctrination, contemplating the small white cylinder in his hand. It looks harmless. It smells good. The allure of rebellion inherent in the act calls out to him.
I think we all know how this little scenario usually unfolds. And it’s not with the “just say no” ending our legislators and court systems want to hear.
Billions have been poured into anti-drug ad campaigns aimed at keeping our nation’s youth off that devil’s weed. […]
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Tags: Current Events · Drugs · Marijuana
What do you get when you cross the Christian Coalition and pro-gun advocates with MoveOn.org and the Feminist Majority? If you guessed a brawl of epic proportions, you’d be wrong. These groups, and others from across the political spectrum, are actually working together towards a common goal: saving the Internet as we know it.
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Tags: Current Events · Internet · Media · Net Neutrality · Technology
Washington super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff is falling fast-and taking a lot of Capitol Hill's corruption with him
A congressional plague is reaching critical mass.
“I don’t think we’ve had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes,” writes Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. “It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections.”
Patient Zero of this plague is Washington K-Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Patient Zero of this plague is Washington K-Street lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Plame case might grab the headlines, but Abramoff is regarded as the sharpest stake pressed against the heart of the Republican Party. He will become a household name in 2006.
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Tags: Current Events · Corruption · Lobby · Politics
You might think people would find it disturbing that George W. Bush’s political “Architect” grew up idolizing Richard Nixon.
Or, that one of his favorite tricks to play in his college republican days was to steal Democratic campaign stationary and direct mail the entire country invitations to a fictitious Democratic keg party.
But the world of politics is a sordid place. It’s to be expected that someone hailed as the most influential advisor to a sitting president would grow up with a fondness for dirty tricks.
On a long enough timeline, however, everyone’s survival rate drops to zero. Even Karl Rove.
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Tags: Current Events · Corruption · Karl Rove · Politics