Friday, December 31, 2004
Wishing everyone peace, health, and happiness in
2005. Dream big and crow loudly in the year of the rooster....
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 10:56:22 AM -
Why Does Archbishop
Desmond Tutu Hate Our Christian Moral Values? In an interview with MSNBC,
the nobel prize winner slams George Bush. "I had naively believed all these many
years that Americans genuinely believed in freedom of speech. [But I] discovered
there that when you made an utterance that was remotely contrary to what the
White House was saying, then they attacked you. For a South African the déjà vu
was frightening. They behaved exactly the same way that used to happen here
[during apartheid]—vilifying those who are putting forward a slightly different
view."
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 10:38:07 AM -
RON KAMPIA,
MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT
Twenty-five-year-old Weldon Angelos celebrated Christmas in federal prison this year ... just like he'll do every year until he's 80. Last month, Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison for selling marijuana to undercover police officers. As U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell pointed out at sentencing, that's more time than he would have received if he had hijacked an airplane (25 years), beaten someone to death in a fight (13 years), or raped a 10-year-old child (11 years). In fact, the maximum sentence for all those crimes combined is less than the federal mandatory minimum sentence for a drug felony involving a gun. (Angelos was carrying a gun at the time of his arrest, although he never brandished it or threatened anyone.)
The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case justified putting Angelos -- a first-time offender and father of two -- behind bars for 55 years by saying that he was a "purveyor of poison" who got what he deserved. (The "poison" was marijuana, which has never killed anyone.)
Angelos isn't alone in having his life destroyed by the government's war on marijuana users:
- Jonathan Magbie died three months ago while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a jail in Washington, D.C. Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic, used marijuana to treat his chronic pain. He was unable to breathe on his own, and the jail -- unequipped to meet his medical needs -- allowed him to die while in custody.
- Last year, a 19-year-old Florida college student was brutally raped by his cellmate while serving the first of four weekends in jail for a small-scale marijuana offense.
- And the year before that, 20-year-old Jose Colon - just months away from being the first in his family to obtain a college degree - was shot and killed by police in a raid in which eight ounces of marijuana were seized. Colon wasn't even a suspect. He just happened to be visiting the house being raided, and he had no drugs or weapons on him.
Twenty-five-year-old Weldon Angelos celebrated Christmas in federal prison this year ... just like he'll do every year until he's 80. Last month, Angelos was sentenced to 55 years in prison for selling marijuana to undercover police officers. As U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell pointed out at sentencing, that's more time than he would have received if he had hijacked an airplane (25 years), beaten someone to death in a fight (13 years), or raped a 10-year-old child (11 years). In fact, the maximum sentence for all those crimes combined is less than the federal mandatory minimum sentence for a drug felony involving a gun. (Angelos was carrying a gun at the time of his arrest, although he never brandished it or threatened anyone.)
The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case justified putting Angelos -- a first-time offender and father of two -- behind bars for 55 years by saying that he was a "purveyor of poison" who got what he deserved. (The "poison" was marijuana, which has never killed anyone.)
Angelos isn't alone in having his life destroyed by the government's war on marijuana users:
- Jonathan Magbie died three months ago while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a jail in Washington, D.C. Magbie, a 27-year-old quadriplegic, used marijuana to treat his chronic pain. He was unable to breathe on his own, and the jail -- unequipped to meet his medical needs -- allowed him to die while in custody.
- Last year, a 19-year-old Florida college student was brutally raped by his cellmate while serving the first of four weekends in jail for a small-scale marijuana offense.
- And the year before that, 20-year-old Jose Colon - just months away from being the first in his family to obtain a college degree - was shot and killed by police in a raid in which eight ounces of marijuana were seized. Colon wasn't even a suspect. He just happened to be visiting the house being raided, and he had no drugs or weapons on him.
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 10:37:27 AM -
