You may find yourself saying "This is not my beautiful car. This is not my beautiful wife. This is not the Change I Can Believe In..."
That does it. I’m burning the Obama cap I got at the Democratic Convention. The man has lost his mind.
(White House) WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:
- Elisabeth Hagen, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety, Department of Agriculture
- Michele M. Leonhart, Administrator of Drug Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice
President Obama said, “The skill and dedication of these individuals will make them valued additions to my administration, and I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”
Michele M. Leonhart has nearly 30 years of experience as a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as DEA Deputy Administrator and became the Acting Administrator in 2007.
Anyone remember Candidate Obama talking about the Change We Can Believe In from the Bush Administration in regards to science?
(TPM) “My administration will value science,” Obama said, in what sounded like a pointed reference to his predecessor. “We will make decisions based on facts.”
With the appointment of Leonhart, we can forget about science and facts having any bearing on the actions of the Drug Enforcement Administration. For example, it is a fact that more Mexicans have been killed in the drug war in two years than Americans who have died in 9/11, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined and that death toll is directly attributable to American demand for marijuana we’re more than willing to grow for ourselves. Yet Michele Leonhart thinks piled up bodies of Mexican citizens and cops is a success:
(Stash) “Our view is that the violence we have been seeing is a signpost of the success our very courageous Mexican counterparts are having,” said Michele Leonhart, acting DEA administrator. “The cartels are acting out like caged animals, because they are caged animals.”
Leonhart also seems to have made a science out of wasting taxpayer dollars:
WASHINGTON — The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration spent more than $123,000 to charter a private jet to fly to Bogota, Colombia, last fall instead of taking one of the agency’s 106 planes.
When reputable scientists, backed by a finding of fact by the DEA’s own administrative law judge, apply to the DEA to study the medical efficacy of cannabis, Leonhart runs out the clock, delays, impedes, and finally rejects any attempt to value science and make decisions based on the facts.
(Stash) Professor Craker’s petition was rejected despite the opinion of DEA ALJ Bittner that granting Craker a license to grow marijuana “would be in the public interest.” Judge Bittner issued a comprehensive, 88-page nonbinding recommendation to DEA Deputy Administrator Michele Leonhart on February 12, 2007, following nine days of hearings, testimony and evidence presented by the ACLU and others on both sides of the issue.
While I’m happy about the Obama doctrine of not using federal resources to go after states following their medical marijuana laws, I still worry about such a die-hard drug war ideologue running the DEA. Maybe Obama had to go with Leonhart because nobody else would take the job anymore.
I see Karri’s changed her profile picture recently.
Fair enough. It’s a difficult balance to strike and you do an impressive job in finding it. I think your strategy, “The “hate-the-man” stakeholders can look at me and know I’m one of them and the “hate-the-hippies” types can read my words and realize they’d wrongly judged the book by the cover.” is a sensible and effective one. Only thing is, though, how many of the ‘hate the man’ types manage to cling to their values beyond the age of thirty? Yeah, sure, there are plenty, but is it really such a good idea to appease them? In their heart of hearts, I suspect, they might prefer you didn’t.
Not that I’d bring it up, but while we’re on the topic, one more thing I would point out about that particular picture is that it really doesn’t fit the image of you live. I’m not sure how to put this tactfully, so I’ll just come straight out with it: it looks as if you’re hanging onto an old photo because you’re afraid a more recent one might highlight some aspects of ageing which you’re not altogether happy about. You look more mature now than you were in the profile picture. That’s not such a bad thing. I shouldn’t think many people have gone off Cheech and Chong just because they’re not in their twenties anymore, although that was their heyday.
Point taken. But I’m not changing my look. There are plenty of folks in reform who have the “square” look down far more than I’ll be able to achieve. I am the bridge between the way-stony-lookin’ stakeholders in marijuana reform and the way-square-lookin’ folks with the money and connections. The “hate-the-man” stakeholders can look at me and know I’m one of them and the “hate-the-hippies” types can read my words and realize they’d wrongly judged the book by the cover.
Besides, I’m a radio guy – who cares what I look like?
“And he does have a point, Russ, however difficult he may find it to express himself tactfully. Now, please don’t take offence. I thoroughly enjoy your show and take no offence whatsoever to your image. The 64×64 profile icon, however… It may have been more appropriate to a time gone by when legalisation seemed pie in the sky and years away. Perhaps it IS time to give it another thought? Hell, you can’t even get a passport with a photo any more than six months old. Maybe the time’s come to have another picture made?”
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Well put. This was my original point of posting. Have a Panhead day out there. – kp
Don’t take it to heart, Russ. As you point out, you really need to bear in mind who’s making this comment. Talk about kettle calling pot black!
Just out of interest, I clicked on that poster’s name (Kirk Perry) to have a quick gander at who’s talking. Perhaps I should apologize for being an old-fashioned, anal-retentive type of cowardly pussy, but I just can’t take the arguments of people who build lifestyles around deliberately offensive images, e.g. German military crosses, knives, blood, death, skulls, etc. seriously. And I have this thing about tattoos. I know they’re the height of fashion at the moment with intellectual giants, such as football stars, joining the ranks of avant-garde social revolutionaries, such as motorcycle gangs, but I just can’t get over my unjustified association of tattoos with nasty people, e.g. prisoners and bitter old mariners who have probably never enjoyed an intimate sexual relationship. (Would you like to have one lying next to you? How about on top of you?!) The day my kids come home with a tattoo (or a piercing) is the day they leave home for good.
Something interesting cropped up at this site, which I’ve only seen once or twice before in all my Internet adventures: when I tried to copy the text below, this message popped up,
“The page at http://www.hellsangelsventura.com says:
Access Denied – Property of the Hells Angels.”
and I wasn’t able to put the text into the paste buffer. So, I manually typed out the text. It’s not difficult for me. I’m quite good at the keyboard, even though I still, at forty-five years old, haven’t learnt to ride a motorcycle.
Not that I wouldn’t have loved to. I spent a long time as an older teenager and younger man fantasizing about having a bike. It’s just one of those young men’s dreams which didn’t come together, but a lot of other ones have and I’m now very glad things have worked out as they have. I love cycling; always have.That’s one of the main reasons why Holland is my favourite place to spend my free time. But that’s beside the point.
The point is, getting back to it, that I wouldn’t have thought the Hell’s Angels’ philosophy, whatever it may be, would be easily reconciled to money-grubbing, greedy, possessive, petty, little gestures, like denying access to copy and paste functions on websites. OK, not many people would mistake Hell’s Angels for Hippies, but you know what I mean? As you say, Russ, “Sheesh” (Personally I’d prefer to use rather a more forceful expletive here, but you’ve got an image to maintain.) talk about petty!
Anyway, here’s the description Hell’s Angels post about themselves:
“Allegations of murder, explosives, weapons, assault, mayhem, arson, racketeering, drugs, gambling, theft, conspiracy and traffic tickets we lost count of in the early eighties. This has made us who we are – Hells Angels Ventura. “
Sheesh, I don’t know… I can’t help feeling most people would take more kindly to a guy in dark glasses with a silly hat on and something cylindrical in his hand than psuedo-retro, monochrome pictures of people, who generally look pretty unhappy, taking threatening poses, making threatening gestures and showing off tattoos. But, hey, let’s not labour the point. The guy writes well – good spelling, grammar, etc. – so let’s not dismiss his point out of hand.
And he does have a point, Russ, however difficult he may find it to express himself tactfully. Now, please don’t take offence. I thoroughly enjoy your show and take no offence whatsoever to your image. The 64×64 profile icon, however… It may have been more appropriate to a time gone by when legalisation seemed pie in the sky and years away. Perhaps it IS time to give it another thought? Hell, you can’t even get a passport with a photo any more than six months old. Maybe the time’s come to have another picture made?
You got me. The ONDCP is paying me to make us all look bad.
It’s a pageboy cap, not a “do-rag” or “turban”. It’s a four gram joint, not “rolled up dollar bills”.
Tune into my show sometime… the one where I am wearing a tie 96% of the time and a suit jacket 35% of the time.
Sheesh, all this over a 64×64 profile icon. From a guy posting from “Hells Angels Ventura”.
What’s with Russ Belville’s look?
This is an election year. Lose the “do-rag” MJ leaf turban.
Are you sure Russ wasn’t mugged-up as a prohibitionist plant?
One look at Russ’s get-up with the rolled up dollar bills ready to smoke.
Whaddya nuts Russ?
Change your shirt, take off your sunglasses and look like you might be trusted.
Your “look” plays right into the Prohib’s character-mold. Thanks for nothing.