>Congresswoman Maxine Waters is an obvious hero opposing both the
>criminalization of drug abuse - having publicly fought for the recently
>passed treatment-not-punishment treatment of drug use offenders in
>California - and in challenging the CIA and the US governments collaboration
>with the large drug cartels pumping crap into inner city communities. She
>along with Jesse Jackson spoke out agains the war on drugs at the "Shadow
>Conventions" this summer.
>
>On aid to Columbia, on March 29 Democrats offered an amendment to suspend
>part of the $1.7 billion for the armed drug war in Columbia. 186 folks in
>the House voted for the amendment with most being progressive Dems.
>
>I can go on down the list on opposition to increased sentences for crack
>versus cocaine and other resistance to the war on drugs, but the basic point
>remains that there have been significant Dem votes against the
>prison-industrial complex. Yes, enough moderate Dems have hooked up with
>GOPers to keep the incarcerations going forward.
>
>But we are starting to see signs of a rollback, the California initiative on
>treatment and medical legalization being greats signs of progress.
>
>-- Nathan
I hope you're right about your last statement; and I've long admired Maxine Waters's noble efforts. Rev. Jesse I'm less sure about. He often talks a good game, but has a history of taking hush money from such upstanding companies like Nike, and of course doing his Billy Graham number with Clinton, one of the more shameless bits of grandstanding I've seen in recent years.
As for Colombia, it will take more than offering minor amendments to stop -- or even slow -- the killing machine down there. It reminds me of the pitiful Dem efforts (such as they were) during the Central American wars in the 80s. Save for a few brave souls, the bulk of the party did little to stem the mass murder unleashed by Reagan, falling for stunts like "humanitarian aid" to the contras, among others.
DP