Monthly Archives: May 2004

Remembering Tommy Chong: Still Doing Hard Time in Prison

Politics

CHEECH&CHONG

Thank goodness most readers of VanRamblings live in Canada, where soft drug laws verge on the reasonable. In the United States, many of those convicted of simple possession of marijuana are languishing in prison, for periods of up to 60 years.
Of course, comedian and satirist Tommy Chong, 65, got off relatively easily when U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab sentenced him to only nine months in a federal lockup, and fined him $20,000, for distributing drug paraphernalia through his Internet-based California company, Nice Dreams Enterprises.
How much did it cost to prosecute Tommy Chong? Would you believe $12 million? Obviously, the linked article suggests, the money spent on prosecuting Chong could have been much better spent.
Adding to the furore over Chong’s conviction, the following item from a NORML Free Tommy Chong Action Alert …

Ironically, Tommy Chong was sentenced on September 11, 2003, exactly two years after the worst terrorist attacks in American history. With Osama Bin Laden still on the loose and President Bush admitting that the war on terrorism is far from over, it is preposterous that we would waste valuable law enforcement resources locking up a comedian for selling glass pipes. Can anyone here honestly say they feel safer today because Tommy Chong, a comedian and actor, has been sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for selling pipes on the Internet? Of course not. These laws do nothing except make criminals out of otherwise law abiding businessmen.

Thanks to Talk Left for reminding us of the hypocrisy and unjustness of Tommy Chong’s continued incarceration.

Criminal Behaviour in Contempt of Humanitarian Conventions

Politics

SONTAG

Perhaps the most devastating essay that VanRamblings has read, reflecting on the ‘meaning’ of the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, may be found in an essay length article published today in The New York Times.
Susan Sontag, in writing the cover story for the NY Times Magazine, seeks the answer to a number of questions, not the least of which is, Why?
The answer, in part at least, offers an indictment of the ‘either yer for us, or yer agin us’ philosophy that has very much been a part of the Bush administration’s governing raison d’être, dating back to 9/11. As such, suggests Sontag, the contrary administrative world view put forth by the Bush White House has inevitably led to the demonizing and dehumanizing of anyone who declares their interests as contrary to those of the U.S.

Martin Makes It Official: Canada Votes on June 28th

Decision Canada

ELECTION-CALL

On the heels of one of the worst-kept secrets in Canadian political history, Prime Minister Paul Martin dissolved Parliament today, and early this afternoon called for a federal election to be held on June 28th.
Allison Dunfield and Darren Yourk, throughout their story in The Globe and Mail, suggest that Martin is in real trouble with a ‘volatile’ electorate, not least because of the ongoing sponsorship scandal, an issue which has dogged the Martin forces for months. Nonetheless, Martin seems intent on putting forward a positive platform, based on core Canadian values, a strong health care system, and respect for the Canadian cultural mosaic.

“The Liberal Party stands for a balanced approach where economic prosperity matches social justice,” Mr. Martin said. “An all inclusive approach that respects our differences. To those who share our values as Canadians, to those who see Canada as we do, I ask for your support.”

Meanwhile, the Conservative Party — a federal coalition of Bush, Mike Harris, and Gordon Campbell acolytes — is attempting to paint itself as a moderate government in waiting. “For the first time in generations, Canadians have a choice that is moderate, modern and mainstream,” Harper says. Yep, that’s right. And the moon is made of cheese, too, and Stephen’s name is Sally.
The New Democrats have this ad at the ready, pretty much encapsulating their strategy over the next month, although one would have to think that the federal election campaign is bound to become signifcantly less sanguine and much more sanguinary over the course of the next month.