A Pot conviction will deny you Student Aid, but you can still...

[BiggJawn]

...be Governor of Indiana.
That was the jist of a LTTE in today's local paper.

Yeah, it *IS* ironic, if you're busted for pot, you lose your student aid, can't get a Pell Grant, have trouble getting Medicare, housing, a JOB....

Unless you're Mitch Daniels, and you're running for Governor, even though you don't hide your "Youthful Indiscretion" from 1970 where you got busted with a baggie, copped a plea and paid a fine.
Hey, no problem, he doesn't hide it, is all up-front, paid his debt, yada,yada,yada....

Meanwhile, some kid from the southside of Indy wishes they could get a loan to go to Vincennes U....

ReTHUGs are the biggest hypocrits

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Well, it pales in comparison

to Dubya's cocaine allegations. If true, it meant he went on to become Gov. of a state where young, mostly african-american men were shipped off for 5, 10 year mandatory minimum sentences for doing the exact same thing he's alleged to have done. That, to me, strikes me as much more hypocritical than this story. 'Course, we'll never know, because getting the "truth" about Bush out is harder than squeezing a hippo into a wine bottle.

Bottom line? Yeah, it's hypocrisy. The only honorable thing to do is to end the stupid, pointless, and wasteful "drug war". Unfortunately, our party is too afraid of "soft on crime" sound bites to step up to the plate on that one, at least for the time being...

[Bongo Prophet]

2. That's one of the changes we must make

It will take time, but in a post-Ashcr*ft world, with new priorities I believe it possible. An AG with better priorities under a JK admin coupled with a states' right to choose, could free up states to get a toehold.
If we can find a way to split the Neocon/Theocon/Libertarian factions, all the better for that.
A kinder, greener Dem future would be Heaven in the making, I think.
:hippie:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. The key to effecting any real change will be to keep the new voters

involved in the process. There are a huge number of people energized about politics right now, but if they pop a cork and think their work is done on Nov. 2, we won't have done much. Kerry can't change the world by himself. He needs people to stay actively engaged, and I am afraid that too many people see only the immediate goal and then will return to complacency. That's why it is so important to win the Senate and make some strides in the House so we actually can govern and show some positive results.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Well, I remember what happened between 1992-1994

We became complacent, and the party split apart under the weight of bickering and dumb disputes over various interests' marginal plots of ideological turf (much like DU on a bad day)... we blew the best opportunity to truly reform health care in a generation, and we allowed the GOP to define us, giving rise to Talk Radio, the "Contract with America", and all the rest.

Hopefully, we're older and wiser now.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Yeah, I think a strong, unequivocal commitment to

Libertarian values (the philosophy, not the party) with regard to the individual's choices on social issues would help us immesurably. There is a very large segment of the populace- intelligent, urban, technologically saavy, and non-aligned politically- that has a deep distrust for what it considers "control freaks"-- the ones on the right, as well as the ones on the left.

Wooing those voters could be the key to a winning strategy in the 21st century.