BongoQP

just wanted to let you guys know that i'm working on a write-up about the speech that i intend to finish tonight and will post here later.

thegoat

ask him why the police needed to "raid" the elderly pot smokers put guns to em and handcuff em while stealing their pot...not like gramps is gunna go down fighting gimme a ****ing break...

seriously ask him why they needed to treat all those medical patients like ****ing criminals when they weren't so much as hurting a fly with their choice of treatment...if that doesn't stump him i don't know what will or at least it will make him look stupid when he has to come up with some bull**** to try to make it look like pointing guns and handcuffing the elderly is ok or was neccesary (well ya know when cops go into a situation they always have to be on gaurd and ya never know when gramps might pull out a knife...) my eye...ask him locking up the elderly has to do with anything

__________________
There should be a quote here, but i probably got high and forgot to make one, or can't remember what i wanted to say...or did I?

Conine

I've seen Asa speak enough times to know that they all boil down to

1) Not answering the question/switching the issue
2) Switching to harder drugs to make his point
3) Answering with utter BS

(1000th post)

__________________
Freedom is the right to choose the habits that bind you.
Posting Guidelines

BongoQP

logos... feel free to post this on the front page if you wish.

BongoQP

I was very excited when I found out last week that Baylor University would be hosting a speech by DEA director Asa Hutchinson because I figured it was my chance to come face to face with the opposition and grill him in front of school administrators, local DEA agents, distinguished guests, as well as my fellow students about many of the lies he perpetuates concerning the alleged danger of marijuana. I was fully prepared to ask the “aggressive” questions in the hopes that the audience would hear from the head of the DEA himself just how weak the argument for prohibition really is.

Mr. Hutchinson was brought to Baylor for the first lecture of the Public Leadership Series established to allow students to put a face to those influential leaders that shape the world today. As the first speaker in the series, he was met with much excitement from the Baylor community.

Let me clear some things up about Baylor for those of you not familiar with the private, Southern Baptist affiliated school. The student body is largely composed of white, upper-middle class kids and is largely devoted to serving God and spreading His message (primarily to other Baylor students… go figure). “I love Jesus” apparel runs as rampant as Abercrombie & Fitch. The administration is wholly dedicated to weaving a strong Christian message into as many scholarly avenues as possible and requires that students attend two semesters of Chapel and at least two courses in religion in order to graduate. That’s fine; a little religion never hurt anyone (unless you count the Spanish inquisition, the Crusades, current conflict in the middle east, etc.). I tell you all this to give you a sense of the general atmosphere of Baylor University. I don’t think I need to say that it may very well be the complete opposite of such liberal institutions as the University of Texas or the University of California at Berkley.

But enough with the background and on the meat and potatoes. Dr. Robert Sloan, the university president, introduced Mr. Hutchinson with the typical perfunctory listing of his accomplishments and then proceeded to stress the importance of Mr. Hutchinson’s role to the American people. In typical Baylor fashion, he stated that by using drugs, people are making a wasteland out of the holy temple of the body, and then closed his introduction by saying that the War on Drugs is winnable.

Finally, Mr. Hutchinson took the stage amid robust applause. He began his speech with the usual thanks to his host and acknowledgements to the important people in the front row. He followed that with a joke that centered on a debate with Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico and a protest at Yale University in which he was particularly impressed by the zeal of one protester who “looked like he came straight from the 60’s.” I found it interesting that while telling this joke, he mention that when he took the podium after Gov. Johnson, he asked the audience how many of them were in favor of legalization, 80% raised their hand. I believe the punch line to this joke was that the 20% that did not raise their hand were DEA agents sitting in the front row.

I’m not going to attempt to paraphrase his speech because you can find it, almost word for word, on the DEA website (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/speeches/s061802p.html). Basically, he outlined 4 myths concerning the War on Drugs and then debunked them. It was your basic governmental mumbo-jumbo that climaxed with a plea to continue fighting the good fight, that is, the War on Drugs.

The speech got more interesting at the end when he opened the floor for questions. I was prepared. With my heart racing at the thought of confronting The Man himself about untruths my hand shot up and I was called upon to ask my question. “Why has the government consistently disregarded or ignored sound evidence that contradicts your claim that marijuana is a harmful substance?” Necks craned to see the person responsible for such an inflammatory query as he stammered and restated the question amid surprised gasps from the audience. He then informed me that he didn’t agree with the premise of the question and that his conclusion that marijuana is a harmful substance is derived from current medical research whose name escapes me (short term memory just ain’t what it used to be… go figure). And that was that.

Several more questions were asked before my girlfriend raised her hand. She asked him if he was familiar with a DEA administratinve law judge named Francis L. Young who in 1988 stated that “marijuana was one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man” and further odered that it be reclassified as a Schedule II controlled substance. His order was overturned in 1992 by the DEA itself. Once again, a good question yielded unsatisfactory results. He said that the DEA made its decision based on the evidence it was presented with, which included testimonies from physicians, and that decision was a good one in his opinion.

It must be noted that in his response to the aforementioned questions he alluded to the fact that the research contradicting his claim that marijuana is a harmful substance was flawed and insufficient. This is important because the legal, bureaucratic, and financial obstacles put in place by a government by the people and for the people makes it next to impossible to conduct thorough and unbiased research into the matter, and that is just the way he likes it.

jvthc

I for one expected that. Hutchinson spent several years learning how to debate in public; he's an attorney.

The audiance forum is fundamentally invalid, because the speaker owns the floor. He assumed the authority when he claims the reports are flawed and insufficient. He's not a scientist or a doctor to qualify him to draw that conclusion.

Of course, that doesn't matter to him. His job is enforcement.

In a true forum he doesn't manage as well. He's very polished and professional, even polite. He rarely interrupts; rather than jumping on someone's sentences, he waits to gain more rope to use against his opponent. He's well studied. Prepared for court.

However, like a prosecutor pressing a case against the innocent, he still can't win the verdict.

__________________
Imagination is more important than knowledge - Sounds like BS, until you realize Einstein said that.

Logos

It will post to the front page this evening.

Thanks, great work!

__________________
Brother Logos
The more I learn, the less I know. | Truth doesn't change, only our perception of it does.
THC Ministry | The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ | The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion
True religion is real living, living with all one's soul, with all ones goodness and righteousness. --Albert Einstein