usa

By: Mark Stevenson, Winnipeg Free Press

 

MEXICO CITY - A former Mexican president's proposal to legalize drugs as a way of breaking the economic power of drug cartels is stoking debate inside his country and bringing opposition in Washington.

 

One thing most experts agreed on is that the idea is unlikely to prosper without similar moves to legalize or regulate the sale of drugs in the United States, the main consumer of drugs from Mexico.

 

When former President Vicente Fox wrote in a blog Sunday that "we should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs," it was the most far-reaching and high-ranking stand for legalization yet in Mexico, where more than 28,000 people have died during the current administration's war against drug cartels. Read more »

By: Charles W. Moore, Telegraph Journal

 

Scanning coverage of Conrad Black's release from prison on bail, I was amused (sort of) by a reporter's describing Mr. Black as a "one-time conservative." This assessment was based on Mr. Black's taking up the cause of prison and drug-law reform during his incarceration, and says more about the writer's superficial, stereotyped perceptions of "conservatism" than about Mr. Black's politics.

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By Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal

 

Stockwell Day is worried. He'd like you to be worried too. Sure, Statistics Canada figures show that crime, including serious violent crime, is down across Canada. But "unreported crime," says Day, is on the rise, at what he calls an alarming rate.

 

That, he says, is why the Conservative government is pushing ahead with its anti-crime agenda, which includes plans to increase sentences for a wide range of off ences, and to build new prisons to accommodate more prisoners. Various estimates have put the cost of building and operating those prisons at between $5 billion and $9 billion.

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By Charlie Smith, Georgia Straight

 

The Prince of Pot's U.S. Federal Prison blog # 8 cites a "disturbing series of occurrences" with his mail.

 

In the blog, Marc Emery wrote that a number of items he has sent and that he should have received have gone missing.

 

He mentioned that he decorated an envelope in colour with hand-done calligraphy for a letter to his wife Jodie. Emery wrote that he sent it on July 14 so it would arrive in time for their fourth wedding anniversary on July 23.

 

"But alas, the letter never arrived, and I don't know if you or I will ever know where it went," Emery noted.

 

He also stated that two photographs of him, which he paid for in jail, were sent three weeks ago, but did not make it to their destination.

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CBC News

 

Conrad Black has slammed the U.S. justice system as he reflected publicly on the 28 months he spent in a federal prison.

 

"Of course, I was glad, jubilant, to leave … but also grateful for many of the relationships I had formed; enlightened by my observation of American justice on the other side of the wall; and happy to have got on well in an environment very foreign to any I had known before," Black wrote in a column for the National Post.

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By KATIE SCHNEIDER, Calgary Sun

 

The mother who fought Oregon authorities for two years to get her son back to Canada after he was seized into foster care says it’s ridiculous they are now suing her for child-care costs.

 

The boy, now 12 years old, was taken by U.S. officials in 2008 while visiting his stepfather in Oakridge, Ore.

 

His mom battled for two years to get her son back to Calgary and finally saw her wish come true when he was returned to her last month.

 

Now the state is coming after her for costs related to his stay in foster care including medical expenses, citing the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act.

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OTTAWA — After years of cordial relations with the United States on the issue of prison transfers, the Harper government’s recent crackdown on repatriating offenders may be causing a diplomatic rift.

 

Documents obtained by Postmedia News under Access To Information indicate the U.S. Department of State sent a diplomatic note to the Canadian Embassy in Washington last December outlining concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice regarding the transfer of offenders.

 

The documents indicate U.S. officials were seeking to meet “face-to-face” with their Canadian counterparts to discuss the matter further.

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By Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen

 

One can imagine how delighted the people at the Colombian Embassy were when they read the Globe and Mail last week. One article after another about their country -- and none focussed on drugs and murder.

 

Instead, the theme was that after decades of civil war and criminal chaos Colombia has been transformed into a land of stability and optimism. The mood is "buoyant, hopeful, and utterly entrepreneurial," one story reported. Colombia is "an eco-paradise with bustling cities," another burbled.

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By Martin Patriquin, Macleans

 

Canada is a safer country now than in 1999. According to a Statistics Canada report released this week, it is exactly 17 percent safer now than in those comparatively barbaric pre-millennial days of Brian Tobin and Blink 182. And what crime does occur is, on average, less serious now than two years ago–four percent less serious, to be exact, according to the Crime Severity Index (CSI), which analyses police-reported crime. Not to suggest its all peaches and cream, but we should pat ourselves on our collective back. We live in a place that is safer and less violent than it used to be. Bravo.

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This week on Tuesday, June 23, as part of the Free Marc Campaign, I took part in the occupation of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's office.

 

To the credit of the office, while at first we were only allowed in a small entry, we were buzzed in to the locked office and were given the opportunity to explain our action to the staff. A staff member asked questions and listened to our concerns for over 15 minutes. As a matter of protocol, police were called down, but the call was treated as a non-urgent matter (we waited for an hour for police to arrive, and only one officer was sent down.) The officer was calm and polite and had both his badge number and name clearly displayed. He in no way threatened us with arrest for our protest, and merely asked our names and confirmed that we would only remain during open office hours. Having confirmed this information, he left.

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