October 2004

Since I’m on a Roll

ArchPundit October 28, 2004 1 Comment

Capitol Fax points out that Jerry has no record

Oh, And Jerry

ArchPundit October 28, 2004 1 Comment

Shave. The Don Johnson shadow is out.

Beating Up 75 Year Olds

ArchPundit October 28, 2004 4 Comments

Via Capitol Fax

Class act, that Jerry Weller. Maybe he’s learned a few things from the fiance and soon-to-be-father-in-law.

Yeah, I’m shrill. It takes a lot of guts to accuse someone of being pro-drug legalization and then say your fiancee’s father and political ally is off-limits even though that father is a big reason narcotrafficking is big business in Central America and leading to a weakening of the judicial system down there. Then to push people around because you are too important?

Who the hell is this clown?

I’m hypercritical of Bloomington-Normal for a variety of good reasons, but one thing growing up there taught me was basic manners. Too bad Weller didn’t pick that up as part of the redistricting.

Mr. Weller is Concerned about Drug Legalization?

ArchPundit October 28, 2004 No Comments

That would be a conflict of interest, good Congressman, as your soon to be father-in-law has an interest in keeping drugs illegal so he can cozy up to mobsters and drug traffickers:

Mr. Berger or Mr. Colom to strengthen U.S.-Guatemala relations”.

For Washington, Rios Montt’s main drawback was his 18-month tenure as president after he seized power in a military coup d’etat against another general, Romeo Lucas Garcia, in 1982.

During his presidency, a counter-insurgency campaign against leftist guerrillas, which a United Nations commission later labelled ”genocidal”, reached its height.

While death squads worked freely in the major cities, several hundred Mayan villages were razed to the ground and thousands of people massacred by both the army and army-directed self-defence units, especially in the country’s central highlands.

At least 200,000 people were killed in a 30-year civil war that ended with the 1996 peace accords.

Despite that record, Rios Montt was embraced by former president Ronald Reagan who, in a memorable turn of phrase, assailed human-rights criticisms of his rule as a ”bum rap” when he visited Guatemala in 1982.

In more recent years, Rios Montt, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court twice in the 1990s from running for president due to his role in the 1982 military coup, led the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG).

In that capacity, he served most recently as president of the Congress, and was widely seen as the power behind retiring President Alfonso Portillo.

In addition to his human-rights record, Washington was also concerned about Rios Montt’s ties to drug-trafficking and organised crime, whose influence, according to some U.S. officials, is unprecedented in Central America, at least since the rule of Panama’s Manuel Antonio Noriega, who has been serving time in federal prison since the U.S. invasion of his country in 1989.

If Weller wants to dispute this, then he can drive up 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and talk to the current inhabitant whose administration is the one that said it.

Drug War Rant has offered up a reply to the argument that a group endorsed Renner who favors legalization. In fact, Drug War Rant is a blog run by one guy. I happen to disagree on legalization, though I do feel a medical approach to drug abuse would be far more productive than a criminal approach.

Of course, that might hurt the soon to be father-in-laws backers.