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Walter Cronkite & America's Disastrous Drug War U2b

Sukoi: I posted his letter here and here. We'll see what the response will be but please, don't hesitate to jump in. Green Roach

"Marijuana laws make liars and criminals out of people who are neither! Laws that don't respect people breed people who don't respect Laws!"
- Gregory Schmid author of PRA2000

Ganjawar: Such an Obvious Fraud

Walter Cronkite by Pete Guither
Drug WarRant February 23, 2006
As a child, I grew up with the reassuring presence of Walter Cronkite on the television news. This is before the days of instant information and news as entertainment that must be profitable. Then, the networks considered the news the responsibility of a free media, even if it lost money. Cronkite was one of the greats. He didn't read the news -- he told us what was happening and helped us put it in perspective. I watched his emotional broadcasts covering the Apollo missions and the first walk on the moon, and I learned about the Vietnam war and the protests, and so much more.

For many years, Walter Cronkite has been one of those bright lights in opposition to the destructive drug war, and it was a thrill today to get an email from... Walter Cronkite!
Sure, it was a fundraising appeal for Drug Policy Alliance (a good organization that Walter is helping) and it was probably sent to thousands of people, but still -- I got an email from Walter Cronkite!

So I thought I'd share it with you.

Dear Peter,

As anchorman of the CBS Evening News, I signed off my nightly broadcasts for nearly two decades with a simple statement: "And that's the way it is. continued... salon.com...html#a1418



Walter Cronkite sullied by an earthworm by Pete Guither

Drug WarRant February 25, 2006

I posted an excellent letter from Walter Cronkite that meant a lot to me, and several of you expressed similar feelings. After all, who could object to the common sense expressions of one of the top journalists of our time?

Wait for it... Yesterday, on Bill O'Reilly's show:

O'REILLY: Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

You know, I admire Walter Cronkite. The man's nearly 90 years old, still kicking. But there is no question that the former newscaster is a far left guy. Since his retirement from CBS News, he has embraced all kinds of progressive causes.

Here's the latest. Mr. Cronkite now trying to raise money for the Drug Policy Alliance, a drug legalization outfit that's partially funded by our pal, George Soros. Cronkite actually signed a fundraising that said in part, "We have locked up literally millions of people of color who have caused little or no harm to others."

The people Cronkite is talking about are street drug dealers who sell heroin, crack, and meth, among other dangerous drugs. Apparently Walter Cronkite doesn't feel this is harmful. That view, with all due respect, is insane.

Memo to Walter. Hard drug dealers hurt and sometimes kill people, sir. It is ridiculous you do not understand that.

Mr. Cronkite is welcome to debate me on the issue any time.

O'Reilly wouldn't last five minutes in a real drug war debate (one where he wasn't able to turn off his opponent's mic).

Then again, O'Reilly has one advantage. He makes up his "facts." From claiming that terrorists in Afghanistan are a source of Ecstasy to claiming that the reason that Holland has lower rates of marijuana use than the U.S. is due to Holland's lower population. (Link) . And, of course, the attack on Christmas was done as part of a well-funded fringe effort to legalize drugs.

Things to Remember About Bill O'Reilly

O'Reilly Lied His Ass Off About Walter Cronkite

2-25-06 -- O'Reilly claims that Walter Cronkite wants to let street drug dealers who sell heroin, crack, and meth out of jail. He says that view is insane, and it would be, if that is what Mr. Cronkite said, which it is not.

Here is what O'Reilly said on the 2-24-06 factor: continued...


Walter Cronkite Urges People to Oppose Failed Drug War; Calls for New Policies Based on Science, Compassion, Health and Human Rights

Prisons Overpopulated with Drug Offenders By Walter Cronkite
Source: Centre Daily Times August 06, 2004
In the midst of the soaring rhetoric of last week's Democratic Convention, more than one speaker quoted Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address, invoking "the better angels of our nature."
Well, there is an especially appropriate task awaiting those heavenly creatures: a long-overdue reform of our disastrous "war on drugs." We should begin by recognizing its costly and inhumane dimensions.

Much of the nation, in one way or another, is victimized by this failure, including, most notably, the innocents, whose exposure to drugs is greater than ever. continued...cannabisnews/19301

Drug Policy Alliance
PRISONS NEEDLESSLY OVERPOPULATED WITH DRUG OFFENDERS
Why The Drug War Isn't An Issue - But Should Be
One of Every 75 U.S. Men in Prison, Report Finds
An American Gulag in The Making

Letter to Cronkite
John Champagne
San Antonio, Texas
June 20, 1992

Walter Cronkite
524 W 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Cronkite,

You are opposed to oppression and to 'law & order' as code word for oppression. Today, a common pretext for state-sponsored oppression across the land is the prohibition on the growing and use of cannabis hemp. Cannabis prohibition creates opportunities for government to confront peaceful citizens, take away their home and other property without trial, and in some cases without their being in violation of any law. Did you see 'Prime Time Live'? Government informants would reduce their sentences, keep their home, and ruin someone else's life all in one action.

Cannabis is a uniquely versatile plant. It provides high quality fiber, nutrition, energy and medicine all from one seed. People have exploited this natural resource and enhanced it through selective cultivation for a very long time. Your grandpa probably sold it in his store. continued...intersatx/oppression



Research Findings on Medicinal Properties of Marijuana
by Kevin B. Zeese, Esq. January, 1997 (excerpted)

Zeese has written for newspapers and journals on a range of drug issues and has appeared on every major television network as a commentator. He served as a consultant to Walter Cronkite for the Discovery Channel special: The Drug Dilemma: War or Peace? He has litigated drug policy issues including the use of the military in drug enforcement, the use of herbicides in marijuana eradication, the medical use of marijuana and urine testing of government employees. He has spoken at nationally recognized legal seminars and testified before Congress on drug related issues.

The Cronkite Report, "The Drug Dilemma: War or Peace?",
with Walter Cronkite 1995, 48 minutes.

Veteran TV anchorman and journalist, Walter Cronkite examines the dilemma and abject failure of the War on Drugs. He interviews mothers in prison for outrageously long, draconian sentences for trivial drug offenses, and poignantly shows the innocent victims of this misguided civil war. Cronkite compares the drug war with the Vietnam War and tells us it's time to declare peace and save lives.



CRRH's Hemp TV video archive: news clips about cannabis

Walter Cronkite Calls For Bipartisan Commission To Study Alternatives To Drug War
June 20, 1995: On the Discovery Channel Special, "The Cronkite Report: The Drug Dilemma" Walter Cronkite [former CBS news anchorman and regarded internationally as one of the most trusted figures in America---ed.] called the drug war a failure. Cronkite called for a bipartisan commission to study the alternatives to prohibition. He concluded by saying "We cannot go into tomorrow with the same formulas that are failing today." ["And that's the way it is."---ed.]
NORML/druglibrary.org/olsen

Walter Cronkite to speak at DoP Conference
Thu Jun 09, 2005

Sermon on the Drug War Policy
Delivered by the Rev. Robert Schaibly on August 6, 2000
Walter Cronkite has asked for a non-partisan blue ribbon commission to do the same kind of study. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic parties will touch it, yet.

The Drug Dilemma (Walter Cronkite Special - June 20, 1995)
DrugPolicyForumofHawai'i list of videos available for viewing.

Cronkite and Stossel Oppose the War on Drugs

ABC's 20/20 Co-anchor John Stossel, Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann, Dr. Mathilde Krim, Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America," and Ira Glasser, board president of the Drug Policy Alliance and former executive director of the ACLU, were among the more than 60 leading activists and philanthropists who turned out in support of the Alliance's work at a November 03 benefit hosted by Dr. Krim, Drug Policy Alliance board member and co-chair of amfAR, in her home across from the United Nations in New York City



Google: Walter Cronkite/marijuana

Ganjawar: Such an Obvious Fraud

"Not only are we here to protect the public
from vicious criminals in the street
but also to protect the public from harmful ideas."
- Robert Ingersoll, first director of the DEA

Ideas are more powerful than guns.
We would not let our enemies have guns,
why should we let them have ideas.
- Joseph Stalin

Updates About Kubby, Overgrow.com, Mexico.
When A Mexican City Becomes More Dangerous Than Washington, DC…
Posted by Richard Cowan on 2006-02-24 16:20:00
California officials say they will prove in court that lethal injection does not cause pain, so that executions can resume. It would be simpler to just move them to Placer County and say that they are medical cannabis patients and then no one will notice.

I was amused to hear that some people thought that the "RC" who ran Overgrow was Richard Cowan. No, the only alias that I use is "Dick Cheney."

"Mexico is being destabilized by drug gangs warring over access to the lucrative U.S. market. A wave of killings of officials and journalists in places like Nuevo Laredo and Acapulco is reminiscent of the 1930s Prohibition-era crime waves in Al Capone's Chicago and the Purple Gang's Detroit." - Wall Street Journal columnist, George Melloan.
Read Full Story... http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=886

"Another weapon I discovered early
was the power of the printed word to sway souls to me.
The newspaper was soon my gun, my flag-
a thing with a soul that could mirror my own."
Adolph Hitler

Rawlins Radio Stations Pull Medical Marijuana PSA
By The Associated Press February 23, 2006 Rawlins
A pair of local radio stations has pulled a set of public service announcements advocating medical marijuana use after receiving complaints from the police chief and others. Scott Freeman, a salesman for Mount Rushmore Broadcasting in Casper, which owns KIQZ-FM and KRAL-AM in Rawlins, said he pulled the PSAs as soon as he learned about them.
Read More... cannabisnews/21624



Bad research makes headlines

Lou Dobbs and the Second Mexican War. Has It Already Begun?
Counting the Costs of the Drugwar.
Posted by Richard Cowan on 2006-02-16 16:20:00
I would like to suggest to the leaders of the Mexican cartels that instead of killing reporters, they should just send them to intern at major US media outlets like the Washington Post, Time Magazine, the New York Times, etc. There they would quickly learn never to ask questions about the drugwar. Instead of risking their lives reporting an endless series of murders, they would just parrot the prohibitionist line from the government, like Lou Dobbs.

One should not invoke the truth if one is committed to maintaining a lie, as Dobbs and other supporters of the drugwar must be. Indeed, they would do well to remember the line from Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Read Full Story...marijuananews/885

Why Support Cannabis Prohibition...

Drug Bust By Vince Beiser
Source: American Prospect January 09, 2006 USA
A $100-million anti-drug ad campaign was a complete waste. Here's why.
The federal drug czar's famous advertising campaign is suffering a serious buzz-kill. The series of anti-drug radio, TV, print, and Internet ads produced by the Office of National Drug Control Policy is under unprecedented fire--including a recent call for its elimination from dozens of Congressional Republicans. That caps a series of scandals and dismal evaluations of the program that brings such bon mots as "Parents: The Anti-Drug" and "Above the Influence" to your TV screen.
Read More... Read More...cannabisnews21465

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda,
people can be made to see paradise as hell,
and also the other way around,
to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise."
Benito Mussolini.
"London Sunday Express," December 8, 1935

Your Government Is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana

The Truth About Drug Hysteria
The James Frey fiasco is not the first time accounts, descriptions or even research about drugs have been sensationalized or fabricated and proven false.

The Ganjawar Fraud...

The Drug War Refugees

Prince of Pot Fights Extradition on Drug Charges
Emery contends a news release issued July 29, the day of his arrest, reveals the U.S. government's intention to mute his efforts to advance the spread of marijuana. In the release, Karen Tandy, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, wrote: "Today's DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, and the founder of a marijuana legalization group, is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement. ... Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada."

The 'Virtues' of Ganja

Tandy's office has declined to comment about the statement, but locally, federal prosecutors have distanced themselves from her remarks.

Guest Rant: Ethan Straffin takes on Lou Dobbs 8/12/03
Last week, Lou Dobbs hosted a series on CNN called "The Forgotten War" (entire transcript) in which he gave particular emphasis to the distortions of drug war cheerleaders like former drug czar William Bennett and current drug czar John Walters.

Drugwar Lies Linked to Schizophrenia

"It also gives us a very special,
secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are
of what is really happening to them."
Adolf Hitler

Why legalizing drugs is dopey idea by Lou Dobbs
NY Daily News (August 10, 2003)

Richard Cowan's Lengthy Response to Lou Dobbs

"...somebody has to take governments' place,
and business seems to me to be a logical entity to do it."
David Rockefeller - Newsweek International, Feb 1 1999.

Money-Lyin' with Lou Dobb$