Monday, May 16, 2005

Common Nonsense in Washington

To balance out some of the good stuff happening here in Texas, some really scary stuff on the criminal justice front is happening in Washington, D.C. Rep. James Sensenbrenner would appear to be a nutcase. I have no problem with nutcases in general. But when they chair the House Judiciary Committee, it starts to scare me. TalkLeft has some analysis and discussion of some frightening legislation targeting drug offenders in the federal system. If you lend a friend a valium in your house where you live with your kids, apparently you're looking at a mandatory 5 or 10 year federal prison term. There's lots more to be afraid of, including a weird mandatory snitch law where you could get two years in prison if you don't report drug activity around college campuses within 24 hours of learning about it. Reporting it, though, is apparently not enough. You also have to do everything possible to investigate and prosecute it, or else you're still on the hook. I can't imagine laws like this passing the Senate, but it's never good to be complacent. So, call and write your Senators and Representatives and tell them to kill this backward bill.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Senselessbrenner is my Congressperson--HELP!!!!!

5/17/2005 7:09 AM  

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