In celebration of Festivus, Rand Paul and Cory Booker connect to take on drug war

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: By Christopher Baxter/The Star-Ledger

January 01, 2014 at 1:13 PM

TRENTON — One is a New Jersey Democrat, the other a Kentucky Republican, but U.S. senators Cory Booker and Rand Paul might just have made a New Years resolution: To work together on Capitol Hill.

The two Washington lawmakers connected last week via Twitter and agreed they wanted to tackle changes to federal drug laws stemming from the 1970s "War on Drugs," which has since been widely panned as a failure, including by Gov. Chris Christie.

The spark of bipartisanship began as Paul aired his grievances for Festivus — the fake holiday made popular by the television sitcom Seinfeld — and complained that Booker, a Twitter maven, does not re-tweet him enough.

TWEET @ LINK

The message garnered a quick response from the New Jersey senator, who joking challenged Paul, "U, me & "feats of strength:" Senate floor, name the time."

But the conversation took a more serious turn when Paul suggested reforming federal laws that require mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/in_celebration_of_festivus_rand_paul_and_cory_booker_connect_to_take_on_drug_war.html#incart_river_default

[Live and Learn]

1. Good start to the New Year. nt

[RainDog]

2. This is GREAT news

If politicians can make sentencing laws a bipartisan issue - hopefully, we can find a way to change the laws of this land. Holder already announced some change to mandatory minimum based upon drug charges.

Current sentencing laws are in place because of the reactionary Republican control of the federal govt. I don't know if Paul can appeal to social conservatives on this, but he has a better shot at it than a Democrat in many parts of the nation.

Gingrich proposed a MANDATORY death sentence and MASS EXECUTIONS for doing something he and other Republicans did with no consequence at an earlier age.

Newt Gingrich, via the New York Times, said in 1995, while he was weighing whether to run for the Presidency:

Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Friday that he would ask Congress to enact legislation imposing the death penalty on drug smugglers, and he suggested that mass executions of people convicted under such a law might prove an effective deterrent.

..."The first time we execute 27 or 30 or 35 people at one time, and they go around Colombia and France and Thailand and Mexico, and they say, 'Hi, would you like to carry some drugs into the U.S.?' the price of carrying drugs will have gone up dramatically."

...And, he followed through:

He went on to introduce H.R. 4170 (Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996) to the House of Representatives, which sought to “provide a sentence of death for certain importations of significant quantities of controlled substances”.
Section 2: Increased Penalties For International Drug Trafficking

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2011/11/12/22843/174/elections/Newt-Gingrich-Once-Proposed-Mandatory-Death-for-Drug-Traffickers-Mass-Executions

[warrant46]

3. Newt Gingrich = a filthy animal

[RainDog]

4. really. isn't he just disgusting? n/t

[warrant46]

6. +1 N/T

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. I stand with Sens. Booker and Paul on this issue.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

7. Disinfecting in lye after saying "thank you, Senator Paul." End the God damn drug war now!!!

[7962]

8. Long overdue. I was turned yrs ago when (locally) a drug dealer got life & a killer got 18 yrs.

This happened in the same week. The drug dealer was a big-time supplier, etc, but the murderer killed an out of town woman in her hotel room. I was about 25 at the time and thought, WTH???

[Blue_Tires]

9. I'll believe it when I see it

The Paul boys have long been big on talk and short on action when it comes to the drug war...