The negative costs of our nation’s “war on drugs” reach into so many aspects our country that they are almost impossible to count. This isn’t just the direct cost of incarceration, enforcement, and the loss of tax revenue, there are also the many less obvious costs such as long-term lower wages for those with drug-related criminal records and, as I recently learned, the destruction of our domestic flower industry.

There’s as much to like about this book as there is to despise about the drug war, which makes This is Your Country on Drugs a fascinating read for anyone endeavoring to better understand the origins of the drug policy predicament that continues to captivate and confound American culture. Ryan Grim takes the reader on a fast-paced journey through the history of our nation’s love-hate relationship with drugs, exploring the economic, political, and cultural dimensions of both drug use and the enormous war that seeks to shield us from its consequences.

agree entirely with Adam Serwer when he says that this passage makes the crack disparity “only one fifth as racist as it used to be.” But you know what we don’t do a lot of in this country? Reduce sentences. Check out the makeup of the world’s largest prison population and you’ll see what I mean. “Law ‘n’ Order” and “Tough on Crime” remain shibboleths used by politicians to hammer away at criminal sentencing reformists. So ANY change in a positive direction takes a ridiculous amount of work and struggle. This is a small step, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Before the judge came into the courtroom, Peter Getty appeared to be in a deep meditative state, his eyes closed and his head resting on his rather ugly pea-green striped necktie. He had way too much product in his hair, but he was well shaven. He had no one there supporting him, but his estranged wife had several girlfriends there–including Pamela Levy, co-founder/designer of Juicy Couture, and Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis Ford Coppola, and the grandmother of Jacqui’s daughter. They were excluded from the court, along with Jacqui’s daughter Gia Coppola, because they may be called as witnesses.

Getty sits at his computer, the screen reflected in the lenses of his black Buddy Holly-ish glasses, his hair greasy and unkempt, looking for all the world like a basement-dwelling blogger pounding away at his fapboard. Except instead of Cheeto crumbs, his sallow, unshaven face is stained with dried blood below both nostrils. Eeeuwww. Srsly eueew. Note to Peter Getty and men everywhere: If you are webcamming, someone will take your picture.

Today, a seriously good old-fashioned scandalous divorce trial hits the courts so I’m hightailing it downtown to LA County court to watch the unfolding. It’s Getty versus Getty as Jacqui Getty seeks divorce from her husband of 10 years, the filthy, rich and filthy-rich Gordon Peter Getty, known as Peter, whose father Gordon is worth [...]

Bush/Cheney is the gift that keeps giving, like herpes or untreated tertiary syphilis. You know something’s wrong, you scratch and scratch — but somehow, you cannot cast out the evil.