[greymule]

I agree that the government has gone too far incarcerating nonviolent drug offenders, especially while two monsters—each with more than 20 (!) burglary convictions—were free in Cheshire, Connecticut, to commit that state's crime of the century earlier this year. (Google Komisarjevsky Hayes for the horrendous details.)

The War on Drugs has succeeded only in making drugs of all kinds cheaper and more plentiful, and as with prohibition, it has created and fostered a drug-specific criminal class. It has also built a huge and apparently permanent edifice of special interests with a stake in keeping things exactly as they are. But I don't have the answer. Legalize drugs? Crack? Meth?

Yes, the U.S. incarcerates a lot of people, but too many nonviolent offenders and too few violent ones. A few miles from my house, violent felonies are committed one after another: stabbings, shootings, armed robberies, beatings, gang attacks, carjackings, and so on apparently without end. And that's just in Trenton, which is nothing compared to Newark or Camden. They catch maybe a fifth of the perps, but if you do the math, even conceding that juveniles routinely get a pass, there should be a million guys in New Jersey's prisons.

Anyone who thinks the authorities have a clue should know that NJ recently passed a law making it a crime to recruit for gang membership while on school property. Isn't that great? Just wait till those Bloods and Crips find out that if they're caught recruiting in science class, they'll have to go to the principal's office.

And yes, thank God for our brave and dedicated military.