Budding Mafiosos, from the look of ’em. Mo gets special mention as a Cuban narcotraficante lookalike. That ‘stache adds to the mystery, eh? Wonder how much money one of those narcotraficante guys make? Just kidding… drug money could not be worth it.*
Robert ("the dad, old like us Hal") said:
"Yeah, they looked pretty good. They went to an area where there are lots of teens, but they complained that most were 8th graders. One car of teen girls yelled, ‘nice shirt!’ and now they are arguing about which shirt she was referring to. That made them strut even more."
OK, those darling boys can come home now. Note to Randi ("the mom, smart like me"): if you could make those jeans Mo is wearing miss the boat back to Costa Rica, I would be forever grateful.
*The first minute of this video is in Dutch, but the rest is in English. This video is 10 years old; the "cure" has only gotten worse: 1 in 100 Americans is now in jail. I have moments when I think the boys can’t get home fast enough…
Now reading
: "…just like this cup, you seem to be full of your own ideas. And how can any more go in… until you first empty your cup?"
So, of course, instead of recognizing the blatant absurdity of policies that imprison 1 in 100 adults, the U.S. strives to export those policies to the rest of the world (with, in my opinion, an alarming degree of success).
I don’t really care as much about left-wing / right-wing / Republican / Democrat / Libertarian — I just wish somebody had a feasible plan for bringing politics into touch with reality. (I don’t say “back in touch” because I’m not sure that, in all of human history, it ever has been.) In business, if your methodology doesn’t succeed, sooner or later you fail along with it. In government, pursue an ineffective, expensive and demonstrably destructive policy to which virtually all who have studied the problem agree there are better alternatives for over thirty years… and with every administration, it gets expanded some more.
I know Libertarians are against the war on drugs; but I can’t imagine how they, or anyone else, has any chance of doing anything but continually making things worse if we can’t find some way to make laws, programs and agencies accountable for their actual results.
Conformance to an ideology (even one that one really likes) is no substitute for facing reality.
For what it’s worth, three groups opposed to what the War on Drugs is doing to the United States:
LEAP
The Drug Reform Coordination Network
The November Coalition
I don’t endorse everything any of them says, of course, but they’re all on the right track. There’s also a great — but relentlessly disturbing and angering — blog about issues of liberty in the United States: The Agitator by Radley Balko, an editor for Reason magazine.
OMG! This video sure spun me up. An hour and half, but worth watching.
cop – “So, everybody’s happy”
Yeah, everybody except the dead ranch owner.
And so many people are worried about the Costa Rican justice system, where you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.
Love that the privatized prison opening (and industry sales pitch) starts with a prayer.
prison industry – “growth prospects are positive”
“Anti-Drug Policy is Working” – “it’s a fraud, it’s a lie”
The levels and types of informants and the requirements to inform are outrageous.
It takes a report from another country to make us see what is going on in our own.
Oh yeah, and we bully other countries to change their drug policies as well.
I was so disturbed by this video, I can’t shake it at all. I really didn’t know if anyone would take the time to watch it and am glad you did. It’s hard watching and realizing it’s 10 years old is very sad: that baby girl who got 24 years in prison isn’t even half done with her sentence!!!! With no possibility of parole. That is insanity.
Drugs should be legalized and taxed, like cigarettes and alchohol, along with prostitution and gambling. Why do we insist on legislating morality? Besides being unconstitutional, it flat out doesn’t work. Spend the drug war money (which is considerable – google war on drugs clock) on education and enforcing laws against underage drinking and using. If adults want to waste their lives doing drugs and gambling – or enjoy their time off doing ’em – that’s the beauty of being of age. Prohibition didn’t keep people from drinking, it just created a dangerous black market where people got rich, corruption was rampant and people were shot in the streets. Kinda like today. Prohibition was finally ended and there are no more alcoholics today than there ever were.
Unfortunately, the WOD is so entrenched and there is so much money to be made by law enforcement, I don’t think it will ever end. We could start with at least decriminalizing marijuana and ending mandatory minimums. A few courageous judges would go a long way to ending the madness. And let that girl out of jail.
Gotta add one more thing: Oscar Arias is allowing the US to lead him into the WOD. Probably threatening CAFTA sanctions if Costa Rica doesn’t fall in line… What does Oscar have to lose? Nothing.
Coises, thank you for the agitator link and the others. Loving the agitator. The same things agitate us!
Hi Saratica,
I would love to live in CR. Could you give me some advice on what one could do for a living there and basically how to get started there? I speak Spanish, have a degree in accounting, and a son of 15 years. I don’t want to waste my life sitting behind a computer (although that’s where I am right now, writing this comment!). Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated, and maybe some links to info as well!
Thank you,
Cindy
Hi Cindy, I wrote about this topic awhile back. The info is here, along with some other good links:
http://www.abroadincostarica.com/2006/08/working_in_cost.html
Good luck!