Talking Trash to Trash
July 19, 2007 by Joecephus
For the first time that I can remember I can finally say that I agree 100% with something that was said by a local politician here in my hometown of Cleveland.
Mike Polensek, Councilman in Cleveland’s 11th ward, wrote a scathing letter recently, to local crack dealer Arsenio Winston. Winston, 18, was recently arrested for selling crack cocaine outside a convenient store in Councilman Polensek’s ward. This was not the first time that Winston was arrested for such activities, but it was the first time that it happened as a legal adult instead of as a juvenile.
The longtime councilman said he often writes blunt letters to troublemakers in his neighborhood and makes no apologies for this one to Winston.
“I’m fed up and the people in my neighborhood are fed up,” Polensek said. “There’s no political correctness left in me.”
Winston’s mother, Tonya Lewis, said she plans to speak to her attorney, former city councilman George Forbes, about filing a lawsuit against Polensek. She said she also has written a letter to black activist Al Sharpton.
Lewis said she views Polensek’s letter as a death threat against her son because the councilman said “he didn’t care which one came first, that he went to jail or the cemetery.” She also said he referred to Winston as “dumber than mud,” which she considers a racist remark.
In an interview Wednesday, Polensek defended his letter.
“If my letter was offensive, fine, so be it,” he said. “If my letter’s going to make his mother and family think about what he’s done, I’m glad.
“I don’t wish that he dies. I don’t wish that any young person dies. What I’m saying is, this is what will happen to him – it’s either the cemetery or jail – unless he changes his life.”
All I can say to Councilman Polensek is thank you for saying what the law-abiding citizens of greater Cleveland have been wanting to say for years.
Click here to see a video clip of local talk show host Bob Frantz, who devoted his whole show to this topic today, with his ‘Frantz Rantz’ clip talking about the language used in the letter.
Here’s the letter:
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9 Responses to “Talking Trash to Trash”
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Loved the letter. How else are you supposed to talk to those punks? Heard the councilman on Frantz’s and Triv’s shows. Cleveland needs more like him.
And the punk’s Mom needs to just shut up. Racist? NO racist remark exists in that letter. Although I’m sure Sharpton will find one just as she did. That makes both of them just as stupid. Let’s defend the crackhead, not the straight talking councilman not afraid to take on such stupid punk.
Councilman Polensek’s freewheeling support for a long failed drug crusade indicates that he is unfit for public office.
Polensek’s ridiculous posturing about “saving people from themselves” with his drug war meddling is reputed by the results of decades of drug prohibition.
If Polensek had the slightest knowledge of history he would know there was no such thing as “drug crime” before there were drug laws. Search the archives in vain seeking a pre-prohibition theft, robbery, assault or murder connected with drug use. Addicts were not robbing, whoring and murdering to get drugs when they could buy all of the heroin, morphine, cocaine and anything else they wanted cheaply and legally at the corner pharmacy. A legal heroin habit cost less than tobacco addiction (50¢ per week) and “drug crime” was unknown. The term “drug crime” is an invention of prohibitionists like Polensek trying to hide the effects of their failed drug policy.
Unintentional opiate overdose deaths were extremely rare before drugs were outlawed. Almost all drug deaths before the Harrison Narcotic Act were suicides. Nowadays, Drug Czar John Walters tells us there are more than 30,000 accidental drug deaths every year. The term “drug death” is an alibi to cover the lethal effects of drug prohibition.
Proof that hard line drug prohibition causes drug crimes and drug deaths comes from the Swiss Heroin Maintenance Programme where addicts are supplied with cheap, pure heroin and cocaine. The Swiss have not had a single overdose death in the program and injection-transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS, Hep C etc) are now a rarity in Switzerland.
The success of the Swiss Heroin Maintenance Program in causing a 97% reduction in addict crime in Switzerland is something American drug warriors do not want to discuss. The criminal drug black market has vanished in Switzerland since the Swiss began providing addicts with cheap legal drugs.
Swiss policy has also resulted in an 82-percent decrease in heroin addiction since 1990. Besides these concrete benefits, the Swiss report saving over $100/day/addict in lower police, incarceration and health care expenses. The Swiss are so pleased with the results of Heroin Maintenance that they made this their national drug policy.
Using jail cells to treat addicts has not achieved similar success anywhere in the world since 1914. Anyone truly concerned about the victims of drugs, will work to end an immoral drug crusade that murders more than 30,000 people every year and spawns a multitude of criminal activity.
Ignorance and good intentions are no excuse for continuing a destructive drug crusade.
As a true Conservative I despise the promotion of an unworkable drug prohibition policy that does great damage to the US and the rest of the world.
Right On Dan, there is no other way to talk to punks like that.
Ralph, welcome to my blog feel free to comment more. I too once shared your beliefs and even wrote a paper about it in college making the same arguments that you did now, my ultra liberal professor loved it. Funny thing happened between now and then though, I grew up and know better now.
Ralph, welcome to my blog feel free to comment more. I too once shared your beliefs and even wrote a paper about it in college making the same arguments that you did now, my ultra liberal professor loved it. Funny thing happened between now and then though, I grew up and know better now.
Comment by Joe — July 22, 2007 @ 8:30 pm
If you “know better” perhaps you can cite some evidence showing the great success of drug prohibition. You seem to believe in things science and history contradict.
If drug prohibition has produced good results perhaps you could name a few of them with specific facts supporting your ideas.
Do you believe in the Bible? If you do you must abandon drug prohibition because the scriptures demand that punishment equal the injury done—
Exodus 21:23 “life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise…”
In drug cases , no murder has occurred, there has been no robbery or fraud, no one has been blinded and no teeth have been knocked out, but the government commonly demands a 10 to 20 year sentence for a victimless “drug crime.”
Do you believe in Reefer Madness—
“Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men’s shadows and look at a white woman twice.” (Hearst newspapers nationwide, 1934)
“There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana can cause white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others.”
“The primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races.”
“Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality and death.”
“Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.”
“[Smoking] one [marihuana] cigarette might develop a homicidal mania, probably to kill his brother.” (see US Government Propaganda To Outlaw Marijuana - http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/t3.htm)
I’d say anyone who believes this nonsense is in line for a brain scan. Nonetheless, these are the foundation reasons for marijuana prohibition.
If you think outlawing heroin or cocaine is more worthy, first come up with some proof besides drug warrior platitudes, some solid history or peer reviewed science will do.
And just what gives anyone the right to punish for using a drug? The prohibitionists are still jumping through Constitutional hoops just to keep their phony laws on the books. Drug prohibition is responsible for destroying most of the Bill of Rights— does that matter to you?
I’ve been studying the drug crusade for years and the more I learn the more insane and the more destructive the drug laws become.
The US is already the world leader in prisons because of a needless drug crusade. How many millions more must be jailed to succeed in a “drug free America?”
I don’t necessarily disagree with what Ralph says about prohibition. BUT, the CURRENT law does prohibit drugs and doesn’t excuse punks like Arsenio from being punks.
I toked when I was an adolescent, but in early adulthood realized breaking the law wasn’t in my best interest. If it’s ever legalized I may even try pot again, but as long as it’s illegal, for the foreseeable future, I’ll abstain.
Yes I know better, I have seen friends who have not stopped their youthful partaking of Marijuana and have since moved on to harsher drugs and have ruined their lives. I see friends who have not even moved on to the harsher drugs and just smoke marijuana, but are unable to hold a job or make anything of their lives because they are dazed & confused 24/7.
That being said I will admit that the way the drug war has been fought has not been very effective at all, but there is still no denying the one ultimate truth about drugs…. “drugs are bad for you.”
That’s about all Ralph, I’m not going to turn this topic about a city councilman writing a letter to a low life scumbag into a debate about the legalization of drugs.
Yes I know better, I have seen friends who have not stopped their youthful partaking of Marijuana and have since moved on to harsher drugs and have ruined their lives. I see friends who have not even moved on to the harsher drugs and just smoke marijuana, but are unable to hold a job or make anything of their lives because they are dazed & confused 24/7.
*****
I happen to live in Silicon Valley, so I know that many leaders of the computer revolution like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and many others regularly used LSD, marijuana and pizza to fuel the development of modern computers.
The “amotivational” claim came after the rest of the reefer madness lies had been rejected. Like every other anti-marijuana claim no proof has ever been offered. (Since I grew up before marijuana was available, I can absolutely testify to the ability of teens to lay around like lazy dogs all the livelong day without any pot. Some stayed that way their whole lives without any pot!)
Besides computer entrepreneurs, I personally know several self-made millionaires who are confirmed potheads and have been since their teens. They are the toughest competitors in their fields and are feared by the competition! The idea that marijuana puts people into a permanent trance is simply a big fat lie.
It is a mistake to ascribe mental problems to drug use. When the reverse is almost always true.
My brother-in-law is a good example of drugs being blamed for mental problems. Sonny used every drug he could get his hands on. He was always messed up on something. Everyone, including his doctors, thought Sonny was just another junkie.
About 18 months before Sonny’s premature death, we learned that he had a brain tumor that had been causing hallucinations, hearing voices, extreme depression and other severe symptoms most of his life.
Sonny had been taking drugs hoping for relief. By the time his tumor was discovered (about 14 years!) it was too late for surgery that could have cured him earlier. Sonny was murdered by drug war attitudes that blinded even doctors from doing their duty. The dumb SOBs never even examined Sonny for a physical cause of his complaints until it was way too late.
*****
That being said I will admit that the way the drug war has been fought has not been very effective at all, but there is still no denying the one ultimate truth about drugs…. “drugs are bad for you.”
*****
Perhaps, but not nearly as bad as the drug crusaders would have us believe.
I do not think addiction is a desirable thing, but I do not think it is my duty to force people into an approved mode of behavior unless they are injuring others (the true definition of crime).
Prohibitionists make matters much much worse in several distinct areas. First off there was no such thing as “drug crime” before prohibitionists put the drug laws on the books. Now the US is the world leader in prisons because of a lunatic drug war.
Opiate addicts before drug prohibition were law-abiding citizens who held regular jobs and raised decent families.
The idea that drug addicts cannot perform their jobs is an enormous lie. The reason addicts must steal is because their drugs are illegal. Some of the most productive and creative people in the 19th century were opiate addicts. Addicts were Judges, politicians, Generals, bankers and held every kind of position imaginable. One of the leaders of the Louis & Clark Expedition (I can’t remember which) was a total opium addict. He carried a chest of opium throughout his explorations for his morning, noon and night doses.
The best refutation of opiate disability is the story of Doctor William Halsted. Halsted was one of the “fabulous four” who founded Johns Hopkins Medical School. Halsted began the first school of surgery in the United States.
Halsted is well known for his many medical and surgical achievements. As one of the first proponents of hemostasis and investigators of wound healing, Halsted pioneered the modern surgical fundamental principles of absolute control of bleeding, accurate anatomical dissection, complete sterility, exact approximation of tissue in wound closures without excessive tightness, and gentle handling of tissues. Halsted performed the first radical mastectomy for breast cancer. Other achievements include advances in thyroid, biliary tree, hernia, intestinal, and arterial aneurysm surgeries.
* Halsted’s law – Transplanted tissue will grow only if there is a lack of that tissue in the host.
* Halsted’s operation I – Operation for inguinal hernia.
* Halsted’s operation II – Radical mastectomy for cancer of the breast.
* Halsted’s sign – A sign for carcinoma of the breast.
* Halsted’s suture – A mattress suture for wounds that produced less scarring.
* Halsted published 180 papers in his lifetime.
* Halsted is also known for inventing mosquito clamps.
* Halsted was responsible for the inclusion of temperature charts in medical records.
* Halsted has a street in Chicago named after him, Halsted Street
A complete list of Halsted’s contributions to modern medicine is so long that it takes pages to list them all. Those interested in more information about Halsted can go to — http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cu5.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stewart_Halsted
The main thing to remember about Halsted is that he was a total morphine addict for the last 34 years of his life.
Halsted’s most important contribution was institution of GRAND ROUNDS as part of medical training. Grand Rounds are where an older wiser experienced doctor criticizes and explains diagnosis of real patients to interns (Dr Kildare!). Hands on training with expert support. This now universal method has saved millions of lives from blundering MDs while they learn their profession.
Halsted was regarded as the number one surgeon of his time. Halsted successfully performed delicate operations others could not do until they learned his techniques and developed his skills.
One other thing Dr Halsted was a total morphine addict for the last 34 years of his life.
Halsted was able to perform at peak levels because he had access to the morphine his habit demanded. Other doctors at Johns Hopkins helped Halsted obtain morphine and conceal his addiction.
The reason we do not hear many stories about successful addicts is because people seldom reveal addictions that would mean immediate prosecution and prison.
Oh, Yes, about that punk Arsenio. Gangbangers are merely another part of the collateral damage being done by drug prohibition. Without drug laws these gangs would have to go back to stealing hubcaps for their cash. The damage these gangs do will be greatly reduced when the money they make from drugs is withdrawn.
[...] the 18 year old drug dealer who made headlines around the world when Cleveland City Councilman Mike Polensek wrote him a nasty, but truthful letter — now has an arrest warrant issued out for him as the dumb-ass, thug criminal lowlife has [...]