Whitey Bulger, Barney Frank and Ron Paul

Whitey Bulger

In my last blog I wrote about the long awaited capture of former Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger. He, of course, was arrested after 16 years on the run. Much media attention have been put on Whitey Bulger over the years. People wondering about his where he was. The comparisons to his brother Billy Bulger, who at one time was a powerful politician in Massachusetts.

In some corners, there have been a fascination with mobsters. Hollywood has put out a lot of popular movies and television shows about mobsters. But in real life, mobsters like Whitey Bulger leaved behind a lot of death, bloodshed and hurt. The hurt going to the victims kin. This article in Fridays Boston Herald does a good job at illustrating the hurt that Bulger and his winter hill gang have done.

"I'd like to see him hanged," said Marion Hussey, who's daughter Deborah was strangled to death by Bulger and his henchman, Stephan "the Rifleman" Flemmi. Marion was the common law wife of Flemmi, until Deborah accused Flemmi of sexual molesting her when she was a girl. Sometime after, Flemmi lured Deborah to her mother's home where Bulger strangled her.

Deborah is one of 19 people who were believed to be killed at the hands of Bulger. Not all of them were seemingly as innocent as Deborah. Many of them were in or had connections to the criminal underworld. But they were still humans. They still had relationship with grieving family members who were left behind long after Bulger murdered them. Here's hoping the all of the voices of the victim's kin are heard.

Marijuana and the Political Odd Couple

They seem like the ultimate political odd couple. Reps. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts and Ron Paul (R) of Texas. Frank is one of the most outspoken liberals in the House of Representatives. Paul is one of the biggest advocates of small government and personal freedom. Paul is also running for the Republican nomination of the President of the United States. This week they introduced a bill that would take marijuana off the federal government's list of controlled substances and eliminate criminal penalty. The bill would leave marijuana enforcement and prosecution up to the states.

Ron Paul is one politician who I have a lot of respect for. More libertarian than conservative, he deserves credit of being consistent in his small government views (unlike many of his fellow Republicans who claim to be in favor of small government and personal freedom but are actually in favor of their own version of big government. One that is just as dangerous and restrictive on freedom as the most liberal of Democrats). I know Barney Frank well as he is one of my hometown's representatives in Congress. I have my fair share of differences with him as I find him to be too far to the left. That, and he comes on way too strong at times. But he also has an independent and has (dare I say it) a somewhat libertarian streak that makes me give him some grudging respect for him. For the second time in a number I find myself totally in favor of a Barney Fran initiative. First his efforts to legalize online poker and his criticism of the government crackdown of online poker (which caused a hopefully brief hiatus of my online poker career). Now this.

I do not equate marijuana with other drugs on the government's list of controlled substances (cocaine, heroin, etc). I put it more on the level of alcohol and gambling. Most people can smoke marijuana and it'll cause no harm in their life. Is there a number of people who can become addicted to it and have it cause harm to their live? Yes, but it's in the minority. Some people do great harm to their lives through alcohol and gambling. Does it mean that we should shut down all bar rooms, liquor stores and casinos? No. Medical marijuana should also be available to people that need it. Why the federal government continues to fight medical marijuana makes no sense to me. I rather see government resources to to more important things than the continued criminalization marijuana.

"Criminally prosecuting adults for making the choice to smoke marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources and an intrusion on personal freedom," said Frank.

"I do not advocate urging people to smoke marijuana, neither do I urge them to drink alcoholic beverages or smoke tobacco, but in none of theses cases do I think prohibition enforced by criminal sanctions is good public policy," Frank said.

I totally agree.