ENRAGED BY TEARS

The hypocrisy pours from Jeb Bush on the drug war issue. His tearful
display at a "drug summit" shows these politicians don't push these
inhuman drug laws for their own children, they push them for ours.

"I have an emotional feeling about my daughter," Bush said. "I love
her a lot. When she's hurting, it brings me great sadness. She's
always going to be daddy's little girl to me."

Well, Mr. Bush, we all love our kids and millions of them are
"hurting" in much more stark conditions than your daughter is - the
vast U.S. prison complex where they are subject to hell. Our kids
don't get posh treatment and we don't get to have the charges erased
like your daughter will. I feel for you as a father, Mr. Bush, but as
a governor, your tears enrage me.

DAVE MICHON
Eau Claire, Wis.
~~~~~~~~~~~
UNMOVED BY TEARS

Gov. Bush weeps alligator tears when discussing his daughter's drug
abuse problems in front of a large crowd of potential voters and
supporters. Those of us not in attendance can empathize, but remain
curious if his tears extend to the tens of thousands of Floridians
arrested each year on non-violent drug charges who are jammed into
county jails and state prisons. Bush has claimed for three years that
treatment funding is smarter than continued incarceration, but his
actions as governor reveal his true attitudes toward those Floridians
not named Noelle.

Does his pain extend to the over 50,000 inmates in the Florida
Department of Corrections who need drug treatment, but will have to
wait at least a full year due to his eliminating all in-prison
treatment funding? Was he weeping while waging a vigorous 12-month
campaign against a proposed ballot initiative that would allow
Floridians the right to drug treatment for first and second nonviolent
drug possession offenses? This while his daughter is whisked from the
Tallahassee jail into a posh facility within hours of her arrest.

Jeb Bush apologized for his tears, citing that it was a "genetic trait
inherited from my father." It seems that another trait he inherited
from "read my lips" Daddy Bush is the ability to say one thing from
his mouth and do the exact opposite with a stroke of his governor's
pen. Please excuse those of us who won't be fooled again.

STEPHEN HEATH
Drug Policy Forum of Florida
Clearwater