DOJ disappoints

This is outrageous. A young activist conducts a peaceful, and brilliant, civil disobedience at an illegal land lease auction that was hastily thrown together by the Bush administration as they conducted their last minute looting of our public treasures and instead of going after the Bushites who broke the law in holding the auction, they're going after the kid.

In the waning weeks of the Bush Administration, Tim DeChristopher disrupted a lease of public lands for oil and gas exploration by bidding up prices against those who intended to drill on the lands if oil or gas was found.

He successfully won one of the bids and was prepared to pay for it but the whole sordid affair was declared null because it violated the competitive bidding process. So what's he's being charged with?

I was charged with two counts: one of making a false statement to the government and one of violation of the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, which was supposed to establish a competitive bidding process for oil and gas leases.

I suppose the false statement was based on the fact that he had no intention of drilling, but then again neither have the oil companies used the leases they currently hold to drill. They just hold those leases as a hedge. And I certainly don't see how the kid could be guilty of violating a process that was illegally conducted. If that's the case then every bidder should be charged.

Meanwhile, more bad news on the War On some Drugs front. It's clear that common sense policy is not on the agenda. Just more of the same failed tactics.

And with marijuana sales central to the drug trade, Mr. Holder said he was exploring ways to lower the minimum amount required for the federal prosecution of possession cases.

I don't follow drug policy like I used to, but I don't even think that it's true marijuana is the central source of revenue in the Mexican black market. I've read most of the production of cannabis is domestic at this point. I believe Mexican cartels are making the most money as a transit nation for cocaine. But in any event, lowering the minimums doesn't sound like a good way to crush cartel kingpins.

It's a gross disappointment to see the DOJ come out of the gate with so many "business as usual" decisions in the last couple of weeks. Small hope for change here.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]