I received an interesting comment today back at the post for Book Review: ‘Eternal Battle Against Evil’ by Paul R. Chabot. It appears not to be from a regular reader of this site — likely got here because of Google… If you google Paul R Chabot, my book review is the very first item. If you Google Eternal Battle Against Evil, it’s the second (not bad in such a short time).
Here’s the comment:
objective
Guither’s review is less than objective and wonder what credentials he possesses to evaluate and comment on drug strategy and Chabot’s book. Chabot has been on the front lines and understands the issues regarding ilicit drugs their abuse. Secondly, I wonder how many books Guither has written himself. As far as I am concerned, his comments and three dollars will buy you a cup of Starbucks.
Thanks for stopping by, objective. Regarding my credentials to evaluate and comment on Chabot’s book… all I really needed was a working brain. It wasn’t hard, because Chabot didn’t have a logically working argument.
As far as the number of books I’ve written, if my review had been about the ease or difficulty of writing books, then that might have been relevant. It was not. I have, by the way, written over 4,700 blog posts about drug policy, which gives me a little bit of experience about writing and some expertise on drug policy.
As far as my comments and $3 buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you’re absolutely right. And in about 2 weeks, the same price will buy Chabot’s book on eBay.
Thanks for playing.
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objective’s comment does remind me of a rather interesting point regarding “credentials.”
In a superficial way, on paper it appears that Paul Chabot has better “credentials” than me to discuss drug policy.
Chabot: Iraq war veteran, Experience with Office of Naval Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency, Commissioner to the State Parole Board, 15 years law enforcement experience, White House Senior Advisor for Law Enforcement, Justice and Drug Control Programs, Masters in public administration and a Ed.D in executive leadership…
Guither: Master of Fine Arts degree, performance artist and teacher of Arts Administration, who blogs about drug policy on the side.
You can see why a media outlet might be more interested in interviewing him than me.
And yet, I have far superior credentials for discussing drug policy. My knowledge is better than his, my understanding of the various factors, including economic, social, legal, etc. is far beyond his, and my analytical sills are far superior. He certainly knows more than I do about the organizational structure of the AF-DTO, but that’s about it.
Of course, part of the credentials having to do with working with the drug czar is really a negative. They’ll bring in just about any moron who has drunk the drug war cool-aid to work/advise/intern there (in fact, intelligence is usually a handicap). That’s why there are so many ridiculously stupid ex-ONDCP staffers out there commenting on every drug war story.
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A surprise google tidbit was pointed out by one of my students this week… If you go to any standard google search bar and start to type something, a drop down of suggestions shows up. If you merely type “Pete” and then a space (to set it apart from “Peter”), my name is currently the sixth one to show up in that drop down list… after Sampras but before Townshend.
the point being of course that while Pete is neither a famous rock star (except for here on the couch) nor is he a professional administrator. He can however grasp the concepts of success and failure and understands pretty clearly that Prohibition is a failure and this Prohibition is also threatening to dismantle the Constitution and is truly one of those internal threats of which we’ve been warned.
We’ve been ready for years to debate these clowns but because of the obeisance today’s media displays for our prison-industrial govcorp, we have to scratch and claw for our opportunities to speak against these abusers of power. If it’s a review on Amazon, so be it. And that Pete has raised some hackles… hallelujah! and pass the nugjug, I’ll smoke to that.
“nor is he a professional government bureaucrat/administrator.”
sorry Pete…
I’m sure that this books author and the holder DoJ have 3 answers to the facts about the zero OD rates of MJ. They are My name is Helen Keller. My name is Helen Keller. My name is Helen Keller!
did the IP address from “objective” reveal anything fun?
nor is he a professional government bureaucrat/administrator.â€
We are veterans of the Wod,,me..for 44 years now,,that qualifies me to say anything I want about drug policy and the type of people that take jobs knowing full well they have to lie to America to keep their job going.
I have to go all the way to “Pete Gu” before I see your name come up on Google…
Just because you attended university, have letters after your name, a lot of interesting sounding work experience and can crank out a book does not mean that you have good critical thinking skills and sound judgement. Unfortunately you may have suppressed the latter to come by the former.
One should google their name from time to time that is if you still use the big brother search engine.
Anybody can write a book…or have one written for them. I wonder how many put in the time and effort, sans tribute, as our Petey does? Do they still heft the load when they see the money stop? An Iraqi vet? Doing what? Just saying he’s a vet says very little. I’m a VN vet. No biggie, right? My MOS was 11Bravo and I sport a CIB. ‘Nuff said? And, true, being attached to the ONDCP is NOT anything to flaunt or be proud of.
EZ, Chabot was an apparatchik, no doubt. If he’d got a Combat Infantry Badge he’d have said so. Loudly.
Scalia: Federal Drug Laws Were a Mistake
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/scalia-federal-drug-laws-were-a-mistake/246321/
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia isn’t a supporter of legalizing drugs. But he does believe that passing federal laws against them has done harm to the U.S. government. “It was a great mistake to put routine drug offenses into the federal courts,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
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Hey Antonin, so what was that Raich vote all about? That was just because of the pictures of you in the barn with the farm animals?
Duncan! Attitude improved this day?
Well. Little trick. Click on this link, and paste it to other websites, and Pete rises in the Google Algorithm. Fast.
http://www.google.com/search?q=pete+guither&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Any informed citizen is qualified to write about public policy. Being a bureaucrat qualifies him to write about administrative issues pertaining to that agency, and maybe more generic governmental matters, but it doesn’t make him more qualified to write about the policy itself, which requires no specialized knowledge.
Pete, you could use your made up credentials….Director, Prohibition Isn’t Free Foundation. You are also Owner, Executive Administrator and coordinator of the “DWR Center for Drug policy Sofa” A Think Tank.
I know, Darkcycle, I just had to bring it out. LOL Also, if you input “Paul” into the Google search bar, he doesn’t show up at all so that’s “another credential” Pete’s got that Paul doesn’t.
Paul was a REMF, hiding in the Intel tent. He wouldn’t know the difference between “in coming” and “out going.” Or Honor, for that fact!
REMF…ha! Yeah, I got that. No doubt he was working out of one of those palaces they took over. I remember seeing photos of guys in chocolate chip camo hanging out by the pools under awful sculptures.
Hey. That’s a damn fine idea….guys, wanna be a policy center? AFIK all ya need to do is say you are….Maybe put up a web page. All it would have to do is link back here. Hell, I’m more than half serious about that…
Reviewing my last post…maybe “Think Tank-cum-Smoke Generator”
I suggest Alternative Solutions Society,,ASS for short,,and I am in whatever you want to name it.
Should sound serious. Maybe “Substances of Abuse Policy Research Center” or “SOFA Center” for short.
The Alternative Solutions Society could be a working group, sitting- as it were- on Sofa’s Letterhead…
I tried the acronym “COUCH” but couldn’t make it work.
Aw,c’mon. I thought that was good. No “likes”?
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I think graduating from the 3rd grade is all the qualification anyone needs to criticize “Dr.” Chabot.
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Pffft, 6 deep, that’s nothing. When I Google Duncan20903 I’m #1, #2 (duncan20903 “federal law”) and #3 (duncan20903 obama dispensaries), followed by Duncan Hines and just plain Duncan. 4 out of 5 Google searches reccomend Duncan! Google is a total class act, not a Dunkin’ Donuts to be found. Then again it might be because I’m such a narcissist and am constantly Googling myself.
Hmm, it looks like I’m heading to Texas to see beautiful Duncanville. You’d think if they’re going to name a city after you they’d at least send a darn postcard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncanville,_Texas
“According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.3 square miles (29 km2), all of it land.”
I’m confused. Aren’t most cities built on land?
You are so pathetic. When I enter “Pete” into Google your name doesn’t come up in the first 100, because Google tailors searches to what people have entered before. All your “ranking” means is that you Google yourself repeatedly. Sad.
Pinhead, it was brought to his attention by a student, or didn’t you bother to read the post?
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“Never let the facts get in the way of disseminating an effective piece of hysterical rhetoric.”
~ Rule of Propaganda #86
Damn, now I owe some greedy Ferengi mercenary a royalty and I’m fresh out of gold pressed latinum.
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Does anyone else think it peculiar that Pinhead called me Pete? Even after I admitted that I Google myself constantly. What’s next? Self Googling makes you go blind?
It doesn’t have anything to do with the first 100, Marianne. Pay attention, if you please. Entering into Google and hitting return is one thing. Entering letter by letter into Google and seeing what drops down gives you two other things (depending on your browser). The first is “suggestions” which is global suggestions from Google that is not dependent on your searching patterns, and below that is Recent Searches (you may not see the “suggestions” if you don’t wait for them or google is busy). This was in suggestions. After the student pointed it out to me on his computer, three other students in class duplicated the same effect on theirs.
If Chabot’s book was really so great…wouldn’t it already be available in torrent form?
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No, that’s because it’s such a ludicrous screed that the conversion software keeps crashing.
This is fun. The book review even brought us some trolls.
Yep. They come with the increased traffic. “Reviews of ________” is a top Google search itself.
I’m also lonely on Google+ since only a couple of my friends (that I know of) are on yet. I would like to be connected to more + users to really test the functionality. It looks great but without actually using it, it’s hard to find the good and bad. Çek Kanunu