11/16/2007

Mark Souder: "Anyone Who Disagrees With Me Is A DFH", Groups: "STFU"

From Blue Indiana: Rep. Mark Souder's personal drug war catches some big name flak

I am so glad I didn't vote for this one-issue jackass.

Rep. Mark Souder hates drugs. He also hates the people who use drugs. He also hates the people who don't hate the people who use drugs.
Under current law, students with drug convictions are ineligible for financial aid for at least a year, maybe more, depending on the conviction. A group opposed to this penalty has been lobbying for years to eliminate it and will get a chance this week when the House Education Committee takes up reauthorization of the Higher Education Act on Wednesday.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a strong supporter of the drug penalty, tried earlier this month to preempt the effort to repeal it with a Dear Colleague letter. It warned members of Congress not to heed the word of the "small but determined coalition of drug-legalization groups" that opposes the penalty. "Before you are bombarded by the talking points of such groups, I wanted to make sure everyone has the facts straight," he wrote.
There's just a small problem: The letter that Souder sent out as a warning of the "small but determined" pro-drug hippies got a response from some of those aforementioned groups. And unfortunately for Souder, they aren't small, and they aren't happy.
The group, however, did its own straightening of facts. Sixteen of its members replied with a letter that's going out today asking that Souder "retract" his characterization of them. Among the hippies to fire back: the American Federation of Teachers, American Friends Service Committee, National Association of Social Workers, Union for Reform Judaism, etc.


Once again, I am so glad I didn't vote for this man. Mark Souder is something worse than those one-issue voters - he's a one-issue legislator. Nearly every time he opens his craw, he's wailing about drugs and how everyone who uses drugs is evil and anyone who doesn't want them DFHs locked up for life is a horrible person. Other than the occasional blurb about things that don't really matter for shit around here (and don't affect the people he should be concerned about), that's seemingly his entire platform.

Once again, I say, "Don't blame me, I voted for Hayhurst."