Good readings on Senator Webb’s courage and Prez Obama’s pot shot

This week brought some very different examples of politicians taking very different approaches to national crimes and punishment issues.  And some of my favorite on-line commentaors have these good discussions of what we should take away from what we all saw:

Consider first the work of Glenn Greenwald here at Salon.com, who provides important and spot-on commentary headlined “Jim Webb’s courage v. the ‘pragmatism’ excuse for politicians.”  Because this piece hits so many important points, I likely will have more to saw about this commentary and Senator Webb’s courage in future posts. 

Now consider the contrast provided by the folks at Reason through these posts about President Obama’s response in his town hall to inquiries about legalizing marijuana:

• Obama on Pot: Har Har Har, The Joke’s On You!
• The War on Drugs is No Laughing Matter: It’s time for Barack Obama to take legalization seriously
• More About Obama’s Ditchweed-Level Response to That Marijuana Question