Health Care Reform

Well tomorrow President Obama goes before the House to lay out his health care plan. He will, I am sure, insist on a public option. The operative word here is 'option'.
The Fox Network buffoons and their ilk have tried their damnedest to kill any sort of reform - purely for the sake of attempting, in some perverted way, to ensure that our new president fails at all costs. Remember these are the same folk that say encouraging our school children to study, apply themselves, set goals and work hard is Marxist brain washing.
The President engaged the Republicans in a genuine attempt to reach a truly bi-partisan solution to our our spiraling health care costs. Look where this attempt at conciliation got him.
I say the President will call the republican's bluff and dig his heels in on the issue of a public option.

Arrest of Professor Gates, Harvard.

Disorderly Conduct and other subjective discretionary laws.

I do not see this as purely a race issue. Prof. Gates most likely 'jumped the gun' due to past experiences that ultimately escalated into a race issue fueled by the media.

The bigger picture is that unfortunately our law enforcement agencies have vast discretionary powers and really think that they are above the law and our Constitution. I fear that we are slowly but surely regressing towards a police state. I am originally from Africa and what I see here is that law enforcement is not really dedicated to 'Serve and Protect' as commonly advertised on their vehicles. What it really should read is: 'To Intimidate and Harass' - Ask any teenager in southern California - and of course to make arrests so that the wheels of the Judicial Industrial Complex can keep turning.

Of course this has ultimately become a race issue but basically this was just cops being cops.

Bribery- Ethics? Shakedown?

Politico, a Washington-based publication said it had received a copy of a letter from the American Conservative Union asking FedEx for a $2 million to $3 million donation in exchange for the group’s backing in a legislative battle with UPS, according to a published report Friday.

FedEx is fighting a measure in Congress that would move coverage of the operator’s air express business, now under the Railway Labor Act, to the National Labor Relations Act, which could make it easier for labor unions to organize FedEx Express workers at individual terminals.

The letter said that for $2 million, the ACU would offer “op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and/or other members of the ACU’s board of directors.”

Politico quoted an official at the American Conservative Union who said the group did not receive money from UPS.

The ACU backs UPS and its call for Congress to change the way FedEx is covered under federal labor law.

Closing Guantanamo

Dick Cheney thinks that some of the Guantanamo detainees already released were "treated too leniently".
So let's see, we lock someone up for 4 or 5 years, deprive them from sleep for weeks at a time, torture them, do not allow access to legal council and then when we release them we honestly expect them to be grateful. Only a moron would believe that anyone treated in such a way would not re-join some sort of anti-American group.
President Obama is 100% correct when he says that Guantanamo is a prime recruiting ground for terrorists. That is pure common sense.
It is this short-sightedness of Dick Cheney and his 'ilk' that have got us into the mess that we find ourselves in, as a country, today.

Substance Abuse in US Prisons

Lock down, video surveillance , solitary confinement, searches and guards everywhere and we still cannot keep drugs out of our overcrowded prisons and jails.
So how can we half expect to keep drugs out of our country!
Makes you think doesn't it? ... Well, maybe.

What Drives Change?

In this 'utopian' capitalistic society that we live in, major changes, whether they are of a social nature or not, are driven by the dollar and not by empathy or by compassion.
By this I mean only when the 'powers that be' start feeling the financial strains of various programs is there talk of change.

California is in a budget crunch, so let's consider releasing a few thousand non-violent jail and prison inmates.  I do not hear too much discussion or the question being asked: Why are these people being incarcerated in the first place?  But millions of dollars are being budgeted for and spent on more prisons and jails. Who is questioning the fact that the US has the highest per capita prison population in the world?  The Criminal Industrial Complex with all its vested interests needs to be maintained.  The revolving door needs to keep turning - the goal is definitely not rehabilitation, it is purely punishment and retribution.  If you are convicted of a felony - do not for one moment think that you serve your time and pay your debt to society.  No way!  Once a felon always a felon - Live with it, try and get a job with your 'record' and attempt to stay away from that revolving door.

The Ultimate Vested Interest

Two judges in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County admitted sentencing thousands of children to jail in a, for profit, privately owned and run detention center.

The two judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan 'benefitted in three ways:

• First the judges received a 'kickback' for sanctioning the building of a new private sector prison in their area.
• They were paid for closing a county funded prison nearby.
• They received 'residual income' for every child they sent, and every day the kids spent in private juvenile detention centers run by Pennsylvania Child Care and a sister company.
  

So far no word on any prosecution of the prison companies!  This just has to be more than an isolated incident.  Hopefully all the morally and ethically corrupt individuals will eventually brought to justice and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Private prisons and jails for profit are the ultimate evil of our capitalist society.

Prison Reform. A Request to the Obama-Biden Presidency

PLEASE SUPPORT SENATOR WEBB (D-VA) IN HIS QUEST TO REALLY REFORM THIS MESS. AND STOP ONCE AND FOR ALL THE CRIMINALIZATION OF OUR SOCIETY AND IN PARTICULAR OUR YOUTH.
The US prison/jail statistics are horrific
- We have the world's greatest per capita prison population, as a comparison, 7 times greater than that of Canada.

-We have 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's prison population.

I have been pondering this issue for a long time. Why does the world's greatest democracy incarcerate such large numbers of its population? Particularly the poor and less privileged.

Change will be difficult since there are so many 'vested interests' at stake.

Unions - Jobs would be lost with less jails and prisons.

Private Prisons - Profit. Where is the incentive to lock less people up?

Elected Lawmakers - Running their campaigns on 'Getting tough' on crime and voted into office by a thoughtless public.

The major reasons for our enormous prison population are:

Mental illness is, to a large extent, ignored and not understood by the courts.

People are charged and jailed with felonies that are in many cases minor offenses. They serve their time and are released. This is where the problem really lies. Firstly the released inmate's future, for the next 3 years at least, is going to rely on the attitude and 'character' of the parole officer.

Secondly the parolee now has a felony that is public record. Now try and get a job with a felony record. Try while being poor, not well educated, no family support and out on the street. How are you going to survive? Guess what? There is an 80% chance of you 'messing up', perhaps something as small as stealing a slice of pizza just to get by. You are going back to prison. The cycle is complete and the Criminal Industrial Complex advances. More prisons, more prison guards, more private 'for profit 'prisons.

We have a legal system. But do we have a justice system?

Immigration & Social Security

By listening to radio talk show hosts and watching the 'talking head' pundits on TV you will be fed a very one sided view relating to the great immigration debate.
First let me state that I am an immigrant who had to go through all the legal 'hoops' to obtain first a visa and then US citizenship.
As someone who was in the position to employ workers - I was confronted with an interesting situation. Jaime applied for the position of a warehouse worker. According to the Federal employment requirements he needed two forms of identification. One from column A and then one from column B or C. So he had what looked like a green card and a social security card and number. He was one of our better workers, never missed a days work, after a couple of weeks he purchased a bicycle to get to work on. A few months later he was the proud owner of a small car.
Then we decided to put all our employees on a 401k plan - Guess what? The insurance company ran a check and Jaime had a forged Social Security card & number.
To comply with the law I then had to let Jaime go.
But remember for well over a year he was paying into Social Security, medical and the other mandatory pay role deductions. So his contribution was going into the Social Security coffers without Jaime ever receiving any benefits.
Unfortunately this issue has been so misrepresented by partisan hacks and commentators who have no real knowledge - but the one thing they can do is talk!
Do not get me wrong, I am not pro illegal immigration, but the situation has been allowed to get so out of control I am not not sure how it will ever be fixed. But the one thing that should happen now is that the existing laws should be applied to all potential immigrants.
The 'witch hunt' that continues to separate families, husbands and wives, parents from their children should cease. The majority of these cases target hard working people who actually do contribute to society.

The USA is Number One.

The per capita US jail and prison population is the highest in the world, in fact 7 times greater than that of Canada. All I read and hear from politicians and justice department officials is: "We need more prisons, we need more money for prisons and prison guards". One would hope and think that somewhere the statistic that 1 in 99 people in America are in jail or prison would trigger some intelligent discussion and raise some questions, but this is obviously not perceived as a problem. Too many vested interests at stake.

What can we deduct from this? Is life here in the US safer than in Canada, by a factor of 7?

One thing is certain, if you are young, underprivileged and cannot afford an attorney, you are 7 times more likely to be thrown in jail in the US than if you were living in Canada.

The social ramifications of this are horrific. The cost to society and social services after a person is released from jail or prison is enormous. Talk to someone who has been incarcerated for what may be a minor felony and ask them how easy it has been to find work. Bearing in mind that they have supposedly paid their debt to society.

It is no longer justice or rehabilitation - It's the US Criminal Justice Industry.

Shooting of Oscar Grant in Oakland

Let's face the facts we are living in a police state. This is nothing more and nothing less than a cold blooded assassination!
Also thank goodness for cell phone cameras. Without the video evidence we all know what the cover-up story would have been. The officer (thug) Johannes Mehserle should be charged with first degree murder, nothing more and nothing less.