halialkers: Alucard with smoking pistol, brunette man with red hat, red cloak, red tie, moving gif (Nova)
[personal profile] halialkers
  http://bigthink.com/endless-innovation/has-america-created-its-own-gulag-archipelago

But worry not, lest the USA allow Russia a monopoly on particular brands of evil and incompetence, the USA has managed to match official Stalinist statistics (which based on explorations of post-USSR archives undercount by anywhere from 35/50% knowingly falsifying original records, so.....) on prisons. cut for length )Because when we betrayed the premise of law and order, to become uncivilized barbarians who tolerate and adore murder and murderers, the sons and daughters of murderers who posed beneath slain mutilated bodies they sent as postcards so all their friends and families could see what squalid inhuman pieces of filth they were, the United States long ago crossed the line proving it is an inferior force beneath the lowest of the civilized countries. No society that tolerated murder and did so for over a century and the first moment opportunity permitted itself undoes its own restraints on this should profess shock that it became what it is now. 

Gulags do not happen out of a vacuum. They are proof of a debased and bestial soul barely shackled under the premises of civilization that casts off its restraint and bays at the moon enjoying the freedom to be what it always was. 
[identity profile] debunkgpolitics.livejournal.com
This is what I meant to post.

Over the last eight years, immigrants seeking to destroy America penetrated U.S. borders. Unlike the immigrants who people claim built this country, they do not want to assimilate into American culture. Another threat is the descendants of immigrants from certain countries. Part of protecting U.S. borders involves banning immigration from countries in which terrorists thrive. Otherwise, Americans will lose cherished liberties, if the United States of America is destroyed.

The only immigrants complaining about deportation and more border controls are those who entered into this country illegally. Legal immigrants have nothing to fear. After coming into this country legally, they received the same rights and protections as other U.S. citizens.

Also, federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities cannot handle the tide of illegal immigration. Many illegal immigrants are discovered after they commit a crime, besides entering the United States illegally. Then, more tax dollars are expended to try the illegal immigrants and detain them in overcrowded prisons or jails.
[identity profile] luvdovz.livejournal.com
Mass killer Breivik makes Nazi salute as he sues Norway for 'inhuman treatment'

Breivik is accusing the Norwegian state of inhuman treatment by keeping him in isolation after he massacred 77 people in 2011.

Meanwhile, here's how his cell looks like:


Such a disgrace, eh? Keeping such a nice person in such horrible inhuman conditions.

Maybe he'd enjoy Guantanamo better. Or why not Siberia. Then he'll definitely have good grounds for comparison. Put him in an orange jumpsuit and expose him to the elements for months like the child-murdering terrorist scumbag that he is, then let him sue Norway again.

One'd've thunk a self-glorifying valiant knight of a mass-murderer like this guy wouldn't be the massive crybaby that we're seeing, but alas. Who knew.
[identity profile] luvdovz.livejournal.com
Obama gives Congress Guantanamo closure plan

About fucking time, eh? Not that the guys who believed the plan was unacceptable the first time, would believe it's any more acceptable this time around. Shame the fearmongering Congress doesn't trust US prisons, hmmm. And in the meantime, they're so hell-bent on keeping the steady influx of prisoners for the profit of their fat buddies from the private jail industry.

In the meantime, the wild promises keep coming from all sides. What wouldn't some people do to get a few more votes from the "base". For instance, Rubio has vowed that if he's elected (not gonna happen), future captured militants would not be granted a federal court hearing. "They are going to Guantanamo, and we are going to find out everything they know", he said. Well, thanks inquisitor Rubio for your approval. Now let us continue with the inquisition. Because torture totally yields results, right?

Here's the deal. Either charge the prisoners and try them, or let them go. If I were one of those prisoners and I had had over a dozen years of my life wasted by being locked up and tortured for no clear reason, I sure as hell would devote the rest of my life to hunting down and killing Americans. As for hypocritical Americans, your commitment to human rights is paper-thin. But then again, nobody is surprised about that anyway. This atrocity of a place should've been closed years ago. It's a stain on America's credibility. Beacon of freedom and liberty? Pfeh. Do you take us for a bunch of idiots?
[identity profile] luzribeiro.livejournal.com
Much in line with the monthly topic, comes this:

Giving apartments to the chronically homeless can save taxpayer dollars, advocates say

Sometimes you have to spend money in order to save money and get the job done, as any progressive would tell you...

"Giving apartments to homeless people who've been on the streets for years before they've received treatment for drug or alcohol problems or mental illness may not sound like a wise idea. But that's what's being done in cities across America in an approach that targets those who've been homeless the longest and are believed to be at greatest risk of dying. They're people who once might have been viewed as unreachable. But cities and counties affiliated with a movement known as the 100,000 Homes Campaign announced this past week that they had gotten more than 100,000 of these people off the streets and into permanent housing. We first told you about this initiative earlier this year. Local governments and non-profit groups do most of the work. The money comes mostly from existing federal programs and private donations, and there's evidence that this approach saves taxpayers' money."

At least from a first reading, this sounds like a nice response to a serious problem that affects millions of people in America, particularly veterans, pensioners and handicapped. In fact this has already been done by Utah, and has shown some promising results while saving a lot of money:

Utah Solves Homelessness by Giving Away Homes

Utah Is on Track to End Homelessness by 2015 With This One Simple Idea

"The state is giving away apartments, no strings attached. In 2005, Utah calculated the annual cost of E.R. visits and jail stays for an average homeless person was $16,670, while the cost of providing an apartment and social worker would be $11,000. Each participant works with a caseworker to become self-sufficient, but if they fail, they still get to keep their apartment".

Of course, there are caveats )
[identity profile] peristaltor.livejournal.com
I'll take a break from a currently tumultuous family life and digress into a thought that has niggled at my brain for about three decades now. Back in college, a friend and I were mulling over beers about a simple question: Why is invention—specifically the rate of invention—accelerating?

Some historians say it is not, that looking at inventions from the distance history provides is like trying to judge the speed of an observed train at a distance without knowing the distance; from farther away, be they historically or in proximity, things appear slower. But this answer is, to me at least, just waving off the preponderance of evidence for an invention acceleration as simply not worth considering.

Back in college, I suggested it was education. More and more are getting more and more education. Could that be it? Perhaps, but this answer simply pushes the question down the road; why are more and more getting educated at greater rates? In other words, what changed in our education system from previous years?

Very recently, I think I've stumbled upon the answer, and I'm not sure I like the implications. More are educated today, more invention happens today, and more of us do less strenuous work today for the same reason that prisoners today do less backbreaking work in prison. )
[identity profile] johnny9fingers.livejournal.com
I am now of the opinion that the US has a problem of H-Block type proportions with the Guantanamo prisoners hunger strike.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/hunger-striking-at-guantanamo-bay.html?hp&_r=3&

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/15/obama-guantanamo-hunger-strike-moqbel

President Obama's continuing defence of this situation is becoming so obviously unjust, even to Americans, that it is rapidly approaching indefensible.

There has to be a better way than incarcerating folk for more than a decade without trial. Due process is more than a phrase…excepting when people suspected of being terrorists are involved, whereon simple suspicion is enough to suspend the normal rights appertaining to individuals.

There is a "Man in the Iron Mask" quality to all of this. What is awful is that Obama, and the Democratic Party as a whole, are party to this whether or not it is politically expedient given what the electorate believe.

Sometimes, with some things, you have to take a stand.

Try them, and if guilty, fry them: but try them first in a court of law and prove your case.
[identity profile] telemann.livejournal.com

Maggie Mae and Shane in happier times. Photograph by Sara Naomi Lewkowicz.



Time magazine ran an photo essay about domestic violence on its website in February, as Congress was debating renewing the Violence Against Women Act. The reactions to the dramatic series of photographs was both immediate and overwhelming. As a follow-up, a short video documentary about that photo essay and its two subjects, Maggie Mae and Shane, was posted on Time's website this week (along with a print article in this week's printed edition). If you aren't familiar about the images some background: Sara Naomi Lewkowicz is a photographer and first year graduate student at Ohio University in Athens. Her project was to document the grueling life of an ex-convict trying to become re-integrated into society, with all the pitfalls (inability to find work, jobs that don't pay a living wage, etc). As Ms. Lewkowicz explains:



Domestic violence is often shielded from public view. Usually, we only hear it muffled through walls or see it manifested in the faded yellow and purple bruises of a woman who “walked into a wall” or “fell down the stairs.” Despite a movement to increase awareness of domestic violence, we still treat it as a private crime, as if it is none of our business.

During my time as a freelance photojournalist and as a Master’s candidate at Ohio University, one of the biggest challenges of my career came in November of 2012, while working on a project about the stigma associated with being an ex-convict. Suddenly, an incident of domestic violence unexpectedly became my business. I had met Shane and Maggie two-and-a-half months before. Southeastern Ohio was still warm that time of year and brimming with small regional festivals. I had gone to the Millersport Sweet Corn Festival to shoot my first assignment for an editorial photography class. Almost immediately, I spotted a man covered in tattoos, including an enormous piece on his neck that read, “Maggie Mae.” He was holding a beautiful little girl with blonde curls. His gentle manner with her belied his intimidating ink, and I approached them to ask if I could take their portrait. I ended up spending my entire time at the fair with Shane, 31, and his girlfriend Maggie, 19. Maggie’s two children, Kayden, four, and Memphis, nearly two, were not Shane’s, but from her then-estranged husband.

Shane and Maggie had started dating a month prior to meeting me, and Shane told me about his struggles with addiction and that he had spent much of his life in prison. Maggie shared her experience losing her mother to a drug overdose at the age of eight, and having the challenges of raising two small children alone while their father, who was in the Army, was stationed in Afghanistan. Before they drove home, I asked if I could continue to document them, and they agreed. I intended to paint a portrait of the catch-22 of being a released ex-convict: even though they are physically free, the metaphorical prison of stigma doesn’t allow them to truly escape. That story changed dramatically one night, after a visit to a bar. In a nearby town where Shane had found temporary work, they stayed with the kids at a friend’s house. That night, at a bar, Maggie had become incensed when another woman had flirted with Shane, and left. Back at the house, Maggie and Shane began fighting. Before long, their yelling escalated into physical violence. Shane attacked Maggie, throwing her into chairs, pushing her up against the wall and choking her in front of her daughter, Memphis.

After I confirmed one of the housemates had called the police, I then continued to document the abuse — my instincts as a photojournalist began kicking in. If Maggie couldn’t leave, neither could I. Eventually, the police arrived. I was fortunate that the responding officers were well educated on First Amendment laws and did not try to stop me from taking pictures. At first, Maggie did not want to cooperate with the officers who led Shane away in handcuffs, but soon after, she changed her mind and gave a statement about the incident. Shane pled guilty to a domestic violence felony and is currently in prison in Ohio.

The incident raised a number of ethical questions. I’ve been castigated by a number of anonymous internet commenters who have said that I should have somehow physically intervened between the two. Their criticism counters what actual law enforcement officers have told me — that physically intervening would have likely only made the situation worse, endangering me, and further endangering Maggie. I have continued to follow Maggie since the abuse, and I’ve also begun working closely with photographer Donna Ferrato, who first began documenting domestic violence 30 years ago.1

















The story of Maggie Mae story is the story of millions of single moms no doubt. She herself was the product of a single parent home (lost her mother when she was 8, and her mother was a recreational drug user). Married early due to pregnancy, both spouses weren't able to cope with the stresses of the relationship, nasty break-up, and Maggie Mae was single mom when she met Shane. It's against that backdrop that the New York City Dept of Health has started a very controversial advertising campaign in an effort to show the pitfalls of being a teenager mom. Many decry the posters and ads as an effort to shame single teen-age mothers. The second image below is from Washington, D.C. near Howard University, and that ad campaign is sponsored by the DC Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, a citizens' action group.



The NYC HD ads make me feel uncomfortable frankly because they lack a lot of empathy for women who are single teenage mothers. But Ms Lewkowicz's photographs and video really hit me on visceral level because one member of my own family has shared a lot Maggie's trials; and shed so many many tears at bringing up children without a supportive father. The struggles of being in your twenties, working low paying jobs and a loneliness you're doing it all alone. Dating and relationships are hard because they're so drained emotionally and physically. There's so many components wrapped up in this tragic story of domestic violence issue. I also wonder about any mental-health treatment for prisoners have. Sure prisoners are being punished for crimes, but obviously Shane has "issues" as Maggie stated, including anger and substance abuse, anger management since he can't cope in a normal relationship. In 2012, the prison population set a record, so effective programs within prisons (or I should say, a LACK of them) is a serious issue affecting all of us, especially considering how many will be released back into society as overcrowded prisons will have early releases.


The video is available @ Time's website since it will not embed properly. Ms. Lewkowicz's visual journalism website, with a write up.


1. Photographer as Witness: A Portrait of Domestic Violence, photo essay by Sara Naomi Lewkowicz. Time, published online February 27, 2013

[identity profile] meus-ovatio.livejournal.com
Welcome to Prison America, an ongoing series.

While many have criticized our general foreign policy habits concerning the "Third World", I would like to concentrate on our own Third World. For yes, indeed, The United States of America does have a Third World. This world is run by brutes and tyrants, thugs, racists, fascists and oil barons. No, no I am not describing Saudi Arabia, I am describing Mississippi. I hate to bring such discordant disharmony to our peaceful and tranquil nation, but I can no more stay silent about this than I could about Libya.

If we do not declare war on Mississippi, we are moral hypocrites and cowards to boot.

Macing children... that's a bombing. Of course, this time, it really would be a War of Northern Aggression.
[identity profile] a-new-machine.livejournal.com
So, we all know that Weiner is hilarious and totally a big deal, and was seriously worth all the time people spent on him, right? Well, here's a new sex scandal that nobody has mentioned: The Justice Department recently released a report on rape in prisons, that found that nearly a quarter-million prisoners were abused in 2008, and the vast majority were abused by staff.
Administrators have responded predictably... )
[identity profile] sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com
Advocate corporal punishment and most people will scoff or recoil in horror. "What do you take us for? Barbarians?" seems to be the most common response. and yet, thanks to the "War on Drugs" and mandatory sentancing the US imprisons more citizens per capita than any other country in the western world. One month ago the US Supreme Court ruled that conditions in California prisons were unconstitutional, specifically that the prevalence overcrowding coupled with shoddy/non-existant medical treatment constitued cruel and unusual punishment. Furthermore the prevalence of rape in american prisons has been declared a humanitarian crisis by numerous watchdog groups.

It's a simple question really.

If given the choice between 10 years in a California prison or 10 lashes in the public square which would you choose?

Personally I'd choose the whip.


PS:
The above morally-framed argument completely ignores the economic incentive for corporal punishment, you don't have to spend ____ years feeding and housing a flogged prisoner and you do not loose a potentialy valuable member of the workforce. Though if the former is your chief concern we could just bring back chain gangs.
[identity profile] kinvore.livejournal.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110615/ap_on_re_us/us_muslims_terror_hearings

So NY Congressman Peter King is holding more hearings, this time on violent Islam in prison. It hasn't resulted in nearly as much controversy as his previous hearing where he just attacked "violent Islam" in general, but it's still drawing some protests.

For the record when it comes to violence done in the name of Islam I tend to condemn it rather strongly. Few things annoy me more when my fellow liberals seem to give certain acts a pass, often citing cultural reasons. What gets me is if these acts (such as honor killing and/or the systematic suppression of women) were done in the name of Christianity then they'd be screaming bloody murder. It shouldn't be a different reaction just because it's done by the enemy of your enemy.

That being said these investigations are awful and hateful. I think of it this way: imagine if he held hearings on violent blacks in America. He would be rightfully tarred and feathered for even suggesting it. Why? Because it's not right to suggest an entire group of people is guilty for the actions of a few. These hearings are thinly-veiled hate speech and have no place in Congress.

I'll save you some time, Congressman King. There's violence in the name of Islam. There's violence in the name of Christianity. There's violence in the name of nationalism. There's violence done in many names, so please stop the hateful posturing and work on issues that actually matter, such as jobs.
[identity profile] a-new-machine.livejournal.com
The Supreme Court today ruled that California's prisons are so overcrowded, they actually enter the territory of cruel and unusual punishment.[Full opinion | WSJ article] In a 5-4 decision penned by Justice Kennedy, the Court found that the overcrowding so impeded the delivery of mental and physical health care to prisoners that immediate release of a significant proportion of the population was required to avoid constitutional violation. The prison system was roughly 100% over capacity at the time of the original appeal, and the government had failed to comply with other orders to alleviate the capacity issue in a reasonable time frame. In a withering dissent (as always), Justice Scalia said the ruling "ignores bedrock limitations on the power of Article III judges" to "uphold the absurd."

Read more... )
[identity profile] blue-mangos.livejournal.com
A former Cayuga County resident serving an 18- to 40-year state prison sentence for rape and sodomy of a 12 year old child is on a heart donor list and is undergoing a heart transplant evaluation at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

http://auburnpub.com/news/local/article_6b939064-6cef-11e0-8200-001cc4c002e0.html

From the article:

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's organ transplant system, said federal laws prohibits the organization from discriminating against patients based on non-medical conditions, such as their criminal record or incarceration status. But local transplant organizations and the state can set their own guidelines, a UNOS spokesman said. Many medical professionals believe that such guidelines can create ethical problems that go beyond a person's medical needs.


This may go against my liberal leanings but my first instinct is fuck this guy, let him die, but his crime is one that is near to my heart. But that brings up the question should any inmates receive organ transplants? And if so, who decides where the cut off line is on just how bad their crime was? And what about other medical treatments, life saving or not. Is the sentence they are serving enough of a punishment without the added indignity of a painful death or debilitating illness?

Do we still view prisoners as having any value to society at all? Can we ever look past their crimes and view them as human beings? If so we do have the responsibility to allow them access to the same medical care we all have.

Doctors in the military are obligated to perform treatment on captured enemy soldiers, often before their own soldiers who have sustained less serious injuries. Civilian doctors should be held to the same standards. Otherwise we get into the area of them being able to use their own prejudices to decide whose life has value, an area that can cause many issues.

And of course, we have to touch on the fact that he will be receiving this transplant at the expense of the government, an option many people who have not committed horrific crimes do not have.
[identity profile] mintogrubb.livejournal.com
In publishing the book rec earlier, I set out to argue (if not actually show) that the most civilised and urbane of us can become evil, twisted savages if certain conditions were met - or if certain restraints upon human behaviour were removed.

Sadly, a few people fastened onto spelling mistakes, and it became an argument about the definition of genocide. But, it may also be argued that the kids in the book were just kids - and that the book was a work of fiction. Read more... )
[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com
In the United States we have a surplus of prisoners, more than modern-day China does. This despite having not even half the population China does. Most of these prisoners, even the felons are in prison for non-violent offenses, chiefly drug-related, ones that will not make them a clear and present danger to the rest of society. Why, if our modern legal system is designated one of rehabilitation, do we then deny felons the right to vote? It does not seem rehabilitating to me to take a democracy and disenfranchise what is now 1 in 100 Americans. That instead seems a closet way to disfranchise people without getting called on it.

Now, before certain people accuse me of wanting to create anarchy, I am not suggesting the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer or that Garrido fellow get turned loose. Such men in fact are being turned loose because our prisons are already overstuffed with non-violent felons, which makes it difficult to keep tracks of the ones really needing watching. But surely if we were to release non-violent offenders on drug charges and legalize (and tax, let's not forget the taxation) certain drugs we could handle the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer or Garrido (whose first name I've forgotten) easier? And avoid the unfortunate implications of for-profit prisons that often hold felons who are denied the vote? And again, I do not mean to imply that we should turn loose people like Garrido who are clear and present dangers.

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