patrick.net

This was the bill clinton/ joe biden wet dream new new economy, their vision for a better american future (for themselves and their ilk)

Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more.

Yeah-the land of the free-the nation that throws more people in jail than any nation on earth. A nation where the President can whisk you away and keep you detained forever with no charges whatsoever.

errc says

The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM,
Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq,
Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern
Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and
many more.

Hmm-maybe that is why manufacturing is moving back to the USA-to take advantage of cheap prison/slave labor??

errc says

Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more.

THere's a start for that 1%'er list.
But I doubt any iPHone users here would bring their iPhone to AT&T and say... "Cancel my service, I'm tired of giving you rich bastards my money, while you use slave labor, and destroy the middle class."

Oh wait! The argument never was about destroying the middle class, because that's a Liberal good thing, right?

I'd argue we have roughly the largest illegal allien population on the planet also.

1/3 of California inmates are illegals.

I'd guess the same holds true in Arizona, NM, Nevada, Texas(ever heard of Tango Blast?) and probably elsewhere.

Why is this point never EVER mentioned in these horribly biased articles denouncing how many people we imprison?

Also, why is drug tolerance/legalization also never EVER mentioned in these horribly biased articles. Drug legalization would instantly reduce the prison population by 2/3rds.

Its because the people writting these articles have a socialized agenda. And theres no better way to get the population at large to go along with increased government spending than to create crime that can only be fought by increased police forces or welfare handouts.

The war on drugs is the most anti American, anti freedom thing the Republicans brought onto this nation. The spineless dems just go along or use it to their own agenda.

Obama did hard drugs, Bush did hard drugs, Clinton won't admit-just like he wouldn't admit to Monica. But what is the message-do drugs and go to jail or become the President of America???

Oh no shuddup, you won't hear a peep from the hypocrits. They are too busy fighting to help the poor and minorities by making house prices more unaffordable, or bailing out the retirement industry complex,,,or fighting for the rights of gays (as if they have it so fucking bad)

Oh no, they don't have time to be bothered with something so petty. After all, reality wouldn't be kind to them, if they tood a break from shopping at target, and pining for more folk to get sucked in to the stock market and bloody fucking 401ks chocked full of all these companies that allow this to happen.

Afterall, they fucking own this shit. How they sleep at night with all the blood on their hands, from strangling the last breath of freedom from this dying nation, is beyond me. Good for them

Well, it is a matter of choice between the parties we have. The dem states have at least tried making pot legal for medicinal or recreation purposes. Which is a lot farther than states like TX and AZ where the punishment for posession is much more severe.

Ideally I would like the war on drugs to end today. But if anybody is going to do it-it is the dems. Repubs seem to love making things illegal-wether that be drugs , abortion, gays . It is their mentality. They should never utter the word freedom-well except Ron paul.

lostand confused says

But if anybody is going to do it-it is the dems.

Neither party will risk annoying their corporate overlords by instigating real reform. Meaningful change will never come from within this two party system.

lostand confused says

Repubs seem to love making things illegal-wether that be drugs , abortion, gays . It is their mentality.

I've always said the only difference between those pesky Republicans and Democrats, are. Republicans want to pass laws that prohibit you from enjoying something you like. And Liberals want to mandate you do something you detest, to the very core of your being.

CaptainShuddup says

lostand confused says

Repubs seem to love making things illegal-wether that be drugs , abortion, gays . It is their mentality.

I've always said the only difference between those pesky Republicans and Democrats, are. Republicans want to pass laws that prohibit you from enjoying something you like. And Liberals want to mandate you do something you detest, to the very core of your being.

Haha! So true!!!

We are like China now, prison labor camps. Isn't this just same old reeducation through labor?

We have to at least take the financial incentive out of imprisoning people otherwise it'll always be a self feeding cycle where people will be in jail for no crime at all. Financial incentive tends to corrupt the mind.

I'm all for wielding dual sawed off shotties with buckshot, sights set on every last fuckwad that enables this crap to continue, including those that support these corporations, and let's not forget the worthless twits that sit idle as if it weren't a big deal, babbling about how they need to first concentrate on more pressing issues like helping queers as if they have it so effing bad in this country. When was the last time a gay was imprisoned for sucking a dick?

errc says

When was the last time a gay was imprisoned for sucking a dick?

In Texas. The supreme court stuck that down. Many republican states still have sodomy laws on the books, but don't enforce them because of federal issues. But it is the mentality-I don't like what you do-so off to jail you go. It was the republicans that started this war on drugs that has ruined the lives of millions for choosing to indulge in their choice.

Just as it now beoming socially unacceptable to jail gays-I sure hope it becomes socially unacceptable to continue with the war on drugs-which is the biggest contributor to our prison industrial complex.

errc says

helping queers as if they have it so effing bad in this country. When was the last time a gay was imprisoned for sucking a dick?

Sometime between 1998 and 2003, read Lawrence v Texas. Why are you lurching into this direction today though? As multiple comments above have observed, the Republican mentality of prohibiting people from doing something they like is part of the same problem that brought you the war on drugs. The fact that Democrats have finally begun to stand up to that is a good thing - the Democrats should stand up to the Republicans on more issues (drug war, Iraq war, Paulson's TARP, etc.), not fewer. Most Americans agree that gay couples should have the equal protection of the marriage laws, so it makes sense that any major party wanting to be the majority party would agree with that. Marriage equality didn't become part of the Democratic platform until after public opinion surveys showed majority support, so the party would on balance lose votes by opposing it.

The better question is why did Democrats decide to make their #1 priority propping up medical spending with mandatory Obamacare, and the answer is obvious: follow the money to and from the medical industrial complex. And of course the same is true of the Democrats' #2 priority, propping up banks and Realtors(tm) by propping up housing prices ("helping homeowners"), again for the same reason. Credit where it's due, the Democrats finally got a few things right (including marriage equality), but the issue remains how to weigh those in the balance against the drug war and Obamacare and RealtorCare.

Yeah but it was the Liberal agitators that pissed off Nixon to the point, he initiated internationally criminalize all drugs. Just in case any of those draft dodgers tried to go to Indonesia and enjoy the beaches with a sack of Mexican gold, while they meditated with a Bali guru, and listened to sitar musings by a Singaporean transvestite.

Not gonna have a good time, what with the firing squads and all.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-03-19/indonesia-executes-first-prisoner-in-four-years/1103632

Why are you lurching into this direction today though

I'm cranky, and its a personal problem. I have nothing against people of any sexual preferences. I do take issue with the people who consistently blame republicans for everything that is wrong with this country, and then team up with the dems by default just because they couldn't possibly be worse then republicans.

Who's fighting for the suffering, the infirmed, the free minded folk that are on the demand side of the drug trade? There has never been a more persecuted group of people in this countrys history, then the american non fda approved drug user. And this is at a time when drug use is as rampant and accepted as any other in history. Just so long as pharma lobbyists have padded the right pockets so that you can go to cvs and buy um in an orange container,,,then there is no scrutiny. If you are forced to risk imprisonment and all the torture involved, to procure a bag of grass,,,well then, to hell with you. You should have known better, afterall, drugs are bad dontcha know (sips wine glass, pops adderall).

It speaks to a broader problem with the way things are. The politically privileged don't suffer the consequences, so they don't give a shit. And their government tells them "these are bad, and these are good" and it goes on unquestioned. Its fucking madness. Same thing applies to the dolts that will use the government as a weapon against their fellow man. "Obamacare is better then nothing",,"we had to bail out the banks, or else the world would end". How much thought do people put into promulgating the crap that tptb have planted inside their minds? Obviously nill, or else we wouldn't be here in this thread today, and not a soul would ever see the inside of a human cage for anything related to marijuana, short of blugeoning someone with a brick of shwag

How's the old saying go, about a special place in hell is reserved for those who see wrong and sit by idle? Well if everything that is wrong in this world is the republicans fault, what the fuck are the democrats doing to help save me from the evil repukes?

From where I'm sitting, they're cashing the fuck in. They're sitting right next to one another, with pearly whites and fancy looking clown suits with the silly shoes.

Death or oogoo

errc says

How's the old saying go, about a special place in hell is reserved for those who see wrong and sit by idle?

There are several versions of the phrase. MLK Jr said, "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict." He was paraphrasing or translating Dante Alighieri, who said, "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of moral crisis, remain neutral."

Well I wrote to my Congresswoman about this. Will see what response I get. Generally her staff sends back some random generic letters telling me that her hearing my views will help her represent me better.

I don't believe it, but what else can one do?