Good Boy, Jim. The number that matters? 500% That’s the amount of increase in our prison populations, in just 30 years. I knew it was bad, I didn’t know it was that bad.
I don’t know if anything will come of these hearings, but I’m glad to see Webb at least bringing it to our attention. I think, and have said many times before, that money is the key to ending the drug war. That is, the country is broke, and increasingly the choice will be food and health care for children and the elderly, or millions to prison companies who incarcerate hippies caught with a couple of joints. Via the ever essential DrugWar Rant.
Fuck
, I just found this:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the fourth year in a row, U.S. marijuana arrests set an all-time record in 2006, according to the just-released FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005. Similar to previous years, 738,916 or 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture, and marijuana possession arrests again exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined.
Rapists and murderers rest easy in this knowledge, while politically active DFHs who happen to like pot now and again rot in their place in prisons.
Front page
So we're funding Conservatives counties upstate...
… by building jails up there and putting black men in them.
“Jobs!”
What’s your point?
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
the point is that webb is on it
and in a way that makes sense. sorry if that doesn’t seem worthy of a little attention.
i’m just tryin to Keep It Real, you know. if we’re not talking about how much we love pot here at corrente, at least now and again, we’ll lose our membership in the DFH
collective. ;-)
Oh, I agree vehemently
and Webb gets kudos first for being right on Lieberman-Kyl, and now for this.
It’s just that the sheer scale of connections that needs to be made is so awesome the mind reels. Hence the resort to irony (“Your point?”)
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
i've been managing a three year old for 48+ hours
str8. it’s funny, you can’t just tie them up and stick them in a closet when you need a break. or at least, i don’t think you can. so my irony meter is a little fogged. ;-) sorry.
however, i can sing “this old man” really, really well at this point. and i have also learned that onions are “yucky.” so there’s that.
Thank you!!!
Thank you for reporting on this!
Ever since Willie Horton, Repugs have used the crime issue to win elections. Now here comes Jim Webb to show to nation how corrupt these correctional elites have been all along with their false assumptions.
More than likely, crime went down because the youth age increased, drug wars are mostly over and a myriad of other factors, having little or nothing to do with locking the evil-doers up.
In Virginia, George “Bubba” Allen won his first statewide election using Bush I’s Willie Horton paradigm with his bullshit “truth in sentencing law.”
Hopefully, Webb will finally bring national attention to the problem and show how American taxpayers are wasting their hard earned dollars warehousing people who could and would be productive citizens contributing to society.
Moreover, it should also focus on the GOP’s current bogus immigration hysteria for what it truly is. Just another vilification of the Willie Horton archetype, except he’s now brown instead of black.
Aw c'mon, CD, when did you ever manage anything for 8 hours...
str8?
[rimshot. laughter]
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
Flory and I solved this one in NM
Legalize marijuana, cut prison costs immensely, and let those empty farms all over our country grow it as a crop. it pro’ly would be great biofuel, too.
Ruth
industrial hemp farming and production have so many
benefits, ruth. from reinvigorating family agricultual traditions in rural areas, to biofuel production, there are lots of other applications for hemp.
of course i want legalization for the good stuff too. but i’m willing to fight for the industrial kind first. as you say, it’s a winner all around- we save money by not jailing hemp dealers and growers, we make money by taxing sales, and we address important issues in the environment and our economy.
This makes total, total sense
It’s what we ought to be doing, instead of ethanol.
Since as I understand it, what ethanol does is replace oil -> gasoline -> automobile with oil -> fertilizer -> corn -> ethanol -> automobile, it’s just insane, at least from the perspective of … the rest of us.
We. Are. Going. To. Die. We must restore hope in the world. We must bring forth a new way of living that can sustain the world. Or else it is not just us who will die but everyone. What have we got to lose? Go forth and Fight!—Xan
quite true, lb
hemp is an agressive plant that will grow in a wide range of conditions and without much help from people. while ethanol is a process that uses more energy to make than it produces. notice who profits from ethanol policies (hint: it’s not family farmers but guys with an interest in what ethanol is supposed to replace).
All through West Texas
going to N.M., and in June OK, KS, CO, too, I was looking at those expanses of empty fields, you will recall. Seriously, Flory and I were talking about legalizing marijuana and it just led naturally into what a great crop it was, and how it could replace that old cotton/wheat/corn with the fertilization and irrigation needs. Just lept into the answer. Maybe I could start a seed crop!
Ruth
Marijuana stuff, continued
Hey guys, glad you saw my post, and thanks for the link. Speaking of marijuana, I wrote these two posts over the weekend, let me know what you think. The prosecution of the drug war and marijuana prohibition are very connected to the fascistic leanings of our government. I worked for the initiative to tax and regulate (i.e. “legalize”) marijuana in Nevada last year. The drug czar came to Nevada a few times, gave out drug enforcement grants in some vulnerable Republican incumbent congressional districts (why Rove may have resigned. Hatch act violations.) and we saw the entire political establishment campaigning against our initiative while on the clock. This stuff is really important, I would sure love to hear what you guys at Corrente think about it.
This first one is about one of my employees who got arrested here in Nevada and is now fighting the charge based on religious beliefs-“Cantheism” (you might have seen this on Andrew Sullivan last week)
http://scaryshit.blogspot.com/2007/09/my…
The next post consists of some of the connections and bad actions of the political establishment in campaigning against our initiative:
http://scaryshit.blogspot.com/2007/09/si…
Would love to hear what you guys think.
best,
Matt Witemyre
that's some top flight work ya got there, Matt.
heh, why does it not surprise me at all to know that Harry Reid’s name pops up in this. sigh. he’s a forced pregnancy gawd gave us secret golden tablets type as well, but he’s the “right” leader for the party of liberal and progressive values today.
i invite you to do a short post here at corrente, matt. it seems like you’re very busy and working hard, but registered users like yourself have posting privs, so if you want to (and can find the time) write up a short, narrative post about all this, you are welcome here. i would but clearly you’re much more in touch with the issues on the ground. however, i am going to toss up a couple of links, just to keep this one alive.
thank you, very sincerely, for all your hard work.
Good tho't, ChiDyke
and let me second that invite, it’s a topic that’s got so much promise for the environmental/agricultural aspects as well.
Ruth