tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post8171130879316868921..comments2024-01-16T03:42:46.705-05:00Comments on The Downward Spiral: U.S. Prisons Are Becoming Old Age HomesBill Hickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-68963336746510235482012-02-21T08:30:08.026-05:002012-02-21T08:30:08.026-05:00If I looked too closely at the political positions...If I looked too closely at the political positions of the artists I like, I'd probably have to give up on rock and roll altogether. :)Bill Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-82030715137495294992012-02-21T08:12:57.354-05:002012-02-21T08:12:57.354-05:00Oh, I think you are right about that...I thought y...Oh, I think you are right about that...I thought you liked his music.<br /><br />NYTimes: http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/is-this-the-end-of-market-democracy/?emc=eta1<br /><br />I disagree with the very first sentence: "The 2012 election will offer voters a stark choice between right and left alternatives."<br /><br />Voters have no choice. This is not a democracy.Gail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-88986738952013035322012-02-20T20:50:57.426-05:002012-02-20T20:50:57.426-05:00The system will abandon prisoners in much the same...The system will abandon prisoners in much the same way it has abandoned the mentally ill for many years.. back on the street.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-64204496489510540112012-02-20T12:50:26.922-05:002012-02-20T12:50:26.922-05:00Sadly, though, the Boss doesn't really get it,...Sadly, though, the Boss doesn't really get it, either:<br /><br />Obama hasn't done bad, Springsteen says. "He kept General Motors alive, he got through healthcare - though not the public system I would have wanted - he killed Osama Bin Laden, and he brought sanity to the top level of government. But big business still has too much say in government and there has not been as many middle- or working-class voices in the administration as I expected. I thought Guantanamo would have been closed but now, but he got us out of Iraq and I guess we will soon be out of Afghanistan."<br /><br /><br />1). General Motors should have been allowed to fail as should any business that is not viable post-peak oil.<br /><br />2). Obamacare is nothing more than yet another unsustainable, giant corporate giveaway program.<br /><br />3). Osama Bin Laden should have been brought back to the U.S. and tried for his crimes, just like Ramsey Yousef, who also tried to blow up the World Trade Center in 1993 and is current incarcerated in the Supermax prison in Colorado.<br /><br />4). Spending $1.4 trillion more than we take in from taxes every year is hardly, "bringing back sanity to the top levels of government."<br /><br />5). Big business does not have "too much say," it has ALL the say in Obama's government.<br /><br />6). Obama did NOT get us out of Iraq. All he did was follow the already-established Bush timetable for withdrawal.<br /><br />7). We're not out Afghanistan yet.Bill Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17551954408189665078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-22289296377295970982012-02-20T12:11:48.767-05:002012-02-20T12:11:48.767-05:00Watch what happens as states continue to feel the ...Watch what happens as states continue to feel the pain, or as the pain increases. I would bet that, eventually, you will see the states start to repeal mandatory sentencing and 3-strike programs. They will increase the number of people paroled, and the elderly will be prime candidates for this since it is much easier to sell grandpa as "not a threat to society". They will figure out ways to incarcerate fewer people, so that they have fewer people to clothe and feed and care for. Again, the elderly have higher health care costs, so they make for attractive parole targets.<br /><br />As states get increasingly squeezed by ongoing tough economic conditions (never mind, deteriorating conditions), I expect that the "tough on crime" mantra will quietly be replaced with a "cut spending at any cost" mantra.<br /><br />To some degree, this may be a good thing, as the American penal system is ridiculously overused for all manner of minor infractions. Still, it seems only a matter of time before they start closing enough prisons that they are having to kick loose seriously dangerous people that will, shall we say, interact badly with society as a whole.<br /><br />Another short-term policy coming home to roost. And the beat rolls on...bmersonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-7968247133361656832012-02-20T12:11:28.120-05:002012-02-20T12:11:28.120-05:00We apparently are an entire nation of people that ...We apparently are an entire nation of people that just love painting themselves into a corner. It's all we seem to do, from the wars we fight, to the way tax and spend, and even the very way we live our lives completely unsustainably.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3862216000300765627.post-34318530720448611612012-02-20T08:38:48.358-05:002012-02-20T08:38:48.358-05:00We are headed for generational warfare, I fear. W...We are headed for generational warfare, I fear. When the kids figure out that the spoils have gone for good, I suspect they are going to be very angry.<br /><br />Interview with Springsteen:<br /><br /> http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/10054-bruce-springsteens-angry-patriotismGail Zawackihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800944469843206253noreply@blogger.com