I Think There's A Simple Solution To California's Overpopulated Prisons!

The horrific conditions that California prison inmates have to endure are being addressed in a trial. Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged before that the overcrowded prisons are a hazard.He shipped inmates to other states to try to reduce the prison population. Here's an excerpt from SF Gate:

"The state has about 172,000 inmates, including 156,000 in its 33 prisons, which were designed for just over half that number. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature agreed in April 2007 on a $7.3 billion bond measure that would add 53,000 prison and county jail beds. The governor has also transferred several thousand inmates to prisons in other states.

In the current lawsuits, however, inmates suffering from physical and mental illnesses argue that expansion won't bring the prison health system up to constitutional standards. They want the court to limit population of the 33 prisons to 104,000, which would require the release of 52,000 inmates - to county jails, treatment centers or parole - over two years."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the whole article here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/19/BAAV147D2S.DTL

My opinion is that they need to figure out how to get the real drug offenders.If we were really doing that,the drugs would never get smuggled in to the country in the first place.Why are there so many drug users in prison & petty dope dealers? I think it's because this is a booming business for America. There is no real interest in securing our borders & stopping the flow of illegal goods.The war on drugs has been ongoing for over 30 years now & it has only gotten worse. Are we really that inept at tackling the drug issue in America or is something more sinister at work?

In the video I posted, you have various hip-hop artists giving their opinion on the Rockefeller Drug Laws a.k.a. New York drug laws.We need to amend the drug laws in America & the "three strikes law." Doing that would go a long way in eliminating an ongoing problem with prison overcrowding. Here's an excerpt from speakout.com:

"Nation-wide attention was focused on so-called three-strikes laws in 1994 when California voters approved an initiative mandating prison terms of 25-years-to-life for defendants convicted of a third felony. The California law also doubles minimum terms for second time offenders. The vote came in the wake of the widely publicized 1993 murder of 12-year old Polly Klaas, whose killer was a paroled felon. Washington State adopted a three-strikes law in 1993, and 22 other states have followed suit. Congress passed a federal version in 1994.

In March 1999 the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to California's three-strikes law brought by a man sentenced to 25 years to life under the law for stealing a bottle of vitamins. The justices ruled that lower courts should rule on the controversial law before it is brought before the Supreme Court.

While some politicians hailed the three-strikes laws as the ultimate get-tough-on-crime measure, others criticized the laws for contributing to prison overcrowding. If a defendant is convicted of a third felony, judges in three-strikes states are required to issue a 25-year plus sentence, even if the third felony was a minor offense such as shoplifting. Also, studies of three-strikes laws have shown that African-Americans are disproportionately affected by the policy."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here:
http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1290b-1.html

It Ain't Pirates In The Carribean! The Modern Day Pirates Are In Somalia!

We've all heard of pirates. They have been quite a nuisance since the ocean started being used as a trade route. The problem really no longer exists in the Carribean Sea. You have to watch "Pirates of the Carribean" to catch a glimpse of that classic era of piracy. But, modern day piracy can be found off the coast of Somalia.The pirates sure aren't seeking buried treasure either. According to CNN:

"More than 60 ships have been attacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden this year, compared with about half that many in all of 2007, according to a report released this month by Chatham House, an institute in London, England, that analyzes international affairs.

The report found that the $18 million to $30 million in ransoms paid this year for pirated ships is helping finance the civil war in Somalia.Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that is waging a bloody battle for control of Somalia, is reported to be among groups receiving ransom money from pirates."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.pirates/index.html

It's not just the fact that we are dealing with terrorism in these cases of piracy. It has also posed a huge humanitarian issue as well. There is some really great coverage on both of these issues in TIME magazine. Here's an excerpt:

"For Somalia, it was just another long weekend of mayhem. Shortly after midnight on Friday, Nov. 7, pirates seized a Danish cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden; on Saturday night an aid worker was shot and killed as he walked home from evening prayers in a village 270 miles (435 km) from Mogadishu; on Sunday, fighting between insurgents and African Union peacekeepers left at least seven dead in the capital, and a senior government official was killed in the south of the country; and in the early hours of Monday, bandits crossed the border into Kenya, where they kidnapped two Italian nuns. Somalia is not so much a failed state as a didn't-even-try one. It hasn't had a government since 1991, when warlords took over and embarked on a series of intractable clan wars that have produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises: hundreds of thousands dead and 3 million people desperately in need of aid." (END OF EXCERPT) Read the whole article here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858874,00.html?imw=Y&loomia_si=t0:a16:g12:r1:c0.292138:b19717065&xid=Loomia

Jonestown Memorial Is Erected At Oakland Evergreen Cemetery

It's hard for me to watch documentaries about Jonestown.I think that Jim Jones represents pure evil.The people who suffered really were seeking peace on earth. Jim Jones had the words that so many black people wanted to hear at that time. He spoke of racial accord & unity. That's what they believed Jonestown was. Unfortunately, they met their fate at the hands of a madman who had kept many of them against their will once they got there. Do not think of them as cult members because they were not. No longer will they be thought of collectively as the victims of Jonestown.Most of their names have been placed on a memorial. Here's an excerpt from cbs5.com:

"On the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown tragedy, organizers of an annual memorial service in Oakland displayed the first panels of a 37-foot-long stone wall that is to be inscribed with the names and ages of the 918 victims of the violence in Guyana, including U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and three newsmen.


San Francisco police Officer Yulanda Williams, who escaped from Jonestown twice with the help of Jones' son and a local family who let her use their telephone, said she and her family were "devoted members" of Jones' church for 10 years because they were lured by his promise of "racial harmony and social justice."

"We were willing to sacrifice for racial justice and freedom" but once she went to Jonestown she realized "there was one road in and no way out unless it was in a body bag," Williams said.

The mass carnage occurred after 15 members defected during Ryan's fact-finding mission to Jonestown.

Temple gunmen killed Ryan, three journalists and a defector on a nearby airstrip and all of their names will be on the monument, Norwood said.

But Norwood made clear during the service that James Warren Jones will not have his name in granite.

"To put Jim Jones' name on that wall is an insult ... to all the dead," she said. "(He was) the most evil man who walked on this earth."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the full article here: