Prisons system: 'Creamed'

I've tried dazzling with emotion, so maybe getting straight to the point with some graphs and figures might help this week. Enjoy.

This country is home to just 5% of the world’s population, but holds 25% of the world’s prisoners. With these astounding numbers, there must be a logical explanation. And the explanation is—Money.

In the 1980s, there was a strong push to privatize everything, including prisons. I have a huge problem with people making money off other peoples’ misery, but with my personal bias aside, this is simply not good for Americans. The prison system is supposed to be a place where criminals learn to become better members of society; a place to rehabilitate. But being privatized, prisons want just the opposite. They make more money with the more prisoners they have, so it is against their best interest to rehabilitate these people. It’s bad for business. These businesses want a prison state society.

In 1971, Nixon declared his war on drugs. in 1984, the Sentencing Reform Act was passed. In 1986, Reagan passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Arrests skyrocketed and parole went down. Nearly 6 in 10 people in prison are in prison for drug related incidences and have no history of violence. People like this don’t belong in jail. If they belong anywhere it would be in a hospital being treated, not punished.

This country has got its priorities backwards. We value money over human life and that is simply not the American way. America was once the place where people could have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is no longer the case. This countries motto has become what rappers call “CREAM” (Cash Rules Everything Around Me).  Eat up America.

Declaration of War

In the Senate this week, what is known as the National Defense Authorization Act was passed. After going through the 925 page bill (along with the Patriot Act and our continuing censorship), I can now say with confidence, we are a fascist nation.

I have already spoken about my loss of confidence in our democracy, but this law is ridiculous. The law says that someone the government says is “a member of, or part of, al-Qaida or an associated force” can be held in military custody “without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.”  It completely tosses the 6^th amendment out the window and tears apart the 14^th amendment where we are promised due process and equal protection under the law.

I haven’t even mentioned the worst part. With the addition of Amendment 1068 of the NDA Act, Obama’s executive order banning torture will be removed. So not only will any suspected “terrorist” be taken into custody without a trial, they can be tortured. No one can say it better than Shepard Smith, “I don’t give a rats ass if it helps, this is America, we do not f&*%ing torture!”

The way this country is going is truly sickening. I cannot stand it any longer. It angers me so much that it has become difficult to even articulate the facts. I want to just say “F&*%” and have everyone be informed enough to know how I feel. But that’s the problem isn’t it. We have become so comfortable in our existence that we are letting our freedoms be taken one by one. This is no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We have become the land of the bullies and home to the slaves. We need to wake up. Open your eyes and see what is happening. War has been declared upon us and, sadly, we are losing.

Source:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s1867es/pdf/BILLS-112s1867es.pdf

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