Comments on: AMERICAN PRIDE

By: Broderick Landers

Broderick Landers — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:21:51 +0000

it might give the starters abit of a headstart, wish i had one :*(

By: therapy counseling

therapy counseling — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:33:38 +0000

I went to therapy counseling when I had problems with my husband. The person who I talked to was very helpful.

By: beau

beau — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:21:49 +0000

apologies. should read "How we got INTO THIS MESS & how we can get out"

By: beau

beau — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:19:49 +0000

whoa! holy just-happen-to-be-reading-a-highly-topical-book-at-the-moment!

Mike Gray's "Drug Crazy: How We Got Here & How We Can Get Out". It's about ten years old now, but is still terrifying reading.

check it out.

By: Justice Pro

Justice Pro — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 02:36:24 +0000

We can’t build our way out of the crime problem, For me it’s the failure of the Family, we really don’t have a true definition of a Family. I know some are going to be offended but we have folks living like animals not committed buy marriage and I think this is a key element. Something strange has happened in this country where we don’t think people can change so we avoid the use of Probation and other alternatives, in many state it has become a joke and lost favor with the public, but remember if the Legislators don’t fund it these alternative will be nothing, I am beginning to think that many legislators want these operation to fail in order to build more prisons. I read about a year ago that if we keep locking up people at the current rate by 2065 we will have more folks in prison than on the street. I fought the War on Poverty, several Wars on Crime and the War on Drugs..I ton’t think we ever won one.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:29:45 +0000

With all due respect, I think you are reading things into my post that simply are not there and setting up a strawman argument, Mike. I did not endorse the WOD. I simply feel like there has to be something else that we can do–a middle ground between legalizing/decriminalizing drugs and WOD. These things are not going to be solved within the criminal justice system

By: Wheeee

Wheeee — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:26:26 +0000

"Western Illinois Correctional Center opened in Sterling, IL in 1989."

The prison you refer to is located in Mt. Sterling Illinois.

I live in Steling, Illinois and I can assure you that we do not have a prison here.

Good article though. :)

By: Batocchio

Batocchio — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:02:15 +0000

Eric Schlosser's two-part series for The Atlantic years back on "Reefer Madness" (later a book) focused a great deal on the problems with mandatory minimum sentences and three strikes laws, because prisons were flooded with low level drug users, and in some states this meant prisoners sentenced for violent crimes were paroled earlier to make room. There's a strong argument to be made for a treatment-based versus punitive approach for (serious) drug use, in addition to decriminalization measures for some drugs. But there's also a problem with effectively taking sentencing discretion away from judges and to prosecutors. And as you point out, there are serious problems to a punitive approach that allows officials to swagger about how "tough" they are, yet ignores actual results. It's really the domestic version of the militant nationalism so beloved of our idiot neocons.

By: Bananaphone

Bananaphone — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:50:54 +0000

Wow, first time I've been here, and I love your site! I've always been frustrated arguing with conservatives: it's like stopping someone trying to commit suicide who gets angry at you for wrestling the gun from their hands. Perhaps gin and tacos are the answer. I love….well, I love vodka, that's close, right? And I adore tacos. With vodka and tacos, I could be happy.

We had the hemp fest here in Seattle this weekend. I didn't go (alas, I inherited an allergy to hemp. Made my college years oddly lucid) but I understand the confusion as to why marijuana is illegal. Certainly, cigarettes and alcohol are more addictive and cause more health issues. And I feel for the local medicinal marijuana users in the area who had their supply of medicine confiscated because they are allowed to own marijuana but not buy or grow it (oddly, they were not caught growing or buying it, but were arrested anyways. No clue how that happened). If a citizen who has allergic reactions to marijuana smoke can support the legalization of marijuana, surely we can see eye to eye in this.

Of course, I also support legalization and control of prostitution and I have a vagina, so it may just be that I'm more open (pun intended) to these things….