Great Idea!
From Bartleby for
The Chestnut Tree
Cafe
So, Herr Gov. Gropinator is
publicly toying with the notion of responding to
California's current cash crisis by turning some
prisoners loose "early."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is
considering the early release of 22,000 inmates from the
state's prisons to save hundreds of millions of dollars
in an effort to ease California's looming budget crunch.
The idea is one of many that have been presented to the
governor by his departmental budget directors, and he
has not decided if he likes it or not, Schwarzenegger
spokesman Bill Maile said Thursday. But if the plan were
to be put into action, it would constitute one of the
biggest early releases of prisoners in U.S. history.
"The governor asked his department heads to work with
their budget managers to find ways to cut the budget by
10 percent because of the budget crisis we are facing,
and this idea was one of many that was floated in
reaction to that request," Maile said. "It's not a
proposal yet, just an idea."
California has 172,000 inmates incarcerated in 33
institutions. The release of 22,000 offenders would
reduce the number of inmates by 12 percent, and
potentially save about $250 million a year, sources told
The Chronicle.
Only prisoners who are considered low risk because they
are nonviolent, not sex offenders and had less than two
years left on their sentences would be considered for
the early release.
[snip]
Eric Hickey, a criminology professor at the California
State University Fresno, said the concept of releasing
prisoners early is not new. He also did not think it was
wise.
"A lot of these guys are getting time off already for
good behavior, so letting them out even earlier sends a
message that we're not serious about being tough on
crime," Hickey said. "It's not good policy.
"It's unfair to the victims, and it sends the wrong
message."
He noted that the recidivism rate among state prisoners
- the rate at which they re-offend and have to go back
to prison - runs as high as 75 percent.
"When times get tough, someone always proposes letting
prisoners go early," Hickey said.
Well, no need to be unfair to the victims. Instead, why not choose a
different set of criteria for selecting prisoners to be freed from the
Anal Rape Gulag? How about cutting loose the people whose crimes don't
have victims, and aren't really crimes anyway? I have in mind the
"controlled substance" offenders. And then -- even though the numbers
aren't large, we should be scrupulously fair -- turn loose those
convicted of "insider trading." Hey, Ah-nuld, got anybody in the can for
practicing any trade -- from doctoring to lawyering to plumbing --
without a government license? Let 'em walk.
The savings should be permanent; just stop imprisoning people for
non-crimes. That way, you don't need so many cops, either ... or
prosecutors. I can think up some more release categories, I'm sure. But,
you know, just get started by turning the stoners and the tweakers
loose, and that will be enough to solve your budget problems.
Know a blog that
deserves to be featured on the Blog World Report? Contact
Robert.
IT'S HIGH TIME WE FIXED OUR SCHOOL
SYSTEM, AND GOOD!!!
From Snave for
Various Ecstasies
Many of you whining bleeding-heart socialists claim that we on the right love to go around talking about how bad the public schools are, but that we have no solution. Well, let me tell you a few things about Liberals, about our big, bad government, and about how we can fix the problem, once and for all!
Our big, bad government, run entirely by jack-booted Liberals, has gotten way out of hand.  The idea of a public school system is bad enough to begin with...  ... but now the Liberals have taken over our nation's public school system.  We need to do something constructive to solve the problem.  The Liberals want to make our children promiscuous by teaching them about sex before they are ready to learn.  Much of what our Liberal public schools teach is influenced by Satan.  We have some good ways to combat such things.  Liberals promote pagan symbols at the expense of Jesus.  They want to keep Christ out of Christmas, and they want to promote drug use among our children.  Liberals want to keep our Christian faith out of the nation's schools, period.  Christmas has become taboo in our nation's schools, thanks to Liberals.  Well, I say the Liberals are in for a hard time!  The Liberal public schools need to start teaching both sides of every issue.  They need to stop giving Christians a hard time.  Our taxpayer money needs to go to ALL schools, not just to the Liberals' pet system.  If these things don't happen? Let's just say we have a good idea about how to fix things.  If that doesn't work, there are more wide-ranging solutions.  And there are certainly far better role models out there for our children than Harry Potter or Britney Spears. How about Prussian Blue? They are highly representative of the type of wholesome kids our schools should be producing.  The Liberals are going to lose this battle. WE WILL BEAT THEM! We have our ways, all approved by God himself.  Someday our schools will look like this.  And our school principals will look like this.  When Liberalism has been made illegal, the United States of America will lead the world to heavenly glory. And it will start in our nation's schools!  Of course there will be things to ignore and overlook along the way, but none of those things matter.  We simply need to refrain from doing things like shitting our pants in public, and we will prevail.
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The
Beatles -
Christmas
time (is
here again)
We're losing
another blogger
From
The Editor
It turns out that Phil in NY over at
E-News Daily is
calling it quits. Here is what he wrote:
I've decided to call it quits for now. My life and job
are just to demanding, and blogging has been the
furthest thing from my mind lately. I want to thank all
of you who visited me since I've started. I've enjoyed
talking with you all, and getting to know
everyone over the past year.
I plan on leaving my blog up for as long as I can. I
might just decide to re-enter the
blogosphere once things settle down, I'm just not
sure when that will be. Again, you guy's have been
great, and I've learned something from all of you. I
will continue to visit all of your blogs as much as I
can. Good luck, and continue kicking conservative ass,
one
neocon at a time.
Drop by and wish him good luck and see if you can talk him
into posting every now and then.
US
Constitution is
Undeliverable -
Even by Claus
Himself
From John Good
for
Left in Aboite
Lakota Nation
Secedes From The
USA
From Boss Kitty for
BlueBloggin
“We are no longer citizens of the United States of America
and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses
our country are free to join us. This is according to the laws
of the United States, specifically
article six of the
constitution. It is also within the laws on treaties passed
at the
Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest
of the international community in 1980. We are legally within
our rights to be free and independent,” said
Russell Means, an activist for Native American rights to
reporters at a press conference on Wednesday in
Washington, D.C..
“We are now a free country and independent
of the United States of America,” Means said in a telephone
interview. “This is all completely legal.”
Delegation member Phyllis Young said in an
online statement: “We are not trying to embarrass the United
States. We are here to continue the struggle for our
children and grandchildren.” Young was an organizer of Women
of All Red Nations.
Other members of the delegation include Rapid City-area
activist Duane Martin Sr. and Gary Rowland, a leader of the
Chief Big Foot Riders.
The new country
would issue its own passports and driving licences, and
living there would be tax-free - provided residents renounce
their U.S. citizenship, Mr Means said. Withdrawing from the
treaties was entirely legal, Means said.
“This is according to the laws of the United States,
specifically article six of the constitution,” which states
that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.
“It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the
Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest
of the international community in 1980. We are legally
within our rights to be free and independent,” said Means.
Bravo for
someone standing
up for their
rights! Stay
tuned for more
breaking news
when the US
responds … The
US must respond
to
constitutional
issues. Of
course, “the
Constitution is
just a piece of
paper”, GWB.
But, George,
this a real
Declaration of
Independence!
It's almost Xmas
Eve ...
From KayinMaine for
White Noise
Insanity
…which means 24 hours of “A Christmas Story”
starting at midnight until Xmas day! Woohoo! My son
and I will watch this movie at least 4 times on
Christmas day. We love it, so much so, we’re hoping
Santa brings us both a Red Ryder BB Gun. Oh yes we
do! And what will I do with my Red Ryder BB Gun
after I open it and load her up? That’s right
people! I’m going to hunt down neocons with it and
if I poke one of their eyes out I’m gonna say, “See?
I told you so! I told you I’d do that!”.
Eyeless neocons. Oh my. Maybe I should aim lower
than the eye socket area?
Okay, back to Xmas cheer…
I went out today and got stocking stuffers and
our Xmas dinner which will be a spiral ham and all
the fixings. Since I forgot to make candied yams on
Thanksgiving, I will be making it this time around,
because gawd only knows that my son was absolutely
devastated when this dish wasn’t on the table a
month ago! Jees. He loves it.
When I got to the wine aisle today there were two
women chatting about their Xmas dinner. One of them
said, “Yep! This bottle right here should be good.
I’ll only use a cup of it for cooking and the rest
I’ll be drinking!”, and I said, “Is there any other
way to cook Xmas dinner?”. LOL We all had a good
laugh. Of course, the holiday cheer quickly ended
for a moment for me when I was in the checkout line
and asked the clerk if she could get me a pack of
cigarettes in addition to my groceries which were
now falling off the side of the belt. She
immediately threw her arms up, sighed really loud
and then stomped 5 steps to get my pack. I’m
thinking, “Wow! You need to have some Xmas cooking
wine lady!”, but instead said, “Thank you” after she
scanned it and gave it to me. Hey, I didn’t want to
push it with her because there was no telling what
she would do! Go postal on me? Yes! Yikes.
Jasper, our dog, gets a present every year and
this year I got him a bunch of tennis balls that
comes in a sack (9 tennis balls I think). Along with
this, I got him a squeaky toy that is a white fuzzy
bear. Well, I put the stocking stuffers and Jasper’s
presents in my room on the other side of the bed, so
I can wrap them tonight and guess what? Jasper just
this second came running out of my bedroom with the
fuzzy bear in his mouth. Jasper cannot wait until
Xmas! He’s high on excitement! I ripped the bear out
of his mouth and will now have to wait for it to dry
because it is soaked with doggy slurp! Oh for the
love of the Banana Cupcakes….what am I going to do
with this dog? He’s a maniac! LOL Cute, but a maniac
nonetheless.
We usually have root beer floats or banana splits
as our tradition. Sometimes I let my son open a
present, but haven’t done that for years. I think
it’s because he gets less and less every year
because his “toys” get more expensive! What are you
doing on Xmas Eve this year?
If I’m not around tomorrow or for the next few
days, you’ll know where I’ll be: DRINKING! LOL Hey,
Santa needs a break from it all, don’t you think?
Ann
Coulter is even more ignorant than I thought
From Len Hart for
The Existential Cowboy
 I
found the following scary insight on a friendly
blog. Brilliantly written, it's a rare look at
someone who has made a helluva lot more money
than she ever really earned or deserved.
Over dinner she reiterated her obnoxious
opinion that the “experiment” with woman’s
suffrage is the root cause of big
government. Like a child playing with an
Etch-a-Sketch, she points to a straight
line, leading back through history. There,
she says… big government started right
there, in 1920. That’s when the 19th
amendment was ratified, ergo that’s the
cause of the whole problem. After that,
according to Ann, it was all downhill.
Doug and I looked at each other curiously…
But Ann, that same line, if you move it just
a bit further, actually seems to start in
1913, when the Federal Reserve was created,
the prohibition of income taxes was repealed
and the Republic was put to rest through the
direct election of senators. Don’t you think
these changes to the Constitution and the
policies they enabled – like FDR’s gold
seizure and our resulting experiment with
paper money – were far more significant than
woman’s suffrage?
Ann Coulter had never heard of the gold
standard. She didn’t believe us when we told
her that in 1933 FDR seized all of the
privately held bullion in the country, then
devalued the dollar – probably the greatest
financial crime in history. She didn’t even
know it was illegal for citizens to own
bullion up until 1974. Bretton Woods?
Coulter thought we were talking about tennis
rackets. She told me flatly “I don’t know
anything about finance or economics.” Not
even the basics, like how inflation affects
prices or the key role paper money and
progressive income taxes have played in
building the welfare state. We might as well
have been talking to a horse. Ann just
looked at us, her long face turned sideways
with incredulity.
Lacking anything intelligent to say, she
decided to simply insult us. “I was a
libertarian as a teenager, but I emerged
from adolescence…”
Good one, Ann. What a zinger.--My
Dinner With Ann Coulter
Do we all feel "zinged" now!
I didn't think so.
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