Topic Tuesday #83 2014/02/18 - "Viva La Revolution!"

Topic Tuesday #83 2014/02/18 - "Viva La Revolution!"

Let's see... what was in the news today...?

"Anti-Government Protests In Ukraine Turn Deadly" and here "Ukraine crisis: Police storm main Kiev 'Maidan' protest camp"
"Venezuela expels US diplomats"
"4 Dead In Thai Protests; Prime Minister Faces Charges In Rice Deal"
"U.N. Report Details North Korea's 'Crimes Against Humanity'"
"South Sudan’s Forces Clash With Rebels Near U.N. Base"
"Turkey's President Signs Law Restricting Web Use"

OK... Enough... there were some more but between Blogger being slow as molasses and being kinda fed up with the world at large, I'm through with headline hunting. 

What does this say? What does it say about our fellow man around the world that they are, in some cases, taking up sticks, stones, and Molotov cocktails to protest? Something is rotten. I can't put my finger on just what it might be, and rightly so, as it is a convoluted and tangled web filled with selfishness, greed, trickery, and deceit; and those are the good things.

I was watching Blade Runner just this afternoon and the opening places the story in a dystopian Los Angeles, November 2019. That's only 5 years away, and still no spinners (flying cars). When will there be "A new life awaiting us in the Off-World Colonies, your chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure."

Anyway, as broken as this world is, there are certain simple answers for many of the worlds problems. Follow the easy money. Laziness is a valid reason for something not happening. People are mostly selfish, at least enough to be able to predict a level of behavior. No one wants responsibility, unless there is something in it for them.
I'm not trying to be negative; I'm a genuinely hopeful and happy person. I am a realist however. Nearly every major event in world history is simultaneously more complex and simpler than we give it credit, and that is because people are involved. Simple motivations, complex outcomes. A little bit of chaos theory.
As Jim Morrison put it so appropriately in a drug induced writing binge, "People are strange, when you're a stranger."

Today is about awareness, not solutions. Think about the world and how small it is. You can go to your closet and find something made in Thailand. The internet is everywhere at the speed of electrons (provider not withstanding like Turkey). The world is a smaller place. we need to keep in mind the things that are happening all around us and not get too side tracked by bikini babes floating weightless in the vomit comet.
I will however include a picture of that to ensure lots of pageviews, since that is how we internet.



Topic Tuesday #79 2014/01/21 - "MLK & Uncle Tom's Cabin"

Topic Tuesday #79 2014/01/21 - "MLK & Uncle Tom's Cabin"


Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day. As I was driving for about 12 hours, I took the time to listen to Uncle Tom's Cabin through my Audible subscription. It has been many years I read the once banned book and I had paid it little attention since it was "required reading" and I was not one to like being told what to read. Now, with age and parenthood under me, I appreciate these classics perhaps as much as those dear teachers that made the lists.
I want to talk about it but I do not want to give spoilers. I will say that I have a sensitivity to slavery and the pain and loss of loved ones, in particular - children. I'm quite the sap and was weeping for several chapters.
The suffering of the (to use language from the story) negro, is the suffering of humanity. The telling of the tale is a glimpse of life in pre-Civil War America. The morality contained within and the religious machinations by the characters is handled between the issues of suffering and deliverance of Uncle Tom and his compatriots. The character development and switching of voice from third person (fourth wall breaking) to occasional first person lends a familiar air and really captures you into the story.
Given the gravity of the story and of course the deeds and dreams of Dr. King go hand in hand. The rise of equality has been a treacherous journey. There are still many regions where racial bigotry are as common as wearing mixed fabrics. As such, we must remain vigilant towards these shows of intolerance. The country continues to grow and move against inequality.
Have we learned how to treat our fellows?
I hope so.
And hey, read a book!

Topic Tuesday #46 2013/06/04 - "Book'em Dano"

Topic Tuesday #46 2013/06/04 - "Book'em Dano"

...And make sure you swab his mouth for a DNA sample.

Sounds a little more ominous now doesn't it? But why is that? First, the news: 



Says all I really need to know in that sentence. It passed the high seat by a slim 5:4 margin with a strong dissenting opinion by Judge Scalia. As always, I encourage you to take a look and think about the issue for yourselves.
What I want to look at is what our normal baseline is right now for the "booking process" and the Fourth Amendment.
While going through the booking process, the following should be expected:
  • Mug Shots
  • Fingerprints
  • A search
  • Routine questions on background information (name, address, etc.)

If your case begins with a court appearance and not an arrest, you may still be required to appear at the police station for a book-and-release procedure. 
Most jails will give out booking information (arrest date, bail, visiting information, the location, the court date, charges and booking number). Generally, you'll be asked for the defendant's full name and birth date. Keep the booking number for future reference. 


As you can see, once you are in police custody, very little is sacred. You can plead the Fifth Amendment and maintain your Miranda Rights, however, you are still subject to a physical search, up to cavity search...  

A note on Miranda rights, since they are thrown about so readily: 1966 Miranda v. Arizona. The ruling states:
...The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he/she has the right to remain silent, and that anything the person says will be used against that person in court; the person must be clearly informed that he/she has the right to consult with an attorney and to have that attorney present during questioning, and that, if he/she is indigent, an attorney will be provided at no cost to represent him/her.
Further: On June 1, 2010, in deciding the Berghuis v. Thompkins case, the United States Supreme Court declared that criminal defendants who have been read the Miranda rights (and who have indicated they understand them and have not already waived them), must explicitly state during or before an interrogation begins that they wish to be silent and not speak to police for that protection against self-incrimination to apply. If they speak to police about the incident before invoking the Miranda right to remain silent, or afterwards at any point during the interrogation or detention, the words they speak may be used against them if they have not stated they do not want to speak to police.

The lesson here is say as little as possible until you see legal council, even if you are innocent. Don't be a jerk about it, but better safe than sorry.

OK enough about that, now on to the Constitution. For completeness:

 Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I imagine that the issue that is primarily irritating is "the right of the people to be secure in their persons". It's a fine line. You would already have your finger prints put on file, your picture taken (without make up in most cases), and... there is that search...

So what's the big deal about having another piece of data, that identifies you, even better than finger prints and mug shots, go into the database? Oh... there it is. The Database. Big brother is watching you and Hoover is keeping Tabs on you. Well yes. They are. This is a surprise? You get targeted advertisements all the time. Data is being harvested all the time, and the government happily buys it up. They might not know what to do with it, but they have it when they do figure something out. DNA, will just be another field in a growing database.

Lately, there has been an increasing stigma over "big data". Specifically how it is being used. The primary problem is a lack of understanding. I will save big data for another Tuesday. For now, be aware that more rapists, more criminals, more bodies, will be identified and thus be another step closer to justice - whatever that means today.

Think I'm off base? Good, tell me about your thoughts on the matter. Just remember, 'cavity search'. before thinking a DNA swab is illegal.


Topic Tuesday #36 2013/03/26 - "Love And Marriage"

Topic Tuesday #36 2013/03/26 - "Love And Marriage"

It's a banner week for the Supreme Court in the USA. Today they begin reviewing 2 same sex marriage cases involving California Proposition 8 (whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in a California.) and this will carry through Wednesday, 3/27/2013, as the high bench will be reviewing DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) as well. The cases presented:
Tuesday, March 26: Prop 8, Hollingsworth v. Perry, 60 minutes
Wednesday, March 27: DOMA, United States v. Windsor, 110 minutes
There are some interesting things happening on the periphery of these cases as they come to trial. I can best sum it up, with no malice intended, as rats fleeing the sinking ship.  California Governor Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris have declined to defend Prop 8, leaving only it's staunch conservative backer Dennis Hollingsworth, the case's namesake defendant, of ProtectMarriage.com, to carry the ball. In 2011 many key legistaltors and the Obama administration turned on DOMA, as far as determining that section 3 was unconstitutional and the DOJ would not defend it. In its place the House General Counsel under directive from the Republican congressional leadership would defend the law. Senators. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., John “Jay” Rockefeller, D-W.V., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said 3/24 and 3/35 that they no longer support a federal law banning gay marriage.

PROP 8: If the court does not side with Hollingsworth, the ruling reverts to an earlier decision which struck down Prop 8. The case originated with Kristin Perry, who was denied a marriage license in Berkeley. Kristin and her partner, Sandra Stier, are mothers of 4 children. Perry has an interesting legal team, Theodore Olson and David Boies, who have a history of going at each other in high profile cases.
On the against side: Olson has 20 minutes to state his. They'll focus on arguing that "marriage is a fundamental right that has nothing to do with having children. … Because marriage is such a fundamental right, and gays and lesbians have traditionally been victims of discrimination, the challengers continue, the Court should apply a more demanding test – known as 'heightened scrutiny' – to determine whether Proposition 8 is constitutional.".  Then Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. will then have 10 minutes to explain why the Obama administration believes Prop 8 should go away. From the Times:
"The government will argue on grounds referred to as the "eight-state solution," which would apply only to states where gay marriage is banned, but same-sex civil unions are allowed (California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island). Verrilli will argue that this violates the equal-protection clause of the Constitution. That case has been called "quite modest," while others have argued, "If the Court takes the President's argument seriously, the justices need not stop at just 8 states. The President's theory could invalidate all marriage discrimination against gays."
On the pro–Prop 8 side: Hollingsworth will have 30 minutes to make his case. If found to have standing, they will argue that "traditional" marriage should be preserved so that children "will be born and raised in stable and enduring family units by their own mothers and fathers."

Verdicts of this could be very little to very dramatic, if the court upholds the defeat of Prop 8, all bans on same sex marriage could be constitutionally challenged, or it could be that a narrow ruling that "once a right is given it cannot be taken away by the state." It bears remarking, "There is no possibility that the court would ban same-sex marriage in places that choose to permit it."

DOMA, enacted September 21, 1996 defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman for federal and inter-state recognition purposes.
Section 3 of DOMA has been found unconstitutional (as it violates the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment) in eight federal courts, including the First and Second Circuit Court of Appeals, on over 1,000 right issues that married couples enjoy. Such as bankruptcy, public employee benefits, estate taxes, and immigration. 
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal in one of those cases, United States v. Windsor, and scheduled oral arguments for March 27, 2013. Edith Windsor was forced to pay $363,053 in estate taxes after her partner of more than 40 years died.
From the Times:"If the court is to establish a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, it will be in [the Prop 8 case] and not in a narrower one to be argued on Wednesday about the federal Defense of Marriage Act,"

Likely outcomes will be for DOMA to fall and Prop 8 to be more narrowly refined and not completely thrown out.
The judges have their work cut out for them and a nation of of men and women who love each other and want the natural right to express their love for whomever they want, will be watching and waiting. Final decisions are expected to be revealed in June.




Topic Tuesday #33 2013/03/05 - "Do not pass GO, Do not Collect $200 - Go directly to Privatization"

Topic Tuesday #33 2013/03/05 - "Do not pass GO. Do not Collect $200 - Go directly to Privatization"

The seed for today's topic. Florida Atlantic University in it's efforts to pay for a 30,000 seat football stadium found an unlikely backer. The Stadium will be christened the GEO Group Stadium, thanks to a $6 million dollar (over 12 years) donation to the public university. GEO Group is the nations second largest operator of for-profit privatized prisons. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/florida-atlantic-football-stadium_n_2720223.html?1361323728
This leads to a great many questions about what privatization really means. We have corporate prisons, corporate schools, corporate space programs, and some would say politicians should dress up like race car drives so we can see who is sponsoring them as well.

Today I want to look at prisons, specifically.
The United States is the world's leader in incarceration with 2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons or jails - a 500% increase over the past thirty years. These trends have resulted in prison overcrowding and state governments being overwhelmed by the burden of funding a rapidly expanding penal system. The original intent, some 200 years ago, when the penitentiary system (etymologically derived from "penance") was formed by the Quakers and other reformist groups, was to take sinners, lock them in a cell, make them read the Bible, and they would repent for their sins. This model of incarceration (which didn't have great success at rehabilitation and repentance) has not changed that much since the inception. What has changed is the perception, method, and value of incarceration.

Not all the privatizations for to Corporations, some just migrate jurisdiction from state to county. In Louisiana it works this way: County or parish sheriffs get about $25 a day for inmates that would have otherwise ended up in state prisons. Some of that money goes to house and feed the prisoners. What’s left over goes to the underfunded sheriffs’ departments to use for much needed equipment and for manpower. The sheriffs get their needed bullet proof vests, and somehow prisoners end up with longer sentences and jail remain at capacity to get their $25 a head. This narrows any funds left for an actual rehabilitation. Again in this example, the funds for those activities come from charity functions like rodeos and Church outreach.
This method is simple, the more you have the easier it is to take care of, and you end up with a more economical situation with more money left over. This is not as insidious as what the real private for profit prisons do. 

Slave Labor.

In the eyes of the corporation, inmate labor is a brilliant strategy in the eternal quest to maximize profit. By dipping into the prison labor pool, companies have their pick of workers who are not only cheap but easily controlled. Companies are free to avoid providing benefits like health insurance or sick days, while simultaneously paying little to no wages. They don’t need to worry about unions or demands for vacation time or raises. Inmates work full-time and are never late or absent because of family problems.
Under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), private-sector employers receive a tax credit of $2,400 for every work release inmate they employ as a reward for hiring “risky target groups” and they can "earn back up to 40 percent of the wages they pay annually to target group workers."

Companies can lease factory time in prisons. Lease prison work forces.
Noah Zatz of UCLA law school estimates that:
“Well over 600,000, and probably close to a million, inmates are working full-time in jails and prisons throughout the United States. Perhaps some of them built your desk chair: office furniture, especially in state universities and the federal government, is a major prison labor product. Inmates also take hotel reservations at corporate call centers, make body armor for the U.S. military, and manufacture prison chic fashion accessories, in addition to the iconic task of stamping license plates.”

Making stiffer penalties that lead to longer stays in the "big house" has proven a great way to get votes. Making other people responsible and shifting the financial burden is also a great slight of hand for policy makers. 
And thanks to all this, there is a dark economy of slavery in this country while record unemployment continues to plague the news, the government has it's armor and ammunition built by felons, and Corporate America hires prisoners for a few dollars a day to slice "Made in Honduras" tags off garments and replace them with "Made in America".

Is it ethical to incarcerate people for the sole purpose of making money? How can anyone think it is?


http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/january-11-2013/prisons-for-profit/14485/
http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/news.cfm?news_id=1445
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/19/corporate-welfare-incarceration-industry
http://www.alternet.org/story/151732/21st-century_slaves%3A_how_corporations_exploit_prison_labor?page=0%2C0&paging=off
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-pentagon-and-slave-labor-in-u-s-prisons/25376

Topic Tuesday #19 2012/11/27 - "Grab a Snickers"

Topic Tuesday #19 2012/11/27 - "Grab a Snickers"

Last night I was confronted by the past. Not my past but an event that took place in Spokane, Washington on March 18, 2006. Otto Zehm, 36, a mentally disabled janitor, was mistaken for another man stealing money from an ATM at the convenience store that Zehm visited every day to get a soda and a Snickers. I will sum it up as briefly as I can, and you can see the full report here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/16/otto-zehm-beating-death-karl-thompson-mental-disabilities_n_2143920.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
Otto Zehm
  • Report: ATM Theft
  • Respondent: Officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. ( a Vietnam veteran and a decorated 40-year veteran of law enforcement in Los Angeles, northern Idaho and Spokane)
  • On Scene: Officer assaults suspect (Zehm) with baton, striking him 7 times in 8 seconds and used his stun device.
  • Reinforcements: More officers arrive, gag and hogtie Zehm and sat on him.
  • Results: It was determined sometime later that he was not at fault however was beaten unconscious and expired 2 days later. His last words were "All I wanted was a Snickers bar."
  • Aftermath: Cover-up of the excessive force and violations of Zehm's civil rights. Officer Thompson was sentenced November 15th 2012 to 4 years and 3 months for his roll in Zehm's untimely death.

My take is this and I will end and open to comments:

I love and respect any member of law enforcement and our soldiers that are willing to put their own lives at risk every minute of the day to keep the majority safe. I am only concerned with the outliers. The ones that make grievous errors. Keep an eye on those that are there to serve and protect. Don't be afraid, but don't be dumb either. Bad things happen. This was/is a tragic tale that echos all over.
How do we go about fixing something as pervasive as power corruption? Did the officer have a bad day? Not eat his Wheaties? Just make a mistake? We won't know. These black marks, like all such, are swept under the rug as quietly as possible. The authorities can't have tarnished reputations as it just causes more unrest. Like a wild animal seeking weakness .. Then they get hurt, and they will always protect their own. I wouldn't expect anything less. They are few. The criminals are many. It's a hard dirty job. This does not excuse anyone or make them less accountable for their actions-EVER...
The bad apple does spoil the bunch, especially when all you wanted was a snickers bar, and were beaten to death over mistaken identity...