That is infuriating. I need to pull out my Dylan CDs and listen to some “Rainy Day Women” to cool off.

Interesting. Just recently, they had a substantial opinion piece here in new Zealand saying basically, that they weren’t imprisoning enough people in NZ - and pointing too the US where crime had steadily fallen while incarceration has risen (I believe they claimed 10% reduction in crime rate, but I do not remember timeframe etc…).

Was somewhat doubtful of that claim right there, to be honest. Though one thing struck me in fact - only about 10000 people in prison in NZ with over 20000 violent crimes being committed each year? That does seem low.

Then again, I heard that the level where you call something a violent crime is rather low here, including just threatening of violence, I believe. All it comes down to is that statistics often tell you more about who made them than about reality, I guess.

One thing the article doesn’t point out, but I think is important, is that once you are convicted of a felony, you lose the right to vote.  I wonder how many people convicted of non-violent drug offenses there are.  They certainly can’t vote to have drug laws changed because they have been disenfranchised.  I tend to think this has encouraged Republican control of government, since many African-Americans vote Democrat.  You can make the argument that people involved with drugs tend to be apolitical, which I acknowledge, but lots of people either stop taking drugs or learn to use them responsibly.  Having your right to vote taken away is permanent, unless you can get a judge to grant it again.
I guess I am arguing that not only are drug laws functioning as a social control mechanism, but also as a political control mechanism as well.

NeonCat: Having your right to vote taken away is permanent, unless you can get a judge to grant it again.

And, I presume if you’re a black man you have to prove, somehow, that you’re twice as white as a white man. 

One thing the article doesn’t point out, but I think is important, is that once you are convicted of a felony, you lose the right to vote.

This is important to most Americans how ?
Most Americans really don’t prefer to excercise this right, by any measures i can find.  To me, dis-enrollment from voter logs is a cost-saving measure that should be offered to more Americans when they file their national income tax:

[] Check here if you Would like to save an extra .05% on your future income tax by enrolling in the Non-Voting Citizen Savings Plan.

I bet more Americans would opt-in then vote each year.

Just because the franchise isn’t exercised doesn’t mean it is worthless.  A great many of the people turned away in the 2000 Presidential election in Florida had names that were the same as felons.

Voting is the primary difference between being a citizen and being a resident.

So you can cynically say it doesn’t matter if one can vote or not, and to a certain extent you may be correct in this age of crooked voting machines and legalized gerrymandering.  But maybe if people did give a damn about the vote, and considered themselves OWNERS of government instead of being owed by it, our nation would be in a lot better shape.

[] Check here if you Would like to save an extra .05% on your future income tax by enrolling in the Non-Voting Citizen Savings Plan.

I think this is a great idea.  But why stop there?  Let’s set up Ethical Suicide Parlors:
 

In 2BR0TB [Kilgore Trout, aka Kurt Vonnegut] hypothecated an America in which almost all of the work was done by machines, and the only people who could get work had three or more Ph.D’s. There was a serious overpopulation problem, too.

  All serious diseases had been conquered. So death was voluntary, and the government, to encourage volunteers for death, set up a purple-roofed Ethical Suicide Parlor at every major intersection, right next door to an orange-roofed Howard Johnson’s. There were pretty hostesses in the parlor, and Barca-Loungers, and Muzak, and a choice of fourteen painless ways to die. The suicide parlors were busy places, because so many people felt silly and pointless, and because it was supposed to be an unselfish, patriotic thing to do, to die. The suicides also got free last meals next door.

  And so on. Trout had a wonderful imagination.

  One of the characters asked a death stewardess if he would go to Heaven, and she told him that of course he would. He asked if he would see God, and she said, “Certainly, honey.“

  And he said, “I sure hope so. I want to ask Him something I never was able to find out down here.“

  “What’s that?“ she said, strapping him in.

  “What the hell are people for?“

“What the hell are people for?“

Soylent Green?

Indeed.  What the hell are people for?  One thing they’re for is fertilizer: Soylent Green, but less directly.  What they’re for during their lives is not so obvious.  Religions would have us believe that people are “for” the glory of God, one way or another.  I believe that this question, and a great deal of the basis of religious thought, conceals a hidden assumption: that there is a reason for being, and it exists independently from our thoughts, and is somehow inherent in the world.  But if you view the world through Darwinist glasses, this question becomes meaningless, or perhaps better said, more precise:  when, and how, did the question “what for?“ evolve?  Asked this way, I would answer: people have the freedom, and the burden, of deciding for themselves what they are for.

Zilch

What the HELL are people for?  4 the Three persons in the Word HELL, and the avenger!

King Solomon
Ecc. 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing,whether it be good or whether it be evil.

I’ve just been drive-by witnessed… I think…

Michael:...and the avenger!

Steed or Mrs. Peel? Or even Tara King? What mystery!

If I get to choose, I want Mrs. Peel.  She way cool.

Zilch: If I get to choose

Emma was a horn-bag, but it was always her predecessor Cathy for me.
She went on to become Pussy Galore.
I just IMBd her - she was 3 years younger than mum.
Gawd. An Oedipus thing at 14. How embarrassing.

Cathy is the Old Testament, Mrs. Peel the New Testament.
And Tara King? Scientology.

Zilch: Cathy is the Old Testament, Mrs. Peel the New Testament.
And Tara King? Scientology.

Great way to put it! I agree completely. For me, Emma Peel was the greatest.

Zilch   5/27/06

After rejecting the Truth

or perhaps better said, more precise:  when, and how, did the question “what for?â€? evolve? 

Romans 1: 21because, having known God they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened,

22professing to be wise, they were made fools,

23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.

Mike:

Zilch 5/27/06

After rejecting the Truth

or perhaps better said, more precise:  when, and how, did the question “what for?â€? evolve? 

Romans 1: 21because, having known God they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor gave thanks, but were made vain in their reasonings, and their unintelligent heart was darkened,

22professing to be wise, they were made fools,

23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.

Apparently I’ve just dropped acid.

Apparently I’ve just dropped acid.

Damn, and I bet it rolled under the cooker…

Michael- you’ve really made me think.  Old-fashioned guy that I am, I’m only really familiar with the King James Bible, and here’s what it says in Romans 1:23:

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Whereas your version has

and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of fowls, and of quadrupeds, and of reptiles.

Now, when I read “creeping things”, years ago, that creeped me out- I mean, who wants to worship a worm?  I threw the Bible down and became a heathen.  But if the image of God can be a cool reptile, say a T.Rex, I believe!  Glory be to Jesus!

Zilch

On what Terms, Friend or Enemy

But if the image of God can be a cool reptilesay a T.Rex,,

  so, you want to look and act like one Too!

No, I prefer the Human Kind, who have Beauty to the Max, I would say, that Eve must have been the Most Beautiful All…

Ladies in Austria arn’t to bad either, where I single.

On what Terms, Friend or Enemy

Not sure what you mean here, Michael.  But I agree with Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend”.

Ladies in Austria are indeed not too bad, and they have the advantage over Eve that they are incarnate.

I’ve heard Hungarian women blow away (in a manner of speaking) all other Earth girls…

Az igaz, Sadie.  But luckily, lots of those Hungarian women are here in Vienna… 

Michelle: I would say, that Eve must have been the Most Beautiful All…

Ah mate, she was prob’ly a 3 outa 10 at best. I fucked one once.