The Smart On Crime Initiative proposal by Attorney General Eric Holder just makes sense. He is altering Justice Department policy at the federal level to end mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenses, granting federal judges greater flexibility in sentencing, and hopefully state legislators will adopt similar policies. Holders’ proposals are drawing bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, which is no easy feat. With the extreme overcrowding in federal (and state) prisons, and about half of those prisoners serving sentences for drug-related crimes, Holder favors expanding a program to release some elderly, non-violent offenders; and he’s for seeing those newly convicted to receive drug treatment and community service as opposed to the tougher sentences handed down for violent criminals and cartel members. Holder has directed federal prosecutors across the country to set up new operating procedures for determining when to file federal charges or not, and he feels that aggressive enforcement of federal criminal laws is necessary. Mandatory minimum prison sentences began in the 1980s in response to the government’s war on drugs, and limited the discretion of judges to impose shorter prison sentences according to the given situation. Holder said, “By targeting the most serious offenses, prosecuting the most dangerous criminals, directing assistance to crime “hot spots”, and pursuing new ways to promote public safety, deterrence, efficiency and fairness — we can become both smarter and tougher on crime”. Do we want our prisons to rehabilitate miscreants or to warehouse erring humanity for a lifetime? Do our “brothers and sisters” deserve second and third chances to get their acts together? Let’s face it: many young people grow up in a stacked deck, stacked toward low self-esteem, delinquency, and a prison sentence. Besides folks, the war on drugs hasn’t worked. *********And in another “aside”****** for anyone who has not viewed Sanjay Gupta’s special on marijuana, aired on CNN last week, it’s a must see. It’s high time to get enlightened about that issue and that amazing plant. Marijuana should be decriminalized; the research bears this out. There are many components of the plant from which medicine can be derived to help children and adults who suffer from seizures, tremors, pain, and many other debilitating conditions. THC, the psycho-active component of the plant can be extracted, so the medicinal users are not “getting high”. The argument is not all about people’s right to “get high”, which I also embrace. Alcohol creates more social, mental, emotional, and physical problems than marijuana ever would. (And let’s face it: tobacco, especially loaded with all the addictive additives in cigarettes, should just be outlawed, as there are no benefits, only deleterious health problems involved in its usage. I think it should be criminal to sell our citizens such an addictive substance that has no beneficial effects.) The price we pay in this country for healthcare, social problems, and destroyed families due to the effects of alcohol and tobacco use is astronomical. When you think of how many people in this country, who are on anti-anxiety meds, everything from: Anxietin to Zanax, I’m betting that a form of medicine derived from the marijuana plant would suit their needs better, with far less deleterious side effects. And the number of kids with ADD or ADHD and Autism, I’m betting, could be treated with some cannabis extract to help alleviate their symptoms and behaviors. I believe it’s the next great wonder drug, waiting to be seriously researched, recognized, developed and used by all. As the Father of our country, George Washington, grew and used it for medicinal purposes, it seems only right that “we the people” to be able to benefit from its uses also. Forget that “Reefer Madness” bull-crap! (Some of us had to watch that “movie” in high school). Legalize and tax it…..the solution to many problems. And, oh yeah, use it responsibly! (Don’t smoke and drive; could cause temporary confusion).
Aug 29 2013
Do you believe that the national minimum wage of $7.25 is enough to give Americans a decent standard of living?
“One of the ten demands from the March on Washington 50 years ago was for a national minimum wage act that would give all Americans a decent standard of living. Do you believe the national minimum wage of $7.25 accomplishes that demand?” No; even our state minimum wage of $8.25 is not sufficient; it’s just wrong for the United States to have a slave labor force! In the 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep George Miller (D-Calif) are supporting a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 “would increase the hourly minimum wage by 3 incremental increases of $.95 and then index it to inflation, so that as prices rise so would the minimum wage. It would also raise tipped employee’s wages from $2.13 an hour by increments of $.85 until it reaches 70 percent of the regular minimum wage”. Members of Congress have voted to increase their salaries 13 times since they set the tipped minimum wage at $2.13 in 1991. “Raising the minimum wage would help reverse the ongoing erosion of wages that has contributed significantly to the growing income inequality. It would also provide a modest stimulus to the entire economy, as increased wages would lead to increased consumer spending which would contribute to GDP growth and modest employment gains”, according to the website of Economic Policy Institute. ******* You think this is something that everyone would more or less agree on? A better standard of living for our own citizens? For those who are willing to work? Since the GOP is always talking about how everyone should be more responsible and pull themselves up by their bootstraps? We gotta be able to afford boots, and rent, and utilities and medicine and food! Have y’all noticed how little you get with $50 at the grocery store lately? I have. You want to buy healthy fruits and vegetables, but they’re expensive! The GOP in Congress wants to make big cuts in the federal “food stamp” nutrition program by separating it entirely from the farm bills, even though most farmers don’t agree with that agenda; and some GOP members don’t want the Affordable Care Act (or “Obama-Care”) funded either, though it is advancing regardless, and will prove to be a great blessing to the multitudes, as our rather-corrupt medical industry gets revamped. U.S. citizens shouldn’t have to go to Mexico or Canada to get less expensive medicine than they can purchase here! And we surely shouldn’t have to go to Taiwan or India for a necessary surgery because it costs far less, even with special treatments, for the insurance companies, than it would in our own country! I’ll stay here and die if I need a surgery and my insurance carrier doesn’t want to pay for it, cause I’m not going to some country where organ-theft is rampant, because our doctors want to charge exorbitant prices for their services. Enough is enough! We the People need to ALL stand together for a better country for ALL of us! Not just the rich and connected! I’m for sending less foreign aid to other countries and helping our own citizens (our own sons and daughters and grandkids and neighbors) to have a better standard of living. The GOP won’t work with Democrats to return interest rates to their previous level, so on 7/1 rates doubled. According to the New York Times recently, “Congressional Republicans are moving to gut many of President Obama’s top priorities with their sharpest spending cuts in a generation, and a new push to hold government finances hostage unless the President’s signature health care is stripped of money this fall. They seek to slash environmental protections, and immigration-reform, and voter rights, and education, and basically anything that helps middle and lower class families, all in their efforts to protect tax breaks for their billionaire backers. When Congress comes back from recess we’ll see if the reckless budget cuts get implemented, or if there’s just more inaction. The GOP should really invest more energy in finding a real candidate for the 2016 election; a candidate that has a chance of winning would have to be more “middle-of-the-road” than their tea-party fanatics would embrace. But I’m pretty sure they won’t take that common-sense approach, and the way will be clear for the DEMs; besides, if Hillary is in the running….no-one else will really have a chance! She’s just the smartest choice, and the smartest woman for the job!! READY FOR HILLARY in 2016!
By spiritspeak • Community Roundtable, Politics 0