Yeah, I read a four page article.

and dug it, here are some highlights:

Over the past three decades, California has tripled the number of prisons it operates, has more than quintupled its prison population and has gone from spending $5 on higher education for every dollar it spent on corrections to a virtual dead-heat in spending. That puts it in the same boat as Michigan, Vermont, Oregon, Connecticut and Delaware--all of which, according to estimates by the Pew Charitable Trust, spend as much or more on prisons than on colleges. California is also under federal court order to implement costly improvements in the delivery of medical and mental healthcare services in prisons and to release close to a third of the prison population--about 55,000 inmates--to improve conditions for those remaining behind bars.

And when it comes to the mentally ill, momentum continues to build around mental health courts designed to get people medical and counseling help rather than simply to shunt them off to prison. States like Pennsylvania are starting to develop parallel institutions to deal with mentally ill people who run afoul of the law. Many other states will likely follow suit in the near future. Forty years after deinstitutionalization, a new consensus is emerging that prisons became an accidental, de facto alternative to mental hospitals, and that very little good has come from that development.

p.s. Lauren! Do you own a bullhorn yet? That would be sweet!

boo to the boo-er

plagiarized from democracy now:

Back in the United States, White House economic adviser Larry Summers was greeted with a hostile protest during a speaking appearance on Thursday. Earlier this week, the White House disclosed Summers received nearly $2.7 million in speaking fees last year from several of the financial companies that have received government bailouts. In addition, Summers earned over $5 million working one day a week at the D.E. Shaw hedge fund. As Summers addressed an audience at the Economic Club, two protesters stormed the stage with a sign saying “We want our money back.”

Larry Summers: “You know it’s hard enough to focus on the policy—focus on the policy choices that we have now without focusing—without focusing on—”

Protester #1: “Larry Summers is part of the problem. He’s a toxic mess.”

Protester #2: “And I’m out of work.”

Protester #1: “$135,000 from government bailed-out companies for one day? Your former companies paid you for that? We the people say no!”

Protester #2: “$5.2 million. $5.2 million this man made working one day a week in 2008 working for a hedge fund. We want our money back.”

Protester #1: “You’re part of the problem. You’re part of the problem.”

Protester #2: “Can we have our money back? Can we have our money back, please? Can I have some TARP to go with my stimulus?”

Protester #1: “I need a bailout for the peacekeepers. That’s right, Larry. You should resign. I am the people’s voice, sir. You should resign. Obama deserves a leader.”

get real on sex ed

Peter Rothberg quoted from www.thenation.com

"There's an under-reported health care crisis brewing in this country: A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study reports at least one in four teenage girls -- ages 14 to 19 -- has a sexually transmitted infection; The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reports that the US has the highest rates of teen pregnancy among comparable countries, and an estimated 750,00 teenagers will become pregnant this year, and Advocates for Youth reports that about two young people are infected with HIV every hour of every day.

In recognition of this crisis, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) recently introduced the Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL), a bill that designates federal funds for age-appropriate and medically accurate information to help young people make informed decisions about their relationships and sexual behavior.

voice your support for the (REAL) act here

your (dis)honer

ok... so I haven't felt like posting, reading, or listening to the news that much cuz... I haven't. But this shit is just too fucked up to not spread around.

Two judges in PA. have plead guilty to accepting over two million dollars in kickbacks and contracts from a private juvenile detention center starting in 2003 which calls into question the convictions of aproximatly 5,000 kids, some of whom are still incarcerated.

It pretty much looks like they got payed to pack the prisons.... with kids.

two things

I should have said this a while ago but Gus Van Zant and Sean Penn made one hell of a fucking movie.

Joseph Lowery's speech was awesome too. Do yourself a favor and don't read the comments.

The United Nations Relief and Workers Agency (UNRWA) has suspended aid to Gaza after one of it's contractors was shot dead and two other's wounded by Israeli tank fire on their way to pick up goods from a border crossing. The contractors had coordinated their movements with the Israeli military and were driving UN flagged vehicles, as reported in this NYT article.

Israel bombed a UN monitoring post on the Israeli/Lebanese border during the war of 2006 killing four peacekeepers despite a reported 10 calls to cease fire around the position before it was finally hit.

The Guardian has reported that unnamed sources close to the Obama transition team believe he will pursue low-level or clandestine diplomatic relations with Hamas and that a consensus is slowly growing in Washington that the Bush administrations policy of isolating Hamas has clearly failed.

I like this Tariq Ali piece from December 30th.

and on a lighter note:

Al Franken is good enough, smart enough, and dog-gonnet, people do like him.