On Wed, 2007-01-17 at 02:48 -0500, Todd Zullinger wrote: > I've had friends sent to prison for things that damn well shouldn't be > illegal (and aren't illegal by any basic reading of the US > Constitution -- but you can't convince a dipshit judge of that). I > saw enough from visiting them to come to the conclusion that even > fairly low-security imprisonment was quite awful. > > > Only a few live like that when you consider that 2.7 million are > > locked up. > > Yep, sadly the US prison system could use McDonald's slogan: "Billions > served." > > > The vast majority serve time in Medium or Minimum custody. Those > > will be released if they keep their noses clean, so they do. Ric > > The vast majority of those in US prisons have no business being there > in the first place, under any level of custody. Certainly Phil > Zimmermann wouldn't have belonged there for writing software any more > than most others who have committed no real crimes (other than to break > laws that fly in the face of the written constitution that the > government supposedly derives its power from). > > Sorry to go so far off topic. I just happen to get fairly agitated > about governments locking people up. Actually, I just get agitated > about governments in general, as I find them useless parasites of the > human race. :) So do I, my friend. So do I. That's the reason for my project. Establish a baseline, educate the deviance's that are below the baseline until they are upped to an acceptable level and then let them go. Let the computer assist making the decision and take humans with prejudices out of the loop. Abolish structured sentencing and actually assist people to fix themselves. And then, hopefully be released back to an also educated society that forgives... not so much for the offender, but for their own enlightened sakes. Our Government does not always seem to rule us with Wisdom, instead fear and secrecy is used. That is not what was intended. It's what an entire revolution was about. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness." Sounds like fighting words to me. The bitch, as both Gene and Bruno mentioned, is that bit about deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. If we allow, we have consented. If we do nothing, we get exactly that. Ric -- ================================================ My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say: "There are two Great Sins in the world... ..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity. Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad. Linux user# 44256 Sign up at: http://counter.li.org/ http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/oar http://www.wayward4now.net ================================================
