On Thursday 11 November 2004 08:54 pm, Fred Stevens K2FRD wrote: > At 4:05 +0000 12/11/2004, sail4free wrote: > >========== > >"TLN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: "I like Georgia and South > >Carolina. They have prisoners clean up the trash. Love seeing those > >striped shirts along the highways. Chain gangs are alive and well in > >the deep south." > >========== > >And that's something to brag about? I've tried to be good and just > >read stuff and not get too excited about anything but then along > >comes a post that just makes the hair on my neck stand up. If you're > >so proud of Georgia and South Carolina, then you will LOVE Florida > >where there is at least one prison in 78% of its counties! A number > >of states now have prisons in almost one-third of their counties. In > >1923 there were only 61 prisons in the entire US. > > > >========== > >Folks like you are the reason the number of state and federal inmates > >between 1980 and 2000 soared by 312%! During this same time period, > >our population only grew by 21%. How can you justify a prison > >population which has grown 15 TIMES faster than our non-prison > >population? > > sail4free, I think you took Tom's post in less than the light sense in > which it was posted. While there are certainly problems with the Federal > and states' penal system, and in the means by which they are filled, it > wasn't necessary to debase Tom for a casual observation and statement in > which he was neither bragging nor gloating. Nor was a treatise on the > national prisons systems warranted although your research on the statistics > is impressive.
It may or not be warrented but it is worthy of observation. When someone makes light of another's incarceration we are well on our way to fascism. I am with sailforfree on this one. Do you realize that the US imprisons more people per capita than any other nation in the world? Read this http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/cri_pri_per_cap and then come back and tell me that we are the "Land of the Free". We put more people in jail per capita than anyone else, including the Russians. I love America but that love forces me to ask why my fellow Americans so hate the truth about this country. I fear that my fellow Americans speak long and hard about freedom but ultimately are so attached to their possessions as to fear freedom more than almost any other people I have ever known. A man with money, and yes money matters, is far freer in most of the world than your typical wage slave in the USA. Bob La Quey aka boblq aka hypercube aka hyperduh ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/z1TolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To reply to this message, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Boondocking/post?act=reply&messageNum=7524 Please do not reply to this message via email. More information here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/messages/messages-23.html <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Boondocking/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
