Objectors US

Private Correctional Facilities is a Bad Idea

priorities are way off-base

Awhile back, I was stunned to read statistics about the huge numbers of people who are incarcerated. Equally alarming was the information about how many are routinely sent to different areas because there are simply too many to be housed in local jails. When it comes to the private correctional facilities, there are two points to consider: first, someone is making money from crime; and second, having such facilities readily available can blow the entire concept of "correction" way out of proportion.

Keep Pepper Spray Out of Birmingham Schools

Sign the petition to rework disciplinary policy and stop police abuses

For most teenagers, just having to show up at school every day is miserable enough. Imagine going to a school where you have to fear severe physical discipline on a daily basis.

Students in the Birmingham Public School system don't just get sent to detention when they misbehave. If caught at the wrong moment, they can be blasted in the face with pepper spray by campus police. That's what happened to Gloria, the daughter of Birmingham resident LaTonya Stearnes. When she turned to confront a boy who was pushing her from behind, a nearby police officer grabbed her and hit her full in the eyes with a burst of pepper spray. Her sister Patrice ran to her aid only to be sprayed herself. LaTonya saw both her daughters come home that day with red eyes and swollen faces. She says that Gloria was in pain for days and fell into a depression as a result of the incident.

I can imagine why. No student should have to fear abusive authority at their place of learning. Knowing that the police can legally harm you at any time would make school a living nightmare.

Another Angle on Domestic Violence

it's time we all said "enough is enough!"

Constantly in the news: girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, wives, ex-wives, on the receiving-end of violence. Many end up dead. When trying to get to the root of it, it seems the "experts" miss something: in instance after instance, there is usually one common factor-- it could be called a "hierarchy of authority." It's the viewpoint that women have less rights-- if any at all. Perhaps it bears noting the largest percentage of domestic violence murders occur when women attempt to leave the relationships. Perhaps domestic abusers have never been acquainted with that old song: "You don't own me." Perhaps it is time everyone began to grasp the concept of "male privilege" has no place in civilized society.

The Death Penalty Is Dying...

...and that's a good thing.

The death of the death penalty has been long coming in the U.S. Many nations around the world have already abolished the death penalty, often referred to as state-sanctioned murder, as a barbaric and antiquated form of criminal justice. In fact, the U.S. is one of the last developed nations to still impose the death penalty (in certain states). A recent article in TIME Ideas looks at how the death penalty is gradually being rolled back, and why.

There is no federal law concerning capital punishment. Instead that has been regarded as a state issue, and because of that there are nearly 50 different attitudes toward capital punishment. California, one of the most recent states to struggle with the problem, has not executed a prisoner since 2006, with hundreds of prisoner languishing on Death Row as the courts attempt to work out a new form of lethal injection. In fact, lethal injections as form of execution has been in legal conflict for 24 years. The method of execution has long been a source of conflict in state courts, and with many looking to create a completely painless death (the guillotine seems to be the only truly painless version, though a bit lacking in the political correctness department), some question why we’re killing them at all. Read more about The Death Penalty Is Dying...

Self-Defense Should Be Legal

sometimes laws are not in people's best interest

First, I will say I have always believed in nonviolence. However, I have also always believed human beings have the right to personal dignity. A recent news story illustrates a problem that is common in this region-- a problem where personal dignity is at stake, and the law is not on a person's side.

Occupy Wall Street Is Hurting The Feelings Of The Young 1%

Because they want to feel like their problems matter too...?

A recent article in The Atlantic had my hackles up, and although the author was similarly irritated with the content of the article, he nonetheless draws attention to an issue so peripheral to what’s really going on, in just writing it he has earned my disdain. The article is How Occupy Wall Street Is Alienating The Young 1%. Andrew Burman, an editor for The Atlantic, has somewhat of an insider perspective on this. Being the product of an Ivy league school, he relates a moment spent with friends that were, we can assume, very much members of the 1%. Among this elite crew of young Entourage wannabes, the phrase “1%” becomes a moniker of pride, and the “99%” one of derision. A friend, Burman describes, crosses to the craps table as he relates an evening spent with strippers and swagger. Another friend comments, “Wow, that’s so 1%.” Read more about Occupy Wall Street Is Hurting The Feelings Of The Young 1%

Criminals Are Given Yet Another Loophole

some are told they need not accept responsibility

Not long ago, I happened to overhear a conversation between a middle-aged guy and one of his acquaintances. The guy, who was being housed at a work-release facility, was relating something an instructor had said during a group meeting: "If you are working a program, are you still a criminal?" This particular instructor evidently did not want anyone to answer in the affirmative; instead, he wanted to hear they found something so magical and life-changing about their 'programs' that it relieved them from needing to admit any responsibility for their actions.

A Political Direction For A Populist Movement: Transforming OWS

How OWS might move from an "awareness" demonstration to an actual change-agent.

I have an idea for Occupy Wall Street. Rather than attaching yourself parasitically to an establishment party like the Tea Party did in 2009, why don’t you take your popular momentum and try a third-party contest? The climate is right, with congressional approval at a historically low 9% according to recent polls, a President with waning popularity, and a Republican primary that is the stuff of circus sideshows and Saturday Night Live. Unemployment is high, morale is low, and people are still looking for some of that transformational change. They didn’t get much of it with Obama, though the jury’s out as to whether that’s entirely his fault or the Teapublicans’, and many people seem to want a different option. Read more about A Political Direction For A Populist Movement: Transforming OWS

The Short Life Expectancy Of Radicalism In The U.S.

Radical popular movements tend to fizzle out fairly quickly, it's the damage or repair that they do during their short lives that is what lasts.

The Tea Party Era may be coming to a close. Riding a wave of public discontent and economic fervor, the Tea Party was able to sweep a number of Republican candidates into office in 2010, even taking the House of Representatives in the process. However, as the Tea Party’s message, and more importantly their reactionary tactics both in congress and outside, have slowly been ostracizing even many of their own public supporters. A Quinnipiac Polling Institute survey shows that just 28% of voters approve of the Tea Party brand of Republicanism, while 57% disapprove. In Ohio, which has famously attempted to follow Scott Walker’s lead in Wisconsin by attempting to pass an anti-union collective bargaining bill, voters overwhelming down-voted the measure (63% against, 37% for, in early voting outcomes). Even the Republican establishment in Washington is starting to separate itself from the Tea Party, with many Republican leaders saying they will go after Democratic votes to pass a 2012 Federal budget bill rather than risk the brinksmanship of this summer by pandering to Tea Party freshmen. Read more about The Short Life Expectancy Of Radicalism In The U.S.

Research Shows Global Violence On Decline

Civilization, Despite What You Might Think, Is Getting More Civilized

Despite what you might think about the state of our world, there’s some good news; violence across the globe is actually decreasing, significantly and steadily. In fact, it may be that even as we feel like civilization is eroding from beneath us that, statistically at least, we’re more civilized than we’ve ever been before. According to The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, a recent book by Harvard Psychologist Steven Pinker, statistics reveal dramatic reductions in a variety of violent human tendencies, from war deaths, murder, and rape to domestic violence and racism. Pinker writes, "The decline of violence may be the most significant and least appreciated development in the history of our species,” facilitated, no doubt by a sensationalist media and the cyber footprint of mass hysteria. Read more about Research Shows Global Violence On Decline