Another beauty!

[Serenity]

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/413851_vote05.html

[JosephH]

Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again, he got himself in a terrible jam, way over yonder in Iraq and Afghan, put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.

 

CHORUS

and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for? Don't ask me i don't give a dam, the next stop is Iraq and Afghan, and its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates. Well there aint no time to wonder why...WHOPEE we're all gunna die.

 

CHORUS

 

Now come on generals lets move fast, your big chance is here at last. Nite you go out and get those ragheads cuz the only good Muslim is one thats dead, you know that peace can only be won, when you blow em all to kingdom come.

[tvashtarkatena]

Yup. Another successful, multi-year long legislative campaign brought to a great conclusion by our very own ACLU of Washington. Prisoners who've served their time have one more way to rejoin the community as fully participating citizens. Before, the state simply assumed the power to arbitrarily deny convicts who've served their time one of the most fundamental rights of a free society. Now, the tables have appropriately turned, reducing the state's often capriciously wielded power by automatically granting voting rights to convicts who've served their time. It's now the state's burden to go through due process to prevent that on a case by case basis.

 

Why anyone would think it's in society's best interest to prevent such a positive reintegration is beyond me as well as, apparently, the good legislators of our fine state.

 

In my view, the less absolute power the state has over its citizens, the better.

 

You may kiss my ring and my ass.

 

 

Edited January 7, 2010 by tvashtarkatena

[tvashtarkatena]

Watch our marijuana laws. They're next.

[tvashtarkatena]

While you're in here spraying, we're out there getting stronger.

[Serenity]

While you're in here spraying, we're out there getting stronger.

 

Delusional retard

[Serenity]

Well come on all of you big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again, he got himself in a terrible jam, way over yonder in Iraq and Afghan, put down your books and pick up a gun, we're gunna have a whole lotta fun.

 

CHORUS

and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for? Don't ask me i don't give a dam, the next stop is Iraq and Afghan, and its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates. Well there aint no time to wonder why...WHOPEE we're all gunna die.

 

CHORUS

 

Now come on generals lets move fast, your big chance is here at last. Nite you go out and get those ragheads cuz the only good Muslim is one thats dead, you know that peace can only be won, when you blow em all to kingdom come.

 

Have you lost your fucking mind?

[ivan]

have you lost yours? you seem a man fond of those who "fight and die for our freedoms" - isn't protecting the right to vote a big deal for you? at any rate, wtf are you worried about? have you seen the statistics for voting rates among the poor, who make up the masses of convicts?

[Pete_H]

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/413851_vote05.html

 

You masters of political science haven't realized this was a Federal Appellate decision not a policy debate. Moron.

[billcoe]

Fucking racist Washington pigs.

 

 

Now to the real point: as aren't all prisons -especially ones in Washington where everyone up there has now been legally determined by the 9th to be so damn fu*king racist, really cruel and unusual punishment? Yes, it is. So I suggest not locking anyone up ever. Just speak harshly to them and let them go when they have murdered your mother. This should be enough don't ya think? Lets get the ACLU on that, they apparently have plenty of time and money to worry over such penumbra issues while ignoring things actually written into the constitution.

 

These folks can sleep over at Trashs house while they wait for the harshing talk and release into society. We'd be able to clear up the judicial backlog as well in short order. No 2 year long OJ style trials ever again.

 

 

ps, the Coon chicken inn later moved out Sandy blvd to about 50th, next to the fire station there. New name now, but still have Chicken.

[Doug]

The decision of the Appellate judge was centered around incarcerated felons having the right to vote. In this state, they can already vote once they've served their time. The rub here is that it's illegal for anyone other than an elections official to open a sealed ballot. All prisoner's mail is subject to search prior to leaving the prison.

Edited January 7, 2010 by Doug

[Off_White]

Fucking fascist Oregon pigs.

 

 

[billcoe]

Fucking fascist Oregon pigs.

 

Absolutely Off! Although not a joke, the NW has had some historically strong KKK support and as recently as a few years back Robert Matthews, leader of the order, escaped an FBI sting in PDX and ran right up to Washington where a long national manhunt finally found and snuffed him.

 

 

Washington, the other Alabama

 

Total bullshit which fortunately has been radically easing off in modern times for folks of color.

[Pete_H]

Seems to me the real point is: given that crime occurs equally among whites and minorities (according to the Times article I read), but minorities are incarcerated at a much higher rate, does that make our judicial system racist?

 

And if so, does that mean a certain group of voters (minority felons) are disinfranchised?

 

Even assuming more whites who commit felonies are not convicted, given the assumption of a fair trial, the minorities who are convicted of a felony did commit the felony. On the other hand, the end result is a higher percentage of minorities, when compared to whites in a similiar class, who can't vote.

 

Interesting issue.

[Off_White]

Right, but it doesn't follow that Bill's "modest proposal" to abolish incarceration is a logical conclusion, which is what I was ribbing him about. I'd agree that our history of racism, in pretty much every part of the country, isn't a joke. I grew up in Southern California, and it was pervasive there as well.

[tvashtarkatena]

I think at the core of this issue is the widespread belief, so eloquently presented by our very own village idiot Billcoe, that anyone incarcerated for any crime, even non-violent crimes like drug possession, should be 'thrown away' for the rest of their lives. Denied employment, denied basic rights, denied housing. This is the 'life-sentence-for-any-crime philosophy; once a crime has been committed, there should be no path to redemption, and no way to productively return to society. 21 year old punk carrying crack? Game over. Stole a couple of cars? Game over. It assumes that people can't change; once a criminal (and let's remember that half our prison population is in for non-violent drug offenses), always a criminal. These very same folks revel in the fact that our prison system is now a chain of overcrowded, underfunded white supremacist/gansta rape camps with virtually no rehabilitation. Essentially, it's a way for them to display their fundamental and apparently unsatisfied need to inflict cruelty...in the names of The Victims! , of course. Yeah, right. For these sorry folks, no penalty is too great for even the smallest infraction. There is no way to 'serve your time', 'pay your debt' or make restitution for what you've done.

 

From a policy standpoint, of course, this philosophy, like other products of the Right Wing, has been a social disaster. Most most convicts are, eventually, released back to the community. Such policies virtually guarantee that they return in far worse shape than they went in, and, with no lawful survival opportunities available to them...yeah, you get the idea. That's why California's prison recidivism rate has jumped from 28% to 82% in the past 3 decades since the 'throw away the key' movement's ideas have been implemented. Brilliant.

 

You'll also notice that these are often the very same folks who scream about their right to keep lots and lots of guns around to protect their families from the marauding homicidal zombie hordes, presumably all black, out there. Again, you get the idea. It's a syndrome, and not exactly a healthy one.

[Pete_H]

I think at the core of this issue is the widespread belief, so eloquently presented by our very own village idiot Billcoe, that anyone incarcerated for any crime, even non-violent crimes like drug possession, should be 'thrown away' for the rest of their lives. Denied employment, denied basic rights, denied housing.

 

I don't think its too hard for ex-con's to have their voting rights restored if they petition a court, though how likely they are to do so is debatable. The problem you describe above ties in with the disinfranchisement issue, but I don't know if its the central issue here.

[JosephH]

and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for?

Have you lost your fucking mind?

You asked, I was just answering and to paraphrase an unindicted traitor: You don't fight for the democracy you want, you fight for the democracy you have...

[tvashtarkatena]

Why should a convict who has served their sentence have to go through any process to have their voting rights restored? That very policy has created an inconsistent and capricious system in WA, which is why our state just got rid of it. Under the fairness doctrine, as well as to reduce substantial administrative waste, this right should be restored automatically. We have much better way to expend our already stretched criminal justice resources, I think...particularly with a budget deficit now approaching 10 billion dollars.

 

Voting rights are one of many ways for a convict to rejoin the community in a constructive way. Whether that is central or not depends on the individual, doesn't it?

[Pete_H]

Policy-wise I agree. I'm just splitting hairs here, but your argument would be tangential to the plaintiff's argument in this case, which was largely based on racial disparities in the justice system as a whole creating a disinfranchised class.

[tvashtarkatena]

I never bothered to read the link. I just assumed from the title it was about the new voter restoration law in WA LOL

 

There is a huge racial disparity in our criminal justice system; such a disparity is obviously systemic, and inextricably linked with economic, educational, and other disparities in our society. Add to that the legacy of racism in this country going all the way back to slavery and you've got one hell of a big Gordian knot.

 

There are some low hanging fruit policy changes that would help to rectify this in the short term; drug policy reform being on the very top of the list. Nearly all drug criminalization in this country was formulated and driven using racist arguments. That continues today, in the form of things like much harsher penalties for possession of 'crack' (a poor man's drug, popular in ghettos) versus 'cocaine'.

[Serenity]

Well heck I can see the brain trust is hard at work over here. Let's go ahead and give them their gun rights back too.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/413851_vote05.html

 

You masters of political science haven't realized this was a Federal Appellate decision not a policy debate. Moron.

 

Don't really care fuck-stick. You internet blowhards need to get cleaned out.

[tvashtarkatena]

This case is not about one man and his right to vote. The 9th circuit's decision was a historic finding of systemic discrimination in the entire criminal justice system. Minority communities do have higher crime rates, but even when the data is normalized for this, there is still a 50% difference across the board in arrest rates, eligibility for bail, conviction rates, and severity of sentence, between whites and minorities.

 

Two comprehensive, long term studies produced these glaring statistics. The state didn't even bother to respond. No one would argue against what is patently obvious to everyone involved in the criminal justice system.

 

The judiciary recognizes that it is, appropriately, the weakest branch of government, given its insulation from the democratic process. Such decisions are messages to the legislature that there is a constitution problem they need to address.

 

I wonder if the original troller

 

a) doesn't understand the nature, scope, or purpose of the decision or

b) believes the studies presented to be bunk and believes there's nothing wrong with the criminal justice system or

c) is suggesting that minorities continue to be treated far worse than whites by the criminal justice system.