Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Poet who wrote (2328)	1/22/2001 6:00:55 PM
From: jlallen	Respond to of 82486

And they say conservatives have no sense of humor... JLA

To: Poet who wrote (2328)	1/22/2001 10:52:30 PM
From: Volsi Mimir	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Ms. Poet seeing that you blocked me from bringing humour to your thread I must post this and be on my way. Gays-- worked with a mess of them when I was a whseman at a place on Capital hill in Seattle. Some became friends, most acquaintances. There must of been 50 working (sortof) together- artists and whatever. Not one was a conservative. They were like me, put my time in and party ('cept I was straight). Learned alot 'bout them. Most didn't have a happy upbringing. Most didn't care about activism--- they did --but that was another excuse to party. Only ones that might of were the big rich daddy's parking in the alleys behind that they all fought over. Maybe they were conservative. don't know. Did find out what a chicken run was. Saw those young boys in a couple of those guy's house's that my girl friend dragged (no pun) there to visit. She was very liberal. I was pretty open. We made quick departures when it was that kind of party. Learned I wasnt too afraid of AIDs -- seen 'em disappear though.Rumours. Still they partied. Got alot of stories. Had girls run with me that were bi. Lived with with a couple. (not my wife). Interesting folk - shoot like reading their poetry. Always wanting to be individual. In fact it was the individual over any social norm which became important. And I think when that happens society crumbles. So I may not believe in God, I do understand the function and control it was intended. That goes with most religions too. I don't have time to debate- gotta run. My other point since it might be a while is the drug thing. Legalization would be a nitemare (IMHO) and would take years to implement. Prop36 CA mcgeorge.edu. Executive Summary My personal experience says it wont work for more than the majority of those that get a break from Prop36 in CA (which BTW everyone should read and understand-- its George Soro's Open Society experiment (along with others) in treating drugs.) Good intention-- except CA is not ready for the onslaught(by July of this year). (And the question of politics which forgives a felony and restores citizenship priviledges (voting). Let's wait and see. My feelings the rich kid will get the break and go back and get off and remember it as a mistake.They have the means. The poor kid who would not incarcerated would be put back into the same environment that got him into trouble. Ever watch those guys boot?, ever see a friend change from crack? forget it.... The next are two articles )One excerpt is from the Nation (I do read it) and the other is an AP article from the Seattle times. I do hope this thing will work and I am wrong. But you know there are lawyers lined up waiting for the first innocent victim because of this new law (as the AP article notes). But who cares about victims. right? I dont have the answer... or I say bomb the fuck out of places that produce that stuff. They would be victims too. But thats not reasonable.(sorry-- hot button issue for me-personal issue for me) So if I dont respond its cause I'm on the road-- somewhere I can get online whenever. Have a nice day. Sorry for playing around in your area- I aint left but I aint right <-- LOL Article excerpt from Nation(about legalization) and link-- past.thenation.com Yet legalizing drugs would entail some serious risks, the most obvious being an increase in abuse. While legalizers tend to cite drug prohibition as the source of all evil when it comes to drugs, drugs themselves can cause extensive harm. Heroin, cocaine, crack and methamphetamine are highly toxic substances, and those addicted to them engage in all kinds of destructive behavior, from preying on family members to assaulting strangers to abusing children. In all, there are an estimated 4 million hard-core drug users in the United States. Though making up only 20 percent of all drug users nationwide (the rest being occasional users), this group accounts for two-thirds to three-quarters of all the drugs consumed here. They also account for most of the crime, medical emergencies and other harmful consequences associated with drugs. If drugs were legalized, the number of chronic users could well increase. The AP article California, which jails more drug users per capita than any other state, now must quickly change course and implement the most ambitious drug-treatment program in U.S. history. Last week's passage of Proposition 36, a sweeping initiative requiring treatment instead of imprisonment for an estimated 36,000 drug users each year, thrusts California into mostly uncharted territory. But as counties rush to make the change by July 1, they can learn from San Francisco, which has bucked the state for years by diverting nonviolent drug offenders into treatment, and Arizona, where voters approved a similar initiative four years ago. Arizona hands out tickets to movies and sporting events and holds picnics for drug offenders who complete treatment programs - anything to reward them for staying clean with the threat of jail no longer hanging over their heads. "It's changed the whole way in which we kind of play the game," said Barbara Broderick, Arizona's state director of adult probation. "Now that you have this law, you really have to embrace it and figure out how to make an incentive-based program work without the hammer." California's program, scheduled to begin July 1, likely will cost much more than the $120 million a year allocated by Proposition 36. But projections say much of the cost will be offset because treatment is cheaper than building and operating prisons. While Arizona can serve as an example, California's statewide change in direction is of much greater magnitude. Arizona had to find 4,000 new treatment slots to handle about 6,000 offenders each year. California will have six times as many offenders, and its existing community treatment programs already have long waiting lists. San Francisco still can't find enough treatment slots five years after District Attorney Terence Hallinan made it his policy to funnel many drug offenders into treatment programs. His office handles 8,000 felony drug arrests each year, 60 percent of its caseload. Mimi Silbert, president and chief executive of the Delancey Street Foundation, San Francisco's largest treatment provider and the nation's largest privately funded treatment program, worries that California mistakenly will turn to quick-fix treatment programs. "It's a complex issue and it requires a complex solution," Silbert said. "The danger is to jump in quickly, to make the assumption that because they're not going to jail their problem is solved." "We're finding that 25 percent of people sentenced to probation are thumbing their nose at the system," said Special Assistant District Attorney Barnett Lotstein in Arizona's Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix. "People are walking away from treatment." Without the threat of jail, Arizona has tried punishing offenders with more frequent court appearances, treatment sessions and community service. "We'll even have them read books and give book reports in open court," said Broderick. "We've tried to be very creative with our sanctions." San Francisco has a "mentor diversion court" for 18- to 25-year-old small-time drug dealers that combines intense supervision with a requirement that participants work toward a high-school diploma and attend college classes. Yet, in three years barely 200 drug offenders have participated. San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey, a supporter of treatment programs, warns that some drug offenders are going to commit headline-grabbing crimes while undergoing treatment. "You will have spectacular failures, and you can't scuttle your approach because of those failures," Hennessey said. "You have people who are philosophically opposed (to Proposition 36) and they are looking for the failures to fan the flames of law-and-order." by Don Thompson The Associated Press