Are we really surprised at this when we have prisons for profit?

Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, two judges in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, pled guilty to receiving cash kickbacks for sending minor juvenile offenders to youth detention centers and camps that are run for profit by Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp. One of the “youth offenders” was Hillary Transue, a 15-year-old girl who mocked her principal on the Internet. She was sent away to wilderness camp.

Let me repeat this: A 15-year old girl was taken from her parents and sent to a wilderness detention camp for writing something on MySpace.

Are we really surprised by this? Our for-profit criminal justice system trains more criminals each year than it rehabilitates. We invent crimes – including drug prohibition – to lock people up.  When every inmate is a dollar sign, children, like all citizens, become raw materials to be destroyed in the name of profit.

About 50 percent of the children who waived counsel before Ciavarella were sent to some kind of placement, the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center reports. In comparison, the Juvenile Court Judges’ Commission in Pennsylvania found that 8.4 percent of juveniles across the state wind up in placement.

via Pennsylvania rocked by ‘jailing kids for cash’ scandal – CNN.com.

We need change.

Stephen Andrew Moller gets no parole

Stephen Moller who is serving a prison sentence for killing Sean Kennedy, a young gay man in Greenville County, SC, was denied request for parole Wednesday morning. He will complete his sentence in July.

via No Parole; Stephen Moller Will Remain in Prison | WSPA.

NBC Story on the endless drug war

Prohibition is pointless and it has failed. Weed is part of our culture. Why do we spend countless dollars and waste countless lives fighting it? It’s time to end the war on marijuana.

Investor Marcus Schrenker, arrested, tried to commit suicide to evade

Marcus Schrenker

An investment manager who staged a plane crash to evade the law was barely conscious and muttered the word “die” when federal agents found him bleeding from a slashed wrist, an investigator said Wednesday.

U.S. Marshals apprehended Marcus Schrenker, 38, late Tuesday at a northern Florida campground two days after the amateur daredevil pilot apparently tried to fake his own death in a plane crash. Authorities believe he parachuted to the ground and later sped off on a motorcycle he had stashed in central Alabama.

The Associated Press: Agent: Investor mutters “die” as run from law ends.

BART officer Johannes Mehserle arrested in NV on murder warrant

BART shooting victim Oscar Grant

The BART police officer who fatally shot an unarmed man on an Oakland train platform and then refused to explain his actions to investigators was arrested Tuesday in Nevada on suspicion of murder, authorities said.

Johannes Mehserle, 27, of Lafayette was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nev., said Deputy Steve Velez of the Douglas County sheriff’s office. The arrest was also confirmed by David Chai, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.

Mehserle was arrested in the New Year’s Day shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old supermarket worker from Hayward who was lying facedown after being pulled off a BART train by police investigating a fight. An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant alleging murder, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said.

The shooting, which was recorded by passengers in videos widely circulated on the Internet and television, prompted public outrage, and some viewers said that the shooting appeared to be an execution.

Sources said Mehserle was in Nevada because he feared for his safety after death threats were made against him. Douglas County is 15 miles south of Carson City in northwestern Nevada and includes part of Lake Tahoe.

Mehserle’s attorney, Christopher W. Miller of Sacramento, confirmed early today that his client was arrested on suspicion of murder. He said he would not comment further until a news conference today.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff was expected to announce details of the arrest today. He could not be reached late Tuesday.

Authorities have been under immense pressure to take action in the case. On Tuesday, BART board President Thomas Blalock and board Director Carole Ward Allen sent a letter to Orloff, urging the district attorney to move expeditiously to complete the investigation and file charges if warranted…

BART officers had detained Grant and several other passengers at about 2 a.m. Jan. 1 as they investigated a fight aboard a train from San Francisco. Passengers with cellular phone cameras captured footage that shows Grant lying facedown when he was shot.

In the videos, Mehserle appears to be trying to put cuffs on Grant, and Grant appears to be struggling, when Mehserle suddenly pulls his service weapon from his holster and fires one shot into Grant’s back.

Mehserle declined to speak to BART criminal investigators after the shooting. Then last Wednesday he resigned rather than answer questions from BART’s internal affairs division.

BART officer arrested on murder warrant in NY Day shooting.

Obama to act early to close Guantanamo

Change you can believe in. Barack Obama taking immediate action to right the wrongs of the Bush years without putting us at risk.

Barack Obama will issue an executive order within days of entering the White House to close the Guantanamo detention centre, senior advisers have confirmed.

Mr Obama, who is due to be inaugurated as US president on 20 January, has repeatedly promised to close the camp, where some 250 inmates remain.

The signing of the order is unlikely to be followed by immediate closure.

On Sunday, Mr Obama indicated that closing Guantanamo was a “challenge” and would take time.

“It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realise,” Mr Obama told the ABC TV network.

“We’re going to get it done, but part of the challenge that you have is that you have got a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous, who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication.”

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama to act early on Guantanamo.

Financial Advisor Marcus Schrenker Takes a Plunge – Is on the Loose

The modern day equilvalent to the “Stock brokers jumping off buildings” legend of the Great Depression, except this one is true!

We’ll say to future generations, “Why, it was so bad that back in Oh-nine some financial advisor jumped from a falling plane to fake his own death!”

The police in three states were looking for the pilot, identified as Marcus Schrenker, 38.

No one was hurt in the crash. According to the police in Santa Rosa County in the Florida Panhandle, where the plane went down, Mr. Schrenker turned up safely about 220 miles north of there. And there is evidence that Mr. Schrenker was an experienced pilot who might have been trying to fake his own death.

His life seemed to be unraveling. Court records show that Mr. Schrenker’s wife filed for divorce on Dec. 30. A Maryland court recently issued a judgment of more than $500,000 against one of three Indiana companies registered in his name — and all three are being investigated for securities fraud by the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office, a spokesman, Jim Gavin, said.

Pilot Fakes Distress and Flees Before Crash – NYTimes.com.

Drink or the terrorists win

Gays: 1 – Terrorists: 0

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) — Bartender Chris Daw had plenty of patrons to serve early Saturday at the CC Attle tavern, despite the ricin threats that it and 10 other Seattle gay bars recently received.

The threats — letters warning that patrons would be poisoned — appear to be part of the reason business was brisk.

People have flocked to the 11 bars in solidarity since the letters arrived in the mail last week, Daw and others said. On Friday night, hundreds of locals participated in an organized pub crawl designed to support the establishments.

“People are like, ‘Come on out. If you don’t drink, a terrorist wins,’ ” Daw said.

Despite ricin threat, Seattle gay bars hopping – CNN.com

More Images from the Oakland Riots

Photographing amidst a protest can be scary stuff. You can really feel the adrenaline. Photographing a riot must be terrifying.

Check out a set of photos from the Oakland riots from prolific and talented Flickr photographer Thomas Hawk.

Oakland Riots 2009 – a set on Flickr

I agree: BART Cop Needs to Be Held without Bail

After seeing better video of the BART shooting, I’m convinced the officer needs to be locked up.

And why isnt this larger in the media? Are pre-judicial execution style slayings by police acceptable nowadays? Is this what we’ve done to America?

There is no reason for that officer to be walking the streets. Mehserle needs to be held without bail as he as an apparent danger to himself and society.

Neal Rodriguez: BART Cop Needs to Be Held without Bail.

Until justice is in place, more riots will happen.

Wake up national media! Report this! This is not a local story.

Photos: Violent protest in Oakland over BART shooting

Amazing photos of an out of control Oakland protest in the SF Chronicle.

BART police shooting protest

Photo by Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle

Be sure to read the article too. It’s a fascinating piece on ignorant mob mentality.

Army SNAFU: ‘John Doe’ Letters to Families of the Fallen

If you send mail using templates at your job, you realize how important it is to get the custom information correct. The Army is learning the hard way.

The Army mistakenly sent letters addressed “Dear John Doe” to 7,000 family members of soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, unleashing calls from troubled relatives and prompting a formal apology yesterday from the Army’s top general…

The letters, mailed late last month by the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operation Center in Alexandria, contained information about private organizations that assist families of the fallen. But in what the Army called a printing error by a contractor, the letters did not contain specific names and addresses; instead, they had the placeholder greeting “Dear John Doe.”

Army Sends ‘Dear John Doe’ Letters to Families of Fallen Troops – washingtonpost.com.