July 11, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/serbian-pm-aleksandar-vucic-attacked-at-ceremony-marking-srebrenica-slaughter-in-bosnia/

Serbian PM attacked at ceremony marking Srebrenica slaughter
AP July 11, 2015

Photograph -- Bodyguards use umbrella and protection to protect Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic during unrest at the Potocari cemetery and memorial near Srebrenica on July 11, 2015 in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. MATEJ DIVIZNA, GETTY IMAGES

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Anger boiled over Saturday at a massive commemoration of the Srebrenica slaughter 20 years ago as people pelted Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic with water bottles and other objects.

Vucic's associate, Suzana Vasiljevic, told The Associated Press that he was hit in the face with a stone and his glasses were broken. Vasiljevic said she was behind Vucic when "masses broke the fences and turned against us."

Tens of thousands came to mark the 20th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since the Holocaust - the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica - with foreign dignitaries urging the international community not to allow such atrocities to happen again and to call the crime "genocide."

Serbia and Bosnian Serbs deny the killings were "genocide." Vucic, once an ultra-nationalist, came to represent his country at the commemoration in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.

As Vucic entered the cemetery to lay flowers, thousands booed and whistled. A group of women from Belgrade, Serbia, who for years are demanding Serbia to admit it's role in the slaughter, yelled "responsibility!" and "genocide!"

Someone threw a shoe at him, others threw water bottles and other objects. The crowd eventually chased Vucic away from the ceremony. A few people carried banners with his own wartime quote: "For every killed Serb, we will kill 100 Bosniaks."

During the 1992-95 war, the United Nations declared Srebrenica a safe haven for civilians. But on July 11, 1995, Serb troops overran the Muslim enclave. Some 15,000 men tried to flee through the woods toward government-held territory while others joined the town's women and children in seeking refuge at the base of the Dutch U.N. troops.

The outnumbered Dutch troops could only watch as Serb soldiers rounded up about 2,000 men for killing and later hunted down and killed another 6,000 men in the woods.

The United Nations admitted its failure to protect the town's people and on Saturday, Bert Koenders, foreign minister of Netherland said that "the Dutch government shares responsibility" and that the U.N. must strengthen United Nations missions in the future.

"Nobody can undo what happened here but we mourn with you," Koenders added.

So far, remains of some 7,000 victims have been excavated from 93 graves or collected from 314 surface locations and identified through DNA technology.

"I grieve that it took us so long to unify ... to stop this violence," said Bill Clinton who was U.S. President at the time of the massacre and whose administration led the NATO airstrikes against Serb positions. This ended the Bosnian war and the U.S. brokered a peace agreement.

"The world is still being dominated by wars and killings based on ethnicity and race and religion. And everybody in the world is still trying to decide if we can live together as partners," Clinton said.

This week, Russia vetoed a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Srebrenica crime on request of Serbia because it contained the word "genocide." In return, Srebrenica organizers withdrew an invitation to the Russian ambassador for Saturday's ceremony.

Following the Russian veto, the European Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives recognized the crime as genocide and foreign dignitaries - including Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Jordan's Queen - repeated the word in their speeches.

President Barrack Obama said in a statement that "Only by holding the perpetrators of the genocide to account can we offer some measure of justice to help heal their loved ones. And only by calling evil by its name can we find the strength to overcome it."



Aleksandar Vučić
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aleksandar Vučić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Вучић, pronounced [aleksǎːndar ʋǔt͡ʃit͡ɕ], born 5 March 1970[1]) is a Serbian politician who is the Prime Minister of Serbia since 27 April 2014. He is also the leader and president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Vučić served as Minister of Information from 1998 to 2000 and later as Minister of Defence from 2012 to 2013, as well as First Deputy Prime Minister from 2012 to 2014. He is a graduate of the Belgrade Law School.

Early life[edit]

Aleksandar Vučić was born in the family of Anđelko and Angelina née Milanov in Belgrade. His father's family originates from Čipuljići, Bugojno in central Bosnia. His family was expelled from Bugojno by the fascist Ustaše, and for this reason his father Anđelko was born near Belgrade. Vučić's paternal grandfather Ađelko, great-grandfather Rade, uncles and almost entire family were killed by the Ustaše. Vučić's mother was born in Bečej in Vojvodina.[2][3] Both of his parents were economy graduates; his father worked as an economist, while mother was a journalist.[2]

Vučić finished the Branko Radičević Elementary School, and later a gymnasium in Zemun. He was an excellent student and a junior champion in chess. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, where he was remembered as an outstanding student who received highest grades.[according to whom?] However, his career in politics prevented him from gaining the masters degree. He learned English language in Brighton, and worked as a merchant in London for some time. After returning to Yugoslavia, he worked as a journalist in Pale. There, he made an interview with Radovan Karadžić and played a chess once with Ratko Mladić.[4]

Political career[edit]

Aleksandar Vučić joined the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) in 1993 and was elected to the National Assembly following the 1993 parliamentary election. Two years later, at age 24, Vučić became secretary-general of the Serbian Radical Party. After his party won the local elections in Zemun in 1996, he became the director of Pinki Hall.[6] During his time in the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vučić made many public appearances. One of them was his statement made in the Serbian National Assembly on July 20, 1995, in which he stated: "If you kill one Serb, we will kill 100 Muslims."[7][8] This happened just few days after the Srebrenica Genocide in which more than 8000 Muslims were systematically murdered by the Serbian forces.[9] Vučić ran in the Belgrade mayoral election twice, in 2004 and again in 2008, losing both times to candidates from the Democratic Party (DS).

Minister of Defence and First Deputy Prime Minister (2012–2014)[edit]

Vučić briefly served as Minister of Defence and First Deputy Prime Minister from July 2012 to August 2013, when he stepped down from his position of Defence Minister in a cabinet reshuffle. Although the Prime Minister, Ivica Dačić, held formal power as head-of-government, many analysts thought that Vučić had the most influence in government as head of the largest party in the governing coalition and parliament.[11]

Prime Minister (2014–present)[edit]

After the 2014 Serbian parliamentary election Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party won 158 out of 250 seats in Parliament and formed a ruling coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia. Vučić was elected Prime Minister of Serbia.

Radical Party to Progressive Party

On 6 October 2008 Vučić confirmed in a TV interview that he was to join the newly formed Nikolić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and that he would be the Deputy President of the party.[18]

He then seemed to change his tune. In 2010 he made statements such as a "horrible crime was committed in Srebrenica", saying he felt "ashamed" of the Serbs who did it. "I do not hide that I have changed... I am proud of that," he told AFP in an interview in 2012. "I was wrong, I thought I was doing the best for my country, but I saw the results and we failed, We need to admit that."[19]

Anti-corruption and organized crime[edit]

Vučić has pledged to tackle corruption and organized crime in Serbia.[22][not in citation given] He also vowed to investigate controversial privatizations and ties between tycoons and former government members.[11][23] Vučić’s anti-corruption drive has recorded a 71 per cent personal approval rating in a March 2013 opinion poll,[22] though in more than two years it produced no convictions and only a handful of arrests.

EU membership and Kosovo[edit]

Vučić has been central to negotiations on Serbia’s bid for EU accession, traveling to Brussels for talks with the EU’s Foreign Affairs Commissioner, Baroness Ashton, as well as to North Kosovska Mitrovica to discuss the details of a political settlement between Belgrade and Pristina.[24][25] During his visit to northern Kosovo, to garner support for the Brussels-brokered deal, he urged Kosovo Serbs to “leave the past and think about the future”.[23]

. . . . In December 2008 Vučić announced that he would make a visit to Croatian Serbs, causing a controversy.[29] The Croatian Serb group SKD Prosvjeta commented negatively on the visit.[30] . . . . Before splitting away from the Radical Party of Vojislav Šešelj, Aleksandar Vučić was openly and publicly celebrating and calling for the protection of Ratko Mladić, a military leader accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. . . . . In the same year Vučić organized a street protest where the signs naming the street after the assassinated pro-west Serbian PM were replaced with the signs effectively renaming the street to Ratko Mladić Boulevard.[31] This has become an annual event in which Serbian ultra-right factions place the same signs on top of the regular signs to celebrate the anniversary of the Zoran Đinđić assassination. . . . . In July 2014, journalists associations were concerned about the freedom of the media in Serbia, in which Vučić came under criticism.[32][33] The German newspaper Die Tageszeitung reported that the media in Serbia are censored and Vučić is responsible for that.[33] The Serbian journalist Jovana Gligorijević also expressed her concerns and said that „the freedom of speech was indeed threatened because internet pages were blocked, blogs removed and bloggers arrested" for which Gligorijević indirectly blamed Vučić. . . . . Vučić said that the international community, foreign ambassadors and the OSCE would lead a campaign against him, because Serbia don′t want to impose sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine crisis, and that the suppression of the media are nonsense. He also claimed that he had never heard of these portals, which were blocked and demanded an apology from the OSCE. Paula Tide, the Vice President of the OSCE in Serbia, rejected an apology. The Head of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Serbia in Belgrade, Ambassador Michael Davenport, and the US Ambassador Michael Kirby shared the same opinion as the OSCE.[32][33]




CBS News -- “Vucic's associate, Suzana Vasiljevic, told The Associated Press that he was hit in the face with a stone and his glasses were broken. Vasiljevic said she was behind Vucic when "masses broke the fences and turned against us." Tens of thousands came to mark the 20th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since the Holocaust - the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims from the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica - with foreign dignitaries urging the international community not to allow such atrocities to happen again and to call the crime "genocide." Serbia and Bosnian Serbs deny the killings were "genocide." Vucic, once an ultra-nationalist, came to represent his country at the commemoration in an apparent gesture of reconciliation. …. As Vucic entered the cemetery to lay flowers, thousands booed and whistled. A group of women from Belgrade, Serbia, who for years are demanding Serbia to admit it's role in the slaughter, yelled "responsibility!" and "genocide!" …. "I grieve that it took us so long to unify ... to stop this violence," said Bill Clinton who was U.S. President at the time of the massacre and whose administration led the NATO airstrikes against Serb positions. This ended the Bosnian war and the U.S. brokered a peace agreement. …. “This week, Russia vetoed a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Srebrenica crime on request of Serbia because it contained the word "genocide." In return, Srebrenica organizers withdrew an invitation to the Russian ambassador for Saturday's ceremony. Following the Russian veto, the European Parliament and the U.S. House of Representatives recognized the crime as genocide and foreign dignitaries - including Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Jordan's Queen - repeated the word in their speeches. President Barrack Obama said in a statement that "Only by holding the perpetrators of the genocide to account can we offer some measure of justice to help heal their loved ones. And only by calling evil by its name can we find the strength to overcome it."

From Wikipedia comes the following quotations: “Vučić said that the international community, foreign ambassadors and the OSCE would lead a campaign against him, because Serbia don’t [sic] want to impose sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine crisis, and that the suppression of the media are nonsense. He also claimed that he had never heard of these portals, which were blocked and demanded an apology from the OSCE. …. In 2010 he made statements such as a "horrible crime was committed in Srebrenica", saying he felt "ashamed" of the Serbs who did it. "I do not hide that I have changed... I am proud of that," he told AFP in an interview in 2012.” Unfortunately many in Serbia do not approve of the anti-Muslim activities of years past, and Vucic’s attempts to backtrack from his strong anti-Muslim positions have not worked. I also note that he has sided with Russia in their invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. I will not be sorry if he is drummed out of office.





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-and-the-immigration-divide/

Republicans and the immigration divide
By ANTHONY SALVANTO CBSNEWS.COM
July 11, 2015

Photograph -- Protesters show their support for the Obama administration's immigration reform plan on July 9, 2015 in Homestead, Florida. JOE RAEDLE, GETTY IMAGES

Few questions have consistently divided Republicans like immigration does, long before Donald Trump's comments, though the current framing and tenor is not the way party leaders had wanted it, nor other candidates, for that matter.

On overall policy, polling has consistently shown that while a sizeable portion of Republicans - including many, but not all, conservatives - take a hard line on illegal immigration, another of roughly the same size or larger sees things differently; they're accepting of a potential path to citizenship or some form of legalization. And these voter divisions may be mirrored in at least one key primary state, not just nationwide. (It might not have precluded the current debate, but those divisions are one reason reforms may have stalled in Congress, too.)

Recent CBS News polling shows the kind of breakdown on immigration policy we've routinely found for years, with just under half of Republicans saying undocumented immigrants should be required to leave. Another half are okay with some form of legalization, including just over a third of Republicans who would back a path to citizenship.

Those divisions make Republican voters hard to please, too: a recent Pew study showed the party's rank-and-file critical of their own party's handing of the issue, and recent CBS News polls shows many GOP voters feel the issue could be a dealbreaker for a candidate: they wouldn't consider voting for someone who disagreed with them. The operative difference next winter could ultimately be whether those who take the harder line are more likely to consider it a dealbreaker.

salvanto-7-10-3-disagree.jpg
A recent Quinnipiac poll put the question to Iowa Republican caucus-goers and got similarly split overall views on policy:

salvanto-7-10-2.jpg
Looking at the most recent presidential electorate from 2012, exit polls showed splits among Republican moderates and conservatives, too, as well as Tea Party voters; all of those subgroups have some disagreement within them. The exit polls ask the question as a two-part choice about illegal immigrants working in the U.S., with a chance to apply for legal status (but not expressly "citizenship") stated on one hand, and deportation to their country of origin listed as the other.

salvanto-7-10-4-2012-exits.jpg
Looking at voters in the midterms, too, a somewhat lower percentage favored legalization 2014 than in 2012, perhaps at least partially a result of the border crisis that was in the news in the run-up to the midterms, and the fact that the midterm electorate is not as large and had contests concentrated across conservative-leaning states.

salvanto-7-10-5-2014-exits.jpg
Of course, there's a difference in measures of policy preferences, such as how to manage the border or whether to offer a path to citizenship - and measures of personal views about immigrants themselves and what impact one believes they have on the country; the latter of which is dominating the discussion of the moment. The post-election report the GOP conducted for itself after the last presidential race directly addressed both rhetoric and policy on the issue, saying that if Hispanic Americans believed the GOP's nominee simply "does not want them in the United States" then they were not going to listen to their "next sentence" about economic opportunity or anything else. (Not that all Republicans, and especially not the more populist groups and grassroots, take heed of what party leaders want. In many respects primary races most distinctly showcase any standing differences between the two.) In 2012 Republicans lost the Hispanic vote nationwide by a large margin.

salvanto-7-10-6-hisp-vote.jpg
The recent Pew poll found that more Americans see immigrants as strengthening the country, though as they and others have noted, there are increasingly distinct partisan splits with Republicans more likely to see a negative impact. This was the case over the last decade, and older CBS News polling done when immigration reform was being discussed during President George W. Bush's administration found much the same.

As with any major issue with divisions, in a fractured nomination field it is difficult to see anyone forging a consensus on this right away -- but then again, nor does any candidate need to do so right away to be, or stay, competitive.

Jennifer De Pinto contributed to this report.




“The exit polls ask the question as a two-part choice about illegal immigrants working in the U.S., with a chance to apply for legal status (but not expressly "citizenship") stated on one hand, and deportation to their country of origin listed as the other. …. Of course, there's a difference in measures of policy preferences, such as how to manage the border or whether to offer a path to citizenship - and measures of personal views about immigrants themselves and what impact one believes they have on the country; the latter of which is dominating the discussion of the moment. …. The recent Pew poll found that more Americans see immigrants as strengthening the country, though as they and others have noted, there are increasingly distinct partisan splits with Republicans more likely to see a negative impact.”

The polling results as given in the several pie charts – sorry, but my word file won’t store them – were indicative of a present-day trend against citizenship for illegal immigrants and a strong support of deportation. This looks to me as though it can only weaken the Republican Party as a whole, even though there are a fair percentage of moderates in the polling. Donald Trump, after his highly inflammatory and biased statements of last week, has actually gained some in the polls, which shows me that the racist elements are still strong. It does encourage me that Republican moderates do represent a pretty high percentage however, at least on this question.

 Stay and citizenship – 38%; stay, no citizenship – 12%; deportation – 46%.
 Tea Party – Legal status 47%; Deportation 48%
 Conservatives – Legal status 49%; Deportation 43%
 Moderates – Legal status 58%; Deported 36%




FASCINATING PRISON STORIES -- TWO


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigrants-paid-1-a-day-janitorial-work-suburban-denver-prison-lawsuit/

Lawsuit: Immigrants paid $1 a day for janitorial work at private prison
AP July 10, 2015

Photograph -- Alejandro Menocal, 53, a legal permanent resident in the United States who emigrated from Mexico in 1973, stands near one of the machines he operates as an employee of a tree trimming business, in Golden, Colo, Thursday, July 9, 2015. Menocal is one of a group of immigrants who were detained at a suburban Denver facility who are filing a lawsuit against GEO. AP

DENVER -- Immigrants who were detained at a suburban Denver facility while they awaited deportation proceedings are suing the private company that held them, alleging they were paid $1 a day to do janitorial work, sometimes under threat of solitary confinement.

They scrubbed toilets, mopped and swept floors, did laundry, and prepared and served meals, among other duties, according to attorneys who filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of nine current and former detainees.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane declined a request from the Florida-based GEO Group Inc. to dismiss the claims against it, allowing the federal lawsuit to proceed.

GEO is one of the largest contractors with the federal government for the detention of immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally or legal permanent residents with criminal records who face deportation. The company has denied wrongdoing and said in court documents the work is voluntary and it is abiding by federal guidelines in paying $1 a day.

Attorneys for the immigrants say they'll move to expand the case by seeking class-action status. They say the judge's ruling clears the way to gather more information from GEO through discovery proceedings about how many detainees were put to work.

The attorneys said they've heard from clients for years that immigrants labor for almost nothing at private detention facilities around the country, but they called the lawsuit filed in Colorado the first of its kind.

"It's their job to run the facility, and instead they used and abused us to run the facility, and that's why we're suing," said plaintiff Alejandro Menocal, 53. Menocal is a legal permanent resident who was detained for three months at GEO's Aurora facility while facing deportation last fall.

GEO responded in a statement that its facilities "provide high-quality services in safe, secure and humane residential environments, and our company strongly refutes allegations to the contrary."

The company added attorneys and immigrant advocates have full access to its facilities that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with, and they're routinely audited and inspected by the government.

Anita Sinha, a faculty member at Washington College of Law, American University who has researched immigrant labor at private detention centers, said the daily wage was set by Congress in 1950 and hasn't been adjusted for inflation.

She said on a daily basis, immigrants facing deportation occupy about 34,000 beds nationally in private and government-run facilities. More than 60 percent of the beds are in privately held facilities, she said.

The company succeeded in getting the judge to dismiss a claim that it violated Colorado's minimum wage law because detainees were paid $1 a day instead of $8.23 an hour. In tossing that claim, Kane said the detainees do not qualify as employees under state law.

But he said the lawsuit could proceed on the allegations that GEO unjustly profited from the detainees and violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which prohibits forced labor.

"Legally, this is a big step forward," said Hans Meyer, Menocal's attorney.

It's common for inmates at state or privately run prisons to work below minimum wage, in some cases for the purpose of gaining job training.

"The difference here is that these are civil immigration detainees who are not being held for any criminal violation," said Brandt Milstein, another attorney in the lawsuit.

Menocal, a Mexican immigrant from Baja California, was released in September and kept his legal resident status after his attorney won his case. He said he faced deportation proceedings last year when authorities learned after a traffic stop that he had a criminal record from 2010 for driving with a suspended license and having his wife's prescription painkillers in his car.

He pleaded guilty and served a year of probation soon after, but he didn't come to the attention of immigration authorities at the time.

The lawsuit focuses only on the GEO's suburban Denver facilities, but the American Civil Liberties Union said the claims are similar to allegations they've heard around the country.

"There is a name for locking people up and forcing them to do work without paying real wages. It's called slavery," said Carl Takei, staff attorney at the national prison project of the ACLU.

The monetary amount the lawsuit seeks hasn't been determined.




“Immigrants who were detained at a suburban Denver facility while they awaited deportation proceedings are suing the private company that held them, alleging they were paid $1 a day to do janitorial work, sometimes under threat of solitary confinement. They scrubbed toilets, mopped and swept floors, did laundry, and prepared and served meals, among other duties, according to attorneys who filed the lawsuit in October on behalf of nine current and former detainees. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge John L. Kane declined a request from the Florida-based GEO Group Inc. to dismiss the claims against it, allowing the federal lawsuit to proceed. …. Attorneys for the immigrants say they'll move to expand the case by seeking class-action status. They say the judge's ruling clears the way to gather more information from GEO through discovery proceedings about how many detainees were put to work. The attorneys said they've heard from clients for years that immigrants labor for almost nothing at private detention facilities around the country, but they called the lawsuit filed in Colorado the first of its kind. …. GEO responded in a statement that its facilities "provide high-quality services in safe, secure and humane residential environments, and our company strongly refutes allegations to the contrary." The company added attorneys and immigrant advocates have full access to its facilities that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts with, and they're routinely audited and inspected by the government. Anita Sinha, a faculty member at Washington College of Law, American University who has researched immigrant labor at private detention centers, said the daily wage was set by Congress in 1950 and hasn't been adjusted for inflation. …. The company succeeded in getting the judge to dismiss a claim that it violated Colorado's minimum wage law because detainees were paid $1 a day instead of $8.23 an hour. In tossing that claim, Kane said the detainees do not qualify as employees under state law. But he said the lawsuit could proceed on the allegations that GEO unjustly profited from the detainees and violated the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which prohibits forced labor. …. It's common for inmates at state or privately run prisons to work below minimum wage, in some cases for the purpose of gaining job training. "The difference here is that these are civil immigration detainees who are not being held for any criminal violation," said Brandt Milstein, another attorney in the lawsuit. Menocal, a Mexican immigrant from Baja California, was released in September and kept his legal resident status after his attorney won his case. He said he faced deportation proceedings last year when authorities learned after a traffic stop that he had a criminal record from 2010 for driving with a suspended license and having his wife's prescription painkillers in his car.”

“The lawsuit focuses only on the GEO's suburban Denver facilities, but the American Civil Liberties Union said the claims are similar to allegations they've heard around the country. "There is a name for locking people up and forcing them to do work without paying real wages. It's called slavery," said Carl Takei, staff attorney at the national prison project of the ACLU. The monetary amount the lawsuit seeks hasn't been determined.” Of course there have been Chain Gangs way back into my childhood, but maybe that has since been outlawed. I’m glad to see that the ACLU has stepped in here, because they are a committed group of very sharp lawyers who – like Superman – stand for “truth, justice and the American way,” for which I am grateful. This one prison claimed that the work being done is actually voluntary, but I wonder what the arguments that were made by the prison actually were. With the old chain gangs the specific sentence was “hard labor.” Read the following article. It’s a doozie. I quote: “This also makes it very clear to people that there are more incentives to lock up people in this country. The US has become extremely attractive to companies who would usually use labor in 3rd world countries. They now look toward prison wages for all the advantages they offer a corporation.” A few years ago I was shocked to hear that Dick Cheney and Gonzales were being charged for criminal activities around his ownership of private prisons. See the two articles below.



newsone.com -- “Many human rights organizations are condemning what they call human slavery in which Wall Street investors and big companies are investing in the prison industry as they don’t have to worry about strikes, vacations, compensation time or unemployment insurance. They don’t have to deal with sicknesses or lateness. Many of these prisoners are threatened with solitary confinement if they refuse to work for these wages.”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/18/cheney-gonzales-indicted-texas-prison-case/

“The seven indictments made public in Willacy County on Tuesday included one naming state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and some targeting public officials connected to District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's own legal battles.

Regarding the indictments targeting the public officials, Guerra said, "the grand jury is the one that made those decisions, not me."

Guerra himself was under indictment for more than a year and half until a judge dismissed the indictments last month. Guerra's tenure ends this year after nearly two decades in office. He lost convincingly in a Democratic primary in March.

Guerra said the prison-related charges against Cheney and Gonzales are a national issue and experts from across the country testified to the grand jury.

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment.”



http://newsone.com/1562805/prison-labor-statistics-wiki/

Big Business Or Slave Labor? What Prisoners Make In Jail
By NewsOne Staff
Oct 3, 2011

If you thought slavery or human exploitation was over, think again.

Many human rights organizations are condemning what they call human slavery in which Wall Street investors and big companies are investing in the prison industry as they don’t have to worry about strikes, vacations, compensation time or unemployment insurance. They don’t have to deal with sicknesses or lateness. Many of these prisoners are threatened with solitary confinement if they refuse to work for these wages.

This also makes it very clear to people that there are more incentives to lock up people in this country. The US has become extremely attractive to companies who would usually use labor in 3rd world countries. They now look toward prison wages for all the advantages they offer a corporation. The U.S. is 5 percent of the world’s population, but comprises a quarter of all prisoners in the world.

Want to read more about this industry extensively? Click here

Check out some random facts about the prison labor industry and some of the companies involved in it. –
◾Starbucks contractor Signature Packing Solutions once hired Washington prisoners to package holiday coffees as did Nintendo with their Game Boys.
◾Microsoft once had prisoners shrink wrap software
◾In Texas, inmates produce brooms, brushes, bedding, mattresses, toilets, sinks and showers.
◾Dell once had inmates recycle PC’s but a watchdog group prevented them from doing so because it would expose inmates to toxins.
◾Inmates have also produced missile cables. They also cut aircut components which pay them 7.00 an hour when on the outside union wages would be 30.00.
◾California inmates sew their own garbs.
◾Prisoners in Wisconsin once helped build a Walmart in 2005 until community uproar halted the program.
◾Prison industry produces 100 pct of all military helmets, ammo belts, bulletproof vest, etc.
◾Private prisons pay from 93 cents to $4.73 per hour.
◾Federal prisons pay from 93 cents to $1.25 per hour.

RELATED:

Judge Mathis calls U.S. Prison System modern day slavery

Arizona is charging people to visit prisons
(Apparently prison is also a tourist trap, right?)





http://www.cbsnews.com/news/where-entrepreneurship-is-thriving-prison/

Where entrepreneurship is thriving: prison
By AIMEE PICCHI MONEYWATCH
July 9, 2015

The issue of consumer choice inside a maximum-security prison may seem like a non-issue. After all, the prisoners are there to pay for their crimes in a stripped-down environment that eschews personal choice.

Yet even in such a rigidly controlled environment, from what types of clothes prisoners wear to when they wake up in the morning, inmates are finding ways to meet their needs through entrepreneurial ventures, according to a new study from Ronald Paul Hill and Michael Capella of the Villanova School of Business and Justine Rapp at the University of San Diego and published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.

Not all of these ventures are healthy or legal, with some prisoners resorting to supplying drugs, alcohol or even junk food to other inmates. But others are providing essential services ranging from haircutting and writing letters to providing simple medical care, the authors found.

The prison system strips away inmates' identities and choices for a number of reasons, such as removing traces of their pre-prison lives and ensuring safety for both those inside and outside the prison, Hill told CBS MoneyWatch. That the inmates respond by creating entrepreneurial businesses raises questions about prison reform, what it means to be human, as well as marketing practices in general, he said.

"It's a real testament to the human will," Hill said. "There are a couple of reasons [prisoners] go to the jailhouse merchants. One, it's to get things they couldn't get, and there are products they would consider contraband, but it's interesting that it doesn't dominate it. What dominates it more are simple things like the ability to have a calzone or a cheesesteak, to have some food when you want it rather than when someone tells you to eat it. To be treated like a customer."

He added, "It's an exertion of your humanness."

Hill spent about four years working with inmates at one maximum security prison, which he's given the pseudonym Gramercy in order to protect the identities of the prisoners. The research furthered his interest in studying issues related to consumer choice in restricted environments and among poor populations.

For this particular study, Hill worked with inmates over an 18-month period on learning about "participatory action" research, an approach that involves community participation in data collection and analysis. Thirty-five inmates recorded their own impressions of the market system within the prison, and then interviewed 350 of their fellow inmates about living in a system with severely restricted consumption.

"The goal of these efforts was to develop a comprehensive understanding of restrictions experienced by the inmates, with a deeper level analysis on consequences across the incarcerated population," the study noted. "It is important to recognize that the men did not discount their crimes or society's right to seek retribution."

The maximum-security prison houses about 4,000 men with an average age of 47. About half are black, 38 percent are white and 11 percent are Hispanic, with the remainder listed as other. The mean reading level is below the 8th grade, and more than 40 percent lack a high school degree or a GED. Most of the participants in Hill's study were sentenced to life terms between their 14th to 19th birthdays, with many of the sentences due to murder convictions.

The participants in Hill's study were enrolled in an on-site degree-granting program offered by a local private university. (He noted that some academic reviewers for the paper expressed doubt that the prisoners, whose comments are quoted in the research paper, could be so well-spoken, but Hill noted wryly that one thing prison provides is time to stop and think.)

While prisoners have a commissary where they can buy food and other supplies, Hill notes that the commissary system is created by prison administrators and may not meet the needs of the inmates. About half of the commissaries in U.S. prisons are operated by a private contractor, with the prison staff deciding which company will provide the products and which products are offered to inmates.

That type of third-party set-up may feel familiar to corporate workers, whose 401(k) plans and health insurance policies are picked by their company's administrators, rather than by the employees themselves. Within the system, the consumer (or prisoner) has some choice, but the overall framework is set up by a third party who may or may not be listening to complaints about prices, lack of choice, or other issues.

The prisoners' frustration leads to a rejection of the formal exchange system, and the creation of an underground economy, the paper noted.

"An additional difficulty is the inability to earn sufficient incomes at formal jobs that pay between 19 and 42 cents an hour for five hours a day, five days a week employment," the paper said. "A well-known outcome is an underground, thriving marketplace that yields a wide range of informal jobs and accommodates needs that include services like hair-cutting and basic medical care, and goods such as unavailable foods or larger quantities of items for storage that are disallowed by the prison system."

While that might seem positive, there is also a negative side to the entrepreneurial system, with inmates resorting to drugs and junk food to cope with boredom and stress, which may leave them in worse mental and physical health by the time they leave prison. And prison work does "little more than use their raw skills," the paper noted.

"One of the central findings of this research is that the men are eager to find ways to enrich their lives that go beyond accumulation of material items," it noted.

Given that $50 billion a year is spent on the American prison system, investment in supporting skill development, as well as providing the basic needs of food and health care, might better serve society at large by preparing prisoners for reentering society, the authors note.

So what about the study's implication for marketers as a whole? Like prisons, marketers sometimes depersonalize consumers and view them as commodities, the study noted. Marketing terminology such as "targeting" and "exploiting" underscores this point of view, which has the end result of creating a psychological gap between corporations and the consumers they are serving.

"Look at some of the services that dehumanize us the most: airlines and gas stations and banks," Hill said. On airlines, "most of us are considered terrorists. There's not much customer service involved. When you devalue me, as the airlines have done, why wouldn't I move to another airline if they give me a quarter-cent more?"

Such depersonalization isn't a long-term key to corporate success, especially with the cause-focused millennial generation on the rise, he added. Even in the prison system, inmates are finding ways to reject a system that's not fulfilling their needs. In the wider world, that might also happen to companies that treat their customers like cogs.




“Yet even in such a rigidly controlled environment, from what types of clothes prisoners wear to when they wake up in the morning, inmates are finding ways to meet their needs through entrepreneurial ventures, according to a new study from Ronald Paul Hill and Michael Capella of the Villanova School of Business and Justine Rapp at the University of San Diego and published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. Not all of these ventures are healthy or legal, with some prisoners resorting to supplying drugs, alcohol or even junk food to other inmates. But others are providing essential services ranging from haircutting and writing letters to providing simple medical care, the authors found. …. "It's a real testament to the human will," Hill said. "There are a couple of reasons [prisoners] go to the jailhouse merchants. One, it's to get things they couldn't get, and there are products they would consider contraband, but it's interesting that it doesn't dominate it. What dominates it more are simple things like the ability to have a calzone or a cheesesteak, to have some food when you want it rather than when someone tells you to eat it. To be treated like a customer." …. He added, "It's an exertion of your humanness." …. . The research furthered his interest in studying issues related to consumer choice in restricted environments and among poor populations. .… For this particular study, Hill worked with inmates over an 18-month period on learning about "participatory action" research, an approach that involves community participation in data collection and analysis. Thirty-five inmates recorded their own impressions of the market system within the prison, and then interviewed 350 of their fellow inmates about living in a system with severely restricted consumption. "The goal of these efforts was to develop a comprehensive understanding of restrictions experienced by the inmates, with a deeper level analysis on consequences across the incarcerated population," the study noted. …. The participants in Hill's study were enrolled in an on-site degree-granting program offered by a local private university. (He noted that some academic reviewers for the paper expressed doubt that the prisoners, whose comments are quoted in the research paper, could be so well-spoken, but Hill noted wryly that one thing prison provides is time to stop and think.)”

The writer goes on to say,“Such depersonalization isn't a long-term key to corporate success, especially with the cause-focused millennial generation on the rise, he added. Even in the prison system, inmates are finding ways to reject a system that's not fulfilling their needs.” I had never thought much about “depersonalization,” but whenever a parent, a teacher, or an employer removes the eye to eye contact, compassion and communication from their interactions, their children, workers and pupils will suffer a good deal of damage from that, as the acknowledgment we receive is one of our main rewards for doing what society wants us to do. They will also become depressed, angry, rebellious and mentally disengaged – they won’t work as hard or refrain from doing damage to the company in various little ways, from stealing a box of pens to gossiping about the boss. In other words, the “social contract” breaks down. Parents particularly might be better off to focus on the fact that when they are old and gray and can’t get off the bed to use the toilet on their own, they will be much better off if they have forged warm and caring bond with their kids. What goes around comes around.

In my years in AA I have known a number of members who have simply stopped all communication with one or both of their parents because they need to plug into the positive social structure of the group in order to stay clean and sober. That social structure, is responsible for most of the considerable success that AA and NA have in stopping the member’s additions. I can see how prison is probably an intensely depersonalized situation in which a subculture, even one concerned with the exchange of goods and services, would become important. We all need community, and getting or giving a hair cut would provide a real human interaction. I’m glad to hear about this underground structure that goes on in American prisons, as I feel sorry for many prisoners who are not serial killers or rapists, but ordinary thieves or drug addicts. Maybe with some positive reinforcement here and there they will work to learn a skill or study for their GED and then even a college degree. I believe Jesus would have approved of that.

I remember a wonderful movie called Birdman of Alcatraz about a murderer who became a warmer and healthier person while in prison through the companionship of a small wild bird that he had begun to feed, and it would come to his barred window to see him. Amazing as that sounds, it was the true story of Robert Franklin Stroud. Before dying in 1963 he wrote his autobiography. I haven’t read it, but maybe my local library will have a copy on file. For his real life go to this website: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stroud.)
Birdman of Alcatraz was a heartwarming and encouraging movie. The actor was Burt Lancaster, who also starred in “Elmer Gantry,” and a number of other very well made and thought provoking films.

Rehabilitation used to be one of the central goals of prison during the idealistic 1950s and 60s, but nowadays the prison trade has become shockingly lacking in that positive viewpoint. According to the former article, prisoners are being exploited and not fully voluntarily as cheap, cheap labor for large companies now, and that seems to be legal. We need a law about that one, too. I have actually heard a couple of “conservative” acquaintances say that the point of prison is to “punish” rather than to produce any improving qualities such as the ability to read. To those people, both guys, prisoners should be made to wear pink uniforms and eat hard and tasteless food called “the loaf” as punishment for some infraction of the rules. Those same people are fond of calling those like me “bleeding heart liberals.” We’re just not hard and greedy enough for them. They think greed is what makes you wealthy, that wealth is the ultimate proof of an accomplished person, and that they should be the heroes of society instead of the dregs. As long as they abuse people of color or block Jews from their country club, they are to me the dregs. An interesting news article on a psychological study of the “conservative” mind stated that the key factor in those people is their greater degree of negativity as compared to the hope and idealism of liberals. Interestingly, they also, while claiming to be so personally virtuous and, usually, Christian, they do to a striking degree lack warmth. To me, if there is a heaven and a hell, they lie in those two very polarized positions. That’s reason enough for me to vote for any and all Democrats who run unless they themselves have been convicted of crimes.





Just Plain Weird

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/daredevil-drivers-reverse-joyride-has-lapd-investigating/

Daredevil driver's reverse joyride has LAPD investigating
CBS NEWS
July 11, 2015

LOS ANGELES - A driver was caught on camera veering through one of the city's busiest roads for miles in reverse, and the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating, reports CBS Los Angeles.

The driver started on Mulholland Drive, then drove backward for more than two miles along Laurel Canyon Boulevard toward Sunset Boulevard.

The LAPD is calling the incident some of the most reckless driving ever seen by investigators. Cell phone video captured the vehicle, described as an Audi, going backward.

"This guy's going backwards on oncoming traffic! Amazing," a stunned witness is heard saying.

The vehicle stayed in reverse for several minutes, navigating windy turns, the footage showed. At one point, the car appeared to almost hit a pedestrian, reported CBS2's Peter Daut.

Several times, the Audi crossed the double-yellow lines, narrowly missing oncoming traffic. When the vehicle approached busy Hollywood Boulevard, still in reverse, the driver maneuvered around other cars and into the left turn lane.

"It definitely was a shocker for me," said Kevin Zanazanian, who recorded the video on his phone. The realtor said he first noticed the Audi around 4:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon near Mulholland.

He said there were two people in the car: a man behind the wheel and a woman in the passenger seat.

"It was definitely like a movie and I just think either this individual had an argument or a fight or something or just possibly just wanted to be a cool guy," Zanazanian said.

CBS2 showed the video to LAPD investigators, who said the driver could be arrested on numerous charges.

"Reckless driving, unsafe speed, crossing double-yellow lines, failure to drive on the right half of the roadway," LAPD Sgt. Tito Mariano said.

Given the numerous close calls, police said it's incredible no one was hurt.

"Imagine if it was you or your family member driving and being struck by someone doing something irresponsible," Mariano said.

Since the car had dealer plates, police plan to contact the dealership to track down the driver.




"This guy's going backwards on oncoming traffic! Amazing," a stunned witness is heard saying. The vehicle stayed in reverse for several minutes, navigating windy turns, the footage showed. At one point, the car appeared to almost hit a pedestrian, reported CBS2's Peter Daut. Several times, the Audi crossed the double-yellow lines, narrowly missing oncoming traffic. When the vehicle approached busy Hollywood Boulevard, still in reverse, the driver maneuvered around other cars and into the left turn lane. "It definitely was a shocker for me," said Kevin Zanazanian, who recorded the video on his phone. It definitely was a shocker for me," said Kevin Zanazanian, who recorded the video on his phone. The realtor said he first noticed the Audi around 4:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon near Mulholland. He said there were two people in the car: a man behind the wheel and a woman in the passenger seat. "It was definitely like a movie and I just think either this individual had an argument or a fight or something or just possibly just wanted to be a cool guy," Zanazanian said.”

Presumably because the license plate was not visible in the film since it was on the back of the car, this crackbrained hooligan (or “cool guy” as you would have it) has gotten away with his dangerous actions. I hope to see another article soon stating that he has been arrested, charged, and sent to an asylum for the insane by the judge. After he is cured he can get out and pay his very steep fine. This really reminds me of some fraternity pranks I’ve heard about. In one way it is actually funny, but it was just too dangerous for me to laugh at it.





MY FAVORITE ARTICLE FOR THE DAY


http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/07/08/421140664/for-limberbutt-mccubbins-the-time-is-meow-to-run-for-president

For Limberbutt McCubbins, 'The Time Is Meow' To Run For President
ASHLEY LOPEZ
July 8, 2015

Photograph -- Candidate Limberbutt McCubbins is not the first non-human to become a presidential candidate. Others include a pig named Pigasus the Immortal in 1968 and Molly the Dog in 2008.
Courtesy Emilee
McCubbins

Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore is the latest candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race — he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch Tuesday that he plans to make a formal announcement in August.

That could bring the number of major presidential candidates to a whopping 22 by the end of the summer. But, as we've reported, there are hundreds of other candidates who have filled out the Federal Election Commission's one-page "Statement of Candidacy" form. Some are serious, some do it as a joke and others, it turns out, are not even human.

Member station WFPL brings us this story of a feline contender:

The first thing people noticed was the name.

A Louisville resident named Limberbutt McCubbins had apparently filed to run for president, gaining attention in recent months from a campaign watchdog and, most recently, The Rachel Maddow Show.

It's not entirely clear whether everyone realized that Limberbutt McCubbins is a cat.

In an interview, Isaac Weiss, 17, a rising senior at duPont Manual High School in Louisville, said he thought it would be funny to enlist his friend's cat to run for president. The presidential candidate belongs to 18-year-old Emilee McCubbins, who is also a rising senior at Manual.

So Weiss logged on to the Federal Election Commission's website this spring and created "The Committee for the Installation of Limberbutt."

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Limberbutt is a Democrat. Or as Weiss puts it, a "demo-cat."

Weiss and Emilee McCubbins say they have already gotten letters about Limberbutt's candidacy—some going as far as to ask for proof of the cat's citizenship. Other letters are seeking information about possible volunteer opportunities to help get McCubbins in the White House.

"I got a letter in the mail from a lawyer wanting to represent him," McCubbins said. "I've gotten numerous emails."

Weiss added: "It does not appear that they know that he is indeed a cat."

Candidate McCubbins is not the first non-human to become a presidential candidate. Others include a pig named Pigasus the Immortal in 1968 and Molly the Dog in 2008.

Anyone can start a committee to explore running for president, but actually getting on the ballot requires fundraising, an FEC spokesman said. It doesn't break FEC rules, per se, for a committee to be launched for a cat, the spokesman added.

Weiss said he and his friends started this process — which already includes a Facebook page ("The time is meow, watch out Hillary!" declares one post) and campaign swag — mostly as a joke.

"We often joked around that Limberbutt would make a great president," Weiss said of the 5-year-old cat.

He said what stood out to him was that it was even possible to register a cat with the FEC.

"Anyone can easily run for president, which is why if you go to the FEC website you'll see over 200 people listed—including Limberbutt," Weiss said.




I have heard of other bizarre political campaign entries, but Limberbutt is the best yet in my opinion. There are few animals as limber and agile as a cat, unless it’s a small monkey (not an ape like the chimps and gorillas). Mainly, though, I just like the word “butt” because when I was a kid it was really considered kind of dirty, but nowadays everybody everywhere in the US is saying it. The truth is that, like that other word that begins with an F and ends in a K, it is so short, expressive of anger, and explosive in sound that it gives a satisfying emotional release to shout it out, especially when I bump my poor head hard on the kitchen cabinet which I foolishly left open. I do avoid saying things like that around kids, especially those who have recently started to talk, as they are listening all the time to everything that is said around them and will repeat the darndest things. My sister, who like me sometimes has a short fuse, heard her little two year old daughter going around the house shouting “Bangers! Bangers!” She asked her what she meant by Bangers, and my niece said “That’s my cussin’ word!” OOPS!