Medical Parole Gets Incarcerated In Texas
Denied To More Than 90% Of Eligible Inmates Which Costs Taxpayers Millions
AUSTIN, Texas — Because of recent cuts that the Texas Legislature made to the prison health care budget, “health care in the Texas prison system has, or soon will, become unconstitutional,” according to James C. Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
In a letter to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission this week he urged reform of the Texas prison health care system, as the commission will evaluate the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles starting Jan. 1, 2012. Harrington urged the commission to evaluate how increased use of medical parole could avert costly medical bills and lawsuits by paroling terminally-ill prisoners.
Prisoners who qualify for medical parole must have terminal illnesses or require long-term nursing care, such as those in a persistent vegetative state, those with total mobility impairment, or those with an organic brain syndrome. They must also have served enough of their sentence to qualify for parole.
Noted Harrington, “The only reason medical parole has not done the job of lowering the cost of prison health care is because the parole board has denied medical parole to more than 90 percent of eligible inmates. If the state released its backlong of terminally ill and/or infirm inmates, it could save up to $76 million per biennium.”
In his letter, Harrington noted that inadequate funding for prisoner health care has been a problem, now made worse since the 82nd Legislature cut the annual prison health care budget by $75 million in 2011.
“As a result, the University of Texas Medical Branch’s expenses for prison medical care now exceed its budget by about $2 million a month.”
He added, “The healthcare situation in TDCJ is quickly deteriorating because of factors beyond its control. TDCJ neither controls the number of prisoners it receives, the rate at which they are released, the length of their incarcerations, nor the funding it receives to house them.”
Over the past few years, incidents of inadequate health care among inmates has been on the rise, which makes the matter worse if health care technicians are reduced in number.
Harrington explained tht Texas prison population jumped 995 percent from 1972 to 2011, while the state’s total population increased just 124 percent. He said that this was not caused by an increase in the crime rate, rather due to the creation of new felonies, long prison sentences for nonviolent offenders, and “the errant practices of the Parole Board.”
“In the last decade alone, the Legislature has created about 40 new felonies per legislative session, bringing the state total to nearly 2,500. At the same time, the Parole Board grants parole at just a fraction of the frequency recommended by its own guidelines. As a result, the prison population has swelled dramatically in the past 20 years.”
Santa’s Claws: How OWS Is Being Drowned In A Bathtub
<http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2011/11/santas-claws-how-ows-is-being-drowned.html>
My friend Michael’s nephew Jake has been camping at Liberty Park since its inception — and now Jake has pneumonia.
American heroes like Jake should be appearing on Letterman and leading the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and throwing out the first ball at Yankee Stadium and guest-starring on CSI New York and feted everywhere as the American heroes that they are.
Jake should be invited to dinner at the White House!
For standing up for the American people against the evil empire of corporatocracy that now runs our country, Jake has become another Paul Revere, another Nathan Hale, another Patrick Henry, another Benjamin Franklin. But instead the media is treating him like he was another Aaron Burr.
Jake — and other valiant young people like him who are still holding out at Zucotti Park — are the absolute cream of America’s next generation and are endangering their very lives in order to save America from the corporatist Grinches who now own us lock, stock and Black Friday — but instead of becoming national heroes, the rest of America merely stands by while Wall Street shows its horrible red claws and tries to drown these young heroes of the OWS movement in a bathtub — just like it has tried to drown our economy, our liberty, our morals and our democracy as well.
There will be no presents under Jake’s tree in Liberty Park this year, only pneumonia, danger and scorn — unless all the rest of us Americans finally wake up, begin to actually fight for our country despite what the mainstream media is telling us, become more like Santa and start bearing gifts down to Jake and the rest of our new young national heroes bravely holding out at Zucotti Park — starting with bringing long underwear, chicken soup and penicillin!
Give us Liberty — or give us Wall Street — for Christmas. We can’t have both.
PS: Within the week, I expect to see Jake on TV reading Letterman’s top-ten list of things that Americans must do in order rescue democracy back from the evil bloody claws of Wall Street.
PPS: Occupy Oakland is setting up occupations in front of various foreclosed homes there — bringing the spirit of Christmas back to families victimized by Wall Street loan sharks.
I think that both Santa Claus and the sacred Baby whose birthday Christmas honors would approve.
PPPS: The other day, knitters in Berkeley held a “knit-in” at Occupy Cal, knitting scarves and mittens that would help keep brave protesting students warm. So let’s have a knit-in at Liberty Park as well!
Occupy The Defense Contractors
As America begins to awaken and take to the streets let us remember the happily profitable defense contractors who are scattered across the country. Over decades past, and up until today, they have received billions for designing, building, and transporting the weapons of war which have destroyed other nations and are now being deployed here at home against us.
Do you feel safer because a river of weapons is being produced from the money you sweat to make?
Some of these weapons, for instance the Sound Cannon, also known as the Long Range Acoustic Device, are already being used against us as we protest. LRAD Corporation and is only one example.
From the wikipedia:
“ Against protesters:
The LRAD device was on hand at protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City[6] but not used; it was extensively used against opposition protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia, in November 2007.[7]
The magazine Foreign Policy has revealed that LRADs have been sold to the government of the People’s Republic of China. American companies have been banned from selling arms to China since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Local residents of Dusit in Bangkok witnessed it in use during protests of Triumph factory employees against dismissals on August 28, 2009.[8] The LRAD was used for the first time in the United States in Pittsburgh during the time of the G20 summit on September 24–25th, 2009.[9][10] Pittsburgh police again utilized LRAD as a precautionary measure to prevent unruly crowds from getting out of control following the 2011 Super Bowl. LRAD systems were also purchased by Toronto Police for the 2010 G20 summit.
In 2009, the government of Honduras used it on at least two occasions, on September 22 and 25, to communicate to those seeking refuge in the Brazilian embassy. In addition to embassy staff, these included the deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, his family, and some supporters and journalists.
LRAD was also used against college students in the city of Macomb, Illinois at the Wheeler Block Party at Western Illinois University (“WIU”)[11] on May 1, 2011.[1]
LRAD was also reportedly[12] used by the Oakland Police Department during the clearance of the Occupy Oakland encampment on the morning of 25 October 2011.
Polish Police also acquired LRAD on december 2010 and used them to communicate with protesters during 11 November 2011 riots in Warsaw city. [13]
LRAD use was also reported as the New York City Police department cleared protestors during the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park on the morning of 15 November 2011.”
LRAD Corporation is located at 15378 Avenue of Science, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92128 USA. — Phone: 858.676.1112.
The company which produces tasers, Taser International, their subtext is “Protect Life,” has its international headquarters at 17800 N. 85th St. Scottsdale, AZ. Another office is located in Arlington, Virgina, and yet another, TASER Virtual Systems, at 5464 Carpinteria Ave, Suite I, Santa Barbara, CA 93013.
On Aug. 28, Anonymous released the following information on the producer of drones, which many expect will soon be deployed against Americans within the United States, are all paid for by tax payers.
“August 28, 2011, Alastair Stevenson reports in the International Business Times: The hacker collective Anonymous has released a fresh batch of data taken from Vanguard Defense Industries, a Pentagon and FBI contractor.
The data release was revealed via a post on tor2web.org and later publicised (sic) on the group’s AnonymousIRC Twitter account. In it the group claimed to have released “1GB of private emails and documents belonging to Vanguard Defense Industries (VDI).”
But these are the obvious problems, the end products also imply subcontracters who provide software and other essentials without which the products could not be produced.
There are also the old line, military-industrial complex corporations which are very conscious they are a corporate military presence on alien territory, for instance Northrop Grumman. A friend of mine, a mind-mannered software engineer, and his partner, inadvertently drove into the company parking lot during broad daylight in Maryland to be met by ‘security’ wearing flack jackets and carrying AK47s.
Some defense contractors are open to their relationship with us. Others are covert.
Santa Barbara, that lovely resort where so many 1%ers live on the Pacific coast above Los Angeles, is also the headquarters for Green Hills Software, yet another defense contractor located at 28 Sola St., Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Notice the significant partners on their “defense customers” page for this company who are more easily recognizable.
Complex weapons systems, high level encryption, and other expensive toys used in war, are produced behind the seemingly safe and friendly doors of businesses which donate to local charities as they cash their government checks and pump out their products of death. We need to rethink our attitude here.
War is the health of the corporate state. General Smedley Butler said this of corporate war profits in his book, “War is a Racket,” written in 1937. “The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits — ah! that is another matter — twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent — the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let’s get it.
Of course, it isn’t put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and “we must all put our shoulders to the wheel,” but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket — and are safely pocketed. Let’s just take a few examples:
Take our friends the du Ponts, the powder people — didn’t one of them testify before a Senate committee recently that their powder won the war? Or saved the world for democracy? Or something? How did they do in the war? They were a patriotic corporation. Well, the average earnings of the du Ponts for the period 1910 to 1914 were $6,000,000 a year. It wasn’t much, but the du Ponts managed to get along on it. Now let’s look at their average yearly profit during the war years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight million dollars a year profit we find! Nearly ten times that of normal times, and the profits of normal times were pretty good. An increase in profits of more than 950 per cent.
Take one of our little steel companies that patriotically shunted aside the making of rails and girders and bridges to manufacture war materials. Well, their 1910-1914 yearly earnings averaged $6,000,000. Then came the war. And, like loyal citizens, Bethlehem Steel promptly turned to munitions making. Did their profits jump — or did they let Uncle Sam in for a bargain? Well, their 1914-1918 average was $49,000,000 a year!”
The Occupy Movement is about confrontation, about letting those profiting know we are on to them and will no longer tolerate their assumption of moral justification. Instead, we will non-violently disrupt their lives, never stopping until we, who produce the wealth, control what we justly earn so that our world can be safe for all of humanity.
Research each contractor, each part and component of what they spend. Occupy all of them.
Texas Senator Kel Selig Wants To Add More Senators To The Legislature. Whaaa?
Senator Kel Selig is a member of the Texas Senate with a bad idea….
Currently the Senator is on a personal quest, pushing for more senators in the Texas Legislature. Since Texas is predominately Republican, it is an obvious political ploy to strengthen the GOP stronghold.
Whatever reason he has, it is a bad proposal for several reasons.
Sen. Selig represents an unusually formatted district from Amarillo down to Midland. The Senator’s latest proposal is a slap-in-the-face of the state Constitution and Texas citizens. He wants to add more Senators to the Legislature. Just what we need!
In my humble opinion, it would be far better to reduce the number of elected officials we have in all facets of Government. We are in the economic and social messes we find ourselves mostly due to political agendas and big money purchasing our elected officials. It’s time to reduce the mess we are in and we should start with Washington D.C. and then trickle down to state and local government.
In short, we need less government NOT more!
Here is the letter I sent off to Senator Selig re: his proposal:
Dear Senator Kel Seliger:
With all due respect sir, you are a member of the Republican Party, the party that is dedicated to less government — NOT more government.
You should be advocating DECREASING the number of legislators in the House AND the Senate so that the political game playing may become lessened. I urge you to reconsider this foolish proposition and please do the job that you were voted-in to do: to act in the BEST interests of the Texas community and not add to its problems. What you advocate is historically AGAINST the GOP platform.
Respectfully yours,
Peter Stern
Please join me in personally “applauding” Senator Kel Selig for such an odious proposal. We don’t need any more clowns in the Texas Legislature, do we?
Senator Kel Selig’s contact information may be viewed at his site:
<http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist31/dist31.htm#District>
Let’s not permit Senator Selig to get his proposal approved.
Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.
Is A Nuclear War With China Possible?
The gathering tension between the United States and China is clear enough. Disturbed by China’s growing economic and military strength, the U.S. government recently challenged China’s claims in the South China Sea, increased the U.S. military presence in Australia, and deepened U.S. military ties with other nations in the Pacific region. According to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States was “asserting our own position as a Pacific power.”
But need this lead to nuclear war?
Not necessarily. And yet, there are signs that it could. After all, both the United States and China possess large numbers of nuclear weapons. The U.S. government threatened to attack China with nuclear weapons during the Korean War and, later, during the conflict over the future of China’s offshore islands, Quemoy and Matsu. In the midst of the latter confrontation, President Dwight Eisenhower declared publicly, and chillingly, that U.S. nuclear weapons would “be used just exactly as you would use a bullet or anything else.”
Of course, China didn’t have nuclear weapons then. Now that it does, perhaps the behavior of national leaders will be more temperate. But the loose nuclear threats of U.S. and Soviet government officials during the Cold War, when both nations had vast nuclear arsenals, should convince us that, even as the military ante is raised, nuclear saber-rattling persists.
Some pundits argue that nuclear weapons prevent wars between nuclear-armed nations; and, admittedly, there haven’t been very many—at least not yet. But the Kargil War of 1999, between nuclear-armed India and nuclear-armed Pakistan, should convince us that such wars can occur. Indeed, in that case, the conflict almost slipped into a nuclear war. Pakistan’s foreign secretary threatened that, if the war escalated, his country felt free to use “any weapon” in its arsenal. During the conflict, Pakistan did move nuclear weapons toward its border, while India, it is claimed, readied its own nuclear missiles for an attack on Pakistan.
At the least, though, don’t nuclear weapons deter a nuclear attack? Do they? Obviously, NATO leaders didn’t feel deterred, for, throughout the Cold War, NATO’s strategy was to respond to a Soviet conventional military attack on Western Europe by launching a Western nuclear attack on the nuclear-armed Soviet Union. Furthermore, if U.S. government officials really believed that nuclear deterrence worked, they would not have resorted to championing “Star Wars” and its modern variant, national missile defense. Why are these vastly expensive—and probably unworkable—military defense systems needed if other nuclear powers are deterred from attacking by U.S. nuclear might?
Of course, the bottom line for those Americans convinced that nuclear weapons safeguard them from a Chinese nuclear attack might be that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is far greater than its Chinese counterpart. Today, it is estimated that the U.S. government possesses over five thousand nuclear warheads, while the Chinese government has a total inventory of roughly three hundred. Moreover, only about forty of these Chinese nuclear weapons can reach the United States. Surely the United States would “win” any nuclear war with China.
But what would that “victory” entail? A nuclear attack by China would immediately slaughter at least 10 million Americans in a great storm of blast and fire, while leaving many more dying horribly of sickness and radiation poisoning. The Chinese death toll in a nuclear war would be far higher. Both nations would be reduced to smoldering, radioactive wastelands. Also, radioactive debris sent aloft by the nuclear explosions would blot out the sun and bring on a “nuclear winter” around the globe—destroying agriculture, creating worldwide famine, and generating chaos and destruction.
Moreover, in another decade the extent of this catastrophe would be far worse. The Chinese government is currently expanding its nuclear arsenal, and by the year 2020 it is expected to more than double its number of nuclear weapons that can hit the United States. The U.S. government, in turn, has plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars “modernizing” its nuclear weapons and nuclear production facilities over the next decade.
To avert the enormous disaster of a U.S.-China nuclear war, there are two obvious actions that can be taken. The first is to get rid of nuclear weapons, as the nuclear powers have agreed to do but thus far have resisted doing. The second, conducted while the nuclear disarmament process is occurring, is to improve U.S.-China relations. If the American and Chinese people are interested in ensuring their survival and that of the world, they should be working to encourage these policies.
Dr. Wittner is Emeritus Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany. His latest book is “Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement” (Stanford University Press).