Land of the Free

[jonesthecurl]

Um, I have less sympathy for you than I did a few moments ago.

[Burrito]

Oh, and for the poster a few posts above - the spell checker is not a part of CC. I'm guessing you use Firefox.

Oh. Well then sorry about that part anonymus.

[Burrito]

Um, I have less sympathy for you than I did a few moments ago.

Yeah, well, a lot of my friends have recently dropped out, or knocked up some 16 year old girl, or got sent to jail for a couple of years,or something else, and I can see how bad their lives are going to be.

[2dimes]

there is no excuse for misspelling when they forum will fix them for you.

Some times the red squiggly line just doesn't come to the rescue.

[jonesthecurl]

Um, I have less sympathy for you than I did a few moments ago.

Yeah, well, a lot of my friends have recently dropped out, or knocked up some 16 year old girl, or got sent to jail for a couple of years,or something else, and I can see how bad their lives are going to be.

Don't join the military because you can't think of anything better, find something you actually want to do.
Please note that those who are made "army strong" are more prone to suicide than the rest of the citizenry.

Hell, I don't know your situation - but think for a second about people you admire - whether it be R Reagan, Mother Teresa, Hannah Montana, Hitler or Jimmy Page, did they decide the best way out of their current hell-hole was to be a willing fighter for the powers-that-be?
Remember who has (at the moment) the absolute say in what you should shoot at (are you OK with Obama telling who to shoot?) Remember also that the job of the military is to obey the guys in charge, even if they weren't the guys in charge when you joined up.

[Phatscotty]

In Illinois, and other states, more black men are in prison than are in college, yet prison costs the state more per year than does college. Seems we have our priorities wrong. We need to work on reversing the numbers so that more are in college than is prison.

have you completely dismissed the obviousness of the fact that the prisoners more than likely committed some kind of major crime, or a whole bunch of lesser crimes? People end up in prison, for the most part, because they dont have the skills and discipline that is available at college, but also in high school.

[Titanic]

In Illinois, and other states, more black men are in prison than are in college, yet prison costs the state more per year than does college. Seems we have our priorities wrong. We need to work on reversing the numbers so that more are in college than is prison.

have you completely dismissed the obviousness of the fact that the prisoners more than likely committed some kind of major crime, or a whole bunch of lesser crimes? People end up in prison, for the most part, because they dont have the skills and discipline that is available at college, but also in high school.

But a big investment into the colleges to reduce the teacher:student ratio, to build a lot more schools with smaller numbers of students, to upgrade all the classrooms so they are compatible with 21st century technology, so you can get career counsellors in each schools etc... would actually tackle a huge amount the crime committed by young people (especially in the black community). Overspending on colleges now would provide a better future, socially and financially.

[MeDeFe]

I think you mean "increase the teacher:student ratio", alternatively "reduce the student:teacher ratio", although that could be taken to mean that the number of teachers stays the same but there are fewer students, which is probably not at all what you were going for...

[Evil Semp]

yeah and "home of the brave" bombing the shit out of the 3rd world, (wait let me get a dictionary).. yes, actually that IS the definition of bravery.. its right here "Bravery (noun); hitting someone who are unable to defend themselves"

You must be talking about the people who park car bombs outside of places of worship and kill innocent people just to kill someone in government. Or the people who kidnap foreigners and slit their throats or cut their heads off. Or maybe the ones who hijack a cruise ship and kill and man and throw his body in his wheelchair overboard.

I guess my dictionary was not bought at the same store as yours.

yeah and "home of the brave" bombing the shit out of the 3rd world, (wait let me get a dictionary).. yes, actually that IS the definition of bravery.. its right here "Bravery (noun); hitting someone who are unable to defend themselves"

Wow a German giving sh*t to an American for beating up on weaker people, of course everyone knows that the Germans would never attack or kill weaker people, or those who couldn't defend themselves,......oh wait a minute never mind.

Wow. You tried to retort the argument that horrible things are going on right now by the US and this should change by alluding to wars and atrocities committed by people from the same country but those probably committed far before his time and. Nice to see you focusing on trying to prove why the US is the land of the free and not resorting to ad hominems. Oh wait.

Why not? Wasn't that one of the worst atrocities ever committed? Is there a time limit on atrocities? What about the atrocities committed by the people we are fighting? Or don't those count?

Atrocities that are happening right now should have attention drawn to them and are important.

"Well your country committed atrocities, too" is not an argument. Anonymus was not in way related to that besides being born in the same country later. Also the atrocity is finished and those responsible brought to justice unlike other atrocities that are happening right now which anonymus was alluding to.

I didn't say that my country didn't commit any atrocities. Since anonymus wasn't in any way related to that, does it make it any less horrible? So there is a time limit. There are many people alive who were affected by the atrocity committed by Germany. But since there is a time limit it shouldn't affect them. Yes atrocities that are happening now should have attention drawn to them, the atrocities committed by BOTH sides. but you don't want to address that.

Why not address both sides of the issue rather than just one side.

[Titanic]

I think you mean "increase the teacher:student ratio", alternatively "reduce the student:teacher ratio", although that could be taken to mean that the number of teachers stays the same but there are fewer students, which is probably not at all what you were going for...

Yer, I meant to say increase the number of teachers, make classes smaller....

[HapSmo19]

But a big investment into the colleges to reduce the teacher:student ratio, to build a lot more schools with smaller numbers of students, to upgrade all the classrooms so they are compatible with 21st century technology, so you can get career counsellors in each schools etc... would actually tackle a huge amount the crime committed by young people (especially in the black community). Overspending on colleges now would provide a better future, socially and financially.

Well, sure. Because criminals tend to contemplate college class sizes and their technological state before deciding whether or not to car-jack your mother.

Can you get any more retarded?

[AlgyTaylor]

I think the greater the deterrent of prison, the less likely you are to commit crimes. If you live in a trailer park, don't have a job and don't have the chance of getting a good job - time in prison is less of a detterent than, say, if you live in a nice house & in a nice job then you're going to be a hell of a lot less willing to risk losing it. Less gain + more pain - good. But rarely is going to prison per se the reason why you'd not commit crime, it's more what you stand to lose by going to prison.

I mean, most people have a stage where they'd say - yes, I will commit such and such a crime. Example if your child is dying and the only way you can save them is by walking on some grass that has a sign saying "don't walk on the grass" ... you'd do it, right?

Same principle - I just chose that one because I think everyone would say "yes" to that ... everybody has their own limits as to when a crime is worth committing - you just have to raise the bar so high that they never need to make that choice, and part of that is through education.

[notyou2]

Burrito, there are other and better ways of accomplising things in your life then being a soldier. Stop trying to condisend us.

First off, there is a spell checker. See those red squiggly lines? They mean something is misspelled. Grammatical mistakes are understandable if they are occasional, but there is no excuse for misspelling when they forum will fix them for you.

I didn't say that being a soldier was the only way, I was just wondering what he has done/ will do that actually matters? A question which he avoided...

]

i do have some experience on the subject if you bother to read more than one post, but yes. now i am a civilian (although sill technically a reserv, but who cares about reservists we are all a bunch of lazy no-good bastards).
I would rather say that burrito has the mentality of a new recruit fresh out of watching black hawk down..
@ burrito; you said you have enlisted in the marines how much time have you spent there now? where have you been, what have you seen?

/ out

I have enlisted, but I don't ship out to Boot Camp until this summer. I still have to finish high school.

ok, so come back and talk to me after you know something kid.. or maybe after you have to shave more often than twice a month,, (i KNEW IT) hah.. all your points are now invalid since you have NO IDEA about the world or the military other than hear-say and warfilms... highschool.. poor kid..

Of course, just because I am 17 means that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about. I mean, my brain is the size of a pea and I am no critical thinking skills at all, right? Tell me, what does another 40 years teach me that I am apparently utterly incapable of learning myself? Even though pretty much the entire worlds combined knowledge is accessible to anyone who can operate a computer. Since you consider me under-experienced, and that that lack of experience means I shouldn't be talking, I wonder how you justify yourself, a German, in talking about anything that is going on in America?

Here are two things that age will teach you.....wisdom and humility

[Titanic]

But a big investment into the colleges to reduce the teacher:student ratio, to build a lot more schools with smaller numbers of students, to upgrade all the classrooms so they are compatible with 21st century technology, so you can get career counsellors in each schools etc... would actually tackle a huge amount the crime committed by young people (especially in the black community). Overspending on colleges now would provide a better future, socially and financially.

Well, sure. Because criminals tend to contemplate college class sizes and their technological state before deciding whether or not to car-jack your mother.

Can you get any more retarded?

Heres an idea, learn about the causes of crime. Your answer shows just how little you understand.

[HapSmo19]

Heres an idea, learn about the causes of crime. Your answer shows just how little you understand.

F/O

The cause is choice/lack of individual responsibility. But I suppose you have a solution that involves a tax increase. Go figure.

[notyou2]

Would you rather have a good and just society/community, or thefts and murder and lower taxes?

[HapSmo19]

I'm gonna go with lower taxes.

[Titanic]

Heres an idea, learn about the causes of crime. Your answer shows just how little you understand.

F/O

The cause is choice/lack of individual responsibility. But I suppose you have a solution that involves a tax increase. Go figure.

Do you know why I said that? I've actually studied to root causes behind crime and made my statements from that, not just from my ideological background.

[HapSmo19]

I've actually studied to root causes behind crime...

So what are they(the root causes)?

[TheMissionary]

According to my personal opinion, I believe that the United States (in which I am a resident; born and raised) is slowly turning into a police state. The reason our prison population is so high, in my opinion, is because it has become a source of revenue for the government. The law enforcement agencies have quotas they are required to meet for the amount of fines they bring in each month. This is a fact, weather law enforcement officals will admit it or not. With this being said, the more successful the government is on obtaining revenue from people breaking petty crimes, the more they are going to put into enforcement. As for people that become regular targets for not following these trivial enforcements, they become frustrated, which causes them to act more rationally, thus they end up in a penal instituions. Oh and these instutions gain a percentage for every inmate they have in custody from the government.
Examples:

County Jails recieve a certain dollar amount for each inmate from the federal government.
State Prisons recieve a certain dollar amount for each inmate plus the labor the inmates do as a service for the prison from federal funds.

Also the majority of inmates who are convicted of crimes are mostly the lower income society. These are the people who cannot afford to buy a high paid lawyer, thus their defense is just a half assed attempt to show they care. Everything within the United States justice system is based on a capitalist society, which causes every single aspect of everything involved in the system to be designed for profit in one form or another.

[TheMissionary]

I've actually studied to root causes behind crime...

So what are they(the root causes)?

This is another problem within the capitalist society. The root causes are education and income.

There is no actual resolution to any problem because people will still be imperfect, thus creating problems within any establishment created.

[HapSmo19]

This is another problem within the capitalist society.

What the hell does crime have to do with the capitalist society? Are you fucking pod-people or what?

[thegreekdog]

Comic boy, just wondering, what exactly is the point of this thread? I'm getting the following impressions:

(1) You don't approve of the U.S. prison population and are wondering what suggestions some might have to reduce the prison population.
(2) You don't approve of the U.S. prison population and use the U.S. prison population as evidence that people who think the U.S. is the best country in the world are mentally deficient.
(3) You don't approve of the U.S. military because they exist to kill people living in third world countries.

Are these points correct? Are there other points you are trying to make? If someone else wants to answer for comic boy, I'm all ears... er, eyes.

[TheMissionary]

This is another problem within the capitalist society.

What the hell does crime have to do with the capitalist society? Are you fucking pod-people or what?

So what you're saying is a capitalist society doesn't fuel greed? I think greed is one of the major reasons there is crime.

[Titanic]

I've actually studied to root causes behind crime...

So what are they(the root causes)?

There normally divided into 3 areas - social environment, economic factors and family structures. Heres a basic guide to it, but there are much more detailed studies/book/publication if you are truly interested in it. http://www.preventingcrime.net/library/ ... _Crime.pdf