Nice work Tomo! Good read, well researched. I read most of the issue as well, cool little magazine. Is it coming out of UofM?

The CCPOA has an ad campaign right now angling for more money. It features a female prison guard who was beaten during a fight and still sports two black eyes for the ad. They are apparently trying to blame the mess that has been made of the entire correctional system on the guards not getting enough money. I wonder what an independent review board would have to say about that.

Well, it just so happends that we have one!

The Corrections Independent Review Panel (which was set up by the state this year after reports of problems became to wide-spread to sweep under the carpet) has stated that "There has been too much political interference, too much union control, and too little management courage, accountability and transparency." They also made the stunning recommendation against housing inmates in gymnasiums.

The Sacramento Bee has more:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/v-text/story/9858678p-10781027c.html

William Buckley has a writeup in the National Review about marijuana legalization. Nothing new or amazing from his mouth, but he hits on some good points.

Legal practices should be informed by realities. These are enlightening, in the matter of marijuana. There are approximately 700,000 marijuana-related arrests made very year. Most of these — 87 percent — involve nothing more than mere possession of small amounts of marijuana. This exercise in scrupulosity costs us $10-15 billion per year in direct expenditures alone.

Thanks, Ryan. The magazine, while not officially affiliated with the university, does have a lot of contributors/staff from there.

Buckley echoes another important point:

A Boston commentator observed years ago that it is easier for an 18-year old to get marijuana in Cambridge than to get beer. Vendors who sell beer to minors can forfeit their valuable licenses.

Which was easier to get ahold of when you were in high school: pot or beer? Everyone I've asked answered the former. Nobody I know sold beer in school (although one kid sold shots of liquor out of his locker in middle school, but that's certainly an oddity).

Anyways, perhaps the only redeeming thing about the National Review is their libertarian editorial stance on drug laws. Hopefully that remains so after Buckley leaves.

Also, I hope some people got a chance to read "Two Less Warrior Hands".

The CIA sells crack then cracks down on addicts
military tactics from those that sparked the habits,
Addicts prescribed sentences when
shoulda been diagnosed post-traumatic
from ships, whips, and projects boasting poster-tragic-
children filling prisons cause they had it
written on their faces when they chased hope
down one way roads and into jails cells
because there was no where else to go