standing the fuck up

[klowns]

as we grow and smoke and eat from the earth, millions of our brothers and sisters are sitting behind bars for doing nothing more than enjoying one of gods gifts. i am a spiritual man. that is my main focus in life. it is just my nature. but, i think we also need to start getting a little bit fucking political and standing up to our tyrants and opressors. such as colorado this novemeber. if all goes well, cannabis wil be effectivley legalized in all of colorado and denver police will no longer be able to arrest people under state law. to my knowledge, this campaign called "safer" was started by a 23 year old college kid. it rocked the vote last year and won denver. i think it will win colorodo becasue people are pissed that cops are telling denver citizens that there votes do NOT fucking matter. that pisses people off. i happen to think NORML is a sack of shit, but there are MANY worthy causes out there, and many you can start yourself. we cant force everyone to help, all we can do is our personal best. a change must be made in the name of god, because even if some people imprisoned were not using the plant specificaly to connect to god, i can guarentee you those cells are full of NON violent brothers and sisters. this is just my input, and i am realizing that i must stand up and infact perchace even go to law school or whatever it takes to help make this world a more positive place. if anyone has any suggestions for me and all other brothers and sisters, please let them be known. i want to know better how i can help. thank you, peace and positive vibrations
klowns

[Stokes]

35 YEARS AFTER ATTICA, PRISONS ARE STILL A CRIME

This month marks the 35th anniversary of the inmate uprising and massacre at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Sadly, 31/2 decades after the bloodiest prison uprising in U.S. history, the problems of prisoner abuse and mistreatment that led to the uprising are still all too common.

On Sept. 9, 1971, Attica's 1,281 inmates - predominantly black and Latino - gained control of the prison. This was after prison officials ignored their requests for better living conditions, showers, educational instruction and vocational training. Inmates in Attica faced overcrowding, racist treatment from white prison guards and such indignities as one shower a week and one roll of toilet paper a month.

After an impasse following four days of negotiations, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller decided as "a matter of principle" to take the prison by force. The governor sent more than 500 troopers with helicopters, tear gas, shotguns and a barrage of 2,200 bullets. The troops killed inmates and hostages alike. In the end, 43 people were killed ( including 10 hostages ) and 90 were wounded.

After the retaking of Attica, guards sought severe reprisals against the inmates. Guards tortured some inmates and denied medical treatment to others who had sustained wounds. Guards forced prisoners to run down a catwalk and beat them with what they called their "n----- sticks."

Fast forward to 2006: Torture and abuse remain a reality in U.S. prisons.

According to Amnesty International, "thousands of prisoners are held in supermax facilities in long-term solitary confinement under conditions which may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

The human rights organization also condemns as a violation of international law a number of other disturbing practices in U.S. prisons, including the more than 2,000 child offenders serving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole; unsupervised access of male guards to female prisoners, resulting in sexual abuse; the shackling of pregnant women detainees during labor; and the use of electroshock weapons such as tasers.

Our prisons have become overcrowded partly as a result of a "tough on crime" and "lock 'em up" mentality, the abandonment of prisoner rehabilitation, and the severe sentencing brought on by the failed war on drugs.

There are more than 2.2 million incarcerated people in the United States, mostly poor and of color. America incarcerates more people per capita than any other country.

In June 2006, the Vera Institute of Justice's Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, a nonpartisan think tank, identified a wide range of problems. These include a lack of prison oversight and accountability, medical neglect of inmates, prison violence and inappropriate segregation in high-security units and supermax prisons.

The commission recommended a variety of reforms, including reinvestment in prison programs, extending Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement to prisons, better training of corrections officers, and standardized reporting nationwide on prison violence and abuse.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2003 that the nation's prisons have become a repository for the mentally ill. As many as 300,000 prisoners are mentally ill and face inhumane conditions such as lack of treatment, abuse by prison staff, denial of water and confinement in filthy cells.

Some believe that prisoners deserve whatever they get. But we all have rights as human beings. The abuse of prisoners is a human rights violation, a constitutional violation and a threat to us all. We lose our soul as we dehumanize prisoners.

Thirty-five years after Attica, America's abuse of prisoners remains shameful.

David A. Love is a lawyer and writer based in Philadelphia. This was written for Progressive Media Project and distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1220/a14.html
_________________
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Where love is, there God is also.

-Mahatma Gandhi

[Mystic Power]

http://www.safercolorado.org/

The Colorado initiative has a nice site.

Follow Your Bliss,
Ben
_________________
"We are the Ones we have been waiting for."
~Hopi Elder ~

"In Lak'ech"
~ Ancient Mayan: "I am another YOU." ~

[Mystic Power]

http://www.safercolorado.org/

The Colorado initiative has a nice site.

Follow Your Bliss,
Ben
_________________
"We are the Ones we have been waiting for."
~Hopi Elder ~

"In Lak'ech"
~ Ancient Mayan: "I am another YOU." ~

[klowns]

intense, but true. but i have to see a positive light at the end of the tunnel. i guess im just that way but i have some sort of wierd faith that one day humans will quit fucking eachother over. maybe the future is gloomy, but ill do my best to make it positive. i think life is just what you make it anyways. one day we shall all be free. thanks for the input so far! peace

[Mystic Power]

[Mystic Power]

[Brother Adam]

Hey klowns. I think that is what frustrates people who think like we do. We know humans are intelligent enough that one day it will all change. The problem is the rest of our kind are kept in the dark when it comes to real truths, and the sad part is, the problems will likely hit a boiling point until they too see the light. You have to wonder if we will beat the clock against killing ourselves or before the next global catastrophe like meteors, etc. and you just have to keep hope that the little candles of light and truth that genuine people carry with them will continue to pierce the darkness, hopefully touching a few others along the way.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[Brother Adam]

Hey klowns. I think that is what frustrates people who think like we do. We know humans are intelligent enough that one day it will all change. The problem is the rest of our kind are kept in the dark when it comes to real truths, and the sad part is, the problems will likely hit a boiling point until they too see the light. You have to wonder if we will beat the clock against killing ourselves or before the next global catastrophe like meteors, etc. and you just have to keep hope that the little candles of light and truth that genuine people carry with them will continue to pierce the darkness, hopefully touching a few others along the way.
_________________
-Brother Adam (we are all one family)

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

-James Madison

Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

[klowns]

education is so key i think, but there are so many people trying to stop the free flow of education and trying to hide the truths. baffle our society with so much bullshit no one knows what to believe any more. so sad. they must be gaining something great by continuing this war on humanity, the drug war. i mean, to me it looks clear that we are onlylosing and gaining nothing positive......but i guess they figure it gives probation officers, policemen, dea agents and so forth jobs. truthfully, i wish to god i knew there motives. i think that would help. but who the hell could figure out the motives? why would you lock up your fellow brothers and sisters because they eat something different than you? i guess i dont have a concept of evil. its too foreign. i cant imagine wanting to have power over somebody else.
thank you so much im so happy that others out there have a positive attitude, what with the media pounding fear and negativity into our heads every day

[David]

[klowns]

true....but
my good friend pastor david has been sitting in sollitary confinement for 99 days. he faces life in a us prison or worse. same with marc emerey. same with many of my ver personal friends. sorry but we have not won until ALL brothers and sisters are free.