TresSugar

Problem With Private Prisons: Judges Jailed Kids For Money

LibertySugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:30:39 -0800

The sentencers have become the sentencees in a Pennsylvania courtroom, where two judges pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting over $2.6 million from private detention centers in exchange for handing down long sentences to hundreds of juveniles.

Between 2003 and 2006, teens who came before the judges received time in detention centers for minor crimes. In exchange, the judges got paid. One teen received three months for shoplifting.

These individual judges are nothing less than criminals, but perhaps their crimes expose the bad incentives involved with the whole system of private prisons. For each prisoner they house, a private company receives money from the government. Just like every other business, private prisons want to make as much money as they can.

Thus there's an incentive to keep more people in prison for a longer period of time. The well-financed and organized prisons can lobby to make sentences harsher. Last November, the prison lobby in California helped kill a plan for recidivism-reducing programs that could have saved $2.5 billion in spending and reduced the prison population.

Do you think privatizing prisons is part of the problem?

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Barack Obama Takes Pennsylvania

CitizenSugar — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:34:00 -0800

The night is still early, but NBC is saying Barack Obama has started off with a lead in the Electoral College by winning Pennsylvania. Both parties targeted the so-called "Keystone State" as crucial to winning the race, along with large Eastern and Midwestern states like Florida and Missouri.

It's projected that Obama also won Massachusetts, New Jersey, and his home state of Illinois.

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Who's Watching Obama's 30-Minute TV Special Tonight?

LibertySugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:45:00 -0700

Update: The whole video of the presentation can be found below.

Tonight at 8 p.m. most networks in America will become Obama TV. The campaign has purchased a half-hour block of airtime on NBC, CBS, FOX, and Univision, to air Barack Obama: American Stories, during which he will make a closing argument for his candidacy. It will include a live segment from Florida, where Barack will lay out his plans for specific problems raised by voters.

While it could seal the deal by drumming up enthusiasm and turnout, the hefty price tag may make the appeal look like overkill. Perhaps the historical precedent for primetime appeals softens the feeling of extravagance.

Plus, two demographics - voters in the crucial states of Florida and Pennsylvania - will surely be tuning in at a high rate. The start of the World Series game five, between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays, has been postponed from 8:20 to 8:37 p.m., so Fox can carry Obama's address. The special will be shown after the game on the West Coast. If you're tuning in, share your reactions here!

To see the whole video, read more.

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Pep-Rally for Brains Over Brawn? Academic Trading Cards!

CitizenSugar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:15:10 -0700

Blah, blah, sports, blah. Not a popular sentiment, I realize - I mean they're fun to watch and all (I hear) but I'd rather know the names of the leaders of Zimbabwe than whether the World Series has happened yet. I just get concerned over the culture of idolizing athletes - because when has a touchdown ever cured cancer?

That's why I'm particularly excited over Penn State's new line of academic trading cards. Just like baseball cards (or the media heroes cards), the glossy collectables tout the top faculty members. According to the university president, "We have many great faculty, and they are surely worthy of the accolades our society often lavishes on athletes, coaches, and celebrities in the entertainment world." Hear, hear!

To take a peek at what they look like and whose featured, read more.

I mean, imagine if this girl was a excited about Glaciologist Richard Alley and his work, as listed on his card: "He unlocked the SECRET of the Greenland ice core." Take that to the free-throw line! The cards are sadly not for sale, but maybe even better they're being given away at football tail-gate parties. What more perfect place to nudge university fans into remembering that the school is well rounded and says the president, of "the important work being done by our leading scholars." No word on whether the cards come packaged with gum though. . .

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Gimme a Shot of Jesus: Belly Up to the Bar With Your Bible?

CitizenSugar — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 07:00:13 -0700

If you're on your couch right now recovering from last night and wondering whether you should hit church or give your thanks over a Sunday brunch Bloody Mary instead, your prayers have been answered. The Phyrst Church in State College, PA, part of Penn State’s Christian Student Fellowship, is taking their message to the Phyrst Bar to preach the word. That's right. Church in a bar.

“We’re taking it to them, just like Jesus did in his time,” said Buzz Roberts, a minister with CSF. Seconding this is a Penn State student: “It’s about hearing a message and getting to congregate.” The relationship between God and alcohol didn’t start out on calm seas, however. The CSF contacted several area bars and few were keen to allow religious services to be held inside their establishments, until they reached the Phyrst Bar. “All I wanted was an hour on Sunday nights to share the word and they were cool with it,” said Pastor Kingshipp, also of the CSF.

The services are relaxed, offering a sermon, singing, and even a shot of Stoli. So far nearly 50 students and locals attend, and the church hopes the good times will continue to roll. What do you think? Is this a perfect shake-up of fellowship and the word, or does it stir you up?

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Will Impounding Johns' Cars Put Prostitution to Bed?

LibertySugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Looking to punish demand, and not just supply, Easton, PA, is considering a law that would allow police to seize the cars of anyone seeking a prostitute.

Any vehicle used to solicit or patronize sexual services would be subject to impounding. If a john gets convicted of soliciting a prostitute, the city could sell his car.

Since officials usually target the workers, it's somewhat refreshing to see equivalent attention paid to the customer criminals. Even so, I'm not sure any law will help end the timeless sale of sex. Will this measure put the issue of prostitution to bed?

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Family Battles Poor Children of Panama for Man's Fortune

LibertySugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:30:43 -0700

An undercover child benefactor originally from Pennsylvania, has sparked an international legal battle from the grave. Wilson C. Lucom left a small amount of his fortune to his family, while leaving the rest of his tens of millions of dollars to a foundation he secretly created for the poor children of Panama.

Those who knew Lucom probably never saw this coming. While alive he funded anti-communist causes, and authored political commentaries, which often advocated solving the world's problems by dropping nuclear bombs.

Now, Lucom's widow, who was granted $20,000 a month in the will, wants the last testament of her mysteriously child friendly husband thrown out. The case is currently in front of Panama's Supreme Court, and the legal battle (which includes 20 law firms!), will decide the fate of Panama's largest charitable donation in history. Who do you want to win?

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President Bush Awards Medal of Honor to Ross McGinnis

CitizenSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:00:39 -0700

This morning President Bush presented the nation's highest military award to a young soldier who was killed in Iraq when he threw himself on a hand grenade tossed into a Humvee and saved the four other soldiers with him in the vehicle.

Ross McGinnis of Pennsylvania was only 19 years old when he gave his life to save his fellow soldiers.

Bush said, "the Medal of Honor is the nation's highest military distinction. It's given for valor beyond anything that duty could require or a superior could command."

McGinnis' parents accepted the award. He is to be the fourth soldier to receive the Medal of Honor, for actions while serving in Iraq. McGinnis enlisted on his 17th birthday. US Army Maj. Gen. David H. Huntoon Jr. said, "He chose this path because he was a good man and an honorable man. His generosity of spirit shines bright. We salute his honor and inspiration and we remember his brilliant example of selfless service."

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Boy Sells Bike For Clinton While She Soars in Swing States

LibertySugar — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:15:31 -0700

The news out of the Clinton campaign regarding the candidate's finances hasn't been good lately. Even though she has raised an astonishing $200 million so far, Hillary is $19.4 million in debt.

But she has found a diamond, or at least $422, in the rough of bad money news - an 11-year-old Kentucky boy sold his bike and video games and donated the proceeds to her campaign.

Hillary's young fan Dalton Hatfield shared his motivation to give with the New York Times:

I saw that her funds were running low. I just saw so much that I did not need such as like my video games, and I thought, "What can I do with them?"

Dalton agrees with Clinton's position on the war, the economy, and health care.

Despite her lack of cash, Hillary may have a new incentive to fight on. To see why, read more.

A new poll shows that Clinton is stronger than Obama in the swing states. Clinton significantly beats John McCain in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, while Obama trails McCain in two of the three swing states.

Does the new poll give Hillary a persuasive reason to fight on, or is it more proof that she should get out and let Obama increase his support in these regions? Are you inspired by young Dalton's enthusiasm or bummed that he sold his possessions to make a minimal dent in Hillary's debt?

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Does the 9/11 Flight 93 Memorial Contain Islamic Symbols?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:15:36 -0700

United Airlines Flight 93, the flight that crashed into the field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, is set to get a memorial dedicated on the tenth anniversary of the tragedy. The design of that memorial is sparking big controversy. It was conceived by a Los Angeles-based architect, and mirrors the topography of the bowl-shaped land, highlighting a circular pathway ringed by trees, all pointed toward the "sacred ground" of the crash site near the bottom of the circle.

Some are violently opposed to the memorial design saying that it includes a thinly-veiled Islamic tribute to the hijackers complete with "Islamic-like crescents built into the plan, glass blocks honoring the terrorists, a wind-chime tower that seems to be an Islamic minaret, and site points to the Islamic holy city of Mecca."

One critic says, "there's Islamic symbolism in the design. The current design should be completely scrapped." Yet another says, "please don't sanction the placement of a fully functional Islamic mosque as the head stone on their graves."

One woman who lost her husband during the crash as passengers struggled with Islamic terrorists for control of the plane, believed to be headed to a target in Washington said, "I don't even think about it. The land speaks for itself; it's in the shape of an embrace," not an Islamic crescent.

Petitions with 5,300 signatures opposing the design were presented to the Flight 93 boards during its quarterly meeting. Is it possible the memorial contains secret symbolism?

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