freetowrite

Seery on the LA Times and the Fourth Amendment

My friend John Seery posted a blistering critique of an LA Times editorial on President Bush's effort to defend telephone companies who spy on Americans for the government.

Here is John's post, and I include the comment I made in response to it below:

Hi John:

This is one of those posts from you that leaves those of us who share your concerns with very little to add.

To me, the Times, like so many other individuals and groups, has lost the broader issue in the back and forth of the political bickering in Washington. Like campaign junkies who follow the campaign--the "race" for the White House--for the sport of it, many of our political commentators have become so caught up in process that they have lost an authentic sense of purpose.

One final thought, this is not a liberal or conservative issue. Our national commitment to the principles of the Fourth Amendment transcends party and ideological lines, which is what makes our current Congress's passivity particularly astonishing (and disheartening).

Californians: Tough On Crime, Irresponsible About Prisons

A recent L.A.Times article on prison growth presents a classic California contradiction: "Gov. Backs Prison Growth" Californians want strict criminal penalties such as three strikes and you are out law but we do not want to pay for the necessary expansion in prison space that such a policy requires.

In terms of our state prisons, this contradiction has proven catastrophic:

• our system has 173,000 inmates in 33 prisons most of which are packed to "twice there intendend capacity"
• 16,000 inmates now live in hallways, gyms, lounges and other places not intended for housing
• 118 inmates have been shipped to other states
• the prison health system is now supervised by a federal receiver
• the mental health system "is overseen by a special master and a fedral judge"
• California has the highest recidivism rate in the nation: 7 of every 10 released prisoners returns.

The problem we face now is that repairing decades of neglect and attempting to address these problems will require billions of dollars that a state government facing a 5.5 billion dollar deficit does not have. This will probably mean more borrowing, once again leaving our problems to the next generation to pay off.