Eric Holder: Stopping Prison Rape Is Too Expensive

Back in 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush. In 2010, the law remains largely unenforced. According to Eric Holder, Attorney General of the United States the law must not "impose substantial additional costs compared to the costs presently expended by federal, state and local prison authorities." In simple language, preventing prisoners from being raped in prison is just too expensive.

As underreported a crime as prison rape is, it is still a serious problem. The Associated Press reports as follows. "The government reported Thursday that 4.4 percent of inmates in prison and 3.1 percent of inmates in jail report being victimized sexually by another inmate or staff member.Those percentages translate to the sexual victimization of 88,500 inmates behind bars nationwide in the previous 12 months, according to a study by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2008–2009."

It is hard to fathom the dismissive calculations of Eric Holder and many who silently agree with him that keeping prisoners safe from rape is "too expensive", that simple measures such as separating violent and predatory inmates from vulnerable individuals is not feasible.There are undoubtedly hidden costs to turning a blind eye to sexual assaults in prison. Most victims of sexual assault in prison will return to society. What will the costs be in mental and physical health? How many will return to prison because of psychological problems that stem from having been brutalised in prison?

The blame for the neglect of our nation's prisoners goes across the political spectrum. From liberals who can not see prisoners as being capable of oppressing others to conservatives who cavalierly dismiss the abuse meted out to prisoners, It is important to bear in mind that people are sent to prison as punishment rather than for punishment. The dull austerity, the curtailment of personal freedom and the separation from loved ones are all aspects of the prison experience that are meant to be a deterrent. Rape is not part of the sentence.For Eric Holder to publicly declare that preventing rape in prison is "too expensive" is disgraceful and unacceptable. It is a human rights violation that should be condemned by international human rights groups. There is a price for rape prevention, and an even greater price for ignoring it. Which bill will America pay?



*************************************************************One of the videos tells the story about a 17 year old boy who ended up in prison for misdemenor arson. After repeated rapes and repeated denials of protective custody, he committed suicide. His is one of many faces on this terrible problem.http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/articl...
http://technews.tmcnet.com/topics/associ...http://www.justdetention.org/

My Contribution To A Discussion On Spanking

Members of Rantrave.com have been discussing the issues of corporal punishment. Two thoughts come to mind on the issue. One is a bit of advice I received from a rabbi with a large family. He said that even scolding should not be done when one is viscerally angry. He said that the purpose of any sort of punishment should be to educate one's child and not to vent anger. I have found that spanking of any sort has limited and diminishing returns, that it should exist mostly as a theoretical possibility rather than as a regular occurrence.

When my oldest boy was about 4 years old, I got a call from my wife at the warehouse where I was working an evening shift. I asked her how the kids were doing. "Terrible!" she exclaimed, adding that my oldest child was running around and not listening to anything she said.

"Put him on the phone." I answered

"Abie*, mommy says you have been behaving badly. You need a spanking, and it can't wait until I get home! Now put your tush up to the phone."

I waited for a couple of seconds and tapped the mouthpiece on my telephone a couple of times.

"Did you do as I said?" I asked.

"Yeah." Abie answered. "And it didn't even hurt".

"Well if I have to spank you again when I get home, it will hurt". I answered. "Now hand the phone over to mommy."

My wife picked up the phone and asked "What did you tell him?"

I asked her "Did he put his tush up to the phone?

"Yes." she answered with puzzlement in her voice.

I spanked him over the phone. I hope I don't have to do it live later tonight."

For whatever reason, my son was well behaved for the rest of the night.

The other trick I used to use was to pretend that I am not mad but that my hand is. I tell the kid that my hand wants to spank him. I pretend to desperately wrestle with the angry hand and to hold it down. I would ask my kid to help me subdue the angry hand. Invariably, the kid would come over and we would hold the hand down. After a minute of struggle I would say "Don't get it mad again."

I don't generally go for gimmicks, but if you can teach a lesson with laughter, why not?

I would never condemn corporal punishment across the board, but it should really be a rarity. Communicating through the intellect and emotions that distinguish us as human is generally preferable.




*Names have been changed

Thank You Klaus Hoffmann

My son and I were discussing geneology and he asked me if Hoffman is a Jewish name or not. I explained that it was one of those names that could be either Jewish or German. His question jogged my memory of a singer from Berlin named Klaus Hoffmann. When I was back in my 20's, my father and I used to drink Ballantine Ale together and listen to his music. At a time in our lives when we differed about so many things, our musical tastes overlapped. Hoffmann sings in regular High German and some songs in Berlin slang, which brought back memories for my father.

One song, the Kreuzberger Waltz had some lyrics that dealt with playing tennis over the Berlin Wall every Sunday. The lyrics went as follows.

zwischen Checkpoint Charlie und Bernauer Between Checkpoint Charlie and Bernauer
spiel ick sonntags Tennis an der Mauer I play tennis on the (Berlin) Wall
mit der Linken üb ick Rückhand With my left hand I practice backhand

so hau ick den Ball über den Wall and Hit the ball over the wall
ins andere Land into another country
det is jetzt 'n Volkssport geworden It has become a people's sport
das Mauercuptennismatch the Wall Tennis Match
am Sonntag, da stehn die Horden on Sundays the hordes stand there
und haben Kontakt, auch ohne Vertrag and have contact without a treaty
von Ost nach West from East to West
das nennt man den Kreuzberger Walzer that is called the Kreuzberger Waltz
das Mauercuptennismatch The Wall Cup Tennis Match
das spielt man am Sonntag von Westen nach Ost one plays from West to East
und och von Ost nach West and also from East to West

I heard this song in 1978. Hoffmann, who was born in 1951 has been singing and acting since the late 60's, and came out with his first album in 1974. When I heart about his song about playing tennis over the Berlin Wall, it was a wild, insane fantasy. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it upstaged Klaus Hoffmann's song in a way that must have delighted him.

Hoffmann ranges in style from introspective such as his song "Novembermorgen" to angry and satirical, such as in his song "Nein".

There is one line from Hoffmann that has many times rescued me from deep sadness. "Hol mir die Kraft aus Sommertagen und leb' in November davon. "Take for me the power from summer days and live from that in November".

Next time my son stops by with his family, I think I 'll play him some of these songs my father and I used to enjoy together.

Pelosi Wants To Investigate Mosque Critics

One of the advantages of daily exposure to Pakistanis and Indians, Serbs and Albanians, Muslims and Jews and other groups listed at war with each other is that one gets regular exposure to mutually exclusive historical narratives. Nancy Pelosi, one of the great limousine liberals of our time, needs such exposure badly. Her latest outrage is her desire to investigate the critics of the mosque at Ground Zero. It reminded me of a moment in the early 60's when I saw a picture of IRS agents executing a search warrant on the headquarters of the Communist Party of the USA. Instinctively I knew that there was politics driving the raid more than anything else.

So Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate the Ground Zero Mosque critics. She wants to keep them busy talking with auditors so they won't have time to fight the Democratic agenda.

The Washington Times quotes the Dragon Lady as follows."I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that 'We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.'

Don't think for one second that this question will only be asked at Ground Zero. Pelosi, the multi millionaire defender of the downtrodden, knows better than all of us what is good for the oppressed masses. She treats critics like naughty children in junior high school. In the age of the internet, a lot of right wing critics of the Democrats are unpaid, underpaid loners who thrive on caffeine and the ego gratification of seeing their stories hit page 1 of a Google search. Not to be discounted is the desire to stop yelling at the television blaring the 6 o'clock news and to actually reach into cyberspace to influence the direction of the country.

There is a critical difference between wanting to overthrow a government, cancel the constitution and abrogate the rights of citizens and to want to replace legislators who function within that constitutional framework. Pelosi and many of her Democratic allies seem clueless to this critical distinction.

There are all kinds of laws governing campaign contributions that are designed to supposedly rescue us from big lobbyists. A well paid lawyer and an accountant can easily circumvent such laws. If some evil billionaire like say George Soros (to pick a random name) wants to buy a candidate, there should be no legal impediment to doing so, as long as his name is not hidden. In the age of the internet, such information can be spread by grass roots committees of correspondence.

Pelosi and her ilk think that the unwashed masses should welcome her like some North American Evita Peron. Americans aren't buying it. Get a clue Nancy. The people who oppose you are paid a lot less than you and your millionaire husband.