Dialogue for Criminal Justice Reform
Equal Justice Initiative
“Seeking justice for all treatment…”
slate.com
John Oliver, ‘Last Week Tonight’:
‘Mandatory minimum sentences can send Americans to prison for decades for even low-level drug offenses—regardless of context—as John Oliver explained on Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight. Even the judges who are forced to issue these sentences often think they’re egregiously unfair.
So why do we have them? Most mandatory minimum sentencing laws were written during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s, when politicians from both sides of the aisle raced to outdo each other when it came to being “tough on drugs.” Though the policies were immensely popular, almost everyone agrees they were a mistake, and what’s worse, they’ve contributed to the United States’ insane incarceration rate.’
Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/sandra-bland-bail-bond-system
“The large companies behind many local bondsmen are part of the American Bail Coalition, a powerful national association that has spent three decades pushing legislation that makes it harder for defendants like Bland to get out of jail without paying large sums of money. Before ABC began lobbying, in 1990, commercial bail accounted for just 23 percent of pretrial releases; today it’s 49 percent. Average bail amounts for felony cases have almost tripled in the past 25 years. Meanwhile, between 2004 and 2012, ABC companies whose income comes almost entirely from bail saw their revenues increase 21 percent.”
NPR
“About 1,000 people die in American jails (not prisons) every year, and about a third of those are suicides.”
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/27/426742309/the-shock-of-confinement-the-grim-reality-of-suicide-in-jail
Caring.
July 25, 2015
In search of your calling
I don’t think we have a calling.
I do think it’s possible to have a caring.
A calling implies that there’s just one thing for you, just one thing you’re supposed to do.
What we most need in our lives, though, is something worth doing, worth it because we care.
There are plenty of forces pushing us to not care. Bosses, systems, bureaucracies and the fear of mattering.
None of them are worth sacrificing something as important as caring.
-Seth Godin
Faith.
July 23, 2015‘There’s more faith in doubt than all the creeds combined.’
-Tennyson
This fall.
https://amp.twimg.com/v/bc078f62-56f0-4493-9dc1-a22f3787db68
Tweaking (not tweeting) Social Norms
July 22, 2015
From Planet Money/NPR
1. Sign at the Top of the Form
2. One Line
3. Bet Against Yourself
Peace.
July 21, 2015
‘We often wonder if peace really exists anywhere. In a world distraught with so much confusion and chaos we deeply need an inner, abiding sense of calm and tranquility. Peace of mind really is what the world is searching after because without it we have only a sense of insecurity and loneliness. Without peace, deep and abiding, there can be no happiness or contentment, no sense of security, no confidence. For God/Spirit is not met though confusion but only when the mind is tranquil, and, like an unruffled body water, reflects the Divine images of peace and perfection.’
-Science of Mind
Where was Hillary?
From the Netroots Nation website:
Netroots Nation stands in solidarity with all people seeking human rights
“Netroots Nation stands in solidarity with all people seeking human rights.
With today’s Town Hall, our aim was to give presidential candidates a chance to respond to the issues facing the many diverse communities represented here.
Although we wish the candidates had more time to respond to the issues, what happened today is reflective of an urgent moment that America is facing today.
In 2016, we’re heading to St. Louis. We plan to work with activists there just as we did in Phoenix with local leaders, including the #BlackLivesMatter movement, to amplify issues like racial profiling and police brutality in a major way.
It is necessary and vital to continue this conversation. We look forward to doing so in the coming year.”
Democratic Presidential Candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley wanted to speak, we’re trying to speak, and your audience wouldn’t let them. They hackled, harassed and disrespected them. Bernie Sanders has done more Civil Rights than any other candidate combined. He organized anti-segragationn sit-ins in the ’60’s…he helped and campaigned for Jesse Jackson when he ran for president in the late ’80’s. And where was Hillary? After two days to reflect she responds through the Washington Post saying that it’s more than ‘economic inequality.’ OK…so why wasn’t she there expressing her message? Because Hillary doesn’t do anything she can’t control – – she knew, and was most likely advised as to how this event would play out and didn’t participate. Sanders and O’Malley tried and weren’t give than grace, or the space, to speak. One of the leaders from Netroots Nation, Ashley Yates, admitted in an interview on MSNBC last night that the response these two candidates were given was orchestrated two weeks ago – – they didn’t have a chance.
—
From a post on Netroots Nation fb page:
Cole Shores: “Every American deserves a voice… except when they are invited on your stage as a guest. It doesn’t matter if someone is black, white, blue, purple, green, yellow, or aqua… it is all PEOPLE. Feel the Bern – – Bernie Sanders 2016 is the only guy you have running trying to help people with an actual course of action. How your organization treated him as a guest is disgusting.”
Here’s what happened in Phoenix Saturday night:
Martin Davis: Are We There Yet?
#blacklivesmatter
‘Real Questions for Presidential Hopefuls’
http://authormartindavis.com/2015/07/21/blacklivesmatter-real-questions-for-presidential-hopefuls/
Thank you, Mr. President
July 20, 2015‘Some Points to Ponder About Obama’s Record,’ by Dick Meyer, Chief Washington Correspondent/Scripps News
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/decodedc/mr-president-on-behalf-of-an-ungrateful-nation-thank-you
For cosmic career support…
July 19, 2015“…ask yourself whether what you do is a conduit for the good, the true or the beautiful. Don’t look for your unique gift; look for your next loving thought.
-Marianne Williamson
´*.¸.• .¸. ¸¸.☆¨¯ .¸.¸¸.☆¨¯`
And From Seth Godin:
“An alternative to believing in yourself…
Of course, self-belief is more than just common advice. It’s at the heart of selling, of creating, of shipping, of leadership…
Telling someone, “believe in yourself,” is often worthless, though, because it’s easier said than done.
Perhaps the alternative is: “Do work you can believe in.”
Not trust, verification. Not believing that one day you’ll do worthwhile work. Instead, do worthwhile work, look at it, then believe that you can do it again.
Step by step, small to large, easy to difficult.
Do work you can believe in.”
Sweet dreams are made of this…
July 18, 2015‘Are you waiting for your dreams to come true? Maybe your dreams are waiting for you to come true.’ -Science of Mind
☆☆¸.•*¨*•☆☆•*¨*•.¸¸☆☆
Idaho Haiku
July 17, 2015
Yoga…for Free
SATURDAY
8:45-9:45am Soul Salutations
FREE outside at Sun Valley
July 18 at Base of River Run
July 25 at Base of River Run
August 1 at Base of River Run
August 8 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 15 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 22 at Sun Valley Village Lawn
August 29 at Base of River Run
Idaho’s Education Gap
July 16, 2015
Idaho and the education gap:
‘44% of Idaho kids are not ready for kindergarten’
-Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, July 12, 2015
In Idaho: Approx $7,000 per student per year – – $18,000 per inmate
Cost per student vs inmate in Idaho (Source: U.S. Census Data and Vera Institute of JusticeGraphic/CNNMoney
http://money.cnn.com/infographic/economy/education-vs-prison-costs/
—
From President Obama:
“One study found that for every dollar we invest in Pre-K, we save at least twice that in reduced crime.”
~
“Every year, we spend $80 billion to keep folks incarcerated. $80 billion.”
~
“If we make investments early in our children, we will reduce the need to incarcerate those kids.”
Today, Thursday, July 17th, Obama becomes the first sitting president to see inside a federal prison as he visits the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma. More at daylescommunitycafe.com.
twitter feeds from Senator Cory Booker, Senator Bernie Sanders, and President Obama:
Let me be as clear as I can be: it makes a lot more sense to invest in jobs and education than in more and more jails. -Sen. Sanders
Just Mercy is the best I’ve read this year. -Sen. Booker
Please see and understand how CONSERVATIVES are leading on criminal justice reform: http://rightoncrime.com -Sen. Booker
“For nonviolent drug crimes, we need to lower long mandatory minimum sentences—or get rid of them entirely.” -President Obama
“We should pass a sentencing reform bill through congress this year.” -President Obama
“On Thursday, I will be the first sitting president to visit a federal prison.” -President Obama
Tragically we have more people in jail today than any other country on earth including China. -Sen. Sanders
“Mass incarceration makes our country worse off—and we need to do something about it.” -President Obama
“If we make investments early in our children, we will reduce the need to incarcerate those kids.” -President Obama
“One study found that for every dollar we invest in Pre-K, we save at least twice that in reduced crime.” -President Obama
“We gotta make sure boys and girls in those communities are loved and cherished and nurtured and invested in.” -President Obama
From Rolling Stone:
‘Ta-Nehisi Coates on Race, Hip-Hop and Being Praised by Toni Morrison’
From the BBC:
‘After being released, US prisoners fine new struggles…’
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33542839
President Obama:
“Don’t just tag them as future criminals. Reach out to them as future citizens.”
From NPR:
Georgia Leads a Push to Help Ex-Prisoners Get Jobs
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/02/419162376/georgia-leads-a-push-to-help-ex-prisoners-get-jobs
The ‘I’ Challenge
July 15, 2015Former President Jimmy Carter was asked recently what word he would eliminate from his vocabulary, if he could. His response? ‘I.’
Monk Kelsang Dorku:
“I and MY (represent) our self-cherishing ego (and) will lead to suffering.”
From the classic ’80’s film The Big Chill in the scene between Michael and Sam:
Michael: I don’t know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They’re more important than sex.
Sam Weber: Ah, come on. Nothing’s more important than sex.
Michael: Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?
The Challenge: Can we go through a day without using the word, ‘I?’
The Art of Walking…
(From Maria Papova)
‘The Walk — a most unusual and rewarding 1917 piece by Swiss modernist writer Robert Walser. It was eventually translated into English by Christopher Middleton in 1955 — the only work of Walser’s published in English during his lifetime — and included in his altogether fantastic Selected Stories (public library).’
‘The novella’s beginning calls to mind Thoreau’s assertion that “every walk is a sort of crusade” as Walser paints the perfect backdrop for the perfect walk:’
I have to report that one fine morning, I do not know any more for sure what time it was, as the desire to take a walk came over me, I put my hat on my head, left my writing room, or room of phantoms, and ran down the stairs to hurry out into the street. I might add that on the stairs I encountered a woman who looked like a Spaniard, a Peruvian, or a Creole. She presented to the eye a certain pallid, faded majesty. But I must strictly forbid myself a delay of even two seconds with this Brazilian lady, or whatever she might be; for I may waste neither space nor time. As far as I can remember as I write this down, I found myself, as I walked into the open, bright, and cheerful street, in a romantically adventurous state of mind, which pleased me profoundly. The morning world spread out before my eyes appeared as beautiful to me as if I saw it for the first time. Everything I saw made upon me a delightful impression of friendliness, of goodliness, and of youth. I quickly forgot that up in my room I had only just a moment before been brooding gloomily over a blank sheet of paper. All sorrow, all pain, and all grave thoughts were as vanished, although I vividly sensed a certain seriousness, a tone, still before me and behind me. I was tense with eager expectation of whatever might encounter me or cross my way on my walk. My steps were measured and calm, and, as far as I know, I presented, as I went on my way, a fairly dignified appearance. My feelings I like to conceal from the eyes of my fellow men, of course without any fearful strain to do so — such strain I would consider a great error, and a mighty stupidity.
David Foster Wallace
July 14, 2015“If your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.”
‘Get the dough out of politics!’
http://www.benjerry.com/values/issues-we-care-about/get-the-dough-out-of-politics
Iconoclast Books
“Join us between 4 & 7 pm this Friday, July 17th, to sample Chef Brent W Rasmussen‘s amazing fare of long time Valley favorites (Peter’s Chinese Chicken Salad!) and those created just for Iconoclast Books & Cafe. We are so fortunate to have Brent as a part of the Iconoclast Team ~ Come celebrate!”
Barista Annie Glenn Ashfield
The Solar Boom
…with a focus on Solar City recently in Sun Valley for the Sun Valley Institute of Resilience Forum.
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/the-solar-boom-482385987705