The end of Rockefeller Laws and, maybe, Three Strikes, too.

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Rockefeller, Three Strikes on Chopping Block? In response to California's severe prison overcrowding, Judges at Federal Court have ordered California to release fifty-eight thousand non-violent inmates. The Judges have determined California will have at least one dead prisoner per month due to suicide, overcrowding and health concerns. It is estimated California will save 900 million dollars per year in prison costs. I wonder how many non-violent drug offenders are incarcerated in California? Could it be fifty thousand? At roughly twenty thousand a year per prisoner? Extrapolate that figure to fifty states-- nearly fifty billion dollars per year. Throw in court and administrative costs, guard salaries and money saved by re-assigning police to violent crimes and crimes against persons or property, and ending the DEA prosecution of Medical Marijuana, call it one hundred billion a year, over ten years: a trillion dollars saved, not to mention hundreds of thousands of young lives of non-violent drug offenders wasted languishing in prison for being naive and adventurous, and the abolition of the Rockefeller and Three Strikes laws comes into realistic perspective. If we can calculate the losses to murderous Mexican drug lords in lives and dollars, the decriminalization of drug offenses and the cost of the Drug War, more than a trillion saved over less than ten years, and a more sane approach to our most adventurous and naive young minds. Like A-Rod said, 'I was young, naive, and stupid.' Abolishing the Rockefeller laws would place sentencing back in the hands of judges. Abolishing Three Strikes would end Life sentences for stealing a pizza. Parole and Rehab would serve public interest, save a trillion dollars, and move drug offenses from expensive criminal dockets to medical issues, but most of all save young people from wasted lives in prison. An idea whose time has come? -- love holds the stars in their courses-- Maya Angelou

Authors Bio:
Avid reader, jazz musician, philosopher, chef, stone mason, carpenter, writer, painter, poet,humanist, teacher, holistic ethicist who believes consciousness and love pervade the universe, except among self-obsessed humans. I perceive the philosophical unified field to be consciousness and joy. The entire universe is composed of waves, which we surf by understanding. Worked and marched for CORE in the 60's. Built 100-ft., 80-ton sculpture on Pratt Beach, Chicago. Planted trees in Oregon. Solo canoed Illinois, Mississippi, Chicago, Rock, Missouri and Wisconsin Rivers. My big thrill as a kid was building small rockets, archery, cruising my woods and going to the Birdhouse on weekends to see the Miles Davis Quintet and many other Jazz Greats.
I was in San Francisco in '65, '66, '67, and '68. Built Burr Tillstrom's puppet theater for Kukla, Fran, and Ollie at WTTW, Channel 11, Chicago. Briefly taught stage carpentry at De Paul Univ. Technical Director one season at Oak Park Shakespeare Festival.
Played trumpet in many small jazz bands, Sextessence, Nova Express. Played on road tour with rock band and many union and studio gigs. Lived with the Rasta in Blue Mountains, Jamaica.
Drove millions of accident-free miles Over the Road in big trucks, 48 states and Canada.
Currently living alone, caring for four rescued animals, one of which a kitten I recently found 'helpless as a kitten up a tree', abandoned in a city park. He came down to my call, so we folded him into the family. Without someone to care for life makes little sense. All reason is born of the heart. As Maya Angelou wrote, "Love holds the stars in their courses."