Far right Christian Looney Toon Michele Bachmann claims that the recent earthquake (I didnât even know theyâd had one, so we arenât exactly talking Japan here) and hurricane in the eastern US are messages from God telling Americans that, since they havenât already suffered enough disasters, they should put a dominionist in the Oval Office.
I know the batty bitch says this crap with a smile on her face, but then plenty of people make jests in all seriousness, and given her radical religious views I think it more likely than not that she means it. Worse yet, I am damn (sorry, I meant darn) sure that Bachmann knows thatâs how her deranged followers are taking it.
If Bachmann wasnât such a thickie I might think that there was also a subtext here about god hating liberals, as the east coast is just crawling with those dastardly rats. As it is, I doubt she even knows what a subtext is, much less how to use one.
Does Bachmann stand any real chance of getting her partyâs nomination? No. Does she stand a good chance of helping fellow nutball Rick Perry to get it by making him look more moderate by comparison? Yes, yes she does.
In my view the penal system cares very little about its inmates or indeed about the publicâs safety. Here in Australia it seems to be about keeping these guys, and of course guys is what most convicts are, in a place where they canât commit any more crime. In places like the US it seems to be mostly about wringing corporate profits out of human misery.
What happens with most criminals, even the nonviolent ones, is that the system basically throws them away. While inside very little effort is put into trying to rehabilitate these guys, and when they come out they very often find it hard to get work and on top of that they have to put up with the stigma of being an ex-con. In a welfare state like Australia the lack of work simply means having a lower standard of living,  in a country like the US it often comes down to a matter of survival, and will often leave the newly released convict with no choice but to re-offend.
There are however, some good programs aimed at rehabilitating convicts and in Australia one such is Pups in Prison. Run by Assistance Dogs Australia, the program uses men convicted of low-level offenses to train dogs that provide aid to the disabled by opening doors, flicking on light switches â the kind of thing that most able-bodied people take for granted. And I should point out that these men are from minimum security, so donât worry â no one is giving a serial killer a puppy!
Training these dogs helps in the menâs rehabilitation by giving them skills that they may be able to use to get a legitimate source of income once they have left the jail, but the benefits seem to be mostly on the psychological level. As one inmate puts itâŚ
âFor the first time in years it will allow us to show softness, tenderness and affection. Caring for these dogs will help us rekindle certain feelings and emotions, help us lighten up and bring a little more humanity into our livesâŚ
Instead of taking from society, it [the Pups in Prison Program] provides us with an opportunity to actually give back. From criminal to contributor.
âIt [the Pups in Prison Program] has a win-win-win-win aspect to it. It will help us inmates, it will help Assistance Dogs Australia, it will help people with special needs and it will also help the prison environment, by improving self esteem and empathy levels among inmates, increase positive behaviours and moods, create better relationships between staff and inmates and open up more opportunities for education, training and employmentâŚâ
Nothing being perfect, Pups In Prison wonât have a beneficial effect on all of these men but it will on some and thatâs good enough for me, so as long as itâs not being used to make life easier for seriously violent offenders and as long as no one decides to give Michael Vick one of these dogs, itâs a piece of good news in an otherwise bleak situation.
One of the convicts in this video seems to be wearing a pair of sneakers that mysteriously disappeared from my closet a few months ago, I assume however that this is a mere coincidenceâŚ.
A nice summation of what is wrong with class in the western world. Lyrics and music by John Lennon, vocals by Marilyn Manson, because Mansonâs sepulchral vocals are much more suited to the bleak and sorrowful theme. The next Pigman Cometh toon is on class in Amerika, so it’s been on my mind.
In the wake of the recent lame-brained, half-assed, canât-tell-shit-from-chocolate uprising in London, the politicians are being their usual predictable and authoritarian selves. One man has been charged with trying to start a water fight, another two are looking at terms of four years for trying to start a disturbance, and one man is looking at a jail sentence for looting two – count âem – two scoops of ice cream! I suppose the latter should simply have tried to steal the ice cream. Oh no, waitâŚ
Bail is being denied at a far higher rate for these offences than for violent crimes, people are losing their government housing and welfare payments, and social media is being attacked for doing in Blighty what they were cheered for doing in Egypt. Why such a harsh response? Because it sends the message that rebellion, no matter how minor, will not be tolerated by the psychopaths who own your ass, thatâs why.
