Just Say No To Draconian Drug Laws
Martha Stewart speaks out against drug sentencing guidelines and sentences for nonviolent, first-time offenders:
When one is incarcerated with 1,200 other inmates, it is hard to be selfish at Christmas -- hard to think of Christmases past and Christmases future -- that I know will be as they always were for me -- beautiful! So many of the women here in Alderson will never have the joy and wellbeing that you and I experience. Many of them have been here for years -- devoid of care, devoid of love, devoid of family.I beseech you all to think about these women -- to encourage the American people to ask for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared for life "out there" where each person will ultimately find herself, many with no skills and no preparation for living.
via Reason
Martha Stewart rocks! Give that woman a blow job!
For more information about the destruction wreaked by extremist drug sentencing laws, read "15 to Life" by Anthony Papa:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932595066/qid=1103904771/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/002-9918096-3350466
One night in 1984, with a failing business and no rent money for the apartment he shared in the Bronx with his wife and daughter, Anthony Papa tried to make $500 by delivering an envelope containing four and a half ounces of cocaine for an acquaintance. It turned out to be a sting, and he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life – even though it was his first criminal offense.
Mandatory drug sentencing laws in New York state were passed in 1971 by then-governor Nelson Rockefeller, who was trying to win a bid for Republican presidential candidate by appearing to be tough on crime. He didn’t win the bid, but the mandatory drug sentencing laws remained. Hundreds of thousands of young men and women (mostly black and latino) with first-time offenses have had their lives ruined as a result of Rockefeller’s sleazy career-climbing tactics.
Since his release, Papa has been active with the group Mothers of the Disappeared and the movement to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws. His work hasn’t been in vain: The sentencing laws in New York were just modified in December 2004. And it looks like Martha Stewart is joining him in the fight! And THAT, my niggas, is a GOOD THING.
Read Papa’s book. It makes a great Christmas gift for the angry young men, women, and transvestites in your life.
Lena is lapping up the labia of the lovely Martha Stewart at December 24, 2004 4:37 PM
See, there really is a reason for everything. Martha is finding a new calling.
A.Ho at December 25, 2004 5:32 AM
No, Martha's got her act together in the public relations dept. She'll probably establish a cooking school for ex-cons when she finishes up prison. It'll be Locust Valley meets 125th Street.
Lena at December 25, 2004 6:20 AM
I'm a Martha fan myself.
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2004 8:40 AM
> I'm a Martha fan myself.
What? Even though you haven't touched your cooking stove in 12 years???
Happy Crimbo -- Stu
Stu "Back from Paris" Harris at December 25, 2004 3:51 PM
I've recently made grilled vegetables and chicken with rosemary, but don't accuse me of being domestic or anything.
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2004 4:01 PM
I am here to testify that Amy Alkon can indeed cook a delicious meal. The chicken with rosemary and grilled vegetables were perfection! Anyone who loves food as much as she does is bound to be a good cook. She'll be whipping up souffles in no time!
Lena , Face Down on the Dessert Tray (circa 2005) at December 25, 2004 6:34 PM
Or I could just whip somebody until they make me a soufflé. Seems a worthy timesaver, and satsifying, too, depending upon the candidate!
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2004 6:45 PM
By the way, speaking of soufflé, namely the small, dark chocolate hockey-puck-sized one called moelleux, which they serve in France (the best I've had yet is at La Vielle Colombier, where rue de Rennes meets rue de la Vielle Colombier, near Église St. Sulpice, in Paris), if you have a hard time pronouncing it, too -- check out Mot Du Jour:
http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/g/moelleux.htm
It was a recent selection. Repetez après moi! mwa-leu, mwa-leu, mwa-leu.
Merde. I still can't get it without looking at the pronunciation. Fucking hardest word for me to say in French. Mwa-leu, mwa-leu, mwa-leu.
And let me take this moment to recomment the best Paris blog:
http://jasonstone.typepad.com/nycaparis/
Somebody should be paying this man to write his blog for a newspaper, but it seems he's too interesting, engaging, and thoughtful to do it for pay! (Certain newspapers prefer to have the violently mundane of mind write their Paris blogs, then make excuses for all the nasty letters they get accusing them of being violently mundane.) As Cheyenne the Paris cat would say...Meeeee-yow. (Somebody Frencher than I can translate that for me into the proper French animal sound.) And now, I'd better stop wasting a perfectly good shovel-full of Ritalin on blog commenting, and get to work taking down irrational twits who believe in mediums (the psychic kind, not the kind between small and large) and palm readers and the like.
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2004 6:55 PM
"I'd better stop wasting a perfectly good shovel-full of Ritalin"
Sounds like Santa's been good to you this year!
Lena, Speed Freak Extraordinnaire at December 25, 2004 10:43 PM
Yeah, I spent the entire day reworking the paragraph I finished yesterday. They wrote faster in the days when they had G5 chisels. Perhaps this massive accomplishment qualifies as a lump of coal from Santa? Well, at least I'm on my way...plenty of insults lined up for the gullible sorts who believe in palm readers and such!
Amy Alkon at December 25, 2004 11:44 PM
I was at the Novel Cafe a couple of nights ago, and the community bulletin board was filled with advertisements for every kind of palm-reading, tarot-card, psychic, past-life regression aroma therapy bullshit. Remember the good old days, when young poetic types committed suicide? Why did they ever stop?
Lena, Full of Caffeine and Vinegar at December 26, 2004 5:11 AM
Mundane. Vous avez dit "mundane"? Chère Amie, when you are finished racking the astro-psycho mediums, please bring Lucy over to my teepee for a paw-reading séance. I feel my "miaou" (pronounce "mee-ah-who") days are over. I am learning to bark... with a parisian accent.
Cheyenne, le SUV French cat
Cheyenne at December 26, 2004 9:00 AM
Tristement, je pense que je dois aller à Paris sans le petit chien la prochaine fois au cause des temps...encore du temps pour Cheyenne pour faire parfait son woof-woof!
Translation (Intentionally or unintentionally, I might add): the hairy-toed at the Novel Café swim out to meet troop ships.
Amy Alkon at December 26, 2004 9:24 AM