The New York Times is reporting today that 1 in 100 adults in the United States is incarcerated. That's 1.6 million people in prison. The ramifications of this are completely mind boggling.
First, it shows that the United States justice system has a severe racial divide. One in 36 Hispanics and one in 15 African-Americans behind bars. There's consistent talk in the mainstream that America is on its way being colorblind; the strength of the Obama campaign is a testament to this colorblindness. But how can that be the case when there are such severe divisions in who is incarcerated in the United States?
Second, the amount of spending that goes into the prison system is utterly absurd. On average, the cost to imprison someone is $23,876 a year. System wide, the United States prison system requires $44 billion in tax money. Is it really worth that much in citizens money to fund a failing system?
The correction system is failing. Many imprisoned are repeat offenders, who, rather than be rehabilitated consistently commit nonviolent crimes that land them back in jail.
So what can be done?
The first thing would be to decriminalize drugs. A large number of the incarcerated are there because of drug related issues. By decriminalizing prisoners who are in the system for use or possession, would instead have to attend rehab and conduct community service. Also, by decriminalizing a number of violent crimes that are related to drug trafficking would also diminish due to the semi-legalization of the trade.
This would greatly reduce the prison population and reduce spending within the prison system. In general, the prison system would benefit from an emphasis on rehabilitation rather than incarceration.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Daniel Johnston Review
So I recently reviewed Daniel Johnston's performance at the Highline Ballroom in New York.
You can check out the review right here.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday Afternoon
This day is going by slow.
Too Slow.
As usual there is nothing for me to do, so instead I've been staring at a computer mindlessly.
I did come across this great video that my good friend Steve Tannberg made.
Steve and I go back almost five years now. We met at freshman orientation at Marist, and ended being pretty close for the next four years. He's now in grad school at SVA, where it seems like he's been doing some pretty neat stuff.
Meanwhile I am stuck staring at computer screen, watching my brains spill out through my ears, eyes, and nose...
Too Slow.
As usual there is nothing for me to do, so instead I've been staring at a computer mindlessly.
I did come across this great video that my good friend Steve Tannberg made.
Steve and I go back almost five years now. We met at freshman orientation at Marist, and ended being pretty close for the next four years. He's now in grad school at SVA, where it seems like he's been doing some pretty neat stuff.
Meanwhile I am stuck staring at computer screen, watching my brains spill out through my ears, eyes, and nose...
Who Watched the Eclipse?
I DID!
It wasn't all that exciting. It wasn't a particularly clear night here in the northeast, plus it was a bit on the cold side. I still made the best of it though.
I set up two telescopes that I had lying around the house, grabbed a few beers and hung around outside. It was pretty relaxing. I find comfort in looking at celestial happenings, it sort of puts things into perspective.
There won't be another full lunar eclipse in North America until 2010. I guess that's not really all that long. Two years can go by pretty quickly...
It wasn't all that exciting. It wasn't a particularly clear night here in the northeast, plus it was a bit on the cold side. I still made the best of it though.
I set up two telescopes that I had lying around the house, grabbed a few beers and hung around outside. It was pretty relaxing. I find comfort in looking at celestial happenings, it sort of puts things into perspective.
There won't be another full lunar eclipse in North America until 2010. I guess that's not really all that long. Two years can go by pretty quickly...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
White People
Everyday I sit down at my desk here at my job and think of things to do to relieve myself of the absolute boredom that is my current employment.
This morning I have found something that has made me smile; made me giggle; made me chuckle; made me think about how I fit into some of these categories.
This morning I found Stuff White People Like.
This is seriously my new favorite blog.
This morning I have found something that has made me smile; made me giggle; made me chuckle; made me think about how I fit into some of these categories.
This morning I found Stuff White People Like.
This is seriously my new favorite blog.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
8 Hours On A Bus
This past weekend I took a little excursion up to Maine. The past few times that I had trekked up to vacationland flying was my transportation of choice. This time, however, due to last minute planning and the expensive price of flying, I decided that I'll take a good old Greyhound bus.
My journey began Friday morning at approximately 5:52 AM when I took the LIRR from my town to Penn Station. From there I got on the C train, only to get off at the next stop, Port Authority Terminal. The bus I had to catch was the 7:01 headed for Boston.
I slept most of the way. At Boston I transferred to the Maine Coast bus route which made stops at Portland, Brunswick, Bowdoin College, Bath, and Wiscasset before reaching my destination of Damariscotta, Maine at about 3:25 PM.
It's nice to get away from New York/Long Island. A lot of times I feel like this place really drags me down in a lot of ways, trapped in the confines of congested roads, bright street lamps, and endless (mindless?) strip malls.
I like Maine because I feel like that all sort of disappears.
And of course it helps that Alice is there. Helps a lot.
Speaking of Alice.....the two of us won trivia night at the Maine Coast Book Shop on Friday.
Here's a picture that I stole from Bobbi's Bookshop Blog:
Look at those champions!
My journey began Friday morning at approximately 5:52 AM when I took the LIRR from my town to Penn Station. From there I got on the C train, only to get off at the next stop, Port Authority Terminal. The bus I had to catch was the 7:01 headed for Boston.
I slept most of the way. At Boston I transferred to the Maine Coast bus route which made stops at Portland, Brunswick, Bowdoin College, Bath, and Wiscasset before reaching my destination of Damariscotta, Maine at about 3:25 PM.
It's nice to get away from New York/Long Island. A lot of times I feel like this place really drags me down in a lot of ways, trapped in the confines of congested roads, bright street lamps, and endless (mindless?) strip malls.
I like Maine because I feel like that all sort of disappears.
And of course it helps that Alice is there. Helps a lot.
Speaking of Alice.....the two of us won trivia night at the Maine Coast Book Shop on Friday.
Here's a picture that I stole from Bobbi's Bookshop Blog:
Look at those champions!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Train Hits Car
MTA Long Island Rail Road
Service Alert
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 8:30 PM
Ronkonkoma Branch Customers
LIRR service has been restored on the Ronkonkoma Branch with residual delays of up to 2 hours. Earlier service was suspended when a train struck an unauthorized vehicle on the tracks at the East Little Neck Road crossing.
I WAS ON THIS TRAIN!
It was the 5:01 out of Penn Station and we were only a half a mile from the Wyandanch station when the event happened.
Luckily no one was injured.
I did have to sit for over TWO HOURS waiting for something to happen.
It was another wonderful evening on th LIRR, which according to Newsday has set a ridership record.
I suppose with more riders comes more angry riders.
Service Alert
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 8:30 PM
Ronkonkoma Branch Customers
LIRR service has been restored on the Ronkonkoma Branch with residual delays of up to 2 hours. Earlier service was suspended when a train struck an unauthorized vehicle on the tracks at the East Little Neck Road crossing.
I WAS ON THIS TRAIN!
It was the 5:01 out of Penn Station and we were only a half a mile from the Wyandanch station when the event happened.
Luckily no one was injured.
I did have to sit for over TWO HOURS waiting for something to happen.
It was another wonderful evening on th LIRR, which according to Newsday has set a ridership record.
I suppose with more riders comes more angry riders.
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Art of the Mixtape
Making a Mixtape (or Mix CD) has always been an almost cathartic experience for me, especially when making a Mixtape for another person. It's a form of expression that requires a certain amount of attention, detail, and knowledge of whom the individual or group is that will be given possession of the mix.
Since roughly the age of 13 I've been making mixes for other people. There are a wide variety of mixes to be made. There are the mixes given to friends, mixes for those you might have a crush on, and then there mixes for certain events. Each one has it's own way of assembling the most rockin set of tunes.
The most important and common thing for all styles of mixes is that you need to know what you want the mix to say and what's going to be on it. You need to plan ahead. What I usually do (because I take this pretty seriously) is first get an idea of what songs I want on the mix. I then figure out what the proper order should be, making sure not to go over the amount of space available on the cassette or CDR. Next you need to make sure that the order of the songs flows well. Much like when an artist puts together a track list for an album, there needs to be some sense of cohesion and flow from track to track. With the digital age this has become much easier by being able to play back the end of a song into the beginning of a song to make sure it fits.
When making a mixtape for a friend or for an event, you can pretty much just put together whatever it is you want. When I DJed at WMAR in college in the pre-ipod days I would usually burn a CD of a bunch of tracks that I wanted to play for the show that week. For the sake of the show it helped to move things along, but it also helped to bring a general theme to the atmosphere of the show. It also in some weird personal sense made me feel a little bit closer to whoever was actually listening to the show because I had personally selected each individual song and had some, however insignificant, connection.
Whatever smattering of noise you end up putting together doesn't usually matter, unless you're making it for someone that you're dating or want to date/hook up with/obsess over/go on picnics with. You need to make sure that the songs reflect what you think the persons taste in music may be, and make sure that the songs that you're selecting are not sending some sort of message that you don't intend. Remember music is communicated on multiple levels, both the aesthetic level of the sound and the poetic level of the lyrics.
Now I'm going to go finish making a bunch of mixes for my girlfriend for Valentines Day.
Hooray!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Bang A Rang!
So last night Bothan Spies and I performed at a local bar. It's nice to be playing out again. We took a few months off as a new member joined the band, and the results have been magnificent. Our new songs our sounding great and I really feel like there's some great chemistry between the four of us on stage. I'm really looking forward to the future for us.
So the show last night went well. It was a pretty damp and cold night here on Long Island, and of course it didn't help that the bar we were playing at, Katies of Smithtown, is supposedly haunted. Apparently there some ghost named "Charlie" that plays some pranks on the owners and patrons of the bar. This actually led to the bar being featured on the A&E show Paranormal State.
Anywho....So the show went well. We played first and other than a few little mishaps (including a drum stick flying out of my hand; I blame "Charlie") our set went well. Following us a really great band by the name of The Woolgathering played. They were all incredible musicians and really brought to mind bands like Hella and The Advantage. Following The Woolgathering our friends in Commissariat played. This was both their demo release show and their last show in awhile. It seems that Niq, the leader of the group is going to South Korea for a year to teach English. Pretty crazy.
It was a nice show. Good tunes. Good Brews (check out Blue Point Winter Ale, very excellent choice). Good Friends.
That's all. I'm going to enjoy my lazy Sunday afternoon.
So the show last night went well. It was a pretty damp and cold night here on Long Island, and of course it didn't help that the bar we were playing at, Katies of Smithtown, is supposedly haunted. Apparently there some ghost named "Charlie" that plays some pranks on the owners and patrons of the bar. This actually led to the bar being featured on the A&E show Paranormal State.
Anywho....So the show went well. We played first and other than a few little mishaps (including a drum stick flying out of my hand; I blame "Charlie") our set went well. Following us a really great band by the name of The Woolgathering played. They were all incredible musicians and really brought to mind bands like Hella and The Advantage. Following The Woolgathering our friends in Commissariat played. This was both their demo release show and their last show in awhile. It seems that Niq, the leader of the group is going to South Korea for a year to teach English. Pretty crazy.
It was a nice show. Good tunes. Good Brews (check out Blue Point Winter Ale, very excellent choice). Good Friends.
That's all. I'm going to enjoy my lazy Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
$4 Prescriptions
It's been a pretty lazy Saturday afternoon. This morning I went to the bank to deposit my last paycheck, and to this point that's been the most productive thing that I've done today.
It's a bit damp and chilly out, so like every good American I plopped down on the couch and got sucked into some numbing television. After flipping through the channels for a bit I decided to watch the 1995 remake of Sabrina starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies.
I ended up not paying too much attention to the film and I started to doze off. I awoke during a commercial break just as the most recent assault form Wal-Mart's advertising desk was airing a commercial.
Like all Wal-Mart commercials, a certain air of wholesomeness, community, and good feelings was exhibited, though this is of course far from reality. This new commercial propaganda exclaimed that the sick can now get their much needed prescriptions drugs at their local Wal-Mart pharmacy for the cheap low price of $4.
That's all great and dandy, but is it really a reality?
First off, the plan only covers certain generic prescriptions drugs. The customer needs to fill out the initial prescription at the local Wal-Mart pharmacy and then the plan goes into effect. The plan claims to cover over 360 types of drugs.
However, like much of the policies behind Wal-Mart, the reality is that 360 generic drugs at $4 is not all that impressive. Many of the drugs on the list can be obtained at other pharmacies for a similar price, minus the selling of your soul.
Second, Wal-Mart's plan aims to paint the company as a benevolent chain that is out to aid consumers and help the average citizen. If the company really wanted to help stretched thin consumers, then this $4 prescription program would include non-generic drugs that are much more expensive and are the real cause of high health care costs.
In the end it's all just a ploy for Wal-Mart to paint itself in good light and bring in more customers.
It's all about the money. Always.
It's a bit damp and chilly out, so like every good American I plopped down on the couch and got sucked into some numbing television. After flipping through the channels for a bit I decided to watch the 1995 remake of Sabrina starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. I'm a sucker for romantic comedies.
I ended up not paying too much attention to the film and I started to doze off. I awoke during a commercial break just as the most recent assault form Wal-Mart's advertising desk was airing a commercial.
Like all Wal-Mart commercials, a certain air of wholesomeness, community, and good feelings was exhibited, though this is of course far from reality. This new commercial propaganda exclaimed that the sick can now get their much needed prescriptions drugs at their local Wal-Mart pharmacy for the cheap low price of $4.
That's all great and dandy, but is it really a reality?
First off, the plan only covers certain generic prescriptions drugs. The customer needs to fill out the initial prescription at the local Wal-Mart pharmacy and then the plan goes into effect. The plan claims to cover over 360 types of drugs.
However, like much of the policies behind Wal-Mart, the reality is that 360 generic drugs at $4 is not all that impressive. Many of the drugs on the list can be obtained at other pharmacies for a similar price, minus the selling of your soul.
Second, Wal-Mart's plan aims to paint the company as a benevolent chain that is out to aid consumers and help the average citizen. If the company really wanted to help stretched thin consumers, then this $4 prescription program would include non-generic drugs that are much more expensive and are the real cause of high health care costs.
In the end it's all just a ploy for Wal-Mart to paint itself in good light and bring in more customers.
It's all about the money. Always.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Hooray!
My week so far has been slightly on the 'eh' side. I had an incredibly terrible 24 hour sickness, played a show in front of a bunch of lame-ass wannabe punks in Brooklyn in lieu of watching the most incredible Super Bowl game ever, had my time wasted by "Super Tuesday," plus my job seems to get more mindless and frustrating by the day.
Ah, C'est La Vie.
The bright side of the week has been the announcement yesterday that Mitt Romney is dropping out of the Presidential race after discovering that he can't buy an election (not that that's not what the other candidates are doing).
Romney was one of those fellows that you just look and you instantly know that you hate him. In college he was one of those preppy, rich kid schmucks that would claim that we need more morals and law and order in our country and then go get loaded and date rape some girl.
The guy probably doesn't have an honest fiber in him.
How can he with a name like a Mitt?
You can't ever believe a man that is named after a protective article of clothing worn over your hand.
Plus, how can someone be elected President that is so incredible divisive?
You're dropping out of the race to prevent terrorists from taking over?
If someone who is not a Republican wins the election the United States is going to explode?
What kind of warped reality do you live in Willard Mitt Romney?
Thanks for the good times Mitt.
You may now return to your stuck-up, preppy life that is full of hypocrisy.
Ah, C'est La Vie.
The bright side of the week has been the announcement yesterday that Mitt Romney is dropping out of the Presidential race after discovering that he can't buy an election (not that that's not what the other candidates are doing).
Romney was one of those fellows that you just look and you instantly know that you hate him. In college he was one of those preppy, rich kid schmucks that would claim that we need more morals and law and order in our country and then go get loaded and date rape some girl.
The guy probably doesn't have an honest fiber in him.
How can he with a name like a Mitt?
You can't ever believe a man that is named after a protective article of clothing worn over your hand.
Plus, how can someone be elected President that is so incredible divisive?
You're dropping out of the race to prevent terrorists from taking over?
If someone who is not a Republican wins the election the United States is going to explode?
What kind of warped reality do you live in Willard Mitt Romney?
Thanks for the good times Mitt.
You may now return to your stuck-up, preppy life that is full of hypocrisy.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
New Blog
New beginnings are good. Lately I've felt like I've needed something new to focus on in my life. Something that I can create from the ground up. My previous blog had begun to feel a bit stale for me, so I have started anew.
My goal for this blog isn't entirely clear. I'd like to be able to update more frequently than I have with previous blogs, but I suppose I'll have to see what happens.
At the moment I am home from work sick. Yesterday I had a bit of a stomach virus that hasn't entirely gone away just yet. In the past 24 hours I have had really only a few slices of toast and a bagel. I just managed to eat a banana, so perhaps this could be the beginning of the end of this terrible stomach malfeasance, but much like politicians, no matter how terrible the misconduct may be, they always seem to pop back up again and return to their dastardly deeds.
Time to drink some fluids and flush out my system.
My goal for this blog isn't entirely clear. I'd like to be able to update more frequently than I have with previous blogs, but I suppose I'll have to see what happens.
At the moment I am home from work sick. Yesterday I had a bit of a stomach virus that hasn't entirely gone away just yet. In the past 24 hours I have had really only a few slices of toast and a bagel. I just managed to eat a banana, so perhaps this could be the beginning of the end of this terrible stomach malfeasance, but much like politicians, no matter how terrible the misconduct may be, they always seem to pop back up again and return to their dastardly deeds.
Time to drink some fluids and flush out my system.
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