How can Unions support Al Gore...

...when he supports using prisoners as workers and doesn't mind undercutting minimum wage legislation when its the federal government that needs to save money? Sure al promises to create new jobs, but how many of them will be at $.69 an hour? ;0) __________________ Quote: Originally posted by renots doesn't mind undercutting minimum wage legislation when its the federal government that needs to save money? Maybe you should understand the economics of minimum wage laws before you go spouting off with your quasi-rhetoric Quote: Sure al promises to create new jobs, but how many of them will be at $.69 an hour? Have you been outside your apartment in the last decade or so? Empolyeers are chomping at the bit to hire more workers but there just aren't enough people to fill the jobs. Job creation isn't the problem. __________________ [quote]Originally posted by BeansBaxter [b] Quote: Originally posted by renots Job creation isn't the problem. I think Renotz was trying to make the point that it's all those people in jail which is kinda make this country look bad. yes they were poor and stupid, but is that any excuse to enslave them for 20, 30 years? Maybe if we had bothered to educate them way back when we wouldn't have the skilled worker shortage we have today __________________ Quote: Originally posted by BeansBaxter [B}Maybe you should understand the economics of minimum wage laws before you go spouting off with your quasi-rhetoric[/b] ..its just a round about way of raising tax revenue that the government gets to opt out of. How CONVENIENT 90: __________________ The Big unions bosses take the money of union workers and give it to people like Al Gore. Those politicians in turn $teer contracts and work project$ the unions way. So its no $urprise unions $upport these politicians. Raising the minimum wage destroys entry level jobs. Entry level jobs that give an opportunity for poor people to get into the job market and get the training needed for careers. Also as for20 pointed out we certainly do need more educational choices in this country. The public schools aren't getting the job done for sure. __________________ Al Gore would have supported Che if he had given him money! __________________ Quote: Originally posted by renots I think Renotz was trying to make the point that it's all those people in jail which is kinda make this country look bad. What does that have to do with unions? I don't believe that was his intention at all. Quote: yes they were poor and stupid, but is that any excuse to enslave them for 20, 30 years? That all depends on why we have a penal system to begin with. Is it to punish the criminals, rehabilitate them or protect the general public. We can have this discussion but I'm not sure that's what you intended. Quote: Maybe if we had bothered to educate them way back when we wouldn't have the skilled worker shortage we have today Somewhat of a logical leap and likely flawed but I agree wholeheartedly with the premise that education is paramount. The best investment a nation can make is in the education of their children. I believe the skilled worker shortage, OTOH, is due to the stigma attached to such positions up until recently. As college students see that technology isn't just for geeks any more the shortage will quietly slip away. __________________ The apathetical attitude of some demographical groups leads them to make no effort to become educated, raise a family properly, and live in a civil manner. If methods of prevention were used to turn these things around, America would be a much better place. The theory of natural law states this same attitude. __________________ Quote: Originally posted by coleslaw The apathetical attitude of some demographical groups leads them to make no effort to become educated, raise a family properly, and live in a civil manner. Therein lies the dichotomy. In the United States, you have the freedom to do just that. It is obviously not in the best interest of the state for everyone to act in that manner but what would you rather have, the freedoms afforded by the Declaration of Independence and enumerated in the Bill of Rights or the totalitarian regime required to prevent the behavior you described? Quote: If methods of prevention were used to turn these things around, America would be a much better place. The theory of natural law states this same attitude. Please elaborate as I don't quite understand what you are trying to say. __________________ THE PROBLEM Crime costs Americans $450 billion annually. Despite two decades of “get tough” policies -- with longer, often mandatory prison sentences -- the rate of crime in America is high compared to other developed nations. Of gravest concern, juvenile violent crime has spiraled during the past decade -- especially urban gang and school violence using guns. According to the Centers for Disease Control, American youths are 12 times more likely to die by gunfire than their peers in other nations. An FBI crime report concluded that “every American has a realistic chance of being murdered because of the random nature [that] crime has assumed.” America's criminal justice system is under constant strain. Courts, police, probation and parole agencies, and prisons are overworked and inadequate to deal with the high level of crime. Clearly, a “get-tough” policy is not enough. Effective crime prevention is also crucial. Yet despite the dismal track record of “get-tough” approaches, Republican and Democratic legislators ignore proven preventive strategies and press for more police, more prisons, and stiffer punishment. Consider the following: Building more prisons has not worked. Since 1971, the U.S. prison population has increased sixfold to over 1.8 million incarcerated in 1500 state and federal prisons and 3000 jails. The U.S. now has the largest percentage of its citizens behind bars apart from Russia. Incarceration acts like a quarantine, preventing a faster acceleration of crime, but fails to eradicate the source of the crime epidemic. The threat of punishment is not enough. Most violent crime is “an impulsive response to an immediate stressful situation,” often committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol -- not a rational, considered action. Many experts feel that prisons train inmates to be better criminals. Most violent crime is committed by hard-core repeat offenders: the majority of all prisoners commit new crimes and are arrested within three years of release. More police on the street does not lower crime. Published reports indicate that increased police patrols in major U.S. cities have had little effect on crime rates. Washington, D.C., for example, has the highest police/population ratio in the nation -- and one of the highest violent crime rates. The $25 billion crime bill designed to deploy 100,000 more police represents merely a drop in the bucket and is hardly effective or cost-effective. Increasing recognition of the need for prevention has led to experimental approaches such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and midnight basketball. Unfortunately, long-term scientific studies have found no significant effects on crime and drug abuse from such programs. THE SOLUTION The Natural Law Party believes that these “bandaid” approaches do not work because they fail to address the root cause of crime -- the epidemic of stress throughout society. During the past two decades, medical science has documented the alarming rise of stress-related illness such as hypertension, stroke, and heart disease. This same build-up of stress is responsible for a similar rise in social illnesses -- crime, drug abuse, domestic violence, and family disintegration. Current crime prevention programs overlook the psychological and physiological devastation wrought by constant, traumatic stress. Stress causes a complex psychophysiological chain reaction that makes the nervous system hyperexcited and unstable. Chronic, acute stress leads to serious physiological malfunction. Among other effects, the body’s neurochemical balance is distorted, producing abnormally high levels of cortisol (a primary stress hormone) and low levels of serotonin (a key neurotransmitter) [12]. This out-of-balance biochemistry has been linked with anxiety, fear, anger, impulsive violent behavior, and substance abuse. Moreover, the combined stress of all the individuals in society builds up and creates a dangerous, criminal atmosphere in the whole community. This societal stress and tension becomes a breeding ground for more crime and violence. Thus, to reduce crime, stress must be reduced in at-risk individuals and throughout society. Reducing social stress -- In addition to a tough penal code as a deterrent to crime, the Natural Law Party offers systematic, scientifically proven programs to reduce stress in the individual and throughout society -- thus eliminating the root cause of crime. At least one such program, the Transcendental Meditation program, has been scientifically shown to (1) reduce individual and social stress; (2) reduce cortisol and increase serotonin production in the body, thus counteracting the neurochemical imbalances produced by stress; and (3) decrease anxiety, hostility, and anger, and improve psychological development and moral reasoning. Forty-three published scientific studies have shown that large groups practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program in one location reduce social stress and violence. These studies, which have investigated the impact of such groups on communities, cities, and entire nations, have consistently found decreases in crime, war deaths, and other negative social indicators, as well as improvements in economy and national mood . This innovative approach offers a highly cost-effective, scientifically proven strategy to eliminate the fundamental cause of crime through reducing individual and societal stress. Effective prison rehabilitation -- The most cost-effective prevention strategy is to target those individuals who are at highest risk for crime -- the current prison inmate population, 90% of whom will be released from prison. A five-year Harvard study investigated the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique in a maximum security prison. Inmates who learned the practice decreased significantly in stress, aggression, and mental disorders. Violence throughout the prison decreased, and the rate of return to prison among participating inmates was 30-35% less than for four other treatment groups. Similar studies in 28 other maximum security prisons have shown equally impressive results . (Current rehabilitation strategies put the cart before the horse. They try to reeducate and reform inmates without first changing inmates from within by eliminating the stress that makes them uninterested in education or incapable of being reformed.) Community policing -- In New York City, a new initiative called computer-assisted community policing has been credited with reducing crime by 40% over two years. In this approach, police are assigned to high-crime neighborhoods identified by computer tracking, work closely with these neighborhoods, and are rewarded for preventing crime. According to statistics from the New York Police Department, murder in New York City dropped 31% during the first half of 1995 compared to the first six months of 1994, with similar reductions in other categories of violent crime. This striking improvement led one journalist to refer to New York as “the suddenly safer city”. Urban revitalization -- Our overcrowded, decaying urban centers obviously contribute to the rise of stress and crime. Any program to reduce crime must involve a comprehensive plan to revitalize the inner cities, as laid out in our Revitalizing Our Inner Cities section. Drug and alcohol rehabilitation -- A high proportion of crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol and drugs. A recent study of crime in New York City found that tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse cost the city's taxpayers and corporations $20 billion in 1994 -- 21 cents of every tax dollar. The Natural Law Party would introduce programs proven to reduce drug dependency, eliminate stress, and promote mental and physical health . Preventing youth crime -- School dropouts are at highest risk for crime and drug abuse. The Natural Law Party strongly supports more effective educational programs to keep children in school, off the streets, and out of the reach of crime. Their proven educational programs unfold greater creativity and intelligence and develop ideal citizenship by raising life to be in accord with natural law and national law. The Natural Law Party’s strong educational focus is the true, long-term solution to the pervasive problem of crime. The Natural Law Party is the only political party with a truly comprehensive, scientifically proven strategy to reduce crime. Their approach is the most hard-headed and hard-hitting, since it focuses on scientifically proven programs that work. Their prevention-oriented approach will save the nation hundreds of billions of dollars and prevent immeasurable anguish and suffering in the lives of millions of Americans who are victims of crime each year. [Edited by coleslaw on 09-08-2000 at 07:56 AM] __________________ Beans: I don't know how long you've been reading these forums, but you're initial post regarding economics falls on deaf ears. Renots has roundly rejected conventional economic thought ( ). And 'Slaw, let me get this straight, because I'd heard rumours, but never seen what I assume to be official party literature. So widespread meditation will solve our problems? Pardon me while I type four letters: ROFL. Just how does this party expect to compel/coerce/force "criminals" to meditate, pray tell? This has got to be one of the nuttiest ideas, and it's amazing that the natural law party gets this much mainstream credit. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the Reform Party's nominee (Hagelin?) subscribe to the same tenets of Trancendental Meditation as a cure-all? Wow, I didn't think it was possible to discredit the reform party further after the Brouhaha over the last few months, but, hey, here we are! __________________ Let's just say that meditation sure as hell wouldn't hurt! __________________ let's just say that it doesn't matter who we vote for, they all suck. they're all politicians, and they're all as dishonest/honest as they need to be at a particular moment. the presidency is a power trip and no presidential candidate cares enough about the country to put aside the b.s. and help us all out. __________________ ...so does crime Coinkidink? iDontThinkSo! :0) p.s. present economic 'dogma' has lead to an ever concentrating circle of wealth, so excuse me if I don't buy into it butch and peenypinch. Of course if I worked for the World Scam or microhard I would laud the present 'economic theories' just like all the other 'comfortable' posters __________________ Quote: Originally posted by renots ...so does crime Coinkidink? iDontThinkSo! :0) u tell them Renotz u da man [0; __________________ Quote: Originally posted by for20 Quote: Originally posted by renots ...so does crime Coinkidink? iDontThinkSo! :0) u tell them Renotz u da man [0; I get the feeling we have another Vadimr/Vladik/Consumer Advocate on our hands! __________________ ...this is my microsoft side after all dont u like? (8& __________________ Quote: Originally posted by for20 (8& What is this thing? I don't get it...where are the eyes and where is the nose? You sneaky fella, renots...explain please? __________________ ...or couldn't you tell? C0: __________________ for20 character I yam who I Yam :0) __________________ Quote: Originally posted by renots for20 character I yam who I Yam :0) I'll send over some spinich immediately. __________________ Quote: Originally posted by pennypinch Quote: Originally posted by for20 (8& What is this thing? I don't get it...where are the eyes and where is the nose? You sneaky fella, renots...explain please? Livin' La Vida Chalupa whatsamata the bill not getting enough return on his dogsh#t taco/genetically-altered-C stock? i just wish netscrp didn't crash so much ;0) __________________ Hmm, tacopinch ain't a bad handle at all!! I could inflict some serious cultural harm here with a stereotyped Mexican accent here, but I think I've done enough damage to this board with my Buccaneer and Rastaman tomfoolery. __________________ Quote: Originally posted by renots i just wish netscrp didn't crash so much ;0) Honestly, I've been forced to use Netscape for the last month or so, and it truly is an inferior product. The crashing aside, it's just so annoying in its little quirks and eccentricities. Like if you press enter in a text box, NOTHING HAPPENS. That drives me nuts with Macs too, when I've had the good fortune to use those. That, the unintuitive menus, and maddening "here, lemme help you type the url...OH, IN FACT, HERE'S THE ONE YOU REALLY WANTED" feature: maybe chalk it up to unfamiliarity, but I was going crazy. __________________ i have to use netscape at work and it's really not that bad i hate not being able to use the enter key, but that's not that big a deal __________________ netscape 6 PR2 in linux is not that bad. although, flash doesn't work 100%, but it's getting there! __________________ On April 9, 1999, in a news conference at the National Press Club, Dr. Hagelin urged deployment of a "coherence-creating group" of 7,000 experts in the Trancendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program to the Kosovo area. Hagelin said his four-point plan would bring permanent peaceful resolution of the Kosovo crisis. The conference included a demonstration of Yogic Flying.