Counted Blessings

Stunned with disbelief at what she said,
Time stood frozen, momentary strife,
A thousand fractured futures in his head.

Words not meant to cut still flash a knife,
Trading childish dreams for childhood plans,
Blinking comprehension–fragile life–

Sees her single tear, her shaking hands,
Knows the silence weighs on her like bricks,
Thinks of her, and all the new demands . . .

Shakes himself, the newness of it pricks,
Yet faith in eyes he loves removes all dread,
Two’ve more strength than one to bear life’s tricks:
Taking her hands, “Together”‘s all he said.

No Sympathy for the Devils

Via Crooks&Liars comes this story of Georgia inmates staging a “strike” and demanding ”getting paid for their work, better nutrition, better medical care and more educational opportunities.”

While I’m certainly against “cruel & unusual punishment,” taking away their cigarettes and not paying union dues for laundry labor is a far cry from having to pound rocks on the chain gang 18 hours a day.  These are not the cream of society, they are people convicted of crimes against society.  Prison is supposed to be punishment, not a model for a new society. 

OT: The commenters on the C&L article really need to get a grip on their comparisons to “Slave Labor.”  Slaves have no rights, if you recall, and could be murdered by their masters without recourse, without cause.  These prisoners made a choice at one time or another that earned them the title of criminal.  These prisoners committed crimes (cause) and have been through the trial process (their path to recourse, should they be innocent).  If they were slaves they’d be hung or shot or worse simply for being “uppity.”  Slaves never had a choice, or a chance to redeem themselves through conduct, free education, training, etc. 

Taking away cigarettes isn’t cruel & unusual.  Burning the name of your crime onto your forehead with lit cigarettes, like a permanent “Scarlet Letter,” now that would be more like it.

COME VISIT ME

At the new blog!  And don’t forget to change your links! 

I’M MOVING THE BLOG

There are many subtle reasons, and I do like the security of wordpress, but there’s a lot that I can’t do here that I can on other platforms.  Blogger has fixed quite a lot of their glitches, and so the deed is done.  I don’t quite have all of the links ported over yet, and I’m sure the traffic will go waaaay down, but there is just so much more maneuverability within Blogger that I’m forcing the change.  (Plus, of course, there’s that whole “placing ads” thing that you can’t do here.)

The posts that are already here will remain here, but you may want to switch your links over to the new blog (and to the one subscriber that has the feed on his front page–well, Matt, I wouldn’t mind the publicity if you switched the feed!) 

This blog will remain up–I see no reason to take it down.  And the rss feeds should continue to function.  But my words of wisdom will from now on be found at GreenMountainJamie.blogspot.com.   And if you should all choose to change your links appropriately, I’d appreciate the business! 

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The Smoking Gun reported that, prior to the lawsuit, officials from Victoria’s Secret had asked to see the offending underwear but were refused by Patterson’s lawyer.