Just punishment?

And what should we do for others who are found guilty aside from letting them spend whatever-amount-in-jail, expensive warm jail with exercise and food regimens?

Or, take for example the almost generic plain-vanilla Crime Family convicted of stealing about 900$’s worth (well, got caught for that amount) and, if convicted, can face up to 8 years in jail? What good does that do for anyone, including taxpayers? Letting’em all rot in jail is a waste of manpower and/or any of the skills that these people do or can possess that can be used, as their punishment for the greater good of the city… heck, even planting trees or vegetables, or typing letters for the elderly who can no longer write them themselves… or whatever!  When they sleep, they can have time for their own selves… I realize this is harsh and this transition from bleeding heart liberal to a harsher stance in me has taken almost five decades to its current near fruition, but I mean this for career petty thieves or those on Welfare with the sense of entitlement which is not screwing the government as much as all the taxpayers and those who are really in need of Welfare…. Article follows this one…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080126/ap_on_fe_st/odd_judge_homeless_sentence

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080126/ap_on_fe_st/odd_judge_homeless_sentence

Man spends night homeless as sentence

Sat Jan 26, 1:06 AM ET

PAINESVILLE, Ohio – A Salvation Army worker who was ordered by a judge to spend a night homeless for stealing a holiday kettle containing about $250 returned to court Friday with red eyes and red cheeks.

Nathen Smith who was fitted with a GPS device to track his moves, spent Thursday night ducking in and out of government buildings for warmth, including a stop at the Lake County sheriff’s office.

Smith also walked through a park, but did not go under a bridge where many of Painesville’s homeless sleep, probation supervisor David Washlock said.

“It’s hard to find a spot to go that’s warm, unless you’re inside,” an unshaven Smith told Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti, who issued the sentenced.

Smith, 28, worked as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army outside a Kmart store in nearby Eastlake on Dec. 17. Police arrested Smith at his mother’s house after a co-worker reported that one of eight kettles was missing.

The Salvation Army uses kettle donations to help pay for food, clothing and shelter for the homeless.

Smith, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft, still must serve three days in jail, do eight hours of community service, get a general equivalency diploma and find a job, the judge said.

Painesville is about 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_fe_st/family_shoplifting;_ylt=Ao6lF2gmutyBNvC3cKhiddEuQE4F

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080125/ap_on_fe_st/family_shoplifting;_ylt=Ao6lF2gmutyBNvC3cKhiddEuQE4F

Police: Family caught shoplifting

Fri Jan 25, 1:11 PM ET

LODI, Calif. – Shoplifting is all in the family for one California clan, police say.

A grandmother, her daughter and some of her grandchildren tried to steal $900 worth of merchandise from a Target store in Lodi, 35 miles south of Sacramento, police Officer Misty Smith said.

The family’s alleged shoplifting spree earlier this week was captured by surveillance video, which police say showed them cutting open boxes and hiding MP3 players, digital cameras, DVDs, jewelry and sports equipment in purses, bags and a backpack.

An 8-year-old and a 5-year-old were among the family members detained.

“The 5-year-old actually had a pack of gum. A small item but we could see where her life was heading because she thinks more than likely this is a normal way of life, this is what you do,” said Dale Eubanks of the Lodi police.

Linda Robinson, 59, and her 36-year-old daughter, Anna Fernandez, were charged Wednesday with burglary, grand theft, vandalism and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They were released from jail. If convicted, each could face eight years in prison.

Fernandez’s teenage sons, 17 and 14, were arrested on suspicion of grand theft and will face charges in juvenille court, authorities said. Another teen not related to the family also was arrested.

The two children were released to relatives and will not face charges.

It was not immediately clear if the family had a lawyer.

DNA, our information can be gotten for real cheap; but, then, since the sellers are corporations, and the primary existence for a corporation is to make their shareholders money, this information is subject to all sorts of scary things and can end up in all sorts of frightening places for issues not yet even thought of, let alone the current ones that might prevent you from getting insurance coverage etc., based on faulty interpretations of data, simply because it is still all too new  (and, as seems to become the norm these days, is not being given a chance to grow in a safe/educational kind of environment first without being sold for money and those fifteen minutes of fame and glory first) blah blah blah… Even so, the need to know where we came from is strong and even compelling….

I read the following article today and it reminded me of this project I had read about a few years back where DNA was taken from each resident in Iceland because, aside from their citizens’ willingness and curiosity which permitted the collections to be made, in the first place, Iceland was pretty isolated and, if I remember correctly, there wasn’t a humongous diversity as many were related to one another, and brother and sister marrying let alone kissing cousins was not only permitted by law and morality/ethics but encouraged as a necessity for survival etc. It was a fascinating idea and I wondered what would eventually happen… Like Dolly, where cloning was said NOT to be ever used on humans or other animals, (and, what ho, what ho, but the US is now going to allow cloned cattle to be sold as regular beef with NO labelling in their long and predictable march of putting the almighty dollar ahead of any of their citizens (and, unfortunately, because of who they are, the citizens of the rest of the world) and I just read a headline last week or the week before about cloning a male human, so of course, forget that technology is so ahead of our humaneness, but money and the greed for it trumps all else once again… Is this REALLY what the founding fathers of that mighty country meant by pursuing happiness and freedom, ie., this narrow vision of getting money at the cost of all else and all else be d*mned? Ah, fodder for a million other blog entries but I digress….)

Anyway, here is the article that inspires interesting thought patterns and ideas and visions of the future, our collective future… My hope is still that we help one another first before commerce and exploitation for personal gain, or solely for personal gain – especially at the cost of privacy for others…. I was taught that if you added a bit more water to the soup, we could all eat at the table and be welcomed to so do… I think my value is in the minority; I have certainly heard a lot of lip service to this but once the veneer of the politically-correct thing to SAY is removed, that abovementioned interpretation of the American dream in pursuit of happiness and freedom, unfortunately prevails…. and all I can think is how sad it is for the children of today who start life with what we babyboomers evolved into doing and seeing for pleasure and whatever else… these children of our collective future… argh! but that, too, is a topic for billions of other blog entries….)

The question here is, would you buy the information to get your DNA and then who knows who else would buy in to get access to it for whatever reason (surely not for YOUR benefit, in any case)?.. or is this going to start off with those types who are willing to jerk off in some room to sell their semen at $50-$100 a pop, every week or month for several years or as long as they can sell it…. how utterly distasteful.. I realize that, even in the Victorian age, there were secrets and unwed mothers or rape or incest victims producing children who were passed off as the offspring of others but how many times are the chances of meeting your half brother or sister increased when your father is the type who wants to sell his sperm for a few bucks that he thinks will bring him closer to the monetary side of the pursuit of happiness and freedom? Sheesh that was a mouthful.. I guess i should take the time to divide my ramble and write better, properly researched and footnoted articles… whatever…

in the meantime, rambling or not, I am but one individual and the larger idea of the gathering of our DNA information into one centralized databank system is so compelling, as compelling as what might be done with it, given today’s atmosphere and regard for money, as it is revolting and frightening… what to do? what to do?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080123.wgenetics23/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

and

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/bioethics/9902/iceland.dna/template.html

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/bioethics/9902/iceland.dna/template.html

Attention Shoppers: Special Today — Iceland’s DNA

by Jeffrey P. Kahn, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Director, Center for Bioethics
University of Minnesota

complete articles inside…

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