"mixed race people threaten the core of a racist society"
 -Lani Kaahumanu

Prop 9

For more than two decades, California voters have approved by overwhelming margins
pretty much any tough-on-crime initiative put before them. Operating on the mistaken
premise that a generation of leniency had made the state a playground for killers,
and reacting to the anger of heartbroken families of the latest high-profile crime
victims, voters have opted for any ballot measure that would lock up more wrongdoers
and throw away the key.One of the results has been penal institutions that are so
overcrowded and treat inmates so poorly that they have been found to violate the
constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

So it is noteworthy and encouraging that voters in Tuesday's election said no to the
latest overreaching criminal justice initiative. Proposition 6, seductively titled
the Safe Neighborhoods Act, would have added new spending mandates, locking up yet
another chunk of the state budget for programs that appeal to the punitive portion
of Californians' nature but do nothing to make people safer.Is this the end? Does
the defeat of Proposition 6 demonstrate that voters finally have come of age and
will no longer fall for any ballot measure that preys on fear and outrage?Sadly, no.
On the same day they rejected Proposition 6, voters embraced Proposition 9, the
so-called Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008, also known as Marsy's Law. It had all
the old ingredients: an emotionally powerful story, a billionaire funder, assertions
that the criminal justice system is outrageously tilted toward the defense. It seems
not to have made a difference that the rich backer is under criminal indictment.
Voters seem to have forgotten that they previously approved a victims' bill of
rights, and that the Legislature periodically passes laws under the same heading.
The title may make us feel safer -- but the problems lie in the substance.
By revoking the chance at a parole hearing for as much as 15 years, Proposition 9
invites constitutional challenge. By layering new requirements on prosecutors to
notify the families of crime victims at every stage of proceedings, it may create
huge new public liability. It replaces a system run by impartial prosecutors, judges
and juries with a system that places those with a desire for vengeance in the
position of dispensing justice.Resources better spent on prosecuting criminals will
instead be devoted to challenging and defending these newly created rights, many of
which prosecutors and defense lawyers predict will be found unconstitutional or at
least unenforceable in any meaningful way. In an internal report, the Los Angeles
district attorney's office predicts "significant litigation on virtually every
aspect of this initiative being filed."When will we ever learn?

Dinner#1

By the way, i love to cook, it makes me happy...kinda like having a Black president

what i cooked for dinner .yummy saffron rice and Caribbean inspired shrimp...and salad of course...

oh yes and banana blueberry strawberry nut muffins...

beginning

So i'm giving a go at this blogging thing, mainly because it's the only way I can think of to get writing again, which is way past due. Here it go.

bits and pieces of my thesis have been read by people here and there, so i figure sharing some of what is in there wouldn't hurt too bad. 

Mornings in limbo

miles traveled through snow

latitude lines

hotel parking lots with fake mills

pumping stale water into ponds

filled with pennies people left behind

hoping to make wishes come true

I imagine this    to be different

 

your migration was swift

hoping not to be seen

you moved through the night

baby in belly

you held everything close

tried to stay warm

strong

alive

 

by the time you reached where you were going

things

laws

had changed

and no one came looking for you

only while sleeping did you hear

the distant barking of dogs

your own feat

hitting hard on soft ground

a deafening heartbeat

 

I have these dreams too sometimes

the genetic imprint you left   passed to me

still find myself

running

searching for someplace

safer than this

home maybe

 

And why do I remember at times like this

always while traveling

always by water

always in the morning