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Or does our government think we are stupid???

I may be presenting this in a slightly rhetorical manner, but since this illegal alien issue has conveniently been dormant in the last election cycle from the top to the bottom...

I am wondering, (actually, I am not), if the assumption is that these criminals are going to assimilate back into society and become employed, law-abiding, tax paying, members of our community now???

I mean when you look at it, does anyone believe they are going to either go home (back to the country of origin), or naturalize the right way???

Oh...Wait...I forgot...Amnesty is on the horizon, and they can take a hint from the government who recently told us to hunker down and wait it all out...

I wish someone would just go ahead and call me a racist and an anti-immigrant angry white man...

Just don't let my wife hear that...She may have some choice words for you in her native tongue...

I guess I am already tired of what I know is coming...

--rant mode off--

Yes Steve, it is you.

But you're not alone. I have been diagnosed with a not so rare ailment commonly known as LMS (Logical Man Syndrome). I think I can now be pretty sure that I have found someone else afflicted by this non-political ailment most common among engineers and working people who pay their taxes and live responsible lives. I've been told that it is non-life threatening but does sometimes lead to extreme frustration.

Rest assured, you're not alone.

Maybe we could start our own 12 step program.

Hi, my name's John, and I have LMS.

Hi, my name is David and I like to think I do...

I too suffer from LMS

tboesche wrote:I too suffer from LMS

I have "SLMS" (thats the Severe version).

As long as we do not have to go deep into the woods and pound drums and cry a lot...

Count me in...LMS member #5

flintknapper wrote:

tboesche wrote:I too suffer from LMS

I have "SLMS" (thats the Severe version).

My turn.

I have CSLMS

Chronic Severe Logical Man Syndrome.

I was born with it and did not develop it later in life.

stevie_d_64 wrote: Or does our government think we are stupid???

Yes, Stevie, the government does indeed think we are stupid.

Anygunanywhere

stevie_d_64 wrote:I am wondering, (actually, I am not), if the assumption is that these criminals are going to assimilate back into society and become employed, law-abiding, tax paying, members of our community now???

Well that's the big question on the whole crime and punishment thing, isn't it? What do you do? Seriously, if you take a 25 year old man and put him in prison for 40 years, what is the purpose in letting him out? If prison is to punish only, then you have to accept that you're going to have a significant recidivism problem, and go with it. You're simply going to have a large number of institutional criminals... and if you let them out, they're PROBABLY going to come on back. Rehabilitation is up to them, and precious few will actually go straight.

If prison is for rehabilitation, then egregiously long prison terms are counter productive. You can't put a man in prison until he's 65 then let him out without making a social security welfare issue out of him. He doesn't have TIME to be a productive member, he can't build a retirement, etc.

Mind you, I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, I'm just saying... what do you DO with these guys? Frankly, I think we would be better off if we upped the executions... But change it around a little bit. For example, someone who's an aggravated rapist should be executed. Their recidivism rate is so egregiously high that they're neigh on impossible to rehabilitate. But if someone commits murder in the heat of the moment, maybe letting them out in 10-20 years serves justice and rehabilitation. The problem is that crimes don't fit into pigeonholes all that easily, and our justice system has tried to codify and categorize everything... Well maybe some judicial latitude would better serve. Of course, judges are people too, and we know how insane some judges can be.

It's a really tough thing when you get down to analyzing it. It's simply a terrible balancing act and we don't do it well at all...and probably still better than most of the other countries in the world.

Morgan wrote:

stevie_d_64 wrote:I am wondering, (actually, I am not), if the assumption is that these criminals are going to assimilate back into society and become employed, law-abiding, tax paying, members of our community now???

Well that's the big question on the whole crime and punishment thing, isn't it? What do you do? Seriously, if you take a 25 year old man and put him in prison for 40 years, what is the purpose in letting him out? If prison is to punish only, then you have to accept that you're going to have a significant recidivism problem, and go with it. You're simply going to have a large number of institutional criminals... and if you let them out, they're PROBABLY going to come on back. Rehabilitation is up to them, and precious few will actually go straight.

If prison is for rehabilitation, then egregiously long prison terms are counter productive. You can't put a man in prison until he's 65 then let him out without making a social security welfare issue out of him. He doesn't have TIME to be a productive member, he can't build a retirement, etc.

Mind you, I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, I'm just saying... what do you DO with these guys? Frankly, I think we would be better off if we upped the executions... But change it around a little bit. For example, someone who's an aggravated rapist should be executed. Their recidivism rate is so egregiously high that they're neigh on impossible to rehabilitate. But if someone commits murder in the heat of the moment, maybe letting them out in 10-20 years serves justice and rehabilitation. The problem is that crimes don't fit into pigeonholes all that easily, and our justice system has tried to codify and categorize everything... Well maybe some judicial latitude would better serve. Of course, judges are people too, and we know how insane some judges can be.

It's a really tough thing when you get down to analyzing it. It's simply a terrible balancing act and we don't do it well at all...and probably still better than most of the other countries in the world.

Make their lives a living hell while in prison instead of club fed, and you will see those rehabilitation numbers go up...instead of warm cushy beds..give em cots, instead of 3 squares a day...give em clean/dry baloney sandwiches, turn off the power, let the air blow thru the building thru the bars..if they hate it there...they might try harder once they get out to STAY out!