Shift Wits » Public Outrage

“I’m A Huge Fan Of Cluster Bombs” – Part One

Darren — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:02:48 +0000

Cluster bombs have been in the news lately in a larger than usual quantity. Human rights groups have achieved some major successes in the eradication of the dangerous weapons, in recent months, but haven’t quite been able to assure their complete removal of the devices from the lexicon of modern warfare. Over 111 nations have signed a new treaty that would eliminate cluster bombs, but the biggest offenders in the world, including my beloved United States, refused to sign off, which makes the agreement somewhat useless, considering these are the nations whose miltaries use the weapons the most.

Who loves cluster bombs?

The title of this post is a statement I truly can’t picture any sane and caring modern person making. Only a military person or war profiteer could possibly say the love cluster bombs and what they do to countries. Long after you declare peace with an enemy, the cluster bombs you leave lying around the country blow up innocent people. And any country that has a casual attitude about maiming non-combatants once a military conflict is over will surely lose the respect of any sane citizens.

So why are cluster bombs still around?

Cluster bombs are still here because they’re effective. Although in many sense, they represent a rather primitive technology, the technique of cluster bombing has been used to much effect in most major conflicts. The military of the United States views cluster bombing as an important technique.

Military officials like them because they leave a large “footprint” and are highly versatile, if not accurate. “There is some category of targets where cluster bombs are the preferred ammunition,” Pike says. For example, he says, they are highly effective against soft, or unarmored, targets like airfields or an infantry battalion walking down the road. Dropping one 1,000-pound bomb may not find enemies in a foxhole, says Ivan Oelrich, vice president of the Strategic Security Project at the Federation of American Scientists. “But if I drop a thousand one-pound bombs,” he says, “a certain fraction will find people in a foxhole. It’s many times more effective to take my explosive package and divide it up into smaller subdivisions.”
Experts estimate that there’s a stockpile of 4 billion cluster bombs in the world, mostly in the hands of the U.S., China, and Russia.

Cluster bomb use has risen in the last 15 years, and the use of the weapons in the 2006 conflict between Hamas and Israel in Lebanon seems to have galvanized a number of nations against their use. Other weapons treaties have had a positive effect for human rights, so a number of groups are quite happy about the results of the recent accord. But many experts recognize the need to go much further when it comes to banning certain munitions.

…..to be continued…..

The Effects Of High Gas Prices

Darren — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:45:24 +0000

For Americans, cheap energy prices have been mostly a fact of life. For years, there appeared to be no slow down for auto makers who kept on making cars (and then trucks and SUVs) bigger and bigger, with more horsepower than needed, with no thought to what would happen if gas prices were to rise sharply. Right now, a few years ago seem like much simpler times, when you consider just how expensive gas has become for many Americans.

High gas prices are causing American drivers to drive less

Gasoline started breaking records in 2007. That year, for the first time in U.S history, Americans drove less than the year before. The decline wasn’t huge at 3.00 trillion miles from 3.01 trillion miles in 2006. However, it represented the first paradigm shift from prior years which always saw more consumption than the year before. And this trend hasn’t stopped in 2008.

In March of 2008, Americans drove a full 11 trillion miles less than they did in March of 2007. With gas at $4.00 per gallon, it appears the pain has become too great for many Americans to continue to fuel up.

And what further effect has been felt from the high gas prices? Americans have lost their appetites for large cars and have gained a taste for hybrids and energy efficient vehicles. GM and Ford are both mulling over severe cuts in Truck and SUV production as less people are thinking big than ever before.

Furthermore, the high cost of gas is felt by just about everyone and every sector. Higher fuel costs add to the prices of other items, causing a double-whammy effect on people’s budgets. As gas prices rise, people are cutting back elsewhere.

Does the cloud of high gas prices contain a silver lining?

Generally when things seem as bleak as they do with high gas prices, it’s tough to come up with the positives. But in the case of high gas prices, it’s exciting to think that American consumerism is probably at a turning point as people are generally spooked over a commodity they rely on costing so much money.

The only time a paradigm shift can occur is when the pain of doing things the same way as usual becomes to great. And that’s the point the country is at when it comes to high gas prices. People don’t want to, or can’t, allow themselves to pay any more money for fuel and it’s causing them to educate themselves on incredibly important issues that are facing us all.

Right now the rush is on to satisfy consumers by offering more hybrid and eco friendly cars, as well as to really come up with ideas that would move the country away from the potentially devastating addiction to foreign oil. Without major pain for Joe Consumer, it’s doubtful such interest would have manifested in such a short time. But the high gas prices are here and they appear to be staying.

For all of us, we’ll need to decide how we’ll deal with these skyrocketing prices. As more and more of us choose to drive less, the drop in demand should strongly signal to oil speculators that the bull run is over. Hopefully once the gas prices do return to a lower level (if they do), the painful lesson of the last few years will be learned.

More Prisons Being Built – Continued

Darren — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:59:01 +0000

Continued from More Prisons Being Built.

One undeniable fact can’t be avoided. Lots more people than in the past have been arrested in the United States in recent years.

On December 31, 2006 —

– 2,258,983 prisoners were held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails – an increase of 2.9% from yearend 2005, less than the average annual growth of 3.4% since yearend 1995.
– 1,502,179 sentenced prisoners were under State or Federal jurisdiction.
– there were an estimated 501 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents – up from 411 at yearend 1995.
– the number of women under the jurisdiction of State or Federal prison authorities increased 4.5% from yearend 2005, reaching 112,498, and the number of men rose 2.7%, totaling 1,458,363.

At year end 2006 there were 3,042 black male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,261 Hispanic male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 Hispanic males and 487 white male sentenced prisoners per 100,000 white males.

The stats are just as dreary as one might have thought they’d be. Millions of people are in prison, they aren’t all violent offenders, and a disproportionate amount of the imprisoned are minorities.

Couple the rising prisoner totals with the constant charges of corruption, mis-treatment of prisoners, and general ethical malaise of the prison system, and you have one of the most serious problems facing our nation. When our country attempts to imply moral authority on the subject of human rights, a pattern of unfair treatment of prisoners always undermine credibility by illustrating hypocrisy.

As a fair minded people, we need to enter a debate on the public policy concerning many of our most vulnerable citizens. When we no longer think people can be rehabilitated, we’ve given up on one of the basic beliefs that used to be sacred to us as a people. As a result, we become more coarse and cynical.

More Prisons Being Built

Darren — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:36:23 +0000

Lately I can’t help but notice the fact that more prisons are being built. Even a purfunctory scan of the news will turn up stories such as this one about a new prison being built in Nevada by “Corrections Corp. of America”.

CCA’s (NYSE: CXW) new 1,072-bed Nevada Southern Detention Center is expected to house about 1,000 federal inmates and detainees from the United States Marshals Service as well as potential populations from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The new prison is located about 65 miles outside of Las Vegas.

The story goes on to tell us that Corrections Corp. of America operates 65 “facilities” that have a total capacity of 78,500 “beds”. This is a publicly traded company that is building more capacity for “beds” in anticipation of even larger numbers of prisoners in coming years.

As the largest operator of such facilities, CXW has amassed a market cap of $3.2 billion. That fact right there is enough to give me pause for thought. Keeping prisoners is an increasingly profitable business and growing employer, without many of the traditional problems of contemporary businesses. The “customers” are literally captive, and the the ways by which these companies are judged do not reward them for compassion.

Before CXW builds this prison in Nevada, they have been basically guaranteed a profit. The government has guaranteed CXW that at least 750 of their new beds will be filled.

When the government offloads the responsibility of caring for prisoners to private companies, it gives the appearance that they aren’t concerned with prisoner welfare, but are more interested in cost savings. Trouble is, the jury is still out when it comes to how substantial these cost savings really are.

Continued: More Prisons Being Built – Continued