This is one of a line of Cartoons from Mickey Cain showing a day in the life of his 2 favorite squirels Starsky and Crockett as they patrol squirel town, serve and protect all squirrels and human citizens.

I really need to stay away from reading the latest about the California Governator and his prison budgets… cuz, it really pisses me off! In a way, I really wanna know what is going on with our money, but then when I find out, I just get upset because its jacked and there seems to be little anyone can do to relieve popular hysteria that is allowing the large prison unions to suck us all dry.

The California Parole system is broken, but it is broken for a good reason, to line the pockets of the correction system unions with 6 figure salaries, people who would only be qualified to work at Jack-in-the-crack without them. I mean, you need tons of people to get tons in overtime and they make sure getting tons of people is no problem. Civil rights? hell, they got trumped by 100k+ salaries to idiots who flunked out of pre-school.

Seriously, the California prison system is one of the largest on the planet with the highest rate of paperwork and parole violators on the planet to match. The Governator just asked for billions more to build more California prisons so California can hire more cousins as guards and give people prison time on their parking tickets so more guards can buy those gas guzzling Hummers they seem to love. Hell, almost makes you wish you were related to a California prison guard, no need for education or even 1/2 a braincell, they take care of their own, ya know.

There is a family I know, if it wasn’t for the correction officer union they would all be on welfare and there is over a dozen of em. They make me sick, always saying how great it is to be able to vote for your own raises and be able to hire all your friends and family. Yep, they claim they vote on whether to get a raise or not… ahh, let me think about that one… “I vote not. California is in a budget crisis ya know… my new Maseratti can wait! DUHHH!”

The sad fact is that the California parole board makes it very hard for parolees to NOT get violated. Getting pulled over for a traffic ticket may get you a year and 3 years of parole no matter what the original sentence, is mandatory. Many people do more time on violations than the original offense, keeping the union fat and happy.

Many parolees are forced into crazy restrictions, even though they are now “free”. I just saw a story about a block of houses in the ghetto. It seems that the parole officers are FORCING the parolees to live there. Once there, they are not allowed to get back to work and are made to file for welfare, whether they want to or not. The welfare is to pay for the housing and the fleet of BMW’s (and all the gold teeth) the cousin, sorry, I mean the home owner wants.

They stack bunk beds 10 deep in the bedrooms and force the “free” men to stay there and pay rent with the welfare money that gets sent directly to the cousin, sorry, the homeowner. If the men have a home and a job to go to and actually leave… well, it’s a violation and another year in prison.

I talked to this kid, he was about 21, he told me he refused to go on welfare, he said he had a wife and child to take care of and if he did the welfare, they would take it out of HER paychecks from work (his wife), he was actually allowed to work (after many complaint letters) and tried to work but the job was 50 miles away from house and it took 2 hours on a bus to get to work. He said they refused to allow him to live closer to his job, seems it was just too much paperwork. Anyway, he is now back in prison because he was late coming back twice… 2 to 3 hours late… Once because of the bus and once because his boss needed some overtime. His wife and child? well, seems their home is now in foreclosure because she just can not pay all the bills alone. Child support? she gets none because “cousin” takes the welfare check. He needs a few more 140″ flat panel plasma tv’s, to give as gifts to the union members that set him up, fat, collecting welfare checks for 30 fools living in his 3 bedroom house. All thanks to the Governator and the State of California!

Here is a quote regarding this issue..

Whoa! Take a deep breath for a minute. I happen to be a Correctional Officer in a state institution that holds about 7200 inmates. I must say (and I am a progressive) that you don’t want these men back on the streets. Many can barely read, don’t have a work ethich other than selling dope, and are prone to violence. God knows what people are capable of doing while under the influence. Be careful what you pray for, you just may get it…

Funny how “ethic” is mis-spelled above from the original quote. That attitude sums us the California budget crisis in regards to the bloated prison population. “God forbid that someone who can not read, be taught how to read, hey, they would then be able to read the paperwork, point out the mis-spellings and maybe some other bullshit being spread on taxpayers.

Just throw them into the bottomless hole where they belong and do everything possible to keep them there for years after the original sentence was completed, drain dry the struggling taxpaying families, schools and social programs to lock up as many people as possible for as long as possible “. Speaking about being prone to violence… I saw some news piece some time back about the Coecoran prison guards who were setting up prison fights to the death for the sake of their own entertainment and gambling… Does that qualify as violent? Criminal sentencing needs to stay where it belongs, with the justice system, NOT the labor unions and their kin.
Unrealistic parole rules set as a blanket, regardless of the individual situation is insane. What is sick ass shit is that the only reason they make it impossible for the parolee’s to get back into society, work and family is to make sure the prisons stay FULL. Without full prisons, there would be no need for tons of overtime! It sickens me that every other state wants parolees to get to work and become self-sufficient while California forces them into insane conditions, all set up to bring them back into prison for the 3 years! WTF Taxpayers? We need school books NOT welfare for parolees that are not allowed to work.

Crazy thing is, that 21 year old kid also said that he tried smoking crack at the house for the first time ever(he was not into drugs, he went to prison over a stupid drunken brawl). He said everyone is so bored that all there is left to do is dope. Thats great, my 28% of income tax is going into starting some kids drug problem and keeping up the neighborhood’s crack house. GO GO Governator!

wanna know more about the governator Arnie and the california budget due to intentional prison overcrowding to make a few rich? read this article about how much money California may waste as our school children lack the funds needed for things like…. books

This sums it all up, comment from another article about needing billions more yearly to build more prisons..

I find California’s prison system to be a “MONEY PIT”. And until they revise the Sentensing process and Parole System and get these parts out of the hands of the Prison Unions their will never be an answer. California has turned the Fox Loose in the Hen house.

Bro, the Union’s foxes seem to have penned up not just the hens, but every rooster, turkey and pigeon for their pluckings.

Making money hand over fist and still taking..

People need to be more educated in the real reason why more prison are being build. I college student and my research has been on the Prison Industrial Compex. PRISONS ARE THE NEW SLAVE TRADE. Fortune 500 and multi-billion dollar corporations such as McDonalds, Microsoft, Boeing, Sprint, Compaq, Toys R Us, and Revlon and Victoria ’s Secret use prison labor for packing, telemarketing, and manufacturing. Hattery, Angela and Smith, Earl. (2006) The prison industrial complex. Sociation Today, 4 (2).

This is on the main site, but WTF, here it is again…

Yep, Some of those hardcore conservatives in Texas may be showing their true color… its red, the same color as their necks.

What the f@ck are these fools thinking in Texas? Not sure if this is real or fake, but it sounds about right for some of the thinking in that neighborhood.
I read today that the Texas GOB(Good Ole Boys) had a GOP meeting and had made

these lovely pins asking the ridiculous question. I gotta admit, with some of the political intelligence that has come from the great state of Texas (GWB and friends), I can understand their confusion.

I have a better question to the GOP. Do you fools REALLY fund that shit or better yet, accept money from the hicks who dared even participate in that meeting? Scratch that, I already know the answer.

You don’t have to dig deep or far to find corruption in non profit organizations. Most people would agree that there is plenty of profit to be made in non-profits for the wealthy supporters, trustees and board members.

Seems the IRS is taking a closer look into conservation land deals. It kinda goes as so… a company buys land for conservation purposes, the land is not historic nor serves much environmental value, they then sell the land at a discount, after adding a few “conservation” restrictions towards its development. The land is sold to trustees at a discount and the trustee then makes a tax deductible “cash gift” to the company in the amount of the difference. The trustee gains the land at a considerable savings due to the “so called” money gift tax deduction they made to the company they purchased it from.

The IRS is having an issue with that procedure because the tax gifts are worth more that the restriction placed on the land.

I gotta wonder what some of the restrictions are…. maybe they only chop down 90%  of the trees instead of all of them. Thumbs up for not for profit conservation groups.

RS Toughens Scrutiny of Land Gifts
By Joe Stephens and David B. Ottaway
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 1, 2004; Page A01

TThe Internal Revenue Service announced yesterday that it is cracking
down on improper tax deductions taken by people who give real estate and
cash to environmental groups, warning that taxpayers could face
penalties and charities could lose their tax-exempt status.

The IRS is specifically targeting gifts of “conservation easements” -
deed restrictions that limit some types of real estate development. The
easements have become the environmental movement’s key tool for
preserving fragile ecosystems and millions of acres of open space.

The IRS is focusing on easements that have questionable public benefit
or have been manipulated to generate inflated deductions.

“We’ve uncovered numerous instances where the tax benefits of preserving
open spaces and historic buildings have been twisted for inappropriate
individual benefit,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a
statement. “Taxpayers who want to game the system and the charities that
assist them will be called to account.”

The IRS warned that it intends to levy penalties on charity executives
and board members who collect or knowingly help secure improper
deductions claimed in connection with such transactions.

The announcement did not name individual taxpayers or charities. It
comes as the IRS is conducting a major audit of the Arlington-based
Nature Conservancy, the world’s largest environmental organization.

The Washington Post reported last year that the Conservancy had
repeatedly bought land, added some development restrictions, and then
resold the properties at reduced prices to its trustees and other
supporters. The buyers made cash gifts to the Conservancy roughly equal
to the difference in price, thereby qualifying for substantial tax
deductions - just as if they had given money to their local charity.

The Conservancy said the sales prices were proper because the
development restrictions reduced the market value of the tracts. In the
wake of the news articles, however, the Conservancy announced that it
would no longer conduct such deals with its board members and trustees.

Sheldon Cohen, a former IRS commissioner now working as a private lawyer
in Washington, called yesterday’s announcement an unusually strong
action. He said, “It is pretty obvious who it is aimed at.”

Conservancy spokesman James Petterson said yesterday that executives
there were studying the IRS action.

“The Nature Conservancy over the last decade has received several legal
opinions reflecting other interpretations of the law,” Petterson said.
“We are reviewing what the IRS issued, assessing its impact on our
programs and determining appropriate actions.”

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Cop by day, drug lord by night, sounds about right. This fool even had his mother involved in his operation. Why did he do it? He told the judge he was just being stupid. I guess that sounds a bit better than just being greedy and corrupt.

Akron -Former Cleveland police officer Zvonko Sarlog #2343,  police officer, 2nd district, Cleveland,  was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday (2/2008)for moonlighting as a drug trafficker while wearing the badge.

A contrite Sarlog told U.S. District Judge David Dowd during his sentencing hearing that his actions were born of “stupidity, naivety, and foolishness.” The six-year police veteran also said he feared imprisonment because of his law enforcement past.

Sarlog, 37, was arrested in August after a federal investigation exposed his role in a drug ring that brought cocaine and marijuana to Northeast Ohio. Sarlog served as a bagman and coordinator for ring leader and longtime friend Ljubomir Rkman.

Federal prosecutors originally asked Dowd to give Sarlog between 12 and 15 years because the officer breached the public’s trust.

“He’s the only person in the conspiracy who raised his hand and swore to uphold the law,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney Robert Patton.

Dowd, however, gave Sarlog the mandatory minimum of 10 years, mostly because Rkman received a five-year sentence after a plea bargain. Five other co-defendants received sentences between one and four years after plea deals.

Sarlog’s expressions of remorse and shame to Dowd were a far cry from the roguish rhetoric Sarlog used as a drug dealer. During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors — in an effort to demonstrate Sarlog’s work as a lieutenant in the ring — played several phone conversations during which Sarlog nervously bossed around his drug-trafficking associates.

Those underlings included his mother Stefanija. After the woman failed to successfully deliver money to a drug courier, Sarlog became agitated and ordered her to try again. “You go and do it,” he said sternly in a phone conversation recorded by investigators.

Stefanija Sarlog, 60, of Parma, was never charged in the conspiracy. Zvonko Sarlog bought a house across the street from his mother’s house and planned to use it as a stash house, according to prosecutors.

FBI Special Agent Brian Young also testified that Sarlog once displayed a gun to an undercover agent and boasted “I run this [expletive]. Over time you’ll see what I’m all about.”

Story from the Cleveland Metro blog

The Lagunajournal website has a great deal of information on Orange County Sheriff, now ex sheriff Mike Carona. Looking through it, I found this story that I have never heard of before today.

This really angers me, as it should all of us. How is this a justifiable shooting?

The Orange County Sheriffs yesterday, were testing a new type of gun. The gun has a camera built into it so there is a record of the shooting from the officers perspective. The crying from the cops over this technology is a post in itself, seems they believe a camera to be unfair and biased… yes, the camera has a point of view that can not be twisted, the suspect either had a gun or did not… that seems to scare them. Why?

The writer of this Commentary is a minor. Name is withheld.

Off Duty U.S. Customs officer shoots unarmed 19-year old Arab-American in head and face according to eye witness’s. Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona ’s spokesmen stated that officer committed no wrong-doing and did not even take him in for questioning.

This incident happened about 15 minutes from my house in the Madrid apartment complex in Mission Viejo, CA on Feb 5, 2005.

As far as a political discussion, this would probably fall under the same category as Amadou Diallo Case, and Abner Louima in an example of law enforcement brutality bordering on outright criminality. Here are the relevant facts:

Early in the morning on Saturday February the 6th around 1:30 am, Bassim Chmait along with three other friends were walking through an apartment complex heading towards a college house party. As they were walking through the apartment complex one of the neighbors threw a soda can at them from above. In frustration, one of the young boys threw the can into the street, and continued walking down the pathway of the apartment heading to the party. At that point Douglas Bates, an off duty U.S. Custom’s officer, left his home with his badge in hand and gun drawn confronting the group of 4 to 6 friends. . he started to yell at them, and when the group of boys turned around, they saw the provoker yelling at them about laughing and being too loud, he was heading towards them pointing his gun a them with a badge in the other hand, yelling “You don’t want to fuck with a cop, do you?” Apparently he was upset at the noise and commotion. Mr. Bates then pistol whipped one member of the group. The aggressor was an off duty border patrol/homeland security officer who was not in uniform, his name is Douglas Bates. The four unarmed boys were questioning him, asking why he was pointing his gun at them and begging him to put it down. One of the four boys that were there kept asking the gunman to stop pointing the barrel of the gun in his friends direction. Because of that, the aggressor pistol-whipped his friend on the forehead w/ the gun. Anticipating that the provoker was going to hit his friend again Chmait Bassim got in front of his friends telling the man to please put the gun down. Almost instantly the off duty cop shot Bassim in the head and face by Douglas Bates. After shooting Bassim, Mr. Bates simply walked back into his apartment. While friends were screaming about what happened to Bassim, neighbors dialed 911. About 5 minutes later the murderer opened his door, with the gun still in hand and yelled at neighbors to shut up, and he want back inside his apartment.

This story comes straight from four witnesses, and neighbors that were there when the murder took place, they saw and heard everything that occurred that night.

You would think that this would be an easy case to prosecute. You would think that Douglas Bates is in jail right now. But he’s not, he’s a free man, he was never arrested, he was never charged, he was never even asked to come to the police station to give a statement. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Spokesman, Jim Amormino stated, “We treated this the same as we would any case. There was no clear evidence of a crime being committed, so there was nothing to book him on.”

Here are the reports that this information was taken from:

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So today I see that Nancy Pelosi (speaker of the house) got a bail out for salmon fisherman put through using her power as speaker and bypassing vote (see earmark reform).

174 million dollars for Salmon fisherman who now need to stoop to catching other fish because the Salmon are low… wait a minute…

This smells a bit foul, here’s why

the fisherman are getting 6 figure checks based on work they do not need to do.

The fisherman are picking a “GREAT” season between 2002 and 2005 and are allowed to be reimbursed for the highest season’ s earnings. Talk about living the American dream.

They are not out of work, they just have to catch other fish in the meantime, but they are still getting a paycheck for the boats they did not run, hands they did not employ, gas they did not use, in trying to catch Salmon… so they get 2 paydays this year. 1 for the Best Catch Ever (from US TaxPayers) and one for this seasons(if they feel like working since they already are getting paid for their best catch in years).

Sounds like a great gig, and… they got a part of this last year also for smaller catches. I do not want my kid to go to college, hell NO, he needs to get a farm or fishing boat! Why work if you don’t need to.. right? that seems to be Nancy Pelosi’s argument.

Can someone reimburse me for the years of diminished tech wages? I mean, my engineering degrees mean shit nowadays when most Tech and programming jobs have been outsourced to India at 1/10th our pay.

I don’t even bother with programming anymore since all I even hear is “the guys in India will do it for 50 cents”, So its not done right… but hey, at those prices they can come back and pay Americans to fix it saving thousands.

Anyway, the fisherman are going to Aruba on me, getting their biggest payday in 5 years having never worked at all… and if they would like to work, then they can. I mean, a fish is a fish is a fish… OK, they may not pay as well per pound, but isn’t that a fact of life?

Nancy says it’s a national emergency, These boys can’t keep the kids in private schools without it! The news reported the average check was 100k…. for not working! When I get laid off I get unemployment that caps out at $420 or so a week in California.

BTW, Katrina victims who lost all due to city levy issues got about $2500 a piece… Those fools should have bought a boat and fished for salmon in the flooded river. Today, they would be sitting phat!

Nancy and friends, go buy some salmon, its not an expense… its just money back into your own pockets.

Yesterday, something horrible happened in a high school. 3 boys were accused of drugging and raping 3 girls in a park, a public restroom until stopped by on lookers. Because of a few very very bad eggs 1000’s of other boys get the same punishments for never even having committed a crime.

News like that causes hysteria and panic, the lawmakers trying to boost popularity make harsher laws to treat the good, bad and every one in between in the same manner as the worst offender.

You see, you can’t get a whole bunch of tax money over a few bad eggs, but you can get it in truck loads if you scare the public into believing it’s an epidemic.

Read this letter and think twice before judging or voting on more money towards tracking these perverts of society. (BTW, less than 15% of the registry is even considered serious or violent but all get the same treatment from the serial rapist/murderer(.0001%) to the high school sweetheart). If you don’t believe me, it’s public and you can count how many for yourself.

I was born 22 years ago to a middle class family. We lived in the suburbs, my dad a carpenter and my mom waited tables part time. We had money for most things, not rich, but able to afford yearly vacations and such.

Growing up, I was never the cool or popular kid. I was shy I guess. I got bullied a bit in school as most kids do at some point or another. In Jr. High, the girls never liked me, I was a bit geeky I guess. I loved math and science and that wasn’t the coolest thing to be into.

In high school, my luck with girls didn’t improve much until my senior year when I met a girl who thought I was great. I thought she was incredible, funny, brilliant and HOT. We dated all through my last year of school, I was a senior and she was a freshman. That did not matter, we had a great time together.

I graduated and she went into the next grade. It was summer. I applied at a few colleges to study law and she was so proud of me. The school I chose was only a few hours away so we could see each other on weekends.

We had never had sex, but discussed it, she wasn’t ready and I was not gonna push her. One summer night we ended up at the beach, we dismissed the “close at dusk” signs and went anyway. We were caught making out and charged with trespassing. It was kinda awkward but funny. Her parents picked her up from the station and I was just allowed to leave with a ticket being an adult now.

About a month later, my parents (who I live with) got a call asking me to come into the station for an interview, I did. The police asked me what we were doing on the beach. I told them it was a date, we thought it was romantic. They asked me if I knew her age. I said of course, we had been dating for a year now. We met in high school , 2 semesters back. They asked if we had sex. I replied “is that your business? but no, we haven’t yet. They wanted to know what we had done and I told them we kissed and played around a bit, but that is all.

To make a long story short, I got charged with child molestation and spent the next 6 months in jail. I am now a registered sex offender and my college education is but a dream. I am not allowed to live at home with my family because I have a younger brother who is 13. I am classified a violent predator, a child molester and my photo is on the sex offender website. My parents have now become separated over this and how much money has been spent on making sure I am not homeless since I can not get a job nor live at home. My college scholarships were revoked over this and my parents took out a loan for my college tuition that they still have to pay interest on.

My little brother keeps running away and if I even go near him to talk to him, I can go to prison for 3 to 7 years. My now ex girlfriend is over 18 and has become addicted to meth. I have not seen her in years but I hear this from others. My life is over, I can never have a family since I can never be around kids and what woman would want me now anyways, jobless, homeless and a status of violent child predator? Another law in my state is getting passed that says registered offenders can not live within a few miles of a school or park. There is one of each in every community so I have no idea where to go. Like most in my situation I will go where they would like us to be, in prison.

The difference between you and this sorry fool, he got caught doing what every teen does.

The laws in many states say that a 3 year age difference, even when both are juveniles is a “sexual predatory” offense and molestation with life long consequences. So why do most schools open the door by being 4 to 5 year schools? Do they expect high schoolers to alienate themselves from junior classes? WTF? sick ass unjust shit.

I wish that boy luck, but I know he will never get any luck nor justice. The witch hunt for the high (state dollars) paying predator incarcerations continues. Especially now since marijuana is becoming legal in many states and the 2 to 5 year jail sentences for possession are but a memory of money lost to corrections unions… the money has to come from somewhere … and there are tons of teens. The few horrific crimes in recent years also put them into the “public safety above all” clause allowing a persons rights to fly out a speeding cop cars window. Basic human rights, living in a home, privacy(address not published unless crime involved violence), having family, kids and FREEDOM. Do you smell that, I do, Our  Beloved Constitution Burning.

more than most…

In not many professions can you screw up badly and get a paid vacation as punishment, however, if you are in law enforcement it seems to be your right.

Steal a few kilos of dope, rape, rob and pillage and you will in fact be suspended with pay. Now, if the story gets out and people are angry that you are in fact not working for the taxpayers yet still getting paid, you will get the worst, un-paid leave, but to make up for the loss of pay, the Union will step in and pay your salary. So, no harm no foul, We really “punished” law enforcement that crossed the line to criminal.

Wow, I wonder if I can steal some shit, murder a few “SUSPECTS“, get caught and get a long paid vacation to boot! Vacation on a Mexican resort(maybe Europe or Bahamas), not San Quentin, mind you.

This political cartoon says it all!