tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post3359636094919324607..comments2024-02-19T04:50:58.170-08:00Comments on Shuck and Jive: The Executed God: A SermonJohn Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-86883963451201272372009-04-08T10:48:00.000-07:002009-04-08T10:48:00.000-07:00I've found 4 companies that run correctional facil...I've found 4 companies that run correctional facilities in the US as well as other countries:<BR/>Wackenhut (could not determine number)<BR/>Cornell Companies, Inc (owned by Veritas) with 78 facilities.<BR/>Corrections Corporation of America with 64 facilities.<BR/>GEO Groups, Inc. with 52 facilities, mostly in Texas, So. Cal., Florida and Guantanamo.<BR/><BR/>CCA had revenues of $379 million in 2007 (up 28%).<BR/><BR/>GEO Group reported $20 million in profits for the last quarter (ending 01/31/09).<BR/><BR/>According to Contrarian Profits, Cornell Companies Inc. (NYSE: CRN), a leading provider of corrections and treatment services for both adults and juveniles, saw its fourth quarter profit rise 37% on Thursday.<BR/><BR/>You can find some interesting information about these groups here: http://www.psiru.org/justice/PPRI74W.htm#UNITEDSTATES<BR/><BR/>Wow. Looks like I may have an Open Pen article brewing!<BR/>Thanks, Harry!Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-47268047238505029732009-04-08T08:59:00.000-07:002009-04-08T08:59:00.000-07:00Yup,You know the money isn't going to the prisoner...Yup,<BR/><BR/>You know the money isn't going to the prisoners. Or even the guards. <BR/><BR/>So where is it going?Jodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15447125159108080797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-70713949540351384212009-04-07T06:54:00.000-07:002009-04-07T06:54:00.000-07:00Since the 1970s the prison-industrial complex has ...<I>Since the 1970s the prison-industrial complex has exploded in size and continues to grow exponentially. It now exceeds $40 billion annually and rising. On average states now spend 60 cents on prisons for every dollar spent on higher education, up from 28 cents in 1980. And several large states are so hell-bent to lock people up their annual budget for prisons exceed that for education. Also, the overall rate of prison spending growth has greatly exceeded that for education for the past 25 years. It's shocking that the annual per prisoner cost today almost equals a year's tuition at Harvard.</I><BR/><BR/>--The US Gulag Prison System, April 21, 2006 <BR/>By Stephen Lendman <BR/><BR/>Somebody's making a lot of money locking people up.Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-88787938981427999562009-04-07T06:36:00.000-07:002009-04-07T06:36:00.000-07:00Yes, it really is all about the money, I think. H...Yes, it really is all about the money, I think. Here in Carter County all the broohaha about this expanded jail is because the state will pay the county to take prisoners from elsewhere. I don't have stats in front of me, but I recall hearing that something like one out of four in the Carter County jail are actually local.Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-2884962648874770652009-04-06T23:56:00.000-07:002009-04-06T23:56:00.000-07:00That is really sickening. Seriously. I really feel...That is really sickening. Seriously. I really feel a burden about this.Jodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15447125159108080797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-13072590397374372692009-04-06T21:21:00.000-07:002009-04-06T21:21:00.000-07:00According to the graphs I posted in the last comme...According to the graphs I posted in the last comment, the Soviet Union had fewer prisoners at its height than the United States does today. <BR/><BR/>The statement that Harry objected to, is in fact, not hyperbole. <BR/><BR/>As his comment inspired me to further research, the issue regarding prison growth is worse than I thought before.<BR/><BR/>When I lived in Northern NY, there was a move to put a state prison there. The idea was sold to the area that it boost the economy, create jobs, etc.<BR/><BR/>What does that create then? A prison business. You need more and more prisoners to keep the economy moving.John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-4772001969490477522009-04-06T16:04:00.000-07:002009-04-06T16:04:00.000-07:00Yeah, two points:1) Are we equal to the Gulag popu...Yeah, two points:<BR/><BR/>1) Are we equal to the Gulag population (the Soviet Union had a larger population than the US) or did the Gulag population actually hit 4 times our prison population? That number seems inflated.<BR/><BR/>2) What have we come to that our only comfort might be "hey at least we are not as bad as the Soviet Union once was under Stalin"<BR/><BR/>Personally I think that putting human beings in boxes and cages and forgetting about them as they get old is appalling. Better to have never been born. It is no wonder that Jesus brought it up when he listed the kinds of people he would accept into his kingdom.Jodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15447125159108080797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-77253642652537134992009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:002009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:00Gulag Population StatisticsUS Prisoner PopulationA...<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gulag_Prisoner_Stats_1934-1953.PNG" REL="nofollow">Gulag Population Statistics</A><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_correctional_population_timeline.gif" REL="nofollow">US Prisoner Population</A><BR/><BR/>According to these graphs, the statement appears correct. <BR/><BR/>Pretty sobering when attempts to justify the increased rate of incarceration in U.S. prisons with the Soviet Gulag.John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-32499252978453558652009-04-06T10:40:00.000-07:002009-04-06T10:40:00.000-07:00At its peak, the Soviet Gulag held 9 million priso...At its peak, the Soviet Gulag held 9 million prisoners, with a smaller population too. Four times the current US rate.<BR/><BR/>Most of the prisoners are in there for drugs, or crimes related to drugs. And federally mandated minimum sentences makes sure they are in for a long time.<BR/><BR/>Legalize marijuana and you'll see a substantial reduction.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17612999135177842776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-78059249103166084172009-04-06T10:30:00.000-07:002009-04-06T10:30:00.000-07:00Jodie - an interesting point. Crime is low (not t...Jodie - an interesting point. Crime is low (not taking time to throw in statistics) in Saudi Arabia, compared to here. Hands get cut off, executions are routine for relatively minor crimes. It is a strongly repressive government that also exacts ugly punishments on people. <BR/><BR/>Is it better to live there than here? I would think not.<BR/><BR/>Is there no middle ground? I would like to think so.<BR/><BR/>The more interesting question, I think, is how did we get here, and why? Who's making the money?Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-36800549639971744112009-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:002009-04-06T08:01:00.000-07:00"states spend about three times as much money per ..."states spend about three times as much money per prisoner as per public school pupil."<BR/><BR/>A clear case of "pay me now or pay me more later"<BR/><BR/>It is interesting to note that there is no sin or crime in the Bible for which imprisonment is the proscribed punishment.<BR/><BR/>Stoning yes. Mutilation sure. Imprisonment never.Jodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15447125159108080797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-80407983106618816592009-04-06T07:25:00.000-07:002009-04-06T07:25:00.000-07:00Betty!Thank you. I am happy Covnet connected us!Betty!<BR/><BR/>Thank you. I am happy Covnet connected us!John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-20180535747237847002009-04-06T06:55:00.000-07:002009-04-06T06:55:00.000-07:00"Adam Liptak, NT Times The United States has less ..."Adam Liptak, NT Times The United States has less than 5 percent of the world¹s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world¹s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes - from writing bad checks to using drugs - that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations. Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.<BR/><BR/>The United States has, for instance, 2.3 million criminals behind bars, more than any other nation, according to data maintained by the International Center for Prison Studies at King¹s College London. China, which is four times more populous than the United States, is a distant second, with 1.6 million people in prison. (That number excludes hundreds of thousands of people held in administrative detention, most of them in China¹s extrajudicial system of re-education through labor, which often singles out political activists who have not committed crimes.)<BR/><BR/>San Marino, with a population of about 30,000, is at the end of the long list of 218 countries compiled by the center. It has a single prisoner.<BR/><BR/>The United States comes in first, too, on a more meaningful list from the prison studies center, the one ranked in order of the incarceration rates. It has 751 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 in population. (If you count only adults, one in 100 Americans is locked up.) The only other major industrialized nation that even comes close is Russia, with 627 prisoners for every 100,000 people. The others have much lower rates. England¹s rate is 151; Germany¹s is 88; and Japan¹s is 63.<BR/><BR/>WASHINGTON POST More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more, according to a report .<BR/><BR/>With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second, according to a study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.<BR/><BR/>The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been particularly affected: One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 for white women in the same age group."<BR/><A HREF="http://prorev.com/statscl.htm" REL="nofollow">Progressive Review</A>John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-18816356335976836562009-04-06T06:53:00.000-07:002009-04-06T06:53:00.000-07:00"Since 1980, the United States has engaged in the ..."Since 1980, the United States has engaged in the largest and most frenetic correctional buildup of any country in the history of the world. During this time the number of Americans in prison and jail has tripled to 1.5 million. For some minority groups, the rate of incarceration has increased tenfold. About 50 million criminal records—enough to cover nearly one-fifth of the entire U.S. population—are stuffed into police files. Hundreds of billions of dollars have poured from taxpayers' checking accounts into penal institutions and the businesses that service them. Several million people have come to depend on the criminal justice system for employment."<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://encarta.msn.com/sidebar_461578015/does_imprisonment_reduce_crime_.html" REL="nofollow">National Criminal Justice Commission</A>John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-52992838679709487582009-04-06T06:48:00.000-07:002009-04-06T06:48:00.000-07:00It is a national disgrace that the U.S. incarcerat...<I>It is a national disgrace that the U.S. incarceration rate is five to 12 times that of other industrialized countries as well as being the highest in the world. As Churchill once said, "The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of the civilization of any country."</I><BR/>--Marie Gottschalk, <A HREF="http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/record_article.cfm?id=296181&&" REL="nofollow">link</A><BR/><BR/>"Writing for the National Criminal Justice Commission, Steven Donziger has report that, 'Since 1980 the United States has engaged<BR/>in the largest and most frenetic correctional buildup of any country in the history of the world.' Indeed with just 6% of the world's population, the United States now holds 25% of its prisoners..."<BR/><A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=aKur_wfD5NEC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%22the+largest+and+most+frenetic+correctional+buildup+of+any+country+in+the+history+of+the+world.%22&source=bl&ots=s45gIulQiR&sig=wZMf0OrKOZlt_G5OQGjfd3t3L8s#PPA1,M1" REL="nofollow">James Samuel Logan, Good Punishment, 2008</A><BR/><BR/>"Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 6 Latino boys born in 2001 are at risk of imprisonment during their lifetime. While boys are five times as likely to be incarcerated as girls, there also is a significant number of girls in the juvenile justice system. This rate of incarceration is endangering children at younger and younger ages.<BR/><BR/>This is America's pipeline to prison — a trajectory that leads to marginalized lives, imprisonment and often premature death. Although the majority of fourth graders cannot read at grade level, states spend about three times as much money per prisoner as per public school pupil."<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.childrensdefense.org/helping-americas-children/cradle-to-prison-pipeline-campaign/" REL="nofollow">Cradle to Prison Pipeline</A>John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-18781404008455316432009-04-06T06:09:00.000-07:002009-04-06T06:09:00.000-07:00Rev. Shuck,With all due respect to your professor,...Rev. Shuck,<BR/><BR/>With all due respect to your professor, I think the formation of the Gulag in the Soviet Union was a much more frenzied an a larger correctional buildup.<BR/><BR/>This pointless hyperbole casts a dubious light on the whole of your sermon.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17612999135177842776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-59067937562724467642009-04-05T20:38:00.000-07:002009-04-05T20:38:00.000-07:00Thank you, John! I am so happy that the Covenant...Thank you, John! I am so happy that the Covenant Network linked to your blog a few weeks ago! Very interesting and so encouraging to read!<BR/> "What then is the cross?" ....I think of it as also, in addition to standing against oppressive Empire, standing against oppressive Religion. I have always thought that folks wrongly labeled Abelard's understanding of the cross as "example" theory -- I think Ab was talking about "revelation" -- revelation that God is about "mercy and not sacrifice" -- healing people who needed healing no matter what the Ten Commandments might be thought to say -- refusing to back down even to the point of the cross -- which changes our relationship with God if we have been thinking of God as anything other than the love, mercy, and justice we see in Jesus. Thank you, John -- and thanks to the congregation "that loves you"!Elizabeth.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01458659101447486188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-60120542808367859932009-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:002009-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:00Great sermon, John"What might the cross have meant...Great sermon, John<BR/><BR/>"What might the cross have meant in the first century and what might it mean today?" <BR/><BR/>Interestingly enough, the cross does not appear in Christian art until after the practice was terminated, maybe even 100 years after. It's not something that Christians who had first hand knowledge of crucifixion could handle.<BR/><BR/>"The soon to be executed would partake in a forced march through the city carrying the cross beam. "<BR/><BR/>Another little piece of trivia: The beam used to lock the gates of a city look just like the cross beam, and are carried exactly the same way. They were called the "key" to gate. The "keys to the kingdom of heaven", and a cross beam of a cross look exactly the same.<BR/><BR/>" This parade might be thought of as an act of civil disobedience."<BR/><BR/>It probably was. The palm was the symbol of the Macabees and independence from Roman oppression. The Macabean coins carried the palm on one side. "Hosanna" meant "save us" and the palms were a nationalistic protest against Roman oppression. At least that is one way to look at it. "In the name of God, save us from Rome!" <BR/><BR/>(I can hear the song from Jesus Christ Superstar playing in the background)<BR/><BR/>(But instead of kicking the Romans out of the Antonina Castle, he started by challenging the puppet priests and kicking the money changers out of the Temple. <BR/><BR/>The people wanted a war (they eventually got one). Jesus wanted to change their relationship with God. It would have political consequences but it had to start in the Temple.<BR/><BR/>Adel,<BR/><BR/>As usual, you flat out don't get it. I am guessing it's because the Gospels were not written for people like you. As I see it, people like you are routinely portrayed as the bad guys in the gospels. That is why you jump to Marx. If the Pharisees had known Marx they probably would have said the same. <BR/><BR/>But where do you think Marx got his inspiration?Jodiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15447125159108080797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-85184099918767400012009-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:002009-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:00Well, if it does get that cold, we better hope it ...Well, if it does get that cold, we better hope it DOES snow - enough to protect those tender shoots, and such. Better start doing your snow dance!Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-43979810625469218142009-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:002009-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:00No way! Stuff just got a-bloomin'! I hope things...No way! Stuff just got a-bloomin'! I hope things haven't bloomed so much that a frost kills them like it did a couple of years ago.John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-33315758453039907412009-04-05T13:57:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:57:00.000-07:00Um, John. Hate to tell you, but it's probably goi...Um, John. Hate to tell you, but it's probably going to snow on Tuesday. Ah, Spring!Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-47745625962866073002009-04-05T13:54:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:54:00.000-07:00Snow? Egads! That reminds me of Northern NY. Sun...Snow? Egads! That reminds me of Northern NY. Sunny and 70 in East Tennessee. Can't beat it!John Shuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-25646937972609218272009-04-05T13:35:00.001-07:002009-04-05T13:35:00.001-07:00Thank You John. Excellent as always. I have linke...Thank You John. Excellent as always. I have linked to it from the Buddy. We have snow here.. I suppose I should be grateful that it is not mud. jjaycoles@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16299489611656202052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-36883259905590741742009-04-05T13:35:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:35:00.000-07:00I have not been around to read a sermon lately, bu...I have not been around to read a sermon lately, but John, you never disappoint.Franhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07181529277715646835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30648257.post-85788906191425666112009-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:28:00.000-07:00Adel - By the standards of the Roman Empire as wel...Adel - <BR/><BR/>By the standards of the Roman Empire as well as the standards of the modern American empire, Jesus was a socialist. Deal with it.Snadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04055786911610974637noreply@blogger.com