Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 09/03/2010 - 13:00.
Figure 1 shows projected Ohio prison inmate population growth through July 2012 (Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, July 2009)
I noticed an interesting link from a few Facebook friends to the Marijuana Policy Project website at "Netherlands to Close Prisons: Not Enough Criminals", which reports "The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate." MPP points out, with glee... "For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse."
Based on a quick illustrative analysis of data provided by MPP of the prison populations of the Netherlands and California... I calculated the imprisonment rate for Ohio, with a baseline population of 11.5 million people, if we had the incarceration rates of the Netherlands. Ohio would have a prison population of about 8,000 people.
In fact, in mid 2008, Ohio's incarceration (or imprisonment) rate, which is calculated from counts of incarcerated persons per 100,000 total residents, was 445 (Bureau of Justice Statistics) - representing a prison population of over 51,000 - more than 6x the incarceration rate in the Netherlands - costing Ohio over $1.6 BILLION per year.
Worse, as posted April 27, 2010, on Crime Reporter - "Ohio prison crowding at crisis stage" - "the Ohio General Assembly allowed the state prison budget to grow this year, despite looming multi-billion-dollar budget deficits. Ohio’s statewide inmate population climbed within 128 inmates of the all-time record of 51,273 this month, prompting state lawmakers and Gov. Ted Strickland to blame one another for inaction."
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 17:59.
Susan Miller just sent me County Executive Green Party Candidate David Ellison's written statement to the Federal EPA protesting the burning of coal by Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown's brother (Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz' Brother-in-Law) Robert Brown's Medical Center Company (MCCO), which harms the health of my family and the millions of citizens of Northeast Ohio... spreading death and destruction worldwide.
Is David Ellison the only candidate for County Executive who formally protested the burning of coal at MCCO? That should be easy to determine.
I challenge the other candidates for County Executive... and ALL standing local politicians... to put forth their written positions submitted to the Federal EPA regarding burning coal at the politically-corrupt MCCO plant, in politically-corrupt University Circle, or withdraw from offices and races to represent citizens in government anywhere in the world, for cause (being murder).
—Synonyms 1. false, untrustworthy. Corrupt, dishonest, venal apply to one, esp. in public office, who acts on mercenary motives, without regard to honor, right, or justice. A corrupt politician is one originally honest who has succumbed to temptation and begun questionable practices. A dishonest politician is one lacking native integrity. A venal politician is one so totally debased as to sell patronage.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 11:27.
Case Study: Modus Operandi of Illuminati... Fabricate Crisis and Fear... Switch Idols on Braindead Citizens... Leverage Racism.
Witness!
If you ever come to question the intent and modus operandi of the Illuminati, just witness how they fabricated a crisis in the trading of LeBron James... creating instability and fear among millions of loyal Ohioans and Americans... and then witness how they just switched idols on hate-programmed braindead zombie Citizens of Northeast Ohio, fabricating broad public outrage against a talented, young black man to stir racial hatred against an entire class of new leaders, in an important swing election year.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 08/28/2010 - 05:00.
Northeast Ohio clearly has some ot the worst air pollution in America, exposing residents to 100,000,000s of pounds of severe toxic point source and fugitive emissions from the Arcelor/Mittal combination steel-mill, coal powerplants, landfills and recycling facilities, refineries and 100s of other hazardous pollution point sources located throughout this 2 million+ person community - I'd like to know where in America more people are harmed more significantly by particulate pollution, on a daily basis, than in the neighborhoods surrounding Mittal and the industrial Flats... by no means our only toxic war-zone in the region.
Environmentalism here is "greenwashed" with "a pretense of concern about climate but policies dictated by fossil fuel special interests", as renowned climatologist Dr. James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, describes the global state of inaction in response to global warming worldwide.
Hansen prescribes action: "To the young people I say: stand up for your rights – demand that the government be honest and address the consequences of their policies. To the old people I say: let us gird up our loins and fight on the side of young people for protection of the world they will inherit."
But, he cautions: "It becomes clear that needed actions will happen only if the public, somehow, becomes forcefully involved. One way that citizens can help is by blocking coal plants, tar sands, and mining the last drops of fossil fuels from public and pristine lands and the deep ocean."
We have many horrific polluters here - where to get citizens forcefully involved to stop excessive pollution... where to block a coal plant? How?
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 08/27/2010 - 19:26.
I'll preface any praise of "Tremont West Development Corp. development director charged with assault" - coverage in the Plain Dealer of the assault of Guy Templeton Black, by Sammy Catania - by posting reporter Mark Gillespie's comment on his own blog about his own work - Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer - August 27, 2010 at 1:13PM - "xxoo: Thanks for commenting. I understand your concern, but this is not a news article that will appear in the print edition of The Plain Dealer. It is an item that has been posted solely to my Inside Cleveland Hall blog. Reporters who have blogs use them to post items that might not hold much interest to our broader readership but might have relevance to some Cleveland.com readers. That's the beauty of the digital age. Thanks again for reading and commenting".
Mark is responding to a TROLL on Cleveland.com that set up an account to post "xxoo August 27, 2010 at 1:01PM - So much ado about nothing. Is this really worthy of a news article - or is this just a gossip column?"
That is what is pathetic about poor use of technology in the digital age... it allows corporations and special interests to use TROLL accounts places like Cleveland.com to post anonymous diversions of public knowledge from fact to fiction, and to temper public response to news that is in fact deserving of outrage.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 08/26/2010 - 16:45.
Dr. James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, considered by many to be foremost climatologist in the world
As Northeast Ohio leadership MUST forcefully involve citizens as activists against the harm caused in our community and worldwide by pollution here, and address the resulting economic and public health damage here, it is important to reflect on what is an environmental activist, and how people may become actively engaged in community redevelopment through environmentalism.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 06:26.
Facts prove it is unsafe to live near the Arcelor/Mittal Cleveland Works steel mill, and citizens of Northeast Ohio have reasons to be concerned about 100s of other major toxic pollution point sources in the greater Cleveland area, yet our regional pollution monitoring has been broken since 2003, and is broken today, and citizens and the media do not care at all. How is it possible the people living in one of them most polluted places in America do not care about public health - about their own health? How did citizens here become such nihilists?
Northeast Ohioans must rise up from metal and soot ashes still being spewed upon us by excessively polluting toxic industrial forces that have corrupted local politics and destroyed the region and the lives of those living here... yet leaders and citizens here do not care.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 03:09.
Scene writer Michael Roberts provides the world a great service with his August 25, 2010, summary overview of the corruption and evil that has defined the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, Cleveland city hall, the Cuyahoga county commissioners, and "failed leaders in almost every quarter of the community", including at the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Cleveland Foundation, throughout the 21st Century - anyone interested in real NEO must READ "Port in a Storm - How years of bungling and self-interest robbed Cleveland of its future".
If you have ever doubted the most extreme claims of the failure, incompetency and corruption of our Mayor, County commissioners, and their appointees and co-conspirators in crimes, as expressed throughout the decade by Citizen Hauser and so many other honest real Northeast Ohio visionaries, on realNEO and elsewhere in the free-speech world... read Roberts' excellent article on the Port in a Storm and realize the following observations are direct reflections on all leaders and citizens of the region, and we are pathetic:
"The real tale of the waterfront is one of conflict, greed, wasted public money, and sheer incompetence on the part of the port board, city hall, and the county commissioners."
It is such a sensitive situation that many sources with ties to it have requested anonymity for this story. Cleveland, it seems, is populated not by outspoken visionaries, but by many who suffer in silence, fearing ostracism or political and civic retribution.
In a way, it is a sad tale of a city adrift with failed leaders in almost every quarter of the community, people who have squandered the dream of a world-class waterfront and a better place to live.
Without Jackson's thoughtless indulgence, the fiasco would not have flowered. The Greater Cleveland Partnership stubbornly supported the plan and in doing so demonstrated its lack of business acumen; the venerable Cleveland Foundation funded a portion of the effort, displaying its lack of common sense.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 14:06.
I received a press release from the EPA today - DOE Announces Nearly $120 Million to Advance Innovative Weatherization Projects, Highlights Progress in the Program Nationally - highlighting $120 million in Federal stimulus funds going to 102 organizations across America to drive innovation under the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Weatherization Assistance Program... and none of the awardees are in Ohio (see list below). Linked to this article about this program is a table of homes weatherized around the county as of June 2010, through Federal stimulus funding, and Ohio is well represented - and I believe our house in East Cleveland was weatherized through such funding - it is disturbing no Ohio programs are part of this latest round of funding...! Why not?
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 08/20/2010 - 12:44.
09/10/2010 - 08:00
09/12/2010 - 21:00
Etc/GMT-4
The Ohio LinuxFest is proud to announce that registration is now open for Ohio LinuxFest. The schedule has also been announced, and this year will feature a fantastic line-up of talks for new and experienced Linux users. The 2010 Ohio LinuxFest takes place in Columbus, Ohio at the Greater Columbus Convention Center from September 10 through September 12.
