What's New in the News?

I haven’t written about current events, local, national and world wide for a few weeks. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say about them, or even that the news is so depressing no one would want to read what I have to say about it. I have just been chewing on some stuff- trying to formulate my words and reconcile my feelings at the same time.

The political process that took place during the recent debate to solve the financial crisis in the United States was nauseating. The fact that grown men- for the most part- old white men – for the most part, basically had a whose penis is bigger contest- really disgusted me.

I read something someone wrote that this was indeed democracy working. Well let me just say- bullshit. This was not democracy working- not for the people anyway. Of course, I know there are people out there that stood behind their particular old white men- and said- “Yeah! Ours IS bigger” but really- none of them spoke for me.

Principle- is meaningless if it serves no one.  

You can say you are sticking to your principles, but if they don’t solve the problems then your principles are meaningless and possibly destructive.

Everyone was waiting for the President to jump in and take over. Guess what? That was not his job. It was the job of congress to solve the problem- the fact that the President had to hold the hand and stroke all the so-called leaders was also disgusting. That was not democracy at work. It was babysitting.

After all that, and the 11th hour solution, they have not solved any immediate problems and the US credit rating was lowered anyway, from AAA to AA+.  Nice job guys. And oh yeah- the stock market is crashing.

I won’t be voting for anyone that was part of that debate.

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I’ve been listening to and reading several reports and articles analyzing where the probation department went wrong in the Jaycee Dugard case. A lot of finger pointing has gone on and of course, lack of funding for the department seems to be a huge issue.

I see training as the biggest failure- and that starts at the top level management. From the probation departments’ own video, you can see for yourself how the inspection was cursory at best. I believe, the same as I believe for people going into any kind of law enforcement, you have to have an aptitude for the profession. You have to have an innate sense about people. Spidey sense.

It’s been my experience that if you hire the right people they will surpass any training you may give them and contribute their knowledge to the training curriculum. And people with a natural affinity for certain vocations will require less “classroom” type training and that alone is a money saving option when looking at training and development costs.

I don’t pretend to have the answers. I don’t know any of the probation officers that supervised Phillip Garridos, but I do know that for so many of them to not even be curious about the backyard, especially after neighbors had mentioned seeing kids, is negligent at best- and I bet if you were to ask the family of Jaycee Dugard, they would say it’s criminal.

Very recently, A Marin County Deputy, Jim Mathiesen, was shot to death while off duty and helping a friend who was involved in a domestic dispute. The shooter- Halloran was shot to death at the scene by a third party. Mathiesen, a good officer and by all accounts a fine man- shot to death for trying to help someone.

By Gary Klien, The Marin Independent Journal

“The relationship between Halloran and the woman had recently ended, and the woman asked Mathiesen, a family friend, to come over to provide advice and assistance about death threats coming from Halloran”, Basurto said. Halloran had threatened the woman and her family on Monday evening.

Halloran, who was on active state parole, has a history of arrests in both counties, and was once identified in court documents as a confidential drug informant for the Marin County Major Crimes Task Force

Another failure and it looks like the MCMCTF should have known this train wreck was coming too.

Here is the budget for the California Corrections and Rehabilitation Department – I don’t even see where training and development are included for the Parole Officers though I do know they are trained and go through extensive testing- so what gives?  Do they just become complacent once they get the job?  Maybe they need to readdress the battery of psychological exams – update them to reflect 21^st century thinking. Clearly- something needs to change. 

http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Budget/Budget_Overview.html

Corrections and Rehabilitation Administration $437,172

Corrections Standards Authority $90,782

Juvenile Operations $251,112

Juvenile Education, Vocations, and Offender Program $38,343

Juvenile Paroles $25,258

Juvenile Healthcare $58,090

Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – General Security $ 3,360,099

Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Overtime $ 105,391

Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Inmate Support $ 1,386,034

Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Contracted Facilities $ 413,484

Adult Corrections and Rehabilitation Operations – Institution Administration $ 440,552

Parole and Community Services – Adult Supervision $ 478,256

Parole Operations-Adult Hearing $ 274,850

Parole Operations-Adult Administration $ 111,495

Board of Parole Hearings $ 66,984

Board of Parole Hearings – Administration $ 7,300

Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Adult Education $ 141,101

Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Contracted Facilities $ 169,739 Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Inmate Activities $ 65,856

Education, Vocations and Offender Programs – Administration $ 25,110

Correctional Health Care Services $ 2,070,583

 Total: $10,017,591

While gathering all this information I noticed the CDCR had a lot of updated information on their site- and that they are trying to address some of the failures that cost an 11-year-old girl 22 years of her life. I plan to keep an eye on things for a while just for my own sense of security. I’ll keep you posted. 

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The most difficult news to absorb was yesterdays notice that the US had lost 31 troops in Afghanistan. As the hours went by more details trickled in and we heard it was Special Forces and then 20 members of SEAL team 6- the team that brought down Osama bin Laden.

In addition to the 31 US troops, seven Afghan troops and one interpreter lost their lives. The Taliban took credit and the US has no reason to believe otherwise.

It’s hard for me to not look at this from a mother’s point of view; mother to a combat veteran. 31 families will be receiving the dreaded knock at the door, letters from the President, whatever personal belongings their loved one had in country and in their numbed state they will make funeral plans, contact family members; try to figure out what the military pays for and what it doesn’t.  They will receive visitors bearing casseroles of lasagna and macaroni and cheese; meatloaves, cakes, cookies, and every comfort food known to mankind.  The loved ones will take a bite here and there and then cry because their loved one, their son or husband or grandson, will never take a bite of a chocolate chip cookie, or Boston Crème Pie again, that was his favorite they’ll think.  He’ll never see his kids grow up and get married, he’ll miss his nephew being born and after all is said and done- the Taliban will still be there.

I read on social websites, many people praying for the families and I certainly said my prayers for the families too. I saw a few people mention it was God's will. Well- if it is God's will-you can keep him. I personally don’t believe God is any part of war. I refuse to believe that he sanctions it in any aspect. I refuse to believe he picks sides and I certainly don’t see that he has come to the aide of any of the war torn Middle East, who by the way- pray a lot more than Americans. While people sit around saying it’s all God’s will- I am thinking- I bet God would like us to fix this mess.

I’m not against praying for anything but prayers alone do not seem to be working. Maybe it’s time to rethink how much the United States can do about the rest of the world and how they choose to live. I hate to think all these deaths, all the sacrifices of life, all the 21 year olds that will never see 22, have been in vain. But in vain they are, if at the end of the day there is no change. We have been in Afghanistan for 10 years now. It’s like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, the job is never done. They clear one area and move to the next, the Taliban moves into wherever the troops are not.  The Afghani people are so war weary they will make friends with whoever is offering the best deal- because they have to feed their families. They aren’t really working on higher principles like democracy yet- they are just trying to survive. We would do the same if the war were on US soil.

Democracy or forms of democracy have caught on in Middle East countries that have not been at war for the last 30 years. I think the movement is wonderful and indirectly related to the work our troops have done. Now it seems to me- that Arab nations should take care of each other- and we should come home.

Tonight my thoughts and prayers are with the families of ALL the troops lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. My thoughts and prayers are with the mothers and fathers, wives and children of all people killed in action while trying to help helpless and corrupt countries survive. My thoughts and prayers are with the thousands of wounded, visibly and not, I pray they heal and are able to live full lives. My prayer is for an end to this war.