Commentary - Some ‘little guys’ treated better than others

I am a felon, but have turned my life around. I was a meth addict for years until i got caught and was blessed to get to go to a six month rehab. it has been two years sense i used drugs. because of this i can't get a decent job to support myself and my children. i don't think that it is fair the way all felons are thrown into the same catagory. some people just make mistakes and learn from them while others continue to live the same life. i am judge because of my mistakes and not very many people see the way i have changed my life they only see that i have a felony. i paid my debt to society and have learned from it. i do obey the laws. i think there should be something done for people who do turn their lives around (job wise). people try to start over but can't and therefore a lot of them have no choice but to go back to their old ways of living.

Ericka, The best way to secure the United States from "Islamic extremists" is to change US foreign policy in the Middle East. All you have to do is listen to the words of the 9/11 masterminds themselves. During the hearings on the 9/11 Commission Report, the panel said themselves that the hijackers were furious at the United States for supporting Israel as well as corrupt, hated Arab regimes (such as the Saudi Royal Family). The only way to prevent more acts of terrorism against the USA is for us to have a more balanced policy in the Middle East in which we stop giving unconditional support to Israel. Every year in the UN there is a vote on the two-state settlement in Israel-Palestine where Israel will return to its pre-1967 borders. Every year the United States and Israel (along with a few south sea island nations who sell their votes for foreign aid) vote against it when most other nations vote for it. We must accept the global consensus. youtube.com/watch?v=J1bm2GPoFfg

Thanks! You're a riot! "Although a man and a woman may legally wed, the law does not consider the marriage valid unless it is consummated." The marriage license, the signatures on it, and its submission to the local registrar make the union legal. That is the law. You should get a little 'Penis plus Vagina equals Marriage'T-shirt. Be sure to include graphics on the back. I'm sure you'll be just precious in it!

You both make valid points, and I from having known a few, can viably say there are agreements and disagreements that follow along the gray areas of life here. The truth simply is, there's few mechanisms in our culture to ascertain the actual personal adjustment felons have post processing and penalty. Rehabs, supervisions and probation although all effective for enforcing legal behavior, their extension to this premise would not make sense. In every day life, years past the circumstances that led some to felony behavior and actions, the few people that can ever testify on behalf of a felon's change are his employer/friends&family, keep in mind some employers are profiteering legally, and some in far more dangerous ways then of a usual non-violent felony arrestee. With laws always being subject to change, how do we let anyone in business or gov. judge the long-term conscience of the public without enough public&legal mechanisms to help properly judge&expunge offenses over time?

- "...some felons have learned their lesson..." - "...they paid their debt...they are still Americans..." - "...don't be so judgmental...you just didn't get caught..." - "...people make mistakes and change...start forgiving..." Bulls***!!! The vast majority of us have NEVER committed a felony. It takes monumental cowardice and narcissism as well as wickedness to victimize innocent people. Those proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law to be wicked, narcissistic, and cowardly should be kept miles away forever from the election polls in a free country. We're still free today, right? How about tomorrow? Americans, you'd better start thinking very hard and very clearly from now on, or one morning (could be before the week is out) you're going to wake up to the sad fact that our heritage of liberty is dead and buried and you are now a paeon under some tyrant's (BHO) iron-fisted rule!

there was a study thirty years ago of workers of an asbestos mine in Globe, Az. What happened to the study as I understand the finding showed no link to cancer.

PEOPLE MAKE MISTAKES AND PEOPLE CHANGE I KNOW EVERYONE CHANGES IN TIME FELONS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE DEPENDING ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CRIME WE NEED TO STOP HATING AND START FORGIVING SOME PEOPLE DEPENDING ON THE CRIME WE ARE SO FAST TO JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO VOTE THEY ARE STILL AMERICAN CITIZENS YOU CANT TELL ME YOU AINT DID SOMETHING YOU REGRET

Okay everything is understandable, but you have to look at it to the point where there are some felons out here that has learned a lesson and has ben doing the right thing. Why are they still not able to vote. Then you have those crimes that aren't even that serius and you still take rights away. Now trhings like rthat is where consideration needs to come in at because some people feel that since its not a win win situation and I will still be considered locked up when I get out whats the purpose for doing right. Because if I do right and get myself together where is the let up. Felons are just freely still in jail walking around town because its nothing for them to do and no help out here for them. Jobs won't hire you, apartments won't except you, you can't vote, you can't protect yourself with a gun if you have to, man all this is is a bunch of bull. Habitual offenders now we ar talking something else they just flat out don't want to try and do right

what is the source of this information

Wow. What a load of nonsense. You are bereft of the facts my friend. There is no 'scientific' theory on the origin of species other than evolution via natural selection. In all my time I have not read a single article that held any weight scientifically or factually that favoured creationism or I.D. its sexier sounding cousin. It is a religious concept and the point being made was someone who thinks with blind faith inspite of scientic FACT is surely NOT the best person for presidential responsibilities. Now if they want to debate evolution that is fine, it's not that Darwin got things wrong however and saying "God did it" is NOT a scientific theory..it is religious Dogma. You also misrepresent the Vatican's position, they accept Darwin's theory of natural selection... they do this as in most parts of the world, denying what people KNOW to be true doesn't get you many followers. In ignorant American, that isn't so.

According to those green wackos the earth will look like it did in that stupid KEVIN KOSNER movie WATERWORLD what a bunch of blabbering jerks

He assured me that this person was of good standing and would secure the investment with a promissory note and funds being held in a bank in Los Angeles as collateral. I called the bank and was assured that the funds were on deposit at the bank. Due to the fact that I had to make various payments on an agreed upon schedule to satisfy the arbitration ruling I agreed. I than received a promissory note and with the verification from the bank I agreed to the short-term loan. As the time to close the transaction approached I proceeded to request return of my funds. I called and faxed various requests for the moneys to be returned to my attorney. I was given numerous excuses by this attorney referencing various delays. Subsequently, the “secured” funds were somehow withdrawn from the Los Angeles bank and I began a search for those funds. I was always told by the “co-conspirator” that he was responsible and would be returning the funds within a specified time.

The difference between a felon and most other people is felons got caught! Don't be so quick to judge another person when you aren't squeaky clean yourself. I slapped (not beat) my 13y/o daughter when I found out she was having sex with 7 guys, 4 of whom were 18 & 19 y/o and going to the University of south Florida. I became a felon for that! Age of consent is 16 so, no...it wasn't ok for her to do that or for those 4 young men to commit a sex offense against my daughter. My point is anyone can be convicted of a crime and have the rest of there lives decimated. We lose everything good in our lives and spend years trying to reconstruct even a small portion of it. It's easy to say no, "they shouldn't" until you become one "they."

The high rate of recidivism is arguably due to the overall unwillingness of our society to accept individuals convicted of crimes back into the fold. This unwillingness tends to lead to difficulties in finding employment, residence, and even social acceptance. This is due in part, because our penal system, as reactionary as it is, is "broken." Society does not have confidence in the system to truly reform "criminals." Whether that lack of confidence is conscious or unconscious, the end result is the same. Society built and maintains the penal system. If we do not have faith in its abilities to reform people who commit crimes, perhaps our energy is better directed at the reform of that system, as opposed to continued (reactionary) efforts to limit the rights of individuals who have been a part of that system. In the interim, a person who is convicted of a crime and sentenced SHOULD have his or her rights restored WITHOUT LIMITATION upon seeing that sentence through.

I believe that felons should have the right to vote. Just like any other legal citizen their lives are being affected as well. When felons are released from prison they get jobs like other citizens and must pay taxes. By not allowing them to vote this is basic "Taxation without Representation". Felons are not given a voice while in jail and now they do not have a voice out of jail. That is basically telling them that they are second class citizens and that is far form the truth because everyone is equal. This country was founded on equality. Thomas Jefferson the writer of the Declaration of Independence believed that every person should have the right life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Charles i loved the articale dont even know how i ran across it but wow!! it was brilliant, really education and intresting. i love the humor in it! great job!!!

when your as guilty as the other batch of parasites, you keep your mouth shut and sit on your hands. AS PROVEN BY TIME TO DATE!

What if a heterosexual man, due to genetics, paralysis or an injury, is impotent? Will he be banned from marrying a woman because he is unable to consummate the marriage? And if the only thing that validates marriage, in your opinion, is one kind of sex, then are people who choose to have sex outside of marriage automatically married? This is an absurd argument. It also simplistically reduces marriage to one aspect of a couple's life together.

I think that some felons be able to vote first because of equal right they should be able to voted acording to the crime they did!!!!

i say no. Felons should be allowed to vote take way their rights and their life. Just like they did to the one they hurt. Also to the family of that one person.

Finally someone that understands what marraige is really about. The term gay marraige is a oximoron.

bums

The information above about The Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government Employment and Technology Forum was incorrect. This forum was held last May 2008 was at NO cost to the participants. This Forum was open to all government employees, and not just restricted to those specific interest groups such as those mentioned above. However the 3-day National Training Conference conference that is held biennially costs well under the 1,000 registration fees mentioned here in this article. The training provided by DHHIG is to help its membership get the training needed for them to further integrate in the federal workforce. I agree that the government should to more to unify the groups and seriously address the decline in certain groups of the government workforce.

Time to give the of the boot to the entire UN bunch of crooks running the whole rotten UN we should have absolutly nothing to do with this wretched UN

If these stupid liberals cant read what the costitution was read ment for then they should just consiter stepping down and let a more conservative proconstitutional canadate in

I think Pickens is a great mind in action. he has a plan and if i can come up with the cash my money is on him and his ideas. we need to get away from foreign oil. wind power, solar power,hydro power and geo thermal is the way to go. other countries are way ahead of us, especially those who have little oil. t. williams wi.

can you link the survey you mentioned because I looked through the pew site and couldn't find it. The closest thing I found was from 2006 and stated that those making over $75,000 a year were more likely to cheat on taxes mentioning no political alignment.

You say, "government information more readily available to the pubic" but I think you really mean "public."

Mr. Shaefer may have had his moments but who doesn't-especially politicians. Look what we have in his place. A true ******. My husband is a veteran and of course there are VFWs for veterans to go, but Mr. Franchot decides that the posts does not need machines to play for fun so he has them taken out. We're talking about people that are 70-80 years old. And just because the state cannot get a share from these machines, the rest of the story is history written by Peter Franchot (or whatever his name is).

OBAMA PLAYS WITH HAND PUPPETS

poop

According to these eco-wackos all this GLOBAL WARMING will make the earth look like it did in that stupid movie WATERWORLD in which we get tosee that idiot KEVIN KOSNER swimming and looking like a complete dork, Al gore can stop global warming by geeting his piehole closed and cutting off all that HOT AIR he produces

The green freaks are always pulling off stupid stunts all the time making how stupid they are

comonmoncn

Too often these sensitive topics arise from anthropomorphizing creatures: we can only assume what an animal feels, as it is limited in its ability to express itself. Foie Gras supporters argue that birds suffer less from force-feeding than if placed in a poultry factory-farm: it's difficult to say if that's true. However, I think there is a fundamental difference between Foie Gras consumption and watching a dogfight: what it says of the consumer. There is no appeal to a dogfight (or bullfight) other than watching an animal suffer - the contest has no meaning unless the animals are mistreated. Other animal sports, say dog racing, do not require a dog to be harmed. I find it difficult to believe that enjoying suffering does not somehow make one less than human. Foie Gras consumers, on the other hand, are interested only in eating; if fatty goose liver were available certified "cruelty-free," I imagine many would enjoy it. I think this is an important distinction

felons should have the right to vote becaus ebefore they served they were able to so they should now...

it's good to be first, i just read god's warrior's vs satan's ????---i'm letting you and everyone know that this is destined for the big screen. it's huge- i'm going to say it ----i told you so.

Hell of a list...forgot "bitter clingers", "above my pay grade","punished with a child","spread the wealth","just a guy in the neighborhood", "typical white person", "civilian security force", "my brother's keeper" except for his real grandma, aunt and half-brother,Khalidi, Ayers , Wright, Dohrne, ...raise the cost of capital for business in a recession...I AM TERROFIED!

thanx for making my daddy vote

Your article is pretty misinformed. The Exim Bank exists as an arm of the US government because it has access to the US government's sovereign right to demand payment via Bank of International Settlements mechanisms. Hence if say GE built a power plant in Azerbaijian, commercial banks would not finance it without Exim Bank financing as the first loss piece. If the project were to default, the US would demand payment on behalf of the Exim Bank and the BIS would be obligated to add the defaulted amount to the Azeri balance sheet.

Would Obama be something like Carter, probably.

I'm an educated white female who's at an incredible disadantage being a felon. Many women that I speak to with this issue are experiencing simlar difficulties. Do you have any workshops, articles, or advocates that I could tap and encourage my colleagues to look at too. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Sincerely, Jennifer Wade wade.ja@hotmail.com P.S. The stigma that goes with alcoholism and felon is very powerful.

lol since americans have never experianced a decent health care system...except the rich.!!!for the rest of the usa!!.they actually dont know what they want...idiots apparently want what the top 1% the thiefs!! are trying to sell to them...

And how much power does the wind farm supply when the air is still? I'm more a proponent of geothermal power, Tidal power, Nuclear power or Satellite based solar reflection. For the time being it won't matter the upcoming depression will kill consumption for the next 10 years anyway.

was obahama associated with this group?

If you are born american your for father fought for your rights. No one shold be able to take your rights away because you made a mistake in the past. You do the time for your crime then when it is paid you still are american and you should have the rights of one. Yes I'M an exoffender I got a sentence of six years not a sentence to take my rights away and sure did not here the judge say you can not get a good job no more.Why can an employer deny me a job becouse of the past that is like not hiring becouse I'm black or white that is breaking the law right. I did they take my right to carry a handgun when my crome did no invole a handgun. I think my for fourfathers fought fo that right for me. Why does a illegal mexican have more rights than an american born felon.We are people that pay taxs like everyone else. We put are shoes on one at a time like you. We have familys we need to support just like you. ONly god can judge>>>>>> Lance Dishman

I registered to vote today. I hope my vote makes a differance. Not every convicted felon is the same. Should we all be punished the same?

I was used as an example at a time when many women were being sentenced for being involved and supporting men who sold drugs. I myself had a very small child with this person and was in love, so I thought. I was charged and sentenced to 2 years in prison due the fact that I knew this person was doing what he was doing and I did nothing to stop this person. This was the roughest time in my life. I had never sold drugs myself and had no previous record. I was just that, guilty by association. I have alway been a productive member of society. I have served my time but this will follow me for life. I acept this and go on from day to day. This is very embarrassing for me. I cannot volunteer at my childrens schools or for their sports teams. I know most will say you get what you deserve for being involved with this person. I say to that...I have not seen or spoken to this person in 12 years. Should I pay for the rest of my life for a mistake I made when I was 18 years old? I registered to v

Emily wrote that that there have been no attacks since 9-11-01 "attack" (really and Inside Job, by the Rumsfeld/Cheney/BushCo Gangster Administration to Benifit Halliburton and other War Corporations) . . . WHAT ABOUT THE ANTHAX ATTACKS>>>?

I really wish you would list the exact sources for those studies.