Still think the US is perfect?

[manofsparrow]

Here's one of the screwed up things in the system.
Boot Camps.

Originally Posted by nospank.net

On February 4, 1992, 5' 4" tall, fifteen-year-old Paul Choy was being taught a lesson he wouldn't forget -- his last, as it turned out. According to the official version of events, Choy was required to sit on a wooden platform in the cold for five hours as punishment for failing to finish a five-mile run. That's five hours of shivering and without bathroom breaks. Finally, in reckless desperation, he gave his keepers just the signal they were waiting for. They were poised for action. Two staff mambers restrained him in what District Attorney Jorgenson described as something like a full Nelson. They held him for about ten minutes, after which time they noticed he wasn't breathing.

... Well, you can't just let these punk kids ignore the rules, can you? You gotta put 'em in their place, right? If they're out of control, you restrain 'em, right? When they don't cooperate, you gotta make 'em cooperate, right? And when they come lookin' for trouble, you give 'em trouble. They ain't in boot camp to be mollycoddled, you know, but to learn respect for authority. And I'm not their goddam granny who's gonna give 'em hot coco when they need their butts kicked...

That was the scene, more or less, at a place prophetically called Rite of Passage.

Paul celebrated his 16th birthday at Washoe Medical Center in Reno, brain dead and on life support. Before he died, a nurse at the facility, trained to identify signs of sexual assault, observed injuries consistent with anal rape.

His was the first such case to come to my attention.

I've lost count of the number of children killed by suffocation in custodial settings. Yes, I said "suffocation." I know the preferred euphemism here is "accidental restraint-related death." But out of respect for the victims and respect for the English language, I opt for the other word.

After the event, there was the predictable mad scramble to rationalize it. This explanation emerged: Paul was too frail a boy for that particular camp. He didn't have the "athletic ability." He should have been sent somewhere more suitable. His "accident" was the result of an unfortunate, but innocent, bureaucratic oversight. The authorities miscalculated when they sent a puny, little Asian kid to a camp designed for tough young thugs who are inured to being knocked around--ones who would benefit from being marched and exercised to exhaustion and could safely bounce back from almost any amount of brutal treatment. The camp staff were only doing their job. The camp management was only following time-tested procedures. One boot camp apologist characterized Paul's demise as part of the "the window of loss," as though he were an egg in a large shipment of eggs to market. One must expect some breakage, particularly among the ones with prior defects. It's the price of doing business. Presumably, the "window of loss" is a small window, and the few who fall through it don't detract from the larger picture.

Whenever the subject of youths dying violently in custodial settings breaks in the news, which is becoming more frequent as larger numbers of them are funneled into that industry, there is a call for better training of staff. One rarely hears the recommendation for more stringent vetting of applicants for staff positions. That would be unduly accusatory. The mere suggestion that there are people employed in such places who shouldn't be there, who are unfit to be entrusted with the power of life and death over the powerless, would shift the focus of attention onto politically dangerous territory. It could be the first step toward opening a debate over the very essence of youth boot camps and the like, their stated purpose and purported efficacy. It is far safer to leave an engine that is running -- and running well -- alone. Tinker with peripherals, if you must, such as better training for current staff, but don't challenge the fundamentals. Surely no one can reasonably object to better training. Every sensible employee welcomes additional training to help improve job skills. And just think of the exciting new employment opportunities for those who will be the trainers. Everybody wins. Hopefully, those who are unsuited to youth work will be weeded out, or will gracefully weed themselves out during the training process.

This is wishful thinking.

In fact, there is not a shred of evidence to suggest that sadists and bullies are that easily diverted or that they can benefit from in-service training, except, perhaps, to improve their ability to do their dirty work undetected. Also, having been duly trained and certified gives kid keepers an extra measure of deniability in the event of an "accident." It is interesting to note that developers of so-called restraint procedures prescribe frequent periodic refresher courses for staff. Does the science of restraint change that often? Or is this a tacit recognition of the fact that "restraining" a teenager is a peak experience for some users, and they are apt to get carried away in the act?

Offshore facilities serving the "troubled youth" market typically operate in places where child abuse prevention laws are virtually nonexistent and recruit staff from among the locals. How thoroughly job applicants' qualifications to work in educational/therapeutic settings are assessed is anybody's guess. Employers are the sole arbiters of that standard. "Out of sight, out of mind," seems to be their unspoken motto.

Stateside facilities typically set up in remote, inaccessible places where a laissez faire approach to child abuse prevention prevails and where they can easily isolate inmates from all outside contact, even from contact with their families. Isolation, they say, is essential to the success of the program. That's true, but not in the way they imply. It is hard to imagine a more favorable environment for custodial institutions staffed by people with few, if any, marketable peacetime skills.

To date no one has been able to document that boot camp graduates fare better for the experience. The self-serving anecdotal "evidence" touted by the industry's shareholders and enthusiasts, must set every skeptic's bull**** alarm bells ringing -- if the number of deaths were not enough.

IN MEMORIAM

Michelle Sutton, dead at age 15, Summit Quest
Kristen Chase, dead at age 16, Challenger
Paul Choy, dead at age 16, Rite of Passage
Aaron Bacon, dead at age 16, Northstar
Dawnne Takeuchi, dead at age 18, VisionQuest
Lorenzo Johnson, dead at age 17, Arizona Boys Ranch
Carlos Ruiz, dead at age 13, VisionQuest
Mario Cano, dead at age 16, VisionQuest
John Vincent Garrison, dead at age 18, VisionQuest
Bernard Reefer, dead, VisionQuest
Robert Zimmerman, dead, VisionQuest
Charles Lucas, dead, VisionQuest
James Lamb, dead, VisionQuest
Tammy Edmiston, dead, VisionQuest
Leon Anger, dead, VisionQuest
Latasha Bush, dead at 15, Daystar Residential Treatment Center
Charles Collins, Jr., dead at age 15, Crossroads for Youth
Jamie Young, dead at age 13, Ramsey Canyon
Randy Steele, dead at age 9, Laurel Ridge Psychiatric Hospital
John Avila, dead, Rocky Mountain Academy
Danny Lewis, dead at age 16, VisionQuest
Nicholas Contreras, dead at age 16, Arizona Boys Ranch
Edith Campos, dead at age 15, Desert Hills
Matt Toppi, dead at age 17, Robert Land Academy
Chirs Brown, dead at age 16, Robert Land Academy
Eric David Schibley, dead at age 17, VisionQuest
Robert Doyle Erwin, dead at age 15, VisionQuest
Lyle Foodroy, dead, VisionQuest
Gina Score, dead at age 14, State Training School (South Dakota)
Bryan Dale Alexander, dead at age 18, Texas Correctional Services
Michael Wiltsie, dead at age 12, Eckert Youth Alternatives
Tristan Sovern, dead at age 16, Charter Behavioral Health System
Robert Rollins, dead at age 12, Devereaux School
Andrew McClain, dead at age 11, Elmcrest Psychiatric Hospital
Anthony Haynes, dead at age 14, American Buffalo Soldiers Boot Camp
Ian August, dead at age 14, Skyline Journey
Charles "Chase" Moody, dead at age 17, The Brown School (CEDU affiliated)
Roberto Reyes, dead at age 15, Thayer Learning Center Boot Camp
Travis Parker, dead at age13, Appalachian Wilderness Camp
Christening "Mikie" Garcia, dead at age12, Star Ranch
Linda Harris, dead at age 14, Chad Youth Enhancement Center
Martin Lee Anderson, dead at age 14, Bay County Sheriff's boot camp, Florida
James White, dead at age17, SummitQuest,
Giovanni ''Joey'' Aletriz, dead at age16, SummitQuest

...and counting.

[manofsparrow]

And some f***ed up schools.

In January 2004, at an elementary school in Mississippi, Johnny was sent by his classroom teacher to the Principal's office to be punished. Johnny, who was 10-years-old at the time, did not know the reason for the punishment.

He describes the instrument used on him as "a big solid wooden paddle." He remembers the first three blows of the paddle and clenching his teeth while trying not to cry. He says that the Principal, Mr. C., said he was going to bring him back for more. The next thing he remembers is being on the floor and regaining consciousness while Mr. C and a teacher were standing over him. He does not remember if he blacked out as result of the final blow of the paddle or because he hit his head after being knocked to the floor. Johnny landed face down on a thinly-carpeted concrete surface. The school nurse was not on duty at the time.

Johnny's mother was called to the school. She came immediately and drove him straight to emergency room where he was examined, X-rayed and given a CT scan. He had no fractures, but suffered serious bruising.

The school board refused to compensate Johnny's family for their medical bills nor accept any responsibility for the events at school. The family contacted several lawyers, all of whom told them nothing could be done and declined the case. Mr. C. continues as Principal at the time of this writing.

Since the incident, Johnny has experienced recurring nightmares. His parents have noticed he exhibits more anger and rage, and seems, in his mother's words, to have "lost his childhood." To this day, he doesn't know the reason for his beating.

Mississippi Division of Family and Children's Services, Child Protective Services (CPS) says the following about punishment-related injuries:

"In regard to physical abuse, it is important to understand that although parents, guardians and custodians are legally allowed to utilize corporal punishment, they are not allowed to cause bruises... Any evidence of such will constitute abuse..." Source: MDHS Division of Family and Children Services

The hospital where Johnny was examined failed to report the incident to CPS.

If you want to see the picture of the 10-year old, look here.
Just another Mississippi paddling

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

And people wonder why US has so many teen problems.
These are lives that are really screwed up.

Not little screwed up things like losing your cell phone.
Or having your parents get divorced.
Or being grounded.
Or breaking up with your boy/girl friend.

Wanna do something about it instead of wasting all day playing Gunz or some other video game, arguing about pointless religious topics that go nowhere (Yeah, I'm a hypocrite), arguing about some stupid Gunz styles, and whining about dying in a video game?

There are more important things.

/rant

[Rivenwolf]

Blame bush, the end.

U.S is declining in being the world power, perfection was out the window when we elected him the first time.

[manofsparrow]

It's been happening even before Bush was elected.

[Sanosuke]

If only there was a "Black Bush" *Thread in web media*.

[Terraka]

Hell, I never thought the US was perfect anyways... Though that may be because I live in Canada. lol.

[Socks]

Originally Posted by Vash

If only there was a "Black Bush" *Thread in web media*.

I see mine everyday.
Anyway..
The people who do the "paddling" must not get paid enough when doing their jobs. It must suck to teach in Mississippi anyway. Wonder why.

[Heidenreich6]

Lawl, some people say USA is perfect?

Hilarious.

[Hymnosi]

o_o;; US is perfect?

[manofsparrow]

Meh, I needed an attention-grabbing title.

Here's some more stuff about why the US sucks.

Originally Posted by nospank.net

Teen Busting
By Armelle Vincent Arriola
June 2001

Slavish discipline makes a slavish temper... If severity carry'd to the highest pitch does prevail, and works a cure upon the present unruly distemper, it often brings in the room of it a worse and more dangerous disease, by breaking the mind; and then, in the place of a disorderly young fellow, you have a low spirited moap'd creature, who, however with his unnatural sobriety he may please silly people, who commend tame unactive children, because they make no noise, nor give them any trouble; yet at last, will probably prove as uncomfortable a thing to his friends, as he will be all his life an useless thing to himself and others... Beating them, and all other sorts of slavish and corporal punishments, are not the discipline fit to be used in the education of those we would have wise, good, and ingenuous men...
John Locke, 1692

One night in 1997, Katherine McNamara, the rebellious, depressive and runaway 16-year-old daughter of a wealthy Silicon Valley couple, opened her eyes to two perfect strangers, who, in her semi-conscious state, appeared to her as if they had been shaped in granite. “Get up,” she heard one of them say with a commanding tone while he was grabbing some of her clothes and shoving them into a bag. “You are coming with us. And don’t try to resist or we will handcuff you.” The chances of Kathy rebelling were very slim because before going to bed, her mother had given her a red pill to swallow and Kathy was in a stupefied state. “Where are you taking me?” she still found the strength to ask . “To Mexico,” answered one of the strangers, a professional kidnapper hired a few days earlier by the McNamaras to “escort” their daughter to Harmony Harbor, a boarding school of a very special sort.

According to Alexia Parks, a fiery advocate of adolescents’ freedoms and author of An American Gulag, an American teenager is kidnapped every 5 minutes to be “disappeared” by his parents to one of the 2000 “specialty schools” scattered in the depths of the least populated states of this country and abroad. Sometimes handcuffed or drugged, these teenagers haven’t committed any crimes, sometimes barely a misdemeanor. But because they have smoked marijuana, drunk alcohol, failed classes or been truant or defiant, their parents panic, believing the children have begun a deadly downward spiral.

It is usually by word of mouth or in a counselor’s office that parents first hear of the camps. Two choices are then presented to them: for an amount varying between $1,500 and $5,000 per month, they can commit their children to a so-called behavior modification school; or if a short term solution suits them better, they can send them to a 63 days-wilderness camp for about $14,000. There, the young rebels will have to face Mother Nature, eat what she has to offer, hike 12 miles a day, and deserve their salvation by proving their ability to survive in an inhospitable environment, impossible to manipulate. Some teenagers insist they have profited from the experience. Many others, like Michelle Sutton and Aaron Bacon, don’t survive it.

According to testimony gathered from former students of specialty boarding schools in Oregon, Missouri, Italy and Mexico, psychological rapes, physical abuses, sleep and food deprivation are some of the techniques used by specialty schools to coerce pupils’ complete submission. Yet, by reading their colorful brochures, or watching their promotional videos, one would not imagine what treatment awaits the troubled teenagers. The advertisements show youths dutifully absorbed in their books, typing on state-of-the-art computers, or happily practicing water sports, or backpacking. They show grateful parents smiling at their clean-cut teenagers whose lives have been saved by the schools’ programs.

Psychologist Larry Brendtro, President of Reclaiming Youth International, a non-profit research, training, and advocacy group in the field of troubled children, says some parents are so desperate that when someone comes along offering to turn their child into a model citizen, they'll sign on the dotted line. They are easy targets for skilled promoters who know precisely how to play on parents' fears and hopes.

Some boarding schools are more religion oriented while others focus on group therapy. Their methods don’t differ much. Upon arrival, teenagers are assigned a “buddy” from whom they can’t, under any circumstances, even the most intimate, move away more than arm’s length. Says Kathy McNamara: “At Harmony Harbor, girls learned that they had to drop immediately to the ground with their hands blocking their side vision if any boys walked past them”. The “impact” period is the most brutal. New students are deprived of basic freedoms like talking or making eye contact. Communications with the outside world are severed. Teens have to wait months before being allowed to call their parents. When they finally earn that privilege, its taste is bitter: conversations cannot exceed 15 minutes a month and they are monitored. Incoming and outgoing letters are censored. Negative comments are erased, complaints are punished. Parents are kept in the dark. They have been convinced that their intervening would compromise the chances of success for their teens. When, after three or four months, they are finally allowed a first visit, their children have often already sold their soul to the school's program --some out of fear, others as the price to be paid for release. Based on a "level system," the programs typically reward the vilest instincts while punishing the most admirable. Students are expected to denounce those of their peers who remain defiant. A denunciation earns two points which leads to a superior level, bringing with it certain privileges of which the most coveted is the “junior staff” status: warden, in other words. But even wardens can be demoted at any given time.

Only sixty miles separate Harmony Harbor from the California border. The distance is nevertheless long enough to destabilize students who become “easier to control when they are uprooted from their environment,” acknowledges G. D., Harmony Harbor’s director. Nestled between a toll road and a carved cliff, Harmony Harbor’s buildings remain invisible behind high walls. There is no sign indicating the nature of the fortress-like institution where 400 teenagers of all nationalities are locked up, most of them against their will. If it wasn’t for the surf crashing on the cliff, or the cars racing by, oblivious of what is taking place behind these imposing gray walls, not a sound would be heard. No music, no voices. Harmony Harbor is shrouded in silence. Intruders are kept at bay by a Mexican guard who started to mentally register my plate number as I inquired, as innocently as I could, about the school. Harmony Harbor refuses visitors because “they would disrupt activities,” G.D. will explain later.

[manofsparrow]

Continued from the last post:

Originally Posted by nospank.net

A meeting is thus arranged in a downtown restaurant. About 38 years old, elegant and charming, the director doesn’t look like a soul torturer. But he presides over others who are, according to Kathy McNamara. He arrives with six junior staff of both sexes and, obviously confident that they will only say wonderful things about the school, he fades into the background to let them do the talking. He is supremely confident of his spokespeople. Generous smiles seem to hang on all the junior staff's beatific faces. Soon, the same words come out of all mouths. It’s a whirlwind of: “the Program saved my life”, “before the Program, I was lost,” “I have finally internalized the Program,” “I found Jesus.” One is struck by their flawless consistency. That is, until Nick, 17, commits a blunder: “When my parents had me kidnapped…uh, escorted...” And he glances towards the director who stares back at him without so much as the blink of an eye.

“We were coerced into using the program terminology,” remembers Kathy, who after 4 months, managed to convince her parents to free her. “Some teens used words without even knowing what they meant. But it was the rule. The consequences for breaking the rules were called 'Worksheets.' You had to sit in a cubicle on a chair, with your behind scooted to the very edge and you could not lean on the back of the chair; instead, your back had to be arched forward in an attentive position and you had to stare at the wall and listen to hour-long tapes. The very least amount of time you had to spend in one worksheet session was five hours. Some girls were in there for weeks and received more consequences because they could not leave to do any tests for school; so they would fall behind in academics, thus receiving more time in worksheet. The only worse thing was R+R -- rest & relaxation!. Basically, it was isolation: you would have to lie on your stomach on the ground in a hogtied position, but without the rope, with your chin up. Girls would be there for days and weeks. It was pure torture and loneliness. They would be watched by junior staff person assigned to the task and have to sleep in the hall with bright lights on.”

Once a month, students attend 3-day seminars. It is during these group therapies that they are first weakened, then psychologically broken by being subjected to loud public confession sessions during which they must reveal their innermost secrets.

“Kids would have to stand on top of a chair in front of 80 people and be interrogated by a facilitator who would perform a psychological rape,” remembers Kathy. “He would coerce the students into revealing their darkest, deepest secrets and fears to the crowd. The audience would then give feedback. ‘I think everything you are saying is a lie and you are just faking it,’ would be a typical response to someone who had just confessed a terribly traumatic event, like a rape. The facilitator would then probe deeper until the teen on the chair would collapse in hysterical crying fits.”

Exhausted by 18-hour sessions after which they’d be required to write 10-page reports while being denied food, the students are soon in a state of mind which is difficult to describe. “To say that they are ‘emotionally vulnerable’ is an understatement,” explains Kathy.

Kathy’s account of life at Harmony Harbor deeply disturbs doctor Brendtro: “The methods which she describes are substantially the same used to brainwash prisoners of war: Isolate individuals from anything familiar, strip them of their personal identity, push them psychologically and physically to the point of exhaustion, make them submit to all-powerful adult authorities, and use pure ridicule and punishment to enforce authority." The 'therapy' described is a version of the 1960's marathon confrontation groups, which are designed to batter down defenses so that persons scream their problems out. Adults seem to have lost sight of their role of nurturing, teaching, and protecting children in the belief that this harsh treatment has therapeutic value. Such programs are highly destructive with certain individuals. Their proprietors have theories that these are undisciplined children (sometimes true, sometimes not) who will only respond to harsh, coercive, intimidating, and invasive ‘therapy’. In fact, such treatments, if applied by the parents themselves, would more than likely land them in jail for child abuse. All legitimate research validates programs that take the opposite track: children are treated with respect. But boarding schools are private and therefore not accountable to regulatory agencies. And by signing the enrollment contracts, parents transfer the legal custody of their children to the schools.

Except for a few resilient activists who tirelessly voice their rejection of what Alexia Parks calls the “private incarceration of children,” the public is mostly unaware of this growing trend and of the countless victims whose spirits have been crushed.

California Family Code Section 7900; Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children recognizes minors' right to not be transferred against their will to another state. But nobody seems to apply it. And authorities balk at interfering in family affairs and contesting parental prerogatives, especially when there is the prospect that defiant teens can be converted into tame sheep.

With some regularity, however, a tragedy forces the public to open its eyes, at least briefly. In April 1996, a student was found dead behind a building at Bear Mountain Academy, a Baptist fundamentalist boarding school in Missouri. He had been beaten to death by two fellow students who wanted to attract media and official attention to their living conditions. A few months before, a girl had thrown herself into the icy pool begging to be left there to die; another had slashed her wrist with a pencil sharpener’s blades. Prison or death seemed preferable to fanatics' sermons and tortures.

At Bear Mountain Academy, discipline was particularly ferocious and absurd when Teana Zeller, a Las Vegas native, was one of its students. Parting one’s hair in the middle was discouraged. Curly hair, dubbed “too hippie” had to be straightened every morning. Pants were not allowed. Large wooden paddles were used to “spank” defiant students. In the dormitories, microphones recorded all conversations, laser beams detected all forbidden movements. “Girls would sometimes urinate in their beds because they were not allowed to use the rest rooms at night,” remembers Teana. Illnesses were rarely attended to because in the ultra religious mindset of Bear Mountain Academy’s owners, pain purified the soul.

“When you will love the school,
then it will be time to leave.”

By telling her story, Teana fears for her life. Tears run down her cheeks as she remembers how her parents drove her to Missouri one day after she had run away to a friend’s house to escape their constant arguments. She was to spend the next three years at the boarding school, her heart filling with paranoia, her eyes with fear, her gestures becoming jerky and unpredictable like those of a hunted animal.

Sitting in a Las Vegas restaurant, Teana seems to be constantly watching over her shoulder as she tells her story. At 23, and against all odds, she is beginning to cope. Her biggest fear is to be locked up again. Five years after her release, she still refuses to enter a car if she is not driving it. She doesn’t trust anybody: “When your own mother commits you to a place like Bear Mountain Academy for her own convenience, and not only refuses to believe you when you tell her what’s happening in there but denounces you to your tormentors for doing it, who can you trust?”

Teana works in marketing now. Of all her fellow students at Bear Mountain, she, as far as she knows, is the only one capable of holding a job. Most have plunged into alcohol, drug abuse, or severe depression. Some, now unable to cope with life outside the school’s boundaries, have decided to stay there as staff members. “When you will love the school, then it will be time to leave,” they were told repeatedly. “But when the time to leave comes," explains Teana, "you have become so frightened by the outside world, you have been so used to being controlled, you are incapable of making the most simple decision. If you would have talked to me a year ago, I would have told you that Bear Mountain was a great school. I was completely brainwashed.”

[manofsparrow]

Oh, and I'm really glad I don't live in Texas.
US isn't just bad, it's f***ed up.

Originally Posted by nospank.net

In Texas, if somebody beats your dog with a wooden board for no reason, you'd sue and win. In addition to the civil action, the perpetrator would undoubtedly face criminal charges and be punished. But in Texas if somebody beats your child with a wooden board, and the perpetrator happens to be a schoolteacher, you'd better back off and keep your mouth shut. If you try to seek a remedy in the courts on behalf of your child, it is you, the parent, who will be punished. That's the way it is in Texas. Family pets are cherished, but children... Well, they're a different story.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, August 11, 1996: A judge has dismissed a "silly" lawsuit filed by a mother and her son seeking damages from the Houston school district after a music teacher paddled the boy with a broken cello for being tardy.

State District Judge William Bell ordered sanctions on Friday against Alice and Mark Anthony Ramirez who continued their case despite repeated warnings from Houston Independent School District attorneys that state law does not permit such legal actions against school districts. Bell dismissed the case and assessed $15,000 in penalties against the plaintiffs, who did not appear for the hearing Friday. Bell told attorneys that he might view the case differently had there been any evidence of real injuries from the spanking.

For example, when Mark Ramirez arrived late to class, his teacher beat him on the buttocks with a piece of wood. While such treatment of schoolchildren is routine in most parts of Texas and in every southern state except Virginia, in this particular district, hitting kids is prohibited by district regulations. But that didn't protect Mark. The attack caused him to defecate in his clothes and left visible bruises. His mom was summoned by the school nurse to come get her son.

The outraged Mrs. Ramirez sought justice for Mark as any caring parent would. But in Texas there is a law which prohibits legal actions by parents against school districts. She tried anyway. She sued the district and the teacher for assault.

State District Judge William Bell wasn't impressed. After all, the Ramirez boy isn't anybody's prize retriever; he's just a kid. "It's silly to be wasting our time and taxpayer's money. We can have people running down here to sue every time there's a spanking," Judge Bell told the Houston Chronicle (8/10/96) and he slapped Mrs. Ramirez with a $15,000 penalty for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Has it occurred to anyone to ask what it is, besides the lobbying clout of the education establishment, that could persuade the Texas legislature to exempt one particular professional group from the risk of civil suits and consequently leave any schoolchild exposed to worse treatment than can be legally meted out to a convicted felon in a Texas prison? This incident perfectly illustrates just who's protecting whose rear and at what cost to society

[Daxter241]

lol, i live in US and trust me....we are far from perfect....



where i live atleast....

[Weener]

California any better?

[MyDogBites]

US perfect?
some people think is great and all but by the stufs i've seen its far away from perfection, im some cases not even near from good