hey anonymous, now it is your turn.

Let's face it though, the average American has a *far* higher chance of being incarcerated and tortured due to the drug war than due to the terror war.

A family member of mine has a close friend who just got out of prison after fifteen years for, you guessed it, a drug charge. The tales this man has to tell would shock you greatly.

The point I'm trying to make is that a nation which condones the torture and caging of its own citizens on a scale more massive than any other on the planet has little to no compunction about doing the same to (mostly) foreign nationals.

Believe me, I'm a regular here since the inception of Glenn's old blog, and he and I are well aware of this horror. He commissioned me (then writing under a pseudonym and with assist from Pete Guither) to write this guest post: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/03/prison-war-on-drugs-just-say-no.html

Liberals love to wring their hands and have giant puppet protests in the streets for dirty people in romantic sounding far away lands they intend to vacation in some day, while their own fellow citizens right here rot in squalor and crime and are incarcerated because lord knows, dem brown people sure do be scarey whens theys aks for a quarter.

If you want to fix illegal immigration for example, fix this country so that 20 million people weren't effectively unemployable because of some bullshit 2 joint pot bust. Where I live the litany of crimes that are now felonious is obscene. Yell an insult in public to more than one person and that's "terrorism" or "making a terroristic threat". Get frisked by a cop for no reason and they find a bag a weed and that's 'Intent to distribute'. 1 in 10 Americans has first or second hand contact with the 'criminal justice system' and it's only going to get worse. Soon no one will be able to fill out an employment form, get an apartment lease, a car loan or be on the grid employed above minimum wage.

So spare me your NPR worthy reminiscences of that march for The Hamas or Honduran Marxists Mothers for Peace or political prisoners of Goatfukistan. I'm sure the Yemeni Felafel Bakers Union will appreciate your efforts. But no one here will.

That person didn't belong in a prison. He belonged in a hospital for the mentally ill. Do you happen to know why all the mentally ill end up in prisons now, mr. "liberal" ?

I believe it was Reagan who let all the nuts out of the mental hospitals. Is that what you mean?

I don't think most poeple here would disagree with you on the points you raise.

I believe it was Reagan who let all the nuts out of the mental hospitals. Is that what you mean?

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Why waste money on hospitals when it is cheaper to keep them in prison? Thanks for clearing that up for me.

It began in the 60s and picked up steam in the 70s, as a more or less progressive cause. The idea was that many of those in the hospitals could live in a less restrictive environment in their communities, with the proper supports and programs.

From "Is That Legal?"

http://isthatlegal.org/archives/2006/09/sleep_deprivati.html

September 22, 2006
Sleep Deprivation - Movie Style: Stalag 17
Posted by shertaugh at September 22, 2006 4:58 PM

In Billy Wilder's masterful 1953 comedic drama "Stalag 17," written by two former American POWs, Wilder tackles the very issue of sleep deprivation and War Crimes so high on the list of this President's priorities. To his credit, the President must be a movie buff (despite apparently not seeing Marathon Man), because Stalag 17 sure seems to suggest that -- in 1953 -- the perception was that the use of sleep deprivation to secure a confession was a war crime. And in the immediate post-WW II era, these folks knew war crimes.

I say this because of a scene in Stalag 17 when Camp Commandant Colonel Von Scherbach (played by Otto Preminger) forces an American officer suspected of sabotage -- Lt. Dunbar -- to keep him company, as he called it, in his quarters because Von Scherbach suffered from insomnia. On that pretext, Dunbar was forced to stand against a wall in Von Scherbach's office and stay awake after having not slept for the past couple of days as he was transported to the POW camp.

A Geneva Convention man shows up at the Stalag 17 while Dunbar is in with Von Scherbach. On visting the Commandant's office, there's this exchange:

GENEVA MAN
I want to talk about Lieutenant Dunbar. Is this Lieutenant Dunbar?

VON SCHERBACH
It is.

GENEVA MAN
What exactly is he charged with?

VON SCHERBACH
Whatever it is, it's out of your jurisdiction. This man is not a

prisoner of war. Not any more. He is a saboteur.

GENEVA MAN
He is a prisoner of war until you can prove sabotage.

DUNBAR
I didn't do it. I was in the Frankfurt station and the train was three miles

away when it blew up.

VON SCHERBACH
Oh, come now! You threw a time bomb.

DUNBAR
How could I have had a time bomb? They searched me when they took me

prisoner.

GENEVA MAN
And the way you search your prisoners, it does sound rather unlikely.

VON SCHERBACH
All I know is he did it. I am satisfied.

GENEVA MAN
I am not. According to the Geneva Convention --

DUNBAR
Is there anything about letting a guy sleep in the Geneva Convention? [Dunbar shuffles over to the sofa, and plunks himself down -- instantly asleep.]

VON SCHERBACH
(to the Geneva Man)
You were saying --?

GENEVA MAN
Simply this. After the hostilities are ended, there will be such a thing as a War Crimes Commission. If this man should be convicted without proper proof, you will be held responsible, Colonel von Scherbach.

VON SCHERBACH
Interesting.

GENEVA MAN
Isn't it?

A great exchange reflecting the prevailing view of the times -- a winner's history of sorts.

Amazing how far we've come. How far we've fallen.

- - Posted by shertaugh at September 22, 2006 4:58 PM

And for anybody who has forgotten "Stalag 17" or who never saw it -- Lt. Dunbar was guilty.

He was a saboteur, or, as we'd say nowadays, a terrorist.

Now replay that scene, but with Dunbar renamed as Akbar.