To help a brotha out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090429/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/crack_laws

Over here, we can't say that California has gone soft on crimes. Many non-violent offenders such as petty theft, burglary, car stealing, estafa, prostitution, un-armed drug posession or selling, identity theft and many others are released very early. It doesn't mean that Californians have gone soft on crimes, we just don't have the budget to put all criminals to prison.

Even homeless person will rob a store with a toy gun, make sure to be clearly seen on video with a gun, and then throw away the gun. Then he will be booked to jail as violent offender and receives free board and lodging, plus cable TV, fitness gym, free health care, and many other amenities for free...

You missed the point. He is trying to change the law because he feels it is unfair to black Americans.


To me he is moving from phase 1, the class warfare to phase 2.

True, but my point is another, slightly related to crime and how it was dealt with. I'd like to point out that the way your post has been pre-commented has some racial overtones to it, and we are not sure if helping a brotha out is the main point of the news either. Now that you brought it up, apparently I was unsuccessful at deflecting the issue.

People can choose one of two paths when dealing with race. Shy away or talk about it. I am in a mixed race relationship and have 3 mixed race children, my third child will be here in July. White people have been taught to fear bringing up race, because then they will be considered racists, but that is a load of bull. The only way you move past something is to confront it, not create racist policies against one race to get even. Two years ago, my wife and I made my wife President of one of our companies to take advantage of Small disadvantaged business rules regarding a woman/minority owned company. Please tell me why a white male cannot take advantage of those same breaks? I will not even go into the of quotas or affirmative action. Racism is wrong regardless of who the racist is.

I love these types of conversations! I wish I could have read the article but the link didn't come with anything but similar search results on Yahoo. After reading an article that seemed to be similar in content to the one originally posted I have yet to see how this "helps a brotha out"? By "brotha" I would guess you mean "black"? To make it perfectly clear crack cocaine usage is as prevelant a problem in the "black" community as it is in every other minority community. So I fail to see how this "helps a brotha out."

If anything it seems to point out how arcane many of our drug laws are and how racially biased the initial crafting of legislation on crack cocaine was to begin with. I think the point is that crack cocaine and powdered cocaine have similar effects (since they are derived from the same source) and that it is an excessive burden on our legal system to treat them as incredibly different drugs. The fact of the matter is that crack is cheaper making it more appealing to poor folks which unfortunately are disproportionatly not white (whatever "white" is). The fact that crack is treated so incredibly differently legally than cocaine (which is almost always referred to as "a white-mans drug") raises many questions about the possibly (and likely) racial overtones of early crack cocaine legislation. Barack may be guilty of trying to the playing field in terms of race on this issue if you choose to look at it that way, which is indeed a choice. Legislation of this sort makes sense to me for reasons different then the one you suggest. Unfortunately many of the people that will complain about being soft on crime also vehemently oppose tax increases to further fund the social programs that are neccesary for crime fighing...

I think people often forget that Barack is every bit as much "white" as he is "black" and I seriously doubt that race is the ONLY and FIRST thing he considers when law comes to mind. 829 I think JoeReal was just trying to tell you that you may want to be a bit more tactful when making posts about sensitive topics. Though you may not have meant it in a rascist fashion I bet 99% of people coming across your post would think it was. For the record the only thing that perpetuates racism is making something a racial issue, no matter what side of the spectrum you are on.

Drug use is drug use. I do not care what race you are. Obama has been about race from the beginning and on this issue and I dare to say other issues, he is putting race first, because he needs votes. Instead of trying to confront the rampant violence and drug use amongst minorities, he wants to pacify it. Of course, being connected to yet another Chicago mob figure, I can see where he and his cronies benefit from crime.

Everyone born in this world has two options, do good or do evil. I do not care about your background, race, or monitory value. If races do not like the stereotypes they present, work hard and erase them. The is only one person in this world to blame when things go wrong and that person stares back at you in your reflection.

Lastly, I really do not care what people think about me or if they think my posts are racist. Chances are, the only people that think it is racist are democrats that cannot get past race or those that think they are always the victim, generally speaking also democrat. Here is the deal, I am white and my wife, with whom I have been for the last 12 years is not and my children are mixed. If someone wants to call me a racist, let them, because they are not worth my time. There are people on this board who think they are always the victim, well if you are the victim, what are you doing to change that?

I never said you were a rascist, just questioned some points in your post and pointed out how many people could feel that way. In America you can be all the rascist you wanna be and are free to say so. Just do not be suprised when people respond. That's all. I am not a democrat for the record and do not feel as though I have been dealt a crappy hand in life. I like to play devil's advocate and will root for the underdog 99% of the time (unless it's the early '90s Bulls). It's a curse. Everything Barack will ever do will be racial to some people because that is the first thing THEY see. Your perceptions are your own and you are free to feel how you may.