Rehabilitated?...to me it's just a made up word. A politician's word..

The Shawshank Redemption, 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtwXlIwozog

1967 Parole Hearings Man: Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated? 
Red: Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means. 
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society... 
Red: I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did? 
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, are you? 
Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/quotes


     This dialog is form one my favorite movies of all time and probably one of the most critically underacclaimed of the last 20 years. The entire movie is about justice from the perspective of Prison spectatorship and the perceived harsh life of prison. The movie underscores the long prison terms given, especially through Red, a man serving life for a murder he committed while a teenager. We have seen Red go through other parole hearings in the past attempting to feed the panel the same lines that he thinks they want to hear. This dialog brings an alternate perspective to the sentencing laws in the United States.

Five Finger Death Punch - Death Before Dishonor (explicit)

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/five_finger_death_punch/death_before_dishonor.html


"To the haters, the takers, the liars, all the vultures and the bottom feeding scum
The FCC, the FBI and every tin god with a badge and a gun
You talk and talk, you preach and bitch but your words don't mean a thing
You get what you give, you give what you get
Just the way it's always been

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier, with my dignity!

You imitate the ostracized, put your head beneath the sand
Your cup it runneth over, must be rough to live so grand
You reap what you sew, you pay what you owe unless you bathe yourself in greed
You rob and you take, your world is fake
There's no honor amongst the thieves

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier, with my dignity!

Fuck!
You're self righteous, self pretentious
Your ways are not for me
You're deluded, so confused
Your world is not for me

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier...

Bury me! (Bury me!)
Bury me! (Bury me!)
Bury me!

With my dignity!"

This song came to my mind when I was reading the article about the modern neo-conservative oppression of the ostracized classes in the United States. The Band is rebelling against the government and in particular, law enforcement for being hypocritical. The band says it might not live up to their standards but at least they have their dignity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-dwBhrevgw

Newlywed shot dead after Halloween party

After conducting a quick search for on Google for "crime" and "Halloween" I found this interesting article. The article is pretty sparse and just reports that there was a newlywed woman who was murdered in Atlanta. The woman had been shot several times in her home after returning from a party and her husband has been taken into custody for the event. The report also claimed that the woman's husband was arrested for walking naked in a nearby park and was later charged. This kind of crime may be just another intoxicated violent act and in which case as college students we can see the same types of incidents around our community. I could not help but think that since it took place during Halloween, that maybe this killing was inspired by the bad energy of a morbid holiday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39945566/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Copycat Crimes

I still have to say that I think copy cat crimes are an interesting phenomenon that is being blamed entirely too much on Hollywood and not enough on the ind9vidual. As John Douglas said, these people would find other ways to be violent if they did not have the influence from the movie in the first place. The fact that "Natural Born Killers" was so popular seemed fairly frighting to me though. How could so many people be so inspired by this one film? I think copy cat crimes are committed by disturbed people who lack enough creativity to come up with interesting crimes on their own. They in turn take the crimes depicted by other more imaginative people and copy them.

Homecoming Tailgating

The JMU football atmosphere is smaller than a lot of Division one schools but for the size of the institution I don't think we do all that bad. In the past students were able to get excited about the games, tailgate freely, and get loud at the games. Post spring 2010 all of that has changed.  The ability of students to tailgate has been reduced drastically with the institution of a police presence that outnumbers fans in student lots. On the other side of campus, conveniently the side that costs $1000-$1500 to park a car, the sight of a police officer is rare if non existent. The militant police presence has resulted in a calm game day atmosphere and a lack of student excitement in their university. The lack of media coverage has caused some fans to cover the matter themselves.
http://jmusportsblog.com/?p=1399 is a blog run by an alumni which calls out the administration for its ludicrous use of law enforcement to give tickets to students alumni and even parents this year. I feel if there is not formal attention called to the behavior of the administration there might soon be a revolt by the student body.

Obama's a Muslim!

Yes, sadly but truthfully i hopped on the Obama's a Muslim bandwagon back in 2007-2008. The bandwagon effect really took a hold of me and until i was actually able to do some research on the topic I believed that Obama was in face a Muslim. In my defense I did not nor do I associate Muslims with automatically being terrorists. I am in fact more scared that I know Obama is actually an extremest United States hating Christian radical. Initially I gave the man credit for running for high office with such a natural handicap as sharing the same religion as a group of terrorists that killed over 2,700 Americans in 2001. I think the department of information is a great idea, right with the rest of our current administration's insane big government ideals. Sounds like another great way to jeopardize the consumers right to choose for themselves. If I see something like a department of information I will be forced to start up a militia for the impending coup.

Boardwalk Empire

I'm not sure how many of you have HBO at home or access to it but they have come out with yet another great series. Boardwalk Empire is set in 1920 right at the institution of the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States. The show takes place in Atlantic City, NJ where the county treasurer uses prohibition to make money on the distribution and sale of alcohol. The attention to historical detail is pretty well done and makes the show worthy of view by its self. The issue of organized crime and extortion of the public is an issue that is relevant to the Justice Studies major and especially for the track A majors.