California screamin'

The whole concept of Capitalism in its most vile form is exemplified by taking a very close look at the California Department of Corrections, the Board of Prison Terms, and the Prison Guards Union.
The basic fundamentals of a capitalistic Democracy are the exploitation of others while trying to maintain your integrity and sense of fair play.
One must expect larceny, tyranny and greed to rear up its ugly head, this is what Capitalism breeds, and democracy is all we have to keep ourselves in check.
The Board of Prison Terms have created their own laws to keep a strangle hold on Parolees after they have done their time.
For example, you have completed your 2 year prison sentence only to find out that you have to dance to the tune of the Parole Department for the next three years or you’ll be sent back to prison for violating your parole.
You didn’t notify your parole officer quick enough when you moved, you bought a car without notifying your parole officer, there was an un-opened six pack of beer in your car that belonged to your brother, who is also on parole when you were pulled over.
Even though you have never had a DUI, or a drunk in public, you do four months for the beer, and another four months because you were around another parolee when you were pulled over . . .it doesn’t matter even if it's family.
All these petty infractions are traps to get you sent back to prison. It’s job security for the state and county bureaucrats. No real law has been broken, but they yank you from your job and family and destroy what you have built up for the past year or two.
When the States budget gets tight they do a sweep and incarcerate as many people as they can. They have it set up so sweet that there is no statue of limitations on parole, but there is for robbery.
Capitalism is not a bad thing, but we must not lose sight of more important ideals like freedom, dignity, respect and compassion. Let’s not be seduced by power, wealth and greed, let us take the time to re-examine our motives. It is never too late to make a difference, to stand up for your rights and to make amends by having the courage to admit our errors and then take action to correct them.
I have always believed that we are more responsible for our "inactivity" than we are for taking action and making mistakes. As American citizens we were given certain rights to protect ourselves from a corrupt system. It is up to us to be vigilant and to speak up when you or someone you know is being victimized by the state. Although our system is flawed it is the best in the world and any system is only as good as the people who govern it. I am not here to belittle my country that I love and have fought and killed for in the name of freedom. Vietnam has left me a wreck, but as I see children running free through a park laughing and full of joy, I would do it all over again. I am your fellow American and will continue to defend your rights as well as my own. I am a Vet from the San Joaquin Valley, which has always been famous for it's abundance of fruit, nuts and vegetables. My first memories are swimming in irrigation canals, peaches on one side of the country road and apricots on the other. Watermelons, honeydews, almonds, picking cotton in the fog, working and tilling the earth with my healing brown hands, I am an Mexican/American, one of the stewards of the earth, willing to work with a smile in our hearts. Maybe this is why we make such excellent waiters.



The valleys and deserts of California are still being filled with fruits, nuts and vegetables of a different variety. The poor and downtrodden surrounded with razor wire and gun towers. There are more prisons in California than there are in the rest of the country. The trend it seems is to make it a crime to be homeless and destitute or mentally ill. Most of these new type of inmates are being convinced by prison psychologists into taking psyche meds and end up stumbling around, not even concerned about their own release date, they're so out of it. I find it ironic that the state has become the pusherman.
Just because this part of fate has not reached you doesn't make it any less real, it is up to us to put a stop to this so that our grandchildren won't become susceptible to this wicked self serving system that seeks to incarcerate our next generation just to fatten their pockets.
The three-strike law is job security for the state. Yes, lets keep the violent offender off the streets with a sentence that correlates with his crime and prior criminal history. The three-strike law is actually an undercover death penalty; a death sentence and they pass it out all day everyday. The A.C.L.U.rushes to defend the rights of terrorists, but the injustice of the three-strike law doesn't get their attention.
Imagine doing 25 years, your old, and society has left you behind and for what? petty theft, possession of a syringe! It's happening as we speak! I saw a black and white police van with "Homeless Outreach" printed on the side and "Soylent Green” came to mind. Remember the Charlton Heston movie, where the government was scooping up its destitute citizens and making green crackers out of them to feed to the masses.
The van stopped here at the wall in Ocean Beach where the Homeless congregate.

Let the harassment begin! Nazi Germany taking up people off the street, not just the Jews, but also the homeless, the gypsies, anyone who didn’t live up to their Aryan standards.
We must not let this happen to us.
Must we wait for them to invade the privacy of your own home before you do anything about this? We as Californians have many more years of strife and repercussions on all levels thanks to Pete Wilson and his fascist ideology. Immigration, the Prison System and the Homeless should be the main issues. What about the forgotten elderly who peek out their windows, their lawns are over grown, trash piled high in their backyards. They hobble to the store too scared and embarrassed to converse. Something should be done for these old folks. They are someone’s used to be grandparents.
I hang out at the V.F.W. Canteen in Ocean Beach, and it is here that I am able to volunteer my services. Because of this; these Vets have taken me under their wing, they don't judge me, my actions do.



The more you contribute to life, the more you receive whether good or bad, choose one.
I truly believe that our problems arise when we separate ourselves from each other.
Technology, fast food, and the quest for the Yankee dollar has been a major factor in alienating us from each other. Remember when we would all sit together as a family around the kitchen table? Now its ordering your food from your car at Crackdonnels. Everyone with their iPods plugged in their ears, oblivious as their world crumbles about them.

I leave you with this quote. "Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the RIGHT! of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, it is their right, it is their duty! to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security” written by Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence.
By Exteban ximenez, Ocean Beach, San Diego Califas.Peace Out!