Attempt to overhaul America’s justice system

Once again Jim Webb shows that he is a true patriot. I hope this investigation helps to bring about changes to the justice system. People forget that the justice system is not just about race but about WEALTH. There is a different kind of justice for the poor and for the wealthy. If you can afford it you can get the best defense that money can buy. But if you are poor you are usually stuck with some court appointed attorney who really does not care. Let's be frank, Kennedy would not have gotten away with the Moxley murder for so many years if his family were the regular Jone's instead of the wealthy Kennedy's.

Hooray! This action is long overdue and unfortunately will be a long time coming before real change is seen.

Yes, the criminal justice is a failure. We pray Obama will pass this measure. Aquitting the quilty and condeming the innocent, God disapproves of both.

President Obama.

Protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it.

I understand that when you took office the damage had already happened. However, I would like to ask you:

How will you restore the sovereignty of the United States?

One thing is the foundation of the failures of our justice system as it stands now, from our overcrowded jails to the erosion of constitutional protections, and that is when people try to use the criminal justice system to try to stamp out personal vices. Crimes are actions taken with the expectation that the criminal will do something that harms another – taking another's property, defrauding, assaulting, killing. Vices are actions that the person takes with the intention of personal pleasure. A sign that trying to use police to try to stamp out vices is inconsistent with the constitution is that enforcing laws against vices like patronizing prostitutes, playing the numbers, or drug or alcohol use, require an end run around the Bill of Rights. Crimes have complaining victims, where most instances of "vice" involve only the pleasure-seeker and maybe the purveyor of those pleasures, requiring expensive undercover operations to detect. America learned this lesson with alcohol prohibition, and also in the early 20th century, when we finally stopped jailing people for adultery and premarital sex. We can't legislate against every stupid or dangerous act – a friend who ate red meat & never got his heart checked died a totally preventable death last week, age 60. People skydive, mountain climb, eat fugu fish. Hey, it's even legal to marry someone who has been convicted of murdering a previous spouse. The opportunities to ban behaviour, bankrupt America and dismantle the rights on which our nation was founded are endless. But freedom means that other people can do things that you think are stupid or distasteful.

Now that states' budget shortfalls are resulting in closing of drug courts & treatment centers, it's time to re-think drug prohibition. Perhaps if people didn't have possibility of reduced punishment for crimes, or free housing, in response to their claims that drugs overwhelmed them, fewer people would claim to be so overwhelmed. Here's an idea – people who think they need outside help to stop using drugs could do what Americans who have physical illnesses do – either get insurance to cover the expenses, or pay for it themselves. I find it remarkable that so many Americans think that it's wrong for government to pay to treat physical illnesses [not the fault of someone with infection or birth defects or accidental harm], but that our taxes should support sleepaway programs to convince people to stop consuming drugs.