This is what my tax dollars buy?????

I'm not a fan of them, either. But it's reality in many countries - uniforms are usually required in private schools.

 

makes me think of nazi germany.

 

and i'm not talking khaki pants and blue shirts!

 

Yep. Not just there. Lots of other places. Typically boys will wear a blazer, maybe a tie, and slacks, all identical; girls will wear a skirt and blouse, also all identical. There will likely be minor differences between schools.

Nobody should be given a lifetime jail sentence in the U.S. without the opportunity to appear before a judge and jury in the U.S. to argue that they are innocent of the charges.

Not only that, but jail is many times worse than prison, and these folks were being held in jail, and I have not heard that anything's changed. For those who do not know, prisons typically (except at the highest security level) provide work, exercise, and opportunity for education, though not all offer the last of those. Jail typically is nothing but cells and a day room, which may or may not have some playing cards and board games and a TV. Exercise may be offered as little as a half hour once a week, or as much as an hour 3 or 4 days a week. It may be an indoor weight room, or it may be a small yard with a basketball and a hoop. You can go bonkers from boredom in jail.

 

Cuba won't take them back. That was the deal on the Mariel boat lift: You can leave but you can't come back. And no other country will take them.

Your argument sounds good except for one thing: Why are they denied even the right to appear before a judge? We are used to the idea that you are innocent until proven guilty, and that you have certain legal rights. The fact is that under U.S. immigration law, people charged with "illegal" entry apparently have no rights at all, not even the right to argue before a judge that they did not enter illegally.

What would you think of a special federal police force that had the right to detain you forever without ever bringing formal charges or allowing you to tell a judge, "Hey, Judge, I didn't do it." ? And then on top of holding you forever, they won't even put you in a prison where you can work and get some exercise, but instead they keep you forever in a jail, where you get to go to a weight room or shoot hoops for a half an hour once or twice a week, and you're locked in a cell or day room the rest of the time!

 

that would probably happen if i entered another country illegally.

 

The flaw in denying basic legal rights to non-citizens is that it sets a precedent for other countries to deny basic legal rights to U.S. citizens when we travel to their countries.

The Cubans on the Mariel boat lift did not really enter the U.S. illegally because President Carter DEMANDED that Castro allow them to leave Cuba. Where else were they to go but here?

Also, please note, that if you were picked up while traveling abroad, and ACCUSED of entering their country illegally, or ACCUSED of being a criminal in your own country, you'd want the right to appear before a judge to explain why the ACCUSATIONS were false. By denying that simple right to the Cubans, we are giving implicit permission for other nations to do the same to our citizens.

Cuba is NOT a perfect country. It's merely the only country in the region that does not leave its own people to starve in the streets; the only country in the region that provides medical care to every person; the only country in the region whose leader does not send a mountain of money to secret bank accounts overseas; the only country in the region where there are no starving children.

 

It is worthwhile noting that the WORST criminals here in the U.S. go free. Our "legal" system is so broken that the outcome of a trial has nothing to do with the facts, and everything to do with the skill and level of preparation of the lawyers. Also, that our laws are written so that a corporate CEO can murder thousands by selling dangerous products, or by polluting the air and water, and can steal billions via scams like the recent credit-default-swap fiasco, and never even be charged with a crime because the legislature made such scams legal and banned any sort of regulation.

Advertising foods to children that will cause obesity in childhood, and "adult-onset" diabetes in children is legal, but is a far worse crime in terms of the number of DEATHS IT DIRECTLY CAUSES than anything any street criminal or neighborhood drug peddler does.

One child molester gets nation-wide publicity and is rightly excoriated by every decent person; but the deaths of thousands of children as the direct of legal advertising and unhealthy products is just ignored!

When mass-murderers sit comfortably in the board rooms of a thousand major companies because their lobbyists write the laws in such a way as to make their death-dealing legal, it rings pretty darn hollow to say we need to ignore human rights because some INVITED immigrants MIGHT be criminals. -- And don't forget, they were invited by Carter's demand that Castro let them leave.

And when the Constitution says that the government shall not deny the right to trial, I don't think it excluded "illegal" immigrants.

 

we've taken so many turns here, i'm not even sure what we're discussing anymore! where's my nuvi?

 

That's normal.

Edit: I mean that's normal for internet discussions.

 

right on both counts.

 

I think we were discussing sheep.

Tom

 

Sheep?

Economic theory is so much more cerebral.

 

sheep should have a right to a trial by a jury of their peers...