A COLLECTION OF DISTRACTIONS

Going off comm for Flipside. Xoxo.

Thu, 23 May 2013 18:01:29 -0700

Going off comm for Flipside. Xoxo.

Oh, Texas.

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:58:57 -0700

Oh, Texas.

There we go.

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:42:36 -0700

There we go.

Wish you were here.

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:16:07 -0700

Wish you were here.

Tran station shapes. Sleepy. Early.

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:56:38 -0700

Tran station shapes. Sleepy. Early.

elige: peachsss: setfabulazerstomaximumcaptain: thepeoplesreco...

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:22:27 -0700

elige:

peachsss:

setfabulazerstomaximumcaptain:

thepeoplesrecord:

Prison Labor Exposed: From Starbucks to Microsoft - A sampling of what US prisoners make & for whom
May 21, 2013

Tens of thousands of US inmates are paid from pennies to minimum wage—minus fines and victim compensation—for everything from grunt work to firefighting to specialized labor.

The breaded chicken patty your child bites into at school may have been made by a worker earning twenty cents an hour, not in a faraway country, but by a member of an invisible American workforce: prisoners. At the UnionCorrectional Facility, a maximum security prison in Florida, inmates from a nearby lower-security prison manufacture tons of processed beef, chicken and pork for Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises (PRIDE), a privately held non-profit corporation that operates the state’s forty-one work programs. In addition to processed food, PRIDE’s website reveals an array of products for sale through contracts with private companies, from eyeglasses to office furniture, to be shipped from a distribution center in Florida to businesses across the US. PRIDE boasts that its work programs are “designed to provide vocational training, to improve prison security, to reduce the cost of state government, and to promote the rehabilitation of the state inmates.”

And Each month, California inmates process more than 680,000 pounds of beef, 400,000 pounds of chicken products, 450,000 gallons of milk, 280,000 loaves of bread, and 2.9 million eggs (from 160,000 inmate-raised hens).Starbucks subcontractor Signature Packaging Solutions has hired Washington prisoners to package holiday coffees (as well as Nintendo Game Boys). Confronted by a reporter in 2001, a Starbucks rep called the setup “entirely consistent with our mission statement.”

Texas inmates produce brooms and brushes, bedding and mattresses, toilets, sinks, showers, and bullwhips.

In Texas, prisoners make officers’ duty belts, handcuff cases, and prison-cell accessories. California convicts make gun containers, creepers (to peek under vehicles), and human-silhouette targets.

A stitch in time: California inmates sew their own garb. In the 1990s, subcontractor Third Generation hired 35 female South Carolina inmates to sew lingerie and leisure wear for Victoria’s Secret and JCPenney. In 1997, a California prison put two men in solitary for telling journalists they were ordered to replace “Made in Honduras” labels on garments with “Made in the usa.”

Open wide: At California’s prison dental laboratory, inmates produce a complete prosthesis selection, including custom trays, try-ins, bite blocks, and dentures.

Constructive criticism: Prisoners in for burglary, battery, drug and gun charges, and escape helped build a Wal-Mart distribution center in Wisconsin in 2005, until community uproar halted the program. (Company policy says, “Forced or prison labor will not be tolerated by Wal-Mart.”)

On call: Its inmate call centers are the “best kept secret in outsourcing,” Unicor boasts. In 1994, a contractor for GOP congressional hopeful Jack Metcalf hired Washington state prisoners to call and remind voters he was pro-death penalty. Metcalf, who prevailed, said he never knew.

Federal Prison Industries, a.k.a. Unicor, says that in addition to soldiers’ uniforms, bedding, shoes, helmets, and flak vests, inmates have “produced missile cables (including those used on the Patriot missiles during the Gulf War)” and “wiring harnesses for jets and tanks.” In 1997, according to Prison Legal News, Boeing subcontractor MicroJet had prisoners cutting airplane components, paying $7 an hour for work that paid union wages of $30 on the outside.

Full article

AND THIS

IS WHY

THE WAR ON DRUGS

AND REAGAN

CAN FUCKING BURN FOREVER

FOR FUCKING EVER

I’ve said it before, and this reaffirms my concerns, the war on drugs is a modern day slave trade.

^^

"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:23:37 -0700

“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You’ll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.”

- Bill Watterson (via mikekarnell)

"The quicker we all realize that we’ve been taught how to live life by people that were operating on..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:27:43 -0700

“The quicker we all realize that we’ve been taught how to live life by people that were operating on the momentum of an ignorant past the quicker we can move to a global ethic of community that doesn’t value invented borders or the monopolization of natural resources, but rather the goal of a happier more loving humanity.”

- Joe Rogan (via sirmitchell)

This just made me feel instantly relaxed. I should get a cat.

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:51:00 -0700

This just made me feel instantly relaxed.

I should get a cat.

Florida teen Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, is seeing her young life turned upside down and her future jeopardized simply because she fell in love. Unfortunately for her, she fell in love with a younger girl who has vindictive bigots for parents.

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:10:48 -0700

Florida teen Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, is seeing her young life turned upside down and her future jeopardized simply because she fell in love. Unfortunately for her, she fell in love with a younger girl who has vindictive bigots for parents.:

wilwheaton:

She was kicked off the basketball team because of the potential for “drama” her presence created. She’s been vilified by fellow students, called “criminal,” “rapist” and “child abuser.” She was expelled from school. And far worse. She’s facing a lifetime label of “sex-offender,” because the other girl’s parents brought criminal charges against her despite the fact that the relationship was consensual. What’s more, according to Hunt’s parents, Hunt was 17 when the relationship began, but the other girl’s parents waited until after she turned 18 to go to police.

Unbelievably, prosecutors have decided to press the criminal charge.

Emphasis mine.

So the prosecutor’s office in Sebastian River, Florida thinks this is a worthwhile use of taxpayer money and the court’s time.

Fuck everything about this.

First DPW Work Weekend is in the bag! Adventure Season is on!...

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:03:52 -0700

First DPW Work Weekend is in the bag! Adventure Season is on! Next up: Austin (in 72 hours), Denver, then Gerlach again! Go Go Go! #BurningMan #DPW2013

Photo

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:32:04 -0700

Photo

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:36:01 -0700

Going off comm for the weekend.

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:38:06 -0700

Going off comm for the weekend.

#mayphotoaday #15 - 7:00. Chillin’ in the Red Room. About...

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:22:34 -0700

#mayphotoaday #15 - 7:00. Chillin’ in the Red Room. About to go get a drink.

Upping my toilet paper game. 100% biodegradable, recycled paper...

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:39:50 -0700

Upping my toilet paper game. 100% biodegradable, recycled paper from a company who gives 50% of their profits to building toilets in developing countries. With the best name for themselves ever.

hitrecordjose: slow clap it out.

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:16:01 -0700

hitrecordjose:

slow clap it out.

#mayphotoaday #14 - Need. This one was tricky, but when I...

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:29:43 -0700

#mayphotoaday #14 - Need. This one was tricky, but when I thought about this moment, and what I needed most in my soul and bones, it was suddenly obvious.

Photo

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:10:00 -0700

Thank you, Ride The Lightning, for getting me through this day....

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:28:51 -0700

Thank you, Ride The Lightning, for getting me through this day. #TheFirstFourAlbums