BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Bill Moyers on The Forgotten | PBS

[chone7]

Jail is like a cartel, banks are the cartels, gov is a cartel, pharmaceutical drugs are from the cartel's, wake up people...

[tashikiloo2]

3:27 to 3:45 are very well stated...

[thermalfreek]

Bill Moyers Rules!!!

[FiliusVeritatis]

"Democracy is facism by consensus,"--Terroja Kincaid.

"Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner," and "Liberty is an armed sheep contesting the results"-- both attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

[redbrest]

777CARL777

The reason 1 in ten are in jail is because of our unfair and racist drug laws. End the war on personal freedom to choose! Stop this insanity!!!

[arequipa1]

drug laws are not racist. blame the people who DO the drugs, not those who DIDN'T break the law.

[sockpuppetsfromhell]

The fact of the matter is that the drug laws are singularly responsible for turning the US into a gulag nation. This country imprisons more people than any other on earth and our prison conditions are worse than most of the civilized world.

[arequipa1]

what's wrong with that? prison isn't supposed to be a nice place.

[sockpuppetsfromhell]

I'm having a hard time thinking you are fit to be called a human being.

[arequipa1]

LOL!!!

sorry, but i don't feel sorry for people in prison. they're there for a reason and no, i don't want to pay for cable TV for them. prison isn't a nice place, it won't ever be a nice place, and if you're naive enough to wring your lil hands and feel sorry for the prisoners, get off youtube and go volunteer there or something. you high and mighty types make me ill.

[eatspinach]

arequipa1, please have compassion and educate yourself about the prison industrial complex. thank you. happy new year.

[arequipa1]

spinach: i already know practically all there is to know. and having been the victim of crime in the past, i have no sympathy whatsoever for those who choose to commit crimes. unfortunately a lot of the PBS-watching crowd is the pie in the sky type who wouldn't be realistic if reality bit them in the butt.

[SkyDaddy7]

Its folks like yourself who refuse to understand there is a problem and we can do something about it if we want to. Pie in the sky types are who founded this great nation when they were told the idea of America would not work...So, sit around bitchin & moanin because you were a victim and by all means do not try and help!

[FiliusVeritatis]

Indeed you're right: prisoners are in prison for a reason, and that reason is in many cases that we live under a fascist government that has deprived us of our liberty because none of us are man enough to stand up to it. And I agree with you in that I too would rather not pay for the luxury of a villainous man who has earned his board in white-collar resort prison for stealing 50 million dollars from decent people who worked for his company for 25 years.

[FiliusVeritatis]

To say, "Inhumane prisons that rob the liberty and lives of millions are permissable because prison isn't supposed to be a nice place" is logically invalid, because by that logic, one could just as easily say, "The Holocaust was permissable because prison isn't supposed to be a nice place."

[FiliusVeritatis]

Drug laws are racist in that they rob the liberty of an entrepeneauring black pharmacist trying to bring his services to the poor while a rich white drug dealer at Astra Zeneca makes millions by the day in an air-conditioned office.

[arequipa1]

sorry but the people in prison aren't "entrepreneuring black pharmacists." to think so is INCREDIBLY naive.

[Icix1]

No, it's because people fear and don't understand drugs, not because of some incredibly racist agenda. And yeah, most of the people that are in jail sell drugs because of the money, not because of the drug effect. These aren't entrepreneurs, these are thugs looking for cash. And there's a reason drugs like heroine and crack are illegal. The drugs that Astra Zeneca make lower blood pressure. The drugs that are sold on the street are purely for recreational use.

[sheepwshotguns]

mr. moyers, you are a political poet.

[graphicsprincess]

Very well said! Keep up the good work..

[Mennion3]

It's not just one thing. It's many different things. It's harder to get a job because so many manufacturing jobs went overseas. It's the decay of the family structure. There's a 50% divorce rate, how many children grew up with step parents? It's the culture being more violent. Look at video games now, 8 in 10 have guns in them. Pandora's box is open and the only thing left is hope. So what now?

[voyeurdug]

Both parties keep saying government, especially big, intrusive government, is the problem, not the solution to the problem. So, for 30+ years, and nearly 40 for the Defense Department, government has been 1) downsizing, 2) getting older & 3) nearing retirement. Just when it would be a good idea to reverse that trend, and thinking, the best, brightest, most competent & productive are STILL being retired off.

Government agencies, well managed, work better than the private sector. And, cheaper.

[delerium2k]

The problem is that Americans haven't kept checks on their government for the last hundred or so years. In that time what was supposed to be 'limited gov't' grew to monstrous proportions. Today Americans don't enjoy democracy, they enjoy the ability to choose between two status quo parties that co-dominate the country. The party's over now, with $50+ trillion in obligations and trillions more in debt the glorious empire is now bankrupt. Time for the fall, and subsequent renewal.

[777CARL777]

The reason 1 in ten are in jail is because of our unfair and racist drug laws. End the war on personal freedom to choose! Stop this insanity!!!