Andrew Cuomo just earned one huge check in my plus column:

[hedgehog]

In his speech yesterday, Governor Cuomo fired a shot across the bow of the North Country’s prison industry. For decades, correctional facilities have been used to shore up the region’s economy, providing thousands of high paying, dependable jobs.

"An incarceration program is not an employment program," Cuomo insisted. "If people need jobs, let's get people jobs. Don't put other people in prison to give some people jobs. Don't put other people in juvenile justice facilities to give some people jobs. That's not what this state is all about. And that has to end this session."




http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16942/20110106/cuomo-says-prisons-can-t-be-a-jobs-program

[gateley]

1. Excellent! Thanks! nt

[hedgehog]

2. I think it's an example of sneaking a very progressive agenda in

under the cover of conservative talking points.

[Hannah Bell]

7. i think it's the opposite

[druidity33]

12. huh?

sneaking a very "conservative" agenda in

under the cover of "progressive" talking points...

:shrug:

how so?

[gratuitous]

3. I think it's the Republican dream

Have 45% of the population in prison, another 45% guarding them, and 10% reaping the benefits of prison labor.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. More like 70 / 29.999 / 0.001 -nt

[Rhiannon12866]

4. This is so true.

When it was announced that they were going to shut down a minimum security prison here in the North Country, everyone was up in arms over the jobs that would be lost... :(

[Dennis Donovan]

5. Mt McGregor?

Well, I say, "FREE THE GRANT COTTAGE!!!"

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Yup. Remember that?

Local folks were all upset about the loss of jobs if they closed the prison. And I never went back to Grant's Cottage after the first time I saw guys with guns standing guard nearby, scared me. I went there many times when I was a kid, with my grandmother, since she was friends with the lady who was caretaker... And she was big on taking me to historical places. :(

[Dennis Donovan]

8. Of course I remember...

As far as the loss of jobs, there's 3 other prisons within 50 miles of it.

I always thought it was madness to have the very cottage that General Grant died in surrounded by inmates and walls. Closing the prison is nothing but a GREAT idea!

[Rhiannon12866]

10. OMG, what a great pic!

And it does bring me back. It's a lovely location, though the high fences and uniforms with guns did nothing for the ambiance. I haven't been there since the early '80s, remember because I'd recently learned to drive and beating it out of there, down that steep mountain road, sticks in my mind. The prison was just next door... :scared:

But it's not a terribly cheerful place, anyway. The cabin is filled with the president's dried funeral flowers, his preserved medical bandages on display, and the clock in inside is stopped at the moment of his death... Childhood memories... :)

[Dennis Donovan]

13. The pic was taken days before he succumbed to throat cancer...

He was struggling to finish his memoirs out of fear he would leave his family penniless. He did, he died, and the book made lots of $$$ for his survivors.

[Rhiannon12866]

14. I knew about the throat cancer and I remember the story.

Someday, folks will want to visit his cottage again. Thanks for posting this rare pic. :)

[Dennis Donovan]

15. I never got in because I went there during the winter...

...when it was closed. :(

[Rhiannon12866]

16. I'd forgotten that it was seasonal...

But I can see why, since that extremely steep road was treacherous enough in good weather. I've always meant to go back, but it would have to be with someone who doesn't mind navigating the mountain or the proximity to the prison. I rarely even travel that road anymore, since I was stuck for hours in a roadblock, with my two dogs in the car, after a prison escape. There are a lot of historical sites in the vicinity, "the turning point of the Revolution," after all, but I haven't been to most of them since I was a kid, with my grandmother. :(

[Leithan]

9. Cuomo has 2020 vision

:evilgrin: