Giving A Politician Credit When It's Due...

Generally I'm pretty cynical about the motivations of politicians. However, I do like to acknowledge political courage when I see it. I haven't always agreed with Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), but after reading THIS ARTICLE by Glenn Greenwald I have a lot more faith in his ability to ignore political expediency and take a stand on an issue that others wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole - the issue of prison reform. I suggest you read the article in full, but here are a few interesting statistics that clearly show reform is needed:

• The United States has 5% of the world's total population, yet has 25% of the world's total prison population. Although I knew we Americans were incarceration-happy, I didn't realize to what degree.
  
• In 1980 we had 41,000 drug offenders in prison. Today that number is over 500,000, an increase of 1200%. A significant percentage of these people are in prison for possession or other non-violent offenses.
• African-Americans are about 12% of our population. Contrary to a lot of thought and rhetoric, their drug use rate in terms of frequent drug use is about the same as all other elements of our society - about 14%. Yet they end up being 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison.

I agree with Sen. Webb. Something is out of whack. This is something that deserves attention in comprehensive way.

I salute you, Sen. Webb, and your balls of steel.