Berlin federal prison approved

[maineiac]

With all due respect to KB ... is there a way we can get together and make this prison not happen?

+1, although if KB is a supporter of this boondoggle, how much respect is he due?

[cathleeninnh]

You are treading on thin ice. We don't agree on some things but Kev has earned respect.

Cathleen

[Fluff and Stuff]

There are positives and negatives.  I'll list a few of each.

Positives-

Guards get paid decent and need little education so when people say, are there any jobs in NH, the answer is yes

Berlin is an inexpensive area to live so these jobs can make it easier for lower middle class and actually working class people to move to NH as part of the FSP

There is always the chance that we will change a lot of state laws but the federal government will still have great power in NH and quite a few people will be sent to federal prison, now it will be easy to visit and protest for these people

Most people in federal prison were made bad by the government (if they are even bad at all) and they may be useful pro-freedom recruits

Having a few workers on the inside could help us by letting us know who are the prisons that are most likely to be recuited to the pro-freedom cause
more?

More Construction jobs


Negatives-

Most people that work for federal prisons are anti-freedom and tend to vote for the worst possible people

This means more Fed in NH

Berlin as a city government will likely get even more socialist

Berlin is the least freedom part of Coos County and it was shrinking, if it starts growing it will hurt the entire county

There is zero need for the prison and it is a complete waste of tax dollars

[Russell Kanning]

Has Kev quit his federal job?

[KBCraig]

Has Russell started paying federal taxes?

[KBCraig]

You are treading on thin ice. We don't agree on some things but Kev has earned respect.

Cathleen

Thank you, Cathleen.

[Russell Kanning]

Has Russell started paying federal taxes?

No ... I still don't pay.

[KBCraig]

There are positives and negatives.

There sure are. And let me point this out again: I wish this job didn't exist. If this were a free country, it wouldn't. But whether I'm the one filling a slot or not, the job will exist. Suggesting that I should quit is like telling freedom lovers that they shouldn't run for office, because that would be "participating in the system".

Positives-
Guards get paid decent and need little education

To qualify at the very lowest level requires a bachelor's degree. Experience can be substituted for education, and three years of full time experience as a manager or counselor is required without a degree.

But, we don't hire people at that level. We hire at the second step, which requires 9 hours of graduate study in criminal justice, or experience in a directly related field.

Most people in federal prison were made bad by the government (if they are even bad at all) and they may be useful pro-freedom recruits

I don't know about "most". A significant portion are just bad people. The government, especially the war on drugs, makes them worse, without a doubt. But even in a society without government or laws, there are going to be bad people.

Negatives-
Most people that work for federal prisons are anti-freedom and tend to vote for the worst possible people

Again with the "most"... compared to what? "Most" of my colleagues are generally more concerned with rights and freedom than are the public at large. Many of them are law and order type traditional conservatives, but a larger portion of my colleagues support gun rights, privacy rights, and drug legalization, than do the people I meet outside of work.

There is zero need for the prison and it is a complete waste of tax dollars

Depends on how you arrive at "need". If you start with the idea that most people in federal prison should rightly either be in state prison or not in prison at all, then, yes: there is no need. But if you are talking about medium security bedspace in the federal system as it exists, then there is definitely a need.

Kevin

[Fluff and Stuff]

Depends on how you arrive at "need". If you start with the idea that most people in federal prison should rightly either be in state prison or not in prison at all, then, yes: there is no need. But if you are talking about medium security bedspace in the federal system as it exists, then there is definitely a need.

There are two type of people in federal prison.  Those that should be set free and paid a small amount of money for the crimes commited against them by the government and those that should be sent to state prisons.

I gave my comments not as an attack on you, but as a reasonable (maybe not as reasonable as you would like) look at both sides.  I wanted to help people see both sides of the issue. 

I sure wish another prison was not being built in NH but it is being built and there is nothing I can do to stop it.  Just like I cannot stop people in a town in southern NH form giving out free drug test kits to adults.  However, instead of just complaining, it is far more useful to think of ways to make something good come out of these problems.  They can be used to help the freedom movement, and that is what I was trying to show on this thread and the thread about the drug test kits.

How does it go, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade."

[Rocketman]

One jug of lemonade is that Kevin and family will be moving to NH.   

[KBCraig]

I gave my comments not as an attack on you, but as a reasonable (maybe not as reasonable as you would like) look at both sides.  I wanted to help people see both sides of the issue.

Oh, and that's how I took it. I wasn't trying to be argumentative, just elaborating some on the points you made.

[KBCraig]

One jug of lemonade is that Kevin and family will be moving to NH.   

Can I trade that lemonade for some Rocketman brew?    :beer 219:

[Caleb]

Let me just reiterate that my problem is not with KEVIN ... it's with a FEDERAL prison being built.  I don't like state prisons very much either.  But building more federal facilities is the opposite of what I want to encourage in this state.  It would be great if eventually there just weren't any federal facilities here in NH.

I'm thinking that it isn't hopeless to stop it from happening. We may yet be able to throw a wrench in their plans and stop this horrible facility from being built.  Ideas?

Caleb

[KBCraig]

Let me just reiterate that my problem is not with KEVIN ... it's with a FEDERAL prison being built. 

I understand, and I understand the objections from the neighboring towns of Milan and Gorham. But then, many in NH will object to a shopping center, car lot, etc. There's also a lot of NIMBYism that doesn't object on principle, and would probably like the benefits, they just want it somewhere else ("it" being Wal Mart, new prison, anything else "objectionable").

I'm thinking that it isn't hopeless to stop it from happening. We may yet be able to throw a wrench in their plans and stop this horrible facility from being built.  Ideas?

You're a little late to the party. This was a five year process, and the Friday announcement was a final decision. There have been numerous chances for public comment.

Kevin

[Russell Kanning]

Yea .... I don't like jails and really don't like federal ones.