Update

My dad is seriously ill. He's undergoing chemotherapy. There have been major complications, because he has also developed a blood clot in his arm. I've talked to him on the phone, but I can't go to New Mexico and see him since I just started a new job. My mom is staying with him, at the hospital, as much as possible. Apparently, he is the apple of everyone's eye, and all the nurses dote on him. Mom says he is very sweet to everyone except her. She, alone, sees his ornery side. Dad says everyone is very nice to him, but that his hospital bed is, basically, a torture chamber. This is only his second chemo treatment and, at one point, he was completely unable to move. My mom had to call 911 and they had to lift him out of bed and put him on a stretcher. Blood transfusions helped him get his strength back, a little. He can get around with a walker, but spends most of his time in bed hooked up to all kinds of tubes, etc. I don't know what will happen after the remaining treatments since they get progressively stronger. He is unable to take his arthristis medicine due to the other chemicals, and mom says his hands are getting even worse than before.
I'll be sending him some humorous books and sudoku I picked up at work. Cards (or gifts) can be sent to Robert and Helen South. 110 La Loma. Taos, New Mexico 87571.

Prison Reform for a New Generation

Last night, I was having dinner with a couple of dear old friends. During the flow of conversation, one (or both) of them introduced me to an interesting proposal vis a vis the nature of criminal reform.

It seems that many prisoners take up weightlifting during their sentences and emerge, when their time is done, as powerhouse bodybuilders. Meanwhile, they have been learning all manner of skills with various & sundry tools and instruments. This means, once they re-enter society, our streets become populated by muscled-up sociopaths with mad skills. Super criminals! Is this really what we need?

My friends' suggestion was that we supply them, instead, with x-boxes and/or wiis (or whatever the kids are using these days), plenty of marijuana and the paraphernalia with which to smoke it, and tons of the obligatory munchies (like cheese doodles, pizza, and twinkies). Then, when the prisoner in question is released, he (or she) has become soft and sedentary, a challenge to nobody. An inert blob.

The main drawback (which I pointed out to my worthy compadres) is that slackers everywhere will break the law so as to gain entrance into what they might view as a sort of paradise. They get to laze around on Uncle Sam's nickel, playing Guitar Hero, getting high, and gobbling down unhealthy foods.

Obviously, there are some bugs to be worked out. But the proposal is on the table and I think it deserves consideration.

What do you think?