Here’s your daily recap of the best feedback we got from YOU today. Continue the conversation below. And remember, keep it brief, and keep it clean. Thanks!
American Morning viewers were adamantly opposed to Bill Bennett’s commentary about the Obama Administration’s first 100 days:
- Maxwell: Who is this Bill Bennett and who cares about his "opinion" He is out of touch with 2009. We do not care about these old fat angry homo hating jesus freaks Republicans. Its time for a new Republican Party
- Cox: People like Bill Bennett and all the republicans spend all their time criticizing the president’s methods have only 8 years of failed economic and foreign policy as a track record and have no credibility whatsoever. They are the ones who need to lookout in the coming 100 days.
What do you think? Is the Republican Party out of touch? Is it time for a new Republican Party? What would that look like to you?
Small airport funding received mixed reviews, with pilots and those in rural areas supporting the measure while others “would like to see Mr. Porky Pig justify that to a mother of three that has real struggles!”
- Tim: Your story about the Murtha Airport was about wasteful spending on airport projects. As a resident of the US territory of Guam and a licensed pilot I can tell you without a doubt the airport money is needed here. Of the two runways, only one is operational due to large cracks and potholes! Please try to report more responsibly and realize some of the stimulus money going to these airports is warranted.
- Amber: I just finished watching a segment about the little tiny airport getting A LOT of money they obviously do not need. All the while, my husband works 14hr or more EVERY day but Sunday, I work full time myself, and we do good to stay just above the red, so far. I am starting school in the fall, and the pressures and stress we go through on a daily basis are real problems, not repaving a runway that is back up for one that doesn't get used very often. Don't even get me started on the $8M empty tower!! I would like to see Mr. Porky Pig justify that to a mother of three that has real struggles!
Should small airports receive a stimulus, as the first viewer believes, or do you feel more as viewer two states, that “Mr. Porky Pig [needs to] justify that [funding] to a mother of three that has real struggles”?
Senator Jim Webb received kudos for his “courage to question the practices of the US criminal justice system where monetary, career and political rewards are built in such a way that they favor the mass incarceration of the least dangerous…often for decades.”
- Patricia: Congratulations to Jim Webb, a politician with the courage to question the practices of the US criminal justice system where monetary, career and political rewards are built in such a way that they favor the mass incarceration of the least dangerous (minor drug offenders, wives/girls friends of drug suspects prosecuted as co-conspirators) often for decades. Then once these people return to society they find their past makes it impossible to earn a legal living no matter their education or performance since past records, along with all mistakes therein are available to just about everyone, especially to employers. Let us not mention judicial fines...which cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, do not have an "expiration date" and which a judge cannot "remit". These practices not only send 100,000 of thousands to prison who presented no "threat" but makes them into paupers for life, unable to lead a normal aw abiding , self supporting life
- Jermayne: I am an ex-offender. I watched your story about what Sen. Webb is trying to do and I think it is about time the broken criminal justice system is addressed. In prison I participated in re-entry into society programs as a condition of making parole. The group discussions I participated in and eventually facilitated benefited me in building my confidence in my success upon returning home. However, upon coming home employers are reluctant to employ ex-offenders on jobs that have an actual livable wage. Most jobs I am able to get are low paying, sometimes unskilled labor jobs. People I know who were incarcerated as well express their frustration with being held back from jobs because employers count from when a person was released from mandatory supervision (parole) instead of from when the offense was committed. In some cases, my own included, a decade or more has passed since the offense. There also are no temporary or effective job placement programs for ex-offenders who want to work and not get involved in crime. Re-entry into society requires assistance in this critical area as well. If there are no jobs for people who have to support themselves after stints of incarceration many people return to the streets and back into the system. Less jobs=more recidivism. Who will help those of us who have changed their lives completely and want to be productive citizens?
What do you think about the ex-offender’s story? Is prison reform a place the government should be spending its funds when so many are out of work? Do you know someone who is incarcerated? What has their experience in the prison system been? How would you like to see the system reformed? Share your ideas with us.