JC> SB> Most people say they're concentration camps.  Or some sort of prison
  > SB> camp which is very like a concentration camp.
JC> In what way would they be considered "concentration camps"? My dictionary
  > defines a concentration camp as: "a place of confinement for political 
foes
  > members of a minority ethnic groups, etc."
Jim, you probably aren't going to get a lot of *real* data from me on
this. I have never researched any of this.  I just listen to the folks I
know on both the far right and the far left who tell me about these
camps.  Both sides agree that the camps exist, although the two sides
*do* have different people going to them.  Knowing how effectively camps
were put together for the Japanese-Americans in World War II, I don't
doubt that concentration camps could be formed very quickly if the
government chose to do it.  I doubt they are in existence right now.
There are political prisoners (Peltier, for example), but they are
incarcerated in the regular prison system and defined as common
criminals.
JC> So does that mean the Democrats are confining the Republicans or vice 
versa
Whoever is doing the talking has his or her group being incarcerated by
the other side.
  > Are these camps that confine minorities like the camps that confined 
illega
  > Cuban boat people? Are there gas ovens at these concentration camps?
I haven't heard anyone discuss gas ovens yet.  I have heard them discuss
forced work programs in connection with the camps. I have heard people
discuss minorities in connection with the camps.
JC> We have prisons and we have prison camps in Oregon. Some of the prison 
camp
  > are like military "boot camps". One "minority" (in the form of law 
breakers
  > are confined there. Does that mean these prison camps are "concentration
  > camps"?
I don't know.  I would have to ask the far right and the far left people
out there, first.  (g)
Do *I* think they're concentration camps?  No.
JC> I guess you would have to define "if they work". There is a sheriff in 
Ariz
  > who (apparently with the blessing of the general public) is trying to 
ake
  > prisons (and this is probably not a direct quote): "So _miserable_ that 
O
  > one wants to take the chance of returning for a second incarceration."
I still think public flogging served a worthwhile cause.
JC> IMHO most prisons coddle to the prisoners so, of course, they "don't 
work".
  > Most prisons are merely "rest and recuperation" stops for most of the 
peopl
  > in the "system". (BTW, I have a family member who is in the "corrections"
  > field and my wife has been to a state facilty and the forest prison camp
  > more than once.)
I have spent considerable time with the prison system.  I was called on
to help create a philosophical position paper on criminal justice, with
a number of other people from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We spent almost three years working on that paper.  I was asked to join
because I had a brother who was murdered and they wanted to make sure
the *victim's* side was represented.  We did extensive research on the
prison system around here, including visiting with a group of lifers at
Graterford State Prison.  I assure you that I met people at Graterford
that I hope *never* get out of prison.
On the other hand, we came across absolutely *no* concentration camps in
the three state area, and we were thorough enough that I am certain we
would have found them if they had actually existed around here.   Score
one against the concentration camp fanatics in the South Jersey area who
swear they're in western Pennsylvania.
On the other hand, I can't *swear* that the folks in Western
Pennsylvania I talked with who insists there are camps in Indiana are
mistaken.  I spent *no* time researching the prisons out there in
Indiana.  I *doubt* they exist; but I don't *know* they don't exist.
JC> Well, it won't be summer camp, but the wife and I are starting the 
planning
  > for our periodic trips abroad after I retire in fifteen weeks. These 
rips
  > will be of the "stay with a native family" variety. The first will be 
Japan
  > The second will be Scotland.
Sounds wonderful!  Mario and I hope to travel when we eventually retire,
although that's a ways down the road yet.
                  Sondra
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ A single fact can spoil a good argument.
--- Opus-CBCS 1.7x via O_QWKer 1.1
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