Watkins, a 53-year-old community organizer , has told the Tribune and other media outlets that she used marijuana and cocaine as a teenager for several years. Watkins has said she's been clean for 32 years. “We have a right to ask people where they’ve been. I didn’t even know she lived in Chicago,” Watkins said today. “I haven’t seen (her) in Springfield or City Hall. I should not be called a crack addict because I said that.” Watkins said she believes Braun’s comments reflect her character. Source: Chicago TribuneEveryone deserves a second chance if they fall down. Even the vilest person among us can be rehabilitated if they want to. Now if this woman was a murderer and a pedophile, then we are dealing with a different issue. Carol Moseley-Braun is an opportunist, who can't point to a record of accomplishment in the political career she brags about. I can't remember one thing she did as senator, except that there was a cloud of suspicion surrounding her on financial issues. So, I guess she would look down on Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama for their drug use. Mrs. Watkins should be applauded for turning her life around. Carole Moseley-Braun is bad for politics and certainly a horrible choice for the people of Chicago.
The superficial circumstances are similar. In both cases, a United States in financial crisis and after failed wars loses global influence under a leftist president whose good intentions are interpreted abroad as expressions of weakness. The results are reflected in the fall of regimes that were dependent on their relationship with Washington for survival, or in a change in their orientation, as with Ankara.I am a little confused as to why the administration continues to shoot itself in the foot by sitting on the fence when all hell is breaking loose. The BP Gulf oil spill comes to mind. So now President Obama finds himself in another controversy, not of his making. Obama can't win. If he leans too heavily on Mubarak, then many in the Middle East could say we're meddling in their affairs. If he sits on the fence and says very little, he's seen as spineless.
America's general weakness clearly affects its friends. But unlike Carter, who preached human rights even when it hurt allies, Obama sat on the fence and exercised caution. He neither embraced despised leaders nor evangelized for political freedom, for fear of undermining stability.
Obama began his presidency with trips to Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and in speeches in Ankara and Cairo tried to forge new ties between the United States and the Muslim world. His message to Muslims was "I am one of you," and he backed it by quoting from the Koran. President Hosni Mubarak did not join him on the stage at Cairo University, and Obama did not mention his host. But he did not imitate his hated predecessor, President George W. Bush, with blunt calls for democracy and freedom.
Obama apparently believed the main problem of the Middle East was the Israeli occupation, and focused his policy on demanding the suspension of construction in the settlements and on the abortive attempt to renew the peace talks. That failure led him to back off from the peace process in favor of concentrating on heading off an Israeli-Iranian war. Source: Haaretz
"It's fitting with the legacy of Jackie Robinson essentially transferring to the Mets; what better place to have African-American ownership than with the Mets," Meli said, noting that Major League Baseball has no African-American owners. "The time and place are right for it. It just seems to be the right mix of people." Source: NY PostSo, a black man is part of a group of investors to buy a team and people have issues on the basis of race. You see, when Dr. Bill Cosby expressed some interest in NBC, he was literally laughed at for entertaining such a lofty ambition. If you have some issues about Martin Luther King III purchasing a stake in the team, why not talk about it from a monetary point of view? Why attack the man because of his race? The question I have is where Martin Luther King III got the money from to make such a purchase since the King Center is still in the red and Washington memorial is running low on funds. You see, I'm coming at this purely from a monetary position and as someone who lives in metro-Atlanta and remembers the scandal that ensued over the mismanagement at the King Center for Non-Violent Social Change, I am just wondering out loud where Martin III got this money from.
Fred Wilpon and son Jeff Wilpon, the Mets chief operating officer, announced Friday their intention to potentially sell 20-25 percent of the team to satisfy any judgment or settlement in a lawsuit brought by the trustee looking to recover money for victims of convicted swindler Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The group including King III reportedly wants to have at least a 50 percent share of the team, which is a complication, since the Wilpons have stated they only intend to sell a minority share. Source: ESPN
BlondieYou see, the King children -- Martin III, Dexter & Bernice -- have been a big disappointment with all the infighting and mismanagement of their father's legacy. So, excuse me if I am less than ecstatic about Martin Luther King III making a major purchase, still, to attack him because of his race is just despicable.
Tell MLK III to go back to Atlanta and ruin that baseball team. Where did this guy get the $$$ to buy into anything as expensive as the Mets? I thought that he was a poor preacher man like Al Sharpton. Kranepool has a right to be a part owner of the Mets. He was a part of their glory. Donn Clendenon Jr. is a part of the team by birthright. MLK III has nothing to do with out Mets. Tell him to go back to Georgia and get the heck away from us.
mingdurga
On second thought, this might be a good way to reunite Al Sharpton and Tawana Brawley as 3rd and 1st base coaches on the MLK All American Team.
can't take it anymore
Black ownership? Is having a piece of the team that important to him for that reason alone? I have a dream too. A dream that I can see another world series at Shea Stadium, I mean Citi-Field, I mean MLK "I Have a Dream Field
From ESPN:
Cyyyyk
Sounds like the beginning of a Jesse Jackson style race hustler shakedown........ cue the "institutionalized racism" accusation any minute now if the Wilpon's don't agree to sell.
Not since Democrat Michael DiSalle in 1962 has an Ohio governor had an all-white cabinet. Kasich has made 23 appointments, and a spokesman said he still has two seats to fill - the Departments of Youth Services and Job and Family Services.Seems to me John Kasich has a race problem by virtue of his all-white administration in modern-day America. It's safe to say that it wasn't solely the white vote that put him in office. If blacks make up 12.1 percent of the population of the state, as a lawmaker states, then why it is so hard for Gov. Kasich to appoint blacks to his administration? Sounds like a little Fox News mentality is influencing his relationship with the black community.
"It's about bringing a perspective. That's what we want the governor to understand," said Sen. Charleta B. Tavares, D-Columbus. "He doesn't walk in our shoes. He hasn't gone through the struggles many of us have gone through. Even a Republican who happens to be African-American will bring a perspective, a consciousness that he doesn't have." Source: Columbus Dispatch
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| Michael Clare Meeting T.D. James (LOL) |
Michael Clare, the 38-year-old married leader of the Harvest Worship Center in Wakefield, allegedly impregnated the girl, who is now 15, court documents said.The members of his congregation need to force him out of the leadership position. With the law on their sides, he won't be standing in front of them in the near future. This sounds a lot like another pastor I blogged about. Paul Lewis, who has a ministry based in Brooklyn and who was born in Jamaica, like this dirtbag, faces rape charges in Jamaica. I'm not sure how that case is progressing, but I hope he gets a dose of justice "Jamaican style." If you're from the "no problem mon" island, you will know exactly what I mean by "Jamaican-style" justice. Clare is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond and faces up to 25 years in state prison if convicted.
Authorities learned of the abuse in June, when the girl told her parents and police that Clare had sexually preyed on her for years. DNA evidence implicated Clare, prosecutors said. Clare was arrested June 14 on second-degree rape charges, but the grand jury yesterday upped the charges to first-degree rape.
The chrome-domed man of God bills himself on his MySpace page as a "man of great integrity" who is "a paragon, a model of excellence and ideal example of living and preaching the Gospel of Christ." Clare also is the principal of Harvest Prep, a school run out of the tiny storefront church. Source: NY Daily News
Tampa Police have arrested a New Tampa mother after they say she shot her two teenage children to death Thursday night. Investigators say Julie Powers Schenecker, 50, shot and killed her children with a .38 caliber gun in their home.Thankfully her mother had the foresight to contact the police after she reportedly received a disturbing email from her daughter.
Officers went to the home in the Ashton Reserve subdivision around 7:45 Friday morning after the police department received an out-of-state phone call from the suspect's mother. After first seeing Schenecker outside covered in blood, police found the woman's son, Beau, 13, in the garage, and her daughter, Calyx, 16, was found in an upstairs bedroom, both fatally wounded. Source: CNN
Hedley said that account was based on what the arrested youths had told officers, but he said the school police later told him that only one of the teens had attended school Friday and then walked out but that the others had skipped.Some people should never have the privilege of being parents. Thanks to Tawander Simmons, her son, Benny Brice, is a young thug in the making. People like this mother don't deserve to be around civilized and decent people.
He said the four went to a Wells Fargo on Rockbridge Road and Lawrenceville Highway for a heist. The suspects were armed with at least one handgun, police said. Surveillance video showed a woman and two men walk into the bank. A witness said they looked ready to steal. Source: WSBTV
The three-fifths compromise was an agreement between Southern and Northern states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787, during which the basic framework of the United States was established. Under this compromise, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a human being for the purpose of taxation and representation in Congress. As a result, slave-owners and the Southern states got a deal deal of political clout.
As all compromises do, the three-fifths compromise started as a dispute. Most of the Northern states did not want to count slaves at all, arguing that they should be treated as property, since they didn't have votes or any other power. The Southern states, however, wanted to count slaves as people so that they would get more representation in Congress, solidifying their political power. The North resisted this, rightly fearing that counting slaves as people would increase the Congressional seats apportioned to the South, thereby making the South extremely formidable.
In the end, two representatives, James Wilson and Roger Sherman, came up with the three-fifths compromise, which was designed to meet the demands of both sides. Recognizing the desire of the South and wanting to reach out to the Southern states to encourage them to ratify, the three-fifths compromise allowed the government to count slaves as partial people, while allaying the fears of the North about Southern power.
Of course, many people in the Northern states kept slaves as well, but the vast majority of slaves in America at the time were working on Southern plantations as agricultural laborers. Under the three-fifths compromise, plantation owners in the South gained considerable political power, which they used to promote their own political agenda and desires.
"The comments that he made - the mimicking of the Chinese language - harkens back to when I was a little boy growing up in San Francisco and those were hard days, rather insensitive days," Yee said in an interview Thursday. "You think you've arrived and all of a sudden get shot back to the reality that you're a second-class citizen."It's high time people in this country take a stand against the inflammatory and derogatory rhetoric emanating from the airwaves from conservative radio show hosts, namely Rush Limbaugh and Mike Savage, to name a few. Yee is also fearful of his life, after receiving death threats at his California offices. In the aftermath of the massacre in Tucson, in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head, and six people died, no one is taking these threats lightly. Let me end by saying that I have been a vocal critic of Rush Limbaugh and others, but this isn't the first time he has insulted other races, particularly blacks, but I haven't heard one word demanding an apology from the Asian-American civil rights leaders, but now they are dealing with this bigot and want all our support. Yeah, I'll support them in this because Limbaugh went too far, but it's time we all united against such bigotry, not only when a particular race or ethnicity is slighted.
During a Jan. 19 radio program, Limbaugh said there was no translation of the Chinese president's speech during a visit to the White House. "He was speaking and they weren't translating," Limbaugh said. "They normally translate every couple of words. Hu Jintao was just going ching chong, ching chong cha." He then launched into a 20-second-long imitation of the Chinese leader's dialect. The next day, Limbaugh said he "did a remarkable job" of imitating China's president for someone who doesn't know a language spoken by more than 1 billion people. "Back in the old days, Sid Caesar, for those of you old enough to remember, was called a comic genius for impersonating foreign languages that he couldn't speak," Limbaugh said. "But today the left says that was racism; it was bigotry; it was insulting. And it wasn't. It was a service." Source
"Detectives were advised that Bill Fairchild was the victim of a homicide-suicide. The crime scene and autopsy were consistent that Bill was deceased approximately an hour before Donna," said Chief Douglas L. Law in a statement after the autopsy. Each of the Fairchilds suffered a single gunshot wound. The bodies were found Tuesday morning, hours before Donna Fairchild was to attend a City Council meeting and face possible sanctions over a travel expense voucher and public comments.This is amazing. So, this is the way out of shame for Mrs. Fairchild? To kill her husband and herself? Who is going to feel pity for her at this juncture, considering she killed her spouse. I don't know what drove this woman to commit such a heinous act, but it can't be just because she was being investigated over a travel voucher. There has to be more to this story.
According to police, Donna Fairchild contacted City Attorney Cheryl Truman Hunt around 8:30 p.m. Monday to discuss an opportunity to meet with the mayor and council in order to tender her resignation before the meeting. The city attorney at 10 p.m. confirmed with Fairchild a Tuesday afternoon meeting with the mayor and council. Source: CNN
Moore, an IMPD patrol officer since 2004, was shot four times — twice in the face — during a traffic stop on Sunday morning on the Near Northside, near 34th Street and North Temple Avenue. He had been in a coma in the intensive care unit since then. Moore also was shot in the hip; a fourth bullet to his chest was stopped by his protective vest. A brain scan conducted Tuesday revealed that he had lost most brain function. Source: IndyStarIt seems like our law enforcement officers are under siege by the worst humanity has to offer. How did a convicted felon get his hands on a gun? Easy. Therein lies the problem. Too many guns on the streets in the wrong hands.
“Over the past decade, at least 20 instances have been documented thoughout the country where a crazed thug enters a place of worship and shot, or attempted to shoot, the place up,” said Patrick Parsons, Executive Director, Georgia Gun Owners.Really? One Jared Loughner away from a massacre in a church? What a shameful plug at the expense of all the victims and the deceased who have lost their lives through gun violence. Anything to engage in "shock and awe," right?
Once Church Carry is passed in Georgia, individuals will be able to defend themselves and their families against those that would do them harm while they are simply trying to worship peacefully. H.B. 54 simply removes Georgia's ban on carrying in places of worship.
“We are literally one Jared Loughner away from a major massacre here in Georgia in one of our places of worship. Right now, you are in violation of the law, and a criminal, if you carry in your place of worship. Once H.B. 54 is passed, people like Jared Loughner will know that there is at least the potential for someone in a place of worship that would put him down before he could do any damage,” said Mr. Parsons.
A group of five St. Petersburg police officers stood around a cruiser outside Yaslowitz's home in northwest Hillsborough County. Some in uniform, some not, all looked grief stricken. Sgt. David Barr, who supervised Yaslowitz's unit and was in his police vehicle further down the road, said the officers needed time before speaking about their colleague, but called him "the best." The officers were shot Monday morning after approaching a home where suspect Hydra Lacy Jr. was being served a U.S. Marshal's warrant through a fugitive task force. Source: St. Petersburg TimesIt is a shame that over a period of 48 hours we have had four officers shot, two more dead and one U.S. marshall shot. Law enforcement is charged with protecting the public but who is charged with protecting them? This is a disgrace.
The suspect, identified as Johnny Simms, 23, was killed in the gun battle. He was shot by officer Oscar Pasencia, one of the four officers at the scene. Another suspect was taken into custody, said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez.This is hurtful and shameful at the same time. Law enforcement is charged with protecting the public, but who is protecting our police officers from merciless thugs like Johnny Simms? Our thoughts and prayers go out the the families of these two fallen officers.
The county detectives were attempting to arrest Simms on a murder warrant for a slaying that happened in October in Miami, Loftus said.
Simms, according to state corrections records, was released from prison in September on probation. He had been imprisoned for armed robbery and selling cocaine. Source: Miami Herald
"It's sort of like exposing a secret of the family. You're a little embarrassed for the world to see," said Gary Hauk, Emory University vice president and deputy to the president.Very interesting and it's amazing that this story is being told as a result of the vice president's new book. I have never felt comfortable with this whole apology mission some states and institutions have embarked upon. Why apologize? The people who perpetrated unspeakable acts of violence against blacks and Indians for no other reason but the color of their skin are long dead. So, what's in an apology? It means nothing. Emory will still be the prestigious institution it is, well, with a twist. Slave labor built it.
Hauk’s newly published book, titled "Where Courageous Inquiry Leads," reveals the connection between Emory’s first campus in Oxford and slavery. "The university rented slaves from surrounding slave owners who were engaged in construction activities," Hauk said.
John Emory, for whom the school is named, was a Methodist bishop and a slave owner. So was the school’s first faculty and trustees, Hauk’s research reveals.Slaves were used to build the Oxford campus, with buildings dating back to the 1800s. Source: WSB-TV
Alvarez said a squad of Miami-Dade police officers -- who are part of the career criminal unit of the warrants division -- was serving a homicide warrant from the city of Miami when there was a confrontation. Source: Fox NewsThis is a sad day for law enforcement departments across this country. Stay tuned. More to follow.
After the shooting, the suspect walked to a fire station and told officials what he'd done, said Marshall County Sheriff's Department Det. Kelly McMillen. That's when police and sheriff's officials went to the home and found the victims. Monday, investigators charged Justin Crumb with two counts of murder. He's being held in the Marshall County Jail. Police said a 4-year-old child and a newborn baby were in the home at the time of the shooting, but were not injured. The children are in the custody of relatives. The coroner said officials found the apparent murder weapon -- a 9 mm Kel-Tec pistol -- on top of a shed-like building near the house. Source: Commercial AppealAs it stands right now, investigators haven't determined a motive for the shooting. There is nothing that this man can say that would change the fact he committed two heinous crimes.
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| Antonio Rodriguez (NowPublic) |
A law enforcement source said a plain-clothed Livonia officer was reportedly working surveillance of a suspect who had been involved in some home invasions. The officer followed the suspect to Walled Lake, where he apparently confronted the man coming out of a home around 6 p.m. near Glenwood and Maple in Walled Lake, the source said. The two reportedly exchanged gunfire and both were killed, authorities said. Walled Lake police and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office are on the scene of the incident, which is near the border with Commerce Township. Source: Detroit Free Press
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| Sketch of alleged serial rapist Source: KBOI/Detroit Police |
"We're not going to let this monster cripple us," he said at a morning press conference. Crime Stoppers also received 28 tips over the weekend and is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, said John Broad, the tip line's president. Detroit police have arrested nine young men in the alleged attack areas for various offenses. They are all being considered persons of interests in the case, Godbee said.It is a sad commentary that female motorists in Detroit are on notice that they can't stop when and if someone bumps into their cars, just in case the rapist is the person behind the wheel of another car. The bottom line is that women living alone must learn how to protect themselves. We must take back our streets from thugs and degenerates like this rapist. I implore anyone in Detroit who knows who this man is, please call the police and turn him in. We don't need a person of this ilk running around and wreaking havoc in any community. The police department must be willing and able to deploy resources in these communities and not just giving all their attention to the more affluent communities in the Motor City. We can't lose our streets to thugs. No way.
The sexual assaults have occurred since Jan. 1, between 7:40 p.m. and 6:15 a.m., police said. The women — ages 17 to 33 years old and all Detroit residents but one — were alone at the time of the attacks and most of the victims were walking near a bus stop. Most of the women were then taken to another location where they were assaulted and then released, police said.
One victim told officers the man bumped her car with his vehicle and when she got out her car to inspect the damage, the man forced her into his vehicle and assaulted her. Source: DetNews
Should Bankruptcy Courts Decide Civil Rights Issue? by Harry Alford
Did you know the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on January 18th on a case that could impact your civil rights? The case is actually fairly well-known thanks to the late Anna Nicole Smith who 15 years ago began a long and bitter courtroom struggle with the family of Texas businessman J. Howard Marshall II. The case is known as Stern v. Marshall due to Howard K. Stern, Smith’s former boyfriend and lawyer who serves as executor of her estate. Many may have heard of the case in celebrity gossip magazines; however what most of the public might not know is how this case could affect their rights.
Stern v. Marshall first began in Texas probate court before finding its way to California bankruptcy court thanks to ‘forum shopping’ a legal maneuver used by Anna Nicole’s lawyers. Essentially Smith’s team felt her chances were better in a California specialty bankruptcy court. The problem however is that specialty courts are not equipped to handle cases of this nature. Legal experts are concerned that this case will in fact set a dangerous precedent and civil claims will continue to find their way in specialty courts. For example, an employer being sued for racial discrimination in a district court – which has broad legal expertise and jurisdiction – may move the case to a more favorable specialty Tax Court – one with insufficient legal expertise in civil rights matters – and claim that the underlying discrimination case is rightfully part of the tax proceedings. This leads us down a slippery slope and would jeopardize American’s basic civil rights.
If we are to shield ourselves from these types of legal abuses, the Supreme Court must rule in favor of Marshall. This case exemplifies the importance of allowing state and federal courts, constitutionally empowered, to determine cases involving potential violation of civil rights. Upholding this long-standing and critically important legal tradition will help ensure all Americans are protected regardless of race or socioeconomic status. The American legal system is based on the principle that justice is blind, we hope this is true, even for celebrities and business leaders.
Marshall has worked with Boortz for 17 years, according to the WSB Radio biography for Marshall. A St. Louis native and graduate of the University of Georgia in 1992, he got his start at WSB Radio as a board operator working overnights. Soon after, he joined Boortz as engineer and board operator. In 1996, he started his own radio talk show called “The Royal Treatment,” which ran for several years, mostly at night. After his show ended, he continued to work with Boortz, who is heard on hundreds of stations nationwide. Source: AJCMy thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Annette and their two children. Royal Marshall has gone too soon!
The superintendents said they had little choice but to hold classes on Monday to make up for nine snow days they've missed this school year.I don't agree with the NAACP on much, but I would love to see the "powers that be" in both counties use Presidents Day as a make-up day. This is ridiculous and a slap on the face of the legacy of Dr. King. Shame on you Fannin and Gilmer counties. I deliberately put "snowstorm" in parentheses because having lived in New York City and Athens, OH, what we got in the metro area pales in comparison to a real snowstorm. We should have a "Brownie" moment with Georgia’s DOT Commissioner Vance Smith. He should be relieved of his duties immediately for bungling the clearing of interstate highways in metro Atlanta. Just so you know, there's still a lot of ice on the roadways four days later. Ridiculous.
Georgia State NAACP Chapter President Edward DuBose said it's "humiliating to hear that school districts want to take a snow day rather than to honor Dr. King's legacy." Source: WSB-TV
The 57-year-old woman, whom police did not identify, said she needed to use a restroom before leaving with an officer who had been called to the hospital about 11:10 p.m., according to Sgt. Karen Rudolph, a police department spokeswoman. The officer heard a shot in the restroom and the woman was pronounced dead. “It’s our understanding that she was homeless and had nowhere to go,” said Ruth Ann Hale, a spokeswoman for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. Hospital security officers told police that the woman had been discharged from the hospital about 6:30 a.m. but never left the waiting room, police said.It doesn't seem that the hospital was in the wrong, since they called authorities to see if she could be taken to a shelter. It is really a sad commentary on what is happening in the lives of some people in this country. The first questions that come to my mind are where did she get the gun and why didn't she just go to the shelter so she could be off the streets for the night. It is also disturbing that she was able to take a gun into the hospital, which has said it doesn't have metal detectors. I can't judge this woman because I haven't walked in her shoes. Still, it breaks my heart to that she didn't feel she had an alternative but to kill herself. Sad, sad, sad.
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| Theodore Cornell Lockett (Augusta Chronicle) |
Lockett then called his mother, Sondra Lockett, and told her he'd just killed his grandmother and was going to kill her, the report said. Theodore Lockett "then went back inside the residence and assaulted Lockwood again" by striking her in the head several times with a microwave oven, the report said.There are no words that can adequately express the sympathy I have for Ms. Lockwood and the way in which her life ended. I don't know if this guy has some mental issues, but to murder his grandmother speaks to some deep issues. It should be noted that Lockett has no criminal record.
When law enforcement arrived, they found Lockett inside and he surrendered without incident, Carrier said. His mother had contacted them after her son called, he said. Also inside the house but unharmed was another woman, a bedridden relative for whom Lockwood was caring, Carrier said. Source: Augusta Chronicle
