We’re talking about the Stand Your Ground Law; the new personal protection law that’s sweeping the nation.

Not to be confused with the Castle Doctrine…this law is the right to use lethal force to protect your personal space…Stand Your Ground, unlike the Castle Doctrine which provides the right to kill intruders in your domicile, residence or “castle”…goes with you where ever you go…like a right to personal protection bubble.

The law means any shooter is justified in killing, what would normally be called murdering, simply because  the shooter ”feels” threatened or endangered

–There is no need for any actual threat or endangerment–all that is necessary is the  shooter feel, or perceive that they are threatened!

The New Could’ve, Might’ve Law ….sanctions  killing anyone You don’t like in Your neighborhood.

All You have to do is feel afraid.

As well you should–according to the new interpretations.

According to current interpretations of the right to Stand Your Ground Law

Trayvon Martin had the right to:

1)      Stand his ground. (Why has no one mentioned this?”)

2)     “Feel Afraid.” (After all he was being followed by a big white/Hispanic man with a gun.)

3)     Shoot  Zimmerman,…if onlyMartin had had his own gun. (Why has no one mentioned the only defense Martin had was his own body. The very same body perished trying to provide defense.)

4)    Defend himself, by attacking the perceived threat Martin felt from Zimmerman. (Surely we are not claiming the only way you can protect yourself from a perceived threat is with a knife or a gun.)

5)      Beat Zimmerman to death even, to defend himself, because he felt threatened by Zimmerman  following him with a gun and scaring him.

It should be clear:

6)      Martin not only had the right to feel endangered by Zimmerman, Martin was actuallyendangered by Zimmerman, since Martin is now dead, caused by Zimmerman  following him and shooting him with a gun.

7)    Martin not only had the legal right to confront, or attack Zimmerman, because he felt endangered,
Martin really was endangered.

8)     We can only imagine a successful application of the “Stand Your Ground Law” would have been:
Zimmerman followed Martin. Martin felt threatened. Martin shot or killed Zimmerman because of the threat.
Case Closed.

9)     Who could have imagined  the “Predator” who was following and threatening, would have the right to claim they felt threatened, and this feeling could therefore be used to justify their predatory killing?

10)   Rationally it would appear Martin was the only one to have the right to feel threatened,
since Martin was the only one who was being pursued, by a person named Zimmerman, with a gun.

11)      According to current interpretation of the “Stand Your Ground Law”,  Martin  even had the right to attack Zimmerman to take Zimmerman’s gun from him, because the threat of Zimmerman’s gun, was part of Zimmerman’s threat.

12)      The biggest threat to Martin and Zimmerman was Zimmerman’s gun.

13)    Zimmerman  brought the gun

14)     Zimmerman pulled the trigger.

15)    Martin perhaps tried to defend himself.  (As is his right under the “Stand Your Ground” law.)

16)     Zimmerman shot Martin dead.

The only situation that could invalidate Martin’s rights to defend, and even kill, if he felt threatened is
if  the “Stand Your Ground” law is valid for whites only.

Many people are arguing that Zimmerman, after following Martin “might” have “felt” threatened, and therefore whatever the “maybe” reality,  Zimmerman had the right to defend himself with a gun.

Are we now saying if someone approaches or is near you, you have a right to “feel” threatened therefore you have the “right” to “kill” that person?

However that person could also feel threatened… by YOU, and therefore have a right to kill you, since he feels threatened ??

What??

You better get practicing Quick Draw!

If this is the truth of the law, then it has now become much worse than the Old Wild West, and we all need to carry loaded pistols in our holsters.

Whoever feels threatened first has the right to shoot the other dead. (“The Quick and the Dead.”)

That’s reassuring!

Logically, every single person should feel threatened.

Since we now know all the other person has to do is feel threatened to legally shoot us. (I’m afraid to go outdoors.)

Doesn’t even matter if the other person has a gun. Doesn’t matter who drew first. Doesn’t matter that all they did was stick out their tongue. Doesn’t matter that they were walking away and you shot them in the back.  All that matters is You felt they might turn around, and when and if they did, they might  attack you.

If this is the essence of the new law then we can kill anyone and everyone we want.

All we have to do is get near enough to the person or persons we hate, perhaps by following, to shoot them.

Then when we are close enough to feel threatened, to feel they might hurt us, we legally shoot them dead.

Reminds us of the defense:  YOUR face ran into MY fist…Or

YOU scared me while I was following you with my gun, so I Shot YOU.

Come to think of it: Isn’t this the same reasoning our government is trying to use to attack Iran?
They might be dangerous.

The Future of "Stand Your Ground" Laws

A few words about the creator of this cartoon:
R.J. Matson,  editorial cartoonist and illustrator for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Roll Call, has won two Missouri Press Association Awards for editorial cartoons; he is known for having drawn Time Magazine’s 2007 Best Cartoon of the Year. (shown below)

Prepare For Glory!

Vance is also known on the Internet for appearing in a video with the late sports anchor George Michael where they laughed at a model who fell, not once but twice, on a fashion show runway.

This time you will find him somber as he expresses his point of view on the matter of Trayvon Martin.

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

In 1969, Jim Vance became  one of the first African-Americans to serve in the news anchorman position at any American television station.

For the past twenty-three years he is part of,  what is currently the longest-running anchor team in Washington, alongside co-anchor and health reporter Doreen Gentzler.

Just moments ago the federal  Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI announced they will be investigating the murder of Miami Gardens teenager by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

The department announced late Monday it has begun an investigation into the fatal shooting death of an unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, Florida by a self appointed neighborhood watch captain.
Martin, a Miami, Florida teen, was murdered on February 26, 2012. Despite the fact his assailant admitted to police investigators he fatally shot the unarmed teenager, who was within his rights to be at the gated community; the man, George Zimmerman, has not been charged, arrested or otherwise detained for questioning. Police say they haven’t sufficient evidence to hold him. It has been more than three weeks since the teenager was deprived of his life. According to recordings of Zimmerman’s call to the Sanford Police dispatcher the young teen was reported to be “suspicious” in his appearance and behavior.

In a statement late Monday evening, March 19, 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it will be performing an independent review of the evidence and take appropriate action.

In a memo sent late on Monday, March 19, 2012, to Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner, Gerald Bradley, was directed by Florida’s Governor Rick Scott  to help local authorities in their investigation because the circumstances surrounding the death “have caused significant concern within the Sanford community and the state.”

After almost a month the local and state authorities, as well as the federal government has finally responded to the pleas of the family, local community organizations like the NAACP and congressional representatives.

Now let’s impress upon the investigators the importance of finding this man and holding him for questioning.

We encourage George Zimmerman to turn himself in to the authorities as quickly as possible to bring this matter to a close.

Video from Dr. Melissa  Harris-Perry’s program, which aired Saturday, March 17, 2012 on MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Melissa V. Harris-Perry is author of the well received new book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America (Yale 2011), which argues that persistent harmful stereotypes-invisible to many but painfully familiar to black women-profoundly shape black women’s politics, contribute to policies that treat them unfairly, and make it difficult for black women to assert their rights in the political arena.

Harris-Perry is the host of MSNBC’s “Melissa Harris-Perry.” The program can be seen on Saturdays and Sundays from 10AM to noon ET. (Check your local listing to be sure.)

Harris-Perry is a professor at Tulane University, in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she teaches political science.

Professor Harris-Perry received her B.A. in English from Wake Forest University, her Ph.D. in political science from Duke University and an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School. And she studied theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. She lives in New Orleans with her husband, James Perry, and daughter, Parker.

Remember The Name: Trayvon Martin

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We agree with Taibbi’s assessment as presented with facts found in the public record.  Bank Of America is a professed criminal operation. It has  admitted being innovator of,  initiator of, and participant in, fraudulent banking acts for years.

We believe more consumers as well as investors should be outraged by this incident of unprecedented, in your face, banking malfeasance. We believe those responsible must be made accountable; not necessarily by doing jail time–but through deprivation of the benefits of our modern society; ship them off to Africa; perhaps to some other continent or third world island nation with indescribable poverty …Haiti sounds an ideal just reward.  Send them without any money or support systems to a place where they are forced to get by without their connections and manipulations of laws and government officials.

Perhaps this seems too extreme. Consider the damage these individuals, with a controlling interest in these companies, have caused. The harm far exceeds the injury, pain and suffering caused by a mass murderer of 50 or even a hundred people.

Tens of millions of people’s homes are in jeopardy.  Hundreds of millions Americans have had their livelihood negatively affected; many have lost their house, their job, their livelihood, their family, and sometimes even their life. The lives of the children have been irreparably disrupted. And injury, pain and suffering to America and its citizens is not even the end of it. The whole entire world,  markets and families in Europe, Asia, Africa, South and Central America, is suffering all because of these marauders. Their predatory actions are despicable and dishonorable .

The only injustice, of banishing the individuals responsible to a third world country, is the damage to the third world country. They’d be  forced to accept them, but what is that compared to being bombed or invaded. We’re pretty sure any country would prefer to accept our banksters to live in the worst of their conditions to being bombed or invaded. It’s a small price a small price to pay really given the alternative–we will either steal your oil, (or other precious natural resource), or you will accept Timothy Geitner, whatever.

Just as in that popular board game, those executives “Do not pass GO!”, “Do not collect $200!”; no clean slate unless the consumers and investors who’ve been damaged are given a clean slate, too. It’s not a new idea…it’s been done in the history of the world many, many hundreds of times in order to begin anew.

When it comes to setting the really low, low low, rock-bottom, sleazy standard for corrupt business practices Bank Of America has the dubious distinction of being a leader in its field.  The other really big U.S. banks such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, are “monkey see, monkey do entities”. Or another way to describe the bankster enterprise in the 21st Century is, “as goes Bank Of The UNIVERSE, so goes the other financial crooks”.

Photojournalist Sarah Glover decided to take the buyout rather than being laid off. Glover is president of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. In a note to Facebook friends she stated her concern that “by the end of the staff reduction process at PMN this week that the newsrooms will take another step back to looking like 1962 rather than more like what a newsroom should look like in 2012.”

Glover further states:

” Ironically, in 1962, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Acel Moore was the first black hired by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Progress over the decades was all but washed away with the layoffs of 2007, when 30 blacks and Asians were laid off disproportionately out of a total of the 71 laid off. Who would of thought a simple catch phrase by the former Knight Ridder company would still resonate and hold true today… “Diversity. No Excuses.” Prior to this week’s staff reductions, there were already too few ethnic minorities at the papers and website. It’s embarrassing, particularly in a city that is majority minority. U.S. census data says 62 percent of the city’s 1.5 million residents are ethnic minorities. All news organizations should have staffs that represent the communities they serve. It is quite frankly a no-brainer, and a good business decision. I’m glad to see representation among women to be good, but ethnic minority representation is abysmal.”

 ”I was the sole woman of color on the photo staffs of the Inquirer/Daily News. I’m the first black woman to work as a photographer at the Daily News (2008 to present), and the second black woman to have been hired by the Inquirer (1999-2008). In the Philadelphia market, I believe I’m the only black woman working as a full-time photojournalist at a news organization.”

Guild President Dan Gross and Executive Director Bill Ross say they will fight the layoffs.
Read more

From Carole’s blog, a post dated March 2, 2012, “Limbaugh Wages New War On Women”:

Rush Limbaugh, a blowhard who has been going too far, for far too long, has now made it abundantly clear that he hates women. America’s highest rated and highest paid radio broadcaster is a dangerous misogynist.

The venom he spewed at Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, a private citizen, is unprecedented. An overweight, overpaid, hateful “little” man, who always plays the “big” man, has victimized her. This young woman simply had the temerity to testify in support of a woman’s right to health insurance coverage for contraception.

For this Limbaugh calls her a “slut,” a “prostitute” who, he says, wants to be paid for having sex. He even suggested that if she wants money for her sexual activity, he should at least be able to see it taking place. How humiliating, how embarrassing.

I became a victim of his nasty talk on the radio, after I moderated the 1992 presidential debate featuring President George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot. The day after the huge political event—watched by 91 million people here and abroad—Limbaugh called me a “femi-Nazi” who caused Bush to stumble so Clinton could outperform the President and win the debate. (That was a lie.) He said I was a liberal Democrat and never should have been chosen as moderator. (Another lie.) He ranted for 15 minutes about how awful I was. The innuendo, that I was an unqualified and biased black woman.

Within hours of that radio show I started getting death threats by telephone and over the next few days hundreds of letters flooded my office from people who warned me I would be killed, wished I was dead, or planning to shoot me themselves. For about a week armed bodyguards followed me everywhere to provide protection from any Limbaugh “ditto-heads” with guns and a violent streak.

Does he talk about women the way he does for ratings? He surely couldn’t believe all his nonsense talk. Or is he an evil man who wants to yank out from under our Easy Spirits, all the progress we have made. To men like Limbaugh, the advances of women are threatening. That’s why they are “little” men. They can’t stand the fact that females can–not only do what men do–but can have babies, too. And with contraception we hold the ultimate power over society’s growth or decline. Maybe that’s why Neanderthals like Rush, want to force women to bear babies no matter what the circumstances.

Women will not go back. We may be on the cusp of the third women’s rights struggle in US history—suffrage in the early 1900’s, equal rights in the 70’s and now, the new assault on reproductive rights, being given boisterous voice by Limbaugh. Bring it on.

Four wives? Rush can’t seem to get it right. Sounds like he has a woman problem. I met him and one of his wives at the ABC Washington Bureau in the early 90’s. She was a tiny, curvaceous aerobics instructor. Gee, I wonder who left whom?

We suggest you take time to complete the survey found here. When you do you’ll be able to see the issues most important to those who are protesting in cities across this nation as well as to those who support their actions.

BTW… in light of the continuing and escalating violence on behalf of those who have the most to lose from the success of the protests on Wall Street, in New York City, Washington, D.C. along with big and small towns around the United States, we suggest the organizers of Occupy Wall Street demonstrations plan a day of national strike. Implementation of the idea is past overdue…so how about it? A day where everyone who works stays home…a day when everyone who shops makes no purchases; or everyone who uses transportation, personal or public, stays home. No banking, no school, no emergency medical services, no utility services. Everyone stay home, on the same day for one day. We guarantee someone among the so-called movers and shakers will be paying attention.

Be sensible…stay warm this winter, do not put your physical body in harm’s way…stay home to protest against the banksters, and the corporate scions.

Read here the highlights of the proposed regulations under Regualtion “Z”.

After reviewing go here to make and submit your comment to our leaders. Let them know this idea is unacceptable for current
property owners and future owners.

Use these ideas in your comments

• Seller “financing” provides housing for millions who otherwise could not qualify for conventional loans.
  Homeowners are not bank officers or mortgage lenders. By requiring them (many if not most of whom who take back a mortgage are elderly) to qualify buyers using bank standards means they will simply refuse to sell with owner financing. Thus millions of people will be deprived of home ownership.
• Why should the buyer be required to divulge their income and assets to the very person with whom they are negotiating the terms of a sale? This is not required when there is a 3rd party lender.
• Requiring the buyer to turn over all their financial information to a stranger opens the door for identification theft and fraud.
  This also creates the opportunity for predatory borrowing. This is where an unscrupulous buyer knowledgeable about the Dodd-Frank Act leads an uninformed seller (and this will likely be the majority of sellers) into negotiations not in compliance with the ability-to-repay requirements. An example of  could be a balloon, an interest rate greater than 1.49% above a standard mortgage, or the seller did not know how to calculate the income-to-debt ratio correctly, or know what residual income means. The buyer lives in the property trying to resell it for a profit and if they are not successful within three years they rescind the sale and get all their money back.
• By not allowing sellers to negotiate a balloon payment, there is a good chance a seller 55 years or older will die before receiving all their equity. A lot of seniors have invested in real property with the intent of selling it using seller financing (an installment sale) in order to supplement their income in retirement, but also with the hope  they would not be stuck with a 30 year investment. The Dodd-Frank Act does the same thing insurance companies do who sell 30 year annuities to seniors. Our government has criticized this deplorable practice because seniors will die before they receive all their investment.
• The restriction of no balloon doesn’t affect just seniors, it has financial consequences for anyone using seller financing. Under the Dodd-Frank Act community banks are allowed to originate fully amortizing loans with a five year balloon. The rationale is  they hold these loans in their own portfolios and the government recognizes their need to hedge against inflation and rising interest rates. Yet, the Act does not recognize private property owners who have 100% skin in the game who need the same protection. A five year balloon is predatory lending. If there has to be a restriction it should at the very least be the same allowance given to community banks of a balloon in 5 years.
• There are a lot of small builders who have a spec house or two they are unablre to sell unless they offer great terms using seller financing. Otherwise they have to let these properties go back to the bank, which does not help housing or the economy.
• It has been said  a seller financing the sale of his or her own property would completely avoid the issue of licensing by retaining the services of a licensed loan originator. If a mortgage loan originator (MLO) fails to properly follow the ability-to-repay guidelines the buyer still has three years in which to rescind the sale which leaves the seller at risk and will most likely bankrupt them.

Remember…. today is the last day to tell them what you think!

It took nine years to get the law passed to provide treatment for the responders who survive and who are experiencing devastating health issues as a result of breathing toxic fumes at the site of the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, number 1, 2 and 7. The emergency medical technicians, police and fire personnel inhaled the dusty debris while cleaning up the mess, searching for colleagues and saving lives of those injured and recovering the dead in the rubble.

Unfortunately the man for whom the bill is named died of respiratory disorders during 2006. James Zadroga was a New York City police officer, in fact he is the first NYPD officer whose illness and subsequent death has been attributed to his participation in rescue and recovery operations in the rubble of the World Trade Center following the September 11 attacks. Zadroga was the first whose death was attributed to his contact with toxic chemicals at the site of the deadly attack of September 11th 2001.

We learned last month there is a caveat that comes with the bill passed last December during the so called “lame duck” session of the United States Congress. Prior to passage of the bill  congressional representative from Florida’s 6th District  Cliff Stearns suggested an astounding last minute amendment:

Thank you Mr. Chairman.  This basically I’ll give it in one sentence.  Before a person is certified as eligible for the program, the Secretary of Health and Human Services has to confirm with the appropriate federal agency that that person is not a terrorist.  So it’s a simple straightforward amendment.” REP. CLIFF STEARNS, R-FL (5/25/2010)

and received support  from HENRY WAXMAN, a Democrat from Fornicalia

I think it makes a lot of sense, and I’m willing to support it.  All those in favor of the Stearns amendment, say ‘aye’.REP. HENRY WAXMAN, D-CA(5/25/2010)

And as they say “the ayes have it”, allowing the passage of the law with the following amendment in place as reported by reputable news outlets around the nation:

Under the new 9/11 health bill, responders and Ground Zero workers seeking benefits will receive a letter, notifying them that ‘the Act also requires the World Trade Center Program Administrator to determine whether a World Trade Center responder or survivor is on the terrorist watch list prior to his or her enrollment or certification.’ “

We, the people,have knowledge of this most recent added insult to grave injury amendment to a bill intended to help those who were courageous to expose themselves to toxic chemicals and disease when the rest of us were left standing about trying to figure out just what had happened.

The law has been passed. Many of us are feeling helpless. That is why the staff of YouThinkWhat believes the best way for us be helping the individuals and their families who have been damaged by this bad law is to support the efforts of the organizers of an event that will be taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 9, 10, 11, 2011 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11th 2001 attacks, also known as 911,  by commending and raising money to assist the 911 responders.

The event is called 911Remembrance. We’ll have more details  in an upcoming post.

Your Rights and civil rights violations

Once you decide to file a lawsuit for a civil rights violation, one of your initial issues can be where to file, in federal or state court. Ultimately, if the civil rights case goes to trial, the plaintiff must prove by a “preponderance of the proof” (that it is more and more likely than not) that the defendant is legally accountable for the damages alleged by the plaintiff. If you suspect you have suffered a civil rights violation, the simplest place to start is to speak with an experienced Civil Rights Attorney. An experienced Civil Rights Attorney will be able to inform you whether filing a government claim can be necessary in your case. Legal issues involving civil rights will be terribly sophisticated, and can be terribly troublesome to resolve without proper expertise.

Civil Rights And The Law

Law enforcement officers and other officers like judges, prosecutors, and security guards are given tremendous power by local, state, and federal government agencies—authority they need to  enforce the law and ensure justice in our country. Laws guaranteeing civil rights originate at the federal level, either through federal legislation or through federal court selections, including those handed down by the US Supreme Court.

Are The Police Exempt

Police misconduct cases are more common than one would think. This law, commonly called the Police Misconduct Statute, gives the Department of Justice authority to hunt civil remedies in cases where law enforcement agencies have policies or practices that foster a pattern of misconduct by employees. The majority of complaints allege misconduct bylaw enforcement officers like state or local cops, federal law enforcement officers,prison superintendents, correctional officers, state and county judges, or alternative public officials.

There are plenty of general stages in bringing potential criminal civil rights violations to prosecution. Gather data regarding the civil rights violation and save it for the future. There are various types of civil rights violations, as well as discrimination conduct by employers. Civil rights lawyers bring discrimination claims against employers who discriminate in hiring, providing benefits, or advancing an employees career on the premise of: Age discrimination, sex discrimination, national origin discrimination, discrimination lawyer, spiritual discrimination, race (racial) discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, incapacity discrimination, etc.

John Hope Franklin recorded the American experience from the black perspective in order to give the world and its future generations the full story of this incredible nation.

“My specialty is the history of the south. That means I teach the history of blacks and whites.”~  in a 1990 interview, John Hope Franklin , historian

Franklin, himself, was born  in a flourishing, separate black area of Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father, Buck Franklin, was a lawyer and his mother, Molly Parker Franklin, was a teacher.

We can not think of anyone better equipped to become the historian of note on the subject of race in America than the young John Hope Franklin who experienced first hand the trauma of hateful acts when his father’s law office was burned down during the shameful riots in Tulsa during 1921. About the same time Franklin and his mother were thrown off a train when she refused to accept accommodation in an overcrowded Negroes only carriage. It was at this time as they walked back home he was challenged by his mother to “prove you’re as good as any of them.”

After graduation from a segregated high school, Franklin went on to attend the historically black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduation he went on to study at Harvard University to receive both a masters and a doctorate in history.  By 1941 he was Dr. John Hope Franklin, and husband to his college sweetheart, whom he married in 1940. Aurelia Whittington, librarian became his wife and his editor. Upon her demise in 1999 they had shared a life together as husband and wife for nearly sixty years.

Franklin returned to Tennessee to teach at Fisk. While researching his first book at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, he was forbidden to to approach white female librarians, or to use the library’s cafeterias or washrooms. The book being researched at the time was “The Free Negro in North Carolina”. Published in 1943 it dispelled many ill-perceived notions about life in the segregated southern U.S.

Four years later the ground breaking “From Slavery To Freedom” was published. In 1947 Franklin’s book was received as innovative not just because it was written by a black scholar, but because as a chronicler of American history he refused to concede to the idea the African slaves in the United States and their descendants a history separate and distinct from the rest of Americans.

More than ten years later, in 1956, Franklin wrote of the sixty year period 1800 to 1861 in which he suggested the heinous institution of slavery increased and promoted, even stimulated a violent mindset among some whites.

It can be said John Hope Franklin through his books and articles helped to formulate many of our ideas about and policies toward race in America.

The John Hope Franklin Collection for African and African-American Documentation resides at the Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library and contains his personal and professional papers

He is the recipient of the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 1995, in a special ceremony, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Ledbetter’s intention was not to be an activist; hers was a personal quest at the start, but after the Supreme Court ruled against her, she decided it was time to become a labor activist for the sake of her daughters and the daughters of working people everywhere.

As you read this woman’s story keep in mind she was employed by
Goodyear an international company named by Fortune magazine as the World’s Most Admired Motor Vehicle Parts Company in its 2008 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. The publication also ranked Goodyear No. 1 in innovation, people management, use of assets and global orientation. The company is also listed on Forbes magazine’s list of the Most Respected Companies in America and its list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America. CRO magazine–the publication for executives charged with Corporate Responsibility, ranks Goodyear as number 72 of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Goodyear employs about 70,000 people and manufactures its products in more than 60 facilities in 25 countries around the world.

Ledbetter, a 70 year-old widow whose husband died last December, was hired in 1979 to work as an overnight supervisor from 7PM to 7AM at the Goodyear plant. She worked for nearly twenty years and says with reference to her work ethic,”There was nothing I wouldn’t do, no matter how dirty or hard.”

During her career at Goodyear, Ledbetter experienced sexual harassment and day-to-day discrimination. In her testimony before Congress in 2007Ledbetter told how a supervisor once asked for sexual favors in return for good job performance evaluations. After Ledbetter complained about the supervisor to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), he was reassigned, but Ledbetter said she felt isolated at work and experienced a long-term pattern of discrimination.

Ledbetter received periodic pay increases. She even received an award for Top Performance in 1996. But just as she was about to take early retirement in 1998 an anonymous co-worker slipped a note into Ledbetter’s mailbox at work comparing her pay to the pay of three other male counterparts. Ledbetter filed a complaint with the EEOC and was then assigned to lift heavy tires, which she felt was retribution. (Ledbetter was making $3,727 per month, while men doing the same job were paid $4,286 to $5,236 per month.)

She sued Goodyear, which claimed it paid Ledbetter less than other male workers because she was not a good worker. A jury awarded Ledbetter about $3.3 million, but the amount was later reduced to around $300,000. Subsequently, the Supreme Court, in May 2007 voted 5-4 that Ledbetter was not entitled to compensation because she filed her claim more than 180 days, six months, after receiving her first discriminatory paycheck.

“A worker knows immediately if she is denied a promotion or transfer, if she is fired or refused employment. And promotions, transfers, hirings, and firings are generally public events, known to co-workers. When an employer makes a decision of such open and definitive character, an employee can immediately seek out an explanation and evaluate it for pretext. Compensation disparities, in contrast, are often hidden from sight.”
— Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, dissenting with the majority opinion that found Ledbetter’s case was invalid, May 29, 2007

Ledbetter says she lives paycheck to paycheck and has no expectation of ever getting any restitution from Goodyear Tire.

Lilly Ledbetter met President Obama when he was a senator and campaigned on his behalf. Obama and the future First Lady talked about Ledbetter regularly on the campaign stump and the Alabama native rode with Obama as he took a celebratory train trip to Washington, D.C. before the inauguration. Ledbetter attended the inauguration and danced with the President at a ball afterward.

With reference to the fact her retirement benefits are based on the discriminatory pay she received from Goodyear Tire, Ledbetter says, “I will be a second-class citizen for the rest of my life … It affects every penny I have today.”

The new bill, named for Ledbetter, changes the Civil Rights Act so workers can sue up to 180 days, six months, after receiving any discriminatory paycheck.

Despite the recent negative news coverage of the company’s role in the Lilly Ledbetter wage discrimination matter Fortune magazine named Goodyear the World’s Most Admired Motor Vehicle Parts Company in its 2008 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies.

The publication ranked Goodyear No. 1 in innovation, people management, use of assets and global orientation. The company is also listed on Forbes magazine’s list of the Most Respected Companies in America and its list of the Most Trustworthy Companies in America and CRO magazine’s ranking of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Goodyear employs about 70,000 people and manufactures its products in more than 60 facilities in 25 countries around the world.

When we consider the facts in the Lilly Ledbetter case we think the respect for Goodyear is misplaced. We think the criteria for judging corporate citizenship is skewed. We certainly do not rank this international corporate giant as being worthy of anyone’s trust.

On Thursday, January 29, 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation into law making it easier for employees to sue for wage discrimination, a measure he said is an important step toward “fundamental fairness” for U.S. workers.

At a White House bill-signing ceremony President Obama said:

“It is fitting that the very first bill that I sign … is an important step, a simple fix to ensure fundamental fairness for American workers.”

The bill known as the Lilly Ledbetter bill in honor of an Alabama woman who worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, passed the House in a largely party-line vote Tuesday. The bill was approved by the Senate last week. It was a priority for the Democrat-controlled Congress, and becomes the first law to be signed by Obama.

The legislation effectively reverses a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2007 that limited Ledbetter’s ability to sue for pay discrimination. Ledbetter, who joined Obama at Thursday’s ceremony, worked for Goodyear for almost 20 years before discovering her employer was paying higher salaries to her male colleagues.

Previously, in 2007, the Supreme Court ruled Ledbetter had not filed her discrimination suit within the required statute of limitations. The court said workers had to file suits within six months of when their employer first decided to pay the female employee less than her male counterparts.

Under the new law, employees can sue six months after the last paycheck they receive that is less than other employees at their level.

Ledbetter first realized she was being paid less in 1998 and an initial court ruling awarded her $3.8 million. Because of the Supreme Court decision, however, she won’t personally benefit from the legislation that bears her name, a fact she acknowledged at a White House reception following the bill signing.

“Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of. In fact, I will never see a cent from my case, but with the … president’s signature today, I will have an even richer reward. I know that my daughters and granddaughters and your daughters and your granddaughters will have a better deal.”

When asked for comment a Goodyear spokesman said Ledbetter’s pay at the firm was comparable to other workers with similar performance, including men. The spokesman for the world’s largest tire company with its US and international subsidiaries and joint ventures, further referenced a judicial finding of no discrimination with respect to pay in the years just before Ledbetter took an early retirement.

On Thursday at the bill’s signing ceremony President Obama noted women in the U.S. make 78 cents for every dollar men earn, but said equal pay isn’t simply a women’s issue.

“It’s about parents who find themselves with less money for tuition and child care, couples who wind up with less to retire on, households where one breadwinner is paid less than she deserves. That’s the difference between affording the mortgage or not, between keeping the heat on, or paying the doctor bills, or not.

And in this economy, when so many folks are already working harder for less and struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford is losing part of each month’s paycheck to simple and plain discrimination.” President Barack Obama

That’s what happened when the Illinois state legislature conducted a very public impeachment trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich. We knew, as did the governor, when he was arrested on December 9, 2008, that it was just a matter of time before he was ousted from the office with much fanfare. The publicity, flamboyance and circus atmosphere surrounding Blagojevich’s actions while governor and his subsequent trial were equal to the way he conducted himself while governor.

We have no fault with what he did. As far as we can see he did nothing wrong. No lives were lost; no one was irreparably harmed. Yet on Thursday, January 29, 2009 the Illinois State Senate voted unanimously, 59-0, to remove Rod Blagojevich from the office of governor, never to hold public office in the state again, for abuse of power.

We want to say we like Rod Blagojevich. What would our American politicians be without the ability to leverage, negotiate to get people and laws into place that will benefit the people to whom they are accountable? Blagojevich was just doing what every other politician does. It’s just that while doing his job he angered, annoyed and blocked some opposing legislators; we suspect some of these people may have had it in for him because of his immigrant heritage, his administrative style and his political success.

We want to say, as that famous Hispanic-Jewish tee vee reporter said, Blagojevich got a raw deal. He never committed a crime. His discussions by phone or in person were sometimes profanity laced rants that can also be described as passionate for the topic of a vacated U.S. Senate seat. Acknowledging the value and stating his reluctance to give it up for nothing does not necessarily mean he was trying to sell the seat for cash.

We believe Rod Blagojevich is another in a long list of distractions for the American people. True he’s a former Illinois prosecutor, congressional representative with lots of experience in the law and politics, a bigwig whom many believe should have his comeuppance.

But we find his trespasses are far less offensive to us than those of say, Karl Rove, who was instructed by the Bush administration lawyers to ignore any subpoenas to escape being accountable for his part in the illegal Bush administrations’ activities–think Valerie Plame out CIA operative; or Dick Cheney who arrogantly disclosed in television exit interviews his part in the decision to go against treaty agreements that prohibit torture. Or for that matter the former occupant of the White House George W. Bush, himself, who is responsible for the deaths of countless numbers of young Americans and Iraqi civilians. Talk about abuse of power. GWB lied and provided false evidence to start a war that no one wanted.

We think the actions by state Attorney General Lisa Madigan–look for her in the future as a candidate for governor; federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, and the legislative leaders in both state houses, who told Blagojevich in December that if certain things did not happen he’d be removed from office, (they were using their political leverage), are more offensive to us than anything the former governor said or did.

Just know that if it can happen to him. It can happen to you. We still do not know how it is the ex-governor’s actions came to the attention of the federal prosecutor who on December 9, 2008 at a news conference about the then governor’s arrest behaved as though the federal part of this case had been held with a favorable verdict for the government and the case closed. We had believed in the past Fitzgerald was fair. Guess we were wrong about that assessment.

We expect Rod Blagojevich’s federal case to never come to trial; just like Elliot Spitzer’s federal case. We find it interesting how certain governors are removed from office amid lots of scandalous publicity, federal charges of wrong doing and nearly 24/7 news coverage mostly to keep the public from questioning the real crimes being done in business and government while determining, once the subject has been removed from the power position, there is no point in going forward with the trial on federal charges.

We expect to hear more from private citizen Blagojevich. We hope he and his family will do well.

As Americans we are compelled to have long holiday weekends. The King holiday is no exception and with the upcoming presidential inauguration of the first non-white, African American the next few days will be filled with national celebration.All Americans should know had it not been for the willingness of Martin Luther King, Jr. to serve his fellow man by speaking out about the injustice being done to  a race and a class of people we would not have the strong feeling and evidence of unity in our country today.

It is because of the sacrifices of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other courageous individuals who participated in the Civil Rights Movement that we stand at the threshold of a new era in American history and politics.

We are happy and glad to see the entire year 2008 as part of the past. We look forward to improving on every level during this brand new year.

We hope for the very best we can offer our fellow inhabitants of this world to make all our lives more tolerable here on earth.

Happy New Year 2009 to everyone!

Homeland Security has developed MALINTENT, an Orwellian system, coming to an airport near you, to recognize, define and measure seven of the primary emotions and emotional cues most often reflected in contractions of facial muscles. The system identifies these emotions, relays the information to a security screener in real time thus protecting you from would-be airline criminals.

The last we heard the system was put to a field test in Maryland where it scanned 144 air passengers. We do not know at which airport in Maryland the testing took place; there are several including the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

We do not know if this forerunner of the system described in the sci-fi story and film starring Tom Cruise “Minority Report”- a tale about crimes people intended to commit in the future, hence the term “future crimes”, is being tested at any other airport locations.

The entire package- scanners, screeners who make up the mobile lab is call FAST for “Future Attribute Screening Technology” because its purpose is to get the get passengers through security in two to four minutes, sometimes faster. Currently all the equipment is enclosed in a mobile lab about the size of a large truck bed or trailer.

Here’s how it works. When travelers pass through the scanner if the sensors identify a problem warning data is transmitted to human analysts who decide whether or not to flag passengers for questioning. If they are detained the person gets a micro-facial scanning which measures minute muscle movement in the face for clues about mood and intention.

According to those who know a traveler who is rushing or stressed may send out signals indicating anxiety but this innovative system called FAST is good enough to tell the difference between a harried hassled traveler and a malevolent terrorist; even if you naturally perspire heavily when stressed to the max, the experts say FAST will know you are not a danger to your fellow travelers.
*wink! wink!

Project leader for MALINTENT, Bob Burns, we wonder if that’s his real name (??), says this isn’t Big Brother because the goal is to “restore a sense of freedom.” He also says once the system is operational at all American airports we could have a future where we can bring along super-sized shampoos, lotions, even water without a strong sense of future misfortune.

Or maybe not! The government, in the name of keeping us secure, is not content to render us naked when conducting the airport body scan, it must now have access to our minds in order to monitor our thoughts for our protection. Why must we endure being further demeaned in the name of the illusion of security?

We do not want a future filled with the promise of the “sense of freedom” all the while we are not really free. We want to be free.

We’ve already had eight years of the “illusion of security” courtesy BushCo.  After two terms of GWB and his minions abridging our rights, usurping our freedoms, decimating the U.S. Constitution the only thing we and our children have to look forward to is a future that provides an impression of freedom rather the real thing?  We understand once the peoples’ rights and powers are conceded it is extremely difficult to get them back.

How ironical! Here we are in the dawn of the 21st Century, the Philadelphia Phillies are the Major League Baseball Champions, our new president will be the first African-American to hold the office, and our government is using a system born in the science fiction plane of crime fighting with the HomeLand Securty Agency at the helm of a system named MALINTENT to give us a “sense of security”. What a country!

Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears have been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, Our God, where we met Thee;
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our GOD,
True to our native land

Legislators in the great state of Flawda have managed to use their influence to have someone’s homophobic idea placed on the ballot for consideration by the electorate.  It’s a piece of legislation that is so anti-gay it goes into the areas that will affect even straight people.

The proposed amendment, like its federal cousin endeavors to provide and is described as the protection of “marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

Marriage does not require protection, especially in the state of Florida where gay marriage is not recognized. There are at least four different statues banning same sex unions.

The suggested law will damage unmarried heterosexual partners as well as homosexual partners; it could be used to prohibit employers from extending benefits, such as health insurance, to any domestic partners—young, straight, old or gay.

According to legal analysts it may affect arrangements allowing seniors to share living accommodations while preserving inheritance rights for their children and grandchildren; it may also complicate existing child-custody arrangements for thousands of unmarried parents in Florida.

The deceptive wording of this proposal disguises the far reaching negative impact beyond the intended target groups which is gays and far right conservatives.  The legal opinion provided by Cynthia Hawkins-Leon is a very bad opinion from a lawyer who likely stands to benefit from the countless court battles that could mushroom if this amendment becomes law. VOTE No on the Marriage Amendment.

Floridians for your review the Gandolph Marriage Amendment proposal presented by Henry Gandolph:

Marriage is an endangered species. We need to get our machine guns and shoot down anyone who threatens marriage. This includes randy gay men, randy lesbians, randy philanderers and any one else caught looking at someone else who they are not married to and who may or may not be of the opposite sex. Wait I think minute I’m in Iraq.

The search continues for little seven year-old Julian King with Chicago police handing out fliers in the area as they look for the child who was reported missing late Friday following the discovery by another family member and police the bodies of his murdered maternal grandmother and uncle in the family home on the South Side of Chicago.

The mother of singing sensation Jennifer Hudson, Darnell Donerson, and her son, Jason Hudson, Jennifer Hudson’s brother, both had been mortally wounded by gun blasts, and found dead by police authorities on Friday. Late Friday evening the seven year-old African American male child was reported missing and police issued an Amber Alert to enlist the help of the local and national community to find the boy.

The FBI is working with the Chicago police to search for the boy described as being 4-feet-11 and 130 pounds. He was wearing a striped brown polo shirt and khaki pants when last seen.

The family announced today, Sunday, October 26, 2008 they are offering a reward of $100 thousand for the child’s return to his family.

As you may recall Allen and Brown have waged a battle against the Crown, as the prosecution is known in Canada, for more than one year.

Law enforcement, police brutality is out of control and it seems it’s not just an American aberration….it’s happening worldwide.

The purpose of the march is to remind the AG he is expected to be accountable to the people. He is expected to protect and defend against hate crimes. The march will also send the message the national black community will no longer stand for the obvious message of disrespect that is sent when nooses are hung for the purpose of intimidation.

Cases such as Genarlow Wilson’s and Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 are indicative of justice system that is determined to be excessively punitive, unreasonably and unequal.

Pay attention Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The people demand you be responsible for enforcing the laws and ensuring their is balance in our justice system.

As a result of the quest for vengeance the courts with our citizen blessing seek to punish excessively anyone who breaks the law.

Daily we read of law enforcement officers, security guards gone wild, enforcing those who are caught committing the most trivial of infractions. Often those who are arrested and jailed are the people who have little or no access to proper legal representation at trial.

That is why it is our responsibility as citizens to become educated about the laws in our areas. That is why we must educate our children as to the consequences of their actions, youthful indiscretions included, so that we can save our youth.

Remember the children are our most precious resource. Without the children we have no future. We must do all we can to save our young people. We think it is in the best interest of our future as a nation to provide financial support for the work of organizations like the Baisden Foundation-Unequal Justice Fund to provide competent attorneys to represent those who are the recipients of American injustice. Enough is indeed enough!

Vesla Mae Weaver, a political scientist, has put forth her a logical deduction. In her recently completed dissertation Weaver examines policy history, public opinion and media. Weaver suggests understanding the role these entities have played and continue to play in the alteration of the American justice system will also make clear how race has been an important part of U.S. social policy. She postulates there is a strong connection between the movement for civil rights and the development of punitive criminal justice

This is the reason why we have changed over to being less forgiving toward those who violate any of “the rules”. Our current policy for imprisonment keeps alive the the longstanding racist American tradition of sublimating social meanings that have always been associated with being black. Race is one component in explaining why the U.S. numbers for persons confined to penal institutions is so exceptional among democratic industrial nations.

The turn toward being a more punitive society represents a political response to the success of the civil rights movement. Weaver calls the process “frontlash”. Those who are in opposition of the revolutionary changes brought about because of the civil rights movement have sought to regain and in many cases have succeeded in regaining the dominance by bringing to the public more frequently a new issue.

It makes sense that instead of poring energy and resources into fighting a battle that clearly had already been lost segregationists such as the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott, even President Reagan and G.H.W. Bush, chose to move attention to a asocial issue that concerns everyone irrespective of race. It’s an allegedly race neutral matter. The best example of the effectiveness of this new strategy is the presidential campaign of the late George Wallace, former governor of Alabama, staunch segregationist whose war on crime campaign gained support in the Midwest sectors of the U.S.. In fact crime has become a staple platform for presidential candidates ever since.

Though Weaver’s argument is speculative there is astrong correlation between the general public attitude on the subject of race and welfare. Both have in the past 30 years become linked. In the American mind race is associated with welfare as is race associated with crime.

Despite the fact drug use has declined along with other crime statistics antidrug campaigns with the attendant restrictive laws and arrests have increased with blacks more than 5 times as likely to be arrested and jailed.

Young whites use drugs more frequently than young blacks. But our society has elected to criminalize underclass teens to save middle-class teens from the so-called threat of a drug epidemic. The price of street drugs has declined as the number of arrests have increased.

Continued next post

However, as we write this article, in this moment, we know there are many thousands of families having the same or similar reality as they battle the justice system to secure the release of their youthful loved one who have been wrongfully imprisoned. Whether you are black, white, young, old, male, female, rich or poor everyone is affected by our society’s determination to be vindictive for even minor breaches of the law, any law or rule. Some portions of the population are impinged upon more than others.

During the past weekend a fund raiser event was held in Atlanta sponsored by the Baisden Foundation in conjunction with the National Bar Association. As you may know the Baisden Foundation is the result of the efforts made by radio personality and tv talk show host Michael Baisden who helped to organize the successful March on Jena Louisiana in support of the Jena 6.

It has been reported the crime rate peaked more than 10 years ago in the United States. It’s been declining since, but as the crime statistics reflected a decrease the statistics for incarceration has steadily increased in significant direct proportion to our fears about a very real social problem . Our prison system here has become an unweldy behemoth with no sign of diminishing in size or activity.

A report from 2005 by the International Centre for Prison Studies in London tell us the United States houses 25 percent of the whole world’s inmates. The rate for incarceration is 714 per 100,000 residents. That’s about 40 percent greater than the rate for nations such as Belarus, Bermuda and Russia.

The American incarceration rate is 6.2 time more than Canada, 7.8 times more than France and 12.3 times more than Japan. In fact, and this may be old news to some, the correction sector employs more Americans than the combined workforce of three of the largest corporate employers in the nation. More than GM, Ford and Wal-Mart!

We’re spending more every year on law enforcement and corrections throughout all positions of government–municipal, county, state, and federal. We’re currently spending 4 times what was spent 25 years ago.. 200 BILLION DOLLARS annually.

But you say “We’re a free country”. Since the ascension of George Walker Bush to the position of leader of the free world, no one has ever seen an allegedly free nation with so many of its citizens being denied their basic rights. It has been reported that in June of 2006, 5 years into Bush’s presidency, our 5000 jails held 2.25 million people. One third of the prison population in state prisons have been convicted violent crimes such as homicide, rape, robbery and such. The other two-thirds have mainly been convicted of non-violent crimes such as property and drug offenses. The majority of these inmates come from the most disadvantaged segments of our society. Generally they are uneducated having less than 11 years of formal schooling. They are usually black or other minorities.

To say the population numbers are out of proportion is to make a gross understatement. Blacks are 13 percent of the national population. The ratio of black to white in the prisons is 8 to 1. Race is indeed a major component and one of several contributing factors for our society’s punitive turn about.

Continued next post….

Was the late James Brown, the Sex Machine, and the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, a bigamist?
Read here to find out.

Just ask Star Jones of Court TV. Jones has had to take the time to clarify what seems to us a very simple matter of non-performance of a contractual agreement on the part of some pretty sleazy individuals.

According to Jones’ statement at her web site she was hired by a Detroit, Michigan charitable organization for overweight inner city females youths for a speaking engagement. These low income individuals under the tutelage of one Sharon DuMas-Pugh hired Jones to make an appearance at a luncheon, a news conference, and to provide a speech on empowerment at the bargain price of $25, 000 during SuperBowl Weekend in Detroit in February 2006.

After several months of waiting for fulfillment of the “purchaser’s” portion of the contract, and we must add Jones was quite gracious through her booking agency at the time the William Morris Agency, to extend to the group more time to collect the money they’d agreed to pay for her services. The group did not provide the five star hotel accommodation for Jones and her husband Al Reynolds and Jones-Reynolds personal assistant. No ground transportation was supplied, nor had the remaining fees to complete the contract been received when the former practicing attorney now celebrity boarded the flight to the speaking engagement.

We think there are some points to be made here and lessons to be learned.

Firstly, it seems to us from the materials made available by Jones on her web site no one ever clearly knew what type of organization was sponsoring this “Urban Solution/Full & Fabulous Inc’s Health and Beauty Expo”. We see no indication its
status as a charitable organization was ever disclosed to Jones-Reynolds or her representatives. We have no proof but we are almost certain the fee for the speaking engagement would have been reduced if this information has been disclosed from the start.

Secondly, everyone should know all the hustlers, shady dealers, shake-down artists, flimflam-types, con men and con women come out when they hear the National Football League is coming to a town near you. It’s an opportunity for 7 to 10 days of unbridled chicanery on the part of profiteering, predatory types in official capacity with the NFL, the host city and those who are itinerant swindlers.

Finally, and we believe the most important point, one becomes a target when one is a popular personality or celebrity.

It is unfortunate the youths were disappointed because of the greedy avaricious behavior of an allegedly responsible adult who has made an unsuccessful attempt to build her reputation while destroying Jones-Reynolds good name. We’re wonderin’ if this DuMas-Pugh person had been informed of the fact Jones-Reynolds is an experienced attorney, as well as being a former reporter and now a celebrated television personality.

To Ms Jones-Reynolds, we believe you were more than indulgent with this group, even without knowing their charitable organiztion status. We’re sure you’ve put in place a means by which you and your staff of representatives can determine, simply by asking and investigating, in the future any other requests for your services in this capacity with consideration being given to what other events are taking place during the date being requested.

We actually like and admire Ms Star “I’m-a-lawyer” Jones-Reynolds. We think she has handles very well the fact she is constantly being scrutinized by the public. It’s not easy dealing with the media remiss in it’s duties to report the facts objectively. By the way congratulations on the new program on Court TV.

Your name is Star, you’ve always been a star and now once again you know you’ve really achieved celebrity, you should pardon the expression, genuine Star status!

United States Marines– “the few, the proud” Best wishes to all USMC members for a happy birthday. Siempre Fi!

I’m Clark Dark here to continue with the facts our sources have discovered and revealed to us about Bank of America

Bank of America’s Extreme Insecure Banking Practices

Many of Bank of America’s extreme worst insecure banking practices are so obvious and traditional they go without notice. Consider

1) In this day and age of encryption Bank of America continues to print account numbers, routing numbers and names and address on checks, making this security information available to whomever wants to run to the local stationary store to buy or print checks to take money from your account. The info on your check should be digitalized and encrypted, that way no one, not even the merchant can copy it. Perhaps the only security should be your picture.

2) Likewise Bank of America has your credit card numbers, security numbers and date of expiry number clearly visible on all credit and ATM/debit cards. This is extremely dangerous and unnecessary in an age of encryption.

Everyone worries about Internet safety. Bank of America’s current practice allows anyone on or off the Internet with a merchant account, your name and address and your credit card imprint or credit card info or checking account information to make charges and take money out of your our account at any time.

3) Bank of America does not even use the security of library cards. Local library cards have bar coded information on them. No names, no identifying information comprehended by the human eye, just some lines that are read by a special device designed to read bar codes. Why can’t Bank of America, America’s leading banking institution at the very least do the same for our account information?
In 2006 the crime of identity theft was nearly 50 percent of the complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission.

One reason identity theft is increasing is that in the dubious efforts made to prevent identity theft banks, utility companies, and retailers are requiring customers to give more and more personal information. Every time a customer is required to give up their personal information they are trained to provide their information when requested. This in itself is a security leak.

Every time the customer gives up their information whether driver’s license, social security, check or credit card, they have given up the info to one more company or one more person and created one more opportunity for that information to be distributed. If the goal is security then this information should be given out very rarely. There would be less identity theft if you did not have to verify your identity, if your credit card and identity information was encrypted.

We think maybe Bank of America is complicit in its officials’ complacence about preventing this crime. We believe BOA executives are negligent by not using this very easy, very simple, DUH–why-didn’t-I-think-of-this-before solution to one aspect of the fastest growing crime in the nation. These are facts to make the consumer say, “Hmmmmmm….why aren’t they protecting my money?”

Breaking News:

Rumor has it, and if true, then we commend Ken Lewis for implementing what our sources tell us is a new program whereby Bank of America will refund excessive fees charged to past and current customers.

But we ask, “Yo! Ken, dude! When you gonna close the electronic front door of this bank? What? You say everything’s flowin’ into your side just fine. It’s all secure on the BOA side. Well Kenny, dude!…the money’s leakin’ out on the consumer side and if ya don’t find some way to fix this problem… it will soon be hemorrhaging out from the BOA side!”

Bank of America “The Bank That Cares” or “The Bank That Cares Less” ?
You decide.

I’m Clark Dark investigative reporter for YouThinkWhat.

To those of you who agree with the headline of this article we have a few suggestions:

Let your young underage children go to work. That’s right your 7, 8, 9 year-old sons and daughters should be working in some sweatshop or in a field picking some kind of fruits or vegetables from sun up to dusk 7 days a week, with no time off for school.

If you agree with the statement, “All that marchin’ around is a waste of time” we’d like you to please go to work for slave wages, which is no wage at all and even fewer benefits.

Are you among those who say, “I don’t have time to support folks demonstrating and protesting or boycotting anything,” we would ask you to please tell the human resources person at your place of employment you’d like to give up your job and the benefits that come with it. Tell your boss you’ll be content to work for no money. We’d also suggest you return your college degree and certainly move to the back of the bus and make sure you take a seat there everyday. Please move out of your comfortable middle class or upper middle class neighborhood and move back to Appalachia, the Ozarks or the ghetto…Black or Jewish.

For every person who says they do not agree with exercising our freedom to congregate to demonstrate, express our dissatisfaction with the status quo we say you would not have any of the benefits you take for granted today if someone in the past had not had the gumption to organize a rally to protest against injustice, or the courage to demonstrate for what is right.

If you can not participate just support in spirit the efforts of others who do the marching and demonstrating so you and your progeny may enjoy the benefits derived from their heroic actions.

On October 17th 2007 it was Shut It Down. On November 2nd 2007 it was Consumer Black Out. We now suggest we pick up the baton from writer Garret Keizer of Harper’s Magazine, who suggests November 6th as a date for a strike, by organizing a General Strike on Black Friday, November 23rd 2007, the day after Thanksgiving.

This is an uber powerful idea from our leader Henry T. Gandolph, Site Administrator.

Henry is a very wise man. He has come up with a solution to the quandary of when a general strike would have the most impact, and we really like the idea.

Henry says, “For the most impact, Friday, November 23rd would be the best day for a general strike! If everyone boycotts the stores it will send the whole country into a panic. If sales people refuse to work, how will they even open the stores? The whole Christmas sales season is prognosticated upon the the day after Thanksgiving sales. If We The People just withhold our holiday shopping on that day, We The People would surely get the media attention and the attention of the whole country including our political dictators. ” (They may not be 100% dictators in the classical sense but they truly love to dictate what we will do.)

The staff members have added to the Friday November 23 idea of a general strike by suggesting everyone also stay home from work on the following Monday November 26th. No work, no school, no shopping. No television viewing, no gas purchases, no radio listening. Take the entire weekend to spend real quality time with our families and think about where this country is going. What do you think?

Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 22, 2007 is the start of the long holiday weekend. The day after is usually the biggest shopping day of the year. Retailers nationwide are looking to the Christmas gift-giving season to make up for deficiencies in sales from the previous months. Black Friday, as the day after Turkey Day is known is the day retail businesses use to gauge how much they stand to profit over the next few weeks leading up to December 25th.

How powerful it would be if everyone, all of us, black, white, Latino, Asian, male, female, young, old, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, middle management, laborer, immigrant–legal and illegal, participated in a moratorium on consumerism for 2 days during one long holiday weekend to make the point We The People are extremely dissatisfied with our leadership in government on every level!

The people of Poland did it more than twenty years ago led by a man named Lech Walesa, an electrician by trade. Nine years later he became the leader of the nation.

To change this nation we can begin with just two days of not shopping. How hard can that be? Don’t work, don’t shop for two days, its kind of like a hunger strike against rampant irrational spending, consumerism, and war mongering. The war and the mismanaged economy need us to keep on spending to keep funding their activities. This is our chance to say “No”.

GENERAL STRIKE (Black) Friday, November 23rd 2007

You nearly succeeded in ruining a young life were it not for the compassion of the other jurists on the panel. Wilson spent more than 2 years in prison for ridiculousness. How could you possibly want him to spend even more time in jail, a promising young man who was on the brink of reaching his potential because he got a blow job?? Where’s your Christian compassion?

Granted it was his decision to participate in this act But you Judge have/had the power and the authority to extricate him from this disastrous situation. Is this how you render assistance to young people? This how you provide guidance by inflicting excessive punishment for youthful indiscretions?

It seems to us your official biography posted at the Georgia Supreme Court site is contradictory to your actions. Are you truly working in the interest of the proper development of youth? Do you truly value young people as our most precious resource as your resume would indicate from your vast experience in working with youth?

We find your behavior is an embarrassment to Christians everywhere. It’s probably one of the reasons why so many do not wish to emulate the example you present of a Christian. Melton you have proven yourself to be weak. You’re not strong in your faith or conviction to uphold what is good and right.

Heed well Judge Melton the words in the New Testament Ephesians 6:10-20. They are words divinely inspired and written by a prisoner the apostle Paul . These are dire times and we need you, and those who hold positions of authority and power to be strong, to be courageous. We need you to stand firm.

You’ve received the benefits of an education. You are part of the problem not part of the solution. You are willing to be another cog in the system that has become vindictive and self serving You are part of the spiritual wickedness, the dehumanization of institutions have been designed to help and preserve our citizens.

You are part of the Atlanta community. You are in a role of leadership. You’ve a responsibility to your family, community and to those who are subject to the life affecting decision which you adjudicate daily to do the right thing.

We hope you will recall your Sunday School lessons and act accordingly.

Ballentine believes a demonstration of this type is well overdue in light of the continuing disrespect, disenfranchisement and injustice perpetrated on American citizens of all races especially American blacks. It is estimated more than 700 billion dollars is spent annually by blacks on everything from low rider jeans to fashion jewelry, to cars and automotive accessories to the latest music to cosmetics including hair care products. The black dollar is a major component of the American economy.

Ballentine wants to send the message the black community is generally dissatisfied with recent events indicative of the injustices being perpetuated in the 21st Century against blacks in the United States. Recent incidents of noose hanings from Louisiana to Maryland; excessive sentencing of black youth both male and female from California to Maine of particular note the Genarlow Wilson matter a man who was released after spending more than 2 years in prison for consentual oral sex with a 15 year-old minor female when he was 17 along with the cases of the Jena 6, and many other who have been denied their rights according to the Constitution of the United States.

If you do not support the president’s plan for the ongoing war in Iraq, the possible incursion into Iran and other imperialistic foreign policy decisions made by the Bush administration, if you are unhappy about loss of jobs, high rates for health care and poorly administered school systems, then we believe this day off
from being a consumer is for you!

Ballentine hopes all Americans will demonstrate, by participating in this day of non-consumerism, to the leadership both Republican and Democrat that We the People want action in legislation and we want accountability from our leaders.

November 2, 2007 Consumer Black Out In America. We think it’s a good idea.

We have a few thought provoking questions in relation to this calamitous travesty of justice.

Firstly we’d like to know why the young female, age 15, was not charged along with Wilson for this infraction? We believe whenever possible young people should be informed about sexual activity taking the necessary precaution since there are so many things can happen to inexperienced young folk who “mess around” sexually. heck things can happen to experienced adults who are sexually active. We think given the circumstances our young people are daily engaging in a form of sexual activity that many of their parents, if they admit performing the act at all, once reserved for long term intimate relationships. Many of today’s teens are often participating in this behavior as regularly as dogs sniffing each other’s rear ends as a canine greeting.

The answer to our question can probably be found somewhere among the customs of protecting females, promoting males to more mature than they are and antiquated laws.

Our second question deals with Justice Harold Melton , a jurist appointed to the court by Governor Sonny Purdue in 2005. Melton states in his official Georgia Supreme Court biography following claims:

“…previously served as a Volunteer Leader of Young Life Ministries for 11 years, is currently a Board Member of Atlanta Youth Academies and the Director of Teen Ministry at Southwest Christian Fellowship Church.

A native of Washington, D.C., Justice Melton grew up in East Point and Marietta. He currently resides in Atlanta with his wife, Kimberly, and their three children.“

We are hard pressed to understand with his background and life experience and those stated claims of acquaintance with young people, in particular we’ve noted he has children of his own. It’s even difficult to believe he’s spent 11 years working with young people in church. We would like to know simply:

HOW COULD YOU Judge Melton POSSIBLY JOIN IN THE DISSENTING OPINION IN THIS LEGAL MATTER?

We understand you’re the new kid on the court. The man with the least tenure on the high court. We can not understand the purpose of your intent nor can we find any logical reason why you would be opposed to Genarlow Wilson’s release in part, as the dissenting opinion written by Justice George Carley states or in whole. In fact we’ll go so far as to say with credentials like yours the only way ti would be possible for you to join in an opposing view on this issue would be if Justices Hines and Carley went real old school on you by holding a big pump-action rifle to your head threatening to shoot you if you joined with the majority opinion. Even then we don;’t believe you should acquiesce to their demands. Here’s a thought: maybe you aligned yourself with them to help them save face. If you are the lone Negro among the dissenting members of the panel they look less cold hearted, less callous. You come out smelling like yesterday’s garbage because you were being compassionate in support of what is truly evil and wrong.

Hey ya Honah! We think it’s a good thing you’re appointed rather than elected. We think you’d probably have to steal the election in order to keep your job.

Wilson is the Atlanta man who has spent more than two years in prison for having oral sex relations with a consenting minor 15 year-old female at a party in 2005. At the time the incident took place he, himself, was 17, an honor student, football star and homecoming king at his school.

The majority opinion of the judicial panel decided upon Wilson’s release because his sentencing was excessive. In their opinion for the State of Georgia it was described as cruel and unusual punishment. At the time of his conviction Georgia law mandated the crime be punishable by 10 years in prison and registration as a sex offender. The law has since been changed by the legislature to something more reasonable. Those who come under Georgia law who are now found guilty of behaving in this manner face a punishment of no more than a year in prison and no sex offender registration.

The Georgia high court is led by the Honorable Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears who herself is a history fact in that she is the first female, the first black and the
youngest person to ever serve on the Georgia Supreme Court.

Wilson, whose case has received world wide attention and the involvement of national civil rights leaders and their respective organizations, experienced, not only the interruption of his promising academic and athletic career but a long legal battle administered by his attorney B.J. Bernstein.

Wilson plans to enroll in college to study sociology. At a news conference following his release yesterday he declared to his supporters :

“You will not be disappointed. I plan on succeeding in life.”

Sources report the leaked information about proposed changes at BOA reveal the new policy is the result of the nefarious deeds of a low level vice president in the Central Florida area. Seems this employee is persistent in doing anything to insure receiving the $1,860 bonus promised by Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Bank of America to employees who hold the line on such exploitive fees.

We find the information from our contacts to be quite interesting. In light of the fact the bank makes so much more from its former predatory policies that the $1,860 bonus it’s willing to provide bank employees is really inadequate compensation. It seems to us the bonus cash pales by comparison to what Bank of America makes from excessive fees for NSF, credit card and mortgage fees.

According to our contacts in the banking business, Jolene Faucette of the BOA Banking Center at the Trails in Ormond Beach, Florida the low level vice president/manager, has so outraged and angered customers with her unparalleled ineptitude that James Tyler, the regional head guy for the south east consumer marketing group, was called in by Ken Lewis to confer with him in hopes of finding a solution to the “Faucette problem”. We hear what has resulted is a policy known among Faucette’s co-workers as the “Faucette Policy”.

The new policy, we are told, is expected to be implemented in time for the Christmas shopping season. It allows current and past customers who’ve had issues with BOA concerning excessive fees for NSF, mortgage delinquencies or credit card charges to go into their local bank branch and speak to the manager in order to receive a full refund of those erroneous charges. This includes, we’ve heard, mistakes made by the bank. We’ve been told the corporate heads want to make amends for all those dreaded “bank errors”.

Our contacts in the world of consumer finance say this is Lewis’ idea to win back former customers who have fallen prey to extremely fanatic bankers like this Faucette person. We’ve also been told it is an attempt to retain current customers who may be considering taking their business, moving their accounts, to other institutions. We hear customers are leaving like the passengers escaping the damaged Titanic.

We’ve also heard Faucette’s head may not be the only head that rolls as this new caring plan is put into effect.

We’ll keep you current with more information as this story continues to develop about the new caring image of Bank of America .

Now ain’t that somethin’!? This is just what one would expect of a bigoted Louisiana country bully. Walters was the big man on the Jena High School campus, BMOC, when last year he, a grown-A man, threatened approximately 60 to 90 black teens in an assembly at the school. (See Jena Louisiana A Look At The Numbers) .

We guess the reason Walters declined is he couldn’t get his best “Sunday-Go-To-Meetin’ suit dry cleaned and pressed in time to make an appearance in Washington, D.C.? Couldn’t get a flight out of Louisiana? A Greyhound? Maybe the wife, and the children wouldn’t be able to accompany him on this trip to the big city? Perhaps he was unable to slog through the bureacratic red tape in time to get approval for the trip?

Come on now Reed! When you were a student pouring over those law books while in law school you probably never dreamed of having this kind of fame, or notoriety-depending on your point of view. This was a fantastic opportunity and you turned it down!

It’s not everyday a mediocre guy like you becomes world famous almost overnight– give or take a few months, AND receives an invitation to go to the nation’s capital, appear at a congressional committee hearing and possibly make numerous television appearances, along with the obligatory C-span face time you’d receive. We’ve all seen how well you conduct yourself at a news conference. We’re very impressed that someone like you can get even 15 seconds of fame. It’s an embarrassment to know that someone like you is having more than 15 minutes exposure on the world stage. You represent the worst of our American legal minds and the judicial system. You’re counted among the best at abusing your power and authority

We don’t know who your public relations advisors are, but we suggest you fire them pronto! You’re gonna need some real professionals to help you get through this mess you and your cohorts started, Mr. Big Stuff Prosecuting Enabler!

Sources tell us customers need only visit their local banking center and speak to the manager to have their concerns addressed and receive an immediate refund.

Visit your local BOA Banking Center during regular business hours to discuss reparations with the manager.

We’ll be checking with our sources for more information about this revolutionary change in policy.

Bank of America, returning to its roots, as “The Bank that Cares.”

Garret Keizer, contributing editor for HARPER’s Magazine suggested we citizens organize to send a strong message, loud and clear to our government that what they’ve feared all along has become a reality. Why else would there be a Patriot Act?? but to protect the government from its own citizens. These laws were not imposed on the citizens of another country.

We The People are mad as hornets in a nest that’s been stirred up. We’re not gonna to take it anymore. Enough is enough! Finally! Americans are fed up with the lies.

We’re tired of President Dumbya’s reckless spending. Say isn’t this the guy who represents the party of “fiscal responsibility?” We’re sick and tired of leaders in the opposition party who look and sound just like their Republican counterparts… Shrillary, Barack, Nancy are following the precedent established by President Bill Clinton.

After so many years of Republican oppression the nation’s electorate was happy to put a Democrat in the White House. Bill was, as they say in marketing parlence, and you should pardon the expression, a lay down. It was easy for him to win

We are now faced with the same condition only more desparate because this current Bush is far worse than the last or the first depending on how you view the situation. Regardless, as they say on the street “Where there’s a Bush you’re gonna find some shade.” Or as I say fire.

Today, the presidency is being passed around as the most eloquent artist Mos Def has said, “…like a party joint”. We stand to get more of the same repackaged differently and even worse, what the grocery industry likes to call new and improved. That’s what we got with Bill Clinton, new and improved Democrat and it looks like we could gettin’ set up for part 2 of the Clinton administration, Worse. What is this “Dynasties”?

We say, before we go too far in this pre-election season /pre-primary campaigning activity, We The People need to make known to all the politicians, what our position is. After all WE Elect THE GOVERNMENT. WE need to act accordingly!

So whether you choose October 17th or November 6th or if you elect to protest in your own way on the same date every month… we encourage you to
DO SOMETHING!

Know that there is strength in numbers. Those Polish workers were able to unite. They changed a political system. We can do it too.

Sick of it all are you? Iraq, Afghanistan where our young men and womane are dying to fill the pockets of those who already have too much? New Orleans where established families have been displaced and insurance companies cry, “I’m sorry you were not covered for those damages.” Incredulous about Jena Louisiana and the fact the town seems caught in a time warp remeniscent of 1937 Dixie?

Do you feel helpless to affect change in policies? There is something You can do. Express your disapproval of the system. Get the attention of the powers that be. All of us. Black white, Latino, Asian, Native Americans, immigrants legal and illegal. Workers, middle management, blue collar, white collar, laborers, low level executives. ALL OF US! You do not need to go anywhere to participate you can do this from you hometown, or your place of work.

SHUT IT DOWN OCTOBER 17, 2007!

We are plagued with unjust sentencing of juveniles and adults regardless of ethnicity. Our elderly face declining healthcare services with exorbitant prices for treatment and necessary drugs. Corporations no longer are beholding to the people who make it possible for executives to make 500 or 600 times what the average working stiff earns annually. Our children are in need of health insurance coverage as well as a decent education in order to perform basic reading and math to get them through a lifetime. If you are dissatisfied with restrictive laws, police brutality and security guards gone rabid, with so called security to provide the illusion of homeland security….you need to SHUT IT DOWN OCTOBER 17, 2007!

As fate would have it, Keizer’s idea has taken hold in the blogesphere. Here is the message. STAY HOME. Don’t shop. Don’t attend school. Don’t watch television. Do not drive. Do not go to work. Plan to participate in a general strike just like the Polish people did in 1980. They changed their society. They stand as ashining stalwart example of what the people can do when they decide to do it…to get it done!

No human being has anymore power than any other human being, except such as may willingly be delegated to him. The real interest of democracy is to exalt, emancipate and recognize the divinity of the human spirit. The institutionalized doctrine of Divine election is fatalistic. It is the social crime of every form of privilege and personal inequality.

If you believe in justice for all then you need to

SHUT IT DOWN OCTOBER 17, 2007!

The always civic minded staff of YouThinkWhat is providing as a public service a breakdown of the real numbers involved in this case of excessive sentencing and abuse of judicial power.

Because many of us live in metropolitan areas so when we hear the figures 10 or 12 percent we think in terms of extremely large numbers. We relate those percentages to populations of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people living in a town or city.

As you may recall, the population of this town, steeped in racial controversy and known around the world as a throwback to America’s darkest hours in civil rights history, is only 3,000.

The latest U.S. census records the percentage ethnic break down as 12 percent black and the balance 88 percent white.

For our purposes we will use 10 percent to show how ridiculous are the authorities in the parish, led by the school board authorities, the overzealous district attorney and his partner in the miscarriage of justice from the bench the judge.

It has been reported there are nearly 600 students who attend the Jena High School. 10 percent of whom are black. That would be 60 black students at the school. Let us suppose of those 60 students one half are female. That would leave the remaining 30 students to be black males, 6 of whom have been banned from attending classes.

To recap when the students of Jena High attend assembly they segregate themselves-whites on one side of the hall and blacks on the other. Picture this.
540 whites on one side… 54 blacks on the opposite side.

Imagine what a classroom makeup might be. 30 students in the class. 10 percent are black. 27 whites congregated on one side of the room with 3 blacks on the other.

Now let’s consider the town itself. 3000 men women and children. 10 percent of whom are black. That would be 300 blacks. If some news reports are to be believed 6 adolescent black males have the entire town terrorized. Some reports indicate the Jena 6 have been actin’ up for several years. Since the oldest of the crew would be about 18 or 19 that would mean this small country town population 3000, overwhelming majority white has been intimidated by 6 young black males.

Numbers don’t lie. Wow! Black people sure are scary!

Mac Donald is one of those pundit suma cum idiots who is always citing statistics. They are presented in a manner that carries a tremendous persuasive power, but if you stop to think about it afterward, you realize no one has questioned her sources or the reliability of those sources.

We find this not so clever tactic to be annoying at best. It’s rhetoric that appeals directly to the feelings of her mass audience. It doesn’t even have to be logical to move the majority. It simply has to appear to be so, as long as it arouses the appropriate feeling of the masses who pay close attention to this fake intellectual.

In a recent article Mac Donald writes “Let’s assume the worst about Jena, Louisana and the charges of attempted murder brought against five black youths…that the district attorney’s indictments were motivated by rank racism and that the racial tensions in this town of 3,000 are exclusively the product of white animus against blacks. Does it follow that this latest object of frenzy on the media’s racism beat is emblematic of America’s judicial system or the state of race relations today?”

The answer to your question Ms Mac Donald is a resounding “YES!” The ghosts of de facto segregation, even Jim Crow policies are alive and thriving in 21st Century U.S.

As you so eloquently noted Ms Mac Donald, ” …the incident that seems to have led to the group assault on the white student–three students’ hanging of nooses from a school tree where white teen congregated–was a despicable provocation. If adults in Jena condoned such incendiary behavior, then these grown-up enablers truly are throwbacks to a vicious American past, and all citizens should revile them.”

Yes noose hanging in our opinion is as heinous a crime to blacks as swastika symbols to Jews. Yes the adults, both black and white have been enablers who allowed a tree to symbolize a place where only white could gather. It’s a matter that should have been resolved long before last year when the black male students were taunted, even bullied by a lone white student.

You say “the massive international attention to this tiny town would seem vastly disproportionate to the cause unless Jena stands for a more widespread problem.

In our opinion Ms Mac Donald Jena does indeed stand for a more widespread problem.

You say “But for institutional racisim the black prison population would be much smaller.” You are correct. When one considers the fact blacks are more likely to be arrested, more likely to be arrested with more frequency and charged more severely and receive more punishing sentences than whites the conclusion can only be as you stated if not for institutional racism the black prison population would be much, much smaller.

One major reason why blacks have the highest incarceration rate in the country is self fulfilling. If you are arrested more every statistic related to that action is bound to be higher.

The statistics stated in your opinion piece are likely wrong. “The vast preponderance of prisoners are in the pen for violence and property crime. ” You offer no substantiation for this claim. You offer no credible source for your statement of what is to be believed as statistical fact. Shame on you Ms Mac Donald.

“The real tragedy is the dysfunctional culture that holds back too many blacks.” Ms Mac Donald you need to be educated in the history or perhaps re-educated in the history of black Africans of slave ancestry in this country.

You need to know that since the time of Lincoln’s bold move to emancipate all slaves-that includes the endentured whites, blacks have always at every turn met with opposition to become part of the “melting pot” that is America. It begs the question is the problem of being assimilated the result of a phobia about color or one of slave ancestry? Makes you say, “Hmmmmm!”

Young girls sustaining injuries of broken wrists and arms. Young men accosted because they photograph these acts of brutality against defenseless young females. Then the young men find themselves the objects of the ire of some incontinent security guard…male or female, black or white young or old. The age, gender or race of the security officer is of no consequence because security is fully in charge.

Parents beware. You, too could be on the receiving end of Rent-A-Cop brutality. Consider the young mother travelling with her young baby who was forced to leave behind her baby’s container, a baby bottle of water, during the height of the homeland illusion of airport security boondoggle. Not only did she have to turn her child over to some brute security guard as she cleaned up the water they say she deliberately spilled, but when she cleaned it up it was never a good enough just to pass muster with these security goons gone wild.

When the mother of a young female who had been abused by a security mugger attempted to retreive her child from the school authorities she too was arrested and charged with assaulting a school official.

Like the neighbor’s idiot dog who wants to bite youy but has never had the opportunity to get close enough to grab on to that arm, leg or whatever appendage is closest, security personnel are now behaving just like that dog who has always wanted to bite you now given the chance to do so.

Security personnel, just like real law enforcement officers, are attacking like rabid dogs anyone regardless of age, genderor race who makes a misstep. No matter how minor the infraction if Officer Rent-A-Cop catches you, you are assured you will be punished, punished severely.

We think it’s time to put a muzzle on these lunkheaded alleged security professionals.

Do not stop the public from exercising its right to freedom of movement or speech or assembly. It’s time to reign in these overzealous protectors.

According to New York Police Department psokesman Paul Browne the request was denied due to continuing construction at a fenced in area, the site of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

The U.S. State Department has also denied a visa be granted to the Iranian UN ambassador in Geneva Switzerland who would also be attending the General Assembly meeting. His visa request has been rejected because, as stated by a UN official, he was involved in the 1979 hostage incident; though exactly what role he played in that crisis is unknown.

Browne says the NYPD would oppose the visit of Ahmadinejad to the immdeiate area of WTC due to security considerations.

Ahmadinejad had applied for permission from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the U.S. Secret Service and the New York Police Department. both the Secret Service and the NYPD provide security foreign dignitaries heads of state.

Only the Port Authority which owns the property could grant permission for Ahmadinejad to enter the site. It was decided ina meeting of the Port Authority with the NYPD that no foreign heads of state would be authorized to go inside the property says Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.

Also weighing in on this matter is the United States ambassador to the UN Zalmy Khalilzad who said the U.S. will not support the Iraninas attempt to use the WTC as a photo opportunity. He stated if the Iranian government is serious in its concern about terror they can demonstrate their concernby taking “concrete actions”.

I still think J. Reed Walters and the judge in the Jena Six case should be removed not just from the proceedings, but from office as well for this gross miscarriage of justice. I think it’s time for federal intervention…and don’t send that whimp U.S. Attorney General Williams to investigate…he’s useless and ineffective.

You, J. Reed Walters may relish and revel in the inconvenience, the sorrow and the pain you are causing the families and the young teens of the Jena Six as you are dogged about “making Mychal Bell accountable for his actions”. What about the white teens who have broken the law in this matter that started with theso-callednoose hanging prank in the school yard? What kind of punishment will they be receiving?

Enjoy the notariety you are receiving from news reports around the world, but be assured of this one fact…you must be accountable. You will be accountable for your actions!

“Every dog has his day. Time wounds all heels”. You gatta serve somebody and you gotta pay for your iniquities.

The driver of the truck 18 year old Jeremiah Munsen has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor–because he was accompanied in the truck by a 16 year-old passenger. Munsen was also charged with driving while intoxicated, and inciting to riot.

Police found an unloaded rifle in the back of the truck along with a set of brass knuckles found in the cupholder on the dashboard.

According to police the passenger disclosed he and his family are members of theKlu Klux Klan, that he has a KKK tattoo on his chest. He admitted he tied the nooses–one made from an eletrical extension cord and provided the brass knuckles which belong to him.

Both driver and passenger are white.

Arresting police have recorded the incident as “Bias Motive: Racial Anti-Black”

In the October 2007 issue of HARPER’s Magazine Keizer suggests, and we think it’s a good suggestion, it’s time for a general strike. We’re all fed up with inequality in the justice system as exhibited in the Jena Six matter; we’re all fed up with politicians, like Congressional House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who, display no backbone or desire to go after the Bush-Cheney-Rove administration for their massive abuses and ongoing corruption of our govenrment. The heathcare crisis that affects our elderly citizens and our youngest most vulnerable citizens our hope for the future is a great source of concern as well as frustration. The crisis we face in employment with even professional jobs being sent overseas.

We can do something about this. We can organize and set a strategy to send a message to our government that we will not be doormats any longer!

If we can find out about the winner of American Idol whether we’ve an interest in the trival program’s results or not; if we activists from earlier times who had no Internet, cell phonesnor mass media communications of any kind could stand up for what is right why can we not do the same?

General strikes, as Keizer writes, are not new. Everybody’ s doin’ it. Mexicans demonstrated for more than 6 months because their presidential election was stolen from them; Ukrainians in 2004 held a general strike, even this year 2007 in New Guinea a general strike was held.

So if you are among those who bemoan our national situation by saying, “I’m just sick over what is happening to our country, but I just don’t know what to do.”

We say start planning now for a General Strike…Washington, D.C would be a great location…. November 6, 2007 would be a good day to strike.

Can’t read that notice of job termination? Unable to comprehend the Wal-Mart insurance benefits covering your life with no benefit to your survivors? You didn’t know the note on your door is an eviction notice? Did not know the reason those sparks are flying inside your new microwave oven is because you can’t read the instructions directing you not operate it with metal pans inside? Do you live in Alablama, Arkansa, Florida, Mississippi or Louisiana we have the Special
DUDES WITH BOOKS Program designed just for your unique needs!

We’ll read to you. If you can not read above a 5th grade level. Let DUDES WITH BOOKS help. No comprehension–no problem…DUDES WITH BOOKS
can help

Basic math functions, addition, subtraction, division and multiplication too much for your brain to comprehend? Dudes with Books to the rescue. They’ll do any calculation and help solve your problem…even simple word problems are no provocation for Dudes with Books. They’ll even tell you how much change from a dollar you’ll receive on a transaction of 96 cents; or if you are the cashier how much to give the customer when they’ve given one dollar and one penny on a 96 cents purchase.

Dudes with Books will only assist those who’ve graduated the basic 12 years of study, high school. Acceptance to a major college or university does not prohibit you from using DWB services. Not available for currently matriculating public school students in grades K through 12.

Contact Dudes with Books today! Get someone to phone for you
toll free ICANNOTREAD

IMPORTANT NOTICE: We have revised our policy of not reading to students currently enrolled in public schools because it isn’t fair. Just because the teacher can’t read to you doesn’t mean we cannot. It hardly seems fair if the teacher is unable to read the student shouldn’t have an opportunity to be protected from teachers without a clue.

DUDES WITH BOOKS coming to a school district near you. Helping you because the teachers couldn’t.

For extreme cases ask about Bad-ass Dudes With Books you’ll learn if we have to shove it down your throats and we will.

I wonder. Where do you live? Apparently you do not live in Jena Louisiana. You say the case of the so-called Jena Six ” is not, nor has it ever been about race.”

Seems to me it’s about race. Jena Louisiana small town of nearly 3000 people most of whom are white and real bigoted including you. The rest of the town’s population is black people who’ve always known and lived with the oppressive conditions the world has now come to know exist in your jurisdiction.

You initially described the noose hanging incident as being a “prank”.
J. Reed Walters you have proven without doubt even a man of your stature has received a substandard education in Louisiana. The word “prank” is sometimes defined as being a malicious action for amusement. Mostly it means a playful trick. This term you use, to dismiss a symbolic threat of a school yard lynching, to minimize its harmful affect, is an inaccurate use of the word. It is in fact a vicious act of intimidation. Perhaps you would have been better to say something like, “Yes we will contain our budding Negro problem by using the law and their race against them. We’ll not resort to the tactics of our forefathers in getting them back to being docile second class citizens.”

During your news conference on Wednesday, September 19, 2007, you conveniently attempted to distance yourself from what you have stated in the beginning– the noose hanging incident was merely a prank. If you truly believe the noose hanging action is a minor insignificant act why not dismiss the charges against all of the black students? Why not give them the same treatment you have afforded the whites?

The remark you made when addressing the student assembly with law enforcement officers at your side, “with one stroke of my pen I can make your life disappear” was indeed a threat which you intended to act on. The comment was a threat intimidating to all students, but especially to the blacks because you J. Reed Walters are utterly intolerant of blacks who speak up to defend themselves whether they be teens or adults. By your behavior you have demonstrated you really see no difference in the age groups when it comes to blacks old or young, male or female blue collar or professional. You feel no need to give respect to those whom you consider to be law abiding citizens or those whom you believe are lawless individuals.

You have committed prosecutorial misdeeds. You have abused your power your authority given to you by the people of LA Salle Parish. For all those actions J. Reed Walters you must be removed from office, at the very least removed from the juvenile proceedings in order for Mychal Bell and the rest of the Jena Six to receive a fair trial. Change of venue is probably a good idea as well. Move the trial to Alexandria Louisiana. As the mayor of that town so eloquently said , “Alexandria is not Jena.”

I see in your future J. Reed Walters a lot of “splainin’ to do, Lucy”. I see you having to go before federal congressmen, the bar association, state legislators to report how you came to make the decisions you did to attempt to ruin the lives of six young black men. You will have to stand before whomever you must be accountable to for mishandling of what amounts to a school yard fight. You’ll have to explain why you chose to bring those six teens up on excessive charges with excessive bail; bail in amounts you knew very well their families could not meet.

Shame on you J. Reed Walters you made a really big mistake. I’m glad to say your efforts have been thwarted thus far. You must have been at the school when Justin Barker got himself into a fight. There must have been a stray blow that struck you in the head if you thought you could go after our children in this way. Did you think we, all of us of every color, religion, gender, age and lifestyle wouldn’t step up to protect our children? These children in Jena are symbolic of what is being done in every city of America to all of our young people. I pray your dastardly plan will continue to atrophy as your motives and actions are exposed worldwide.

You’ve inspired people of good will everywhere in the nation, those who support equal justice for all, to take a stand against rude, insulting racist government officials who mimic our president and his administration. You should know better.

Africa Blanche Reilly Dark

Contributing writer YouThinkWhat

The Love and Charity Mission located in Racine Wisconsin under the leadership of Mrs Louise Hunter, affectionately known as “Mother Hunter”, needs your donations.

Computers, office supplies, food, clothing, your time or your money will provide needed assistance to the less fortunate families who rely upon the Love and Charity Mission. The good servants who work to assure an adequate education, healthcare, shelter and nutrition for the people, especially the children who are homeless and benefit from the services offered by the mission need you to give your support however you can.

Right now they are in crisis with a utility bill from Wisconsin Energies of more than $35,000. Won’t you help them continue the worthwhile work they perform?

If you’re in the Racine area stop by the mission. Help serve dinner. Give a hand with homework assignments. Read a story to the children. If you can not give of your time send some money.

Send donations to:

Love and Charity Homeless Mission
1031 Douglas Avenue
Racine Wisconsin 53403
Or telephone: 262-634-7059 to offer your assistance to the helpers and those who benefit from the help given.

Just because the president says the economy is in good shape does not make it true. The trickle-down theory of modern economics is not working effectively. There’s a kink in the pipeline.

George Bush will never go down in history remembered as a great president who enhanced the American economy.

Louise Hunter and her staff will always be known for helping others.

Many young people today have previously expressed this opinion when it comes to matters of civil rights for all people.

They know that injustice and unequal treatment is wrong. They have a vague idea about the marches and seminal events of the past 40 or 50 years. Landmark legal cases such as Brown versus the Board of Education, the march on Selma, Alabama or the march on Washington, D.C. when the late Rev. Martin Luther King gave his historic oration on the check America had at that time, and to this day, failed to honor; these events are just something that happened before they were born.

As their parents we have tried to describe without much success the importance of the past. We have tried to explain how they would not be able to go to the mall or movie theater to enjoy public accommodation, have public education such as it is, or even vote if it had not been for those who were activists in the not so distant past. To us today’s youth aredismissive of those occasions; saying that happened a long, very long time ago and mean very little today.

Fortunately the decisions of a few dummies in Jena Louisiana, District Attorney J. Reed Walters and the LaSalle Parish Sachool Board among them, have inspired a new generation of activists. WE are grateful for thier stupidity.

MAny young people have been shocked out of their lethargy to become the new 21st Century activists, They have today taken a stand for what is right.

We commend you young men and women of all races. We say “Thank God!” We realize our young people are the most precious resource our nation has. We are thankful you have finally awakened to make your position known.

It is a well known saying “If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything”. We are glad and happy to know many of today’s young people, the demographic 18 to 35, men and women of all ethnic backgrounds, have taken the time to show support for the Jena Six.

Despite the efforts of the Bush administration– democracy and the right to speak in favor of what is right is alive and well in these United States of America. You have seized the opportunity to demonstrate to the government we will not accept abusive treatment of our own by a justice system operated by a government for and by the people.

Is Hillary reading a bookwritten, or at least dictated by George W. Bush on “How to Make Vague Inarticulate Poliltical Statements”? Does Senator Clinton mean this is moment wherein we can be taught how to be more bigoted in the tradition of the old Jim Crow south?

We think perhaps we should take this so called “teachable moment” to learn why we should be voting for the senator from Illinois. Barack Obama, he who has been called out by the old re-tread Jesse Jackson for “remarkably” having “transcended race”. Jackson also says, “….however the impact of Katrina and Jena makes America’s unresolved moral dilemma of race unavoidable.”

Jackson further stated if he were a presidential candidate he would be “all over Jena”. He said Jena is a “defining moment, just like Selma was a defining moment.”

We’re very thankful you are not a candidate Jesse. Your time is better spent nurturing, parenting your young daughter.

Doggone Jesse give the young man a break. This is what Senator Obama said:

“Outrage over an injustice like the Jena 6 isn’t a matter of black and white. It’s a matter of right and wrong.”

We find no fault in what the man has said. Afterall his mother is a white woman, and everybody loves white women. Barack Obama is running for an office in which should he win he will be the public servant to all the people not just his black constituency.

As for Senator Clinton we’ve heard it said, “Hillary Clinton sucks.” We also heard she responded, “I don’t suck. Just ask Bill. I tried it once and I didn’t suck.” We know she wears the pants because Bill can’t seem to keep his on.

STand-up comic and actor Eddie Griffin was the headliner performer who came on stage and began his routine with a flurry of stataements that contained the dreaded N-word.

We suppose Griffin did not get the memo saying the N-word is banned, buried, retired and no longer acceptable in public when used by comic performers, rap artists or just regular folks.

At about ten minutes into his routine Graves pulled the plug, he turned off the mike, at which point Griffin left the stage but not without yelling a hearty “F***y’all!” before departing.

Graves shortly thereafter appeared onstage with cord and plug in one hand and working microphone in the otherexplaining Griffin’s act was cut short due to repeated use of the N-word.

In fact Earl Graves explained, “We at Black Enterprise will not allow our culture to
go backward. Black Enterprise stands for decency, black culture and dignity.”

Graves went on to say GRiffin, age 39, would be paid, despite his offensive performance.

Earl Graves is a prominent businessman whose annual event attracts representatives of the nation’s best known corporations.

We think Earl Graves did the right thing. We think Eddie needs to check himself, before he wrecks himself!

Fact is law enforcement and governments all over this nation have begun to go after John and Jane Citizens in the same way they would unjustly treat blacks, and other minoritiy persons.

So we say if you are of means and you are black, Asian, Native American, or hispanic you should apply today for the new honorary white person designation.

Different levels.. Dupont, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, Rockefellar, Kennedy, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates.

Some famous people of color who have this very special designation are:

Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson’s former wife Sheila Johnson is on the list, too along with Magic Johnson, some other minority billionaire athletes and entertainers and of course Oprah Winfrey…can you name others? We can’t because to attain this distinction you must have real assets totalling more than one billion USD. They are the only people of color and of note whom we know can meet the money criterior to have this title bestowed upon them for the price starting at 200million USD.

So if you want to be an honorary white person in America and you desire to be treated as an equal with all of your sontitutional rights in tact, make application today. Be sure to bring along proof of your financial standing.

Bank of America is the largest American company (by market capitalization) that is not part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. On July 19, 2006, Bank of America reported second quarter 2006 net income of $5.48 billion, surpassing that of Citigroup for the first time.”

With it’s eye on the Chinese consumer banking market and the Mexican consumer market, because in a series of serious missteps the banking company has managed to anger, annoy and rip-off so many Americans it must needs find fertile ground in foreign markets; especially now since its nearest competitor in the industry, Citigroup, has backed off from the foreign markets.

This isn’t just talk from a few disgruntled former and current customers or former and current employees. The record will show during the past 4 years Bank of America executives have found themselves looking at the wrong end of lawsuits ranging from human resource issues involving the question of over time–such as who is exempt and who isn’t. They, BOA settled the case for some 22 million USD to learn the hard way that 6,000 personal assistants, who had been classified as administrative exempt upon further investigation revealed they fell within the non-exempt employee category and as such, they were all entitled to back pay of overdue overtime wages; to issues of discriminatory hiring and employment practices, to consumer lawsuits filed in the class action format because of infractions such as releasing private information to unauthorized entities.

Several things can be said about Bank of America. Like most members of the banking industry, since being under the leadership of one Kenneth Lewis, BOA has become more aggressive in getting that money. Are you wondering why it’s never a “bank error” when you catch a mistake on your account? Or why even when it is an error on the part of a BOA employee their mistake is vehemently denied and they’re so very arrogant about the fact they made the mistake–even when you have documentation provided by the bank to prove they did it?

It’s because Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Bank of America Corporation, has offered an annual bonus of $1,860 to employees who hold the line on charges that are predatory, exploitive, and punitive. That’s right consumers Ken has offered a bounty to the bank employees, a pittance really, when one considers how much the bank makes from the profiteering that goes on. The revelation of this fact makes us wonder why certain organizations such as the NAACP endorse Bank of America as being minority consumer friendly, when in fact Bank of America has proved time and time again it is hostile and thuggish in its dealings with consumers of every race, age and gender.

That is why we say, “Bank of America is the bank of opportunity…to screw you over no matter who you are…in employment or banking transaction relations.”

If you are a breathing human who requires banking services and you currently deal with BOA you can be sure you’re gonna get the shaft…the scary part is they’re the leaders in the industry. Let us pray this is not the trend to be widely followed by other banking institutions.

We suggest you cancel your accounts with Bank of America as soon as possible

Bell is the only one charged as an adult in the case. Last Friday, September 14, 2007 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles Louisiana ruled Bell’s June conviction as an adult be vacated, reversed and set aside. He was 16 at the time of the incident. Before the appeals court decision he faced more than 20 tyears in prison for what experts agree was tantamount to a school yard fight.

Everyone who supports equal justice is invited to participate and make a statement on Thursday, September 20, 2007 in Jena, Louisiana because the abuse by the judicial system of our nation’s most precious resource, our children will not be tolerated.

Following the incident whereby nooses were hung from a tree on the school’s campus because the tree was believed to be the sole province of whites only and some black student had been seated under the tree there were a series of physical fighting incidents in the school.

The District Attorney was called into address a special assembly of all the students; with blacks seated on one side and whites on the other, J. Reed Walters, District Attorney for LaSalle Parish Louisiana took the opportunity to warn he could be their friend or their worst enemy. He reportedly lifted his fountain pen and said these words, “With one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear.“

He would have succeeded had it not been for the continued outrage of the parents of these young men. We think making teenage males, black males in particular, political prisoners by a prosecutor who does so just because he can is absolutely unacceptable.

We also commend the efforts of the radio talk show host Baisden and his associates Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Rickie Smiley, rap artists and the usual outspoken leaders in the black community for bringing this story to the majority of the nation’s attention. Glad to see you’ve all been aroused from your lethargy to organize to take action. Happy to know you’re taking a stand to say this tumor of racism must be excised.

Mostly we are thankful for the foreign press. The Chinese, the French and the British have been reporting this story for at least the last six months. Our so called “free” American press, has for the past six years and even more so in recent months, deliberately let another under reported an important news story go by the wayside. It was not to be so. Word of mouth is a very effective means of communication when all our modern technology fails.

What began with the radio talk show host Baisden as merely a statement of his personal support for the teens and their families has developed into a major demonstration of support planned for Thursday, September 20, 2007 in Jena Louisiana. This event is expected to be attended by members the black community, as well as supporters from all races, creeds, economic status, every industry, and lifestyle. People from all walks of life. People who stand for justice. People who believe in what is right. If you are unable to attend you are asked to wear black on that day as a symbolic indication of your support for the families and their children.

For more information, and there is plenty of information available from the blog sites, search your favorite search engine with the words, “Jena Six”, “Jena 6″ or “Jena, Louisiana” for more details as this important event continues to unfold.

Well J. Reed Walters, Mr. District Attoryney for LaSalle Parish Louisiana, because you were overzealous in your desire to “with one stroke ” of your pen make their lives disappear, you thrust your little back water country town onto the world stage. You have proved that education in Louisiana is substandard.

It’s not by coincidence you issued your statement just moments before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge handed down his ruling. We’re betingt you had a heads up so you could try to backpedal, but alas we fear you just too ding-dang late!

While you were quickly trying to save face with lies and denials in your statement issued on Friday afternoon, September 14, 2007 a judge in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the June conviction of Mychal Bell, one of the group of teenaged black students known as the “Jena Six” charged in connection with the December 4, 2006 alleged attack of white student Justin Barker, be vacated, reversed and set aside.

In his ruling the judge stated the trail judge made a mistake when he kept the case in adult court, since the defendant, Bell, was a juvenile when the offense occurred in 2006. This means the conviction against Bell has been tossed.

District Attorney Walters stated on Friday afternoon he had received notice from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals of the case being ordered to junvenile court. Walters says after he has thoroughly reviewed the decision he will ask the State Supreme Court of Louisiana to review the decision of the court of appeals.

We think Mr. Walters appealing this decision is a bad idea. If you are not careful you gonna make another mistake. You’ve already brought the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, ACLU and other legal organizations to your door questioning whether your actions constitute an abuse of power. We think they do.

We think you should resign from the case before the case is tried again in the juvenile court; you should either resign from the case or be removed from the office you hold because of extreme prejudice…and we do mean extreme racial prejudice.

You’ve used the race of these teens against them just because that’s the way it’s always been done in Jena, Louisiana.

Well, J. Reed Walters, you and all of your kind in Jena have put your foot in it so to speak. You’re really in the big time now.

There is nothing you can do to change what has been done. You’re getting your fifteen minutes plus. You’re in the big time now. The rally will take place on Thursday September 20th in your town, Jena Louisiana. Be there!

What’s the reason for not supplying adequate coverage to the injustice taking place in Jena Louisiana? As many of you know 6 young black men have been unfairly charged with violence from an incident arising from hooses hung from a tree in the school yard at the local high school.

The ensuing fights and other incidents meant to demean and intimidate the young men and their parents has culminated in a major protest demonstration scheduled for Thursday, September 20th 2007 in Jena, Louisiana by all people who stand for justice and what is right.

It is not fair those white teens who instigated the fights have not been punished. It is even more outrageous that the news of this travesty has received coverage by the foreign press in China, France and the United Kingdom.

America, where everyone is allegedly treated equally, is on the world stage for racial injustice because of the misdeeds of some severely bigoted city authorities including the La Salle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters.

But I digress. My point here is to address the fact much of the United States population knows nothing of what has happened to several black families in this mostly white small town of about 3000.

Why is it that the Jena 6 story is unknown to most of the nation? Why is it that the name of OJ Simpson, who is so 9/10 is all over the network news outlets? Why is it when I question my local television news outlets about this story I get excuses such as “We only cover stories of local interest.” I heard about the Duke LaCrosse story for about one year. I do not live in North Carolina. I do not live in Virginia where the story of Michael Vick has made national headlines. Yet I’ve heard more than I can stand of the details of his situation from, yes, my local news outlets.

Why can’t I get some real coverage of a story about a situation that could very easily have happened to any average American citizen’s child?

This story of injustice in Louisiana is not just about color. This story is about the decimation of our youth. The children are any nation’s most precious commodity.
The decision makers, news executives, producers, assignment editors even beat reporters all have a stake in insuring all of us are informed so we can better protect, guide and educate our children.

Gentlemen and ladies, you have a responsibility to report all the news. The viewing public is watching you. We know this is not the only story you’ve not reported. Does MCA ring a familiar bell? We want details, full details.

Forget about Paris, American Idol, Senator Larry Craig and others.

We look to you to provide news we can truly use.

Carefully read the words and consider the question:
Whom do you serve?

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock ‘n’ roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin’ in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.

One of the 6 young men charged, has been convicted for attempted murder. The weapon he used is a tennis shoe. He faces more than 20 years behind bars.

This is what the senator had to say:

“When nooses are being hung in high schools in the 21st century, it’s a tragedy. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions. This isn’t just Jena’s problem; it’s America’s problem.”

“There are a number of signs that the system is not working in this case. It’s a problem when criminal charges are brought against some students for fighting, but not others. It’s a problem when a public defender doesn’t call any witnesses. And it’s a problem when a prosecutor decides to try teenagers as adults for a school fight, a charge that could leave them in jail for the majority of their lives. That is why I join my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus in calling on the judge to consider all the relevant factors and calling on the District Attorney to drop the excessive charges brought in this case. And I, along with other members of the CBC, will continue to monitor this case closely.”

“Going forward, we have to fix our criminal justice system. Whether it’s Jena 6 or Genarlow Wilson, it’s long past time for us to admit that we have more work to do to ensure that our criminal justice system is fair. We must ensure that both victims and defendants can receive equal justice under the law, regardless of race, wealth, or other circumstances.”

We wonder when or if any other candidates, Dems or Republican, will make a comment about this controversial and important current legal case taking place in Louisiana. Clinton?Paul? McCain? Romney?Edwards? We can not presume you are opposed to the excessive prosecution taking place in Louisiana. You must speak plainly to us about this matter. Tell us your position.
Governor Blanco where are you on this matter?In our opinion your silence makes you complicit in this terrible injustice.

President George Walker Bush, what say you?

In our opinion your silence is a signal to perpetuate this kind of offensive blatant racist behavior toward black and minority youth.

Democrat leaders are complicit in this tragedy because of their apparent complacent non-response in defending the rights of Americans with the change in the laws that have decimated the United States Constitution under the guise of protecting us from foreign enemies of the state.

We have aseen the enemy…and they is us!

One example of this fact is the alleged leader of this attack, Osama bin Laden is NOT included on the FBI’s notoriously famous Most Wanted List. Bin Laden is not now, nor has he ever been included on the list. The list known for bringing so many leading criminals to justice.

Certainly one would think a 6 foot 4 or 5 inch Arab man with a graying beard, weighing about 175 pounds could easy be found. He’s been on the run for the past 6 years. George Bush has moved from his vow to find bin Laden to “I don’t care about his whereabouts”, to telling the American public “We’re kickin’ ass” in Iraq, with no word on his success in finding the alleged mastermind of the worst devastation on American soil in modern history.

Maybe we should just go shopping. Let’s worry about the latest escapades of Paris Hilton or Brittany Spears or some recently outted allegedly homosexual Republican politician.

These activities should provide monumental consolation for a formerly free society now under near absolute police state control.

In other countries where the Apple iPhone is available you may select the carrier service you want for your iPhone. In the land of the free you get AT&T by default. You do not get to choose.

Some technologically saavy people have found a way ( a hack) to change the carrier by “unlocking” the phone. We heard the hack was discovered within the first 24 hours that the device was available.

Now we’re hearing and reading articles reporting AT&T and the Apple Company may accuse owners of the phone who “unlock” it to be able to have the carrier of their choice may be in violation of certain copyright laws.

We say baloney! You pay $500 or $600 for this gadget, plus another $100 to $150 for the communications service and its features; you can not do as you wish. You may not select another company that may be more cost effective and provide better quality services? You do not get to decide? Outrageous!

One reason for choosing another company despite AT&T’s claim of being the largest wireless network is that services are not available in your area from AT&T “…Excessive use of Partner coverage may subject your service to early termination, in accordance with your service terms. Data services may not be available.” This AT&T speak translates into plain English that if you are in an area where they do not provide coverage and use other carriers’ coverge too often they will cut off your service.

Or this caveat from AT&T the 5 different coverage terms. The terms are best, good, moderate, partner–that’s the one if you use too frequently your service could be terminated; or 3G/Mobile Broadband. You are encouraged to learn more about AT&T’s technology.

This is the old copyright battle brought up again…and is tantamount to saying when you buy a book only you can read it according to the rules of the store and publisherer who sold it to you. You cannot loan it to anyone else, resell it or give it away.

Why would you want to own a technology that does not fulfill your needs? Like staying with a lover who does not satisfy. What’s the point?

Although we love the device, we’ll be waiting for this issue to be resolved before we purchase the Apple iPhone. This is a controversy that in our estimation ranks right up there with Microsoft’s new operating systemVista…you know the one that validates whether or not you have a bootleg copy of any program on your machine before it will run it?

Following the legal appearance Vick went before world media to address his behavior over the past several months, apologize for his deception, announce his religious conversion and ask to be forgiven by his myriad fans.

We say let’s forgive and forget. What was done was reprehensible on the part of the defendants. We believe Michael Vick can be more of a help to his sports industry, his community and the world community if he is permitted to serve a sentence that does not require confinement, but allows him to play ball and promote healthy lifestyle choices to his many youthful fans.

No good purpose is served by having Michael Vick and his co-defendants spend time in some prison facility for any length of time.

Even cutting down the “white tree” for fire wood did not dissuade the international media who first gave this story coverage–them ding-danged meddling foreigners from England, China and France again from pursuing this alleged schoolyard incident of no significance. This travesty and exercise in how to keep your blacks under control has been ongoing since the fall of 2006. As time progressed it became more and more difficult to keep the story under wraps.

Thank you Mr. Distict Attorney for making that classic threat directed toward the black students only at the high school assembly. What a stroke of genius to say a sneaker is a lethal weapon. And who is the person who made up the previous assault charges against defendant Mychal Bell so that he is ineligible for bond?? Brilliant, just brilliant. This trumped of false charge is so good the football coach was unaware this star player had broken the law. You’re really good. Football coaches know about every infraction by every single player. You folks are showing the world just how many roads a man must walk down before he can be called a man. The answer is no longer blowin’ in the wind Bob Dylan; its livin’ large in Jena, Louisiana.

We reported on this matter in July of this year. We knew then it would not be until the beginning of the new 2007-2008 school year when this story would pick up momentum in the United States where similar incidents of blatant racism take place everyday all across the country; in the west, in the north, in the mid-west or the deep south there are similar incidents of outrageous discrimination, though none is as spiteful, and ridiculous with such serious consequences for the persons who are the objects of such vitriloic behavior as what has occurred in Jena, Louisiana. It’s a seasonal media thing here in the US. Depending on the time of year and who’s involved, and how much it “…. bleeds it leads” is the philosophy of most news rooms.

Thanks to you, the powers that be in Jena, Louisiana; the school board authorities, the parish sheriff, the local district attorney with the magic pen poised to destroy the lives of black children only, and Mr. Public Defender, aka the whimpy guy at the defense table, you have not only put your town, your region, your state , your governor, your president and our nation in the world spotlight to be ridiculed by nations considered to be lesser in terms of justice and freedom, but you have ignited a fire in a community that has for the last 40 years become apathetic and disinterested.

The black community has become so deeply entrenched in believing its own bad press it has failed to show the world we care about our children, each other and the level of respect we command internationally. Consider the rampant use of the disparaging N-word by blacks and everyone else to describe blacks. (We’ll discuss that topic another time.)

But thanks to you, the leaders, the decision makers, the movers and the shakers of Jena , Louisiana, the national community–people who abhor injustice regardless of their color , religion or ethnic background, has come alive and will be in your town on Thursday, September 20, 2007 to express in protest demonstrations to be heard and seen around the world that people, especially black people of African descent are demanding the respect they deserve.

Thank you. You’re an inspiration!

Nearly inimitably inarticulate as always, George W. Bush gives us his view on the Attorney General’s highly desired, to the point many believed it was too much to hope for but hoped for nonetheless, long overdue, totally unexpected resignation, which has been well received greeted with relief and a better late than never public response.

Talented? We suppose you could call being able to follow through on the execution of a mentaly deficient, as in retarded, man or putting to death a woman despite a plea for mercy from the Pope to spare her life .

Honorable? From the lips of a man who enjoyed torturing his fellow classmates at college, since he did not regularly attend class, but frequently participated in burning others with cigarettes and heated hangers used as makeshift branding irons, the former US Attorney General’s edict on torture, the Geneva Conventions that had long governed the treatment of prisoners did not apply to Al-Qaida or the war in Afghanistan, was an indication to him of “great honor”.

“…. Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.” so said the president. Impeded? Gonzo has done more to assist in the miscarriage of justice than anyother AG; in fact some legal professionals were beginning to think the name of the department was an Orwellian joke! Al “The Torturer” Gonzales should consider himself fortunate only his name was besmirched. Because of his “good work” many people have lost their families, their homes, their jobs and their lives. Good lookin’ out Gonzo!

Alberto Gonzales the first Hispanic United States Attorney General, may be gone from office his legacy of politicizing the Department of Justice will linger for many years to come. It is for this reason we say any and all investigations associated with Alberto Gonzales must go forth beyond his departure on September 17, 2007.

~New York Democrat Senator Charles Schumer

We only hope the Democrats in the congress will also do the right thing and impeach George Walker Bush and Dick Cheney. Rove is gone. Gonzales is toast. All that’s left are the head crooks Cheney and Bush.

Come on loyal opposition, give dirty rotten scoundrels the heave-ho! And do it pronto! Apply sufficient pressure for them both to leave office in disgrace just like their role model Richard Milhous Nixon.

Thank you son. As a female who has given birth to four children, 2 of each gender, who are all grown and successful, I would like to take this opportunity to express my opinion on two news items currently the topic of nearly everyone’s conversation; and when I say successful I mean my children are productive, gainfully employed, independent and most importantly they do not live with me.

My heart goes out to the mothers of the 6 young men in Jena, Louisiana unjustly charged in what amounts to a schoolyard fight. By the assessment of the local law enforcement authority Sheriff Carl Smith the media exploited an insignificant incident between teens. Yep, the media, the international media that is, has taken the events that occurred in that very bigoted tiny southern town in Central Louisiana and blown them all out of proportion. We are ever so grateful the American media outlets were slow to report this outrageous miscarriage of justice. Question: If this was an insignificant incident why was the so-called “white tree” cut down just days before the scheduled sentencing of one of the defendants late last month? As reported by NPR, “Jena High School had the big shade tree in the courtyard chopped into firewood.” I’m an old lady, and I’ve not heard of such spiteful defensive and offensive carryings on since I was a young girl growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina and later in Philadelphia. Is this really the 21st Century or am I caught in a time warp regressing to the period 60 or 70 years after the War Between the States? They call it the Jim Crow era.

Next on my list is Michael Vick. My heart goes out to his mother, too. I stand in support of you. Your son is a moral imbecile. It just proves once again having children is a crap shoot. George Herbert Walker Bush knows this better than anyone. If he were a bettin’ man I’m sure he’d have lost a bundle betting Jeb would have been president before Dumbya. Yes when you have children you’re never really sure what you’re gonna get. What with those generational curses and children inheriting features and behaviors from as far back as the previous third generation; they could exhibit characteristics of folks you’ve never heard mention of in the family history much less met face to face.

I wish to say in closing as a mother having and raising children, as is life, is very much “like a box of chocolates”. You never really know what you’re gonna get.

An announcement was made on Thursday of the intended resignation at the end of this month of US Assistant Attorney General Wan J. Kim. Kim, who was nominated by President George W. Bush in the spring of 2005 and confirmed by the US Senate in November of the same year, was instrumental in the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act of 2006.

Attorney Kim, who began his career in the justice department as a trial attorney in the honors program more than 10 years ago, was also an integral part of the investigation and prosecution of unsolved murder cases of the Civil Rights Era.

Under Mr. Kim’s leadership the Civil Rights Division achieved record setting levels of enforcement in areas including filing more voting rights lawsuits in one year than had been filed in the previous 30 years.

Mr. Kim also proved to be an able advocate by supervising major initiatives in housing discrimination, religious liberties, persons with disabilities and prosecution of those involved in human trafficking.

In this era of Alberto “The Torturer” Gonzales we can understand why a man of apparent integrity, as Mr. Kim seemingly is, must resign after only 10 years in the department.

We wish Wan J. Kim much success in his future endeavors, and we thank you for your help in trying to keep the playing field level.

Michael Vick is just one of 4 defendants charged with conspiracy to engage in competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across state lines. Despiste his initial statements denying guilt in the matter, Vick’s attorneys have filed papers with the court to make a formal guilty plea. He is expected to appear before the judge on Monday, August 27, 2007.

We believe Michael Vick had no choice but to admit his part in the activities to which his buds say he was a participant. They all pleaded guilty. Vick was left, you should pardon the expression, to swing in the breeze.

With this matter nearly concluded we can only hope other young athletes with the good fortune to be awarded a professional sports contracts will be prudent enough to exercise better judgement about the hobbies they pursue in their time away from their chosen sport.

This silliness is embarrassing for everyone associated with the athlete.

Vick and 3 other defendants have been charged with conspiring to engage in competitive dogfighting, procuring and training pit bulls for fighting and conducting the enterprise across state lines.

Reports indicate Commissioner Goodell is waiting for a reportto be asubmitted by hired observers, a group led by former deputy U.S. attorney general Eric Holder.

Roger Goodell has the authority, based on his newly implemented personal conduct policy; a regulation which supercedes the former violent crime policy, to impose upon Vick a suspension which could be effective coincidental to any prison sentence prescribed by the federal court in Virginia or following Vick’s release from law enforcement custody.

Vick is expected to appear before U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson to make a formal guilty plea on Monday August 27, 2007.

After less than 2 years on the job Gordon decided he and the organization’s 17 member executive committee had what we can best describe as “irreconcilable differences”.

To quote Gordon in an interview with Essence magazine: “It’s a lot easier to change the CEO than it is to change the executive committee. So I took the initiative and made a very difficult, and in some respects disappointing, but necessary decision.”

We agree with Gordon. After last year’s celebrated “Bell South is Wonderful and Target Sucks” awards, at the NAACP Annual National Convention in Washington, D.C. , we think Gordon should have resigned sooner than he did. It was disclosed by investigators on this blogsite BellSouth was offering Target gift cards to former BellSouth customers as an inducement to purchase BellSouth telecommunications services.

This incentive was being promoted before, after and during the big hoopla about the NAACP’s Coporate Race Relations Report Card last year. The grades being issued ranged from outstanding to failing. That’s right BellSouth, now the new AT&T, was given the equivalent of a scholastic honor society grade, while Target Stores languished with the poor performers.

We still question now, as we did last year, if this meeting of the two corporate entities is remedial for Target and ego bolstering for the new AT&T? Or is it just to show those black people have no real influence over their own money?

We imagine the conversation in the corporate boardrooms between Target and the new AT&T, formerly BellSouth, might have gone something like this:

“They have no real economic power to speak of. They’ve been repeatedly hoodwinked and bamboozled; that’s how they arrived on these shores. Plymouth Rock has landed on them once again and there’s nothing they can, want or will do about it. We’ve successfully rendered their so-called champion civil rights organization impotent. It has no teeth. It is powerless to do anything to retaliate because the membership doesn’t care; in fact the membership is dwindling. This is quite a coup. We managed to embarrass a former Verizon executive of color and hammer a pain in the ass civil rights activist group. It was a stroke of genius for BellSouth to promote Target while those silly sanctimonious black people attended their convention with approving national publicity for BellSouth being celebrated for its hiring practices and its compassion towards blacks in business. ”

As a result of last year’s NAACP celebration of American business institutions that are real good to black folk is that Bank of America find itself looking at the wrong end of another lawsuit. Bank of America, along with Wachovia Bank, now Wachovia World Bank, were rated as the best banks for black people to conduct their financial business, both personal and entrepreneurial.

Ooops! Seems some employees and former employees vehemently disagree with that assessment, as they have filed a class action law suit claiming discrimination in hiring and employment practices.

Bruce Gordon we support your decision to resign from an organization that pays lip service to being active in making changes for the betterment of the whole nation and specifically black people.