The ship is sinking, but the Captain refuses to believe it!!!

It was just announced that the SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) bill passed the House by a 265-159 vote. But it was not enough votes (barely!!!) to override Bush's promised veto.

This may be a lose for the moment. But it is such a gain in the number of pro votes, once Bush is out of office, I am sure that this will come up again and will pass at that time.

The Captain refuses to see his ship is sinking. He proudly stands at the bow of the boat with Napoleonic hat and coat, with his hand firmly tucked in between two buttons on his coat - continuing to look every bit like an idiot.

He truly is doing everything he can to leave office with an admirable legacy. He is about 6 years too late to think about that. He has destroyed any chance of ever being viewed as a President that did something good during his term of office.

Each time he opens his mouth, he continues to show his lack of a valid education. A man who is the head of the most powerful nation in the world has no valid excuse for not knowing the difference between Austrilia and Austria.

Everybody wants their share of the $$$

From the Seattle Post-Intelligence:

Last updated September 20, 2007 4:38 p.m. PT
MARCELA SANCHEZ

WASHINGTON -- Once every month, the average immigrant in the United States steps into a money-transfer facility and wires about $250 overseas. Minutes later somewhere around the world, a relative or friend can step into a similar facility and receive the cash -- minus fees and other transfer expenses. This transnational economic activity, repeating itself millions of times every month, added up to about $274 billion worldwide last year -- a lifeline for millions in some of the poorest corners of the planet and an amount at least double all official foreign aid combined.

For years, immigrant organizations, governments and international financial institutions have focused energy and resources on figuring how they might leverage those billions to help improve the conditions that make people become immigrants in the first place. Largely absent from this effort -- and in fact a frequent target of criticism -- has been the middleman: the money transmitter.

Last week, some might say, things changed. Western Union, the largest money transmitter with more than 17 percent of the global market, announced a $50 million, five-year philanthropic initiative to help migrant families. The Colorado-based company said it would underwrite educational grants, offer free wire transfers during humanitarian relief efforts and enlist some of its 312,000 agents and representatives as financial mentors to businesses and individuals.

This program would build on Western Union's contributions to specific economic development projects in Mexico, the largest recipient of remittances in the world ($23 billion last year). The new contributions would bolster programs such as "Tres por Uno" (three for one) that match every dollar invested in Mexico by U.S.-based immigrant associations for projects such as paving roads or opening factories with a dollar each from Mexican federal, state and local governments.

A federation of hometown immigrant associations in Southern California received $120,000 from Western Union last year to conduct such work in Mexico. According to Efrain Jimenez, the group's vice president, the donation wasn't huge, but it was significant as a demonstration that "the private sector can and should exercise its social responsibility" and as a symbol of solidarity with immigrants at a time when that can be politically costly.

Some immigrant advocate groups, however, are not impressed by Western Union's altruism. Last week, the Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research and Action, which claims to represent more than 150 immigrant organizations in the United States, called for a boycott of Western Union, arguing that its new campaign is a "marketing gimmick" that will do little to benefit immigrants here or their families abroad.

TIGRA is particularly concerned that initiatives such as Western Union's give immigrants little say on where the money is spent. Rather, TIGRA would have Western Union and other money transmitters donate directly to a fund managed by TIGRA.

Of course, TIGRA wants their fair share of the $$$. Thats the American way!!!

While that might raise an eyebrow of suspicion, TIGRA has reason to be skeptical. Money transmitters have profited for years from the poor. And, TIGRA argues, even with this initiative Western Union's philanthropic activity will represent less than 50 cents per $100 profit. (Western Union's spokesman Dan Diaz disputed TIGRA's claim and cited the Consulting Network, which found Western Union's giving at just below the average for U.S. corporations.)

Money transmitters cannot be blamed for the poverty of their customers. Indeed, Manuel Orozco, remittance expert at the Inter-American Dialogue, said that Western Union should be given credit for connecting "some of the world's poorest to the global economy." Still, Orozco added, Western Union is far from a beacon of corporate giving.

In the past, it has been governments and organizations such as TIGRA that have successfully pushed money transmitters to lower their fees and become more altruistic. Ten years ago, it cost on average $30 to send $300 to Mexico; today it costs $10. During the 1990s, Western Union was sued for not disclosing extra profits from favorable foreign currency exchange rates, resulting in a settlement that included the establishment of the Western Union Foundation.

As Francis Calpotura, TIGRA's executive director, put it, remittances are "one of the very few tools" immigrants have to wield power in their world. This is especially true in today's political environment, where they have seen little success in influencing the immigration debate in Washington. One might hope that TIGRA and Western Union can find a way to see themselves as partners on the same side of that struggle.

This article just shows you how much money earned in the US is leaving the US. This is bad for our economy (but great for Mexico's economy!!).

Foster mother tortured girl for years

From the Seattle Post-Intelligence paper comes this article:

Last updated September 24, 2007 9:09 p.m. PT
By SCOTT GUTIERREZ
P-I REPORTER

A Federal Way woman who punished her foster daughter by jabbing hypodermic needles into the girl's eyes and smashing her feet with 10-pound weights pleaded guilty Monday to assault charges and could face up to 14 years imprisonment.

Chornice Y. Kabbelliyaa, 34, a licensed foster care provider who tortured the girl for years, is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 16 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent. Kabbelliyaa took in the victim, now 16, and her brother, when the girl was 5, according to court records.

Kabbelliyaa pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault, plus two counts of second-degree assault. Prosecutors will pursue the longest possible prison term under sentencing guidelines, which ranges from 10 to 14 years, King County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe said.

For years, Kabbelliyaa, who also goes by Lewis, was the focus of complaints from teachers, counselors and others about the girl's well-being, giving social workers several chances to remove her from the home. In a story earlier this year, The News Tribune in Tacoma revealed how Department of Social and Health Services workers often took Kabbelliyaa at her word when investigating complaints and gave her the benefit of the doubt because of the reported family connection between her and the victim. Kabbelliyaa claimed the victim also was her cousin.

The agency reviewed its own handling of the case and retrained or reassigned some workers as a result, according to the newspaper.

But, inside her home, Kabbelliyaa once beat the girl with an umbrella for handing her a mismatched pair of flip-flops. Doctors examined the victim and found she had no vision in her right eye and puncture wounds to her left eye, caused by needles used to treat Kabbelliyaa's mother's diabetes. The girl's tongue was burned because the defendant had heated forks on a stovetop to stick into the girl's mouth, court documents say.

After some beatings, Kabbelliyaa would forbid the girl from attending school until her injuries healed, court documents say.

It wasn't until January 2006 that authorities removed the girl from Kabbelliyaa's apartment. At first, Kabbelliyaa denied the girl was home, but social workers with DSHS' Division of Licensed Resources and a police officer sent to investigate noticed a blanket on the floor move. They lifted the blanket and found the victim hidden underneath, court records say.

Kabbelliyaa ran from the building, fleeing with her three biological children. She was arrested a month later in Houston by a fugitive task force under the U.S. Marshals Service. A judge determined earlier this year that Kabbelliyaa was competent to stand trial after her mental health was evaluated at Western State Hospital.

She is being held in the King County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

Where the hell was the social worker? After repeated complaints filed from people at the school the girl attended, why did the social worker continue to take the word of the foster mother (yup - lower case, this woman does not deserve the respect that comes with the capital M)?

First off, the social worker should be fired and then lose her license. Secondly, she should be brought up with charges - I am sure there are some laws on the books that relate to her negligence in this matter.

If more of these "lax" social workers had to face charges for their misdeeds, I think they would start taking their jobs more seriously.

I am fully aware that they are spread thin and have an overload of cases. But I think they should all band together - perhaps a union would be the right word - and let it be know that they will handle on the number of cases that they can and do their job correctly. Then the Department of Social Services would have to sit up and take notice that the will have to hire more people for the appropriate coverage.

Would it make sense to keep adding more and more students in a classroom to avoid having to hire more teachers? No - the teacher's union won't allow it. They have a limit as to how many students can be in a classroom. I assume that each state is different. Here in California, the max for 4th - 12th grades is 32 and K-3 is 20.

I think that there should be a maximum number of cases allowed per social worker so they would be able to do their jobs right and avoid cases such as these occuring.

Being a foster child must be an absolute nightmare.

I guess they license just any ol' body as long as they are breathing. Sure, they have to pass an inhome inspection. Anybody can pass that and then once licensed, do as they will just to be able to collect the almight $$$ without having to lift a finger to do anything for it.

My niece was a foster parent (still holds her license). She has cared for many children (she taught kindergarten students) with nothing but love and nurturing. She eventually adopted two of her foster children. Currently she has put on hold to do any more fostering until her children are a little older, as she is a single parent.

When will these States/Counties/Cities get their heads out of their backsides and see the rampant victimization of our most vunerable resources - those whose own home has been torn asunder for whatever reason and who have been left to the devices of the State/local governments to decide their fates. Unfortunately, that fate often times leads to death.

I have seen many children in foster care. They are sad, lonely, confused, desolate and often times rebellious and violent. Gee, I wonder what could have possibly led to this?

Is this justice? You decide

In Sugarland, Texas, a 16 year old girl, Aston Glover, was murdered by Matthew McCombs.

His motive? Morbid curiosity!!!

McCombs pleaded guilty to murder and received a 50 year prison sentence.

McCombs must serve half of his sentence before being considered for parole.

Had he gone to trial on the murder charge Oct. 2 as scheduled and been convicted, McCombs faced a sentence ranging from five years to life in prison.

The death penalty was not applicable in this case because the circumstances of the slaying did not fall under any of the state laws that allow for capital punishment.

The victim's parents were consulted about the plea bargain and agreed to the 50 year sentence.

I suppose the parents were afraid he would receive the minimum of 5 years if it went to trial. I am of the opinion he should have received the dealth penalty. However, the death penalty was not applicable in this case because the circumstances of the slaying did not fall under any of the state laws that allow for capital punishment.

McCombs accomplice in the murder, Sean Brown's case is still pending and a hearing has been set for January.

For every criminal who was seen and caught dead to rights in committing murder, if they escape the death penalty, then all we can pray for is that if they are going to commit murder when they are released from prison, that their victim will be a person who opposes the death penalty. Mind you, I am not praying that they do commit murder when they are released, only if . . . . . . .

12 illegal immigrants found working at Fort Bliss

Sept. 14, 2007, 8:31PM
Associated Press

FORT BLISS, Texas — Twelve illegal immigrants working as landscapers at Fort Bliss were detained Friday by military police and turned over to immigration authorities, an official said.

All 12 had fake IDs and one had forged work papers, said Jean Offutt, the Fort Bliss public information officer. They were detained and then turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Military police received a tip Friday about possible illegal immigrants working on post, Offutt said. They checked 335 workers for identification and found 12 with false IDs. The workers' countries of origin were unclear. A spokeswoman for ICE did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

The immigrants all worked for subcontractors hired by Balfour Beatty, a contractor that has a landscaping contract for the post, Offutt said. Officials at the company did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.

A couple of questions here. Will this landscaping company be fined for hiring the illegals? Will the contract with the landscaping company be dropped? If the answer to one or both of these questions is no, then our Government is dropping the ball and the landscaping company will continue to hire illegals.

I applaud the Military Police for doing their job!!

One of the comments left about this article:

pephany wrote:
I think that the police should be worrying more about people who are doing a harm to the society, nand not about people who are trying to earn their daily bread...plus if the authorities would give them their papers so they could work they wouldn't have to make false ones...!!!

Does this person really think these illegals are doing no harm to society? Clogging our hospital emergency rooms for non-emergency problems, sucking our welfare systems dry, stealing peoples identities is doing no harm? Get real!

Say what??? Read it again!!!

A Dallas family has sued Australia's Virgin Mobile phone company, claiming it caused their teenage daughter grief and humiliation by plastering her photo on billboards and Web site advertisements without consent.

The family of Alison Chang says Virgin Mobile grabbed the picture from Flickr, Yahoo Inc.'s popular photo-sharing Web site, and failed to credit by name the photographer who took the photo.

Chang's photo was part of a Virgin Mobile Australia campaign called "Are You With Us Or What?" It features pictures downloaded from Flickr superimposed with the company's ad slogans.

The picture of 16-year-old Chang flashing a peace sign was taken at an April church car wash by Alison's youth counselor, who posted it that day on his Flickr page, according to Alison's brother, Damon. In the ad, Virgin Mobile printed one of its campaign slogans, "Dump your pen friend," over Alison's picture.

The ad also says "Free text virgin to virgin" at the bottom.

The experience damaged Alison's reputation and exposed her to ridicule from her peers and scrutiny from people who can now Google her, the family charged in the lawsuit.

"It's the tag line; it's derogatory," said Damon Chang, 27. "A lot of her church friends saw it."

I had to read this 3 times before I would believe what I was reading? Are these parents idiots? Or are they just greedy and have seen a chance to cash in on the American dream of suing?

The parents' actions are going to be far more damaging to that young woman they these parents think is being done by Virgin Mobile!

They are gonna fry this time!

Guard killed in Huntsville prison escape; inmates caught
A Texas corrections officer was killed this morning when she was run over by two inmates who escaped from a prison in Huntsville, authorities said.

The officer who was killed has been identified as Susan Canfield, a 59-year-old Correctional Officer IV with 85 months of service.

Jerry Duane Martin, 37, and John Falk, 40, escaped about 10:30 a.m. while they were on a work detail near the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Wynne Unit in Huntsville, officials said.

"They managed to overpower one of the correctional officers and took her weapon," said Jason Clark, a TDCJ spokesman.

They also stole a Huntsville city vehicle during their escape, Clark said.

"In the process of fleeing, they ran over the correctional officer," Clark said. "She died a short time later."

Martin was serving a 50 year prison sentence after he was charged with attempted capital murder in August 1994. He was accused of shooting at a Collin County sheriff's deputies and state troopers during a standoff in a field near McKinney that followed a high-speed car chase.

Falk was serving a life sentence for murder, Clark said.

Texas is known for the number of criminals who are put to death each year. If these two had been given the death sentence, then they would not have been allowed a work detail and Officer Canfield would be alive today.

You go Bollinger!!!

September 24, 2007
By NAHAL TOOSI

NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the stage at Columbia University to a blistering welcome from the president of the school, who said the hard-line leader behaved like "a petty and cruel dictator."

Ahmadinejad smiled as Columbia President Lee Bollinger took him to task over Iran's human-rights record and foreign policy, and Ahmadinejad's statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

He said Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

"When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous," Bollinger said. "The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history."

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger's opening was: "an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here."

"There were insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully," Ahmadinejad said, accusing Bollinger of offering "unfriendly treatment" under the influence of the U.S. press and politicians.

When the powers that be at the college decided to book the leader of Iran, just what were they thinking? Just who were they trying to prove something to? Ahmandinejad or the U.S.?

I applaud Columbia President Lee Bollinger for telling this dictator like it is! And to the powers that be who authorized this, if he/she is upset by Mr. Bollinger's remarks, just whose side of this "war" are they on?

Charles Durning

If this photo had not identified who it was, I would never have known. Is Mr. Durning ill? Or did he take his weight problem seriously and diet? I suppose we are so used to seeing him with a little more meat on his bones. I pray that he is well. He is a helluva a fine actor!!

The gall of Illegal Immigrants and Hispanics!!!

I came across this photo and was absolutely aghast!


Several years back when the illegals began flooding across our borders, my thought was that Mexico is trying to take back California, Texas, New Mexico and Nevada by inundating the states with their people. The intent is to eventually gain enough "manpower" to have a voice.

Unfortunately, that very thing has occurred. And what is our Government doing about this soon to be takeover? Very little. Here in California, our Governor is pandering to them. So many of the city officials are of Hispanic blood. They are behind the so called "rights" of these individuals. The only thing that is going on is the "token" raid and deportation of illegals by ICE.

ICE is fully aware of the businesses that have illegal immigrants in their hire. What is taking them so long to raid the businesses? And what is their priority in selecting those that they have raided and plan to raid next?

So many unanswered questions!

Republicans stand for Family Values (cough, cough, cough)

And yet another post from theconservativepost.com on July 12, 2007:

You can’t make this stuff up! John McCain’s Florida Campaign Co-chair, a Florida Republican State Representative, has just been arrested for offering to perform oral sex on an under cover male police officer for $20. Man, there are just a whole bunch of freaks out there…

Funny how nothing is said about it being yet ANOTHER Republican person who espouses family values getting caught in a sex scandal!

Republicans were so quick to jump on Bill Clinton for his indiscretion (his mistake - lying about it), but purposely stay away from any controversy when it comes to indiscretions within their own party.

"The Conservative Post" and Fred Thompson on Santuary Cities

Another post from theconservativepost.com from August 24, 2007:

-Scott Miller

This is why “I’m with Fred”.

“The consequences of “sanctuary cities” may be most obvious in the city that became the first in 1979 — Los Angeles. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a confidential California Department of Justice study from the mid-1990’s showed then that at least 60 percent of the members of L.A.’s most violent gangs, with membership in the tens of thousands, were illegal aliens. Of all outstanding murder warrants in Los Angeles, 95 percent are for illegal aliens. Frustrated police say they are powerless to pick up even well-known, previously deported felons.

The costs of policies that offer shelter to criminals are borne not just by the citizens of Newark, Cambridge, and other sanctuaries though. According to the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office, illegal aliens made up 27 percent of the federal prison population in 2005, totaling 49,000 and costing federal taxpayers $1.2 billion. There were also more than 220,000 illegals in state and local prisons and jails. Now, I am not suggesting that all illegal aliens are violent criminals. They are not. Most are peaceful folks just trying to get by like the rest of us. But we would be far better off if we checked on people as they come into the country rather than find out who the bad ones are after they victimize people here.”

Many are becoming a bit frustrated that Fred has not announced yet… not me. I believe he will announce either on Labor Day, or directly after. Perfect timing as people are out of vacation mode, and will begin paying attention to the upcoming political battles in earnest in Sept. Make way for Fred!

Okay, Fred, just how are you going to check the people when they are entering the county illegally? That is how they become illegal!

And since our Government has failed to reimburse cities the monies spent incarcerating the illegals when they break the law, the cities soon realized by incarcerating them BECAUSE they are illegals would bankrupt them. So they had to stop doing so only on the basis they had broken the law simply by being an illegal.

When will our Government step up to the plate and spend the monies they promised to the cities that are doing the job for the Government?

Secondly, when a city/county police/sheriff does recognize that an individual is an illegal why are they not picked up and delivered to the local INS (pardon me, ICE) facility? Then they could put them in their facility pending deportation.

So many unanswered questions and if only bureaucracy would simplify the "rules", it could be done efficiently. But I don't think bureaucracy could do anything without the long redtape and rhetoric. Simplify, simplify, simplify!!!

From "The Conservative Post"

I came across a blog - theconservativepost.com with the post title of "Study: Liberals Read More Than Conservatives… and They’re Still Stupid"

Big story in the socialist media this week…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry’s trade group says she knows why — and there’s little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation.”

The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans: ‘No, don’t raise my taxes, no new taxes,”‘ Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers, said in a recent interview. “It’s pretty hard to write a book saying, ‘No new taxes, no new taxes, no new taxes’ on every page.”

So it turns out that self described liberals read on average 8 books a year vs. 7 for self described conservatives… and this is passes for news. The fact that a polling group wasted their time and resources try to make some sort of correlation to anything, amazes me. The not-so subtle message here is that conservatives are stupid because they don’t read as many books as libs… well, I actually think it proves just the exact opposite. Have the researchers considered the following alternate explanations for the difference:

- that it is well established that liberals are prone to stretching the truth… how do we know they really read as many books as they claim?

- because conservatives actually have work to do, as productive members of society, versus your typical pot-smoking, tree-huggin, hippie lib type out there mooching of us capitalists

- because we conservatives are family values types who would rather spend our free time playing with our kids, versus your typical limousine lib that has their nanny raising their family

Amazing how someone can turn this research around to their benefit. The conversatives need review video of speeches by not only GWB, but many of the Republican legislators. Rhetoric and repitition of Republican coined phrases. They have a hard time creating an original thought, especially GWB.

My heart aches!

UPDATE!!

Below are opinions of people across the nation regarding this incident.

"I have been amazed at all the attention the Jena Six are getting. Hanging a noose from a tree is inconsiderate and stupid, but not a crime. Beating a person is a crime and should be punished. But why are these boys not being charged with a hate crime? I hope that common sense will take over someday. NORMAN WINTON"

Does this man not consider hanging the noose from a tree a hate crime?

"MichaelR wrote:
A five on one fight has not been suggested to be fair; but intent to murder far exceeds the act that was committed. The noose incident; an inflammatory and derogatory statement from one race to another that this is the way we once dealt with your insubordination. Neither of these are acceptable in this Nation!"

AMEN!

"Wen782 wrote:
All of those people are going down there to protest the situation... and yet the biggest killer of blacks is other blacks.

As for the noose thing... my opinion is, lock those little farts up for pulling that stupid stunt and hanging them up there. That was rude beyond common sense. Lock up the noose hangers and lock up the kids who beat up the other kid. Heck, lock them all up, let 'em beat the heck out of each other... At the rate that one kid's going, he'll wind up dead or in prison, anyway. Nice on getting the charges dropped and how they're avoiding the mention that he has four prior convictions. Real nice.

You rarely hear the race card played anymore when it's a black perp on a white vic. I don't get that. Why does it have to be black and white, anyway... I thought it had been established that we were all just people."

This is the first I had heard about prior convitions for one of the boys sentenced to prison.

"msblacklady wrote:
I beleve that the 6 young men should be released and all charges dropped. Children have been fighting everyday in school. We need to let it be just that a fight. On the other hand the white kid brought the gun to school he should have been the one charged the others just took it from him to keep him from shooting them. The district attorney is really out of line. The people should look into this behavior on his part. There may be more than any one really knows about but right now it looks like racism is alive and it needs to be stopped lets stop it here and go on and stopped racism all over the USA."

This gives one pause for thought!!

"Wen782 wrote:
First off, it's not my place to apologize for those people. Did I have anything to do with it? NO. I do feel bad for the kids who had to see those nooses hanging - that's a horrible and stupid thing. That kid did deserve to have his butt handed to him, but not by six kids.

I would go OFF on my kids if they pulled any cr*p like that and there would be no question at ALL that it wouldn't be tolerated. It should never have happened.

I feel that what those white kids did should be punished, but it should have been made a serious issue by the school and the parents (even more so) and not have required that the students themselves get into a fight over it.

Kids these days are stupid. They're not being raised to respect anyone but themselves and it really is turning into an "all about ME and no one else matters or has feelings" society.

By the way... real nice thinking the white kid would've had the charges dropped. I sure would hope not. If you're stupid and commit a crime, you should be punished for it. I would expect to be. If that's the case that more whites get away with stuff, then more black people need to get into law enforcement and be good leaders for youth and make sure the white kids are forced to toe the line just as you think the black kids are forced to toe it. Or maybe someone should just make the punishments harsher for juveniles so that they stop committing crimes because they can only be charged as kids. Obviously it doesn't work as a very good deterrant. I don't think whites are "better at getting away with crimes".

I don't give a cr*p what color that kid is that has the prior convictions. Let's just wait and see where he's at and what he's doing in 10 years. The situation down there may be changing the direction his life's taking, but if all this wasn't going on, I'd be willing to bet money that he, like so many other youths of ALL races, would just be a wart on the butt of society instead of being productive and good citizens where they live.

This whole situation shouldn't be happening. I'll grant that. The stuff like this all over the country needs to stop. There are far more important things that people could be focusing on and spending their time on, like illegal immigration and disease issues."

Another thought provoking comment from Wen782.

"naren wrote:
I’m Sorry, but they should all go to jail, because I know that IF six white kids had beaten a black kid, then there would be another protest by black people saying they deserve life in prison or the death penalty because it was a hate crime. Well yeah hanging nooses in a tree should have got the 3 guys in trouble, but there was no crime that they could be charged with. I’m tired of the NAACP, BET and other African American "RIGHTS GROUPS". If you want to play the race game, where is the group that fights for the white man that has better grades and scores than the black student, but the black student takes his space in the college because of the NAACP whining that there weren’t enough black college students, thus affirmative action was created. You always cry that blacks are mistreated, well I’m sorry but you bring it on yourselves."

This person makes some good points - then makes some bad points.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligence on 7/18 was an article by Amy Goldman It's still about race in Jena, La.. The following are comments from the article.

"posted by jem1
Racism did not die with the passage of the Civil Rights legislation. Local authorities throughout this country run their little dictator fiefdoms without challenge until exposed in the national media.

Any white man or woman can attest to the racist comments in normal white-only conversation from both men and women who believe all other whites believe the same racist themes. Many of them have their roots in the old Southern states of ante-bellum times. Racism is handed down from generation to generation whether still residing in the South or not.

The incidences of non-white people of many nationalities abused, tried, and convicted by tinhorn district attorneys supported by racist local business and elected officials continues despite the laws. Every small town or county in America is run by local business and landed gentry who consider themselves above all laws except their own. Poor whites are generally treated with similar disdain by the arrogant dictators, but may receive some relief just because of their skin color.

Small town and rural America is still the haven for the racist bigots who refuse to acknowledge the national laws in relation to race relations. The cost to overcome a bigoted, racist accusation is not within most citizens ability to fight without help from state and federal assistance. Too many times, the state is in collusion with its racist locals through political connections.

Rural Louisiana outside of New Orleans has always been hard-core racist. The land is owned by and operated as plantations by local corporations. Wealthy whites rule without any adherence to national law. Local media follow a very strict line in relation to race issues. The threat of violence against any dissenters is real from both elected police officials and local thugs. Those born and raised in the areas move to other states and spread their same bias to anyone who will listen.

This article by a respected journalist is one of the few times the racist operations in rural America has been exposed. The local bigot bugs immediately crawled out of the woodwork to reveal their allegiance to all things Aryan, KKK, Rush, O'Reilly, and their hatred of any legal support for individual rights of all citizens under the Constitution.

Crawl back into the woodwork, junior nazis, your specious diatribes only reveal the depth of your hatred for this nation."

That was one very thought provoking post!!!

"Posted by duaniac
F*** rednecks--I hate them. Good grief, did anyone in that hick town pick up a calendar lately? Did it say 2007? Really? Those people should pull their heads out of their butts.

It is so sad that is could happen in this country in the day and age. They should all be set free. Or is it ok to trash all of there lives over a fight where the "victim" was so injured he was home that afternoon?"

This is reverse racism. Even though I do believe the poster is white, the beginning comment of the post speaks of racism.

"Posted by gernot
I find it interesting that the libs did not note the rascist attack on the white boy involved six blacks. All we get from the PI, is the inordinate prosecution of the one individual involved. Is anyone surprised there is still racism in the South? Didn't you hear Mayor Ray Nagin talking about his "Chocolate City"? Racism is a two way street. Pity the PI thinks it's one way only."

Hmmmmm!

"Posted by Whulj
That's right, folks. Since some black people are racists, that makes it a-okay for white bigots to let 'er rip. Typical wingnut rationalization. They spend most of their days searching for any example of poor behavior to dilute the responsibility they should morally be taking for themselves. Like relying on Al Gore's mansion and jet-setting to excuse their own energy gluttony. Or fingering the latest jihad group to excuse the catastrophe they've created in Iraq. For the wingnut, there can be no change in their behavior or any community-oriented betterment until everyone else's behavior is entirely pristine. How convenient."

OK

"Posted by flyboy
Jena, Louisiana has a population under 3,000 and is near the center of LaSalle County - about 100 miles by road SW of Vicksburg and a long way from New Orleans. You can't get much closer to the deep south, or the Civil War in time or place.

People in Seattle can't understand what life was like for blacks in the deep south just 50 years ago. Yet life still hasn't changed much in places like Jena. Maybe the black-only schools and drinking fountains are gone. but the KKK is still there - third and fourth generation members. For these white-folks the concept of equality is as foreign as the Tibetan language.

Anyone with any talent, black or white, will leave the small towns like Jena. Nothing will change unless people like Amy shine the spotlight on the inequities - until the state or federal government takes an interest and charge these people with failure to enter the 21st century.

There are lots of places in the south that have accepted change, but there are still too many small towns just like Jena.

Apparently, there are people in Seattle who would fit right in with the white folks of Jena."

I think this individual speaks the sentiments for many of us.

"Posted by GlennW
Hanging nooses is not free speech. It's a hate crime and the DA should have been investigating who did that as well as the gun incident by the white students. Reporting injustices is not "playing the race card." I believe one Black student is already facing 20 years in prison and the others could be sentenced to more for standing up for their rights and what is basically a school fight. It's an outrage. It's only because they are Black that they are receivng this kind of treatment.

This type of racism and injustice should be brought to National attention and it's the kind of real reporting Amy Goodman has been doing for years.

And Bill Cosby is an old fart who is conservative. He blames black kids for their poverty but injustice and racism are alive and well in this society as this case and some comments on this Forum show."

I think more people need to really pay attention to what Bill Cosby is saying. He may be rich and conservative today, but when he was young, he was just another poor black kid. So he knows of what he speaks.

"Posted by Kenny0873
I will preface my comments by saying that I grew up in Southeast Texas in a town (Jasper) that endured a hate crime in 1998 that got national attention. Jasper was a great place to grow up and I'm not racist by any means, but the concepts of racism coming from both sides is still very much alive there and apparently all over the south. Most of the time it's subtle, but it most definitely exists and seeing it there and here on this board is very disturbing.
It may never go away, sadly. Places like Jena and Jasper are in bad shape economically and most people that get decent educations do leave. They learn that there's a big world out there that doesn't see people as black or white and that those people should be judged solely by who they are and what they do. People do stay in those places and struggle just like the generations before them and unfortunately, the cycle repeats itself. The thing that I've learned is that it's all over the place and a bigger problem than I ever realized.
I truly hope that Governor Blanco will take a stand and stand up for those kids. To me, it would be a huge step in the right direction and maybe it would even open an eye or two in places where people really need to wake up and see what's going on."

This is a person who speaks from first hand experience and from his/her heart.

"Posted by tuddo
Last year the bus I was on traveling from Baton Rouge to Dallas broke down in a very small town in La. There was on gas station and one small cafe in town. Since it was almost midnihght, most of the people stayed on the bus to sleep. However, a highly decorated staff sargeant, veteran of Iraq and I went to the cafe. There was still a sign I had not seen very often since the 70's, "Blacks served in rear". I thought it must be still up for sick humor or nostalgia, but they were serious. These racists would not serve the sargeant because he was Black unless he went around back to a separate counter. Sounds like a town similar to Jena. The sargeant sighed and went back to the bus. I asked him if he wanted to stand up for his rights, and he said it wasn't worth it, he would probably be put in jail. Even in places where it is not as overt as this one, racism permeates the rural South and many parts of America."

Oh, how I wish the poster had named the small town. I would like to have taken a trip there and given the owner of that station a piece of my mind!!!

"Posted by 10,000 Stars
Wow, it's crazy to hear about this kind of racism still happening in the USA. I'm glad this story was published. I didn't know it was still this bad in some places--well, I didn't really know, anyway.

And then it gets justified by posters in this comments section, too! I'm white, but I think I'd have a hard time buying into the basic tenets of our society if I were black (anotherwords, I'd feel alienated from the society I live in), since it's a society that still contains so much virulent hatred against me based on the color of my skin. Rightly or wrongly, it would be so hard for me to get a decent perspective on that kind of hatred and remain a positive person with a life that is moving forward.

We need to make sure that just because these tiny little towns are stuck away in odd places about which we city people don't usually think too much, they aren't legally allowed to get away with all this creepy evil stuff and ruining people's lives just because they aren't the "right color."

Well said!!!

"Posted by wsdeek
Lex i am so glad we are having this discussion.

wdseek~ You are a perfect template for the white liberal male.......
Don't you see how bigoted it is to say: Too bad I'm a BLACK male that has lived around the world

"Yes the change needs to come from within, but it also needs some help and understanding from without. ".i.e "the white man"... I have no shame in saying this. Everyone needs an assist now and again. Civil rights advanced in the 60s because people of all races came together to end the injustices that threatened all of us. Would the white community helping the black one be an easy task or easily accepted? No, not all. Is there any guarantee of success? None whatsoever.

What you are De facto saying is.."The blacks need me, the lilly white guy to help them get out of this mess. They are obviously too stupid to do it on their own."

You asked: "Why cannot white men affect change in the black community?.....again, this is a classic example of unintended bigotry.

So are not these blacks Americans? Are there laws that prevents whites from helping blacks? Would not making sure we all have equal and superior education, good paying jobs and equality for all of us, help all of us?

Men like Bill Cosby do not want your help. He wants his community to raise themselves. Hope this gets through to the brain housing group. I am black. Is the responsibility of every black person to help every other black person? Is the responsibility of every white person to help every other white person?

I have offered some positive solutions. Where are yours?"

I have not included any of the posts from Lex - they ramble and at times "incoherent"! But this was a good post.

"Posted by Phantasteek
This sound-off reinforces what I've seen in my national and international travels, and dealings with people of all cultures--racism is alive and well EVERYWHERE. There are examples of hatred from every ethnicity to every other ethnicity. And then if people don't hate each other for the basic reason of their skin color, they use economic, idealogical, religious, or political differences as justification for hating each other.

There's no such thing as civilized debate, people from either side of any fence just scream their personal insults back and forth and nothing is accomplished. The anonymity of the internet has only increased this kind of angry discourse."

Whoa - everyone needs to let this sink in!!

"Posted by KaninZ
Having grown up in South Carolina, I can state from personal experience that the legal system is ALL about race and class.
There are two types of justice in the South. Justice that applies to the "Good Old Boys" and Justice that is used to keep the rest of the "colored folk and po' white trash" in their place.
One place I lived (Liberty, SC) even had an old oak tree that was something of a shrine. It was known as "The hanging tree" and was looked on by the local police with more than a little nostalgia for the good ole days."

How truly sad - when will this nation ever get beyond that mentality?

"Posted by Bizy-G
Believe it or not, some conservatives add rational voices to these soundoffs. Unfortunately, some liberals here believe that nothing a conservative states can be rational, which is absurd.
I'm sure Amy Goodman is well respected by her peers, so is Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. The problem is that neither side really wants to get to the WHOLE story, only to paint it within the framework of their own ideological views. If Amy Goodman were really a good reporter, I would have no problem with her, the problem is that she's not a reporter, shes a commentator. If she were a reporter, we would be able to reach our own conclusions about the stories she writes, but she's not a reporter.
She's also an anthropologist, and as such, she should have a better insight into human "nature" than the average lay person. She probably does, and uses that knowledge to craft pieces which will get the desired response from her (to quote one of the "drive-by" posters) sheeple. Throughout history and today, people around the world are persecuted because of the color of their skin or the shape of their nose, or even their physical stature. That is simply human nature. The only way to change that is to impose on others a value set different from one which they've developed on their own. You may see where I'm going with this, so I'll keep it short. Basically, it boils down to who minds the minders.
I think most of the seattle liberals (slibs) would totally agree with me if they thought I was talking about the fascism of the current administration. But they know me, and know I'm not talking about that, so I'll be beat down with the written word in an effort to force me to comply with their minding."

"She's also an anthropologist, and as such, she should have a better insight into human "nature" than the average lay person." Does this poster not think that even anthropologists, who do have inside into human nature, are not bigots? Does anyone truly believe that all reporters/writers/opinionators have 100% no discriminating bone in their body? In what world? I am not at all disputing Amy Goodman. Only the posters take that just because a person (any person) is an anthropologist, they are not bigoted or partisan.


Perhaps living in the suburbs of Los Angeles for 37 years has "sheltered" me from the harsh reality that the "South" STILL treats blacks as second rate citizens. I was raised in a small farming community in Texas. It was at a time when the schools were still segregated. Desegregation came about my senior year of high school, but by then I was living in a large metropolis in an area where blacks did not live. So, no, I never attended school with blacks. It was my first job upon graduation of high school that I actually had my first social contact with blacks. Certainly my eyes noticed a difference in the color of their skin. But otherwise, they were just another human being, no different from myself.

In my environment, there was never any hostility towards the blacks (or at least, not that I was aware of). There was no animosity on either side.

Then I moved to Southern California. Again, I worked with blacks, all very nice people. I only heard about the conflicts with the blacks in Watts. It really was not until the Rodney King riots that I came face to face with the reality of the bitterness the blacks felt towards the white. What was ironic was that these blacks that started/created the riots burned down their own neighborhoods. How much sense did that make?

It was a very long recovery for that area of Los Angeles. But the bitterness remained. Today it comes out in the form of gangs. There are black gangs, Asian gangs and Hispanic gangs (and, not to overlook them, there are even some white gangs, but few).

But I have never seen or heard anywhere I have lived the mental attitude that apparently still exists in the "old South" towards blacks.

My heart literally sank when I first began hearing about Jena, LA. I could not believe that in 2007, blacks were still being treated as second class citizens. That in Jena, LA. at a high school, there was a designated "white" tree on the campus. That the administrators at that school would even allow such a thing is beyond my realm of thinking. This is 2007 for cripes sakes!

And then to read that because a black student had ask if he could stand under the "white" tree, he had been denied the "privilege" and instead, some white students hung a noose on one of the tree limbs to get the message across to the blacks - loud and clear.

And still, the administrators only took meaningless actions. Put yourself in the shoes of the blacks of that school. How would you feel?

I am certainly not condoning the actions of the black students. But since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn of organized schools) there have been school fights between boys.

Now that the black youths have been tried and found guilty, we need to look beyond their wrongs. We need to look at the meaningless action taken against the white students involved. And we need to look at the actions (or lack of actions) of the school district and its administrators. Every school district in the United States receives State and Federal monies. Starting with the Federal Government, they should immediately pull all funding and then the State should do likewise. Or the State should take over the district (this only if the State is not in agreement with the actions of the administrators and the treatment of the black students).

It boggles my mind that after the judgement handed down in Jena, people today feel that the protests are unwarranted and stupid. This is what the civil rights movement was about.

Perhaps we need another Martin Luther King alive today to help the citizens of the United States realize that we are all equal. And for anyone to think that the Rev. Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton could step into those big shoes would be a fool. These two individuals do more to incite the situations than any human alive. In order for their voice to be valid, they need to show the same fiery sentiment to those whites who have suffered injustice just as their own people have. To do otherwise is in it self a form of discrimination.

Today my heart aches - that here in the United States of America still lives a group of people that have no tolerance for others.

Bush Family Table Talk

Sherman Yellen
Posted September 22, 2007

"America's Grandma," Barbara Bush, is at it again. No, she is no longer advising us that half-drowned African American's who survived Katrina should be comfortable in their distress because they are accustomed to living in squalor, today she is offering up advice on how to raise our children - based I suppose upon her great success in raising hers. She is a public advocate for gathering one's family around the dinner table for conversation, assuring us in her new TV ad that this very act of togetherness will prevent our children from becoming alcoholics and drug abusers. This, from the mother of George and Neil and Jeb??? The first being a former drug abuser and alcoholic, the second a principal figure in an S&L banking scandal that cost the country billions, and the third complicit in the stealing of elections for his brother, which nearly cost the country the country. Can there be no end to Republican Chutzpah?

Early last week we were told by the very people who abused decorated Vietnam hero Max Cleland and John Kerry that the MoveOn ad about the packaged testimony of General Petraeus was an assault upon our military, and now we are to take the advice of the mother of one of America's most dysfunctional families. Momma Bush I fear has more in common with Ma Barker, the notorious mother of a criminal gang of the 1930's than she does with Whistler's mother, or your mother, or mine, assuming that our mother's did not raise a criminal cabal.

Can you imagine that table talk in the family manse in Maine? "Georgie, little Herbie down the street stuck out his tongue at Daddy, and I think he stole our newspaper from the front lawn last week, so I want you to go over to his house and set it on fire. After you've finished with your shock and awe assignment I want you to occupy his property indefinitely. We can't be safe in our lovely American home until you do it - after all, he might do more than make faces at Daddy in the future. He may come over here and pee on the rose bushes."

There had to be a lot of fine talk at that particular dinner table. It never ceases to amaze me that Barbara and Laura, those public advocates for education and reading always confuse literacy with Republican morality, which includes fear mongering, accusations of treason, innuendo about the opponent's patriotism, and creatively vicious name calling. "Now how do you spell traitor, Georgie? A hint. There are two t's in it, not in the middle but at the beginning and at the end"

I would rather take advice from an illiterate mother in the Brazilian rain forest who struggles to keep her family alive than from such women. Mother's of America unite. You don't need your kids sitting daily at the dinner table for them to grow into good men and women. Indeed most mothers are working mothers and they are more concerned about feeding their kids than seating them at family discussions - a lovely thing, and a luxury more easily afforded by two parent households, but alas, almost gone with the fifties. Forced to sit at the dinner table they will only be playing with some computer game on their laps as you lecture them.

Decent kids grow up by example, your example of decency and generosity, not by hectoring or lecturing. And they grow up to be good citizens if given the chance of good public health care and good public schools, something you don't talk about much in your world. Why, why, that would be "socialized opportunity!" I can only imagine the example set by Ma Bush on those long ago Maine summers, as they sat around that dinner table. All that talk about "us" and "them." And all of us "thems" - which means most of America - have grievously suffered from it.

What happens in Vegas . . . . .

The 2007 Rte. 66 Rendevous - a new entry!!!

This was just too good to pass up!!!

I think they really mean it!!!

Painfully funny!!!

You may have more hair Mr President, but I've got more testosterone, says the BBC's political editor

In early August, when GWB was holding his first summit meeting with Britain's new leader in Maryland, it was a very, very warm day. Standing for a very long time in the beating sun a British reporter who happened to have a hair deficit on the top of his head was sweating profusely.

After the summit meeting and GWB and the British leader had met with the press, GWB remarked to the reporter "Next time you should cover your bald head".

Here from the reporter:

Call me sensitive, suggest I'm paranoid if you like – we who are follically challenged are used to it – but I think his meaning was pretty plain. "Now it's your turn to feel the heat, baldie," the President was saying.

"I didn't know you cared," I replied, as Dubya and the PM started walking away.

"I don't," the President snapped.

Perhaps GWB was suffering from the heat as well! However, he is know to make snide and nasty remarks in the coldest of winters as well!

I hail from the same state as GWB - Texas. I do not recall ever being raised to be snide. Perhaps his mother was lacking in maternal skills to teach her children the art of tact! Gee she seemed like such a nice woman.

View from outside the box!

An interesting article in the Daily Mail, a United Kingdom newspaper, and their take on GWB, the Iraq/Iran war and their position in it all. Click here to read.