African American Political Pundit Blog

Segregated Coast Guard

2009-11-28T05:36:00.000-05:00

Here is a great article by Dennis Conrad of the Associated Press regarding what I term a segregated coast guard. Check out the numbers, the lack of diversity in a service where only 311 of its 6,787 commissioned officers are black, with only one black admiral. One can see why the Coast Guard academy continues to respond to racism.

WASHINGTON — Eight years after the U.S. Coast Guard and the NAACP signed a voluntary agreement to work together to boost the number of African-Americans at its 1,000-cadet service academy, the annual enrollment and graduation figures for blacks remain in single digits.

Seven blacks graduated from the academy based in New London, Conn., in the spring of 2001, the year the agreement was signed.

The same number graduated from the Class of 2006, the first class for which blacks were recruited under the agreement.

Subsequently, there were seven black graduates in 2007, five in 2008 and four in 2009.

That makes 23 graduates in four years under the agreement, including the academy's first black female valedictorian. In the four previous years the number was 33.

Leading lawmakers have grown increasingly upset with results even as they repeatedly are told the Guard is working hard to improve diversity in a service where only 311 of its 6,787 commissioned officers are black, with only one black admiral.

"The Coast Guard has just not paid attention to it. It is not antipathy or animosity toward it," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation Committee.

"I think we're moving in the right direction and got the Coast Guard's attention and we're not going to let up."

Under a House bill, sponsored by Oberstar and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the Coast Guard subcommittee chairman, members of Congress would nominate candidates for the academy. All the other service academies have long used congressional nominations.

On a 385-11 vote last month, the House advanced the legislation to the Senate.

The Coast Guard Academy historically has taken pride in viewing itself merit-based and choosing its applicants without regard to their geographical distribution among the states.

Cummings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, expects black enrollment to grow with congressional involvement, at least in part because the House typically has about 40 black lawmakers who would be effective recruiters in largely black congressional districts.

The Coast Guard's position on the bill has been rather subdued.

The academy's superintendent, Rear Adm. J. Scott Burhoe, likes the existing "merit-based system," but would be "fine" if Congress adopted congressional nominations.

"I think for us part of our fear is the unknown, really, right now," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. More Here

The Trial of Watson Black - A Novel

2009-11-26T22:36:00.001-05:00

Here is an interesting novel from blogger Francis L. Holland at the Police Brutality blog.

A NOVEL OF SCIENCE FICTION

Watson Black was on his way home from his dry cleaning job when he noticed a police car behind him. Watson, a mentor at the local high school and a member of the the Whitesville Chamber of Commerce was used to obeying law, having never been charged with any offense civil or criminal in his 32 years of life.

Still he knew the danger police posed. His mother had told him since he was a child that he should never believe he could do what whites did and get away with it, if only because whites would point the legal finger at him if anything went wrong.

Even as he drove at the speed limit and stopped well before the corner at the next stop sign, he felt ill at ease. Just three months prior Whitesville police officers pulled over a car driven by a Howard University students, with two classmates and, for some reason that was never fully, explained, two Whitesville police officers had shot fifteen bullets into the students' car before even approaching them or running their license plate numbers.

Although no one could prove it, most local Blacks considered the incident to be yet another color-aroused assassination by police, while whites who were 81% of Whitesville, believed the students must have done something wrong, even if police could not say convincingly what it was. Two of the students had died before they reached the hospital while the third was paralized from the neck down.

The knowledge that Samuel Bill Sye would never walk again burned deep in the hearts of Black people, in a place that whites could not see or conceive. In fact, since that day Whitesville had become a tinderbox awaiting a match, a bolt of thunder or just a cigarette carelessly thrown from the window of a Whitesville squad car.

What distinguished Whitesville from other towns across America was that most of its sons and daughters had found no jobs in the local area and had instead enlisted in the US Armed services, returning home with a few dollars toward college and the best munitions and target practice training that the United States Armed Services could provide.

Encouraged by Alex Oldhead, a fiftyish ex-Black Panther who had seen the group annihilated in the early seventies and only escaped himself because he was doing time for armed robbery, returning veterans from both Gulf wars had obtained gun permits and given each other new Glocks and high-powered rifles as Christmas presents. They established a de facto Blacks-only shooting club, hunted together on weekends and shot bull's eyes on weeknights. Only they knew whose faces their minds' eyes superimposed over the red and white cardboard.

Compose

Blacks in Whitesville never talked of their weekend and evening activities with their white co-workers and friends, and no one asked. With gun laws watered down statewide like cheap liquor, there was no firearm they couldn't buy at Wal-Mart, at a weekend flea market or over the Internet. At the age of eleven or twelve, young men and some pig-tailed young girls snuck romantic looks at one another as they decimated targets that seemed miles away from their pre-pubescent fantasies.

Behind Watson Black, the flashing red and blue lights began furiously blinking on and off, for no reason that Watson could comprehend, except his skin color, which in Whitesville was reason enough. Watson pulled his Buick carefully over to the curb, put his hands on the top of the steering wheel and waited what seemed like an eternity for the police officer to exit his car and sidle up behind Watson's driver's side window, with his hand on his sidearm as if he were expecting a shootout. Read more HERE

AAPP: No need for a novel, this is happening everyday in America. But then again... Great novel.

Thanksgiving Thoughts - From a black man - 2009

2009-11-26T17:20:00.003-05:00

Local and national news have been showing images of the First lady Michelle Obama in the elegant, strapless designer gown she wore for the white House's first state dinner. While a group of native Americans and thier supports are experiencing thanks & giving-back to Dineh elder resisters at Big Mtn.

Candidly, I'm just a bit disappointed to see our government, lead by an African American, have a state dinner while black folks are in a depression and there is so much hunger in America. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Thanksgiving, I know we have a lot to be thankful for, but....

State Dinner vs Hunger in America

As Jayne Lyn Stahl, recently wrote in CounterPunch, "one can't help but be distracted by the equally stunning number of people who find themselves hungry and poor this Thanksgiving. More than 12% of all Americans know what it means to be poor in America. While they're conspicuously absent from reality T.V. shows, from box office movies, and political party platforms, they are increasingly visible at food banks, and shelters." For me, Obama and his administration should take a second look at having "State Dinners" when so many Americans are out of work and losing their homes? Happy Thanksgiving?

Seeing that black folks don't seem to be getting anything substantial from the Obama administration, Maybe Barack Obama will give the native Americans a Thanksgiving and Settle the USDA lawsuit in keeping with the National Congress of American Indians request.
(Note: the National Congress of American Indians recently passed a resolution asking Obama to settle a lawsuit against the USDA, who denied thousands of American Indian farmers credit to keep their farms running).

UPDATE: Now we here reports of the big security leak at the White House. How did these knuckleheads get this close to the Vice president and the President?

Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions - The Washington Post

2009-11-24T14:58:00.005-05:00

According to The Washington Post, joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions, 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population, The Washington Post reports.

Young black women have an unemployment rate of 26.5 percent, while the rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women is 15.4 percent.

For young blacks, race statistically appears to be a bigger factor in their unemployment than age, income or even education. Lower-income white teens were more likely to find work than upper-income black teens. Even blacks who graduate from college suffer from joblessness at twice the rate of their white peers.

Some studies examining how employers review black and white job applicants suggest that discrimination may be at play.

"Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," says a Princeton University sociologist. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison."

Read More: More HERE

AAPP Says: OK you folks who have blind faith with our President. Why is the President not having his cabinet Secretaries address this issue? Ratther than extending the war in Afghanistan he should be addressing real needs at home. Has anyone heard from the department of labor secretary? America's core cities needs a massive jobs program. It's no wonder our communities have not exploded. I'm glad the haven't because they would only taser a another black man to death. Maybe Ms. Huffington is right, the disaster of unemployment will be President Obama's Katrina.

Join me and other progressive thinkers, tonight on the 8:00 PM EST on African American Political Pundit's "Political Slugfest Show." We want to address this particular issue. if you can handle the truth.

The Politics of obesity and black folks

2009-11-23T23:30:00.000-05:00

Some two dozen Lincoln University seniors may not receive their degrees this spring, thanks to a graduation requirement stipulating that students who enter college with a BMI over 30 must either prove to the school that they've lost weight, or take a one-semester class called "Fitness for Life." Lincoln, a historically black university in Oxford, Pennsylvania, enacted the requirement in 2006, meaning that this year's graduating class is the first to feel its effects. Despite student protests, James DeBoy, chairman of the health, physical education, and recreation department, doesn't see a problem with the requirement. "We test for written, oral communication skills, and I don't see this as any different," he says. We want our students to have a sound mind, but also a sound body." --- Let's talk about the politics of black health tonight... If you can handle the truth.

AAPP says: I have no problem with this decision, good health is an individual decision, yet the community needs to help out whenever possible. Read Generation Triple XL: African American Kids' Obesity Rates Rise.

Tasers Wins 100th Law Suit

2009-11-23T08:16:00.000-05:00

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 23, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), a leading provider of technology solutions and the market leader in electronic control devices (ECDs), announced that on November 20, 2009, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered an order and judgment for TASER International in the arrest-related-death lawsuit entitled Rosa v. TASER International, et al. granting TASER International's motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs were represented in the Rosa case by California attorneys: John C. Burton, Peter M. Williamson, John F. Baker, and Peter T. Cathcart. Plaintiffs filed their lawsuit in 2005, and aggressively litigated their case for 4 years. The medical examiner had determined cause of death was from the methamphetamine Mr. Rosa ingested.

The Court noted that "California courts require that plaintiffs present evidence of 'general recogni[tion] and prevailing best scientific and medical knowledge' to meet the 'known or knowable' element of a strict liability claim." In addition, the court noted that the "evidence is insufficient as a matter of law to raise a triable issue as to 'knowability' of the risk,... [and] insufficient to create a triable issue as to whether TASER should have known of the risk."

The Court also noted that "TASER has developed a comprehensive warning system in which every ECD sold or distributed is accompanied by a training CD/DVD and operating manual to be used by TASER-certified instructors," and that Defendant's expert Dr. Raymond Fish "unequivocally rejects the theory that ECDs on humans decrease respiration and cause dangerous acidosis."

In granting TASER's motion for summary judgment, the Court stated that TASER International's assertions "are well-taken" that there are no genuine issues of material fact with regard to whether, "the alleged propensity of ECDs to cause metabolic acidosis was known or knowable on December 30, 2003, when the ECDs in question were shipped from TASER to its distributor; [and]... TASER's warnings with respect to the dangers posed by application of its ECDs were adequate..." More HERE

AAPP says: There is a real reason why Taser International can win cases in Federal Court. The Federal judges have been bribed and the Federal government is currently contracting through the Pentagon with Taser International, U.S. Customs and other federal agencies. if anyone is tasered by these Federal Police Departments and Federal Law Enforcement agencies the government would be liable. I smell a conspiracy, do you?

Taser, Gun Crazy America

2009-11-22T19:34:00.000-05:00

As reported by AFP, CHANTILLY, Virginia — Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again.

"Do you see the line all around the building and in the back," asked Annette Elliott, co-organizer of one of the top gun shows in Virginia, a conservative state with rather liberal gun laws.

Several hundred people thronged the gun show in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, where some 260 retailers have set up stalls hung with ready-to-fire Smith and Wessons, Glocks, Walthers, Colts and Berettas.

"We've had a huge increase in sales since last October," 2008 just before President Barack Obama was elected. "Well over 200 percent. It's coming back," said Jerry Cochran, owner of his eponymous major gun retailing firm in the state.

He hopes to sell 500 weapons at the gun show this weekend.

Elliott expects as many as 12,000 people will turn up at the three-day gun fair.

In a state where you can wear a loaded weapon on your belt as long as it's in full sight, or a concealed one with a permit, handguns and semi-automatic assault rifles are openly sold to residents after a customary spot check for criminal records.

A questionnaire must also be filled out asking whether the prospective buyer has been convicted of any crime, is an illegal immigrant or is "subject to a court order restraining you from harassing, stalking... an intimate partner." More HERE

AAPP Says: Well I guess the United States is getting wackier every day. Now private citizens will be taseing their kids in order to have the take a shower.

SCLC Supports Stop Taser Torture - Blogging For Justice Day 12.4.09

2009-11-21T23:21:00.000-05:00

The Fort Worth Branch of SCLC, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which has taken a national lead protesting the taser death of Michael Jacobs has not stopped in renewing the call for Taser Ban.They are also actively supporting the Stop Taser Torture day on December 4th 2009.

Announcing SCLC's Fort Worth Chapter support, Rev. Kyev Tatum, Sr., President of the SCLC's Fort Worth Tarrant County Chapter said, "The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is proud to support Stop Taser Torture and encourage all to join in the international Day of Blogging. This is one of the issues that will define our generation's consciousness and human rights position for years to come. Thank you for this moment in history, Plow Forward. "

The Stop Taser Torture Movement is appreciative of Rev. Kyev Tatum, Sr. and the support of the SCLC Fort Worth Tarrant County Chapter.

Civil Rights Groups and Congressional Black Caucus Turn on Obama

2009-11-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

The organizations — including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group— will make clear that they believe the president’s $787 billion stimulus program has not gone far enough to fight unemployment.

They will call for increased spending for schools and roads, billions of dollars in fiscal relief to state and local governments to forestall more layoffs and a direct government jobs program, “especially in distressed communities facing severe unemployment.”

AAPP says, It's about time the NAACP said something about the status of black America. It's also about time that the Congressional Black Caucus Congressional Black Caucus addressed the unemployment status of our community.

But, one has to wonder why they are now pressing Barack Obama on this issue, when they are the ones that voted for his bogus stimulus plan from the get. Read >>>The Black Caucus and Obama: One-Way Loyalty | Black Agenda Report

As Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report has noted, The Obama Administration makes it plain that no serious job-creation proposals will be entertained.The employment crisis is to be treated as a waiting game. Civil rights and labor leaders seem not to understand that their president “is philosophically opposed to targeted programs that might directly impact on Black unemployment.” More>>> on the White House plans sham jobs forum.

Now, as reported in the Huffington Post, a bloc of African American House Democrats, angry and worried that not enough is being done about high unemployment by the administration, forced the postponement of a much-anticipated vote Thursday on comprehensive financial regulation reform. The Financial Services Committee had finished hearing amendments around 3 p.m. and recessed, planning to return at 4 for a final vote on the package. But during the break, some of the Democrats on the committee buttonholed Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and told him they wouldn't vote for the bill because of the deepening problem of unemployment in their districts. The refusal to vote for the package, a key priority of the administration, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in particular, was portrayed as a direct rebuke of the White House's "lack of response to the economic situation." "We will not be proceeding to passage today," Frank began. "I have been meeting with members of the committee, particularly the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who have informed me that they are troubled by what they believe is the lack of response to the economic situation that is confronting them on the part of the administration, and therefore do not feel that they could -- in deference to the various constituencies that they represent -- vote for passage." The CBC met earlier this week with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and expressed dissatisfaction with the administration's response to the unemployment situation, an aide familiar with the meeting said. More HERE

The bogus CBC and Congressional Black Caucus decision to buck Barack Obama all of sudden, is a tell tale sign that they will have competition in there own elections this years, as many people will hopefully come out of the woodwork to run against them.

Many of their districts are turning into white urban enclaves due to gentrification.

There will be a lot of different folks, including unhappy Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Whites and maybe a few Vietnamese running and splitting the black vote against these old CBC members crooks who have been in office ripping folks off for too long. Why are they bucking Obama now? Are these the same Congressional Black Caucus members that supported billions of America's hard earned tax dollars being sent over to Iraq for reconstruction when black America needed it's own reconsruction projects?

I have been pointing out for some time on my BlogTalkRadio program that these black politicans are just crooks and liars like their counterparts. They could care less about the Sub Prime Tsunami that black folks have experienced. According to a recent report, Blacks and Latinos will lose between $163 billion and $278 billion from sub prime loans taken out over the past eight years. Blacks will lose $71 billion to $122 billion, while Latino borrowers will lose between $76 billion to $129 billion for the same period. More HERE

Lets see if any of these balless members and their fellow democrats will confront the issue of mass incarceration of black folks while they are at it. Doubt It!

PS: Let me not even talk about the National office of the NAACP. I hope to have them on my blogtakradio program in the next few weeks.

2009-11-21T19:30:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/rBhpq
Standards For police Taser Use supported By Publisher of Tasered While Black Blog

2009-11-21T19:26:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/0n9fV
Tasered For Needing Help

2009-11-21T19:25:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/87K40
Movement to Stop Taser Torture now on Facebook and Twitter

Standards for police taser use supported by publisher of Tasered While Black Blog

2009-11-21T14:06:00.001-05:00

http://stoptasertorture.blogspot.com

I just finished reading the Police Executive Research Forum's Taser policy guidelines. The forum is a research group for police chiefs and administrators funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. There are 52 standards that were released in 2005. It was an attempt to standardize police department Taser policy nationally. The guidelines are a good start, and should be adopted in State Legislatures across America. Hopeful Canada would do the same. Do I want tasered outlawed, yes. Yet in the interim, strict policy must be created and enforced.

Some of the police forum's standards provide stricter guidelines for Taser use and improve internal oversight, training and medical care for people shot with a Taser. These standards cover issues not adequately addressed in thousands of police department across the United States, Canada and other countries.

Blogger, African American Political Pundit, who also publishes the blogs, Stop Taser Torture, Tasered While Black said, "every police department in the United States should compare it's Police Department's Taser policy with the forum's standards." He also said, there is a need for all police departments to establish a clear policy on providing medical treatment from medical professionals to people shot with Tasers." The bottom line is police agencies should be required to contact emergency responders whenever the police respond to a call where they believe a Taser might be used." The blogger said, "It's time for police departments to take corrective action and it's time for Congressional and state legislators, along with state police agencies to take the lead in developing strict requirements, such as those spelled out in the Police Executive Research Forum's Taser policy guidelines."

Don't forget to join us on December 4th. “Stop Taser Torture, blogging for Justice.” as we raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. Contact us at: StopTaserTorture@gmail.com to register your blog.
Please place a button on your blog.

http://stoptasertorture.blogspot.com

Progressive Bloggers United Against Taser Tortue, Kick Off Crusade

2009-11-20T20:36:00.002-05:00

Back-to-Back-to-Back Taser Deaths Kicks Off Crusade
By Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)

Since the maker of the 50,000-volt electronic stun gun control device (ECD), TASER International, issued a new directive and warnings in an October 12, 2009 memo, there has been six more death, three in a matter of four days this past week:

• 453. November 13, 2009: Herman George Knabe, 58, Corpus Christi, Texas
• 454. November 14, 2009: Darryl Bain, 43, Long Island, New York
• 455. November 16, 2009: Matthew Bolick, 30, East Grand Rapids, Michigan

The word about tasers is obviously not getting out. There is still a general public acceptance of tasers as an better alternative to more deadly force, and the common belief among law enforcement that the instrument saves more lives than are lost. But is it saving lives of officers in the field at the expense of the lives of innocent people and thereby endangering the general public’s safety?

Truth Not Tasers blogsite now list the names of 455 people in North America who have lost their lives by tasers.

In a continuing effort to raise public awareness about the deadliness of the weapon, and the memory of those who needlessly died, we are waging a blogging campaign on December 4, 2009. The purpose of the Stop Taser Torture Blogging for Justice Day is “to unite the world’s bloggers” in America, Canada, and throughout the world to join in on the effort to stop tasers.

[Blog Registration through StopTaserTorture@gmail.com]

AfroSpear Network Blogger, Eddie G. Griffin (BASG), has joined the campaign to register the grievances against TASER International on behalf of Fort Worth, Texas families who have lost love ones to the device.

• 424. April 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Fort Worth, Texas
• 228. August 23, 2006: Noah Lopez, 25, Fort Worth, Texas
• 138. June 24, 2005: Carolyn Daniels, 25, Fort Worth, Texas
• 116. April 3, 2005: Eric Hammock, 43, Fort Worth, Texas
• 86. November 2, 2004: Robert Guerrero, 21, Fort Worth, Texas

Eddie G. Griffin (BASG), an Adult Friend of World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, Mariefred, Sweden, also raise the issue of tasers used against children, contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution 44/25, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989, which states in Article 6 that “every child has the inherent right to life”, and in Article 37 (a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

These are children who died by taser.

• 7. December 15, 2001: Hannah Rogers-Grippi, 6 months fetus, Chula Vista, California
• 144. July 12, 2005: Kevin Omas, 17, Euless, Texas
• 249. October 29, 2006: Roger Holyfield, 17, Jerseyville, Illinois
• 351. March 20, 2008: Darryl Wayne Turner, 17, Charlotte, North Carolina
• 379. July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 408. January 8, 2009: Derrick Jones, 17, Martinsville, Virginia
• 417. March 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Bay City, Michigan
• 421. April 10, 2009: Robert Mitchell, 16, Detroit, Michigan

Although the United States is not a signatory party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, these voiceless children have need of an advocate to speak on their behalf.

417. March 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Bay City, Michigan

Hello, my name is Bethany and I have been reading a lot about how to try and change the state laws in Michigan. I was very close to the 15-year old boy Brett Elder (Dewy). I think about him every day and there is nothing I can do to bring him back, but there is something I can do, and that is to start a Petition. As you may know there have already been two deaths of minors in the State of Michigan this year. I am currently in the process of creating a petition (Dewy’s Minor Taser Protection Act).

If you have any advice for me please feel free to e-mail me. I have also a myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=474323826

Bethany A. Schuster, Bay City, Michigan (Tinkerbell283125@comcast.net)

[Editor's Note: As I write, a 10-year old girl has been tasered.]

FOR TASER WAR UPDATES, Read http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/

Alabama county sues JPMorgan over debt deals

2009-11-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama’s most populous county filed suit Friday blaming Wall Street powerhouse JPMorgan Chase and others for the financial disaster that brought it to the brink of what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Source: Mark Lennihan / The Associated Press

Jefferson County in Alabama filed a suit that contends JPMorgan Chase and others were part of a conspiracy.
The suit, filed in state court by Jefferson County, contends JPMorgan Securities Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank, former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and dozens of other defendants were part of a conspiracy to generate huge fees through a series of deals called rate swaps.

The deals were supposed to help the county manage debt from a massive sewer renovation but instead generated huge fees and crippled the county’s finances, according to the complaint.
“These transactions provided no value to the county or its citizens and created an inherently flawed financial structure that imploded within just a few years,” said the complaint, which seeks an unspecified amount in damages.

The lawsuit also names Montgomery-based investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre, both of whom pleaded guilty to bribing Langford in deals that generated $ 7.1 million in fees for Blount’s company, Blount Parrish & Co., which also is a defendant in the case.

Mayor Larry Langford Found guilty - faces a potential sentence of 805 years

2009-11-17T23:42:00.000-05:00

Larry Langford: 'Calm inside' as verdicts halt career

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford waits outside the the Federal Building in Tuscaloosa, Ala, as the jury deliberates during his federal bribery trial Wednesday, October 28, 2009. (The Birmingham News /Tamika Moore) Larry Langford, Birmingham's mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial.

Langford, who is 61 or 63, was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre.

Both pleaded guilty in the case and testified they made cash payments to Langford while he was the president of the Jefferson County Commission to ensure business for Blount's investment bank, Blount Parrish & Co.

"We all have our trials, this too will pass," Langford said as he walked from the courtroom followed closely by his wife.

"The citizens of Birmingham have been fantastic to me," he said outside the courthouse.

He said the verdict will be appealed. "I'm no crybaby, but ..."

"At the end of the day, I shot my best shot, but the jury ruled the way that they did," he said, in a wide-ranging press conference outside court.

"All this trial did was interrupt my Bible study classes for two weeks," he said, adding he faces a potential sentence of 805 years. He said if he lived to be 80, he would have to die and "come back 10 more times" to serve such a sentence.

Judge Scott Coogler decided Langford would forfeit $241,843. The lawyers agreed.

Coogler ordered a sentencing report within 90 to 120 days and said Langford would remain free until then on the existing $50,000 unsecured bond.

Birmingham City Council President Carole Smitherman is now mayor of Alabama's largest city. (Corrected: A swearing in is not required) More HERE

10 Year old Girl Tasered By police

2009-11-17T19:47:00.000-05:00

Is there ever a time when a 10 year old kid should be tasered by police for bad behavior?

According to OZARK, Ark. Police there is: Get this, according to 4029tv.com -- Ozark police said they were called to a home where a mother asked for help with her unruly child, but the 10-year-old's father said he's outraged at the force police used against his daughter.

"I would like to say Ozark police Tased this little girl right here.

Ten years old and [they] shot electricity through her body, and I want to know how the heck in God's green earth can they get away with this," said the girl's father, Anthony Medlock.Medlock said his daughter was at her mother's house when Ozark police Officer Dustin Bradshaw shocked her in the back with a Taser and arrested her."If you can't pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don't think you need to be an officer," Medlock said.Medlock said his daughter does show signs of having emotional issues, but she "doesn't deserve to be treated like a dog.

She's not a tiger."According to a police report, the officer was called to the home by the mother and witnessed the child kicking and screaming.The officer's statement said the girl's mother, Kelly Hamlert, told him to use a Taser on her if he needed to.The officer did shock the girl after he said she kicked him in the groin."He had no other choice. He had to get the child under control," said Ozark police Chief Jim Noggle.Noggle said the officer shocked the girl for about a second.Ozark police said it is their policy to use a Taser on someone who is a threat to others, no matter their age. More HERE

AAPP says: "This amount to taser torture no matter what age. So these idiot police department will tase a 5 year old who is a threat to another 5 year old. These are really some stupid backward bastards." This is just another reason to Join us and let's stop the Taser madness ---- it's time for all bloggers whether you be, Black, White, Latino, Native American, Asian, Hillbilly or Progressives to come together on this issue. As Villager, at Electronic Village noted recently, "These deaths keep piling on at a rate of once-per-week." I also encourage all bloggers to join us on December 4, 2009 when we gather for a Day of Blogging for Justice to Stop Taser Torture.

Don't forget to Sign The Petition to Request Congressional hearings on Taser Torture in America.

Why do black folks do this - Are black folks going insane - I ask Why?

2009-11-17T19:24:00.000-05:00

There is something going on in America. Has black America gone insane? Is there something in the Chicken? As an example Why would an enraged father shoot and kill his 15yr old son in the back of the head execution style? Why would a Chicago School Board President Kill himself ? Why did a 21-year-old man have to be fatally shot in broad daylight as he boards a bus on a busy street? "He was just boarding the bus. He was actually onboard and was shot while standing in the doorway of the bus by shooters on the outside of the bus," Burke said.Rawlings's younger brother, DeOnté Rawlings, was 14 when he was killed in 2007 by an off-duty D.C. police officer who had gone to recover a stolen minibike. Federal officials ruled the shooting justified.

Why did a 17-year-old girl have to die when shots are exchanged on a neighborhood playground and she is caught in the crossfire? Why are drive by shootings happening in Tallahassee's Lake Palm Drive? Why would the DC sniper calls himself 'this innocent black man'? Why are men dying in South Kansas City Shooting?

Gregory Kane: When innocence is anything but - Why would a black man rob a store and kill the liquor Store Owner? Why would someone kill a 15-year-old Jason Madison Jr. Who Baltimore police say his murderer gagged with a pillow case and then stabbed him repeatedly in the head and throat with a box cutter. That was after sexually assaulting and sodomizing the boy. Why are black folks invading homes and killing like it's goin out of style.Why would some shoot a Birmingham woman and kill her with a gunshot wound to head? Tuesday night Why did another young black woman get killed because she was involved in a hateful relationship.

Yes, I know the bigots love this post. But we do have to admit, America has made many of our youth nothing more than two-bit thugs. I hope that this young men didn't kill this Pregnant Woman as reported by the clor aroused Newsnet 14 group.

Finally why would a black man rob banks - without a mask?

Surveillance photo

The FBI says this man robbed two Houston-area banks in four days earlier this month. I guess it's the economy. It's making black folks go insane!

AAPP says: If we are looking for the President of the United States or the justice department to address these issues, we will be waiting for hell to freeze over.

You see, President Obama is well intended, but he is surrounded by crooks, liars and criminals. These crooks and liars have run the banks into the ground and ruined our economy. Now black folks have gone plum crazy!

Black America has to stimulate itself out of this mess. The only stimulus package the United States Government will provide will be to Wall Street. There will be no bailout from the Justice Department, The Department of Labor or the Department of Education soon.

Police in Texas taser torture for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct

2009-11-17T10:59:00.000-05:00

According to Cameron Langford at the Court House News Service, Police in Texas public schools are increasingly using force against children, including Tasers and pepper spray, and the "overwhelming majority" of police "interventions" involve "low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct," a public interest group says.
     Texas Appleseed claims the Spring Branch Independent School District is putting students at risk and violating the law by refusing to release its "use of force" policy.
     More than 75 percent of Spring Branch, a suburb northwest of Houston, is black or Latino. The school district claims its use of force policy is exempt from disclosure because of the exception for law enforcement.
     Texas Appleseed says it sent open records requests to 24 Texas school districts, seeking their police departments' use of force policies, and 11 produced the documents. The group say its investigation revealed accounts of police in Texas public schools using pepper spray and Tasers on students.
     "The public interest in ensuring full dialogue around policies relating to use force on Texas school children outweighs any risk to SBISD-PD's ability to affect arrests or engage in law enforcement on its campuses," Texas Appleseed says in its complaint in Harris County Court.
     Appleseed says that reports of Texas school police using pepper spray and Tasers on school children are becoming more common. It says the data its has received shows the "overwhelming majority of law enforcement interventions on Texas school campuses involve school-aged children cited or arrested for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct."   Read More HERE

TWB Publisher says: I'm glad to see that a watchdog group wants Info on Police Use of Force Against Schoolkids. It's time to stop the torture of school children in our public school system. Where is the U.S. Department of Justice when we need them to protect our children? Texas is not the only state torturing our children.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH

Join up with:

Let's build a blogger movement to stand in the gap for our children!

Killer Cop Goes To Trial For Taser Death - Another Taser Death in New York

2009-11-17T08:44:00.005-05:00

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former Winnfield Police officer accused of repeatedly jolting a handcuffed man with a Taser before he died is scheduled to be tried on manslaughter and malfeasance in office charges in February. Death by Taser: Police Accused of Cover-Up.

Former police officer Scott Nuugent's trial originally was scheduled to start July 13, but it was postponed so a key witness, Winn Parish Coroner Randolph Williams, could recover from an accidental gunshot wound.

A spokesman for Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils said Thursday that Nugent's trial now is scheduled to start Feb. 9 and last about a week. In January 2008, Nugent allegedly shocked 21-year-old Baron “Scooter” Pikes nine times with a 50,000-volt Taser while arresting him. Also read cover-up alleged in La. Taser attack and Lousiana Police Electrocute Handcuffed Man..

It's important to note, as reported by findingdulcinea.com that police officer Scott Nugent arrested 21-year-old Baron Pikes, handcuffed him and shot him six times in three minutes with a Taser as he struggled to escape.

Once Pikes was in the police car, Nugent shot him a seventh time in the chest. Pikes stopped responding, but Nugent shot him twice more after removing him from the car. Pikes was ruled dead within a half hour.

Nugent was charged with manslaughter August 13 by a grand jury that ruled he used the Taser “unnecessarily” and failed to get medical help. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The mother of Pikes’s four-year-old son has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Nugent, city officials and Taser International, the manufacturer of the gun. More HERE

Meanwhile, as reported by NewsDay, the mother of a drugged-up Long Island man who died after being shot by a Taser gun while fighting with police officers Saturday said cops didn't have to stun her boy.

Darryl Bain, 43, was high on cocaine and had locked himself and his elderly mother in her Coram home about 2:46 a.m., causing his brother, Kevin, to call 911, relatives and Suffolk County police said.

But Bain was not posing any threat and didn't need to be stunned with a Taser, said Phyllis Hawkins, his mom.

"I was just trying to get him to get his hands off the door," Hawkins, 78, said."He seemed to be getting himself together from what he did," she said, adding that she smelled alcohol on her son's breath.

"[The police] know that when he gets like that, he calms himself down," she said.

Hearing a struggle with his mother, who has an order of protection against her son, officers broke down the door and tried to wrestle him to the ground, police said.

Bain was shot with the Taser but continued to fight with the officers as they tried to cuff him and they zapped him again, police said. He stopped breathing moments later.

Read more: HERE

AAPP says: It';s obvious that this man was troubled and needed mental help, not death because he abused cocaine and liquor.

Black progressive bloggers have been covering this issue for some time.
Progressive bloggers like, Excited-Delirium , Truth Not Tasers, Electronic Village, and so many other bloggers have been working to expose the deaths of men in women tased to death in police custody. We want to expand the conversation to include as many bloggers as possible.

District of Columbia is close to recognizing same sex marriage

2009-11-14T05:56:00.000-05:00

According to the Washington Informer.com the The District of Columbia is close to recognizing marriage between members of the same sex. A D.C. Council committee voting on Tues., Nov. 10 to send the bill authorizing the practice to the full council.

By a vote of 4-1, with D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) dissenting, the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee sent D.C. Council member David Catania’s (I-At-Large) bill, “The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009”, for a first reading vote, which is scheduled to take place on Tues., Dec. 1. The bill was amended to include giving the right of a church to deny its facilities for same sex marriages activities without any penalties from the city’s human rights laws.

There are 10 original co-sponsors of Catania’s bill, including D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray (D). Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) did not co-sponsor the bill but has indicated that he will vote for passage. Alexander’s chief of staff, J.R. Meyers said that constituent concerns dictated his boss’s decision to oppose Catania’s bill.

“The councilwoman will follow the wishes of her constituents of Ward 7 and will not vote for this legislation,” Meyers said. “She will not lead any opposition to it. She just will not vote for it.”

Natalie Williams, the spokesperson for Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said that her boss opposes the bill. More HERE

AAPP: It looks like same sex marriage will be the name of the game across America. Well, then again maybe not. As reported by Base Line Scenario.com the state of Maine voted to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Check out the chart from a paper by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips, “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness,” recently published in the American Political Science Review (via The Monkey Cage). H/T Base Line Scenario.com

What do you think? Should the District of Columbia recognize same sex marriage? Should your community recognize same sex marriage ?

58-year-old South Carolina manTasered to Death by Corpus Christi police

2009-11-14T01:20:00.000-05:00

CORPUS CHRISTI — According to caller.com, and kristv, a 58-year-old South Carolina man who police subdued using a Taser and then performed CPR on died Friday.

The man was removed from life support Friday afternoon by doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital South, said Corpus Christi Police Capt. Todd Green, department spokesman.

Authorities wouldn’t release the man’s name, pending notification of family members. An autopsy will be done by the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine an official cause of death, police said. The autopsy could take days depending upon the medical examiner’s workload Monday morning, according to Ric Ortiz, an assistant to the medical examiner.

“A preliminary investigation has shown the officers acted appropriately in responding to an aggressive individual who was acting erratically,” said Police Chief Troy Riggs “Unfortunately, he has died and we will continue the investigation.”

The five patrol officers who were placed on paid administrative leave have been cleared to work, Green said. Placing the officers on paid administrative is a routine policy for incidents under investigation, he said.

The incident began at 6:54 p.m. Wednesday when officer Stephan Beletic saw drivers flashing their headlights at Cimarron Boulevard and Airline Road. Beletic saw a man riding his bicycle illegally against the flow of traffic and attempted to stop him. The man didn’t stop and rode into a parking lot of restaurant where he banged on the restaurant’s window and spoke unintelligibly, Green said.

Beletic, who already had called for backup, began to frisk the man to make sure he wasn’t armed.

The man resisted, and Beletic managed to cuff one hand, but the man continued to struggle. Officers Ross Murray and Daryl Anderson arrived on the scene and Murray used a Taser, hitting the man in the lower back. The man appeared unaffected by the 50,000-volt stun gun, Green said, adding that police aren’t sure if the probe even penetrated the several layers of clothes the man was wearing.

Murray then placed the Taser on the man’s shoulder blade and shocked him, Green reported. The man continued to be combative, Green said.

Anderson used pepper spray, which also did little. Officer Jason Rhodes arrived and the four fell to the ground in a struggle with the man.

It wasn’t until a fifth officer, Jason Tello, arrived that they were able to finishing handcuffing the man, Green said.

Once the man was in custody, he quit breathing, Green said. MORE HERE

AAPP: How many more deaths will it take before America gets angry and asks for a Federal inquiry into the tasering and torture of American Citizens? Why is it that we only have 2,000 signed petitions for a Congressional hearing on Taser Torture? Enough is enough folks.

Where is Shaniya Davis?

2009-11-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

(Family Photo)

On Wednesday, police continued their search for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, who went missing from her Fayetteville, NC home early Tuesday morning.Investigators have now recovered a blanket from a neighbor’s trash can that may belong to the little girl. Neighbor, Andrea Moore, told WRAL that police said the blanket found in her garbage belonged to Shaniya. More HERE

H/T to Black & Missing But Not Forgotten

Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting arrest

2009-11-13T03:37:00.000-05:00

Police Revise Stun Gun Rules For Officers .

According to Ozarksunbound.com the Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting and will avoid the upper chest area when administering the shock, according to a story today in the Northwest Arkansas Times. Avoiding the chest area as the primary target area lessens controversy from critics that the electrical shock could negatively affect a target’s heart. Police Chief Greg Tabor told reporter Kate Ward that the recommendations were based on Taser International’s own recent recommendations for using the ‘less lethal’ device. More HERE

AAPP: This is good news!

Black and Latino's Win Big in Boston, Chuck Turner Wins

2009-11-12T21:33:00.003-05:00

City Councilor Chuck Turner has said for months that voters would look past his federal indictment and grant him another term, and last week the five-term Roxbury councilor got his vindication: a 20-point blowout over challenger Carlos “Tony’’ Henriquez.

Chuck Turner

But that is OK to some, because Felix Arroyo’s decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race provided at least one Latino on the City Council. Read More at The Bay State Banner.

According to Boston.com, Turner, 69, was indicted last year on charges that he accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for helping a nightclub win a liquor license. Turner has strongly denied the charges, pointing to his beat-up Mazda and his modest home as evidence that he does not live a high-end lifestyle.

He is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in March, and some voters who did not vote for Turner said the unresolved case factored in their decisions. Former senator Dianne Wilkerson, who was indicted on related charges, lost her reelection bid last year and was forced to resign her seat.

To Turner, the results proved that voters were on his side.

“I think we can see in the community’s reaction to the attempt of [former] US attorney [Michael] Sullivan and others to drive me out of office . . . that the community not only says no to that, but at the same time gives unprecedented votes for at-large candidates of color.’’

Henriquez expressed disappointment that the district’s voters felt content with Turner.

“We need to continue to raise the level of expectations of residents in Roxbury,’’ Henriquez, a 32-year-old community activist who also lost to Turner in 2007, said in a telephone interview. “I’m a little disappointed by the fact that 60 percent of our residents think the level of services are adequate.’’ More HERE

Black and Latino voters key to Mayor Menino's election

City Councilors Chuck Turner (left) and Charles Yancey (center) celebrate Felix Arroyo’s (third from left) decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race. The three also expressed their gratitude to voters while standing in Grove Hall last week. (Photo courtesy of Charles Yancey) More HERE

AAPP says: I guess my Hometown of Roxbury, MA forgot these pictures.

They also forgot about the 12-page affidavit filed in US District Court alleges that Turner was surreptitiously videotaped accepting the cash in his district office on Aug. 3, 2007, in exchange for pushing for a liquor license for the Roxbury nightclub Dejavu. Included with the affidavit are two photographs of Turner allegedly accepting the bribe. As reported by the Boston Globe, In one image, Turner's trademark white goatee is clearly visible as folded green bills are pressed into his hand.

But, hey voters in New Orleans forgot about Dollar Bill Jefferson who was finally Convicted.

UPDATE: Jefferson gets 13 years in prison