In a CBS interview Michael Jackson told the late Ed Bradley that the song "Have You Seen My Childhood?" was his autobiography so I thought it would be the most appropriate tribute.
by Steve Jones USA Today - Probably no celebrity has been as revered and reviled over the past 40 years as Jackson, 50, who died Thursday in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press. The troubled, reclusive star was rushed to UCLA Medical Center by paramedics responding to a call from his home at about 12:30 p.m.
The cause of Jackson's death was not immediately announced, nor were circumstances surrounding it. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics got to his Los Angeles home, Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper. Read the full story at USAToday.com
By Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone - Looking at the headlines, you might get the impression that America is approaching a cease-fire in the War on Drugs. After four decades of mindless prohibition and draconian prison sentences for addicts and casual users, the first four months of the Obama era have seen a rapid turn toward rationality. The administration has announced that it will no longer bust clinics that legally dispense medical marijuana, and incoming drug czar Gil Kerlikowske declared flatly in May that he had "ended the War on Drugs." Prominent politicians from Virginia to California — including Sen. Jim Webb and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — have begun to discuss the merits of legalizing and taxing marijuana. And most striking of all, New York — the state that pioneered the use of prison cells for drug addicts — has repealed its repressive Rockefeller drug laws, replacing the nation's harshest sentences with a progressive approach to treatment. Read the full story at Rollingstone.com
This article is why I wrote the novel "SnitchCraft." The so-called war on drugs invites corruption.
By TOM HAYS and COLLEEN LONG – NEW YORK (AP) — When undercover detectives busted Jose and Maximo Colon last year for selling cocaine at a seedy club in Queens, there was a glaring problem: The brothers hadn't done anything wrong.
But proclaiming innocence wasn't going to be good enough. The Dominican immigrants needed proof.
"I sat in the jail and thought ... how could I prove this? What could I do?" Jose, 24, recalled in Spanish during a recent interview.
As he glanced around a holding cell, the answer came to him: Security cameras. Since then, a vindicating video from the club's cameras has spared the brothers a possible prison term, resulted in two officers' arrest and become the basis for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. Read the full Associated Press article here.
The New York Times - When President Bush spoke in the months and years after Sept. 11, 2001, we often — chillingly — felt as if we didn’t recognize the United States. His vision was of a country racked with fear and bent on vengeance, one that imposed invidious choices on the world and on itself. When we listened to President Obama speak in Cairo on Thursday, we recognized the United States.
Mr. Obama spoke, unwaveringly, of the need to defend the country’s security and values. He left no doubt that he would do what must be done to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban, while making it clear that Americans have no desire to permanently occupy Afghanistan or Iraq.
He spoke, unequivocally, of the United States’ “unbreakable” commitment to Israel and of why Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. He was also clear that all of those listening — in the Muslim world and in Israel — must do more to defeat extremism and to respect the rights of their neighbors and their people. Read the full article here
by Julie Hirschfeld Davis Washington (AP) — The White House dispatched first lady Michelle Obama to defend Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Wednesday, part of a broad offensive to humanize the judge that came as former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed off his harsh criticism of her as a racist.
Mrs. Obama told students at a high school graduation that Sotomayor is "more than ready" to be a justice and compared the judge's life story of humble beginnings and high achievement to the paths taken by her husband and herself. Read the full story here.
The growing legal battle against President-elect Barack Obama's presidency is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The justices will decide whether or not to look into a lawsuit challenging Obama's citizenship. While the lawsuit is a continuation of a New Jersey case, the citizenship question has sparked a number of lawsuits from Obama's opponents.
Among those who have filed lawsuits is Alan Keyes, who ran an unsuccessful race against Barack Obama in 2004 for the Illinois Senate. Now, U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has taken an interest in the legal question and asked the rest of the bench to look into the case. Obama received dual citizenship since his father was a Kenyan-born national, which arguably doesn't qualify him as a "natural born citizen" as required by the U.S. Constitution.
A petition to stop the Electoral College from confirming Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States on December 15 has already been rejected by Justice David Souter, but in a rare move, Thomas has stepped in and granted the case time before the high court in a conference scheduled for tomorrow.Read the full Alan Keyes interview at Essence.com
Perhaps the police should do investigative work and recognize that criminals normally commit crimes with few or no witnesses. Do some police work and stop unsolved cases work on an imaginary campaign.
Why don't we ever see photos of all of these "stop snitching" shirts? I have been working in neighborhoods across the country and have not seen one of those shirts for many years. What campaign are you talking about? The media campaign? That's the ONLY place you hear about a don't snitch campaign. Yes there is witness intimidation. That's because CRIMINALS are CRIMINALS and they may threaten people so they won't go to jail. This applies to criminals in the 'hood or those in the White House. Perhaps if you stop writing about the "campaign" there will be no campaign.
Find something newsworthy to talk about.
Hot Line Hurt By 'Stop Snitching' Campaign
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Crime Stoppers TIPS Hot Line coordinators say a campaign of intimidation is keeping many unsolved crimes unsolved.
"For a family member or friend, man, I'll do it. But if I don't know the person, what could I do?" asked one Kansas City resident.
LaMont Williams, whose nephew Marcus was killed by a bullet from a passing car a year ago, said, "I'm sure someone knows who did it. They may not have been at the scene, but that person who committed the murder knows someone and talked to someone about committing that type of thing."
Marcus Williams was a father of two and had no criminal record. His family recently held a vigil in his memory, asking for information from anyone who knows anything about not only Marcus' killing, but all the other unsolved homicides. Full story here
I keep telling people, the only thriving legal industries in America making money are the Prison Industrial Complex and the companies making money off the war. Forget the auto industry - we've got prisons! Low and behold... when you trace the money back, look who's involved. When are people going to wake up and smell the coffee?
Texas grand jury indicts Cheney, Gonzales of crime Reuters News
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons.
The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.
The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.
The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.
Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said. Read the full story here
By Gref Gordon, McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's 8.5 million-vote margin over John McCain was fueled by a more than 20 percent surge in minority voting, a new analysis of exit polling data suggests.
While Obama won a lopsided number of electoral votes, his popular-vote margin was increased by an outpouring of minority balloting as the number of whites who cast ballots declined overall.
The analysis estimated that about 5.8 million more minorities voted in this year's presidential election than in 2004, while nearly 1.2 million fewer whites went to the polls.
Separate opinion polls and election results themselves indicate that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans and Latinos backed Obama.
The surge in minority voting was even more pronounced in some election swing states, including Ohio, the liberal-leaning nonprofit group Project Vote reported.
Project Vote also said that the number of voters ages 18-29 increased by more than 1.8 million, the biggest jump of any similarly sized age group, reflecting a depth of support for Obama among younger voters. Read the full story here
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