WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF!!!!!!!!!!!

via:karynthia
olice Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl

It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.

As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, "You're a prostitute. You're coming with me."

Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.

As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.


All this is according to a lawsuit filed in Galveston federal court by Milburn against the officers. The lawsuit alleges that the officers thought Dymond, an African-American, was a hooker due to the "tight shorts" she was wearing, despite not fitting the racial description of any of the female suspects. The police went to the wrong house, two blocks away from the area of the reported illegal activity, Milburn's attorney, Anthony Griffin, tells Hair Balls.

After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.

Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond's school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant. Griffin says the allegations stem from when Dymond fought back against the three men who were trying to take her from her home. The case went to trial, but the judge declared it a mistrial on the first day, says Griffin. The new trial is set for February.MORE

Racist, fucking, filthy.....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Aint that the truth.

Via: BagNewsNotes

(U.S. soldier graffiti -- BNN contributer Zoriah Miller, Iraq/Kuwait, 2008)

Katrina's Hidden Race War

Katrina's Hidden Race War: The Full Story

Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims. Instead, a group of white residents, convinced that crime would arrive with the human exodus, sought to seal off the area, blocking the roads in and out of the neighborhood by dragging lumber and downed trees into the streets. They stockpiled handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and at least one Uzi and began patrolling the streets in pickup trucks and SUVs. The newly formed militia, a loose band of about fifteen to thirty residents, most of them men, all of them white, was looking for thieves, outlaws or, as one member put it, anyone who simply "didn't belong."

Re: The auto industry

UAW busting, Southern style:Foreign carmakers are enlisting the help of GOP senators from states in the South to break the union.

However, an internal Toyota report, leaked to the Detroit Free Press last year, reveals that the company wants to slash $300 million out of its rising labor costs by 2011. The report indicated that Toyota no longer wants to "tie [itself] so closely to the U.S. auto industry." Instead, the company intends to benchmark the prevailing manufacturing wage in the state in which a plant is located. The Free Press reported that in Kentucky, where the company is headquartered, this wage is $12.64 an hour, according to federal labor statistics, less than half Toyota's $30-an-hour wage.

If the companies, with the support of their senators, can wipe out or greatly weaken the UAW, they will be free to implement their plan.

Bill Ford v. Larry King: Village Idiocy about the Auto Industry

Interesting segment on Larry King Live with Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford last night that I thought would get more attention today:

KING: What about the UAW in all of this? FORD: Well, the UAW obviously has been our partner through all of this. Have they made mistakes and have we made mistakes? Of course. The UAW has come a long way. I think their leader, Ron Gettelfinger, is an excellent leader and he really understands our business. In this last contract, he gave up a lot. He’s also indicated they’re willing to come to the table to do more. And so for anybody to blame the UAW as the sole reason for this is frankly wrong.
One other thing is, when I look at the people who work in our plants, I don’t think of them as UAW. I think of them as Ford employees, Ford employees who take tremendous pride in building quality and safety into our products. If you ask someone in our plant, where do they work, they say I work at Ford. To me, everybody who works in our plant is part of our extended family.

...
Here's Larry King completely missing the fact that most developed nations are backing their auto industries--and so it's no big surprise that any American car companies might need credit.

KING: Why do you need the line of credit?
FORD: We're saying we don't need it now, but we're saying, if the global economy does not pick up, you know, it would be, basically, a line of credit that we could draw upon. Larry, it's interesting because this slowdown now is happening in Europe, Asia and South America. And governments around the world are lining up to support their auto industries.

Here's Larry King repeating the ignorant assumption that Ford ought to be rooting for GM's downfall.

KING: Would it frankly benefit you if GM and Chrysler went under?
FORD: No, because the dislocation to the supply base that we all rely upon would be massive. Our suppliers are not in terrific shape. By the way, those same suppliers also supply the Japanese and European transplants as well. It wouldn't just be us affected.

Here's Larry King getting reminded that Ford cars in other markets--because they respond to sound policy like gas taxes--are very efficient (making the argument I've made--that we need a gas tax).

FORD: Because it's interesting, as gasoline was low here, it was taxed and much higher in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, but also in Asia. And as a result, we made small cars in Asia and in Europe and in South America and we made money doing so. Now we're bringing those vehicles here to the U.S.
So what's interesting is, while we stuck with that business model here, because of the price of gasoline, we were pursuing a very different strategy in Europe and South America and Asia, and we were growing and profitable. We're bringing those vehicles here now.
KING: I keep forgetting how global you are.

MORE

President Bush: Employees of American Companies Must Get Paid Less than Employees of Foreign Companies!

Yet then Bush throws in the demands that Republicans made--without noting that this was basically an ideological ploy to break the union, all the while demanding that employees of American-owned companies make significantly less than the employees of Japanese-owned companies.

Targets: The terms and conditions established by Treasury will include additional targets that were the subject of Congressional negotiations but did not come to a vote, including:

• Reduce debts by 2/3 via a debt for equity exchange.
• Make one-half of VEBA payments in the form of stock.
• Eliminate the jobs bank. Work rules that are competitive with transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.
• Wages that are competitive with those of transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.

These terms and conditions would be non-binding in the sense that negotiations can deviate from the quantitative targets above, providing that the firm reports the reasons for these deviations and makes the business case to achieve long-term viability in spite of the deviations.
In addition, the firm will be required to conclude new agreements with its other major stakeholders, including dealers and suppliers, by March 31, 2009.

Remember, the measure the Republicans were using to measure "wages that are competitive with those of transplant auto manufacturers" was the lizard lie number--the $73/hour, the number that includes legacy costs, the payments to retiree pensions. Otherwise, there would be no reason to make this stipulation--because if you use the real wage number, and not the lizard lie number, American manufacturer wages are already competitive with the transplants!!MORE

Know thy government

Friday Constitutional 3- Article One, Sections 5 And 6.

Section Six
Clause One:

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, beprivileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

The first part of this clause allows for the paying of Senators and Representatives out of the Treasury of the Untied States. The Framers did not want an aristocracy and made sure that you did not have to be wealthy to participate in the Congress. It was altered by the 27th Amendment, in 1992, so that any pay increase that is voted by the Congress shall not take effect until the next Congress convenes. This was 203 years after it was first proposed!
The second part is commonly called the Speech and Debate clause. It sets out that during a session (two years) of Congress, a member can not be arrested at the Congress, except in the cases of felonies, treason and breach of the peace. This is intended to keep anyone from drumming up misdemeanors in order to prevent a member from doing his duty. It is interesting that Rep. “Dollar” Bill Jefferson has based most of his defense on the idea that a search of his Congressional office was unconstitutional under this clause. That seems spurious to the Dog, since the bribery allegations are clearly felonies. This clause also protects the members of Congress from being prosecuted for anything they say in the course of making speeches to or during debate in Congress. That is another pillar (again spurious) of Rep. Jefferson’s defense, that since he is member of Congress taking money from a foreign government to get help from the Representative was a part of his duties. It is very frustrating that this kind of behavior is allowed in the Democratic Party and the House of Representatives. As we know from Section Five, Clause Two all it would take is 286 members of the House to expel him for being such a corrupt fool.
Clause Two:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

This clause says that no member of the Congress can be a member and hold an office of the Untied States at the same time. This is why President Elect Obama resigned his Senate seat. This also seems to mean that no sitting Senator or Representative could hold office and be a Cabinet Secretary. The Framers seem to be less concerned with the power such a joint position would wield than the amount of compensation that a person with two jobs would receive. So, if Sen. Clinton really is going to be Sec. State, she will have to give up the Junior Senate seat from New York.MORE

(no subject)

Will someone PLEASe make Ted Haggard sit the fuck DOWN


He's throwing away every bit of self-respect that he may have had left.Seriously. Staying married for the sake of the kids? Want to bet that his kids are very embarrassed about him at the moment? He need to divorce the family, move somewhere far away and start dealing with some psychologists and move on to either quitting the Christian faith altogether, or rearranging it so that he can stop hating himself for being gay. This has gone past far enough.

Stuff to see

via: Bilerico Project

Taylor V. Rice: An Update

Denied admission to the Foreign Service in 2003, Lorenzo Taylor, with the aid of Lambda Legal, sued Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for discrimination in the workplace. As part of our pioneering documentation of the many faces of HIV/AIDS, we revisit and update the case that spurred the lifting of the ban in February 2008, less than 2 weeks before it went to trial.

A Conversation With... Jonathan Capehart and Julian Bond

Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, is a giant in the movement for Black Civil Rights who has been on the front line for equal rights in America for four decades. He is also an outspoken advocate for the rights of America's gays and lesbians. Washington Post editorial writer and Pulitzer Prize winner, Jonathan Capehart, explores Bond's national leadership role in these major social issues of our day, recalling those who were formative in his growth as an activist.

IN THE LIFE: Nina's Heavenly Delights

Denied admission to the Foreign Service in 2003, Lorenzo Taylor, with the aid of Lambda Legal, sued Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for discrimination in the workplace. As part of our pioneering documentation of the many faces of HIV/AIDS, we revisit and update the case that spurred the lifting of the ban in February 2008, less than 2 weeks before it went to trial.

That fucking fucker, Rick Warren

So said fucking fucker has been running around saying that he's anot a homphobe because he has eaten dinners in gay homes. Well. Here's the story of one family in with whom said ignorant judgemental asshole ate dinner.

That Weird Hug from Rick Warren

In December of the previous year, I wrote a letter to Warren outlining my plan to bring a group of gay and lesbian couples, and their children, to visit his Saddleback Church over Father's Day weekend. I expressed our intent to attend worship on Sunday, and my hope that he and some families in his congregation would share a meal with us in an effort to reach beyond our differences and focus instead on the commonalities we share as parents and people of faith. In due course, I began a series of phone conversations with Warren's chief of staff. Over the next several weeks, we agreed that eight of our families would eat lunch on June 16 with Warren, his wife Kay, and six of their staff members. After the family meal, eight people from our group would then convene for a 90 minute conversation with Warren, his wife, and the six other church leaders. Here's where it gets interesting.

The week before our visit, Newsweek senior editor Lisa Miller published an article that contained a single sentence about Warren's upcoming get-together with a bunch of gay dads. Suddenly, the tone and demeanor from those paid to protect Warren's public image began to deteriorate.

First, we were told that things had changed and Warren and his wife "might" attend the meal and forum. A few days later, Warren posted a message on a religious blog saying that he never intended to meet with our families. Once we arrived in California, I called his chief of staff to discuss final details. Implausibly, I was told that Saddleback had now decided to only feed the eight people from our group who were going to be in the meeting, but not our children or spouses.MORE

(no subject)

Via: AfterElton

( cool stuff )

i is dumb

you know. it took me a while to see that the musicians are competing with their own shadows here.

Apocalyptica Path

it makes the video much more interesting

(no subject)

How the end the South's economic War on the North

Perhaps the lack of outrage over race-to-the-bottom rivalries among U.S. states and regions can be attributed to the longevity of this familiar Southern economic strategy. In the early 20th century, the Southern states were the first to adopt conscious statewide economic development policies, which then as now meant poaching industries from New England and the Midwest where wages and public spending and regulation were greater. That's how the South took the textile industry from New England, before losing it to lower-wage Asia. Now with the help of Nissan, Toyota, and BMW, the South is trying to replace Detroit as the center of U.S. automobile production, using low wages, anti-union laws, and low taxes to benefit from the outsourcing of industry from societies more advanced than the South, like Japan and Germany. The economic Axis is collaborating with the neo-Confederates against their common opponent -- the American Union. If they succeed, the losers will be not only non-Southern regions in the U.S., but the majority of Southerners of all races, whose interest in decent wages, good education, and adequate public services have almost always been sacrificed to the greed of the well-connected few by Southern statehouse gangs.

...


Call it the Third Reconstruction. The first step is to end the race to the bottom in wages and regulation, by national action. The national minimum wage should be gradually raised until it is a living wage, of $10 to $12 an hour, and it should be adjusted for inflation. At the same time, federal regulations should set a higher floor with respect to worker safety regulations, environmental regulations, and others, preventing America's own internal rogue states from gaining any advantages by flouting national standards. Most Southern politicians and business leaders will howl that this will bankrupt the South. That's what they said about the abolition of slavery, child labor, and the convict lease system, too. The South was a better place to live after those reforms, and it will be a better place to live when there is a living wage throughout the South.MORE

Prop Eight Supporters file brief to invalidate 18k marriages

Prop. 8 sponsors seek to nullify 18K gay marriages

The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.

The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions.

"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Pepperdine University law school dean Kenneth Starr, the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.MORE

Well, like Rick Warren said, those marriages are hurting millions, got that, millions of heterosexuals who are married, after all. Oh what company you keep, Obama.

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