| Stars and Scars |
The following e-mail I received is one of the most offensive bits of excrement to ever show up in my inbox. I debated even posting it, but given Earl was a school board member in St. Louis just a decade ago and there is a collective amnesia about how far over the top these guys were, here it goes. It contains multiple obscenities and the most offensive racial slur.Read it and weep for our country.
 |
Huntsville police spokesman Harry Hobbs said off-duty officers arrested 23-year-old Joshua Chukwuedozie Ude on Sunday, Oct. 27, on charges of resisting arrest and criminal trespassing, following reports of disruptive conduct during a church service at First Baptist Church, located at 600 Governors Drive.In all fairness First Baptist Church said that's not exactly what happened.
Here's the complete police statement from Hobbs:
"Church members contacted officers working at the church regarding suspicious behavior by Ude and his two adult male companions. Witnesses told police that the three men entered the church after the 11 a.m. service began. One of the men remained in the sanctuary hallway while Ude and another man walked to the front row and began videotaping the pastor and congregation. The three men left the church building on their own accord before the service concluded.
Police approached the three men as they left the building to inquire about their activities. During that conversation, Ude became uncooperative, refused to leave, and was subsequently arrested. Ude's companions, who were also detained by police, videotaped the arrest, posted it to You Tube within 30 minutes and contacted local media. The video does not show the events leading up to Ude's arrest."
"Initial review of the posted videotapes indicate the officers used appropriate techniques under the circumstances,"Chief Lewis Morris said. "However, I have instructed our Internal Affairs division to investigate any alleged use of excessive force during the arrest of Mr. Ude."
On Sunday, October 27th, three men were observed taking photographs outside the church of the mosaic on the front of our building. One man entered the building, was welcomed by our ushers and invited to join the service which was already in progress. Initially, he declined, but later two of the three young men entered the sanctuary approximately 40 minutes after the service had begun, walked down the center aisle and sat in the front pew. Our pastor, Dr. David Hull, was already preaching the sermon at this point. One of the men removed a cell phone and appeared to be videotaping and/or taking photographs. At no time were the men confronted or asked to leave the service. They remained in the service for approximately 10 minutes, at which time they got up, walked out the center aisle and left the service. The third young man remained in the hallway engaged in conversation with our ushers. After leaving the building on their own initiative, an incident occurred in the parking lot involving the young men and uniformed police officers.You can watch the entire take down here, but if the good people of Charlestons' Mother Emmanuel AME Church had profiled Dylan Strom Roof instead of welcoming him into the house of the Lord with open arms they might be alive today.
First Baptist Church has received many inquiries from concerned members of the public, especially pertaining to videos of the incident which have been posted to YouTube by one or more of these young men. Some have speculated that First Baptist Church asked these men to leave the service because of the way they were dressed. First Baptist Church did not ask these men to leave the service at any time. First Baptist Church welcomes all people who wish to worship and attend our services, and does not have any type of dress code.
 |
| H/T CaseyBrown |
Huntsville Board of Education President Laurie McCaulley said her goal is for every child who has been rezoned to "feel like they're at home" in their new school.Yep, the School Board President,and the Housing Authority CEO are enabling media driven racial stereotyping as evidenced by comments like this:
To that end, the desegregation plan requires the system to hold an extensive orientation program for reassigned students.
Teachers and principals will also get at least eight hours of cultural responsiveness training this summer, which McCaulley said is especially important for educators who have never been around students from public housing.
"Teachers need to understand that mom may have been working third shift, and her focus may not be as much on parenting as it is trying to survive," she said. "Some of these students have challenges getting up in the morning and having something to eat."
Housing authority CEO Michael Lundy said an orientation program is key to getting students from public housing off to a positive start in their new schools.
"Opening day should not be the first time our kids visit the school or meet some of their fellow students," Lundy said this week.
So, the teachers are going to have to spend more time with children from public housing. This means that they will have less time with the other (white) students. Therefore, the other students will soon be under performing as well. Oh goody, now we will have a city of under performers. Oh wait, we have private schools. Huntsville new plan for public education will succeed in bringing other kids down to the public housing level and private schools with a lot more students.And this:
Allow me to play Nostradamus and tell you how this will end. Project kids being forced to move will not fare any better at Huntsville High because their home life will not have changed. Morale and discipline will plummet. Parents who can afford it will move their kids to private school. Huntsville High spirals in the direction of Johnson as quality students and teachers flee. Property values in the HHS district fall as people gravitate to Grissom district. HHS becomes a dump and then Grissom is targeted for diversification. Left wing busybodies demand more money for failing schools after the "Montgomerization" or "Chattanogification" of Huntsville city schools is complete. And the beat goes on...
On the other hand, the new plan will be very successful in spreading bad attitudes, attendance problems, violence and a multitude of other problems throughout the city.Why should students from public housing be treated differently than any other students? But that's not what this post is about. I want to debunk the media driven narrative of the lack of "home life" in the black community with three words.... The Dugger Family.
 |
| H/T ca democrat via Daily Kos |
I'm a Tom Joad democrat, a prison reform democrat, an anti-poverty democrat and a pro-justice democrat - so the party left me a long time ago...and they never looked back as they went chasing after the fat checkbook crowd. The few indisputably good things the party has done, such as the war on poverty and support for the civil rights movement, recede into the distant past as a brave new world emerges in which we are left to wonder just what IS the difference between neocons and neolibs, and whether democrats bombing the world in an unending war orgy is any better than repubs doing the exact same thing.Today's democrats are yesterday's republicans.
Democrats (not all of them of course, but enough of them) enabled the Bush administration in some of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history: the illegal invasion of Iraq, the shameful atrocities at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo and elsewhere, kidnappings, torture, murders, assassinations, double-taps such as that shown in the Chelsea Manning video and on and on.Justice delayed is justice denied.
My judgment is especially harsh for the Democratic Party because the whole world looked to them for justice and were denied. Justice is what we owed the world. JUSTICE!EYE said it once, and EYE say it again. The Democratic party has been infiltrated by reactionary/New Dems/Blue Dogs/ Centrist/Conservadems/Moderates, and hell knows who/what else to promote neo liberal (aka conservative) ideas.
The prospect of a Republican freak out is no excuse for Democrats not pursuing justice. We're always crowing about what a great nation we are – but we can't even manage to bring our own worst and most public in-your-face criminals to justice.
In addition to conservative infiltrators the democratic party has so called "moderates, centrist, center" who try and walk a thin line down the middle of the party. We don't know if they are pro choice or anti choice. We don't know if they are pro civil rights or anti civil rights. We don't know what the heck they stand for. They are in the middle whatever the heck that means. My daddy says the only thing down the middle of the road is a yellow line. Moderates are afraid to take a position one way or another because they don't know what side of the road they are on.The definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result.
We’re “absolutely unified on three essential messages going forward: It’s middle class, middle class, middle class,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who had just surveyed 90 Democratic members about what they want to see in 2016. “Everybody agreed that it has to be about the middle.”Who the heck is "Everybody" Rep. Steve Isreal, Sir? Blue Dogs and New Dems who vote with the republicans and have no connection to the traditional democratic base? The traditional democratic base they use to get elected, then throw under the bus?
Davis panders to the right, who are wrong about everything, to the detriment of the, as he calls them, democratic base(women,minorities,labor,public school teachers,civil rights leaders,African American political organizations). You know, the traditional democratic base that marched, bleed and died to change Alabama. The traditional democratic base that made it possible for him to be the sitting Congressman from the 7th district (which includes the black belt) of Alabama.Enough. It's time for real Democrats to stand their ground, and for those who don't support the Democratic platform 100% to go. Those who believe a half an A$$ is better than no A$$ need to find another party. Just because someone say's they are a democrat , doesn't mean they are democrat.
What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."If you can't support all of the above, you are with them, and against us.
Independents are really republicans who are ashamed to call themselves republicans.I'm sick and tired of cowardly Dems.
