A Fair Trial?

Do you really believe that, if you are a Minority you could get a fair trial out of a Rethugly judge?

Sort of like this one…

Richard Cebull, Federal Judge Who Sent Racist Obama Email, Retires

U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, the federal judge in Montana who sent an email last year suggesting that President Barack Obama’s mother had sex with a dog, has retired following an investigation into his conduct.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit announced Tuesday that Cebull had submitted his retirement letter, effective May 3. A special committee had conducted a “thorough and extensive investigation” and submitted their report to the circuit’s Judicial Council, which issued a confidential order and memorandum on March 15, according to the court.

In the email forwarded by Cebull, a young Obama asks his mother why he’s black and she is white. “Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!” his mother replies. Cebull told recipients of his email that he hoped it “touches your heart like it did mine.”

Cebull, nominated by President George W. Bush, stepped down as chief U.S. district judge in October and took a reduced caseload. He apologized for sending the letter back in the spring.

This is pretty emblematic of what the Bushit filled the courts with.

Republican Taliban in North Carolina

Christian Taliban Conservatives don’t get that US Constitution thing – nor in most cases their state Constitutions. They want to ram their religious beliefs down everyone else’s throats…

North Carolina May Declare Official State Religion Under New Bill

Republican North Carolina state legislatorshave proposed allowing an official state religion in a measure that would declare the state exempt from the Constitution and court rulings.

The bill, filed Monday by two GOP lawmakers from Rowan County andbacked by nine other Republicans, says each state “is sovereign” and courts cannot block a state “from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.” The legislation was filed in response to a lawsuitto stop county commissioners in Rowan County from opening meetings with a Christian prayer, wral.com reported.

The religion bill comes as some Republican-led states seek to separate themselves from the federal government, primarily on the issues of guns and Obamacare. This includes a proposal in Mississippi to establish a state board with the power to nullify federal laws.

The North Carolina bill’s main sponsors, state Reps. Carl Ford (R-China Grove) and Harry Warren (R-Salisbury), could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, The Salisbury Post reported. Co-sponsors include House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes (R-Hickory). Another is state Rep. Larry Pittman (R-Concord), who in February introduced a state constitutional amendment that would allow for carrying concealed weapons to fight federal “tyranny.”

The bill says the First Amendment only applies to the federal government and does not stop state governments, local governments and school districts from adopting measures that defy the Constitution. The legislation also says that the Tenth Amendment, which says powers not reserved for the federal government belong to the states, prohibits court rulings that would seek to apply the First Amendment to state and local officials.

The bill reads:

SECTION 1. The North Carolina General Assembly asserts that the Constitution of the United States of America does not prohibit states or their subsidiaries from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

SECTION 2. The North Carolina General Assembly does not recognize federal court rulings which prohibit and otherwise regulate the State of North Carolina, its public schools, or any political subdivisions of the State from making laws respecting an establishment of religion.

The North Carolina state constitutiondisqualifies those who do not believe in God from public office. The provision has been unenforcible since the 1961 Supreme Court decision in Torcaso v. Watkins, which prohibited such bans.

 

And then there is the “Janet Jackson Wardrobe Malfunction Bill”…

 

Republicans (Sort of) Get a Clue

Funny! From the American Prospect Magazine no less…

Ringside Seat: The Angry Whites Liquidation Sale

Let it not be said that the GOP doesn’t know it has a problem. As Senator Lindsay Graham said last year, “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.” And in the November election, that became vividly clear. Mitt Romney lost Latino voters by 44 points, Asian-American voters by 47 points, and voters under 30 by 23 points. So in the months since, the Republicans have been racking their brains to come up with ways to appeal to voters who do not happen to be older white men.

So how’s it going? Well, this week, not so great. First you had Ben Carson, the Baltimore neurosurgeon who, as a black conservative, has become a hero to the right, getting a bit too frank about marriage in an appearance on Fox News. Heterosexual marriage, he said, is “a well-established, fundamental pillar of society and no group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality—it doesn’t matter what they are. They don’t get to change the definition.” When people became somewhat displeased with this rhetoric, Carson said, “I think people have completely taken the wrong meaning out of what I was saying.” Yeah.

Cut to Alaska congressman Don Young growing wistful about the old days: “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes.” Like Carson, he apologized if anyone got offended.

And there’s the Republicans’ problem: It’s one thing for party leaders to say, however sincerely, that they want to reach out to minorities. But if people in your party keep popping off with statements like those, you aren’t going to get anywhere.

They missed

Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota  said he didn’t feel safe on Native American reservations because of a provision in the Violence Against Women Act that allows tribal courts to prosecute non-Native American individuals for sexual and domestic violence crimes committed on tribal land. The congressman also berated tribal leaders for being “dysfunctional” and said he wanted to “ring the Tribal council’s neck and slam them against the wall.”

Michigan Republican Dave Agema says he is refusing to resign after promoting an article that said “part of the homosexual agenda is to get the public to affirm their filthy lifestyle.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Monday vowed to continue to use the slur “illegal” to refer to undocumented immigrants. At a town hall meeting in Phoenix, a 25-year-old dreamer asked the former Republican presidential nominee to “please drop the i-word,” according to The Arizona Republican.“Someone who crosses our borders illegally is here illegally,” McCain replied. “You can call it whatever you want to, but it’s illegal. I think there’s a big difference between someone who does something that’s illegal and someone who’s undocumented.”  “I’ll continue to call it illegal,” he insisted.

Rick Perry, miffed at Madonna’s comments about the Boy Scouts …Said Perry, in On My Honor:

…”Even if an alcoholic is powerless over alcohol once it enters his body, he still makes a choice to drink…And, even if someone is attracted to a person of the same sex, he or she still makes a choice to engage in sexual activity with someone of the same gender.”

And we don’t even talk about the Kumbaya at CPAC.

On the good side –  Michael Steele Calls Reince Priebus ‘Numbnuts’ (AUDIO)

Move Over Bumper…The Growler is Here!

A “Beer Bucket”

Before Prohibition in this country, it was common that urban dwellers would buy beer by the bucket, and take it home.

With the explosion of micro-brewerys in many areas, the ability to buy beer straight from the brewery has once again become a fairly common fixture, leading to the development of the beer “growler”. A growler is a bottle or jug which can be filled at the local brew pub for consumption at home. They come in various sizes including 32 oz, 64 oz, and 128 oz.And they can be as basic as a “brown jug”, or fancy with carrying handles or made out of ceramic.

 

Seems that this system sort of works everywhere but Florida…

Fla. Brewers Push to Legalize 64-Ounce Beer Jugs

David Wescott has two 32-ounce growlers he brings into Proof Brewing Company to fill up and take home.

Why two? Because Florida is one of only three states where it’s illegal to fill one 64-ounce beer container, known as a growler. He can get as many of the 32-ounce containers filled as he wants, and Florida breweries can also fill unlimited 128-ounce growlers for customers to take home. But the size preferred by most beer enthusiasts is banned.

“If you’re bringing some beer home for you and the wife, that’s two beers,” Wescott, whose wife calls him a beer snob, said of the quart-sized growlers. “It makes no sense to me. It’s just not logical — 128s are probably too much, 32 is too small. I’d love to get a 64.”

Two lawmakers have filed bills to legalize the half-gallon jugs, but a group of beer distributors is fighting both measures and appears to have helped effectively kill both for the year.

Never been much of a beer drinker – but the patchwork of the country’s liquor laws are amazing. I live in a state where there are still “dry” counties, and where the sale of “hard” liquor is confined to State owned stores. What I mean is anybody can buy a hundred guns at a time in my state, and the Republican Governor recently overturned legislation limiting gun purchases to one a month. But… Despite vociferous campaign promises we still haven’t privatized the sale of liquor in the state… Or normalized the law in all of the State’s counties.

How come you can regulate beer in this country… But you can’t regulate guns?

Hmmm…. Camera Angle? India Arie

Is India Arie doing a Michael Jackson?

Who’s That Lady?…Indeed.

Where is the NRA When You Need them …In Mexico

Great new tourist opportunity for the gun hugger types…

An all expense paid trip to Mexico’s norther border region to assist the local vigilantes try and control the drug gangs.

Sadly, the good guys – local citizens who are trying to return law and order to their communities are massively under-armed…

Don’t know what that “pistol” on the right is, but the drug cartels armed with the newest and best from American Gun shops obviously have this poor citizen trying to protect his home and community vastly outgunned thanks to the NRA.

Ergo – the good guys could use a little help from the “Guns and Guts” Norte Americano gun crazies.

How about instead of deporting illegals… We deport the NRA?

Of course the gun-nuts really would have a reason to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves from folks a bit more dangerous than your average Soccer Mom at the PTA Meeting, Jesus leaving the cross in Church… or that imaginary inner city thug driving 30 miles just so he can “throw down” with the locals in the ‘burbs.

You know, real criminals, with real guns, who do things like this -

The bodies of seven men were found dumped in plastic chairs on a busy roundabout in the Mexican city of Uruapan, authorities have said.
Threatening messages had been nailed to some of the men’s chests using ice picks and the victims had all been shot in the head.
The bodies of the seven men – who have not been identified but are thought to have worked as car washers at crossroads in the city – were placed in sitting positions in the chairs many with their hands and feet bound and bandaging over their heads.

It will not be safe in Mexico until every Mexican carries a machine gun…

And neither will Kindergarten children in the USA.

Going Out in Style in Ghana

Picking a coffin in Ghana for that deceased loved on is a bit more complex than “Do you want the wood one, or the brass handles?”

Funerals are one of the most important events in Ghanaian society. Frederick Nnoma-Addison, a D.C.-based journalist who comes from the West African country, says funerals in Ghana are considered an investment in the memory of the deceased. “Yes, there is mourning, but we also reflect his or her good life, and celebrate,” he told Seth Doane. 

And while a funeral lasts just a few hours, since eternity is, well, eternity, it’s important to spend it in style.

Style?

Check this out! For the ful set – follow the link above.