Obama Signs Law To Protect Native American Women From Rape

This is one of those where you ask – WTF took so long? Why have previous Presidents ignored this?

We have “basic human rights” in this country – EXCEPT for Native American women?

Hat Tip to Blue Wave on this one!

Obama Signs Tribal Law & Order Act, Empowers Native American Rape Victims

President Obama today signed into law something that will bring the mechanism of our justice system more within the reach of Native American victims of rape – the Tribal Law and Order Act. Why is such a law necessary? Well, for one thing, one in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime.

Native American blogger and activist Ajijaakwe – whom you may know as Aji – has published an informative article on Ms. Magazine’s blog that explains the issue thoroughly:

But in Indian Country, rape survivors bear additional burdens. They must report their crimes to federal law enforcement authorities, whom long and hard experience has told them to distrust. Cultural sensitivity is often nonexistent. Often, the law enforcement officers, investigators, prosecutors and health examiners are white men, and for many Native women cultural traditions may militate against talking to them about such intimate matters. So when you read that one in three Native women will be raped at least once in her lifetime, you can be assured that those numbers are underreported at even greater rates than in the general population.

Aji provides many additional shocking statistics, such as the fact that Native women are more than twice as likely as all other ethnic groups, to fall prey to rapists, but perhaps the most searing – and telling – stat is this one:

While most rapes occur within racial groups, this is not true for Native women. More than 86 percent of the offenders are non-Indians, and more than 70 percent are white.

Why is this fact so important?

Because until today, Native women raped by a non-Indian assailant had virtually no recourse. With rare exceptions, only federal law enforcement authorities have had jurisdiction to arrest and prosecute non-Native offenders on tribal lands. And historically, federal authorities have cared little about such cases: Federal authorities routinely decline to prosecute more than 50 percent of all violent crimes committed in Indian Country; the rate of declination is much higher for sexual assault cases.

Now, at least Native women can be a little more certain that their assailants will face prosecution for their crimes.

Much more info is available in Aji’s article. I encourage you to read the whole thing.

Another facet of the problem is explained in this article – sex slavery. Without this law in place, traffickers aren’t prosecuted.

 

Rep Anthony Weiner Hammers Republicans For Killing Health Care for 9/11 First Responders

Rep Anthony Weiner goes off on Rethugs who have just voted down a bill to provide medical care to the First Responders of 9-11.

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Bi-racial… Y’er A**

Playa Play-on… Indeed.

Nature’s Latest Creation – the Zedonk

This week, the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in north Georgia, United States, welcomed the first zebra-donkey hybrid in America. The “zedonk” has a donkey for a mother and a zebra stallion for a father and it is quite a rare animal.

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The animal is a mix between a zebra and donkey. With black stripes prominently displayed on her legs and face, her zebra heritage is readily apparent, but her slender face and spindly legs are more donkey-like.

Preserve keepers were rather surprised when the new “baby” was born. But contrary to what people might think, this is not the first time this has happened in the world. Apparently in 2005, a zebra gave birth to a zedonk in Barbados, and three zedonks were born in a European zoo, back in the 1970s, from a female donkey.

White tigers are more of our calling card, but this is one of the most unique animals that has ever been born here,” C.W. Wathen, the preserve’s general manager and founder said. “The animals have been running (in the fields) together for more than 40 years, but this is the first time that this has happened here. We never suspected that they (had mated), so it was quite a surprise when the zedonk was born.”

 

Maxine Waters Next on the Target List

Maxine Waters Becomes the Second Member of the CBC to Face Charges

The CBC is getting ready to get really shaken up here as the second of it’s most senior leadership faces charges. Once again the charges appear unrelated to legislative reality in Washington, and are the sort that would land 80% of the Congressmen in Washington in hot water if investigated.

An example of this corruption? 9 years after 9/11 and 5 years after Katrina Emergency Responders in this country still do not have a radio system which allows different departments to communicate in the event of a major emergency. Despite countless  hearings, a supposed “standards committee”, and 9 years supposedly working on the issue, the output has been a system which is completely dysfunctional. Some Congressmen got bought by an industry which depends on non-compatibility to maintain market share – and the result is in the next Katrina we aren’t any better off, and even more Americans will die as a result…

Who is the criminal here?

Obviously a move is afoot to clean up the CBC, which has become stagnant, and focused way too much on making money and expensive parties instead of being an effective political bloc. Then there is that foreign issue…

Maxine Waters faces ethics charges

A House panel is preparing to accuse Rep. Maxine Waters of at least one ethics violation in her efforts to help a bank with ties to her husband, and the longtime Los Angeles Democrat plans to fight the charges in a House trial, according to a source familiar with the case.

The allegations were presented Friday to Waters, the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is confidential.

Waters, an outspoken legislator who has held elective office in Sacramento or Washington for more than three decades, could not be reached Friday night.

The findings on the investigation into Waters by the Office of Congressional Ethics are expected to be made public on Monday.

That office, an independent watchdog created by Congress, referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee. The committee turned the matter over to a panel of two Democratic and two Republican lawmakers who have been conducting their own probe for months.

The allegations come as Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) faces a House trial on 13 ethics allegations, adding to the political troubles of Democrats confronted with a tough battle to hold onto their House majority in the November midterm election. Rangel, 80, and Waters, 71, are both high-profile, longtime members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

One of Los Angeles’ most enduring black politicians, Waters came under scrutiny last year after Massachusetts-based OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest minority-owned institutions, received $12 million in bailout funds.

The funding came three months after Waters, a senior member of the committee that oversees banking, helped arrange a meeting between officials of the bank, other minority-owned financial institutions and Treasury Department representatives.

Waters’ husband, Sidney Williams, had owned stock in the bank and served on its board.

Waters has previously said that she fully disclosed her husband’s ties to the bank.

She has said her efforts were consistent with her longtime work to promote opportunity for minority-owned businesses and lending in underserved communities, such as her South Central Los Angeles district.

As in Rangel’s case, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers will be formed to hear Waters’ case, probably in the fall, unless she and the committee reach a settlement.

Lawmakers in the past have accepted a reprimand to settle cases. Punishment can be as severe as censure and even expulsion from the House.

 

Two More NOLA Police Charged With Murder In Beating Death

Two more NOLA Police Officers have been indicted in the beating death of a man 2 months after Katrina. It now appears that the NOLA PD was massively corrupt, and likely corrupt far before Katrina.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, videos caught this 64 year old retired elementary school teacher being beaten by NOLA Police for no apparent reason. This was a harbinger of the behavior of far too many of the NOLA Police, and quite possibly was "business as usual".

Two New Orleans police officers indicted in 2005 beating death

Two officers in the troubled New Orleans Police Department have been indicted in connection with the beating death of a civilian in 2005, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

The federal indictment alleges that Officer Melvin Williams kicked the victim and struck him with a baton, fracturing his ribs and rupturing his spleen. The victim, Raymond Robair, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Williams and Officer Matthew Moore were also charged with obstructing justice when they submitted a false incident report and failed to tell hospital personnel Williams had beaten Robair, according to the indictment in the Eastern District of Louisiana. Details of the indictment were released by the U.S. Justice Department in Washington.

Moore also allegedly lied about the incident in an FBI investigation in March of this year according to the indictment. Moore is accused of telling federal agents Williams had not kicked or beaten Robair.

 

Ex Mayor Herenton Plays the Race Card in Tennessee

Former Mayor of Memphis, Herenton is playing the race card in the Democrat Primary, against Congressman Steve Cohen, a Jewish man – who represents a majority black district.

I think Herenton is way out of bounds with this – and hopefully the voters will agree. Cohen has done an outstanding job for his District by all reports, which is why he has the endorsement of both the Congressional Black Caucus and President Obama.

Seems to me that if Herenton was a great Mayor, and is so popular…

He could knock off a Republican in one of the other seats.

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Ex-mayor injects race into primary

Forty-two years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, while promoting the importance of the content of one’s character. Today, an African-American candidate who marched with King is hoping the voters in this Democratic primary race will look at the color of his skin.

Dr. Willie Herenton, who served as mayor of Memphis for almost two decades until he resigned in 2009, is making race a key part of his platform in his attempt to unseat incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen.

Herenton’s main campaign slogan on yard signs, flyers and T-shirts is phrase “Just One,” a reference to his belief that there should be at least one African- American representing Tennessee in Congress.

“I believe that it is very clear to the majority of the citizens of this community that we lack representation. And all we are seeking is just one, well-qualified, African-American to serve in an 11-member Tennessee delegation that is currently all white,” Herenton said.

 

What’s the Deal With Women Baby Killers in France?

This case has rocked France, and much of the world. A French mother is found to have first had, then murdered 8 babies and buried them in the back yard. And this is the fifth time in the last 7 years cases of this have been discovered in France.

With the number of women, right here in the US of A killing their babies – this is hardly a “French Problem” – but I am not sure I buy the psychological explanation provided in the following article…

But I guess it beats Demonic possession.

As to the husband, who was apparently busy enough to make 10 babies not knowing something wasn’t right…

Hmmmmm…

I am waiting for the first Burqua/Burka Murder, where an Islamic woman kills her Mullah for making her go around in an 8th century outfit…

Probably some enterprising Dr. Phil shrink will chalk it up to “style deprivation”.

If you can hurt one of these, regardless of the color of the wrapper... You gotta be sick!

Why Are French Women Killing Their Babies?

The question is as horrifying as it is important to ask: Why are a rising number of French women killing their newborn babies? Finding the answer has become a matter of urgency following the discovery on Wednesday of eight infants allegedly smothered to death and buried by their mother in northern France. And with that case marking at least the fifth instance of multiple infanticide reported in France since 2003, it has become vital for the nation to confront the phenomenon that appears to be behind it all: a mental condition known as pregnancy denial.

This latest case of newborn murder in France was uncovered in the northern town of Villiers-au-Tertre, after eight tiny bodies were found buried in the gardens of two separate homes. Six of the cadavers were unearthed on July 29 by police at the house of Dominique Cottrez, 45, and her husband Pierre-Marie, 47. Investigators searched their home after the resident of a house previously owned by Dominique’s parents turned up two tiny bodies on July 24 while digging a pool in the backyard. According to the French prosecutor leading the inquiry in the town, a short distance south of Lille, Dominique has admitted to hiding her pregnancies — and the killings of her babies — from her husband, whom police describe as being “dumbstruck” by the revelations. Dominique was charged for the murders; Pierre-Marie has been cleared of wrongdoing and released but could yet become a subject of investigation.

The case in Villiers-au-Tertre is only the most recent example of a father of slain babies being apparently unaware of his wife’s pregnancies. Four other such cases since 2003 include that of Véronique Courjault, 42, who was convicted in June 2009 of killing three of her newborns — two of whom she hid in a freezer and were later discovered by her husband. And this past March, Céline Lesage, 38, was found guilty of murdering six of her babies after she hid her pregnancies from the men who had fathered them. Both women were sentenced to prison — Courjault for eight years and Lesage for 15.

 

E-Bay Lady Has a “Black Problem”

Seems California Senate candidate Meg Whitman has a “black problem”…

And a “brown problem”.

Hopefully she loses to the “old guy”! 🙂

Meg Whitman with Mitt Romney

Whitman Snubs African Americans and Black Media

Hope you were able to TiVo that campaign ad Meg Whitman ran during the primary with her endorsement from former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Because if Whitman continues her strategy of avoiding African Americans, that may be probably the only time you’ll see the former EBay CEO around many other African Americans between now and November election.

African Americans are unhappy with Whitman’s decision to skip this Saturday’s candidate’s forum at the San Francisco Christian Center on black and Latino issues sponsored by the California Foundation. The event, billed as the California Gubernatorial Faith Forum, will not be a debate – but an event where each candidate for Governor and Lieutenant Governor will separately answer questions from an audience of mostly African American and Hispanic church members.

Event organizers said the forum would be an excellent opportunity for the candidates to introduce themselves to African American and Hispanic voters, and to answer questions about race, crime, drugs, discrimination, gentrification, police brutality and other issues important to African Americans and Hispanics not normally asked by the mainstream media or the handpicked (and usually White) audience members at scripted campaign events.

Saturday’s forum will be significant because none of the three debates between Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman announced yesterday will be held in major urban communites. Two of the three debates will be held in the Central Valley cities of Sacramento and Fresno, with the other debate held at Dominician College in Marin County, the richest county in the state where less than two percent of the population is African American. No debates are scheduled for Southern California or any of the state’s largest cities and representatives of Black owned media outlets day it’s unlikely that any reporters from their papers or stations will be on the media panels asking questions of Brown and Whitman during the three debates.

KTVU last week reported that California Foundation forum producers sent invitations to both Whitman and Democratic Party candidate Jerry Brown in May, two months before Saturday’s forum. Brown immediately accepted, but organizers said the Whitman campaign had not scheduled any events for July and would contact the forum’s organizers as soon as Whitman’s July schedule was finalized. The KTVU story said that the Whitman campaign only informed the forum’s producers last week about Whitman’s “scheduling conflict.” The forum will also feature Republican Lt. Governor candidate Abel Maldonado. Forum producer Loren Simon said the Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Gavin Newsom had not yet responded to the group’s invitation.

The Whitman campaign has been criticized for spending millions of dollars on campaign ads while avoiding interviews and press conferences, and staging tightly orchestrated events that provide reporters and the general public with little, if any opportunity to ask Whitman serious and hard hitting questions.

If you watch TV, cable or listen to radio you can’t go more than a half hour without hearing or seeing a Meg Whitman commercial. Whitman’s ads were running non stop months before the June primary and Whitman barely waited a week after her June 8th primary win over state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner before continuing the torrent of campaign commercials. Whitman’s has reportedly spent a record $50 million dollars on TV, radio and print ads with the promise of spending just as much, or more between now and the November election. African American owned media outlet throughout the state say that the Whitman campaign has not spent a dime on radio or print ads with the Black owned media.

 

Charlie Rangel Charged By House “Ethics” Panel

“Conduct Discrediting the House”?

After the conduct of the House the last 20 years, including a Kangaroo Circus Impeachment. Congressmen who couldn’t keep their hands off serially – women they aren’t married to when married, little girls, little boys, the same sex, or turn down a lobbyist bribe from big business…

I wasn’t aware there was anything negative left bad to say about the Congress that wasn’t true.

Discredit… What?

Speaking of “subsidized rent”… When exactly are they going to prosecute the “C Street Crew”?

So Charlie’s “transgressions” really aren’t about what he’s being charged with.

Thing about Congress is that if Halliburton wants to slip you a million or two under the table through one or more of their 1000 lobbyists  – everyone studiously looks the other way. That, after all is “American bidness” as usual.

The reason Tom Delay and Dick Armey left Congress has a lot less to do with “campaign finance violations” and a lot to do with their support of sweatshop slavery in the Marianas and SE Asia. Same as the old slavery, except with Asians instead of black folks working the high tech assembly “cotton fields”.

Congressmen tend to get whacked when their foreign client interests (re bribes) interfere with foreign policy. Not all Congressmen are crooked – but most of the biggest blowhards on the Hill are. An almost certain sign is when they vote against something that very well benefits the citizens in their state.

Find out who Charlie’s foreign clients are (and those of the other members of the CBC under investigation)…

And you find out the real reason.

See if you can figure out the train Charlie got in front of…

Ethics panel charges Rangel with conduct discrediting the House

The House ethics committee on Thursday accused veteran Rep. Charles Rangel of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress.

“Credibility is what’s at stake here; the very credibility of the House itself before the American people,” said Rep. Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on a subcommittee that will hold a trial-like hearing on the charges against Rangel.

McCaul spoke at the subcommittee’s first meeting, which heard the charges against Rangel, a 20-term Democrat from New York running for re-election this year. Rangel was not required to attend and did not show up.

According to committee documents, Rangel earlier filed a motion to dismiss the allegations against him that was denied.

Rangel said this week that his lawyers were in talks with committee lawyers on a possible deal to avoid the public hearing on his alleged violations. When Thursday’s hearing was delayed for 55 minutes with no explanation, rumors of an imminent agreement quickly spread.

However, the panel gathered and held the hearing, which included the first public announcement of the specific committee charges against Rangel. It remained unclear whether a settlement avoiding the spectacle of a trial hearing was possible.

According to the charges, Rangel allegedly failed to report more than $600,000 on financial disclosure reports and improperly solicited funds for the construction of a center bearing his name at the City College of New York.

The committee also alleged that Rangel improperly used a rent-subsidized apartment as a campaign office for over a decade and failed to pay taxes on a home in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel “argues that errors on his personal taxes do not implicate discharge of his official responsibilities,” committee investigators concluded in response to Rangel’s request to have the charges dismissed. He “appears to be operating under the erroneous belief that the only conduct subject to discipline is conduct directly related to the discharge of his official responsibilities.”

 

Sherrod to Sue Brietbart

Even if the DOJ won’t do it’s job and pursue criminal charges, at least, like the OJ case there may be some justice in the Civil Court…

Let’s hope she doesn’t get an all-Republican jury.

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Sherrod plans to sue Breitbart

Former Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday she will pursue a lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart.

Breitbart posted an edited video clip of Sherrod appearing to say she discriminated against a white farmer looking for assistance. The clip showed her addressing a chapter of the NAACP.

“I will definitely do it,” she said when asked whether she was considering legal action. Sherrod made her remarks during an appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in San Diego, California.

Breitbart “had to know that he was targeting me,” Sherrod said. “At this point, he hasn’t apologized. I don’t want it at this point, and he’ll definitely hear from me.”

 

Half Right… For All The Totally Wrong Reasons

This Republican is trying to repeal part of the 13th Amendment which gurantees American Citizenship to anyone born on American Soil. This clause was originally intended to grant full citizenship to former slaves. There is plenty of real evidence that it is being misused by some people as a methodology to avoid US Citizenship and Immigration Laws. Real numbers are hard to come by, as folks like Arizona’s Governor, and other anti-(brown and black) immigration types like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and Cong. Hayworth are proven liars, grossly lying about everything from beheading, to crime statistics. The racist right doesn’t change it’s stripes because it might have a valid point – it just continues race-baiting, lying, and exasperating on captive “news” media, who are happy to generate ratings by convincing easily duped Americans into believing illegals are Axe murderers waiting under their windows at night to wreak Lizzie Borden like carnage on unsuspecting white folks…

But “Anchor Babying” does seem to constitute fraud to me, and something should be done about it by creating some form of law which, among other penalties, denies citizenship based on fraudulently taking advantage of the system.

The real “immigration problem” has nothing to do with illegal immigrants. The real “immigration problem” has to do with H1 Visas, and American companies exporting high-tech jobs to foreign countries because of cheaper labor. These are real, middle class jobs that are being destroyed by American companies – and not the fantasy of the illegal immigrant from Mexico of Latin America putting hundreds of thousands of skilled American workers on the dole. Republicans have sponsored and fully supported every single rise in the number of H1 Visas offered the last 20 years…

With the resulting impact that the income of the middle class dropped $2,200 a year during the Bushit Years, and over 3 million college educated unemployed.

It isn’t Pablo, or Hernando who screwed you out of a Job – it’s Microsoft and a host of other High-Tech firms, who have hung out signs – “Jobs – No American Need Apply” fully supported by the very same Republicans screaming about “Pablo” being the greatest threat to America since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and “Hernando” thirsting to kill white babies.

If you a tired of getting screwed, and being unemployed – you need direct your anger at a different group of people.

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Financial Reform Bill Includes Diversity Requirements

Couple of factoids –

1. Black people in the US start about 30% of the new incorporations each year – they receive less than .03% of the Venture Capital and Investment Money put into new or growing businesses.
2. Women of all colors  start about 60% of new businesses in the US – they receive only 3% of the Venture Capital and Investment Money.

Not much of a “level playing field” – now is it?

Republicans and conservatives have opposed any move to change this, and make things more fair using disingenuous arguments about “quotas”, and other racially tinged code words.

Now the reason I call “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” black conservatives “Uncle Toms” is this – pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is exceedingly difficult, when those bootstraps have been cut by the fact you don’t have access to the very thing which makes every one of your non-minority businesses that is successful,  successful in the first place…

Access to capital.

So expect a fight by the right against ANY effort to level that field – including false arguments like quotas, Affirmative Action, and reverse discrimination…

And a lot of hayteration directed at Maxine Waters.

My own experience with exclusion of Minority owned firms dates form the early 90’s when I owned a Government Contracting Firm which specialized in very high end telecom and computer engineering. Most of my customers were other Government Contracting Firms. I never filed for any sort of 8a or Small Disadvantaged Business Classification, although we did file as a Minority Owned Small Business with the Feds. My company had 12 people working at a major Federal Contractor, who was having “problems” meeting their minority SDB and Minority Owned Business (8a) goals – and was filing for an exemption, claiming that there were no minority owned firms which could do the technical work. I pointed out to the Program Manager that indeed, 1/4th of his development staff was being supplied by my company – which was a Minority Owned Firm, although not a SDB (for which we could qualify if we wanted) or a MWOB (Minority Owned Disadvantaged Business or 8a for which we also could qualify if we wanted) and as such, they could indeed reach the 10% requirement. Although it would require hiring more people from my firm, or other like firms, of whom I gave him a list of 10 who were fully qualified and capable fo doing the work who were already certified as SDBs and MWOBs. (And no – white folks can own both SDBs and MWOBs, if they can meet the eligibility requirements).

They terminated my contract 48 hours later, and successfully got an exemption from having to hire Minority Firms because “none were technically competent to do the work”. This is the game that has been played for years at the Federal Contracting level, with the Federal Government Agency sometimes being willing participants. Republicans had managed to gut any enforcement or penalty for not meeting contract requirements (Much as they gutted the Criminal Penalties in Title IV of the Civil Rights Act) in this, and only this one area – meaning that there really wasn’t any penalty for ignoring Small Business or Minority  contract requirements.

That “level playing field” on the side of a mountain thing… Again.

Feds demand diversity on Wall Street

A little-noticed section of the Wall Street reform law grants the federal government broad new powers to compel financial firms to hire more women and minorities — an effort at promoting diversity that’s drawing fire from Republicans who say it could lead to de facto hiring quotas.

Deep inside the massive overhaul bill, Congress gives the federal government authority to terminate contracts with any financial firm that fails to ensure the “fair inclusion” of women and minorities, forcing every kind of company from a Wall Street giant to a mom-and-pop law office to account for the composition of its work force.

Employment law experts say the language goes further than any previous attempt by the U.S. government to promote diversity in the financial sector — putting muscle behind federal efforts to help minority- and women-owned firms gain access to billions in federal contracts.

 

Congress Mends, But Doesn’t End Crack Cocaine Sentencing Disparity

Something of an improvement – but since the two are chemically identical, any disparity is completely political.

Congress Approves Crack Cocaine Sentencing Changes

Washington…Addressing what both Democrats andRepublicans agreed was a quarter-century old injustice in drug sentencing, Congress gave final approval Wednesday to a bill reducing the penalty for crack cocaine offenders.

The legislation, which was welcomed by the Obamaadministration, reduces the disparities between sentences for powdered cocaine and crack cocaine based on the heavier weight of crack, which is often sold in crystals. Crack cocaine is used disproportionately by blacks, leading to complaints of discrimination.

“By sending the bill to the President, the House has taken an important step toward more just sentencing policies while enhancing the ability of law enforcement officials to protect our communities from violent and dangerous drug traffickers,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. The White House said Obama would sign the bill.

In an effort to stem rampant crack cocaine use, a law was passed in 1986 that had the effect of giving crack cocaine offenders the same jail sentence as a someone who possessed 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. The bill narrows that ratio to 18 to one and eradicates the mandatory five-year jail sentence for first-time offenders charged with possessing five grams of crack cocaine.

Under the new bill, a person in possession of 28 grams of crack cocaine would trigger that five-year jail sentence, said Julie Stewart, president of the advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

“This is certainly a victory,” said Stewart. “Earlier attempts to correct the stiff sentences for crack cocaine defendants have failed, so this is the first time there has been bipartisan support for significant reform to crack penalties.”

The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), who teamed up with colleague Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.) to pass the legislation unanimously through the Senate in March. Republican senators Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were also vocal supporters of the bill.

That same bipartisan support was echoed in the House, with only Texas representative Lamar Smith voicing opposition during the voice vote Wednesday.

“Why are we coddling some of the most dangerous drug traffickers in America?” said Smith, who argued that passing the bill could increase drug violence to the same levels as the 1980s, when crack cocaine use was rife.

But some said the legislation does not go far enough because it still treats crack and powder cocaine differently.

“It ultimately came down to politics as opposed to research on what would work best,” said Matt Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project. “And many organizations and many members of Congress had been pushing for a 1 to 1 ratio, but that was just not going to happen this year.”

 

Chris Mattews – AA for White Guys in the NBA

This one is funny! Matthews is obviously putting Buchanan on… Which will probably generate a veritable poop-storm on conservative rags.

 

The New Black Panther Party – A Faux News Subsidiary?

Folks who frequent my blog are aware of the the black conservative “Rent-a-Tom” business.  People and outfits like frequent Hannity guest Jesse Lee Peterson, who’s organization BOND is wholly funded by by Hannity – and Project 21 which is owned by a white conservative organization and serves to supply blackface to conservative events for speaker fees. Ergo – supposedly “black” organizations which are wholly owned and run by white conservatives which supply “black conservatives” to reliably stay on message, and Tom.

Came across a rather interesting number today –

Fox News’ obsession with the phony scandal surrounding the Justice Department’s treatment of the New Black Panther Party follows more than 50 appearances by members of the New Black Panther Party on Fox News shows dating to 1998.

Faux News has mentioned the NBPP in no less than 68 occasions in the last 7 days. Indeed, it appears that NBPP Leader Shabazz hasn’t done an interview on another MSM outlet (other than Russia TV, which isn’t exactly a US based MSM).

Now, I’m just guessing here, but Speaker fees for “commentators” to go on “News” shows can run from $5,000 to $100,000. Now I seriously doubt Faux is paying Mr. Shabazz at the high end – but even at $5,000 a visit…

Faux News has funded the NBPP something between $250,000 and $5,000,000 – just in speaker fees. Like BOND, we don’t know what else has been passed over to the NBPP under the table.

What that means, is that possibly 90% of the funding for the NBPP has come from…

Faux News.

.