“You’ve Been Served!” – Sherrod Serves Lawsuit Papers to Brietbart at CPAC

Lat year Andrew Brietbart posted a doctored video of Shirley Sherrod resulting in her losing her job, and a huge scandal when it was exposed the video was selectively edited…

Mrs. Sherrod’s Process Server was on hand to meet Mr. Brietbart at CPAC.

Sherrod Sues Breitbart For Damaged Reputation

Blogger Andrew Breitbart has been sued by former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod who contends her reputation was damaged by Breitbart’s posting last year of an edited video.

The New York Timesreports today Breitbart was served with the lawsuit at CPAC Saturday. Sherrod contends in the suit that a video clip he posted last year “has damaged her reputation and prevented her from continuing her work.”

Breitbart, who first posted the clip on July 19, 2010, at his BigGovernment.com site, had been under scrutiny after it was revealed the clip misrepresented Sherrod’s message during a speech in March 2010 before a group of NAACP members.

Fox then posted an online article reporting on the clip, linking to Breitbart’s video. Breitbart did not seek comment from Sherrod prior to his report; Fox News also gave no indication that they had done so. She was forced to resign later that day.

Breitbart has recently claimed that Sherrod was not fired because of his video but because of her part in the 11-year-old Pigford case, in which black farmers sued for discrimination against the Agriculture Department.

He stated such a claim again on Thursday in an interview with Media Matters, in which he admitted he had no proof of the assertion, revealing it was a theory.

Breitbart responded to Sherrod’s lawsuit Saturday with an online statement that said, in part:

I find it extremely telling that this lawsuit was brought almost seven months after the alleged incidents that caused a national media frenzy occurred. It is no coincidence that this lawsuit was filed one day after I held a press conference revealing audio proof of orchestrated and systemic Pigford fraud. I can promise you this: neither I, nor my journalistic websites, will or can be silenced by the institutional Left, which is obviously funding this lawsuit. I welcome the judicial discovery process, including finding out which groups are doing so.

Sherrod could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.

Here’s hoping she also goes after Faux News for aiding and abetting in the crime.

 

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.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Sherrod to Sue Brietbart, posted with vodpod

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.”

 

Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod…

This is a great op-ed piece in the NYT be Van Jones. What he is saying is what a lot of Washington insiders and business people in the Washington area are saying – that the Obama Administration has allowed itself to be paralyzed by the threat of the right-wing noise machine.

The unwillingness, or inability of the Obama Administration to stand up for their people has impacted everything in every crevice and recess of the Federal Government. Your day to day, Civil Service workers are afraid to do their jobs, because they know they could be the next Van Jones or Shirley Sherrod. They can’t afford to fight back by themselves, and to pay lawyers tens of thousands of dollars to defend them. And the Administration is utterly chickenshit and wiling to throw anyone under the bus at the simple whiff of an accusation from the right…

No matter how specious.

This administration caves to media blackmail, which the right wing knows is effective anytime they add the vector of race.

Some analysts have concluded that the problem is that the Obama White House is too white. Ergo, had this White House had ANYONE at the staff level who was black, and old enough to be  familiar with history – they would have known who Shirley Sherrod was. Further, the administration could assemble an effective counter strategy beyond just turning tail and running every time right wing bullies played the race card. My feeling about Obama since the Primaries has been he just doesn’t have that “killer instinct”. As many dollars as CEOs of major corporations spend to convince the outside world that they are “nice guys” – not one of those guys got there without carrying an metaphorical razor in the hip pocket for the throats of the opposition who can’t be “made to see reason” by other means. The only real difference between organized crime and business leadership is business leaders use lawyers and MBA types, instead of big guys with baseball bats and guns to “make you an offer you can’t refuse”.

That is what is missing in this President, that is what is missing in his staff – and that is crippling his Administration’s ability to fulfill their promises.

The New Lynching, Brought to America By The Same People As The Old Lynching. The New Government, Just Like the Old Government - Which Looked the Other Way.

Shirley Sherrod and Me

I UNDERSTAND how Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official who was forced to resign last week, must have felt.

Last year I, too, resigned from an administration job, after I uttered some ill-chosen words about the Republican Party and was accused — falsely — of signing my name to a petition being passed around by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Partisan Web sites and pundits pounced, and I, too, saw my name go from obscurity to national infamy within hours.

Our situations aren’t exactly the same. Ms. Sherrod’s comments, in which she, a black woman, appeared to admit to racial discrimination against a white couple, were taken far out of context, while I truly did use a vulgarity.

But the way we were treated is strikingly similar, and it reveals a lot about the venal nature of Washington politics in the Internet era. In my case, the media rushed to judgment so quickly that I was never able to make clear that the group put my name on its Web site without my permission. The group finally admitted that it never had my signature, but by then it was too late.

Fortunately, Ms. Sherrod has been offered a new job. But our stories offer cautionary tales to anyone interested in taking a job in national politics.

 

Faux News’ Crusade to Make Black People Villains – Ed Shultz

Ed Shultz hits it on the head this morning…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Ed Schultz: Andrew Breitbart is a “Hate Merchan…, posted with vodpod

 

Time to Man Up, President Obama

In Mugabe’s Zimbabwe it isn’t unusual for political opponents to find their livelihoods destroyed, to be beaten or killed, or to be summarily imprisoned to be tried before kangaroo courts on manufactured or imaginary charges…

Zimbabwe is no different from dozens of other countries wherein the government has failed, or become so corrupt as to become the enemy of freedom and sanctity of a legal system supporting justice.

It used to be America was different.

The extreme racist right's media attack on the NAACP, ACORN, and Shirley Sherrod led by Fox News and Brietbart has become America's Kristalnacht

We have become like Argentina during the dark years, where the government cowered as right-wing gangs of thugs “disappeared” thousands of people who had the temerity to stand up, or were just inconveniently in the way…

Instead of the gun and billy club, gangs of right-wing thugs masquerading as media virtually “disappear” people like Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod in this country, which your administration cowers behind the locked doors of political expediency.

Your administration, through your decision not to prosecute the very criminal activities of the previous administration, and complete refusal to stand up to the criminal activities of the extreme right has failed in its role to protect the innocent, to protect free speech, or to ensure any level of justice.

You have become a shadow government, no different from that of Argentina which hid under the covers and cowered behind locked doors as thousands of their citizens were murdered in back alleys and tortured in fields.

Mr. Obama – you are an enabler.

Dear Mr. President: Time To Man Up

With all due respect, it’s time to man up. It is time, way past time for you to grow into the job you were elected to do, and promised to do. It is time to stand up and be the man we hope we elected. It is time to justify that hope, and the trust that was placed in you. It is time to pick up the mantle of history that has been entrusted to you and prove yourself worthy of carrying it forward.

Too much is at stake now. Too many people are beginning to think their faith in you was misplaced. What’s worse is you are proving them right.

Strike one was Van Jones.

Strike two was ACORN.

And now Shirley Sherrod had become strike three…

I’d like to add to that – No Criminal Charges in Firing of US Attorneys

The Bush “Justice Department” appointees and political hacks destroyed the Civil Rights Division, and made a complete mockery of both Civil Rights and impartiality – and your administration again, refuses to take a stand.

Your Administration sir, has become the embodiment of  the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller –

“THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

Nobody is asking you to become a Robert Mugabe, suppressing free speech…

What we are asking, no demanding – is that you prosecute criminal violations of our laws impartially. And in this case impartially includes the criminal acts of Andrew Breitbart and Faux News in defaming, criminally maligning, and destroying the reputation and livelihood of innocent citizens such as Shirley Sherrod. It quite simply is time for your DOJ to live up to its ideals – and start prosecuting criminals…

Even if they happen to be criminals on the right.

Now it is true, the partisan corruption and criminal malfeasance during the Bush Administration has left both our Department of Justice and Judiciary in shambles…

But you were elected to put that to rights.

Time for you to stand up for the majority that elected you – and end this rule of thugs.

 

White House, Visilak Apologize to Sherrod

White House Apologizes to Shirley Sherrod

The White House has apologized to Shirley Sherrod for its hasty firing of her over an out-of-context video. “Without a doubt, Miss Sherrod is owed an apology,” said Robert Gibbs at his afternoon press conference. “I would do so on behalf of this administration.” But will she be rehired at the USDA? Unclear. He said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to reach Sherrod to personally apologize, “and they will talk about their next steps,” reports Politico.

“I think, clearly, that a lot of people involved in the situation … acted without all the facts,” said Gibbs, who faced a lengthy grilling over the controversy. “A disservice was done. An apology is owed. That’s what we’ve done.”

USDA Secretary Visilak Apologizes

Agriculture chief Tom Vilsack said he personally called the ousted USDA employee today to apologize and offer her a new job, reports CNN. She was “extraordinarily gracious,” said Vilsack, but she’s going to think about that job offer for a while.

“A good woman has gone through a difficult time, and I will have to live with that for a very long time,” said Vilsack.

 

Plot Thickens In Sherrod Firing!

Hmmmm… Turns out Shirley Sherrod and her husband were part of the Pigford settlement, which was the ulti-billion dollar lawsuit by black farmers against the USDA, which had denied them loans based on race.

It also appears that the reason for the quick action in firing Mrs. Sherrod may well have been in at least some part,  blowback from that settlement.

Official Ousted From Ag Department Had Taken USDA to Court, Won

The Agriculture Department has a lengthy history with the official forced to resign Monday over a controversial YouTube clip — it turns out she and a group she helped found with her husband won millions last year in a discrimination suit settlement with the federal government.

The information about the suit only thickens the plot that has evolved seemingly by the hour since Shirley Sherrod resigned late Monday as the department’s Georgia director of rural development.

She claims the video clip, which showed her telling a story about how she withheld her full assistance to a white farmer, omitted key details, and she argues she was pushed out by the Obama administration without getting a chance to tell her side. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is standing by his decision.

But it’s not the first time Sherrod faced off against the federal government. Days before she was appointed to the USDA post last year, her group reportedly won a $13 million settlement in a longstanding discrimination suit against the USDA known commonly as the Pigford case.

 

Brietbart NAACP Shirley Sherrod Story Explodes!

Brietbart and Faux News’ lies have cost this poor woman her job. The tape of Shirley Sherrod speaking before the NAACP was manipulated. Here, in this CNN interview a few hours ago, the wife of the white farmer who supposedly was mistreated by Mrs. Sherrod calls her a dear friend without whose help, they would have lost their farm.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Breitbart’s Sherrod/NAACP story disintegrates |…, posted with vodpod

I repeat my call for the DOJ to criminally charge Mr. Brietbart, and anyone participating in this criminal conspiracy,defamation, and  assault such as Faux News against Mrs. Sherrod, and prosecute them to the fullest extent of Federal law.