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Florida’s brand new Tea Party-approved law requiring all food stamp and other public assistance applicants to pass a drug test before accessing aid has been temporarily blocked. It seems Federal Judge Mary Scriven was concerned it violates the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure.
Before signing the law, [Governor Rick] Scott made several references to people on welfare using drugs at a higher rate than the general population. Maria Kayanan, of the ACLU in Florida, called the law “patriarchal, racist and mean-spirited.”
Pre-judicial block, while the law was in operation, over 99% of applicants passed their tests. (6,968 out of 7,000)
This Tea Party-approved measure is estimated to cost the Florida government $178 million a year.
Sounds like a small-government, cut-wasteful-spending, fiscal-conservative type of measure to me. That’s why I’m certain it has nothing to do with poor-bashing, stereotypes, or racism. Just the cold hard facts!
It’s not like we need myths about the good-for-nothingness of the poor to prop up the solid truth of our tots meritocratic capitalist economic system.
Oh, and FYI, Gov. Scott founded the company, Solantic, that has the sole government contract to do this testing.
Crockett Keller wanted to let the public know about the concealed hand gun training he offers. He also wanted to let the public know that he hates Obama, liberals, socialists and Muslims. In a stroke of brilliance, he combined these two (un?)related items into ONE FANTASTIC RADIO AD!
Admire:
Linda Wall is running for a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates as an Independent. She would like you to focus on her qualifications for office, such as her strong anti-gay and ex-gay credentials, and not pay too much mind to her little “mistake”: that one time when she sexually molested a female middle school student while she was a gym teacher.
You see, she was under the influence of “college” and “marijuana”, and, well, now she’s a Christian, and we all know Christians never molest children or have same-sex orientations. So your daughters are safe around her now. She even alludes to this incident on her campaign website:
[W]hen I went away to Longwood College, I allowed liberal professors to destroy my Judeo-Christian upbringing. I guess one could say I became the “prodigal daughter”. But when my rebellious years came to a close I knew it was the Lord that I needed.
I mean can you really blame her after what she must have went through? She added: “You do that out of college sometimes. Some people do, some people don’t.”
Yeah, some people (statutorily) rape children out of college, some don’t. Six of one, half dozen of the other, ya know? And now that she has done time fervently lobbying to restrict gay’s and women’s rights, we can all forget about this, right?
As an aside, I would like to offer a helpful tip for confused news reporters: statutory rape of a child is NOT a “lesbian affair”, as I have seen reported in several headlines. It is child molestation, aka pedophilia. I know it is easy to confuse consenting relationships between grown adults with one adult taking advantage of a child in their care, but with some deep thinking I’m sure you’ll be able to sort out the difference.
Previously, Wall had admitted that she “was in the lifestyle for a decade“. Perhaps in penance, she has spent much time in recent years working on criminalizing LGBT people by guaranteeing that gay sex remains a state crime (except when she commits it, apparently), preventing gay people from obtaining legally-recognized unions, protecting gay-bashing as *not* a hate crime, and making sure Virginia schools Don’t Say ‘Gay’, like a similar law in Tennessee. In her thorough witch hunt, she personally uncovered “the homosexual agenda”:
“When I started investigating this thing, I saw that there was definitely an agenda out there to indoctrinate children into homosexuality. … There is no gay gene, people aren’t born homosexuals, so the only way to get people in the lifestyle is to recruit them. That’s how you spread your agenda.”
Well, she’s one to know, as she clearly did little recruiting herself when she was “in the lifestyle”. But she’s Christian now, so it’s all cool.
Wow, this kind of looks like war:
Photo by Jane Tyska
On Tuesday, October 25th, Oakland police attacked peaceful Occupy Oakland protesters. They shot rubber bullets, bean bag rounds (bags filled with lead balls) and tear gas, and lobbed flash-bang grenades. They deny this, but video from the scene makes the facts clear.
They cracked the skull of Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran, and then lobbed grenades at those who rushed to help him.
Stillframe from Youtube video above
This Laura Flanders video shows the chaos pretty clearly.
I’m surprised to say that the Washington Post has a good article about the incident and Scott Olsen’s injuries.
The Root also discusses the police attack.
A photo slideshow is available at the LA Times.
In related news…
Further south in LA, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa explains his priorities:
He decided the camp could not stay … because of concerns about the condition of the lawn and trees.
“Look, our lawn is dead, our sprinklers aren’t working . . . our trees are without water,” the mayor said.
Sounds a lot like the tactics used at other Occupy locations, such as the purported deep concern for the flower beds in Liberty Plaza, New York and the plaintive calls by the authorities of Boston for Occupy Boston to PLEASE THINK OF THE SHRUBBERY!
Side note of interest: Google reports that, “We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove.”
Huh.
“Medical education does not exist to provide students with a way of making a living, but to ensure the health of the community.”
“I feel ambivalent about selling my services in a world where some can’t by them.”
-Doctor Paul Farmer, in Mountains Beyond Mountains
“[E]xperience has made it painfully clear that men in suits not only don’t have any monopoly on wisdom, they have very little wisdom to offer.”
-Paul Krugman, in Confronting the Malefactors
The NY Daily News, a newspaper of ill-repute, recently published an article entitled Gilgo Beach victim was a man wearing women’s clothing, possibly working as prostitute: authorities, written by Matthew Lysiak and Rich Schapiro. Yes, they did. Let’s dissect.
Police released sketches Tuesday of two victims found at a suspected serial killer’s beachside dumping ground – one of them a gap-toothed man who was dressed as a woman and likely turning tricks.
They know this person identified as a man? Amazing detective work. They don’t even know who zie was, so how can they possibly be aware of hir gender identity in 2000, the year they believe zie was killed? Also, “likely turning tricks”??
Even the police sketch appears to misgender this person.
The composite sketches were made public along with pictures of jewelry worn by two of the victims – the first new details Long Island cops have put forward in months in the puzzling, creepy cases. The bizarre discovery of the cross-dressing Asian man found near Gilgo Beach led cops to theorize he may have been a prostitute – like five of the other 10 victims.
BIZARRE?? Have the writers, Lysiak and Schapiro, never heard of transgendered people before? Are they unaware of the centuries-long history of people dressing differently than the gender assigned them at birth? I wonder if they know gender is socially-constructed. Um, probably not. Is the “bizarreness” factor heightened by the victim’s race, in the minds of these writers? Do they know that calling minorities — whether racial, sexual or otherwise — “bizarre” is incredibly offensive?
Also, I appreciate the automatic yet subtle association of “cross-dressing” (i.e. gender non-conformity) with sex work.
He was estimated to be between the ages of 17-23 and stood about 5-feet-6, authorities said. He had poor dental health, missing both top and bottom molars and one of his top front teeth.
Nice assumptive use of “he”. You know what “poor dental health” often indicates? Poverty. Just saying. No mention of that being a common thread in these murders, though I have a strange suspicion the victims shared a common economic class in addition to a common gender presentation. Huh. Nothing to see here. Moving along…
Investigators believe he was killed between five and 10 years ago.
Yeah, so could we please treat this murder victim with a modicum of respect? Instead of writing a very public article mocking and insulting hir, much, I’m thinking, as the killer(s) probably did?
Interesting thoughts from an Egyptian man who attended the Billionaire’s March yesterday. The Billionaire’s March was part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and included visits to five billionaires’ homes: Rupert Murdoch, David Koch, Howard Milstein, Jamie Dimon, and John Paulson.
Mustafa Ibrahim, 23, an engineer marched on the “Billionaire’s Tour” during a visit to New York from Cairo, where he said he was arrested during a popular uprising this year which toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
“It’s pretty much the same thing as Egypt,” Ibrahim said. “The problem is the rich keep getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”
Alternet describes the Billionaire’s March as “getting enthusiastic responses from onlookers–in particular the doormen at the buildings en route.”
Look out billionaires, your own servants openly root for your comeuppance!
In 2009, Shawnee County District Attorney Chadwick Taylor signed a protocol with the City of Topeka, sheriff’s office, and the Third Judicial District Court Services “for responding to and prosecuting domestic violence cases“.
Taylor agreed that his office would “aggressively prosecute domestic violence,” “review domestic violence cases as first priority” and “charge the cases that meet sufficient evidence to prosecute the case.”
In spite of this agreement, DA Taylor’s office announced on September 8th that they would no longer prosecute misdemeanors in the city of Topeka, including domestic violence cases. This announcement seems to be a reaction to a 10% budget cut for his office. He has already rejected thirty domestic violence cases and released three offenders.
To teach Taylor a lesson, the Topeka city council has a brilliant idea: repeal the city’s ban on domestic violence, i.e. the ordinance that makes it a crime!
From the Topeka Capitol-Journal:
The convoluted thinking by some council members is that if the city has no law against domestic battery, Taylor will have to take the cases and prosecute them in Shawnee County District Court.
Wow. Five city council members voted for this repeal: John Alcala, Sylvia Ortiz, Chad Manspeaker, Bob Archer and Andrew Gray.
I am actually a prison abolitionist, but when decriminalizing, one must start with behaviors, currently considered crimes, that either hurt no one or only hurt oneself. We do not currently have any societal mechanisms in place to hold people accountable for harm to others, other than the criminal justice system, so starting decriminalization with crimes that ACTUALLY HURT ANOTHER PERSON is simply an expression of contempt for the survivors/victims of such crimes.
Victim’s advocate Claudine Dombowski has a few words about this situation:
“It’s appalling, it’s disgusting.”…
Dombrowski says that she was the victim in a “misdemeanor” domestic abuse case 16 years ago – a crowbar strike to the head left her with 24 stitches and two broken wrists. Now, she worries that nothing is being done to protect victims.
“They need to invest in headstones, because these women are going to end up in cemeteries,” said Dombrowski… “The city of Topeka just said domestic violence is legal and you can beat your wife.”
Shawnee County DA Chad Taylor can be reached at:
sncoda@snco.us
785-233-8200 x4330
Fax: 785-291-4909
200 SE 7th Street, Room 21
Topeka, KS, 66603
Topeka City Council Members can be reached at:
council@topeka.org
785-368-3710
Fax: 785-368-3958
215 SE 7th, Room 255
Topeka, KS 66603-3914
From the Mother Jones slideshow At the Heart of #OccupyWallStreet:
KV, a musician sleeping in the park, stands in front of a defective American flag manufactured in China and bought at Walmart.
Photo by Jacob Blickenstaff.
1. Go to NCUA.gov or moveyourmoneyproject.org to find out what credit unions and community banks are near you.
2. Research their financial products, business practices, and membership requirements.
3. Visit the websites and physical locations of the ones you like best. Talk with employees to get a feel for their customer service.
4. Make an appointment with the credit union or community bank that impresses you the most to discuss how to transfer your various accounts and take care of any necessary paperwork.
5. Withdraw all your money from your bank and move it to its new location! Make sure that every single account at every single financial institution is completely closed out or they WILL keep charging you fees. Don’t forget to let them know your reason for leaving.
6. Enjoy NOT paying bank fees and NOT supporting the corporate take-over of America!
Recently, I’ve been confronted by a pattern regarding high-profile capital cases where conviction was made on flimsy evidence. The pattern is the victim’s family lust for the blood of the person convicted, and then publicly celebrating the killing. This may be regardless of mountains of evidence indicating their innocence or at least the presence of large quantities of doubt. I am reminded of American’s shameful response to the killing of Osama bin Laden.
We saw this with the West Memphis Three. They were finally released on August 19 of this year, after being imprisoned for almost 20 years on ludicrous evidence. One of them, Damien Echols, had been sentenced to death. Steve Branch, father to a child they were accused of murdering, said, “As far as I’m concerned, he was going to pay for killing my son.” Apparently for Mr. Branch, justice is less important than getting an eye for an eye.
Even more recently, the family of Mark MacPhail, the white police officer Troy Davis was convicted of murdering, publicly celebrated Mr. Davis’ killing. Davis was put to death on September 21st inspite of an international outcry over the numerous flaws, recanted testimonies, and racist overtones related to his conviction.
Mark MacPhail’s mother, Anneliese MacPhail, said “I’m kind of numb. I can’t believe that it’s really happened. All the feelings of relief and peace I’ve been waiting for all these years, they will come later. I certainly do want some peace.”
They will come later. I find it interesting that she admits the fulfillment of her revenge fantasy hasn’t yet brought her peace.
But I recently stumbled on a fascinating and inspiring counterexample.
Lawrence Russell Brewer was an avowed white supremacist who was convicted, on very strong evidence, of gruesomely torturing to death James Byrd, a black man, in Texas in 1998. He was killed by the state on on the same day as Troy Davis, though the black family of this victim had a very different reaction than the white family of Mark MacPhail.
Ross Byrd, son of Brewer’s victim, protested the killing of his father’s murderer, saying, “You can’t fight murder with murder. Life in prison would have been fine. I know he can’t hurt my daddy anymore. I wish the state would take in mind that this isn’t what we want.”
My ideal society has no place for revenge killings, even when sanctioned by law. Ross Byrd, in his ability to look past his deep hurt, to see the man who murdered his father as a fellow human being, and to move beyond the desire for revenge, teaches a powerful lesson. Families who have survived the brutal killing of a loved one are certainly allowed to experience the intense pain and loss that naturally follows. Nevertheless, I do not believe that their calls for blood should be condoned under any circumstance — especially when the guilt of the person convicted is supported by extremely thin evidence.
Murder by any other name is still murder.
I was there!
Occupy Wall Street Protesters Rally Against “Excessive Force”
Their fight over corporate greed isn’t over yet, but protesters who’ve been camped out in Lower Manhattan for two weeks are now taking on a new issue.
Demonstrators marched from their main gathering point in Zuccotti Park to police headquarters Friday to shine light on what they say is excessive force used by the department.
Several people were maced and about 80 people arrested for disorderly conduct last weekend.
In other news, Mayor Bloomberg claims ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters are targeting bankers who ‘are struggling to make ends meet’. Oh yes he did.
In awesome critique news, South Bronx’s Rebel Diaz Arts Collective posted some reflections on race and culture dynamics at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration.
[T]he gut feeling was that there is a serious disconnect down there. We left with mad questions! Where was the hood? Where was the poorest congressional district in the USA, from The South Bronx at? Like we say in Hip Hop, where Brooklyn at? Could it be that perhaps the working class couldnt afford to just leave work and the responsibility of bills and family survival to camp out in a city park? Did folks from our communities not know about this? If people of color were occupying Wall St would we have lasted this long?
In non-news, 95% of MSM coverage of the protest has been absolutely vomitous. Like the insipid New York Times articles, for example. It’s as though their reporters are insulted at being asked to condescend to write about the concerns of common people.
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