So the debate was highly entertaining but one thing struck me as extremely important regarding what the republicans are saying and what society seem to be saying; the rape and abuse of women and children is no big deal. So if this is the message I am deeply troubled and I think we have a lot of soul searching to do regarding the above.
I am hoping this is not the case but listening to Herman discuss and defend himself reminds me of the classic abuser who is in denial an there is the outside chance that his split personality may be real and he may not remember especially if it is under the influence of booze his actions. Still I am pretty certain just by the feelings I get in my gut he is guilty as charged.
That this coach defended and protected his program above the welfare of little boys like the Catholic Church and maybe more institutions of abuse is once again unforgivable and systemic.
That Arizona has prisons for profit that supported Richard Pearce who was just voted out of office who has direct ties to white supremacist groups who wrote the "papers please law" that targets ethnics especially Latino citizens and then you see the size of the populations in these prisons which are heavily tilted toward Latino and Black inmates I say HELLO! Close these places down and arrest these men and free the inmates who are not there for violent crimes but because they’re illegal’s? Let them go…where is the over sight?
Finally the people are speaking with their vote, Halleluiah. Still I am worried and don’t want to be smug regarding president Obama’s chances at re-election yet it is looking good for us. This country has a big ask yes job creation and the economy but we have moral and ethical issues too and I suggest we start with our ideas and beliefs regarding the violence toward women and children and then the prison population in Arizona and then I believe we need to outlaw prisons for profit it reeks of Jim Crow.
I can smell Dick Cheney in there call me crazy but something tells me this is his industry and if my memory serves me he invests in prisons for profit, of course he does.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Voting and early registration issues every where; please copy, paste and post...
This is a report written and compiled by Bev Harris; She give permission to copy and paste and post to all...so please spread the word.
By Bev Harris: Part 2A of a 5-part series on voter list data
There is still time to correct these problems by 2012. This story is not just about Shelby County, Tennessee, where I believe the elections commission is competently addressing these problems for 2012. Last-minute dumps of new voter registration forms was a national problem in 2008, and across America voters reported that when they showed up to vote, their name was missing from the list.
The 2008 presidential election brought millions of new voters to the polls, with enthusiasm especially high among youth and minority voters. Yet in Shelby County (the home of the great city of Memphis), over 15,000 voters, disproportionately young or Black voters, were omitted from the list of valid voters at the time of early voting; by Election Day, the names finally made it to the list.
These omissions correlate with an influx of last-minute voter registration forms. This study highlights the importance of third-party registration groups promptly submitting new registration forms. In some states, 48-hour submission is now a legal requirement, with somewhat draconian fines for failure to comply. Regardless of whether prompt submission is the law, it is important to emphasize the need to educate voter registration groups to promptly submit new registration forms. Like taking checks to the bank for your employer; like an insurance agent who must promptly submit forms for those he insures; like a real estate agent who has to submit bids immediately, voter registration groups have a fiduciary-like duty to the voter, who has every reason to believe they will be registered timely after signing forms and entrusting them to a responsible person.
In Memphis, approximately 30,000 new registration forms flowed in during the last five weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Only half of these made it onto the voter list by the start of early voting. Apparently, the number of new forms being submitted was greater than they could enter into the database on time.
OMISSION OF VALID VOTERS FROM "WHO CAN VOTE" LISTS
In 2008, Actor Tim Robbins showed up to vote in New York, and was told he was not on the list. After asserting his right to vote, his registration was eventually located and he was allowed to vote a normal ballot.(1)
Reports flowing in to Black Box Voting indicate that the "Tim Robbins" problem happened all over America. In fact, it happened right next to me. When I went to vote, the woman beside me was told she was not on the voter list. She was deaf, and the poll worker made no attempt to explain anything comprehensible to her, so I assisted. Instead of telling her to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker told her to register and come back next year. After I asserted her right to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker found her registration after all and she was allowed to vote a normal ballot.
*Registered voters who are told they are not on the voter list may vote a "provisional ballot", an important right, but provisionals are second-class ballots. Provisional ballots are examined after the election and if deemed legitimate, are counted. Unfortunately, poll worker errors sometimes cause these ballots to be rejected; also, poll workers sometimes fail to inform voters of their right to provisional ballots; and provisional ballots are not factored in to Election Night winner projections.
We have not been able to learn much about how these errors take place, or quantify how many people were left off the lists. Until now. I obtained 87 Shelby County voter lists from 2006 through 2010. Examining these lists reveals a staggering scope of voter list omissions. Two and a half percent -- 15,199 total voters -- were left off the early voting list. Of these, 9,080 weren't submitted until the last day of registration.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTING IN ELECTIONS
As a self-governing people, we have the right to authenticate the basic accounting in our own elections. The most essential parts of this accounting are:
1. Who can vote (the voter list)
2. Who did vote (the participating voter list)
3. Chain of custody
4. The count
Obstructions or inaccuracies in any of these four areas can create an unfair election. Inaccuracies in the voter list will certainly affect the count if valid voters cannot vote, and may affect the count if invalid voters can vote (I will quantify invalid votes for 2008 in Part B of this report).
WHY WERE VOTERS LEFT OFF THE LIST?
Voter lists show a "Registration Date." In Shelby County, the last day to register to vote for the 2008 presidential election was Oct. 6, 2008. The later the voter registration forms were submitted, the fewer voters made it on to the voter list at early voting:
By Bev Harris: Part 2A of a 5-part series on voter list data
There is still time to correct these problems by 2012. This story is not just about Shelby County, Tennessee, where I believe the elections commission is competently addressing these problems for 2012. Last-minute dumps of new voter registration forms was a national problem in 2008, and across America voters reported that when they showed up to vote, their name was missing from the list.
The 2008 presidential election brought millions of new voters to the polls, with enthusiasm especially high among youth and minority voters. Yet in Shelby County (the home of the great city of Memphis), over 15,000 voters, disproportionately young or Black voters, were omitted from the list of valid voters at the time of early voting; by Election Day, the names finally made it to the list.
These omissions correlate with an influx of last-minute voter registration forms. This study highlights the importance of third-party registration groups promptly submitting new registration forms. In some states, 48-hour submission is now a legal requirement, with somewhat draconian fines for failure to comply. Regardless of whether prompt submission is the law, it is important to emphasize the need to educate voter registration groups to promptly submit new registration forms. Like taking checks to the bank for your employer; like an insurance agent who must promptly submit forms for those he insures; like a real estate agent who has to submit bids immediately, voter registration groups have a fiduciary-like duty to the voter, who has every reason to believe they will be registered timely after signing forms and entrusting them to a responsible person.
In Memphis, approximately 30,000 new registration forms flowed in during the last five weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Only half of these made it onto the voter list by the start of early voting. Apparently, the number of new forms being submitted was greater than they could enter into the database on time.
OMISSION OF VALID VOTERS FROM "WHO CAN VOTE" LISTS
In 2008, Actor Tim Robbins showed up to vote in New York, and was told he was not on the list. After asserting his right to vote, his registration was eventually located and he was allowed to vote a normal ballot.(1)
Reports flowing in to Black Box Voting indicate that the "Tim Robbins" problem happened all over America. In fact, it happened right next to me. When I went to vote, the woman beside me was told she was not on the voter list. She was deaf, and the poll worker made no attempt to explain anything comprehensible to her, so I assisted. Instead of telling her to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker told her to register and come back next year. After I asserted her right to vote a provisional ballot, the poll worker found her registration after all and she was allowed to vote a normal ballot.
*Registered voters who are told they are not on the voter list may vote a "provisional ballot", an important right, but provisionals are second-class ballots. Provisional ballots are examined after the election and if deemed legitimate, are counted. Unfortunately, poll worker errors sometimes cause these ballots to be rejected; also, poll workers sometimes fail to inform voters of their right to provisional ballots; and provisional ballots are not factored in to Election Night winner projections.
We have not been able to learn much about how these errors take place, or quantify how many people were left off the lists. Until now. I obtained 87 Shelby County voter lists from 2006 through 2010. Examining these lists reveals a staggering scope of voter list omissions. Two and a half percent -- 15,199 total voters -- were left off the early voting list. Of these, 9,080 weren't submitted until the last day of registration.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTING IN ELECTIONS
As a self-governing people, we have the right to authenticate the basic accounting in our own elections. The most essential parts of this accounting are:
1. Who can vote (the voter list)
2. Who did vote (the participating voter list)
3. Chain of custody
4. The count
Obstructions or inaccuracies in any of these four areas can create an unfair election. Inaccuracies in the voter list will certainly affect the count if valid voters cannot vote, and may affect the count if invalid voters can vote (I will quantify invalid votes for 2008 in Part B of this report).
WHY WERE VOTERS LEFT OFF THE LIST?
Voter lists show a "Registration Date." In Shelby County, the last day to register to vote for the 2008 presidential election was Oct. 6, 2008. The later the voter registration forms were submitted, the fewer voters made it on to the voter list at early voting:
Friday, November 4, 2011
Spidey sense...
Signing a pledge to never raise taxes ever at first sounds understandable but then again we have so many loopholes that keep corporations from paying their fair share of taxes never raising them or making corporation pay them sounds ultimately self destructive. This happens because they promise to hire people and build and keep large production facilities in some parts of the US but then again they haven’t always done that. No, in fact they take subsidies and don’t pay taxes and they move off shore…they lie. In fact they all have some part of the corporate hands in tax payers’ pockets and still the rich refuse to have taxes and loop holes made fair. No, seeking a balance, leveling the tax field because life isn’t fair. Someone asked me why middle or lower middle class elders the actually voting majority keep voting against their own interests? Their own issues? Good question in other words why do the poor and the middle class vote for no taxes for the rich and taxes for themselves and program cutting and Medicare cutting which directly affects them?
... A behavior scientist said because everyone dreams of being rich “someday” so they protect the American dream or what is sold to them as that. I wonder if Grover Norquist is breaking the law by making politicians sign pledges for their constituents; I don’t know. I am certain Obama has made huge mistakes but I still feel confident he is better than all of them combined. I also hope he can survive and usher us through another 4 years although I am certain most of don’t deserve his intelligent leadership because in a climate where dumb and dumbest is considered good and intelligence is considered elite we are in trouble. I don’t think being a country bumpkin who is uniformed is safe or smart or funny and I certainly don’t want that representing me in Washington with his hand anywhere near the “Football” I mean the nukes. So I am hoping and working hard to make sure we never have another debacle like Bush in office again and I am also hoping with all my spidey senses that we can impeach congress and make them suffer for hurting our economy and blocking the jobs bill. I think they all should be booted out of the halls of government TODAY! It is a cluster f*&k of the highest order up on the hill and I hope they pay like we have been as main stream or the street or the silent majority. Stay alert people stay alert!
... A behavior scientist said because everyone dreams of being rich “someday” so they protect the American dream or what is sold to them as that. I wonder if Grover Norquist is breaking the law by making politicians sign pledges for their constituents; I don’t know. I am certain Obama has made huge mistakes but I still feel confident he is better than all of them combined. I also hope he can survive and usher us through another 4 years although I am certain most of don’t deserve his intelligent leadership because in a climate where dumb and dumbest is considered good and intelligence is considered elite we are in trouble. I don’t think being a country bumpkin who is uniformed is safe or smart or funny and I certainly don’t want that representing me in Washington with his hand anywhere near the “Football” I mean the nukes. So I am hoping and working hard to make sure we never have another debacle like Bush in office again and I am also hoping with all my spidey senses that we can impeach congress and make them suffer for hurting our economy and blocking the jobs bill. I think they all should be booted out of the halls of government TODAY! It is a cluster f*&k of the highest order up on the hill and I hope they pay like we have been as main stream or the street or the silent majority. Stay alert people stay alert!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
What is our history, again?
So let me get this straight people like Pat Buchanan wax poetic about America's lost greatest as a past thing because when he was growing up and immigration wasn't an issue and white Anglo Saxon protestant and or Catholics outnumbered blacks or other ethnic races. Where as diversity in our population today according to his thesis marks the end of "The great White dominance"and the end of all things good, makes me think he is a bigot and has rose colored glasses because being from the ruling class insulated him to the oppression of the Jim Crow laws and other socioeconomic discrepancies. When I look at his thesis and I think of this countries history I see a woeful abuse of the underclass and horrible inequality not just racially but sexually as well. I think from the very first European foot fall onto these shores when it was 100% native Americans we have witnessed genocide. It is a matter of perspective what is good or bad, and yes to some integration is natural, it is a good thing that we evolve. So we now have begun to see the warmth of different cultures infiltrate America, it is a good thing. This isn't Europe or Scandinavia if you want to surrounded by that type, go there...but even they cannot escape the inevitable spread of pigment. Not that diversity is just epidermis, it is cultural too. I am delighted to imagine an America with more brown skinned folks of differing cultures, bring it on. For me being brown it is a blessing and I am delighted to protest anyone who claims it was better 40 years ago. It was very different and it wasn't good for anyone of color or for woman and everyone who laments those times as good times are racist sexist relics. America should be ashamed of its history of abuse toward people of color America should hang it's head in shame, especially in the south but the north has blood on its hands too. Right up to and past Rosa Parks refusal to go to the back of the bus. People who are not part of the 1 percent know what its like to feel left out. That is a good thing hopefully we can embrace our future of deep diversity for the wealth that it is and not lament a darker more inequitable past for its shamefulness and its inequality. When the first European settles arrived and tamed the savages it was a crime. Just because retribution has NOT been meted out for the initial genocide of early natives doesn't mean it won't be. Life is about balance and in the end America will most likely be predominantly brown skinned just like it was before first contact, because karma has patience.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Please spread the news!
A 5 year-Old Black Girl Disappears and No One Cares
Posted by Jacqueline Burt
on October 18, 2011 at 1:25 PM
Comments (486)|
Likes (48)
jhessye shockley
Missing 5-Year-Old Jhessye ShockleyThere are several striking similarities between the disappearances of 10-month-old baby Lisa Irwin and 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley. Both children are girls, both were last seen in their homes. Lisa has been missing for over a week, Jhessye has been missing for nearly a week. Police investigating both cases have been challenged by strings of dead-end tips and a lack of evidence in general. The mothers of both Lisa and Jhessye have made tearful televised pleas for their children's safe return.
Right about now you may be wondering why you haven't heard more about Jhessye Shockley, or maybe even why you haven't heard of her at all, when Lisa Irwin's story has been plastered all over the news.
The fact of the matter is, you probably haven't heard much about Jhessye Shockley because of the one striking difference between her and Lisa Irwin:
Lisa Irwin is white. Jhessye Shockley is black.
I know it's a hard and ugly truth to swallow, representative of a reality we don't want to believe exists anymore. But sadly, nothing else explains why the country is currently obsessed with finding Lisa Irwin and largely unaware that Jhessye Shockley is even lost.
We know everything there is to know about Lisa Irwin's mother, Deborah Bradley, from the details of her divorce to what she had to drink the night Lisa vanished. Meanwhile, Jhessye Shockley's mother was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006 for "injury to a child" and deemed a "threat to the well-being of her children," and no one seems to know or care how or why she got out of jail early.
Jhessye's three siblings are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, while Lisa Irwin's two brothers are at home, being sheltered from the press.
The main thing, one might argue, is that both girls return home safely, not how much attention their individual cases get. But when it comes to missing children, often the higher profile a disappearance, the higher the likelihood that child will be found.
The situation is already tragic. Now it's tragically unjust.
Do you think Jhessye Shockley's race is the reason why she isn't getting as much attention as Lisa Irwin?
Posted by Jacqueline Burt
on October 18, 2011 at 1:25 PM
Comments (486)|
Likes (48)
jhessye shockley
Missing 5-Year-Old Jhessye ShockleyThere are several striking similarities between the disappearances of 10-month-old baby Lisa Irwin and 5-year-old Jhessye Shockley. Both children are girls, both were last seen in their homes. Lisa has been missing for over a week, Jhessye has been missing for nearly a week. Police investigating both cases have been challenged by strings of dead-end tips and a lack of evidence in general. The mothers of both Lisa and Jhessye have made tearful televised pleas for their children's safe return.
Right about now you may be wondering why you haven't heard more about Jhessye Shockley, or maybe even why you haven't heard of her at all, when Lisa Irwin's story has been plastered all over the news.
The fact of the matter is, you probably haven't heard much about Jhessye Shockley because of the one striking difference between her and Lisa Irwin:
Lisa Irwin is white. Jhessye Shockley is black.
I know it's a hard and ugly truth to swallow, representative of a reality we don't want to believe exists anymore. But sadly, nothing else explains why the country is currently obsessed with finding Lisa Irwin and largely unaware that Jhessye Shockley is even lost.
We know everything there is to know about Lisa Irwin's mother, Deborah Bradley, from the details of her divorce to what she had to drink the night Lisa vanished. Meanwhile, Jhessye Shockley's mother was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2006 for "injury to a child" and deemed a "threat to the well-being of her children," and no one seems to know or care how or why she got out of jail early.
Jhessye's three siblings are now in the custody of Child Protective Services, while Lisa Irwin's two brothers are at home, being sheltered from the press.
The main thing, one might argue, is that both girls return home safely, not how much attention their individual cases get. But when it comes to missing children, often the higher profile a disappearance, the higher the likelihood that child will be found.
The situation is already tragic. Now it's tragically unjust.
Do you think Jhessye Shockley's race is the reason why she isn't getting as much attention as Lisa Irwin?
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The rewrite
Is it me or are we in the weird age of saying something and then denying it publicly even though “statements” are filmed captured to be pulled up and displayed at will. So what I find fascinating is how public figures can blatantly deny intent when re-watching them shows that in fact they were not “joking” but it seems all of the current crop of republican candidates do it. Very strange lesson to be teaching our children if they are paying attention to the ramp up to the next election which something tells me they are not, so telling us the public that they meant one thing whilst it is obvious to anyone watching they certainly meant the opposite, when we can see plain as day what “they” mean. So this is what we are today in America, we rewrite immediate history. I dislike Herman Cain because he is a coward and ashamed of his heritage and a denier…everything he represents including his bully name of his pizza business spells “Asshole” to me. That he would go public and say Rosa Parks should have sat in the back of the bus knowing full well she was a catalyst to the most important movement in America that he said this is shameful. I mean the rev. Jefress is a bigot straight up and it is absolutely entertaining to see him implode Rick Perry chances and they are imploding. My father says Jefress looks like Warren Jeffs. He does another lunatic running a church instead of being locked up in an asylum. So we wait and watch the one candidate that is smart and hasn’t wavered or sold out to some cult is Huntsman and I have decided the one thing these Republicans hate is intelligence and Huntsman has it in spades and they hate him. Fascinating so in reality this country could go back to the challenged thinking that defined GW Bush tenure. I for one cannot imagine a worse scenario and I for one hope and am willing to work for another 4 for Obama. I know full well he isn’t perfect and they screwed some things up but at least he reads and is doing the best anyone would have done with brains. So we need him for 4 more and then we need to pray Hilary will run or Elizabeth warren and then again maybe this protesting will undo the whole shebang and we can reset and become a truly great nation instead of one on the brink of extinction. We have the ability to be true global leaders for the right things and sure it still beats China America but watching our political process grind to a halt because it is corrupt saddens me and I begin to feel like we do need a revolution and it isn’t one that is drunk with Biblical un-facts but a revolution that is pro-humanity and tolerance and dignity and intelligence. I know dream on…one can hope can’t I?
Monday, October 3, 2011
Bad Judgement
Why hasn’t the public or the courts arrested and tried Joe Jackson for terrorizing the family; crimes against Michael and his family? It is sleaze and money and influence that only this doctor is being called out. Joe was a pimp and used his children to get rich. Hello? This is a witch burning which is a waste of tax payer’s money when in truth it is the Father Joe Jackson who is guilty and should be in court for being an abusive task master who damaged his family irreparably. That we are wasting time on this Doctor both in the media and in court is lame. What is he guilty of really being greedy and maybe having questionable ethics etc…do we care and must he be tried for murder? How rich is it that Joe was the loudest one to bang the drum to get this guy in court ewwww. Someone please call Joe Jackson out. Watching a bit of the Martin Bashir documentary of MJ was sadder the second time. He was obviously so split. Shattered both as a human being and within his sexuality (straight/ gay) and it was obvious he had deep psychic scars. MJ was a brilliant show man a professional dance and song machine. Yet he suffered as well as his family, all of them from a long list of defensive coping mechanics. It is a truth that extreme abuse creates coping mechanisms. On the show with Bashir, Michael lists some of it (the abuse) and tries to diminish some of it too and it is obvious it was horrid. Just look at how secretive they are and weird the entire family every single one is damaged. I suppose watching this trial unfold and its wastefulness is another part of how we hold celebrity to a different standard than the average person and now we waste millions trying a man that the wealthy celebrity hired; a medical doctor to administer his drugs that eventually killed him. Seems cut and dry really, do we have to imagine that MJ wasn’t trying to destroy himself, is it a stretch? I am of the school that the only man who should be on trial is Joe the father who battered the boys into submission to fill his greasy pockets. It is shameful and this trial a gigantic waste.
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