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Sunday, June 7, 2009
Color Aroused subprime loans - did banks, lenders, black folks and other folks of color cause the recession?
Join African American Political Pundit and his co-host Antoinette on "AA Political Slugfest" as we talk with Mr. Dominique Apollon with Applied Research Center (ARC). Dominique Apollon is no joke, this brother holds a Ph.D., and is Research Director at Applied Research Center (ARC).
Dominique Apollon is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A., American Government, 1996), and received his doctorate in political science from Stanford University in 2003. See his full bio at this link
We will discuss their new report that demonstrates the link between our current recession to structural color aroused (racial) inequities in lending and employment. Not only does the data reveal that people of color have been disproportionately affected by this economic downturn, it shows that that families of color were systemically targeted for subprime loans when several qualified for prime loans, contributing significantly to the foreclosures that caused the recession. So did banks, lenders, black folks and other folks of color cause the recession?
Join the discussion "If you can handle the truth"...
Friday, June 5, 2009
Video Texas cop Tasers great-grandmother
AAPP says:"These folks in Texas have gone crazy." Check out how a traffic stop for speeding in Travis County, Texas, led to the Tasering of a 72-year-old great-grandmother by a deputy.
Feisty Kathryn Winkfein apparently so frightened the law-enforcement officer when she "used some profanity" and "got violent" that he felt it necessary to subdue her with a potentially dangerous jolt of electricity. As reported by the examiner.com Winkfein was reportedly doing 60 in a construction zone where the posted speed limit was 45 when she was pulled over. She was ticketed but declined to sign the ticket, leading the police officer to place her under arrest lest civilization collapse for want of the surrender of a penny's worth of ink.
Travis County, Texas, Precinct 3 Constable Richard
McCain defended the Tasering of a 72-year-old
great-grandmother during a traffic stop by a deputy.
At this point, the stories diverge. According to Precinct 3 Constable Richard McCain, Winkfein cursed and refused to cooperate. She says nothing of the sort occurred. "I wasn't argumentative, I was not combative. This is a lie," the woman told a news reporter for Fox 7.
Either way, it's difficult to see how the issuance of a speeding ticket to an elderly woman devolved to the point where a grown, trained law-enforcement officer could be considered justified in subjecting the speeder to an electric jolt intended to disrupt her nervous system -- no matter what command of profanity she displayed. More HERE
Taser Torture In America
A Call
For
Congressional
Hearings
White Gay Guys need to take a chill pill
I tend to agree with the writers comments (below). But it's not only the gay white guys, now we have a black guy like Jonathan Capehart, demanding Speeches on Gay Rights. Holy BS, why would Jonathan Capehart and his white gay buddies demand a speech from Obama on gay rights when Obama has not had a speech of black rights in America? OK, back to the point. Check out Jasmyne Cannick article below:
BY JASMYNE CANNICK
The Problem: Strong feelings of entitlement, refusal to work with others, racism, extreme issues with class, sudden temper tantrums.
The Prescription: Take as needed one chill pill with a large glass of reality.
The gay community needs to take a chill pill … seriously.
Protesting President Barack Obama outside of the Beverly Hilton Hotel during a fundraiser may make the evening news but does very little to persuade public opinion — which is the reason for the passage of Proposition 8 in the first place.
At a time when so many Californians are unemployed and living at or below the poverty line, now would be a good time for gays to show that the fight for marriage is about making life better for all of us, rather than some of us.
California voters are waist deep in the middle of an economic nightmare, and for many blacks, well let’s just say that they’re in danger of drowning. With cuts of health insurance for the poor, less financial help for unemployed single mothers, and the elimination of a state program that provides antiviral drugs for people living with AIDS on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $24.3 billion budget deficit chopping block, some would say that right about now we’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Which is not to say that I’m suggesting that the gay community give up the fight for marriage altogether; after all, I am a lesbian. But what I am saying is that the fight for marriage doesn’t surpass the bread-and-butter issues that are plaguing millions of Californians today.
Using the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8 as an excuse to go out into the streets and throw temper tantrums isn’t going to evoke any sympathy from black voters who supported Proposition 8. And whether you like it or not, sooner or later the issue of gay marriage will come back to those same black voters and it’s what happens now that is going to make all of the difference in how voters react when they’re faced with it on their ballot again.
To that end, protesting the first black president isn’t going to get the gay community very far with African Americans, especially considering the fact that most blacks are still reveling in the fact that’s he’s in office. More HERE
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Saudi King Abdullah, Hosni Mubarak, President Obama, Muslims, and American Terrorists
Photo: EPA
While President Barack Obama is developing key
partnerships with middle east leaders, there
continues to be home grown American terrorist
is attempting to kill another African American
dreamer. More HERE
SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors have charged a man with making threats against President Barack Obama after he allegedly told a bank employee in Utah he was on a mission to kill the president.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Daniel James Murray has withdrawn $13,000 from an account, has traveled from New York to California, Utah, Georgia, Oklahoma and possibly Texas and has threatened to do harm to Barack Obama.The U.S. Secret Service says Murray has at least eight registered firearms. More HERE
Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
ceremony at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia
at the start of a mission to the Middle East in which he will reach out to the world's Muslims.
AAPP Says: I find it interesting that President Barack Obama call for Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank was loved by the Muslim world, but pissed off conservatives in the United States. Check this out. As reported by the Boston Globe, Matthew Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, complained that Obama "struck a balanced tone with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that's what was wrong with this speech."
"American policy should not be balanced" he said in a statement. "It should side with those who fight terror, not those who either engage in it or are too weak to prevent it." More HERE
I guess the Republican Jewish Coalition supports Daniel James Murray.
I would not be surprised... These groups, and statements by Abraham H. Foxman that:
These words against the President of the United States by Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, are shameful and bigoted. Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and the Republican Jewish Coalition need to crawl under the rock from which hey came. It's a new day.
"I agree with Obama: The Discord Must End."
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and the Republican Jewish Coalition are not the only ones stuck in the 50's. Check out the LA Times who are running, what some consider a smear job against Obama. As noted by blogger anima, the headline is: Do Obama's words reveal his Middle East sympathies? I agree with anima, the article is a smear job attempting to rehash the Obama-as-Muslim claims, and attempting to raise fears that we still can't be sure of "what Obama stands for." Because when a president does his best to keep us safe and bridge a divide between regions and religions, there is something clearly insidious going on...yes...yes, there is something very unsettling when a president acts like an adult and speaks to other world leaders as adults and equals. He ought to be putting them down! Axis of evil and all that noise. That's what the American people surely want. More HERE
Or maybe America loves these political crackpots?
Pregnant British black woman guilty of trafficking heroin sentenced to life in prison
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Don't Forget Troy Davis - SjP and Villager Will Make Sure We Don't
Bloggers answered the call to action on behalf of Troy Davis on May 19. SjP notes, "While I am very appreciative of your participation, the fact that our collective voices may stir the heart and soul of Gov. Perdue to grant clemency to a man who may well be innocent."
She wrote to AfroSpear members:
But, let us not forget that Troy is not the only one on death row in the states or throughout the world. There are those who are in favor of the death penalty and those who are not. But, everyone will agree that no individual should be put to death for a crime that he or she did not commit. On that fact we can and must all agree.
Great Job SjP, Great Job!
Check out the list of Global Day of Blogging for Action for Troy Davis Participants:
- Global Day of Blogging for Justice: Save Troy Davis! - On the Black Hand Side
- I Am Troy Davis and You Could Be Too - Whose Shoes Are These Anyway?
- Injustice Here, Injustice There, Injustice Injustice, Everywhere - Wonderland or Not
- A Global Day of Blogging for Troy Davis: Get off ya ass and do something! - THE INTERSECTION OF MADNESS AND REALITY
- Troy Davis - Blues Historians
- The Life of Troy Davis - The AfroSpear Think Tank
- Don't Kill Troy Davis - Electronic Village
- Global Day of Blogging for Troy Davis - Pirate Satellite
- Global Day of Action For Troy Davis - Ultraviolet Underground
- Global Blogging Day of Action for Troy Davis - A Slant Truth
- Call to Action: Stop the Execution of Troy Davis - Living Life Abundantly
- Global Day of Action for Troy Davis - InkogNegro 1.95
- Troy Davis and the Ghost of Timothy - Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)
- National day of blogging! This legal misjudgment of Troy Davis - Derrick's Window
- Against the Execution of Troy Davis (How much is a Black man's life worth?) - Ancestral Energies
- CLEMENCY FOR TROY DAVIS! - My Brown Eyed View
- To hear the birds and smell the roses once again - daddyBStrong
- Global Day Of Blogging For Troy Davis... - Regina's Family Seasons
- Troy Davis - Conversations with Marva
- Global Day of Action for Troy Davis - African American Political Pundit
- AfroSpear Blogging Day of Amnesty for Troy Davis - Exquisitely Black
- Free Troy Davis: A Call for Clemency - Black on Campus
Taser Use Lawsuits Mount - As Black Folks and others, Sue Police Agencies across America
Finally major news outlets, like ABC News are reporting on the debate emerging over the use of electric stun guns as a "pain compliance" or better yet a "torture device" by law enforcement.
As reported by ABC News, At issue isn't whether police can use the weapon, known as a Taser, to protect themselves from dangerous suspects or to prevent a criminal from escaping. That is its designed purpose. Instead, the question is to what extent police may use a stun gun against someone who is not actively resisting arrest but who is passively refusing to obey a police command.
To some officers, such refusal is a form of resisting arrest and constitutes grounds to shoot 50,000 volts of electricity into that person's body in five-second bursts. When a person is tased, the central nervous system is overridden and the person experiences a seizure accompanied by intense pain. More HERE
Maybe it's about time national organizations such as the NAACP get on board and support the petition for Congressional hearings on Tasering. I'm sure the pregnant women, April Griffin and the thousands of taser victims would appreciate some advocacy on this issue from the national organization. I also know many bloggers would appreciate some advocacy from national black organizations, who have been sitting by the side lines as black folks are being electrocuted to death, in a high-tech pre-trial torture American style. The use of electric shock as a method of torture was first documented in Nazi, Germany, but today it is still used as an acceptable use of police departments in America.
Who could forget the torture killing in Gwinnett County, Georgia, an un-edited police videotape shows 31-year-old Deacon Frederick Williams being struck with a TASER five times in 43 seconds, just 4 minutes after being led into the jail. He was handcuffed behind his back and in leg restraints, following an epileptic seizure at his home; an ambulance was called by his wife and son, but the police arrived first. His last words were: "Don't kill me, man. Don't kill me." No charges have been filed in the torture / murder; the County DA refused to show this video to a Grand Jury, even though another man in custody was murdered just months earlier after being tortured with a TASER by the same police. The Video has been since taken off of YouTube, to the horror.
Check out what bloggers recently wrote during a day of blogging for justice:
April Davis - Around Harlem.com http://blog-aroundharlem.com/
PaJoyner - PlezWorld - http://pajoyner.blogspot.com/
Yobachi - Black Perspective.net - http://www.blackperspective.
Ms. Lady Deborah - From my Brown Eyed View - http://msladydeborah.blogspot.
Eddie Griffin BASG - http://eddiegriffinbasg.
Rev. Sequoyah Kofi bin-Tomas, Intelligent Aboriginal News Service (IANS) - The Angry Indian - Inteligentaindigena Novajoservo: When "Non-Lethal" Weapons Kill
Wayne Hicks - Villager, OxDown. Firedoglake - http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/
Wayne Hicks - Villager - Electronic Village-.. http://tinyurl.com/59jet6 - Use of Force Continuum
SjP - Sojourners Place - http://sojournersplace.
LN Rock - Post Racial Blog - http://postracial.blogspot.
The SuperSpade - http://www.thesuperspade.com/
Anyway I Have To - http://underovr.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Byers- On The Black Hand Side - http://www.blackhandside.net/
It All Goes Here - http://nateo.blogspot.com/
Independent Bloggers Alliance - http://
Rover's Morning Glory - http://www.roverradio.com/
Assata Shukur Forum - http://www.assatashakur.org/
RiPPa - The Intersection between Maddness and Reality - http://rippdemup.blogspot.com/
Lola - Whatever Lola Wants - http://lolagetslife.blogspot.
African American Political Pundit Report - http://aappreport.blogspot.
African American Political Pundit Blog - http://aapoliticalpundit.
Electrocuted While Black - http://electrocutedwhileblack.
Scotty - Black Talk Radio - http://blacktalkradio.ning.
Proud Black Blogger - http://proudblackvoter.
Carmen D. - Black Voices - http://www.blackvoices.com/
Chicago Cop Watch - http://chicagocopwatch.org/
Don't forget to sign the Afrospear Petition to request Congressional hearings on the Taser torture of Americans: http://www.petition2congress.
UPDATE: Police Get Away With Murder!
NO Charges Against Police who Killed 15 Year Old Teen.
BAY CITY -- The Bay City Police will not be charged in the death of a 15-year-old Brett Elder who died after an officer tased him on March 22, 2009.
Prosecutor Kurt Asbury says there isn't evidence that officers "committed any criminal act that caused or contributed to the death of Brett Elder."
Elder died March 22 after police were called to his Aunt's home in Bay City. Elder and other teenagers were reported to be very drunk. When police allegedly attempted to calm Elder, the teenager began fighting police.
Reports say an autopsy found both the alcohol and the taser contributed to the boy's death.
In a statment, Prosecutor Asbury said, "The unfortunate reality of the situation was that the underaged Brett Elder was very intoxicated durikng the early morning hours of March 22, 2009, and wihtout any meaningful adult supervision or guidance, placed himself in a situation which resulted in his death. He was highly agitated and combative, tried to start fights with numerous people, as well as the police officers called to the resience to deal with his 'uncontrollable behavior,' all which contributed to his untimely death." MORE HERE
Monday, June 1, 2009
Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans only make up 6.8% of engineering and other technical staffers in the tech industry,
AAPP say: I Guess a 40-60% high school drop out rate is impacting black, latino, and Native American communities big time.
It's clear that the high-tech industry has a diversity problem, according to a new study.
Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans only make up 6.8% of engineering and other technical staffers in the tech industry, the Anita Borg Institute, a group that promotes the hiring of women in high-tech, said on Monday. These groups make up an even smaller percentage of workers at higher levels within tech companies.
So-called under-represented minorities make up 27% of the population as a whole and receive 18% of undergraduate computer-science degrees. They earn 8% of masters and doctoral degrees in computer science. But they were barely present at the seven large Silicon Valley companies the Anita Borg Institute studied. (The companies weren’t identified.)
“You need diversity to have innovation,” says Caroline Simard, the study’s author. But the high-tech industry has become inhospitable to these workers, who instead choose to work in technical jobs in other industries or pursue careers in marketing or sales. One problem is the lack of senior leadership that under-represented minorities can look up to: Black men only make up 1.8% of high-level technical employees in high-tech, and black women 1.6%; Hispanic men make up 2.5% of high-level workers; the study didn’t find any Hispanic women.
Many under-represented minorities quit their jobs due to a lack of diversity, making the lack of minority workers a self-fulfilling prophecy. More than half of the women of color included in the study said that they were looking to leave their companies, says Simard. More HERE
Rangel, Obama and Harlem
"Make certain he (Obama) doesn't run around in East Harlem unidentified."
Rangel added that there's "no question that being [a person] of color puts you in jeopardy in communities like Harlem and East Harlem.
Was Rngel wrong to say it? What do you think?
Janoris Jenkins - Tasered for fighting, resisting arrest without violence
Yes, a black man was Tased and then arrested on misdemeanor charges of affray and resisting arrest without violence, according to the police report.
According to GatorSports.com , Gainesville Police arrested UF sophomore starting cornerback Janoris Jenkins early Saturday morning after they reported he was involved in a fight and an officer used a Taser on him in downtown.
Jenkins, 20, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of affray and resisting arrest without violence, according to the police report.
Gainesville Police spokesman Lt. Keith Kameg said two officers received a report of a fight in the 100 block of South Main Street and arrived at the location at about 2 a.m. to find a group of about six people, including Jenkins, fighting. The officers, who were in uniform, identified themselves and ordered the fighting to stop.
According to the report, when the fighting continued, one of the officers drew a Taser gun and told the group stop again. At that point, Jenkins hit another person in the head, police reported.
Kameg said the officer then used the Taser on Jenkins once, but after the probes came loose Jenkins stood up and ran a “short distance” before being arrested by Gainesville Police officers.
Jenkins was the only person arrested and Kameg said it was unclear who else was involved in the fight.
Jenkins, whom Kameg said was “extremely cooperative” once arrested, was then taken to GPD’s downtown annex and was treated medically before being transported to jail. More HERE
Jimmy Carter Breaks With Obama Agree's with AA Political Pundit
OK, So Jimmy Carter didn't announce that he agreed with me, but he does agree that the examination of abuses needed. He also agrees with my position regarding the need to release the photos of American detainee torture under the Bush administration. I recently talked about this issue on my BlogTalkRadio program.
Get this folks, as reported by CNN, in an interview with CNN's Campbell Brown, former president Jimmy Carter said he disagreed with President Obama's decision to oppose the release of photos depicting detainee torture. " I don't have the responsibility to deal with the consequences, but I think ... most of his supporters were hoping that he would be much more open in the revelation of what we've done in the past."
Reporter, Brenda Lee "ousted from a press area near Air Force One "
The Huffington Post reports, Airport security officers carried Brenda Lee away by the feet and arms as she protested her removal. She was then allowed to leave. She said the letter she had written was opposing gay marriage. Hey, Ms. Lee, your a reporter, why were you taking a position on any issue, yours is to report on Barack Obama's decisions and activities, not to guide him to take a position.
The Huffington Posr reports the incident occurred about 10 minutes before Obama arrived at LAX - Los Angeles International Airport by helicopter to board Air Force One. He had been in Los Angeles to attend a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.
Lee said later in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that she wanted to hand Obama a letter urging him "to take a stand for traditional marriage."
She said she asked a Secret Service agent to give the president her letter, but he refused and referred her to a White House staffer. Lee said she refused to give the staffer the letter. More HERE