District of Columbia is close to recognizing same sex marriage

According  to the Washington Informer.com the The District of Columbia is close to recognizing marriage between members of the same sex. A D.C. Council committee voting on Tues., Nov. 10 to send the bill authorizing the practice to the full council.  

By a vote of 4-1, with D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) dissenting, the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee sent D.C. Council member David Catania’s (I-At-Large) bill, “The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009”, for a first reading vote, which is scheduled to take place on Tues., Dec. 1. The bill was amended to include giving the right of a church to deny its facilities for same sex marriages activities without any penalties from the city’s human rights laws.

There are 10 original co-sponsors of Catania’s bill, including D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray (D). Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) did not co-sponsor the bill but has indicated that he will vote for passage. Alexander’s chief of staff, J.R. Meyers said that constituent concerns dictated his boss’s decision to oppose Catania’s bill.

“The councilwoman will follow the wishes of her constituents of Ward 7 and will not vote for this legislation,” Meyers said. “She will not lead any opposition to it. She just will not vote for it.”

Natalie Williams, the spokesperson for Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said that her boss opposes the bill. More HERE

AAPP: It looks like same sex marriage will be the name of the game across America. Well, then again maybe not.  As reported by Base Line Scenario.com the state of Maine voted to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Check out the chart from a paper by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips, “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness,” recently published in the American Political Science Review (via The Monkey Cage).  H/T Base Line Scenario.com

What do you think?  Should the District of Columbia recognize same sex marriage? Should your community recognize same sex marriage ?

 

58-year-old South Carolina manTasered to Death by Corpus Christi police

CORPUS CHRISTI — According to caller.com, and kristv, a 58-year-old South Carolina man who police subdued using a Taser and then performed CPR on died Friday.

The man was removed from life support Friday afternoon by doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital South, said Corpus Christi Police Capt. Todd Green, department spokesman.

Authorities wouldn’t release the man’s name, pending notification of family members. An autopsy will be done by the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine an official cause of death, police said. The autopsy could take days depending upon the medical examiner’s workload Monday morning, according to Ric Ortiz, an assistant to the medical examiner.

“A preliminary investigation has shown the officers acted appropriately in responding to an aggressive individual who was acting erratically,” said Police Chief Troy Riggs “Unfortunately, he has died and we will continue the investigation.”

The five patrol officers who were placed on paid administrative leave have been cleared to work, Green said. Placing the officers on paid administrative is a routine policy for incidents under investigation, he said.

The incident began at 6:54 p.m. Wednesday when officer Stephan Beletic saw drivers flashing their headlights at Cimarron Boulevard and Airline Road. Beletic saw a man riding his bicycle illegally against the flow of traffic and attempted to stop him. The man didn’t stop and rode into a parking lot of restaurant where he banged on the restaurant’s window and spoke unintelligibly, Green said.

Beletic, who already had called for backup, began to frisk the man to make sure he wasn’t armed.

The man resisted, and Beletic managed to cuff one hand, but the man continued to struggle. Officers Ross Murray and Daryl Anderson arrived on the scene and Murray used a Taser, hitting the man in the lower back. The man appeared unaffected by the 50,000-volt stun gun, Green said, adding that police aren’t sure if the probe even penetrated the several layers of clothes the man was wearing.

Murray then placed the Taser on the man’s shoulder blade and shocked him, Green reported. The man continued to be combative, Green said.

Anderson used pepper spray, which also did little. Officer Jason Rhodes arrived and the four fell to the ground in a struggle with the man.

It wasn’t until a fifth officer, Jason Tello, arrived that they were able to finishing handcuffing the man, Green said.

Once the man was in custody, he quit breathing, Green said. MORE HERE

• 58-Year Old Man Tased by Police in Critical Condition 
• Man Tased by CCPD, now on Ventilator 

AAPP: How many more deaths will it take before America gets angry and asks for a Federal inquiry into the tasering and torture of American Citizens? Why is it that we only have 2,000 signed petitions for a Congressional hearing on Taser Torture? Enough is enough folks.  

Where is Shaniya Davis?

 

(Family Photo)

On Wednesday, police continued their search for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, who went missing from her Fayetteville, NC home early Tuesday morning.Investigators have now recovered a blanket from a neighbor’s trash can that may belong to the little girl. Neighbor, Andrea Moore, told WRAL that police said the blanket found in her garbage belonged to Shaniya. More HERE

H/T to Black & Missing But Not Forgotten

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Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting arrest

Police Revise Stun Gun Rules For Officers .

According to Ozarksunbound.com the Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting and will avoid the upper chest area when administering the shock, according to a story today in the Northwest Arkansas Times. Avoiding the chest area as the primary target area lessens controversy from critics that the electrical shock could negatively affect a target’s heart. Police Chief Greg Tabor told reporter Kate Ward that the recommendations were based on Taser International’s own recent recommendations for using the ‘less lethal’ device. More HERE

AAPP:  This is good news!

Black and Latino's Win Big in Boston, Chuck Turner Wins

City Councilor Chuck Turner has said for months that voters would look past his federal indictment and grant him another term, and last week the five-term Roxbury councilor got his vindication: a 20-point blowout over challenger Carlos “Tony’’ Henriquez. 

Chuck Turner

But that is OK to some, because  Felix Arroyo’s decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race provided at least one Latino on the City Council.  Read More at The Bay State Banner.

According to Boston.com, Turner, 69, was indicted last year on charges that he accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for helping a nightclub win a liquor license. Turner has strongly denied the charges, pointing to his beat-up Mazda and his modest home as evidence that he does not live a high-end lifestyle.

He is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in March, and some voters who did not vote for Turner said the unresolved case factored in their decisions. Former senator Dianne Wilkerson, who was indicted on related charges, lost her reelection bid last year and was forced to resign her seat.

To Turner, the results proved that voters were on his side.

“I think we can see in the community’s reaction to the attempt of [former] US attorney [Michael] Sullivan and others to drive me out of office . . . that the community not only says no to that, but at the same time gives unprecedented votes for at-large candidates of color.’’

Henriquez expressed disappointment that the district’s voters felt content with Turner.

“We need to continue to raise the level of expectations of residents in Roxbury,’’ Henriquez, a 32-year-old community activist who also lost to Turner in 2007, said in a telephone interview. “I’m a little disappointed by the fact that 60 percent of our residents think the level of services are adequate.’’ More HERE

Black and Latino voters key to Mayor Menino's election

City Councilors Chuck Turner (left) and Charles Yancey (center) celebrate Felix Arroyo’s (third from left) decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race. The three also expressed their gratitude to voters while standing in Grove Hall last week. (Photo courtesy of Charles Yancey)   More HERE

AAPP says: I guess my Hometown of Roxbury, MA forgot these pictures.

  

They also forgot about the 12-page affidavit filed in US District Court alleges that Turner was surreptitiously videotaped accepting the cash in his district office on Aug. 3, 2007, in exchange for pushing for a liquor license for the Roxbury nightclub Dejavu. Included with the affidavit are two photographs of Turner allegedly accepting the bribe. As reported by the Boston Globe, In one image, Turner's trademark white goatee is clearly visible as folded green bills are pressed into his hand.

But, hey voters in New Orleans forgot about Dollar Bill Jefferson who was finally Convicted.

UPDATE: Jefferson gets 13 years in prison

CNN Bigoted host Lou Dobbs Resigns

Washington, DC - Media Matters for America released the following statement responding to late breaking news that controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs, best known for his relentless anti-immigrant rhetoric, will be leaving his long-time cable news home effective tonight.

"For too long, CNN provided Lou Dobbs with its stamp of approval as he pursued a dangerous, one-sided and all too often false conspiracy tinged crusade against immigrants," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."

BACKGROUND:

For More on Lou Dobbs' History: HERE

Media Matters played a leading role in the Drop Dobbs Coalition (DropDobbs.com) which was launched to call attention to Dobbs' incendiary hate speech and falsehoods, which advertisers were supporting through their sponsorship of his nightly CNN program. 

The Coalition includes numerous national civil rights and other groups concerned about the kind of hate promoted daily by Dobbs on his television and radio programs.  In addition to Media Matters in partnership with NDN, the coalition, representing over two million people, includes the National Council of La Raza, LULAC, National Hispanic Media Coalition, America's Voice, The Hispanic Institute, Southern Poverty Law Center, Netroots Nation, Voto Latino, LCLAA, Center for New Community, Reform Immigration for America, the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the National Puerto Rican Coalition and GALEO. 

Statement on Dobbs' Resignation from CNN

 

And here is the video of Dobbs announcing his resignation--

• Under pressure, Dobbs announces his resignation from CNN

White Republican's Scared and Afraid of Black Folks says RNC Chairman, Michael Steele

As reported by Huffington Post, CNN and The Raw Story,  During a weekend interview, Michael Steele told TV One's Roland Martin that he has experienced fear from other selected members of his party because of the color of his skin. Yes, Michael Steele says that "he" actually scares white Republicans. Surprise, Surprise! 

"I mean I've been in the room and they've been scared of me," the RNC chairman said about fellow Republicans.

Partial transcript:

MARTIN: How do you -- granted, a popular president got 95% of the black vote -- you got any shot at getting black voters and if so what are the two issues that speaks to black voters for Republican have a shot at them?

STEELE: Education and the economy. Education and jobs. Education and small business.

MARTIN: But your candidates got to talk to them. One of the criticisms I've always had is Republicans -- white Republicans -- have been scared of black folks.

STEELE: You're absolutely right. I mean I've been in the room and they've been scared of me. I'm like, "I'm on your side" and so I can imagine going out there and talking to someone like you, you know, [you're like,] "I'll listen." And they're like "Well." Let me tell you. You saw in Christie and you saw in McDonnell a door open because they went in and engaged. McDonnell was very deliberate about spending --

AAPP: Hey Michael Steele, So white folks are scared of you and other black folks, both in and outside of the Republican Party?  So what do you plan to do about it?

PS, Micheal Steele, I forgot to mention, truth be told, white folks in the Democratic Party are just as  scared of black folks.
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New Hate Group: American Family Association

Color Aroused Hatred continues to raise it's ugly head. I guess this is not post-racial America. Check out how one conservative group is calling to purge Muslims from the U.S. military

 

Yes, as reported by the Huffington Post, a chief spokesman for the pro-life, far-right organization, American Family Association, has called for the purging of Muslim soldiers from military ranks. More HERE

 

John Allen Muhammad the D.C. Sniper Will DIE by lethal injection - Goodnight John

John Allen Muhammad, His execution by lethal injection is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m.

As reported by David G. Savage in LA Times, Seven years ago, the captured "Beltway Snipers" — John Allen Muhammad, 41, and his 17-year old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo — were in federal custody, accused of 16 shootings and 10 murders. They had set out to create a reign of terror in the Washington, D.C., area to match the terrorist attacks of the year before.

Attorney General John Ashcroft had a choice: He could send them to be tried in Maryland, where most of the murders took place but where the death penalty was on hold because of the specter of racial unfairness. Or he could send them across the Potomac River to Virginia, the site of three of the killings and where death sentences are carried out swiftly.

Ashcroft chose Virginia.  

AAPP says: Attorney General John Ashcroft, was a horses ass, as Attoney General - but I'm glad he sent them across the Potomac River to Virginia, the site of three of the killings and where death sentences are carried out, even though it has not been all that swiftly.

As reported by the Legal Times Blog, The planned Tuesday night execution of John Allen Muhammad remains set following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to stay the death sentence. Justices John Paul Stevens, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a two-page statement, saying: “This case highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded."

This recent but undated photo from the Virginia Department of Corrections shows convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad. John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10, 2009, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation's capital for three weeks. (AP Photo/Virginia Department of Corrections)

The three justices said that Muhammad’s petition for certiorari, which was timely filed, would have been reviewed at the Court’s conference Nov. 24. Stevens, Sotomayor and Ginsburg, however, did not disagree with the Court’s decision to deny certiorari.

“By denying Muhammad’s stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter—involving a death row inmate—that demands the most careful attention,” Stevens wrote in the statement, joined by Sotomayor and Ginsburg. “This result is particularly unfortunate in light of the limited time Muhammad was given to make his case in the District Court.”

Stevens said in the statement that he believes “that the Court would be wise to adopt a practice of staying all executions scheduled in advance of the completion of our review of a capital defendant’s first application for a federal writ of habeas corpus.” Such a practice, he said, would preserve “basic fairness in ensuring death row inmates receive the same procedural safeguards that ordinary inmates receive.

Muhammad was convicted in 2003 in state court in Virginia for his role in the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks that killed 10 people. His execution, by lethal injection, is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. More HERE

  

AAPP says:  Maybe the three justices want to learn about the killings that remain unsolved. Yes, more victim's than most know about.



I feel like so many families who see justice in the sniper's execution. Candidly I'm glad to hear that victims will watch him die. I wish John Allen Muhammad was being executed by Lethal Injection. This sniper should be shot and left for dead like he treated all of his victims.

Yes, this D.C. Sniper die! Good Night and badLuck!

Will Denzel Washington play John Allen Muhammad in a DC sniper movie?

Sen. Joe Lieberman Must Go

There is a movement to get rid of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is building steam.

 

AAPP says: I agree, Joe Must Go!  I have been very clear regarding my opinion of this snake for some time.

Get this, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) plans to join with Republicans to filibuster any health care bill that contains a public option. Alone, the Republicans don't have the votes for a filibuster. So by joining with them, Lieberman would be tipping the balance of power in order to sink health care reform.

We need to push the leaders of the Democratic caucus to take a tough stand against Lieberman. Tell Harry Reid to fire Joe Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security Committee.

Last year, the New York Times quoted an anonymous "member of the Senate Democratic leadership" who said about Lieberman: "We need every vote. He's with us on everything but the war." Apparently Joe lied to the Senate Democrats.

Now is the time for Senate Democratic leadership -- Senators Reid, Schumer, and Durbin -- to stop making excuses for Joe Lieberman. 

Tell Harry: Joe Must Go 

 

African-Americans Demonstrate At White House Protest.

Why are black folks demonstrating against President Barack obama? Is this crabs in the barrel mentality or do black folks have a reason and or right to demonstrate against the first African American president? are they right to say the Government doesn't have our back on unemployment?

According to the news Outlet AFP, African-Americans slam Obama in White House protest.

WASHINGTON — Decrying Barack Obama as "white power in black face," hundreds of African-Americans marched on the White House Saturday to protest policies of the first black US president, and demand that he bring US troops home.

More than 200 people gathered for the first public demonstration by African Americans against the Obama administration since his historic inauguration in January, and slammed the president for continuing what they described as Washington's "imperialist" agenda around the world.

"We recognize that Barack Hussein Obama is white power in black face," civil rights activist Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black is Back coalition which arranged the protest, called into a megaphone as the group marched outside the mansion's gates.

"He is a tool of our imperialist enemies and we demand our freedom. And we demand that Obama withdraw all the troops from Afghanistan right now."

Protesters also called for Obama to order troops out of Iraq and to scrap Africom, the controversial year-old United States Africa Command, and demanded "hands off" Venezuela and ends to the Cuba embargo and the Zimbabwe blockade.

Several demonstrators held up placards bearing messages such as "US out of Afghanistan" and "Stop US war against Iraq."

Charles Baron, a New York city councilman and former member of the Black Panthers, a Black Power movement in the mid-1960s and 1970s, attacked the president for turning a cold shoulder to the plight of African-Americans.

"We're not satisfied with him, and... this hope and change rap has not been a reality for black people," Baron told AFP during the demonstration.

"We are glad that Barack Obama broke up the white male monopoly on the White House, but we were not looking for a change in the occupant of the White House from white to black, we were looking for change in foreign policies and domestic policies," he added.   More HERE

AAPP says:  The fact of the matter is African-Americans are the hardest hit by the recession in America. In fact, African-Americans have been in a recession for the past ten years. If there is a nation wide un-employment rate of 10%, then its 20-30% in our black communities. According to a 2008 report by United for a Fair Economy, a research and advocacy group, from 1998 to 2006 (before the subprime crisis), blacks lost $71 billion to $93 billion in home-value wealth from subprime loans. The researchers called this family net-worth catastrophe the “greatest loss of wealth in recent history for people of color.” And the worst was yet to come. Read More HERE  Now blacks are being hit by a third and fourth wave of foreclosures caused by unemployment. Do black folks have a right to be pissed off. YES! 

The fact of the matter is Black unemployment is now at possibly 20-30% percent, compared with 10 percent for whites. In New York City, black unemployment has been rising four times as fast as that of whites. By 2010, according to Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, 40 percent of African-Americans nationwide will have endured patches of unemployment or underemployment. Do black folks have a right to be pissed off. YES! 

Should black folks be pisssed off at our President for bailing out some of the country's largest Wall Street firms, who have now set aside billions of dollars for bonuses to executives and traders -- many of whom are the same people whose reckless risk-taking led to the current recession?

What Do You think?

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/bailed-out-wall-street-fi_b_323480.html&cp

Ayanna Pressley first African-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council

In my home town of Boston, Massachusetts.

 
















As reported in the wickedlocal.com,  Ayanna Pressley will be the first African-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council. Read more on Pressley HERE

According to the Boston Globe, minorities and women won big on the ballot.

Congratulations Ayanna Pressley!

 

Heath Care Reform, Democrats, High-Fives and Black Folks

As reported by the NY Times, the Chicago Sun Times,  and various blogs. After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220-215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance. Read More HERE Check out who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

Alex Brandon / Associated Press / November 7, 2009 President Obama made a personal appeal, visiting with Democrats as the House began to discuss the healthcare bill in a rare Saturday session.

 Democrats say the House measure — paid for through new fees and taxes, along with cuts in Medicare — would extend coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating a government health insurance program. It would end insurance company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or dropping people when they become ill. 

Republicans condemned the vote and said they would oppose the measure as it proceeds on its legislative route. “This government takeover has got a long way to go before it gets to the president’s desk, and I’ll continue to fight it tooth and nail at every turn,” said Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas. “Health care is too important to get it wrong.” More HERE.

Only one Republican, Representative Anh Cao of Louisiana, voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats opposed it.

After the vote, Mr. Obama issued a statement praising the House and calling on the Senate to follow suit. “I am absolutely confident it will,” he said, “and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.” Read:With victory in House, health care reform moves to Senate.

AAPP says: OK so Black lawmakers have lauded the health care vote.‎  Yet, as the Joint Center points out, "from the cradle to the grave, African-Americans have poorer health outcomes: African-American infant mortality is more than double that of whites; African-American women make up 70 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections; three times as many black Americans die from diabetes as white Americans; and the life expectancy for whites is 78 years, compared with 73 years for all African-Americans and less than 70 years for African-American males."

AAPP says: "Yes, we need health care reform, I only hope that the current bill passed by congress addresses the needs of affordable mental health care, AIDS treatment, Breast Cancer Treatment, drug/alcohol rehabilitation, stress management and the preventive care needs of our communities. Otherwise, it's nothing more than black elected officials telling black folks what a wonderful job they have done, without any substance."  we also have to ask, will black folks be left out of the newly revised system of health care delivery?


Let's hope the Republican "nut jobs" are wrong and Joseph Cao is right.

1. "House Democrats pass health-care bill," The Washington Post, November 8, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85143&id=17860-8045350-7UIr8qx&t=5

2. "Abortion an obstacle to health-care bill," The Washington Post, November 9, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85142&id=17860-8045350-7UIr8qx&t=6

3. "Affordable Health Care for America Act," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, November 7, 2009
http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0327

What do You Think?