But will he have a top ten list?

In honor of the chosen one joining Jaws at his late night desk, I have a top ten list that should be considered:

Here are the top ten reasons president Obama should go after Rush Limbaugh:

Reason number ten- He looks better in a suit.

Reason number nine- "Ditto heads" are never going to vote for the black guy.

Reason number eight- Rush will make 400 million over the next eight years, and Obama makes $400,000 per year. These are tough economic times, A-merry-cans can relate better to the guy who makes less.

Reason number seven- The man's name is Rush.

Reason number six- Because at the rate Rush is going he won't live to see the next election.

Reason number five- Because no matter what Rush says, he doesn't want a debate.

Reason number four- Rush has a face for radio and Obama has one for television.

Reason number three- Obama can't pick on Ann Coulter, she is a woman.

Reason number two- Did I mention that the president looks better in a suit?

And the number one reason that Obama should go after Rush Limbaugh: Two beautiful children and a lovely wife; beats cigars, drug use, and strange Caribbean vacations, every time.

*BTW, I hear that his O ness made a verbal slip up on Leno's show tonight.[something about the "Special Olympics"] Olbermann leaked it. Expect the wingnuts to be all over this in the coming days. :(

It's your call.

I need everyone reading this, just for tonight, to pretend that they are family court judges.

I am going to give you all a hypothetical situation. This is a made up scenario, so if the name I use is the same as a living person in a similar situation, it is totally coincidental. Anyway, here is the deal:

You have before you, John Smith, who is 35 years old and has ten children with six different women. Unlike Travis Henry, (whose sperm cells can probably bench press more than he can) Mr. Smith has no income or assets. Five of the women receive cash assistance from welfare, and Mr. Smith doesn't have a job, and doesn't support his children emotionally or financially. In fact, he lives with a woman who has two children of her own (not his) and she gets welfare, herself.

A child support order was entered against Mr. Smith in three cases for four of his children, but after the wage garnishments started he quit his job. Subsequently, Mr. Smith went out and had six more children with three different women.

Now Mr. Smith has been found in contempt of court for failure to pay his previous child support orders, and he stands in front of you. How do you sentence him? Oh, and forget about the sentencing guidelines. You can give Mr. Smith any sentence you want. It can be as harsh as the death penalty, or you can set him free with zero jail time.

Your Honor, we await your ruling.

Watch out for those 73 year old gang bangers.

I want to thank my Afrosphere fam, Rock, of African American Political Pundit, for hipping me to the following story. And Howard Witt, one of the best and most fearless reporters in A-merry-ca, for breaking it. (Witt was the man primarily responsible for exposing the corrupt DA in Jena)

"HOMER, La.—On the last afternoon of his life, Bernard Monroe was hosting a cookout for family and friends in front of his dilapidated home on Adams Street in this small northern Louisiana town. Throat cancer had robbed the 73-year-old retired electric utility worker of his voice years ago, but family members said Monroe was clearly enjoying the commotion of a dozen of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren cavorting around him in the dusty, grassless yard. Then the Homer police showed up, two white officers whose arrival caused the participants at the black family gathering to quickly fall silent.Within moments, Monroe lay dead, shot by one of the officers as his family looked on.

Now the Louisiana State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are swarming over this impoverished lumber town of 3,800, drawn by the allegations of numerous witnesses that police killed an unarmed, elderly black man without justification—and then moved a gun to make it look like the man had been holding it."We are closely monitoring the events in Homer," said Donald Washington, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Louisiana. "I understand that a number of allegations are being made that, if true, would be serious enough for us to follow up on very quickly."Yet the Feb. 20 Homer incident was not an isolated case. Across the nation, in four cases in recent months, white police officers have been accused of unprovoked shootings of African Americans in what civil rights leaders say are illustrations of the potentially deadly consequences of racial profiling by police.

In the mostly white Houston suburb of Bellaire, a 23-year-old black man sitting in his own SUV in the driveway of his parents' home was shot and wounded on New Year's Eve by police who mistakenly believed he had stolen the vehicle. The case is under investigation.In Oakland, a transit police officer has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting an unarmed black man in the back while he was restrained and lying face down on a train platform on New Year's Day. In New Orleans, nine police officers are under investigation in the New Year's Day death of a 22-year-old black man who was struck by 14 bullets after an undercover team stopped his car. The police say the man raised a gun and fired at them, but the man's family disputes that."All the anecdotal information demonstrates that African Americans are the most frequent victims of zealous, inappropriate police activity that often winds up in a shooting," said Reggie Shuford, a senior attorney with the racial justice program at the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's a shoot first, ask questions later approach to policing."The evidence is not merely anecdotal. The most recent national analysis from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that blacks and Hispanics were nearly three times as likely as whites to be searched by police—and blacks were almost four times as likely as whites to be subjected to the use of force.

Psychologists are stepping up research into the implicit, unconscious racial biases that may be driving such statistics and affecting police behavior."If in fact police have implicit biases—if they automatically associate blacks with crime—then that would be relevant to an officer in a split-second, shoot-or-don't-shoot situation," said Lorie Fridell, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida who is creating a new anti-bias police training program with funding from the Justice Department. "Is the officer more inclined to believe he sees a gun in the hand of a black person, rather than a cell phone? I think that is possible."In Monroe's case, friends and family members say they still don't understand why the beloved neighborhood patriarch ended up dead. Four witnesses told the Tribune that Monroe was sitting outside his home in the late afternoon of Feb. 20, clutching a large sports-drink bottle, when two police officers pulled up and summoned Monroe's son, Shawn, for a conversation. Shawn Monroe has a long record of arrests and convictions for assault and battery, and even though he was not wanted on any current warrants, he took off running into the house. One of the officers, a new hire named Tim Cox who had been on Homer's police force for only a few weeks, chased after him, reappearing moments later in the doorway. Meanwhile, the witnesses said, the elder Monroe had started walking toward the front door, carrying only his drink bottle, to try to intervene. When Monroe got to the first step on the front porch, the witnesses said, Cox opened fire, striking him several times as adults and children stood nearby."He just shot him through the screen door," said Denise Nicholson, a family friend who said she was standing a few feet from Monroe. "After [Monroe] was on the ground, we kept asking the officer to call an ambulance, but all he did was get on his radio and say, 'Officer in distress.' "As Monroe lay dying, the witnesses said, the second police officer, who has not been publicly identified, picked up a handgun that Monroe, an avid hunter, always kept in plain sight on the porch for protection. Using a police-issue blue latex glove, the officer grasped the gun by its handle, the witnesses said, and then ordered everyone to back away from the scene. The next thing they said they saw was the gun on the ground next to Monroe's body."I saw him pick up the gun off the porch," said Marcus Frazier, another witness. "I said, 'What are you doing?' The cop told me, 'Shut the hell up, you don't know what you're talking about.' "

The Homer police maintain that Monroe was holding a loaded gun when he was shot, but they are not commenting further on the case. At least one fact surrounding the shooting is not in dispute: It took place amid long-standing tensions between Homer police and the residents of Monroe's crime-plagued black neighborhood."People here are afraid of the police," said Terry Willis, vice president of the Homer NAACP branch. "They harass black people, they stop people for no reason and rough them up without charging them with anything."'

Full story here.

Oh field, you are such a racism chaser. If the man's grandson wasn't such a bad ass he would be alive today. Come on field, he lived in a bad neighborhood, what are good decent law enforcement folks supposed to do? Yeah I know he was supposed to be 73, but you know how you black people always look younger than your age. What is that saying? "Black don't crack".

"If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names," said Mills, who is white. "I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested. We're not out there trying to abuse and harass people—we're trying to protect the law-abiding citizens locked behind their doors in fear."

Yeah okay there officer, if you say so. Seriously, most of you know that I defend the boyz in blue who protect honest law abiding citizens in cities like Philadelphia. To me, they are the best protection I have against the scumbags who would bring harm to me or my property. And I mourn with the rest of the community when one of them is killed in the line of duty. Most police officers are good decent people. But just like society at large, there are ignorant knuckle dragging racist in their ranks, and these individuals should be weeded out. If they are not, Howard Witt is going to be a very busy man for many years to come.

A few words for the other Mr. Steele.

*

I am going to make a statement that might surprise some of you: I actually like Shelby Steele.

Unlike other black conservatives I find him to be genuine in his conservative beliefs, and I think he writes in an intellectually lucid way which I find refreshing. (His book, "The Content Of Our Character" is a must read for all A-merry-cans, regardless of ideological preference) Unlike Sowell, he doesn't seem to be writing to impress his intellectual colleagues on the right. What he does seem to try to do, is inject an honest thought out point of view in the ideological debate for our souls. And who knows, maybe it's because we share a certain embarrassment in our predictions about the chosen one this past election. ( I bet he won't have to run anywhere naked)

Now having said that, I must take issue with some of the things that Shelby said in his Wall Street Journal oped today.

Shelby Steele's issue with liberalism is a classic one. It is typical of what you hear from conservatives: Liberals give blacks handouts, they promote big government, and liberalism creates dependency. Conservatism, on the other hand, offers nothing but a chance to make it in our great country. But it takes hard work and discipline, and with conservatism, there is no handouts. He argues that Lyndon Johnson, with his Great Society programs, took the moral high ground at a time when A-merry-ca's morality was being questioned for her shameful racial legacy. Republicans never recovered from that, and they are still playing catch up today.

Of course, he argues,that as black people, we are misguided in our loyalties. Liberalism actually takes away our humanity, while with conservatism, on the other hand, we can maintain our dignity as humans, and not get caught up in victim hood and racial identity politics.

"The appeal of conservatism is the mutuality it asserts between individual and political freedom, its beautiful idea of a free man in a free society. And it offers minorities the one thing they can never get from liberalism: human rather than racial dignity.... What drew me to conservatism years ago was the fact that it gave discipline a slightly higher status than virtue. This meant it could not be subverted by passing notions of the good. It could be above moral vanity. And so it made no special promises to me as a minority. It neglected me in every way except as a human being who wanted freedom. Until my encounter with conservatism I had only known the racial determinism of segregation on the one hand and of white liberalism on the other -- two varieties of white supremacy in which I could only be dependent and inferior."

Right there, Shelby, is the problem with your well written essay. You only saw yourself as a person of color in two ways: "A racial determination of segregation" and the subject of "white" liberal paternalism. You should have said no to both of those choices. It wasn't one or the other. Both were destined to make you the man you became: Someone who chooses a selfish ideology which is predicated on chasing a carrot that you will never be able to grab. By embracing that ideology you have bought into the false premise that your people seek the liberal handout and are not willing to work as hard as the conservative to grab the carrot. It is not true. I submit to you that your people (and poor people of all colors) are willing to work harder. The problem is that their government has never been willing to work as hard for them. Instead, their government has worked only for a special few, and contrary to what you might believe, it didn't neglect you, it used you to achieve its own goals. At least with liberalism, with all its faults, there was a realization that it should make you a promise, and that promise was that never again will you be subjected to second class status, and our government will always work to make it so. Our government will finally give you an even playing field to compete on, after tipping the field against you for so long.

"So here stands contemporary American conservatism amidst its cultural liabilities and, now, its electoral failures -- with no mechanism to redeem America of its shames, atavistically resisted by minorities, and vulnerable to stigmatization as a bigoted and imperialistic political orientation. Today's liberalism may stand on decades of failed ideas, but it is failure in the name of American redemption. It remains competitive with -- even ascendant over -- conservatism because it addresses America's moral accountability to its past with moral activism. This is the left's great power, and a good part of the reason Barack Obama is now the president of the United States. No matter his failures -- or the fruitlessness of his extravagant and scatter-gun governmental activism -- he redeems America of an ugly past. How does conservatism compete with this?"

Sorry Shelby, it can't. And I, for one, am glad for that.

Article here.

*Pic stolen from my girl Danielle over at the Black Snob blog.

Give him a record deal.

I see Osama bin Laden just made another audio recording. (His 60th broadcast to the world since 911) I swear the guy has more recordings than Akon.

But once again A-merry-cans are reminded that the guy who brought mass murder and mayhem to our country is still alive and kicking in a cave somewhere. The frat boy started two wars and put millions of dollars on his head and it didn't mean squat. Two months after leaving the people's house, and the man in the cave is still mocking him. Looks like the bearded one got the last laugh. For seven years he eluded the Bush crew and he will probably outlive most of the neocons who came up with the foolhardy scheme to capture him.

I don't have a fairy god mother, but if I did, I would ask her to grant me a few wishes. One of them (besides the obvious red light special with Lark of course) would be to have our Special Forces capture the scum bag (dead or alive) on the O man's watch. I would give anything to see a press conference with the O man declaring to the nation that we got him, while pictures of the capture are split screened on our television sets. Of course, it would hardly get a mention over at FAKE NEWS, and they would give all the credit for his capture to the previous administration. Thanks to the hard work of former President Bush, Osama bin Laden was captured today....

But watching the wingnuts try to explain why it took their leader seven years with no luck and his O ness did it soon after taking office would be priceless.

I only hope that if and when the O man's administration does capture the bearded one we will get the hell out of Afghanistan. No good can come from fighting with the Afghans. (Just ask the Russians) Fighting to them is like eating apple pies to us. It's what they do. And they enjoy that shit. Our only reason for being there is to capture Osama, so if we get him, let's air-lift everyone who wants out and roll. The Taliban can have that god forsaken place all to themselves.

"It has been clear that some Arab leaders were complicit with the Zionists against our people..."

Yea yeah yeah. Apparently they weren't complicit enough, because your ass is still free, and still making records.

DWB?

And now comes this from Brent Jones of the Baltimore Sun:

"The vice president of Baltimore's NAACP chapter said yesterday during a rally for taxicab drivers that his reputation has been damaged after police arrested him, claiming to have found drugs in his car. Ellis L. Staten Jr., 44, was not charged with a crime, although officers said they recovered heroin and marijuana during a search of his vehicle Thursday near Pennsylvania Avenue and Dolphin Street.Staten said he was targeted by police because of his work with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which held an organizing meeting yesterday for city cabdrivers. Staten had no previous drug charges or criminal convictions.

Shortly before the arrest, Staten said, he was near a bus stop attempting to solicit cabdrivers to come to the meeting. Police came up to the car, Staten said, and asked him to step out, searched the vehicle and handcuffed him. Staten said he was held at downtown police headquarters for about an hour before he was released. Staten said he had never been locked up in his life and that the incident has 'defamed my character.'I'm calm now on the outside, but I'm not on the inside. I'm very troubled that this type of information would be made public but no charges filed.' Staten added that he has been in contact with a lawyer to consider litigation. A police spokesman said yesterday that the allegations against the Police Department are unfounded.'I'm not going to justify them with a comment,' Anthony Guglielmi said. Staten said the drugs that police found belonged to a volunteer who was helping pass out fliers about the rally. Kevin Logan, 44, who was in the back seat of the car, was charged with two counts of drug possession. But police said they found Staten in possession of Suboxone pills, or buprenorphine, which is prescribed to treat heroin addiction.

'They singled me out because I'm the one responsible for getting the cabdrivers together. No more perfect person to defame than the NAACP,' Staten said.'If the police had found something on me, why would they release me? I'm stunned. I'm shocked. I wasn't in possession of any drugs or anything. That's why I was not charged.'More than 100 taxi drivers attended the meeting at the Vulcan Blazers headquarters. Staten is one of the lead organizers in the NAACP's work with the drivers, who are considering forming a union... "

More of the story here.

I bet who you believe in the above story depends on a lot of things, including your life experiences. A black guy playing the race card? Or just another brotha profiled because he was driving while black? (DWB) Personally, I believe Staten. (Gee, there is a shock, field believes the black guy) And no, I am not naive enough to think that just because the guy is an official with the NAACP he couldn't be doing drugs. My problem is I considered the totality of the circumstances, and I have to ask myself; why was Staten singled out and stopped in the first place? The circumstances surrounding the stop just seemed a little fishy to the kid. But then, that's just me. To me, as I am sure it is with Mr. Staten, DWB is a way of life, so incidents like these always make me say, hmmmmmm. Unfortunately for Mr. Staten, he isn't just saying it, he is living it right about now.

"Message to Michael"

Michael, this has gone on long enough. It's time to come home my brother. You gave it the good old college try, but you and I both know that some of these GOP folks to black folks is like oil to water. Putting you up as their leader was a gimmick, something they tried in order to stay hip and relevant in the age of Obama. Unfortunately for you , you just happened to be the only black guy (Kenneth Blackwell doesn't count. I said "black guy")around.

Of course it didn't help that all this HNIC stuff got to your head. You just couldn't shut up and stay on message, and the RNC folks weren't down with that. Bad enough they had to put a Negro in charge, but one who couldn't keep his mouth shut was too much for them.

"Let’s put it into context here. Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer. Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary. Yes, it’s ugly."

That was your first mistake: saying unkind things about the new republican leader in public. And then you had the nerve to tell A-merry-ca the truth about your party.

"You have absolutely no reason -- none -- to trust our word or our actions at this point. "

You got that right Michael. But the straw the broke the elephant's back was when you made statements to GQ Magazine which hinted that you believe that a woman can do what she wants to do with her own body.

"Are you saying you think women have the right to choose abortion?Yeah. I mean, again, I think that's an individual choice.You do?Yeah. Absolutely. "

Now dem there is fighten words Michael, and the folks in GOP land are all over you for uttering them. As you know, there is a growing movement within your own party to send your black behind packing. Republicans don't waiver on certain things: The right to life, gay marriage, and no equality for blacks. Okay, the last one isn't an official party platform, not yet anyway, but you get the picture.

Honestly Mike, I wanted you to succeed. I hoped what I thought about the republican party wasn't true, but the reality is that just seeing you in public as the representative of their party drove quite a few of those good ole boyz crazy. And all it took was one slip up for them to jump ship. As far as they are concerned you have been one constant slip up, and that ain't gonna cut it in the land of NASCAR and Rush.

So come on Mike, how about it? Hold a press conference tomorrow and tell the country that the GOP is not ready to go main stream. Tell us that it is not the party you thought it was, and that the people who make up the base of the party are just too extreme and unyielding for your taste. Tell A-merry-ca you tried, but as a person of color you just can't in good conscience support the GOP anymore.

Mike, if you do that, I will call off the drop squad, and I will pretend all the house worthy behavior you participated in didn't happen. The groveling to Rush, the back pedaling on your stance on abortion, and your silly pseudo cool buffoonery to try and attract young blacks to your party. I will forget all of that, and to top it off; I will even put in a good word with the Negro Acceptance Coalition *(NAC) for you. I promise.

* FYI, there is no organization called the Negro Acceptance Coalition. Not yet.

"I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing...."

Okay, true confessions: That E-Trade commercial with the two little guys in the pic is my absolute favorite. Maybe it appeals to my softer hope for A-merry-ca side. I think that's what all these advertisers are trying to do; appeal to our softer more inclusive side. Well damn it, I think it might have worked with me.

But not so fast; as with everything else in A-merry-ca, there just might be an agenda. I think those slick advertisers are just trying to appeal to my softer more inclusive side to get to my pocket book.

The following comes from AP writer,Todd Lewan:

"Ever see an inner-city schoolyard filled with white, Asian and black teens shooting hoops? Or middle-aged white and Latino men swigging beer and watching the Super Bowl on their black neighbor's couch? Or Asians and Latinos dancing the night away in a hip-hop club?
All it takes is a television.

Yes, that mesmerizing mass purveyor of aspiration, desire and self-awareness regularly airs commercials these days that show Americans of different races and ethnicities interacting in integrated schools, country clubs, workplaces and homes, bonded by their love of the products they consume.

Think about one of Pepsi's newest spots, "Refresh Anthem," which debuted during the Super Bowl. The ad, which features Bob Dylan and hip-hop producer will.i.am, is a collage of images from the '60s and today that celebrate generations past and present.
Whites and blacks are shown returning from war, surfing, skateboarding, dancing and waving American flags at political rallies, while a boyish Dylan and a present-day will.i.am take turns singing the Dylan classic, "Forever Young," each in his signature style.

Or, take the latest hit spot from E TRADE, which stars the E TRADE Baby, a 9-month-old white boy, and his newest buddy - a black infant who, from his own highchair, agrees with the wisdom of online investing even in a down economy. Ads like these are part of a subtle, yet increasingly visible strategy that marketers refer to as "visual diversity" - commercials that enable advertisers to connect with wider audiences while conveying a message that corporate America is not just "in touch," racially speaking, but inclusive.

It wasn't always like this. For much of the past century, 'minorities were either invisible in mainstream media, or handed negative roles that generally had them in a subservient position,' says Jerome Williams, a professor of advertising and African-American studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

'Today, you're starting to see a juxtaposition of blacks and whites together, doing the things people do ... Now, advertisers are not in a position of pushing social justice. But to the extent that they can put whites and blacks together in situations, I think that's a good thing.'"

More here.

It's nice to see that corporations are in touch, but will they give a brotha a job? I mean working on the field's heart strings is one thing, but would they put the field on their pay roll or *hire (thanks e-zmun, it was late) the field's firm to to do some legal work?

Hey, give me a job, put some money in my pocket, and then I might even buy my new white friend a drink.

"They shoot people, don't they?"

The crimson running through a rural stretch in Southern Alabama had nothing to do with the beloved "Crimson Tide" associated with the states famous football team. No, the crimson that flowed yesterday was from the blood of ten people, thanks to the latest in a long line of A-merry-can lunatics living among us.

I heard the first apologist for Michael McLendon last night on Anderson Cooper 's show. "Oh he was a good kid, he grew up with my kids, I used to be his T-ball coach". You would think the guy was recommending the shooter for one of those Hero episodes on CNN. No sir, Michael was a fucking lunatic ,who slaughtered 10 people before cowardly taking his own life. It's that simple. But just like the mothers and grandmothers who swear little Pookie couldn't hurt a fly, --the same Pookie who was pulling stick ups and shooting rival drug dealers on the corner since he was old enough to drive-- these folks make excuses for the inexcusable.

"The community's just in disbelief, just how this could happen in our small town," said state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, from the nearby town of Slocomb. "

Of course every time some lunatic decides that the way of the gun is best, we try to figure out why. (Oh ohhh here comes field with the gun control speech again) How could this happen in our neighborhoods, our schools, and in our nice quiet community? Only those uncivilized blacks in those urban areas should be killing each other. This doesn't happen to us, does it? Yes it does happen to you, and it will continue to happen until we get some sensible gun legislation in this country.

Already the gun rights wackos are coming out of the woodwork to wonder if this will be the catalyst for his O ness taking away their semi-automatic weapons. "..President's family is protected with fully automatic weapons yet he would deny protection with semi-automatics to yours" Call me crazy, but I kind of want my president to be protected from loons like you guys. But I don't want you, or the thugs on the streets of Philly, armed with any damn weapon, let alone a semi-automatic. Now I ask you folks, what the hell was this genius doing with a Bushmaster AR-15 and a SKS assault rifle? What is any civilian doing with these types of weapons? Which are, by the way, being mass produced for the market place as I write this.

I didn't check this, but I am willing to bet my original Al Kaline baseball card that this wacko had a license to carry, and if there was a background check, there would be nothing in his past to prevent him from owning a weapon. I am guessing that being a good ole boy from Alabama, Michael was quite handy with the steel, and was quite comfortable with his toys of death and destruction.

"Alabama has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the nation -- more than 57 percent of the state's households have guns -- and some of the weakest gun laws in the country. At the same time, its overall gun death rate for 2005 (16.18 per 100,000) ranks it fifth in the nation. "

And the beat goes on. Of course, not to be outdone, Germany had their own version of Culumbine, today. Those damn Germans, they want to be the best at everything. Tim Kretschmer killed 15 people before his 17 years on earth ended.

"Kretschmer did not shoot wildly, Rech said, contradicting earlier police statements, but hit most of his victims in the head."

Wow, a lunatic with good aim. Too bad there weren't some NRA people around.

"March Madness"

This is a great time of year if you happen to live along "Tobacco Road". What's not to love about being in North Carolina and cheering for one of those great college basketball teams down there. Yep, it's great to be in the "Tar Heel" state this time of year. Well, unless, of course, you happen to be a person of color living in Pender County. Yes folks, just in case you have been sleeping for the past few days, let me update you on what your supremes did yesterday:

By a five to four margin your supremes decided that the Voting Rights Act shouldn't be as powerful anymore in a post racial A-merry-ca. No sir, not when we have a black prez. Who needs something as racial as a Voting Rights Act? People in A-merry-ca --especially the South-- don't see race anymore.

So let's see now, the supremes decided in a case styled Bartlett v. Strickland, that because Pender County is not majority black, the Voting Rights Act shouldn't apply. In essence what they said is that county,state, and city officials should not consider race when drawing up electoral districts if you black folks don't make up the majority. (Nice, so if you are in the majority you get the protection of an act that you don't really need because you are in the MAJORITY. But if you are in the minority and you need to have a say in how your government is run; no voice for you ) Poor North Carolina, their state lawmakers actually tried to draw up a district where they thought that a black candidate could actually win. But not so fast. See, in post racial A-merry-ca, that is not fair to the white folks in Pender County who might want to elect.... well, a white candidate. It's not fair that the 39% of black folks in Pender County get to combine with another county to create a district that might elect the black guy. So they sued the state, and when it was all said and done, the supremes agreed with them.

Seems the lawmakers of Carolina misread the law. The law only applied when a "geographically compact group of minority voters could form a majority in a single member district." So said the judges in the majority, led by the man who couldn't remember his lines when he was swearing in the chosen one. (Guess which side Clarence was on? That's not a trick question) Of course there was a dissenting opinion: Four justices agreed with the field that this is a step backwards for civil rights because it would "discourage minority 'opportunity districts' in which blacks or Hispanics could win with the support of whites". This should be fun come redistricting time again down South. We will see how far we have come with this race thing.

"State Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D.,Vt.) said the ruling 'dealt a serious blow to the progress of the civil rights movement' by limiting the application of the Voting Rights Act."

Oh calm down Patrick, you are still stuck in the sixties. Welcome to the age of Obama. There is no more need for a "civil rights movement".

"Next month, the court will hear a closely watched challenge to another part of the Voting Rights Act which requires Southern officials to obtain the permission of the Justice Department before making changes in their election rules. "

Clarence should just vote now and get it over with.

To arm or not to arm, that is the question.

I dated this girl once, (a long long time ago, waaaay before Mrs. Field) who wanted to be a school teacher for all the right reasons. Years later when I saw her I asked her if she was teaching, and do you know what she told me? "Field, are you crazy? I want to live past my 40th birthday. These kids out here are way too crazy for me." And as fate would have it, I thought about that girl today while reading the following story in my hometown paper:

"OFFICER MICHAEL Alvaro was in the right place at the right time to stop an armed-robbery on Feb. 25. Sitting in his marked Philadelphia School District SUV on Olney Avenue near Broad Street, Alvaro said, he saw Tyree Pace, 15, approach three male Central High students with a knife and demand: "Give me everything you have."

Alvaro, 31, a school cop since 2001, called for backup, bolted toward Pace and caught him after a brief chase. But Pace, who has an extensive juvenile criminal record, didn't get cuffed without a fight. He spun and swung the knife at the officer, cutting into his bulletproof vest, Alvaro said. Arraignment for Pace was scheduled for this morning, court records show.

With violent assaults on Philadelphia school officers increasing by nearly 20 percent in the last year, the officers and their union are pressing hard for the right to carry guns on the job. School and city officials have balked at that request in the past, and are reluctant to talk about it now.

But Alvaro — who was attacked one block from where city police officer John Pawlowski was gunned down Feb. 13 — is a strong proponent of the idea.

'We're in marked police vehicles, we're in full uniform, but we have no weapon to protect anybody,' said Alvaro, who wrested a gun from a student outside Turner Middle School several years ago.

'Just by them issuing us a bulletproof vest tells us right there that they are putting us in danger,' added Alvaro, a 1996 graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School. Pace was charged as an adult with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon on school property and four other charges, according to court records. At the time of his arrest, Pace was enrolled as a student at Community Education Partners, a school-district disciplinary school managed by a Tennessee company.

'In harm's way every day' The union that represents the 400-officer school police force has for several years lobbied the school district to allow the roughly 100 patrol officers to carry guns. 'We put these guys out in harm's way every day with a vest, and we don't give them the equipment and the training to do the job,' said Michael Lodise, president of the School Police Association of Philadelphia. 'We're going to eventually have a casualty out here, there's no two ways about it with the climate out here today.'

He noted that officers employed by universities in the city have guns, as do SEPTA cops, and that soon guns will be issued to animal-cruelty officers with the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Philadelphia School District officials declined to comment for this story. They issued a written statement contending that only one assault on a school officer in the last two years involved a weapon.

'These statistics do not justify the arming of Philadelphia school police officers....Furthermore, current Pennsylvania law does not allow the arming of school police officers," the statement said.

But Lodise said that that's not true.' They're wrong when they said that," said Lodise. He said that the state's penal code gives school officers the power to make arrests on school property and the same authority as constables, who are armed.

Michael Race, spokesman for the state Department of Education, said that the Pennsylvania School Code does not address whether school officers can be armed."

More here.

Well Michael, we will address it here. I am sure that the smart people who read this blog will have something to say about your little problem. Well, actually, it's a big problem. And I can't blame my ex one bit for giving up on her life long dream. Still, I have to ask myself: can I trust one of these officers with firearms? And just what kind of training would they be getting? They are, after all, around children all day.

Oh wait, did that article say that SPCA officers are going to have guns? You mean to tell me that there is a chance that they could put a cap in Fido's ass? You just wait until the PETA folks and all the pet lovers get a hold of this. There will be hell to pay.