Sorry Dorothy, but "the more things change is the more they stay the same."

Poor Dorothy Cooper, I bet she thought the days of fighting institutionalized racism was over in these divided states of America. It's ironic that I would be made aware of this story on the day that Fred Shuttlesworth died. They haven't put poor Rev. Shuttlesworth down yet, but I bet he is already turning in the funeral home.

"Dorothy Cooper is 96 but she can remember only one election when she's been eligible to vote but hasn't.

The retired domestic worker was born in a small North Georgia town before women had the right to vote. She began casting ballots in her 20s after moving to Chattanooga for work. She missed voting for John F. Kennedy in 1960 because a move to Nashville prevented her from registering in time.

So when she learned last month at a community meeting that under a new state law she'd need a photo ID to vote next year, she talked with a volunteer about how to get to a state Driver Service Center to get her free ID. But when she got there Monday with an envelope full of documents, a clerk denied her request.
That morning, Cooper slipped a rent receipt, a copy of her lease, her voter registration card and her birth certificate into a Manila envelope. Typewritten on the birth certificate was her maiden name, Dorothy Alexander.

"But I didn't have my marriage certificate," Cooper said Tuesday afternoon, and that was the reason the clerk said she was denied a free voter ID at the Cherokee Boulevard Driver Service Center.

I don't know what difference it makes," Cooper said.
Cooper visited the state driver service center with Charline Kilpatrick, who has been working with residents to get free photo IDs. After the clerk denied Cooper's request, Kilpatrick called a state worker, explained what happened and asked if Cooper needed to return with a copy of the marriage certificate.

"The lady laughed," Kilpatrick said. "She said she's never heard of all that."
Tennessee Department of Safety spokeswoman Dalya Qualls said in a Tuesday email that Cooper's situation, though unique, could have been handled differently.

"It is department policy that in order to get a photo ID, a citizen must provide documentation that links their name to the documentation that links their name to the document they are using as primary proof of identity," Qualls said. "In this case, since Ms. Cooper's birth certificate (her primary proof of identity) and voter registration card were two different names, the examiner was unable to provide the free ID."

Despite that, Qualls said, "the examiner should have taken extra steps to determine alternative forms of documentation for Ms. Cooper."
Kilpatrick has had to call the state at least twice after taking someone to get a photo ID or have a photo added to the driver's license. State law allows anyone 60 or older to have their picture removed from their license.

The state has been working diligently to make the process easy for residents, Qualls said." [Story]

The state of Tennessee might be working to make "the process easy" , but republicans certainly aren't. What happened to  poor Dorothy Cooper is exactly the kind of effect that they were looking for. If you discourage enough Dorothy Coopers away from the voting booth guess who wins elections?

Down in Texas Governor Big Hair and his peeps are doing the same thing. He signed into law a voter ID bill requiring proper ID to vote. ---For the record, a college ID is not considered a proper form of ID, but come on down with your hunting license there Bubba and you are cool. 
 
"State Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, said Tuesday that Cooper's case is an example of how the law 'erects barriers' for the elderly and poor people -- a disproportionate number of whom are minorities.

"What you do, you suppress the vote," Brown said. 'You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out."'

Well Ms. Brown,  given that no one seems to give a damn maybe you do.

The big wait....

So Governor Krispy Kreme is getting closer to deciding if he is going to throw his hat into the presidential race for president.

Good luck with that. Fighting those evil unions in Jersey isn't the same as fighting terrorist in the Middle East. But I think that my man has the bug. It might have been his speech at the reagan library that took him over the top. But we will see.

I know one thing; his fellow republicans are jonesing for a savior. Anybody.  Now that Governor Big Hair fooled around and did the unpardonable: Being exposed for doing publicly what I am sure most Southern men of a certain age have done.... privately: endorsing the use of, or using the word, nigger. [Digression alert!] Why the big deal with the Governor naming his hunting compound Niggerhead? Are we supposed to be shocked that this goes on in Texas?Ever wondered why this never came out before after his long political career in Texas?

"Now to be fair, the word "Nigger" was used for hundreds of geographic places in their official government names across this country for centuries. Post reporter Stephanie McCrummen writes about how the U.S. Board of Geographic Names had changed many of these en masse 50 years ago (although, hilariously, they'd often just change "Nigger Creek" to "Negro Creek," "Nigger Mountain" to "Colored Mountain," etc.) New York State just got around to renaming "Nigger Lake" on government maps this past summer.

But the "Niggerhead" sign on the Perry property was a private sign, painted in large letters on a large rock. Perry used the property as a gathering place for his politicos, and he's running for president. So he's got some explaining to do.
To hear Perry tell it, according to the Post, as soon as his family started leasing the land in 1983, he ordered "the offensive word" painted over; he believed the rock was eventually turned upside-down.

But McCrummen writes that she spoke to over two-dozen people for her story, including "seven who said they saw the rock [and] said the block-lettered name was clearly visible at different points in the 1980s and 1990s. One, a former worker on the ranch, believes he saw it as recently as 2008."

One who saw it, "a retired game warden who began working in the region in 1981...said he guided three or four turkey shoots for Rick Perry when Perry was a state legislator between 1985 and 1990" and found that the sign "Kind of offended me, truthfully." (Italics ours.)

Rick Perry is between a rock (with a racial epithet painted on it) and a hard place." [Source]

Relax Governor, your numbers will once again go up among republican primary voters after this one.

Anywhoo, back to my man Governor Krispy Kreme. I wonder if these tea party types know what they are getting. Dude actually believes in science. (Memo to wingnuts: the world is not flat.)He doesn't think that all those Muslims are evil, he wants to be able to keep Xuanlong assault rifles out of the hands of lunatics, and he realizes that true immigration reform will not come by rounding up little Mexican children and kicking them out of school.

So we weight wait for the big announcement. I guess that if Governor Krispy Kreme wins and becomes our president it will be somewhat fitting. (No pun intended) With almost half of the people in our country being obese there is nothing wrong with having a president who is a true representation of his country's population. Obama, with his slender physique, looks more like a European president. -He even smokes for crying out loud.- My man Governor Krispy Kreme can't hide his vice. It's on full display every time he makes an appearance.

      


  

A Governor comes clean, and wingnuts are considering execution parties.

I would like to thank Governor Tom Corbett of Pistolvania for confirming what I believed all along about the state's move to change how Pistolvania awards electoral votes.

I blogged about it a couple of days a ago, and some of you declared that it was crazy to think that the motives behind the political move was to keep black  "urban" voters from having any influence over the national election process.

Well.....

"HARRISBURG - Philadelphia's big Democratic turnouts tend to drown out the voices of voters elsewhere in Pennsylvania when America elects presidents.
That was the gist of Gov. Corbett's argument Thursday as he detailed for the first time his support of a Republican-led charge to change the way Pennsylvania awards its electoral votes.

If he gets his chance, Corbett told a radio audience, he will sign a bill championed by top Republican legislators to do away with the winner-take-all apportioning of the state's electoral votes. Instead, most of those votes would be parceled out based on the popular-vote winner in each of the state's congressional districts.

"It will allow the people across the state to be better represented when it comes to the vote for president," the governor said on his new monthly radio show on WPHT-AM (1210) in Philadelphia. "There are huge portions of Pennsylvania that voted for the other candidate in many of the elections, and their vote really didn't count."

The state, he told WPHT host Dom Giordano, consists of five or six distinct political regions, and he suggested they have "not been represented because of the huge turnout in Philadelphia."

The governor, a Republican, insisted the proposed change was "not a Republican-Democrat issue." But he noted that Pennsylvania has given Democrats its electoral votes in every presidential election since 1988.

In 2008, for example, a strong turnout in Democrat-rich Philadelphia helped Barack Obama win 54.7 percent of the statewide popular vote to Republican nominee John McCain's 44.3 percent. That gave Obama the state's 21 electoral votes. If the proposal backed by Corbett and GOP legislators had been the law, Obama would have split those electoral votes with McCain, 11-10.

The only other states that allocate their electoral votes by congressional district are Maine and Nebraska.

If the law is changed here, Corbett said, next year's Republican nominee might be encouraged not to "write off Pennsylvania too soon..." [Source]

How dare you Negroes come out to vote in Philadelphia and cancel white"rural" votes in other parts of the state?

Just remember folks, you heard it here first.

Some of those republicans cheering on Governor Big Hair for all his kills must be a little down today after hearing that the Supremes put a stay on the execution of Duane Buck.

Bummer.  

But, take heart folks, you still might get a chance to cheer on the death of yet another person who might be innocent in just a few days.

I wonder why they don't just televise these executions and sell commercial time? I bet they would make a killing. (Pun intended) All those wingnuts in front of the television cheering wildly as the executioner pulls the switch or applies the lethal injection. "Look honey, look how his toes are twitching. See how his eyes pop out?" That is soooo cool!"

Hey, come to think of it; there is precedent for this stuff. I am just sayin.

"Brian Williams: Governor Perry a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates more than any other governor in modern times. Have you struggled to sleep at night?

Governor Rick Perry: No sir. I’ve never struggled with that at all… If you kill one of our children or police officers or another citizen in a crime you will face the ultimate justice in Texas.

Then the crowd cheered again… Even louder."

Governor, what happens if you kill the wrong person for killing one of "our children" or "police officers"? Do you get to face the "ultimate justice"? I, for one, certainly hope so.    

*Pic courtesy of Steve Brodner

Republicans may soon have one more reason to applaud.

"Indifference is the essence of inhumanity". ~George Bernard Shaw~

When Rick Perry was asked by Brian Williams in a recent republican presidential debate if he looses any sleep over the executions in his state, this is how he replied: “I’ve never struggled with that at all.” He said it with a smirk on his face, and when he said it his republican audience roared with applause.

Rick Perry has been the overseer of more executions in modern history (234)than any other governor in the United States.  And you better believe that he is proud of every one of them.
Rick Perry, as Kristen Chick noted, should have struggled with the wrongful death of Cameron Todd Willingham. A man put to death at the Texas killing house in Huntsville who was later found to be innocent. But even if there was no Cameron Todd Willingham, Perry's conscience should have been a better guide. Thanks to the advances made with the science of DNA testing, we now know that quite a few people who society thought was guilty and was ready to put to death, were actually innocent of the crimes for which they were charged and convicted.

*More applause from republicans.*

Which brings me to the case of Troy Davis. A man who very well could be innocent of the charges brought against him, but who, nevertheless, the state of Georgia plans to put to death on September 21,2011. *more applause*

Oh field, there you go playing defense attorney again.

Well, please consider the following:

Almost all of the nine witnesses who gave evidence at his trial have recanted or changed their testimony

A state's witness now says another guy murdered the officer, Mark Allen MacPhail

No DNA evidence link him to the crime

No fingerprints, either

Nobody ever found the murder weapon

Davis has maintained his innocence since his arrest (h/t Gawker)

Not good enough to put reasonable doubt in your mind? How about the following?

"...upon reviewing his case a federal court held in 2010 that he hadn't proven his "actual innocence" because his post-conviction body of evidence was either "not credible and would be disregarded by a reasonable juror," too general, or both. The presiding judge didn't allow Davis's lawyers to call any of the recanting witnesses—who pinned the murder on a different man at the scene named Sylvester "Redd" Coles— because they hadn't subpoenaed Coles to testify. However, the judge asserted that, even if the lawyers had called Coles to the stand, he might have confessed to the crime just to enhance "his reputation as a dangerous individual." Based on this logic, we should now assume that everyone who's ever confessed to murder probably did so only to enhance their badass reputations and therefore should be released from prison, because they're innocent.

In March the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to give Davis more time to prove his innocence. Despite all the evidentiary issues, Georgia's superior court has scheduled his execution for September 21. The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a hearing two days before Davis's government-issued death; Davis' lawyers will call some of the recanting witnesses, and maybe the board will be influenced by what they hear. If not, then Davis will be executed.." [Source] 

Congrats Governor Deal, if you put Troy Davis down, you too can run for president and get all the adoration and applause from your party loyalist.

We are one day away from September 11th. And the psychos who flew the planes into those buildings were inhumane and had no empathy for their fellow human beings. They represented the worst of what humanity has to offer.

Come September 22, 2011, we will find out if they have more company.

*Sign the petition to save Troy Davis, here.










  

A "big black cloud" is hanging over Thibodaux.

Now you all know me, I can chase the big R with the best of em. But a couple of recent incidents have me crying slow down just a little and let's trot around the track.

A top A-merry-can diplomat in India found herself in some hot water recently for the following remarks: "I was on a 24-hour train trip from Delhi to Orissa," the eastern Indian state, Chao continued, according to Agence-France Press. "But, after 72 hours, the train still did not reach the destination ... and my skin became dirty and dark like the Tamilians."...

The U.S. consulate soon posted a statement of apology on its website:"During the speech Ms. Chao made an inappropriate comment," the statement, posted Saturday, read. "Ms. Chao deeply regrets if her unfortunate remarks offended anyone, as that was certainly not her intent."

Chao's comment came while she was attempting to recount "positive memories from her own study experiences in India 23 years ago," the statement continued." [Source]

Ok, that's one. Now here is the other one: "Barely days into his official presidential campaign, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been a gusher of controversial quotes, calling President Obama’s patriotism into question, making vaguely threatening statements about Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, and now, making what some see as a blatant reference to President Obama’s race by saying that “a big black cloud” is hanging over the country. AURN White House Correspondent April Ryan, for one, wasn’t shy about calling Perry out.... 

The quote has been held up as a not-so-veiled reference to the President’s race. Loop21’s Maurice Garland translated Perry’s remark:
After that he said that a “big black cloud” was hanging over the country. In Perry-speak that means there’s a “big black guy running the country and I’m not too happy about it.”

Garland went on to say that he “hope(s) (Perry) doesn’t actually start ‘hanging’ these big black clouds he speaks of.”

Veteran White House reporter April Ryan, who was recently elected to the board of the White House Correspondents Association, was quick to call Perry out via her Twitter feed, tweeting “Rick Perry’s words ‘a black cloud over this country.’ He knows exactly what he is saying and appealing to. Perry has to remember if he is President he would be POTUS over all including black america who are part of his ‘black cloud.’” [Source] 

OK, so maybe I have to think about the Governor Big Hair quote a little more. Sometimes I just can't hear those racist dog whistles. But then, I am not supposed to. They are not meant for me.

Finally, speaking of black clouds; they are hanging over one particular Louisiana town tonight and here is why: "THIBODAUX, La. -The mother of 7 year old Jori Lirette can’t help but ask why, her son was brutally murdered allegedly at the hands of his own father. Jori has cerebral palsy and heart problems.

“He was a very important person in my life, maybe the best thing that ever happened to me,” says Jesslyn Lirette

30 year old Jeremiah Wright is accused of bludgeoning, decapitating and dismembering Jori Lirette. Thibodaux police say Wright left his disabled son’s head near the street in front of the family home, so the child’s mother would see it when she returned from running errands." [Source] 

"See I told you that Obama was no good, now look what his pastor done went and did." No wingnuts, not that Jeremiah Wright. This Jeremiah Wright [see pic]probably hated Obama as much as you do.

"Veteran police officers who initially arrived on the scene to investigate were reportedly in tears. Outside of the home, a memorial is growing and the close knit community is shaken as well.

“It’s real hard to walk into campus this morning and see so many empty looking eyes because everybody is grieving over his death,” says Principal Diane Smith

Investigators are trying to understand too. They say when officers arrived at the house, Wright was standing on the front porch.

“Actually he told the officers that it was a CPR dummy, that the head was a CPR dummy,” says Chief Scott Sillveri

Later, they say Wright confessed to killing his son and cutting him up in the kitchen sink. Police say Wright’s only explanation for placing his son’s head by the road was to make the boy’s mother feel stupid when she saw it.
Wright has been in trouble before. He was arrested for contempt of court and drug charges.

“You will be missed and loved by everyone and we will pray every day in your honor. Love you,” says Jesslyn Lirette

Through tears, Jori’s mother, called him a star who will never be forgotten.

Wright is being held on a $5 million bond.

The boy’s mother said she left the house to go get her truck fixed so she could take Jori to the doctor Tuesday.

The couple was not married. They had been together, though, for 10 years."

Ten years?! Wow, that's a lot of clouds.

Let us pray for good credit.

So A-merry-ca's credit rating took a hit from one of the three major agencies that does these types of things. Now she probably knows how so much of her citizens feel. And let's go ahead and tell the joke now, because I know that it's out there; it's just that you white folks can't say it around us: " We should have known that our credit was going to get f^%$#d up when we put a black man in charge. You know they don't know how to handle money." It's a joke, but in many ways it's quite serious. It goes to the mindset of many of the tea party folks, who, all of a sudden, decided (after eight years of George Bush) that spending large sums of money unchecked wasn't such a good thing. Why now?

Thank goodness the A-merry-can people haven't totally lost their minds. There is evidence out there that would tend to suggest that they know exactly who is to blame for the mess that we are in. I will give you a hint: it ain't the tall skinny guy with the Muslim sounding name.

"Father, our heart breaks for America," Perry said in 12 minutes of remarks that included prayer and Bible passages — but no direct mention of politics or his presidential plans. "We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us."

That wasn't a Muslim prayer, that was Governor Big Hair sending one up to the big gal on what is being styled as a National Day of Prayer. He even prayed for the president. How nice. Folks held hands and formed prayer circles while they wept. It was a sincere outreach to the gal up above.

"And Perry, himself, huddled on the stage in a prayer circle with several ministers who helped lead the event. It was Perry's idea and was financed by the American Family Association, a Tupelo, Miss.-based group that opposes abortion and gay rights and believes that the First Amendment freedom of religion applies only to Christians......

'We feel that God moved on him to do this'. It will be read by the enemy, the political enemy, as a tool to win votes,'said Gwen Courkamp of Houston, who plans to vote for Perry if he runs for president." [Source]

Of course "God moved on him" to do it. He needs someone to fight off those Socialist devils and heathens who are so prevalent in our society. All I can say is let us pray.... 



 



   

A wingnut Governor showing his true colors, and a cell phone debate.

I see that Governor Big Hair is already showing the rest of A-merry-ca how he would act as our leader. (h/t to Nichole Wicks for this story)

"SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Monday added to state lawmakers' special session agenda a measure that would criminalize "enhanced pat-downs" by Transportation Security Administration agents at airports in the Lone Star State.

The bill died during the regular session of the Texas Legislature, which ended May 30, and the Republican governor -- who is thinking of running for president -- has been under pressure from conservatives and Tea party groups to ask lawmakers to reconsider the measure. During special sessions, the Legislature may only consider items that the governor puts on the agenda.

"I am grateful that the governor heard the calls of the people demanding that lawmakers stand up for the liberties of Texans," Wesley Strackbein, a conservative activist and founder of TSATyranny.com, told Reuters. Strackbein said he traveled to the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans over the weekend to confront Perry on the issue.

The bill would make it a Class A misdemeanor -- punishable by up to a year in prison or a $4,000 fine -- for a TSA agent to "touch the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person, even through that person's clothing" for the purpose of "granting access to a building or a form of transportation."

TSA pat-downs have drawn some high-profile criticism, including from former Miss USA Susie Castillo, who said in a widely-viewed online video. that she felt "molested" by a pat-down at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in April.
The proposed law passed the Texas House during the regular session but was pulled off the Senate floor without a vote after U.S. Attorney John Murphy circulated a letter to senators warning that TSA has the authority to prevent airplanes from taking off from Texas airports if the agency cannot certify that they are safe.

In a blog on its website, TSA pointed out that the supremacy clause of the U.S. constitution prohibits states from regulating the federal government.
"We, transportation security officers in particular, are trying to work in partnership with the traveling public to make you safe on flights," the blog says. "Work with us to provide the best possible security. That's all we ask." [Story]

Oh yeah, the Supremacy Clause. Hey, who needs a "stinkin" Supremacy Clause when you are going to be your own country, soon?   

Finally, there is a fierce debate going on  among some of you about who invented the cell phone. Some of you Negroes have declared that it is Dr. Henry Sampson, the brilliant African American engineer and author who became the first African American to earn a PhD in Nuclear Engineering back in the day. 

Well, there is a problem, because some folks have declared that Martin Cooper, a white guy, invented the cell phone. And, sadly for some of you Negroes, they might be right. But here is the deal: It doesn't matter who really invented the cell phone, we are just glad to have it. Unfortunately certain folks in this country can't stand to see members of another tribe take (or get) credit for anything, so that "color arousal" kicks in. (Thanks again for that word Francis)
Then, as is to be expected, there is a push back. Black folks can't understand how folks in the majority have such a hard time giving them credit for anything, and they wonder why Charlie always has to "check and raise" us at every turn.    

But here is the deal people; none of it matters. You have given more than enough of your blood sweat and tears for this country. Don't get caught up in this silly game of who invented what. It will take you away from focusing on what's really important: Making sure that you do what is right for you and your family, and ensuring that one day your children might be in a position to invent some things of their own.
  

No fly over.

That is some serious weather they are experiencing down south. I guess mother nature must be still mad at us here in A-merry-ca. Hopefully those poor folks can get their lives back together.

It must be gut wrenching to look at where your home once stood and see total devastation.

I see his O ness took the presidential disaster tour today. That was nice. Nothing like a little "I feel your pain" from our leader to make us feel better about a tragic situation.

Still, as is always the case with O, not everyone was pleased.

"Texas Governor Rick Perry criticized the Obama administration on Thursday for not responding to a request for a disaster aid for the parched state, where wildfires have scorched nearly 2 million acres.

“You have to ask, ‘Why are you taking care of Alabama and other states?’ I know our letter didn’t get lost in the mail,” Perry, a Republican and frequent critic of the federal government, said after addressing a Texas emergency management conference. [Source]

No Governor, your letter didn't get lost in the mail, you probably just forgot to put a stamp on it. But hey, weren't you trying to secede from these divided states just a couple of years ago? I guess that limited federal government thing isn't looking so good these days. (BTW, I love the comments that follow the article on the wingnut site I linked.)

Finally, I think I know why Philly's finest have been a little trigger happy these days.

You Negroes better behave when you come to Philly. Our cops are pumped.