Campaign Mailbag: John McCain fundraising appeal

 

I wanted to forward on this important message we sent last week in case you missed it. As we approach the financial reporting deadline at the end of this month, For the love of God, please join us in reaching our goal.  

Thanks,
Christian

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Today, we at the McCain eCampaign invite you to be a part of our new online initiative to help us reach our desperate goal of raising anything respectable by June 30th.

During his remarkable century of service to our country, John McCain has served in the Navy, U.S. House of Representatives, and U.S. Senate. In 1917, he was serving our country as an aviator in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Forrestal in the First World War.

An accident aboard the ship made him fixated about a career in politics and provided him an option to return home and receive psychiatric help, but he did not take it. Instead, he chose to continue his “service” to his country by running for Congress, then transferring to the U.S. Senate. In 2000, he was shot down in the Republican Primaries and spent the next eight years of his life as the prisoner of a beltway delusion that he could be President. The years John McCain spent running for President only strengthened his delusional love and respect of our unpopular commander and chief.

Today, John McCain continues his eons of “service” to our great country as a U.S Senator and as a candidate in a fruitless run for President. John McCain has never been a man to take the easy way out. As he seeks the Presidency again, he has alienated the base with his stupid support of Dubya’s Immigration bill-and killed his chance at the brass ring. This is the essence of the ass-out predicament we’re in as a campaign, and we desperately hope that you will join our campaign today so that we will continue to have futures in Republican politics even if he doesn’t. Your immediate contribution will help catapult our careers off this sinking ship.

We are approaching the end of the second quarter fundraising deadline on June 30th. The McCain eCampaign has pledged to raise anything respectable by this date, and we desperately need your support today to reach our goal.

Will you give $50, $100, $250, $500 or even $1,000 today to help us reach our goal by June 30th?

You have likely heard the pundits refer to this campaign as a “Dead Man Walking”, and in the early death throws. In the highly unlikely event he is elected President, it will be because we have a strong grassroots network of besotted wingnuts like you.

If you have already given to the campaign, we thank you for your idiotic generosity. We ask that you give one more contribution of whatever you can afford – whether it is $50 or $500 – every little bit helps us reach our goal. If you have not made a financial commitment to McCain 2008, you really shouldn’t bother, but if you must, do so by following this secure link.

You are the backbone of our campaign, and we are always thankful for your wasted energy, wasted time and wasted financial commitment. Once again (and we cannot say this enough), thank you.

Sincerely,
Christian Ferry
National eCampaign Director

P.S. We are approaching our second quarter fundraising deadline on June 30th. We know that Old Man McCain isn’t up to the challenge. Now is the time to show your compassion to us, his long-suffering campaign staff, as we seek to support our families. Please help the eCampaign reach our fundraising goal of anything respectable by June 30th.

God Bless you!

Election Update

Latina State Senator Jenny Oropeza and African American Assemblywoman Laura Richardson and Valerie McDonald, daughter of the late Juanita Millender McDonald square off Tuesday in the special election to replace the Congresswoman. If anyone receives 50% of the vote, she wins the seat outright, otherwise, the top vote getter in each parties primary vies for the seat in July. The latest fundraising numbers show a tight money chase between Oropeza and Richardson with Valerie McDonald bringing up the rear. In the endorsement game, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not weighed in as expected but the California Democratic Party has, endorsing Oropeza. Moreover, the bulk of organized labor has endorsed Richardson.

Serious competition in the form of Long Beach Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske was averted when she abruptly pulled out of the race after her constituents implored her to stay on the Council. That leaves the white vote largely up for grabs and it leans heavily toward Oropeza. Latino voters are united in support of Oropeza while African American voters, who vote in larger numbers than Latinos, are split between McDonald and Richardson, with the lion’s share going to Richardson because of her broader political support despite substantial Congressional Black Caucus support for McDonald’s candidacy.

The California Legislative Black Caucus is united behind Richardson and the political leadership of heavily African American enclaves in the district: Compton and Carson are almost all united for Richardson. Other African American candidates in this race are just vanity candidates and unlikely to garner significant support. If the Congressional Black Caucus retains this seat, it will be in spite of their divided efforts, not because it did anything to support the winner.

In other news, Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings has drawn a challenger in the form of Belle Glades, Florida City Commissioner Ray Torres Sanchez. Sanchez, a funeral director, will challenge Hastings in the Democratic primary where he presumably will be crushed.

Two Maryland races are heating up significantly. The race for Maryland’s 4th Congressional district between Corporate Shill Al Wynn and Donna Edwards is moving along swimingly with both sides trading pointed barbs and rhetoric. Al Wynn is now an unabashed war critic after having voted against war funding for the first time this month. His about face is striking given the cozy corporate collusion and whoring he had no problem with before he was almost defeated by Donna last September.

Lastly, the first television ad was run in the race for Baltimore Mayor as Incumbent Mayor Sheila Dixon announced the kick-off of her campaign for Mayor and her push to take Baltimore to the next level. With a campaign account upwards of $ 1 million and the most professional city administration in history, she is the odds on favorite in this contest for a full four year term as Mayor. Accomplished and detail oriented, Mrs. Dixon has made her presence felt in Baltimore and is coming to grips with its intractable budgetary and crime problems.

 

 

Breaking News: Bloomberg leaves GOP

June 19, 2007,  6:21 pm

HAT TIP: rikyrah, NY Times by Adam Nagourney

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced tonight that he is quitting the Republican party and changing his affiliation to independent.

The announcement came after Mr. Bloomberg gave a speech denouncing partisan gridlock in Washington, stirring renewed speculation that he is preparing to run as an independent or third-party candidate in 2008.

“I have filed papers with the New York City Board of Elections to change my status as a voter and register as unaffiliated with any political party,” he said in a statement issued while he was in California delivering political speeches. “Although my plans for the future haven t changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead our city.” The full text of his announcement is on the new City Room blog.

Mr. Bloomberg is a former Democrat who won the New York City mayoralty in 2001 running as Republican. The mayor, who cannot seek a third term, has said he had no plans to run for president, but has declined to shut the door completely on a White House bid.

“We have achieved real progress by overcoming the partisanship that too often puts narrow interests above the common good. As a political independent, I will continue to work with those in all political parties to find common ground, to put partisanship aside and to achieve real solutions to the challenges we face,” he said.

“Any successful elected executive knows that real results are more important than partisan battles and that good ideas should take precedence over rigid adherence to any particular political ideology. Working together, there s no limit to what we can do.’’

Mr. Bloomberg announced his decision after a campaign-style swing through California in which he gave a series of speeches that clearly previewed what aides have long said would be the thematic underpinnings of a Bloomberg presidential campaign, should he decide to run.

He presented himself as an antidote to partisan gridlock in Washington, suggesting that not withstanding his party affiliation, he had brought non-partisan government to New York.

“When you go to Washington these days, you can feel a sense of fear in the air, the fear to do anything or say anything that might affect the polls or give the other side the advantage or offend a special interest group,’’ Mr. Bloomberg said. “The federal government isn’t out front – it’s cowering in the back of the room.’’

Should Mr. Bloomberg end up not running for president or any other office, the announcement could become an interesting footnote to one of the more unusual mayoralties in a city that has produced a series of memorable mayors.

However, it was immediately viewed – by many of his prospective rivals – as presenting a major jolt to the presidential campaign. Mr. Bloomberg has a huge personal fortune and has never shown any reluctance to used it on advancing his career: He spent $150 million on his two bids for mayor. He would have no problem financing his own campaign.

What is more, Mr. Bloomberg has arguably at least as strong a claim on the prosperity that New York City has enjoyed as his predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican nomination. If Mr. Bloomberg decides to run as an independent or third-party candidate, he might find that he enjoys the benefits of New York City successes without the ideological burdens Mr. Giuliani has faced in trying to win the Republican nomination while being identified with such positions as supporting abortion, gay rights and gun control.

That said, several analysts have argued that a third-party candidacy by Mr. Bloomberg could be a problem for the Democratic Party. Until he ran for mayor, Mr. Bloomberg was a lifetime Democrat, and his success in New York reflected his ability to draw Democratic votes.

Should he enter the race, that would mean that there would be three major New York figures seeking the presidency this year.

Mr. Bloomberg’s trip to California came in a week when he was on the cover of Time Magazine and stood by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who like Mr. Bloomberg has proven successful in appealing for Democratic support, told a crowd of reporters that he should run for president.

Mr. Bloomberg, while in California, told an audience of Google employees that the country is “really in trouble” and used caustic language in describing what he said was timidity in Washington, contrasting that with his own approach to running New York City.

In his speech, he laid out what he said were the cornerstones of nonpartisan leadership – independence, honesty, common sense, innovation, teamwork and accountability. Mr. Bloomberg promoted his approach as mayor to issues like education, crime prevention and health care in putting those principals into practice.

“None of the initiatives we’ve undertaken are owned by the Republican or Democratic Party,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “They were built on the values of nonpartisan leadership, and they paid off.”

This is the biggest bombshell of the day and represents a significant milestone for the 2008 race.  A Bloomberg candidacy changes everything for Hillary and seriously imperils her candidacy. 

Bloomberg has serious appeal to independent voters and could tip the scales to the eventual GOP nominee.

Obama at today’s Take Back America Conference

Best Sex Scandal of 2007

By Marc Perrusquia, Memphis Commercial Appeal 

Memphis police are investigating allegations by a former topless club cocktail waitress that she was recruited as bait in a plot to blackmail Mayor Willie Herenton by luring him into a sexual rendezvous. 

 

The waitress, who has told her story to Herenton and Police Director Larry Godwin and who says she will file legal papers today, says the plot was never consummated.

Yet, Gwendolyn D. Smith has touched off an official inquiry with her account, contending that she’s been paid as much as $18,000 — money she says came from rich businessmen trying to smear Herenton, the city’s first black elected mayor, to keep him from seeking a fifth term in October.

“I think the city of Memphis should know what so-called powerful businessmen are doing to their leaders,” Smith told The Commercial Appeal on Wednesday.

“I think it should upset not only the African-American community, but the whole city.”

Herenton confirmed that Memphis police took a tape-recorded statement from Smith after she approached him earlier this spring with her account. Herenton said he was initially suspicious but became convinced after she repeated it to Godwin and another officer.

“I’m utterly appalled, disappointed and I’m just simply shocked that individuals in this community would go to an unreasonable extent to try to embarrass me by orchestrating such a diabolical plot,” Herenton said.

Smith, 29, contends the plot’s mastermind was Richard Fields, a prominent Memphis attorney who represented her in a criminal forgery case and who also once served as Herenton’s personal lawyer.

“I’m amazed that Richard, who was my former attorney, an individual who purported to be a friend, really just went off the deep end,” Herenton said.

Reached Wednesday evening, Fields said legal ethics forbid him from commenting on Smith’s contentions.

“This is totally untrue. I wish I could go further,” Fields said. “If she waives the attorney-client privilege, I’ll be happy to respond to all allegations. Ms. Smith has some serious problems personally as well as legally.”

Smith, a cousin of one of Fields’ ex-wives, said the lawyer recruited her into a plot to smear Herenton after he represented her in a criminal case in Nashville.

Smith pleaded guilty in 2004 to five felony forgery counts after she defrauded merchants with stolen American Express gift checks and counterfeit identification. Faced with a drug charge that violated her probation, Smith hired Fields in 2005 and he worked out a deal to keep her from jail by extending her probation.

Smith said she was smoking marijuana at the time, but has since amended her ways. “I’ve learned my lesson,” she said.

Smith said Fields later learned that she had worked in 2000 as a waitress at Platinum Plus, a notorious East Memphis topless club closed by state and federal authorities in December.

She said Fields initially asked her to help in an FBI investigation but that his interests later turned to her having a secretly videotaped sexual encounter with the mayor.

“He told me to try to sleep with him and (Herenton’s longtime friend and former mayoral aide) Reginald French,” Smith said.

The plan, she said, was to approach Herenton at The Peabody’s lobby, where he and French were known to socialize. Smith said Fields paid her $2,000 a month between January and March — money she was told came from a prominent Memphis businessman — and that Fields also gave her the use of an account at a boutique where she bought expensive handbags and accessories.

Smith said Fields promised her a free apartment and other perks paid for by businessmen who were behind his plans.

One offer, she said, came from car dealer Russell Gwatney, who offered to give her a new Chevy Tahoe. Smith’s account caused Herenton to summon Gwatney, an old political supporter, to his City Hall office.

“I got a call from Willie Herenton wanting me to come down to his office. He said, ‘Russell you’re going to be named in a lawsuit,’ ” Gwatney told a reporter Wednesday. Gwatney said he told the mayor he knew of no plot but confirmed that Fields and Smith had come to him about two months ago inquiring about a car.

“She came in our dealership one time, and Rich Fields came in there and told me that he needed to buy a car for the girl,” Gwatney said. “And he told me that people were going to pay for the car, but they wanted to me to basically front all the money on the car.”

Gwatney said he refused.

He told the newspaper Fields was interested in getting Smith a small SUV and assured the car dealer he would be paid back.

“They wanted me to front the money to pay for the car so they could pay me back over time. I got real uninterested real quick.”

“I don’t know who the business people were, don’t even know.”

If I were to start giving out awards for the best sex scandal, this would be it. 

Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District Brawl

A bitter and protracted battle for Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District is heating up this summer between former Harold Ford, Jr. campaign manager and corporate attorney Nikki Tinker , and incumbent Congressman Steve Cohen. 

Congressman Cohen took the majority black congressional seat after a bitter primary battle which saw the black vote splintered by more than five serious black candidates.  Some quarters in the community are less than thrilled by Cohen’s representation and are encouraging this re-match.  

The general election was a match between Cohen and a younger brother of Harold Ford, Jr. for the seat.  The younger Ford showed himself to be out of his league, unprepared, and lacking the necessary skills to make his candidacy viable.  He resorted to unnecessary racial appeals and homophobia in a failed attempt to keep this seat in the family.

Ms. Tinker announced her long rumored intention to file for a re-match and the battle looks to be joined.   Black rivals to the Ford family emerged last year to back Cohen in the form of Shelby County Mayor Wharton and Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton.

Since then, both Herenton and Wharton have been seriously damaged politically by scandal.  This race looks like one to watch because it parallells in intersting ways the Obama vs. Hillary match up.

SC Primary Poll: Obama 34% Hillary 25% Edwards 12%

WASHINGTON – South Carolina appears poised to shake up the 2008 presidential race, with Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Fred Thompson the frontrunners in a new state survey by Mason-Dixon.

With strong support from the African American community, Illinois Senator Obama has assumed a strong lead over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. On the Republican side, Thompson zoomed to the top spot, slightly ahead of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, even though he hasn’t yet announced his bid for the GOP nomination.

The Mason-Dixon poll, made available to McClatchy Newspapers and NBC News, offered disappointing news for two candidates who previously had been polling well in South Carolina. John Edwards, a South Carolina native who won the primary in 2004, was well behind Obama and Clinton on the Democratic side. Arizona Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, appeared to have lost many of his supporters to Thompson, and was far back in the GOP field.

Although it is still nearly seven months off, the first Southern presidential primary is proving a major attraction to candidates in both parties, who are spending extensive time in South Carolina.

Obama led in the new poll with 34 percent of likely voters to 25 percent for Clinton. Edwards was third at 12 percent. Sen. Joe Biden was at 2 percent; so was former Vice President Al Gore, who has given no indication of running but whose name was volunteered by some voters. Twenty-four percent were undecided.

For Democrats, the most crucial group of voters in South Carolina are blacks, who by some estimates could make up more than half of the party’s primary voters.

Nationally, Clinton leads Obama among black voters. But in South Carolina, likely voters overwhelmingly favored Obama (41 percent) over Clinton (18 percent). About one-third of the black voters in South Carolina remained undecided.

“As long as he maintains his edge in the black community, Obama has the edge in South Carolina,” said Coker.

Earlier South Carolina polls have mostly shown Clinton with a lead over Obama and Edwards still in the hunt.

Edwards has been counting on a strong showing in South Carolina, but his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war and drift to the left on other issues may not be playing well with the state’s pro-military, generally conservative voters.

South Carolina’s Democratic primary is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29 and Republican primary for Feb. 2.

This poll is showing movement among the black electorate toward Obama, while it is a very small sample-less than 400 polled, it is an interesting snapshot of the race at this point.  If Obama keeps this up, he has a chance.  Nothing short of 75% black support will get him the nomination.  

Friday Open Thread

Enjoy this cheezy Obama Girl Video and tell me what’s on your minds.

Girl’s mother criticises prosecutor

HAT TIP: Atlanta Journal Constitution by Jeremy Redmon

Genarlow Wilson should never have been criminally charged and imprisoned for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party more than three years ago, the girl’s mother says.

Veda Cannon said the sex between her daughter, Wilson and four other teens was consensual and regrets she didn’t ask prosecutors not to charge them.

“I felt like Douglas County was trying to make an example out of these boys,” Cannon, 39, of Douglasville, asserted Tuesday in what she said was her first interview about the case. “They should have been made to pay for their actions, but not to this severity,” she said.

In a strange twist Wednesday, Cannon scrambled to soften some of Tuesday’s comments following a visit to her home from a Douglas County prosecutor who had learned of her interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Responding to Cannon’s assertions, county prosecutors said they suspect Cannon is bending to pressure from people supporting the defendants, an assertion she denied.

“Never once did she ever ask us not to prosecute this case,” said Douglas County Assistant District Attorney Eddie Barker, who worked closely with Cannon during the case. “Where was she at when all of this was going on? Why is she just now telling you this three years later?”

Wilson, meanwhile, is fighting to get his felony conviction and 10-year prison sentence thrown out. He has so far spent more than two years of that sentence behind bars. At the same time, his case has captured national media attention. And his appeal has drawn support from several influential people across the country, including former President Jimmy Carter. Three of the four others convicted of molesting Cannon’s daughter remain in prison.

Twists and turns

A bizarre series of events occurred Wednesday morning after Douglas prosecutors learned Cannon was speaking to the press. Cannon said Barker and a colleague soon showed up at her home with an audio recorder to discuss her comments to the AJC.

In a subsequent interview with the AJC, she raised concerns that she was being misquoted.

After that conversation, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade disclosed his office had taped Cannon’s conversation with the AJC.

“We were actually at her home when you were talking to her [Wednesday] morning,” McDade said. “We were recording the conversation and so we have a tape of her telling you that you were twisting her words.”

In the initial interview Tuesday, Cannon described a conversation she had with Barker before Wilson’s case went to trial. She said she had asked Barker what would happen if she did not want to participate in the prosecution, and she said he responded by telling her she could face legal trouble for “neglect” as a parent, an assertion Barker vehemently denied.

On Wednesday, Cannon said Barker was not “threatening” her when he told her what could happen if she did not cooperate with the prosecution. She said Barker was giving her advice she had solicited and that his office was open and helpful to her.

Cannon ultimately testified in Wilson’s trial, pointing out her daughter on a videotape of the party that was played for the jury. Her daughter did not take the stand.

The Journal-Constitution is not identifying Cannon’s daughter or the unrelated 17-year-old girl in the case because both were victims of sex crimes. Cannon said she did not want to be photographed for fear that publicity surrounding the case would affect her three other children, ages 22, 17 and 10.

Videotape from party

The case stems from a 2003 New Year’s Eve party involving alcohol and marijuana. Wilson’s friends rented neighboring hotel rooms that night at a Days Inn in Douglasville. One of the partygoers videotaped the events that evening with a handheld camera.

The tape shows Wilson having intercourse with a 17-year-old. Both appear intoxicated in the video. Wilson was charged with raping the 17-year-old but was acquitted.

In another part of the video, Wilson is lying on his back in one of the motel room beds and receiving oral sex from Cannon’s daughter. Wilson does not appear to be forcing the girl in the video. Cannon said her daughter told her the sex was consensual.

Authorities went to the hotel room and confiscated the videotape after the 17-year-old girl’s family complained to police. Wilson was found guilty of aggravated child molestation involving Cannon’s daughter, a crime that carried a minimum 10-year prison sentence under the law at the time.

The Legislature, however, changed the law last year to make similar acts a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison.

Five other male youths reached plea deals in the case. Wilson was the only one to go to trial.

“She did not want any of this to happen,” Cannon said of her daughter. “She was friends with all of them.”

Cannon said her daughter misled her into believing that night that she was heading to a friend’s house for a New Year’s Eve party and that it would be supervised by parents. She said she instructed her daughter to return home by 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day. Cannon said she never would have let her daughter go out that night had she known she was going to a party at a hotel.

“I know what my instructions were, and I don’t feel that I have to justify myself to anyone,” Cannon said.

Cannon’s daughter, now 18, declined a request for an interview through her mother. Cannon said her daughter and Wilson had been classmates at Douglas County High School. The girl graduated from another high school before joining the Navy to pursue a career in nursing, her mother said. She is not married and has a 2-year-old son. Cannon proudly showed off photos of her daughter and grandson Wednesday.

“She is trying to put it all behind her,” Cannon said, adding that her daughter regrets having sex that night. “She does not want to come back to Douglasville because it is still a touchy subject. She still deals with it every day.”

Delusional Negroes rally for “Dollar Bill”

Hat Tip: By Cain Burdeau, Associated Press 

NEW ORLEANS – Supporters of a Democratic congressman charged with bribery and money laundering harkened to their civil rights days on Wednesday as they denounced the allegations against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson.

The group, including ministers and the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, alleged the 16-count corruption indictment was the work of a Republican White House and Justice Department scheming to target black Democratic leaders and shift attention from legal troubles of Republican congressmen.

“When it’s all over, Bill Jefferson will stand up like Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. He will stand up in the South and he will be victorious,” said the Rev. Samson “Skip” Alexander.

The news conference attended by about 50 people was a sign Jefferson hasn’t lost friends in New Orleans, which re-elected him to a ninth term from Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District in December 2006 despite an FBI probe of his African business dealings.

Prosecutors say Jefferson used his influence as co-chairman of the congressional Africa Investment and Trade Caucus to broker deals in numerous African nations, and that he demanded kickbacks for himself and for family members. He is also charged with bribing a Nigerian official.

He allegedly received more than $500,000 in bribes and demanded millions more between 2000 and 2005. He has pleaded not guilty.

The group said they would raise money for his legal defense and offer public relations help through the Justice for Jefferson Committee.

Tracie Washington, a civil rights lawyer, asked the audience to give Jefferson the benefit of the doubt.

Danatus King, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said, “it’s important that all of us keep our eyes on the prize and that prize is one word, and that one word is justice.”

Asked to comment on allegations aired at the news conference, Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman, said “I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.” White House spokesman Blair Jones also declined to comment.

Not everyone in attendance at Wednesday’s news conference expressed undivided loyalty to Jefferson.

Sitawi Jahi, a 54-year-old youth development program director, said he came “to gather facts.” But he said his confidence in Jefferson was strained by some of the evidence, in particular an allegation the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in the congressman’s freezer.

“That’s hard to explain,” he said.

Jefferson’s legal defense fund, set up about 18 months ago, has about $140,000, according to Walter Wilkerson, the lawyer handling the fund.

I wish these Negroes would stop drinking from the bitter chalice of Dollar Bill’s B.S.  Ain’t a damn thing in the Ninth Ward been re-built and they are defending this Nigra? 

Genarlow Wilson still awaiting justice

Hat Tip: Associated Press by Shannon McCaffrey 

Genarlow Wilson, in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, will spend at least three more weeks in prison despite a judge ruling Monday he should be released, his lawyer said.

Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson on Tuesday set the bond hearing for July 5 at 1:30 p.m.

Wilson’s attorney, B.J. Bernstein had been seeking a quick hearing in Douglas County court, even though the district attorney there has said he opposes the move.

“It’s a long ways away, especially when we just had a judge say he could be released,” Bernstein said of the July 5 hearing. “I just don’t understand why; all it would take is the consent from the district attorney to do that.”

On Monday, a judge said that Wilson should be freed from prison and not be listed on Georgia’s sex offender registry. Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson called the 10-year mandatory sentence he received “a grave miscarriage of justice” that violated the constitution.

But state Attorney General Thurbert Baker immediately announced his intention to appeal the decision, saying the sentence was valid. That move kept Wilson behind bars for now.

Baker is seeking an expedited appeal before the Georgia Supreme Court, which has already ruled against Wilson once.

Bernstein said Wilson had not yet heard news Tuesday afternoon of the court date. She said the time delay is not unusual for a typical pretrial hearing, but that Wilson’s is an atypical case.

“That happens in a lot of places, but this is really an unusual circumstance,” she said. “It’s not like we’re waiting to see if we’re guilty or not guilty of something.”

Prosecutors questioned why Wilson had not accepted a plea deal on the table that would allow him to serve a maximum of five years in prison and also avoid being listed on the state’s sex offender registry when he’s released from prison.

“Wilson, through his attorneys, rejected all of those offers,” Baker said in a statement.

Wilson has served more than 28 months in prison.

A jury in 2005 found Wilson guilty of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl during a 2003 New Year’s Eve party involving alcohol and marijuana. Although the sex act was consensual, it was illegal under Georgia law.

Wilson was also charged with rape for being one of several male partygoers at the Douglas County hotel to have sex with another 17-year-old girl, but was acquitted. The party was captured on a videotape that was played for the jury.

The five other male partygoers took plea deals in the case.

Bernstein said Wilson’s family ran through an exhausting gamut of emotions Monday and Tuesday – from joy at the judge’s order to disappointment at the delays in his possible release.

“I had to get his mom some rest – she was having a very difficult time by the end of the day,” Bernstein said.

The case has drawn international attention, with supporters including former President Jimmy Carter, raising questions about the role of race in the judicial system’s treatment of Wilson, who is black.

At the time of his crime, Wilson would have faced just one year in prison if he had sexual intercourse with the girl. The “Romeo and Juliet” exception in Georgia law also would have allowed him to avoid the sex offender registry.

Lawmakers last year voted to close that loophole. But the state’s top court said the new law could not be applied retroactively to Wilson, now 21.

Fascinating Rasmussen Poll: Obama and Bloomberg tied

Hat Tip: Rasmussen Reports

A new telephone survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports highlights the difficulty of estimating the potential impact of an independent Presidential campaign by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

While any third party campaign is a long-shot at best, Bloomberg has reportedly said he will spend up to a billion dollars of his own money on a campaign. Given such resources, he could be competitive with the major party candidates in getting his message out.

When voters are told in advance that Bloomberg might spend up to a billion dollars on a campaign, and that he might support proposals to get voters back in the loop of America’s political system, 51% of New Jersey voters say they would consider voting for him. Just 23% would not. Not surprisingly, given his regional name recognition, that’s a bit more support than found in national polling.

In fact, in a three-way race with Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R), Bloomberg is tied for the lead. It’s Obama 32% Bloomberg 32% and Thompson 20%.

Bloomberg does almost as well when the other candidates are former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R). With that match up, it’s Edwards 34% Bloomberg 32% and just 18% for Romney.

Bloomberg does not fare as well when the major party candidates are also from New York. An all New York general election match-up shows New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) with 38%, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani 29% and Bloomberg 21%.

If Bloomberg found himself in second place as Election 2008 progresses, the dynamics get even more interesting. If it became clear that the Republican candidate couldn’t win, 48% of New Jersey voters say they’d pull the lever for Bloomberg over New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D). Just 36% would vote for Clinton.

If the Democratic candidate couldn’t win, 33% of voters would prefer former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani while 48% would prefer Bloomberg.

These results are dramatically stronger for the Mayor than an earlier New Jersey survey in which respondents were not told in advance about Bloomberg’s reported spending commitment or any campaign themes.

In this survey, before the ballot questions were asked, respondents were asked a series of questions to determine if they would be more or less likely to vote for Bloomberg. Forty-six percent (46%) say they’d be more likely to vote for Bloomberg he were to support a proposal requiring all tax increases to be approved by voters.

Forty-five percent (45%) say they’d be more likely to vote for Bloomberg if he were to build a true third party rather than just make an ego-driven run for the White House.

In this survey, 33% of New Jersey voters believe it is possible for him to win the White House if he spends that much money. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say it is not possible while 28% are not sure. Those figures are identical to the earlier New Jersey survey.

Bloomberg is contemplating running at a time when the brand names of the two major parties is not doing well —the number of people considering themselves Republicans has dropped to the lowest level of the Bush era and the number of Democrats has just declined to the lowest level in seventeen months.

Stop Judge Leslie Southwick

There is something cavalier and brazen about the manner in which Trent Lott and Thad Cochran choose federal judges.  The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals covers the states of Mississippi, Texas, and Louisiana and is the most racially and ethnically diverse in the nation.   That, however, never seems to come into play with the Judges selected from the neoconfederate backwater of Mississippi.  

Cochran and Lott have done a superb job over the last two decades in keeping the federal judicial seats from Mississippi as white as possible. 

Carlton Reeves, the Head of the Black Magnolia Bar Association of Mississippi, has written, “Despite an ever-growing pool of highly qualified candidates from which to choose, all seventeen Mississippi nominees for federal judgeships the past twenty-two years have been white.” 

“The only appointment of an African- American federal judge in the history of Mississippi, the twentieth state to join the union, was when Judge Henry Wingate was appointed by President Reagan to the district court in 1985.” 

“Of the sixteen active and senior judges from Mississippi on the federal district courts and court of appeals, only one is African-American.   Of the nineteen active and senior judges on the Fifth Circuit, only one is African-American–Carl Stewart of Louisiana, who was appointed by President Clinton. Incidentally, Judge Stewart is only the second African-American to have been appointed to the Fifth Circuit since the court was created by the Judiciary Act of 1869.”

The African American Bar has been serially insulted by each judicial appointment from this President, each more extreme and unacceptable than the last.  The previous nominee to this seat, Michael Wallace, was a nothing more than a pinstripe Klansman with a bar card.    

The current nominee, Leslie Southwick, in his former capacity as a Court of Appeals Judge, affirmed the judgement of the state employee appeals board to re-instate a white female state employee who called a black female co-worker a “good ole nigger.”   The racist rationale is that this behavior is somehow not serious enough to warrant immediate termination. 

I have searched my mind to conjure up a scenario in which it is ever acceptable for a white woman in Mississippi to call a black woman a nigger.   Perhaps you can.  In the meantime, because the “good” judge was unable to justify this in his Senate Judicary Committee hearings, I would like for you to contact your Senator, especially if you’re like rikyrah, and are represented by a Senator on the committee. Tell them that after nearly 150 years of white supremacy, perhaps its time to try something new.

If anything I have said isn’t sufficiently persuasive, read the magnolia bar association’s letter and this report.   It is fundamental that every level of the judicial system has jurists of depth and quality.  Moreover, in order to ensure equal justice under law, the judiciary must reflect the racial and philosophical diversity that exists in this country.  Filling the bench with a bunch of Brooks Brothers suited racists like Leslie Southwick simply will not do.

Genarlow Wilson and the Uncle Tom trying to keep him imprisoned

Genarlow Wilson is many things: an athlete, a scholar, and for the last two years, a convicted sex offender serving a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for consensual oral sex with a 15 year old girl while he was 17.

We have criminalized everything in this society-and have a particular obsession and penchant for imposing draconian sentences on people for victimless crimes like marijuana possession and now, statutory rape.

Georgia, you’ll recall had a criminal statute against consensual sodomy between consenting adults until recently, and its puritanical insanity led to these latest racist criminal prosecutions of two young black men Genarlow and Marcus Dixon for aggravated child molestation for consensual sex between minors.

For those of you slow on the uptake, there has never been a white teenager charged and convicted of aggravated child molestation for consensual sex with his underage girlfriend in the State of Georgia. There will never be because the publicity these cases generated got the law changed.

Georgia imposes a lesser penalty on full blown intercourse between minors than for oral sex between minors. If Genarlow had gone ahead and went all the way, he would have only been facing a year in jail.

Marcus Dixon’s case was overturned by the Georgia Supreme Court and Genarlow’s has not been and will not be. We’ve heard a lot of B.S. in the media surrounding this case and the others involved who made plea deals with the prosecution in exchange for lesser prison time. In all, 6 boys with previous criminal records, except for Genarlow, went to jail and will be forced to register forever as sex offenders.

Most are already out and one is in college. Only Genarlow is left holding the bag that any teenage boy could be convicted of. That is the essence of white supremacy for me. A Superior Court Judge saw the horrendousness of this prosecution for what it was and attempted to lower this sentence and set the boy free. He was thwarted in that attempt by Attorney General Thurbert Baker-an Uncle Tom if there ever was one. He is appealing the Judge’s ruling and impeding Justice. It should please and baffle you to know that former President Jimmy Carter has written to the Attorney General asking him to back off and let this boy go home. Baker also had to contend with a protest in front of his office by the NAACP and Rev. Joseph Lowery. He refused to speak to them. Any black elected official who refuses to speak to Joseph Lowery spits in the face of the black community and is beneath contempt. If you live in Georgia, let the Attorney General know how you feel by writing him here.

 

rikyrah has also written about this travesty here.

Obama speech at Hampton University

Here is a small clip and a small transcript.

It is an honor to be here at Hampton University. It is a privilege to stand with so many ministers from across this country and we thank God and all His blessings for this wonderful day.

A few weeks ago, I attended a service at First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the LA Riots. After a jury acquitted 4 police officers of beating Rodney King-a beating that was filmed and flashed around the world- Los Angeles erupted. I remember the sense of despair and powerlessness in watching one of America’s greatest cities engulfed in flames.

But in the middle of that desperate time, there was a miracle: a baby born with a bullet in its arm. We need to hear about these miracles in these desperate times because they are the blessings that can unite us when some in the world try to drive a wedge between our common humanity and deep,
abiding faith. And this story, too, starts with a baby.

We learned about this child from a doctor named Andy Moosa. He was working the afternoon shift on April 30 at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood as the second day of violence was exploding in the streets.

He told us about a pregnant woman who had been wearing a white dress. She was in Compton and on her way to the supermarket. Where the bullet came from nobody knew. Her sister-in-law noticed a red spot in the middle of her white dress and said that I think you’ve been shot. The bullet had gone in, but it had not exited. The doctor described the ultrasound and how he realized that the bullet was in the baby. The doctor said, “We could tell it was lodged in one of the upper limbs. We needed to get this baby out so we were in the delivery room.”

And here’s the thing: the baby looked great. Except for the swelling in the right elbow in the fleshy part, it hadn’t even fractured a bone. The bullet had lodged in the soft tissue in the muscle. By God’s grace, the baby was fine. It was breathing and crying and kicking. They removed the bullet, stitched up the baby’s arm, and everything was fine. The doctor went on to say that there’s always going to be a scar to remind that child how quickly she came into the world in very unusual circumstances.

I’ve been thinking and praying about that story. I’ve been thinking that there’s always going to be a scar there, that doesn’t go away. You take the bullet out. You stitch up the wound and 15 years later, there’s still going to be a scar.

Many of the folks in this room know just where they were when the riot in Los Angeles started and tragedy struck the corner of Florence and Normandy. And most of the ministers here know that those riots didn’t erupt over night; there had been a “quiet riot” building up in Los Angeles and across this country for years.

If you had gone to any street corner in Chicago or Baton Rouge or Hampton — you would have found the same young men and women without hope, without miracles, and without a sense of destiny other than life on the edge — the edge of the law, the edge of the economy, the edge of family structures and communities.

Those “quiet riots” that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths. They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better. You tell yourself, my school will always be second rate. You tell yourself, there will never be a good job waiting for me to excel at. You tell yourself, I will never be able to afford a place that I can be proud of and call my home. That despair quietly simmers and makes it impossible to build strong communities and neighborhoods. And then one afternoon a jury says, “Not guilty” — or a hurricane hits New Orleans — and that despair is revealed for the world to see.

Much of what we saw on our television screens 15 years ago was Los Angeles expressing a lingering, ongoing, pervasive legacy-a tragic legacy out of the tragic history this country has never fully come to terms with. This is not to excuse the violence of bashing in a man’s head or destroying someone’s store and their life’s work. That kind of violence is inexcusable and self-defeating. It does, however, describe the reality of many communities around this country.

And it made me think about our cities and communities all around this country, how not only do we still have scars from that riot and the “quiet riots” that happen every day-but how in too many places we haven’t even taken the bullet out.

Look at what happened in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast when Katrina hit. People ask me whether I thought race was the reason the response was so slow. I said, “No. This Administration was colorblind in its incompetence.” But everyone here knows the disaster and the poverty happened long before that hurricane hit. All the hurricane did was make bare what we ignore each and every day which is that there are whole sets of communities that are impoverished, that don’t have meaningful opportunity, that don’t have hope and they are forgotten. This disaster was a powerful metaphor for what’s gone on for generations.

Of course, the federal response after Katrina was similar to the response after the riots in Los Angeles. People in Washington wake up and are surprised that there’s poverty in our midst, and that others were frustrated and angry. Then there are panels and there are hearings. There are commissions. There are reports. Aid dollars are approved but they can’t seem to get to the people. And then nothing really changes except the news coverage quiets down.

This isn’t to diminish the extraordinary generosity of the American people at the time. Our churches and denominations were particularly generous during this time, sending millions of dollars, thousands of volunteers and countless prayers down to the Gulf Coast.

But despite this extraordinary generosity, here we are 19 months later – or 15 years later in the case of LA — and the homes haven’t been built, the businesses haven’t returned, and those same communities are still drowning and smoldering under the same hopelessness as before the tragedy hit.

And so God is asking us today to remember that miracle of that baby. And He is asking us to take that bullet out once more.

Share your thoughts with me on this. 

The Whore takes sides in Maryland

 

HAT TIP: by Rosalind Helderman at the Maryland Moment Blog, WaPo.com

About 1,000 people showed up for a kick-off fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Albert Wynn (D) at Prince George’s Camelot banquet hall in Upper Marlboro. Wynn survived a tough challenge from local activist Donna Edwards in last September’s Democratic primary.

Because of the quirks of the presidential primary calendar, Wynn’s campaign for reelection is already very active. That’s because when Maryland voted to hold its Presidential primary earlier than ever, it also meant other primary races, including for Congress, got pushed up. The Wynn-Edwards rematch for the Democratic nomination from Maryland’s 4th district will now take place on Feb. 12, just a bit more than a year after Wynn took office.

That might be why Wynn’s aides wanted for a big turnout at this morning’s event, at which they were hoping to raise $250,000. (One attendee said he received on the order 10 calls urging his appearance.) Their work must have paid off–much of the county’s state legislative delegation was in attendance, as were several members of the County Council, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and County Executive Jack B. Johnson.

“Make no mistake about it–it’s on!” Wynn told the room. “Let’s go get ’em!”

There was a bit of buzz at the event, however, about Wynn’s selection of a keynote speaker for the event–former representative and candidate for Senate Harold E. Ford, who is now head of the Democratic Leadership Council. Edwards’ campaign has been built on attacking Wynn from the left, especially because he voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in 2003. Ford, meanwhile, is widely seen as a fairly conservative Democrat.

“He’s not representative of the district–I don’t think he represents the Democratic party,” said Del. Victor R. Ramirez (D-Prince George’s). “I don’t see how it helps [Wynn].”

“I was a little disappointed in Mr. Ford’s comments on Iraq,” said Del. Doyle L. Niemann (D-Prince George’s). “I thought they were not necessarily representative of where Al Wynn stands.”
The comments Niemann was referring to took place during the breakfast event’s speechifying. Wynn told the crowd, “We’ve got to bring our troops home from Iraq.” He noted, however, that doesn’t mean abandoning the war torn country. Instead, he said the United States needs to let regional players like Egypt and Jordan work out a peace plan.

Ford, meanwhile, offered scathing criticism of how President Bush has managed the war, but specifically noted “I don’t think we can leave Iraq right away.” Ford went on to say, “As much as didn’t do it right, we have to get it right because there are people over there who want to do us harm.”

In an interview, Wynn called Ford “a tremendous young talent in our party.” Wynn said he believed Ford made it clear he wants the United States out of Iraq, but “he also made it very clear that we need to think beyond cliches. My race is not going to be a bunch of cliches…We’re going to talk about issues, substance and policy. We’re going to try to bring some depth to how we deal with the 21st century.”

Edwards will hold her campaign kick-off at Watkins Park on June 30.

Tacking to the left and voting correctly as of late was meant to defang his Primary opponent,  Donna Edwards.  Wynn has undone all of his recent efforts by cavorting with Skeptical Brotha’s least favorite corporate Whore, Harold Ford, Jr.  I guess stupid is as stupid does.