Surprise!  Racial disparities exist in police encounters with black or brown motorists vs white motorists.  A recent report from a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that, when stopped:

• Black drivers are nearly 3 times more likely and Hispanic drivers are over twice as likely to be searched than white drivers.
• Black drivers where over twice as likely and Hispanic drivers about 1.5 times as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts.
• Black drivers were over 3 times as likely and Hispanic drivers were nearly twice as likely as white drivers to be the subject of threat or force by an officer.

The bureau says that this does not indicate racial profiling but, one has to question a couple of things.  The first is why, when much fewer drivers are black and Hispanic, is everyone being stopped at the same rate?  With white drivers being in so much greater a number, why aren’t they stopped more?  The second is why is the arrest rate of these minority driver at a rate of 2 times or more the white driver?

Unfortunately, the bureau is trying to ignore the obvious — minorities are policed differently in this country.  Until we address how we are policed, these reports will only continue to show what we already know.

Popularity: 78% [?]

George Tenet, where was your voice four years ago?

I don’t know if you caught 60 Minutes last night but, the former CIA director seems to have caught a mild case of honesty and began talking about the run-up to the Iraq War (if you’re interested in seeing the entire interview, you can check it out here). A few things struck me about this as I was watching it. The first is that you have a guy who knew that the decision to go to war was a bad one, based on a desire to attack Iraq, not to fight terrorism, and he silently went along with it. The second thing that struck me was that this guy didn’t take real issue with any of this until he was the one thrown under the bus. Then he spouts off about how “men of honor” don’t stab each other in the back. I have another adage: there is no honor among thieves.

By the time Tenet resigned, we had been a year into the war, hundreds of U.S. soldiers dead, thousands of Iraqi civilians dead, a country in chaos with no plan for order, and a training ground for terrorists.

Now, Tenet wants to act like some innocent victim in all of this. His hands are just a bloody as everyone else who knew better but, went along anyway. If I was in a room when a group of people planned to rob a bank and I went along, I could be labeled a conspirator, also. The same goes for Tenet.

But, let’s be real. If Tenet didn’t have a book coming out, we would have never heard from him. Now, Tenet is speaking his mind after landing his cushy job at Georgetown University and his book deal. So, to get his Amazon listing up, he is telling us about what happened. If he was a real “man of honor”, he would have put his country first and spoken up in 2003.

I am not the only one who believes this. Six former CIA officials are calling Tenet out. They call him a “failed leader” and their letter to him contains a passage that sums up my feelings on this perfectly:

“You were not a victim. You were a willing participant in a poorly considered policy to start an unnecessary war and you share culpability with Dick Cheney and George Bush for the debacle in Iraq.”

They also call on Tenet to give more than half the royalties from his book to the families of wounded and dead Iraq War veterans.

Of course, being the “man of honor” he is, he will do that, right?

Okay, I doubt it, too. But, let’s be candid. He might be telling the truth, now but, where was he when it really mattered?

Popularity: 25% [?]

It’s sad when, because you are too proud, arrogant or incompetent, innocent people suffer for it.

It’s been some 20 months since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and many people still haven’t gotten their lives back and, as we know, the federal government still hasn’t lived up to its commitment to these people.

So, it really ticks me off to know that help for those affected by this tragedy has been and is still being squandered. Many of our foreign allies stepped up with offers to help and our government simply dropped the ball. Just how bad is it? Check this out:

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services — such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships — were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

The struggle to apply foreign aid in the aftermath of the hurricane, which has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125 billion so far, is another reminder of the federal government’s difficulty leading the recovery. Reports of government waste and delays or denials of assistance have surfaced repeatedly since hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005.

You know, our government’s leadership can find ways around the rules to detain people in Guantanamo Bay, to spy on Americans and to politicize science but, suddenly, it can’t adjust the rules to actually help its own citizenry? This is either arrogance or incompetence of the highest magnitude. In either case, people are suffering for it.

Popularity: 40% [?]

As I have stated before, I wonder how hard it would be to sell the whole “war on terror” idea when when have to consider that all terrorists aren’t Muslim? There are elements in this country that claim Christian beliefs and are a bigger threat to us here because they live amongst us.

Read the following and ask yourself how big a deal the media would have made about this had this been Arab Muslims as opposed to white Americans?

Simultaneous raids carried out in four Alabama counties Thursday turned up truckloads of explosives and weapons, including 130 grenades, an improvised rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the small, but mightily armed, Alabama Free Militia.

Six alleged members of the Free Militia also were arrested by federal authorities and are being held without bond.

Investigators said the DeKalb County-based group had not made any specific threats or devised any plots, but was targeted for swift dismantling because of its heavy firepower. The militia, which called itself the Naval Militia at one point, had enough armament to outfit a small army.

This is part of the reason why I say this war on terror is a sham. We need to be real and admit that it’s not about religion — it’s about extremism and extremism comes in all religions and colors.

Popularity: 50% [?]

This is getting a little buzz around the internet. Poet Taalam Acey brings the heat on this one.

Warning: Language

Popularity: 89% [?]

If the stakes weren’t so high, this would almost be comical. It’s safe to say the days of cowboy diplomacy are over and the President can kiss the days of his riding roughshod over Congress goodbye.

This week, the House and the Senate approved supplemental bills for the war that call for milestones and timelines for our ending our involvement in Iraq. The polls show a clear majority of Americans backing this idea. The Republican backers tried trotting out the same old talking points (”our leaving Iraq would plunge it into chaos” and “this move emboldens our enemies” are usually in the top two) but, this isn’t working either. Now, the President is pulling his one last desperate act of bravado — he is telling Congress not to “test his will.”

In other words, he is saying that if these bills, in their current form, hit his desk, he will veto them. However, he said that last week and Congress still voted to move ahead on these bills. So, I think what Congress is say is “go ahead, if you dare.”

So, why do I think the President’s spooked? I’ll lay it out:

1. The talking points aren’t working any more. Americans now realize that we have been in Iraq longer than we were in WWII and we don’t have a viable plan for winning or a real strategy for leaving. We know that the military is strained and people are being sent back to Iraq for the third or fourth time. They also see their National Guard and its resource being deployed to Iraq (remember Hurricane Katrina). So, we, as Americans, realize that he is just offering empty rhetoric.
2. This war is expensive. Americans were told that this war would cost us nearly nothing, financially. Experts are saying that this war and its related costs (including adequate veterans’ care) could end up costing some $2 trillion. You have people in this country losing homes and healthcare, paying $3/gallon for gas and wondering if they will be able to send their kids to college. You don’t think we’re starting to scrutinize where our country’s money is going?
3. He would be vetoing the money for the war. Bush can’t say he needs money and flatly turn down $100 billion. In essence, he would then be the one ending the war. Right now, he has the funds to hold out until July, at the latest but, he’d have to wrap things up by the end of summer if he turns down the money.

What Bush is too scared to admit is that Americans put in a new Congress to end the Iraq War, period. Each day he thwarts efforts to do so, his party continues to lose credibility with Americans. Of course, he has his base of roughly 30-33% of voters but, an overwhelming majority of independent (swing) voters, are squarely with the Democrats on this issue. So, by vetoing an ending to this war, he is on his way to guaranteeing a Republican defeat for 2008.

It’s sad that this has turned into a contest to see who’ll blink first but, this is where we’re at today. By next week, I believe we’ll see which way this thing is going to play out.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Last fall, I posted about the killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston when some Atlanta Police officers executed a no-knock warrant on her home, claiming there were drugs on the premises. Thinking that her home was being broken into, Johnston defended herself and fired aa shot at the door of her home but, not hitting any officers (remember, this was a no-knock so, they didn’t identify themselves as officers before bursting in). The officers fired back 39 times, hitting Ms. Johnston with 5-6 of those shots, killing her.

In the aftermath of the killing, the officers’ story began to crumble and it appears that they were lying to cover up a botched raid and the fact that they lied to obtain the warrant in the first place. Because they killed an innocent civilian, they were brought up on murder charges.

Yesterday, there was some closure to this situation. Two of the officers, J.R. Smith and Gregg Junnier, entered guilty pleas for “manslaughter, violation of oath, criminal solicitation, making false statements.” Smith also pleaded guilty to perjury. Smith faces 12 years in prison, Junnier faces 10 years.

A third officer, Arthur Tesler, is charged with “violation of oath by a public officer, making false statements and false imprisonment under color of legal process.” Tesler plans on going to trial.

This issue has shed light on the use of no-knock warrants and their danger to public. This would not be the first time the police burst into the wrong house in executing a warrant. I hope that Ms. Johnston’s death will not be in vain and we can look hard at the dangers associated with this practice.

Popularity: 37% [?]

I was at a class tonight and missed the debates. So, I am catching bits and pieces from it now. However, I was pleasantly surprised by one candidate, Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. He may not be a front-runner or even have a real chance, right now, but, in the following clip, he earned some points with me. Granted, I don’t know the rest of the man’s politics but, he’s talking some real sense about U.S. foreign policy. Again, thanks to CrooksAndLiars.com for the video.

 

 Mike Gravel - Democratic Debates: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 39% [?]

Believe it or not, there are some places in Washington, DC where political games are a big no-no.

A few weeks back, I shared a story about how a partisan political presentation given at the General Services Administration by Karl Rove’s deputy Scott Jennings may have violated the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act states that federal government employees may not engage in political activity while they are acting in their official capacity. The fact that this occurred in GSA offices, during work hours and attendees at the meetings say that GSA Chief Lurita Doan asked participants to think about how they could use GSA initiatives to help Republican candidates, this clearly raised some red flags.

Well, it looks like this politicization of government offices may have been more widespread than previously thought.

Earlier in the week, the Office of Special Counsel (not affiliated with the Justice Department), stated that it would begin investigating Karl Rove over allegations that he may be at the center of multiple Hatch Act violations, his role in the attorney firings and the issues of missing White House emails.

In all honesty, this investigation could be a sham but, even a fake investigation could still result in some real questions in the eyes of the public. This must be why the White House is now saying that it has recently held some 20 “political briefings” with federal employees on the election prospects of Republican candidates. The White House claims that there is nothing to see here and everything was done above board. These 20 meetings just cover 2006 and 2007. The White House is not disclosing how many were held in previous years.

So, one has to ask just how many federal agencies were used as tools of the GOP instead of actually being used for the jobs we pay them to do. I would suggest everyone read up on the Hatch Act. I have a suspicion that we’ll be hearing more about it in the coming weeks.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Black New Orleans residents have seen injustice after injustice in their quests to rebuild their lives. First, you have a federal government that sat on its hands while people died in the streets. Then you have the promises to these people that they would be made whole all but ignored (oh, I forgot, there is some aid in the war supplemental bill that the President is going to veto but, the Republican talking head call such aid “pork”). Now, they are facing a new challenge: racial discrimination when trying to rent property.

The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center sent in “testers” posing as potential renters and found that, in 57.5% of the time, the potential black renters were discriminated against. Of course, the landlords’ and real estate investors’ associations have no comment on all of this.

The Fair Housing action center has indicated that it does intend to sue several of these landlords.

Popularity: 50% [?]