The only one of the “Jena 6″ to be convicted, Mychal Bell, remains behind bars tonight, despite the fact that the conviction had been overturned. Lawyers for Bell requested that he be freed while an appeal is being reviewed.

Last week, an appeals judged overturned the conviction for aggravated second-degree battery when he determined that Bell should not have been tried as an adult. Bell was 16 at the time of the beating.

The judge in this case stated that Bell’s juvenile record, which includes two simple battery charges, was the justification for his $90,000 bail.

Participants in the Thursday rally at Jena stated that they expected this outcome and, therefore, continued on with plans for the rally, despite the conviction being overturned last week. It is believed that as many as 20,000 people showed up to protest in a town whose population is some 3,000.

In the end, people are not asking for these young men to get away with a crime. We are just asking that they face the same punishment that white kids would receive in that community under the same circumstances.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Do you all ever get really fed up with being lied to about the economy. I listened to Bush, today, railing against raising taxes and admonishing presidential candidates that it would be gloom and doom for them to even consider this. In other words, Bush thinks his economic policy is sound and that the war is not a drain on the economy.

Well, I ran across two stories that factually discredit this line of thinking. The first is that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is warning that, as of October 1, the U.S. will reach the debt limit of $8.965 trillion. What this means is that the government would not legally be able to issue treasury bonds or, to put it in a way that more would understand, not be in the position to borrow more money. The Congress is expected to raise the ceiling by another $850 billion. So, what this means is that there is not enough money coming in (taxes — think tax cuts for the rich) and that there is too much money going out (think war in Iraq) and, therefore, the U.S. needs to borrow money. Also, consider this — this will mark the 5th time that the debt ceiling has been raised since Bush took office.

The second is that the dollar is declining greatly. One euro now equals $1.40 in U.S. currency. This is its highest level against the dollar since the euro was introduced in 1999. But, an even more startling fact was revealed yesterday. For the first time since 1976, the Canadian dollar is now equal in value to the U.S. dollar.

So, what does this all mean? Well, consider the following excerpt from the ABC News article:

What does a weak dollar mean for all that, and why should I care? If the dollar falls too much, foreign investors and banks won’t be so interested in buying T-bills and bonds that keep the U.S. government and businesses humming. That’s because the interest rate might not be enough to compensate for inflation. In other words, whatever is earned would be worth less money.

To attract buyers, the T-bills and bonds will sell for less and have higher interest rates. And since many mortgages are tied to these interest rates, that might mean mortgage rates won’t drop anytime soon. Also, a weak dollar might scare away foreign investors who don’t want to own stock in U.S. companies.

It could also mean the following:

Look at the record-high price of oil. Even if the same amount of oil is being pumped out of the ground, since it is traded in dollars and the dollar has weakened, the price of oil has increased to make up for the lost value of the dollar, creating a sort of vicious cycle.

Oil-producing countries don’t want to keep all the dollars they are getting for their oil, since it’s worth less, so they are diversifying and converting their dollars into euros or other currencies. That pushes more dollars back out into currency markets, which in turn pushes down the dollar’s value.

One analyst told ABC News that Russia used to have 90 percent of its financial reserves in dollars. It now has 45 percent in dollars, 45 percent in euros and 10 percent in British pounds.

So, this is what “conservative” policy gets you — more debt. So, Republicans, riddle me this? Where are we going to get the money to pay for all this debt without raising taxes?

Popularity: 25% [?]

I was pleasantly surprised and inspired by the new Cornel West musical release (yes, I said musical release), entitled Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations. It contains music from hip-hop artists such KRS-1, Talib Kweli, Black Thought of the Roots, Andre 3000, etc. and established musical acts such as Prince and the late Gerald Levert.

Right now, my personal favorites are Still Here, by Ambassador and Paul Woodruff, and 911, a spoken word piece by Dr. West himself.

To give you a flavor of what this release is about, a couple of videos have been released on YouTube, detailing this project. Check them out and then run and get this CD!

Part 1 :

Part 2 :

Popularity: 25% [?]

Just an FYI for everyone who doesn’t know — thousands of protesters are in Jena, Louisiana right now in rallies of support for the “Jena 6″.

I am heartened by the show of support for these young men who have clearly been overcharged and would have spent the most productive years of their lives behind bars over this, if prosecutor Reed Walters’ charges been allowed to stand.

Now, I only hope that we take this same spirit of justice back to our own communities and call for fair and just treatment of all black people, even if the offending party happens to be another black person.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Too often, we have heard about what supposedly led up to the the legal issues faced by the young men from Louisiana referred to as the “Jena 6″ but, the story is really not told in its true chronology. If left up to the corporate media, one would gather that the beating of the white student was solely in response to the nooses that were hung from a tree in a schoolyard. However, there are some key details being left out of their telling of it. Here’s a video that succinctly fills in the blanks left by the mainstream press’ recitation of the facts.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Uh-oh, it looks like the GOP is a little concerned about what it looks like when their top candidates are skipping out on minority-sponsored candidates’ forums.

This really hit the fan when Tavis Smiley, moderator of PSB’s Republican debates, called the leading candidates on the carpet for their supposed “scheduling conflicts”. Oddly, they had similar conflicts the kept them from the NAACP Republican forum and Spanish-language network Univision’s Republican candidates’ forum.

From my previous post, you might have already surmised my view on it so, instead, I’ll share the views of Republican leadership:

“We sound like we don’t want immigration; we sound like we don’t want black people to vote for us,” said former congressman Jack Kemp (N.Y.), who was the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996. “What are we going to do — meet in a country club in the suburbs one day? If we’re going to be competitive with people of color, we’ve got to ask them for their vote.”

…

“For Republicans to consistently refuse to engage in front of an African American or Latino audience is an enormous error,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), who has not yet ruled out a White House run himself. “I hope they will reverse their decision and change their schedules. I see no excuse — this thing has been planned for months, these candidates have known about it for months. It’s just fundamentally wrong. Any of them who give you that scheduling-conflict answer are disingenuous. That’s baloney.”

Oh, well…be prepared for dirty tricks. They obviously are making no moves to win our votes legitimately so, they’ll try to get by hook or by crook, I suspect.

Popularity: 11% [?]

You know, I used to think Isiah Thomas was a sensible brother. Now, I really don’t know.

To be honest, I had heard some things in passing about him being named in a sexual harassment suit but, I had not really followed it. But, something I read recently made me do a double-take.

The plantiff in the case is former Knicks vice president Anucha Browne Sanders. According to Ms. Sanders, she was subject to some rather foul, berating language at the hand of Thomas. In a 2004 incident, she alleges that Thomas called her a “f—ing ho”,”b–ch”,”f—ing b–ch” and “ho”.

In another incident, Thomas supposedly told her, “Don’t forget, you f—ing b–ch, I’m the president of this f—ing team.”

But, believe it or not, this was not the worst part of the story for me. This was:

(Jeffrey) Nix’s testimony came a day after a jury watched Thomas’ video deposition, where he said that white men weren’t allowed to call black women “b–ch,” but black men could.

“I’m sorry to say, I do make a distinction,” Thomas said in a videotaped admission viewed by a Manhattan federal jury yesterday.

“A white man calling a black female ‘b–ch,’ that is wrong with me. I am not accepting that. That’s a problem for me,” he said.

But asked if he’d have a problem with a black man calling a black woman “b–ch,” Thomas said, “Not as much.”

Okay…now I have a headache.

Popularity: 40% [?]

“I’m not going to resign. I’m going to stay focused on protecting our kids. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done around the country. The department is responsible for protecting our kids…”

-Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, March 2007

If Gonzales were really serious about this statement, perhaps he should have started in his own Department of Justice.

John David R. Atchison is an assistant U.S. attorney from the northern district of Florida. Yesterday, he was arraigned in court on charges that absolutely turn my stomach. Atchison stands accused of trying to solicit sex with a 5-year-old child.

He was caught as part of a sting in which an undercover officer posed as a mother of a 5-year-old girl, offering the child up for sex. Atchison flew from his home in Pensacola, FL to Detroit, MI, allegedly for the sole purpose of having sex with the child.

But, this is even more disturbing. This is a passage from the article (bolding mine):

In deposition, detectives said Atchison suggested the mother tell her daughter that “you found her a sweet boyfriend who will bring her presents.”

The undercover detective expressed concern about physical injury to the 5-year-old girl as a result of the sexual activity. Detectives said Atchison responded, ” I am always gentle and loving; not to worry, no damage ever, no rough stuff ever. I only like it soft and nice.”

The undercover detective asked how Atchison can be certain of no injury. He responded, “Just gotta go slow and very easy. I’ve done it plenty,” according to detectives.

Atchison is currently in federal custody and a detention hearing was scheduled for today.

Popularity: 24% [?]

As many of us know, six suspects are now in jail for the week-long torture of a black woman in Logan, WV. When the feds stated that the six would not face hate crimes charges, prosecutors stated that they might still face more state charges.

It seems, now, that prosecutors intend to make good on that statement and are considering additional kidnapping and sexual assault charges against these suspects.

We should expect to hear more today about these charges. Personally, I hope they throw the book at them and that these people (and I use the term loosely) end up under the jail.

Popularity: 16% [?]

“What go around, come around, I figure / Now we go white kids callin’ themselve ‘ni**a’”

-KRS-One, “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know”

You know, it’s good to see a younger dude in the hip hop game recognize that words to matter and that, one way or another, the words he speaks will influence others.

Chamillionaire is one such hip hop artist.

He never was one to use much profanity in his music but, his latest release, Ultimate Victory, takes it one step further — he made a conscious decision to eschew the use of the “n-word”. According to Chamillionaire, it wasn’t the Don Imus mess and the subsequent Al Sharpton campaign against rap lyrics that did it — it was something more personal that shook him out of it. He says that it was watching white fans at his shows singing “ni**a” along with him that made him reconsider his use of the word.

So, give credit where credit is due. This is a young man who could sell a lot more music by disrespecting his people but, instead, chose to use the platform he has to deliver a more positive message.

Popularity: 23% [?]