BrownWatch News

The "Nakba": Palestinians Mourn 60th Anniversary Of Displacement Caused by Israel's Creation

TheSpook — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:02:40 +0000

wake up: Who Would Pack up their belongings and Ditch their Home just Because the Government told them to?
Ramallah, West Bank (AHN) - Palestinian's marked the anniversary of the creation of Israel on Thursday as the disastrous 60th anniversary of the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. Many Palestinians were either expelled from their homes or fled them during the war that followed the creation of Israel in 1948. Those people and their descendants have grown to 4.5 million refugees that have registered with the United Nations and are living either inside Israel in the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank, or outside Israel in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is himself one of the refugees. "Sixty years ago we were pushed into exodus and suffered an injustice. Today we call upon the world to give our people justice," Abbas was quoted as saying earlier this week according to AP reports. While Israelis celebrate the day joyously as the birth of their nation, Palestinians mark the day with protests as a "nakba" the Arabic word for catastrophe. This year many Palestinians in the West Bank carried black flags as they protested and listened to taped speech by Abbas, while Hamas officials in Gaza planned a march toward a sealed border crossing, according to AFP reports. [MORE]

In Israel, Rocket Attack Mars Bush's Optimistic Message
President Bush, in Israel this week to celebrate that nation's 60th anniversary, sounded an upbeat note on the prospects for a peace deal with the Palestinians. A terrorist attack, however, cast a pall over the festivities. The New York Times (5/15, Stolberg, Bronner) reports "Bush was hailed as 'a great leader' and 'a great friend' of Israel at an emotional Academy Awards-style celebration of the country's 60th birthday here Wednesday night." But "his visit, aimed at promoting peace in the Middle East, was instead marred by violence." Four Palestinians "were killed, including two militants, and nine were wounded in a series of Israeli Army strikes and incursions into Gaza, said medics and witnesses there." And "in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, a rocket that the police said was launched from northern Gaza struck a commercial center, crashing through the roof of a health clinic and badly wounding a woman and her 2-year-old daughter, both in the head." The White House "condemned the rocket attack, blaming Hamas." Yesterday evening "brought the biggest hitter of all," Bush, who was "was overcome with emotion, brushing aside tears after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hailed him as an 'unusual friend' to the state of Israel and a series of tributes that included a pair of interpretive dancers moving around the stage to Carole King's 'You've Got a Friend.'"

Mayor Bloomberg tells Congressional Members Police Brutality is Our Problem not Yours

TheSpook — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:50:52 +0000

Mayor Michael Bloomberg reminded a group of congressional representatives yesterday that the city's police department is his concern, not theirs, as the House Judiciary Committee considers nationwide policing reforms in response to the shooting death of Sean Bell. "We are going to run our police department, and Congress is not going to run our police department," Bloomberg said after an unrelated news conference in the Bronx. "This is a police department that works and doesn't exactly need more oversight." Bloomberg's remarks came after the committee held a public forum Monday in lower Manhattan on police accountability. "Rather than say we are going to run the police department, he ought to be looking at the fact that there is room for improvement," the Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday. "He should be concerned that Congress is concerned." At the forum, Sharpton proposed ending federal funding to the New York Police Department until what he called a history of police abuse is rectified. In a response, Bloomberg said U.S. contributions to the department are meager and wouldn't be much of a sacrifice. "We don't get that much money from the federal government," he said. "We keep asking them for more. We keep asking Homeland Security for more and they keep giving it out as pork."

Maxine Waters Slams Mississippi Gov. for Abusing Katrina Aid Money

TheSpook — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:12:36 +0000

House Democrats on Thursday questioned Gov. Haley Barbour's use of billions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina recovery grants, saying too little was done to rebuild low-income rental housing and help low-income homeowners. "Frankly, I'm not convinced that the state has met all of its housing needs," said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of a House Financial Services subcommittee on housing. Waters said she called Thursday's hearing partly in response to Barbour's plans to use $600 million in Housing and Urban Development block grants to repair and enlarge the Port of Gulfport. The money was part of $5.4 billion Mississippi received in block grants. Waters and other Democrats on the housing panel also questioned why Mississippi didn't use more of the grant money to break ground on low- and moderate-income housing and to help low-income homeowners whose losses from Katrina weren't covered by insurance. But besides asking tough questions, there's probably little lawmakers can do to hold Barbour, a Republican, accountable for how the grant money was spent.

Conyers' Threats of Impeachment = Too Little Too Late

TheSpook — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:08:30 +0000

Kind of too little, too late from John Conyers:Join Me in Calling on President Bush to Respect Congress' Exclusive Power to Declare WarDear Democratic Colleague:As we mark five years of war in Iraq, I have become increasingly concerned that the President may possibly take unilateral, preemptive military action against Iran. During the last seven years, the Bush Administration has exercised unprecedented assertions of Executive Branch power and shown an unparalleled aversion to the checks and balances put in place by the Constitution's framers. The letter that follows asks President Bush to seek congressional authorization before launching any possible military strike against Iran and affirms Senator Biden's statement last year that impeachment proceedings should be considered if the President fails to do so.Never mind the fact that the dead-ender Senate Republican caucus wouldn't convict. A military strike on Iran would be likely to happen this summer at the earliest, probably not until October (surprise!). Then there are the hearings, and the vote in the House Judiciary Committee, and the vote in the full House, and the trial in the Senate, and the vote. Let's say for the sake of argument that every Republican in the Senate gets religion and decides to convict to sever all ties with this guy for good.What does that mean, he gets to leave early and skip a weekend? The guy's got senioritis as it is.The leverage of impeachment is over. That moment has passed.

Rep. Conyers,Demand Answers on Immigration Detainee Medical Abuses

TheSpook — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:02:25 +0000

Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., and Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA, Immigration Subcommittee) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff demanding that he provide answers to disturbing revelations about widespread denial of medical treatment in the immigration detention system. "The Department of Homeland Security's disregard for detainee health is simply unacceptable," said Conyers. "Letting someone live or die as fate will allow is not just bad medicine, it is inhumane." "Our government has a responsibility to provide a minimum level of humane care to anyone in its custody," noted Rep. Zoe Lofgren. "Recent news accounts have made it strikingly clear that ICE has failed miserably in its responsibility to provide civilized and humane treatment to those in its custody." "It is heartwrenching to see the anguish of families who stood helpless as their loved ones wasted away behind bars," added Chairman Conyers. "The controlling principle should be to treat sick detainees, not to come up with innovative ways to deny treatment. Denial and delay is leading to death or disability." The full text of today's letter is attached and below.

Hundreds Of Deportees Said To Have Been Drugged Without Reason

TheSpook — Thu, 15 May 2008 05:05:59 +0000

Continuing its series on immigration detainee healthcare, the Washington Post (5/14, A1, Goldstein, Priest,) reports in a 5,000 word front-page article on the government's use of "dangerous psychotropic drugs" to keep deportees "sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged. The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the 'pre-flight cocktail,' as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane." The Post says it has identified 250 cases "in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003 -- the year the Bush administration handed the job of deportation to the Department of Homeland Security's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE."

Va., Del. death row inmates challenge lethal injections

TheSpook — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:23:06 +0000

Attorneys for death row inmates in Virginia and Delaware argued Wednesday that their states' lethal injection procedures need changing despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the most widely used method of execution. Some of the 35 states that use lethal injection moved swiftly to schedule executions put on hold for seven months while the Supreme Court considered a Kentucky case arguing that lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment. Georgia became the first to kill an inmate last week. But death row inmates in other states continue to press legal challenges on similar grounds, and federal courts held separate hearings Wednesday on two such cases. In Delaware, death row inmates have filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the state's lethal injection method is substantially different from the Kentucky method. Virginia inmate Christopher Scott Emmett claims the state Department of Corrections presents a substantial risk of harm because it does not allow the option of a second dose of anesthesia to make sure the inmate is unconscious before paralyzing and heart-stopping drugs are injected.

Supreme Court Allows Lawsuits Against Corporations who Profited from Apartheid

TheSpook — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:12:12 +0000

The plaintiffs are South African residents who suffered under the racist regime from 1948 to 1994. At one point in the litigation they reportedly sought $400 billion in damages, not from the South African government or its former officials but from companies that did business in South Africa during that time period. The suit is being brought under the Alien Tort Statute, which permits individuals to sue in American courts for certain violations of international law. The core allegation is that the corporations actively and willingly collaborated with the South African government to perpetuate the repressive, race-based system of apartheid. The corporations deny the charge and are urging the courts to dismiss the case.

White Candidate Defeats Obama in West Virginia- Improves her Record to 16-32

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:32:19 +0000

NAACP Wants Independent Probe into Frederick County Police Taser Death of Black Man

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:18:14 +0000

A call for a federal investigation by the family of a Frederick man who was tasered by law enforcement and later died. This is days after a grand jury cleared the sheriff's deputy of wrongdoing. Dennis Edwards has more on who's upset and why. A Frederick County grand jury found Cpl. Rudy Torres justified in his use of a taser twice on 20-year-old Jarel Gray, but a separate NAACP investigation produced witnesses that say there was an ongoing dispute between Gray and Torres and that he posed no threat when Torres tasered him a second time. "It hurts. It really hurts. You know, he was young and it's just like I lost a part of me and nobody seems to understand this," said Anna Thomas, Jarel's grandmother. Gray's family and the NAACP want the FBI and the Maryland attorney general's office to do an independent investigation. At an NAACP news conference, Frederick County's state's attorney faced tough questions about the grand jury and the county's use of a weapon that's claimed more than 200 lives nationally.

Video catches Indianapolis Metro Police kicking Subdued Latino Man after chase

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:34:11 +0000

An early morning chase today ended with a man being Tasered and kicked by police officers who said he was resisting arrest and trying to escape. A WTHR (Channel 13) helicopter took video of officers kicking Felipe Alvarado, 26, at least five times as he was on the ground. In the end, Officer Jason Scott appears to shove Alvarado’s head down with his foot. One blow appeared to strike Elverado's head while arms were pinned behind his back. Police said the officers' actions appeared to be justified. "The kicks are beyond reasonable force," said the Rev. David W. Greene of Second Baptist Church on the city's north side. "I'm questioning the mentality of police officers. Do they believe they are above the law?" Today’s chase began about 6:45 a.m., when witnesses told police a man who had broken into several vehicles was fleeing in a van near Mitthoefer Road and East 21st Street.

The driver led police on a 10-minute pursuit that ended when the van spun in a field north of 21st Street and Riley Avenue. Police said the man ran across nearby railroad tracks, where officers caught him. One fired his Taser, Mount said, sending the man to the ground. The video shows two officers struggling to subdue the man. The video apparently shows one officer kicking the suspect three times and the other kicking him twice. Scott then approaches and uses a foot to deliver a blow to the man’s head. Mount said Scott appeared to be using his foot to push the man’s head down while the man was in handcuffs.

Desperate Clinton Camp Used "Street Money" to Help Get Blacks & Latinos to Vote for her in Texas, Ohio

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:27:02 +0000

The New York Times (5/13, McIntire, Luo) reports, "In the threadbare border towns of South Texas, one of the country's poorest regions, enterprising locals like Candelaria Espinoza have long been paid to round up votes for candidates on Election Day. ... So when" Sen. Hillary Clinton's "campaign arrived in South Texas in February seeking an edge in its uphill battle against" Sen. Barack Obama, "Espinoza was happy to oblige, for a price. The campaign paid her and seven other members of her family $100 to $200 each to knock on doors, deliver fliers and get voters to the polls for the Democratic primary on March 4, which Mrs. Clinton narrowly won." The Espinoza family was "among at least 460 Texans...who received payments from the Clinton campaign for this kind of work, according to a review of" FEC "records. The records show that Mrs. Clinton did something similar in Ohio, giving $38,300 to a state legislator, Eugene R. Miller, who says he used it to pay more than 200 people to get out the vote in predominantly black neighborhoods in Cleveland. The payments, known in the political vernacular as 'street money,' are a legal but controversial tool that Mrs. Clinton employed at a time when she was desperately seeking a victory after losing 10 consecutive contests to Mr. Obama."

Republican effort to use Obama/Rev. Wright tactic Fails as Democrat Wins House Seat in Mississippi
Democrats scored a remarkable upset victory on Tuesday in a special Congressional election in this conservative Southern district, sending a clear signal of national problems ahead for Republicans in the fall. The Democrat, Travis Childers, a local courthouse official, pulled together a coalition of blacks, who turned out heavily, and old-line “yellow dog” Democrats, to beat his Republican opponent, Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, a Memphis suburb. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, the vote was 54 percent for Mr. Childers to 46 percent for Mr. Davis. The seat had been in Republican hands since 1995, and the district, largely rural and stretching across the northern top of Mississippi, had been considered one of the safest in the country for President Bush’s party, as he won here with 62 percent of the vote in 2004. [MORE]

NYPD Disciplines White Officer Who Stopped Black Commander

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:05:50 +0000

Possible Surge in Black Voter Registration Threatens Republicans

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:01:48 +0000

Looking at these percentages from another perspective, only 13 percent of all non-voters in 2004 were African-Americans. Even if non-voting blacks came out this election in numbers twice that of every other group of non-voters, it would not turn the election upside-down. There is a ceiling effect on how influential a surge in black turnout can be because of African-Americans’ comparatively small share of non-voters.

The development that would make black turnout more significant would be a surge in registration of African-Americans. This is a realm where the black population still lags in a meaningful way. According to the Census survey, only 69 percent of African-Americans are registered. While this compares very favorably to registration rates of other ethnic and racial minorities (52 percent of Asians and 58 percent of Hispanics are registered, according to the Census Bureau), it significantly trails the 75 percent rate of registration among non-Hispanic whites. Because of non-registration, the electoral participation of all black adults is 60 percent, trailing whites by seven percentage points. If blacks closed that gap completely, it would bring 1.7 million additional African-American voters to the polls this fall.

Jesse Jackson Wants Racist Secret Service Files On Himself

TheSpook — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:07 +0000

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Secret Service is under fire for racist and sexist e-mails, including one aimed at Chicago's Rev. Jesse Jackson. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the e-mails were just released by the Secret Service as part of a long-running civil rights suit filed by African American agents. They contain racist and sexist jokes and pictures. The one about the Rev. Jackson has now led to a demand for the release of any other insulting references to members of the Jackson family in Secret Service files. Rev. Jackson's dealings with the Secret Service date back to his two campaigns for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1980s. He actually asked for and was assigned protective details before other candidates back then. The Secret Service e-mail, CBS 2 obtained from a court filing in Washington, was titled "The Righteous Reverend," and jokes about the deaths of Jackson and his wife when a missile strikes their plane. The e-mail ends with, it "certainly wouldn't be a great loss and probably wouldn't be an accident either."