The United Fakes of America

Vanilla suburbs can't police chocolate streets without capricious decision making

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
While the Oscar Grant slaying represents man's quintessential inhumanity towards man and the race division that invariably accompanies it there is an additional more tangible sociological consequence. The city is bled of essential financial resources. The city of Oakland will pay nearly $650,000 for Officer Hector Jimenez's fatal shooting of unarmed drunk driving suspect Mack Woodfox III in July of 2008. John Burriss is going to push hard to take the BART Police for the kitten caboodle as well.

The city would save a load of cash if they hired with the partial aim of making the force reflect the citizens. In other words more Black police officers should patrol Black neighborhoods. Sorry to be so glum but there is still much too much hatred in the vanilla suburbs to ask their residents to patrol chocolate inner-city streets.

Sotomayor—reverse racist or whitewashed?

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:33:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
During the past eight years the United States’ democratic lens has been severely refracted by the myopic dogma of the Bush administration (or Badministration). The institution of the Patriot Act, a declaration of preemptive war on Afghanistan, unilaterally declaring war on Iraq, blatantly disregarding the perils of Katrina victims, spying on citizens, and torture aren’t exactly positive examples of democratic process. To the contrary, the people’s vote against the Republican Party in 2006 and their vote for Barack Obama in 2008 are clear representations of the public’s sagacious recognition for the necessity of social reform. Yet despite their nominal devotion to civil service, there exists many public officials who defiantly stand in contradistinction to the same citizenry they profess to represent.

So when Newt Gingrich and his capricious socio-political ideologues fallaciously label Sonia Sotomayor a “reverse racist” in the face of majority public support I am not surprised. On the other hand I am intrigued by the ease with which such a fallacious and damaging notion can be caromed throughout the dynamic world of digital media and the lack of consequence to public image that would—and should be— marshaled by entrusted journalists to confront the promulgators of that notion. To be clear, racist is a politically ominous pejorative. But to employ the transitive verb reverse as an accompaniment to the afore-mentioned label brings a welcomed clarity to the extreme views of Sotomayor’s accusers. Perhaps Webster can shed a little more light on the subject.

Reverse: opposite or contrary to a previous or normal condition, that which is directly opposite or contrary

The operative word here is directly—directly opposite. To be a “reverse racist” you must be the direct opposite of a “normal” racist. Those who are peddling this birdbrained tag are making the accusation merely based on the fact that Sotomayor is a non-white. They are simpleminded. Now, racism as you know is the belief that there are significant innate differences between people groups which produce a superiority of a single group. Historically the group in question has been white men but I’m most interested in the actions that resulted from this obtuse ideology. The problem is that when you or I attempt to rightly divide the historical and present, systemic representations of racism— Newt and friends trivialize this unusually serious issue by means of politicization. But our focus is on the operative phrase in our definition—directly opposite. To determine what Sotomayor would have to accomplish in order to be truly defined as a “reverse racist” we must first identify the persona of racism and its historical and current impact upon society.

We easily identify racism’s persona by reviewing the treatment of African Americans by white male supremacists. These men practiced American chattel slavery during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Can you imagine being challenged to a race to financial autonomy—a race in which your competitor says, “There’s just one catch.”

“What’s that” you say.

“I get a two year head start” your opponent replies. Well, if you’re a person of color—if you’re black you don’t have to imagine. “Previous/normal” racists challenged you to a human race but cheated you out of not 2 but 200 years. White women were cheated for quite some time too—though they obviously enjoyed exponentially more comforts than blacks. The point is that over two centuries of free labor directly resulted in the development of white wealth. Then in 1865 slavery “ended” and African Americans were free to compete. The problem was they had no sweat suit, no sneakers, not even transportation to get to the stadium where the human race was being hosted. And they still had 200 years to make up.

Those two centuries of free labor encapsulate the irony that enables ignorant shock jocks to compare President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination to the hypothetical placement of former Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke, on the bench. And that’s not an isolated imbecilic oratorical incident. Former congressman Tom Tancredo, whose moral and civic compasses are obviously guided by caprice, had this accusation for Sotomayor.

If you belong to an organization called La Raza, in this case, which is, from my point of view anyway, nothing more than a Latino — it’s a counterpart — a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.

Reader, this is a man who either has no regard for world history or is willfully ignorant of it. There is no Latino counterpart to the KKK. There is no Latino counterpart to American chattel slavery. There is no Latino counterpart to the remnants of that slavery— present day institutionalized racism. To assert otherwise is to revert to a sociologically injurious pathology of denial of white racism and its extraordinarily destructive impact on humanity. And I say humanity—not blacks—because oppression has a tremendously different, yet equally damaging, impact on the oppressor as it has on the oppressed.

Ms. Sonia Sotomayor has rejected 78 of 96 discrimination claims. That stat alone implies that, if anything, she is whitewashed. But she certainly isn’t the personification of this suddenly popular oxymoronic confabulation “reverse racist.”

Pelosi Says CIA Misled Her On Waterboarding Use

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

This is huge! Madam Speaker is accusing the CIA of lying in a briefing. Isn't that illegal? Boehner says that all of the Dems were aware of the torture. Either way, someone needs to be in prison.

clipped from www.npr.org

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA and Bush administration of misleading her about waterboarding detainees

"To the contrary ... we were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used," she told reporters, referring to a formal CIA briefing she received in the fall of 2002.

an official at the CIA neither disputed nor accepted the California Democrat's statements.

House Republican Leader John Boehner dismissed Pelosi's account.

"They were well aware that they had been used, and it seems to me that they want to have it both ways. You can't have it both ways."

CIA records show Pelosi attended only one briefing — the one in the fall of 2002 where she says she was told that waterboarding had not been used.

"They misrepresented every step of the way, and they don't want that focus on them, so they try to turn the attention on us," she said.

Pelosi accused the CIA of being misleading during that session by explicitly telling her that waterboarding was not used.

Goldman Sachs settles bad Mass. loans

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 13 May 2009 04:51:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Call your state attorney generals and demand that they follow Martha Coakley's lead. If you don't we'll never get our money back from the bank robbers.

clipped from marketplace.publicradio.org

Goldman Sachs agreed to spend about $50 million to write down loans for Goldman mortgage-holders in Massachusetts.

the state of Massachusetts announced a settlement with investment giant Goldman Sachs over the firm's role in the foreclosure crisis. It appears to be the first settlement of its kind, though likely not the last as the state goes after investment banks that knew the loans were bad and bought them anyway.

Goldman will spend about $50 million to write down loans for about 700 homeowners whose mortgages are held by Goldman.

Goldman Sachs

Martha Coakley has been agressive at going after the players in the subprime debacle. Interestingly, not a lot of other states have been following her lead.

Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley started investigating the foreclosure crisis

MARTHA COAKLEY: We've made the determination, and our courts have agreed, that many of these loans were unfair. They were destined to fail at the inception.

Bob Schieffer proves he's a square penned journalist every time he "interviews" Dick Cheney

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:22:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Watch CBS Videos Online
Cheney has gone on record several times accusing the Obama administration of diminishing the safety of the United States. He argues that “harsh interrogation” techniques and the “terrorist surveillance program” saved thousands perhaps even hundreds of thousands of lives. However, how many of our lives are potentially compromised when a leader bends the law as he sees fit as opposed to following the law as prescribed by the people? We need only to review any one of the infamous medieval inquisitions to discover how dreadful the long arm of law can be when interpreted by the few and not agreed upon by the many. The ruthless pragmatist president Barack Obama thoughtfully replies to Cheney’s accusations;
“We have rejected the false choice between our security and our ideals by closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and banning torture without exception.”
A sentiment all law abiding citizens can agree with.

Oakland’s $80 million shortfall tempts city council to employ hired guns

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

In an effort to mitigate crime and cut costs Oakland City Council has decided to hire a private armed security force to patrol troublesome neighborhoods. City Council member Ignacio De La Fuente is a leading advocate for this increasingly popular solution. Despite the initial savings a private law enforcement agency presents to the debt laden city this solution is not without fault.

International Services Inc. was Oakland's primary candidate. However, their questionable background forced the city to end all negotiations. The following is an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal.

Ousama Karawia, founder of the Torrance, Calif., company, and two of its vice presidents were accused last week by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office of defrauding the state of California out of more than $9 million in workers compensation. The suspects were arrested last week after a three month investigation, said Jane Robinson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

Undeterred by the ISI's public record the City Council continues to explore alternative private guard solutions. De La Fuente said, "There is still a very serious need for security in some of our more crime-plagued areas."

Oakland is en route to join numerous other cities that are tempted to use public money to pay private guards to perform public services. According to The Washington Post "The more than 1 million contract security officers, and an equal number of guards estimated to work directly for U.S. corporations, dwarf the nearly 700,000 sworn law enforcement officers in the United States."

Just as the military in Iraq was supplemented by Blackwater, and other private military firms, so US City Councils are supplementing domestic law enforcement with private security agencies. Some say this is a recent development. History would disagree. Private law enforcement solutions are a return to the Old West. It's 1881 and Sherrif Pat Garret has just deputized Wyatt Earp to catch Billy the Kid and his gang of Rustlers. The problem with this approach to crime of course is that Wyatt Earp is himself an ex-con.

Unlike rookie US soldiers Blackwater agents often have marred pasts unbeknownst to superior officers. They are not subjected to the background checks that a soldier endures. Your local police also endure an extensive background investigation prior to beginning their career as an officer. Yet George Holland Sr., lead attorney for the Oakland chapter of the NAACP might argue that even the police vetting process is not dynamic enough. He said, "Oakland, unfortunately, has had a history of treating the African-American community unfairly. The community has a great distrust for police officers because they feel they can't be punished."

If the city introduces another law enforcement entity with more lenient background requirements, less training, an equal or greater amount of bias, and fewer legal accountability tools than the OPD—the already broken relationship between citizen and law will be further exacerbated.

The violence in Oakland has been steadily declining since the fourth quarter of 2008. If the city, citizens and politicians alike, wishes to further diminish crime in this grand old city we must take a creative, cutting edge approach. Hired guns didn't work in medieval warfare and they won't work in the age of information either. Dr. Christine Gardiner of the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at University of California, Irvine would certainly agree.

"There are so many factors that affect both the economy and crime, that you can't get a causal link," Gardiner said. "It's a lot more complex than that. Crime rate is not a function of one particular thing, and the number of police per resident or population is not really related to the incidence of crime – there are neighborhood, area factors that go into it."

Progressive Examiner

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Read me on Examiner.com

Progressive Examiner

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Read me on Examiner.com

Mapping torture authors and co-signers

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:25:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Double-click on boxes with plus signs to expand, or click the tool bar at left for more options. Single-click anywhere in the map then select reset to return to original view.

John Yoo and Jay Bybee are the hottest legal co-signers to the infamous torture memos. Take a look at various other connections and supporters in the map below.

Worried about AIG Bonuses? Get a load of the taxpayer subsidies for banks and corps.

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:36:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

An IPS study of compensation levels in 2007 found that the top 50 investment fund managers took home 19,000 times as much as typical workers earned.

Here's another IPS study regarding taxpayer's lasting relationships with bailed out banks. Apparently we've been bailing out these corporations long before November 2008.

Makes you want your money back, huh?

Sadly, even if Big Brother recouped AIG bonuses tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies remain for economic terrorist banks and insurance corporations to bask in. The above report includes a chart that identifies taxpayer subsidies for executive splurge and the various reforms now pending in Congress that speak to these problems.

AIG’S Bogus Bonuses

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

I'd like to take this time to extend my deepest gratitude to ordinary pundits all over the political spectrum for their predictable reporting on the current global economic crisis. Every time a critical story unfolds, their "in depth commentary" always serves as a rough draft for mine. Take this entry for example. There I was in bed at eleven o'clock pm but unable to sleep. After reading ten of those "in depth commentaries" regarding the AIG "retention" bonus ignominy I found myself more puzzled than informed. Thankfully, the humdrum work of those left, right, and centrist square penned journalists served as the impetus for the very piece you are reading right now.

Anyway, since I couldn't sleep I decided to take notes from the talking heads, spin-misters, and corporate journalists. If you're attentive you'll notice that all of these quadrangles are telling us the same thing.

Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson should not have initiated the bailout in the first place (ah—duh!)
Current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is mismanaging the recovery plan and, as an ex-republican, is sympathetic to the banks as opposed to the people
- leftist speechifying
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is incompetent
- I found this to be the consensus across the partisan board
Senator Charles Grassley said that AIG's officers should "commit suicide"
- No comment

My opinion on the above is quite frankly who cares. The bottom line is the following:

We're in a global recession (Problem)
We need a multifaceted global solution (Reality)
A host of perpetrators must be identified and imprisoned (Accountability and enforcement)
- Who knows, that may be enough people with enough money to pay our way out of this hole (Optimism)
Obligatory regulations need to be enacted and enforced to ensure this amount of fiscal tomfoolery doesn't happen again (Accountability via monetary policy)

When choosing your fights, you must choose wisely. Even if government prevailed in court we the people would lose because the court fees would exceed the cost of AIG bonuses. Instead of spending the next ten years in court over a measly $165, $170, $250 million (in the context of hundreds of billions, 100+ million is 'measly'), or whatever the actual figure is; congress should attempt to place stern stipulations on AIG's next $45 billion in recovery money and tax the stuffing out of bailed out bank bonuses. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are attempting to redirect their bonus money into increased salaries for their top employees in hopes of thwarting public and congressional scrutiny. So you best believe AIG's bonus buffoonery will not be an isolated incident.

Election Night

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:40:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
Obama looks like a winner at the moment. As a fellow human being I must request that all of my readers send up prayers for the Obama family. This has nothing to do with whether or not you are voting for him. Death threats are real. I request that all prayer that the Almighty protect the Obama family.

If it truly were a war on terror they would arrest the KKK.

Congratulations to Barack Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:36:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Congratulations to people of African descent who were fighting for the ability to vote forty years ago and were fighting to have their votes counted just four years ago in the USA. Furthermore, kudos to humanity who will reep what we have sown. Last night proved that many of us humans have sown courage, vision, and unity.

US Army Bombing of Palestine Hotel Intentional

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
On April eight 2003 two foreign journalists were murdered by the shelling of a U.S. Army tank. The U.S. has maintained that they did not order an attack on the hotel. However, former Sergent Adrianne Kinne claimed that the Army listed the bombing of the Palestine hotel as a "potential target" while interviewing with award winning journalist Amy Goodman.

When she learned of this target her job was to intercept phone calls from various groups including nongovernmental organizations, a criminal action.

Sergent Kinne said,
“[W]e were listening to journalists who were staying in the Palestine Hotel. And I remember that, specifically because during the buildup to ‘shock and awe’ ... we were given a list of potential targets in Baghdad, and the Palestine Hotel was listed. [P]utting one and one together, I went to my officer in charge, and I told him that there are journalists staying at this hotel who think they’re safe, and yet we have this hotel listed as a potential target, and somehow the dots are not being connected here, and shouldn’t we make an effort to make sure that the right people know the situation? And unfortunately, my officer in charge ... basically told me that it was not my job to analyze ... someone somewhere higher up the chain knew what they were doing.”

She said the officer in charge was Warrant Officer John Berry.

Yet another example of overt lying and criminal activity by the Badministration.
Inform others, take back your country, and seize your freedom.
If it truly were a war on terror they'd arrest the KKK.

Basic Journalism

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:08:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
Stellar journalists Amy and David Goodman are pictured to the right of the text. They make me wonder why typical U.S. media lies on a regular basis.

Their brand of journalism is direct, local, broad, hard hitting, and honest. It's not lefty radio. It's not right wing. It's just journalism. What state are we in when basic journalism becomes noteworthy?

If there truly were a war on terror they'd arrest the KKK.

Blidget Promo BadgeWidgetbox

UnCounted

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 05:58:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

I've just returned from a screening of UnCounted. Uncounted is a documentary film by David Earbgardt that discusses various problems with the US electoral process. Blogger Brad Friedman of http://www.brad blog.com/ was also present along with David Machaan playing host to the ever illustrious Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland Ca USA.

This was the finest documentary I have seen on this subject to date and I believe that I have seen all of them. I highly recommend it. Documentation was thorough. Plot progression was lucid. They cited wherever necessary. Above average A/B/C list interviewees. Congressman John Conyers, Brad the blogger, and a common citizen who witnessed a perplexing blackout in his voter precinct while lights were working perfectly fine just across the street.

I must say that despite the aftertaste of hope that the film intentionally left in our mouths I fear the worst for America's democratic process. If elections have indeed been stolen; what is the need for an election? '08 is in jeopardy.

If it truly were a war on terror they'd arrest the KKK.

10 Million + Emails... "Lost"

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:29:00 +0000

Still think the Badministration gives a crap about the Constitution? Think again.

The e-mails in question date from March 2003 to October 2005 — a crucial period that includes the Iraq invasion, a presidential election and Hurricane Katrina.

1994: Executive Office of the President (EOP) implements Automated Records Management System (ARMS) integration with e-mail clients for secure archiving of White House e-mails. ARMS automatically segregate, categorizes and archives e-mails according to whether they fall under Presidential Records Act or Federal Records Act.

1996-1998: White House IT staffer claims in U.S. District Court affidavits that e-mails coming into one White House server were not archived over a 27-month period.

1997: White House Staff manual establishes policy for staff to only use ARMS-supported e-mail clients (Lotus Notes and Oasis All-In-1) for all official communications.

2002-2003: Executive Office of the President switches from Lotus Notes to Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) Exchange Server and Outlook e-mail client. ARMS integration with Lotus Notes discontinued, not replaced with similar secure archival system for Microsoft Outlook. Presidential records and federal records no longer segregated and archived in separate storage servers.

March 2003-October 2005: Some 5 million EOP e-mails deleted from servers, representing hundreds of days of missing created or received White House e-mails, according to Office of Administration.

Oct. 2005: In response to government subpoenas, OA discovers missing e-mails, begins investigating how this happened.

Feb. 2006: CIA leak case prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald writes that numerous White House emails from 2003 are missing from White House computer archives.

April 2007: White House Press Secretary Dana Perino "wouldn't rule out" that 5 million e-mails lost in EOP system. Perino later says they "should be" on backup tapes. To date, White House has not shown evidence of the missing e-mails being restored via backup tapes.

May 2007: OA counsel Keith Roberts tells House Oversight Committee an outside IT contractor was responsible for "daily audits" of e-mail archive system.

Aug. 2007: Oversight Committee chair Henry Waxman asks White House to name unnamed IT contractor by Sept. 10. As of Oct. 3, committee has not received an answer.

--With additional reporting by Joseph F. Kovar.

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:04:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

The Elders attempt to bring relief to Darfur

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:57:00 +0000

Thirteen former world leaders and present-day activists led by Nelson Mandela called yesterday for the swift supplying and dispatch of a 26,000-member U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to bring security to the western Sudanese region of Darfur and end the killing, rape and pillaging there.

The group, which calls itself the Elders, includes former president Jimmy Carter, former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan, Bangladeshi microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mandela's wife, Graca Machel.

There is a serious risk, he cautioned, that the 2005 peace agreement that ended a separate conflict between northern and southern Sudan may collapse.

Machel, speaking by telephone from Mozambique, said

"Rape has become a norm,"

The Elders have behind-the-scenes access to powerful world figures.

Tutu: "Maybe we can persuade some to use their leverage," he said. "This thing has gone on for too long."

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Arrests Give Lie to Thug Life Depiction of Taylor Murder--and Black Males

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:12:00 +0000

This blog was initially posted on The Huffington Post by Earl Ofari Hutchinson; one of my favorite political bloggers.

The Sean Taylor murder ignited what has to rank as the dumbest, wrong-headed orgy of stereotype laced speculation in living memory. The instant the Washington Redskins all-pro safety was gunned down in his suburban Miami-Dade County home, a pack of talking head sports analysts, writers, and fans filled the airwaves and newsprint with their see I told you so pontifications that Taylor's alleged thug life style did him in.

The initial accounts of his murder fed ample fuel to the contention of the self-styled experts that the supposed self-destructive ghetto culture has done in countless numbers of young black males. Taylor, of course, was the latest, but by no means the only tragic example of that. They insisted without a shred of evidence that the break-in at his home was not random, that he was a target, and that the killing was a hit.

The initial news accounts were a heavy handed pile on of Taylor's misdeeds, run-ins and altercations with the law. Subsequent news accounts dropped the obsessive itemizing of the full litany of Taylor's missteps. But they still managed to do a sneaky broken record sounding reminder that Taylor had had past problems with the law. That further imprinted in much of the public's skulls that Taylor was a bad guy and that there had to be a direct connect between his past, that really wasn't past, and the murder.
The arrest of four suspects in the Taylor killing, of course, makes the speculation seem just what it was dumb, and ill-informed and worse driven by the skewed, negative typecast of young black males such as Taylor as inherently crime-prone, dysfunctional, menaces to society. The four suspects by their own admission went to the home solely to commit a burglary and not to kill Taylor. There is no evidence that any of them were acquaintances of Taylor, let alone that he had any unsavory dealings with them.

Yet the ease in which so many blithely jumped to the conclusion that Taylor was a victim of his past is no surprise. It fit neatly the standard, and all too infuriating pattern that when a young black male, even, or maybe especially, a famed black athlete or celebrity meets tragedy, the automatic assumption is that the violence was organically linked to their criminal or checkered lifestyle. The usual suspects are gangs, drugs, bad crowd, and the wallow by young black males in hip hop, and rap music that glorifies and encourages gangsterism, misogyny, rebellion, and anti-social behavior.

Other than his reputation as an aggressive, hard hitting player, with a bit of swagger, and that's sanctioned fare in football jock culture and reveled in by the fans, there was absolutely no evidence that Taylor remotely fit the bad guy image on the streets. Friends, relatives, teammates, Redskin coaches and management repeatedly told of a young man who was a quiet, introverted, stay at home, family man. They also burst with pride and admiration that Taylor was fast evolving into a respected team leader. This was the diametric opposite of the stereotypical, chip on the shoulder, troubled image of young black males that many believe, or want to believe.

There were two tragedies in the Taylor murder. The first is the murder itself. It snuffed out the life of a talented, promising, young man who was well on his way to becoming a solid role model and leader for his teammates and other young players, and in time may well have been that same solid role model off the field as well.

The second is that for an enraging instant it gave the legions of know it alls the irresistible chance to point the blame finger at the killer lifestyle that supposedly ensnares all young black males, and that included Taylor. Fortunately, the arrests of the suspects and their confession of what actually happened that fateful evening at the Taylor home gives lie to that notion. But even in Taylor's death, and even after the truth came out about it, the truth is still a casualty to stereotypes. Witness this, every news account of the arrests, confessions, and background on information on the suspects, was still punctuated with the reminder of Taylor's scrapes with the law. The thug life fascination with black males is still very much alive and kicking in some press rooms, and beyond.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press)
hutchinsonreport@aol.com
Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Update [rev 2]: Jena 6 vs Racist Retards

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:17:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
In Jena, Louisiana, the seventeen year old Mychal Bell -- one of the Jena Six -- has been released on bail after ten months in prison. Bell and five other African American high school students were arrested last year for beating a white student during a schoolyard fight. The fight occurred after white students hung three nooses in a tree in the schoolyard. An all-white jury convicted Bell of aggravated second-degree battery. But earlier this month a Louisiana appeals court ruled he should not have been tried as an adult. On Thursday, Bell walked out of prison on a forty-five thousand dollar bail bond. His release came hours after District Attorney Reed Walters announced he would not challenge the ruling ordering Bell’s release.

Reed Walters:

"There is a victim in this case, his name is Justin Barker. I want everyone to know that the decision I am about to announce is based upon what I believe is best for him I have decided not to appeal the decision of the third circuit court of appeals that overturned the conviction of Mychal Bell in adult court and sent the case back to juvenile court. This means the case against Mychal Bell will now go forward in Juvenile Court."

Mychal Bell’s release comes one week to the day after tens of thousands of people gathered from across the nation to support the Jena Six. In his press conference, Walters shared his thoughts on the historic march.

Reed Walters:

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."

Time Off

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 03:49:00 +0000

Sorry about the time off that I have taken from posting guys and gals. I am involved in a demanding crime prevention project in Oakland, Ca. I will return to regular blogging late next week.

For more information on my project go to
http://nocoloredsinoakland.com

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America

Update [rev 2]: Jena 6 vs Racist Retards

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 16:58:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
Today, Judge Judge J.P. Mauffray allowed the conviction of second-degree battery and conspiracy to stand. Antithetically, Mauffray ruled that Mychal Bell was improperly tried in adult court instead of as a juvenile.

The attempted murder charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw have also been reduced. They are now charged with aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. That's some pressure the racist power structure has imposed upon Judge Mauffray. Perhaps some of you are content with the sentence reductions. Not I. The fact that Mauffray ruled Mychal Bell's trial as improper lets me know that he understands the injustice that sustains the Jena 6 story. Why did Mauffray decrease the sentence but deny the overturn? These children's lives are in danger. Looks like this racist judge is attempting to remove his guilt. We've seen that movie before.

For example; during Katrina the black neighbor of a white fire-fighter coordinated rescue workers (no not the Red Cross-- loving, ex-offenders) in order to save lives. One of the supposed shortages was clean water. The government told citizens that there was no clean water.

The fire-fighter explained to his neighbor that in fact the water in a town just outside of NOLA did in fact have clean water. He further explained that orders were given to the firemen not to enlighten the citizens about the clean water because the government wanted the "those people" out of the city. In other words, government wanted black people out of NOLA so badly they allowed many to die, unnecessarily, rather than lead them to clean water.

Now of course the fireman thought he was acting as a good Samaritan. After all, he did tell his black neighbor about the conspiracy. But you see, the fireman was a punk. So he told one black man about the conspiracy. So what?! He should have told the world! People died because they believed there was no clean water. That was a lie and the fireman knew it.

In the case of the Jena 6; Judge Mauffray reduced the sentence when he should have overturned the racist ruling altogether. This nation is governed by a gang of sissies. The NOLA firemen are sissies, Judge Mauffray is a sissy, the Democratic Congress are full of sissies. If we the people became one in purpose we could easily overthrow the soft, racist, criminal establishment.

We see their game plan. Jack gas prices way up-- then drop down about 30% in hopes that you'll be satisfied in the "decrease" in oil prices. It's not a decrease in oil prices! Two weeks ago you charged me $2.30/gal, a week later you charged me $3.00/gal, now you're charging me $2.59! You raised the oil prices, you did not decrease them! (Watch the format.)

The Jena 6 should not have been in jail in the first flippin place. They put them in jail. Charged them with murder. Now they dropped the charges from murder to conspiracy. They did not "reduce" the charges! They are not doing the children, their family, outraged human beings all over the world any favor by "reducing" the sentences. There should not have been any sentences in the first place. Would the real southern baptists please stand up in Jena Louisiana?

Read how Theo Sha describes his first experience in jail.

"They maced one time. It was on March the 14th. I had asthma. I told them. They already knew this. I had asthma, take me originally to the emergency room. ...I couldn’t breathe.

Bear in mind that there were six people in two cells that were abut each other. Twelve young men in close proximity to one another.

"Sometimes when they make a lot of noise, they’ll mace. And sometimes they just mace for no reason. ... It happened more than one time."

Theo also expressed his gratitude for the support of The United Fakes of America subscribers as well as the just people across this country.

"I just thank them for the -- appreciate it, all the help that we get. ...we’ve got people that are not scared to stand up for what’s right."

Rest assured that we thank you for your bravery and classy attitude against these odds as well Theo, Robert, Mychal, Carwin, Bryant, and unnamed.

If it truly were a war on terror they'd arrest Reed Walters and the KKK (probably one in the same).

Update [rev 1]: Jena 6 vs Racist Retards

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 16:50:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
I will write an op-ed regarding this update later tonight. This rush to post is an effort to provide my readers with the absolute latest in this story. The following clip was gathered directly from the wire.

Checkout this clip at clipmarks.com

Aug. 31, 2007 – The superintendent of the central Louisiana school district – where six Black students were charged with beating a White schoolmate – says a t-shirt in support of the student is just too disruptive.

On Tuesday, nine students sported “Free the Jena 6” t-shirts at Jena High School, a racial hornets’ nest where nooses hung on a tree by White youths triggered the December 2006 fight that landed the Black students in jail. When school officials saw the shirts, they insisted that they had to go because they caused too much of an uproar.

Mychal Bell, another one of the teens, saw his charge reduced to aggravated battery, for which he was convicted; he now faces up to 22 years in prison. The other four teens are still awaiting trial on attempted murder and conspiracy charges.

La. school officials say the "Free Jena 6" t-shirts are too disruptive and must go.

The school Superintendent also said, "The tee shirts are a threat to the order of the campus."

If it truly were a war on terror they'd arrest the KKK.

Hurricane Katrina; The Second Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Charles Reynolds) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:40:00 +0000

Subscribe to The United Fakes of America
<

The government, in the words of Ray Nagin continues to think "small". Somehow, President George Bush claims,

"this city is getting better."

Tens of thousands of Katrina victims, now homeless, would contend with him.

If it truly were a war on terror they'd arrest the KKK.