NOTICE OF AMHERST COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS

NOTICE  OF  AMHERST  COUNTY DEMOCRATIC  CAUCUS

The Amherst County Democratic Committee hereby announces that it will hold an assembled caucus beginning at 7:30 PM on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the Amherst County Public Library, 200 River James Shopping Center, Madison Heights, VA for the purpose of electing 10 delegates  and  2 alternates to the  6th Congressional District Democratic Convention (May 19th, Lexington, VA) and the 2012 Virginia Democratic State Convention (June 2nd, Fairfax, VA).

Any person wishing to seek election as a delegate or alternate must file with David Burford, Chair of the Amherst County Democratic Committee, 178 Trents Landing Road, Madison Heights, VA 24572, no later than 5:00 PM, Wednesday, April 18, 2012.     A voluntary administrative fee of $10.00 (which may be waived) will be collected at the time of filing for those wishing to be elected as delegate or alternate, a $5.00 for the 6th Congressional District Convention, and a $10 fee for the 2012 Virginia Democratic State Convention.

There is no charge for those wishing to attend and vote at the caucus.

Doors to the caucus will open at 6:30 PM for check-in.   Any person attending the caucus, before participating in such caucus, shall sign a standardized Caucus Participation Form stating that he or she is a Democrat, does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the ensuing general election, believes in the principles of the Democratic Party, and is a registered voter in Amherst County.    

Caucus Participation Forms must be filled out at the caucus prior to participating in the caucus.     At 7:30 PM the doors to the caucus will be closed and no person may complete a form and participate in the caucus after that time, with the exception of those persons in line at 7:30 PM.

If only one person files for each delegate and alternate position, the caucus will be canceled.     In this event the Chair will publicly announce the cancellation, proclaim the individuals properly filed as the duly nominated delegates and alternates, and so advise those individuals.

For further information, contact David Burford, Amherst County Democratic Committee, at 434-384-1731 or by email at dave_burford@verizon.net.

Authorized and paid for by the Amherst County Democratic Committee

PO Box 1411, Amherst, VA  24521

Dear Friends,

 

Calling all Amherst Dems!     Would you like to attend the Congressional District Convention, the State Democratic Convention, or the BIG ONE - the Democratic National Convention?

Well, it all starts right here.     Read the Call to Caucus below and request the Pre-Filing Form by return email to start the ball rolling.

PLEASE forward this message to others who may not be getting email.    If there was ever a time to get involved in an election year, it's now.     No experience necessary, and you can do as much or as little as you like.    The important thing is that we all do something.

LOTS of INFO BELOW - PLEASE READ ON ...

 Monday, April 23rd, 6:30 PM  -  A Caucus will be held to elect delegates and alternates to the 6th Congressional District Democratic Convention AND the State Democratic Convention. Scroll down for details.    This Caucus is also the first step for anyone seeking election to the Democratic National Convention.

 

Any questions about being a Delegate or Alternate, please call or write David Burford - 434-384-1731, 434-841-7420, dave_burford@verizon.net.

Watch for more NEWS & INFORMATION ... Coming Soon ...

2012 Amherst County Call to Caucus
 NOTICE OF AMHERST COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS

The Amherst County Democratic Committee hereby announces that it will hold an assembled caucus beginning at 7:30 PM on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the Amherst County Public Library, 200 River James Shopping Center, Madison Heights, VA for the purpose of electing 10 delegates and 2 alternates to the 6th Congressional District Democratic Convention (May 19th, Lexington, VA) and the 2012 Virginia Democratic State Convention (June 2nd, Fairfax, VA).

Any person wishing to seek election as a delegate or alternate must file with David Burford, Chair of the Amherst County Democratic Committee, 178 Trents Landing Road, Madison Heights, VA 24572, no later than 5:00 PM, Wednesday, April 18, 2012.    A voluntary administrative fee of $10.00 (which may be waived) will be collected at the time of filing for those wishing to be elected as delegate or alternate, a $5.00 for the 6th Congressional District Convention, and a $10 fee for the 2012 Virginia Democratic State Convention.

There is no charge for those wishing to attend and vote at the caucus.

Doors to the caucus will open at 6:30 PM for check-in.    Any person attending the caucus, before participating in such caucus, shall sign a standardized Caucus Participation Form stating that he or she is a Democrat, does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the ensuing general election, believes in the principles of the Democratic Party, and is a registered voter in Amherst County.    Caucus Participation Forms must be filled out at the caucus prior to participating in the caucus.

At 7:30 PM the doors to the caucus will be closed and no person may complete a form and participate in the caucus after that time, with the exception of those persons in line at 7:30 PM.

If only one person files for each delegate and alternate position, the caucus will be canceled.     In this event the Chair will publicly announce the cancellation, proclaim the individuals properly filed as the duly nominated delegates and alternates, and so advise those individuals.

For further information, contact David Burford, Amherst County Democratic Committee, at 434-384-1731 or by email at dave_burford@verizon.net.
COUNTY  NEWS

Amherst Virginia Headlines

Amherst, VA News

Republicans Have Nothing to Say

Republicans are desperate.     They can’t attack Obama on jobs because the jobs picture is improving.

Their attack on the Administration’s rule requiring insurers to cover contraception has backfired, raising hackles even among many Republican women.

Their attack on Obama for raising gas prices has elicited scorn from economists of all persuasions who know oil prices are set in global markets and that demand in the United States has actually fallen.

Their presidential ambitions are being trampled in a furious fraternal war among Republican candidates.

Their Tea Party wing wants to reopen the budget deal forged with Democrats after Republicans got bloodied by threatening to block an increase in the debt limit.

So what are Republicans to do now?     What they always do when they have nothing else to say.

Call for a tax cut, of course.

It doesn’t matter that their new   “tax reform”   plan (leaked to the Wall Street Journal late Monday, to be released Tuesday morning) has as much chance of being enacted as Herman Cain has of being elected president.

It doesn’t matter than the plan doesn’t detail how they plan to pay for the tax cuts.     Or whether an even bigger whack would have to be taken out of Medicare than Paul Ryan’s original voucher plan – which would drowned many elderly under rising medical costs.

It doesn’t even matter that the plan would probably raise taxes on many lower-income Americans,    All that matters is the headlines.

“House Republican Budget to Propose Lower Income Tax Rates,” says Bloomberg Businessweek.     “Republican Budget Plan Seeks to Play Up Tax Reform,”    says Reuters.     “GOP’s Budget Targets Taxes,”   blares the Wall Street Journal.

Presto.    Republicans have gotten what they wanted on the basis of saying absolutely nothing.

Robert Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley.    He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton.    He has written thirteen books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, Supercapitalism, and his most recent book, Aftershock.   

His  "Marketplace"  commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.    He is also Common Cause's board chairman.


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POLITICAL


Mitt Not Smart Enough To Quit and Go Home

Mitt Romney has been running for president for six years – and he still can't seal the deal.

After losing the Republican nomination to John McCain in 2008, Romney became the presumptive nominee this time around.

The problem is, no one told the rank-and-file Republicans.

Rick shot to the top of the GOP Mountain for about 5 days till his memory failed him at a debate and he disappeared.

Herman recently learned that harrass is one word and that it does not refer to the posterior portion of the human body.     Imagine how much money it would have saved him to learn that earlier.

And instead of a coronation for Romney,  Republican voters have spent the past year holding tryouts for candidates to fill the anyone-but-Romney slot.

They’ve gone from Rick Perry to Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and now Rick Santorum.     And if Santorum's sweep this week didn't shake Romney up, it should have. 

Compared with Romney, Santorum has little money or organization. But conservative voters like him.

For many, the bottom line is that Romney just hasn't been able to connect.     He is seen as out of touch, too scripted and even aloof.

Think about the infamous $10,000 bet he offered during one debate or his comment that he's not that worried about the very poor. 

Think about how he likes to fire people and his wife's two caddies and the elevator in his new home for his vehicles and how the trees are just the right heigth or the piddling little amount he made giving speeches ($347,000).     This man is ill equipped to relate to normal working people.

Furthermore, it's not really clear what Romney's message is, other than attacking President Obama.     As Howard Kurtz writes in the Daily Beast, Romney  "lacks an animating idea that would bring voters to their feet."

Romney is still the likely Republican nominee.    However, with low voter turnout and a lack of enthusiasm among Republicans, there are signs that he might not fare that well against Obama.

Mitt is Obsessed with being President.     Mitt has thrown awy over 50 million dollars of his own money chasing the position and several times that of rich supporters money.     Voters just aren't that fond of Mitt and it is well known that he will say anything to pander to an audience.

THE MITT ROMNEY CRISIS transcends the seven straight national polls showing Rick Santorum in the lead.    It goes
beyond the embarrassing reality that the son of an auto executive and two-term governor has been behind in every Michigan poll conducted since Groundhog’s Day.     Even more devastating for Romney is that elite Republicans have begun to conclude that he cannot, if nominated, beat Barack Obama.     About the only argument that still works for Romney among GOP insiders is that he would be less of a drag on the ticket than the strident Santorum
or the mercurial Newt Gingrich.

Newt owned the red neck, right wing, cracker, bigot vote lock stock and barrell.     This voting block is also known as the republican base.

With the exception of Mike Dukakis (what is it about governors of Massachusetts?),  it is impossible to recall a top-tier presidential contender who aroused such little passion among the voters. Perhaps Bob Dole in 1996—but if the Bobster didn't inspire awe in Republican voters, he could at least count on their respect.

Compared to Dole's status as a former vice-presidential nominee, Senate leader, and war hero, Romney's boasts about the 2002 Winter Olympics and his single term as governor suffer from transparent grade inflation.

Of course, other major presidential contenders have faced the political abyss and managed to rebound to win the nomination.   But no one has ever quite faced Romney’s particular double whammy of problems:  that he's not very well liked by voters while

NOT Mitt's Dog Seamus

simultaneously being considered ideologically suspect by party activists.    Romney can find plenty of precedents in recent presidential history, but none of them will provide much solace.

Bill Clinton (1992). Roughly one million male babies were born in America between August 1946 and March 1947.    Among them, it is hard to imagine two that had less in common (other than high IQ’s) than Romney and Clinton.     In 1992, facing furors over both Gennifer Flowers and his Vietnam draft record, Clinton begged New Hampshire voters for a second chance telling them,   “I’ll be with you until the last dog dies.”     If Romney tried to turn on 
the charisma in an effort to morph into the Comeback Kid, it would come out as something wooden like:    “Well, gosh. I will be with you using the job-creation skills that I learned in the private sector until we get Seamus off the car roof.” 

I could not believe the lies GW Bush told about me.    GW and Karl are both scum.

George W. Bush (2000).     After John McCain won the New Hampshire primary in a 19-point landslide,  Bush was in danger of losing not only his aura of inevitability but also the nomination itself.    McCain had a potent issue (campaign reform) while Bush had his family pedigree and bromides about   “compassionate conservatism.”    With Bush facing potential defeat in the South Carolina primary, Karen Hughes pulled off one of the most brazen acts of political repackaging in recent history.    At a South Carolina rally, Bush was suddenly proclaimed as the  "Reformer With Results"   even though he had displayed scant interest in campaign reform as Texas governor.    This adroit blurring of McCain’s message played a major role in the Bush bounce back.

Romney might admire the cynicism of the Bush gambit, but the man from Bain Capital has already gone through more costume changes than the Royal Shakespeare Company.     Each time Romney claims to be something he isn’t, he excavates deeper into his personal credibility gap.     At CPAC earlier this month, he boldly tried to recast his moderate record as Massachusetts’ governor as a bit to the right of Calvin Coolidge.     But Romney was not satisfied with his speech text claiming to have been a “conservative governor.”     So, with his unerring instinct for insincere bombast, Romney ad-libbed that he was a “severely conservative governor.”

The solution to many problems of political authenticity is for the candidate to abandon the dictates of his handlers and just go with his instincts.     The problem for Romney is that the doctrine of  “Let Mitt Be Mitt”   would probably produce a candidate with the warmth of a business consultant and the inner conviction of a market-based algorithm.     In short, hiding behind that Mitt Romney mask is (yikes) another Mitt Romney mask.

John Kerry (2004). Unable to compete with Howard Dean’s antiwar fervor and John Edwards’ ersatz populism, Kerry was flailing in the weeks before the Iowa caucuses.     Despite rivaling Romney with his frosty demeanor  (what is it about Massachusetts?),   Kerry prevailed by convincing Democrats that his war record offered the party a formula for victory in November.     After his back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the Massachusetts senator romped to the nomination as a rare modern candidate whose calling card was his purported electability.

Kerry boasted an advantage in the 2004 race that Romney lacks—a 20-year record of ideological consistency.     Like all of his rivals except for Dean, Kerry erred in initially voting for the Iraq War.     But Kerry, who made his initial reputation as a soldier turned Vietnam critic, never had any major problems convincing party activists that he was a liberal who had made an isolated mistake.

Romney, in contrast, went into this campaign offering Republican activists little more than the promise that he would be the strongest candidate against Obama.     But as Romney’s scorched-earth campaign tactics drive down his general-election poll numbers and his campaign-trail awkwardness jeopardizes his argument for electability, he is left without a rationale for his candidacy.     If Republicans don’t feel good about Romney and don’t think he will win in November, then why would they vote for him in the primaries?

The brutal truth is that there are some business-school problems that are as hard to solve as Fermat’s Last Theorem.     A new marketing campaign or a clever slogan cannot save a dog food that the dogs don’t like.     So too is it with the Romney campaign.    At this point, his only hope is to prevail by using about the oldest argument in politics:    “The other guys are worse.”     And considering the caliber of his opponents (the Three Horsemen of the Republican Apocalypse), Mitt Romney may just get away with it in the primary. But this is not the stuff that promising general election campaigns are made of.

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Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin, Meet The New Boss same as the Old Boss

Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American boy who was murdered in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman.     Till was from Chicago, Illinois visiting his relatives in the Mississippi Delta region when he spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the married proprietor of a small grocery store.     Several nights later, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam arrived at Till's great-uncle's house where they took Till, transported him to a barn, beat him and gouged out one of his eyes, before shooting him through the head and disposing of his body in the Tallahatchie River, weighting it with a 70-pound (32 kg) cotton gin fan tied around his neck with barbed wire.     His body was discovered and retrieved from the river three days later.

Mississippi bigots decided 14 year old Emmett Till should die for speaking to a grown white woman and they made it happen.

Till was returned to Chicago and his mother, who had raised him mostly by herself, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing.     Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were published in black magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the country critical of the state.     Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually transformed into support for the killers.     The trial attracted a vast amount of press attention. Bryant and Milam were acquitted of Till's kidnapping and murder, but months later, protected by double jeopardy, they admitted to killing him in a magazine interview.    Till's murder is noted as a pivotal event motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

Till's Mother insisted on an open casket funeral so the world could see the brutality of the Mississippi murder.

Problems identifying Till affected the trial, partially leading to Bryant's and Milam's acquittals, and the case was officially reopened by the United States Department of Justice in 2004.     As part of the investigation, the body was exhumed and autopsied resulting in a positive identification.     He was reburied in a new casket, which is the standard practice in cases of body exhumation. His original casket was donated to the Smithsonian Institution. Events surrounding Emmett Till's life and death, according to historians, continue to resonate with people, and almost every story about Mississippi returns to Till, or the region in which he died, in "some spiritual, homing way".

When I was a kid I heard Bob Dylan sing about Emmitt Till (in 1962).   The lyrics to the song are listed below.

Bob Dylan

Twas down in Mississippi not so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago walked through a Southern door.

This boy's fateful tragedy you should all remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till.

Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.
They said they had a reason, but I disremember what.
They tortured him and did some things too evil to repeat.

There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was
laughing sounds out on the street.

Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a blood-red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming pain.  The reason that they killed him there,

and I'm sure it was no lie,

Was just for the fun of killin' him and to watch him slowly die.
('cause he was born a black skinned boy, he was born to die)
And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial,
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor
Emmett Till.

But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers
commit this awful crime,

And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.

I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walkin' down the courthouse stairs.
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went free,
While Emmett's body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern sea.

If you can't speak out against this kind of thing,

a crimethat's so unjust,

Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt,
your mind is filled with dust.

Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains,
andyour blood it must refuse to flow,

For you let this human race fall down so God-awful low!

This song is just a reminder to remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today in that
ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan.

But if all us folks that thinks alike,
if we gave all we could give, 
We could make this great land of ours a greater place to live.

Bob Dylan

"The Death of Emmett Till", also known as "The Ballad of Emmett Till", is a song by American musician Bob Dylan about the murder of Emmett Till, which occurred on August 28, 1955. Till, a 14-year-old African American, was killed on August 28, 1955 by two white men.

All the years between the above and today were reconnected in Sanford Florida a few weeks ago when another young black child was murdered and the police department sought to cover it up.

The name this time Trayvon Martin.   And once again it was a young black child.   The killers change but the killed remain the same.   Its time for us to value all children, black, white, brown or yellow or any other shade or color children might be born to.   No matter which race you are affixed to it is ok to stand up for children.   It is the proper thing to do.   It is not right to turn your eyes away and stand silent.

Trayvon Martin

Residents in the Sanford, FL community are angry after a 17-year-old black high school junior was shot and killed by a latino neighborhood-watch captain more than two weeks ago.

Police Mug Shot of George Zimmerman

On February 26th, Trayvon Martin was walking home from 7-Eleven when he was met by George Zimmerman, 28, the neighborhood watch captain.     They ended up getting into a confrontation; ultimately leading to Trayvon's death.

STORY: HE HAS A NAME: Trayvon Martin, Shot & Killed By His Own Neighborhood Watch

Zimmerman called police before the shooting, saying there was “someone suspicious” afoot, but the police told him not to engage.

STORY: Oh No! Man Who Shot & Killed Trayvon Martin Walks Free

Zimmerman told police that the incident was in self-defense.

The growing sentiment felt by Sanford residents is that not only did the police free Zimmerman, but their slow footed treatment of the investigation shows that they don’t care.     Zimmerman is Latino and the teen was black.

The town of Sanford is known for its racist past, it was founded by laborers in the late 19th century, and Goldsboro, once an active center of black life, became the second town in Florida incorporated by blacks.

But in 1911, Sanford stripped Goldsboro of its charter and took it over.     The streets, named after its black pioneers, were immediately renamed.

Ulysees Cunningham, an 80-year-old retired contractor, has lived in Sanford for most of his life and remembers the days of segregation very well.

The Sanford police also has a checkered past.     Scandals involving former police chiefs, along with shootings of other black victims have garnered questions about how the Sanford police conduct their investigations.

The town of Sanford and its police department are in the national spotlight with the shooting death of Trayvon, so it’s important to know why the town is the way it is.

For instance, Sanford has a per capita income of $20,000 a year, and barely a third of its 54,000 residents are black, according to 2010 U.S. census data.

White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious!      by Michael Skolnik

I will never look suspicious to you.    Even if I have a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white sneakers on.....in fact, that is what I wore yesterday.....I still will never look suspicious.     No matter how much the hoodie covers my face or how baggie my jeans are, I will never look out of place to you.     I will never watch a taxi cab pass me by to pick someone else up.     I will never witness someone clutch their purse tightly against their body as they walk by me.     I won't have to worry about a police car following me for two miles, so they can "run my plates."     I will never have to pay before I eat. And I certainly will never get "stopped and frisked."     I will never look suspicious to you, because of one thing and one thing only.  The color of my skin.  I am white.

I was born white.    It was the card I was dealt.    No choice in the matter.    Just the card handed out by the dealer.   I have lived my whole life privileged.   Privileged to be born without a glass ceiling. Privileged to grow up in the richest country in the world. 

  Privileged to never look suspicious.    I have no guilt for the color of my skin or the privilege that I have.     Remember, it was just the next card that came out of the deck.     But, I have choices.     I got choices on how I play the hand I was dealt.     I got a lot of options.  The ball is in my court. 

So, today I decided to hit the ball.  Making a choice.     A choice to stand up for Trayvon Martin. 17 years old. black. innocent. murdered with a bag of skittles and a bottle of ice tea in his hands. "Suspicious." that is what the guy who killed him said he looked like cause he had on a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white 
sneakers.  But, remember I had on that same outfit yesterday.   And yes my Air Force Ones were "brand-new" clean.    After all, I was raised in hip-hop...part of our dress code.    I digress.    Back to Trayvon and the gated community in Sanford, Florida, where he was visiting his father. 

I got a lot of emails about Trayvon.    I have read a lot of articles.    I have seen a lot of television segments.   The message is consistent.  Most of the commentators, writers, op-ed pages agree.   Something went wrong.    Trayvon was murdered.    Racially profiled. Race. America's elephant that never seems to leave the room.    But, the
part that doesn't sit well with me is that all of the messengers of this message are all black too.    I mean, it was only two weeks ago when almost every white person I knew was tweeting about stopping a brutal African warlord from killing more innocent children.     And they even took thirty minutes out of their busy schedules to watch a movie about dude.  They bought t-shirts.  Some bracelets.     Even tweeted at Rihanna to take a stance. 
But, a 17 year old American kid is followed and then ultimately killed by a neighborhood vigilante who happens to be carrying a semi-automatic weapon and my white friends are quiet.     Eerily quiet.    Not even a trending topic for the young man.

We've heard the 911 calls.    We seen the 13 year old witness.    We've read the letter from the alleged killer's father.    We listened to the anger of the family's attorney.     We've felt the pain of Trayvon's mother.     For heaven's sake, for 24 hours he was a deceased John Doe at the hospital because even the police couldn't believe that maybe he LIVES in the community.     There are still some facts to figure out.     There are still some questions to be answered.     But, let's be clear.     Let's be very, very clear.    Before the neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, started following him against the better judgement of the 911 dispatcher.  Before any altercation.     Before any self-defense claim.     Before Travyon's cries for help were heard on the 911 tapes.     Before the bullet hit him dead in the chest.     Before all of this.     He was suspicious.    He was suspicious.  suspicious.   And you know, like I know, it wasn't because of the hoodie or the jeans or the sneakers.  Cause I had on that same outfit yesterday and no one called 911 saying I was just wandering around their neighborhood.     It was because of one thing and one thing only.     Trayvon is black.

So I've made the choice today to tell my white friends that the rights I take for granted are only valid if I fight to give those same rights to others.    The taxi cab.   The purse.   The meal.   The police car. The police.   These are all things I've taken for granted. 

So, I fight for Trayvon Martin.    I fight for Amadou Diallo.    I fight for Rodney King.    I fight for every young black man who looks "suspicious" to someone who thinks they have the right to take away their freedom to walk through their own neighborhood.     I fight against my own stereotypes and my own suspicions.    I fight for people whose ancestors built this country, literally, and who are still treated like second class citizens.    Being quiet is not an option, for we have been too quiet for too long.

Michael Skolnik is the Editor-In-Chief of GlobalGrind.com and the political director to Russell Simmons.    Prior to this, Michael was an award-winning filmmaker. Follow him on twitter @MichaelSkolnik

Police Chief Bill Lee who was Under Fire With 'No Confidence' Vote has announced that he will step aside as of 3:45 PM east Coast time.   (March 22, 2012)

Trayvon Martin's parents to meet with Justice officials.

Justice Department officials plan to meet Thursday with the parents of teenager Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in an Orlando suburb last month.

The federal agency has launched a civil rights investigation into the case that has riveted the nation.    Martin's family believes race was a factor in the black teenager's death.

The meeting comes after Martin's parents joined demonstrators in New York on Wednesday evening in a rally calling for justice.    Another rally, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, is planned for Thursday night at a church in Sanford, a racially mixed city of about 50,000 people just north of Orlando.

Martin was shot February 26 while walking to the house of his father's fiancee after a trip to a convenience store.    George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader, said he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense.

Zimmerman has not been arrested.    A police report calls him a white male; his family says that he is Hispanic and that he has wrongly been described as a racist.

The uproar over Martin's death has reverberated nationwide with demands for Zimmerman's arrest and scrutiny of police actions.
Nearly 1 million people have signed a petition on Change.org urging prosecution for Zimmerman.    Thursday morning, the petition was getting 1,000 signatures per minute, said Noland Chambliss, communications manager for Change.org.

Numerous attempts to contact   George Zimmerman  have been unsuccessful and the Sanford Police do not know his where abouts.    It is more than clear the police blew this case.     The question is why were they so lax.    Was Zimmerman an informer working with the police?     Did he cut the deal during a previous arrest?      Has Zimmerman been granted immunity from prosecution?

A Seminole County grand jury will convene on the matter April 10, according to State Attorney Norm Wolfinger.     The Sanford Town Officials could not walk this any slower.     Sanford is complety empty when it comes to leadership. 

Meanwhile, pressure mounted on Sanford police Chief Bill Lee after the city commission voted 3-2 Wednesday night in favorof a nonbinding measure of no confidence.     It was not immediately clear what impact, if any, that would have.

City Manager Norton Bonaparte said Thursday that he would like an independent review of police action in the wake of the shooting.
The City Manager is waiting for someone else to make a decision.

NAACP President Ben Jealous, however, was more forthright. Parents, he said, don't feel that their children will be safe with Lee heading the police department.

"He needs to go right now," Jealous said.

Demonstrators crowded New York's Union Square on Wednesday night for the protest attended by Martin's parents.     Many wore hoodies, the type of clothing Martin was wearing when he was shot, and carried Skittles, the candy he purchased from the convenience store the night he was killed.

"George Zimmerman took Trayvon's life for nothing," the teenager's father, Tracy Martin, said at the rally.

"Our son did not deserve to die. There's nothing that we can say that will bring him back, but I'm here today to assure that justice is served and that no other parents have to go through this again."

"Our son is your son," said Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton.   "This is not about a black-and-white thing.    This is about a right-and-wrong thing. Justice for Trayvon!"

Earlier, she described her situation as a nightmare.

"It's hard to sleep," she said. "Everything reminds me of him, and the only thing that's fueling us to keep pressing on for justice is the fact that we know that justice will be served."

Zimmerman, who was patrolling the neighborhood, saw Martin walking home after buying a drink and the Skittles.    He called 911 and reported what he described as a suspicious person.    Moments later, several neighbors called the emergency number to report a commotion outside.

The 911 tapes, released by police, revealed that while some neighbors were on the phone with emergency dispatchers, cries for help followed by a gunshot sounded in the background.

NAACP President:    No faith in this chief
"The time that we heard the whining and then the gunshot, we did not hear any wrestling, no punching, no fighting, nothing to make it sound like there was a fight," said Mary Cutcher, one of the callers.
 Cutcher said Zimmerman was confused after the shooting.

"He'd pace and go back to the body and just like -- I don't know if he was kind of, 'Oh, my God, what did I do? What happened?' " she said.
Another caller, Selma Mora Lamilla, said she did not hear any altercation, but the teen cried and "whimpered" before the shooting.

She described Zimmerman as "straddling" the teen after the shooting, saying he was "on his knees on top of a body."

Martin's girlfriend was on the phone with him during the incident and can help prove he was killed "in cold blood," said Benjamin Crump, the Martin family's attorney.

The girl connects the dots and "completely blows Zimmerman's absurd self-defense claim out of the water," Crump said.
Shortly before he was shot, the teen told his girlfriend that someone was following him and he was trying to get away, according to the lawyer.     The girl, who did not want to be identified, said that during the call, she heard Martin ask why the person was following him.

She got the impression there was an altercation in which his cell phone earpiece fell out after he was pushed, and the connection went dead, Crump said.     She did not hear gunfire, he said.

Zimmerman attended a four-month program in 2008 at the sheriff's office that teaches citizens about law enforcement, said Kim Cannaday, spokeswoman for the Seminole County sheriff's office.

In his application for the course, Zimmerman wrote:    "I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regard and I hope to one day become one."

Zimmerman's father, Robert, told a Florida newspaper that the 28-year-old had moved from the area after receiving death threats.

He was a student at Seminole State College, but the college said Thursday that it "taken the unusual but necessary step this week to withdraw" Zimmerman from enrollment.    It cited the high-profile nature of the controversy and said the decision was based on concern for safety for Zimmerman and the students on campus.

Zimmerman's family has denied that race played a role, saying he has many minority relatives and friends.

"The portrayal of George Zimmerman in the media, as well as the series of events that led to the tragic shooting, are false and extremely misleading.     Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have used this tragedy to further their own causes and agendas," his father said in a letter published in the Orlando
Sentinel.

"George is a Spanish-speaking minority with many black family members and friends," Robert Zimmerman wrote.     "He
would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever."

Heated debate has erupted over whether Zimmerman used a racial slur during the 911 call, a recording of which was released this week.

"We didn't hear it.    However, I am not sure what was said," Sgt. David Morgenstern of the Sanford Police Department said.

"I have listened to the tapes, and I have not heard them use a racial slur," concurred City Manager Bonaparte.

A top CNN audio engineer enhanced the sound of the 911 call, and several members of CNN's editorial staff repeatedly reviewed the tape but could reach no consensus on whether Zimmerman used a racial slur.

Give the tapes to the FBI.     They are experts in the thing you are trying (perhaps for the first time) to do.      The Sanford Police seem to inept to conduct a proper investigation yet they are attempting to analyze a recording.

Whether Zimmerman used such language prior to shooting Martin is key, according to CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.

"It's extremely, extremely significant because the federal government is not allowed to prosecute just your ordinary, everyday murder," he said.      "Two people fighting on the street is not a federal crime.    However, if one person shoots another based on racial hostility, racial animus, that does become a federal crime."

Toobin said that if "very shortly before" the shooting, "Zimmerman used this racial epithet to refer to the person he openly shot, that very much puts it within the FBI's and the Justice Department's ambit of a case that they could prosecute."

Police say they have not charged Zimmerman because they have no evidence to contradict his story that he shot in self-defense.

The shooting has renewed a debate over a controversial state law and sparked calls for a review.

Florida's deadly force law, also called "stand your ground," allows people to meet "force with force" if they believe that there is danger of serious harm to themselves or someone else.



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45 Advertisers Kiss Rush Limbaugh Good-By

Despite a phoney joke  apology for his words, Rush Limbaugh has lost more than 45 advertisers after calling Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" on his show.

March 8th, 2012 UPDATE:      The tally is now over 50 advertisers who have said goodby to Rush.     On his show today there was 5 and one half minutes of dead air and 78 Public Service Announcements.     Rush's show last 3 hours and is now making almost nothing in ad dollars for Clear Channel.     Perhaps Clear Channel will discipline Limbaugh while they still have a business model.    Of the 9 paid spots that ran during Limbaugh's three hours 7 have taken action to se that their spots no longer run on the Rush Show.     When Rush says everything is going great he is lying thru his teeth and he is very practiced at that.

I didn't need those 45 companies anyway, Clear Channel pays me so its their problem.

Republicans have always been the party of old white men and now they have turned their backs on women completely.     Women make up 52% of the population and they vote.

Here's a tally of some of the companies that have announced they will not be advertising during Rush’s show, and it now stands at forty-five.       Limbaugh maintains he could not care less.

Sleep Number
The Sleep Train
Quicken Loans
Legal Zoom
Citrix
Carbonite
ProFlowers
Tax Resolution
AOL
Bonobos
Sears
Allstate Insurance
Sensa
Bare Escentuals
Vitacost
Hadeed Carpet
Thompson Creek Windows
PolyCom
Service Magic
AccuQuote Life Insurance
Geico
John Deere
Stamps.com
St. Vincent’s Medical Center
Bethesda Sedation Dentistry
Cascades Dental
Philadelphia Orchestra
Goodwill Industries
Heart & Body Extract
Netflix
Downeast Energy
Capitol One
JCPenney
Matrix Direct
Reputation Rhino

It was this big

Limbaugh, backed by his biggest corporate supporter, Clear Channel Communications, continues to strike a defiant tone.   Yesterday, he continued to try to deflect criticism of his hateful comments, incredulously suggesting that progressives are to blame for his foul language.

Those who have tried to defend Rush’s comments are having a hard time doing so.   Right wing and soon to be ex Actress Patricia Heaton deleted her Twitter account after coming under fire for repeating conservative pundits’ attacks on Sandra Fluke.   She issued a mea culpa yesterday, claiming that she meant no offense.
Rush’s hate speech is like toxic waste when it comes to the quality of our political discourse.    Limbaugh may have the right to speak his mind, but he does not have the right to monopolize the public airwaves for the purposes of slandering other citizens.   His “show” deserves to be canceled and the sooner the better.

Aside from losing advertisers, Rush's show is also getting pulled by some radio stations, including WBEC in Pittsfield, Mass. and KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii.

No Women in My Clubhouse

Still Limbaugh is flapping his jaws and calling himself the agreived party.

Rush Limbaugh Breaks Clear Channels Code of Conduct in four major ways and many more according to their company policies.

By keeping Rush Limbaugh gainfully employed attacking minority groups such as: women, African Americans, the poor, the disabled and any group that is not republican a few of their policies have been historically violated by Rush Limbaugh.

If Clear Channel continues to do business by ignoring ethics and basic business practices, they are endorsing his comments that violate there own corporate governance.

The Codes that apply to Rush Limbaugh’s Employment are:

1) Fair Dealing:

We have built a reputation as a trustworthy and ethical member of our community and our industry.   We are committed to maintaining the highest levels of integrity and fairness within our company.

When we fail to negotiate, perform or market in good faith, we may seriously damage our reputation and lose the loyalty of our
customers.    You must conduct business honestly and fairly and not take unfair advantage of anyone through any misrepresentation of material facts, manipulation, concealment, abuse of privileged information, fraud or other unfair business practice.

In this section, Rush Limbaugh does threaten the reputation of advertisers of Clear Channel and clearly forty five of them cancelled their ad buys.

2) Equal Employment and Anti-Harassment

 Clear Channel has their own in-house anti-discriminatory policies regarding gender (female) , harassment of their own employees because of : race, sex, religion, (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions ) .

Oddly, Rush Limbaugh can attack a woman (Sandra Fluke)  on the air on Clear Channel’s radio stations on a nationally syndicated show.

However,  their own female employees cannot be harassed or discriminated against for any medical conditions and one would assume that to include the use of birth control pills.

At no time is it mentioned that Rush Limbaugh is excluded from these company policies, and at no time does this document which one would assume an employee had to sign to be employed at Clear Channel does it exempt him from CC’s corporate policies.

Quote:

“We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all our employees and will not tolerate any speech or conduct that is intended to, or has the effect of, discriminating against or harassing any qualified applicant or employee because of his or her race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status or any characteristic protected by law.

We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment by anyone – managers, supervisors, co-workers, vendors or our customers.    This policy extends to every phase of the employment process, including: recruiting, hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, transfers, discipline and termination, layoffs, recalls, and
company-sponsored educational, social and recreational programs, as applicable.

If you observe conduct that you believe is discriminatory or harassing, or if you feel you have been the victim of discrimination or harassment, you should notify your Employee Relations Specialist or the Employee Hotline immediately.”  End Quote

Obviously, Clear Channel is observing the violations of their own contractual employment agreements with Rush Limbaugh’s statements.

In short, this is pointing out the obvious, in that Clear Channel is aiding and abetting Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on women’s birth control coverage and they are including in the discriminatory practice of harassing women on the air.

Another clause in Clear Channel’s corporate polices includes the promotion of health and safety which one would assume means also “mental health”.

Quote: 
“We are committed to providing safe and healthy working conditions by following all occupational health and safety laws governing our activities.

We believe that management and each and every employee have a shared responsibility in the promotion of health and safety in the workplace.    You should follow all safety laws and regulations, as well as company safety policies and procedures.    You should immediately report any accident, injury or unsafe equipment, practices or conditions.”

Healthy working conditions?    Healthy practices or conditions?    One wonders how the female employees of Clear Channel feel after one of their fellow employees called an honorable student at Georgetown a “Slut” and a “Prostitute” and got away with it?

Disciplinary Action

“If you violate any provision of this Code, you may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including discharge.

Please be aware that we may seek civil remedies from you and if your violation results in monetary loss to us, you may be required to reimburse us for that loss.     If you are involved in a violation, the fact that you reported the violation, together with the degree of cooperation displayed by you and whether the violation is intentional or unintentional, will be given consideration in our investigation and any resulting disciplinary action.”

Let’s see if Clear Channel can live up to their code of ethics and apply the most appropriate level of recourse to keep their own integrity intact.

To date, Clear Channel has not disciplined Rush Limbaugh, has not discharged him which would be the intelligent course of action, but continue to employ his services.

The damage to the Republican party remains a very key issue and the future of Clear Channel keeping on staff an aged, over-bloated ego, angry announcer who lives in the dinosaur age reflects on their future as a corporation that does not follow codes of ethics in this day and age where integrity means everything.

All the gibberish in this document if not upheld and executed implies the Clear Channel corporation breaks laws, allows harassment, attacks and refuses to satisfy the uproar of the public domain to remove Rush Limbaugh from the airwaves.

You can find more of Clear Channel’s Code of Conduct on their website: ( just empty words from a company with no ethics)

 http://www. Clear Channel dot com

Joe Thinks He's a Plumer

Ohio's 'Joe the Plunger' gets GOP nod for Congress

A part time Ohio plumber's helper thrust into national politics during the 2008 presidential campaign has won the Republican nomination in his home state as he makes a bid for Congress.

Joe the Congressman

Samuel Wurzelbacher gained the nickname  "Joe the Plunger"  for embellishing his $30K a year income to over a quarter of a million dollars and expressing concerns about taxes to then-candidate Barack Obama during a stop to the region.   The Palin/McCain campaign picked Joe up and turned him into a pseudo celebrity.

There were Oh! so many Joes, Joey the hair dresser, Joey bag of donughts, Joe sixpack, Joe the bus driver and Joe the shark.   Palin could spot them all in the crowd and call them out to the amusement of the gathered republican crowds.    McCain was not so good.   He would introduce Joe and discover Joe was at the next campaign stop and not there.   That was how the campaign went for poor old John.

Joe The Plunger

The Toledo-area plumber's helper defeated Steve Kraus, a Sandusky real estate agent, early Wednesday to grab the GOP nomination in Ohio's 9th Congressional District.     Ever since 2008 Joe has searched for a way to earn some income.   Joe tried radio, appearing at the opening of Dairy Queens and selling tee shirt featuring his bald dome.   Now Joe has an opportunity to earn $174,000 a year as a congressman and like so many republicans Joe can sleep in his office to save having to pay rent.

He faces an uphill climb in the fall against veteran U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who won the Democratic primary.    The newly drawn district snaking along the Lake Erie shoreline from Toledo to Cleveland tilts toward Democrats.    Joe is hoping Palin will join him on the campaign trail and help him recall his past glory days.

Joe and Sarah are both really smart.

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (born December 3, 1973), is a conservative activist, author, and commentator.  A resident of Holland, Ohio, United States, he gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small business tax policy during a campaign stop in Ohio.  As a part time employee of a plumbing contractor, he was given the moniker "Joe the Plunger."     The Republican McCain-Palin campaign later applied  "Joe the Plunger"  as a metaphor for middle-class Americans.     He subsequently published a book about his experiences, and has appeared as a motivational speaker and commentator.   People who have attended his motivational speeches have gained successful employeement on the carnival midways as they cris cross America.

Regarding his statement to Barack Obama about intending to buy the plumbing firm that employed him, Wurzelbacher later said that the idea of buying the company was discussed during his job interview six years prior.   According to MSNBC and Fox News, court records show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006.   Dun & Bradstreet's report estimated that A. W. Newell Corporation, the full corporate name, had $510,000 in annual sales and eight employees.   As part of the background on McCain's use of  "Joe the Plunger,"  several media outlets researched his professional plumbing credentials.   One Toledo Blade article stated, "Mr. Wurzelbacher said he works under Al Newell’s license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own
license to do plumbing work.   He is also not registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio, which means he’s not a plumber."    "Mr. Joseph [business manager of the local union] said Mr. Wurzelbacher could only legally work in the townships, but not in any municipality in Lucas County or elsewhere in the country."      Wurzelbacher has
since stated that he is no longer employed at Newell.

ABC News reported on October 16, 2008, that there was a judgment lien against Wurzelbacher for non-payment of $1,182 in owed Ohio state income taxes dating to January 2007, but "no action has been taken against him outside of filing the lien."    Barb Losie, deputy clerk of the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas, said that "there is a chance [Wurzelbacher] doesn't know about the lien, unless he did a credit report or was ready to pay his taxes."   While on Hannity & Colmes, Wurzelbacher stated that he was unaware of the tax lien prior to it being reported in the press, and thought he was being attacked because of his question to Obama.

Joe's Magic Moment.

Bottom line Joe was a phoney then and he is a phoney now.     Thats the story of Joe the plunger, republican candidate for congress.


Romney Squeaks Ahead in Super Tuesday Results

Mitt Has NO Positions on Anything

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney appeared to pull off a narrow win in Ohio on Super Tuesday but lost several other states to challenger Rick Santorum.


The day of 10 primaries and caucuses produced no knockout punch, rather another split verdict that overshadowed Romney’s claim of collecting the most delegates.

Romney remains ahead in the delegate count, and thus the race for the nomination, but any hopes of asserting himself as the inevitable nominee fell short again.

Far from bringing more clarity to the GOP presidential race as some in the party had hoped, Tuesday’s elections gave every candidate cause to keep driving forward.

Cheerfull and Happy Newt

Newt Gingrich won a definitive victory in Georgia. Santorum won in Tennessee, North Dakota and Oklahoma. Ron Paul even posted several second-place finishes.

Romney won Massachusetts, where he served as governor; Virginia, where neither Gingrich nor Santorum qualified for the ballot; and Vermont, Idaho and Alaska.

In Ohio, The Associated Press named Romney the winner early this morning, though some news outlets have not called it yet, and Santorum has not conceded.

Ron Likes Traveling from State to State on Somebody elses dime

Regardless of that outcome, Ohio's tight race and his defeats elsewhere show continuing vulnerabilities for Romney on both geographic and ideological grounds.

Even with most people operating under the assumption that he remains the most likely GOP nominee, he has nonetheless lost states across several regions.

Just the same, he's winning. With 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination, Romney has 332 delegates to Santorum’s 139, Gingrich's 73 and Paul's 35.

Super Tuesday results by state after the jump ...

Alaska Republican Caucuses Results 1.Mitt Romney 4,225 (32.6%)
 2.Rick Santorum 3,762 (29.0%)
 3.Ron Paul 3,105 (24.0%)
 4.Newt Gingrich 1,834 (14.2%) 

Georgia Republican Primary Results
 1.Newt Gingrich 417,364 (47.4%)   
 2.Mitt Romney 225,926 (25.7%)      
 3.Rick Santorum 172,473 (19.6%)      
 4.Ron Paul 57,125 (6.5%)

Idaho Republican Caucuses Results 1.Mitt Romney 27,514 (61.6%)
 2.Rick Santorum 8,115 (18.2%)
 3.Ron Paul 8,086 (18.1%)
 4.Newt Gingrich 940 (2.1%)

Massachusetts Republican Primary Results 1.Mitt Romney 260,509 (72.1%)
 2.Rick Santorum 43,614 (12.1%)
 3.Ron Paul 34,575 (9.6%)
 4.Newt Gingrich 16,756 (4.6%)

North Dakota Republican Caucuses Results
 1.Rick Santorum 4,510 (39.7%)
 2.Ron Paul 3,186 (28.1%)
 3.Mitt Romney 2,691 (23.7%)
 4.Newt Gingrich 962 (8.5%) 

Ohio Republican Primary Results
 1.Mitt Romney 453,927 (38.0%)
 2.Rick Santorum 441,908 (37.0%)
 3.Newt Gingrich 174,606 (14.6%)
 4.Ron Paul 110,633 (9.3%)

Oklahoma Republican Primary Results
 1.Rick Santorum 96,759 (33.8%)
 2.Mitt Romney 80,291 (28.0%)
 3.Newt Gingrich 78,686 (27.5%)
 4.Ron Paul 27,572 (9.6%)

Tennessee Republican Primary Results
 1.Rick Santorum 204,978 (37.3%)
 2.Mitt Romney 153,889 (28.0%)
 3.Newt Gingrich 132,142 (24.0%)
 4.Ron Paul 49,782 (9.0%)

Vermont Republican Primary Results
 1.Mitt Romney 22,533 (39.8%)
 2.Ron Paul 14,407 (25.4%)
 3.Rick Santorum 13,401 (23.7%)
 4.Newt Gingrich 4,608 (8.1%)

Virginia Republican Primary Results 
1.Mitt Romney 158,050 (59.5%)
2.Ron Paul 107,470 (40.5%)

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