troy davis
troy davis
troy davis
troy davis
Friday, September 23, 2011
Barack,Troy, and a falling satellite.
Someone asked me today if I thought that the killing of Troy Davis will cost his O ness votes. Black folks are still mad that you could hear a pin drop in the White House during the days leading up to the state sanctioned killing of Davis.
Hey, what can I tell you? O is first and foremost a politician, and he did what politicians do when these types of "touchy" issues raise their ugly heads: He kept his mouth shut. Pro death penalty folks vote.
But back to the question: Will it cost him votes? Maybe. It's still too early to tell. I just don't think that blacks folks are going to be motivated to head to the polls this time around. He will still get 85% of the black vote, but there just won't be as much of them. A 16% unemployment rate will do that to you. We know that it wouldn't be better with a republican in charge, but we also realize, now, that no matter who is the HNIC, politics will always take center stage over everything else. It's back to business as usual in A-merry-ca. Just like it was under Reagan and those Bushes.
I keep telling you Negroes that it's time to stop looking to Washington and start taking care of yourselves. Work with your local governments to try to get things done in your neighborhoods. If they tell you that there is no money available, then work among yourselves. You would be surprised what you can do when you put your heads together. I am watching you do it with certain neighborhoods here in Philly. Some of you have wonderful community partnerships with certain institutions like Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania. And some of you work with non profits and religious groups. It's all good as far as I am concerned. Whatever it takes to keep us moving forward in these divided states of A-merry-ca.
Finally, I see that a very large satellite is about to fall to earth anytime now. They say what goes up must come down, and it looks like it's about that time for the school bus sized object. But don't worry, folks, the chance of it hitting us is slim....
"It just doesn't want to come down," said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
McDowell said the satellite's delayed demise demonstrates how unreliable predictions can be. That said, "the best guess is that it will still splash in the ocean, just because there's more ocean out there."
Until Friday, increased solar activity was causing the atmosphere to expand and the 35-foot, bus-size satellite to free fall more quickly. But late Friday morning, NASA said the sun was no longer the major factor in the rate of descent and that the satellite's position, shape or both had changed by the time it slipped down to a 100-mile orbit.
"In the last 24 hours, something has happened to the spacecraft," said NASA orbital debris scientist Mark Matney.
On Friday night, NASA said it expected the satellite to come crashing down between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. EDT. It was going to be passing over the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans at that time, as well as Canada, Africa and Australia.
"The risk to public safety is very remote," NASA said in a statement.
The Aerospace Corp., which tracks space debris, also estimated the strike would happen sometime between about 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. EDT, which would make a huge difference in where the debris falls. Its projections also put almost all of the U.S. in the clear — with Washington state the lone holdout.
Any surviving wreckage is expected to be limited to a 500-mile swath.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will be the biggest NASA spacecraft to crash back to Earth, uncontrolled, since the post-Apollo 75-ton Skylab space station and the more than 10-ton Pegasus 2 satellite, both in 1979.
Russia's 135-ton Mir space station slammed through the atmosphere in 2001, but it was a controlled dive into the Pacific.
Some 26 pieces of the UARS satellite — representing 1,200 pounds of heavy metal — are expected to rain down somewhere. The biggest surviving chunk should be no more than 300 pounds."
With any luck it will drop on a certain house in Florida.
Funky Friday
When this series of posts started out a few years ago it was dedicated to the life of Funk. But I have adapted it as I feel and not always for the purpose of pure Funk.
Sorry Bootsy.
Hey I grew to maturity in the 80s and you know it never rains in southern California right? Gotta love the New Jack Swing too, right?
What?
Ummmmm New Jack Swing is more than Al B. Sure! and Bobby Brown
OK :0)
Geez.
AnyHowze, this Chaka and Rufus cut has nine lives and it is as fresh and funky today as it was when Rufus was still around.
The version below is from the movie "Breakin" - remember that from 1984? Bet some of you still be Popping at parties like Ana 'Lollipop' Sánchez did in the movie, right?
Oh yeah, did I tell you I sat a couple of rows behind Chaka Kahn on an overnite trip from Atlanta to Joburg a few years ago?
True story. And yeah her hair is big like that even after 17 hours on an airplane.
Jumma Mubarak!
Sorry Bootsy.
Hey I grew to maturity in the 80s and you know it never rains in southern California right? Gotta love the New Jack Swing too, right?
What?
Ummmmm New Jack Swing is more than Al B. Sure! and Bobby Brown
OK :0)
Geez.
AnyHowze, this Chaka and Rufus cut has nine lives and it is as fresh and funky today as it was when Rufus was still around.
The version below is from the movie "Breakin" - remember that from 1984? Bet some of you still be Popping at parties like Ana 'Lollipop' Sánchez did in the movie, right?
Oh yeah, did I tell you I sat a couple of rows behind Chaka Kahn on an overnite trip from Atlanta to Joburg a few years ago?
True story. And yeah her hair is big like that even after 17 hours on an airplane.
Jumma Mubarak!
"... I make my wish upon a star
and hope this night will last forever ..."
and hope this night will last forever ..."
Onward!
Troy Davis' Last Letter
I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.Comment: The death penalty on its own is a massive injustice. Put the death penalty inside of a racist state like the US and you multiply the injustice many times over.
As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.
I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.
So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.
I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,
“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”
Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!
There was no justice in this case. Not for the victim (Mark MacPhail) and not for Troy Davis (may both rest in peace).
Even in the best of circumstances the death penalty is an aberration. Like Gandhi said:"An eye for and eye makes the whole word blind."
And I don't think Gandhi was being ableist. The blindness is a metaphor for the closing of the mind/spirit when it uses violence in any context.
The state has no right to take anyone's life. In this case the execution of Troy Davis is a long standing practice of culling black men. It is a modern day lynching.
 |
| May Troy Davis rest in peace until that day. |
Hat tip to Erica
Letter Credit
Picture Credit
Thursday, September 22, 2011
"For too long we have treated violence with violence, and that's why it never ends."*
Oh yes, Lawrence Brewer, the white supremacist who was tried and convicted of dragging James Byrd, Jr. to death. (Shout out to Dick Gregory for being in Huntsville, Texas and protesting the death of even this scumbag.)
He should not have been killed by the state of Texas. (Derrick Mason should not be put to death tonight in Alabama.) I do not believe in the death penalty.Period. (I like what Coretta Scott King said about the subject.*heading*)) Killing this scumbag will not bring James Byrd, Jr. back, he should have spent the rest of his miserable life in prison.
Unlike Troy Davis, he admitted to killing Byrd, and he was proud of it:
"As far as any regrets, no, I have no regrets. No, I'd do it all over again, to tell you the truth."
Sorry there big guy,you won't be doing much of anything ever again. But still, I did not want you to die at the hands of the state. As far as I am concerned, being raped over and over by Tyrone and Bubba would have been punishment enough for you.
Anyway, I was thinking about who actually puts the needle in Troy Davis, and Lawrence Brewer, or who is on the firing squad in Utah. Or, who is the hangman in Washington -Lawrence O'Donnell talked about it tonight.- Who does a job like that?
"So what do you do for a living? Ahhm...I work for the department of corrections. Really? What department? Ahhm......."
Poor guy. How does he live with himself?
Finally, speaking of playing executioner. I am glad that those animals masquerading as cops who allegedly murdered that homeless man in California while he was in custody were charged with murder and manslaughter.
Not so fast gentlemen, we have to have a trial and convict him first.
Obama Was for a Palestinian State before He Was against It
Ahmed Amr
Dissident Voice
September 21, 2011.
Read the rest here.
Comment: Who even thought Uncle Tom would roll in the direction of principle when those who yank his chain are going the opposite way?
Even Judas has sh*t on the sellout duplicity of Obomber.
Onward!
Dissident Voice
September 21, 2011.
This time we should reach for what’s best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations — an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel. (Obama’s speech before the General Assembly, September 23, 2010)When Barack Obama uttered these lines, the assembled delegates rewarded him with a standing ovation. That was last year’s promise. This year, Obama is promising to veto a Palestinian state for reasons that he has yet to clearly articulate. The president could always come out and explain his dramatic change of heart in plain language – but that might prove a little embarrassing. When it comes to matters of state, plain language can have a disastrous impact on America’s standing in the world. In the midst of the great Arab awakening – this single veto will not be cost-free. Lest we forget, this is the same president who supported Mubarak before he supported the Egyptian revolution. So let it never be said that Obama is inconsistent. He’ll always do the right thing when it’s convenient.
Read the rest here.
Comment: Who even thought Uncle Tom would roll in the direction of principle when those who yank his chain are going the opposite way?
Even Judas has sh*t on the sellout duplicity of Obomber.
Onward!
The Execution of Troy Davis Provides Another "Haunting Reminder of Once Prevalent Southern Lynchings"
John Nichols
The Nation
September 22, 2011.
"I am innocent," said Troy Davis, moments before the the state of Georgia put him to death.
The state-sanctioned slaying, which former President Jammy Carter characterized as "a grave miscarriage of justice," was completed at 11:08 p.m. EST.
Before the execution, the man whose case inspired an international outcry against not just the death penalty but a dysfunctional "justice" system told the witnesses at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison facility: "The incident that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun."
Addressing the family of, Mark MacPhail, the off-duty Savannah police officer he was accused of killing, Davis said he was sorry for their loss. Then, he said: "I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent."
To those who battled to save his life, Davis urged continued investigation, inquiry and struggle for justice.
The execution of Davis took place after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Georgia native, led the high court in rejecting a plea that the killing be blocked. There were no dissents from the other justices on the current court.
But it is important to underline the word "current."
Former Justice John Paul Stevens, who left the high court last year, has argued in recent statements and interviews that the death penalty is "unconstitutional."
In particular, he cited the fact that African-Americans who are charged with murder (such as Troy Davis) are dramatically more likely than whites to be executed.
This fact, noted Justice Stevens, "provides a haunting reminder of once prevalent Southern lynchings." © 2011 The Nation
The Nation
September 22, 2011.
"I am innocent," said Troy Davis, moments before the the state of Georgia put him to death.
The state-sanctioned slaying, which former President Jammy Carter characterized as "a grave miscarriage of justice," was completed at 11:08 p.m. EST.
Before the execution, the man whose case inspired an international outcry against not just the death penalty but a dysfunctional "justice" system told the witnesses at the Georgia Diagnostic Prison facility: "The incident that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun."
Addressing the family of, Mark MacPhail, the off-duty Savannah police officer he was accused of killing, Davis said he was sorry for their loss. Then, he said: "I did not personally kill your son, father and brother. I am innocent."
To those who battled to save his life, Davis urged continued investigation, inquiry and struggle for justice.
The execution of Davis took place after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Georgia native, led the high court in rejecting a plea that the killing be blocked. There were no dissents from the other justices on the current court.
But it is important to underline the word "current."
Former Justice John Paul Stevens, who left the high court last year, has argued in recent statements and interviews that the death penalty is "unconstitutional."
In particular, he cited the fact that African-Americans who are charged with murder (such as Troy Davis) are dramatically more likely than whites to be executed.
This fact, noted Justice Stevens, "provides a haunting reminder of once prevalent Southern lynchings." © 2011 The Nation
Comment: I absolutely oppose the death penalty under any circumstances. In this case there was ample reason for a reasonable doubt that Troy Davis' execution should not go forward.
Black men in America still live in racist jeopardy when it comes to rates of incarceration and execution.
Wright and King in an article in Colorlines entitled "The Long, Murderous Arm of the Law Has Killed Troy Davis" describe this jeopardy:
Black men in America still live in racist jeopardy when it comes to rates of incarceration and execution.
Wright and King in an article in Colorlines entitled "The Long, Murderous Arm of the Law Has Killed Troy Davis" describe this jeopardy:
"Davis’s case offers a bracing and depressing illustration of capital punishment’s many problems. In their eagerness to prosecute a black man for murdering a white cop, local officials set in motion a killing machine that, once turned on, is near impossible to halt without executive intervention. Much has already been written about the details of Davis’s case; no reasonable observer can deny there is significant doubt as to his guilt. But our criminal justice system is anything but reasonable. Those who don’t come into contact with it can sit in self-satisfied assurance that our cops and courts measure out blind justice that keeps society well ordered. The evidence simply does not support that fantasy, as Davis’s life and death so dreadfully illustrate. In fact, if we are to judge our criminal justice system by its outcomes, it is built to round up masses of black men, transfer public funds to private companies to warehouse them, and then kill them in cold blood."There is very little doubt that the criminal justice system is stacked against black men but what would it have taken for Uncle Tom to step in?
Oh yeah I forgot Tom is running for a second term as YTs version of a black appliance.
May the truth stand and Troy Davis rest in peace. In the end only the Great Spirit has the right to judge.
Onward!
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