Blue Chip Company Charged

Boeing has been accuse of helping the CIA in it's
clandestine operations. But this should be of no
big suprise, I'm sure there are many large
corporations that aid the government in these
types of operations. What is your thoughts on
this issue?

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit Wednesday that accused a Boeing Co. subsidiary of helping the Central Intelligence Agency facilitate "the forced disappearance, torture and inhumane treatment" of three men the government suspected of terrorist involvement."This is the first time we are accusing a blue-chip American company of profiting from torture," ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner said at a news conference in New York City.

Since at least 2001, Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. of San Jose "has provided direct and substantial services to the United States for its so-called 'extraordinary rendition' program," the suit, filed in San Jose federal court, alleges.Extraordinary rendition is a highly secretive and extrajudicial practice of transferring terrorist suspects to third-party countries that routinely practice torture and other ill-treatment, according to Human Rights Watch.

After years of denial, the Bush administration now acknowledges the tactic but denies sanctioning torture.The suit was filed on behalf of Binyam Mohammed, a 28-year-old Ethiopian citizen and British resident; Abou Elkassim Britel, a 40-year-old of Moroccan descent naturalized in Italy; and Ahmed Agiza, a 45-year-old Egyptian. But the suit said that Jeppesen provided flight and logistical support services for more than 70 extraordinary renditions over a four-year period."Corporations should expect to get sued where they are making blood money off the suffering of others," said Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer who has been representing Mohammed and is serving as co-counsel on the ACLU suit.

Mike Pound, a Jeppesen spokesman, said the company had not been served with the suit and consequently had no comment on its merits.Tim Neale, a spokesman for Chicago-based Boeing, declined to confirm whether Jeppesen worked for the CIA. "The services Jeppesen provides are provided on a confidential basis for all its customers," he said.





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Some People Hate The Word Amnesty

Amnesty has long been used in this country to heal
the wounds left by mainly war to reconcile those with
the government. The word has now popped up once
more now during the controversial immigration term-
oil and threatens to undo the policies of republicians
who want stronger sanctions against illegal immigrants.
What do you think of amnesty and the illegal immigra-
tion situation?


AMNESTY HAS become the political act that dare not speak its name. Nativists go wild when they hear the term. Mainstream immigrant advocates talk around it. Immigration-restriction fanatics have so poisoned and blurred the word's meaning that they see it lurking in any legislation that proposes anything less than jail time or mass deportations for illegal immigrants.But is the idea of amnesty really as outlandish and un-American as radio talk-show hosts and Republican politicians make it sound? Is it really antithetical to our sacred notion of rule of law? Well, yes and no.

It helps to look back at the word's origins. Although dictionaries differ slightly, Webster's New International defines it as "the act of an authority (such as a government) by which general pardon of an offense is granted, often before trial or conviction, especially to a large group of individuals." The term "amnesty" derives from the Greek amnestia, which means forgetfulness and forgiveness.

The fundamental question, then, is whether the government should ever circumvent the legal process and dispense forgiveness. Certainly, the Constitution allows the president the power to pardon all offenses except impeachment. A holdover from monarchical government, the presidential pardon has been controversial from the beginning of the republic, when some of the framers worried about its potential for abuse.

More than two centuries later, President Clinton's infamous last-minute pardon of Marc Rich, a fugitive commodities trader accused of tax evasion and of making illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis, resurrected such concerns, particularly because Rich's ex-wife donated nearly half a million dollars to Clinton's presidential library fund.But not all pardons and amnesties in U.S. history have been so utterly devoid of social value. Whether you agreed with it or not, President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon did end our long, polarizing national Watergate nightmare. Historically, amnesties have served a similar purpose of social reconciliation.





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Should Danny Take The Money And Run ?

Actor Danny Glover is being asked not to except
money from the Venezuela Government because
of it's views of the Bush administration. But who
isn't critical of the Bush administration. So in my
opinion I'd take the money if only for the good it
would do for the arts. What do you think?


You knew this was coming. Word of Venezuela’s generosity toward actor Danny Glover hit the U.S. Congress and has prompted one Republican to speak out in frustration.

As previously reported, Glover’s upcoming film about a slave uprising in Haiti will receive $18 million in funding from the government of Venezuela, headed by longtime U.S. rival, President Hugo Chavez.
Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., on Tuesday urged Glover to refuse to accept the money based on Chavez’s politics and bold animosity toward the Bush administration.

"Danny Glover should refuse to accept Hugo Chavez's tainted movie deal and instead work with legitimate enterprises, investors and financiers who value freedom, treasure our nation and who won't climb into bed with renegade communist dictators," Mack told the Hollywood Reporter.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Civil Rights Movement In Gold

The Drive is on to commemorate the 50th anniversery
of the civil rights movement. Two coins are done a year
to remember the history of the U.S. so certainly the
civil rights movement has been as historic and as colorful
as any other of the past historical events of this nation.
This piece legislation should be a shoe-in. So how do
you feel about this commemorative coin?


Images of a beaten and bloodied young black man from Troy, Ala., named John Lewis helped push President Lyndon Johnson and Congress to respond to the civil rights movement. Now a congressman, Lewis wants to commemorate the movement with a limited-edition silver dollar marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

"I'd be one of the first people in line to buy one," the Atlanta Democrat said.

Lewis has joined with Ohio Republican Deborah Pryce to introduce legislation calling for the U.S. Mint to produce 350,000 $1 coins marking the golden anniversary of the landmark law's signing in 1964. Among other things, the law barred restaurants, hotels and other public places from denying service to blacks and outlawed employment discrimination against women and minorities.

The 2014 coin would be sold with a $10 surcharge, expected to generate $2 million to $3 million that would go to the United Negro College Fund for university scholarships and improvements at historically black colleges. The United Negro College Fund would be required to raise matching funds from private donors and other sources before accepting money generated by the government coins.

Lewis, who repeatedly encountered violence as he led campaigns to register black voters across the Deep South and who led the historic 1965 voting rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., said the coin would serve to educate people about the movement.
"Many of the young people growing up today ... don't know what happened and how it happened," said Lewis, whose skull was cracked by state troopers in the "Bloody Sunday" bridge-crossing. "You can use it to educate but also to raise resources and funds for education."

Congress authorizes just two commemorative coins for each year to honor the nation's history and culture and raise money for historic sites such as George Washington's home and monuments such as the Vietnam War Memorial. Since the modern program began in 1982, the Mint has raised nearly $420 million in surcharges. The coins are sold at prices that cover the Treasury's costs.





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Loan Discriminations ?

Well it looks as if a major lender on home mortgages
has not only come under fire but also is being sued
for discriminating against minorities. Housing loan
discrimination is still one of this countries biggest
problems especially when it keeps people out of
quality housing. What do you think about this issue?


When mortgage lenders refuse to write loans on central city row houses, does that violate federal fair housing rules? What about refusing to write mortgages on houses in entire communities dominated by specific ethnic groups, such as Native Americans? Or not offering mortgage loans for houses that may be used, in part, to accommodate disabled adults in a foster care-like setting? Just how much protection do fair lending and other civil rights laws provide to mortgage applicants who are rejected not because of their credit scores or financial capacities, but because of the location, type or possible use of their home?

A major consumer group is mounting a campaign aimed at nailing down the answers. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition filed suit May 9 against NovaStar Mortgage Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded NovaStar Financial, based in Kansas City, Mo. The suit, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., charges that NovaStar repeatedly has violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to make mortgages on row houses in downtown Baltimore, on homes located on Indian reservations anywhere in the country, or on houses that may be used, in part, to shelter and care for disabled adults. Such bans have "no business justification," according to the suit, and illegally discriminate against African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and disabled individuals.

A spokesman for NovaStar, Richard Johnson, called the charges "baseless" and said the suit "makes deliberate misrepresentations" about NovaStar's policies. Johnson confirmed that the company does restrict mortgage lending in the categories identified by NCRC but said there are valid business-related reasons for each policy. For example, in the case of row houses in Baltimore, said Johnson, there had been widespread appraisal fraud involving row houses in prior years, making the company leery about extending new loans.

But officials at NCRC said those problems dated back eight years or more and have long been corrected. John Taylor, NCRC president and chief executive, said that "NovaStar intentionally structured its underwriting to exclude … persons with disabilities and row house neighborhoods where African Americans and Latinos reside," as well as mortgages to Native Americans who live in "tribal communities" across the country. The firm "discriminated against people with the least amount of ability to fight back," Taylor said. "They did it because they thought they could get away with it."





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Further Probe Sought For LAPD

The LAPD is far from being out of the woods of
the May Day rally. Several civil rights groups has
just called for further investigations. Just how and
why did things get so out of control for this supposed
elite group of trained officers? Thats one of the issues
the investigation will be looking into. Check out the
article below and ring in your opinion.


In a move with potentially serious consequences for the Los Angeles Police Department, several civil rights groups on Thursday asked a federal judge to investigate whether the department's use of force at a May Day rally violated a sweeping consent decree imposed in 2001. If U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess grants the request by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, and if the resulting investigation finds the department violated the consent decree in the MacArthur Park melee, the judge could expand the federal oversight, set to expire in 2009.

"The decree was set up to prevent exactly the kind of outbreak of violence that took place May 1," said Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney for the ACLU of Southern California.Rosenbaum said his group was seeking an inquiry by court-appointed monitor Michael Cherkasky to determine whether the decree should be expanded, including requiring extra police training in handling demonstrations. One member of the Police Commission said he saw no need for another investigation because both the LAPD and the commission's inspector general were conducting probes."Let the systems in place do the job, and then we can evaluate how they did,"

Commission Vice President Alan Skobin said.Others joining the ACLU in the court filing include the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Homeboy Industries and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.The motion asks Feess for an evaluation of consent decree compliance in light of the police action "in defiance of existing court orders and departmental protocol, and in dramatic repetition of the kinds of police behaviors the consent decree is designed to prevent."The decree grew from the Rampart scandal, in which officers in an elite gang-enforcement unit admitted beating, shooting and framing suspects. It required the LAPD to adopt reforms to prevent civil rights abuses.

The document was a settlement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice to address concerns by federal attorneys that the LAPD had engaged in a pattern of brutality and corruption.The court filing Thursday questions whether the same "warrior culture" found in the since-disbanded anti-gang unit at Rampart exists in the Metropolitan Division, which broke up the May 1 rally.At least 50 civilians have complained to the department that they were mistreated by officers wielding batons and firing foam-rubber projectiles into the crowd after some people threw rocks and bottles at officers.





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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Yolanda King Passes On

At the age of 51 Yolanda King was very much in her prime.
She was the eldest of the King children and very much a
part of the civil rights movement both past and present.


Yolanda King, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, collapsed and died after making a speech. She was 51. King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. The family did not know the cause of death, but relatives think it might have been a heart problem, he said.

"She was an actress, author, producer, advocate for peace and nonviolence, who was known and loved for her motivational and inspirational contributions to society," the King family said in a statement. Former Mayor Andrew Young, a lieutenant of her father's who has remained close to the family, said Yolanda King had just spoken at an event for the American Heart Association. She was helping the association raise awareness, especially among blacks, about stroke.

Young said she was going to her brother Dexter's home when she collapsed in the doorway and "they were not able to revive her."Her death came less than a year and a half after her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in January 2006.Yolanda King, who lived in California, was an actress, ran a production company and appeared in numerous films, including "Ghosts of Mississippi." She played Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King.""Yolanda was lovely. She wore the mantle of princess, and she wore it with dignity and charm," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, one of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement.

He added she was "thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama."The Rev. Al Sharpton called Yolanda King was a "torch bearer for her parents and a committed activist in her own right."Yolanda King founded and led Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change.The flag at The King Center, where she was a board member, flew at half-staff today.Yolanda Denise King -- nicknamed Yoki by the family -- was born Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., where her father was then preaching. Her brother Martin III was born in 1957; brother Dexter in 1961; and sister Bernice in 1963.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Justice Served In Alabama

Justice has once again been served in the south.
These cold cases have sprung new life in recent
years mainly because of a change in who is run-
ning the judicial systems in the south. What is
your opinion on these recent cases that have
been solved?



A 73-year-old retired state trooper was indicted Wednesday in the 1965 shooting death of a black man — a killing that set in motion the historic civil rights protests in Selma and led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.

District Attorney Michael Jackson said a grand jury returned an indictment in the case. He would not identify the person charged or specify the offense until the indictment is served, which could take a few days. But a lawyer for former Trooper James Bonard Fowler said he had been informed that the retired lawman had been charged.
It took the grand jury only two hours to return the indictment in the slaying of 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by Fowler during a civil rights protest that turned into a club-swinging melee.

The case was little-known as a civil rights-era cold case but had major historical consequences.
Fowler contended he fired in self-defense after Jackson grabbed his gun from its holster. Calls to his home were not immediately returned Wednesday.
"I think somebody is trying to rewrite history and I don't think it's fair to this trooper," said Fowler's attorney, George Beck. Beck said he was not told what Fowler had been charged with, but he said the district attorney had been talking about a murder charge, "so I assume that's what he got."

The indictment is the latest in a series of civil rights-era cases across the South that have been resurrected for prosecution after lying dormant for decades. In recent years, prosecutors have won convictions in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls and in the 1964 killings of three civil rights volunteers near Philadelphia, Miss.
In light of those cases, people in Alabama began to call for a new examination of Jackson's death. Michael Jackson, who was elected in 2004 as the first black district attorney in the Selma and Marion district and is no relation to Jimmie Lee Jackson, said he acted on these calls.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Does Obama Have The Right Stuff?

If Barack Obama is going to be president one day, he's
going to need a lot of support from white America. So
now is he getting this support and the answer seems to
be yes, since he now has raised a formidable campaign
war chest. Now what do you think it will take for
Obama to win?


They watch him. They listen to him talk. Is he the kind of person they think he is? The kind of black man? The stakes are oh so high. It's the presidency he's after, the breaking down of a historic barrier. Can he transcend racial divisions? Is it safe to support him? Is he safe from harm while running for president in a nation of such abiding racial tension?
For Sen. Barack Obama's white supporters, this is the dialogue of race, the parsing of perceptions and expectations as they watch their man campaign.

They are people like Katie Lang, 32, a Tampa insurance executive, who has her own simple formula for judging Obama. In a word, it's transcendence. She believes Obama, when it comes to race, rises above the fray. "Obama speaks to everyone. He doesn't just speak to one race, one group," she says. "He is what is good about this nation."

At a campaign event in Tampa last month, she hung on Obama's every word as he spoke to an adoring crowd packed into the courtyard of the historic Cuban Club of Ybor City. As she listened, race wasn't in the forefront of her mind, she says later. It usually isn't, she says.
"Kind of like, if I could compare him to Tiger Woods. When I look at Tiger Woods, I see the best golfer in the world," she says. "So when I see Barack Obama, I see a strong political candidate. I do not see 'Oh, that's a black man running for president, or African American or multiracial black.' It's not what comes to mind first. What comes to mind first is: great platform, charismatic, good leader, attractive."

If the United States is to elect its first black president, it is white voters like Lang who largely will make that choice. Though much has been made about whether Obama is "black enough" for black voters, perhaps a more relevant question is this: Has the nation's white majority evolved to a point where it can elect a black man as president?





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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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xcerpts from this treasured
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FBI To Take A Look

The FBI has decided to look into this weeks immigration
rally in LA to see if civil rights were violated during the
rally. What do you think will come from all these investigations?


After days of watching from afar news footage showing his city's police officers wielding batons and firing rubber bullets into a crowd at an immigration rally, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided to cut short a trade mission to Mexico to deal with fallout from the violence.
Villaraigosa planned to return to Los Angeles on Friday and will hold an afternoon news conference at City Hall.

"I think it is necessary to make sure people know everything is in order and we will conduct a thorough and transparent investigation," Villaraigosa told the Televisa news network late Thursday. Villaraigosa arrived in Mexico on Thursday to promote investment, trade and tourism with Los Angeles, home to the largest Mexican population outside Mexico. He visited El Salvador earlier in the week.

Authorities have launched several investigations into the Police Department's actions at Tuesday's rally at MacArthur Park, where police fired 240 rubber bullets. Video images of the incident were broadcast worldwide.
"I was very disturbed by what I saw," Villaraigosa told reporters in Mexico City on Thursday.
The FBI said Thursday it would open an inquiry into whether the officers' conduct violated citizens' civil rights. Prior to the FBI announcement, Police Chief William J. Bratton had said he would inquire whether an FBI probe was possible.

"I have no issues with the FBI coming in ... and taking a look at it," he said.
The FBI probe is the fourth official investigation of the incident. The Police Department opened two investigations almost immediately after the violence, one to create an "after-action report" that evaluates planning and operations, and another by internal affairs to probe complaints against officers.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
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Bush As Usual-Haten

Bush has threatened once more to use his veto
power to block the passing of long debated leg-
islation on hate crimes calling the law unnecessary.
But this bill is also backed by some republicans and
could once again show that the prez is once again
going against the will of the people. What are your
thoughts about this civil rights issue?


President Bush threatened today to veto a long-debated bill, headed for passage by the Democratic-controlled House, that would expand the federal hate-crime law to include violent acts motivated by a victim's sexual orientation, gender or disability. The House is expected later today to approve the measure, the first major expansion of the law since it was passed in 1968, with Republican support. The Senate is expected to follow suit soon. Just hours before the vote, the White House issued a statement calling the legislation unnecessary and declaring that that if it reached the president's desk, "his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

" In the Senate, the expansion of the bill is named after Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student whose fatal 1998 beating helped inspire the legislation. Shepard's parents were among those who have lobbied for the bill's passage. Also spurring the measure were other high-profile incidents, including the 1999 shooting attack on a Jewish community center in the San Fernando Valley by a white supremacist. The bill -- besides expanding the definition of crimes that would be covered under the law -- would broaden federal authority to aid state and local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes motivated by race, religion, national origin and color, as well as sexual orientation, gender and disability.

Under the 1968 law passed after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, federal authorities can investigate and prosecute violence motivated by a victim's religion, race, national origin or color if the act is committed against someone engaged in a federally protected activity, such as voting or attending public school. "Expanding the circumstances under which certain hate crimes maybe prosecuted by removing the 'federally protected activity' requirement will permit the federal government to provide assistance to state law enforcement in a wider range of circumstances, and criminalize instances of vicious bias-motivated crimes that presently fall outside the reaches of the federal criminal laws," according to a report by the House Judiciary Committee.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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To learn more and hear
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LAPD Chief Not A Happy Camper

This has got to be a first for the LAPD in that the
chief has viewed videotapes and deemed the actions
of his officers to be inappropriate. An investigation is
to follow and this is bound to create a moral problem
in the department. But then the chief is also up for
another five year term as head of the department. So
for now all we can do is wait and see what will become
of this latest investigation within the ranks fo the LAPD.


Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton said today that some actions taken by officers trying to clear a crowd of marchers at MacArthur Park were "inappropriate" and that he has launched two investigations. The chief told KNX-AM (1070) that he reviewed the videotapes showing officers using batons and rubber bullets to disperse crowds -- including TV news reporters -- and said "quite frankly, I was disturbed at what I saw."

"Some of the officers' action … were inappropriate in terms of use of batons and possible use of nonlethal rounds fired," he said. The chief stressed that his impressions were based solely on viewing several videotapes shot of the confrontation and he would withhold further judgment until the investigation was completed. He said the police were provoked by some protesters who threw objects at them. Videotapes of the confrontation between police officers and protesters drew concerns about officer conduct from members of the Police Commission, who said they will review the incident with the help of Inspector General Andre Birotte.

"The videotapes raise questions for which we are going to seek answers,'' said Commission Vice President Alan Skobin. "If someone assaults a police officer, there is an appropriate response, and we want to make sure the response was appropriate.'' Added Commissioner Andrea Sheridan Ordin: "The inspector general will work closely with the department in looking into this.'' Tens of thousands of jubilant protesters marched through the streets of Los Angeles on Tuesday during a mostly peaceful day that ended with clashes in MacArthur Park between police and demonstrators demanding citizenship for undocumented immigrants.





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It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
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Smoke Screen ?

Can and will a political appointee properly investgate
the boss that hired him? That seems to be the question
of the day facing Scott J. Bloch-head of the Office of
Special Counsel. His critics seem to think that he may
not be effrective because he to is under the microscope
for possible infractions within his own office and usually
the only thing he does is send out warning lessons. So
can his posible investigation of White Cheif of Staff
Carl Rove all be a smoke screen? Well only time will tell
and their is not that much left in the Bush administration.



At first glance, Scott J. Bloch seems to fit the profile of the "loyal Bushie," the kind of person the White House salted through the Washington bureaucracy to make sure federal agencies heeded administration priorities. But Bloch, 48, is a man who defies expectations.The lifelong Republican runs an agency — the Office of Special Counsel — that is turning its investigative spotlight on the White House, in particular the political operation headed by Karl Rove. His office is investigating whether Bush administration personnel violated civil statutes by inserting GOP electoral politics into Cabinet agency meetings, firing at least one U.S. attorney, and discussing some of the activities in private e-mails that are missing.

When Bloch was recommended for the post by Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), few imagined his tenure would turn controversial among Bush Republicans. Although Bloch is a committed conservative, he says — displaying his Office of Special Counsel badge with a dash of drama — "I am a prosecutor."Bloch says he felt compelled to initiate the broad investigation after reviewing results from two seemingly separate inquiries. The first was a preliminary interview with the fired U.S. attorney from New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, who said, among other things, that his termination might have resulted from his failure to swiftly pursue a corruption case against Democrats.

The second involved a PowerPoint presentation highlighting upcoming battleground election races that a Rove aide, J. Scott Jennings, made at the General Services Administration this year."We are the ones who draw the line at putting the people's business into a political machine," Bloch said in an interview last week. "I consider myself a very tough cop because I consider enforcement of the Hatch Act, which is what we do, an effort to keep government clean and accountable.

"Most alarming for the White House is that if the inquiry proceeds as Bloch outlines it, his agency will focus on political strategist Rove's broad effort to harness the federal bureaucracy in service of Republican goals. Even if the investigation does not result in criminal charges, the process of discovery could expose the inner workings of the White House political operation.





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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
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Drum Major for Peace,
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
http://www.kingprogram.net/