Drivers Beware!

A few weeks ago my brother and I were
driving through the city of South Pasadena.
When we came to an intersection my brother
failed to stop at the designated spot and
stopped after crossing the line. We were
immediately pulled over. After the cop
explained what he had done he wrote out a
ticket. My brother had stopped at the stop
sign but missed the mark by a foot or two and
for that mistake he was cited. This would no
doubt cost him a few hundred bucks and time
wasted in court. Such pettiness shows how
desperate things have gotten in the state of
California. Check out the story below and let
us know if you've been in a similar situation.





The budget crisis facing state and local governments is becoming particularly costly to California motorists, as officials turn to parking and traffic violations as a way to boost their depleted coffers.

The ticket for an expired meter in Los Angeles jumped from $40 in 2008 to about $50 last year, and "fix-it" tickets for minor moving violations such as broken taillights more than doubled.

And officials are now hatching new ideas to bring in even more money from naughty motorists.

L.A. and other cities are urging the Legislature to allow them to place wheel boots on cars that have as few as three unpaid parking tickets. Currently, the law allows the boot only after a driver accumulates five parking tickets. In L.A. alone, officials estimate the change would help them recover overdue parking citations totaling up to $61 million.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants cities and counties to install speed sensors on red-light cameras to catch speeding cars. Fines would range from $225 to $325, and state officials estimate the change would generate more than $300 million for the state through the end of 2011.




This Article Continues Here





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"From Atlanta to the Mountain top
It's the 3-Hour Docudrama that
tells the story of the Civil Rights
movement and the life of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To learn more and hear
excerpts from this treasured
program,click here:
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Hate Crime Cases Have Risen

In a story published Dec. 17th in the New York Times
the Justice Department has had an increase in hate crime
cases. Filings of these new cases has reached previous levels
not seen since 2001. Does this mean that the Bush
administration dragged it's feet on hate crimes during the
eight years it ran the country? Certainly looks that way to
me. What do you think? Check out the article below.





Two days after the Justice Department
announced federal indictments related to the fatal
beating of a Mexican immigrant in Shenandoah, Pa.,
federal authorities said the charges were part of a
larger effort to step up civil rights enforcement after
nearly eight years of decreased hate crime prosecutions.
Thomas E. Perez, head of the Justice Department’s
Civil Rights Division, said the department brought
more federal hate crime cases this year than in any
other year since 2001.

During the budget year that ended in September, 25
hate crime cases were filed, Mr. Perez said. By
comparison, that number fell to a low of 12 in 2006,
before rising to 23 in 2008. In 2001, 31 such cases
were filed.

Mr. Perez said he was “shocked to see the downtick
in prosecutions of hate crimes” during the
George W. Bush administration, adding, “The Civil Rights
Division is again open for business.”Mr. Perez’s comments
came after a federal indictment released Tuesday charged
Chief Matthew Nestor, Lt. William Moyer and Officer Jason
Hayes of the Shenandoah police with obstruction of justice.

They are accusing of writing false and misleading reports
about the beating death of Luís Ramírez, a 25-year-old
illegal immigrant. At the time of Mr. Ramírez’s death in
July 2008, Officer Hayes was dating the mother of one of
the white teenagers accused in the case, and Lieutenant Moyer’s
son was on the high school football team with the teenagers.





This Article Continues Here





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

Getting Their Day In Court

It' been nearly ten years since the 911 attacks and it would be nice to see those accused of this heinous crime have their day in court. 911 was one of the worst days in American history and the sooner we get it behind us the better. check out the story belowand then leave us with your thoughts.

The picture below is that of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind, at time of his 2003 capture

in Pakistan (left) and how he allegedly looked this

summer in a reputed International Red Cross photo.

( AP Photo/www.muslm.net)

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try five alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in U.S. criminal courts was hailed Friday by their American lawyers and civil liberties activists as major step toward undoing damage to the nation's reputation caused by its treatment of terrorism suspects held in Guantanamo Bay.

"This is an enormous step forward in renewing the rule of law," Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union said during a conference call with reporters shortly after Holder's announcement.

The decision to try the alleged conspirators in New York City, part of the roll-out of the administration's effort to make good on its promise to close the prison at Gitmo, "puts us back on track, using our tried and true court system," Romero said.

But he and the lawyers also expressed disappointment that Holder decided to use controversial military commissions to try five additional high-value terrorism suspects, including the mastermind of the 2000 bombing in Yemen of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole. They are among 221 prisoners still being held in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The commissions remain flawed, Romero said, even with recent tweaks by Congress that give detainees better access to legal counsel than they had under the Bush administration, and limits evidence obtained through harsh interrogation tactics.

Says Norman Reimer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers: "It is unfortunate that some will still be subjected to military commission proceedings...[that] fall short of what we should expect as Americans."

This Article Continues Here

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

New Lethal Injection Procedure?

Looks as if the state of California is gearing up it's
Death Program with a new procedure for the
infamous lethal injection. But what makes me
wonder is how do they know if this new procedure
will be any different from the old one? Hmmm!
Check out the latest story on this issue below.



State corrections officials Tuesday proposed new lethal injection procedures, a first step toward resuming executions in California after a four-year halt.

The proposals involve only minor changes to the three-drug method used on 11 of the 13 men put to death in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

But the revisions appear to address the concerns of a federal judge who deemed the previous lethal injection practices unconstitutional for their risk of inflicting cruel and unusual punishment.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued the proposed changes in a 25-page draft and announced a 15-day period for public comment. Once any additional revisions are made and the new protocols adopted, the execution procedures must pass judicial review for their conformance with state law and the U.S. Constitution.

California has the nation's largest death row, with 697 inmates sentenced to die. The last execution was in January 2006, when convicted killer Clarence Allen was put to death by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.

When murderer Michael A. Morales was scheduled to die a month later, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose intervened to impose conditions that led to the current moratorium. Fogel later ruled the state procedures constitutionally flawed after hearing testimony that some of those executed may not have been fully anesthetized by the first injection before receiving the second shot, a paralyzing agent, and the painful last dose that stops the heart.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a task force in 2007 to revise the lethal injection procedures to ensure they were administered effectively. But those changes were adopted behind closed doors and without public input, prompting Marin County Superior Court Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor to rule them illegal and in violation of the state's Administrative Procedures Act.

This Article Continues Here

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

Shades of Martin

Welcome back to King of Civil Rights after a long hiatus.
Today's story deals with President Obama receiving the
Nobel Peace Prize an Honor that was also bestowed upon
Dr. King. After reading the story below feel free to comment



President Obama accepted the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today, acknowledging in his speech the hotly debated irony of receiving it as a wartime president.

According to a Times article today, Obama’s speech to the Nobel Committee defended his war stance, saying the pursuit of a “just peace” sometimes means more than simply refraining from violence.

The selection of Obama for the award has been controversial, coming less than a year into his first term and just days after he announced he would commit 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan.

Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland suggested the award will encourage the president to achieve his goals.

And while he didn’t mention if he supported Obama’s military buildup, a video on the Nobelprize.org website with Geir Lundestad, secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, explained how the President’s prize follows the statutes of Alfred Nobel’s will.

Twitter users and readers have mostly been critical of the president's Peace Prize, but some at least admired Obama's address to the committee:

This Article Continues Here

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