Where Does America’s Bigotry and Hate Come From?
‘Long Live Zimmerman’ painted on Ohio State’s black cultural center
Ohio State’s University Police are investigating after someone spray-painted “Long Live Zimmerman” on the campus’ black cultural center.
University newspaper The Lantern reported that the racially-charged graffiti was apparently left Wednesday night or early Thursday morning on the Hale Hall building, which houses the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center. The message is thought to be in support of George Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watchmen who admitted to the February killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teen.
“Ignorance is bliss,” Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center Executive Director Larry Williamson told 10TV. “We want the person brought to trial, caught. We want to make sure these kinds of things don’t happen.”
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee insisted in a statement that police were “vigorously investigating the incident.”
“Early this morning, I learned of a racially charged act of vandalism at our Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center,” Gee said. “Let me be very clear: This is not who we are at Ohio State. Racism will not be tolerated on our campus.”
The graffiti has since been power-washed from the building. Williamson said that security would also be increased in that area of campus.
It was not immediately clear if the police had any suspects or if surveillance cameras monitored the area. MORE AT LINK BELOW:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/05/long-live-zimmerman-painted-on-ohio-states-black-cultural-center/—
So where does all America’s bigotry come from? It’s an age old question that no one (especially experts) seems to have a strong enough desire to answer. (or just maybe there is no acceptable answer) Of course we know human beings have the capacity to detest one another to the point of wanting to erase certain individuals or groups from existence. Many feel a satisfaction in hatred and actually enjoy it. It is well, sort of a release valve (through rationalizing) for the inadequacies they mentally experience. They feel abused within the system they live and need scapegoats to blame all this hurt upon. Also they endure inferiority and exhibiting intolerant behavior, gives them someone to look down on; which in return gives them a feeling of EXALTATION.
As long as we have the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage and Ann Coulter et.al, who espouse bigotry and hate, over the airwaves; processing and editing their listeners and viewers thoughts for them, there will forever be repulsive occurrences like this. I wish we could find a cure because it is just like a cancer that will, slowly and eventually destroy the whole civilized system we (all of us) live in.
Oddly, that appears to be exactly what the far right-wing long for.
thinkingblue
PS: BTW, Homeschooling also adds quite a bit of hate and fear to the mix… (PITY THE LITTLE CHILDREN WHO LEARN (from their parents) TO BE AFRAID TO LIVE.)
EXCERPTS: Homeschooling has become so popular with fundamentalist Christians because, “there is an atmosphere of real terror among some evangelicals. They are horrified by the fact that Obama is president, and they see the New Atheist movement as a vocal, in-your-face threat. Plus, they are obsessed with the End Times, and believe that the Apocalypse could happen any day now…They see a demon on every corner.
“We homeschooled because we wanted to protect our children from what we viewed as the total secularization of America. We listened to people like Rush Limbaugh, who told us that America was in the clutches of evil liberal feminist atheists.”
Evil LIBERALS, FEMINISTS and ATHEISTS, Oh My!!!
Ignorance is NOT bliss but for hate-mongers like Rush Limbaugh, it pays off BIG$$$$$$
Barely Literate? How Christian Fundamentalist Homeschooling Hurts Kids
The Religious Right touts homeschooling as the “responsible” educational choice. But what about the kids whose parents opt-out of the system — and out of educating them, as well?
http://www.alternet.org/belief/154541/barely_literate_how_christian_fundamentalist_homeschooling_hurts_kids?In recent weeks, homeschooling has received nationwide attention because of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s homeschooling family. Though Santorum paints a rosy picture of homeschooling in the United States, and calls attention to the “responsibility” all parents have to take their children’s education into their own hands, he fails to acknowledge the very real potential for educational neglect among some homeschooling families – neglect that has been taking place for decades, and continues to this day.
While the practice of homeschooling is new to many people, my own interest in it was sparked nearly 20 years ago. I was a socially awkward adolescent with a chaotic family life, and became close to a conservative Christian homeschooling family that seemed perfect in every way. Through my connection to this family, I was introduced to a whole world of conservative Christian homeschoolers, some of whom we would now consider “Quiverfull” families: homeschooling conservatives who eschew any form of family planning and choose instead to “trust God” with matters related to procreation.
Though I fell out of touch with my homeschooled friends as we grew older, a few years ago, I reconnected with a few ex-Quiverfull peers on a new support blog called No Longer Quivering. Poring over their stories, I was shocked to find so many tales of gross educational neglect. I don’t merely mean that they had received what I now view as an overly politicized education with huge gaps, for example, in American history, evolution or sexuality. Rather, what disturbed me were the many stories about homeschoolers who were barely literate when they graduated, or whose math and science education had never extended much past middle school. MORE HERE
WTF? YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS.
Welcome to the Cockroach Tea Party.
Az. Official Considers Expanding Awful Ban on Ethnic Studies to Universities
EXCERPT: {{legislators arguing that teenagers were not old enough to question race-sensitive topics in the classroom, — college students aren’t old enough either.}}
I GUESS THESE LEGISLATORS (in the cockroach tea party) HAVEN’T SPENT MUCH TIME AROUND TEENAGERS… I wish these people would stay in the woodwork, with the other cockroaches’, where they belong.
EXCERPT: {{Their recent rap sheet includes a bill passed by the Senate that would allow doctors to withhold lifesaving information from women in order to prevent abortions, a bill that passed several procedural votes that would force all students on financial aid—except athletes—to pay at least $2,000 in tuition costs, and a bill that’s been floating around the Senate that would suspend professors for using profanity or teaching “indecent” materials in class.}}
OMG!!!!! Like I said… GO BACK IN TO THE WOODWORK and leave the thinking up to those who can THINK!
GOOD GRIEF, when will ALL this insanity stop? thinkingblue
PS: My apologies to the cockroaches of our planet.
Another BEFUDDLE from these nincompoops that THINKING people like me, and YOU, help bring into the LIGHT OF DAY. (Cockroaches hate that!)
Az. Official Considers Expanding Awful Ban on Ethnic Studies to Universities
They’re at it again.
Two years ago, the Arizona state legislature passed a law that effectively banned all public K-12 schools from teaching ethnic studies, with legislators arguing that teenagers were not old enough to question race-sensitive topics in the classroom.
And according to Arizona’s top education official, college students aren’t old enough either.
Superintendent of Schools John Huppenthal recently said that ethnic studies programs taught at state universities are “toxic” because they teach students to resent Anglos.
“I think that’s where this toxic thing starts from, the universities,” Huppenthal told Fox News. “To me, the pervasive problem was the lack of balance going on in these classes.”
Huppenthal’s comments, combined with the possibility of even more government intrusion into what is taught in Arizona’s classrooms, have alarmed educators throughout the state.
“It’s an affront to freedom of speech,” Antonio Estrada, the director of the Mexican American Studies program at the University of Arizona, responded to Fox. “We do not indoctrinate, we educate.”
While the legislature hasn’t taken official action to extend the ban on ethnic studies to public colleges, the governing body does have a disturbing tendency to embrace the controversial.
Their recent rap sheet includes a bill passed by the Senate that would allow doctors to withhold lifesaving information from women in order to prevent abortions, a bill that passed several procedural votes that would force all students on financial aid—except athletes—to pay at least $2,000 in tuition costs, and a bill that’s been floating around the Senate that would suspend professors for using profanity or teaching “indecent” materials in class. MORE HERE http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/876597/az._official_considers_expanding_awful_ban_on_ethnic_studies_to_universities/
| The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Tucson’s Mexican-American Studies Ban | ||||
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Who The Hell Does the STAND YOUR GROUND LAW Protect?
Another STAND YOUR GROUND (loathsome) LAW, travesty. Collier judge upholds ‘Stand Your Ground’ stabbing death defense in teen’s bus stop bullying
Silly me, I thought it was illegal to take a knife to school. Well, I guess NOTHING is illegal under this perverted law (except maybe HUGGING). This just proves how much our children are in peril. I wonder how many more lives will have to be lost before someone takes a close look at the destruction the NRA and their multi-million dollar lobbies have caused. What a rotten society they have created; welcome to the wild (lawless) west of yesteryear, only in this new “WILD WEST”, it’s legal to murder anyone who you believe is looking at you cockeyed.
Please watch MSNBC’s Chris Hayes discuss this despicable law with his panel. It’s an inspiring and informative WOW, if you haven’t seen it before. thinkingblue
Collier judge upholds ‘Stand Your Ground’ stabbing death defense in teen’s bus stop bullying
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/jan/03/collier-judge-upholds-stand-your-ground-defense-ca/
By VICTORIA MACCHI
NAPLES — A 15-year-old who fatally stabbed his school mate will no longer face criminal prosecution.A judge’s ruling, made public Tuesday, granted a motion to dismiss the second-degree murder charge against Jorge Saavedra in the death of 16-year-old Dylan Nuno on the grounds that he acted in self-defense under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. The State Attorney’s Office has indicated that it will not appeal the ruling.
Nuno’s family and friends criticized Collier County Circuit Judge Lauren Brodie’s decision, calling it “unbelievable” and “heartbreaking.”
“We know this wasn’t the right decision,” said Dylan’s aunt, Adriana Nuno.“(The judge) is showing those kids it’s OK to get away with murder.”
Saavedra, who was 14 at the time of the stabbing, was charged as a juvenile. If found guilty, the former Palmetto Ridge High student would have been released by the age of 21.
Brodie’s ruling concluded that Saavadra, who said he was bullied and tried avoid a fight with Nuno, did not act unlawfully. She added that Saavadra had more than enough reason to believe he was in danger of death or great bodily harm.
Brodie based her decision this week on the findings from a two-day December hearing, during which students who witnessed the events Jan. 24, 2011, testified that several teens announced the fight on the bus, and Saavedra got off several stops early in Golden Gate Estates. Saavedra showed a pocket knife to two teens on the bus that afternoon.
In a nine-page document released Tuesday by the State Attorney’s Office, Brodie stated that by getting off the bus several stops before the location where the fight was to happen, Saavedra “demonstrated that, with or without a knife, (he) had no desire to fight with Dylan Nuno.”
Accompanied by several students, Dylan Nuno, a junior, followed Saavedra, a freshman, off the bus. He then punched him in the back of the head, according to court documents and testimony.
Saavedra attempted to get away once, witnesses said. He then stabbed Dylan Nuno 12 times in the chest and abdomen. Two of the blows caused fatal wounds, including one that nicked his heart.
‘Stand your ground’ law protects those who go far beyond that point
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/article1222930.ece
The men responsible for Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law are certain about one thing: Because of his actions before he pulled the trigger and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman is not protected from criminal prosecution.
Because Zimmerman exited his vehicle, because he followed Martin, because his actions put him in a situation where he felt it necessary to shoot a boy dead, he should be booked, jailed and forced to face a jury of his peers.
Said Durell Peaden, the former Republican senator from Crestview who sponsored the bill: “The guy lost his defense right then. When he said, ‘I’m following him,’ he lost his defense.”
Said Jeb Bush, the governor who signed the bill into law: “Stand your ground means stand your ground. It doesn’t mean chase after somebody who’s turned their back.”
But they are wrong.
Since its passage in 2005, the “stand your ground” law has protected people who have pursued another, initiated a confrontation and then used deadly force to defend themselves. Citing the law, judges have granted immunity to killers who put themselves in danger, so long as their pursuit was not criminal, so long as the person using force had a right to be there, and so long as he could convince the judge he was in fear of great danger or death.
The Tampa Bay Times has identified 140 cases across the state in which “stand your ground” has been invoked, and many involve defendants whose lives were clearly in jeopardy. But at least a dozen share similarities with what we know about the Trayvon Martin case, and they show the law has not always worked as its sponsors say they intended.
Early morning, Jan. 25, 2011. Greyston Garcia was in his apartment in Miami when a roommate told him someone was stealing the radio from his truck.
Garcia grabbed a kitchen knife and ran outside. The burglar saw him coming, grabbed his bag of stolen radios and fled.
Rather than calling the police, Garcia chased the thief down the street and caught up to him a block away. The confrontation lasted less than a minute and was captured on surveillance video. The thief swung the bag of radios at Garcia, who blocked the bag with his left hand and stabbed the thief in the chest with his right.
Pedro Roteta, 26, died in the street.
Those are the facts. You be the judge. MORE HERE
Not A Christian, Then GET OUT!
So says, GOP Pastor Dennis Terry
I created this video using a clip from an Internet News Media about a month ago. Since that time so many sad and wretched events have taken place that I did not do too much more than upload it to my Youtube channel “thethinkingblue”. Today I thought I would send it around to my usual daily blogs. It says a lot about the mentality of the Christian Right. These people seem to have the delusion that America belongs to only them. If you don’t agree with said, THEM, they want you to leave so they can do what they want with America the Beautiful. If this could happen (thank all that is good, it cannot) the THEM would set the clocks of technology and freedom back, oh say, ’bout many thousands of years, take or leave a thousand years or two. People like Dennis Terry are so full of themselves; they believe that an all powerful, all omnipotent SUPERNATURAL BEING who created every last molecule, proton, electron, neutron, of mass and gas, cares about their pathetic accidental arrival into this fortuitous existence. GOOD GOD, NOW THAT’S HUBRIS! Please watch the video below. thinkingblue
Why hasn’t George Zimmermann been arrested?
Trayvon Martin case audio: Screams were not George Zimmerman’s, 2 experts say
The voice heard crying for help on a 911 call just before Trayvon Martin was shot to death was not that of George Zimmerman, according to two forensic voice identification experts, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday.
Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, told the Sentinel that he used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman.
Zimmerman told police that he screamed for help during his confrontation with Martin, 17. He claims the shooting was self-defense.
Why hasn’t George Zimmermann been arrested? It makes no sense AT ALL! As for the screams, how dare this coward (Zimmermann) claim the screams were his? He was the stalker, he was the aggressor and then he (in the eyes of all that is loathsome) becomes the victim? No one should be tried and convicted before their day in court but when will that day become a reality? The longer this drags on the more absurd and wretched it becomes. thinkingblue
Trayvon Martin case: Why hasn’t George Zimmerman been arrested?
Why didn’t the Sanford, Fla., police arrest George Zimmerman after he shot Trayvon Martin Feb. 26? That’s a question that today is more relevant than ever amid reports the lead investigator in the case thought Mr. Zimmerman should be charged with manslaughter for his actions.
Trayvon Martin’s parents went before a congressional panel and thanked those who turned their 17-year-old son’s death into a cry against racial profiling. Martin’s parents spoke at a Capitol Hill forum that began with a moment of silence.
The investigator, Chris Serino, was unconvinced by Zimmerman’s assertion that he resorted to deadly force in self-defense, according to ABC News. Mr. Serino filed an affidavit to that effect on the night of the killing.
But Serino’s superiors, in turn, were apparently unconvinced by Serino’s reasoning. They did not take Zimmerman into custody because of two words: “probable cause.”
This story becomes more heart wrenching with each passing day. The boy is gone, I wish we could bring him back but we can bring about closure with justice. WHAT ARE THEY WATING FOR? thinkingblue
Thousands of marchers took buses Saturday to take part in a large protest in the Florida town where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in February. The protesters demanded justice for the teen.
Florida Turns ‘Gunshine State’ After Years of Republican Control
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/florida-turns-gunshine-state-after-years-of-republican-control.html
EXCERPTS: “The goal of the gun lobby is to make Florida their armed utopia and spread that mentality nationally,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
In Tallahassee, the NRA has won battles with business interests, police departments, local governments and pediatricians since 1999, when Republicans won control of the Legislature and the governor’s office. The organization has championed 38 laws since then to expand rights to conceal, possess, display, discharge, sell or transfer firearms, according to state records.
That helped put Florida among the 10 states with the laxest gun laws, according to a 2011 scorecard from the Brady Campaign, which advocates gun control.
While the Sunshine State’s violent crime has decreased, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, gun- related fatalities increased 35 percent from 1999 to 2009, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s double the rate of population growth during that time and seven times greater than the national average.
It’s the Gunshine State,” said Kent Morden, manager at U.S. Pawn & Auto Inc. in Longwood, standing near a case of assault rifles surmounted with a remote-control plastic robot toy. “Everybody’s got one.”
The state of about 19 million has about 6 million gun owners, Hammer said. About 800,000 have concealed-carry permits that allow them to carry hidden firearms, according to Florida Agriculture Department statistics. In 2004, then-Governor Jeb Bush signed bills that blocked police from collecting data on firearm sales at pawnshops and barred lawsuits over cleaning up lead at gun ranges.
Then-Governor Charlie Crist signed a law in 2010 forbidding adoption agencies from considering gun ownership when matching children with prospective parents.
And last year, Republican Governor Rick Scott, an NRA member, approved the so-called “docs versus Glocks” statute. The law prohibits doctors from asking patients whether they have guns. Pediatricians opposed the bill, comparing questions about firearms to asking about using car seats or keeping poisons in the home.
Also see:
New Gun Law in Florida Might Land Me in Jail!
http://www.betterparentinginstitute.com/Better-Parenting/parenting-child-raising-skills/new-gun-law-in-florida-might-land-me-in-jail/
A law passed by the Florida legislature and likely
to be signed by Republican Governor Rick Scott
would make it a crime for doctors to counsel parents
about gun safety in the home.
—
It’s hard to fathom the reach and power the NRA and its lobbies have. How many children must suffer and die because of this insanity? Why can’t something be done to stop the madness? There are many who do not agree with the psychopathic philosophies of the NRA, yet we all must live under their will. WHY? It’s got to be more than just money but unfortunately, money talks the language of oppression and so the tyranny continues. thinkingblue.
More Links Below
Why hasn’t George Zimmermann Been Arrested?
Rightwing Looking For Trash on Trayvon
The Right-winged Ones Looking for Trash on Trayvon Martin.
Motto: Trash The Victim – They asked for it. Say What?
The GOP Tea Party blogs are ruthless, and have no shame as they constantly comb the Internet looking for material to use in order to demonize those they feel profound hatred towards. We don’t have Andrew Breitbart, any longer but his passing hardly made a dent in softening the bigotry of this group. They are out in force, trying to find evidence that a normal happy teenager, shot dead by a vigilante (who was out to kill something he believed was an abomination to his cozy, warped world of discrimination) was the evil one who deserved assassination. So many of us are outraged and saddened by this horrible event, but there are also many who wish to defend the perpetrator and condemn the victim. This makes visible, the fact that we live in a very sick culture. This is not new; it has been going on for many years. The only new thing here is the so called Tea Party goes by a different trademark today, they use to be called, back in the days of Jim Crow, “KKK” and although Tucker Carlson, Michelle Malkin and their ilk, would never identify themselves as Klu Klux Klan, they sure as hell, adhere to their same bigoted principals. thinkingblue
Bloggers Cherry-Pick From Social Media to Cast Trayvon Martin as a Menace
By ROBERT MACKEYFor the second time in a week, a conservative blog has published excerpts from what it described as a Twitter feed maintained by Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was shot and killed last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer patrolling a gated community.
The new blog post on the dead teenager’s social media account, which features an image of him making an obscene gesture and quotes from a message that includes an abbreviation for an obscenity, was posted on The Daily Caller, a site founded by Tucker Carlson, a conservative pundit, and Neil Patel, who once worked as an adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Like the site’s previous post on another Twitter feed apparently maintained by Trayvon Martin, the information published on Thursday seems to have been selected to reinforce the argument that the victim of the fatal shooting was a menacing figure who might plausibly have been mistaken for a criminal. That impression is reinforced by the fact that while the post mentions and links to what appears to be a MySpace account set up by Trayvon Martin in 2009, The Daily Caller’s editors chose not to display any of the many photographs posted there that show him in a far softer light: holding up a birthday cake with his name on it, fishing with his father, dressed in a suit for his prom, looking excited to inspect an aircraft engine.
A Twitter profile photo that appears to show Trayvon Martin.
Similarly, the selection of Twitter updates published on Monday by The Daily Caller was accompanied by what appears to be a profile photograph he used, in which he was wearing a grill, a type of removable dental jewelry associated with rappers, but did not show or discuss the eight other Twitpic photographs associated with and linked to from the account. Those images — a bag of candy, a pencil drawing of the name ‘Tray’ sketched by his girlfriend; a school lunch; a tattoo of his mother Sybrina’s name; portraits of two girls; a football field; a new pair of sneakers — which remain online even though the associated Twitter account has been closed, paint an image of a fairly ordinary teenager’s life.. MORE HERE
Questions and more questions in the Trayvon Martin shooting
Meanwhile, a smear campaign against Martin is under way. It’s conducted in part by the likes of Michelle Malkin, whose website Twitchy posted a purported photo of Trayvon in gangsta-style pose and Zimmerman in a suit. Twitchy bellyached about supposed media bias in not showing these photos of the men “because they convey a message that no one else wants to take into consideration.” Just one problem: the photo of Trayvon wasn’t Trayvon. That could have been resolved beforehand with a simple phone call or two, the kind of basic journalism that Malkin often rails about being absent. But presenting the truth wasn’t what Twitchy’s editors had in mind. On the contrary. FROM DAILY KOS click here for more
VOTING IN FLORIDA IS NOW ILLEGAL FOR ALL DEMOCRATS
At least that is what Rick Scott and his GOP Bullies are trying to do.
I swear, I am living in a nightmare these days. The GOP/TP is doing everything in their power to make all that is good and just, ILLEGAL and pushing laws that will turn almost everyone’s life into a nightmarish BAD DREAM that we will never awake from. Haven’t these people, who care about no one or anything unless they determine it detrimental to their power and purse, HAVEN’T THEY DONE ENOUGH? They’ve at least done a sufficient amount of PHOOEY to make people realize that they (GOP/TP) don’t give a rat’s ass about the inhabitants of our United States of America, unless such citizens are part of the corporate-hood or very rich.
Come on people, put your thinking caps on, the GOP/TP are out to destroy most of the 99% and it’s BLATANT. They don’t even try to hide their efforts to sabotage, that which we hold dear, they don’t have to. They have succeeded in indoctrinating their entire base, rendering them useless as protectors of theirs and our rights.
The Republican Party is the party of NO (voting NO on every bill that they perceive will make President Obama look good) but their sycophants’, their followers are the posses of YES and can’t wait for their next instruction to vote against their own best interests.
When will the nightmare end? I would wager to bet NEVER, not as long as they can govern and manage the ignorant who look up to them as if they were heroes. To say it’s a CRYING SHAME, is putting it more than mildly, it’s more like a crime that they get away with.
Please watch Rachel Maddow, once again, bring forth and expose the truth, like no other person, in the media or otherwise, can do. I wish everyone could tune in to the Rachel Maddow Show and learn exactly what these oppressors are up to, instead of listening to Right-wing conservative media or Internet blogs, which try to demonize her. They obviously fear her or they wouldn’t try so hard to silence her voice of REALITY.
thinkingblue
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Voter suppression in Florida
Florida has managed to give the presidency to the republicans more than once. No matter how popular President Obama is, HB 1355 could allow them to steal the election once again by disenfranchising thousands of voters.
Florida HB 1355 is a concerted attempt to suppress the vote for minorities, students and low-income voters during the 2012 election.
The Justice Department is opposing changes in Florida voting procedures and says it wants a trial in the dispute, a move that could impact the state’s August primary elections.
Because the state of Florida has five counties (Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe) that require federal preclearance for any new elections laws impacting minorities, the U.S. Department of Justice was originally supposed to investigate some of the more controversial aspects of the law. Approval for these counties is mandated by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Department of Justice seeks trial on Florida’s ‘voter suppression’ law
The restrictions challenged in the suit were enacted by Florida legislators in 2011 as part of H.B. 1355, a broad package of election law changes. They include extremely burdensome administrative requirements, unreasonably tight deadlines for submission of completed forms, and heavy penalties for even the slightest delay or mistake. These restrictions are so unnecessarily harsh that they forced the League of Women Voters and Rock the Vote, among other groups, to shut down voter registration programs in Florida — even as voter registration rates have continued to decline in the state.
“For over 72 years, League volunteers have faithfully and successfully helped to register eligible Florida voters,” explained Deirdre Macnab, President of the League of Women Voters of Florida. “Sadly, Florida’s anti-voter law creates impassable roadblocks for our volunteers, who are simply trying to bring fellow citizens into our democratic process.”
http://floridaindependent.com/71922/department-of-justice-seeks-trial-on-floridas-voter-suppression-law
More Links Below
VOTING IN FLOIRDA IS NOW ILLEGAL
SNOPES UNDER FIRE BY THE GOP/TP
IS SNOPES UNDER FIRE BY THE GOP/TP?
IS SNOPES UNDER FIRE BY THE GOP/TP?
The UNMITIGATED IGNORANCE OF AN ENTIRE POLITICAL PARTY BASE.
The GOP/TP is now after SNOPES hoping (with lies) it will go the way of ACORN.
My husband Frank, received a FORWARD the other day that had so much Shit From Thee Bull in it, I had to do some research. During my FACT-FINDING journey, I found something even more disturbing and utterly deplorable (as if the Tea Party movement can’t get more shameful than it already is) than the so called “Birther Movement”. But first the forwarded email called:
Birth Certificate (LONG FORM)
Claim: Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery.
Snopes: FALSE
Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2008]
I read that Obama will not release his birth certificate. Have heard rumors it’s because he is listed as white. Or that because he isn’t a U.S. born citizen.
(Upon the release of the Long Form Actual Birth Certificate the BIRTHERS still claim it’s a forgery.)
The claims of anachronism stemmed from three elements in the certificate:
1. Back in 1961 people of color were called ‘Negroes.’ So how can the Obama ‘birth certificate’ state he is ‘African-American’ when the term wasn’t even used at that time?
2. The birth certificate that the White House released lists Obama’s birth as August 4, 1961. It also lists Barack Hussein Obama as his father. No big deal, right? At the time of Obama’s birth, it also shows that his father is aged 25 years old, and that Obama’s father was born in “Kenya, East Africa”. This wouldn’t seem like anything of concern, except the fact that Kenya did not even exist until 1963, two whole years after Obama’s birth, and 27 years after his father’s birth. How could Obama’s father have been born in a country that did not yet exist? Up and until Kenya was formed in 1963, it was known as the “British East Africa Protectorate”.
3. On the birth certificate released by the White House, the listed place of birth is “Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital”. This cannot be, because the hospital(s) in question in 1961 were called “Kaui Keolani Children’s Hospital” and “Kapi’olani Maternity Home”, respectively. The name did not change to Kapi’olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital until 1978, when these two hospitals merged. How can this particular name of the hospital be on a birth certificate dated 1961 if this name had not yet been applied to it until 1978?
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My husband sent him the Snopes Facts on this bogus (and silly) forward where, of course, Snopes correctly took on these 3 idiotic “points” and proved them FALSE with actual reality checks. Click this link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/birthcertificate.asp
After sending this link of fact, to the blockhead conservative, (who barely reads any FORWARDS he receives and just hits the old FORWARD AND SEND BUTTON to CIRCULATE the pieces of BS, that his pea-brain agrees with, around to his like-minded buddies) he wrote back this reply.
“Frank, I sent you an email a few months ago about how flawed Snopes is. STOP LIVING YOUR LIFE BASE {sic] OFF WHAT THAT SITE TELLS YOU.”
Now it appears, with the help of the freepers over on the Free Republic Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index These GOP/TP DESPOTS (who laugh all the way to the bank at their base’s ignorance) are now in the midst of demonizing Snopes as a “LIAR,LIAR PANTS ON FIRE” source to protect their totally fabricated “INFORMATION”, that circulates around the Internet via FORWARDS and also the media via the likes of Limbaugh and Fox News, as THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NUTTIN BUT THE TRUTH. WHAT A JOKE! Thinkingblue
CLAIM: Snopes.com is ‘owned by a flaming liberal’ with a partisan bias.
First off, it’s clear that whoever wrote this piece made it up as they went along. Anyone who has spent even a few minutes browsing Snopes.com knows that the website is owned by two people, not one. They are husband and wife David and Barbara Mikkelson of southern California. This is stated on the website and has been common knowledge for quite some time.
Second, the charge of partisanship is laid without evidence. At no time have the Mikkelsons publicly stated a political preference or affiliation, or expressed support for any particular party or candidate.
Moreover, Barbara Mikkelson is a Canadian citizen, and as such cannot vote in U.S. elections or contribute to political campaigns. In a statement to FactCheck.org, David Mikkelson said his “sole involvement in politics” is voting on election day. In 2000 he registered as a Republican, documents provided to FactCheck.org show, and in 2008 Mikkelson didn’t declare a party affiliation at all. Says Mikkelson: “I’ve never joined a party, worked for a campaign, or donated money to a candidate” (source: FactCheck.org).
Anyone who claims proof to the contrary needs to come out with it.
NOTE ON GEORGE SOROS: A later variant of this rumor alleges, without evidence, that Snopes.com is financed by liberal philanthropist and hedge fund tycoon George Soros. This is false. The website is entirely self-supporting through advertising sales.
CLAIM: Snopes.com is ‘in the tank’ for Obama and ‘tells lies’ about McCain and Palin.
You’d think it would be easy for someone so blithely asserting that the owners of Snopes.com are “flaming liberals” to offer evidence that they’re “in the tank” for Obama and “covering up” for him. None is provided.
As of this writing dozens of forwarded texts pertaining to Barack Obama and his running mate have been analyzed on Snopes.com, each meticulously researched with copious references cited. I have perused them all, not to mention the twenty-odd texts concerning Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin, and find no discernible pattern of bias or deception, nor any evidence of advocacy for or against. To the contrary, I see a consistent effort to provide even-handed analyses of texts which more often than not are themselves dripping with political bias.
That’s my assessment, as someone who has investigated the bulk of these rumors himself and can boast a better-than-average familiarity with the subject matter. I invite you to make your own.
CLAIM: TruthorFiction.com is a more reliable source than Snopes.
First off, TruthorFiction.com has condemned this anonymous attack against Snopes.com and, in fact, lauds the site as an “excellent” and “authoritative” resource.
What’s ironic about claims to the contrary is that when you compare the contents of the two sites their findings rarely diverge in any substantive way. Shouldn’t we therefore conclude that TruthorFiction.com is biased too?
MORE HERE: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/internet/a/snopes_exposed.htm
—
EXAMPLE:
Email text contributed by Elliott F., Oct. 20, 2008:
Subject: Snopes under fire
PLEASE READ!!!!!!! VERY IMPORTANT—– SNOPES EXPOSED:
Snopes under fire
I have suspected some problems with Snopes for some time now, but I have only
caught them in half-truths. If there is any subjectivity they do an immediate full left
rudder.Truth or fiction.com <http://truthorfiction.com/> is the better source for
verification, in my opinion.I have recently discovered that Snopes.com is owned by a flaming liberal and
this man is in the tank for Obama. There are many things they have listed on their
site as a hoax and yet you can go to Youtube yourself and find the video of Obama
actually saying these things. So you see, you cannot and should not trust
Snopes.com…. ever for anything that remotely resembles truth! I don’t even trust
them to tell me if email chains are hoaxes anymore.A few conservative speakers on Myspace told me about snopes.com
<http://snopes.com/> a few months ago and I took it upon myself to do a little
research to find out if it was true. Well, I found out for myself that it is true. This
website is backing Obama and is covering up for him. They will say anything that
makes him look bad is a hoax and they also tell lies on the other side about McCain
and Palin.Anyway just FYI please don’t use Snopes.com anymore for fact checking and
make your friends aware of their political leanings as well. Many people still think
Snopes.com is neutral and they can be trusted as factual. We need to make sure
everyone is aware that that is a hoax in itself.
——
As if the BIRTH CERTIFICATE was not enough insult, the conservative ignoramous, still sends Frank another dispicable forward about Bill Crosby. BILL COSBY: I’M TIRED!
GOOD GOD, these assholes never quit. thinkingblue
Frank’s response:
Don,
Using Bill Cosby in this manner is the reason for the existence of “Snopes”. You got some false, utterly ridiculous piece of crap in your email, and because it agreed with your [WARPED] world-view you took it as the gospel truth. Snopes usually puts that erroneous nonsense where it belongs….into the nearest garbage can! Snopes makes you very upset because it screws-up what you want to believe. You then find some other piece of crap that demonizes Snopes to the point of comparing it to “Krystainacht” (look that one up if you are curious). It’s all very tidy for you now. You get to ignore Snopes!…. hooray!
Bill Cosby was not involved at all in the words used in this latest false forward of yours. I knew it was totally false after the first few sentences! The person who sent it around under Mr. Cosby’s name should receive some kind of punishment for his slander! The person who contributes to this travesty by sending it around should also be condemned for his behavior and set straight! I’ll now proceed to “set you straight” without using the dreaded Snopes!
If you want to redeem yourself, you could send Mr. Cosby an email, and apologize.
Here’s something directly from Bill Cosby’s site:http://billcosby.com/site/2011/09/if-you-got-the-bogus-email-its-time-to-hit-delete.html
Here’s something directly from “The Old Jarhead”, who actually wrote what is erroneously and maliciously attributed to Mr. Bill Cosby! http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/02/robert.html
You never give up…do you Don! If you have the opinions and hold the views of “The Old Jarhead” that’s fine, but for Christ’s sake Don, point to the proper source, and try to have a little integrity! You can’t just forward all the stuff you see that you agree with when it’s always proven to be complete lies and fabrications. All the birther stuff you send is silly. All the crap about Obama the Muslim is ridiculous. You can’t just turn the world into a vision that suits you by forwarding shit from the bull!
Frank
More Links Below
SNOPES UNDER FIRE BY THE GOP/TP
259,202 Youtube Hits So Far… March 23, 2012 (7:32am)
A Youtube Plea For Peace From an Isreali Father
Please share this, it’s a video that should go viral. Go to youtube and comment, I did:
“THANK YOU SO MUCH… We need our peaceful voices to be heard. We are not cattle who cannot stop their own slaughter. We are human beings and we all share something in common; love, respect, peace and empathy for one another.” thinkingblue
Amid war fever, some Israelis and Iranians talk of peace
Israeli Father reaches out for peace.
By SHEERA FRENKEL
McClatchy NewspapersJERUSALEM — Hoping to counter the incessant saber rattling from their respective governments, some Israelis and Iranians have started an online campaign to exchange simple messages of friendship and love.
The initiative, which began with Israeli couple Ronny Edry and Michal Tamir, calls for residents of each country to exchange photographs with the words, “We love you.”
“I’m not an official representative of my country. I’m a father and a teacher,” Edry wrote on his blog, www.IsraelovesIran.com. He included a photograph of him and his son. “I know the streets of my town, I talk with my neighbors, my family, my students, my friends and in the name of all these people … we love you. We mean you no harm. On the contrary, we want to meet, have some coffee and talk about sports.”
Within days, the first responses from Iran began to appear. The images posted by Israelis and Iranians are strikingly similar – they show people in the midst of daily activities, posing with their children, dog or favorite book. Some include messages such as “We don’t want war,” and “I wish we both get rid of our idiot politicians.” Often, it’s impossible to tell where the message originated until the telltale tag line, Iran (or Israel) we love you. MORE HERE
http://www.israelovesiran.com/
More Links Below
& Update:
Shoot First/Stand Your Ground Florida Law
Maybe We Shouldn’t Hush The Rush
140 French Fries Have Fallen Out Of Limbaugh’s Order
Rush Limbaugh, The Pied Piper of Dittoland
Help SUMOFUS Get Limbaugh Off Our Airwaves
THE MANY VENOMS OF RUSH LIMBAUGH
The Unabashed Ignorance of Rush Limbaugh
Once Upon A Time, Not So Long Ago, The USA Was A Republic
WAR ON FAIRNESS (For Trayvon Martin)
This killing of a child by a grown man, IS NOT A BLACK AND WHITE ISSUE… THIS IS A 99% ISSUE. I wish I could have attended the hoodie march to demand fairness for Trayvon Martin… I am so angry that this murder was almost swept under the proverbial carpet.
In this day and age, some conservative white folk are still trying to take the law into their own hands, vigilantly style.
We, the 99% are experiencing at this very moment, A WAR ON WOMEN, A WAR ON CIVIL RIGHTS, A WAR ON UNIONS and now IT’S A WAR ON FAIRNESS FOR THE 99%.
The young man, Trayvon Martin was fighting for his life. A black boy stalked by a man full of rage toward black males, with the intent to harm or kill one, who he feels is foreboding to his world of racial profiling; in Florida we have an insane law called STAND YOUR GROUND or SHOOT FIRST, in which supposedly, any citizen of Florida who feels threatened, has the right to fight back (even kill) in order to protect himself.
The police chief of Sanford, Florida, gave that right to George Zimmermann, but Trayvon Martin was denied that right. Trayvon, tried to fight off his stalker and it appears, at first he was not afraid, just curious as to why this man was following him, after all, he had the right to walk down the street of a neighborhood to a convenience store, without fear. Now the ones who are trying to protect George Zimmermann are saying he, felt threatened because he attacked this boy and the child fought back.
The law is insane, I knew it when it passed, (I was so outraged I had blogged on it http://thinkingblue.blogspot.com/2005/10/beware-of-shoot-first-law-in-florida.html ) but what is even more tragic, is the fact that a few have the right to use this evil law to physically assault a person and if that person fight’s back the perpetrator has a legal right to kill (because he feels threatened??).
I don’t know about you but I’m Mother F**king Angry and sad beyond words.
Sign Petition Here: http://www.change.org
Why This Is Important
On February 26, our son Trayvon Martin was shot and killed as he walked to a family member’s home from a convenience store where he had just bought some candy. He was only 17 years-old.
Trayvon’s killer, George Zimmerman, admitted to police that he shot Trayvon in the chest. Zimmerman, the community’s self appointed “neighborhood watch leader,” called the police to report a suspicious person when he saw Travyon, a young black man, walking from the store. But Zimmerman still hasn’t been charged for murdering our son.
Trayvon was our hero. At the age 9, Trayvon pulled his father from a burning kitchen, saving his life. He loved sports and horseback riding. At only 17 he had a bright future ahead of him with dreams of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. Now that’s all gone.
When Zimmerman reported Trayvon to the police, they told him not to confront him. But he did anyway. All we know about what happened next is that our 17 year-old son, who was completely unarmed, was shot and killed.
It’s been nearly two weeks and the Sanford Police have refused to arrest George Zimmerman. In their public statements, they even go so far as to stand up for the killer – saying he’s “a college grad” who took a class in criminal justice.
Please join us in calling on Norman Wolfinger, Florida’s 18th District State’s Attorney, to investigate my son’s murder and prosecute George Zimmerman for the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin.
http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
More Links Below
& Update:
Shoot First/Stand Your Ground Florida Law
Maybe We Shouldn’t Hush The Rush
140 French Fries Have Fallen Out Of Limbaugh’s Order
Rush Limbaugh, The Pied Piper of Dittoland
Help SUMOFUS Get Limbaugh Off Our Airwaves
THE MANY VENOMS OF RUSH LIMBAUGH
The Unabashed Ignorance of Rush Limbaugh
Once Upon A Time, Not So Long Ago, The USA Was A Republic
Thinking Outside The GOP “Good Book“
GOP TEA PARTY Now Targeting (demonizing) The Girl Scouts of America
