DarkStar Spouts Off

Dead Cop, Few Care

A cop was killed when a person chose to escape from a crime in progress by running the cop over. The suspected killer was killed while in jail. He was in solitary confinement and under watch. It turns out that he was strangled to death.

The prison guards aren't talking.

It wasn't clear why the correctional officers reportedly declined to answer questions. Sgt. Curtis Knowles, president of the county's correctional officers union, said the union's position is that its members can be interviewed only during work hours and with a union representative or attorney present, unless a criminal investigation is underway.

However, a state police spokesman said the agency considers its efforts a "criminal investigation."

And the police are mad the policeman's death is not getting the attention it deserves.

County police expressed frustration yesterday that the controversy over White's death seemed to be overshadowing the death of Findley, whose funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.

Well, they can thank the person/people who killed the cop-killer suspect.

Here is some attention.

Free Moment For Quick Brain Pellets

Supreme Court 2nd Amendment Ruling - I like the ruling, especially them striking down the requirement for trigger locks. I think trigger locks on guns in a home with children make sense and I think keeping guns loaded with kids around is foolish. But don't mandate, as does Maryland, that if the gun doesn't have integrated trigger locks, they can't be sold. The next stage of the fight will be to define what are "good gun regulations."

And I still wonder how Black people can be against gun ownership when many Blacks live in neighborhoods where police response is DOCUMENTED to be slower than in other areas.

Mugabe - Gangsta. Straight. Gangsta.

Bush Tax Cuts - Why should I be for the repeal, or should I say, supportive of letting the tax cuts sunset when, as the head of a family which a child, the tax cuts get to "allow" me to keep more of my money?

Mortgage Issues - I say again, let the people who got mortgage loans they couldn't afford in the long run, sink or swim. The current relief plans being discussed bail out the companies who made the loans based on bad business decisions, and puts the bad debt on the backs of U.S. taxpayers. There is no incentive to force change on the people getting the loans nor those making the loans. If big daddy government is going to bail out these businesses, what is going to stop them from doing it again? (Isn't that the same rationale used against welfare?)

Corn - From Cobb's post, I responded with this:

There is a documentary about 2 people who farm 1 acre of corn and follow the corn path through the markets that is eye opening. Everything stated here and more.

I've stopped drinking soda because of the movie. That movie did it. I don't each much beef anyway. But all of the food allergies people are developing is really starting to become an issue to look at for me.

Dirty Jobs - Dirty Jobs is one of the best shows on television. Cable television really is challenging, and many times surpassing, traditional broadcast shows. Mike Rowe is off but has to be one of the best overall in shape persons on television.

Politics and the Presidential Race - I'm going to do a series of posts about political things/ideas/theories that interest me and how they will affect how I vote and who I vote against, more so than who I vote for. I'll end it by stating who will not get my vote and who will, by default, get my vote. I think it's going to be interesting.

Blogger's Round Table -- I return on Monday.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

What is wrong with this picture?

Here is an article specifying what's wrong. I don't get it. I see nothing wrong with it.

A Person Comes To You For A Job

A person comes to you for a job, and during the interview, you remember you saw her a few years ago acting like Monica Lewinski, or you saw him Full Monty.

These kids don't get it.

What the kids are doing these days.

Forget about passing notes in study hall; some teens are now using their cell phones to flirt and send nude pictures of themselves.

The instant text, picture and video messages have become part of some teens' courtship behavior, police and school officials said.

The messages often spread quickly and sometimes find their way to public Web sites.

"I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed," said Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity."

...

"This happens a lot," said Kelsey, author of Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence. "It crosses every racial socio-economic group. Christian kids are doing it. Jewish kids are doing it."

Blame it on hip-hop?

Baltimore City Schools

There is a news story about a Baltimore City Public School teacher being beaten up by one of her students while other students cheer. And, it's on YouTube.

The student should be tried as an adult and the parents(s) should also do some time.

More later.

[ UPDATES ]

Here's a link to a Baltimore Sun article.

The trouble began, Jolita  Berry said, when she asked a  girl in one of her art classes at  Reginald F. Lewis High School  to sit down.

The student did not obey,  coming closer to confront the  teacher. "She said she's gonna  bang me," Berry said. "I said,  'Back up, you're in my space. If  you hit me, I'm gonna defend  myself.'"

But Berry, who is 30 and  started her job teaching art at  the Northeast Baltimore  school in December, did not defend herself. The girl caught  the teacher off guard as other  students cheered her on and  screamed, "Hit her!"

"She just started beating on  me relentlessly," Berry said, recalling the Friday morning incident that left her with a sore  shoulder and a broken blood  vessel in her eye.

Here is a link to the news video.

Kids cheered. All of the kids who cheered and encouraged that girl should be charged with inciting a riot.

About That Judge Who Gave A "Talking To" To Blacks Only

[UPDATES]

About the judge, Marvin Arrington, who gave a good "talking to" to a group of Blacks in his courtroom...

On Booker Rising, I commented: that it has been done before in the Baltimore area, and that a well known defense attorney had radio ads on local "hip hop" stations lamenting how he is tired of seeing Blacks in the court room. I also mentioned that a well known family run funeral home in the Baltimore area did the same thing. I asked, "What good did it do when the crime rate is still out of control?"

In the Baltimore area, a judge did the same thing. A well known defense attorney did the same thing in radio commercials on hip hop stations in Baltimore. A local funeral home did the same thing in Baltimore. The result?

The same ole same ole.

I understand his frustrations, but just talking won't do it. Only one on one intervention will do it.

This morning on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, the judge was interviewed (audio link here) and he stated that he has a scholarship program for Blacks studying law and that he is in the community working with young Blacks. That makes it a lot different than what Cosby did and, IMO, better. He's actually doing something more than talking.

More later.

They Had An Arrangement

If you look at the video of Spitzer's statement, you will see him reading the statement, and his wife behind him, to his side, ALSO READING THE STATEMENT!

They had an arrangement and she didn't care!

Was she standing there, looking embarrassed? No.
Was she standing there, looking mad? No.
Was she standing there, looking dazed? No.

She was reading the statement!

I Wonder If They Had An "Arrangement"

I wonder if the Spitzer's had an "arrangement."

The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials.

It was only months later that the IRS and the FBI determined that Spitzer wasn't hiding bribes but payments to a company called QAT, what prosecutors say is a prostitution operation operating under the name of the Emperors Club.

As recently as this past Valentine's Day, Feb. 13, Spitzer, who officials say is identified in a federal complaint as "Client 9," arranged for a prostitute "Kristen" to meet him in Washington, D.C.

 

I say this because why would his wife, after finding out her husband has been with a prostitute, stand there by her husband's side? Especially after learning he put out $1000 - $6000!

The appointments, made through an online booking service, cost between $1080 and $5950 an hour.

I mean, DAYYYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!

Black "Anti-Intellectualism"? Remember This

The next time someone mentions "Black Anti-Intellectualism," remember this article:

First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.

Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report last year by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games.

...

This is a portrait not only of a different presidency and president but also of a different country and citizenry, one that lacked access to satellite-enhanced Google maps but was far more receptive to learning and complexity than today's public. According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important."

That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism -- a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism. The toxic brew of anti-rationalism and ignorance hurts discussions of U.S. public policy on topics from health care to taxation.

 

If you want more of my thoughts on the so-called "Black Anti-Intellectualism", read this link.

The U.S. Is Fat and Lazy

This is yet another example of people in the U.S. being fat and lazy.

Initially, the busy McLean couple hired Ezra Glass for a few mundane chores, like waiting for the cable guy. But over time, they began giving him more intimate tasks -- planning their last-minute vacations and picking up their kids from time to time.

Now Glass takes their cars to be serviced, is a house- and dogsitter and advises them on their home audio-visual system. He planned the funeral reception for a relative, taking the death certificate and the suit for burial to the funeral home.

"We've come to rely on him more and more," said Ken Nunnenkamp, 46, a lawyer. "He'll essentially do anything we can't get around to. . . . You definitely get spoiled by it."

Forget the dog walker and errand runner. Today, some busy two-career families are turning over virtually every aspect of their existence to lifestyle managers. These hired hands, who charge a monthly membership fee or up to $100 an hour, become like an extra member of the family.

You don't have to spend money, you just need proper time management. I swear, the U.S. needs a depression to harden U.S. citizens spoiled weenies.

No Brainer, They Lose

Sorry, but this is a no brainer. The parents are going to lose.

Nobody raised concern about Jayce Brown's short, floppy dreadlocks when he enrolled at the Southern Maryland Christian Academy in White Plains in August. And no one said anything during the 3-year-old's first month at the school. So his parents said they were surprised to receive a phone call last month telling them the locks had to go.

"It came out of nowhere, and they were telling me I had to cut it right away," said Danielle Brown, Jayce's mother. The toddler's school picture -- which shows a bright-eyed child grinning widely, tongue poking through his teeth -- had alerted school administrators that his hairstyle violated official school policy for boys, which forbids "extreme faddish hairstyles, including the use of rubber bands or the 'twisting' of hair."

"I told them it sounded a little bit extreme, and I offered to pull his hair back in a ponytail, but they said no locks," Brown said.

Jayce's parents refused to cut his hair, and he was suspended indefinitely. Now the Browns are preparing to file a lawsuit against the school alleging that the policy discriminates against African American boys.

The controversy over Jayce's hairstyle has infuriated many African Americans in Charles County, who see his suspension as an assault on their ability to express their ethnic identity. Experts say that, combined with recent battles over facial hair, Sikh turbans and tattoos in the workplace, the case is part of a broader cultural debate over the public significance of personal appearance, especially in such rapidly diversifying areas as Charles.

"From our perspective, for African Americans, the twisting of hair is not faddish or trendy but is a legitimate cultural expression, and so the ban on natural styles is discriminatory," said the Browns' attorney, Ardra M. O'Neal.

Danielle Brown, who chose Southern Maryland Christian Academy because it offers classes that incorporate the Christian-based A Beka curriculum, said Jayce had thrived at the school, forming a particularly close bond with his teacher. Although there were only a handful of other African American preschoolers, she never felt unwelcome during Jayce's first several weeks at school, she said.

Southern Maryland Christian Academy's headmaster, Colleen Gaines, declined to discuss the situation or make the school's attorney available for questions. In an $1,800 full-page advertisement in a community newspaper Oct. 24, school officials wrote that there is no legal precedent for a lawsuit against the school.

"As a condition of enrollment, SMCA parents and students agree to abide by all SMCA policies, including the school grooming policy," says the ad, which is unsigned but which Gaines said represents her position on the matter. "Private schools, like private employers, have the right to create and enforce a grooming policy."

The school, which requires students to wear uniforms, also bans dyed hair and states that "traditional and conservative tapered cuts are the standard." Older students are expected to be clean-shaven, and girls are not allowed to wear large earrings or more than two necklaces.

Danielle Brown said she does not object to the school's right to maintain regulations on hair length or color, but she said wearing dreadlocks is an integral part of her family's African heritage. She and her husband wear dreadlocks, as do their siblings.

It's a private school. The lawsuit should get tossed.

Shooting Success

It's a shame when a majority Black magnet high school, which graduates 95% of its students and where only students who are academically gifted get in, gets recognition for a shooting instead of their academics.

Success Tech Academy

Please pray for the students and for the family of the shooter.

The "Quiet" Crack Epidemic

Crystal meth is the "quiet" crack epidemic.

I See The Problem...

I see the ideological problem that is occurring with people who back the concept of having citizen patrols in Philadelphia and people who don't back the concept: definition of patrol.

I see it as people in groups walking the neighborhood. Typically, people doing dirt want to do it in the dark, not in the open. So a group of people, especially men, walking around would act as a deterrence, then, for trouble makers. "Conflict resolution" would be needed for an argument, not for a retaliatory attack of gang bangers or drug dealers.

It is the latter two which, I think, is the source of people not backing the idea.

More later, including an anecdote of something I saw going to the MMM.

Comments R Us: A Reply To Black Informant

This is reply to Black Informant. The comment filtering won't let this one get through.

 

1. Again, you misread me.
2. Why did HE apologize on Smiley's show for HOW he said it?
3. I never denied he is being invited. In fact I pointed it out. See #5.
4. I keep saying, and I'll keep saying, JUST SAYING STOP IT DOESN'T WORK for the most part. IN FACT, you follow the same reasoning here, when you commented: In MANY 'Black churches' that I have either attended or been a member, sex was a topic that was limited to "it's wrong, don't do it." Apparently this message alone is not effective as I have seen plenty of cases where teens and adults regularly have sex outside of marriage. Someone at work could have just finished talking about how they did so-and-so the other night and.
5. Your constant bashing of him because “HOW” he saying it is not only just as fruitless, but downright elitist.

Elitist my ***! Again, you read ONE part of it and ignore the rest. Look what I wrote here. If stated accurately, the language is FAR MORE EFFECTIVE.

It is the people who are not typically online that need it. You gotta take it to them. And even after you do that, they still got to make the choice if they are going to use it. So at best, this is something you can point to when someone ask you “What are you doing about it?”

First, you're right and I admit that right out the box. Second, the same applies towards your efforts. Third, the intent is for people who are looking for something and don't know, at least it's there. Fourth, and most importantly: It is the people who are not typically online that need it. You gotta take it to them.. That is what I have been writing all of this time.

100 Black Men brought Cosby into D.C. to speak at UDC. They, and others, brought the people they are mentoring or want to mentor. But the best thing 100 Black Men are doing, they were doing before Cosby and after. They were going directly to the need, as is Concerned Black Men, 100 Black Women, Peaceniks, the Urban League, and others in D.C. and across the country.

Locally, I hear and read of people and groups asking Black people, especially men, to mentor and get involved. THAT is more effective than SHOUTING STOP IT!

the same things are said UNCHALLENGED and uninhibited in a comedy routine.

It's COMEDY... Like Jackie Mason and his Jewish jokes.

Lastly, again I ask, why did Cosby apologize for HOW HE STATED IT on the Tavis Smiley show?

Quick Note On Falling Bridges

This is a quick note on falling bridges.

I know that within the past year or two, there was a series of warnings stating that the national road infrastructure was in a state of disrepair and it was only a matter of time before a tragedy happened. It appears that on August 1, 2007, it did happen.

Today, in a CYA move, the Federal Highway Administration has told states to inspect all bridges similar in design to the one that partially collapsed in Minneapolis. I shouldn't do this, but I know I won't have the time later, so I'm going to jump the gun a bit and pose some questions:

• How much money is collected in federal transportation taxes?
• Of the money collected in federal taxes, how much of it goes towards federal road and bridge construction and reconstruction?
• How much money is raised with the sale of bonds slated towards road and bridge construction?
• Of the money raised with bond sales, how much of it goes towards road and bridge reconstruction?

At this time, my thought is money raised to inspect and repair roads and bridges, isn't going towards inspection, construction, and re-construction of roads and bridges. That would be the "standard" for government work. If I am correct, some people need to go to jail.

DAMN!!!!

This means Rudy has a strong chance of winning:

Crime-fighting beats privacy in public places: Americans, by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, support the increased use of surveillance cameras — a measure decried by some civil libertarians, but credited in London with helping to catch a variety of perpetrators since the early 1990s.

So, you looked into Pootie Poot's soul...

Israel is looking into reports that Russia plans to sell 250 advanced long-range Sukhoi-30 fighter jets to Iran in an unprecedented billion-dollar deal.

According to reports, in addition to the fighter jets, Teheran also plans to purchase a number of aerial fuel tankers that are compatible with the Sukhoi and capable of extending its range by thousands of kilometers. Defense officials said the Sukhoi sale would grant Iran long-range offensive capabilities.

Government officials voiced concern over the reports. They said Russia could be trying to compete with the United States, which announced over the weekend a billion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

Damn, I had to read this before bed, right?

Summer of Murders

This is the summer of murders of mostly Black teenage and young men by other Black teenage and young men. If the madness is to stop, or at least slow down, immediately the following has to happen:

• If you are caught with an unregistered gun, you get locked up with no bail until the hearing.
• If you are found guilty for committing a crime with a gun, registered or not, and it is not a case of self defense, you will be sentenced to 15 years with no parole. You do all of the time.
• If you are found guilty of witness intimidation, you will be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years with no parole. You do all of the time.
• If you are found guilty of killing a witness, you get life with no parole.

That is for the short term and this has to happen at the local level, not the federal level as Project Exile.

Free Paris Hilton!!!!

Video extra! ;-)

Bloods vs. Sunnis(!)?

There was a riot last week at one of the "correction centers" in Maryland. It was local big news but not national news. That doesn't matter to me, but this is eye opening for those who don't know. This is brought to you by Gregory Kane:

All 18 men injured in the clash at the Metropolitan Transition Center last Friday have been released from the hospital and placed at other state prisons, according to Maj. Priscilla Doggett, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

With the proliferation of gangs in Maryland prisons, I'd have bet money that the fracas started as a beef between the gangs known as the Bloods and Crips.

I'd have lost my money. But I'd have been half right.

Sources say one of the groups involved was indeed the Bloods. The other group was made up of Sunni Muslims. I've heard at least two different versions of how the fight started, and there are probably as many more as there were witnesses.

...

Abdul-Rahim said that some young men who have a "gang mentality" join Muslim groups, even though being in a gang violates the basic tenets of Islam.

Good point. But getting shanked by two or more inmates from rival gangs violates the average inmate's tenets of basic survival. Some of those inmates may convert to Islam, and not because Muslims in prison are a gang. They convert because Muslims in prison, even though not a gang, still have a certain amount of "juice" - street slang for "respect and credibility."

Another way of putting it: behind prison walls - and on some of Baltimore's streets - juice means "mess with us, and there will be consequences."

This was only a matter of time.

Bloody Body Bag B-More

Reported in Tuesday's Baltimore Sun:

Baltimore's homicide rate last year surpassed all of the nation's largest cities with the exception of Detroit, according to FBI crime statistics released yesterday.

Violent crime as a whole in Baltimore was down almost 13 percent in 2006 compared with 2005 and is continuing to drop this year, bucking an increase of 1.3 percent nationally, statistics show.

Police said aggravated assaults and rape were down while robberies and homicides were up from 2005 to 2006. The downward trend of aggravated assaults continued through this year, but the number of rapes so far is about the same compared to 2006. Robberies so far are down compared with last year.

This year, the city has recorded 128 killings in the first 155 days, putting it on a pace for 300 slayings, a level not seen in Baltimore since 1999.

The number of shootings is up to 303 this year, compared with 224 shootings last year at the same time - a 35 percent jump, city police said.

Baltimore's homicide rate in 2006 was more than twice that of Chicago and six times higher than New York City's, which saw a small increase in slayings in 2006 from the previous year.

Detroit, which has a population of about 884,000, reported 417 homicides last year - making it America's deadliest large city with a homicide rate of 47 per 100,000 residents.

And then, at the end, check this out:

According to Jablow, more than 80 percent of the city's homicide victims and close to 90 percent of its murder suspects have lengthy criminal records.

"Baltimore is becoming an increasingly safer city for law-abiding citizens but has become an increasingly dangerous city for those that live outside the law," Jablow said. "We see it over and over with our homicide victims and suspects: They're people who've been arrested, five, 10, 15 times. We have to get these people off the streets for longer periods of time."

First, if the murder, rape, and shooting numbers are rising, there is no way in hell the city is becoming safer. Second, while it is true the violence is in one segment, primarily Black boys/men involved in selling drugs and gangs, "bullets don't have an eye," meaning, innocent bystanders are getting shot and/or killed as well, especially if they witnessed a crime.

Some say the violence will drop if drugs are made legal or at least decriminalized. I say, teach your kids that selling drugs leads to an early death and no matter what some fools want to tell you, there are other ways of making money. Despite what some people will say, selling drugs ISN'T easy money!

Parren J. Mitchell: 1922 - 2007

Parren J. Mitchell, the first African-American elected to Congress from Maryland and a lifelong crusader for social justice for the nation's minorities, died yesterday of complications from pneumonia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

He was 85 and had lived in a nursing home since a series of strokes several years ago.

A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and later its chairman, Mr. Mitchell was the younger brother of Clarence M. Mitchell Jr., Washington lobbyist for the NAACP in the hard-won civil rights struggles in Congress of the 1960s and 1970s.

He and other members of the family, including his brother and sister-in-law, Juanita Jackson Mitchell, the longtime matriarch of Baltimore's civil rights movement, played important roles in social causes and held city and state offices.

"The Mitchell family is to social justice what the Rockefellers are to money," the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson said when Clarence Mitchell died in 1984.

---

Born in Baltimore in 1922, Mitchell was a graduate of Morgan State College (now Morgan State University), and earned a Master's degree from the University of Maryland, according to biographical information supplied by Cummings' office.

Mitchell served in the U.S. military during World War II, and received the Purple Heart.

Memorial Day

My family has been involved in the military conflicts that the United States has been involved in since World War II, up to, but not including, the current military activities in Iraq.

I give them honor for what they did.

I don't have any family members involved in the current military activities in Iraq or Afghanistan. However, my daughter has friends who are in Afghanistan, GTMO, and Iraq.

I give my daughter's friends honor for what they are doing.

Finally, I show honor to those who I don't know, who have served and lost their lives, lost parts of their bodies, and those who have returned.

Thank you.

*%&$%@#@!

you come into this country illegally.

you squat.

you work under the table.

you effin' steal people's identity so that you can work above the table.

and the congress-critters and president agree to a path to make your azz legal citizens!

What rule of law?

REALLY TICKED OFF AND DISGUSTED!!!!

Hip Hop Is To Blame!

The reason this fight happened is because of hip-hop!

Concert-goers, and even Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, were caught off-guard when a fight broke out on opening night at usually sedate Symphony Hall.

Television video of the fight Wednesday night showed two men struggling in the balcony -- one with his shirt pulled off -- as several people stood around them.

Lockhart briefly halted the performance, which featured singer-songwriter Ben Folds, while the men were escorted out. (Watch the battle in the balcony )

Witnesses said they heard a scream from the balcony, and the sound of chairs falling, then a second scream as the fight escalated.

Tsk tsk tsk.