DarkStar Spouts Off

Helluvagame

Dallas.
Buffalo.

What. A. Game.
Someone ate peanut butter for the Bills?

The Feds Are Needed In Texas

This isn't justice by a long shot.

When the Chicago Tribune published the story last March of Shaquanda Cotton, the 14-year-old black girl from Paris, Texas, who was imprisoned for shoving a hall monitor at her high school, the article quickly provoked a national civil rights scandal because of apparent racial disparities in the way justice was administered in the small east Texas town.

She had no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor was not seriously injured. Yet the black teenager was convicted in March, 2006, of assault and sentenced by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville to prison for up to 7 years.

Just three months earlier, Superville sentenced a 14-year-old white girl, convicted of the more serious crime of arson for burning down her family's house, to probation.

The furor that erupted over the disparity in how the two girls were treated prompted Texas authorities to release Shaquanda from prison three weeks after the Tribune story appeared.

This is the story of what happened to the white girl in that saga.

...

While there, the teenager—whom the Tribune is declining to identify—was allegedly sexually molested by a male prison guard, who then threatened her to keep her quiet, according to documents and witness statements examined by the Tribune. She self-mutilated her arms with a knife, carving the word "Why" into her flesh, her mother said.

Last spring, the girl attempted to commit suicide by swallowing a handful of pills prescribed for another inmate. When a guard rushed into her cell to rescue her, authorities allege, the girl knocked the officer to the ground—an assault that tacked another 6 months onto her sentence.

Even worse, officials at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex knew of allegations that the guard was sexually abusing the girl, but did not remove him from contact with female inmates until four months later.

In a letter to the girl's parents dated Oct. 18, 2006, prison Supt. Teresa Stroud wrote that "a formal investigation has been initiated" into allegations that a prison guard "touched [the girl's] buttocks and made comments about her anatomy."

The girl would later tell authorities that she was too frightened to talk to investigators about the incident, and prison officials ruled that the allegation was "unconfirmed," according to Tim Savoy, a spokesman for the Texas Youth Commission, the state's juvenile corrections agency.

But on Feb. 24, 2007, another abuse allegation against the same guard surfaced, and he was suspended with pay the same day.

The federal government needs to get involved down there. This is the same state that fought to execute a man whose lawyer fell asleep during trial.

OH. WAIT. The federal government won't get involved. Guess who was governor during the time Texas was trying to execute that man?

Hat Tip: Dr. Spence

NFL: Week 5

Ravens
Forget about the Ravens. They are toast. They won a game without getting a touchdown, against the 49ers, who are not a strong team. They had 3 shots in the red zone and not one touchdown. The defense is no longer suspect, it is a fact that they are weak.

Colts
Another strong one.

Packers
How did they lose that one? No longer undefeated and Farve looks more "human" now.

Washington
A very good performance all around against a bad team.

Steelers
This is another good team, PLUS they use the pass game as a part of the game, not an "after thought."

JLP: Compare

Read this article by Jesse Lee Peterson:

But something happened to Juanita Bynum's fairytale. The golden couple split up. Then the dream became a nightmare.

According to Bynum, she was recently beaten, choked and stomped by her estranged husband, Weeks, outside an Atlanta hotel.

The alleged beating received plenty of national media coverage. Subsequently, Bynum held a press conference announcing that she had found a new "God-given" purpose. With a dramatic show of vulnerability and hubris, she said, "Domestic violence has a new name and face, and it's Juanita Bynum."

...

There can be only one possible reason why this marriage ended the way it did. Neither Bishop Weeks III nor Juanita Bynum are "born again," and God did not call them to be his ministers.

I submit to you that there's no way a man of God would beat his wife, as Weeks is alleged to have done.

And if Juanita were truly a woman of God, she would not use her marital problems for personal gain – or use the media to destroy her husband.

Now, look what he wrote here

Rev. Haggard headed up the14,000-member New Life Church, based in Colorado. Haggard was also president of the National Evangelical Association, influencing some 30 million Christians. Ted Haggard – married with 5 children – fought for a ban on same-sex marriage this past election until he was "outed" by the prostitute.

After admitting to some of the allegations, Haggard agreed to temporarily step aside as the head of the church. But he and his wife were later informed that the church board has recommended he be permanently removed.

...

I can't help but wonder, what if instead of removing Rev. Haggard, the church had allowed him to stay on and share his testimony about this "darkness"? Wouldn't his testimony equip Christians with a deeper understanding of the spiritual battle we all face?

This is the core issue that needs to be addressed openly with all church members, not hidden away in secrecy.

Haggard's judgment and anger opened the door to allow evil to enter into him at a time when he didn't realize what had made a home in him. This evil spirit drives Haggard and drives most people, until they repent and are born of the spirit of God.

Mike Jones, the homosexual prostitute who exposed Haggard, is a tool of the devil. If this person had true love for his fellow man, he would have approached Haggard and encouraged him to stop his sinful and destructive behavior.

You figure out why JLP has differing approaches. In the first, a female pastor is having trouble with her husband, also a pastor, and JLP states both of them are not saved. In the second case, a pastor is caught having an affair with another MAN and JLP makes a case to keep him as head of a church?

You figure out why JLP has differing approaches.

Doctors' 'The Bond' reminds us of resiliency and strength in family

Doctors' 'The Bond' reminds us of resiliency and strength in family

They're back - the three African- American men who made a spec tacular exit from the inner city of Newark, N.J., to medical and dental school, commemorated in their best-selling book "The Pact."

It describes their sworn commitment to one another's success. To many, "The Three Doctors" are outright heroes. The reason is Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt overcame adversity and then began giving back, daily, to the community. Each mentors young men and women who have yet to escape the surroundings and statistics of being impoverished African-Americans in fatherless homes.

Davis, Jenkins and Hunt's third book is "The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect with Their Fathers." It dismantles the stereotype that absent fathers mean failed sons as aggressively as their first book blasts the notion that young men from the projects are bound to fail. "The Bond" explores the durable connection between men and boys, in spite of growing up apart and sometimes ignorant of one another.

his book follows a simple format. Each doctor writes four chapters. The first begins with their memories of life without Dad, including touchstone passages - Hunt's decision to quit Pop Warner football because no one was there to help him suit up, and Jenkins' humbling account of asking a white classmate for a lesson in looping his tie.

In later chapters, each doctor reconsiders his life and the men who shaped it. One, "Mr. Charles," taught the finer points of dressing to all three youngsters; Reggie Brown's martial arts classes helped Davis with self-discipline, focus and responsibility. Without cliche, the doctors quietly document that it takes a village of men to raise a boy to manhood.

More at the link.

Pathways For Kids

'Pathways' opens doors for disadvantaged city youths

As San Francisco bade farewell to Barry Bonds last Wednesday, about 30 “at-risk” city youths said hello to Giants management, learned about the baseball business and picked up tips on how to kick-start a career.

SF State alumnus, Shakeel Ali made this opportunity possible through Pathways For Kids (PFK), a San Francisco based non-profit organization founded in 1998 to inspire academic achievement and career awareness in disadvantaged youth.

Ali, 37, became the full-time program director for PFK in the summer of 2006 and began connecting economically disadvantaged youth with volunteer mentors or coaches, who have achieved success in a wide variety of businesses and professions.

“I always had an intent to bridge the gap between students and the community,” said Ali, who graduated from SF State with a Bachelor’s in liberal studies, social sciences & ethnic studies in 2004.

Ali has been involved in activism since he was 19, working in local schools while attending college. After taking classes at City College for two years, he enrolled at SF State in 2002. During his years at the university, he was the Moorish sports club president and a member of the Black Student Union and School of African Philosophy.

More at the link provided.

Troubles With The HPV Vaccine?

8 more deaths connected to HPV vaccine
Adverse reactions from Gardasil number in thousands

Another eight deaths in just the past few months are being connected to Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s vaccine that targets the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus and is being considered by many states as mandatory for all schoolgirls, according to documents released by Judicial Watch.

There also have been another 1,824 adverse reactions to the drug, bringing the "known total" of such problems to 3,461, according to the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.

"In light of this information, it is disturbing that state and local governments might mandate in any way this vaccine for young girls," said Tom Fitton, the group's president. "These adverse reactions reports suggest the vaccine not only causes serious side effects, but might even be fatal."

More at the link.

The "Quiet" Crack Epidemic

Crystal meth is the "quiet" crack epidemic.

I Knew It

I knew it. Her performance when from sunshine to poop too soon.

Track star Marion Jones has acknowledged using steroids as she prepared for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and plans to plead guilty tomorrow in New York to two counts of lying to federal agents about her drug use and an unrelated financial matter, according to a letter Jones sent to close family and friends.

Jones said her former coach, Trevor Graham, gave her the substance, telling her it was the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and saying she should take it by putting two drops under her tongue. Graham, contacted by telephone today, said he had no comment.

Jones, who won five medals at the Sydney Olympics, said she took the steroid known as "the clear" for two years beginning in 1999, according to the letter, which was read to The Washington Post by a person who had been given a copy. A person familiar with Jones's legal situation who requested anonymity confirmed the relevant facts that were described in the letter.

From Mrs. D.S.: "You mean to tell me she was lying!?!?!?!? The NERVE of her!!!! She was threatening to sue EVERYBODY!!!!"

Adoption

Let's say you are a single Black woman who wants kids so you decide to adopt. You have the financial resources to take care of the child or children so funding is not an issue. In fact, you go to a private adoption service to adopt children; Black children.

You get the children and are now a happy family. Now, add to that scenario that the children are from Africa.

More later but this really has me fuming.

[ Update ]

I am referring to this article in The Washington Post. Why would Ms. Neale need to go to Africa to get children when there are plenty in the U.S. waiting to be adopted? From experience, I know that some adoptions aren't easy to get done, but what about OUR children?

This saddens me and makes me mad.

"Cavemen"

I DVR'ed "Cavemen" and finally watched it.

Booooooooooo.......
Holding nose

At the elite colleges - dim white kids

At the elite colleges - dim white kids

 

Surf the websites of such institutions and you will find press releases boasting that they have increased their black and Hispanic enrollments, admitted bumper crops of National Merit scholars or became the destination of choice for hordes of high school valedictorians. Many are bragging about the large share of applicants they rejected, as a way of conveying to the world just how popular and selective they are.

What they almost never say is that many of the applicants who were rejected were far more qualified than those accepted. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, it was not the black and Hispanic beneficiaries of affirmative action, but the rich white kids with cash and connections who elbowed most of the worthier applicants aside.

Researchers with access to closely guarded college admissions data have found that, on the whole, about 15 percent of freshmen enrolled at America's highly selective colleges are white teens who failed to meet their institutions' minimum admissions standards.

Five years ago, two researchers working for the Educational Testing Service, Anthony Carnevale and Stephen Rose, took the academic profiles of students admitted into 146 colleges in the top two tiers of Barron's college guide and matched them up against the institutions' advertised requirements in terms of high school grade point average, SAT or ACT scores, letters of recommendation, and records of involvement in extracurricular activities. White students who failed to make the grade on all counts were nearly twice as prevalent on such campuses as black and Hispanic students who received an admissions break based on their ethnicity or race.

More at the link provided.

Group talks about racial disparity in school achievement

Group talks about racial disparity in school achievement

It started on a playful note.

Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Katie McGee ducked under a desk and came out on the other side, at the center of a large room at Love Faithfully Ministries, a church in Leland. About 20 other desks flanked hers.

She went around talking to people and making jokes.

It was a way to break the ice on a subject that has upset black community leaders: the achievement gap between black and white students in Brunswick County, which has narrowed slightly in the past year but is far from closed. On Monday, McGee, other school officials and members of the religious community gathered at the church to once again discuss the gap.

In state standardized tests for grades 3 through 8 this year, 78.4 of black students were proficient in reading. That's 10.9 percentage points lower than white students, a gap that decreased from 13.4 last year. In math, 43.3 percent of black students were proficient this year, which brought the gap down from 27.6 percentage points last year to 27 this year.

Since the first meeting in May, cooperation has grown between local churches and the school system, McGee said. Love Faithfully Ministries now has a program that offers county students an alternative to suspension, giving them mentoring and 17 computers to work on.

"We have to get beyond the color thing," said the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Gene Brown, who launched the program at the start of this school year. "That way it doesn't become a black or white issue. It becomes an issue for the entire community."

Media Smear Campaign

Limbaugh and O'Reilly are whining about the media smear campaigns against them.

Limbaugh has a strong case, O'Reilly, not so strong, but does anyone remember the "Vince Foster murder" smear? How about the "Bill Clinton fathered the child of a Black prostitute smear"?

If you took part in that smear, sit down and shut up.

Time You Few KneeGrows GROW The HELL UP!

I'm still pissed off about this!.

A recent incident at the elementary school on the Grambling State University campus that resulted in a noose hanging around a small child’s neck has left university officials scrambling for answers.

Grambling State University President Horace Judson was driving to Dallas on Friday afternoon for the Saturday football game between GSU and Prairie View when his secretary called him, describing certain pictures that had been posted online by the student newspaper, The Gramblinite.

Among the photos immediately ordered taken down by Judson was one of a young girl in a school uniform, a noose around her neck, being hoisted by a woman who may have been a family member.

In the photo, the girl, a student at Alma J. Brown Elementary School at Grambling, appears confused and frightened. GSU oversees the school. The child apparently was taking part in a school lesson related to events surrounding the Jena Six, criminal defendants in that Louisiana town who stand accused of beating a fellow student into unconsciousness. Their arrests on adult charges have spawned organized protests by black leaders and national attention.

Look, this is 2007 not 1957! There are still some issues facing us, but damn!!!! We, especially Black teens and men, are most likely to die by other Black teens and men, not a friggin' noose! "White owned" orporations offer scholarships for minorities. Many white people contribute to Black organizations such as the NAACP or Urban League! Colleges across the country are open to us!

DAMNIT!!!!!

And some fool ass KNEEGROWS use a noose to make a point?!?!?!?!? ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGED STUDENTS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!

GROW THE HELL UP AND JOIN US IN 2007!

Stupid

This. Is. Just. STOOOPID.

A recent incident at the elementary school on the Grambling State University campus that resulted in a noose hanging around a small child’s neck has left university officials scrambling for answers.

Grambling State University President Horace Judson was driving to Dallas on Friday afternoon for the Saturday football game between GSU and Prairie View when his secretary called him, describing certain pictures that had been posted online by the student newspaper, The Gramblinite.

Among the photos immediately ordered taken down by Judson was one of a young girl in a school uniform, a noose around her neck, being hoisted by a woman who may have been a family member.

In the photo, the girl, a student at Alma J. Brown Elementary School at Grambling, appears confused and frightened. GSU oversees the school. The child apparently was taking part in a school lesson related to events surrounding the Jena Six, criminal defendants in that Louisiana town who stand accused of beating a fellow student into unconsciousness. Their arrests on adult charges have spawned organized protests by black leaders and national attention.

If that were my child, I would be in jail right now for committing MURDER!!!!

See, this is an example of wallowing in the past and the harm that it can do. Remembering the past is one thing. THIS is something else!

I Need To Discuss

I need to discuss:

Hillary Care

Will someone PLEASE tell me why people think the government being the single payer for health care is a good idea when you consider the care the government gives military veterans? People who are older, probably remember state run mental hospitals and the mess they were.

If I remember what I read correctly, Hillary Care requires people applying for a job to have health insurance. That doesn't make sense to me, so maybe I misunderstood it. But even if that is wrong, if the government provides single payer services, companies who now provide health coverage, will no longer provide that coverage because it is expensive. Their profits will go up but their employees care will go down. I'm sorry, but just look at health care in the U.K. and Canada. Or rather, look at what happens when people are SICK and need to get help.

Bad idea.

Media Coverage One

The media misrepresented Black reaction and action to the events in Jena. My main media peeves are:

1. People weren't saying the fight that involved the Jena 6 was a direct result of the nooses in the tree. People have been saying it was a series of events that started AFTER the hanging of the nooses.
2. People were saying the Jena 6 deserved punishment but it appeared the charges were over the top.
3. The media face of the demonstration in Jena became Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, Sr., when this was something that started before them.

Media Coverage Two

Bill O'Reilly made stupid comments about a dinner he had with Al Sharpton at Sylvia's in Harlem. The conservative media rushed to his defense and O'Reilly launched a counter-offensive screaming SMEAR. HOWEVER, in context or not, O'Reilly said he was SURPRISED. Next, and most important, neither the liberal nor the conservative media seems to be asking why they were having dinner any way.

The media NEEDS Sharpton and Jackson for their sure fire quotable quotes and there bad Negro status.