Civil Rights Protesters Surround The Justice
Department, Demand More Focus On Hate Crimes

post from Think Progress on 16 November 2007 08:05:00 PM. © Think Progress

Earlier this month, USA Today reported that “the Justice Department is prosecuting the fewest hate crimes in 10 years” with 22 people charged with hate crimes by the department last year, which is “down 71% from 76 in 1997.” The decline in hate crimes prosecutions accompanies a series of high-profile “racially charged incidents over the past year and a half” — such as the Jena 6 controversy — that have ignited the passions of the civil rights community.

That passion was on display today in Washington D.C., where thousands of protesters encircled the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, demanding, in the words of Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), either “stronger laws” or “a more aggressive commitment from the Department of Justice.”

During the march, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) told CNN’s Don Lemon that the “bottom line” was that “vulnerable Americans need to have confidence in the Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division”:

Bottom line is, we want the lights turned on. We want a restored Civil Rights Division. We want it replenished in terms of staffing and funding, which the Bush administration has cut. And we want the new attorney general to wake up and understand that vulnerable Americans need to have confidence in the Department of Justice and the Civil Rights Division.

Watch CNN’s coverage of the march:

As Lemon noted in his report, “the Justice Department did not want to appear on camera” discussing the march, but Attorney General Michael Mukasey did release a statement in which he both defended the department and commended the demonstrators:

The mission of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division is as vital today as when it was created 50 years ago. Those who march today should be commended for highlighting the issues of tolerance and civil liberties. We hope that all can agree that it is the criminals who commit violent acts of hate who deserve the loudest protest. And as long as hatred and racism exist, the Justice Department will continue its hard and effective work on behalf of all victims of hate crimes.

Both the House and the Senate have passed hate crimes bills this year, but the Bush administration has threatened to veto any stand alone hate crimes legislation.

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/11/16/hate-crimes-march-dc/

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NBC's Miklaszewski minimized House waterboarding
prohibition as "poke in the eye of the administration"

post from Media Matters for America on 16 November 2007 07:53:51 PM. © Media Matters for America

On the November 16 edition of MSNBC Live, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski suggested that a House bill contained a prohibition on the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, "even though ... [the U.S. military's] own Army field manual prohibits" the technique. "Congress," he claimed, "wants to throw that in, well, pretty much to ensure that it doesn't happen, but also ... [as] a poke in the eye of the administration, clearly." In fact, the Army field[...]

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http://mediamatters.org/items/rss/200711170001

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Swift Boat Funder T. Boone Pickens Renegs On John
Kerry Million Dollar Offer

post from Firedoglake on 16 November 2007 07:51:26 PM. © Firedoglake

Rich Texas bastard T. Boone Pickens boasted that he would give $1 million to anyone who can disprove “even a single charge” leveled by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who he funded to the tune of $3 milion. Kerry offered to meet with[...]

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http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/11/16/john-kerry-to-swift-boat-funder-t-boone-pic
kens-wheres-my-million-dollars/

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Swift Boat Funder T. Boone Pickens Reneges On
John Kerry Million Dollar Offer

post from Firedoglake on 16 November 2007 07:51:26 PM. © Firedoglake

Rich Texas bastard T. Boone Pickens boasted that he would give $1 million to anyone who can disprove “even a single charge” leveled by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who he funded to the tune of $3 milion. Kerry offered to meet with[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/11/16/john-kerry-to-swift-boat-funder-t-boone-pic
kens-wheres-my-million-dollars/

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Barry Bonds and Perjury

post from TalkLeft on 16 November 2007 07:49:00 PM. © TalkLeft

It's the cover-up that always gets them. Baseball giant Barry Bonds was indicted yesterday on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

In the indictment, federal prosecutors said Bonds lied when he denied (to the grand jury)using a long list of banned drugs, including steroids, testosterone, human growth hormone and "the clear," the undetectable designer steroid marketed by BALCO.

....Bonds also lied when he testified that his longtime personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had never injected him with drugs, the government contended. The trainer, who was imprisoned for contempt of court after he refused to testify against Bonds, was freed Thursday night, hours after Bonds' indictment was unsealed.

Interestingly, Anderson never flipped. He did three months on his own steroid-related case and a year on the contempt charge for refusing to give up Bonds. Because the grand jury concluded and there was no longer any need for him to testify, the Judge let him out.

Bonds has grown a bit since he entered baseball. [More...]

1986 Bonds, listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, breaks into the majors as a 21-year-old rookie with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

....Anderson introduces Bonds to Victor Conte, a self-taught scientist who boasts he can propel athletes to peak performance through a personalized regimen of nutritional supplements.

....2001 Bonds, now listed at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds, hits a season-record 73 home runs and wins his fourth National League MVP award, also a record.

If convicted, legal commentators say his guidelines are about 30 months in prison.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/186054380/68

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Politics as Film Noir - Not Enough Smoking

post from All Spin Zone on 16 November 2007 07:41:00 PM. © All Spin Zone

The art of smoking, as a diplomatic device, has lost its cache in recent years - at least in the U.S. But there's an argument for the contemplative nature of the act of lighting up. It's like counting to ten in a stressful situation...

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http://allspinzone.com/wp/2007/11/16/politics-as-film-noir-not-enough-smoking/

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Edwards Walks With The Writers

post from MyDD on 16 November 2007 07:40:57 PM. © MyDD

I just got back from NBC/Universal where John Edwards walked with writers who have been on strike since November 5 when negotiations for a new contract with the studios broke down. When I first arrived, it was primarily writers walking with signs, some[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/mydd/~3/186054183/21

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Time to End the War

Every American against the war now needs to stand up and tell Congress that enough is enough. Today the Republicans blocked a Democratic plan to fund the troops, which also inserted a timetable for the start of a withdrawal. So now we need to get on the phones and tell Congress that there should be no more funds for it period. Cut them off. Let the Pentagon cry and cancel contracts. Let them run out of money. Tell Bush no money - none - without a timetable to end the war. Carrot time is over. Now it?s time for the stick.

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http://www.outrageradio.com/index.php?/weblog/entry/time_to_end_the_war/

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Bitch

Thank God our political discourse among our elite chatterers is so elevated above what you find in blogs.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/186054160/2007_11_11_archive.html

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Clarence Thomas, oddball

Remember the old expression, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt”?Apparently, no one’s told Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas about this. At a Fedearlist Society gathering last night, he told the audience, ?It?s me! I see myself moving around! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!?It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, now [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/16/clarence-thomas-oddball/

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