Finally, Impeachment will be heard on Friday - Congressman Kucinich

My respect for Congressman Kucinich has just shot through the roof. Obama/Kucinich 2008

John McCain's Fans Sleep On The Job Of Support

I've heard that Senator John McCain's fans aren't really excited about him but geez look at this photo!!

Do you think Racism still exists? Baron “Scooter” Pikes Tasered To Death

From wordpress.com


Baron “Scooter” Pikes, 21, died horribly on Jan 17th 2008. Handcuffed in police custody and pleading for mercy he was tasered 9 times by officer Scott Nugent who is white. Pikes is Black. The incident occurred between 1:28pm and 2:07pm. The official police report of what happened in those 39 minutes is starkly refuted by eyewitnesses and physical evidence.

The Police Report:

Nugent spotted Pikes walking along the street and attempted to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for drug possession, according to Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter. Pikes took off running, but another officer cornered him outside a nearby grocery store. Pikes resisted arrest and Nugent subdued him with a shock from a Taser.

Then on the way to the police station, Pikes fell ill and told the officers he suffered from asthma and was high on crack cocaine and PCP. The officers called for an ambulance, but Pikes later died at the hospital.

Six months later, the Winnfield police are standing by that story. Meanwhile, the Louisiana State Police are investigating the case, and no charges have been filed against Nugent or two other Winnfield police officers who assisted him in arresting Pikes, although the City Council did decide to fire Nugent from the force in May.

Contradictory Evidence:

There is plenty of contradictory evidence, including officer Nugent’s own report of the incident, the autopsy results and eyewitness accounts.

An autopsy determined there were no drugs in Pikes’ system and that he did not have asthma, according to Dr. Randolph Williams, the Winn Parish coroner. After consulting about the case with Dr. Michael Baden, a nationally prominent forensic pathologist, Williams ruled last month that Pikes’ death was a homicide. On the death certificate, he listed the cause of death as “cardiac arrest following nine 50,000-volt electroshock applications from a conductive electrical weapon.”

Moreover, Pikes did not resist arrest, and he was handcuffed while lying on the ground, according to Nugent’s police report of the incident. It was only after Pikes refused Nugent’s command to stand up that the officer applied the first Taser shock in the middle of his back, Nugent wrote.

Several more Taser shocks followed quickly, Nugent stated, because Pikes kept falling down and refusing to get back up. Grocery shoppers who witnessed the incident later told Pikes’ family that he had pleaded with Nugent: “Please, you all got me. Please don’t Tase me again.”

Williams said police records showed Nugent administered nine Taser shocks to Pikes over a 14-minute period. The last two jolts, delivered as police pulled Pikes from a patrol car at the police station, elicited no physical reaction because the suspect was unconscious, Williams said.

Only after Pikes was carried into the police station and slumped into a chair did police call for an ambulance. He was pronounced dead soon afterward at the local hospital.

“God did not just call this young man home,” said Williams, who has served as parish coroner for the past 33 years. “Fourteen minutes elapsed between the first shock and the last. If somebody can tell me anything else that killed this otherwise perfectly healthy young man in 14 minutes, I’d like to know it.”

“This case may be the most unnecessary death I have ever had to investigate,” Williams said. “[Pikes] put up no fuss, no fighting, no physical aggression. The Taser was not used to take him into custody. He just didn’t respond quickly enough to the officer’s commands.”

Winn Parish District Atty. Chris Nevils says he expects to present the case to a grand jury after he receives the results of the state police investigation.

Colorful History of Winnfield:

Winnfield is just 40 miles from Jena, La. the site of the racially explosive prosecution of six black teenagers charged with beating a white youth that last year triggered one of the largest American civil rights demonstrations in decades. In a bizarre twist of fate it turns out that Baron Pikes is the first cousin of Mychal Bell, the lead defendant in the Jena 6 case.

Winnfield is also the birthplace of two of Louisiana’s most colorful and notorious governors, Huey and Earl Long.

The police chief of Winnfield committed suicide three years ago after losing a close election marred by allegations of fraud and vote-buying. Just four months later, the district attorney killed himself after allegedly skimming $200,000 from his office budget and extorting payments from criminal defendants to make their cases go away.

The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from Edwin Edwards, the former Louisiana governor who is serving time in federal prison for corruption convictions.

All of that tangled history is now wrapped up in the Pikes case, because Scott Nugent, the officer who Tasered him, is the well-connected son of the former police chief who killed himself and the protégé of the current chief, who hired him onto the force.

In less than two years on Winnfield’s 20-officer police force, police records show, Nugent ranked as the department’s most aggressive Taser user. Among the recipients were a 15-year-old African-American runaway who was not charged with any crime and Pikes’ father, currently serving a prison sentence for a drug offense, who was Tasered by Nugent last year, according to Kayshon Collins.

Joe Heard said his 15-year-old son was Tasered twice by Nugent last August, after Heard reported the youth as a runaway and asked the police to help find him.

“He snuck out of the house to be with a girl,” Heard said. “I asked the police to bring him home, and they did, but in pieces–he was all scraped up and bruised. They told me the next time he runs, ‘You know we’re going to shoot him.’ “

Officer Scott Nugent, 21, declined to be interviewed for this story. But his attorney, Phillip Terrell, said that Nugent “acted within the ambit of his training and Winnfield Police Department policies”, an opinion seconded by police spokesman Lt. Charles Curry.

Taser Safety Guidelines:

The official Winnfield Police Department Taser policy appears to prohibit the weapon’s use against a nonviolent suspect who has already been handcuffed:

“The Taser shall only be deployed in circumstances where it is deemed reasonably necessary to control a dangerous or violent subject,” the policy states. It also requires that a suspect who has been Tasered should immediately be checked out at a hospital, which did not happen in Pikes’ case.

Safety guidelines issued by Taser International Inc., the manufacturer of the device that is now used by more than 12,700 law enforcement and military agencies worldwide, warn officers to “minimize repeated, continuous, and/or simultaneous exposures.”

Company officials, citing dozens of medical studies, insist Tasers are safe when used properly. But few of those studies examined the effect of multiple Taser applications over a short period of time. The U.S. Department of Justice, in a study released in June, concluded that “the medical risks of repeated or continuous [Taser] exposure are unknown.”

“We want the police officer to be prosecuted for what he done,” Pikes’ stepmother, Kayshon Collins. We got the death certificate from the funeral home in June, and it said the death was a homicide.”

The Louisiana ACLU said that police officers should be handled just as other citizens.

“Police must be accountable for their actions just as others are, and if excessive police force caused Mr. Pikes’ death, the officers must be held accountable,” Marjorie Esman, executive director, said in a prepared statement. “The Louisiana State Police are reviewing this unfortunate death and, if their review indicates that Mr. Pikes died as a result of police misconduct, we expect the District Attorney to prosecute as it would any other death that occurs in Winn Parish.”

“I cannot and will not judge a case before I have all the facts,” Nevils said in a statement provided to BlackAmericaWeb.com. “But I will assure you that if any persons are found to have committed a crime, they will be prosecuted without regard to who they are. On the other hand, if no crime has been committed, I’m not going to bring charges because it might be a popular thing to do.”

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Senator John McCain's Media Complaints DO Sound Like Hillary Clinton's - Stereohyped Is Right

I just saw the blog Stereohyped who has a great point: John McCain's ranting on about media bias for Senator Barack Obama does sound like Senator Hillary Clinton's crabby talk about the same thing during the primary run, and we do know how well that didn't work.

But now McCain says he's wasn't complaining! That's BS. McCain's got a commercial about the deal, for God's sake.

Senator Barack Obama Gets Ovation From Troops At U.S Embassy In Baghdad

Take a look at this video because you're not likely to see this kind of ovation for President Bush. Senator Barack Obama visited our troops at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and got a warm welcome. He then took time to thank them for their service.

John Edwards and Rielle Hunter "The Alleged Mistress" Caught In LA By Enquirer

This is a new story that is based on one I covered last fall. Former U.S. Senator John Edwards, who was also being considered for the VP slot next to Senator Barack Obama, was found at an LA hotel by two National Enquirer reporters as Edwards was visting new mom Rielle Hunter.

In January, this space reported that the Enquirer wrote that Hunter was pregnant.

This is what I added in this blog:

John Edwards' Alledged Lover Rielle Hunter Pregnant By Either "Edwards Operative" Or Edwards Himself

Friday, January 04, 2008

As John Edwards prepares to go negative on Barack Obama after Obama's big Iowa win, there's a looming spectre of a story that should be of concern to him and it seems to be.

This is a story that will not go away and it comes up again, as The National Enquirer and Sam Stein over at the Huffington Post first introduced a story asserting that former U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate John Edwards had an affair in 2006.

I wrote about it a while back , but focused on the Enquirer / Clinton angle. But I'm done with that as the story has massive legs.

Now, the Enquirer is reporting that the woman of interest as the supposed lover, Rielle Hunter is pregnant, and has a photo , shown here, to prove it. Now this is where the story gets even weirder...

Here is what I wrote in the original story:

This is one of those stories you aren't sure what to do with but figure you should cover to some extent. Apparently the National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards had been cheating on his wife. It's all the more hurtful because his wife's battling breast cancer and doesn't need any more stress, even from the mere existence of the story itself.

Yikes.

The person who some are pointing fingers at is named Rielle Hunter. She's a video producer who was hired to cover Edwards for a period of time during the campaign and made a special set of videos. Here's one of them..



Hunter released the following statement through a spokesperson:

"The innuendoes and lies that have appeared on the internet and in the National Enquirer concerning John Edwards are not true, completely unfounded and ridiculous.
My video production company was hired by the Edwards camp on a 6 month contract, which we completed December 31, 2006.

When working for the Edwards camp, my conduct as well as the conduct of my entire team was completely professional.

This concocted story is just dirty politics and I want no part of it."

But how in hell did this get started and generate 1,363 blog posts, according to Technorati? We'll get to that, but it appears the National Enquirer is part owned by Clinton backer and former staffer Roger Altman , according to Pat Dollard.

But A spokesman for American Media, Richard Valvo, said in an email that Altman has “no involvement in editorial, ever.” He said that Evercore owns 20% of the company through an investment fund. Altman didn’t respond to an email seeking comment or to a message left with his secretary.

American Media has also published terrible and negative stories about the Clintons since its acquisition, so that may just be coincidence.

But how did this get started?

According to Sam Stein over at the Huffington Post , the two met at a New York Bar (!) and the idea for a set of videos was hatched there. What Sam doesn't report, but does come from Rielle's own website, is that in 2004 she was flat broke. In 2006, just two years later, she scored a six-figure deal with Edwards. But how?

What appears possible is that Edwards got involved with helping a woman in her early 40s remake her life. Indeed, the production company that made the film, Midline Groove Productions, was brand new in 2006, according to its website.

"Midline Groove is a full-service production company committed to projects that reveal truth -- the authentic aspects of humanity that are right here and most often overlooked. Creating short and feature length documentaries for the web, broadcast, and big screen, the company was established in 2006 by producing partners Rielle Hunter and Mimi Hockman."

So it seems that the Edward project was Midline Groove Productions' first work, period. Thus it seems as if Edwards created a job for the new production company. It came at the right time for Hunter. Hunter's other website sends the constant message that Hunter was searching for a new self at the time. Check this out..

Back in bed the thought arises: Funny, I would ask Ramana for help and not Gangaji who is here in a body. Yes, that would be too intimate. Intimate intimate intimate. And because I have learned to move towards my fear, I have learned that under the fear is where all the great juice is hidden, it naturally occurs to me to ask her: Gangaji, PLEASE help me wake up from this dream.

There's a lot of text like that.

NYMag has a great timeline which I've reproduced here:

January 2007. John Edwards's One America campaign debuts a series of Web videos about him, made by relatively unknown documentarian Rielle Hunter. The pair met at a bar, where she sold the future candidate on the idea. Hunter subsequently followed Edwards around the country, filming. Newsweek reporter Jonathan Darman, upon watching the final cuts, notes that "in the midst of a short theme sequence that begins each Webisode, the camera lingers over the former senator's behind as he tucks a starched white shirt into his pants."

August 27, 2007. The Post's "Page Six" runs the following blind item: "WHICH political candidate enjoys visiting New York because he has a girlfriend who lives downtown? The pol tells her he'll marry her when his current wife is out of the picture." This is later reprinted by commenters on the Huffington Post blog.

September 26, 2007. Young Huffington Post blogger Sam Stein writes about his efforts to track down the Web videos, which have disappeared from Edwards's Website. Stein writes an oddly detailed account of his chase of the videos and points out that both the Edwards campaign and Hunter's production company blame one another for their vanishing act. Stein even checks with the Screen Actor's Guild to get more information and tracks down production assistants on the project, none of whom will say much. Finally, Edwards's people let him see the videos while accompanied by a campaign minder and Stein sees nothing sinister in them.

September 27, 2007. Daily Kos contributor Ben Bang links to Stein's post and viciously berates the reporter. "Are we supposed to infer something from this non-ending, douchebag?" Ben Bang asks, going on to call him a him a "no-article-finishing, character-assassinating hack fuck."

October 10, 2007. The National Enquirer reports that Edwards is having an affair with a mystery woman who had traveled with the campaign and met the candidate at a bar. An Edwards rep calls the allegations "false, absolute nonsense."

October 10, 2007. That same day, Stein posts a follow-up to his original Huffington Post piece. He questions why the filmmaker, Rielle Hunter, was paid upwards of $100,000 for her work and points out that she used to be a party girl who dated writer Jay McInerney in the eighties and inspired the main character in his book Story of My Life.

October 10, 2007. Ann Coulter, late in the day, mentions the Enquirer story on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC talk show. Daily Kos once again picks up on it and lists the reasons why Stein and the Huffington Post are irresponsible journalists for digging into it.

October 11, 2007. Mickey Kaus on Slate writes a post headlined "Emerging Edwards Scandal?" in which he notes the previous coverage, mulls what would happen to Edwards's campaign if the story were true, especially since he's been "tacitly and effectively used Elizabeth and her struggle" with cancer (the struggle with cancer no doubt being a large part of why the "mainstream media seems to be strenuously trying to not report it"), and wonders who might benefit. Obama?

October 11, 2007. Jezebel.com doesn't mince words, with a headline that screams, "Is John Edwards Cheating on His Cancer-Stricken Wife?" "Who the fuck sleeps with a married man whose wife has terminal cancer and THE ENTIRE WORLD FUCKING KNOWS ABOUT IT?"

October 11, 2007. Washington, D.C., gossip blog Wonkette.com picks up on the Enquirer story, too. After Ann Coulter (who once called John Edwards a gay slur) mentions it, they query: "But, um, Ann? Why would Edwards have a lady-affair when he's a 'faggot'?"

October 11, 2007. New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer dutifully compiles all of the coverage of the rumor, without adding any information or making conclusions of any kind.

The AP Picks Up The Story

The Associated Press just picked up the story as did the LA Times. In total, 70 news outlets are running with the yarn. Let's see where this takes us as it's not going away.

Back to The Present

John Edwards tried to elude the Enquirer reporters Monday night and according to the Enquirer he did call hotel security. But the overall damage was done.

In this video I talk about Edwards committment to the poor and how that should be allowed to remain in our thoughts about Edwards as he faces this tough issue.

What I call for is us to "circle the wagons" and wish Edwards and his wife the best as they go through what has to be a terrible period.

There are many questions.

For example, why were the videos that Hunter made taken down from the Edwards site last year? And who is behind making the YouTube channel "MissingVideos"? That channel has this wording:

Sometimes things go missing from the internet.

Usually they pop back up.

What Edwards will do now is anyone's guess. Also how will this impact his speaking at the DNC Convention? Stay tuned.

DNCC Giving Away Trip To Convention For Donation - DemConWatch

DemConWatch, which reports on DNC Convention News, has it that the DNCC is sponsoring a contest where the donor winner gets a trip to the DNC Convention. Here are the details from the blog:

Just make a contribution to the DCCC before August 11th and you'll receive an official entry to win flight, tickets and accommodation in Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention August 25th - 28th.


Click here to enter with a donation
or you can click here to enter without contributing

The Rules and Regulations are exactly what you'd expect from Congress...
Winner shall be randomly selected from all eligible entries before August 22, 2008.
The winners shall be notified by email on or before August 2, 2008
Your entry must be submitted electronically to: http://www.dccc.org/convcontest1, and must include your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address.
No purchase necessary. Contributing to the DCCC will not improve your chances of winning. You may enter the contest as many times as you like without a contribution by entering here.
So they say you can enter up until August 11th and the winner will be notified "before August 2nd" I'm wondering how they can notify the winner before the contest is over?

And if there's a typo and the winner will be notified on August 22nd... they won't have much time to pack. The flight leaves on August 24th.

Another rule says you have to submit your "name, mailing address, phone number, and email address" but if you go to the page where you don't have to donate, it only asks for your name, email address and zip code.

Gallup And Rasmussen Polls Both Have Obama Ahead By A Hair

I just looked at both the Gallup and the Rasmussen daily tracking polls and Senator Barack Obama's ahead of Senator John McCain by just three percent in the first, 47 to 44 percent and one percent in the last, 45 to 44 percent. But I can't figure out why other than racism. That's the element not adressed, but I also believe that the number of young people polled is not in proportion to their numbers or turnout.

Both polls survey "likely voters" which tend to be older than 45 years of age, and that's where McCain does better. So, we're going to see these numbers -- wrong though they are -- for awhile. John McCain's making a lot of mistakes and the media's not hammering him on them, like talking about a country that does not exist, or today, saying that Iraq is on the boarder of Afghanistan when it's no where near it.

Either someone's not paying attention or they're just plain, well, it's got to be racism -- that's the only mental illness that could explain this.

Barack Obama In France; Translated Interview Reveals Desire For "Less Ideological Politics"

One possible key reason why Europeans are excited about Senator Barack Obama's tour of that part of the World is that he's advocating a politics that's less "ideologically based". I discovered this from this translated interview Senator Obama gave to The Paris Match in late January of this year:

The flight of Obama

Our correspondent in the USA Regis Le Sommier tells the fervor and enthusiasm surrounding the campaign and Barack Obama, by contrast, supporters calmer and more reflective of Hillary Clinton.

Regis Le Sommier and Laurence Haim Canal + were also able to interview Barack Obama in exclusivity. Find our interview with one of the favourites of the race for the White House below.

Barack Obama: "I want to talk directly with Iran and Syria. We do not stabiliserons the region if we are not talking to our enemies "

Regis Le Sommier interview (Paris Match) and Laurence Haim (Canal +)
(published in Paris Match No. 3063 of 31 January 2008)

Paris Match. How will you take to improve the image of the USA in the World?

Barack Obama. Priority should be given, to end the war in Iraq. Occupying this country puts us in a door at odds with the world. Likewise, we must close Guantanamo prisoners and provide a legal framework which allows them to trial. I also, once elected, hold a summit in the Muslim world, with all heads of state, to discuss frankly on how to contain the gap widens each day between Muslims and the West. I want to ask them to join our fight against terrorism. We must also listen to their concerns. I also want us to be leaders in areas such as climate change, that the Bush administration has neglected so long. And this position concern worldwide. If we show that we are a leader in fields such as development, climate change and nuclear non-proliferation, then we will have in exchange for greater cooperation in issues that concern us.


Paris Match: This is a campaign very hard ...

Barack Obama. Yes.

Paris Match: The Clinton are against you. Which of the two is the most difficult to cope?

Barack Obama. No doubt, both are formidable opponents. It is a solid team. I personally have great admiration for things they have done in the past. But I think I'll be more effective as that of lead America on a new path, and especially our foreign policy.

Paris Match: Between them and you, is it a question of generation?

Barack Obama. Not only. Especially the fact that they are associated with certain practices that date back 90 years. The political maneuvers they use for a month in this campaign demonstrated. Their attacks against me are intended solely to score points. For Clinton, there is plenty of time devoted to politics and little to govern, to bring people together to advance, doing things together. I think that voters now want results. They are no longer content to permanent political confrontation.

Paris Match: The USA are mired in Iraq. How do you leave?

Barack Obama. I want to start withdrawing our troops as soon as possible, the pace of one or two brigades per month. This would allow us to leave Iraq around 2009. Thus, we send a signal to the Iraqis to tell them that we will not be forever. At the same time, we must work with them so that Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds agree on a way to govern together. To demonstrate a real change of foreign policy USA, I want to talk directly with countries like Iran and Syria. We will not succeed in stabilizing the region if we are not talking to our enemies. When you are in deep disagreement with someone, you need to talk to him directly.

Paris Match: You have a chance to become the first black president. Have you personally suffered from racism?

Barack Obama. There is no Black American who, in one way or another, has not suffered from racism. I was lucky because it did not traumatized. I grew up in Hawaii, where racial tensions were not also present in other parts of the country. I was born in 1961. If I had been campaigning here at this time, I was asked to come in a toilet for blacks and other public places reserved for people of color. This speaks volumes about the progress we have made. It is still a lot of disparities in health, wages and living conditions among black Americans and others. There is much to be done.

Paris Match: What do you think of President Nicolas Sarkozy?

Barack Obama. He came to visit me in my office in Washington. That was before his election in France. It is an energetic man with a lot of talent. I am impressed by his way of looking at problems specific to France with a fresh eye. It is not fists and feet bound by traditions burdensome or dogmas. It is an example for many leaders. In politics, today it is necessary to look at things with a new vision. I want to travel to France and meet as soon as I won the investiture. I want to see with him how we can further strengthen Franco-American relations.

Paris Match: France will Does the first country where you want to go?

Barack Obama. It is one of my priorities. After my appointment, I want to do a tour in Europe, to meet Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. For all embody, in their own way, a new approach less ideological politics.

Kabul Kabol Afghanistan Searches YouTube For Obama Videos

You read the title correctly. someone in Kabul, Kabol Afghanistan's looking for YouTube videos on Obama with President Harmid Karzai and my guess is that it may be the President of the country or someone associated with him. Why because that person's looking up the President's name and the search attempt hails from the President's city.

How do I know this? Because I was checking my traffic stats and saw the listing report you see here. Hitslink is a program I use and swear by because of this detailed information. I certainly hope President Harmid Karzai enjoys Zennie's Zeitgeist.

John McCain Commits Adultery; ABC News, CNN Don't Tell Us About It

Ok. What if I told you that the LA Times ran a story on Senator John McCain that went like this:

An examination of court documents tells a different story. McCain did not sue his wife for divorce until Feb. 19, 1980, and he wrote in his court petition that he and his wife had "cohabited" until Jan. 7 of that year -- or for the first nine months of his relationship with Hensley.

Although McCain suggested in his autobiography that months passed between his divorce and remarriage, the divorce was granted April 2, 1980, and he wed Hensley in a private ceremony five weeks later. McCain obtained an Arizona marriage license on March 6, 1980, while still legally married to his first wife.

Until McCain filed for divorce, the Reagans and their inner circle assumed he was happily married, and they were stunned to learn otherwise, according to several close aides.

"Everybody was upset with him," recalled Nancy Reynolds, a top aide to the former president who introduced him to McCain.

Well, if you clicked on the link above, you will find the LA Times did run that story. What if I told you that the mainstream media ignored it? Well, they did, according to Carpetbagger blog.

That's not fair play. If it were Obama, they would have ran the story. But the fact is that some of these reporters, I believe, are being told by higher-ups to avoid any expose on McCain. They're trying to help him against Obama. It's not right to do this and we have to make them stop.

Some how.

DNC Convention: Kanye West, Wycef To Have Parties

I understand that Kanye West, Wycef Jean, and others are planning parties around Denver for the DNC Convention. Our question is where? We're going. We'll find out. Stay tuned.