Roseland council member David Snyder was taken to St. Joseph County jail and held overnight after an incident during a Roseland council meeting.
He was released after the prosecutor's office reviewed the police report and decided to drop the felony charge, clearing way for Dorothy Snyder to bail him out.
David Snyder was put in jail after David Snyder was ejected from a budget meeting Friday night, before being taken to the ground outside by a Roseland police officer.
The melee started because David Snyder protested after being given only one minute to speak by council member Charlie Shields. After a heated argument, laced with profanities, Shields kicked Snyder from the meeting.
Snyder slowly walked from the meeting, escorted by Officer Jack Tiller. When he got into the lobby, turned and said something to Tiller who appears to shove Snyder who falls hard into the glass door and outside.
"Baiting is putting an object out there that we know they will use, with the intention of destroying the enemy," Capt. Matthew P. Didier, the leader of an elite sniper scout platoon attached to the 1st Battalion of the 501st Infantry Regiment, said in a sworn statement. "Basically, we would put an item out there and watch it. If someone found the item, picked it up and attempted to leave with the item, we would engage the individual as I saw this as a sign they would use the item against U.S. Forces."
In documents obtained by The Washington Post from family members of the accused soldiers, Didier said members of the U.S. military's Asymmetric Warfare Group visited his unit in January and later passed along ammunition boxes filled with the "drop items" to be used "to disrupt the AIF [Anti-Iraq Forces] attempts at harming Coalition Forces and give us the upper hand in a fight."
Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice, said such a baiting program should be examined "quite meticulously" because it raises troubling possibilities, such as what happens when civilians pick up the items.
"In a country that is awash in armaments and magazines and implements of war, if every time somebody picked up something that was potentially useful as a weapon, you might as well ask every Iraqi to walk around with a target on his back," Fidell said.
Sorry Kucinich and Gravel... No votes for you two in this Democratic candidate poll. I wonder why not?
My New Hampshire phone rings (caller ID 000-000-0000 WTF?)and I pick it up out of curiosity. "This is (talking like a magpie so I haven't got a clue what the name of the company is)Research. Would you like to be part of a poll for the Democratic presidential primary candidate?" I agree and the woman rapidly reads the list of candidates. "Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Dodd, Biden and Richardson." I say, "Kucinich." The woman on the phone says "Who?" I say, "Kucinich. Dennis Kucinich." I hear coaching in the background - apparently the call is being monitored. "I'm sorry, but Dennis Kucinich is not on our list. Is there anyone on the list I gave you who you would vote for?"
So there you have it. Kucinich is down in the polls because he isn't included in the polls . . . and you can forget about Gravel, too.
Just a little bit dishonest, dirty and underhanded. Ya think? (h/t C&L)
Russert: As you well know you voted to authorize this war, voted to fund this war at lest ten times. Are you now saying that you will not vote one more penny for the war in Iraq.
All of these words are fine and dandy... You are supporting cutting off funding the Iraq. And you want to be the President of the USA? How about showing some leadership skills first, OK?
Get a filibuster proof group of Senators to refuse to allow voting on any more money going into the Iraq follies and even I, being an ardent anti-Hillary advocating Liberal, will consider supporting your candidacy.
Just a reminder of what a real leader needs to do in order to end the funding of this disaster:
As a form of obstructionism in a legislature or other decision making body, a filibuster is an attempt to extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay or completely prevent a vote on its passage. The term first came into use in the United States Senate, where Senate rules permit a senator, or a series of senators, to speak for as long as they wish and on any topic they choose, unless a supermajority group of 60% of senators brings debate to a close by invoking cloture.
If you don't have the skills to lead a minority of the Senate to do the right thing here, why in the hell would anyone in their right mind give you the keys to the White House?
The same thing goes for all of the other all-talk and walkless candidates in the Senate. If none of you have the leadership skills to walk over Reid and lead a simple minority of 41 Senators to filibuster more Iraq funding for bush's failed policies, than none of you have the leadership skills to be the President.
You want the support of the Dem voters? The overwhelming number of Americans that are against the Iraq follies? The no-party-affiliation indies, like myself, that make up the fastest growing voter block in the nation?
Prove it now.
But... Don't even bother to come back as "THE" Dem candidate asking for my support if this is still an election issue later on. Because most of us know that you can end it NOW with a simple filibuster. That is how to yield the power of the purse.
The five Republican members who walked out of a Board of Education meeting last week say they are disturbed that the action has been misconstrued and politicized when it was a legitimate protest of what they considered to be an improper, imprudent and even disrespectful action.
Like walking out on a vote is not improper, imprudent and even disrespectful action, never mind that it is as childish as taking their ball and going home in the middle of a game because they are losing.
Flying in the face of their own reasoning, they can't seem to even decide whether they walked out because of too much debate, or not enough:
"We simply, quietly, left the meeting at the end when there was nothing further to discuss. We had already discussed it three times, and our input was ignored. There was no reason to stay," said member Julie Turk of the minority Republicans' decision to leave before a second vote on hiring a director of human resources to replace the former director of operations.
snip
But some of the board's GOP members -- the school board has seven Republicans and five Democrats -- were disturbed that so little time had been given to such a key position, which will command a salary in the $90,000 to $100,000 range.
Make up your minds little GOP children... Did you decide to walk out on your job because:
Republicans think there is nothing left to discuss.
Republicans think there needs to be more time to discuss this.
Republicans think there needs to be more time to discuss that there is nothing left to discuss.
And never mind all of the other reasons that they threw at the fan. Several more inconsistencies fly back in their face in that one article. The supposed and incoherent apologies lead one to realize your mea maxima culpas. Simply being wrong, both in thoughts and actions. Get a load of another childish GOP response:
"They changed the rules so they could put something through that had already failed," McLachlan claimed.
What rules did the Board change? Something was brought up in a vote that was a 5-5 tie without all of the board members present in August. A sub-committee, including republicans, originally recommended returning to the issue. Does McLachlan have a problem with putting a vote to the full board just because of the inevitable 7-5 result?
"Kudos to Joe Failla, Julie Turk, Robin Ruggiero, Bill McLachlan and Joey Vita for having the gumption to stand up for what they believe in, against the odds and the "bullying" as one Member calls it."
Whom, exactly, is guilty of bullying? As a commenter over at your own Blog (Jay Lewin - Juice Box Republicans) notes:
"Interesting that the Operations sub committee "unanimously" OK'd bringing the issue back to the board. That sub committee includes Mr. Failla & Mrs. Turk. Why did they OK this on 9/4, and then reverse course to fight it on 9/11? Hmmmmmmm..."
Kudos for what. Jay? For recommending returning to this issue and then walking out on the vote when it does come up? (The GOP must be guilty of bullying themselves , either that or bullshitting themselves, 'cause we aren't buying it.) And for ignoring the reality of what most of the town's people recognized this childish tactic to be? Is there any doubt why one of New Milford's Board of Education members jumped the Republican ship of fools?
For the coming election, Traisci-Marandola said, she was rejected by the party's leaders for a re-election bid because she did what she promised, although it meant spending money.
Even with that rejection, Traisci-Marandola said she intended to retain her party affiliation.
Yet what she called this past "week of nonsense" has changed her mind. She said she intends to become a Democrat and support that party's slate for the November election.
snip
Traisci-Marandola said she was "appalled" that five of her fellow Republicans -- including appointed member Joseph Failla, endorsed for a four-year seat, and William McLachlan, endorsed for a Town Council seat -- orchestrated a walkout at last Tuesday's school board meeting.
This walk out was a pitiful example of Republican kids behaving badly and the nonsensical apologies and their apologists passing out the Koolaide are as sad as the the original actions. They are just playing little childish games and, in a typically GOP fashion, wasting the tax payers time occupying a job they are unwilling or unable to do in a manner respectful of Democracy.
Yesterday, by a 5-3 vote, the City Council of San Diego passed a resolution supporting marriage equality. Jerry Sanders, the Republican mayor-- who campaigned opposing marriage equality-- announced this morning that he had changed his mind and would sign the resolution instead of vetoing it. A former Chief of Police, Sanders, tearfully also announced that one of his daughters, Lisa, is gay and that he would lead with his heart. "The concept of a separate but equal institution is something that I cannot support," he explained, tearfully, with his wife standing at his [side]." Please watch the video; it is very powerful.
I would normally make a smart-ass joke here, but I can't bring myself to do so after watching the video. I'll just thank him for a taking this righteous stand on this issue.
“In the end, I couldn't look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife, Rana,”
Thousands of protesters have descended on the small town of Jena, La., for a large-scale rally in support of six black students charged in the beating of a white classmate.
They are outraged at what they say is an excessive prosecution of the teens. The District attorney initially had tried to prosecute the students on attempted murder charges.
Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader, was there and said the scene was reminiscent of civil rights struggles of the 1960's
For those of you that are unfamiliar with the back ground on the story, here is a YouTube "Cliff notes" version to get you up to speed:
I've seen the term "AfroSpear," "AfroSphere," and "Blackosphere." I guess I'm partial to the title and associated logo! To my way of thinking, the AfroSpear is the realization of a think tank (and forum) for Black (African-American) progressives to discuss, muse, and ruminate issues that affect our communities. Inasmuch, we are not a monolithic entity, the AfroSpear will encourage lively debate, discourse, and an occasional disagreement as we hone a thought or platform on a particular issue. With the power of the current bloggers on the AfroSpear list, I'm encouraged that positive and actionable results will become self-evident.
Community-based nonprofits, operating in low income urban neighborhoods, have a long history of emphasizing economic democracy through the mobilization of community residents. Today, smaller community-based nonprofits continue to provide a range of services that are critical for the social and economic well being of urban neighborhoods. In the U.S., these neighborhood-based nonprofits, with budgets under $5 million, and even less than $1 million, are engaged in charitable and economic activities that touch every aspect of neighborhood life. In many instances, they provide voice to collective interests and needs that are not typically heard in venues of power and wealth. Recent civic dialogue about the future of nonprofits in this country, however, tends to overlook the role and impact of this sub-sector of nonprofits. The public and corporate focus is on downsizing and mergers, performance and outcome measures, or standards of accountability. And, within this dialogue, the issue of social justice and community mobilization is absent.
Community-based organizations in communities of color must return to their original mission on behalf of social justice, advocacy, and political mobilization of residents.
It is the long absence of discussions on issues of social justice in the nation, as a whole, that has resulted in the need for actions like the one that is taking place in Jena today. And these actions would not have happened had it not been through the efforts of those few that pushed it at first. This story slowly moved through to longtail Blogs and up to some of the bigger Blogs in the nation. But, sadly, most in the left Blogosphere only became somewhat familiar with the plight of these students long after the fact.
As I wrote when I covered this in June: "This story has been in the AfroSpear for quite a while." Yet, it had hardly moved near the MSM, unless you count the fact that this story really broke in Britain on the BBC.Yep, you read that right. An American Civil Rights tragedy and our local SCLM media couldn't manage to break the story. Until the last few days. An entire year later.
In a mile-long procession, tens of thousands of civil rights demonstrators from around the nation marched this morning from the courthouse of this racially embattled town to the schoolyard where nooses were hung from a tree last year as a warning to black students.
Chanting "No justice, no peace," the black-clad demonstrators walked down quiet residential streets as homeowners somberly watched from their front steps, their arms crossed in front of them.
This movement that is kicking in the TV screen of every single news network today took forever and a day to get any real notice from these same American networks. But the fact that it is finally getting coverage is a good thing, for the most part.
Sometimes you are a part of something big and you don't eve realize it. The Jena 6 case comes to mind. Thanks to the Afrospear movement and other bloggers of color out there, I have known about the Jena 6 case for months now. It seemed almost surreal to watch it grow and take on a life of it's own. A newspaper story here, a local news clip there, little by little the country started to take notice, and now....
For those of us black activist who use the web as a tool for change, we have been e-mailing each other, blogging about Jena,calling each other, and organizing on the web for months, about this travesty of justice down in Bayou country. Now, finally, the rest of America has caught on. This is now national news, and the Jena 6 has springboarded into our national conscience. It also reinforces my belief that the Internet and the world wide web can also be used as a tremendous tool for activism and organizing for social change.
Today is the culmination of all the work that everyone that rallied around this case has done. There will be a huge rally in Jena today in support of those six men, and from all indications so far it is going to be massive. Countless buses have already left my area, loaded with activist and people who want a change, and who are all just sick and tired of being tired. African American College students have mobilized and united around this cause, and activism seems to have taken the place of apathy.
3 white students at the Illinois Roberts High School in Springfield were suspended earlier today after beating a black student in their school cafeteria, allegedly in protest of the public support for Jena 6.
The victim, black male Johnathon Curtis, 15, was reportedly wearing a Free Jena 6 t-shirt and bracelet when he was approached by Benjamin Barnelli, 17, Blake Sheffield, 16, and Fredrick Tompson, 18. According to eye-witnesses at the school, they then began heckling Curtis, poking him with utensils and smearing food in his face before the fight broke out.
Barnelli punched Curtis in the back of the head which prompted the student to return the punch which landed on Sheffield, causing a black eye. The 3 white students then proceeded to beat Curtis, kicking and punching him for over a minute before a teacher broke up the fight.
I have been unable to verify that Illinois story with any alternate internet or MSM sources, but given how long it took for most of America to notice the Jena 6 story would that surprise anyone at all?
How much longer can we, as a nation and especially as Progressives and Liberals, afford to ignore these issues of justice, equality, and racism before it begins to tear the nation apart? How much longer can we afford to dismiss someone else's "single issue" as being unimportant to us all and disenfranchise them from our ideas of what Progressivism or Liberalism is or should be?
Many in the MSM are calling it a "reawakening of the Civil Rights movement" or other similarly ignorant statements, IMHO. To those of us that have been paying attention to discussions in the AfroSpear, Afrosphere or Blackosphere, or whatever you want to call it... Some of them may agree with me:
The Civil Rights movement never really died. America just stopped paying attention to it.
Well... To those of you that just choked on the bitter taste of reality from the news today for the first time, all I can say is: Are you going to start paying attention to it now? If you are, here is a snippet of the refresher course to wipe the bitter taste of the reality from your mouth:
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. (MLK)
The fact that the protests in Jena and across the nation are happening is proof that this shameful condition still exists here in America. Meanwhile, blacks -and other minorities - are still living in hopes of the dream.
“I was born in 1953. Like the rest of my generation, I took the America I grew up in for granted – in fact, like many in my generation I railed against the very real injustices of our society, marched against the bombing of Cambodia, went door to door for liberal candidates. It’s only in retrospect that the political and economic environment of my youth stands revealed as a paradise lost, an exceptional episode in our nation’s history.”
That’s the opening paragraph of my new book, The Conscience of a Liberal. It’s a book about what has happened to the America I grew up in and why, a story that I argue revolves around the politics and economics of inequality.
I’ve given this New York Times blog the same name, because the politics and economics of inequality will, I expect, be central to many of the blog posts – although I also expect to be posting on a lot of other issues, from health care to high-speed Internet access, from productivity to poll analysis. Many of the posts will be supplements to my regular columns; I’ll be using this space to present the kind of information I can’t provide on the printed page – especially charts and tables, which are crucial to the way I think about most of the issues I write about.
This should be a fine addition to your liberal dose of reality in Blogtopia. (Yes, skippy coined that!)
