The Count Down - 326

In February 2003, when Michael Dini, Texas Tech University biology professor (and devout Catholic), said he wouldn't write recommendations for students who denied evolution, he found himself under invesigtaion for religious discrimination by the Bush-Ashcroft Justice Department.

The Count Down - 327

"[President Bush] says that if we need to, we can lower the temperature dramatically just by switching from Fahrenheit to Celsius."
- Jimmy Kimmel, on fighting global warming, February 2007

The Count Down - 328

President Bush originally opposed the establishment of the 9/11 Commission, a bipartisan body charged with investigating the September 11 attacks and the American government's failure to prevent them. After weeks of negotiation with the commission, the president reluctantly agreed to an informal meeting at the White House, provided the vice president could go with him. The president was not under oath and no transcript of the discussion was made.

News Break

Sean Bell trial begins

New Orleans mayor blows up

Chauncey Bailey story on 60 minutes

Is Beyonce fit to play Etta?

Obama sexual accuser fails polograph

The Minnesota man who accused presidential hopeful Barack Obama of having sex with him and using crack-cocaine, failed two polygraph test administered by Whitehouse.com.

The tests were administered to Larry Sinclair Friday by Ed Gelb, former president of the American Polygraph Association, according to the site. One dealt with the sex claim and the other with the drug allegation. Deception was indicated in both, the report said.

Sinclair's allegations were made public when he posted a video on youtube. He also filed a lawsuit in Minnesota District Court alleging threats and intimidation by Obama's staff.

Sinclair was offered $10,000 to take the polygraph test and $100,000 if he passed it.

"My motivation for making this public is my desire for a presidential candidate to be honest," Sinclair said. "I didn't want the sex thing to come out. But I think it is important for the candidate to be honest about his drug use as late as 1999."

In his lawsuit, filed two weeks ago, he charged his civil rights have been violated by Obama and the Democratic Party. Named as defendants in the case are the presidential candidate, David Axelrod of AKP Message and Media in Chicago and the Democratic National Committee.

Sinclair alleges Obama smoked crack-cocaine while Sinclair snorted lines of cocaine in a rented limousine. He then claims he performed oral sex on Obama in the limo and then again in a hotel room a few days later.

The Count Down - 330

Although the law requires the government to disclose the work of groups that include non-government employees, Dick Cheney adamantly refuses to release notes from his Energy Task Force. In June 2004 the case went to the Supreme Court, which returned it to the lower court.

A February 2004 New Yorker piece suggested a very compelling reason Cheney does not want those meetings made public. It released a secret National Security Council memo dated Feb. 3, 2001, seven months before 9/11, suggesting that Cheney sat down with the heads of the oil companies, ten days after taking office, and began planning the invasion of Iraq and seizure of its oil fields long before the World Trade Center attacks.

The Count Down - 331

"My plan reduces the national debt, and fast, in fact, that economists worry that we're going to run out og debt to reitre."
- George W. Bush, radio address, Feb. 24, 2001. As of fall 2006, the nationa; debt was $8.4 trillion, compared to $5.7 trillion in the last year of the Clinton administration.

The Count Down - 332

"We both use Cokgate toothpaste."
- George W. Bush, after a reporter asked what he had in common with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Camp David, Maryland, Feb. 23, 2001

The Count Down - 333

In january 2007, according to the 2006 Military Times poll, for the first time more troops disapproved of the president's handling of the war than approved.

In 2004, the poll showed 83 percent of the military felt success in Iraq was likely. By early 2007, that number was down to 50 percent. And onlt 41 percent of the military felt the United States should have gone to war in Iraq in the first place, down from 65 percent.

The Count Down - 334

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."
- George W. Bush, Townsend, Tennessee, Feb. 21, 2001

News from a different source

The Columbia University professor targeted by a hangman's noose has been sanctioned for plagiarism - and she responded by saying she was punished because she's black.

"I am left to wonder whether a white faculty member would have been treated in such a publicly disrespectful and disparaging manner," Madonna Constantine wrote yesterday in an e-mail to students and faculty at Teachers College.

"As one of only two tenured black women full professors at Teachers College, it pains me to conclude that I have been specifically and systematically targeted."

An outside law firm hired by Columbia found that Constantine cribbed the work of students and a fellow teacher for articles in academic journals, a statement from Teachers College said.

Columbia officials did not disclose the precise sanctions. Constantine's lawyer said he will appeal the ruling to a faculty committee and did not rule out a suit against the university.

Constantine wound up in the spotlight in October when a noose was found on her office door, prompting outrage.

The NYPD launched an investigation into the hate crime, but no one has been arrested.
The plagiarism probe was underway for a year when the noose was found, but Constantine claimed Wednesday the two were connected.

"I believe that nothing that has happened to me this year is coincidental," she wrote, calling the investigation a "witch hunt."

The allegations were lodged by ex-Prof. Christine Yeh and former students Tracy Juliao and Karen Cort, and a grievance was filed by Prof. Suniya Luthar, then acting chairwoman of the department. The probe uncovered two dozen passages in which the language was "strikingly similar" to the work of the three accusers - whom the university indemnified from future suits, the college said.

Four current and former professors, two of whom were black, reviewed the report and agreed serious sanctions were warranted.

Constantine's lawyer, Paul Giacomo, said Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman then told her she had to cop to the plagiarism and resign or the report would be made public.
"It was blackmail," he said.

He said the probe was one-sided, as evidenced by the college's willingness to protect the accusers. He said evidence showing the accusers were the real plagiarists was ignored.
Students were dismayed by the accusations. One said the sympathy for Constantine after the noose incident has been squandered. "Now her credibility is totally shot," said Matt Mireles, 27.
BY OREN YANIV and TRACY CONNOR
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Minnesota Man claims to have sex with Obama

The Count Down - 335

"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because, for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times. From that alliance has come an era of peace in the Pacific."
- G.W. Bush, Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

The Count Down -336

The Secret Service routinely forces protestors into designated areas known as "free speech zones" or "protest zones," far from the locations visited by Bush administration officials. The United States Supreme Court has previously ruled that regulations may not target content (allowing pro-Bush demonstrators up close, while isolating anti-Bush demonstrators), which calls into question the legality of such practices.

The Count Down - 337

"They misunderestimate me."
- G.W. Bush, Bentonville, AK., Nov. 6, 2000

The Count Down - 338

"Now, we talked to Joan Hanover. She and her husband, george, were visiting with us. They are near retirement -- retiring -- in the process of retiring, meaning they're very smart, active, capable people who are retirement age and are retiring."
- George W. Bush, Alexandria, VA, Feb. 12, 2003

The Count Down - 339

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has been a Bush loyalist ever since way back in the earliest days of teh Texas governorship. His servitude has been richly rewarded by Bush appointments: from counsel to then-governor general Bush, to Texas Secretary of State, on to the Texas Supreme Court, then counsel to President Bush in 2001, and finally to U.S. Attorney General in 2005. Demonstrating an Orwellian disregard for the Constitution he is supposed to uphold, he dutifully engineered Cheney's torture policy, kept secret the details of Cheney's Energy Task Force, and has stood in resolute defense of the administration's unwarranted spying on U.S. Citizens.
- www.duckcheney.com

The Count Down - 340

"President Bush met with the president of China at the White House. The arrival ceremony was interrupted by a protester who started yelling, 'Stop the persecution, stop the torture!' President Bush had to ask, 'Which one of is are you talking to?'"
- Jay Leno, April 2006

The Count Down

"See, one of the interesting things in the Oval office -- I love to brin people into the oval office -- right around the corner from here -- and say, this is where I office, but I want you to know the office is always bigger than the person."
- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 29, 2004

Get Some

Today is Valentine's day and I'm sure someone out there is going to get some. Well the New York City department of health and mental hygiene is helping those who plan to get some by handing out free condoms that hold the logo "Get Some" on the wrapper. Condoms will be handed out on 42nd Street and other locations throughout the city.


So go out there and GET SOME! Cause tonight is night to spread love, not disease. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Count Down - 342

"The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein beacuse of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself."
- George W. Bush, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jan. 29, 2003

The Count Down-343

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
- Abraham Lincoln, 1864

News from a different source

President Bush said Tuesday that recent displays ofnooses are disturbing and indicate that some Americans may be losingsight of the suffering that blacks have endured across the nation.

"The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in Americanhistory," Bush said in an event marking African-American history monthat the White house.

"The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of grossinjustice," the president said. "Displaying one is not a harmlessprank, and lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest."

As a civil society, Americans should agree that noose displays andlynching jokes are "deeply offensive," Bush said."

They are wrong. And they have no place in America today."

For decades, the noose was a symbolic part of a campaign of violence,fear and intimidation against blacks, the president said. Sometimes, he added, it was orchestrated by the law enforcement officers chargedwith protecting them. Bush also said the noose was a tool forintimidation and killing that conveyed a sense of powerlessness tomillions of blacks throughout the country."

Fathers were dragged from their homes in the dark of night before theeyes of their terrified children," he said. "Summary executions wereheld by torchlight in front of hateful crowds. In many cases, lawenforcement officers responsible for protecting the victims werecomplicit in their deaths."

At the event, Bush is honoring Rep. John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement who organized freedom rides, sit-ins and voterregistration drives; and William Coleman, the first black American tobe a clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court and who served as President Ford's transportation secretary. Coleman thus was the first AfricanAmerican to hold a Cabinet post in a Republican administration.

Bush also recognized Ernest Green, one of the nine black students inLittle Rock, Ark., who were escorted into the city's all-white CentralHigh School following the historic Brown vs. Board of Education of themid 1950s, and Otis Williams, a leader of the vocal group "TheTemptations."
-Deb Reichman, AP

ABC sues for racist act

A black employee of ABC has filed suit against the company for racistaction taken against him.

Oswald Wilson is sueing ABC and its parent company Disneyciting apattern of racial discrimination that has caused him physical pain and emotional suffering. According to Wilson a co-worker placed a blackbaby doll from a noose at his work station in March of 2004. He claims that when he reported the incident, his boos refused to take the doll down.

The incident occured after bosses told him to take down a newspaperarticle commemorating Black History Month he'd hung on an equipment rack at ABC's engineering maintenance shop at 125 West End Ave.

Black History Month should be changed to White Aryan Nation month,"Wilson says a boss told him.

Instead of taking down the noose, his bosses transferred him toanother ABC shop.ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover denied the claims, which Wilson firstraised in a complaint filed with the state Division of Human Rightsthat he later withdrew.

"This is not an issue that the company takes lightly," Hoover said."It was absolutely not a noose."Wilson remains out on medical leave. He and his attorney could not bereached for comment.

Wilson says the noose was still there when he returned to the West EndAve. location in 2005. In October 2006, Wilson's bosses accused him oftaking too many sick days, the lawsuit claims.

The Count Down - 344

"The recession started upon my arrival. It could have been -- some say February, some say March, some speculate maybe earlier it started -- but nevertheless it happened as we showed up here. The attacks on our country affected our economy. Corporate scandals affected the confidence of people and therefore affected the economy. My decision on Iraq, this kind of march to war, affected the economy."
- George W. Bush, Meet the Press, Feb. 8, 2004

The Count Down - 345

"Psychologically, President Bush has received support for so long because many have thought of him as 'one of us.' Most of us feel inadequate in some way, and watching him we can feel his inadequacies and sense his uncertainties, so we admire him for 'pullinh it off' ... We are the culture that values the power of positive thinking and seeks assertiveness training. We believe that the right attitude can sometimes be more important than brains or hard work.... We don't dare to really confront the scale of his incompetent behavior."
- Psychiatrist John P. Briggs and author J.P. Briggs II, "Bush and the Psychology of Incompetent Decisions," www.truthout.org, Jan. 26, 2007

Back in effect

Hey you guys, I'm back. I know you missed me. Hopefully I wont ever have to be away from you all so long. But lets get back to business.

The Count Down - 346

"But the true strength of America is found in the hearts and souls of people like Travis, people who are willing to love their neighbor, just like they would like to love themselvest the ."
- George W. Bush, referring to a local citizen who dedicates his spare time to volunteer work throughout his community, Springfield, Mo, Feb. 9, 2004

What in the world is going on?????

A state lawmaker wants to ban restaurants from serving food to obese customers — but please, don’t be offended.

He says he never even expected his plan to become law.

“I was trying to shed a little light on the number one problem in Mississippi,” said Republican Rep. John Read of Gautier, who acknowledges that at 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, he’d probably have a tough time under his own bill.

More than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi are considered it obese, according to a 2007 study by the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention.

The state House Public Health Committee chairman, Democrat Steve Holland of Plantersville, said he is going to “shred” the bill.

“It is too oppressive for government to require a restaurant owner to police another human being from their own indiscretions,” Holland said Monday.

The bill had no specifics about how obesity would be defined, or how restaurants were supposed to determine if a customer was obese.

Al Stamps, who owns a restaurant in Jackson, said it is “absurd” for the state to consider telling him which customers he can’t serve. He and his wife, Kim, do a bustling lunch business at Cool Al’s, which serves big burgers — beef or veggie — and specialty foods like “Sassy Momma Sweet Potato Fries.”

“There is a better way to deal with health issues than to impose those kind of regulations,” Al Stamps said. “I’m sorry — you can’t do it by treating adults like children and telling them what they can and cannot eat.”

So I was on MSNBC at work the other day, if you haven't figured it out I love MSNBC/NBC its one of those dream job places, but I digress, and I came across this article. I was discussing it with a co-worker who thought the plan was a good idea. I think not. Its just as bad as being racist or sexist.

Sure we all want a solution for obesity but shunning fat people is not the answer. That wont stop them from eating, honestly it would make me want to eat more. How about making healthier food or making healthy food more affordable. How about making smaller portions. I know that really its about self control, but why is the most unhealthy crap so cheap. How about changing those things first, before you turn a group of people that are already outcasts, in a way, and ostracizing them even more.

News from a different source

Check out MSNBC Race and Ethnicity report on a group of black employees reaction to an unfair employer.

WINDER, Ga. - Four black former employees of a north Georgia restaurant say they were unfairly strip searched by white managers and that three of them were fired after they complained.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit on their behalf, seeking back wages plus interest.

The federal agency's complaint says managers searched the four employees after $100 disappeared from a white employee's cash register at the Krystal restaurant in Winder in June 2005.

Herbert Hunter, Daphne Hill and Shannon Jackson say they were fired after they complained that only black employees were strip searched. Quinthony Brown did not return to work after he was searched.

"We don't want any other employee subjected to this kind of treatment," Vincent Hill, the EEOC attorney handling the case, told the Athens Banner-Herald.

The employees complained to the EEOC two months after the alleged incident, and the agency has been working to negotiate a settlement with New Capital Dimensions, the Milledgeville-based company that formerly owned the Winder franchise of the Krystal chain that operates across the South.

Richard and Betty Bertoli of Milledgeville are listed as the corporation's registered agents with the Georgia Secretary of State's Office. A woman who answered the telephone Saturday at Richard Bertoli's home in Milledgeville said "I don't know anything about that," and then hung up the telephone.

Torture victim receives scholarship

A West Virgina woman who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured last summer is getting help with her education.

Megan Williams, 20, was offered a two-year, $40,000 scholarshop from ITT Technical Institute, a new computer and six months of tutoring to help her earn a GED while appearing on the Montell Williams show this week.

Williams appeared on the talk show as a guest on an episode focusing on hate crimes.

According to Logan County police Willaims was forced to eat animal feces, sexually assaulted and stabbed by six white people who kept her captive for several days.

Three of the alleged attackers recently plead guilty to charges of assault and rape.

Jena Six student in trouble again

A defendant in the Lousiana "Jena Six" case was arrested for slamming allegedly slamming a student's head into a bench at a school in Texas.

Bryant R. Purvis, 19, was arrested on a charge of assault causing bodily injury Wednesday after an altercation at Hebron High School.
Purvis believes the other student flattened his car tires. Purvis was released from jail Thursday morning.

According to a police report, the student felt Purvis come behind him and "grab his neck with one hand and begin to choke him." Purvis then said, "Don't you ever mess with my car again" and slammed the student's head into the bench of a table and walked away, the report said. The student's left eye was injured, but Singleton didn't know whether he needed medical attention after seeing the school nurse.

The school has declined to comment.

Purvis faces aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit battery charges in the Jena case and is set for trial in March. If convicted of both charges, he faces up to 22 1/2 years in prison.

Purvis couldn't be reached for comment Thursday because there's no listed number for the uncle he lives with in Texas, Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jason Hatcher. No one answered the door at the home Thursday afternoon. Soon after Purvis' arrest in Louisiana, his mother sent him to live with Hatcher to keep him out of trouble and out of the spotlight.