July 17, 2013

Agony, grief and a refusal to bend - a must read even if you're not in NC

I don't have another link, so this is it in its entirety, I hope it can stand

Other Opinions page 11A, Raleigh News & Observer 7-17-2013
Point of View


  Agony, grief and a refusal to bend
  By Leigh Sanders
     I am a native North Carolinian. I might have waited on you at Darryl’s on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. We might have taken classes together at N.C. State. Or I might have processed your payroll, opened your bank account or sent you a fundraising letter through my various employments.  
   We might have bagged food at the shelter, picked up litter on the riverbanks or volunteered at the polls together. I might have taught your children in the public schools or you might know a recipient to the scholarship fund   set up for North Carolina teachers in honor of my native Carolinian mother.  
   We might have been assigned the same project together at UNC-Greensboro while working on advanced degrees or I might have seen you on our family’s regular outings to the Bug Fest, Earth Day Celebration, Eno River Festival, First Night, Asheboro Zoo, Manteo Aquarium and the International Festival.
   We might even be in the same yoga class or shop in the same local bookstores. Either way, I am your neighbor; we breathe from the same fresh pool of Carolina air.
   I give here. I act when needed. I stay informed, and I do not miss elections. When I needed affordable health care, I found it from Planned Parenthood without seeking permission from you. I did not question why I did not have health care or was paid $2.15 hourly, well below a living wage, for nearly five years. I did not think it was unusual that I often had to work two jobs or seek out financial aid for my education or rent houses in less than safe neighborhoods. I was entirely trusting that my government was working on the side of justice and humanity for us all even when I did not agree with the process.
   Never once did you require that I worship the same as you to prove my residential value. I was never denied a job, education, volunteer position or a loving relationship based on religion. So why have I spent five out of the past eight days at the legislature peacefully pleading religious amnesty from you? When did you decide that I was not a complete North Carolinian until I worshipped the “Lord” you spoke of in the chamber?
   I agonize over the further economical   devastation that will result from our rapid descent to the 10-worst states to live in for families. I shudder at our resemblance to states in our Union with representatives who have vowed to govern from the Old Testament, when the wonder of travel, the expansion of human life and the technological rapture remained the budding dreams of the bold and curious.
   I grieve that my state will soon be running over with biblical poverty and sexual, racial and marital discrimination while you introduce legislation that could mandate me to pray alongside you. I mourn for a state where dinosaurs do not roam in school curriculums. I fear for all our children when reproductive health clinics are shut down and sex education is   absent. I will be there when you have exhausted your remaining deceptive devices and watch you once again bow your head to your doppelganger and pass the ironically named Family,   Faith and Freedom Protection Act.
   But I will not worship a God who demands I cherry pick Scriptures to teach my children to fear difference, destroy love and dispose of women. I will not pray to wrath and domination.
   But you have my attention, as I am sure you have the attention of the loving, generous God so many religious North Carolinians worship. And I am prepared just like Huckleberry Finn was when faced with religious persecution for refusing to return Jim to Christian slave owners because, after all, the Bible made it clear: “Slaves obey your earthly masters with respect and fear”– Ephesians 6:5.
   He announced to God and country: “All right, then, I’ll go to hell.”
  
Leigh Sanders, a former middle school teacher, lives in Raleigh.  

July 17, 2013

Planned to take photos - and now am having to use words. Trayvon Rally in my town.

I'm a person who likes to talk in pictures. And after returning from my rally in Winston-Salem about unhappiness with the verdict I realized all the hopefully descriptive photos I took did not exist.
No card in the camera.

So I must use words.
The paper said about 150 people were expected.
By the time they had gotten through the speeches and the people had walked carrying candles up a full city block splitting up and darkening the sidewalks my estimate was that there were about 2000.

This is Winston-Salem, NC.
The crowd was black. I would be hard pressed, and am not saying I saw all of them, but I'm guessing 25 whites.
One of them was me in my shirt white on black: "Oh Crap" delicately across the front.
Another my grandson with a shirt just like it.
We were photographed by some folks. They agreed. I wish I had had more descriptive shirts in the closet, though, I thought, how many have duplicates hanging that say " Oh Crap".

Here's the report:
This is serious. It seems to be happening. I was in a crowd that mentioned their self-responsibility with bull horns.
They appealed to the Department of Justice. They are taking to the streets.
The power of the people was palpable. I have long waited, and the cause may be here.

It makes me sad, and diminished, that I can't do my usual thing and SHOW you with my photos.
But I hope you hear my words. This was a big deal in a not so huge city.
America is waking up, and Trayvon is causing a monumental shift in recognition.
We all know what about!!!

July 16, 2013

Do we know this already? Sport teams leaving Florida in solidarity and fear for their players

MIAMI – A slew of professional sports teams – including the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars have announced they are leaving Florida following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin.
The teams released a joint statement saying that “the state of Florida has become too dangerous for young black men to live in, and as the majority of our players fit this demographic, we’ve decided we’ll soon be moving to pastures new.” The statement went on to say that if one of their starters were shot dead and the person who shot him was found not guilty – as was the case with Zimmerman – “it would lead to a competitive advantage for other teams whose starting players had not been shot dead, leading to failed prosecutions.”
Players from both teams also highlighted the media climate surrounding the case, and the frequent defense of Zimmerman’s actions featured on some networks. Prior to the verdict, for example, Geraldo Rivera on “Fox and Friends” said: “So it’s a dark night, a 6-foot-2-inch hoodie-wearing stranger is in the immediate housing complex. How would the ladies of that jury have reacted? I submit that if they were armed, they would have shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did. This is self-defense.”

Heat star LeBron James observed that the teams’ two shortest players were exactly 6 feet 2 inches, “so if you can legally shoot someone for being that height and black, I don’t want to know what that means they can do to 6 foot 11 Chris Bosh without any legal ramifications.”
Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew added that both franchises hope to relocate somewhere with a stronger sense of race-related justice than Florida currently has, “such as Mississippi. Or South Africa in the 1980s.”
The Miami Marlins noted they were staying in Florida and did not fear for their safety, as no one seemed to know they were there.


- See more at: http://www.newslo.com/following-zimmerman-verdict-miami-heat-leave-florida-citing-safety-concerns/#sthash.3CN5wC3b.dpuf

July 15, 2013

Florida Considers Eliminating Laws Altogether - Andy Borowitz clues us in

TALLAHASSEE (The Borowitz Report)—Arguing that its current system of laws is out of step with life in today’s Florida, a growing chorus of lawmakers in the state are arguing for a measure that would eliminate laws altogether.

“Florida is rife with laws that say ‘Do this, don’t do that,’ ” said Gov. Rick Scott, a supporter of the measure. “Speaking as a Floridian, I have found it exhausting pretending to obey them.”
There is broad support in the state for abolishing laws, according to a poll commissioned by the political action committee Citizens For a Lawless Florida.
According to that poll, a majority of Floridians favor ridding the state of laws, while a sizable number did not know that the state had any.
“We’ve been trying to remove laws piecemeal for the past few decades, but this measure seems like the most efficient way to take care of the whole problem,” Gov. Scott said.

For those who fear that eradicating Florida’s laws would wreak havoc on life in the state, Gov. Scott offered this reassurance: “Honestly, I don’t think you’ll notice a difference.”

July 15, 2013

Holder Calls Trayvon Death 'Unnecessary Shooting'

Monday, 15 Jul 2013 01:13 PM

The shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was tragic and unnecessary, and it ought to spark public debate about how to prevent similar incidents, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday.

In his first comments since a state jury acquitted George Zimmerman on Saturday in the February 2012 shooting case, Holder said federal prosecutors were continuing to investigate.

"Independent of the legal determination that will be made, I believe that this tragedy provides yet another opportunity for our nation to speak honestly about the complicated and emotionally charged issues that this case has raised," Holder told a convention of Delta Sigma Theta, a black sorority.

Although Zimmerman was cleared of murder charges under Florida law, U.S. prosecutors could decide to bring criminal charges under a federal hate-crimes law, and some civil rights advocates are lobbying prosecutors to do so.

With apologies for the source:
more here:
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Holder-Trayvon-unnecessary-shooting/2013/07/15/id/515088?

July 15, 2013

PRESS STATEMENT from the Southern Poverty Law Center in Response to Verdict in State of Florida

The following statement was issued by Richard Cohen, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, following the verdict in State of Florida v. George Zimmerman

"They always get away." These were the words George Zimmerman uttered as he followed and later shot Trayvon Martin -- words that reflected his belief that Trayvon was one of "them," the kind of person about to get away with something. How ironic these words sound now in light of the jury verdict acquitting Zimmerman.
Trayvon is dead, and Zimmerman is free. Who was the one who got away?

Can we respect the jury verdict and still conclude that Zimmerman got away with killing Trayvon? I think so, even if we buy Zimmerman's story that Trayvon attacked him at some point. After all, who was responsible for initiating the tragic chain of events? Who was following whom? Who was carrying a gun? Who ignored the police urging that he stay in his car? Who thought that the other was one of "them," someone about to get a away with something?

The jury has spoken, and we can respect its conclusion that the state did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. But we cannot fail to speak out about the tragedy that occurred in Sanford, Florida, on the night of February 26, 2012.

Was race at the heart of it? Ask yourself this question: If Zimmerman had seen a white youth walking in the rain that evening, would he have seen him as one of "them," someone about to get away with something?

the rest of it is here:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/press-statement-from-the-southern-poverty-law-center-in-response-to-verdict-in-sta

July 12, 2013

Oh for a little Sodium Pentathal to sneak into Mark OMara's water glass

while he's off
getting rid of some used water (he's drinking it like mother's milk, every time he acts uncertain).

I am so bored, but I'm all for it staying just this condescending and laborious and dull.
I'll set an alarm


and then

for the rebuttal.

July 11, 2013

Texas Weighs Ban on Women as discovered by Andy Borowitz

AUSTIN (The Borowitz Report)—Republican lawmakers in the Texas State Senate are proposing a precedent-setting new bill that would make it illegal for women to live in the state.
Senator Harland Dorrinson, one of the many pro-life lawmakers backing the woman ban, crafted his bill after witnessing Senator Wendy Davis filibuster an anti-abortion bill last month.
“That was our moment to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” he said. “This comes down to a choice between life and women, and we choose life.”
Senator Dorrinson said his bill would call for a twenty-foot woman-proof fence to be constructed along the borders of the state.
“Women are great at talking, but not at climbing,” he observed.
But another G.O.P. state senator, Cal Jamson, believes that the total ban on women goes “too far” and is proposing a less draconian bill that would allow some women to remain in the state as guest workers.
“Texas needs women to cook, clean, and cheerlead,” he said. “If they show that they can do those things and stay out of politics, there could be a pathway to citizenship.”


www.borowitzreport.com

July 11, 2013

Gag me with a spoon, or a disembodied hand from a Barbie doll. But inventive it is!!!

Jewelry made out of disembodied pieces of Barbie dolls [20 pictures]









http://twentytwowords.com/2013/04/29/jewelry-made-out-of-disembodied-pieces-of-barbie-dolls-20-pictures/

17 more pictures, for your creative inspiration

http://twentytwowords.com/2013/04/29/jewelry-made-out-of-disembodied-pieces-of-barbie-dolls-20-pictures/

July 10, 2013

NC House rushes forward new abortion bill without notice

Published: July 10, 2013 Updated 17 minutes ago


By Annalise Frank and John Frank — [email protected]

Raleigh — Hours after Gov. Pat McCrory issued a veto threat for a controversial abortion bill, House Republicans -- acting without public notice -- took a bill about motorcycle safety and inserted abortion language.

The new bill -- S353 -- represents tweaks to the version that passed the Senate last week but still includes some of that version's contentious language. It calls for a physician to be present when the first drug in a chemical abortion is administered, as opposed to all drugs, as the version that passed the Senate last week would mandate.

Another major change from the Senate version: Abortion clinics would not be required to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers. But the state Department of Health and Human Services would be authorized to apply those standards as it sees "applicable." The bill also includes a state study to determine what resources are necessary for the state health agency to adequately enforce the new regulations, and would pay for more inspectors.

Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, an Apex Republican leading the effort, said the new measure mollifies the governor's concerns. McCrory's lobbyist appeared to work with the bill's chief supporters before the meeting, but it's still unclear how McCrory would act on the amended bill.

"We want to make sure these procedures are not designed to close down clinics," said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, a Charlotte Republican helping to lead the effort.

House Democratic Rep. Rick Glazier objected to the short notice, saying he would vote against the bill. "The process here is just dead wrong," added Rep. Joe Sam Queen, a Democrat.

The House's move echoes how the abortion bill surfaced in the Senate. The Senate action drew a rebuke from McCrory for not being transparent.

The Sharia law language from the Senate bill is not included in this latest House measure, but the motorcycle safety provisions are still in the bill.

Check back for more updates as this story develops.

--Annalise Frank and John Frank, staff writers

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/10/3021288/nc-house-rushes-forward-new-abortion.html#emlnl=Breaking_News#storylink=cpy