How do you get rid of conservatives in government? The Hispanic vote

A lot of political attention will be turned toward Arizona in the next few months leading up to the November election, but it’s not because of its paltry number of electoral votes that resulted from Republicans screwing with the primary date.  It’s because of its growing Hispanic voting population that is becoming stronger and more vocal by the day.  It is also due to the country’s fascination and ridicule of the farcical antics of the state’s inept GOP politicians.

To start, the only way Jan Brewer, a Republican, became Arizona’s Governor is her support and signing of the anti-immigration law, SB-1070, and few if any Latinos will forget that.  The author of that bill was state Sen. Russell Pearce, also a Republican, who was the first state senator ever to be recalled.  All this taken into consideration, a new Fox News Latino poll had some interesting results that should scare the hell out of Republicans.

• President Obama is the overwhelming choice among likely Hispanic voters.  Head to head, the best any of the GOP candidates could do is get 14 percent of their vote.
• This is a nationwide trend resulting in a rejection of the Republican candidates the more they learn about them.
• 80 percent of the Hispanics voting for Obama in 2008 would vote for him again in November.

There are five top states where Hispanics represent a sizeable portion of the eligible voting population and they are New Mexico, 42.5%, Texas, 33.7%, California, 27.1%, Arizona, 21.3%, Florida, 19.2%,  There are a number of eligible voters in New Mexico through Florida who are not registered, as follows: 202,650, 2,154,600, 2,026,500, 405,300 and 638,400, respectively.  That’s 5,427,450 potential voters for the progressive side…in just 5 states.

In this same report, Hispanic News evaluates the Latino population in relation to how it might cast its vote.  New Mexico is rated “open/tossup” for the Senate, “very competitive” for President.  Texas, “open/Rep,” no comment for Pres.,  California is considered a Democratic state, Arizona is “open/tossup for Senate,” no comment for Pres., and Florida is “tossup” for Senate and “very competitive” for Pres. 

In other projections, HN says, “By the 2012 election, Latinos will account for over 10% of the citizen adult population - potential voters - in 11 states.  In another 13 states, Latinos account for 5-10% of the citizen adult population. All told, that's 24 states where Latinos have the capacity to influence electoral outcomes…”  There are others with recent significant Hispanic growth.   In Connecticut, Georgia, Penn., Wisconsin and Massachusetts they represent 5% of potential voters.

HN estimates that 21.5 million Latino citizen adults will be eligible to vote in November 2012. That’s up from 19.5 million in 2008, a sizeable increase of almost 10 percent.  I can only speak personally for Arizona, where the anti-immigration rhetoric is much worse than the rest of the country; a fact I believe will have a big effect on the election.  The hate in Arizona shared by white conservatives for illegal immigrants also extends to Barack Obama.

It is too late for the GOP to reverse their tough stand on immigration and this stance has probably already made up the minds of many if not most Hispanics on how they will vote.  Because we live and die on polls, although on occasion they can be completely wrong, it will be interesting to see the first study after Republicans have an official nominee.  If it heavily favors the President, I look for some robust campaigning by the left on immigration reform.

48 dead from 49 shootings across U. S. in March alone…See timeline below

When will the American public understand that guns do kill people and that it is the proliferation of these weapons throughout the country that is causing the deaths of our family, friends and neighbors?  Not until these same people say no to the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) and similar gun rights groups and put them in their place.  And that would be as provocateurs of the death and violence that has taken place since these organizations have diluted gun laws nationwide.

It is that simple.  Looking back at Columbine, then Virginia Tech, followed by the Loughner massacre in Tucson, AZ that almost took former Rep. Gabby Giffords life and left her with years of rehabilitation, the T.J. Lane mass shooting in Chardon, OH, it isn’t hard to see how we have easily arrived at the point where no one seems to know just what to do about the recent shooting of the black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. 

We don’t know whether to blame it on George Zimmerman, the lax gun laws of Florida and other states like it, the NRA, the U.S. Congress, or an apathetic public that has allowed congressional and state legislators, who are gun worshippers, to give the NRA and their cronies a free-reign.

NRA "gun control"

Well, it’s all of the above.  Nobody listens to the gun control advocates who have been predicting increased violence for years if gun laws continue to loosen.  As an example, 29 states have the ‘Stand Your Ground” law and 4 more are considering it.  Yes, statistics do indicate some violence is going down across the country, but you can’t prove it by the above figures.  One of these reported deaths was a 3-year-old who shot himself with a family gun he found in their car.

If you have the patience, and the guts, to learn more about what is going on in gun-crazy America, take the time to read the following documentation of the 49 shootings that left 48 dead in just this past March.

• March 6, Jacksonville, FL, 2 dead when fired teacher kills school head, then himself.
• March 7, Tulsa County, OK, 3 hospitalized after being shot in Courthouse Plaza.
• March 8, Pittsburgh, PA, 2 dead, 7 hurt at psychiatric hospital.
• March 9, Montesano, WA, Officer shot, Judge stabbed at Grays Harbor County Courthouse.
• March 12, Las Vegas, NV, 5 shot at a resort casino parking structure which was thought to be gsng-related.
• March 12, Lamoine, ME, 1 dead, 3 injured in weekend shooting.
• March 13, Sanford, FL, Trayvon Martin is shot and killed by watch captain George Zimmerman, supposedly in self-defense.
• March 13, Gallup, NM, 2 killed, a father and son, 2 wounded, in total of 4 shootings within two hours.
• March 14, Little Rock, AR, 1 dead, shot by 9-year-old sister while parents away from their apartment.  The girl was autistic.
• March 14, Phoenix, AZ, 1 dead, 1 wounded at an apartment complex.
• March 14, Tacoma, WA, 3-year-old dead after shooting himself with gun he found in family car.
• March 14, Jefferson County, TX, 1 dead, at least two injured at Texas courthouse.
• March 14, Houston, TX, 1 killed at rave party where from 300 to 600 teens were crowded into a house.
• March 16, Glendale, AZ, 3 dead in apparent murder/suicide, two were man’s young sons.
• March 18, Fayetteville, NC, 1 highschooler dead in nightclub gang fight.
• March 18, Fayetteville, NC, less than an hour from above, 1 dead at another club shooting in the parking lot.
• March 18, Chicago, IL, 5 dead, 12 wounded, in attacks across the Chicago metro-area.
• March 18, Indianapolis, IN, 5 teens shot in downtown Indianapolis, some injuries believed to be life-threatening.
• March 18, Bourbon, MO, 4 dead including woman and three children at a campground resort.  Could be murder/suicide.
• March 18, Oak Hill, WV, 3 dead including two women found in a home.  Shooter was 83-year-old man.
• March 19, Lacey, WA, 1 dead, 2 wounded in Seattle suburb, requiring eight schools to go on lockdown.
• March 20, Gilbert, AZ, 1 wounded, a 12-year-old girl shot by her 10-year-old brother.  Father a police officer, but gun owner unknown.
• March 20, Newport, RI, 1 dead 1 injured, in shooting and stabbing, an assault according to police.
• March 21, Avondale, OH, 4-year-old wounded when walking home from a cookout.
• March 21, Avondale, OH, 1 wounded in aggravated robbery.
• March 23, Ypsilanti, MI, 3 wounded during apparent attempted narcotics sale resulting from argument over price of pills.
• March 23, Burlington, IA, 1 man dead, 1 woman wounded in head who then shot boyfriend in the head several times in a fight killing him, all over their relationship.
• March 24, Oakland, CA, 1 boy dead in shooting going to a house party.
• March 24, Oakland, CA, 1 man dead, 1 woman seriously wounded.
• March 24, Rogue Valley, OR, 1 dead, wife murdered by her husband with 10-year-old son at home.
• March 24, Rogue Valley, OR, 1 dead in White City shooting.
• March 25, Starkville, MS, 1 dead at Mississippi State U. in his campus room.
• March 26, Decatur, GA, 1 teen shot to death by apartment security guards.  The investigation is on-going.
• March 30, Lake Charles, LA, 1 dead, 1 wounded in shooting where drugs were involved.
• March 30, Lake Charles, LA, 1 wounded in another drug deal gone bad.
• March 30, Batesville, MS, 2 dead, at least 3 wounded in an apartment complex, apparently gang-related.
• March 30, Phoenix, AZ, 1 dead at apartment complex.
• March 30, Chicago, IL, 1 dead, 5 wounded at a convenience store.
• March 31, Chicago, IL, 2 dead, 11 wounded, including the nephew (wounded) of Miami heat star Dwyane Wade.
• March 31, Prince Georges County, VA, 3 wounded in Hyattsville in residential area.
• March 31, Miami, FL, 2 dead, 12 injured in mass shooting during a funeral.  Wounded included a 5-year-old girl.

If you have survived this far, I won’t keep you any longer except to say, I’ve been telling you so.   

Social Security Law mirrors Health Care Mandate so is it unconstitutional?



Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg



Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made the point in the Tuesday, March 27, arguments over President Obama’s Health Care Reform Law.  She drew a parallel between the 1930s Social Security Act in its financing of senior retirement, which uses the input of revenue from donors who will not take advantage of its benefits until a later date, to fund the program.  She said:

"If Congress could see this as a problem when we need to have a group that will subsidize the ones who are going to get the benefits, it seems to me you are saying the only way that could be done is if the government does it itself; it can't involve the private market, it can't involve the private insurers."

Sort of the same conclusion Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Congress came to in 1935 when he signed Social Security into law.  As part of FDR’s “New Deal,” it was designed to help those in need, and to provide against the dangers of modern American life in the future, including old age, poverty and unemployment.  It worked, and those who want to deny the President’s health care reform should ask themselves the question: “Where would we be without it today?”

The two sides are at odds over completely different issues.  On the left, the cry is that there are people out there who need help with their health care and shouldn’t be denied this assistance.  On the right, the complaint is that it takes away the freedom of choice, infringes on their constitutional rights.  The fact of the matter is that at times people do not make the right choice and it is in these kinds of situations that the government must step in to protect the future of the majority.

All about medicine and money

They did it for the seniors by passing the Medicare law, and now the President is trying to extend health care to the rest of the population.  Some form of universal healthcare must be passed in this country, and soon, or we can expect the health care system to end up in utter chaos, including swamped emergency rooms at hospitals and more bankruptcies from medical bills that can’t be paid.  The feds reported $43 billion in uncompensated cost for the uninsured in 2008.

A CNN/ORC International poll taken recently indicates improvement in the approval rate of the health care law.  On the individual mandate, 47 percent favor and 51 percent are opposed.  The huge difference comes along partisan lines with 71 percent of Democrats in favor and 78 percent of Republicans against.  The Tea Party has been a vociferous foe of the law, and anything else that Obama has proposed, making one wonder over the substance of the opposition.

In a new Gallup poll around 60 percent said the healthcare bill would make things better for the uninsured, and 56 percent said it would benefit lower-income families.  However, 44 percent believe the bill would make things worse for the U.S. as a whole.  Gallup says “The bottom line is that Americans perceive this to be a Medicare-type bill – a welfare bill mainly aimed at helping poor people and those without insurance.”  Duh…isn’t that what caring people do?

James Morone, chair of the political science department at Brown University in Providence, R.I. says, “No one really understands it.  Healthcare is a very high-intensity, low-information issue. People respond to conflict. As conflict escalates, [people] turn against what’s being discussed, they lose confidence in it."  With the obvious conclusion that this “conflict” is coming from right wing conservatives that will do anything in their power to block the President’s legislation (my words). 

In a doctor’s appointment last week, a medical technician told me that Obama’s Health Care Law would cap physicians’ income.  I have researched this pretty thoroughly and find nothing to substantiate the claim but if it is so, the provision should be removed.  And there are other complaints from the docs that are legitimate re. their payments from insurance and Medicare that must be addressed or we stand to lose the basic foundation of our medical care system.

Every time I check my Medicare payments to my doctors, I cringe because they look like something you would expect from a bargain basement sale.  It is very embarrassing but I rarely hear a complaint unless I bring it up, which I do regularly.  Physicians also think their top concerns for cutting costs are not taken into consideration.  They are:

·       Tort reform

·       Streamlining billing

·       Fixing the flawed gov. formula for calculating their reimbursements

Up to 66 percent of doctors indicate they would consider opting out of all government-run programs.  And the possibility arises that there could even be more reductions in what they are paid from insurance and Medicare.  Priorities in the U.S. are completely out of control and this is but one example.  Others include teachers’ and law enforcement and firefighters’ pay to name only a couple. 

When you compare this to Peyton Manning’s recent salary with the Denver Broncos of $96 million over 5 years, and the fact that Magic Johnson’s group is paying over $2 billion for the Los Angeles Dodgers—a record for this kind of deal—it becomes abundantly clear that the real significance of basic human needs is not important to some.  There’s also entertainment industry and corporate salaries to name a couple more.

It is not clear from the Supreme Court Justices’ questions just how they will rule on the Health Care Law; the White House is confident but so are the law’s opponents.  What is certain is the fact that the health care system is in trouble and must be fixed.  I personally cannot believe the Court will go against Barack Obama and the Congress in this matter.  If they do, will the right attack Social Security next? 

Read more here.

Arizona can’t seem to expunge its resident bigot…recalled Sen. Russell Pearce

Russell Pearce recalled

With much fanfare, but still with the support of Arizona Gov. Jan Pearce and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, State Sen. Russell Pearce was drummed out of office by voters in his hometown of Mesa in November of 2011. Huff Post reported that it could end Pearce’s political career, but that reporter obviously doesn’t really know this fruitcake. The man does not have the grey matter to realize what a low-life he, being advised by other crackpots like himself.


It was a disgrace to the man, to his family and to the people of Arizona. This was the latest addition to the long list of incidents that have brought the great state of Arizona to its knees recently with ridicule it does not deserve. Add to that Joe Arpaio’s latest escapade into President Obama’s birth certificate issue, followed by Jan Brewer’s tacky and tasteless finger-wagging episode, also with the President, and you can understand why Arizona is the laughing stock of the U.S.






J.T. Ready with Russell Pearce

 But it is Russell Pearce that has most helped Arizona assume the reputation of a racist and bigoted state through his long time suppression of illegal immigrants, culminating in the anti-immigrant legislation, SB-1070. Pearce’s prejudiced views are well known, fostered in part by his past association and friendship with known racist and neo-Nazi J.T. Ready. In another example:


Pearce sent an email to supporters once that included a white nationalist declaration, accusing the media of pushing the view, quote, “a world in which every voice proclaims the equality of the races, the inerrant nature of the Jewish, quote, ‘Holocaust‘ tale, the wickedness of attempting to halt the flood of nonwhite aliens pouring across the borders.”




Sheriff Joe Arpaio

 This would be the man that wants to become a state legislator again, and to confound his critics, there are RP supporters all over the state. The Red Mountain (AZ) Tea Party is one instance, and Joe Arpaio’s never-ending loyalty is another. In Arpaio’s case, he’s just hanging on to the shirttails of Pearce to assure himself of at least those votes when he runs again in November. Arpaio is being investigated by the feds for a number of offenses.


Stephen Lemons of the Phoenix New Times has been on Pearce’s coattails for some time now exposing the corrupt politician for the shameless individual he is. Lemons caught Pearce, a Mormon, in an outright lie in reference to the Mormon Church’s attitude toward his anti-immigration bill. He said the church “green-lighted” his SB-1070 bill. “I got hold of the church headquarters in Salt Lake,” he claimed, “And they said they absolutely do not oppose what Arizona is doing.”


Lemons tried several sources and came up with the same conclusion as far as the Mormon Church was concerned, according to a spokesperson: "We have made our position on immigration clear. The church believes that an enforcement-only approach is inadequate." The reporter then pressed the church on several related comments on the matter by Pearce and received the following answer from Eric Hawkins:


"The church's position on immigration is principle-based and applies universally. Any position adopted by individual politicians or members is theirs alone and does not indicate the endorsement of the church." He continued, "I know of no communication with Russell Pearce.”



And I would be remiss if I didn’t relate another illustration of just how crude Russell Pearce can be, and on national TV. It’s the RP “crushed scrotum” story that occurred during a recent event in Phoenix where GOP hopeful, Rick Santorum, gave the keynote address. It had to do with a wife’s comment over how her husband’s “scrotum” was now “wired together” and working. She meant “sternum” but as Stephen Lemons reported, there were few laughs. Pathetic!

See famous Russell Pearce "crushed scrotum" joke below:

Gun sales surge while shootings continue to occur on a daily basis



Zimmerman's weapon of choice
9mm semi-automatic



It took the death of Trevon Martin in Florida for those of us who are sane to begin questioning insane gun laws like Florida’s “stand your ground” legislation that allowed George Zimmerman to shoot and ask questions later.  Of course there was no answer, since the round from Zimmerman’s Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol found its way into the black teen’s chest and killed him.  No doubt this has already prompted another run on handguns…just in case.

The “just in case” is for a lot of things like, naturally centered around more gun control, but primarily because gun worshippers are afraid that Barack Obama will cut loose in his second term with tougher controls over the purchase of weapons.  As well he should, but so far we have seen no indication of this kind of move, except, in a recent conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev where the President made the following comments:



Obama and Medvedev



Obama asked Medvedev to let Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin know that he needed to “give me space” to deal with objections to the U.S.’s missile- defense plan.

“This is my last election, and after my election I have more flexibility,” Obama said to the Russian leader.

“I understand,” Medvedev replied in English, adding that he would “transmit this information to Vladimir.”

Although the above concerns a completely different issue, it was clear when Obama ran in 2008 that he had an interest at the time in some form of sane gun control.  Then, not only was he hit by the gun bubbas in Congress, but the NRA and the rest of the gun lobby attacked him repeatedly through its membership and a perpetual media campaign.  The idea was to whip the public into a frenzy that the new president wanted to take away their guns.  It worked.

Excellent video on "Stand your Ground" law, below:



Gun buyers overwhelmed the retail locations in 2011, prompting a record 16.4 million instant criminal background checks of potential owners, up 14.2 percent from 2010, according to the FBI.  Even though some were denied or the transaction wasn’t completed for some reason, others purchased multiple weapons. 

It was just last week that gun maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced the company was forced to temporarily suspend its acceptance of any new firearms orders due to a barrage of wholesale orders, already 1 million in 2012.



Reasonable gun control



It is obvious that most of the approximately 16 million new guns in 2011 went into responsible gun-owning households.  However, that’s one new gun per 20 individuals, almost 8 new guns per household.  To me these figures are ludicrous when you consider the fact that there are already millions of weapons out there in homes and on the street.  How many more do we need? 

Will the National Rifle Assn. be satisfied when the figure hits the billions, if it hasn’t already? 

MSNBC says, “Correlating state laws and gun sales is difficult, but in Utah and Texas — two states that have ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws" — pre-purchase background checks rose by 84.5 percent and 19.3 percent respectively in 2011.  In California and New York — two states that do not have ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws — background checks rose by 10.9 and 12.6 percent respectively, according to the FBI.” 

NRA spokeswoman Stephanie Samford said: “People are really just putting a premium on personal safety.”  With 8 new guns in a household, you can buy a lot of safety.  I wonder if that is really what it’s all about.

Mississippi hate-crime a sign state hasn’t gotten over its prejudice

James Craig Anderson

If the perpetrators in Jackson, Miss. were old guys who lived back when it was in vogue to suppress and even kill blacks, one might assume the hate just hadn’t worked itself out because of their age.  But the murder of African-American James Craig Anderson was committed by 3 racist goons aged 19, 20 and 19, who are, or were, just beginning their lives.  Where did they get their training for this heinous crime, and what kind of Mississippi household still produces this kind of maniac?

I grew up in the South, lived in Mississippi several years, experiencing the kind of hatred these 3 nutcases must have harbored for blacks.  But that was in the 40s and 50s, when it was open-season in that part of the country on anyone of color, or who was just different.  Prejudice was rampant but, fortunately, I had someone to compensate for the hate; a black man I looked up to with the same respect of any white person.  He was called simply Man and worked for my uncle.

This all started when I noticed Man always entered my uncle’s house through the back door.  Not yet in my teens, I still realized there was something wrong with this and asked him why he did it.  His answer was simple and to the point: he said it was to keep other people from thinking he thought he was good enough to enter through the front door.  In other words, my uncle didn’t care but the folks across the street would think he was “uppity.”

I told him I couldn’t believe what he was saying and, rather than talk about how naïve I was, he took time to explain the situation.  Although I had witnessed Negros—as Man identified himself in those days—going to the back of the bus and generally acting subservient to whites, somehow the severity of the issue didn’t register with me until explained by man.  There was absolutely no bitterness in his explanation, just the tone of acceptance, which I couldn’t accept.

Deryl Dedman

Man told me he thought it would get better over the years but, obviously, he was wrong.  The three young punks, above, just returned Mississippi to the days of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American, who was murdered in 1955 because of reportedly flirting with a white woman.  Deryl Dedmon, who drove the truck that killed Anderson, 47, pleaded guilty to murder and hate crime, admitting everything to Judge Jeff Weill who sentenced him to two concurrent life terms.

The judge added, "Whatever excuse you offer, forget that. There is no excuse. The state of Mississippi condemns this despicable crime."  In another comment by Weill, “This craven act isn’t who we are.”  Dedmond responded, "I wish I could take it all back.  I was young and dumb, ignorant and full of hatred. I chose to go down the wrong path."  Later, he indicated that he had found God, which seems to happen when they are cornered like this, but, unfortunately, a little too late.



James Craig Anderson murder scene



James Craig Anderson was severely beaten and when that wasn’t enough, Dedmon ran over him with his truck and left him to die.  Hinds County DA Robert Schuler Smith says, they "went out with the intention to harm and, in this case, kill a black man."  They drove all the way from Brandon, Miss. to Jackson just to carry out their crime which shows the amount of planning and preparation these racists put into the act.  More grist for just how deep these feelings must run today.

The other two culprits were Dylan Butler, 20, and John Aaron Rice 19; the former has been charged with assault, the latter has pleaded not guilty.  Now here is what makes me wonder if Miss. will ever learn its lesson, taken from a CNN account below of the incident.

Shortly afterward, Dedmon allegedly boasted and laughed about the killing.  “I ran that nigger over.”

"He was not remorseful," DA Smith said. "He was laughing, laughing about the killing."

Federal investigators also have been digging for months into other possible crimes in the area committed by Dedmon and others that might show a pattern of racial violence.

Morris Dees, chief trial counsel for The Southern Poverty Law Center, said, “James Anderson lost his life for no other reason than the color of his skin.  Those responsible must be held accountable for their callous and deadly actions. We are filing this lawsuit today to ensure his family gets a measure of justice."

The remaining question is whether the state of Mississippi should be held accountable for allowing this young person to harbor this kind of racial hate?

Read more here.

NRA pushed “stand your ground” law that may be responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death

The Florida law that is currently protecting watch captain George Zimmerman, termed “stand your ground,” was brought to the organization American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) by the National Rifle Assn.  ALEC, a national organization that fosters legislation primarily anti-consumer, has promoted the concept to states nationwide resulting in several laws passed similar to Florida’s. 

It is one of the bills supported by ALEC disproportionately impacting communities of color, according to the Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch.  The question is whether it prompted Zimmerman to take vigilante justice into his own hands resulting in action that he was not authorized to carry out.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a front for back-room closed-door sessions between big business and state legislatures to draft legislation that benefits business.  The center for Media and Democracy has been fighting this organization for some time now, and I have done two past articles you can see here and here.  One of the major problems with ALEC is its secrecy in bringing biased legislation to states that is often passed as presented.

This law, also known as the “Castle Doctrine,” changes state criminal justice and civil law codes by giving legal immunity to a person who uses deadly force if they reasonably believe it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.  It also bars the deceased's family from bringing a civil suit.  Additional information suggests Zimmerman acted as he did because the teen was black.

Florida Senator Durell Peadon introduced the law with NRA lobbyist, Marion Hammer, reportedly staring down legislators as they voted, according to CMD.  Afterwards Hammer presented the bill to ALEC where the NRA “boasted” it was “well-received,” after which all corporations and state legislators on the Task Force unanimously approved the bill as an ALEC model.  At last count, 25 states had the “stand your ground law.”

See Al JaZeera video below of Former federal prosecutor Michael Wildes discussing the NRA's power and the need for improved gun safety and control laws:

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, a devoted ALEC alum, signed a bill into law in his state in 2011 with the key elements of the Castle Doctrine included.  On March 3 of this year, 20-year-old college student Bo Morrison was shot and killed by a homeowner in Slinger, Wisconsin as the young man hid from police after attending an underage drinking party.  Because of the Castle Doctrine, no charges will be filed in the shooting. Like Trayvon Martin, Morrison was black.



Trayvon Martin



Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey says the “stand your ground” law is “a license to kill,” noting that the number of justifiable homicides in Florida has tripled since the law was passed in 2005.  CMD says, “The Castle Doctrine and its ‘stand your ground’ provisions give license for people to engage in vigilantism without liability.  As such, the ALEC bill can put the decision to take a life in the hands of a person whose fears are motivated by prejudice and racial bias.

To my knowledge and at this writing, the NRA has made no official comment about the Trayvon Martin death, nor has it commented on the “stand your ground” law in relation to whether George Zimmerman acted correctly in his shooting of the black teen ager.  I read somewhere recently a headline that said, “George Zimmerman is the NRA.”  If that statement is correct, the Florida incident could well be the catalyst to more gun control in the future.

Read more here.

How corrupt is your state?

The Center for Public Integrity has just completed its State Integrity Investigation and on the surface there is no state that stands out in the ratings.  Except maybe New Jersey, in part because of its improvement over past history of corruption in government.  NJ is number one, Georgia is last.  The investigation is the first of its kind to assess transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states.  Not one state earned an “A” rating and eight received an “F.”

The Center for Public Integrity says: "In every state, there's room to improve the ethics laws, the level of transparency on government proceedings, the disclosure of information, and — most importantly — the oversight of these laws.”  One of the major findings was that even when ethics laws are passed, they are tough to enforce and often don’t carry meaningful charges. 

Those states with histories of corruption often have the toughest laws that expose the scandals.  On the other hand, with fewer regulations in place, a state is likely not to identify these problems.  The research included 330 corruption risk indicators across 14 government categories including:

Access to information, campaign finance, executive accountability, legislative accountability, judicial accountability, budgeting, civil service management, procurement, internal auditing, lobbying disclosure, pension fund management, ethics enforcement, insurance commissions, and redistricting.



Georgia state flag



The five states with a “B” rating were New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, California and Florida in that order.  In the “Cs,” this group totaled nineteen with Mississippi first and Wisconsin last.  The “Ds” went to another 18 states, Minnesota first, Nevada last.  Eight getting an “F” rating with Michigan first and Georgia last.  Check your state here, which includes the actual score it received.   
SII singled out some states for blatant violations that justified mentioning: Tennessee established its ethics commission six years ago, but has yet to issue a single ethics penalty.  Can’t know if it’s even working since complaints are kept secret; North Carolina legislator sponsored and voted on a bill to loosen regulations on billboard construction, even though he co-owned five billboards in the state; 650 Georgia govt. employees accepted illegal gifts from vendors.

As far as the measurements used by the Integrity Index, several methods are employed, one recently naming Chicago as the most corrupt city in the U.S. and New York as the most corrupt state.  And these are February numbers released by the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs, based on public corruption conviction data from the Department of Justice.  Although New Jersey beat its bad rap, the windy City can’t seem to shake it off.

The State Integrity Index researched the 330 “Integrity Indicators” across 14 categories of state government covered above.  “Indicators assess what laws, if any, are on the books (‘in law’ indicator) and whether the laws are effective in practice (‘in practice’ indicators). In many states, the disconnect between scores on a state’s law and scores in practice suggest a serious “enforcement gap.”  The laws may be there but just aren’t followed.

Arizona state flag

A classic case that received nationwide attention was when Arizona’s legislators admitted to violating the state’s financial disclosure policy after failing to report trips paid for by the Fiesta Bowl. Neither the Senate nor the House Ethics committee followed with an investigation.  One of the major offenders was State Senator Russell Pearce, who was later recalled in an election that was the first of its kind in the U.S.  He is running again for the state Senate.

Video of Fiesta Bowl scandal

The Center for Public Integrity’s State Integrity Investigation looks at one side of the corruption issue that evaluates your state’s standing in passing and enforcing laws that apply to how the state operates.  However, there is a sinister movement going on across the country today sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that could literally destroy states citizens’ rights.  More on this and ALEC’s connection to the NRA later.



Study says Florida shooter could have shot Trayvor Martin simply because the watch captain was armed

The new study done by James Brockmole of the University of Notre Dame and psychologist Jessica Witt at Perdue University asks the question: “Could the watch captain have been fooled into thinking the youth was armed in part because he himself was holding a gun?”  According to The Washington Post, undergraduates at Notre Dame and Perdue were prone to think others were holding a weapon if they were holding a toy gun themselves.

The study was done long before the shooting but Brockmole says it is possible that George Zimmerman’s (the watch captain) perception might “…have been skewed by being armed.  Brockmole also admits that race may have been a factor (Zimmerman is Hispanic), and “Past research suggests that people can be more likely to perceive a poorly seen object as a gun if it’s held by a black person than by a white person, experts say.”

The study will be published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, and Brockmole states, it is “…not intended to support gun control, but it suggests that people should know that when they hold a gun “that might change how you’re going to interpret what’s around you.”  Zimmerman was protected by a 2005 Florida law—“Stand Your Ground”—that allows him to respond with deadly force if he thinks he is threatened.

Legal analysts say the law is one reason why Zimmerman has not been arrested.  With no additional eye witnesses, they have to take the watch captain’s word.  About half the states in the U.S. have this law, which is now being questioned by law enforcement and lawmakers.  Before the above law, a self-defense claim would not have been possible since Zimmerman would have been required to just back off.  Something everyone agrees he could have done in this case.



But then back in 2011, another study was done by David Hemenway who is Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Youth Violence Prevention Center titled: Guns in the home provide greater health risk than benefit.  Right up front I will tell you that Hemenway is considered “anti-guns” by the National Rifle Assn. (NRA).  This is primarily homebound research and does not really deal with the issue of when the gun leaves the home.

Hemenway says, “When it comes to violence, nearly every figure suggests that increased presence of guns correlates with higher levels of injury and death.”  He cites homicide rates that are 14 times higher than those in most other industrialized nations for those between 15 and 24 years of age in the U.S.  Areas throughout the country with high gun ownership have more problems.  For every accidental death, 10 more go to the emergency room.



Murder crime scene



Other findings include, “In the case of battered women, lethal assaults were 2.7 times more likely to occur if a gun was present in the house; no protective effect of the gun was found.”  And in the case of George Zimmerman in the Fla. Shooting, Hemenway says, “Unlike deaths or woundings, where the definitions are clear and one needs to only count the bodies, what constitutes a self-defense gun use and whether it was successful may depend on who is telling the story."

The study’s author does say that “Results suggest that self-defense gun use may be the best method for preventing property loss."  Further he states, “using a gun in self-defense is extremely rare (most instances involve using a gun to defend against animals): studies place defensive gun use at about one percent in home invasions and 0.1 percent in sexual assaults. Moreover, police reports suggest a lot of these uses involved inappropriate use of the gun.”



Irresponsible gun owners



In summary, “Hemenway notes that a number of surveys have found that a gun kept at home is far more likely to be used in violence, an accident, or a suicide attempt than self defense.”  He also talks about poorly trained gun owners that probably won’t do a good job of protection in self defense, surmising “there's little doubt that a gun at home is generally a negative risk factor.”

And I agree with the article’s author, John Timmer, that, regardless of which side you are on, these are interesting findings that should be looked at for their usefulness in trying to help solve the gun issues.  The other side—which I will no doubt quickly hear from—must at least consider these studies in order to make an intelligent rebuttal.