Targeting the midterms

Passage of the obamanomics spending bill shows us how important it will be to target the vulnerable democrats for the 2010 midterms.

Meet the new U.S. House members

State (district)	Member	Status
Alabama (2)	Bobby Bright	Democrat Pickup
Alabama (5)	Parker Griffith	Democrat Pickup
Arizona (1)	Ann Leilia Kirkpatrick	Democrat Pickup
California (4)	Tom McClintock	Republican Pickup
Colorado (4)	Betsy Markey	Democrat Pickup
Connecticut (4)	James Himes	Democrat Pickup
Florida (16)	Tom Rooney	Republican Pickup
Florida (24)	Suzanne Kosmas	Democrat Pickup
Florida (8)	Alan Grayson	Democrat Pickup
Idaho (1)	Walt Minnick	Democrat Pickup
Illinois (11)	Debbie Halvorson	Democrat Pickup
Kansas (2)	Lynn Jenkins	Republican Pickup
Louisiana (6)	Bill Cassidy	Republican Pickup
Maryland (1)	Frank Kratovil	Democrat Pickup
Michigan (7)	Mark Schauer	Democrat Pickup
Michigan (9)	Gary Peters	Democrat Pickup
Nevada (3)	Dina Titus	Democrat Pickup
New Jersey (3)	John Adler	Democrat Pickup
New Mexico (1)	Martin Heinrich	Democrat Pickup
New Mexico (2)	Harry Teague	Democrat Pickup
New York (13)	Mike McMahon	Democrat Pickup
New York (25)	Dan Maffei	Democrat Pickup
North Carolina (8)	Larry Kissell	Democrat Pickup
Ohio (1)	Steven Driehaus	Democrat Pickup
Ohio (15)	Mary Jo Kilroy	Democrat Pickup
Ohio (16)	John Boccieri	Democrat Pickup
Pennsylvania (3)	Kathy Dahlkemper	Democrat Pickup
Texas (22)	Pete Olson	Republican Pickup
Virginia (11)	Gerald Connolly	Democrat Pickup
Virginia (2)	Glenn Nye	Democrat Pickup
Virginia (5)	Tom Perriello	Democrat Pickup

Also include Travis Childers of Mississippi on this list. His pickup of the Wicker seat in the special election is not included on this list, but he is vulnerable. We just need a good candidate.

The era of obamanomics begins

Breaking: Senate passes obama spending package 60-38. The president’s signature is all that is needed to begin the era of obamanomics. (BTW, Collins, Snowe and Specter voted yes.  bless’em)

Congress passed the final version of a $787 billion economic stimulus plan aimed at jolting the slumping U.S. economy, sending the legislation to President Obama’s desk for his signature.

The bill passed the Senate late Friday night after Democratic leadership held the vote open for several hours to allow one member, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, to return to Washington to cast the deciding vote. He had flown back from Ohio, where his mother died earlier in the week.

The bill passed in the Senate with 60 votes. The House approved the measure earlier in the day by a vote of 246-183, with no Republican “yes” votes and one member voting present.

You can take the muslim out of the country, but …

I was reading a story from the Buffalo News and couldn’t help thinking about the old Salem cigarette commercial and the jingle, you can take Salem out of the country but, you can’t take the country out of Salem …

It would be funny if the ending weren’t so tragic. Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and CEO of Bridges TV, a company he began in 2004. His stated goal was to “help portray Muslims in a more positive light.” You know, all of that cultural baggage from the old country, honor killings, child marriage, bigamy, and so on. Hassan was certain he could change America’s perception of Muslims if he could only let them see the true face of Islam.

Hassan’s wife Aasiya, had recently filed for divorce from her husband. Hassam’s response? Well cut the ungrateful b*tch’s head off, naturally …

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.

“He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.

Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers went to that location and discovered her body….

Authorities say Aasiya Hassan recently had filed for divorce from her husband.

“She had an order of protection that had him out of the home as of Friday the 6th [of February],” Benz said.

[cue Salem jingle…]
You can take a muslim out of the country but, you can’t take the muslim out of a muslim

FBI reopens cold cases from civil rights era

Federal investigators are re-examining 43 decades-old unsolved killings in Mississippi during the civil rights years of the 1950s and ’60s. At least six of them are southwest Mississippi cases, the FBI announced Thursday. Among those cases is the Oct. 13, 1961, death of Eli Brumfield, who reportedly was shot dead by a McComb police officer who claimed self-defense and said Brumfield had pulled a knife on him after a traffic stop.

In February 2006, the FBI began to examine all unsolved fatal hate crimes that occurred before 1970. Federal, state and local law enforcement partners, as well as community leaders and civic organizations, provided information on unsolved violent crimes from the civil rights era.

Funding for the investigations comes from the Emmitt Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, which was signed into law in 2007. [snip]

Another case being re-examined is the Aug. 14, 1959, ambush slaying of Samuel O’Quinn of Centreville.

According to an Aug. 17, 1959, Enterprise-Journal article headlined “Slain Negro Believed Killed By Own Race,” then-Wilkinson County Sheriff J.T. Falkenheimer told reporters after the killing that a group of black Wilkinson County residents had written an unsigned letter threatening O’Quinn days before the killing.The former sheriff said the letter claimed O’Quinn was a target for participating in NAACP-related activities.

Years later, the letter’s authenticity is questionable.

The 1959 newspaper article stated, “The letter said in effect that Negroes of Wilkinson County were ‘well satisfied,’ that they had the finest schools in the South, that they had no desire to associate with the white people, and wanted to be ‘left alone.’ It added that Wilkinson County Negroes wanted nothing to do with the NAACP … and urged the organization to ‘stay out.’ ”

Source: enterprise-journal.com

I don’t know if the investigations will result in bringing justice to the murderers.  These crimes are in some cases over 50 years old.  Evidence will be hard to come by.  Many of the people involved are dead.

But, still, it is time.  It is long since time.  The families of the dead deserve the closure that can only come with the truth.

NowPublic

Tags: Culture | Crime | civil rights | NAACP | World | federal | John | INVESTIGATORS | YEARS | KILLED | south | Black History | county | VOTER REGISTRATION | Wilkinson | unsolved | unresolved | decades-old | Amite | Mccomb | re-examined | Emmitt Till | Bennie Thompson | Enterprise-Journal | Naacp-related | Hurst (historical)

Police release photo of arson suspect

Victorian police have released a composite photo of a man wanted for questioning over the Australian brush fires that killed at least 181 people and which authorities suspect may have been started by arsonists.

Police gave warning that the death toll from the fires that ravaged Victoria state last weekend could exceed 200 as fire fighters continue to battle 30 blazes across the state.

The man in the composite photo, who police say is in his early 20s and has a dark complexion, is believed to have information about a suspicious fire at Ivanhoe East, in Melbourne’s north-east.

He was apparently seen in the area wearing black trousers, a polo shirt and yellow sunglasses and carrying a black rucksack.

Arson investigators are looking into several of the bush fires that destroyed more than 1,000 homes. The fire that wiped out the town of Marysville and claimed up to 100 lives has been classed as suspicious.

source: Telegraph UK

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