Saturday, September 24, 2011

North Carolina, Florida, Georgia in Top 10 -- in jobs lost to communist China.

U.S. UNIONS COMPLAIN ABOUT CHINA, BUT RAISE COST OF OUR WORKERS AND AMERICAN GOODS

Verne Strickland Blogmaster, September 23, 2011

China is taking American jobs, labor unions, politicians and economists, have accused for some time. The logic is simple. While a manufacturing job in the U.S. may pay $50 an hour, when salary and benefits are factored in, Chinese factory laborers make little more than a few hundred dollars a month.
With American companies moving operations to China and international companies preferring the cheaper Chinese-made goods, the Economic Policy Institute found the U.S. lost 2.8 million jobs in the past decade.While all states have been affected, 24/7 Wall St. looked at the ten states that lost the most jobs to China.

Over the past decade, American imports from China have grown much more than what the country has been able to export into it, causing a massive loss of jobs. “Between 2001 and 2010, the trade deficit with China eliminated or displaced 2.8 million jobs,” the EPI noted in a paper released this month.

As would be expected, 1.9 million of those jobs, or nearly 70%, were in manufacturing, the EPI found. The greatest damage occurred in the computer and electronic parts industry, as well as several finished manufactured goods sectors such as apparel and motor vehicles and parts.

China was able to achieve manufacturing cost advantage by moving millions of laborers from rural areas to cities with newly built facilities. Even American companies such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT) cannot afford to buy goods made in the U.S. when they are made so much more efficiently — and of course, so much cheaper — abroad.

Cheap labor may well be the main reason for China’s manufacturing advantage, but currency manipulation could be another, the EPI states. While the cost of labor affected China’s exports, the currency manipulation, which happened despite China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, distorted its imports. American policymakers have long assumed that as China’s huge middle class grew, U.S. companies’ sales to these new consumers would also grow.

But it did not work out that way, the EPI reports: “as a result of China’s currency manipulation and other trade distorting practices, including extensive subsidies, legal and illegal barriers to imports, dumping and suppression of wages and labor rights, the envisioned flow of U.S. exports to China did not occur.” Added to its labor cost advantage, this currency manipulation has been devastating to many U.S. companies.

24/7 Wall St. has looked at the ten states that have had the greatest number of jobs displaced or lost to China in the past decade based on the EPI report: Growing U.S. Trade Deficit with China Cost 2.8 Million Jobs Between 2001 and 2010. We also included the number of jobs lost through imports and gained through exports due to trade with China.

The EPI research does not make an exact forecast of how many more American jobs may be lost due to China’s manufacturing cost advantages and questionable trade policies. And the damage, of course, did not suddenly end in 2010, and is almost certainly ongoing. In fact, nearly half a million jobs were lost or displaced from 2008 to 2010 alone. The joblessness problem in the U.S. is so severe that any added erosion of employment opportunities from forces outside the country will make a recovery of the American economy all the more difficult.

These are the ten states losing the most jobs to China.

10. Georgia
> Net job change: -87,700
> Jobs lost: 101,200
> Jobs gained: 13,500

Georgia has lost a significant number of jobs, primarily in industries “including computers and electronic parts, textiles and apparel, and furniture,” according to the EPI. One of the hardest hit districts in the country was the state’s 9th congressional district, which is located in the northern part of the state and includes the city of Gainesville. Georgia has historically been known for its textile industry and remains one of the top cotton-producing states in the country.

9. Massachusetts
> Net job change: -88,600
> Jobs lost: 99,300
> Jobs gained: 10,700

Two of the nation’s 20 hardest-hit congressional districts are located in Massachusetts. The first of these is the 5th congressional district, which includes the cities of Lowell, one of the country’s earliest textile centers, and Lawrence, home of a number of textile and electronics manufacturers. The state’s neighboring 3rd congressional district also lost an exceptional number of jobs. This district includes Worcester, another historically significant textile city, which has since increased its technology industry.

8. Ohio
 > Net job change: -103,500
> Jobs lost: 124,100
> Jobs gained: 13,500

Ohio is one of the U.S.’s biggest manufacturing states. It is home to major companies such as Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and AK Steel Corporation (NYSE: AKS). However, the state’s manufacturing sector is declining at a faster rate than the nation’s. The automobile sector has had the highest unemployment growth since 2007, although companies in other sectors have contributed to sending jobs overseas as well.

7. Pennsylvania
> Net job change: -106,900
> Jobs lost: 127,200
> Jobs gained: 20,200

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, “Manufacturers in Pennsylvania account for 12.5 percent of the total output in the state” and employ “10 percent of the workforce.” Politicians have been outspoken about China’s effect on the state’s economy. Senator Bob Casey recently stated that “Unfair Chinese trade practices harm Pennsylvania businesses … and reduce their ability to create jobs.”

6. North Carolina
> Net job change: -107,800
> Jobs lost: 122,400
>Jobs gained: 14,600

North Carolina is home to three of the top 20 hardest hit districts in the U.S. Textiles and furniture are among the two industries that have lost the most jobs to China, according to the EPI report. North Carolina Congressman Howard Coble is co-sponsoring House Bill 639, the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, to address this issue. “This bill will at least force China to compete on a level playing field with U.S. manufacturers,” Coble is quoted as saying in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Cop killer Troy Davis fooled many, and was supported by many who ignored his lies. He deserved to die, but cheated his fate for 20 years.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 23, 2011

ERICK ERICKSON, A JOURNALIST I ADMIRE GREATLY, WROTE THIS PIECE ON THE NIGHT COP KILLER TROY DAVIS WAS PUT TO DEATH BY LETHAL INJECTION. BY ERICKSON'S RECKONING, SPELLED OUT HERE IN DETAIL, DAVIS WAS NOT ONLY A MURDERER BUT A SCURRILOUS CHARLATAN. I AGREE. LIBERAL PROPAGANDISTS HAVE MANIPULATED THIS CASE SHAMEFULLY. THIS IS THE TRUE STORY OF TROY DAVIS' DUPLICITY. THIS MAN WITHOUT HONOR DESERVED HIS FATE. HE HAS DONE AN INJUSTICE TO BLACK AMERICA.


Tonight the United States Supreme Court declined to stay Troy Davis’s execution. He will, by the time many of you are reading this, be dead. There were no expressions of dissent or objection from any of the 9 members of the Supreme Court.

I like Guy Benson a lot, but his column on Troy Davis got my blood pressure up.

I’m hearing a lot from people opposed to Troy Davis’s execution that there is no physical evidence in the case — and a whole lot of other hoo-haa.

First of all, let’s set out that the case has been going on for twenty years.

Second, let’s point out that two witnesses at Davis’s trial testified under oath that Troy Davis admitted to the shooting.

Yes, those witnesses have now, twenty years and much badgering by anti-death penalty advocates later, recanted. A federal judge spent two days reviewing the evidence and the testimony last year and issued a 172 page order explaining why the witnesses recanting was “smoke and mirrors.”

In fact, one of the chief nuggets of the case is that there was no physical evidence. Except that is crap. There is the matter of Troy Davis’s bloody clothes that you’ve probably never heard of.




There was a .38 caliber gun. Both Troy Davis and the man Davis’s team claims in the real murderer, Sylvester Coles, had a .38 caliber gun.

Davis’s gun had been used in another shooting and the gun casing were linked between both shootings.

Everyone likes to gloss over that. They point out that the man who claimed Davis fired on him has now recanted — yet again 20 years later.

But here are some additional facts — if we’re going to deal with things that weren’t in contention twenty years ago.

The federal courts and state courts in Georgia have all denied Davis’s appeal. Prior to 2008, Georgia’s Supreme Court was decidedly liberal and even they passed.

For the first time in 50 years the United States Supreme Court ordered a federal court to conduct an entire rehearing of all the evidence. The court did and found all the new stuff was, again, “smoke and mirrors,” including the retracted confessions. And while building the case to claim that Sylvester Coles was the real murderer, the defense would not call Coles in for examination.

But then there is Officer MacPhail himself and what the defense all too conveniently forgets to bring up.

Officer MacPhail “testified” at Troy Davis’s murder trial. See, MacPhail, an Army Ranger and police officer was working a second job that night as a security guard. He chased Davis and Sylvester Coles, who were assaulting a homeless man over a beer.

MacPhail reported in that he had run past Sylvester Coles. MacPhail was shot from the front in the chest and face — not from behind where Coles was, but from the front where MacPhail himself located Troy Davis.

And then, if we really want to get into the weeds and talk about facts, consider this fact. Troy Davis immediately became the suspect and fled. Police roped off his house, obtained entry, and searched the home. In the laundry they found Troy Davis’s shorts from that night with evidence on the clothing directly tying him to Officer MacPhail’s murder — Officer MacPhail’s blood. (editorial note: it should be noted that Troy Davis’s shorts were not DNA tested. There were multiple people’s blood on his shorts.)

According to Darrell Collins, who is now recanting everything or claiming not to remember anything, Davis admitted to Collins that Davis had shot MacPhail in the chest and then went back to shoot MacPhail in the head at close range because MacPhail had seen his face — hence MacPhail’s blood on Davis’s shorts.
Oh, and at the time Collins gave his statement way back in 1989 it was not public knowledge that Officer MacPhail had been shot in the chest and then at close range in the face.

(Remember as well that there were 34 witnesses, not the 9 as claimed. The defense claims seven witnesses changed their testimony. That’s actually not true. Only two materially changed their testimony and Davis’s attorneys refused to present those two in federal court in 2010 to be examined in the evidentiary hearing even though they sat outside the courtroom door. Among the eyewitnesses were three airmen in the Air Force in a bus who had prime viewing for the murder and all identified Troy Davis as the wearer of the white Batman t-shirt, which is what the murderer wore.)

Of course, this justice system that is supposedly about to carry out a travesty of justice ordered Davis’s shorts excluded as evidence from the trial because the police did not get a search warrant. So anti-death penalty advocates can conveniently say there is no physical evidence by discounting the gun, the casings, and ignoring Officer MacPhail’s blood on Troy Davis’s clothes found in Troy Davis’s laundry all because the very same court system that found him guilty without that physical evidence followed the law and excluded it.

Troy Davis is a cop killer and I’m perfectly fine with his execution.

New Hanover GOP executive session dodges the fireworks, nixes roast of Brian Berger

By Verne Strickland / September 23, 2011

Most monthly meetings of the executive committee of the New Hanover County Republican Party are pretty tame and civil affairs.
 
But Thursday night's session in the conference room of the Jungle Rapids amusement complex on Oleander Drive had the potential for turning into “Rumble in the Jungle.”

Item number 16e on a crowded agenda was “Issue of Comm. Berger”, which promised an airing of the high-profile saga of embattled New Hanover Commissioner Brian Berger, who has been in the news of late due to a procession of domestic problems and scrapes with the law. 

The anticipated excitement, though, fizzled like a county fair fireworks display on a drizzly week-end as a motion was made to postpone indefinitely any further discussion of the Berger situation. The motion passed with near unanimous support.

County GOP Chairwoman Rhonda Amoroso seemed circumspect about how the outcome, which could have resulted in considerable linguistic blood-letting.

“We had a great turn-out tonight,” said Amoroso. “When you have something exciting on the agenda, people show up. At the end of the day, the folks have spoken -- or not spoken. I think the issue is going to be put to rest with Commissioner Berger right now."

VS: “I told Brian when I came up here tonight I wondered if the meeting would be a sequel to the Charlie Sheen Roast, with him as the roastee. But it didn’t happen.”

Amoroso: “Well this gave the folks on the executive committee the chance to voice their concerns. So the issue has now been postponed indefinitely.”

Chairwoman Amoroso closed the evening out on a positive note:

“I want to appeal to all of you to make unity the number one watchword as we get deeper into this election season. There are a number of different groups that comprise our executive committee. But make no mistake about our future – if we want to throw Barack Obama out, we will have to work together. I know you will take this to heart. So, all hands on deck!”


Following the meeting, I interviewed Commissioner Berger.

VS: Did the sudden cut-off of the discussion tonight relieve you, or did you want the discussion to proceed?
 
“I guess it would depend on the tenor of the discussion that would have taken place.”

VS: Forgive me, but I think there would have been plenty of opportunity for that to go off the rails.

“That’s possible. Actually I’m kind of shocked that there was no discussion, but that’s what the majority wanted.” 

VS: If you could focus public attention in the future on your political principles instead of personal problems, don’t you think that would be helpful to you?

“My main goal now is going to be rebuilding relationships with the other commissioners, and being proactive with that. That is a constructive stance that I want to take from here on out.”

Excerpt from WWAY-TV3 coverage of NCGOP executive committee meeting:

Media were not allowed inside the executive session, but leaders of the NHCGOP said less than a minute was spent talking about the commissioner. In that time, though, a motion was made.

"The issue has been postponed indefinitely," said NHCGOP chairwoman Rhonda Amoroso. "That is what came out of the meeting tonight."

The party has put the issues around Berger to rest. It will not take a position on the controversy that has surrounded the commissioner this year; from an alleged suicide attempt to domestic issues involving his ex-girlfriend Heather Blaylock.

As for Berger, he was in attendance. Berger said very little as he walked away from reporters, but he did stop after asked how he would move on.

"What's in the past is in the past," Berger said. "I'm very encouraged with all the support I have gotten."

Those inside Thursday night's closed-door meeting said they were asked by the NHCGOP board if anyone wanted to speak about Berger, but no one did. When asked for his reaction to that, Berger declined to comment and was ushered away.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss what happened in a closed meeting," Berger said.


Verne postscript:
About the only excitement beyond the main event was a goofy shoving match that took place as I maneuvered to interview Commissioner Brian Berger after the meeting. 
Some boorish buffoon who obviously wanted Berger’s attention more than I did corralled the Commissioner and physically pulled him away, apparently staging some kind of low-grade hostage situation.
As Verne the intrepid newsman gave chase, the man snarled, “I’m not through,” and pushed me away. I objected to the physical contact, which he then denied. 
I said, “If you touch me again, it’s going to cost you.”
“I’m scared to death,” he retorted. I don't think he was. But he seemed to think he was in the cage at an MMF amateur match, while we were actually at a political meeting. They can bear many similarities, I know.


He took a swing at me, but I ducked and threw the book at him – Robert’s Rules of Order – which had been bandied about to great excess by some attention-starved dolt who worked feverishly and with great success to bring the whole meeting to a screeching halt. 
Except for the antics of the aforementioned "dolt", none of this last stuff really happened. And it couldn’t because I  know that my days as a schoolboy pugilist are over. I am a 74-year-old 170-pound writer with Alzheimer’s and coronary artery disease, and not capable of putting a scare into nobody – except liberals, atheists, communists, jihadists, welfare leeches, and Mormons with more than six wives – all of whom I take great joy in skewering at every opportunity in my blog.
But dang, darlin’, I sure can write. It’s why God sent me to this earth. Anybody got a problem with that, I’m asking you outside.

New Hanover GOP executive session dodges the fireworks, nixes roast of Brian Berger

By Verne Strickland / September 23, 2011

Most monthly meetings of the executive committee of the New Hanover County Republican Party are pretty tame and civil affairs.
 
But Thursday night's session in the conference room of the Jungle Rapids amusement complex on Oleander Drive had the potential for turning into “Rumble in the Jungle.”

Item number 16e on a crowded agenda was “Issue of Comm. Berger”, which promised an airing of the high-profile saga of embattled New Hanover Commissioner Brian Berger, who has been in the news of late due to a procession of domestic problems and scrapes with the law. 

The anticipated excitement, though, fizzled like a county fair fireworks display on a drizzly week-end as a motion was made to postpone indefinitely any further discussion of the Berger situation. The motion passed with near unanimous support.

County GOP Chairwoman Rhonda Amoroso seemed circumspect about how the outcome, which could have resulted in considerable linguistic blood-letting.

“We had a great turn-out tonight,” said Amoroso. “When you have something exciting on the agenda, people show up. At the end of the day, the folks have spoken -- or not spoken. I think the issue is going to be put to rest with Commissioner Berger right now."

VS: “I told Brian when I came up here tonight I wondered if the meeting would be a sequel to the Charlie Sheen Roast, with him as the roastee. But it didn’t happen.”

Amoroso: “Well this gave the folks on the executive committee the chance to voice their concerns. So the issue has now been postponed indefinitely.”

Chairwoman Amoroso closed the evening out on a positive note:

“I want to appeal to all of you to make unity the number one watchword as we get deeper into this election season. There are a number of different groups that comprise our executive committee. But make no mistake about our future – if we want to throw Barack Obama out, we will have to work together. I know you will take this to heart. So, all hands on deck!”


Following the meeting, I interviewed Commissioner Berger.

VS: Did the sudden cut-off of the discussion tonight relieve you, or did you want the discussion to proceed?
 
“I guess it would depend on the tenor of the discussion that would have taken place.”

VS: Forgive me, but I think there would have been plenty of opportunity for that to go off the rails.

“That’s possible. Actually I’m kind of shocked that there was no discussion, but that’s what the majority wanted.” 

VS: If you could focus public attention in the future on your political principles instead of personal problems, don’t you think that would be helpful to you?

“My main goal now is going to be rebuilding relationships with the other commissioners, and being proactive with that. That is a constructive stance that I want to take from here on out.”

Excerpt from WWAY-TV3 coverage of NCGOP executive committee meeting:

Media were not allowed inside the executive session, but leaders of the NHCGOP said less than a minute was spent talking about the commissioner. In that time, though, a motion was made.

"The issue has been postponed indefinitely," said NHCGOP chairwoman Rhonda Amoroso. "That is what came out of the meeting tonight."

The party has put the issues around Berger to rest. It will not take a position on the controversy that has surrounded the commissioner this year; from an alleged suicide attempt to domestic issues involving his ex-girlfriend Heather Blaylock.

As for Berger, he was in attendance. Berger said very little as he walked away from reporters, but he did stop after asked how he would move on.

"What's in the past is in the past," Berger said. "I'm very encouraged with all the support I have gotten."

Those inside Thursday night's closed-door meeting said they were asked by the NHCGOP board if anyone wanted to speak about Berger, but no one did. When asked for his reaction to that, Berger declined to comment and was ushered away.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss what happened in a closed meeting," Berger said.


Verne postscript:
About the only excitement beyond the main event was a goofy shoving match that took place as I maneuvered to interview Commissioner Brian Berger after the meeting. 
Some boorish buffoon who obviously wanted Berger’s attention more than I did corralled the Commissioner and physically pulled him away, apparently staging some kind of low-grade hostage situation.
As Verne the intrepid newsman gave chase, the man snarled, “I’m not through,” and pushed me away. I objected to the physical contact, which he then denied. 
I said, “If you touch me again, it’s going to cost you.”
“I’m scared to death,” he retorted. I don't think he was. But he seemed to think he was in the cage at an MMF amateur match, while we were actually at a political meeting. They can bear many similarities, I know.


He took a swing at me, but I ducked and threw the book at him – Robert’s Rules of Order – which had been bandied about to great excess by some attention-starved dolt who worked feverishly and with great success to bring the whole meeting to a screeching halt. 
Except for the antics of the aforementioned "dolt", none of this last stuff really happened. And it couldn’t because I  know that my days as a schoolboy pugilist are over. I am a 74-year-old 170-pound writer with Alzheimer’s and coronary artery disease, and not capable of putting a scare into nobody – except liberals, atheists, communists, jihadists, welfare leeches, and Mormons with more than six wives – all of whom I take great joy in skewering at every opportunity in my blog.
But dang, darlin’, I sure can write. It’s why God sent me to this earth. Anybody got a problem with that, I’m asking you outside.





Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Supreme Court refuses to stop Davis execution; murdered policeman had no appeal or clemency.

Image: Police detain a man Wednesday as demonstrators call for Georgia officials to halt the scheduled execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
Erik S. Lesser  /  AFP - Getty Images
 
Police detain a man Wednesday as demonstrators call for Georgia officials to halt the scheduled execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia.
NBC News and news services


The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday rejected an 11th hour request to block the execution of convicted killer Troy Davis, who convinced thousands but not the justice system to support his claims of innocence in the murder of an off-duty police officer. 

The decision was delivered with no comment from the court more than three hours after the 7 p.m. ET scheduled execution.

State officials had waited for a response from the Supreme Court, which had no deadline for a decision. The execution was expected to go forward about 30 minutes after the Supreme Court decision was revealed.

"We are in a delay, waiting for a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court," Peggy Chapman of the Georgia Department of Corrections told NBC News earlier. "There has not been a reprieve issued."

The state was under no obligation to wait but did so, NBC News reported.

Hundreds of Davis supporters had gathered outside the Jackson prison and lined a nearby highway. Crowds cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome" as news of the lethal-injection delay spread. Police in full riot gear were on hand to deal with any possible disturbance if the execution goes ahead.

But as the minutes, then hours, passed, the crowd dwindled to about 50.

The last-ditch effort with the U.S. Supreme Court came just 45 minutes before the execution was scheduled and after state officials refused to grant Davis a reprieve in the face of calls for clemency from former President Jimmy Carter, Pope Benedict XVI and others.

Late Wednesday afternoon, Georgia's Supreme Court had rejected a last appeal by Davis’ lawyers. Earlier, a Butts County Superior Court judge also declined to stop the execution.

Davis was convicted in the 1989 slaying of off-duty Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail.

In their U.S. Supreme Court filing, Davis' attorneys said "substantial constitutional errors" were made when the lower courts denied his claims that "newly available evidence reveals that false, misleading and materially inaccurate information was presented at his capital trial in 1989, rendering the convictions and death sentence fundamentally unreliable," NBC News reported.

The lawyers said they've been struggling to get these claims heard in the lower courts "after having a grueling clemency process."

There was no guarantee justices would act in time to stop the execution, but they likely knew the filing was coming, NBC News said.

Image: Mark MacPhail
Mark MacPhail 
 
Davis and his supporters have maintained his innocence. Prosecutors have stood by the case. 
 
Davis' supporters held vigils outside Georgia's death row and as far away as London and Paris. They also tried increasingly frenzied measures, urging prison workers to stay home and even posting a judge's phone number online, hoping people will press him to put a stop to the lethal injection.

"We're trying everything we can do, everything under the law," said Chester Dunham, a civil rights activist and talk show host protesting in Savannah, where MacPhail, 27, was killed.

Outside the Jackson prison that houses Georgia's death row, about 100 people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, gathered Wednesday afternoon for a prayer rally. As they shouted, "Free Troy Davis!" a man in a red SUV drove by and shouted, "Kill him! Kill him!"

Several dozen people gathered outside the White House to protest the execution. They held signs condemning it as a "lynching" and chanted "Too much doubt" and "What do we want? Justice!"


Davis' execution has been stopped three times since 2007, but on Wednesday the 42-year-old appeared to be out of legal options.


 
 

Black murderer faces death by lethal injection 7 pm ET tonight; killed white officer.

By Verne Strickland / September 21, 2011

BLACK ACTIVISTS SAY BLACK LIFE HAS NO VALUE IN THE U.S. THE FAMILY OF THE MURDERED WHITE OFFICER CAN SEE OTHER SIDE OF THAT COIN.

Troy Davis should die today. 7 pm sharp ET.

I say "should die" because the convicted murderer is only now facing justice for a heartless crime he committed on Saturday, August 19, 1989 -- twenty-two years ago. 

If a white cop (not an officer or policeman) shoots a black man, our liberal race-baiting media work frantically to start World War III. In this case, the tables were turned, as Troy Davis a black man, murdered Officer Mark MacPhail, Jr., in cold blood. MacPhail's young family -- including his wife and their two infant children. MacPhail was white.

Since the media has had almost two decades to build up a head of steam over the fate that awaited the killer, I decided to make an effort to breathe some humanity into the victim of the shooting. If you think that the murderer deserves a break, read the line below about how Officer MacPhail was killed.

This notice was published on a national site named the Officer Down Memorial Page:


Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, Sr. | Savannah Police Department, Georgia Savannah Police Department, Georgia

Officer

Mark Allen MacPhail, Sr.

Savannah Police Department, Georgia

End of Watch: Saturday, August 19, 1989
Biographical Info
Age: 27
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available
Military veteran

Incident Details

Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: August 19, 1989
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Sentenced to death

Officer Mark MacPhail was shot and killed while working an off duty security job at a bus station. He was shot while attempting to break up a fight in the parking lot of a nearby fast food restaurant.


The man shot him underneath his vest and then again in the head as he fell.


The subject was sentenced to death. On March 28, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the man's appeal.


Officer MacPhail was a U.S. Army veteran and had served with the Savannah Police Department for three years. He was survived by his wife, 1-year-old daughter, infant son, mother, and siblings.

http://www.odmp.org/officer/8410-officer-mark-allen-macphail-sr 



Troy Davis' Execution Eve Sees Final Efforts To Save His Life 

JACKSON, GA September 21, 2011 -- While the Davis family prepared for the end of what has been a decades-long fight to prove Davis' innocence, another family rejoiced.

"That's what we wanted, and that's what we got," Anneliese MacPhail, the victim's mother, told the Associated Press. "We wanted to get it over with, and for him to get his punishment."

"Justice was finally served for my father," said Mark MacPhail Jr., the son of the dead officer, Mark MacPhail.

But for Troy Davis' family and his supporters, the looming finality of the board's decision to carry out his execution, sent a very different message.

"It is bigger than Troy. It really reflects the attitude of a country and a state that still sees black life as meaningless," said Edward DuBose. "That is the only conclusion that you could come away with from the decision made by the parole board."

In the decades since his conviction, his case has gained the support of former President Jimmy Carter, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, one-time FBI Director William Sessions, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Benedict XVI.

Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court turned down what likely was Davis' last set of appeals. In 2009, Davis, by filing an original writ of habeas corpus to the Supreme Court, convinced the justices to order a federal court in Georgia to review new evidence that Davis said would establish his innocence. By then, according to reports, several of the witnesses had recanted their earlier testimony that Davis had gunned down officer MacPhail in a Burger King parking lot that night 20 years earlier.

The new hearing in June of 2010 gave Davis a chance to present his new evidence in his defense. He chose not to take the stand or call on witnesses who had given statements on his behalf. The trial judge concluded that Davis' evidence was "largely smoke and mirrors," according to a New York Times article from earlier this year. The Supreme Court refused to review Moore's ruling.

"I wanted to believe that we had abandoned the Old South, but the decision by the parole board not only reflects that we have not abandoned the Old South, but we have not even left the days of Jim Crow," said DuBose, who at 53 said he can recall the last days of cradle-to-grave segregation in Georgia.

"I think it's a message that they said during Jim Crow: Stay in your place. It is a message to every African American, whether you are guilty or innocent, that there is a place for you and you need to stay in it."

Monday, September 19, 2011

Hotline for undocumented immigrants launched in Chicago. Answers deportation questions.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 19, 2011

First Posted: 9/19/11 02:02 PM ET Updated: 9/19/11 02:18 PM ET

Immigranthotline 
Flickr photo by starttheday.
 
The legal aid hotline, (855) 435-7693 or (855) HELP-MY-F(amily), was started by immigrant advocates responding to the rise in Chicago immigrant deportations in the last five years, resulting in 48,330 deportations that left an estimated 80,550 children without a parent, NBC Chicago reports.

The hotline, which just finished a monthlong trial period, is modeled after similar ones for homelessness and domestic violence, where callers are counseled and referred to legal help or advocacy agencies.

Created by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), the Deportation Family Support Hotline is run by volunteers. During the monthlong trial, 67 volunteers responded to 173 calls from across the country seeking advice about deportation law, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"We've had calls from New York, New Jersey, California mostly, North Carolina," Dagmara Lopez, who coordinates the phone network, told the Tribune. "One morning, we got about 50 calls within an hour."

Volunteers respond to calls with a checklist of questions that determine whether the caller will be referred to an attorney, a social service agency or the Mexican Consulate of Chicago, the Tribune reports. Calls during the trial period included a Chicago man who asked if he was ineligible for deportation as the sole caretaker of two children born in the U.S., and a Bolingbrook woman hoping to find out if her boyfriend who had been arrested two weeks earlier had been deported.

The hotline's 67 trained bilingual volunteers offer help in English, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese, New American Media reports. The initiative includes partnerships with 17 private law firms, 35 social service agencies and the National Immigrant Justice Center.

During its trial period, the hotline also proved to be helpful in illuminating scams directed at immigrants with deportation cases currently under review, answering questions about promises of reprieves from attorneys and notary publics that prey upon many immigrants' unfamiliarity with the law.

"Unfortunately, there's a lot of people out there who want to take advantage of immigrants," said Stephen Smith, director of organizing at ICIRR, according to the Tribune.

The hotline officially launched Monday afternoon at Jane Addams Hull House.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/19/illegal-immigrant-hotline_n_969994.html

, , 24 Hour Hotline , Hull House , Deportation , Deportation Hotline , Deportation Law , Hotline , Icirr , Illinois Coalition For Immigrant And Refugee Rights , Immigrant Hotline , Immigrants , Mexican Consulate , Chicago News


Dr. John M. Whitley Announces Candidacy for North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District


Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 19, 2011
      
                                                                                                                                                                       
WHITLEY ONLY ANNOUNCED CANDIDATE RAISED IN 8th WHO LIVES IN DISTRICT


Kannapolis, NC:


Phone: 704-490-8321
 Email: info@johnwhitleyforcongress.com

  Dr.  John M. Whitley, a Conservative Republican and a neurosurgeon who grew up in Cabarrus County and lives in Fairmont, NC, announced today that he will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress in the 8th District.
               
    Whitley, whose family includes fourth generation residents of Cabarrus County, graduated from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, NC and obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  He received his medical degree from Wake Forest University Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC.  In addition to his work as a neurosurgeon, Whitley is also a farmer who owns and operates All Creatures Animal Sanctuary which rescues animals others don’t want or can no longer care for including buffalo, horses, goats, cows, chickens, dogs, and cats. Whitley is a devout Methodist and a life-long member of his home church, Trinity United Methodist, across the street from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis.  Most importantly, Whitley is a father and grandfather.
    
     “As your next congressman, my top priority will be to promote economic growth and private sector job creation throughout the district by reducing the tax burden on small businesses and freeing them from oppressive and unnecessary regulations,” Whitley said. “Under Larry Kissell’s watch unemployment in the 8th District has skyrocketed, and the only thing Obama and Kissell’s stimulus package has stimulated is our national debt.  It’s time to make tough decisions and set some priorities instead of raising the debt limit and kicking the can down the road. We must cut spending. We cannot resort to increasing any taxes on individuals or business.  We must immediately remove the federal government from the lives and business of all our citizens as much as possible.”
               
    As a physician who is very concerned about the future of health care in America, Whitley looks forward to leading the efforts in Congress to repeal and defund Obama Care. “Obamacare will decrease the quality of medical care, it will raise the cost of health care for everyone, and it has already eliminated thousands of jobs across America,” Whitley said.  “If not repealed or defunded, Obamacare will put massive fiscal burdens on the states, not to mention all business owners in this country.”
    
    “The 8th District is my home,” Whitley concluded. “It’s where my family is from, it’s where I grew up and it’s where I live.  The people of this district are Conservatives at heart, and they deserve a Congressman who knows the district and will stand up for their beliefs and values.  This is going to be one of the most competitive Congressional races in the Country.  It’s going to take at least $500,000 just for the primary. I am confident we will have the ample resources necessary to win this race and to bring Conservative representation back to the 8th District.”
    
    The 8th congressional district includes parts of Cabarrus, Union, Rowan, Davidson, Mecklenburg Randolph and Robeson Counties and all of Stanly, Montgomery, Anson, Scotland and Richmond Counties. The district is currently represented by Democrat Larry Kissell, whom Heritage Action for America recently ranked as having a more liberal voting record than Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Barbara Lee, and Dennis Kucinich.  The Hill (“Capitol Hill’s newspaper”) recently called Kissell the most likely Democrat to be defeated in 2012, and Roll Call recently rated the seat as “likely Republican.” Whitley is the only announced Republican candidate who was raised in the district, whose family owns and operates a business in the district, and who actually lives in the district.
###

Dr. John M. Whitley                                        
A Biographical Sketch


Early Years
·         Grew up in Cabarrus County in the town of Kannapolis, NC
·         One of four children, his mother, Johnette, was a  nurse, and his father, William, owned and operated Whitley’s Funeral Home (a family business that has served the people of Cabarrus and Rowan Counties for  98 years)
·         Worked at family business from age 14 through his college years work after school, on weekends, and during the summer
·         Eagle Scout
·         Graduated from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, NC, class of 1975; graduated 3rd out of 323 in his graduating class

Higher Education and Medical Practice
·         Bachelor’s degree—University of North Carolina Charlotte
·         Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Neuroscience and Anatomy—Wake Forest University
·         MD degree—Wake Forest University School of Medicine
·         Specialty Degree in Neurosurgery  —Medical College of Georgia
·         MBA—University of Tennessee, Knoxville
·         Physician for over 20 years and Neurosurgeon for 15 years

Personal
·         Married to the late Elizabeth Whitley
·         One daughter, Alyson, and one son, Ashton
·         Two Grandchildren
·         Devout Methodist and a life-long member of his home church, Trinity United Methodist, across the street from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis
·         Active in numerous medical and charitable organizations

Farmer and Animal Lover
·         Owns and operates a working farm in the town of Fairmont, NC in Robeson County in the 8th Congressional District
·         Founded All Creatures Animal Sanctuary, LLC which rescues animals others don’t want or can no longer care for including buffalo, horses, goats, cows, chickens, dogs and cats


                                                                                        
September 19, 2011
Contact:
Andy Yates
(704) 467-0795                                                                                                
andy@capitolstrategiesconsulting.com                                                                                                              









This message was sent to andy@capitolstrategiesconsulting.com from:
Whitley for Congress | P.O. Box 314 | Kannapolis, NC 28082
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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Tension high between White House and Europe as IMF and World Bank meet in Washington





Verne Strickland Blogmaster / September 18, 2011

Tensions between the Obama administration and Europe’s leaders will be high this week when Washington hosts the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank.

 The debt crisis in Europe has spread to U.S. shores, causing gyrations to financial markets also unnerved by the near-failure of the administration and Congress to raise the debt ceiling.

European leaders have struggled to get their hands around a debt crisis that started in Greece and has moved to European giants Italy and Spain. Worries about whether those countries can pay back their debts, and how this might affect banks on both sides of the Atlantic has contributed to a global economic slowdown.

It is a slowdown that threatens a second term for President Obama, whose approval ratings have plummeted on his handling of the economy.

Frustration with Europe was highlighted Friday by a lecture Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner gave to that continent’s financial ministers. Geithner urged a broad, united effort to fight the debt crisis, but his counterparts appeared to feel they were being strong-armed by a representative of a country that is in no position to throw stones when it comes to debt problems.

“I found it peculiar that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the euro zone that they tell us what we should do and when we make a suggestion ... that they say ‘no’ straight away,” said Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter, according to media reports.

“We can always discuss with our American colleagues. I'd like to hear how the United States will reduce its deficits ... and its debts,” Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders added pointedly.

The Treasury Department paints a more equitable picture, saying Geithner "contributed thoughts and ideas on how European governments could develop instruments to ensure adequate firepower to address their challenges. Secretary Geithner encouraged his European counterparts to act decisively and to speak with one voice."

He did not advocate or oppose any particular strategy, according to Treasury.

The back and forth set a less than spectacular beginning for this week’s meetings in Washington, which will coincide with a crucial Federal Reserve meeting on what to do with the U.S. economy.

The Federal Reserve's policy-making committee convenes Tuesday and Wednesday. It originally was to meet for only a day to set the course for the nation’s monetary policy, but was increased to two days given the perilous economic conditions, something that has heightened expectation.

A popular candidate for Fed stimulus would be “Operation Twist,” which is when the Fed reorients the balance of its portfolio by overloading on longer term securities in an attempt to lower long-term interest rates.

Both in America and abroad, the fundamental point of tension is the same – the search for a balance between prudent fiscal management and the need for governments to do something to get their economies moving again.

While the standoff between Republicans and Democrats is well-known within the Beltway, the fight over finance has been reaching a head in Europe as well. After the European Central Bank announced last week it would buy Italian and Spanish bonds to help the beleaguered nations, its top German official quit in protest.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, alongside Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, has sought to tiptoe down the middle of the debate. Both have recently warned against extreme, immediate cuts, which could endanger an already fragile economic recovery. Rather, they have called on governments to boost the economy now, but lock in plans to rein in spending over the next several years.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/182189-tensions-high-between-white-house-europe-ahead-of-imf-world-bank-meetings