Houston Chronicle: Marcus Davis is resolute. As many times as vandals paint over a mural of President Barack Obama, he will repair the damage over and over again.
“There is an endless supply of paint,” said Davis, 41, who opened The Breakfast Klub in 2001. “This mural is symbolic of the presidency of Barack Obama. He wakes up every day to obstacles and challenges far greater than a doggone mural being defaced. If he has the level of courage and type of character that causes him to continue to go on, I’ll be damned if I stop.”
President Barack Obama walks across the tarmac to greet people after arriving at North Carolina Air National Guard Base in Charlotte, N.C., March 7, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
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Thursday
11:00: Michelle Obama attends the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards ceremony hosted by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
3:30: PBO hosts President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana for a meeting.
5:35: PBO and Michelle Obama have dinner with winners of a campaign contest.
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PBS: The web is abuzz today about video of a speech Barack Obama gave in 1990 at Harvard Law School defending the actions of Professor Derrick Bell ….
….. the website BuzzFeed published a clip of the speech …. it claimed the clip was “not previously available online” ….. But there’s nothing new about the clip or Obama’s role in the controversy at Harvard Law School …. it’s been online at our site and on YouTube since 2008…..
In light of today’s controversy, and Breitbart.com editors’ claims that the footage had been edited, we pulled the full archived tape. In includes not just Obama’s speech, but other footage from the rally and portions of Derrick Bell’s speech….
While BuzzFeed did not publish all of the available footage of the event they did post the entirety of what was available of Obama’s speech….. (See the link to watch the video)
Don’t miss Liberal Librarian’s latest post at The People’s View:
‘We are at war with Eastasia. We have always been at war with Eastasia.’
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Greg Sargent: A new national poll of Latino registered voters by Univision News/ABC/Latino Decisions has some very interesting findings that cast doubt on GOP chances of making inroads among them:
* 61% of Latinos trust Obama and Dems to make the right decisions to improve the economy, versus only 24% who pick Republicans.
* 57% of Latinos say Obama’s health reform law should be left to stand, versus 28% who support repeal.
* Romney’s favorable ratings among Latinos are upside down, at 28-41, though many are undecided.
* 72% of Latinos say that the GOP either doesn’t care about reaching out to them (45%) or is outright hostile to them (27%)…..
….. the fact that nearly three-fourths of Latinos think the GOP either doesn’t care about or is outright hostile towards them is another sign that the primary may have badly damaged any GOP hopes of making real inroads with them.
WCNC: North Carolina’s favorite son is hoping his voice will help keep President Barack Obama in the White House for another four years.
On Friday in Ballantyne, musician James Taylor appeared at a fundraiser for the Democratic National Convention with First Lady Michelle Obama…..
…. For the next few months he is on tour and on a mission to keep Barack Obama in the White House.
On Taylor’s hat, you’ll find a small pin reading “Obama 2012.” “It’s a 2012, pump up the spirit pin,” Taylor said. “I do wear it with pride. I am so, I really love this President. I love what it says about America that we were able to elect this man… and I think of him as almost uniquely honest in this political world.”
This morning, six retired corrections officials, including Dr. Allen Ault, retired Director of the Georgia Department of Corrections and former Warden of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison where he oversaw executions for the state, have sent the following letter to Georgia Corrections Officials and Governor Nathan Deal asking them to urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider the decision they made on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 to deny Troy Davis Clemency despite concerns about his guilt.
Statement:
We write to you as former wardens and corrections officials who have had direct involvement in executions. Like few others in this country, we understand that you have a job to do in carrying out the lawful orders of the judiciary. We also understand, from our own personal experiences, the awful lifelong repercussions that come from participating in the execution of prisoners. While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end. It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner.
We write to you today with the overwhelming concern that an innocent person could be executed in Georgia tonight. We know the legal process has exhausted itself in the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and yet, doubt about his guilt remains. This very fact will have an irreversible and damaging impact on your staff. Many people of significant standing share these concerns, including, notably, William Sessions, Director of the FBI under President Ronald Reagan.
Living with the nightmares is something that we know from experience. No one has the right to ask a public servant to take on a lifelong sentence of nagging doubt, and for some of us, shame and guilt. Should our justice system be causing so much harm to so many people when there is an alternative?
We urge you to ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to reconsider their decision. Should that fail, we urge you to unburden yourselves and your staff from the pain of participating in such a questionable execution to the extent possible by allowing any personnel so inclined to opt-out of activities related to the execution of Troy Anthony Davis. Further, we urge you to provide appropriate counseling to personnel who do choose to perform their job functions related to the execution. If we may be of assistance to you moving forward, please do not hesitate to call upon any of us.
Respectfully and collegially,
Allen Ault – Retired Warden, Georgia Diagnostic & Classifications Prison
Terry Collins – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Ron McAndrew – Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Dennis O’Neill – Retired Warden, Florida State Prison
Reginald Wilkinson – Retired Director, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Jeanne Woodford – Retired Warden, San Quentin State Prison
Steve Benen: Michael Moore had an item this afternoon about the looming Troy Davis execution:
“President Obama: Can’t you do like Kennedy & send in federal troops to stop this injustice in Georgia? The buck stops with u.”
… I can appreciate why it might seem as if the buck always stops with a president, but in the Davis case, it’s not Obama’s call.
When presidents during the civil rights era ordered federal troops into the South, they were enforcing federal law. Eisenhower and JFK clearly had the authority to act …. Obama doesn’t have the authority to “send in federal troops” to stop the execution.
….. presidential clemency isn’t an option here ….. he has no legal authority to get involved, officially, with a state execution. When the death penalty is imposed for a state crime like murder, it is a state issue.
LA Times: The U.S. Supreme Court stopped Texas officials Thursday evening from executing a Houston murderer who was sentenced to die after jurors were told he posed a greater danger to public safety because he was black.
The justices acted on an emergency appeal after Texas Gov. Rick Perry and state judges refused to intervene.
… Duane Edward Buck, a 48-year-old auto mechanic, was sentenced to die for the 1995 shootings of an ex-girlfriend and another man. His attorneys did not dispute his guilt but argued that prosecutors should not have used his race to argue for a death sentence.
… Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst did not respond to pleas urging them to grant Buck a 30-day reprieve. Perry, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, was campaigning in Iowa on Thursday, leaving Dewhurst to preside over the execution….
…. Last week, Perry said during a GOP presidential debate that he “never struggled” over the death penalty because “the state of Texas has a very thoughtful, very clear process in place.” During Perry’s 11 years in office, the state has carried out 235 executions.
The sentencing dispute arose because of an unusual provision in Texas’ death penalty law. Jurors were required to weigh whether a convicted murderer would pose a future danger if he were sentenced to life in prison rather than death. In a series of cases, Dr. Walter Quijano, a psychologist, testified that blacks posed a greater risk of “future dangerousness” than whites…..
