WOLDCNews - WOL DC's Home for the Truth » Bernie McCain

Ala. Judges Impose Death, Though Juries Vote For Life In Prison

Bernie McCain — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:11:33 +0000

Since 1976, Alabama state judges have overturned 107 jury decisions in capital cases, and in 92 percent of those cases, jury recommendations of life imprisonment were rejected in favor of death sentences, according to a new report by the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit law firm based in Montgomery, Ala.

Last November, jurors in Lee County, Alabama, found an African-American Iraq War veteran, Courtney Lockhart, guilty of the 2008 murder of Lauren Burk, a 18-year-old college student. Jurors unanimously decided on a life sentence, but the presiding judge overruled the sentence on March 3, 2011, sentencing Lockhart to death by lethal injection.

Numerous cases like the Lockhart’s have been referenced in the Equal Justice Initiative’s report.

“No capital sentencing procedure in the United States has come under more criticism as unreliable, unpredictable and arbitrary than the unique Alabama practice of permitting elected trial judges to override jury verdicts of life and impose death sentences,” it states.

Sarah Palin: “I Believe I Can Win The 2012 Election”

Bernie McCain — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:07:34 +0000

With the Republican presidential race making way, Sarah Palin told Newsweek that she has no doubt in her ability to win the Republican nomination, and succinctly the oval office.

The former Governor of Alaska and current celebrity said the only thing that will prevent her from running is her family.

“If it came down to the family just saying, ‘Please, Mom, don’t do this,’ then that would be the deal-killer for me, because your family’s gotta be in it with you,” Palin said.

As for her prospective platform Palin proclaimed, “The people of America are desperate for positive change, and deserving of positive change, to get us off of this wrong track.”

“I’m not so egotistical as to believe that it has to be me, or it can only be me, to turn things around,” she said. “But I do believe that I can win.”

Newsweek Reports:

Whatever decision Palin makes will alter the near-ideal circumstance she enjoys now. From the remove of her cyber-perches on Twitter and Facebook, and the occasional appearance on Fox News (where she is a paid contributor), Palin is able to do plenty of politicking, unfettered by the encumbrances of a declared candidacy. She has no campaign staff directing her course (a famous source of unease during her vice-presidential run) and no press secretary urging her to accommodate what she calls the “lamestream media.” She and Todd are free to keep any schedule they wish. “We don’t advertise where we’re going,” she said that evening, in what might be the understatement of the political season.

People With Darker Skin At Greater Risk Of Dying From Skin Cancer

Bernie McCain — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:14:55 +0000

A dermatologist is warning Black people to cover-up in the sun after she noticed that many of her darker-skinned patients were unaware of skin cancer risks.

Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd specializes in the cosmetic concerns of multi-hued skin tones. She says that there is a common mis-perception that darker-skinned African-Americans don’t need SPF protection.

Within the U.S., minorities are less likely to be checked, diagnosed and treated for skin cancer in its early detection stages. Because of this, those with darker complexions have a greater risk of dying from skin cancer than their light-skinned counterparts. I cannot stress this enough. Skin cancer is not just a white person’s disease.

NewsOne, TheGrio In Unprecedented News Partnership

Bernie McCain — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:18:23 +0000

InteractiveOne — the parent company of NewsOne and a division of Radio One — and NBC News today announced an unprecedented Black news partnership between NBC’s website, The Grio.com, and NewsOne.

As detailed in a piece in today’s New York Times, the two sites will collaborate editorially and in the area of advertising sales, creating the largest Black news organization on the Web.

“Now, for the first time, you have a news-gathering and producing organization solely dedicated to African-Americans at scale, and that really has not happened for decades,” said Tom Newman, the president of Interactive One, a digital subsidiary of Radio One.

According to comScore, from May 2010 to May 2011, the total audience for TheGrio grew 300 percent, to 1.3 million viewers from 319,000. NewsOne also had significant growth in the same period, increasing its viewership to 881,000 from 356,000.

“They are basically offering a more robust sales proposition, bigger audiences and the opportunity to get ads in front of more eyeballs,” said Steve Capus, the president of NBC News. “We instantly grew the business as a result of this partnership.”

Researchers Say Diversity Is Curing Urban Crime

Bernie McCain — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:03:57 +0000

Crime rates in American cites are falling and according to new research diversity may be the reason.

Researchers at the University of Toronto believe the growing trend of racial diversity in American cities is contributing to the downward trend.

From TheGrio:

“The association between crime and community characteristics — like the proportion of the population that is black, Hispanic, poor, or foreign-born — diminished considerably over time,” notes the study. “The strength of the relationship between the share of black residents and property crime decreased by half between 1990 and 2008, while the association between the share of Hispanic residents and violent crime all but disappeared

Tearful Casey Anthony Jurors Ask “Where Was The Evidence?”

Bernie McCain — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:24:24 +0000

Tearful jurors from the Casey Anthony trial spoke out to reporters, and claimed while they wanted to convict the acquitted mother, there was not enough evidence to do so.

“It doesn’t feel good. It was a horrible decision to have to make,” said Jennifer Ford who identified herself as Juror No. 3, according to ABC News.

“We were sick to our stomach to get that verdict. We were crying, and not just the women,” she said regarding all 12 jurors.

Juror No. 2, who did not want to be identified by name said in an interview with the New York Times that “I just swear to God … I wish we had more evidence to put her away. I truly do … But it wasn’t there.”

CNN Reports:

Ford told ABC that prosecutors left key questions unanswered.

“If you’re going to charge someone with murder, don’t you have to know how they killed someone or why they might have killed someone, or have something where, when, why, how? Those are important questions. They were not answered,” she said in the ABC interview.

An alternate juror, who was present for the trial and sequestered along with the serving jurors, said he would have voted for acquittal, too.

Casey Anthony Wants More Children When Released

Bernie McCain — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:32:55 +0000

Casey Anthony’s jailhouse letters are surfacing a day after the 25-year-old was found not guilty of murdering her daughter Caylee.

In the letters, Anthony describes life behind bars, what she misses and wanting more children when she’s finally released.

“It was like having Cays all over again,” she wrote, referring to her dead daughter, Caylee. “I’ve thought about adopting, which even sounds weird to me saying it, but there are so many children that deserve to be loved.”

Obama’s Jewish Support Shows No Wavering Signs

Bernie McCain — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:10:30 +0000

Despite President Obama’s calls for Israel and Palestine to come together and talk about a 1967-esque land swap, a Gallup poll reveals no signs of wavering support from the Jewish community.

The poll reveals that 60 percent of Jewish voters approve of the president’s job performance, while 85 percent of Jewish Democrats approved.

Such numbers refute many predictions that Jewish supporters would abandon Obama because of comments made at a May 19 speech instructing Palestinians and Israelis to use 1967 boundaries as the starting point for peace talks.

The NY Daily News Reports:

Former New York mayor Ed Koch and the Republican presidential candidates took turns accusing Obama of abandoning a trusted ally.

Obama insisted his support of Israel was unwavering and that what he was calling for was essentially the same thing that every President since the first President Bush have backed – just not publicly.

Inmate Who Killed Cop Will Be Released From Prison

Bernie McCain — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:43:21 +0000

MONTICELLO, Miss. — Cory Maye, a prisoner who was sentenced to death then life in prison for killing a police officer that he believed was a home invader, will be released from prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

The Huffington Post reports:

Shortly after midnight on December 26, 2001, Maye, then 21, was drifting off to sleep in his Prentiss duplex as the television blared in the background. Hours earlier, he had put his 18-month-old-daughter to sleep. He was soon awoken by the sounds of armed men attempting to break into his home. In the confusion, he fired three bullets from the handgun he kept in his nightstand.

As he’d later testify in court, Maye realized within seconds that he’d just shot a cop. A team of police officers from the area had received a tip from an informant — later revealed to be a racist drug addict — that there was a drug dealer living in the small yellow duplex on Mary Street.

In 2010, the Mississippi State Supreme Court upheld the order for the new trial, but on the grounds that Maye should have been permitted to offer the defense that he was defending his daughter on the night of the raid.

Read The whole Story At The Huffington Post

Wrongfully Convicted Man Hopes Settlement Will Pay For Degree

Is It Ok For Black People To Laugh At Racist Jokes?

Bernie McCain — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 13:39:56 +0000

This whole post depends on a link so I’m going to post the link naked.

If it does not appear in the trademark blue of a link that you can click your cursor on as transport, copy the link and paste it in your browser.

You MUST see this Youtube.

Here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vAfXNzXueE&NR=1

Now, answer the question.

Did you laugh?

Did you laugh like a fool?

Were you waiting for the N-Word?

Were you pleasantly surprised when one didn’t arrive?

My favorite “Black” joke is

Q: What’s the new dictionary definition for “confusion”?

A: Father’s Day in Harlem.

But back to the Youtube: did the anti-Semitic joke almost kill you? Or was it that tomahawk chop?

Was this not the most blatantly brilliant display of pale-face racism ever demonstrated in one place?

And if you laughed—and I laughed like a maniac—that just proves one thing…you’re racist!

You secretly believe in some of those stereotypes.

You probably even agree with some.

And then you become, like me, a hypocrite.

You continually denounce something that you actually practice.

People mistakenly think that because you’re Black you’re naturally going to be sympathetic to anybody that’s oppressed.

Un-uh.

More likely, you’re going to be so self-obsessed that you don’t even notice anybody else getting the business, or you’re actually going to be happy to see somebody else getting the business. If only as a reminder that you are, after all, a part of the human family of sufferers.

And of course, as some old Arab once said, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” which means, don’t be surprised to see the Nation of Islam locking arms with the KKK to oppose gay marriage.

But what if you’re, you know, enlightened…like I am!

How do you reconcile hating racism with actually being a racist?

You don’t, I guess.

But if comedy=tragedy+time then at some point, shouldn’t all this BS become funny?

RELATED:

Do Black People Hold Each Other Back?

Why Do White Politicians Disrespect Black Women?