truesee's Blog

Editor's note: Roland S. Martin is a syndicated columnist and author of "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House." He is a commentator for TV One cable network and host/managing editor of its Sunday morning news show, "Washington Watch With Roland Martin."

(CNN) -- When the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that a record number of people were living in poverty, Republicans were quick to attach the figures to President Barack Obama, desperately trying to lay them at his feet.

But anyone with common sense knows that someone doesn't just fall into poverty overnight. The deplorable economic conditions that led to today's poverty numbers began in 2007. Republicans often ignore such facts.

Yet when you start digging deeper into the Census Bureau report, what stands out is that of the 10 poorest states in the country, most are the reddest in the nation -- solidly GOP states.

The most impoverished state is Mississippi, and it's followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina.

Obama won North Carolina by 14,000 votes in 2008, and although West Virginia is considered a Democratic state, in presidential elections it usually goes for the Republican candidate. There is no doubt that in 2012, the GOP expects to lock up all 10 states in the presidential campaign.

Thus it would make sense that the GOP candidates would at least spend some time in the presidential debates debating the issue of poverty in these red states, and explaining what they plan to do about it.

Yeah, right.

At the June 13 CNN debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, the word "poor" was never uttered, and the only time poverty came up was when former Sen. Rick Santorum discussed his work for welfare reform.

At the September 17 debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, Rep. Ron Paul brought up the poor, and that was in the discussion about getting rid of the minimum wage (he thinks it will lead to more jobs) and how he opposes welfare.

During the CNN/Tea Party debate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney managed to speak the word "poor," but that was only when it came to America being an "energy-poor" country.

Republicans will quickly say that their economic agenda is the best way to get people back to work and a job is the best way to get people out of poverty. But it's also true that the poverty issue extends beyond employment -- to education and health care.

Voters in these traditional red states should be demanding that the GOP candidates banking on their votes say and do more than they are doing. Scarcely mentioning the poor or poverty is insufficient.

Maybe part of the problem is the poor don't have lobbyists. There aren't any Super Pacs being formed to raise millions of dollars to demand accountability on the issue. Even right-wing Christian leaders such as Ralph Reed and his Faith and Freedom Coalition are quick to condemn Obama's plan to tax the rich but say nothing about the poorest states in the country, or even demand a poverty plan from the GOP candidates.

If I were a poor person in a red state, my primary issue would be which candidate, including Obama, speaks to my needs. If a candidate spends more time defending tax cuts for the wealthy and saying nothing about the poor, including the growing number of children on the poverty rolls, that candidate would be hard pressed to get my vote.

Mom kept son locked inside, hid him in crawl space, during 2 year custody fight; pleads guilty

Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, September 21st 2011, 12:59 PM

Police hunting for couple suspected of abducting their eight children from foster care facility

Edgar Sandoval and Joe Kemp
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Originally Published:Tuesday, September 20th 2011, 9:51 PM
Updated: Wednesday, September 21st 2011, 1:52 AM

Cops: Toddler fired shotgun during mom's drug deal

David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Prospective drug dealers, take note: When setting up a score, it’s a bad idea to bring along a couple of young children and a loaded shotgun.

 

Cobb County Sheriff's Office Shanla (or Shayla) Jamie Sutherland, 28, of Marietta was arrested on multiple charges after police said her two young children got hold of a loaded shotgun left in the backseat of a minivan as Sutherland and another woman dealt drugs from the front seat outside a Rite Aid near Austell. One of the children discharged the shotgun into the minivan's roof, police said. No one was hurt.

 

 

 

Cobb County Sheriff's Office Leah Louise Porter, 28, of Marietta was arrested and charged with reckless conduct after a 3-year-old child got hold of a loaded shotgun in the backseat of her minivan and fired it as Porter and the child's mother were conducting a drug transaction from the front seat, police said.

 

 

 

Cobb County Sheriff's Office Brandon Schott Donahue, 30, of Marietta was arrested and charged with obstruction after he allegedly refused to cooperate with Cobb County police investigating a shotgun fired by a 3-year-old in the parking lot of a Rite Aid pharmacy near Austell.

 

A drug deal going down in the parking lot of a Cobb County pharmacy earlier this month was interrupted by a terrific blast when children brought to the deal by their mother, and left in the back seat of a minivan, got hold of the firearm, police said. A 3-year-old pulled the trigger.

The discharge went into the roof of the vehicle, and no one was hurt. But a passerby heard the gunshot and called police.

An officer found two uncooperative adults and learned that a third had fled, according to a Cobb County Police Department report of the Sept. 6 incident. The three adults, all Marietta residents, were arrested.

The state Department of Family and Children Services is investigating, Channel 2 Action News reports.

Events leading up to the incident began when Shayla Sutherland, 28, loaded her two children, ages 3 and 5, into a blue Chrysler Town & Country minivan driven by Leah Porter, 28, police said.

The foursome went to the Rite Aid drug store in the 4600 block of Hicks Road near Austell. They parked outside the store and waited. Brandon Donahue, 30, drove up in a white Mercury and pulled alongside.

“Donahue, Sutherland and Porter were negotiating the sale of prescription medications when a firearm was fired,” Cobb police spokesman Officer Mike Bowman said. “It was determined inside the van was a loaded 12-gauge Mossberg. The children apparently were playing with the shotgun when the trigger was fired, discharging the shotgun.”

Sutherland jumped out of the vehicle and pulled her two children with her, police said. Porter drove off. When an officer arrived, he learned Sutherland had fled into the Rite Aid and left her two children in the back seat of Donahue’s car.

“Donahue lied repeatedly and did not cooperate with officers’ questions,” the police report said. The man was arrested and charged with obstruction.

“Sutherland was also not cooperative and lied repeatedly to officers,” police said. The woman was arrested and charged with giving a false name/date of birth and obstruction, and for using a cell phone in the illicit sale of drugs. She also was arrested under an outstanding warrant for failure to appear.

Porter was stopped a few miles away. She was arrested and charged with reckless conduct.

Sutherland, Porter and Schott have posted bond and been released from Cobb County Jail to await trial, according to the Cobb County Sheriff's inmate website. Sheriff's records spell Sutherland's first name "Shanla."

Police seized the shotgun. They found in the weapon an empty shell casing and two live shotgun slug rounds.