NBey6's Blog

Governor calls for firing of justice in interracial marriage case

•   Story Highlights
• Louisiana officials criticize justice of peace for denying license to interracial couple
• Keith Bardwell told newspaper he's not racist, claims interracial marriages don't last
• Couple received marriage license from another justice, considers taking legal action

HAMMOND, Louisiana (CNN) -- The actions of a justice of the peace in Louisiana who refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple have prompted some top officials, including Gov. Bobby Jindal, to call for his dismissal.

 

Jindal said the state judiciary committee should review the incident in which Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward, refused to issue a marriage license to Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond.

 

"This is a clear violation of constitutional rights and federal and state law. ... Disciplinary action should be taken immediately -- including the revoking of his license," the Republican governor said.

 

Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, D-Louisiana, said the committee should "use its authority to have Justice Bardwell dismissed from his position."

 

"Not only does [Bardwell's] decision directly contradict Supreme Court rulings, it is an example of the ugly bigotry that divided our country for too long," she said. 

 

Bardwell has not returned repeated calls from CNN this week.

 

However, Bardwell told Hammond's Daily Star in a story published Thursday that he was concerned for the children who might be born of the relationship and that, in his experience, most interracial marriages don't last.

 

"I'm not a racist," Bardwell told the newspaper. "I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children."

 

Bardwell, stressing that he couldn't personally endorse the marriage, said his wife referred the couple to another justice of the peace.

 

The bride says the case boils down to discrimination.

 

Humphrey said on Thursday that she called Bardwell on October 6 to ask about getting a marriage license, and was asked by his wife whether it would be an interracial marriage. Humphrey said she was told that Bardwell does not sign off on interracial marriages.

 

She said the couple, who received their marriage license October 9 from another justice of the peace in the same parish, have reached out to an attorney to determine their next step.

 

"We would like him to resign," she said. "He doesn't believe he's being racist, but it is racist."

 

Patricia Morris, president of the NAACP branch of Tangipahoa Parish said her NAACP chapter has forwarded the case to the state and national levels of the civil rights group.

 

"He's an elected public official and one of his duties is to marry people. He doesn't have the right to say he doesn't believe in it," Morris said Thursday. "If he doesn't do what his position calls for him to do, he should resign from that position."

 

According to the Census Bureau, Tangipahoa Parish is about 70 percent white and 30 percent black.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court tossed out any racially based limitations on marriage in the landmark 1967 Loving v. Virginia case. In the unanimous decision, the court said that "Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state."

Federal deficit hits all-time high $1.42 trillion

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

32 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The federal budget deficit has surged to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion as the recession caused tax revenues to plunge while the government was spending massive amounts to stabilize the financial system and jump-start the economy.

The imbalance for the budget year ended Sept. 30, more than tripled last year's record. The Obama administration projects deficits will total $9.1 trillion over the next decade unless corrective action is taken.

As a portion of the economy, the budget deficit stood at 10 percent, the highest since World War II, according to government data released Friday.

President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce the deficit once the Great Recession ends and the unemployment rate starts falling. But economists worry the government lacks the will to make the hard political choices to cut spending and raise taxes to get control of the imbalances.

For 2009, the government collected $2.10 trillion in revenues, a 16.6 percent drop from 2008. The plunge reflected declining income tax collections as millions of Americans lost their jobs or saw their wages cut. Corporate taxes also plummeted as the recession squeezed companies' profit margins.

Government spending last year jumped to $3.52 trillion, up 18.2 percent over 2008. The $700 billion financial bailout fund and increased spending and tax relief from the $787 billion economic stimulus program that Obama pushed through Congress in February drove the increase.

For September, a month when the government usually records surpluses, the deficit totaled $46.6 billion. That's a sharp contrast to the $45.7 billion surplus in September 2008, the last time the government's books were in the black.

In issuing the final budget figures, top administration officials said the president was determined to get control of the deficits in coming years.

"It was critical that we acted to bring the economy back from the brink earlier this year," White House budget director Peter Orszag said in a statement. "The president recognizes that we need to put the nation back on a fiscally sustainable path."

Failure to curb runaway deficits could trigger a financial train wreck that would push interest rates and inflation higher, and send the dollar crashing if foreigners suddenly started dumping their holdings of Treasury securities.

None of those problems are evident now as the worst recession since the 1930s has depressed borrowing by consumers and businesses, giving the government a break on the interest it paid this year on the record debt. Net interest payments actually fell by about $10 billion in 2009 from 2008.

But economists worry investors will grow fearful of the nation's ability to repay all the debt unless the administration and Congress begin developing credible plans to deal with the deficit problem once the recession has ended and unemployment has begun to come down.

"I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself."

- Psalm 119:52 -

Midday & Evening

** until 10-19-09 **

807 148 548 903 192 928 369 803 053 360

621 637 651 693 703 721 728 736 801 827

834 843 891 923 938 623 631 638 653 723

738 803 367 836 837 851 893 823 813 853

I was just watching cartoon network with my boys and a commercial/"spot" came on right before the show called "Goosebumps." Well the commercial/spot was called "Kooky Grandma" and she said the strangest thing that caught my attention. She told her grandson and his friends that she was gonna," put them in a hot air balloon and fly them over a volcanoe full of hot magma!"

I thought this was strange considering the drama unfolding in Colorado right now w/Falcon Heene and his Helium Balloon issue today.

 

SMH (scratching/shaking my head) on this one.

Tom Joyner gets justice for electrocuted kin, 94 years later

• Story Highlights
• Radio host gets pardon for his great-uncles who were wrongfully executed in 1915
• First time South Carolina has granted a posthumous pardon in capital murder case
• "Anytime that you can repair racism in this country is a step forward," Joyner says
• Thomas and Meeks Griffin had been executed for the killing of a Confederate veteran

(CNN) -- Nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner raised his hand in victory.

 

Nearly 100 years had passed since his great-uncles, Thomas Griffin and Meeks Griffin, were wrongfully executed in South Carolina. On Wednesday, a board voted 7-0 to pardon both men, clearing their names in the 1913 killing of a veteran of the Confederate Army.

 

It marks the first time in history that South Carolina has issued a posthumous pardon in a capital murder case.

 

"It really, really feels good," Joyner told CNN's Don Lemon.

 

Joyner made the journey to Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, his sons, his brother and nieces and nephews. When the board announced its decision, they danced, hugged and kissed. "All of the above," he said.

 

In the end, it took only about 25 minutes for their pardon, nearly a century in the making.

 

"It's good for the community. It's good for the nation. Anytime that you can repair racism in this country is a step forward," Joyner said.

 

He said the ruling won't bring back his great-uncles, who were electrocuted in 1915. But it does provide closure to his family. "I hope now they rest in peace."

 

Many who were present were touched by the symbolism and significance of the moment.

 

"I felt like I was a witness to a historical event. It was pretty exciting around here," said Peter O'Boyle, the chief spokesman for the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

 

Dwayne Green, an African-American member of the pardon board, said he admired Joyner for seeking the pardon. "He's not only done his family a service, but also the people of South Carolina."

 

"There's no statute of limitations on doing the right thing," Green said. "There's so much good that can come out of this public show of mercy."

 

The unanimous vote, he said, was heartwarming and satisfying. "It's a great opportunity to show how much South Carolina has changed," he said. "While change comes slow, outcomes like this are a positive sign."

 

Joyner, the host of "The Tom Joyner Morning Show," had known nothing of his great-uncles' murder convictions until last year. That's when esteemed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovered Joyner's past as part of the PBS documentary "African American Lives 2."

 

In the documentary, Joyner explains that he never knew why his grandmother left South Carolina. "All I know is she left home and she ended up in Florida and she didn't stay in touch with her people, either," Joyner says.

 

"Do you know why your grandmother moved away?" Gates says.

 

"No," Joyner says. "I have no idea."

 

Gates then shows him his great-uncles' death certificates. "Cause of death: Legal electrocution," it says.

 

"They electrocuted my --" an astonished Joyner says, unable to finish his sentence.

 

In that moment, Joyner began the journey that led him to Wednesday's pardon. Gates and legal historian Paul Finkelman aided in the research of his family history, and helped lobby South Carolina to pardon the two Griffin brothers.

 

It wasn't the first time a pardon had been sought for the men. According to their research, more than 150 citizens of Blackstock, South Carolina, asked the governor at the time for their sentences to be commuted. Many prominent whites in the community, including the mayor and former sheriff of Chester County, came to the defense of the Griffin brothers.

 

"I heard this case, and I don't think I could have given a verdict of guilty," one magistrate wrote.

 

The Griffin brothers had owned 130 acres in the area and were well-liked in the community. They were convicted of killing John Q. Lewis, a 73-year-old veteran of the Civil War. Lewis was slain in his home on April 24, 1913.

 

"Only the most profound sense of injustice would have led so many white leaders of the community and ordinary white citizens to publicly support blacks convicted of murdering a white man," Finkelman said in a letter to the board of paroles and pardons.

 

According to the research uncovered by Finkelman, Lewis, the former Confederate soldier, apparently had an intimate relationship with a married 22-year-old black woman, Anna Davis. Suspicion initially turned to her and her husband after the murder.

 

"It is plausible to believe that the sheriff did not want to pursue Mr. and Mrs. Davis because if they were tried, it would have led to a scandalous discussion in open court," Finkelman wrote to the pardon board on October 2, 2008.

 

The investigation later turned to another man, Monk Stevenson, who would ultimately point police to the Griffin brothers and two other black men. Stevenson received a life sentence in exchange.

 

"Stevenson later told a fellow inmate that he had implicated the Griffin brothers because he believed they were wealthy enough to pay for legal counsel, and as such would be acquitted," Finkelman said.

 

The Griffin brothers and the two other men, Nelson Brice and John Crosby, were convicted in a trial that lasted four days. They were electrocuted on September 29, 1915.

 

Now, Joyner says he urges all African-Americans to explore their pasts -- no matter how difficult that journey may be.

 

"You can look at your ancestor struggles of the past and be encouraged. If they can go through what they went through, you can do much better," he said.

 

His journey is continuing. He wants to know even more about his great-uncles -- what happened to their land, how they made the community better, what made them so well-liked by whites in segregated South Carolina.

 

"Until we can repair some of the deeds of the past, we can't really look forward," he said.

Boy floats away in homemade balloon

• Related To Story
• Colorado Boy Floats Away In Balloon
• Frantic Search Under Way To Rescue Boy

POSTED: 12:01 pm MDT October 15, 2009

UPDATED: 12:59 pm MDT October 15, 2009

 

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A 6-year-old boy is floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt balloon and authorities are racing to try and rescue him.

 

The balloon, in the shape of a flying saucer is covered in foil and filled with helium. It has a compartment for a passenger underneath. It lifted the boy into the air near Fort Collins Thursday morning after the balloon became untethered at the boy's home.

 

"We were sitting eating, out looking where they normally shoot off hot air balloons. My husband said he saw something. It went over our rooftop. Then we saw the big round balloonish thing, it was spinning," said neighbor Lisa Eklund.

 

The father and son had apparently been working on the aircraft for some time.

 

Fort Collins police and other authorities have been alerted and Airtracker 7 has launched in an effort to locate the boy.

 

Airtracker 7 located the craft at 12:35 p.m. at about 8,000 feet in Weld County. It appeared to be slightly tilted. The altitude of the balloon was fluctuating between 7,500 and 8,500 feet.

 

Skies in the area are partly cloudy and southwest wind speeds are 15 to 20 miles per hour.

 

"It is believed the device could rise to 10,000 feet," said Eloise Campanella, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman.

 

"The structure at the bottom of the balloon that the boy is in is made of extremely thin plywood and won't withstand any kind of a crash at all," said Erik Nilsson, Larimer County Emergency Manager.

 

Deputies from Larimer and Weld counties are tracking the balloon as it drifts. Experts said it could remain airborne for up to 12 hours.

 

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the agency has been notified and it was unclear whether traffic controllers had picked it up on radar.

 

The balloon may drift into air traffic control corridors used by Denver International Airport, based on its current location and direction.

Meghan McCain runs into backlash over photograph

Posted: October 15th, 2009 11:51 AM ET 

(CNN) – Meghan McCain says she's ready to quit Twitter all together after generating a wave of criticism from users of the popular social networking site Wednesday night for posting a picture of herself in a tank top that left little to the twitterverse's imagination.

The controversy began quietly enough when McCain, the vocal daughter of the former Republican presidential candidate, tweeted that her self described "spontaneous" night in included reading a biography of the iconic artist Andy Warhol and ordering takeout.

It was there the 24-year old McCain posted the photo of herself wearing a tank top that generated the subsequent controversy.

The photograph apparently generated a string of negative responses, leading McCain to weigh in 15 minutes later: "so I took a fun picture not thinking anything about what I was wearing but apparently anything other than a pantsuit and I am a slut."

"This is why I have been considering deleting my twitter account," McCain, with close to 60,000 followers, continued in another tweet, "what once was fun now just seems like a vessel for harassment."

Fifteen minutes later, McCain weighed in again, tweeting, "When I am alone in my apartment, I wear tank tops and sweat pants, I had no idea this makes me a slut", I can't even tell you how hurt I am."

An hour later, the prolific tweeter said her decision was nearly made: "ok I am getting the f**k off twitter, promise not to delete my account until I sleep on it, thank you for the nice words supporters."

But McCain did make one final tweet before the evening came to a close, posting a link to her latest column for the Web site The Daily Beast.

Japan frees U.S. dad accused of snatching kids

But he is devastated that he may never see them again, wife says

 

Though freed from a Japanese jail after attempting to abduct his own children from his ex-wife, an American businessman remains emotionally devastated by the knowledge that he may never see his 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter again.

 

“He’s been traumatized. It’s very difficult to talk about. It’s very emotional,” Christopher Savoie’s wife, Amy Savoie, told TODAY’s Ann Curry Thursday in an interview from Nashville, Tenn. “His children are basically dead to him now. It’s horrible, and I don’t know how a parent goes forward from that kind of devastation. Our lives have been completely dismantled by this tragedy.”

 

Christopher Savoie was released Thursday after 18 days in custody. He was jailed after he abducted his children, Isaac and Rebecca, in southern Japan as his ex-wife was walking them to school.

 

Divorce, then disappearance
Savoie had married Japanese native Noriko Savoie and lived with her in Japan from 2001 to 2008 while he ran a company he founded. According to ABC News, he had become a Japanese citizen while in that country.

 

But the marriage soured, and after the couple moved to Franklin, Tenn., they divorced in January of this year. In April, Noriko took the children with her, with a court’s permission, on vacation to Japan. She returned with them, but two weeks later disappeared with the children.

 

Although Christopher Savoie had custody rights in the United States, in Japan, he had none. Unlike most developed countries, Japan has never signed a Hague Treaty guaranteeing custody rights to parents in international divorces. In Japan, the law allows one parent — usually the mother — to have exclusive custody in such cases.

 

 

Desperate to have his children, Christopher Savoie tried to solve the matter himself. Now, said his current wife, he has to face the prospect of living without them.

 

“Isaac and Rebecca are now somewhere in Japan with no access to their father, who loved them dearly,” Amy Savoie told Curry. “No more hugs from their father, no more phone calls or playing the guitar with their father. No more playing baseball with their father. I can’t imagine that any 8-year-old or 6-year-old would actually choose to live a life without a parent if they were able to make such a choice.”

 

‘Hello, I’m out’
When Savoie was released without bail, Japanese authorities said he was not considered a flight risk. But his wife said her understanding is that the Japanese want him to return to the United States — without his children.

 

“My understanding is one of the conditions of his release is that he did return to the United States,” Amy Savoie said. “He will be coming home and he needs to return to work. He needs to return to law school; we’re both law students. He needs to continue this fight from here and just try to effect some positive change if we can. We’ll work as hard as we can.”

 

The Japanese government has stated that it will attempt to find a resolution to Savoie’s case as well as many other similar cases. But Amy Savoie, who is working with other affected families, did not hold out hope that there would be any change soon in Japanese law.

 

“I think it’s going to take a long time for them to overcome the thinking that they’ve had since the 1940s, in which one parent has custody of the child,” she said. “This is definitely going to be a marathon, and there are so many grieving families that have contacted me.”

 

Amy, was awakened by a telephone call at her Franklin, Tenn., home early Thursday and answered to hear her husband’s voice.

 

“Hello, my love, I’m out,” were his first words, Amy Savoie told The Associated Press.

 

Not sure if he’s heading home
She said the couple had only a few minutes to talk, and it isn’t yet clear when her husband could be coming home.

 

“We’ve been able to speak, but there’s so much to talk about,” she said. “This is all about him coming home.”

 

The Fukuoka District Prosecutors Office refused to comment on the Savoie case. But a suspect with a pending indictment is released on the condition he or she accepts further questioning. No bail is involved in a pre-indictment release.

 

Savoie’s Japanese lawyer, Tadashi Yoshino, was not immediately available for comment.

 

U.S. Consulate spokeswoman Tracy Taylor declined to comment on details of his release, but added that her understanding was that he would not be indicted.

 

“We are pleased to hear that he was released, and we are hopeful that we can work with the Japanese government to come to a long-term solution on this problem,” Taylor said. “ ‘This problem’ meaning the issue of international child abduction.”

 

Japan’s custody policy has begun to raise concern abroad, following a recent spate of incidents involving Japanese mothers bringing their children back to their native land and refusing to let their foreign ex-husbands visit them.

 

Amy Savoie repeated how hard the situation has been on her husband. “It’s very devastating,” she told Curry. “Isaac and Rebecca love their father. It’s a tragedy.”

Midday 10-15-09 Evening

** until 10-18-09 **

015 016 019 024 025 028 029 034 037 038 046 047 056 069 078 079 123 124 127 128 136 137 145 146 159 168 169 178 235 236 245 249 258 259 267 268 289 348 349 357 358 367 379 389 457 469 478 479 568 569 578 789 001 002 006 007 011 114 115 118 119 223 226 227 033 133 339 244 447 448 055 155 559 667 668 177 277 577 677 088 388 488 889 199 299 699 799 222 888

Thursday 10-15-09

755, 829, 437, 240, 422, 232, 262, 703, 679, 522

667, 203, 757, 205, 844, 188, 222, 333, 666, 777

2878, 9789, 2235, 7703, 3417, 7124, 2277, 9824

9071, 9077, 9371, 9377, 6831, 1863

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

 - Dwight D. Eisenhower -

Midday & Evening

** until 10-18-09 **

013 031 103 130 301 310 014 041 104 140 401 410 019 091 109 190 901 910 024 042 204 240 402 420 029 092 209 290 902 920 034 043 304 340 403 430 039 093 309 390 903 930 046 064 406 460 604 640 047 074 407 470 704 740 048 084 408 480 804 840 049 094 409 490 904 940 058 085 508 580 805 850 059 095 509 590 905 950 067 076 607 670 706 760 069 096 609 690 906 960 079 097 709 790 907 970 089 098 809 890 908 980 127 172 217 271 712 721 128 182 218 281 812 821 137 173 317 371 713 731 138 183 318 381 813 831 145 154 415 451 514 541 148 184 418 481 814 841 158 185 518 581 815 851 167 176 617 671 716 761 168 186 618 681 816 861 178 187 718 781 817 871 189 198 819 891 918 981 237 273 327 372 723 732 245 254 425 452 524 542 247 274 427 472 724 742 257 275 527 572 725 752 258 285 528 582 825 852 267 276 627 672 726 762 278 287 728 782 827 872 279 297 729 792 927 972 345 354 435 453 534 543 356 365 536 563 635 653 358 385 538 583 835 853 367 376 637 673 736 763 368 386 638 683 836 863 456 465 546 564 645 654 457 475 547 574 745 754 458 485 548 584 845 854 459 495 549 594 945 954 467 476 647 674 746 764 479 497 749 794 947 974 489 498 849 894 948 984 567 576 657 675 756 765 578 587 758 785 857 875 589 598 859 895 958 985 678 687 768 786 867 876 679 697 769 796 967 976 004 040 400 022 202 220 044 404 440 099 909 990 118 181 811 188 818 881 227 272 722 228 282 822 277 727 772 445 454 544 455 545 554 558 585 855 588 858 885 677 767 776

Wednesday 10-14-09

453, 733, 732, 559, 828, 654, 493, 573, 701

327, 182, 155, 666, 570, 905, 610, 903, 319

759, 184, 384, 095, 627, 000, 222, 555, 777

7703, 3388, 7722, 2760, 2059, 7017, 1755

Midday & Evening

** until 10-17-09 **

803, 813, 823, 833, 843, 853, 863, 873, 883, 893

096, 196, 296, 396, 496, 596, 696, 796, 896, 996

057, 157, 257, 357, 457, 557, 657, 757, 857, 957

555, 666, 777, 888, 111, 222, 333, 000