Welcome to One Black Woman’s Blog

Hi there.

I’m known as blksista on the pages of DailyKos, Jack and Jill Politics, and Booman Tribune, among others. If you don’t readily know who I am, you probably heard that I wrote a series of blog articles about the drowning of New Orleans, my birthplace. It took a long time for me to find my voice blogging, and these articles basically made my rep on DK.

I finally realized that I wanted my own blog to continue to talk about New Orleans, black people, culture, gossip/public intellectualism, politics, Buddhism, journalism and ethics, looksism, cooking, fiction, history, womanism, writing, race, fashion, music and other topics of interest during this rather fractious time in American life and the life of the Republic.

I’ll also be posting pieces of my essays and fiction for people to read and enjoy. I can accept thoughtful feedback and criticism.

Finally, I would like to say that I have a patron saint of blogging, and that, for all intents and purposes, is the late Steve Gilliard. I discovered Steve’s blog while I was living on 132nd Street in Harlem, New York between 2003-2005. Through him, I got a real introduction to New York politics. We talked privately online here and there, but I never got to meet him. I’m sure we even passed by each other while at I-HOP without knowing it. I am so sorry he is gone, because he would have truly enjoyed seeing Obama in the White House, and his former nemesis Steele in the dog house as chairperson of the GOP. I know that I could never be as audacious or as knowledgeable as Steve was during his short career, but he did teach me a few things. One: to be yourself and two: to say what is real. Then you’ll never be alone.

If you like my work, if you like visiting This Black Sista’s Page, and if you can contribute $5, $10 or more, I may be able to weather some crises and stay afloat. You can use your bank account, Visa, MasterCard, AmerEx with the PayPal button to the top right.

Major Hasan’s Three-Minute Rampage at Fort Hood: Thoughts and Implications

(Shoshanna Johnson, BTW, is the first African American woman soldier captured as a prisoner of war in Iraq. And Phil McGraw never looked less a media whore than he did in this Larry King segment.)

Right now Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s treachery on Thursday is running neck and neck with unemployed Jason Rodriguez’ Orlando, Florida office rampage on Friday. The MSM has really won the trifecta this week, with slayer Anthony Sowell, and now these two. The wingnut bunch, led by Limbaugh/Hannity/Beck and their ilk are certainly postering for the cameras and for their own homemade videos. One of those homemade videos I’ve seen on Google insists that there is an al Qaeda terrorist cell in Texas. (They wish.) However, I think that Hasan’s actions are related to Rodriguez’, but have far more import.

Out of all the stories I have heard of the dead and wounded–some barely in their twenties and out of high school–I’m in horror and mourning for that Latina servicewoman, Pvt. Francheska Velez, pregnant with a wanted child, who was returning from her deployment in Iraq. Eventually, she would have been on her way back to Chicago for the holidays and for maternity leave.

Instead, she and her unborn baby are dead, murdered by Major Nidal Hasan.

[...] A friend of Velez’s, Sasha Ramos, described her as a fun-loving person who wrote poetry and loved dancing.

“She was like my sister,” Ramos, 21, said. “She was the most fun and happy person you could know. She never did anything wrong to anybody.”

Family members said Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq and had sought a lifelong career in the Army.

“She was a very happy girl and sweet,” said her father, Juan Guillermo Velez, his eyes red from crying. “She had the spirit of a child.”

Some of the wounded had already been wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. In other words, they’ve been wounded twice.

Rihanna on GMA: “I Feel Ashamed…Eff Love.”

Yeah, eff love.

Because, definitely, that wasn’t love. From O.J. and Nicole Simpson to Billie Holiday and Joe Guy, Jimmy Monroe, and Louis McKay, etc. , to James Brown and his myriad relationships, legal or extralegal.

This is the first part. And then, there’s supposedly another interview tomorrow morning and a less edited version on 20/20. That Friday morning interview on GMA will go blow by blow on what happened in Chris Brown’s rented sports car the evening they were expected to perform on a televised music awards show.

Well, she had to speak up eventually, and unfortunately, it is in the repackaging of her image for this new dark album she has, Russian Roulette. I wish she had spoken earlier, but perhaps this is also about when and how she could finally get over Chris Brown’s injuries, and the fatal injury to their relationship. Frankly, I’d prefer to listen to someone like Mary J. Blige, about getting up and ovah.

I was really hoping she would finally get away from the guy, and she did. Here’s why:

President Barack Obama at Wright Middle School in Madison, WI

President Barack Obama talks to Wright Middle School children about staying in school and what it means to succeed (Courtesy: WhiteHouse.gov)

I saw the speech on one of the local stations here in Mad City. That speech was for the adults; the real speech happened beyond this photo opportunity. The kids are so nervous that they are rigid in their seats. This is the President of the United States before them. The Real Deal. It’s worse than getting in front of their parents. Let’s hope they loosened up a bit more after the cameras were off them, and really talked to President Obama.

James C. Wright School is a charter school on the Southside of Madison. It is predominantly black children and children of color (Latino and Asian), with a spattering of young white children. Most have one thing in common–that they are low-income, that is, poor. But so was President Obama a long time ago. These kids needed to see this man in person.

The President’s opening remarks to the children of Wright School is here.

The speech to the politicians (Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, the latter highly touted as a Dem candidate for governor), the other students, their parents, and school administrators seemed to be a reworking of his usual speeches about education, but there is more to it than that. Here is the speech itself. I am still trying to find video of the entire speech–with the introduction by the students and Governor Jim Doyle, etc.–but this will have to do until it is released. Naturally the local TV news anchors boosted the speech and the appearance as having historical implications. Wisconsin does need a boost as far as educational opportunities for its population, which is rapidly turning from dairy and other rural farming and factory work to more modern careers and industries, like in health care and engineering. “Race to the Top” is Obama’s answer, as the Los Angeles Times said. We’ll see what the teachers’ unions have to say about that.

Obama called for the abolition of “firewall” rules, which prevent many schools from judging teacher performance based on student performance.

To win the grant money, they’ll also have to develop internationally competitive standards, find innovative ways to recruit educators and track the progress of students to make sure every child graduates ready for college.

“If a state wants to increase its chances of actually winning a grant, it will have to do more,” Obama said. “It will have to collect information about how students are doing in a particular year — and over the course of an academic career — and make this information available to teachers so they can use it to improve the way they teach. That’s how teachers can determine what they should be doing differently in the classroom. That’s how principals can determine what changes need to be made in our schools.”

Carl Ballantine, Magician and “Gruber,” Dies at 92

Now, why would I change up and start mentioning a old Jewish vaudevillian magician and actor who deliberately flubbed his tricks for bad, but good jokes?

Carl Ballantine as Lester Gruber of "McHale's Navy." He died yesterday at the age of 92 (Courtesy: InnerToob)

Because I liked Carl Ballantine, born Meyer Kessler. And I liked him when he was Lester Gruber, one of the seven wise-ass crew members of the PT 73, otherwise known as McHale’s Navy. It was always one of his fantastic, money-making schemes among the other sailors and the Marines that landed the crew in trouble with Captain Binghamton (Joe Flynn), otherwise known as Old Leadbottom. And it took Commander McHale (Ernest Borgnine) and sometimes pure luck in the appearance of a sympathetic admiral, to always bail them out of it.

From Wikipedia:

Ballantine was born in Chicago, Illinois. In his early career, Kessler did a straight manipulation act but gave up “real magic” when he realized he could not be as good as some of his peers. He changed his name to Ballantine early on after he noticed a bottle of Ballantine whisky in an advertisement and decided that the name of his magic act was to be “Ballantine, the World’s Greatest Magician”. He proved successful enough that he became the first magician to headline in Las Vegas.

Nicknamed the “Jipper,” Kessler was inspired at age 12 by his barber who would do magic tricks with thimbles while cutting the boy’s hair. His first job was working as a printer. In Chicago in the 1930s, Kessler was doing professional straight magic, first as “Count Marakoff” & “Carl Sharp”, then, since the early 1940s, switched to comedy magic as “Carl Ballantine.” He was billed as “The Amazing Mr. Ballantine” when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, the Ed Sullivan TV show in 1953 and the Las Vegas El Rancho Vegas in 1956. He won Tannen’s “Louie” Award and the 1985 AMA Performing Fellowship.

Ballantine is probably best remembered as Lester Gruber, one of the PT boat sailors in the television series McHale’s Navy (1962-66). He appeared as Lycus the slave merchant, on Broadway in the 1972 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring Phil Silvers. His most recent film appearance was in Aimee Semple McPherson, a 2006 biopic about the notorious female evangelist.

To Cleveland Cops, The Lives of Black Women Were Cheap (w/Update)

UPDATE: It was announced this afternoon that the remains of Tanya Carmichael have been identified.

The first victim was identified Wednesday as Tonia [sic] Carmichael, who was 52 when she was last seen on November 10, 2008, police said in a statement. Carmichael was identified using DNA. She disappeared from Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb near Sowell’s home.

Also, an eleventh victim has been found at the Sowell house.

Because some of the missing women were on crack, police refused to listen to the pleas of their loved ones that the women had disappeared.

The police made fun of the relatives who insisted on filing a missing person’s report. In the case of Tanya Carmichael, they had to ask for a superior to have their report recorded.

This is the kind of sh*t that happened when a 14-year-old Asian American, Konerak Sinthasomphone, who was naked and disoriented, and with blood leaking from his rectum, managed to get away from Jeffrey Dahmer. And then the Milwaukee cops, over the protests of the women who found the boy, laughingly returned him to his murderer, saying that it was merely one of those gay misunderstandings. One cop even referred to his partner having to get “deloused” from the smell of the undiscovered decomposing body of an earlier victim. It’s a sinister term, by the way, that was used by the German SS in their murders of “subhumans.”

Want to know what happened to those cops? Wiki knows:

John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish, two of the three police officers who returned Sinthasomphone to Dahmer, were fired from the Milwaukee Police Department after their actions were widely publicized, including an audiotape of the officers making homophobic statements to their dispatcher and cracking jokes about having reunited the “lovers”. The two officers appealed their termination and were reinstated with back pay. They were named officers of the year by the police union for fighting a “righteous” battle to regain their jobs. Balcerzak was later elected president of the Milwaukee Police Association in May 2005.

Cops tend to reward themselves for incompetence, lack of compassion, and for homophobia and racism. And even towards their own, they can be worse:

In May 2005, Balcerzak was elected president of the Milwaukee Police Association, defeating Sebastian Raclaw by a vote of 521 to 453. As president, he has been criticized for failing to protect officers from mandatory overtime and not supporting African-American officer Alfonzo Glover, who was charged with homicide and later committed suicide. By June 2006, the union vice president had resigned because of disagreements with Balcerzak’s “style of leadership.” A petition to remove Balcerzak was filed and a recall election was held in August 2006. The results were 213 for a recall and 397 to retain him.

Like Milwaukee cops, most of these Cleveland cops live in still-white neighborhoods and in white flight suburbs that surround Cleveland proper. They maintain a brazenly superior, even racist attitude towards those that they’re charged with serving and with keeping the peace. In my view, they’re standing on the hanging stool. These idiots should be living among those they have to police. Poor people still maintain a sense of dignity, that they value family, and that they maintain a sense of what is right and wrong–even when they are in the wrong. Look at the grandmother with her fashion hat, aiming to look her best before the camera while standing with her granddaughter in the cold. Look at their missing daughter and mother, and see from the photographs that she was not always on crack, that she was a responsible, though probably lonely mother.

It’s not that these people didn’t know what was happening, that they were being preyed upon. They just knew something was wrong, that something was not right. And in an atmosphere of silence, and where the cops didn’t give a sh*t about the lives they are supposed to protect, a murderer was allowed to do his worst in their neighborhood.

If something like this had happened where the cops lived, a Sowell type wouldn’t have lasted five minutes. It wasn’t just opportunity that allowed Anthony Sowell to prosper for four years. It was how Cleveland’s cops tended to value human life; that it only belonged to those who were white and middle-class and to those who didn’t have their neighborhoods red-lined.

Just what the fck are these people doing as cops? Because they ain’t or don’t want to do their fcking jobs.

President Obama’s Coming to Madison; The Excitement Builds

There hasn’t been a sitting president visiting Wisconsin’s capital since the days of Harry Truman. Meaning, about 1950. A political blog last week called this a victory lap for Obama, since this is about the time he was elected to the presidency last year. Possibly, but his speech about educational incentives from the stimulus act is batting a thousand in this part of the Midwest.

The kids at James C. Wright Middle School are very, very excited.

We’ve all said the “Pledge of Allegiance” before, but most of us haven’t said it in front of all our peers, friends, teachers, several media outlets and he President of the United States.

That’s what Ari Davis will be doing. But before he does, he’s spending the night rehearsing.

“Mr. President, Secretary Duncan, distinguished guests…”

Ari Davis has rehearsed his lines a few dozen times. But no matter how much he goes over them, he still gets a little nervous.

“Yes, I do feel a little nervous. But I’m confident. “

Confident… because this won’t be his first time meeting President Obama. About five years ago while in D.C. with his family, Davis met then-Senator Obama and took this picture with him.

Davis says he didn’t know what to think about Obama then, but a lot has changed in five years.

“He was a Senator then and now he’s the President.”

Two days ago, Davis found out that he’d be reading an intro to the President and reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

He says when he first heard the news, he had mixed feelings. He was nervous and excited at the same time. His parents say they’re just proud.

Ari’s mother, Andreal Davis, “It seems like a moment that every parent hopes for when you birth your child.”

Ari’s father, Arlington Davis says, “I was a little jealous because my wife found out first. But I was very, very excited.”

For Davis there is still a lot to do before his big moment in front of the Commander-in-Chief tomorrow. He’s busy laying out his suit and deciding what tie he should wear. Davis says he’s really hoping the President will notice his suit and give him his approval.

Two–No, Three–FOUR More Bodies Found in Anthony Sowell’s Backyard; Stepmother Safe in Nursing Home

The sausage shop next door to the house where Anthony Sowell lived; neighbors rationalized that the sausages made and stored there created the smell of what was decaying flesh (Courtesy: Cleveland Plain-Dealer)

They are just reporting on the ninth body as I write. When I am almost finished, the Cleveland cops report that ten people’s remains have been removed from Anthony Sowell’s home; up to four today. The police are going to working throughout the night to see if there are any more.

Sisters. Poor sisters. I know they didn’t want to go that way.

A memorial candlelight vigil was held last night for the victims.

They lit candles, carried pictures of their loved ones, and leaned on each other as they awaited word on the identities of the women, at least five of whom had been strangled.

“I believe my mother is going to be one of these women,” Donita Carmichael announced to crowd of about 100 people, who stood for more than an hour Monday evening in the early November chill.

“She went missing from East 118th and Kinsman, right around the corner. Right around the corner.”

Carmichael fears her mother was a victim of Anthony Sowell, a convicted rapist now being held by Cleveland Police, who found six bodies in his attic, backyard, and basement late last week.

When organizers of the candlelight vigil asked relatives and friends to hold up pictures of the missing, dozens of posters, pictures, and flyers were displayed above the crowd, a sight that sent shivers through many of the onlookers.

“This is like something from a horror movie,” said a neighborhood resident who told WKYC he “just had to be here.” Another added, “This is just not right. I never thought I would see something like this. On my own street.”

My fear was that the elderly stepmother was among the victims.

Mitrice Richardson’s Family and Friends Ask the LGBT Community to Help Them Find Her

There was a Monday night press conference at which the family of Mitrice Richardson formally asked the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Los Angeles–and elsewhere –to help them find the young woman who has been missing for nearly two months.

Tessa Moon, who has been in a two-year romantic relationship with Mitrice Richardson, reached out to the gay and lesbian community to see if they have seen the missing woman, Michael Richardson said.

Michael Richardson said Moon has been helping search for his daughter since she disappeared.

“We do the searches that no one wants to do,” Michael Richardson said. “We’ve been out here talking to pimps, gang members and ladies of the night on Manchester, Florence, Western and Figueroa.”

Alleged sightings of Mitrice Richardson have been reported in Los Angeles and Orange counties and as far away as San Jose. Her father tries to check out as many leads as possible.

“I don’t care if they don’t turn out to be Mitrice, but I have to go look,” her father said.

He said the searches have been fruitless, although some of the women bear a strong resemblance to his daughter. But despite the disappointment, he said he remains optimistic about the possibility of finding his daughter alive.

“You can do no wrong in my eyes,” Michael Richardson said he would like to tell his daughter. “I’m trying to get you and we are going to work this out.”

The Advocate added:

Tessa Moon [made] an appeal tonight [...] at Jewel’s Catch One community room in Los Angeles. Moon and Richardson have been in a relationship for two years.

“If I could tell her anything right now, it would be ‘Don’t be afraid. We’re coming,’” she told the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

Moon was in the same motorcycle club, The Chosen Few, as Richardson’s father Michael, who is urging police to release security footage from the night his daughter was arrested to prove that she was not in the right mental state to be released from police custody. She was discharged from the station at approximately 1:25 a.m., according to a family website, with no cell phone or purse. None of her bank accounts or credit cards have been used since she went missing, KTLA News reports.

Michael Jackson: This “Man in the Mirror” Couldn’t Make It to His Own Concert

I’m using this song to illustrate what I thought about the Jackson memorial documentary, This is It. It’s also the last song that Jackson sings at the end of the documentary before his dancers, singers, band and handlers. Instead of the crowds in London, we have become his audience. His final audience.

Remember, this was essentially 110 hours of rehearsals molded into two hours. The rehearsal footage was shot at the place where Jackson was memorialized: The Staples Center. Jackson never intended this footage to be used in any film; it would have been for his own use. Jackson’s purported physical weaknesses are sanitized out. Jackson is going through the movements of what he would do on stage in London. And like with most rehearsals, he’s trying not to attempt much. He’s feeling his way through his material: about what he could do and what he couldn’t do. And with arthritis in his spine and other maladies, he’s not the same as he was before. The dancers and the singers behind him who revere him and who cannot believe their good are exerting themselves as much as possible. They are dancing and singing for the King–and as extensions of himself. The dancers are all about a little over a quarter of a century younger than he. The singers are about that age and a little older. The band are musicians who have been with Jackson for quite a while, with a couple of newer faces. They can be themselves. But the singers and dancers very much try to reflect Michael as he was in his second fame: young, fresh, seemingly indestructible, and enthusiastic.

This Guy’s Inner Hell is Paving His Way INTO Hell: Six Bodies of Women Found Within, Under Cleveland, OH House

Well, Happy Hallowe’en, huh? The holiday is now over, but the nightmare’s just beginning. On top of the Richmond High rape episode, now this. Only two more months to the end of the year, and the freaks are coming out big time. And it doesn’t have to be at night.

Anthony E. Sowell, 50, a registered sex offender, is now in custody for the murder of six women whose bodies were found under his house (Courtesy: Cleveland Police)

The news broke on Thursday, just before the trick or treating, Freakfests, and parties began. Jeffrey Dahmer was really bad, but when it comes to black men becoming serial killers–and serial killing is more a pastime by white males–it’s too easy for people to start referencing their worst dreams and popular horror films.

Black women who lived near this guy’s house thought he was weird, but didn’t know that he was a convicted sex offender and rapist. The lucky ones refused his invitations to come over to his house and have a drink. Neighbors kept smelling an odor near his house, but thought it was something connected with the sewers or the plumbing. It was, after all, the inner city of Cleveland. They should have referenced Jeffrey Dahmer. He was weird too. Lived in a predominantly black area where other people of color also lived. And on his floor, there was the most awful smell.

Well, now we all know, on the Day of the Dead. It was the decaying bodies of six women–two of them have been identified as black–he had lured to his home, then raped, strangled, and secreted their bodies in a room on the third floor or buried in shallow graves under his house. Now people are wondering about the recent disappearances of local girls and women from the area since this guy moved here after his release from prison, and families are hoping that their child/sister/ex-wife/cousin/daughter isn’t among the bodies. This ain’t ovah yet. From the AP:

Updates on Mitrice Richardson: The Search Goes On, Reward Money To Be “Matched and Exceeded” by Malibu City Council

(This video, made five days ago, shows in chronological order what occurred regarding Mitrice Richardson the night and following morning she was arrested and disappeared.)

Mitrice Richardson, gone but not forgotten (Courtesy: Final Call)

According to reporter Anne Soble of the weekly Malibu Surfside News, the Malibu City Council is ready to match and exceed the reward of $10,000 offered by the Los Angeles City Council for information leading to the safe finding or return of Mitrice Richardson, missing now for more than a month.

The Malibu Surfside News obtained a copy of Richardson’s booking report this week, which indicates she was booked at 10:20 p.m. and released at 0025, or 12:25 a.m., which is an hour earlier than first stated by sheriff’s department spokespersons and reported in the media.

The one hour difference could have major ramifications in the timing of misinformation that was given to Richardson’s mother, Latice Sutton, when she placed numerous telephone calls to Lost Hills about her daughter.

Other High School Students Are Trying to Process What the Richmond High Rape Case Means

Over at New America Media, other kids in the Bay Area and elsewhere are trying to make sense of this mess.

Here are some of the responses at the NAM Youth Media Group and YoBlogger:

The Friend Who Couldn’t Talk

If I witnessed a rape, I wouldn’t let it happen. It’s so sad to know these scary things are happening. I have always hated rape. When I was little, I saw a movie with rape as part of the storyline. Ever since that movie, I became scared of rape, but it never really clicked in that there is such a thing as rape!

I used to know a family friend who couldn’t talk. I felt sorry for her ’cause when she would talk to me, I couldn’t really understand what she was saying. My mom told me the story behind her disability. My mom said she used to be a beautiful maiden back in Laos, many years ago. One day, while filling up the water container, she was kidnapped and raped by multiple men. She was so traumatized that she lost the ability to talk correctly, and her lips also became crooked.

I don’t know why rape is so common. It’s not new. It’s been happening forever. In the case of the Richmond girl, it’s sad how people have stooped down so low to the point where they take pictures of these horrible events as if it were entertainment instead of help try to stop it. I’m still speechless about the whole incident.

-Angelina Thao, 17

Richmond High Gang Rape Case: Sixth Suspect “Played a Significant Role”

Where it happened last Saturday; the courtyard beyond the fence on the campus of Richmond High School (Courtesy: Contra Costa Times)

The sixth suspect in the Richmond High gang rape incident has been identified as Jose Carlos Montano, 18. Montano, who resided in San Pablo, was arrested Thursday by police. He is described as playing a significant role in the rape of the 15-year-old student who was raped at last week’s Homecoming Dance at Richmond High.

More information about the girl herself was released yesterday as well.

Kami Baker, one of the victim’s close friends, said the girl came to the dance Saturday evening clad in a sparkling purple gown, diamond necklace and matching silver shoes.

“When we walked in the dance together she said, ‘I can’t wait to get my dance on!’” Baker, 16, told ABC News.com.

[...]

“She was perfectly sober at the dance,” said Baker, who saw the victim just 15 minutes before she left the dance. “She was bubbly, and kept saying how happy she was to be at the dance.”

Baker said that the victim had many close friends who weren’t able to attend the dance because of the $10 admission fee. She described her friend as an outgoing student who was enrolled in an honors English class.

She had a long distance boyfriend, according to Baker, and although she had always wanted to join the school’s photography club, her parents didn’t like her to stay after school and her church commitment took up much of her time.

It was also thought that the victim was having problems “fitting in” at the school.

They’re going to make hash with this development. A “good Christian girl” and a possibly white girl being ravished by…well, take your pick. Animals. Saracens. Unwashed Heathens. Neanderthals. Native Americans. Arabs. Mexicans. Bad Negroes.

Updates on Richmond Rape Case: Victim Released, DA Asking for Life Sentences for Four

Got things to do before I attend the Michael Jackson, This is It show this p.m., but here are some new details before I go:

The victim was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon.

The 15-year-old victim of the gang rape Saturday night in Richmond, California, was released from a hospital on Wednesday, October 28. Authorities said she would likely not be going home because of privacy concerns.

Meanwhile, police say that witnesses to the rape could be off the hook because of the victim’s age. California law says that witnesses must report a sexual assault involving a child under 15. But since the victim is 15, they are under no legal obligation to report the crime.

Look for the authorities to be pressured on this last point. The state legislature in Sacramento is going to be deluged.

One of the victim’s friends spoke out today; her statement was on CNN.

Secondly, four young men have been charged as adults in this case. And because they are being charged as adults, there are now names connected with the deeds. They are 19-year-old Manuel Ortega, 15-year-old Cody Ray Smith, 16-year-old Ari Morales and 17-year-old Marcelles Peter. The DA wants life sentences for all of them.

A sixth boy has been picked up by the cops. The fifth is still being held, pending charges. The cops promise that more arrests are imminent. That I do not doubt.

More on this case, Barack Obama, the Vietnamese SJSU student, and Wisconsin happenings coming up soon.

President Barack Obama Signs the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Lest you forget…it’s for this boy.

Matthew Shepard, in whose name a hate crimes act was finally enacted (Courtesy: Meefers)

And for this man who was dragged to his death in a place called Jasper, TX.

James Byrd Jr., who is memorialized in the hate crimes act signed yesterday by President Obama (Courtesy: Find a Grave)

The new law will expand “the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.”