Blacksmythe

At least that is what you’d think reading today’s Washington Post article, depicting Al Gore’s appearance before the House and Senate. Gore in town to discuss global warming has become something of a media darling since his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Dana Milbank made it appear as if Gore had his hat handed to him by Republican conservatives, who in some cases are skeptical about global warming claims.

But this didn’t sound right to me. Forget the fact that the scientific consensus is pretty close here with the exception of analysts with ties to the oil industry (here folks affiliated with institutions like GMI stand out). The Democratic Party controls both the House and the Senate, which means they control committees, and committee assignments. No way could he have had his hat handed to him without being able to get his in.

Take a read and tell me if you had the same response I did.

Crafting an accurate headline is something like a fine art. Something that on its face you’d think didn’t have politics.

You’d be wrong.

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The Black Panther has been resurrected to heights I hadn’t imagined. While I originally didn’t like Hudlin’s run on the character in the wake of Civil War I’ve become a convert. Note that even as he talks about the character, he also deals with some of the racial poltiics surrounding interpretations of the character. (Thanks to Pop Culture Shock!)
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UhP6wT86Dxg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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We’ve all read stories about people who were freed from prison after DNA evidence exonorated them.

Jeffrey Deskovic is one of those cases.  Convicted as a teenager for a murder he did not commit, even when evidence in the case should have tossed it out, Deskovic was released only after the Innocence Project took up his case. In being released from prison, the normal narrative (from the standpoint of the victim) goes something like this: “I’m not angry at all…I just knew that my faith in God would bring me through. I’m just going to get through the rest of my life without bitterness, because I feel like I’ve been given a second chance.”

Deskovic, refreshingly, broke out of that narrative:

Deskovic then walked outside and spoke to the media for nearly two hours, seemingly offering all the things he wanted to say when reporters were ignoring his pleas from prison.

“I’m not standing here before you because the system worked. I’m standing here in front of you despite the system,” he said.

He expressed resentment at police who forced him to falsely confess, a prosecutor who did not drop the case when DNA results suggested he should, jurors who ignored the forensic evidence and the judge who could have set aside the verdict but didn’t. And he remained frustrated by the years of failure at the appellate level that ended only after the Innocence Project took on his case.

“I hit a wall and became very depressed,” he said.

He was asked if he was angry.

“The people I considered to be friends all left me. Prison is isolating. My family has become strangers to me,” he said, adding that he lost the chance to marry a woman he loved. “I don’t need to answer. Just answer yourself. Would any of you be angry?”

To say “this isn’t right” does not begin to communicate the degree to which Deskovic had been wronged. And I don’t see a way to make him whole here. Given the role of the state in wrongfully prosecuting individuals like Deskovic I wonder if it’d be possible to get a line item in the national budget to go to the Innocence Project. This organization shouldn’t have to get donations in order to fix problems created by the state.

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Detroit is a city that has approximately 900,000 residents. At its height, 2 million called Detroit home. Most see the blocks upon blocks of empty space and see ghettoes. I see something else entirely.

In a city of roughly 880,000 people, there are just two large-scale grocery stores. Because public transportation is not always convenient, and an estimated 37 percent of residents live below the federal poverty threshold, most people shop at small independent stores that charge more and are more likely to have a meager produce selection.

Much of the land in Detroit is arable. All residents need are seeds, a bit of land, and some gardening skill. The Garden Resource Program is an excellent idea whose time has more than come. More here.

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glumbert.com - The Apple iRack

Thanks to my man Mark.

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