William Balfour's mother defends her son to Nancy Grace

Balfour's mother tried to get crunk with Nancy but you know Nancy don't play dat mess. This was foolishness and that's all I will say until more facts come out.

Kilpatrick sentenced

Calling him "arrogant and defiant," a Wayne County Circuit Judge on Tuesday sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to four months in jail with no early release under the terms of a plea deal.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty last month to two felony obstruction of justice charges stemming from his efforts to cover up an extramarital affair. He also pleaded no contest to charges of assaulting a police officer attempting to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend in that case.

In imposing the sentence, Judge David Groner harshly criticized Kilpatrick for his conduct, particularly for a televised speech that aired hours after he entered his pleas.

"That night, the community expected to hear a message of humility, remorse and apology," Groner said. "Instead, we heard an arrogant and defiant man who accused the governor, among others, for his downfall." Watch the judge issue the sentence »

While a presentencing report submitted to the court said Kilpatrick accepts responsibility for his actions, Groner said he questioned the former mayor's sincerity.

"Many defendants have stood before this court. However, this case is different, and you are not the typical defendant," the judge said. "... You were expected to lead from the front and set an example."

Kilpatrick was accused of blocking a criminal investigation into his office and firing a police deputy to cover up an affair with his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty. When that deputy, Gary Brown, filed a whistle-blower suit last summer, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath that an affair had taken place.

Groner noted that after a jury found in Brown's favor, Kilpatrick publicly vowed to appeal, only to do a "180-degree" turn after he found out the plaintiffs were in possession of text messages that gave evidence of the affair. Brown then urged the City Council to approve settlements, which cost the city $8.4 million -- closer to $9 million after legal costs.

In January, the Detroit Free Press revealed the text messages that contradicted Kilpatrick's and Beatty's testimony.

After the text messages were made public, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. The most serious charges would have carried a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison upon conviction.

Beatty resigned her post after the text messages were made public, but the case against her remains pending, Worthy said. The Free Press reported Beatty has rejected several plea deal offers, the last of which would have required her to serve 150 days in jail.

Worthy told reporters after Kilpatrick's hearing that she was satisfied with the result, but could not comment extensively on Kilpatrick's case. "We have another defendant to try," she said. "I don't want to step over that line."

Kilpatrick must also pay the city of Detroit $1 million in restitution, Groner ordered, and forfeit any future pension.

He initially refused to resign, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm had called a hearing on whether she should remove him from office at the request of the Detroit City Council. Granholm adjourned those hearings after Kilpatrick pleaded guilty and agreed to resign.

In the speech after he pleaded guilty September 4, Kilpatrick told reporters Granholm and city officials should work for the people of Detroit as hard as they did to get him out of office.

He told the crowd his marriage is better than ever, and kissed his wife to resounding applause when he concluded his remarks. He said he decided to step down so the city could move forward.

Groner also ordered Kilpatrick to sign an order of revocation regarding his law license. Because of a pending complaint against Kilpatrick, he could not surrender the license, but instead had to agree to revocation -- something his defense attorneys argued vehemently against. Groner told them the issue could be raised on appeal if necessary.

Read the rest here.

He so stupid. I am so disgusted and disappointed in his dumb behind. I used to love me some Kwame. Lawd...

Jennifer Hudson IDs nephew's body

Academy Award-winning singer and actress Jennifer Hudson stood again in the Cook County medical examiner's office, clutching the hands of loved ones as they identified the body of yet another slain relative -- her 7-year-old nephew, Julian King.

Even before family members arrived at the morgue Monday, they had been told that the three-day search for the 2nd grader had ended when his body was found slumped in the back seat of a sport-utility vehicle parked on a West Side street.

Amid visibly shaken family members in the medical examiner's office, Hudson bowed her head as if in prayer, then looked up.

"Yes, that's him," she told medical examiner officials as the family stood with her in an adjoining room and looked at a video monitor showing the boy's face.

Men charged with plotting to kill Obama

Federal prosecutors charged two men with plotting a "killing spree" against African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Sen. Barack Obama while they wore white tuxedos, federal officials said Monday.

The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.

Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.

The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.

"We take this very, very seriously but we see no evidence these guys have the ability or the wherewithal to pull off what they say they wanted to do," one law enforcement source said.

According to an affidavit from the federal agent who questioned them, Cowart and Schlesselman planned to charge at Obama with a car, firing from the windows as they went. They would be dressed in white tuxedos and top hats during the attempt, the affidavit states.

Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested outside Jackson, about 75 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, after an aborted robbery attempt last week, according to court records.

Though they told investigators they would be willing to die in their mission, the men backed out of their October 21 attempt to rob the gun dealer after spotting two cars and a dog at the home, the affidavit states. The men also shot out the window of a church on their way back to Cowart's grandfather's home, where they were arrested the next day.

Cowart and Schlesselman made their initial appearances before a federal judge Monday and are scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday in Memphis.

Obama, an Illinois Democrat, is the first African-American nominee to lead a major-party ticket and was placed under Secret Service protection in May 2007, far earlier than other candidates.

Campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass said, "We never comment on security matters."

Threats against Obama have led to arrests in two previous cases. In one, federal prosecutors concluded that the three people arrested with drugs and weapons in a suburban Denver motel posed a "true threat" to the candidate.

In the second, a Florida man was charged with threatening bodily harm against the candidate in August. He has pleaded not guilty.

Amber Alert Canceled for Julian King

Amber Alert Canceled for 7 Year Old Illinois Boy, October 27, 2008: "The Illinois State Police canceled the Amber Alert on Monday morning after the body of a young black male was found in a white Chevy SUV on Chicago's west side. As of this update the police have not released a positive identification of the body but they have officially canceled the Amber Alert. A suspect has been in custody since late Friday night but has not yet been charged."

Lord, Jesus. I don't know what to say.

Seminole Spotlight: Marcus Sims

With injuries taking running backs Antone Smith and Jermaine Thomas out of the game, Marcus Sims played both fullback and tailback on Saturday. The North Florida Christian graduate made the most of his chance to lobby for even more playing time by rushing for 29 yards on eight carries.

He also had two catches for five yards and made some key blocks.
"Marcus came in and played real well," coach Bobby Bowden said. "He's really been important to our football team."

Yeah, yeah, I'm biased. So what?! I have not made it a secret that Marcus Sims is one of my favorites on the team. He's a wonderful young man and I want to see him carry the ball even more this year. We need him for the rest of the year, Jimbo. I especially want to see him kick the crap out of Florida. I personally believe he is as powerful a full back as William Floyd. Still looking for great things from him.

FSU jumps to No. 16 in AP and coaches' poll

FSU jumps to No. 16 in AP and coaches' poll Tallahassee Democrat: "Dekoda Watson was hoping that Florida State had played well enough to rank No. 18 in the latest national polls. His Seminoles did better than that in jumping up to No. 16 in both the USA Today coaches poll and the Associated Press poll."

That’s great news,” Watson said. “I am very happy. We’re trying to bring it back. … The good thing about it is it doesn’t have to stop here. We can keep it going and that’s what we plan to do.”
It is the highest ranking for the Seminoles since being ranked ninth against Clemson on Sept. 16, 2006.
“It’s been a little while,” offensive lineman Rodney Hudson said. “We feel good about it but we got to keep working…”

Twenty-seven games had passed since FSU was one of three ACC schools ranked in the top 25.
North Carolina is No. 22 and Maryland is No. 25. Tech is the first among teams outside of the top 25 receiving votes in the USA Today poll.

Gov. Palin to Obama: This Isn't Over Yet

Lakeland, FL: "Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had a pointed message Sunday for Barack Obama: This thing isn't over yet."

Palin said the Democratic presidential nominee was acting as if he's already won the election and had already written his inaugural address.

"Barack Obama and I both have spent quite some time on the basketball court," Palin told a raucous crowd of more than 5,000 at the Tampa Convention enter. "But where I come from, you have to win the game before you start cutting down the net."

Nine days before the election, Palin was making another push to sway voters in the battleground state of Florida, where polls show Republican nominee John McCain trails Obama in the fight for the state's 27 electoral votes. The Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Orlando, where Palin was concentrating her efforts Sunday, is where most of the state's undecided voters live. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.

"You kinda get the feeling that the Obama campaign thinks this whole election process is just a formality," she said. "They've overlooked, though, the minor detail of earning your confidence and your trust and winning your vote.

"And judging from the media coverage, it does seem the coronation is already set," Palin said.
Obama's campaign said the claim that he has written an inaugural address is "completely false." Spokesman Bill Burton said the reference to an address came from a New York Times report Saturday that former White House chief of staff John D. Podesta had written a draft inaugural speech for Obama and included it in a recent book. Burton said Podesta wrote it as a sample address, not for Obama but for whoever became the nominee.

Palin also addressed recent reports that the Republican Party spent $150,000 on clothes and accessories on her for the campaign.

"This whole thing with the wardrobe, I try to just ignore it because it's so ridiculous," Palin said.
"Those clothes, they are not my property, just like the lighting and the staging and everything else the RNC purchased," she said. "I'm not taking them with me. I'm back to wearing my old clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska."

Palin talked about her accessories Sunday: earrings that were a gift from her husband's Yup'ik Eskimo mother, and "a $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself. Because with my ring, I always thought, it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents."

Palin continued her criticism of an Obama economic plan that she says amounts to socialism, characterizing him as "Barack the wealth-spreader." She vowed that McCain would allow people to keep more of their money, and accused Obama of not telling the whole truth about what she said are his plans to redistribute wealth.

Later at a rally in Kissimmee, Palin said: "Florida, you have a choice between a politician who puts his faith in government and a leader who puts his faith in you. There's only one man in this race who's always fought for you, and that's John McCain."

Alaska's largest newspaper endorses Obama

The Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's largest newspaper, endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Sunday after declaring Gov. Sarah Palin "too risky" to be one step away from the Oval Office.

"Like picking (Republican presidential candidate John) McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time," The Daily News said.

The newspaper said Obama "brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand."

The Daily News said since the economic crisis has emerged, McCain has "stumbled and fumbled badly" in dealing with it.

"Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it," the paper said.

The Daily News said Palin has shown the country why she is a success as governor. But the paper said few would argue that Palin is truly ready to step into the job of being president despite her passion, charisma and strong work ethic.

"Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency — but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation," the paper said.

Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says

Well, looky, looky...

With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

Um huh...who's the Maverick now?

The Heffa Lied...

Republican campaign worker who told police she was assaulted by a man angered by a John McCain sticker on her car admitted she made up the report, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, assistant police chief said Friday.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, has been charged with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor, and may face more charges, said Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard at a news conference.

Todd is incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail but had not been arraigned Friday night.

Todd was a volunteer for a John McCain phone bank in Pittsburgh, the campaign said.

"This has wasted so much time. ... It's just a lot of wasted man hours," Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said at the same briefing.

The woman told investigators a man approached her Wednesday night at an ATM in Pittsburgh's East End, put a blade to her neck and demanded money, Richard said.

Police said they found "several inconsistencies" in Todd's statement and she was not seen in surveillance videos taken at the ATM. She was asked to take a polygraph test Friday morning, Richard said. The results were not made public.

Later, Todd came to the police station to help work on a composite sketch of the alleged attacker. When she arrived, Todd "told them she just wanted to tell the truth" -- that she was not robbed, and there was no attacker, Bryant said.

Todd originally told police a man "punched her in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground, and he continued to punch and kick her while threatening to teach her a lesson for being a McCain supporter," according to a police statement.

The woman also told police her attacker "called her a lot of names and stated that 'You are going to be a Barack supporter,' at which time she states he sat on her chest, pinning both her hands down with his knees, and scratched into her face a backward letter 'B' on the right side of her face using what she believed to be a very dull knife."

Bryant described Todd as "very cordial, polite, cooperating," and said the woman was surprised by all the media attention. Asked whether the false report was politically motivated, Bryant replied, "It's difficult to say."

"She is stating that she was in her vehicle driving around, and she came up with this idea," she said. "She said she has prior mental problems and doesn't know how the backward letter 'B' got on her face."

However, Todd was the only one in the vehicle, and "when she saw the 'B' she thought she must have been the one who did it," Bryant said.

"We're talking with the district attorney's office and conferring on just how we're going to handle it," she said. "It's been different stories through the night and this morning."

She said there was no indication that anyone else was involved.

Richard said the woman had described her alleged attacker as an African-American, 6 feet 4 inches tall with a medium build and short dark hair, wearing dark clothing and shiny shoes.

Before the revelation that the report was false, McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said that McCain and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "spoke to the victim and her family after learning about the incident."

The Obama campaign also had issued a statement wishing the woman a "speedy recovery."

Sherraye Speaks: The South Will Rise Again

Haven't been feeling well but I got out of bed to post about Jennifer Hudson.

While I was watching CNN to see what, if anything, else I could fiind out, I listened to Ed Hunter telling about how a man came up to him in a bar and told him that this is not over because McCain is going to win. Hunter asked him how he thought McCain would win. The man replied, "The South will rise again. The South will rise again." The man repeated the phrase several times. That sent chills down my spine because it strengthened what I have been feeling for the last few days.

I believe Barack Obama will win but I also believe that his Presidency will spark a backlash across the South. I believe that the presence of the Klan and skinheads will become more visible. And I say more visible because I know that the Klan is in full force. They are just laying low. All of that, however, will change with an Obama win.

I believe that there will be violence perpetrated against black citizens by some of these neo-nazi, white supremist groups to send a message to the N-words that they need to get back in place.

I'm also looking to see an increase in the case load at my law firm [we specialize in Employment Discrimination] because I believe that some emplyers will need to show some of these uppity N-words who really runs this country.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't believe I am. So I am writing this to tell all of you who believe in prayer and know that prayer is powerful to begin to pray over your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your country and YOUR PRESIDENT. Don't be afraid. Be vigilant. When the South rises again, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against it.

But I hope I'm wrong.

Jennifer Hudson's mother and brother found dead in their home

The mother and brother of singer and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson were found shot to death inside a home Friday.

Police have confirmed Hudson's mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, 57, is one of the deceased. The other victim has been identified as Jennifer Hudson's brother, Jason S. Hudson, 29.

search is underway for a young boy who is missing from the home. Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, has been missing since Friday morning, according to Area 2 Deputy Chief Joseph Patterson.

Patterson said neighbors reported hearing shots between 8 and 9 a.m.

State police have issued an amber alert for the child. He may be with William Balfour, who police are looking for. Relatives said Balfour is the husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia.

Police are searching for an SUV that was seen in the area - a 1994 white Suburban, Illinois license plate number X584859.

He could also be driving a teal or green Chrysler Concorde, four-door with temporary tags 332K823.

Balfour is believed to have lived in the house where the bodies.

Lord, have mercy. Jennifer, I'm so sorry for your loss. More important, I am praying for you.

Read the rest.

Ugly election incidents show lingering U.S. racism

Two weeks before an election that could install the first black U.S. president, scattered ugly incidents have reflected a deep residue of racism among some segments of white America.

A cardboard likeness of Barack Obama was found strung from fishing wire at a university, the Democratic presidential nominee's face was depicted on mock food stamps, the body of a black bear was left at another university with Obama posters attached to it.

Though the incidents are sporadic and apparently isolated, they stirred up memories of the violent racial past of a country where segregation and lynchings only ended within the last 50 years.

And some feared that Obama could be a target for people who reject him on racial grounds alone. The Illinois senator leads Republican rival John McCain in polls ahead of the November 4 election and has a big following in many sections of Americans, from liberals to conservatives, black and white, poor and wealthy.

"Many whites feel they are losing their country right before their eyes," said Mark Potok, who directs the Southern Poverty Law Center that monitors hate groups. "What we are seeing at this moment is the beginning of a real backlash."

Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said the incidents were disappointing but he said there were fewer than some had predicted.

"We've always acknowledged that race is not something that's been eradicated from our politics," said Axelrod. "But we've never felt that it would be an insuperable barrier and I don't think that it will be."

The latest incident occurred on Monday when the body of bear cub was found on the campus of Western Carolina University in North Carolina. Obama campaign signs were placed around the dead animal's head. School officials said it was a prank.

Earlier a cardboard likeness of Obama was strung up with fishing wire from a tree at a university in Oregon and an Ohio man hung a figure bearing an Obama sign from a tree in his yard. The man told local media he didn't want to see an African-American running the country.

ANGRY INDIVIDUALS

Potok said the displays of racism did not appear orchestrated as part of a campaign of racial intimidation, but were rather the acts of angry individuals. Their voices are often heard in radio call-back shows or letters to editors.

Many Americans "see the rise of minority rights, gay rights, women's rights as a threat to the world they grew up in and that their parents grew up in. They see huge demographic changes," he said.

"They see jobs disappearing to other countries, and now they see a man who is African American and who will very likely become president of the United States. For some of those people that symbolizes the end of the world as they know it."

He estimated there were as many as 800 white supremacy or nationalist groups in the United States, with at least 100,000 as "an inner core" of membership and many more on the fringes.

One such group, the League of American Patriots, last month distributed literature about why a "black ruler" would destroy the country.

Michigan State University professor Ronald Hall, writing in his new book "Racism in the 21st Century," said racism remains one of the most pressing U.S. social problems, though it now takes forms that are more subtle than the lynchings and mob violence seen decades ago in some parts of the country.

Some groups tagged with racist acts deny the charge.

In California, a Republican group said it intended no racial overtone when its October newsletter depicted a fake food stamp bearing a likeness of Obama's head on a donkey's body surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and other images evoking insulting stereotypes about African-Americans.

Some acts have targeted not Obama's black heritage -- his father was Kenyan and his white mother was from Kansas -- but the false notion that he is a Muslim.

A derogatory billboard in West Plains, Mo., went up last month showing a caricature of Obama wearing a turban.

"There are a lot of Republicans and McCain supporters who find it hard to believe that a black guy whose middle name is Hussein is going to be the next president of the United States," said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

David Wolff, a 52-year-old white Pennsylvania voter who plans to cast his ballot for Obama, said he commonly hears racist comments and thinks such sentiments are deeply rooted across America.

"One thing that could speed up the eradication of racism would be to have a charismatic, inspirational, transformational, generational black president," he said.

Colin Powell endorses Obama

Colin Powell, a Republican who was President Bush's first secretary of state, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday and criticized the tone of Republican John McCain's campaign.

The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said either candidate, both of them senators, is qualified to be commander in chief. But he said Obama is better suited to handle the nation's economic problems as well as help improve its standing in the world.

"It isn't easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that," Powell, interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press," said of his longtime friend, the Arizona senator.

But, he added: "I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain."

Powell's endorsement has been much anticipated because he is a Republican with impressive foreign policy credentials, a subject on which Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, is weak. Powell is a Republican centrist who is popular among moderate voters.

At the same time, Powell is a black man and Obama would be the nation's first black president. Powell said he was cognizant of the racial aspect of his endorsement, but said that was not the dominant factor in his decision. If it was, he said, he would have made the endorsement months ago.

Powell expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain's campaign, his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate and McCain's and Palin's decision to focus in the closing weeks of the contest on Obama's ties to 1960s-era radical William Ayers. A co-founder of the Weather Underground, which claimed responsibility for nonfatal bombings during the Vietnam War-era, Ayers is now a college professor who lives in Obama's Chicago neighborhood. He and Obama also served together on civic boards in Chicago.

"This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign," Powell said. "But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?"

Powell said McCain's choice of Palin raised questions about judgment.

"I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States," Powell said.

McCain seemed dismissive of Powell's endorsement, saying he had support from four other former secretaries of state, all veterans of Republican administrations: Henry Kissinger, James A. Baker III, Lawrence Eagleburger and Alexander Haig.

"Well, I've always admired and respected Gen. Powell. We're longtime friends. This doesn't come as a surprise," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Asked whether Powell's endorsement would undercut his campaign's assertion that Obama is not ready to lead, McCain said: "Well, again, we have a very, we have a respectful disagreement, and I think the American people will pay close attention to our message for the future and keeping America secure."

Obama called Powell to thank him for the endorsement, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

"I am beyond honored and deeply humbled to have the support of Gen. Colin Powell," Obama said in remarks prepared for a rally in Fayetteville, N.C. "Gen. Powell has defended this nation bravely, and he has embodied our highest ideals through his long and distinguished public service. ...And he knows, as we do, that this is a moment where we all need to come together as one nation — young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Republican and Democrat."

Powell said he remains a Republican, even though he sees the party moving too far to the right. Powell supports abortion rights and affirmative action, and said McCain and Palin, both opponents of abortion, could put two more conservative justices on the Supreme Court.

"I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration," Powell said.

Powell, 71, gained popularity while serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation's top military commander, during the first Gulf war under President George H.W. Bush. After retiring from the military, speculation mounted that he would run for president in 1996 — perhaps becoming the nation's first black president — but Powell opted against it.

As secretary of state, he helped make the case before the United Nations for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, launched in March 2003.

Powell said the nation's economic crisis provided a "final exam" of sorts for both Obama and McCain.

"In the case of Mr. McCain I found that he was a little unsure as to how to deal with the economic problems that we were having," Powell said. "Almost everyday there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me, sensing that he doesn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had."

In contrast, Powell said Obama "displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this. ..."

"I think that he has a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well," Powell said.

Powell said he does not plan to campaign for Obama.

Greg Howard Can Keep His Job

MARIANNA­ ---A 3-2 vote by the School Board to uphold Jackson County Schools Superintendent Daniel Sims’ recommendations for disciplining a middle school teacher for writing a racial slur in class nearly caused an uprising Thursday night.

Nothing appeared to divide Jackson County’s families and School Board members more than what type of disciplinary action teacher Greg Howard should receive.

Howard is the Marianna Middle School teacher who wrote a racially charged comment on an erase board in his seventh grade social studies class. Howard altered the commonly used phrase from presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign from the word change to “C.H.A.N.G.E. – Come Help a (N-word) Get Elected.”

Sims recommended Howard receive a 10-day suspension without pay – worth about $2,500 and a written reprimand. Howard is required to write letters of apology to students, give up his coaching duties and any pay associated with coaching and take diversity sensitivity training. The vote was taken despite strong comments from the audience.

My response:

I don't really know how I feel about this. I mean, from everything I know about this incident, the man was joking. It was in poor taste, for sure, but it was a joke nonetheless. In fact, I received a text message from a friend with the same information in it. I laughed 'cause it was funny. The difference is, my friend is black so I wasn't offended. I don't know enough about this to say more but I will say this. Some people just want the spotlight and they will hop thier behinds in it no matter who they destroy in the process. Why don't we attend board meetins over the fact that our children are still scoring lower on standardized tests than their white counterparts. Why don't we stop allowing teacher's unions to lie to us and tell us that vouchers, charter schools, and other methods of school choice is bad for our kids when in reality it's only bad for them. This looks too much like the blind leading the blind. Yeah...I said that. Whatever.

MLK's Kids Fightin' Over Love Letters

Coretta Scott King kept the love letters beneath her bed, in a blue Samsonite suitcase.

The amorous writings of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., were among the most cherished possessions of a famously private person, said Lynn Cothren, Mrs. King’s special assistant for 23 years. “That’s why she kept them so close, in her room, underneath her bed.”

But Tuesday, those letters and other “intimate correspondence” between the Kings are expected to be in a far less private place: Fulton County Superior Court. The papers are caught in an increasingly bitter and public dispute among her three living children.

On one side is Dexter King, head of the corporation that handles the rights to his father’s works. In May, he negotiated a $1.4 million contract to publish a biography of his mother. It would be co-written by the Rev. Barbara Reynolds, a journalist-turned-minister who taped conversations with Mrs. King before she died in January 2006.

On the other side is Dexter King’s younger sister, Bernice King, who has refused to hand over the intimate correspondence between her parents for use in the biography. Bernice King says her mother didn’t want Reynolds to write the book and that the correspondence belongs to Mrs. King’s estate, which she controls.

The family corporation that Dexter King leads, called King Inc., is seeking a temporary restraining order that would force Bernice King to give the papers to Reynolds. A judge ordered her to bring the letters and photos to court Tuesday, though they are not expected to be shown in court. At stake is the book contract with Penguin Group, the New York-based publisher that has threatened to pull out should Bernice King fail to hand over the papers by Friday.

Cothren is among those watching from the sidelines — and wincing.

“Mrs. King deserves something that was just her and Dr. King without sharing it with everybody else,” Cothren said. “It was one of the few things just for her.”

Even Reynolds, who would be paid $200,000 under the Penguin deal, is having second thoughts. She had hoped to finish the biography with the blessings of all the children, not watch it fuel more litigation between them.

“This fight is about control and money and materialism,” she said from her home in Maryland. “These are the things that Dr. King preached against. I don’t know what I’m going to do at this point.”

Durn Shame...

Read the rest.

Bowden is Out

Clemson fired football coach Tommy Bowden today, four days after the Tigers lost to Wake Forest and fell to 3-3, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

They just told us. It's what he deserved," said senior quarterback Cullen Harper, who was benched after the Tigers' loss to Wake Forest loss and replaced by highly regarded sophomore Willy Korn. "Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job.

Harper struggled playing behind an inexperienced offensive line this season. His father, Jeff Harper, an offensive lineman on Georgia's 1980 national championship team, said Bowden's dismissal was justified.

"I'd call it karma," he said. "I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he's done that."

Clemson running back C.J. Spiller had mixed emotions seeing Bowden let go.

"I'm shocked. We are 3-3 because we didn't make enough big offensive plays," Spiller said. "I'm shocked by our record and now I'm shocked that our coach is gone.

"I enjoyed playing for coach Bowden and I liked him, but in the end he was yelling at us to be leaders and it wasn't working. He did all he could to motivate us but guys weren't buying into what he was saying. And he said a lot of the same things over and over again.

"He let the offensive coordinator [Rob Spence] run the show and we got away from me and James [Davis]. I think part of the problem was when he benched Cullen. Some people wanted the offensive coordinator fired, [Bowden benched] the quarterback and then he got fired."

While the Tallahassee Democrat reports that Bowden was fired, ESPN.COM reports that he "resigned.

Um huh...he resigned...right after they fired him. But I ain't mad. Matter fact I'm glad. Now, I don't have to root for Clemson anymore. The only reason I tried to get with them was because Tommy was Bobby's boy. Now, I hope they lose every game they play. And how classless is Cullen Harper? He should have kept his mouth closed. The fact of the matter is that he deserved to be benched with that raggedy performance he gave Thursday night. Both he and his father need to learn when to talk when to shut the heck up.

Tommy is coming out of this pretty good too. Bowden will be paid through the end of the season, then get $3.5 million as a buyout negotiated in the contract extension both sides agreed to last December. Boy, white folks sho'll don't get fired like us.

Come on to Tallahassee, Tommy. We'll leave the light on for you.

Buckley's Son: 'Sorry Dad, I'm Voting for Obama'

The son of the late conservative thinker William F. Buckley is endorsing Barack Obama, though he still considers himself a conservative.

In an article entitled, "Sorry Dad, I'm Voting for Obama," on The Daily Beast, Christopher Buckley writes that Republican John McCain has betrayed his principals. McCain has changed positions on important issues, made promises he cannot keep, endorsed unworkable policies, and selected the inexperienced Sarah Palin as his running mate, Buckley writes.

The Arizona senator has lost his bearings, according to Buckley, while Obama has found his. Obama has demonstrated in the campaign that he has a "first-class temperament."

"I've read Obama's books, and they are first-rate," writes Buckley, a novelist and columnist for National Review, the conservative magazine his father founded. "He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine.

"He is also a lefty. I am not,'' concedes Buckley. "I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I'm libertarian.

"But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect. Obama has in him, I think - despite his sometimes airy-fairy 'We are the people we have been waiting for' silly rhetoric - the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for."
What the moment is not calling for, according to Buckley, is the Alaska governor McCain has chosen as his replacement if he is incapacitated or dies in office. Buckley joins other conservatives - columnists Kathleen Parker and David Brooks - in harshly criticizing Palin over the last week. Brooks, a conservative columnist for The New York Times who was hired for his first job by Buckley's father at the National Review, has called Palin "a cancer on the Republican Party."

Buckley points out that he has written admirably about McCain and has known him since 1982. He has long thought that McCain would be great president. He also points out that McCain bravely supported the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq when Obama and other feckless politicians were "caterwauling."

"But that was - sigh - then. John McCain has changed," Buckley writes. "This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget 'by the end of my first term.' Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?"

RedNecks for Obama