Detroit: Targeted (and Killed) by the FBI for Radical Speech?

A radical black community/religious leader was shot dead by the FBI on Wednesday. No one seems to give a crap. After all, we are being told this dead man was the aggressor. That he was a corrupt criminal, raking profits through illegal business. We are being told he wanted to overthrow the US Govt and install sharia law. We are being told he talked about terrorist attacks.

A couple things. This has nothing to do with domestic terrorism (there are no terrorist charges). The only crime here was conceived of and proposed by the FBI - the sale of some stolen cars (it appears). I've seen no evidence that Mr. Abdullah was engaged in criminal enterprise besides this FBI scheme.

No, in fact, Abdullah was as broke as they come - with a dumpy truck living in the ghetto of Detroit. His mosque was evicted from their digs 10 months ago.

Abdullah's son said the closest Abdullah came to espousing a radical overthrow of the government is to suggest the creation of Islamic law in certain neighborhoods to combat theft, drugs, prostitution and other crimes... "peace where the children can run and play,” he said.”

Is it beyond the pale to simply ask what exactly transpired, where this man had to be shot dead? Can we ask why exactly the FBI was spending so much time spying on this group - the "Ummah"? Was this car selling scheme so dangerous that a full-on raid was needed?

As for Abdullah's character, here is what the leader of the (moderate) Council on American-Islamic Relations, Michigan chapter, said: “I know him as a respected imam in the Muslim community... We have no information about illegal activity going on at that mosque.” He “would give the shirt off his back to people. The congregation he led was poor. He fed very hungry people in the neighborhood who were Christian. He helped and assisted a lot of troubled youth. People would come up to him who were hungry and he would let them sleep in the mosque. He would let them in from the elements.”

The leader of this supposed group (the "Ummah") is 60s radical H. Rapp Brown (now Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin), who was spied on by the Feds in SNCC and the Black Panthers in the 60s - and now in the 00s apparently. It would be understandable if the group had a sour view of the Feds. But that is not a crime. And neither is idle (non-threatening) speech. Without the FBI invented crime, that is all we have here.

Plus a dead body and 11 in jail. And no one gives a hoot.

1 in 50 US Children are Homeless

A reporter from Ebony magazine asked President Obama about homelessness tonight - a topic that probably has not been asked at Presidential press conference in 25 years. The question was based on a recent study that slipped by 2 weeks ago, reporting that child homelessness had increased to a frightening and shameful level during the mid 2000s.

Obama's response showed a real commitment to tackling the issue. After saying he was "heartbroken" and reciting the hoped for benefits of his economic plan, ee said he hopes to impart on people in Washington that it is "not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours." A moral argument.

From Time Magazine:

Even before the financial and home foreclosure crisis hit full stride, the number of homeless children in America had reached an alarming level. The National Center on Family Homelessness released a report today that estimates that one in every 50 American children was homeless between 2005 and 2006. That totals roughly 1.5 million kids.
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The numbers are likely to get worse as the economy continues to decline. "We know the numbers are going to skyrocket," says Ellen Bassuk, president of the Newton, Mass.-based Center and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School.
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Indeed, a quick survey of the country provides lots of evidence to support those fears. Chicago public school officials report the number of its 405,000 students deemed homeless soared to 11,143 last month from 9,182 in February 2006.
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According to the new report, the states with the highest number of homeless children in the period studied were Texas (337,105), California (292,624), Louisiana (204,053), Georgia (58,397) and Florida (49,886). Roughly three-quarters of homeless children are of elementary school age, and 42% are below age six.
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It's the narrative that Trisha Parker, 19, is hoping to avoid for her infant son. Parker can't live with her mother, who receives federal housing assistance, and neither can she live with her grandmother in the Chicago suburbs much longer. Parker says she completed training to be a medical technician, but couldn't find work in the field. She was recently hired as a security guard, earning $11 an hour. But that's hardly enough to afford even a $600 a month studio apartment. Larger units are beyond her reach. "They want the first and last month's security deposit" which is, she figures, about $2,000, maybe $2,500. "It really is a lot."

Judges: Miami School Board Can Ban Cuba Book

This is a subversive book, now legally banned in the Miami Schools. The irony could not be more delicious.

By WALTER PUTNAM
ATLANTA (AP) — Miami school officials can remove from library shelves a book about Cuba that depicts smiling children in communist uniforms but avoids mention of problems in the country, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
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"There is a difference between not including graphic detail about adult subjects on the one hand and falsely representing that everything is hunky dory on the other," Judge Ed Carnes wrote.

Circuit Judge Charles R. Wilson wrote in dissent that it appeared the book was banned for political rather than educational reasons.

Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said the two judges managed "to twist the law into a pretzel."

"But what can't be evaded is censorship, is censorship, is censorship. I'm sorry, there is no way to evade that," Simon said. He promised "further legal action to prevent the shelves of Miami-Dade school libraries from being scrubbed of books that some people find to have an objectionable view point."

The 2001 book by Alta Schreier contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and celebrating the country's 1959 revolution. In discussing daily life, the book says children work, study and play the same way children in other countries do.

Juan Amador, whose complaint prompted the board to pursue the book's removal, was outraged that the book made no mention of lack of civil liberties, political indoctrination of school children, food rationing or child labor. He said in his complaint to the school board that the book "portrays a life in Cuba that does not exist."

ACLU attorney JoNel Newman had argued at a 2007 hearing that political discussions need not be required for books for elementary students. She questioned whether a book about the Great Wall of China must mention Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong.

Detroit: Indifference to Dead Man Encased in Ice

DETROIT (AP) -- In an abandoned warehouse, the image was stark and shocking: two denim-clad, lifeless legs poking up through trash-choked ice.

Investigators who took three 911 calls over two days before finally going out to retrieve the body will now try to figure out what killed the man, but this much is clear -- it's become another symbol of Detroit's decay and indifference.
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"Most of us grew up with this," said Mike Corbin, 34, pointing toward the old warehouse and brooding, dilapidated Michigan Central train depot nearby. ''It's depressing. Chicago and New York have their own problems, but those are in certain areas. But in Detroit, it's the entire city."
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"When you hear somebody say it's a dead body near a train station, you say 'and?'" said 28-year-old Bianca Glenn over her vegan Jamaican stew at the Mercury Coffee Bar near the abandoned warehouse. "I'm kind of desensitized to it."


Scott Ruben, 38, one of the homeless men living in the building, had noticed the body for weeks but didn't report it.

Detroit News:

A colony of homeless men live in the warehouse. Wednesday morning a few fires were burning inside oil drums. Scott Ruben, 38, huddled under filthy blankets not 20 paces from the elevator shaft.

His shack mate, Kenneth Williams, 47, returned at that point with an armload of wood.

"Yeah, he's been down there since last month at least... I thought it was a dummy myself," he said unconvincingly. Besides, Williams said, there were more pressing issues like keeping warm and finding something to eat. "You got a couple bucks?" he asked.
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There are at least 19,000 homeless people in Detroit, by some estimates. Put another way, more than 1 in 50 people here are homeless.

The human problem is so bad, and the beds so few, that some shelters in the city provide only a chair. The chair is yours as long as you sit in it. Once you leave, the chair is reassigned.

Thousands of down-on-their-luck adults do nothing more with their day than clutch onto a chair. This passes for normal in some quarters of the city.

"I hate that musical chair game," Ruben said. He said he'd rather live next to a corpse.

CA Court: Private Schools Can Expel Gay Students

LA Times:
By Maura Dolan
January 28, 2009

After a Lutheran school expelled two 16-year-old girls for having "a bond of intimacy" that was "characteristic of a lesbian relationship," the girls sued, contending the school had violated a state anti-discrimination law.

In response to that suit, an appeals court decided this week that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating.
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Kirk D. Hanson, who represented the girls, said the "very troubling" ruling would permit private schools to discriminate against anyone, as long as the schools used their religious beliefs as justification.

"It is almost like it could roll back 20 to 30 years of progress we have made in this area," said the San Diego attorney. "Basically, this decision gives private schools the license to discriminate."

Michigan: Man Freezes to Death over Unpaid Bill

AP: Freezing Death of Mich. Man in House Sparks Anger

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -- When neighbors went inside Marvin Schur's house, the windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet, and the 93-year-old World War II veteran lay dead on the bedroom floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing.

He froze to death -- slowly and painfully, authorities say -- days after the electric company installed a power-limiting device because of more than $1,000 in unpaid bills.
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City Electric Light & Power did not contact Schur face-to-face to notify him of the device and explain how it works, instead following its usual policy by leaving a note on the door. But neighbors said Schur rarely, if ever, left the house in the cold.

"I think the utility's policies are horrible and insane," he added. "For 50 years he paid the bill on a regular basis and never had problems. If people would know who their customers are and take concern for their customers, maybe they'd go knock on the door and see if everything is OK."
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One blogger noted that even a pet owner who leaves his dog outside to freeze can face charges.
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"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."

3rd Economy Related Mass Murder in S. California

Neighbors attend a community meeting in Wilmington, Calif, after finding out about the death of a family in their neighborhood.

In Los Angeles' third family mass murder in six months, a man distraught over job problems shot dead his wife and five young children before turning the gun on himself.

BBC: In the fax sent to KABC-TV, the man allegedly claimed he and his wife had been fired from jobs as medical technicians and she suggested they kill their children and themselves.

"Why leave the children to a stranger?" the man wrote, according to KABC.

"We have no job and five children under eight years old with no place to go. So here we are," the fax continued.

"Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?" it concluded.
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"Unfortunately, this has become an all too common story in the last few months but that does not, and should not, lead people to resort to extreme measures. Help is available. Resources exist," the mayor (of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigrosa) said.

Did anyone ask the fair Mayor WHAT help exactly does the City, State or Country provide to a man and woman who loses their jobs (both at my and can't provide a home, food or basic dignity? WHAT? In the Empire you lose your job with your wife and you are out on your ass. With 5 kids you are basically f'd - having to give the children up or living on the streets or a shelters if they are lucky?

UPDATE: The LA Times is reporting that the husband (Lupoe) and his wife (Ana) recently were fired from their hospital jobs after being investigated for lying about their income to qualify for cheaper child care.

I did not think the story could get more depressing. I was wrong.