Strike First, Ask Questions Later

I'll just start this one off by saying that  some things never change.

The sharp cracks echoing from the East Bakersfield street were loud enough to jolt Ruben Ceballos from a midnight slumber. Then he heard screams.

The 19-year-old jumped from his living room sofa and hurried to the kitchen door, which offered a view of the violent scene outside, Kern County sheriff's deputies repeatedly striking a man in the head with batons as he lay on the pavement begging for his life.

"I saw two sheriff's deputies on top of this guy, just beating him," Ceballos said in an interview Monday. "He was screaming in pain … asking for help. He was incapable of fighting back he was outnumbered, on the ground. They just beat him up."

The man was David Sal Silva, 33, a father of four, and he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. The altercation last week was videotaped by witnesses and has sent the Central Valley into turmoil.

One woman frantically called 911, telling the operator: "The guy was laying on the floor and eight sheriffs ran up and started beating him up with sticks. The man is dead laying right here, right now. I got it all on video camera and I'm sending it to the news. These cops have no reason to do this to this man."

In an unusual move, sheriff's officials later detained for several hours two witnesses who had videotaped the incident on their phones. They were released only after they surrendered their phones to deputies.

To say that this is an unusual move is an extreme understatement. These officers basically took innocent citizens into custody and held them hostage in their own homes as if they lived in a military state.

"It makes it look like a coverup," said David Cohn, a lawyer for Silva's children and parents, adding that he has not been able to see the footage.

 "What we're all concerned about is, 'Are these videos going to be altered? Are they going to be deleted?' "

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said in an interview Monday that it was too early in the investigation to reach any conclusions about Silva's death. But he defended the decision to take custody of the phones as a way of preserving possible evidence. The sheriff said his office obtained a search warrant for the phones.

"We still have to secure the evidence, especially when the evidence can tell us whether we did it right or wrong," Youngblood said.

A gang of cops mercilessly beating a man to death is murder, so, yes Sheriff, you did it wrong! What reasonable human being needs to watch footage to figure that out?! 

He said his agency, to remove the appearance of any conflict, has asked the Bakersfield Police Department to analyze the phone videos.

The local news in Bakersfield broadcast a security camera video from the scene showing grainy images of figures pummeling someone on the ground, with about 20 swings of what appear to be batons or sticks. It's difficult to see Silva in the seven minute video or how many of those swings connected.

This makes me nervous. The Rodney King video was crystal clear, and those Police Officer got away with beating him to within an inch of his life.

An earlier statement by the Sheriff's Office said Silva might have been intoxicated and resisted the deputies' efforts to restrain him, forcing them to use their batons. It said six deputies, a sergeant and two California Highway Patrol officers were at the scene. One deputy had a K-9 dog.

Silva stopped breathing and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:44 a.m. Wednesday, the statement said. Youngblood said it could take the coroner's office up to four months to complete toxicology tests and determine a cause of death.

In an email to The Times on Monday, the CHP said it "is deeply sympathetic" to the Silva family and "takes seriously all incidents where an individual dies while in custody." The agency said it could not discuss the matter further because of the investigation.

The Silva episode follows several high-profile brutality cases involving the Kern County Sheriff's Office in recent years.

One led to criminal convictions of three deputies and a $6-million civil judgment in the 2005 death of a jail inmate, according to attorneys. Another resulted in a $4.5-million court award for the family of a man who died in 2010 after being struck 33 times with batons and Tasered 29 times, attorneys said.

A deputy accused in the civil lawsuit over the 2010 death has the same name as one of those who confronted Silva. Youngblood would not confirm that it was the same deputy, however.

According to Cohn, Silva became upset Tuesday morning and abruptly left the home he shared with his girlfriend and their children. He later visited his mother's house before turning up at Kern Medical Center seeking help for some sort of emotional trouble. He left the hospital when a security officer told him he could not sleep there, Cohn said.

Silva fell asleep in front of a house across the street, the spot where the deputies confronted him, the attorney said. He said he did not know if Silva had been drinking. Court databases show that Silva pleaded no contest in 2008 to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace. He was charged with being drunk and disorderly two years later, but the case was dismissed.

So it begins. The inevitable attempt to tarnish the name of the victim. Having a criminal record does not mean that his life is less valuable than someone else's. Silvia's past doesn't matter. The fact that he was savagely beaten and murdered does.

Cohn also represented the son of the inmate killed in 2005, an offshore oil field worker who was arrested after behaving erratically. "They don't seem to have any training when it comes to people with a mental illness," Cohn said of the Sheriff's Office "There seems to be a culture of striking first and asking questions later." 

It seems inevitable to me that Deputy's involved in this murder are going to face prosecution. But if and only if their is a through investigation from an outside agency. The fact that they actually went so far as to detain residents in their own homes even though they were not guilty of anything and seize their personal property shows a flagrant attempt to cover up evidence. If they were smart they would have acted as if they didn't do anything wrong, ignorance on behalf of law enforcement always seems to works  best in these cases. Unfortunately the consequences are always deadly.

PR

1st World Problems

First world problems are problems that really aren't problems at all. They are actually frivolous, petty concerns that anyone in a 3rd world country would be happy to have.

Third World:

1. the underdeveloped nations of the world, especially those with widespread poverty.
   These are countries like Ethiopia, where people don't have enough food, housing, safe drinking water, adequate medical care, indoor plumbing, or transportation. Not to mentions many of the things that most Americans take for granted like education, air conditioning, and  television. 
   These people have real problems. In fact their problems are often a matter of life and death.
   The United States on the other hand is what I would call a 1st world country. The majority of us have the things that people in 3rd world countries can only imagine in abundance. But we still believe that we have problems.
   We are all guilty of having 1st world problems. I know I am.
   GettIng frustrated because you have to rearrange everything in your refrigerator to squeeze in even more food......Is a 1st world problem.
   Complaining about the price of gas, even though you can afford to fill up......is a 1st world problem.
   Agonizing over what pair of shoes to wear with which outfit.....is a 1st world problem.
   Having a hard time finding a program to watch even though you have over a thousand different channels.......is a 1st world problem.
   Getting upset with your spouse for working long hours for excellent pay........is a 1st world problem.
   Last but not least. Actually figuring out what 1st world problems are while stretching out on your king-sized bed, and typing on your IPhone......is definitely a 1st world problem.
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Black and Missing

In the year 2012, 265,000 African-Americans were reported missing in the United States. This is roughly the entire population of Buffalo, New York. Imagine the catastrophic ramifications of an entire  city suddenly disappearing. Then, imagine the pain and anguish of the 265,000 families of those who are missing, knowing that they may never see their loved ones again, in many cases because the system has failed them.

Clifford Hampton Ellis
Missing Since: May 06, 2013
Age Now: 33
Silver Spring, MD

Taylor Robinson
Missing Since: May 03, 2013
Age Now: 19
Akron, OH

There is a considerable disparity between critical media coverage of white missing persons versus for Black ones.

Ava Greenwell, a journalism professor at Northwestern University and former television reporter agrees that coverage of minority missing persons is limited.

“Well, the first thing I would say is you have to look at who the managers are and who is determining coverage and it tends to be people who are not people of color,” Greenwell said. “Who are the managers and how do their backgrounds affect their interests?”

The disparity in missing Black people getting coverage is due to a lack of minority ownership of media outlets. The lack of coverage does not seem to be intentional, but more a reflection of ethnic and racial groups having a “natural affinity for their own group.”

I am not sure if I concur with Greenwell's assessment. Although it is natural to have an affinity for ones own kind. There are some things that we all have a common, families who love us, and lives that matter. There is no great profundity in the reasons why every single missing persons case in this country deserves equal attention. This is a curtesy that should be allowed simply because we are all members if the human race. 

“Missing White Woman Syndrome”

“Missing white woman syndrome” is an expression used by some media and social critics to describe the disproportionate degree of coverage in television, radio, newspaper and magazine reporting of an adversity, most often a missing person case, involving a young, white, upper-middle class (frequently blonde) woman or girl. This degree of coverage is usually contrasted with cases concerning a missing male, or missing females of other ethnicities, socioeconomic classes or physical attractiveness.

Cited instances of the missing white woman syndrome include the cases of Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson.To change the way media covers missing persons of color, Greenwell says that first changes must be made in media management

“First we have to get more people of color in those management positions so they that can make those decisions, “ she said. “Again by saying that I’m assuming that those people of color are going to be sensitive to these issues. Sometimes you can get people of color into those positions and nothing changes for various reasons. It could be for fear of offending their viewers, it could be for fear of if they do something different than what their white predecessors have done that they will be penalized for that.”

People become missing for a variety of reasons. Some minors are abducted by non-custodial parents who decide to take custody of illegally. While others are abducted and sold into sexual slavery in sex trafficking rings, which is a big issue in the United States. There are also kids that are running away as well and there are some people who are missing for unknown reasons.

Overall, here’s what the public should remember. Police say that the first 24 to 48 hours of a person’s disappearance are the most critical and every hour after that decreases the chances of a positive outcome. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cites a statistic from the 2006 study, Case Management for Missing Children Homicide: Report II, which indicates that 76.2 percent of abducted children are killed within the first three hours of being taken. 

This is perhaps the saddest statistic that I have ever read.

 

Joanna Stella Delvalle-Rodriguez 

Missing Since: Jul 21, 2012

Location Last Seen: Joanna Delvalle left her mother's District home near Takoma Park on July 21, 2012, when she was 14 years old. She has not returned to her family.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Shortly before Joanna went missing, the teen's family had moved to the D.C. area from New York City. Joanna was upset about relocating and may have returned to the Big Apple. She could be in the Bronx or Queens, but it is also possible that she is still in the District. Although Joanna voluntarily left home, authorities are still concerned about her well-being.

Missing Since: Apr 25, 2002
Circumstances of Disappearance: Jahi's stepfather, Tieray Jones, who was 23 years old at the time, told police he was in the park at 28th and Cedar streets with the toddler when he left to get a drink at a soda machine nearby. Jones maintains Jahi was playing with other children who were being watched by a woman and that when he returned about 15 minutes later everyone was gone. Jahi's mother Tameka Jones was a sailor in the US Navy and was deployed aboard the U.S.S. Rushmore.

If you have any information in reference to any of the individuals pictured above please contact: 

Black and Missing Foundation, Inc.

P.O. Box 2431

Landover Hills, MD 20784-9431

1 (877) 97-BAMFI (1-877-972-2634)

PR

Brawl On The Bus

Each morning millions of Americans allow their children to ride the school bus. That first school bus ride is like a right of passage for some children because it often represents their first school experience. As parents watching our kids board that big yellow bus every morning, we pray for traveling mercy as our children go on their way, hoping that the bus driver, who acts as our children's temporary guardian is up to the task and challenge that faces them. I am sure that most of them are. But there is always that one.

In Polk County, Florida a fight between two Florida teenagers landed their bus driver behind bars. 

Investigators said a school bus driver took the two girls, 13 and 16 years old, and a bus full of students to her house so the teenagers could fight.

“When we first learned of this we thought, you know, this is so bizarre. It’s got to be true because people can’t make it up,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.

Witnesses said it started when the two girls were arguing on the bus.

“And all of a sudden the school bus driver says, ‘This is going to be handled today. They need to fight’,” said Judd.

According to reports, the bus driver, 29-year-old Patrice Sanders, passed several bus stops to take the students to her house so the girls could fight in her front yard.

“And you know what I want to say to Patrice, come on girl, what are you thinking? How in the world could you allow and promote and encourage children to fight?” said Judd.

When I saw Sherriff Judd make this comment on the news, "come on girl" with his country accent, to me his tone sounded reminded me of the Jim Crow south. Disparaging, and almost patronizing in tone. But Saunders should have never put herself in that position.

After the girls stopped fighting they got back on the bus and started fighting again. Then the students said the bus driver told them “what happens on the bus, stays on the bus”.

“Can you imagine that? Can you imagine all of those iPhones, all of those clips, and she thinks it’s going to stay on the bus,” said Judd.

Neither of the girls suffered any serious injuries during the fights. But they will forever be traumatized by the school bus driver from hell. Patrice Sanders, a woman with a twisted sense of justice, who has not only betrayed the parents who entrusted her with their precious cargo, but she has also given them pause. I know that she has certainly caused me to think twice.

PR

Just When You Thought You Heard It All.......(week ending 5/11)

This story takes loving Jesus to a whole new level.

 Artist Angela Su recently got a tattoo of 39 prayer fragments, done without ink  resulting in a series of red scars across her back.

According to the Japan Times, the painful exercise was meant to resemble the lashes Christ received in the Bible. The artwork is currently on display in an ongoing exhibit titled, "Hong Kong Eye," dedicated to the work of 24 contemporary Hong Kong artists.

Su's tattoo project seeks to address self-mutilation practices in our culture, from simple tattoos to other acts of body modification. On her blog, the artist provides disturbing details of the process. 

 I love Jesus, I really do, but he died for me, and suffered so that I wouldn't have to. Besides, that looks really painful.

This week in stupid criminal news,

A man arrested for trying to steal a case of beer had a very unusual accessory to the crime: A mouse in his pocket. Jacobson, 20, allegedly attempted to swipe a case as it was being unloaded at a store in Cedar Hills, Oregon, but was caught by the distributor who chased after him. 

Jacobson reportedly threw the beer at the distributor, striking him in the face, before sprinting onto the Nike campus in Beaverton where he was apprehended with help of the K-9 crew & arrested.

When Jacobson was taken into custody, deputies allegedly found a live mouse in his pocket. The suspect's father was then contacted to claim possession of the mouse before his son was taken to jail and charged with robbery and theft. Bail was set at 20,000, but the beer costs $12.99.

No charges have been filed against the mouse who claims that he was forced to participate in the scheme against his will.

This last story is proof of something that I have always suspected. Bacon makes everything better.

How do you live to be 105 years old? By eating bacon every single day, according to 105-year-old Texas woman Pearl Cantrell.

The grandmother has outlived three of her seven children as well as her husband. But her secret to a long life isn’t regular exercise or a vegetarian diet, but rather eating fatty pieces of delicious bacon every single day.

“I love bacon and eat it everyday,” Cantrell said. “I don’t feel as old as I am, that’s all I can say.” 

A Grandma after my own heart!

PR

Finally Free/A Real Hero

In this crazy world triumph over tragedy is always good news. Especially when a hero emerges in the midst of it all.

Neighbor Charles Ramsey said he was at home when he saw a man from across the street running to the house next door. When Ramsey went outside, he said, he saw a young woman who said she was trying to escape the house.

I heard screaming. I'm eating my McDonald's. I come outside. I see this girl goin' NUTS.

I'm callin' 911 for Amanda Berry? I thought this girl was dead, you know what I mean?... And the detective, uh (f, Cook! Detective Cook says, Charles, you know who you rescued? 

That girl Amanda told the police, I ain't just the only one. It's some more girls up in that house. My neighbor said, You got some big testicles to pull this off, bro...

I barbecued with this dude! We eat RIBS and what not, and listen to salsa music!... There's nothin' exciting about him, until TODAY. Hehehe. I knew somethin' was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man's arms. Somethin' is WRONG here. Dead giveaway! Deaaaddddd giveaway. Deaaaaadddddddddddddd giveaway. She's got problems. That's the only reason she's running to a black man!"

Ramsey is the kind of Black man that most African-Americans never want to see on the news. His cartoonish manner, failure to speak properly, and outward appearance make him seem like a walking stereo type. He has been and internet sensation, and the butt of tongue in cheek jokes whispered amongst the media who are doing everything except saying that he represents the African-American majority. But none of that matters. He is still a HERO!

When the door would not open Ramsey helped kick it down, he said, then allowed Berry to call 911. The young woman carried her child through the broken door, and told Ramsey it belonged to her captor. It's unclear who is the child's father.

“Help me, I’m Amanda Berry.”

With one frantic 911 call on Monday evening, three women missing for years were found in a Cleveland house where they had been held against their will by three brothers, police in Ohio said.

“I’ve been kidnapped,” Berry, who disappeared a decade ago, told the dispatcher. “I’ve been missing for 10 years and I’m out here. I’m free now.”

Authorities heaped praise on Berry, now 27 and the mother of a 6-year-old.

"The real hero here is Amanda," said Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba.

Berry and two other women, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, went missing between 2000 and 2004 in separate incidents. The women were all between the ages of 14 and 20 when they vanished.

Neighbors and relatives celebrated the happy ending, but for some, the years had taken their toll. Berry’s mother died in 2006, not knowing whether her daughter was alive or dead.

Three suspects are under arrest former school-bus driver Ariel Castro, 52, and his brothers Pedro, 54, and O'Neal, 50, Cleveland police said. A search warrant related to the arrest was executed by police at an address on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, police said.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said at a Tuesday press conference that there are many unanswered questions: “Why were they taken, how they were taken and how they remained undetected in the city of Cleveland for all this time?”

The three women were taken to nearby Metro Health Medical hospital, along with Berry's child, officials said.

All three women were released from the hospital Tuesday morning, the hospital said in a statement, after reporting earlier in the morning that they had been in "fair condition."

The three disappearances had stumped police in Cleveland and shaken the community for years. Berry was reported missing on April 21, 2003 after she phoned her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a fast food restaurant. About one year after that, 14-year-old DeJesus vanished while walking home from school.

Police said their records showed two visits to the home in recent years. In 2000, they responded to a call about a fight from Ariel Castro. In 2004, after Castro was accused of leaving a child on a bus, authorities went to the house but no one was home.

Authorities said they never stopped looking for the missing women, running down tips and even digging up two backyards. The break came when Berry summoned the courage to escape.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said at a Tuesday press conference that there are many unanswered questions: “Why were they taken, how they were taken and how they remained undetected in the city of Cleveland for all this time?”

Good question, sounds like a system failure to me. A system failure that could have cost these young women there lives. Thank God for Charles Ramsey. The one man who was not afraid to do what Cleveland Police could not.

PR

Side Bar: I've been trying to figure out who Ramsey reminds me of............... "Sho Nuff" from Berry Gordy's "The Last Dragon"! He must have the glow.

The Incredible Shrinking Governor

There are some people who's personalities are so bombastic that they are either liked or hated. There is little room for a gray area or middle ground, and their abrasive personalities make them hard to love but easy to respect because they are, who they are.

Nobody embodies this example more than New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose outspoken, blunt manner is almost as big as his oversized frame.

Governor Christie was once the aire apparent to the republican nomination in 2012 but, declined repeated requests to accept. Not long after, hurricane Romney blew into town and quickly caused the GOP to implode, & he quickly followed suit.

Christie received harsh criticism for his praise of President Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy, often appearing side by side with the President who had taken time off from the campaign trail to pledge full government assistance both to Christie and the people of New Jersey.

Governor Christie responded in trademark fashion.

 “There is only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: the House majority and their Speaker John Boehner (R-OH),” 

Christie declared. Historically, “disaster relief was something that you didn’t play games with, but now in this current atmosphere everything is a subject of one-upmanship,” he continued.

 “It is why the American people hate Congress.”

Some believe that Christie cost Romney the election by presenting President Obama in a good light to the voting public.

Now with 2016 closer than we think Governor Christie has taken a critical step toward throwing his hat into the ring.

He revealed that he underwent a gastric procedure in February to curb his weight in order to live long enough to watch his four children grow up. Christie, who has struggled with obesity for much of his adult life, underwent lap band surgery in February to reduce the size of his stomach, at the urging of his wife and children, his press secretary said May 7, 2013. 

“I still have two children in elementary school one in sixth grade and one in fourth grade, so I’m in this father business for a while and I hope someday God willing to be in the grandfather business,” Christie said at a Newark press conference.

He attempted to shoot down whispers in political circles that the secret surgery was as much about the White House as it is his waistband.

"It's not a career issue for me, it's a long-term health issue for me," Christie insisted. “I turned 50 years old and it made me think.. 

But the surgery clearly has ramifications for another election three Novembers later. No one as overweight as Christie has ever come close to winning the presidency in the age of television.

“Whether we like to admit it or not, appearance does matter in political contests,” said Prof. Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. “Moreover, there are legitimate health concerns about the pressures of the White House on someone who is undeniably obese.”

Though Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton each battled fluxuating weight while in office, the last truly overweight president was William Howard Taft, who was elected in 1908.

Christie faces re-election this year but in the wake of his lauded response to Hurricane Sandy, he appears to be a safe bet to win another term in Trenton.. Christie, who has struggled with obesity for much of his adult life, underwent lap band surgery in February to reduce the size of his stomach, at the urging of his wife and children, his press secretary said May 7, 2013. 

He has already lost 30 pounds since the surgery, an out-patient procedure which involved placing a tube around the his stomach to limit food intake.

Whether Governor Christie can shrink his huge personality remains to be seen. But in the political arena anything can happen.

Side Bar: Comparing the 2 pics, I don't see the difference either!

PR

Mountain Dew, Mountain Don't?

So, I finally saw the infamous Mountain Dew commercial. You know, the one with the battered white woman, and the line up made up exclusively of African-American men plus 1 talking goat. This story has caused quite an uproar in the Black community. This commercial has been called racist, and insensitive to battered women, an plain old not funny.

After watching it a few times objectively I can understand how this spot can be misconstrued as racist and an insensitive jab at women, but I am not at all offended, and I actually find it funny.
The fact of the matter is, if the victim of a crime, whether they are black, white, green, or brown describes their assailant as black, white, green or brown, the line-up is going to reflect the victims description of his or her assailant. To imply that this campaign is racist would be the same as saying that no African-American men have ever been in a line up's because they fit the description given by a white women. Besides that, when the goat looks at the woman and says, "Snitches get stitched', I cannot stop laughing.
I have never been a fan of labeling something racist simply because it exposes an unfortunate reality. The bottom line is the fact that these things do happen. I believe that in this case accusations of racism are solely attributed to the fact that some of us do not want to acknowledge reality, or are so far removed from it that we have forgotten what it is like to live life being young and black in America. I have never understood the need to sweep some of our experiences as African-Americans under the rug, and then scream foul when they are brought out into the open for public consumption in any way shape or form. It is utterly ridiculous. I do concede that it is incredibly wrong to stereotype us as a people, but some stereotypes are based on facts.
This campaign was created by a young African-American man who's creativity reflects his experiences. The real travesty lyes in the fact that there seems to be little or no concern for what this young man has had to go through growing up being both black and male in this country. That is the real issue. This commercial is a direct reflection of his reality. To object to this is a hyper-sensitive example of putting the proverbial cart before the horse. Those who have described this commercial spot as the most racist thing that they have ever seen have obviously never seen "The Birth Of A Nation", which is both way more offensive, and still on You tube.

 I am sure that we can all agree that there are quite a few things that are far more important. Things like.......the fact that the unemployment rate among African- Americans is still above 10%.

Some of the people in this category can barely afford to sustain themselves or their families, and are not at all concerned with how Pepsi, (the parent company of Mountain Dew), chooses to promote it's caffeine filled, carbonated, sugar water. We need to realize, recognize, and understand what is really important instead of putting so much energy into things that are of little or no significance  at all.

By the time Pepsi removed this ad from the internet and apologized to those who were offended, they had already accomplished their goal. Generating millions of views, and getting millions of dollars in free advertising in the process. 

This was a major coup for Pepsi Co., and a major waste of time for those who have chosen to be preoccupied with frivolity.

PR

NOT REAL MEAT?!

I am the self proclaimed most carnivorous man in America, and maybe the world. I love eating meat, and I always have. I shun any notion of ever becoming a vegetarian, or a vegan. I'm not knocking those who are. But, it's just not for me. I am also a renaissance man, so I am not totally adverse to trying something new. Especially when my wife insists on "meatless Monday's". It's only 1 day out of 7, and I find that if I use my imagination and put enough hot sauce on my egg plant it tastes just like steak, and its not half bad. Like the saying goes, "happy wife, happy life".
I must admit that like most people I rarely give a second thought as to where the meat that we eat comes from. U just take for granted that it is what the label says that it is. That is until I read this story.

More than 900 people were arrested in the past three months for selling fake or tainted meat in China, officials said.

The arrests were part of a national crackdown on "deep-seated food safety problems" that need to be addressed, an official, whose name was not reported, told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Officials said they discovered nearly 400 cases of meat fraud and seized more than 20,000 tons of fake meat.

Authorities discovered cases in which suppliers used hydrogen peroxide to process chicken claws, and others injected water into meat to increase its weight.

In one case, suspects made fake mutton using meat from foxes, mink and rats after adding chemicals.

"The products were sold to markets and the suspects made more than 10 million yuan ($1.62 million) from the illegal activities."

An official said investigators will now focus on dairy products after a high-profile case in which melamine, a compound used to make resins, was found in baby milk formula.

You may ask yourself, "what does fake meat in China have to do with us here in America?" I'll answer that question by asking a question. Pick up a few things that happen to be close to you and look at the bottom. Where were they made? Was at least one of the items made in China? I'll bet there was at least one.

Last year alone the United States has imported $29 Billion in products from China, and we're on track to exceed that amount this year. Although I was not able to find any proof that some of Chinas "fox, or mink meat" has actually made it on to U.S. shores, whose to say that it hasn't. One thing is for sure. I will never look at another piece of meat the same way again. At least not for the next week anyway.

PR

Bringing Back Slavery

On January 1, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln's issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It promised freedom to all slaves once the North was victorious in the Civil War.
On December 6, 1865 The Thirteenth Amendment of the US Constitution was ratified officially abolishing slavery. This forced any slave owners who had resisted abolition up to this point to free the remaining slaves in Kentucky. The last of the slaves were finally free.

Unfortunately a Pennsylvania judge had taken it upon himself to single handedly revive slavery almost 148 years after the 13th amendment was ratified.

Disgraced Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for conspiring with private prisons to sentence juvenile offenders to maximum sentences for bribes and kickbacks which totaled millions of dollars. He was also ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

In the private prison industry the more time an inmate spends in a facility, the more of a profit is reaped from the state. Ciavearella was a figurehead in a conspiracy in the state of Pennsylvania which saw thousands of young men and women unjustly punished and penalized in the name of corporate profit.

Ciavearella's cases from 2003-2008 were reviewed by a special investigative panel and later by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and it was found that upwards of 5,000 young men and women were denied their constitutional rights, and therefore all of their convictions were dismissed and were summarily released.

During his sentencing Ciavarella was defiant, claiming he had broken no laws and claimed the money he received was a legitimate 'finder's fee.' Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod said comments such as these were typical of Ciavarella. He then went on to say,
"I think that's his way of doing things. Never retreat. Always go on the attack. Always blame somebody else. Always get them to back off. He tried it with the judge. It didn't work."

He actually had the nerve to call a kick back, or a pay off, a finders fee, and he isn't even man enough to acknowledge the fact that he is nothing more than a flesh peddler. A modern day slave trader who is not only a disgrace to the very law that he has sworn to uphold, but a spineless coward who's attitude is reminiscent of the evil slave master's who's legacy has left an everlasting impression on the entire world. A legacy so ingrained in our culture that the effects are manifested in actions like Ciavarella's
The only difference is, in 2013 exploiting human beings for a profit just doesn't pay.

PR