Devine Intervention?

Makes you wonder...

Not So Good Deeds

Tyler Perry has a new movie coming out. It's advertised as "Tyler Perry's Good Deeds." From the trailer and the pre-advertising, it is another movie with the same narrative...poor black men bad, rich black men good.

Now Perry's movies are usually peppered with contrasts to this myopic narrative, but the overall pattern and practice of his movies are based upon stereotypes that continue to harm the people that he seems to, at first blush, praise.

His character of Mr. Brown in his T.V. show "Meet the Browns" is an embarrassing caricature of the uneducated black man in funny clothes, dancing around the room even when he's simply walking from the kitchen to the ever present couch.

The many stereotypes of black people in Perry's movies and T.V. shows often coexist and sometimes tend to challenge themselves. Take the overwhelming stereotype of poor black men being mean and dangerous. In "Diary of a Mad Black Woman", Steve Harris' character is rich and successful; and in one of the most horrific scenes of screen violence against a woman that I ever saw, he drags his dark-skinned wife by her hair, out of their home and replaces her with a fair-skinned "trophy" wife.

We later find out that he is only rich because he is a corrupt attorney working with drug dealers. Then the discarded black woman is rescued by a poor black man. Great? No. Although he is poor, he nevertheless is played by Shamar Moore, the bi-racial and very light-skinned, actor with Caucasian features.

Now, I am not saying that Tyler Perry shouldn't make his money anyway he wants to, but we need positive role models of color. Yea, its funny to see Perry dressed as Maedea running around shooting up the place and acting a fool, but it shouldn't have taken the very white George Lucas, who is dating a black woman, to fight for the film "Red Tails", an action movie about the Tuskegee Airman, when we have black people in Hollywood with the resources that could be and should be making the films.

Almost every black super actor has to have a fair-skinned female lead; or Hollywood says they can't sell the film. Will Smith almost always is paired with a white or light-skinned Latino woman.

Oprah said she ate 30 pounds of macaroni and cheese when she found out that her movie "Beloved" got beaten its opening weekend by "Bride of Chucky." What Oprah doesn't understand is black people cannot be constantly taken back to our slave history; and run with delight to plop down cash at the ticket booth. We are not just 2 dimensional characters. After the "Color Purple" we got it. Show us something else.

I once asked a white friend of mine, "Where are the black love stories like "Sleepless in Seattle" or "You Got Mail?" He said "Jason's Lyric!" No...drug dealer brother shoots Jada in that one. He thought for awhile and couldn't come up with one romantic comedy with dark-skinned male and female leads that was based upon love, not sex, with no violence as an undercurrent and no black stereotypical slapstick.

This weekend "The Help" will go up for the Oscar and if the actresses win it will be a great achievement. Most likely they won't use the Hattie McDaniel line "...credit to my race..." I guess?...that's progress?

You Have The Right To Remain Silent...Now Spread 'em!

It used to be that Republicans were just these misguided people that pretended that they had tightly held beliefs; simply to hide the fact that they were simply interested in running interference for the very rich.

They courted the votes of the uneducated and the lottery hope-minded, to maintain the financial inequality in our system of government.

Now, however, it seems clear that as they found themselves with unchallenged majorities in the statehouses and in the House, they've opened up the floodgates of radical wish lists of the crazy fringe that heretofore has been kept at bay.

To rail against the president for purportedly stomping on religious liberty and then to support laws that would require unnecessary vaginal intrusion for no other reason than to shame and humiliate women that seek abortion, is the definition of hypocrisy; and they can no longer be seen as anything but bad actors in our government. This is evil. It would be evil if our side did it and it would be called out as such.

The time for being nice is over. This is the enemy in a war against our daughters, wives, sisters and mothers...and it should be viewed as such. The vote is our only weapon and we need to wield it with stark determination.

Curb Judicial Discretion

Here is yet another reason why we need to place tighter controls on judicial discretion. SILSBEE, Texas — Rakheem Bolton approached the free-throw line as his school’s cheerleading squad rooted for him to hit the shot during a 2009 playoff game.

One cheerleader stepped away from the group, folded her arms and stood in silence, refusing to cheer for the star athlete who she says raped her at a party in this Southeast Texas town.

Now, two years later, that silent protest is drawing new attention across the nation as the result of an unusual series of events. Those events left the family of the victim, who was then 16, facing $45,000 in penalties from the legal proceedings that followed the incident, while her alleged attacker was freed after reduced charge plea bargain.

An online campaign is now under way to help the family with the legal costs, which were assessed by a judge who dismissed the lawsuit they filed after she was suspended as a cheerleader for her protest. The effort has gained momentum on Facebook and Twitter and collected more than $23,000. An appeal of the financial penalty is pending in federal court.

“It’s really an awful statement to send on how you treat a teenage sexual assault victim,” said Alex DiBranco, whose petition on Change.org has gathered more than 94,000 signatures asking the district to not to make the family pay the fees. DiBranco, a New York-based women’s rights advocate, got involved after reading about the case.

The girl’s allegations stem from an October 2008 party in which she claims she was pulled into a darkened room with Bolton and several others and raped under a pool table while she was drunk. Bolton and two others were arrested after the party. A grand jury declined to indict him in January 2009. A second grand jury indicted him 10 months later. Bolton eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser assault charge in a plea deal and was given a suspended one-year sentence. Charges were dropped against two others indicted in the incident.

The girl, who was reinstated to the cheerleading squad two weeks after being suspended, filed a federal lawsuit in May 2009, claiming the school district violated her First Amendment rights as well as her rights to liberty, property and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In court documents, school officials said they were justified in punishing her, saying that at the time of the 2009 playoff game Bolton was not facing any charges. Her conduct violated school rules and her allegations appeared to be “the story of a girl who became angry with a boy about something that may or may not have happened at a private party,” the schools’ attorneys said.

U.S. District Judge Thad Heartfield in Beaumont ruled the girl’s lawsuit was “without foundation.”

“There are no facts to support a finding that the school, or its officials, owed her any additional process,” Heartfield wrote, and ordered the family to pay the district’s legal costs. The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in May declined to review it, leaving the legal fees the only issue pending.

The school district remains unwilling to give the girl’s family a break on the payment. “I think the district has a fiduciary responsibility and obligation to the taxpayers to try to collect on any money that is due them,” said school board President John Griffin.

But news on the case reached sympathetic ears in others parts of the country. After reading about the case, Jessica Mills, an actress and writer in Los Angeles, started an online fundraising campaign to help pay the costs.

“I just thought this girl, she’s been through so much already, regardless of the right and wrongs and legalities of it,” said Mills, who with her friend set up the “Help the Cheerleader” web site, which lets people donate money to a bank account set up by the cheerleader’s attorney.

The girl’s father said he is humbled by the rising balance, mostly from donations of less than $20. He runs a landscaping business, and said paying the money would be a financial hardship. He said his daughter has had her ups and downs. After graduating in 2010, she took a year off and plans to attend Lamar University in Beaumont in the fall.

We here at Outlier point to this case as yet another instance of these crazy judges exercising extreme overreach in judicial discretion. This judge sided for the school district. Crazy, in our opinion, but whatever. Where he screwed up though is ruling that the case is without merit and frivolous. We've written before about how easy these judges throw around the word frivolous to justify awarding attorney fees and court costs to the other side.
To truly be frivolous, the girl would have had to believe the school could force her to hail her sexual attacker; or it had to be unreasonable for her to to believe that. Absent that, the judge was out of bounds.

Someone should ask the judge's daughter, Jennifer Heartfield Fleming; or the judge's wife, Cornelia if THEY'D be up for singing their rapist's praises.

Jack Nichols...We Want Our Money Back!

Billing records obtained through a public records request, indicate that Jack was paid $1,005.48 by the North Carolina Board of Nursing to attend a FARB Conference in Chicago in October of 2009.

Seemed kinda odd, so we asked the North Carolina Board of Nursing why their attorney had to attend the conference and how much of our money was spent to send him. Their response? "Jack didn't attend the conference." and any other inquires concerning the matter should be directed to Jack himself. So we asked Jack himself why there were billing records saying he attended the conference at public expense and the board said he didn't attend. His response? Essentially, "the law says I ain't gotta tell you nuttin! But I will say, I didn't attend the conference."

He was then asked AGAIN to explain the descrepancy. We are still waiting for his response. If North Carolina state agencies are just giving away the store, I needs ta gets me one of dem law licenses! He even was reimbursed for handing out tips! Since he was on North Carolina's expense account, I wonder if we are good tippers or bad tippers?

If Jack can't come up with a better explanation than "I ain't talkin and you can't make me", as a citizen of North Carolina, I want my money back. Forget Mitt Romney...Jack Nichols has our entire state credit card in his wallet!

UPDATE: After several weeks, The Board turned over the documents. They reveal that although Jack Nichols did not attend the conference, his co-counsel did. It seems that Nichols was trying to get us to file a complaint with the State Bar and other agencies; then he could produce the documents showing that the trip was indeed authorized; and then use that to say "See, that guy is just out to get me!" Trouble is, I have battled Jack for several years and I am aware of his straw-man tactics. Nice try there though Jack...nice try indeed.

Life Is Hard For A Pimp

Recognize this man? This is Judge Allen (actually Richard[Dick]Allen) Baddour's dad, the recently resigned UNC of Chapel Hill athletic director Dick Baddour making the rounds at the Atlantic Coast Conference women's swimming and diving championships in 2007.

Did Baddour also wear such jewelry at league ethics meetings or before the NCAA infractions committee? The photo comes to us from the fine 850 The Buzz, which has a larger version, and they provide evidence that the image has not been altered.

I guess life is hard for a pimp...

Petition To Change Susan G. Komen Logo

In light of cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure's decision to turn their backs on women's health in favor of bowing to GOP political pressure to defund Planned Parenthood, I suggest they change their logo to one that more accurately reflects how they really feel about women. As I have designed the logo, I will sell the rights to use it to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure for the low, low price of what they used to give to Planned Parenthood to help low income women receive breast exams. Please send the check to Planned Parenthood , thank you. NOTE: There is no petition. This is satire!

Susan G. Komen Joins GOP Assault on Women

The news that cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure has decided to end its long time partnership with Planned Parenthood caused mass outrage. Rep. Jackie Speier said it clearly: “Komen’s decision hurts women – it puts politics before women’s health. @komenforthecure should be ashamed.”

Komen clearly has decided that the GOP’s political assault on women’s health and reproductive rights is more important than their mandate to support and care for women. Komen should be made to die on the vine. They are not too big to fail and if they have allowed politics to infect their brand, their brand should be killed in its crib and thrown out with the GOP bathwater.

What's With Judge Baddour & Sexual Predators?

In our November article entitled "Judge Allen Baddour is a Sexual Predator's Get Out of Jail Free Card" we raised the issue that Baddour's decision to allow sexual predators to have unrestricted access to churches with on-site daycare. We questioned his myopic decision making ability, in that he focused on the sexual predator's right to worship, but did not consider the simple solution of saying they could worship at the overwhelming number of houses of worship without on-site childcare.

Now, we have discovered that he also ruled that because a Chatham County man was convicted of sex offenses before the state adopted a monitoring law, he does not have to wear a satellite tracking monitor.

Judge Baddour's decision was yet another setback for North Carolina's attempts to track sex offenders who have finished their sentences.

Guy Reeves was convicted in January 2006 of taking indecent liberties with a 7-year-old, his third (emphasis added) sex-offense conviction. He left jail in May 2007.

The General Assembly passed laws on sex-offender monitoring in 2006 and added specific procedures for the program last December.

Assistant Chatham County District Attorney Marci Trageser argued that lawmakers intended the statute to be retroactive as a safety measure for the public and that made tracking part of the original sentence, not additional punishment. "It clearly specifies in the session law that this is also to apply to any person released from prison," Trageser said.

Baddour's rejection of that argument made Reeves the 29th convicted sex offender in North Carolina to get a tracking device removed.

What is it with this judge? He has a questionable record of violating people's civil rights (usually persons of color), but he seems to bend over backward to let sexual predators run free. We are looking into his pre-judicial history and associations to see if there is some personal associations or history with these types of criminals, in hopes we can shed light on his curious rulings.

In the mean time, maybe we should take up a collection to build a half-way house on West Street in Pittsboro so he can be close to his favored constituents.