Marsha Blackburn-You Got Some Explaining to Do?

Freaky Republicans and their cover-ups. To say that the congressional page scandal is gigantic would be an understatement. It’s not huge because some republican congressman from the district causing all the furor in Florida during the 2000 recount tried to get his freak on with an underage boy. It’s huge because the republican leadership covered it up for almost a year. That’s right a YEAR. Plus, the FBI was called in and the investigation went nowhere. I wonder who in the Bush executive branch thought it would be best to make this go away before an election?

But let’s stick to who definitely knew about this child stalker. Denny Hastert, oh yeah he knew since almost the beginning. As a poster on Dailykos said. Denny Hastert meet another child sex cover-upper, Cardinal Bernard Law. Unfortunately Denny, you don’t get to escape to Rome. John Boehner, house majority leader. He said he learned in the spring and that he spoke to Denny, Scratch that, Boehner changed his story today and said he didn’t remember talking to Deny. Please, you don’t remember talking to the Speaker of House about a fellow congressman stalking congressional pages? John Simkus knew but didn’t bother to inform the lone Democrat on the Page Board when this first reviewed. I wonder why the Democrat wouldn’t be told? We also know Thomas Reynolds knew, he’s the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization. Throw in Tom Delay and Roy Blount just for good measure because those two are crooked as a dog’s back leg and would know all the dirty stuff going on in Congress.


With all these people in the Republican leadership knowing about the suspected pedophile in their midst, it begs the question who else knew? I bet some people in Tennessee would like to ask Marsha Blackburn if she knew. This is from her website- “she (Marsha) was one of only a few newly-elected congressmen selected to serve as an assistant whip on the majority whip team. “ Oh, that puts her in the republican leadership circle. Marsha sits on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. She probably would have worked close with Foley on his child internet safety bill. She also sits on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Marsha probably hears a lot of the rumors of what’s going on in congress since that’s one of the committees that looks into shady stuff.(Oh yeah, that committee really hasn’t done much in the last 5 ½ years.) Finally, she is on the National Republican Congressional Committee. That right, you help fundraise and plan strategy for the congressional races. Now why would it be important for someone on the RNCC to know about any possible scandals that could come up. Certainly, it wouldn’t be in the RNCC’s interest to cover-up a child stalker when control of the House is at stake.

So the million dollar question is- Marsha Blackburn, did you know about Congressman Foley? If you did, when did you learn about it and why didn’t you do anything about it? The most interesting question would be-Marsha Blackburn, with your position in Republican House leadership, how could you not know about Congressman Foley? This is an institutional cover-up and you Marsha Blackburn are high up in the Republican institution.

Check Cashing/Predatory Lenders and Hispanics

I intended to get back to this but got side tracked with all the Ford/Cohen stuff. Above is another version of the predatory lenders map. This time, I used Hispanic resident populations. I did this because of this statement in the Urban Institute paper.

“Third, alternative provider clusters (i.e., groups of at least five in close proximity to each other) are more likely to be found in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods than in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.”

Well it turns out that is true. Now this demographic data is from 2000, but the areas with sizeable Hispanic populations have continued to see increases. It is interesting that these predatory lenders focus on Hispanic populations. Could it be that they benefit from people, such as illegal immigrants, who are unable to get real banking services. This begins to scratch the surface of how complex the immigration issue is and all the interest groups involved. Lots of companies are making lots of money by screwing weak and vulnerable people. My guess would be that predatory lenders (and their respectable parent companies) would probably give a preponderance of campaign donations to Republicans. At the same time, these lenders may have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo in relation to immigration.

People have different views about what should be done on immigration, but no one can doubt that these lenders and their parent companies deliberately target financially vulnerable people. They are detestable.

Harold Ford Jr Can't Even Say No to Torture

This is just a reminder of what a craven, piss poor representative Harold Ford Jr is. Yesterday, he voted for the Torture Bill. Why anyone thinks he has conviction or will be able to stand up to Republicans who will have him by the balls is beyond me. Here is the New York Times Editorial about the Bill. I can’t say it better any better.

EDITORIAL
Rushing Off a Cliff
Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.
Republicans say Congress must act right now to create procedures for charging and trying terrorists — because the men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks are available for trial. That’s pure propaganda. Those men could have been tried and convicted long ago, but President Bush chose not to. He held them in illegal detention, had them questioned in ways that will make real trials very hard, and invented a transparently illegal system of kangaroo courts to convict them.
It was only after the Supreme Court issued the inevitable ruling striking down Mr. Bush’s shadow penal system that he adopted his tone of urgency. It serves a cynical goal: Republican strategists think they can win this fall, not by passing a good law but by forcing Democrats to vote against a bad one so they could be made to look soft on terrorism.
Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error.
These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:
Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.
The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.
Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.
Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.
Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.
Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.
Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.
•There is not enough time to fix these bills, especially since the few Republicans who call themselves moderates have been whipped into line, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate seems to have misplaced its spine. If there was ever a moment for a filibuster, this was it.
We don’t blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they’ll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won’t remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration.
They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Polar Bear Is a Majestic Animal

I will be voting for Steve Cohen in the congressional race. I am a supporter because he votes for policies that benefit lower and middle income people. These are policies that provide assistance and opportunities to people who may not have as many as other in different economic classes. He also fought tooth and nail for TennCare. In addition, Cohen is a ball buster who will stand up to Bush and the Republicans. He could be another Kucinich. It’s interesting that Kucinich is a white guy who represents predominantly African American area of Cleveland. That district is one of the poorest in Ohio. Yet no one doubts Kucinich is doing a good job representing that district even though he’s white.

That being said, last night I went to a little fundraiser/rally for Steve Cohen. Let me tell you, if you have the chance to go to a Cohen event, go. This is completely superficial but there were some of the hottest woman at that event. I was kind of dumbfounded by it. (To the women named Jenny with dark, curly hair I was talking to as we were in line for the restroom; I agree the polar bear is a majestic animal.) The event was on top of a rooftop of an apartment building overlooking the river downtown. There was even good food, wine, and beer. In fact, everything about the event was great except one thing. It was all wrong. As I was sitting there, I mentioned this to a fellow blogger and he understood what I was saying. Sitting there, sipping on my Budweiser (That’s right, I don’t drink wine. I’m an FDR democrat.), overlooking the river, and checking out the beautiful women, I marveled at the fact that there are two different Memphises. I couldn’t believe that this was a political event for the 9th congressional district. With the rally Sunday night and the Cybil Sheppard fundraiser earlier in the week it became apparent that the Cohen campaign reeks of limousine liberalism.

This limousine liberalism contributes to opponents claiming Cohen and his campaign are racist. Those folks who work in the Cohen campaign are the furthest you can be from racist. So much so that I think the campaign has a hard time imagining that a sizeable part of Democratic voters in Memphis still think race matters. This is a problem because it is affecting the way Cohen and his campaign speaks to the community. Cohen has the white progressive and liberal vote in East Memphis, midtown, and downtown wrapped up. Yet like my friend says, midtown is great but midtown ain’t Memphis. He has to go out and speak to other parts of the city. I’m not sure the campaign can.

Basically, I’m a white guy and I think Cohen’s campaign is too white. This pains me to say this but sometimes form matters more than substance. Cohen needs to put a more diverse public face on his campaign, get out of his comfort zone, and spend 85% of his time until the election in the “C”. Go to barber shops, churches, community centers, and just walk around neighborhoods talking to people. Cohen knows more about healthcare and economics than probably any other politician in the state. He voted the right way on these issues for two decades. Remind people of that. Jake, Jr and Sr aren’t going to have any problem going to the hood and talking to people. And that is truly form over substance because Jr voted against his constituents interests, but many people give him a pass because he went out and spoke to them. Hell, even Terry Roland went and campaigned in the “C”. Republican candidate Mark White is using micro targeting and aggressively campaign in Whitehaven. Sure folks may give Cohen an occasional hard time and maybe even tease him a little for being stiff, but that’s just the way it is. I’ve heard Cohen joke about himself, so he can do it.

This week offers Cohen an opportunity. Bush is coming to town on Wednesday. Cohen should go down there and be front and center at that protest. The protest could be the kick off of his campaign spending the next 45 days in the “C”. Forget running against Jake. Play up a populist message and go after Bush hard. Show people that you aren’t afraid to stand up to Bush and the Republicans. Could Jake stand up to Bush the way Cohen could? Obviously, Jr didn’t and he can’t now because he’s kissing republican asses all around the state. If Jr and Jake go campaigning in town together they aren’t going to be able to go after Bush the way Cohen could. If Jr dared, what he said would be broadcast instantly around the state. Black folks don’t like the war and republican economics. Cohen is a fighter so go out and prove you are fighter in areas where people need a champion the most.

Protest Time Again: Bush Back In Town

Are you outraged at the $316 BILLION (and rising) price tag for the Bush administration's floundering waging of an unjust war in Iraq, while millions here in the United States continue to live below poverty level?

President Bush is coming to Memphis next Wednesday, September 27, to attend a $2100 per plate fund raiser for senate nominee Bob Corker. Join with the Mid South Peace and Justice Center at the intersection of Shady Grove and Yates in East Memphis at 11am to protest the president's visit and to draw attention to the escalating cost of the Bush administration's war in Iraq, in terms of lives lost and tax dollars wasted, while emphasizing the need for funding of vital services here at home. It is time to rise up and let President Bush know that we will not sit idly by while death and destruction are wrought in our name.

There will be members of the media on hand, so it's imperative to have as many concerned members of the community in attendance as possible, to impress upon the president and the nation that the people of Memphis seek a peaceful and just solution to the inadequacies of the Bush administration. By all means, inform your friends and encourage their attendance as well. We hope to see you there!!

go here for a map http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Shady+Grove+and+Yates+memphis,+tn&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&z=15&ll=35.124226,-89.876447&spn=0.015339,0.041971&om=1&iwloc=A


In Peace,
Jacob Flowers
Director,
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center
1000 S. Cooper
Memphis, TN 38104
901.725.4990
mobile 901.517.8689
fax 901.725.7858
jacob@midsouthpeace.org
midsouthpeace.org

Shelby County Needs Vote-By-Mail Now!

Today I saw Thaddeus’ posting about the Coalition for Fair Elections. I’m all for fair elections, but working with the traditional system with electronic voting machines just will not get it done. The State of Oregon has vote-by-mail. It’s a great system that works well and has wide bipartisan support. Most importantly, people in the State of Oregon have faith the electoral system works. That’s more than we can say here isn’t. It seems like a good time to start talking about completely redoing the voting system in Shelby County. We’ve already had the Ophelia fiasco and now we are going to have to pay $200,000 for a special election to fill Henri Brooks’ seat. Imagine a voting system that can conduct that special election at a fraction of cost, have higher turnout, and almost zero likelihood of fraud. Add to this, Vote-By-Mail has a side benefit of cleaning up voter rolls without the costly research and effort of the traditional system. That’s right John Harvey, all those dead people will be off the rolls, as will those folks who moved to Fayette, Tipton, and Desoto counties but still feel the need to vote in Shelby County. This is a long post but take a look at how it works.

Vote-By-Mail benefits-
• Increases voter participation, normally by 6 to 12 percentage points and especially in special elections
• Removes barriers that can keep people from getting to the polls
• Allows more time for people to study issues and candidates before marking the ballot
• Has built-in safeguards that increase the integrity of the elections process
• Saves taxpayer dollars-No need for polling stations, Diebold voting machines, and poll workers and watchers

All the following information comes from the report:
Ballot Integrity and Voting by Mail:
The Oregon Experience
By Dr. Paul Gronke, Director, EVIC at Reed College
A Report for the Commission on Federal Election Reform
Co-Chairs:
President Jimmy Carter and Honorable James A. Baker, III
From June 2005

How Vote-By-Mail Works-

Step 1: The voter fills out a registration card with a name, address, and signature. The election office then enters the name and scans the signature of the voter into the computer system.

Step 2: An election packet is created. The election packet includes: ballot, return identification envelope with unique barcode, and secrecy envelope. The packet is sent out 14-18 days before the election.

Step 3: The United States Postal Service delivers the election packet to the name and address on the registration card.

Step 4: The voter fills out the ballot, places it in the secrecy envelope, places the secrecy envelope in the return identification envelope, and signs his or her name on the return envelope.

Step 5: The voter: A) stamps the return identification envelope and places it in the mail, or B) takes it to a designated drop site, or C) delivers it directly to the county election office.

Step 6: The county election official checks that: A) the correct colored return identification envelope for this election has been used, B) the ballot has been received by the correct county (otherwise forward), C) the return identification envelope has been signed, D) the name signed matches the name of the voter, E) the signature on the return identification envelope matches the signature on the voter’s registration card, and F) the voter has not already submitted a ballot. All of these checks can be made as soon as the election office receives the ballot. The return ID envelope still remains unopened.

Step 7: Not sooner than seven days before an election, inspection teams may begin removing the secrecy envelopes with ballots from the return ID envelopes. The teams ensure that the ballot counting equipment can read the ballots. Ballots with clear voter intent but which are machine unreadable are duplicated. On Election Day, ballots are fed into a machine and tallied.

Here are some common questions about possible problems-

If there is no forwarding address:
If the USPS reports that the voter is temporarily away, the ballot is put aside for the election. No changes are made to the voter roll and the voter continues to be listed as active. If the voter contacts the election office, they will mail a replacement ballot to a temporary address.

If there is an unrecognized name or address, the election office checks the address and the registration card. If there was a data entry mistake, the election packet is resent with the corrected address. If no error can be detected, the ballot is put aside for the election. After the elections, a forwardable notice is sent to the voter.

If there is a forwarding address:
The ballot is put aside for the election. The voter’s registration is updated. A Voter Notification Card is generated and sent to the new address. The voter will automatically be sent a ballot for the next election. The voter may appear in person to update his or her registration and receive a ballot for the current election.

Forwarding address in another county:
The ballot is put aside for the election and the voter’s registration is recorded as inactive. A forwardable notice is sent to the voter, letting them know that they need to re-register and that their old registration is now inactive. No ballot will be sent for the next election unless the voter re-registers.

Forwarding address in another state:
The ballot is put aside for the election and the voter’s registration is recorded as inactive. A forwardable notice of inaction is sent.

If the voter is not registered in the county:
If the voter is not listed in the county registration record, he or she is issued a provisional ballot. All provisional ballots are researched to see if the voter was eligible. All provisional ballots must be resolved by the date the election is certified.

If the signature on the envelope is questioned?
If the ballot is returned with no signature, the lection officials highlight the signature box and send back the return ID envelope with instructions to sign and return the envelope by 8 pm on Election Day. If there is not enough time to send the ID envelope back, an election official call the voter and asks him or her to come into the election office to sign the return ID envelope. If the envelope is not signed before 8 pm on Election night, the ballot is not counted.

If the wrong name is signed:
If the return ID envelope is signed with a name other than the voter’s, a letter is sent and instructions are given to the voter on what to do in order to have his or her ballot counted. If the elections office receives ballots where each of two members of a household signed the other’s return ID envelope, both ballots are counted.

If the signature doesn’t match:
An election officer contacts the voter and asks him or her to come into the election office. The voter can either re-sign the return identification envelope and have that signature checked against the signature on his or her registration card or fill out a new registration card. If the voter does not respond to inquires, the case is passed on to the Secretary of State’s office. If the Secretary of State’s office does not get a response, he or she may choose to forward the case to the Attorney General for further investigation. If questions are not resolved within 10 days of the election, the ballot is not counted.

Here is some background and statistics on Vote-By-Mail-

All the following data comes from Priscilla L. Southwell who works in the Department of Political Science at the University of Oregon.

Ballot measure for Vote-By-Mail passed with 67% of vote in Oregon in 1998. The system was tested in a special primary in December 1995 and a special election in January 1996.

In 2003, voters were surveyed about Vote-By-Mail.
81% of survey respondents supported Vote-By-Mail
85% of Democrats, 81% of Independents, and 77% of Republicans supported it.
81% of whites and 79% of minorities supported it.
People with less than a high school diploma support it by 88%, High School Diploma 85%, Some college 80%, College degree 80%, and advanced degree holders 76%.

Support by income for Vote-By-Mail, less than $18,000 81%, $18,000 to $25,000 84%, $26,000 to $40,000 84%, $41,000 to $70,000 81%, $71,000 to $100,000 78%, and over $100,000 77%.

23% of men say they vote more often and 33% of women vote more often because of Vote-By-Mail. Only 4% of men and women vote less often because of Vote-By-Mail.


So you can see, Vote-By-Mail has been a great success in the state of Oregon. If a whole state can do it, why can’t Shelby County?

Does Harold Sr Still Have Enough Political Juice Left?

Harold Sr is back in town. I hear he's at Jr/Jakes' headquaters working on campaign strategy and GOTV for Jake and Jr. It has been a while since Sr has worked this hard in a political race in Memphis. A lot of things have changed in 10 years. The most of important of which is the rise of the Herenton/Chism political machine. Even a year ago, the Fords were in a much better position locally, but term limits and Tennessee Waltz has taken its toll. In a desperate move to hold on to political power, Jake is running for the 9th Congressional seat as an independent and hooking his cart to the Jr Senatorial campaign. The very fact that Sr came back to be this active in the local campaigns illustrate how much Ford blood has chummed the political water. The Fords have made it them against the world and all the sharks are out. Herenton, Wharton, Cohen, the Democratic Party, and almost all the bloggers are opposed to Jake candidacy to such a degree that they are now threatening to withhold support from Jr.

Some people are motivated to withhold support for Jr because of a feeling of distrust. Over a year ago, a small group of Democratic activist were arguing Jr was a Ford and only out for Jr. He couldn't get it through his head that we are not beholden to vote for him simply because he is a Ford. Keep in mind nobody asked him to run for Senator. He decided to do this in 2000 and he used his family's political influence to block other candidates from getting into the race. The one candidate who did get in the race was Kurita and he got enough pressure put on her donors and campaign to force her out before the primary. Did you, as a Democratic primary voter, ever have a choice to not have Jr as the nominee? Now with this episode, the curtain has been drawn back. It is plain to see Jr doesn't care about the party. He only cares about his political plan to someday get a Vice Presidential nomination. Remember that this is the same Jr who, after the 2002 election and the well known fact that Gephardt was leaving, was the first to stab Gephardt in the back and challenge Nancy Pelosi for minority leader. He also flirted with Bush on Social Security privatization, fawned over GWB at the state of the union, and uses GOP talking points that undermines his own party's positions. Fortunately, enough people in the Democratic Party knew how untrustworthy Jr was and he didn't get the leadership position. So what are you Democrats who supported Jr and Cohen going to do? You are certainly in fix. By supporting Jr, you are giving aid to Jake's attempt to defeat Cohen. All of which is to keep the Ford machine alive and cranking out continued political dysfunction. Jr/Cohen supporters will rationalize to themselves that so much is at stake, control of the Senate, maybe we should just vote for Jr anyway. Snap! That was the trap Jr has been counting on. No matter what he and his lunatic family does, you still have to vote for him and his perfidious ways.

Others are motivated for much more pragmatic reasons, destruction of the Ford machine. The change in the past year has been stark. In April of 2005, if you would have said the political power relation between Herenton/Chism and the Fords would have been completely inverted, people would have laughed. But it has happened and the Fords are close to political extinction as a machine. How many friends do the Fords have left? They have alienated and embarrassed everyone. More importantly, who still fears the Ford machine? No one. A lot of people only hold resentment of the Fords and if it costs Democratic control of the Senate to break the remnants of their machine so be it and good riddance. That's why Sr is back in town getting personally involved. Think about how many people’s interest is served by the destruction of the Ford machine. Sure the Herenton/Chism faction will be ascendant but they’re both old. Once Herenton and Chism are gone, it is a political free for all. Yet Fords, because their machine is based on family, could last for generations. Hell, it already has. November is the best chance to break the Fords’ political back and be done with them.

So Sr, you’re back in town. Do you have enough juice to stem the political tides? I guess we will all see in November. Just remember, its not 1996 anymore. Jr is running in a statewide race and the news travels fast via the local and national blogs. The Cohen/Jake congressional race is starting to get national attention. Are you really willing to pull out the race baiting tactics so Jake can win, but alienate those white, suburban voters Jr has been so carefully courting around the state? One little “white devils” slip of the tongue by the Jake campaign and $3 million worth of Jr campaigning goes down the drain.

September 11th Plus 5 Years

Picture from Hunter post on Dailykos

Herenton Layeth the Smack Down

I will never underestimate the ability of Willie Herenton to seize a political opportunity. I just got done watching Herenton dismantle Jr, Jake and the rest of the Fords on Channel 5. What’s amazing is Jr gave him this opportunity. Jr could have put this whole Jake thing behind him weeks ago if he just would have endorsed Cohen. But no, Jr is a Big Dummy and dragged this thing out. This left the door open to Herenton to seize the initiative. And seize it he did. In a four minute interview he was able to A) look like he is above race baiting, B) Cover his tracks of collaborating with republicans while looking like a good Democrat, and C) speak truth to power by saying he has never liked the Ford family’s approach to politics and their sense of entitlement. These are amazing because Herenton and his political machine are notorious race baiters and he has collaborated with republicans (Alexander). But these aren’t the only things Herenton accomplished. He also gave a subtle reason not to vote for Jr by saying the Fords think they have a “monopoly on elected seats locally and at the state level.” Herenton explicitly said right after that he would not make an endorsement in the Senate race. He gave cover to a lot of people to not vote for Jr in this Senate. Thanks Mr. Mayor, I wasn’t planning on voting for Jr anyway, but now I know many others here in Memphis will not be either. (Lots of people have been saying Jr has a GOTV problem in his home town but Jr’s campaign just didn’t want to listen.)

This congressional race, the change on the County Commission, and Ophelia saga gave a glimpse of how weak the Ford machine is. Herenton today just knocked down the remaining façade. Because of Jr’s stupidity, he and his supporters in the local party are in the wilderness by themselves. Herenton, Wharton, and even Joe Ford Jr have sided with Cohen. The funny thing is, come November Jake will be gone and January Jr will be gone, never to be heard of in Memphis again. Welcome to political Siberia Fordites.

PS- Between this and the boxing match next month, Herenton is unbeatable. So step up Chumney and all those others jumping in the mayor’s race and take your beating.

Change in Median Incomes in the Last 6 Years

I'm now a map freak so when I saw this one I had to post it. Its from the Detroit Free Press and it shows the change in median incomes over the past 6 years. Who's feeling poorer?