Category: Uncategorized

Imagining Genocide as Crime Reduction

By Greg Moses

OpEdNews / CounterPunch

Taking a page from his Book of Cracker Virtues, Texas trained
philosopher William Bennett this week performed a little thought
experiment where genocide by means of abortion might be used to bring
down the crime rate. Of course it is appalling how Bennett’s mind plays
around with the souls of black folk, one moment imagining a whole
peoples aborted, but such is the nature of the souls of white folk,
flying right through the concept of genocide without noticing the
horrific criminality in that.

In Bennett’s concept of the American crime rate, of course,
genocide never counts. Neither does theft of labor. With these two
great and obvious categories of crime dismissed, the souls of white
folk may then be quite easily imagined to have worked their way to
Democracy in America by means of honest trade, fair elections, and
saintly patience, never bothering no one, and only occasionally
dismayed by inappropriate displays of ingratitude.
The logic of the club is how W. E. B. Du Bois once punned it.
And everywhere one looks, that logic holds like double epoxy. Of
course, the USA Senate is the ultimate club in both senses of the term,
with its predictable traditions of genocide, labor theft, war, and today’s
nominee as Supreme Court Chief Justice who need not even bother to
produce his work product as understudy to a civil rights bashing
attorney general.

Or how about those grand juries? About half of white America
is cheering the Travis County Grand Jury for yesterday’s indictment of
the House Majority Leader. But where was anybody last month when that
same Grand Jury no-billed a white police officer who shot an unarmed
Latino in the back? That killing wasn’t even considered a tiny bit
criminal. And that story barely made state news. But politicians
taking money from Sears? My god, that sounds like a felony for sure.

So anyway, thanks again Bill Bennett for teaching your Intro
to Cracker Virtues class again this Fall. Your instructions serve as an
indispensable refresher course to the criteria of educational
excellence that continue to dominate the definition of American
intelligence. And your civics of justice remind us what the heart of
the American system sounds like as it continues to make such a small
world of us all, from Biloxi to Baghdad alike.

The Censorship in Texas Petition,
written by prison Blogger William Bryan Sorens,
recently freed and deported to Oklahoma

To: TEXAS LEGISLATURE

WHEREAS, the First Amendment gives to all Americans the guarantee of
free speech and to all publishers the guarantee of a free press, and,

WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has decided
to implement new prisoner mail censorship rules, under Board Policy
(BP) 03.91; and,

WHEREAS, the new rules violate the Supreme Court’s four-prong test
for prison censorship as set forth in TURNER v. SAFLEY, and, WHEREAS, new rules include opening and reading prisoner mail to media
and government officials; and,

WHEREAS, this mail has been protected from government oversight in
this manner for 25 years; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ is virtually unregulated and has been the subject of
constant federal litigation, corruption, abuse and exists as a
political spoils system for Texas politicians and bureaucrats; and,

WHEREAS, prisoner correspondence to media and government officials is
often the only way the public becomes aware of corruption and abuse,
and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ has already limited prisoner stamp purchase and
possession, has ended Saturday mail service including mail to and
from attorneys, courts, media and government, has banned
prisoner-to-prisoner mail, has punished prisoner-writer William Bryan
Sorens by effectually sentencing him to another year in prison for
the stated offense of “writing articles for publication,” and has
outlawed prisoner art or messages drawn on outgoing envelopes; and,

WHEREAS, the new mail rules ban publications containing nudity; and,

WHEREAS, the Texas media and most mass media refuse to cover such
subjects as corruption and abuses inside Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, only such “edgy” publications as PLAYBOY and PENTHOUSE
have dared publish investigative reports about Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, publications containing nudity have been permitted in Texas
prisons for a quarter-century, with no security-related problems; and,

WHEREAS, sufficient rules already exist in TDCJ for punishing sex
offenders who harass staff and which protect staff from coming into
unwanted contact with “offensive” material; and,

WHEREAS, it appears TDCJ’s ban on nudity is a moral ruse and pretense
for egregious censorship; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ’S censorship of both outgoing and incoming media mail
appears to be retaliatory and punitive in nature and design, aimed at
silencing voices from inside and harming the subscriber bases of
media most critical of TDCJ; and,

WHEREAS, the only deterrent to government censorship is a free press,
including publications we may not like nor agree with, and including
prisoner writers we may not like nor agree with; and,

WHEREAS, conservatives and liberals and everyone-in-between should
agree that under the Constitution criminals are sent to prison AS
punishment and not FOR punishment; and,

WHEREAS, government censorship begins in obscure public institutions,
as a matter of public policy, and tends to grow to include other
disfavored persons or publishers; and,

WHEREAS, this wave of public censorship is already evident in current
affairs, including U.S. marshal confiscation of reporters’ tapes
after a public speech by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, and
including theft and destruction of campus newspapers, and including a
“decency war” on popular radio personalities, and so much more;

THEREFORE, WE THE PEOPLE insist that the Texas Legislature compel the
Texas Board of Criminal Justice and TDCJ to reinstitute TDCJ
Correspondence Rules 3.0 as they existed in policy and practice for
25 years, and to rescind Board Policy (BP) 03.91 establishing the
above censorship of prisoner mail.
William Bryan Sorens

Alex Jones is usually up to something interesting and usually (as he
says) he has a good nose for standing on the side of civil liberties
(and sometimes civil rights). But on Saturday he spent his day
protesting the Diez y Seis de Septiembre march and rally in
Austin. Alex Jones is never without his reasons, but this time
(as with his sometime characterization of civil rights orgs as racist)
his instinct for confronting unjust power has wavered somewhat.

Now Mr. Jones finds himself policing the observance of the Mexican
equivalent of the Fourth of July, telling folks just how revolutionary
they should or should not be. Just to be clear, I’d like to pose a
question to Mr. Jones. If anyone had been arrested for their speech
Saturday, would you be defending their right to speak or the state’s
right to bust them? Mr. Jones takes special exception to t-shirts that commemorated the
Plan of San Diego, a 90-year-old scheme to rid the land of
Gringos–just as Father Hidalgo, in his legendary Grito de Dolores of
Sept. 16, 1810, once called for the arrest or removal of all Spaniards
from Mexico. Mr. Jones is horrified that the Plan of San Diego actually
motivated some killing 90 years ago. And that’s fine. I’m a pacifist
myself. No killing please. But what’s really interesting is how from
all the history available to him, Mr. Jones would be most scandalized
by the Plan of San Diego. As if, in the killing fields of Tejas, the
Plan of San Diego were the bloodiest exercise of power ever seen to
erupt from the barrel of a gun.

We recommend Mr. Jones revisit the Autobiography of Malcolm X
in
order to help him keep his balance when faced with outrageous claims
that white folks should some day suffer the very forms of power that
white folks have wielded these past forty three presidents and
counting. Which reminds me, the sooner Mr. Jones returns to his
valuable work on the trail of Bush 43rd and cronies, the better.–gm

Note: the Doyle affidavit begins with the drug surveilance
activities, the suspect’s [X’s] house, and an attempt on the part of
police to determine a supplier for the "middleman" [X]. In
Doyle’s affadvit a suburban [Doyle says a white one, Shroeder says a
brown one] is identified and Doyle follows it to the stop sign where
Schroeder initates the take down.

I had the mic in my hand and was preparing to advise over the radio
that the vehicle was turning right onto Pleasant Valley and that I did
not have a traffic violation yet. Before I could get out on the
radio I saw Officer Shroeder and officer Borton turning from south
bound Pleasant Valley to west bound Quick Silver. They pulled
sort of diagonally and to the front of the White SUV, but did not block
the vehicle. I believe officer Schroeder was driving and I
noticed that the Red and Blue emergency lights were activated. I
knew we were on our channel and that I need to switch to Frank radio to
advise we were making a traffic stop. I was also trying to get my
emergency lights activated. As I was doing this I observed a
Hispanic male exit the passenger side of the SUV and jump a
fence. I saw Officer Borton coming to the driver side of the SUV
I heard her say "Sarge help Julie she has Rocha." I don’t recall
seeing whether Officer Borton had her weapon or not. I
immediately exited my vehicle and ran to the passenger side of the
SUV. I was wearing my police raid vest and noticed that Officer
Schroeder was wearing her police raid vest also. I did not see
Officer Schroeder with her weapon drawn and I didn’t see the suspect
with a weapon. I saw a Hispanic male trying to run away from
Officer Schroeder and Officer Schroeder was trying to grab him to
prevent him from escaping. The Hispanic male was bent over and
pulling away from Officer Schroeder. I believe Officer Schroeder
was behind or beside the Hispanic male. I approached and I was
trying to grab the guy. I recall Officer Schroeder yelling
police. I was focused on getting the guy to the ground. It
was happening quick. Very quick. The guy was a little
shorter than me and weighed less than me. His size did not
concern me. I grabbed the guy’s shirt and he was struggling and
and trying to pull away. The guy never punched or kicked me and I
never saw him punch or kick Officer Schroeder. He was
aggressively trying to pull away from us. It was like we were
going in a circle with the guy. At some point I believe I had the
guys wrist, but I really don’t recall seeing his hands during the
struggle. Somehow during the struggle I ended up on the
ground. I believe I was on the ground and was on my butt.
During the struggle I lost site of Officer Schroeder and I was focused
on the guy. I knew she was there, but like I said I was focused
on him and was trying to grab a hold of him. I remember when I
was on the ground I was able to grab one of his legs around the ankle
area and I [in original] he was still on his feet and struggling.
I was hoping we could get him to the ground. At that time I heard
a pop….

The affadavit goes on to describe Rocha falling on his back in his
white t-shirt.  Only when Doyle rolls him over does he see the
blood.

Signed and notarized June 10, 2005