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 A Detroit rally is being organized to take place on MONDAY, March 26th, at 6pm – Hart Plaza, to show our support for JUSTICE for Trayvon Martin, the teenager gunned down by Mr. Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Several clergy persons and students from local colleges are organizing this event, so let us all take a part of this fight for justice. Wear your “hoodie” if you want to and bring a bag of skittles! 

FinalCall.com News 

By Jesse Muhammad -Staff Writer-
Updated Mar 20, 2012 – 11:14:35 AM

ORLANDO, Fla. (FinalCall.com) – Trayvon Martin had dreams of being an aviation mechanic, however, the 17-year-old Black teen is dead, the man who shot him has yet to be arrested, and angry protestors from across the country are preparing to occupy Sanford, Florida.

Demand Justice for Trayvon Martin Click Here for More Information @ JusticeForTrayvonMartin.com    Sign The Petition!

“This family is in outrage that they lost their son in this manner. But there’s more outrage over the police handling of this case and the fact that George Zimmerman sleeps in his bed every night and their son is in a grave,” Attorney Benjamin Crump told The Final Call.

Mr. Crump, a principal with the Tallahassee firm of Parks & Crump, LLC, is representing the victim’s family. The family wants the shooter prosecuted.

Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, the father and mother of Trayvon Martin, addressed the media on March 16, calling on the FBI to get involved in the investigation.

“We’re not getting any closure, any answers, and it’s very disturbing. As a father, I’m hurt. I feel betrayed by the Sanford Police Department,” said Tracy Martin.

“I don’t understand why this man has not been arrested,” said Sybrina Fulton.

Florida college students are demanding that Mr. Zimmerman be arrested immediately for shooting the unarmed teen.

They rallied March 19 at the Seminole County criminal courthouse in Sanford and on the campus of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.

NYC Million Hoodie March for Trayvon on March 22, 2012

“As students we are in shock and outraged over this. Trayvon Martin did not deserve to be shot. The 911 tapes don’t lie. George Zimmerman should be held accountable,” law student Adner Marcelin, 24, told The Final Call.

Mr. Marcelin heads the Student Coalition for Justice that is headquartered in Tallahassee. It includes a network of at least 7,000 students within the U.S. and parts of Canada.

“According to the family and friends who knew Trayvon Martin, it would have been out of character for him to attack anyone. George Zimmerman aggravated the situation and took the life of an innocent child who had a bag of Skittles,” said Mr. Marcelin. “Were it not for the work of the family’s legal team and the attention being built, this case probably would have been swept under the rug. We cannot tolerate someone playing like a vigilante cop and getting away with murder.”

Trayvon Martin's parents at Million Hoodie March NYC

Sanford is located approximately 20 miles north of Orlando. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Sanford has a population of nearly 54,000, 57 percent White and 31 percent Black.

Najee Muhammad, who heads the New Black Liberation Militia in Atlanta, told The Final Call his group is determined to make a citizen’s arrest.

“Everybody is making great speeches but somebody has to do something different. Nobody is thinking like this. We can’t keep looking to the enemy to give us justice,” said Mr. Muhammad. He says the militia group has had “well-trained members” on the ground in Sanford the past few weeks and even obtained the address for the parents of Mr. Zimmerman in Lake Mary, Fla.

MIAMI, FL - MARCH 21: Protesters hold cans of ice tea and Skittles which is what the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is reported to have been carrying when he was killed by neighborhood watch person, George Zimmerman on February 26 in Sanford, Florida, on March 21, 2012 in Miami, Florida. The Justice Department and the FBI opened an investigation into the death of the black teenager, and the local state attorney announced that he had asked a grand jury to investigate. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“We were able to obtain information that his father, Robert Zimmerman, got him out of the country because they are spooked out and scared by what his son did,” said Mr. Muhammad. “People want to debate about whether there is probable cause to make a citizen’s arrest. George Zimmerman killed a 17-year-old boy in cold-blooded pre-meditated murder. What more probable cause do you need?”

Since making their efforts public, he says the New Black Liberation Militia has received numerous calls from the Justice Dept., FBI, the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center in attempts at “finding out details of our plans because they know how we move. We’re not playing games.”

A national community rally is scheduled for March 26 in front of Sanford City Hall. Prominent civil rights leaders, clergymen, grassroots organizations and supporting Floridians are expected to be in attendance.

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 21: Supporters of Trayvon Martin block traffic as they march on W. 14th Street during a "Million Hoodie March" in Manhattan on March 21, 2012 in New York City. Thousands of protesters turned out to demonstrate against the killing of the black unarmed teenager by a white neighborhood watch captain. The protesters took to the streets after holding a large rally in Union Square. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“We’re going to keep putting the pressure on. We’re asking the Department of Justice to get involved in the investigation. This makes no sense. Race is the elephant in the room. Had Trayvon been the triggerman, he would have been arrested day one and he would be sitting in jail,” said Mr. Crump.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said, “We also know that the murder of innocent Black men in the American South is nothing new. Fifty-seven years ago, the White murderers of 14-year-old Emmitt Till in the Mississippi Delta were acquitted of the crime in a clear case of racial injustice.”

“The fact that a young unarmed man could be killed by a neighborhood watch captain while his family was blatantly misled by local police as to the background of the shooter is disturbing,” said Rev. Al Sharpton. He will be leading a rally on March 22 at First Shiloh Baptist Church in Sanford.

The last cries of a dying boy?

Children cry out for justice for Trayvon

On Feb. 26, the same night the world was watching the NBA All-Star game airing from Orlando, Trayvon Martin, who was from Miami, was visiting relatives in the Retreat at Twin Lakes gated community in Sanford.

He was walking back from a nearby 7-Eleven convenience store with a can of ice tea and a bag of Skittles candy.

Mr. Zimmerman, an armed self-appointed “neighborhood watch leader,” called the police to report a suspicious person in the area when he spotted Mr. Martin. He ended up engaging and eventually killing Mr. Martin with a gunshot to the chest. “Being a young, Black man has been called the hardest job in America. Young, Black men are much more likely than White men to be jobless, in jail and labeled ‘suspicious,’ sometimes with deadly consequences,” said Mr. Morial.

Marcher at Trayvon protest in Florida/Photo from Justice for Trayvon Facebook site

Although Mr. Zimmerman, 28, admitted to shooting Mr. Martin, his self-defense claim was enough to keep Sanford police from detaining him.

“Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him,” said Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee during a press conference on March 12. The case is headed to the desk of the State Attorney’s Office.

“Of the many unanswered questions in this case, two stand out. First, Trayvon Martin, who had just stopped off at a convenience store, was armed only with a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea. George Zimmerman, who weighed over 100 pounds more than the victim, was armed with a 9 millimeter handgun. Even if there was a physical altercation between the two, why was such deadly force necessary?” asked Mr. Morial, whose group is also calling for a federal probe.

Florida is one of many states to have passed some form of the Castle Doctrine or “Stand Your Ground” law in which self-defense is asserted against a charge of criminal homicide.

“Those laws were designed to allow a person to defend themselves. It is not to give people the right to go out, confront people and shoot them down,” said Warren F. Muhammad, a criminal attorney in Houston.

From Justice for Trayvon Facebook page

“It is sad how this country goes to length to stretch laws such as this to protect someone who clearly is not acting in self-defense. The case of Trayvon Martin is another example of the lack of value placed on the life of the Black man in America. And they go to lengths every day to prove that to us,” said Atty. Warren Muhammad.

“Laws like that make modern-day vigilantism that can have these kind of tragic consequences. Too many young Black men are losing their lives to mistaken identity and overzealous assumptions about their criminal intent,” said Melissa Harris-Perry during a segment of her MSNBC show. She is a political science professor at Tulane University.

“One of the reasons the police gave for not immediately arresting Zimmerman was that he had a ‘squeaky clean’ record. A few days later it was discovered that Zimmerman had been arrested in 2005 for resisting arrest with battery on a police officer. Trayvon Martin, on the other hand, had no criminal record,” said Mr. Morial, the former mayor of New Orleans.

Justice for Trayvon Martin Facebook photo

Mr. Crump told The Final Call that a public records lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family to ask a judge to order the police department to release the 911 tapes.

A hearing was set for March 19, but the police department surprisingly released the tapes to the public on the evening of March 16.

Prior to the release of the audio recordings, Mr. Crump told The Final Call that he believed by obtaining the 911 tape, they would get answers to some very critical questions. “Why did he (Mr. Zimmerman) think this kid was suspicious? Why did he disregard and ignore the police instructions to him? It’s going to show this loose cannon’s overwhelming mentality when he got out that car with a loaded 9 millimeter gun and confronted this 17-year-old, 140 pound child who had a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea,” he said.

In his 911 call, Mr. Zimmerman can be heard telling the dispatcher that it was a Black male and “he looks like he’s on drugs and up to no good. … It’s raining. He’s just walking around, looking about. He just staring, looking at all the houses.”

The dispatcher told him not to pursue the person. Mr. Zimmerman responded, “Ok,” but then disregarded those instructions and can be heard saying, “These a–holes always get away.”

In the background of 911 calls made by witnesses, the cries of a young boy, believed to be Trayvon Martin, can be heard yelling for help just before a gunshot is let off. The cries then go silent.

The community is now accusing the Sanford police dept. of trying to protect Mr. Zimmerman, who has reportedly dialed 911 at least 50 times over the last year.

“The truth is contained in the 911 tapes and we think that if the Sanford police chief led a shady investigation, he should be removed. If they had nothing to hide why did they withhold the tapes this long?” asks Mr. Marcelin.

Growing call for justice

The story of the death of Trayvon Martin, who attended Michael Krop High School in Miami, is spreading rapidly across the Internet and attracting wider mainstream media coverage.

An online petition on Change.org has garnered at least 400,000 signatures. People are being encouraged to make daily phone calls the State Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

Small rallies have taken place in Sanford including one led by pastors on March 14 at Allen Chapel AME Church. Popular Baltimore preacher Jamal Bryant told the crowd, “This is a wake-up call for the state of Florida. We are going to shut Florida down until justice weighs down!”

Protestors are being asked to bring a bag of Skittles, like the candy Trayvon Martin was carrying the night of his death, to the rally on March 26.

“As the father of a 10-year old African American son, I join all African American parents and Americans of conscience everywhere in calling for an end to the war against young, Black men and a thorough investigation of the death of Trayvon Martin,” said Mr. Morial.

(Kendrick Muhammad of Orlando contributed to this report.

By Diane Bukowski 

March 18, 2012 

Edward Sanders, incarcerated for 37 years, is now in Kinross prison in the U.P.

DETROIT — Juvenile lifer Edward Sanders contacted me this past week to let me know that on March 2o, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing the appeals of juvenile lifers Kuntrell Jackson and Evan Miller, sentenced to life without parole (JWLOP) when they were each 14, in Arkansas and Alabama. 

The key importance of these cases is that these children were charged with murder. Previous U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Graham v. Florida and Roper v. Simmons   have respectively outlawed JWLOP sentences  and the death penalty for non-homicide cases, while Jackson and Miller were convicted of murder. 

“The oral arguments will be on C-SPAN, and they will be available afterwards for downloading,” Edward said excitedly.  

I first interviewed Edward at least six years ago in an article for The Michigan Citizen newspaper. I was on his visiting list when he was serving his JWLOP term in the Mound Road prison in Detroit, later to be shut down. He was later transferred because his brother Richard, also serving life, was inadvertently moved from Ryan to Mound. 

Edward Sanders (right holding baby) with family and friends during his youth

“I had not seen him in more than 30 years,” Edward said. “We tried to keep our relationship quiet, but they eventually found out. He and I both cried when I was transferred, it hurt so much to be torn apart again.” 

Every time I visited Edward, I left with my heart ripped apart, wishing I could magically snatch him back home after the 30+plus years he had spent in prison. The U.S. is the ONLY country in the world that sentences juveniles to die in prison. It is one of the few countries in the world that even sentences ANYONE to life without parole. 

I nearly cried when he told me what he remembered of his life before the age of 17, when he was sentenced to death in prison. It was in reality the only life he had ever lived. 

“As the adult that I am now,  Edward, then 45, said, “I look back every day and wonder how the juvenile that I was then was able to get me into this situation. I remember the church picnics, and the fun we had,” he said. “I remember my grandmother warning me and my brothers and friends not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 

His eyes and mind left the present and drifted back to another time. 

Gary Webb, who exposed U.S./CIA sponsored drug dealing in poor neighborhoods

Edward grew up in the Linwood neighborhood of Detroit. His mother was caught up in the genocidal drug epidemic fostered by outside forces including the U.S. government, the CIA and the Contra drugs for weapons deals that journalist Gary Webb gave his life exposing. His grandmother took over as grandmothers often do. (But meanwhile, why are the top drug dealers including U.S. government officials not serving life without parole?)

Edward was expelled from school in the sixth grade for breaking into the school. That’s a potent argument against the school to prison pipeline the Michigan ACLU has exposed in their book, and the current announcement by Detroit police chief  Ralph Godbee  that they are stepping up school suspensions to combat youth crime. 

Edward was left to find his way on the streets. But Edward was very intelligent. He earned his college degree in prison before higher education courses were eliminated, and became a competent jail-house lawyer, even conducting classes for other prisoners.

Kuntrell Jackson's case to be heard by U.S. Supreme Court March 20, 2012

He became a dedicated Muslim and has practiced the peaceful tenets of that faith ever since, praying at the specified times, avoiding pork, and exercising every day. 

Even after he was nearly killed by another psychopathic prisoner last year, Edward went on to rank third in the prison’s recent sprints. 

As to the crime itself, Edward and four friends went out one night and hit up every liquor store in the neighborhood. (who was jailing the store owners for selling to minors, or charging alcohol companies for aiding and abetting juvenile delinquency with the billboards they put up in every poor neighborhood?)

They were looking for a party they had heard about. 

By the time they got to the scene of the crime for which Edward was convicted, they were not in their right minds. An argument with acquaintances led to the firing of a barely-functional gun, but not by Edward or three others in the car.  A man fell dead. 

Evan Miller (r) with co-defendant Colby Smith

Edward would not testify about the real shooter, although another man in the car did. The real shooter, badgered by the police to testify against them, tried to hang himself in the court lock-up on a lunch break.

Edward was locked up in 1975. It is now 2012, 37 years later. He wrote on the back of a photo he sent me recently “35 years and still holding.”   Now, the U.S. Supreme Court may finally give him and thousands others like him a chance to see the light of day, for what is left of their lives.

On March 20, Kuntrell Jackson and Evan Miller’s  attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative will argue that the two did not have the capacity physically, mentally or psychologically to be responsible for first degree murder. (Click on earlier VOD post at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/11/12/us-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-juvenile-lifer-cases-could-have-major-impact-in-michigan/ to read their stories. Both were sentenced for capital murder although they were not the shooters, as in Edward’s case. 

Michigan Atty. General Bill Schuette

Amicus curiae briefs on their behalf have been filed by the American Medical Association. Amnesty International, Former Juvenile Court Judges, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Parole and Probation Association, the American Bar Association, law students from the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University,  and the Juvenile Law Center, among others. 

On the other side, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette requested leave to participate in the oral arguments, but was summarily denied by the USSC on March 5.

“The court’s March 5 rejection was quick, 10 days after Schuette’s office sought to participate in arguments that will help decide the fate of 2,500 inmates nationally,” wrote MLive’s John Barnes. “One in seven are in Michigan. Schuette’s office limited its comments to a short statement by spokeswoman Joy Yearout, who said Schuette acted at the request of the defending attorneys general of Alabama and Arkansas.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy takes the oath of office as daughter Anastasia watches; Worthy testified against justice for Michigan's juvenile lifers

‘We will continue to defend and fight for justice for victims and their families at every opportunity,’ she wrote.'”

But Schuette is not fooling anybody. His attempt to intervene typifies the brutal law enforcement mentality endemic in this state. When hearings were held four years ago in the Michigan State Legislature on a package of bills that would have given juvenile lifers the opportunity for parole, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, and Berrien County’s Prosecutor all testified against the bills.

Worthy sent her staff to an earlier hearing to show a video of an incident where Detroit teens beat a man to death at a Coney Island, enforcing stereotypes of Black youth held by most of Michigan’s out-state white legislators.

Arguing the Supreme Court cases will be Attorney Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a MacArthur Fellow. The video at the top of this story contains his comments. Stevenson argued Sullivan v. Florida, the companion case in Graham v. Florida, where the Supreme Court found juvenile life without parole was an unconstitutional, “cruel or unusual” punishment in non-homicide cases.

Barnes writes that three outcomes are likely: limiting the Supreme Court judgment to juveniles 14 and younger, limiting it to cases where juveniles were not the shooter, or focusing on states like Michigan, one of only 11 states in the U.S. that bars judges from considering age as a mitigating factor during sentencing. He also notes that allowing juveniles a chance at parole does not guarantee them a chance at freedom any time soon.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial

But VOD believes the battle must continue until, in the terms of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” One day, rage at the sorrow visited on poor, Black, Brown and Latino people in the U.S., particularly the youth, will open the country’s prison doors just as French revolutionaries tore down the walls of the Bastille.

John Barnes  of MLive.Com has led a team of reporters since last year to expose the plight of Michigan’s 350+ juvenile lifers. He and his team have given hope to them that they will not die in prison. To read his recent articles, click on  (pdf).

VOD: click on the following links to read Supreme Court questions and state court of appeals decisions in the cases:

Kuntrell Jackson questions and Kuntrell Jackson v State of Arkansas

Evan Miller questions and http://willamettelawonline.com/2011/11/miller-v-alabama/.

Go to http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.aspx and http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_audio.aspx to obtain transcripts and recordings of the oral arguments in the two cases after March 23, 2012.

Cynthia McKinney speaks in Detroit 8 27 11

By Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman

March 7, 2012

Hello! It’s amazing what one can learn just by talking to strangers who can become acquaintances. I want to get this out there because I was stunned when my waitress made the comment as I was complementing her on her cheerful attitude, her pretty eyeshadow, and other small talk. She announced that she was really not that cheerful about the fact that her sister, in the U.S. military, had just received her orders to report to Syria and that her sister would be shipping out very soon. Imagine that. U.S. troops headed to Syria. Did our President make that announcement to the people of this country?

U.S. readying for war on Syria

U.S.combat troops currently roam throughout central Africa having been deployed by our President to Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and every other country that received the message loud and clear from our President’s previous Africa deployment–Libya–about what could happen if the leadership of that country refusU.S.forces now reportedly all over the oil-producing areas of Libya and in the desert reportedly spying on the other countries of the region from a secret drone base. View the video here: http://www.algeria-isp.com/actualites/politique-libye/201112-A7555/libye-une-base-militaire-secrete-americaine-francaise-libye-katroune-video-voir-decembre-2011.html

U.S.combat troops currently roam throughout central Africa having been deployed by our President to Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and every other country that received the message loud and clear from our President’s previous Africa deployment–Libya–about what could happen if the leadership of that country refused cooperation with the Obama military and hence, says “yes” to the presence of foreign troops on their territory. Of course, this offensive deployment was made under an appropriate cover story that, for those familiar with the region, is clearly only a cover story and a not-very-credible one, at that. Watch this video at: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/10/20111014174712102972.html.

Drone bases are in Kenya, Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia; and the Obama Africa policy has succeeded in ensuring that Kenyans now fight and kill Somalis on the ground while drones fire missiles from the sky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html).

Obama has ordered drones over Somalia

This is going to continue, folks, until the people of this country say no. Please let our President know that he must act immediately to bring all of our troops home, stop the CIA drone bombings, and adopt a military policy of non-intervention in other countries. Please send that message by clicking onn the link posted below: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.

Fox News Poll: 78% of Voters Oppose Sending Troops to Syria

By Dana Blanton

Published March 15, 2012

|FoxNews.com

U.S. troops on ground near Syria

American voters oppose U.S. military involvement in Syria, where the government has killed an estimated 7,500 people as it tries to end a year-long uprising. In addition, a majority thinks there should be a national debate before the U.S. intervenes in hot-spots around the world.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has called for U.S. air strikes to help the anti-government rebels — something the United States did in Libya. A Fox News poll released Thursday shows that a slim 51 percent majority of voters opposes that action, while 37 percent support it.

Larger majorities oppose the U.S. providing weapons to anti-government groups (64 percent) and launching air strikes to try to oust the Syrian government (68 percent). Fully 78 percent of voters oppose U.S. troops on the ground in Syria.

Instead of military action, most voters — 82 percent — think the United States should provide humanitarian aid.

In this March 19, 2011 file photo, supporters of besieged Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi cheer as they rally in support of him in the city of Bamako, Mali. While Western powers herald the death of Gadhafi, killed Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, many Africans are mourning a man who poured billions of dollars of foreign investment into desperately poor countries. Gadhafi backed some of the most brutal rebel leaders and dictators on the continent, but tens of thousands are now gathering at mosques built with his money and are remembering him as an anti-colonial martyr, and as an Arab leader who called himself African. (AP Photo/Harouna Traore).

Current opinion on U.S. involvement in Syria is in line with sentiment last year on Libya. A 55-percent majority opposed military involvement in Libya, and 64 percent opposed providing funding to Libyan rebels (August 29-31, 2011).

President Obama authorized military intervention in Libya without first consulting Congress.

American voters think it should be the other way around. The poll found 59 percent think there must be a national debate and approval from Congress before the U.S. intervenes overseas. That includes majorities of Republicans (65 percent), independents (60 percent) and Democrats (54 percent).

About a third of voters — 34 percent — think the president must be able to decide what actions the U.S. should take on his own.

Many voters think the U.S. will soon face such a decision on Iran. A 56 percent majority thinks force will be required to stop Iran from working on nuclear weapons, while 30 percent think diplomacy and sanctions alone will work.

Just under half of voters (49 percent) support U.S. taking military action against Iran. That’s down from 60 percent support last month (February 6-9, 2012).

U.S. Stsff Sgt. Robert Bales who massacred Afghan civilians including women and children last week; Afghan government now charges he was not alone

“With disturbing news coming daily from Afghanistan and Syria, some American’s appear to be reconsidering whether opening another military front right now is a good idea,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News poll with Republican pollster Daron Shaw.

Still, a 61-percent majority thinks the United States should provide military support if Israel attacks Iran.

Fifty-three percent think Israel should take action to keep Iran from getting nukes, while 33 percent disagree.

The Fox News poll is based on land line and cell phone interviews with 912 randomly-chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from March 10 to March 12. For the total sample, it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/15/fox-news-poll-78-voters-oppose-sending-troops-to-syria/#ixzz1pUtQ9g6d

Cynthia McKinney speaks in Detroit Aug. 27, 2011

By Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman

March 7, 2012

Hello!  It’s amazing what one can learn just by talking to strangers who can become acquaintances.  I want to get this out there because I was stunned when my waitress made the comment as I was complementing her on her cheerful attitude, her pretty eyeshadow, and other small talk.  She announced that she was really not that cheerful about the fact that her sister, in the U.S. military, had just received her orders to report to Syria and that her sister would be shipping out very soon.  Imagine that.  U.S. troops headed to Syria.  Did our President make that announcement to the people of this country?

U.S. troops in Syria

U.S.forces now reportedly all over the oil-producing areas of Libya and in the desert reportedly spying on the other countries of the region from a secret drone base.  View the video here:  http://www.algeria-isp.com/actualites/politique-libye/201112-A7555/libye-une-base-militaire-secrete-americaine-francaise-libye-katroune-video-voir-decembre-2011.html

U.S.combat troops currently roam throughout central Africa having been deployed by our President to Uganda, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and every other country that received the message loud and clear from our President’s previous Africa deployment–Libya–about what could happen if the leadership of that country refused cooperation with the Obama military and hence, says “yes” to the presence of foreign troops on their territory. 

Of course, this offensive deployment was made under an appropriate cover story that, for those familiar with the region, is clearly only a cover story and a not-very-credible one, at that.  Watch this video at:  http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/10/20111014174712102972.html.

Drone bases are in Kenya, Djibouti, Seychelles, Ethiopia; and the Obama Africa policy has succeeded in ensuring that Kenyans now fight and kill Somalis on the ground while drones fire missiles from the sky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-building-secret-drone-bases-in-africa-arabian-peninsula-officials-say/2011/09/20/gIQAJ8rOjK_story.html).

This is going to continue, folks, until the people of this country say no.  Please let our President know that he must act immediately to bring all of our troops home, stop the CIA drone bombings, and adopt a military policy of non-intervention in other countries.  Please send that message now:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.

Poll: Voters Oppose US Troops In Syria

Updated: Thursday, 15 Mar 2012, 4:49 PM PDT
Published : Thursday, 15 Mar 2012, 4:49 PM PDT

(FOX News) – American voters oppose US military involvement in Syria, where the government has killed an estimated 7,500 people as it tries to end a year-long uprising, according to a FOX News poll released Thursday.

U.S. Major General David Hogg inspects Ugandan troops last year/Photo Ryan Sutherland

In addition, a majority thinks there should be a national debate before the US intervenes in hot spots around the world.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called for US air strikes to help the anti-government rebels — something the US did in Libya. A FOX News poll released Thursday shows that a slim 51 percent majority of voters opposes that action, while 37 percent support it.

Larger majorities oppose the US providing weapons to anti-government groups — 64 percent — and launching air strikes to try to oust the Syrian government — 68 percent. Seventy-eight percent of voters oppose US troops on the ground in Syria.

In this March 19, 2011 file photo, supporters of besieged Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi cheer as they rally in support of him in the city of Bamako, Mali. While Western powers herald the death of Gadhafi, killed Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, many Africans are mourning a man who poured billions of dollars of foreign investment into desperately poor countries. Gadhafi backed some of the most brutal rebel leaders and dictators on the continent, but tens of thousands are now gathering at mosques built with his money and are remembering him as an anti-colonial martyr, and as an Arab leader who called himself African. (AP Photo/Harouna Traore,)

Instead of military action, most voters, 82 percent, think the US should provide humanitarian aid.

Current opinion on US involvement in Syria is in line with sentiment last year on Libya. A 55-percent majority opposed military involvement in Libya, and 64 percent opposed providing funding to Libyan rebels, according to an August poll.

President Barack Obama authorized military intervention in Libya without first consulting Congress.

The poll found 59 percent think there must be a national debate and approval from Congress before the US intervenes overseas.

About a third of voters, 34 percent, think the president must be able to decide what actions the US should take on his own.

Many voters think the US will soon face such a decision on Iran. A 56 percent majority thinks force will be required to stop Iran from working on nuclear weapons, while 30 percent think diplomacy and sanctions alone will work.

Just under half of voters, 49 percent, support US taking military action against Iran. That is down from 60 percent support last month.

“With disturbing news coming daily from Afghanistan and Syria, some Americans appear to be reconsidering whether opening another military front right now is a good idea,” says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the FOX News poll with Republican pollster Daron Shaw.

Still, a 61 percent majority thinks the US should provide military support if Israel attacks Iran.

Fifty-three percent think Israel should take action to keep Iran from getting nukes, while 33 percent disagree.

The FOX News poll is based on land line and cell phone interviews with 912 randomly-chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research and Shaw & Company Research from March 10 to March 12. For the total sample, it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Read more: FOX News

Read more: http://www.myfoxla.com/dpps/news/poll-voters-oppose-us-troops-in-syria-dpgonc-km-20120315_18575098#ixzz1pUYU6f5C

Huffington Post   Kate Abbey-Lambertz 

Posted: 03/13/2012 9:32 pm

VOD editor: click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/03/06/corrigan-demands-council-hand-over-control-of-city-dhs/ to read why charges of corruption in the DHS are invalid, and why state DHS director Maura Corrigan violated federal law by admittedly withholding federal funds from the city DHS since last October.  Our article also describes corruption in the Wayne Metro Community Action Agency (WMCAA), to which the state wants to give Detroit’s funding and services.

Click on  DHS atty letter to read testimony of attorney Jerome Goldberg, representing unions at the city DHS.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder hugs Mayor Dave Bing as he presents Damon Keith award to him Feb. 14

Mayor Dave Bing’s unilateral announcement that he is disbanding the city DHS, described in the Huff Post Detroit article below, shows clearly that he cannot be trusted to defend Detroit against a PA 4 takeover, whether by consent agreement or emergency manager.

The Detroit Department of Human Services faces an uncertain future as Mayor Dave Bing’s administration and state and federal authorities plan to dissolve it entirely, but City Council and concerned citizens put up a fight to keep the department intact.

The department has seen sweeping changes and numerous firings following a rash of corruption and mismanagement charges, resulting in in one arrest to date.

Bing unilaterally decides to cut Detroit's Head Start program

DDHS will not reapply for the $55 million in federal funding it currently receives to administer the early education program Head Start. At the insistence of Bing and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD will consider proposals for a new body to manage the education program.

DDHS is also currently responsible for administering Community Servicement, which comes to the city by way of the state’s Department of Human Services. But MDHS wants to de-certify the Detroit department and transfer the CSBG program to a non-profit entity, citing the recent corruption in DDHS.

WMCAA Board members including CEO Louis Piszker at right

Bing has agreed to MDHS’s proposal. That plan would have a existing agency, most likely Wayne Metro Community Action Agency in Wyandotte, distribute the CSBG funding intended for to the city’s neediest residents in the short term, while the state finds a new agency for Detroit.

But to strip DDHS of CSBG funding — and thereby eliminate the department altogether — Detroit City Council would need to sign off on MDHS’s proposal. While the body hasn’t yet held a vote, most Council members have expressed extreme concern over handing over control of the department’s funds to an agency outside the city.

On Tuesday afternoon, Council members peppered Ursula Hollins, interim director of DDHS, with questions about the position of the department. Hollins said several times she agreed with the Bing administration’s decision to remove all funding from her department’s control, though she admitted she had not recommended to the mayor that the department be shut down.

Ursula Hollins

“I think the services should be provided by persons who care about the services being rendered, who have the skill sets and expertise,” Hollins said. “I believe we owe that to the citizens of the city of Detroit.”

Hollins said the city department faces some disadvantages in administering CSBG funds. As a government body rather than a non-profit, it has more hoops to jump through and can’t turn contracts around as quickly.

Several council members, including Pro Tem Gary Brown, said they would prefer to go through a full decertification process for DDHS, even though the public hearings and other red tape involved could drag on for months. If forced to go through the decertification, MDHS has threatened to air all of DDHS’s dirty laundry.

Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson

Some made the point that the department had already taken care of its management problems, and insisted past corruption shouldn’t factor in to the decision on DDHS’s fate. And Hollins said her time at the department had been spent making extensive changes, conducting investigations and discharging offending employees.

Council Member JoAnn Watson was most vocal about wanting to keep DDHS intact.

“We should fight to maintain human services and programs,” Watson said. “Keep the money [in the city] and serve the people.”

VOD: ironically, Mayor Bing earlier called on Ursula Hollins and the city’s DHS to fill in the holes in the safety net left by the state DHS cut-off of thousands of families from public assistance. Click on http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/10/03/city-works-to-weave-web-for-those-cut-from-welfare-rolls/

Selma to Montgomery! National Action Network Rally & March
A No Struggle, No Development! Production By KennySnod

March 6, 2012

The Struggle Continues, Black & Brown Together.

In 1965, the American South was a battlefield. The wealthy elite sought to block rights and a voice in society for a segment of the population. Nowhere was this battle uglier than in Alabama over the basic right to vote. Today, 47 years later, many states have launched an all-out coordinated assault on our democracy by attacking workers’ rights, voting rights, public education and comprehensive immigration reform.

In 1965, the Selma to Montgomery March made history and changed America. Now in 2012, we march again…for the 99%. History will be on our side. (March — Starts, Selma to Montgomery March 4–9, 2012 March 4: Selma—1:30 p.m. March 5–8: Selma to Montgomery march at 9 a.m. March 9: Montgomery, march at 9 a.m., rally at State Capitol at 11:30 a.m. – The distance between Selma to Montgomery is 47 miles.)

A No Struggle, No Development! Production By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913

eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com

YouTube – I have over 245 community videos on my YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

A No Struggle, No Development! Production By KennySnod *

March 13, 2012

We peacefully protest in the name of justice for the family of Michael “Fat Mike” Haynes III and the Detroit Black Community. We are protesting against both institutional and community violence. We are protesting against the conditions that breed crime and violence in Detroit and across our country, which are rooted in the economic powerlessness of our communities.

We protest the disrespect of racist whites and foreign merchants of us and our communities. We feel violence and crime in our communities is rooted in our dependency on a broken economy, our mis-education, poor leadership, our economically depressed communities and families.

Our peaceful protest is aimed at closing the BP gas station on Fenkell & Meyers, and to demonstrate a Black Man’s life is worth more than some petty merchandise. We are venting our emotions while coming together as Detroiters to fight against the violence and problems that has created so much senseless violence in our cities.

We declare “WE” will be answer to the problems confronting our community’s throughcollective unity, from collective unity we can accomplish any goals we set to achieve.

Turn Tragedies Into A Triumphs – Join Us!
A No Struggle, No Development! Production By Kenny Snodgrass,
Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913  eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com.
YouTube – I have over 255 community videos on my YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

Kenny Snodgrass (in brown outfit, center left) participates in MLK Day march on Gov. Rick Snyder's home to demand an end to disenfranchisement of Michigan's majority-Black cities

Doug Henwood

By Doug Henwood

Feb. 24, 2012

With the displacement of Greece’s elected government by Eurocrats acting in the interest of the country’s creditors, I thought this would be a good time to reprise the section of my 1997 book Wall Street that covers the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975, which was something of a dress rehearsal for the neoliberal austerity agenda that would go global in the 1980s. Certain celebrity academics are constantly cited for making this argument, but I was there first. You can download Wall Street for free by clicking here: Wall Street.

This chapter, and this book, has mainly been about the private sector, but it would be incomplete to finish a chapter on “governance” without looking at the relations between Wall Street and government, not only in the U.S., but on a world scale.

One advantage that Wall Street has in public economic debate, aside of course from its immense wealth and power, is that it’s one of the few institutions that look at the economy as a whole. American economic policymaking is, like all the other kinds, largely the result of a clash of interest groups, with every trade association pleading its own special case. Wall Streeters care, or presume to care, about how all the pieces come together into a macroeconomy. The broadest policy techniques—fiscal and monetary policy—are what Wall Street is all about. For some reason, intellectuals like the editors of the New York Review of Books and the Atlantic have decided that investment bankers like Felix Rohatyn and Peter Peterson have thoughts worth reading in essay form. Not surprisingly, both utter a message of austerity—the first with a liberal, and the second with a conservative, spin—hidden behind a rhetoric of economic necessity. These banker–philosophes, creatures of the most overpaid branch of business enterprise, are miraculously presented as disinterested policy analysts.

Wall Street’s power becomes especially visible during fiscal crises, domestic and international. On a world scale, the international debt crisis of the 1980s seemed for a while like it might bring down the global financial system, but as it often does, finance was able to turn a crisis to its own advantage.

While easy access to commercial bank loans in the 1970s and early 1980s allowed countries some freedom in designing their economic policies (much of it misused, some of it not), the outbreak of the debt crisis in 1982 changed everything. In the words of Jerome I. Levinson (1992), a former official of the Inter-American Development Bank:

“[To] the U.S. Treasury staff…the debt crisis afforded an unparalleled opportunity to achieve, in the debtor countries, the structural reforms favored by the Reagan administration. The core of these reforms was a commitment on the part of the debtor countries to reduce the role of the public sector as a vehicle for economic and social development and rely more on market forces and private enterprise, domestic and foreign.”

Levinson’s analysis is seconded by Sir William Ryrie (1992), executive vice president of the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm. “The debt crisis could be seen as a blessing in disguise,” he said, though admittedly the disguise “was a heavy one.” It forced the end to “bankrupt” strategies like import substitution and protectionism, which hoped, by restricting imports, to nurture the development of domestic industries.

“Much of the private capital that is once again flowing to Latin America is capital invested abroad during the run-up to the debt crisis. As much as 40–50 cents of ever dollar borrowed during the 1970s and early 1980s…may have been invested abroad. This money is now coming back on a significant scale, especially in Mexico and Argentina.”

In other words, much of the borrowed money was skimmed by ruling elites, parked profitably in the Cayman Islands and Zürich, and Third World governments were left with the bill. When the policy environment changed, some of the money came back home — often to buy newly privatized state assets for a song.

Billionaire banker Felix Rohatyn, chair of NYC "Municipal Assistance Coporation" (Big MAC) in 1975

That millions suffered to service these debts seems to matter little to Ryrie. Desperate Southern governments had little choice but to yield to Northern bankers and bureaucrats. Import substitution was dropped, state enterprises were privatized, and borders made porous to foreign investment. After Ryrie’s celebrated capital inflow, Mexico suffered another debt crisis in 1994 and 1995, which was “solved” using U.S. government and IMF guarantees to bail out Wall Street banks and their clients, and creating a deep depression; to make the debts good, Mexicans would have to suffer. Once again, a dire financial/fiscal crisis—the insolvency of an overindebted Mexican government—was used to further a capital-friendly economic agenda.

Photo credit: AP | New York Gov. Hugh L. Carey, center, flanked by Felix Rohatyn, left, chairman of the New York State Municipal Assistance Corp., and State Comptroller Arthur Levitt, meet with White House officials in Washington, as they seek financial help for New York City. (Nov. 14, 1975)

These fortunate uses of crisis first appeared in their modern form during New York City’s bankruptcy workout of 1975. This is no place to review the whole crisis; let it just be said that suddenly the city found its bankers no longer willing to roll over old debt and extend fresh credits. The city, broke, could not pay. In the name of fiscal rectitude, public services were cut and real fiscal power was turned over to two state agencies, the Municipal Assistance Corp. (MAC, chaired by Rohatyn), and the Emergency Financial Control Board, since made permanent with the Emergency dropped from its name.

DC 37 members joined other city employees in a march on Wall Street. “Jobs and services are a hell of a lot more important than profits,” Victor Gotbaum said at the rally.

Aside from the most routine municipal functions, the city no longer governed itself; a committee of bankers and their delegates did, Rohatyn first among them. Rohatyn, who would later criticize Reaganism for being too harsh, was the director of its dress rehearsal in New York City. Public services were cut, workers laid off, and the physical and social infrastructure left to rot. But the bonds, thank god, were paid, though not without a little melodrama, gimmickry, and delay (Lichten 1986, chap. 6). Continue reading →

Then DC Mayor Anthony Williams dressed as "BungleBug" at society theatrical opening

From “Progressive Review” archives

VOD editor: Anthony Williams, who spoke at state Detroit review team meeting March 13, 2012, was Mayor of Washington, D.C. from 1999-2007. The state he left the city in is described below.

2008 

DC FISCAL POLICY INSTITUTE – A detailed review of the District’s economy reveals a number of disturbing trends and shows that the city’s wide economic disparities are getting wider:

– Despite city-wide job growth, employment among African-American residents and those with no more than a high school diploma has been falling. The employment rate for these groups is at nearly the lowest level in 30 years.

Poor Peoples' 1968 March on Washington; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s goals have yet to be achieved in that city.

– The gap between high-wage and low-wage workers in the District is at an all-time high. Wages have barely changed in 30 years for DC’s lowest-wage workers, after adjusting for inflation, while DC’s top earners have seen large earnings gains.

– Income inequality in the District is greater than in nearly every large U.S. city. DC’s rich-poor gap has widened over the past two decades. An analysis of 59 large U.S. cities by the Brookings Institution found that income inequality in DC was greater in 2006 than in every city except Atlanta and Tampa.

– Poverty in the District is at the highest level in nearly a decade. Since with the late 1990s, some 27,000 more DC residents have fallen into poverty.

These findings show that the District has two different economies: one represented by construction cranes, new jobs, and growing incomes – and another represented by people who work but earn very little, who are not moving into better jobs or higher wages, and who may not be working at all. The gleaming side of DC’s economy could continue to grow and prosper, but there is little evidence to suggest it would lead to any improvements for the thousands of residents who live on the other side.

Other stats:

– African-American residents are five times more likely than white residents to be unemployed. This gap was greater in 2006 than in any year since 1985.

– Employment among African-American adults has been falling since the late 1980s. The employment rate among black adults has even fallen during the city’s recent economic boom. Some 51 percent African-American adults worked in 2006, compared with 62 percent in 1988.

– Employment among residents with a high school diploma is at the lowest level in nearly 30 years. Just 51 percent of DC residents at this education level are working. In the late 1980s, by contrast, nearly two-thirds of residents with a high school diploma were employed.

– Real wages have barely changed for low-wage workers over 30 years. Hourly earnings for low-wage working DC residents rose just six percent between 1979 and 2006, after adjusting for inflation, compared with a 40 percent increase for high-wage workers.

– African-American median income is no higher than in 1980. . .

http://www.dcfpi.org/

Continue reading →

Attorney Andrew Paterson serves subpoenas to the Detroit review team, including Conrad Mallett (facing him) and State Treasurer Andy Dillon at center

Snyder, Dillon, review team to face judge Thurs. March 22  to “show cause” why they should not be found in contempt for violating OMA with proposal   

By Diane Bukowski 

March 14, 2012 

State Treasurer Andy Dillon at review team meeting 3/13/12

DETROIT – A proposed consent agreement (CA),  presented by State Treasurer Andy Dillon March 12 and 13 to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, the City Council, and the state-appointed review team, under terms of Public Act 4, has outraged residents, the Mayor, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Detroit), and many others. 

Wall Street banks clearly dictated the terms of the proposed “Fiscal Stability Agreement,” just as they dictated the city’s disastrous borrowing of  $1.5 billion in pension obligation certificates in 2005.  That action led to a 2009 default which the city forestalled by turning over its revenues from casinos and the state to a bank trustee.

 For the agreement to expire, bond agencies must raise Detroit’s debt rating from its current junk status to at least one of the two highest levels, something not likely in the foreseeable future.

Atty. Jerome Goldberg says banks responsible; he also blasted proposed elimination of city DHS

“This is outrageous extortion by the banks,” Attorney Jerome Goldberg, who represents the city’s Association of Professional and Technical Employees, told the Council. “In Greece, the banks recently had to agree to a 75 percent reduction in debt payments from that government. Here, these are the same banks who have devastated Detroit neighborhoods with thousands of illegal and racist foreclosures.” 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson elaborated. 

“Let’s have Detroit pay $6 million to the banks instead of the $600 million they have taken this year,” Watson said. “Public Act 4 is unconstitutional and illegal. The state owes us $220 million, how can they declare us in deficit when they owe US money?” 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson blasts proposal March 13, 2012

Marcus Cummings, the 23-year-old President of the East Schaefer I-75 association, told the Council, “It saddens my heart to see what has happened to Detroit over the years, from the destruction of our schools, to the theft of Cobo Hall and now this. I did not vote for a dictator. The state should be paying the money they owe us instead. I demand City Council tell the state to take their consent agreement and shove it.” 

Marcus Cummings: take consent agreement and shove it!

Under the CA’s terms, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Dillon want city officials to agree to install an unelected “Financial Advisory Board” (FAB). It would dictate the terms of a massive city “restructuring,” including the elimination of departments and many jobs and services, as well as possible sale of assets. The proposed agreement requires FAB approval of every city function, including budget, contracting, debt determinations, revenue sources, union contract negotiations, and pension and retiree benefit obligations. 

The agreement purports to be a result of the review team’s findings, but there are in it no details of any financial assessment stating that the city is in an emergency situation. Dillon claims in the draft that the agreement would forestall the appointment of an emergency manager.

Dr. Delores Leonard

“I find it interesting that only last week signatures were submitted in Lansing to repeal Public Act 4,” Dr. Dolores Leonard said. She and many others also spoke against the turnover of the city’s Human Services Department functions to the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency (WMCAA). (See VOD story at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/03/06/corrigan-demands-council-hand-over-control-of-city-dhs/).

They also objected to Mayor Bing’s recent decision to give the city’s $14 million in Head Start funding to WMCAA, despite the federal government’s recommendation that the city wait at least a year. 

 “I’m tremendously disappointed that this consent agreement proposed by Governor Snyder does not represent the spirit of partnership needed between the City and the State to resolve the City’s financial challenges,” Bing said in a statement. “It forfeits the electoral rights of the citizens of Detroit guaranteed by the democratic process.” 

Mayor Dave Bing announces pension boards' agreement to forestall payments last year

He added, “[Snyder] is being disingenuous when he says this agreement leaves elected officials in charge of the City. In fact, the proposed, nine-member advisory board selects and “oversees” the functions of the City’s COO, CFO and Human Resources director – not the elected Mayor.” 

Watson said Dillon personally delivered the March 13 version of the document to Council members’ offices five minutes before their scheduled general meeting at 10 a.m. She said only the Mayor’s office can present contracts to the City Council. 

“Mayor Bing rejected this agreement,” Watson said. “But he said Gov. Rick Snyder told him that he has five members of the city council in his pocket. I want to know who those members are!”  

Only Watson and Councilman Kwame Kenyatta later voted against a motion to have the Council’s Research and Advisory division review the proposal, saying the document itself is illegitimate. Other Council members including Saunteel Jenkins, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr, and Gary Brown said they were willing to re-negotiate terms of the agreement, despite the likelihood that PA 4 may soon be frozen. 

WHO ARE THE FIVE? Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins argues for official review of consent agreement

Ed McNeil, chief negotiator for the city’s Coalition of Unions, said there was no necessity for the agreement because unions have already tentatively agreed to provisions in it including a reduction in the “head count” for City employees, reduction in private contractors, and changes in health care practices which could save the city $60 million a year. The tentative agreement, which has not yet been voted on by city workers, includes wage and health care concessions. 

Brandon Jessup speaks at review team meeting 3/13/12

Brandon Jessup, CEO of Michigan Forward, which delivered over 226,000 petition signatures to the Secretary of State Feb. 29 to repeal PA 4 by referendum, questioned the timing of Dillon’s action. Once the state board of canvassers approves the signatures, Public Act 4 by law must be frozen until a November vote by Michigan residents. He said the Board has already counted the petitions, and now must select a sample to review for validity, which it is expected to begin doing by March 21. 

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has declared a March 27 deadline for the review team to present its findings to him. 

Click on Detroit RT CAto read entire proposed agreement, and see summary below.

 That afternoon, during an open review team meeting, Attorney Andrew Paterson, representing Robert Davis, presented subpoenas to Dillon and the team’s members, requiring them to appear before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette Thurs. March 22 at 9 a.m. Governor Rick Snyder is also being subpoenaed. (Click on RT subpoena to view document.)

Robert Davis, whose attorney Andrew Paterson subpoenaed the review team 3/13/12

They are to “show cause” why they should not be held in contempt of Collette’s earlier order declaring all proceedings of the Detroit review team null and void due to its violations of the Open Meetings Act. 

“I don’t understand how they can be so lawless in this area,” Paterson told VOD. “Dillon has clearly been secretly preparing drafts of this agreement in violation of the Open Meetings Act.” 

Judge Collette ordered that all review team meetings must be public. However, the minutes for the last public review team meeting of Feb. 28, 2012 state that Dillon created a subcommittee to discuss options for the team’s recommendations to the Governor. At the March 13 meeting, he told Davis that the subcommittee had not met. (Click on RT minutes 2 28 12 to read complete minutes, which do not include any discussion of the proposal Dillon submitted March 13.)

Dillon passed out copies of the document for the first time to the review team at their March 13 meeting, and said they would meet again Friday, March 15 after they have had a chance to digest it. However, his office said March 14 that no new meeting has yet been scheduled.

 Mayor Bing and Detroit’s City Council were not present at the review team meeting. Instead, Dillon called on former Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams to make a presentation to the team endorsing the agreement. 

Former DC Mayor Anthony Williams endorses proposal despite Detroit Mayor Bing's opposition

Williams was mayor from 1999-2007, during which he executed a similar arrangement for his city, which still does not have home rule. He claimed the agreement is based on “Big MAC,” the agreement effectuated by New York Mayor Ed Koch  and Wall Street banker Felix Rohaytn in 1978.

“Washington, D.C. was determined to be financially insolvent and unable to pay its bills,” Williams said. “If banks are going to loan money to a company, they want to see some changes in management.” 

(Click on SO MUCH FOR THE URBAN RENAISSANCE WASHINGTON DC to read articlefrom The Progressive Review citing the deplorable conditions Black residents of Washington, D.C. have faced as a consequence of the re-structuring there. Click on Austerity and bankers coups, the NYC precedent to read analysis by author Doug Henwood of the New York City Wall Street takeover in 1978 and subsequent similar thefts of public municipal control. Articles will also be posted on VOD below.)

Michiganders Betsy and Dick Devos own the Amway Corporation; DeVos earlier ran for governor

Wikipedia says that after Williams’ term as mayor, “[he] entered into a partnership with the Washington-area investment bank Friedman Billings Ramsey Group, Inc. to form Primum Public Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on buying and leasing back government and not-for-profit real estate. In 2009 Williams announced he was stepping down as CEO and that Primum would be dissolved. He joined DC law firm Arent Fox on May 14, 2009 as Director of State and Local Practice, assisting governments and municipalities with securing stimulus money and managing their budgets.

“He has also been actively involved in local education initiatives, including serving on the boards of the nonprofit organizations D.C. Children First and the national nonprofit Alliance for School Choice.”

Debra Taylor tells the state review team PA4 is unconstitutional, at their meeting 3/13/12.

The Alliance for School Choice is the largest such organization in the United States. It supports the creation and expansion of school vouchers (for use by private as well as charter schools),  corporate tax credits, and other school “choice” programs.

 According to Think Progress, “The Alliance for School Choice is another [Dick and Betsy] DeVos front group founded to promote vouchers and serves as the education arm of AFC  In 2008, the last date available for its financial disclosures, its total assets amounted to $5,467,064. DeVos used the organization not only for direct spending into propaganda campaigns, but to give grants to organizations with benign-sounding names so that they could push the radical school choice agenda. For example, in 2008 the organization gave $530,000 grant to the “Black Alliance for Educational Options” in Washington, D.C. and a $433,736 grant to the “Florida School Choice Fund.” This allowed DeVos to promote her causes without necessarily revealing her role. But it isn’t just the DeVos family that’s siphoning money into the Alliance for School Choice and its many front group patrons. Among its other wealthy funders include the Jaquelin Hume Foundation (which gave $75,000 in 2008 and $100,000 in 2006), the brainchild of one of an ultra-wealthy California businessman who brought Ronald Reagan to power, the powerful Wal Mart Foundation (which gave $100,000 in 2005, the Chase Foundation of Virginia (which gave $9,000 in 2007, 2008, and the same amount in 2009), which funds over “supports fifty nonprofit libertarian/conservative public policy research organizations,” and hosts investment banker Derwood Chase, Jr. as a trustee, the infamous oil billionaire-driven Charles Koch Foundation ($10,000 in 2005), and the powerful Wal Mart family’s Walton Family Foundation (more than $3 million over 2004–2005).” For whole article, click on http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/05/21/168363/billionaires-privatize-education/?mobile=nc.