Chicago Man Finally Declared Innocent After 26 Years in Prison

(Chicago, IL) I really don't think I could ever be a defense attorney. Attorney client privilege binds you from revealing things that a normal citizens would go immediately to the police with. Two attorneys let a innocent man spend over a quarter of a century in prison because of client privilege.

Imagine spending 26 years of your life locked up, even missing your mother's funeral and everything else a free man would normally be able to do. Falling in love, getting married, owning a home and having children.

The two attorneys finally revealed that their former client had confessed to them he committed the murder that Alton Logan was about to go on trial for 26 years ago. They revealed the information only after the death of Andrew Wilson who told them they were free to do so after he passed.


I understand that the two attorneys were only doing their jobs, but I don't know how I would be able to live with myself knowing an innocent man was rotting away for something I know he did not do.

He was freed on bail last April, he was just declared innocent last week.

Full Story- CBS News
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MSNBC

Sheriff Tom Dart, Future Governor of Illinois?

Being a gun loving and law enforcement supporting liberal, I thought I would profile an up and coming star in law enforcement and the state of Illinois, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

Me being raised in a neighborhood where police were considered the enemy, my wisdom with age has taught me not to judge all books by a few covers. I have a lot of officers who I call friends and trust just like family. Tom Dart I can tell you is the real deal.

He has been the Sheriff in the second largest county in America since December 2006, but in that short time has made his mark here in Chicago and the surrounding areas.

He began his career in public service with five years as an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney. One of his biggest accomplishments during that time was his prosecution of crimes in the south suburbs of Chicago where he led investigations into large corruption in the city of Ford Heights were he helped take down the chief of police and several officers. Corruption was so rampant in the city the Cook County Sheriff's department to take over policing duties. (check out his full bio here).

Since he started reforming the corruption around Cook County, he has caught the eye of the national media. In October 2008, Dart announced that he was suspending all foreclosure evictions in Cook County. "We will no longer be a party to something that's so unjust," a visibly angry Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said at a news conference.

"We have to be sure that when we are doing this -- and we are destroying some people's lives -- we better be darned sure we're talking about the right people," Dart said.

In March of this year, Dart filed a lawsuit against Graiglist, accusing its owners of knowingly promoting prostitution in the US. Craigslist is not limited to innocuous postings selling sofas and advertising apartments," the lawsuit states. "Craigslist has an erotic services section where people openly promise sex for money."

On top of righting wrong, Dart is involved in charitable and youth organizations. He has never been known as a behind the desk bureaucrat, but an active leader in Cook County.

Even though he has not expressed future aspirations of being governor, I will be the first to say, when he does, he will have my vote.

Bush's Administration Had DHS Report Similar to Current Assessment

Something you rarely here in Washington and especially during the Bush years, I'm sorry. The was what Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said during an interview with CNN in Mexico aired this morning. She said the agency's assessment was just that, an assessment and not an accusation.

The secretary did admit that some might have been offended. "I apologize for that offense,'' she said. "It was certainly not intended.''

The Homeland Security report.pdf that caused such a stir by many republican leaders and David Rehbein, national commander of the American Legion for unfairly targeting military veterans as potential right-wing extremists, largely because it mentions Oklahoma City bomber and military veteran Timothy McVeigh.

Napolitano, who was involved in the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing, issued a clarification Wednesday, saying the topic of the report “struck a nerve” with her because of her involvement with the McVeigh case. She said she is trying to schedule a meeting with Rehnbein next week.

“I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ thousands across the department, up to and including the Deputy Secretary.”

While Rehbein and news organizations such as Fox were up in arms over the assessment, their outrage was neither heard or seen when an almost identical report came out during the Bush administration. The current assessment was actually a continuation of a 2008 assessment titled "White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel Since 9/11", both of which was requested by the Bush administration.

The report found that although veterans don’t make up a large percentage of “white supremacist extremists,” they have taken on leadership roles in the movement.

I guess republicans and a lot of news organizations (mainly Fox) miss that one last year.

Oh How Far We Have Come

Look at a headline from 1910 that Wonkette posted a couple of days ago that they made to look like it was modern as shock value of course, that's what they do.

But just imagine seeing this headline today:

Fox News: "DHS Report on Extremism Requested by Bush Administration"

Finally the real story thanks to FOX News?! After reporting yesterday and this morning that the Obama administration was going after war veterans and conservatives, Fox News’s Homeland Security correspondent Catherine Herridge revealed that the report, along with an earlier report on radicalized left-wing groups, was actually “requested by the Bush administration” but not completed until recently (She is at the end of this video clip):

Just like conservatives argue......Fox News is fair and balanced. I guess now they can attack Bush & team.

Chicago Tea Party Protest Pictures

Nice size crowd here today. Flavor Country........Fair & Balanced baby!!










Tasteless:

Sir please explain why Obama is a Facist.........he can't:

Bias Alive & Well in Both Left & Right Media

Like I have said before, there is no fair unbiased media anymore. Yes the left is dominate in America so we are more prominent, but the right is no different in being biased towards their own causes. Here is an example from the Tea Party protests today, one from CNN and from FOX News:

Militia Instead of Police Here at Home?

STOCKTON, CA -Possible layoffs in the California city has one man putting together his own militia, is this a good idea? While I think every citizen should be able to protect themselves in their home or defend their property, going into public streets with guns looking for trouble can have a serious downside.

We are no longer the 1776 society where all were armed in small towns defending ourselves from the British and Native Indians, but are now surrounded by homes in all directions, automobiles driving around every turn and a bounty of lawsuits waiting in the wings:

The Stockton man who wants to put a militia on the streets if police layoffs happen, said he's got 270 people signed on to help.

"They're going to have rifles, shotguns, pistols--whatever they get their hands on," said 66-year-old Alan Pettet. "We're not going to go out looking for trouble, but the first person who fires on us, will get a lot of return fire going is way."

Pettet said a militia is needed if the City of Stockton follows through with police layoffs that could come as early as this summer.

"If they don't lay off police, there won't be a militia," Pettet said. "But with the first person laid off July 1st, 270 men will be out on the street."

The idea of an armed militia patrolling Stockton streets doesn't have many supporters around the city.

Continue

Fair & Balanced or Just Conservative?

Fox claims and takes objection to claims it has been promoting the Tea Party even t scheduled to take place all over the country tomorrow that has been led by the conservative grassroots movement.........you be the judge:

Yeah I know MSNBC is a liberal heaven and promotes everything that the Dems want, but at east they don't pretend.

Dolphins Can Stop Pirates But World Governments Can't?

Do we have to start recruiting sea mammals to stop the Somali pirates? Dolphins blocked pirates trying to reach a Chinese vessels in the Gulf or Aden.

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.

The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's.

Continue Reading

To Sean Hannity, "Reading is Fundamental"

Like I normally do, I check out political shows on both sides, right & left. Watching Hannity last night left me puzzled by something Sean Hannity had said in this statement, "I think he should have stayed silent, but what we've now discovered is according to the Politico he in fact was legally required to sign on to this, there was no great decision here, in other words. So I'm seeing the media praise him or overly praise him for something he legally was told by his team he had to do. So the slobbering love affair continues, in other words."

Legally required? The president of the United States is forced by law to allow deadly force to be used in cases of hostage situations, is that right? So me being the investigating mind that I am decided to read the Politico article he was referring to.

After reading I honestly could not believe that Sean Hannity could not figure out what the Politico article was referring to. By "legally required", Obama had to sign the order to use force in order for the Navy to legally take out the pirates.

From News Hounds:

The Politico article Hannity was evidently referring to is clearly (although not to Hannity) reporting that the snipers could not shoot without Obama's authorization -- not that Obama was required to give authorization:

The exact details of the shooting remain murky. The snipers fired after all three pirates became visible on the enclosed lifeboat where they were holding Phillips, a Navy official in Bahrain told reporters — giving the snipers the chance to kill all three at once, so that none would be left behind to harm Phillips.


Obama's involvement in the decision to authorize lethal force was legally required, officials said, because it was a hostage situation, not combat, and unrelated to the already authorized U.S. effort against Al Qaeda and other terror groups, officials said.


“It’s not a combat operation, so the lawyers wanted to ensure this was done right," said a second defense official.

Even Benard Goldberg was trying to deflect criticism away from Obama for doing what was right in this situation, and not go on some wacko right-wing idiotic tirade that even after reading, you don't understand.

[WATCH]

My problem is not with true conservatives, it's with idiots like Sean Hannity.

Conservatives Gone Mad!?

When I originally saw this video, I did not bother posting it because I did not know of it's validity. But as more and more sites and television are picking it up I decided to let it fly.

While I know the majority of conservatives are not like this, they have attracted wackos like this guy to their cause by their own apocalyptic speech. Everything from Obama the socialist, the anti-Christ to the new world order crap has brought more psychos from their underground bunkers to the streets.

People like this guy scare me to death. You really have to watch the whole thing to find out what I'm referring to:

71% of Americans Trust Obama, Only 38% in Favor of Republicans

I wonder why:



Full report here

Oh! How Things Change From One Day to the Next

Over the past few days before the dramatic rescue of captain Phillips yesterday, fair & balanced Fox News along with republicans were harsh critics of the president and his administration on the handling of the hostage situation that was brewing off the coast of Somalia.

I know he did not handle the situation how Reagan did and even though the whole ordeal was less than four whole days, and we now know the president gave the order to take them out less than 48 hours after Phillips was taken captive, the criticism was dominate all over Fox. Well that was all before yesterday afternoon however:

Krugman: "Republicans Have Become Embarrassing"

I wonder how many right-wing blogs and news sites will quote or post a story about Paul Krugman now. His face was all over the right-wing sites when he criticized Obama and the democrats. He has moved back over to the left again in criticism of republicans in a story in the N.Y. Times today titled appropriately "Tea Parties Forever".

The problem he says much like I believe, is that the GOP has attracted way too many wackos along with the ones who really want to make a difference. When they have folks so bitter since the election who still harp and have formed committees on trying to prove that the president is a foreigner, and then these other wackos who go out and shoot three officers because he fears Obama is going to take away his guns. You even have people on network television like Glenn Beck who calls the president one of the "Blood Suckers," and "the only way to kill a blood suckers is to stab them through the heart with a stake."

In my opinion, the right is relying too much on fringe elements of their party to regain a voice and it's becoming increasingly dangerous.