Conservative America has scored another resounding victory in its war against racial and economic diversity in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, has turned the promise of 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education on its head.

The conservative majority of the Court - Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Uncle Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. - rejected diversity plans from Seattle, Washington and Jefferson County, Kentucky - a school district that was once racially segregated by law. Ironically, the majority relied heavily on the landmark Brown v. Board decision that made segregation illegal in U.S. schools, even as they undermined the spirit and principles of that monumental Supreme Court ruling.
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What is it going to take for Congress, the media and the American people to wise up and impeach Dick Cheney?

Obviously it isn’t enough that he lied us into an illegal, unjust and immoral war. It doesn’t matter that he ignored a Congressional subpoena and still refuses to release details of his energy task force that may have outlined the administration’s imperial oil-grabbing tactics pre-911. It makes no difference that the vice president ordered the outing of the undercover CIA operative in charge of finding Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” because her husband publicly refuted the administration’s falsehoods about said wmds.

The fact that he lead the military in its use of interrogation tactics that amount to torture (until Congress allowed the administration to change the definition of torture), is apparently irrelevant. No one seems to care that Cheney was in charge of war games on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 that may have slowed military and air traffic control response to plane hijackings. And shooting that guy in the face? Well, it could have happened to any experienced hunter shooting caged quails.

Now it is revealed the vice president hasn’t been complying with an executive order that requires executive branch employees to report on the nature of the classified documents they create. The VP justifies his noncompliance by claiming that his role as President of the Senate separates him from the executive branch. Who cares what the Constitution says, right?
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Financial problems at Detroit Public Schools have largely been caused by poor financial management and worse planning. If the proposed budget for 2007-2008 is any indication, optimism trumps pragmatism at the district, and that can be dangerous when you’re dealing with billion-dollar budgets and children’s lives.
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21 area law enforcement agencies have just completed Operation Eight Mile, three days of military-style police maneuvers along the 8 Mile Road corridor from the Detroit area suburbs of Harper Woods to Farmington Hills, Michigan. This unprecedented show of force - complete with tanks and helicopters - netted 289 arrests.

Police impounded 109 vehicles, made 122 arrests for narcotics and morality crimes, seized 1,460 grams of marijuana and 187 grams of cocaine, 19 guns and $20,375 in cash. Officers also arrested 22 fugitives who were wanted on warrants.

Police officials said the operation resulted in the most arrests, perhaps in history, of any regional sweep.

The campaign didn’t just target the hardened criminal element. Officers wrote 512 tickets the first day of the operation, just to show the average area resident that they meant business. (more…)

The Paris Hilton saga is only news because the famous, privileged rich kid got off when so many people arrested for similar violations would be rotting in jail for much longer than 45 days, and certainly wouldn’t be released after serving only a few hours because they were crying to mommy.

But the real story of this Hilton soap opera may be WHY she was let go in the first place.

According to this report on www.news.com.au (from Agence France-Presse), Hilton’s billionaire grandfather donated to Sheriff Lee Baca’s re-election campaign.

Was Paris’ release the payback?
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Talk about poor timing.

Russell Simmons released his book, Do You: Laws To Access The Power In You To Achieve Happiness And Success, right as the argument about hip hop’s often misogynist lyrics reached a fever pitch.

The result? He is answering (or dodging) more questions about hip hop lyrics during his book tour than he is being asked about his book.

So when the hip hop mogul sat down recently with NPR’s Farai Chideya, he got so flustered she thought he was going to walk out.
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The Michigan Citizen has been talking about the practice of insurance red-lining in Detroit for a long time. Now the Detroit News cites a report that accuses Michigan auto insurers of making astronomical profits on the backs of the state’s consumers.

A review of financial records from AAA, Allstate and State Farm — which combined provide auto insurance to about 50 percent of Michigan’s insured drivers — found all three of them are making excessive profits.

According to the article, AAA of Michigan’s profits more than doubled to $104.2 million in 2006 from $50.9 million in 2002. The company’s surplus — money set aside to pay future claims — increased by 68 percent during the same period, ballooning to $1.53 billion from $915 million.

The study’s author, Jay Angoff, served as Missouri’s insurance commissioner from 1993-1998. Based on his findings, he believes Michigan should “consider legislation that would prevent auto insurers from charging higher premiums for people who have bad credit, low-status jobs and limited formal education.”

As an example, he said he went online Thursday to make two bogus applications for coverage. The two were identical except he identified himself as a restaurant manager in one application and as a waiter in the other. The insurance company quoted an annual rate of $785.90 for the restaurant manager and $1,002.50 for the waiter.

“All other things being equal, my rate went up by 20 percent because I got demoted from manager to waiter,” he said.

And don’t live in the city of Detroit.

Here’s a look at the rates charged to the same hypothetical person depending on whether he or she lived in Detroit or in Kalamazoo.

Allstate: $1,821 for Kalamazoo resident; $4,394 for Detroiter; a 241 percent difference.

AAA: $1,915 in Kalamazoo; $4,816 in Detroit; a difference of 251 percent.

State Farm: $1,624 in Kalamazoo; $5,933 for a Detroit motorist; a 365 percent difference.

Detroit News - Report: Mich. auto insurers pile up profits, surpluses

The Bush regime’s already flimsy case for holding 385 detainees at concentration camps in Guantanamo, Cuba fell apart this week when two military judges dismissed the cases of the only two detainees who face charges.

All charges were dropped against Canadian Omar Khadr and the case against Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan was thrown out because the Pentagon failed to establish proper jurisdiction for the tribunals at its island purgatory. But this partial victory only complicates and prolongs the incarceration of the men and boys who have been held in violation of the Geneva Conventions for five years.
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