Odds and Sods - Free Britney edition

March 19th will be the Blogswarm Against the War. Sign up and do your part, sister and brother bloggers! If you aren't sure what to write about, there are suggestions at the March 19-Blogswarm webpage. If there are anti-war activities in your town taking place on or around the 5th (!!!!) anniversary of the Iraq war, covering these events is a good place to start.

BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!!!!

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Lisa at Questioning Transphobia titles her post about Sanesha Stewart, simply, Another Murder--which just breaks my heart. Unfortunately, violent deaths of transgendered persons are commonplace enough to warrant such a headline.

The tragedy of Sanesha's murder was compounded by the insensitivity of the New York press, writing salaciously of the fact that she (gasp!) dressed like a woman, used a woman's name (her legal name, in fact), and was apparently a prostitute. Drakyn has a round-up of various accounts throughout the blogosphere, and asks for a moment of silence in remembering Sanesha.

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Left: from Rolling Stone.


Rolling Stone's cover story about Britney Spears is aptly titled The Tragedy of Britney Spears. It opens with a trip to the mall, where Britney has one of her regular meltdowns when an American Express card doesn't immediately go through:

"Fuck these bitches," screams Britney, each word ringing out between sobs. "These idiots can't do anything right!"

Ghalib dashes over to console her, but she's already spitting, growling, throwing a big bottle of soda on the floor so that it begins to spill underneath the curtain, and then she's got a box of tissues and is throwing them on top of the wet floor along with piles of discarded merchandise. A new card finally goes through, but by then Britney is out the door, leaving her shirt on the ground and replacing it with the red top. "Fuck you, fuck people, fuck, fuck, fuck," she keeps screaming, her face splotchy and red as she crosses the interminable mall floor, the crowd behind her growing larger and larger. "Leave us alone!" yells Ghalib.

The siblings run after Britney to get a video to put up on YouTube, and some of the shopgirls run after her to hand off the merchandise she left behind, and there's an entire bridal party wearing yellow T-shirts who have pulled out camera phones too. A crush of managers in black shirts and gold name tags try to keep the peace, but the crowd running after Britney gets larger, and now the shopgirls have ­started to catch up to her, one of them slipping spectacularly in her platform shoes, grazing her elbow. She pulls herself up, mustering the strength to tap Britney's shoulder. "Um, I'm from the South too," she mumbles, "and I was wondering if I could get a picture with you for my little sister."

Britney turns to Ghalib and grabs his arm. "I don't want her talking to me!" she screams. She whirls around and stares the girl deep in the eyes, her lips almost vibrating with anger. "I don't know who you think I am, bitch," she snarls, "but I'm not that person."

Wow. Obviously not.

Renegade Evolution and other sex workers have often pointed out that there are LOT of entertainers far more oppressed than sex workers, and I think we have a pretty good example right in front of us, don't we? Britney has been chewed up and spit out like a cheap piece of candy.

Amazing story, going back to cute Britney the Mouseketeer. Check it out.

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In other music news, Tom Scholz of the band BOSTON has just informed the Huckabee campaign to STOP using their song, More Than A Feeling:

CONCORD, N.H. - The chief songwriter and founder of the band Boston has more than a feeling that he’s being ripped off by Mike Huckabee.

In a letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, Tom Scholz complains that Huckabee is using his 1970s smash hit song “More Than a Feeling” without his permission. A former member of the band, Barry Goudreau, has appeared with Huckabee at campaign events, and they have played the song with Huckabee’s band, Capitol Offense.

Scholz, who said Goudreau left the band more than 25 years ago after a three-year stint, objects to the implication that the band and one of its members has endorsed Huckabee’s candidacy.

“Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for,” wrote Scholz, adding that he is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. “By using my song, and my band’s name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I’ve been ripped off, dude!”

Fred Bramante, who was chairman of Huckabee’s New Hampshire campaign, called the allegations ridiculous. He said he attended dozens of Huckabee rallies in New Hampshire and other states and never heard Huckabee play “More Than a Feeling,” other than when Goudreau campaigned with him in Iowa in October.

“Governor Huckabee plays ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ Does that mean Lynyrd Skynyrd is endorsing him? He plays ‘Louie Louie.’ Does that mean The Kingsmen are endorsing him? To me, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Never once has he said, ‘The band Boston endorses me.’

Scholz, in a telephone interview Friday, said he understands “More Than a Feeling” has been a centerpiece at some rallies, and said Goudreau is identified with the band in an endorsement video.

“Whenever a campaign publicly exploits a well-known song, there is some inference of support” by the band or artist, he added.

He recommends that Huckabee “stick to music recorded by far-right Republicans.”

Tensions between Scholz and some of the early band members date from the early 1980s, when CBS Inc. sued the band over delays in recording new albums. The company’s Epic Records label recorded the band’s first two releases: “Boston,” in 1976, and “Don’t Look Back,” in 1978.

Scholz — who wrote, engineered, and laid down nearly all the instrumental tracks on the first album — countersued for the rights to the band’s name and music. Three members of the original band, including Goudreau, testified for the record company, which lost.

In his letter, Scholz referred to Huckabee as the “straight talk candidate,” but that label more often is applied to Sen. John McCain, who has had his own troubles when it comes to his musical playlist. Last week, McCain’s campaign agreed to stop playing John Mellencamp’s songs “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” at his rallies after the liberal rocker complained.

Mellencamp had supported Democrat John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the race.

Other candidates have had better luck selecting songs. Celine Dion said she was “thrilled” that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton used her song, “You and I” as her official campaign anthem. Obama frequently blares U2’s “City of Blinding Lights” at his events.

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I have written here about the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of Richard Javis 'Jabo' Johnson while in police custody in Fountain Inn, SC--as well as the local demonstration that I attended after his death was ruled a suicide, back in September. I did two follow-ups, one concerning the Greenville Journal story, and another when no charges were filed, following the Department of Justice investigation.

Well, the DoJ was back in Greenville County this week, facilitating a meeting between the Fountain Inn police force and members of the community:

Feds bring Fountain Inn citizens, police force together

Some attending closed meeting say they 'feel good' about outcome

Monday, February 18, 2008
By Eric Connor
STAFF WRITER, Greenville News

A U.S. Department of Justice representative who specializes in mediating racial conflicts met behind closed doors tonight with Fountain Inn officials and members of the community to address complaints of discord between the community and the city’s police force.

Fountain Inn Mayor Gary Long said "a lot" of members of the community, as well as he and the city’s police chief, attended the mediation session, which came after the death of an inmate in the city’s jail last summer.

Long said he couldn’t comment on what occurred during the meeting, which was held at an undisclosed location. A majority of City Council members weren’t present, he said.

The Rev. Curtis Johnson, a spokesman for the community, said that he couldn’t talk about what was discussed during the meeting. "We feel good that the process is going forward," Johnson said. "We have no reason to believe we won’t reach a positive conclusion."

The Justice Department offers mediation through its Community Relations Service, which acts as a third-party peacemaker when communities encounter racial and ethnic conflict. The department’s regional mediator, Walter Atkinson, presided over the meeting.

Long had said earlier that the meeting wouldn’t focus on the July death of Richard Javis Johnson, who was found hanged to death with a T-shirt in his jail cell after an arrest on a drug charge -- but rather on general complaints by the community regarding relations with law enforcement.

Allegations of police mistreatment came to the fore after Johnson’s death. The 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has ruled the 25-year-old’s death a suicide.

A month after the death, the Rev. Jesse Jackson took a tour of the Fountain Inn jail with a group of protesters and accused the Police Department of "a dereliction of duty" and said that Johnson had been "beaten to death."

The city’s police chief, Keith Morton, has said his department is innocent of any wrongdoing.

City Councilwoman Wanza Bates told The Greenville News in November that she has fielded widespread complaints of police abuse, including allegations of harassment, use of excessive force and illegal searches, concerns that she said citizens have been afraid to raise publicly.

Johnson’s death, Bates said, compelled more in the community to come forward with their concerns.

"I’m hearing it from black and white, young and old," Bates told The News in November. "People don’t even want to drive down Main Street."

In November, Long told The News, "We don’t think that there’s anything that they’ve done improperly, but if we have, we’ll deal with it. Since there was so much anxiety and so much accusations and the perception that we were doing something wrong, we took it out of our hands and will let someone else judge us."

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I'm not sure if the current John McCain scandal has any news-cycle longevity or not, but we shall see. In the meantime, here is a link about the New York Times story (which I could access in full last night, but not this morning! growf!) about Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist he was ultra-cozy with. Fascinating!

I hope she's as proud of her country as Cindy McCain is! ;)

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Listening to: Bob Marley & the Wailers - Satisfy My Soul
via FoxyTunes

Odds and Sods III

Apparently this will be my last update on the suspicious death of Richard Javis 'Jabo' Johnson, in which 25-year-old Johnson was found hanging in his Fountain Inn jail cell under rather specious circumstance. Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail ruled last month that no criminal charges will be filed, and I've read several accounts since that reinforce the message: case closed.

Reverend Curtis Johnson, pastor of Valley Brook Baptist Church and leader of the group that raised significant logistical questions about the so-called suicide, says they accept and understand the solicitor's decision but still believe it is possible Johnson did not die from his own hand. And for the record, I don't believe it either.

As it is, it looks as if we will never know the truth.

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Meanwhile, at our local fundamentalist crackpots, Bob Jones University, there is an outbreak of whooping cough SO SEVERE that they have closed the fall semester a week early:

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Bob Jones University has decided to end its fall semester a week early after nearly 30 confirmed or suspected cases of whooping cough were reported on the school's Greenville campus.

BJU said Friday that it will end the semester on Friday, Dec. 7, rather than Dec. 13 as originally scheduled.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control said that it is working with the school to make sure all necessary precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of the disease, also known as pertussis.

Wait, you are thinking, didn't they develop a vaccine for that, like a century ago, or something? Yes, indeed, and that is the elephant in the room that no one will touch, except to simply state that it is preventable:

Whooping cough, which is the common name for the disease pertussis, is a highly communicable, vaccine-preventable illness that lasts for many weeks and most often affects children, causing severe coughing spasms and vomiting, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What no one will come out and say is: THESE DAMN IGNORANT FUNDIES HAVE PUT US ALL AT RISK AGAIN WITH THEIR VACCINO-PHOBIA AND FEAR OF MODERN MEDICINE!

The next time some herbalist (and I am one, so I'm allowed to write this), alternative medicine-maven or fundamentalist nutcake preaches at you that autism, ADD, fibromyalgia, depression, bipolar disorder, cancer and who-knows-what-all are caused by vaccines, show them this blog entry and slap them upside the head for me, willya? And ask how they would feel if they lived near the offending school?

PRETEND you live near an outbreak, as I do, now, you gonna go get your kid vaccinated or NOT?

Yeah, that's what I thought.

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And finally, more Christmas shopping ideas. Last year, I was depressed I couldn't see my daughter and granddaughter at Christmas, and I was therefore happy to meet the incredibly-adorable FLAMEGAL (aka Rachael), almost exactly my grandbaby's age. Rachael's mom, Penny, brought me a lovely Christmas gift (click to see her beautiful dichroic-glass creations!), and wished me well for the holidays, as one mother to another.

Even more than that, like so many people cursed with retail servitude at Christmastime, I was feeling down; as if the holidays had gone 100% mercenary and could never be redeemed. Penny restored my belief in Christmas as a time of love, friendship and good will.

This is my way of saying thank you! and Merry Christmas!

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Listening to: Jimi Hendrix Experience - Third Stone from the Sun
via FoxyTunes

The death of Richard 'Jabo' Johnson, Pt. 2

The Greenville Journal, a free weekly newspaper mostly specializing in real estate advertising, photographs of squeaky-clean high school kids who win scholarships, and notices about new businesses colonizing the area, has actually attempted some investigative journalism. Unfortunately, no link (!), so I actually have to type this out of the newspaper, the old-fashioned way.

I also apologize for not having a photo of Jabo, but I still can't locate one.

The suspicious death of Richard 'Jabo' Johnson continues to divide the small hamlet/quasi-suburb of Fountain Inn. The Greenville Journal article (by Lyn Riddle) is titled A City Divided (I think it's something of a stretch to call Fountain Inn, population 7500, a city, but you get the idea) and subtitled: Young man's death stirs unrest in Fountain Inn.

A disturbing account of racial discord lying just beneath the surface, suddenly and forcefully brought out into the open:

...the death of a young black man in city jail cell No. 1 has peeled back the neat facade of Greenville County's southernmost city and exposed a lingering division between its people.

It would be too easy to say the divide was between blacks and whites, for there have been whites who have complained about the Police Department and its tactics. Some, like the Rev. David Kennedy, who years ago waged a successful public relations campaign against the Redneck Shop and its Ku Klux Klan Museum in Laurens county, believe it is more about the haves and have-nots.

"I've had whites to call me and ask me to fight for them," he said.

Residents have claimed they have been harassed routinely by police, insulted and threatened. City administrator Eddie Case declined to comment until a State Law Enforcement Division investigation into the death is complete.

The town of about 7500 people has experienced two protests against the police and more are planned. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and 20 local residents, including the mother of the man who died, toured the jail, measuring its bars and trying to see how a healthy man of average height could hang himself from them.

"This has exposed some problems on the fundamental level," said Wanza Bates, the city's only female, only black Council member.

The SLED investigation into Jabo's death continues. As I reported earlier, the Justice Department is in town, taking statements about the July 29 death of Jabo while in police custody. I heard numerous rumors when I attended the September 27th rally, including one account that the police had wanted Jabo as an informant, and that he had repeatedly refused.

And then, there were the counter-demonstrators (see above link), who have gone on the offensive:

It has been a point-counterpoint battle of wills, from the streets to the Council chambers. Councilwoman Bates circulated a letter seeking information on how the police deal with residents. Police officers' wives have gone door-to-door; asking for positive comments. City Council meetings, in part, have turned into a slugfest.

The Greenville County Coroner's office ruled Jabo's death a suicide in September. Most in Fountain Inn's black community do not believe that Jabo intentionally killed himself, particularly in such a short period of time (allegedly an hour or less) after being locked up. His mother says it just wasn't him:

His mother has said he had much to live for, including a fiancee and a job he was to start the day after he died. Jackson and Kennedy say Johnson had suspicious marks on his body, especially, Kennedy said, on his back and arms.

Official details of the bust (for marijuana and cocaine possession) are as follows:

Johnson was booked at the Fountain Inn Law Enforcement Center at 10:57 pm July 29, according to a police incident report obtained through the Coroner's Office. He and a friend had been picked up outside his grandmother's house on Boyd Street in an area known as Sanctified Hill, a predominantly black neighborhood on the southern side of the city.

The friend, Andre Pendermon, was released. Johnson was put in one of the city's four jail cells.

In their incident reports, the two police officers who arrested Johnson said they searched him and put him in a cell while they talked to Pendermon. When Officer Brian Steele returned at about 11:40 pm, he found Johnson hanging by a t-shirt, his back against the bars. He lifted him off and attempted CPR, according to his report.

EMS arrived at 11:44 pm, and Johnson was taken to Hillcrest Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:25 am. The autopsy (performed by Dr. Erik Christensen at Greenville Memorial) found that Johnson died of asphyxia due to hanging, complicated by acute intoxication with alcohol, cocaine and marijuana.

The article does not mention Hattie Anita Johnson's (Jabo's mother) claims that she was not permitted to see her son for almost three days after his death, as she said at the rally. The rallies have been pretty rowdy events, and the one I attended nearly turned into a confrontation between (white) police supporters and (black) protesters, in front of the Fountain Inn Law Enforcement center. Rev. Kennedy's initial application for a protest on August 30 was denied. He claims the white counter-demonstrators did not apply for a permit, as he was forced to do:

"They should go by the same rules I do," he said.

Meanwhile, at the September 13 meeting of the City Council, Judy Ladnier, whose husband is a Fountain Inn police officer, challenged Bates' right to circulate a letter on city stationery asking for complaints about the police.

"Ms. Bates, if you don't trust any of these employees, then you don't need to be here with them. You need to move on out of town," Ladnier said, according to the meeting's minutes.

She said townspeople are fed up. Officers have been slandered, cursed at and flipped off, she said.

Which townspeople are those? You mean the white townspeople?

Is it true what I heard at the rally, that there are NO black police officers in Fountain Inn, a town with a sizable black population?

Why doesn't this article tell us that? (Well, baby steps, I guess. I am still amazed they attempted to cover this story at all.) Back to Judy Ladnier:

"My husband jogs and he's been chased down by carloads that are screaming out the windows," she said, before calling Bates an embarrassment.

Sarah McBride, also the wife of an officer, said she was ashamed to call herself a citizen of Fountain Inn because of what she termed slander against officers and the protests that have taken place. She called Johnson's death tragic, but said his death was not the fault of officers.

"The fact that no one seems to have taken into consideration that this person was a local drug addict being arrested and charged with several narcotic-related charges several times, just really confuses me," she said.

Okay, mini-civics lesson for the confused Ms. McBride, who doesn't sound like a fan of LAW AND ORDER, in any of it's many incarnations:

1) Just because someone uses drugs, does not make them an addict or a dealer, or "dangerous" at all.

2) All people, drug addicts/dealers included, are entitled to rights under the law, and that includes the right not to be hanged.

How many phone calls was Jabo allowed? What precisely were the charges, and why did they decide to pick him up when they did? Did these particular police officers already know him and talk to him previously, and if so, what about? Did any other police officers ever talk to him, and what about? Why was his mother not contacted immediately? (At the rally, it was said that they did not contact her, although Fountain Inn law enforcement claims that they did.) Is SLED going to share this information, when they discover it, or not?

Wisely, Councilwoman Wanza Bates did not respond to the outbursts directed at her during the Council sessions. She has continued in her work to find out the truth, and to empower local people. South Carolina Law In Action recently sponsored a legal seminar for Fountain Inn residents, explaining their rights.

And the DoJ investigation continues, also. Let's hope we get to the bottom of this.

Can we all handle the truth?

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Listening to: The Clash - The Guns of Brixton
via FoxyTunes

Jail death protest in Fountain Inn

Graphic from epodunk.com


Yes, I'll be there.



Jail death protest in Fountain Inn
New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens County leading protest



By Nathaniel Cary
STAFF WRITER, Greenville News
Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 11:38 am

A local human rights group plans to protest outside of Fountain Inn's Police Department tonight.

The group, Schimuranga, led by Rev. David Kennedy, will hold a demonstration in connection with the death of a black Fountain Inn man at the Fountain Inn jail July 29.

The protest is the latest in a string of demonstrations over the death of Richard Javis Johnson, 25, who died at the jail when he was found hanged by his long sleeved T-shirt 30-40 minutes after he was booked on a crack cocaine charge.

Johnson's family members said they didn't think he would have hanged himself, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson toured the jail last week and said he'd seen photos that looked like Johnson had been beaten to death.

Fountain Inn police have declined to discuss specifics of the case, but said they will be cleared of any wrongdoing after the investigation. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating and has said it won't release details for up to five more months.

The demonstration will be held 6-8 p.m. in downtown Fountain Inn, said Councilwoman Wanza Bates.

Schimuranga, a group started out of Kennedy's church, New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Laurens County, was organized to protest injustice to the black community, Kennedy said.

"We are holding this demonstration to expose institutionalized racism in the city of Fountain Inn," Kennedy said.

And before anyone criticizes Jesse for ambulance-chasing, being a glory-hound, etc, it's important to add that he is FROM GREENVILLE and comes to South Carolina frequently to visit his mother and extended family.

And a good thing, too:

Jesse Jackson Comments On Inmate's Death

UPDATED: 9:03 am EDT September 18, 2007

FOUNTAIN INN, S.C. -- Rev. Jesse Jackson was in the Upstate Monday, and commented on a controversy over the death of an inmate found hanged in his cell.

Jackson and members of the Rainbow Push Coalition toured the Fountain Inn jail this morning. The visit comes after the hanging death of inmate Richard Johnson in July. Officials have said that Johnson hanged himself, but some family members and supporters have said that officers were responsible for his death.

After Monday's tour, Jackson told reporters that he thinks that the dimensions of the cell would not make it possible for Johnson to hang himself.

Johnson's mother, Anita Johnson, said that the coroner's officer refused to let her see her son's body.

"I was denied to see his body at the hospital," Johnson said. "The hospital said I couldn't see him, the coroner said I couldn't see him, and the Fountain Inn Police Department said me and my family could not see my son."

Fountain Inn Police Chief Keith Morton said that he and other officers tried to call Johnson after her son's death, but could not reach her. Morton said they also drove around to different places trying to track her down. By the time they were able to reach her, they said Johnson's body had been turned over to the coroner.

Greenville County Deputy Coroner Ken Coppins said, "....because it was an in-custody death, our protocol was to seal the body bag and nobody opens it until autopsy so that evidence that needs to be collected is collected that morning at autopsy."

Coppins said that he gave his number to Anita Johnson, but because she did not have a phone, she called three times but never left a number.

Less than 24 hours after Johnson's death, his body was turned over to the Fletcher Mortuary in Fountain Inn. Coppins said he can't explain why Anita Johnson then waited until three days later to see her son there.

Jackson said, "You need to see for yourself to see how impossible it would have been to tie something around your neck and drop three inches and be suicide."

He said it appeared to him that Johnson was beaten to death, based on markings on the body. But the coroner's officer said it is common for doctors to remove pieces of skin during the autopsy.

Morton said, "Mr. Jackson is welcome to his opinion, but once again, all the information was collected by independent agencies and they'll make the determination on the cause of death."

City Official Solicits Complaints From Citizens

City Councilwoman Wanza Bates is soliciting complaints from the citizens of Fountain Inn regarding the police and is passing them on to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Bates said. "People feel that they're being inappropriately treated and we need to do something about that. The city of Fountain Inn needs to do something about that."

She said, "I'm hoping that we have the appropriate policies, regulations, procedures in the city of Fountain Inn so that citizens feel safe so that when a police officer stops them, that they are appropriately stopping them, that they are not harassing them, that they are not physically abusing them. These are the natures of the stories I've been told."

News 4 has learned that SLED confirms receiving something of this nature, but there is no official investigation.

Later Monday, Jackson went to Clemson, encouraging people to register to vote. Jackson was in Simpsonville on Sunday night pushing the vote.

He and the Rainbow Push Coalition visited Bethlehem Baptist Church as part of Jackson's 12-city voter education tour across the state.

The Greenville NAACP is also investigating the death of Richard Javis 'Jabo' Johnson while in police custody in Fountain Inn.