Haley Barbour Realizes He Can't Beat Obama So He Won't Run

It is nice to see that the political world will not have to re-litigate race relations as explained to us by ol' school white southern Republican governor Haley Barbour (R-MS). Barbour decided that he won't try to run against Barack Obama for the presidency in 2012. [SOURCE]

“I will not be a candidate for president next year. This has been a difficult, personal decision, and I am very grateful to my family for their total support of my going forward, had that been what I decided,” he said.

“Hundreds of people have encouraged me to run and offered both to give and raise money for a presidential campaign. Many volunteers have organized events in support of my pursuing the race. Some have dedicated virtually full time to setting up preliminary organizations in critical, early states and to helping plan what has been several months of intensive activity.

“I greatly appreciate each and every one of them and all their outstanding efforts. If I have disappointed any of them in this decision, I sincerely regret it.”

Barbour doesn't have the "fire in the belly" to get into a campaign that would be sure to turn on race relations at some point. The press wouldn't be able to resist the story line of a white Southerner who waxes philosophically on the Ku Klux Klan and its ilk versus an African American incumbent. Perhaps this is a good sign to know that Barbour didn't have the stomach for it ... perhaps it means that America won't tolerate it from other GOP candidates either.


It is nice to see Haley Barbour is no longer going to be part of the national political debate. Who's next?

What is Mississippi Hiding in Frederick Jermaine Carter Lynching?

Soulclap to Ronald Herd for pointing out some tangible action that villagers can take to support the family of Frederick James Carter. Carter is the 26-year old African American found hanging from an oak tree in Greenwood, Mississippi back in December 2010. Prior to his death, Carter’s stepfather, a painter, said he and Carter were working in Greenwood and that Carter wandered off after he was instructed to go and get some tools.


The county sheriff ruled the death a suicide and most white folks in Mississippi agreed with him. These folks note that Carter had spent eight months in the state mental hospital in 2008, and tried to kill himself by drug overdose and cutting himself.

Most Black folks in Mississippi disagree. After all, Greenwood is about 12 miles from Money, Miss., the place where 14-year old Emmett Till was lynched after he allegedly made remarks to a white woman.

I don't know the truth. I do know that it is not a good sign to learn that the autopsy of Carter's body has not been publicly released yet. The first autopsy was completed by a local political hack -- Leflore County coroner Debra Sanders. The second autopsy was completed by a competent medical examiner from out-of-state. The second autopsy cannot be released to the public until the first one has been released.

What is Leflore County and the state of Mississippi hiding from us? If the death was truly a suicide then you have to wonder why they aren't releasing the autopsy results to the public?





Here is where 'villagers' come in.  Please let Gov. Haley Barbour know you want the first autopsy results officially released so that the truth can finally come out:

Phone:   

1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150

Mailing address:
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205

E-mail:  

governor@governor.state.ms.us
 

Also contact the U.S. Department of Justice:
 

By Mail:
Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
 

By Phone:
Department of Justice Main Switchboard - 202-514-2000
Office of the Attorney General Public Comment Line - 202-353-1555
 

E-Mail:
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov

Please visit http://www.andjusticeforus.org/ for future updates.

Why Are Republicans Playing the Race Card in Southern States?

You have to wonder if the Republican Party in the southern part of the United States is making a conscious effort to piss off African Americans so that they can gain support from bigoted white folks? Has the GOP decided that the best way to beat President Obama in 2012 is to play the race card over and over again?

Can there be any other explanation for the recent actions of Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) or Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)?

Gov. Scott had a Gov. Rick Scott welcomed Black legislators to lunch earlier this week at the Governor’s Mansion. His intentions may have been good. However, during his welcoming remarks, Scott implied that all Black lawmakers grew up poor and lived in the projects. [SOURCE]

“I grew up probably in the same situation as you guys,” Scott said to the group of 20 Democrats. “I started school in public housing. My dad had a sixth-grade education.”

Rep. Betty Reed, D-Tampa, said she was offended by the remark, but did not protest at the time because she said it was more important to have a productive dialogue with the new governor.

Afterward, she said, “He assumed that everyone [in the room] was poor and that can only be because you’re Black.”

It is much worse over in Mississippi where the state is considering a proposal to issue specialty license plates honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, which it calls the "War Between the States." The group proposes a different design each year between now and 2015, with Forrest slated for 2014. [SOURCE]

I wonder if these wingnuts realize that the Confederates lost that war?

For those villagers who may not know -- Forrest, a Tennessee native, is revered by some as a military genius and reviled by others for leading an 1864 massacre of Black Union troops at Fort Pillow, Tenn. If it happened today, we would call it a 'war crime'.

Forrest was a Klan grand wizard in Tennessee after the war.

Gov. Barbour hasn't stepped in to end this discussion about honoring a war criminal and racist KKK grand wizard with his own license plate. Is Barbour being a racist? Or is he just ignorant about the way that African Americans would react to seeing a KKK grand wizard honored on the back of every car in Mississippi?

It appears more and more that the Republican Party is willing to play the race card to try to regain the White House in 2012. What say u?

Can a White Southerner Like Haley Barbour Beat President Obama in 2012?

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) has shown himself to be a good ol' boy from the deep South. Gov. Barbour was interviewed this weekend about his presidential aspirations.

"Our new majority only gives us one half of one third of the government. We can't put America on the right track until we elect a Republican president next year. I'm thinking about running for president and I'll make a decision in April," he said. "And I'm serious when I say that I haven't made a decision, but I'm trying to test the waters."

Do you think that Haley Barbour will become a candidate for the presidency?

Scott Sisters on Release From Mississippi Prison (VIDEO)

Jamie and Gladys Scott were physically released from Mississippi prison today. It took 16 years, but the state of Mississippi has freed the Scott sisters.

The sisters did the time for robbing a man of $11 in 1993. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned them both, with the questionable stipulation that Gladys donate her kidney to Jamie, who has needed dialysis for many years.


The Scott Sisters are moving to Pensacola, Florida, to be with their mother and children. The sisters hold no bitterness against Gov. Haley Barbour or the corrupt judicial system that put them in prison for 16 years.

"They have to pay for their actions in putting me and my sister in prison for a crime we did not commit," Jamie said.

Now, with their life sentences for armed robbery suspended, their future is uncertain. How will the Scott sisters pay for their medical care and the kidney transplant? Are the sisters even a compatible match for the kidney transplant? If not, will Gladys' conditional release be revoked by Gov. Barbour?

But, today is not a day for question. Today is a day to rejoice for the Scott Sisters, their family and all of the online activists who have been fighting this fight over the years.

Our blog didn't do as much as we could ... but, it feels good to know that we did something!

Gov. Haley Barbour Tries to Assuage His White Guilt by Releasing the Scott Sisters from Mississippi Prison

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is finally doing the right thing ... albeit for the wrong reasons. Barbour agreed to free two sisters who served 16 years of a double life sentence for an armed robbery in which nobody was hurt and $11 was stolen.  Jamie and Gladys Scott should never have been sent to jail in the first place.

Here is the statement from Gov. Barbour:

---

"Today, I have issued two orders indefinitely suspending the sentences of Jamie and Gladys Scott. In 1994, a Scott County jury convicted the sisters of armed robbery and imposed two life sentences for the crime. Their convictions and their sentences were affirmed by the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 1996.

"To date, the sisters have served 16 years of their sentences and are eligible for parole in 2014. Jamie Scott requires regular dialysis, and her sister has offered to donate one of her kidneys to her. The Mississippi Department of Corrections believes the sisters no longer pose a threat to society. Their incarceration is no longer necessary for public safety or rehabilitation, and Jamie Scott's medical condition creates a substantial cost to the State of Mississippi.

"The Mississippi Parole Board reviewed the sisters' request for a pardon and recommended that I neither pardon them, nor commute their sentence. At my request, the Parole Board subsequently reviewed whether the sisters should be granted an indefinite suspension of sentence, which is tantamount to parole, and have concurred with my decision to suspend their sentences indefinitely.

"Gladys Scott's release is conditioned on her donating one of her kidneys to her sister, a procedure which should be scheduled with urgency. The release date for Jamie and Gladys Scott is a matter for the Department of Corrections.

"I would like to thank Representative George Flaggs, Senator John Horne, Senator Willie Simmons, and Representative Credell Calhoun for their leadership on this issue. These legislators, along with former Mayor Charles Evers, have been in regular contact with me and my staff while the sisters' petition has been under review."

---

Of course it made too much sense for Barbour to simply commute their sentence without the ludicrous and unconstitutional condition that one sister (Gladys) donate a kidney to her sister, who requires dialysis at least three times per day.

Villagers are reminded that the Scott sisters were convicted of robbing at gunpoint two men driving them to a nightclub in Forest, north Mississippi, in 1993. They had no prior criminal record. Each was sentenced to two life terms.

They have served 16 years for a conviction that never would have occurred if they were white. Being Black and poor in Mississippi means that the judicial system can truly phuque with you ... as the Scott sister learned.

Gov. Barbour is taking big-time heat for his racist recollections of his childhood in KKK-dominated southern hometown. I figure that he realized he couldn't afford to continue to ignore the growing protests about the unjust and inhumane imprisonment of these two Black women. Barbour saw a chance to end the protest and get the Scott sisters the heck out of Mississippi (...they plan to move in with their mother who lives in Florida). So, in my mind, Barbour is making this move for his own political reasons ... he is a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 ... and not because he believes it is the right thing to do in his heart.


However, a good deed ... even if done for wrong reasons ... is still a good deed. This blog is glad to see Barbour taking these steps. We understand it may take up to 45 days for the sisters to be physically released from the prison. Our hope is that Barbour will get that done sooner rather than later.