Florida Courier - September 26, 2014

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SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

VOLUME 22 NO. 39

AT WAR – AGAIN

President Obama orders bombardments in Syria – as Congress stands by – then makes the case against ISIS at the United Nations.

BY W.J. HENNIGAN AND DAVID S. CLOUD TRIBUNE WASHINGTON BUREAU /MCT

WASHINGTON – Tomahawk missiles roared in from two directions in the predawn hours Tuesday, as the guided-missile destroyer Arleigh Burke in the Red Sea and the cruiser Philippine Sea in the north Persian Gulf fired 47 cruise missiles across the cold night desert and into the heart of northern Syria.

Half an hour later, F-22 Raptors, F-15 Strike Eagles, F-16 DAVID ENDERS/MCT Fighting Falcons, supersonic A fighter in the city of Kfar Nbouda, Syria holds a Serbian-made gre- B-1 bombers and unmanned drones swarmed overhead and nade launcher, part of a weapons shipment to Syrian rebels by Saudi unleashed scores of precisionArabia’s government. Such weapons were intended for moderate guided bombs.

The third and final bombrebel groups, but have fallen in the hands of the ISIS terrorist group.

ing wave, about three hours later, involved Navy F/A-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush in the north Persian Gulf and F-16 fighters from regional bases.

By dawn, the air assault by American and allied Arab air forces against ISIS/ISIL and alQaida affiliates had damaged or obliterated 24 distinct targets spread across hundreds of miles, Pentagon officials said.

Arab coalition White House officials had repeatedly warned that President Obama would not approve an air attack in Syria unless Sunni Arab nations agreed to join the effort to dislodge and ultimately

destroy the heavily armed Sunni extremists who have seized control of more than a third of Syria and more than a dozen cities in neighboring Iraq.

Five Sunni Arab governments – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar – finally signed on over the weekend and officials said the first four nations flew bombing missions or air patrols. Qatar expressed political support without scrambling fighters.

Their involvement was crucial for the White House, which desperately wanted to avoid accusations it was again intervening in the Middle East in the face of Arab opposition.

See WAR, Page A2

Corrections firings continue

FLORIDA LIVING

Beach therapy

Employees dumped from three prisons

BY DARA KIM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

MARK RANDALL/SUN SENTINEL/MCT

Mikhail Rezmak of Delray Beach exercises on the beach just after sunrise. South Florida medical experts and beachgoers alike agree that the beach can truly help people de-stress.

Jetie B. Wilds, Tampa’s longtime community voice, dies at 74

BY JENISE GRIFFIN MORGAN FLORIDA COURIER

Jetie B. Wilds Jr., a longtime revered community leader in Tampa Bay whose popular weekly public affairs radio program enlightened listeners on substantive issues impacting their neighborhoods and the nation, died Sunday at age 74.

Wilds, a native of Tampa, served his community for decades as a powerful yet calm voice – whether on the Jetie B. airwaves or in Wilds Jr. boardrooms. His titles were numerous – educator, activist, columnist, talk-show host, and be-

ALSO INSIDE

loved member of one of Tampa’s iconic Black families.

Most will remember him as the host of the “Citizen’s Report’’ on WTMP, Tampa’s R&B leader for decades. From the 1990s to 2011, the Saturday morning radio show was a staple for the community, a place to turn for a wealth of information on politics, education, civic engagement and more. The program returned this year on WTMP when the station reappeared in an urban format.

‘Sage at the table’ But Wilds had great impact and influence beyond the microphone.

Longtime friend James Ransom, who worked with Wilds on numerous community and eco-

nomic development projects, referred to him this week as “the sage at the table.’’

Ransom told the Florida Courier how Wilds worked behind the scenes with corporate, government and civic leaders on a variety of issues to improve conditions in Tampa. Ransom and Wilds both served as board members of the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs (TOBA), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to political education, economic development and youth development within the African-American and general community.

They also co-founded the Saturday Morning Breakfast Group, a diverse group of men who meet weekly at the Open Café, a Black restaurant in the Tampa area.

Brother, father, friend Ransom called Wilds a “big brother,’’ adding that “sometimes he seemed like a father and all of the time he was a friend. He was

to me someone who was an extraordinarily gifted listener and a man of few words. When he spoke it was meaningful and of substance and was very thoughtful.’’

Wilds’ accomplishments in helping Black businesses were plenteous, Ransom explained, and cited how Wilds’ influence helped Black entrepreneurs receive a half-million dollars in work during the Republican National Convention in Tampa last year. That came about from meetings with senior executive leadership of RNC and convention bureau executives, Ransom said.

“You would not know how deep and wide he was connected in different places,” added Ransom, noting how Wilds was a regular in another community group, one of Italian men who meet at the West Tampa Sandwich Shop.

Just two days after his friend’s

On Sept. 19, Department of Corrections Secretary Mike Crews fired 32 workers accused of breaking the law, including three prison guards involved in the gassing death of an inmate at a Panhandle prison four years ago.

All of the workers fired were on administrative leave pending a review launched earlier this summer. The housecleaning is part of the secretary’s attempt to salvage the reputation of the beleaguered agency in the wake of reports of widespread abuse and corruption, whistleblower complaints and federal investigations surrounding prisoner deaths.

Among the axed workers are Rollin Austin, Randall Johnson and Kevin Hampton, three former prison guards at Franklin Correctional Institution where inmate Randall Jordan-Aparo died after allegedly being repeatedly gassed by guards and then left to die.

Dismissal letters from Crews to the workers say they are being let go because they “participated in a force incident that resulted in the death of an inmate.” None of the fired workers has been arrested or charged with any crimes.

Departmental collusion?

Four Department of Corrections investigators say they’ve been retaliated against for exposing a cover-up about Jordan-ApaSee FIRINGS, Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

New nursing home site for vets selected

NATION | A6

Spelman named top HBCU again PERSONAL FINANCE | B4

Student loan debt and the housing market

See WILDS, Page A2

GUEST COMMENTARY: DR. SINCLAIR GREY III: THE DOUBLE STANDARDS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE | A4 COMMENTARY: ANTHONY HALL: THE CASE AGAINST OBAMA’S BUSH-LITE WAR ON TERRORISM | A5

FOCUS

A2

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

Does anyone care that a man was boiled alive? Part 2 Editor’s note: In the September 5, 2014 issue, the Florida Courier reported on the death of Darren Rainey, who was scalded to death at Dade Correctional Institution.

ADORA OBI NWEZE

Would it surprise you to know that Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) Secretary Michael D. Crews, the DOC’s guards and wardens, and the governor of the state of Florida are White and the inmates who are being abused, tortured and murdered are mostly Blacks? That the man who was burned alive was a Black man? That the vast majority of those abused are Black inmates?

Do you care that slavery, involuntary servitude and torture are not only alive in the 21st Century, but worse than ever before?

Does it matter to you that, according to Innocence Project statistics, one of every ten inmates is innocent?

GUEST COMMENTARY

are only isolated instances of crimes against inmates, stating, “Stories report that we have fallen short in specific instances with regard to facility leadership, safety, security, training and services for mentally ill inmates.”

Mr. Crews was also quoted in the press as stating that he plans to initiate system-wide reforms in four areas: training for staff regarding handling inmates with mental health issues; creating transparency; increasing accountability; and investigation reforms.

Does anyone really need training on how not to murder mentally ill inmates by not placing them in a shower with scalding hot water for extended periods of time? Is training guards, who have already participated in murder and torture, how not to murder an inmate really going to change anything? These so-called ‘reforms’ addressed by Mr. Crews have been addressed in years past with no resulting change.

Mr. Crews’ solution is to give

A deaf ear A few months ago, Mr. Crews, who has turned a deaf ear to this mentally ill inmate and other criminal activities at prisons, claimed that there are only a few isolated instances of misconduct in the Florida prison system, when gross abuse is common.

Recently, Mr. Crews has changed his position that there

WAR

Policing themselves Basically, Mr. Crews wants to police himself. The same people who have been knowingly participating or acquiescing in the torture of inmates in Florida would be regulating themselves. The guards working at the DOC prisons would have to report that the murders are not from natural causes; that they are mercilessly macing and beating inmates for no reason; and that they have participated in the murder of inmates. Mr. Crews would then have to refer the cases to FDLE. There are no checks and balances in the prison system. The DOC’s Office of the Inspector General, whose function is to investigate inmate complaints, works under Mr. Crews and is in many cases knowingly complicit in the torture. So everyone involved either works for Mr. Crews or is in law enforcement and already has a close relationship with the DOC. Everyone is well aware of the occurrences at the

Wednesday airstrikes

U.S. and coalition aircraft launched five airstrikes early Wednesday against terrorist targets in Iraq and Syria

from A1

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first Arab government had agreed to participate “within the last 72 hours” and that the other four governments soon followed.

The timing proved crucial. Intelligence indicated that ISIS leaders had begun to discuss moving equipment, fighters and leadership out of training camps in eastern Syria to avoid U.S. bombing, Dempsey said.

The intelligence “was a factor in the decision to strike now before they could make that adaptation,” he said. U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria are likely to last “for years,” a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday

‘New’ organization hit Most of the Tomahawks in the first wave slammed into eight targets near Aleppo in northwestern Syria, a stronghold for alQaida-linked Al Nusra Front and the Khorasan Group. U.S. officials said the little-known Khorasan operation was led by seasoned al-Qaida operatives and was plotting aviationrelated attacks in the United States or Europe.

“We know that the Khorasan Group has attempted to recruit Westerners to serve as operatives or to infiltrate back into their homelands,” Lt. Gen. William Mayville, director of

JORDAN

QATAR BAHRAIN SAUDI ARABIA

Airstrikes against Islamic State targets

UAE

Arab allies

Islamic State presence TURKEY

Erbil IRAN

SYRIA

Al Qa’im Baghdad

Damascus

IRAQ

JORDAN

SAUDI ARABIA

100 km 100 miles

Sources: Institute for the Study of War, Reuters Graphic: Staff

operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon.

Civilians killed Outside observers said the attacks killed at least 120 jihadi fighters, including at least 70 who were associated with ISIS and another 50 who belonged to the Nusra Front and who were apparently killed in U.S. missile attacks aimed at Khorasan, which U.S. officials said was plotting an imminent attack on the West.

But Syrian rebels and media activists said the airstrikes also killed at least 10 civilians when a missile struck a building tem-

FIRINGS from A1

ro’s September 2010 death. The investigators claim that Gov. Rick Scott’s chief inspector general Melinda Miguel – who refused to grant them whistleblower protection – was aware of the cover-up for at least three years.

The DOC investigators, who found that Jordan-Aparo was too ill to warrant being treated as a threat, are themselves now the subjects of internal reviews.

According to a whistleblower lawsuit, Austin gave the order to gas Jordan-Aparo, who died five hours later after being gassed twice more and being left to die.

The 27-year-old, coated in yellow residue from the noxious chemicals, was found dead in solitary confinement with a Bible beside his head. Jordan-Aparo was serving an 18-month sentence for fraud and drug charges.

Beaten to death

Matthew Walker

the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) full investigative authority on all deaths that are the result of non-natural causes at prisons. The FDLE already has authority to investigate any criminal activity, including murder, at Florida state prisons and has failed to do so.

Also fired Friday were nine Charlotte Correctional Institution guards involved in the April 11 death of inmate Matthew Walker, who was allegedly beaten to death while handcuffed.

Walker’s death – and that

© 2014 MCT

porarily housing displaced people in Idlib province.

They said that ISIS evacuated many of the buildings and encampments struck in Raqqa, ISIS’s de facto capital.

Activists in another town hit in the U.S.-led offensive, Ash Shadadi, said all of the Islamic State’s bases were empty when bombed.

They blasted the United States for including Nusra on its target list.

“Nusra is still popular in Syria,’” said Col. Hassan Hassan Hamadi, a defected Syrian army officer whose Legion 5 force has about 6,400 fighters.

But the greatest damage, activists said, may be to the Free Syrian Army,

of another inmate who died at the Punta Gorda facility a month later – are among more than 80 inmate deaths now being probed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Fifteen prison guards at Union Correctional Institution, all under investigation for use-of-force incidents against prisoners over the past two years, were also pinkslipped last week. Another guard at the Raiford prison was also fired for unspecified reasons.

Crews’ review also resulted in three employees being sent back to work, including the assistant warden at the Raiford prison, Nan Jeffcoat, who has been on leave with pay since the death of an inmate two years ago.

On a mission Crews has been on a housecleaning mission in the wake of Miami Herald reports earlier this year about Darren Rainey, a mentally ill inmate at Dade Correctional Institution who died after guards allegedly forced him to shower in scalding hot water as punishment two years ago.

“I have made it clear that there is zero tolerance for corruption or abuse at the Department of Corrections, and we continue to root out any and all bad actors who do not live up to our expectations.

Our standards are high and we will accept nothing less to ensure the safety of our staff and those in our custody, as well as Florida families,” Crews said.

prisons and, in the past, no one has done anything.

Independent inspection If the Florida Department of Corrections is truly interested in stopping this behavior, as Mr. Crews claims, the only way for complete transparency is to allow an independent agency, like the NAACP, to visits Florida state prisons whenever it wants (surprise visits), and speak to any inmates the group chooses – especially those in solitary confinement – so that evidence cannot be covered up.

The independent group should have full access to the prison, including the kitchen, medical facility and dormitories. The group should also be provided with all documents and evidence resulting in confinement or any type of punishment for any inmate at a facility.

Finally, the group should have complete and unlimited access to all cameras at the prisons, especially in confinement and dormitory areas, where inmates are mistreated the most. The group should have access to the mace tanks to determine whether they have been used and to what extent.

They should also be given access to any records regarding the deaths of any inmates at the pris-

the moderate rebel faction that enjoyed U.S. support for years.

By focusing exclusively on ISIS insurgents and the Khorasan unit and bypassing installations associated with the government of President Bashar Assad, the airstrikes infuriated anti-regime Syrians and hurt the standing of moderate rebel groups that are receiving arms and cash as part of a covert CIA operation based in the Turkish border city of Reyhanli.

Rebel fighters argue that they constitute the only friendly ground force available to the international coalition to fill the security vacuum in places that ISIS fighters are forced to abandon. But rebel commanders said they had played no role in selecting the targets or planning for the aftermath.

Online warning Twitter accounts associated with the ISIS immediately warned America and other members of the coalition that there would be revenge attacks for the strikes, which came one day after the group’s spokesman called upon Muslims to attack any citizens of coalition countries.

ISIS is thought to hold as many as 20 Westerners as hostages. At least two Americans are believed to be among the hostages.

In the past many of those prisoners were held in facilities in Raqqa. There has been no word if the strikes hit near where they are imprisoned and there was no word on their safety.

WILDS

ons for an independent determination as to whether they are by natural causes or by murder.

The press should also have access to the prisons. Anything less is a farce.

Take action If you care; if you believe that this treatment is inhumane and intolerable; then please do something about this. Show your humanity and decency as a human being in the 21st Century.

Expose, punish and prevent this inhumane treatment.

Through publication of this information in periodicals and books, prosecution by the Department of Justice, and the ability to select jurors from a cross section of this community, including more African-Americans, America can show the world that we are decent, humane people and not the animals reflected in the current prison climate.

Let’s hold those accountable who are the architects of inhumane treatment.

Adora Obi Nweze is president of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches.

Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

At the UN On Wednesday, Obama called on world leaders meeting at the United Nations to “choose hope over fear” by fighting sectarian conflict and extremism, beginning with ISIS but branching out beyond the Middle East.

In a morning address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Obama urged leaders to support Iraqis and Syrians as they fight to reclaim their communities, as he also argued the merits of the new military campaign he is running against ISIS as well as al-Qaida and its offshoots.

“No God condones this terror,” Obama said. “No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning – no negotiation – with this brand of evil.

The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.”

Obama also called out a range of aggressive acts around the world – singling out Russian aggression in Ukraine for special derision – as part of a sweeping summons to cooperation over conquest.

He pledged to back Ukraine and its democratic development and to uphold the U.S. commitment to the collective defense of NATO allies. He promised to help stop the outbreak of the Ebola virus ravaging West Africa.

Later Wednesday, the president chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council where he pushed

passing, Ransom was invited to their meeting as a tribute to Wilds.

“What they did was took the chair Jetie sits in, tilted it forward said to me, ‘no one will ever sit in it again.’’

told the Courier this week about his older brother. “That’s basically one of the things that’s on my father’s gravestone. And that’s how (Jetie B. Jr.) lived. He wanted to help other people.’’

Jetie B. Jr. was one of the nine boys born to Minnie and Jetie B. Wilds Sr. The couple also had three girls.

In father’s footsteps

Education, career

from A1

Jetie B. Wilds Jr.’s acumen in politics and government wasn’t just learned in a classroom. As a child, he was introduced to community leaders and elected officials by his father, Jetie B. Sr., who also was an iconic figure in the Tampa community.

George Wilds, Jetie B. Jr.’s younger brother by a little over a year, recalls how their father introduced them to community service work at an early age.

“I think basically that he just wanted to be someone who was for the people,” George Wilds

Wilds went on to receive an undergraduate degree at Morehouse College in Atlanta and earned a master’s at Portland State Universe in Oregon.

His career includes teaching math in Hillsborough County, working as an environmental education specialist in Portland, and an activist involved in environmental issues in Washington, D.C. Along with his talk show on WTMP, Wilds was a columnist for La Gaceta, a trilingual newspaper based in Tampa.

for a resolution calling on countries to crack down on citizens drawn to such groups.

Congress mum The United States has begun a bombing campaign in Syria, but don’t bet on Congress returning to Washington to vote on a new war authorization anytime soon.

Shortly after airstrikes against ISIS in Syria started, some lawmakers started pushing again for an authorization vote. But so far, leaders aren’t gearing up to bring their members back to town.

Rep. Justin Amash, RMich., tweeted Monday night it was “irresponsible and immoral” that congressional leaders had chosen to recess for nearly two months instead of debating and voting on war.

And the ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, released a statement saying it’s “time for Congress to step up and revise the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force in a way that supports the targeted actions underway, but also prevents the deployment of American ground forces that would drag us into another Iraq war.”

Kathleen Hennessey, Los Angeles Times; Matt Fuller, CQ Roll Call; Mousab Alhamadee, Roy Gutman, Jonathan S. Landay, and Mitchell Prothero of the McClatchy Foreign Staff (MCT) all contributed to this report.

Memorial service Lawrence Hires, general manager of WTMP, also shared his thoughts on Wilds’ legacy.

“Jetie B. Wilds Jr. will be truly missed by his radio family and colleagues that he’s had the pleasure of working with and inspiring during his years at AM 1150 WTMP. Most importantly, the community has lost an icon that has left an imprint on this city,” Hires told the Courier.

Wilds is survived by his wife of 49 years, Ozepher; two daughters, Jemelle and Jeria Wilds; and two grandchildren.

A memorial service for Wilds will take place at 11 a.m. Sept. 26 at Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, 2002 Rome St. Tampa. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Morehouse College Scholarship Fund in memory of Jetie B. Wilds, Jr., Class of 1962. Send to Morehouse College, 830 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta, Ga. 30314.

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

FLORIDA

A3

New nursing home for vets to be in Port St. Lucie South Florida city may not be only new facility for military veterans

BY MARGIE MENZEL THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday selected St. Lucie County as the site of the state’s next nursing home for military veterans – and indicated they might consider another new nursing home next year.

The Clyde E. Lassen State Veterans’ Nursing Home in St. Augustine opened in 2010. It was the newest veteran nursing home before Tuesday’s vote to build a seventh facility in St. Lucie County.

Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam voted unanimously to approve the western Port St. Lucie site, which the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had recommended for the state’s seventh veterans’ nursing home.

“It is clear by the occupancy rates at every one of the previous six that it’s soon going to be time for

eight, nine and 10,” Atwater said.

leges producing healthcare graduates, road access and land-use restrictions.

St. Lucie County offered a 28.5-acre site donated by the Tradition Land Company. The county has already rezoned the land to accommodate a nursing home and expects the 120bed facility will employ roughly 190 people.

“I think that the process worked,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Rich Nugent, who represents part of Marion County. “I wish it would have worked a little differently. But at the end of the day, I think you made the right decision.”

Filling a gap The state’s other veterans’ nursing homes are in Daytona Beach, Land O’ Lakes, Pembroke Pines, Panama City, Port Charlotte and St. Augustine.

State Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican and leader of the St. Lucie delegation, said the new facility would fill a service gap on the Treasure Coast.

“This is going to have a service area of 11 counties, and right now there’s a gap in service all the way from Daytona Beach to Pembroke Pines,” Negron said.

“So, it’s really not just in St. Lucie County. It’s the entire region of the East Coast.”

700,000 over 65

Objection from Naples The vote followed a parade of officials from St. Lucie County and Marion County praising the selection process. Marion County came in a close second.

The only dissent came from a legislative aide to Rep. Matt Hudson, RNaples. He told Cabinet members Hudson believed the selection process was “not objective.”

“It still remains unclear why an East Coast coun-

An assisted living resident, Steve Smozanek, of Harbor Place at Port St. Lucie and the general manager John Miller pose in this photo after a ceremony at the WWII Monument. St. Lucie County has been chosen as the site of the state’s next nursing home for veterans. ty was chosen over counties on the West Coast with greater need and sites that met the established qualifications,” Hudson aide Stefano Perez said.

But Negron defended the selection process as “thorough, objective and

transparent.”

“Need is important,” he said. “But need is only one aspect. There is also the ability to meet that need.”

Selection criteria The site-selection committee looked at nine sites

in six counties, visiting each one and talking with local officials.

Among the selection criteria were the proximity of the site to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers and civilian healthcare facilities, nearby col-

In fact, Marion County officials said, the selection process had worked so well that its findings should be applied when the next veterans’ nursing home location is chosen.

“We consider ourselves next, and we wanted to lay that template down today,” said state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala. “And we’re very grateful that St. Lucie is joining us in saying, ‘That was close. You guys should be next.’ “ Florida has roughly 700,000 military veterans over age 65, according to Department of Veterans’ Affairs Executive Director Mike Prendergast.

Jury finds leader of skinhead group guilty on 2 charges

BY HENRY PIERSON CURTIS ORLANDO SENTINEL (MCT)

KISSIMMEE — Marcus Faella stood silently and showed no emotion on Sept. 12 as a jury deliv-

ered a guilty verdict on two charges that could send the American Front leader to prison for 30 years.

After deliberating for about five hours in Central Florida’s largest domestic-terrorism case, the jury

found Faella, 41, guilty on two counts of teaching and conducting paramilitary training.

Immediately after the verdict was announced, Faella was handcuffed and ordered to be held without

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bail in Osceola County Jail as his sobbing wife, Patty, yelled out, “Marcus, I love you!”

The trial started Sept.

9 more than two years after the feds arrested Faella and 13 other American Front members accused of training for a race war. The American Front is one of the oldest continually active U.S. skinhead groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Nov. 10 sentencing Faella, 41, was originally charged with conspiring to shoot into a building, two counts of teaching paramilitary training and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to court records. But after two days of testimony, two of the charges against Faella were dismissed on Sept. 11.

Outside the courtroom, Faella’s attorney Ronald L. Ecker II said there had never been evidence of prejudice. Even the FBI informant paid $40,000 to infiltrate the group for a year testified he never saw anyone promote violence or speak of targeting minorities.

“We have to start the appellate process now,” Ecker said. “This guy’s 40 years old and he’s never been convicted of a crime. ... He’s got unpopular views but he’s never acted upon those in any manner.”

Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 10. Faella faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.

While Faella said nothing in the courtroom, an hour before the verdict he was speaking in the hallway on his cell phone saying, “I’m in trouble for an incident that never happened and literature I never distributed.”

Hatred for minorities Prosecutor Sarah Hatch began her closing argument by describing the American Front leader as a racist who trained his followers for violence against minorities.

“The law does not require us to wait until violence erupts and blood runs in the street,” she said, “We don’t want to say… ‘We could have stopped it.’”

After stating the remaining charges against him — two counts of conducting paramilitary training — Hatch said she had to prove his intent to start civil disorder.

Using an overhead pro-

JACOB LANGSTON/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT

Marcus Faella sits quietly in the jury box shortly after being found guilty on two domestic terrorism charges at the Osceola County Courthouse on Sept. 12. jector, she showed a series of American Front fliers found in the Faella home.

Molotov cocktail, noose One showed armed masked men lighting a Molotov cocktail above a message: “Because racial survival is never on the ballot.”

Another depicted an armed, masked man next to the American Front logo beneath a man’s body hanging by a noose from a telephone pole.

And then she showed a photo of a noose hanging from a rafter of a pole barn where the group’s members held meetings at the Faella home in Holopaw.

“That is the only reason anyone would choose to decorate their home,” she said. “ These are the images that go through Marcus Faella’s head as he is teaching.”

Faella’s defense accused the state with exaggerating and framing Faella’s beliefs and intent based on old images.

‘Hate-mongering racist’ The American Front flyer was made 10 years ago and never released after Faella decided it was inappropriate, according to Ecker.

“You know what’s happened since 2004? Not a single thing — not a single criminal act,” Ecker told the jury. “They realized it was a bad idea and never showed (those pictures).”

Ecker based his closing argument partly on the testimony of the FBI paid informant, Jason Hall.

Hall, who received $40,000 for his work and to relocate after his identity became known, testified he never saw acts of prejudice or received training to prepare for a race war.

However, he did say Faella told someone shooting at milk jugs to improve his aim by thinking of them as the heads of Blacks using a racist slur.

“Don’t fall for that trap... that he’s a hate-mongering racist and we want to stop him,” Ecker said referring to Hatch’s closing. “He has unpopular ideas and unpopular thoughts... and the government is trying to silence him.”

Talk of riot Ecker concluded, in part, by reminding the jury that the FBI and police didn’t find any documents on Faella’s home computers outlining any plans to commit violence.

In Hatch’s rebuttal, she replayed American Front videos of Faella talking about planning a May Day counter demonstration in Melbourne.

He told his followers he had dreamed of staging a riot in the city’s “Old Melbourne District” ever since his childhood from watching TV coverage of the National Front’s racial riots in England.

The arrests in May 2012 by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force drew international attention to Holopaw, a small community where American Front members were accused of conducting firearms training on a fortified plot of land owned by Faella.

Three convictions A search of Faella’s land and buildings confiscated about 20 firearms, including AK-47s and a sniper rifle with a night-vision telescopic sight, records show.

Before the verdict, only three of the 13 other American Front members in the case have been convicted.

Christopher Brooks was sentenced to three years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; Luke Leger and Kent McLellan were both sentenced to four years of probation after pleading no contest to participating in paramilitary training.

EDITORIAL

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SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

The double standards of domestic violence The news media has not stopped talking about the horrific video that depicts former Baltimore Ravens football player, Ray Rice hitting Janay Palmer, his then-fiancé, now wife and dragging her out of the elevator.

In addition to the story concerning Rice, the media has also exhausted a lot of energy towards Adrian Peterson and his alleged child abuse.

Judge Fuller Perhaps you have noticed the color of these athletes (Black).

That’s not to say that domestic violence is a Black problem, because it isn’t. What’s so troubling is the lack of reporting about domestic violence in Judge Mark Fuller’s case.

FYI – Judge Mark Fuller (who is

DR. SINCLAIR GREY III GUEST COLUMNIST

White) is a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama.

In case you’re not aware of his case, he was charged with domestic violence against his wife.

His plea deal ordered him to do the following: pay a $1,000 fine, attend counseling for 24 weeks, abstain from drugs and alcohol and if he successfully completes the program, he will be able to return to the bench and possibly have his record expunged.

Under this deal, he still receives his salary. Even though

there wasn’t a video involved in his case, there was a photo of his beaten wife as well as a 911 tape.

Where’s the media outrage? They can label our African-American male athletes but neglect to talk about this.

Solo finds solace Another story that has been kept silent in the sports world is the domestic case involving U.S. Women’s Soccer star Hope Solo.

According to a police report, Solo was arrested for allegedly striking her sister and teenage nephew.

While NFL football players (as I mentioned who are Black) are made to be villains, two other abusers (who happen to be White) have not received the necessary attention within the media.

Because Hope Solo plays on the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, it’s important to know the following: • Nike (a sponsor) has remained silent about Solo but quickly spoke out against Peterson

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: WHITE HOUSE BREAK-IN

BILL SCHORR, CAGLE CARTOONS

The CBC crumbles before Obama’s war machine The left wing of the Congressional Black Caucus crumbled last week, an early casualty of the new phase of President Obama’s three-year war for regime in change in Syria. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, to which 24 of the Black lawmakers belong, also failed to rally against a Democratic president’s war plans.

The administration sought a general demonstration of approval for Obama’s scheme to train and arm so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels. A vote on the $500 million price tag comes after the November elections.

GLEN FORD BLACK AGENDA REPORT

Iraq and who knows where else.

The reason that Obama’s wars have such longer shelflife is that Democrats will not oppose him, including John Conyers and Maxine Waters, who were among the 23 Black members who gave the president a blank check.

Barbara Lee, the California congresswoman who joined 16 other Black lawmakers in opposing Obama’s war, said, on the House floor: “The consequences of this vote, whether it's written in the amendment or not, will be a further expansion of a war currently taking place and our further involvement in a sectarian war.”

There is another consequence: the total discrediting of a majority of the CBC, who have abandoned the historical Black consensus on social justice and peace.

of armed groups – each vying for Islamic fundamentalist authenticity and the privilege to slaughter Shiites, Christians, secularists, apostate Sunni Muslims and backsliders of all kinds.

With the rise of the headchopping champions of ISIS, Obama had to ask Congress to give him another chance to scour the region in search of the “moderate” Syrian rebel, and turn him into a killing machine that can defeat both the SyrSecret training The United States and ian government and ISIS. its allies have been arming and training rebels to bring Blank check down the government of President Obama, by a President Bashar al-Assad vote of 273 to 156, was alsince at least 2011. They lowed a second throw of have failed, despite having George W. Bush’s dice in Click on this story spent mountains of money what may turn out to be an at www.flcourier.com to to subsidize a kaleidoscope even larger war in Syria and write your own response.

Opinions expressed on this editorial page are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of the newspaper or the publisher.

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• Solo was still allowed to play soccer in the midst of charges being brought against her while those in the NFL who have domestic charges pending are suspended It’s quite obvious to see the racial undertone happening here.

If you’re Black, you will be spotlighted. On the flip side, if you’re White, the story will be kept quiet.

Because of the impact of social media, information can be easily obtained. What needs to happen is for the news to be fair and transparent in discussing domestic violence. We cannot have African-American male athletes demonized while the actions of our White counterparts are swept under the rug.

As far as the case regarding Hope Solo, let’s do the following: • Ask that she be suspended from all soccer activities until her case has been resolved • Demand that sponsors of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team make a decision and end their sponsorship, if the U.S. Women’s Soccer

Team doesn’t take action • Bring awareness to domestic violence from every angle • With regards to U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, a few things need to happen:

Resignation from the bench Continued pressure on those in political power to address this case Public availability of what is transpiring in this case Whenever we voice our concerns about one thing and remain silent on something else, injustice will continue to happen. The injustice of domestic violence. T

Dr. Sinclair Grey III is an inspirational speaker, author, life coach, and host of The Sinclair Grey Show heard on Monday’s at 2 p.m. on WAEC Love 860am in Atlanta (iHeart Radio and Tune In). Write your own response at www.flcourier.com.

The boomerang generation One of the most interesting findings of the data recently released by the Census Bureau is that so many recent college graduates live with their parents. Described as “boomerang” graduates, a third of them occupy a basement, a spare room, their old room, a floor or couch. Blessedly, they have parents with whom to live. And if they are 26 or younger, they have health insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. On the other hand, these boomerang graduates will postpone many adult decisions that affect economic markets. They won’t rent apartments or buy furniture or homes. If they don’t have credit cards from college (and they shouldn’t), they are unlikely to get them as residents of their parents’ homes. They will delay marriage and other decisions that also have an impact on consumer spending. They are missing out on the low interest that would make the purchase of a car or a home much cheaper. Their inability to fully participate in the economy hurts them, and it hurts the economy, too.

Negative impact

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

ring.” This means that boomerangers will have lower wages for the rest of their lives, unless they go to graduate or professional school, a costly proposition. And those who stay out of the labor market for a year or two are less preferred than graduates who find jobs right after college. The Great Recession had a permanent impact on the graduating classes from 2007 through 2012.

Veteran preference President Obama has, by executive order, indicated that veterans should have hiring priority for federal jobs. Such ruling has caused resentment among federal workers, with the allegation that some veterans are not qualified for the jobs they hold. Qualifications notwithstanding, human resource specialists at federal departments are required to offer veterans a hiring privilege. Doesn’t this sound like affirmative action to you? Yet affirmative action has been all but forgotten. Veteran preferences are the “new” hiring preference.

When a college graduate is flipping burgers or assembling sandwiches, we are squandering knowledge and ensuring that graduates without jobs have a permanent disadvantage in the labor market. When African-American graduates are sidelined, their very absence from the labor market sends a disturbing signal to others who would apply to college but for their perception that college completion offers them no advantages over the friend or colleague who did not go.

Why not invest in our nation’s future by giving something extra to recent graduates? And why not pay special attention to those groups with much higher unemployment rates than others?

African-American graduates experience less of a boom because they have much less to boom back to. Their parents and grandparents will make room for them, but instead of staying in a basement room, they are staying on the same floor. Not only is there pressure to find a job, but their failure to do so affects younger siblings and neighbors who think: Why should I go to college? Big brother went and can’t find a job. Or, big brother is working at a fast food restaurant. I could do that without a degree.

The Census data showed the first decrease in poverty since 2007, from 12.7 percent to 12.4 percent. Black poverty went up slightly, from 25.6 to 25.7. Hispanic poverty dropped from 24.6 percent to 22.3 percent, the largest decrease for any group Given the high Black unemployment rate and the weaker networks that African-Americans have, few relatives can’t refer them to jobs – many are still looking for jobs for themselves. Boomeranging hits African-American young people harder, and the consequences are greater. Already the recipients of lower wages, they so find that Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, it takes longer to locate employment than D.C.-based economist and writer. She is their White counterparts.

When young people are out of work, President Emerita of Bennett College for economists refer to the impact as “scar- Women in Greensboro, N.C.

Beware of retirement pitfalls Planning for retirement requires strong discipline, flexibility and constant awareness. Most AfricanAmericans, do little thinking about it. Those who do have retirement accounts get it through their employers. As Malcolm X once said, “The eagle flies on Friday and by Saturday noon it is one dead bird.” We are mass consumers with our money. We spend what we have as soon as we get it.

Not all of us, but the vast majority appears to live like that. For those of you who do plan for the future and value retiring, let me share a few thoughts.

Arrive at a total dollar figure needed to retire. This should be reviewed occasionally as the economic environment tends to go up and down. As an example, my wife and I had a portfolio of approximately $450,000 in 1982.

The economy was in a terrible state of inflation that the buying power was reduced to $280,000 without our spending a cent. The inflation rate ate much of it up while it just sat in the bank. Things like that are bound to happen from time to time. Stay alert and make

HARRY C. ALFORD NNPA COLUMNIST

changes.

If we had converted it to gold, we would have been protected or even improved our portfolio. When you set that total dollar figure divide it by the number of years left before your planned retirement. Make a plan Let’s say that figure is $1 million and you have 20 years before retirement.

You would need to save $50,000 per year. If you have 40 years before retirement that would be $25,000 per year. Any interest you make may be offset by occasional inflation. The later you start saving the more you will have to save each year to hit your mark.

Smart people diversify their savings. As in the above, keeping it in cash can be dangerous. Mix up your portfolio with metals, certificates of deposit, blue chip stock, land that can be quickly sold when the time for retirement comes. Some

of these items may drop in value and some will increase. Hopefully, the increased part will exceed the decreased part. Stay on top of this at least weekly. The richest person in the world, Carlos Slim of Mexico, counts his value on a daily basis. Every morning he gets on his computer and sees what is happening. He will make quick changes if necessary but will hold if it appears to be a temporary dip.

Many rely on a brokerage firm or a financial planner to invest their money.

You should be very careful about this. No broker or planner is perfect. Meanwhile, metals are sky rocketing in value. The stock market continues to be iffy.

The key is to be wise and attentive to your wealth. Watch out for Ponzi schemes or pyramids.

Do not totally rely on anyone or any firm to do the wise and right thing. It is a volatile world out here so be on the offensive at all times.

Harry C. Alford is the co-founder, president/ CEO, of the National Black Chamber of Commerce .

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

The case against Obama’s Bush-lite war on terrorism What follows is more lamentation than commentary.

It highlights the abiding flaws in American foreign policy that give rise to wars like the one President Obama attempted to make the case for in his special address to the nation earlier this month.

He tried to convince you that his war on terrorism against ISIS will be more successful than Bush’s ill-fated war on terrorism against al-Qaeda.

Be mindful that President Kennedy convinced the American people that his war on communism in Vietnam would be more successful than his predecessor Harry Truman’s war on communism in Korea. And beware that a stupid war by any other name (like “a counterterrorism operation”) would still prove as stupid.

American hypocrisy I’m on record predicting that Obama’s “transformative” presidency will be defined as much by reforming healthcare, the signature legislative achievement of his first term, as by lifting the embargo against Cuba – which should be the signature foreign policy achievement of his second.

(The embargo represents the most enduring example of the double standards, mixed messages, and brazen hypocrisy that have bedeviled U.S. foreign policies for over 50 years. Only insidious political pandering to Miami Cubans explains why the United States nurtured diplomatic and economic relations with communist sharks like China and the Soviet Union, while enforcing an embargo against a communist minnow like Cuba. )

Obama’s mixed messages These same double standards, mixed messages, and brazen hypocrisy that have bedeviled America’s dealings with communist countries are beginning to bedevil its dealings with state sponsors of terrorism, most notably Iran and Syria.

Iran remains hell-bent on developing nuclear weapons, which presumably would make the terrorism it sponsors positively genocidal.

Meanwhile, Syria has demonstrated its good faith interest in normalizing relations. It did so by foreswearing weapons of mass destruction, complete with UN experts overseeing the dismantling of labs and destruction of stockpiles. It also demonstrated its bona fides as a “moderate” Muslim state by waging an existential battle against ISIS for over a year before the United States recognized this al-Qaeda spawn as its enemy, too.

Contrast the solicitous way Obama sought a handshake with Iran’s president last year with the visceral way he later raised a clenched fist to Iran’s supreme leader and rejected the offer of the spiritual leader of the Islamic republic, Ali Khamenei, to cooperate in action against ISIS in northern Iraq. In a similar vein, Obama rejected any prospect of cooperating with Syria.

Ominous precedents To be fair to Obama, no less a revered president than Ronald Reagan conducted a similar foreign policy of double standards, mixed messages, and brazen hypocrisy with respect to Iran. After all, Reagan regarded Iran as such a state sponsor of terrorism that he famously damned it as “murder incorporated” and vowed to have no dealings with it. Yet while damning Iran, Reagan dispatched an emissary to open back channels to negotiate selling arms to help Iran in its war against Iraq, in exchange for Iran’s help in securing the release of four American hostages being held by Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon.

What unfolded – as the IranContra and arms-for-hostages fiasco – was as scandalous and illegal as Watergate. Such was Reagan’s popularity, however, that he was not even impeached, let alone kicked out of office.

Another ominous precedent is probably troubling Obama.

It’s the one President Woodrow Wilson set when he won re-election in 1916 by pledging to keep America out of World War I. Alas, Wilson soon felt that geopolitical developments left him no choice but to enter the “Great War” in Europe “to end all wars and make the world safe for de-

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ. FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

Americans hurling selfrighteous indignation at the barbaric sectarian war between Sunni, Shia, and Kurds for control of Iraq would do well to remember the barbaric Civil War between Yankees, Confederates … and Blacks for control of the United States of America. mocracy.” Unfortunately, all the United States did was reinforce old enmities and spawn new rivalries, which led inexorably to World War II. Now recall that Obama won re-election in 2012 by pledging to end wars, not to start them. He too clearly feels that similar developments leave him no choice but to enter this truly bedeviling fray of shifting alliances in what is a nearly 1,000-year-old sectarian/fraternal conflict.

Unfortunately, there seems little doubt that all the United States will do is reinforce old enmities and spawn new rivalries, which presumably will lead inexorably to yet another president declaring yet another war on terrorism.

Pushed by hawks The only reason why not is that Republican warmongers like Sen. John McCain and Democratic hawks like wannabe president Hillary Clinton have goaded him into thinking he must do to Bashar al-Assad and Syria (after he decapitates ISIS in Iraq) exactly what Bush did to Saddam Hussein and Iraq (after he decapitated the Taliban in Afghanistan).

Unbelievable? So is the fact that these warmongers and hawks have already goaded Obama into a Vietnam-style mission creep – given that the 300 troops he said in June were sufficient to protect embassy personnel in Iraq have already mushroomed to over 1,000, not including an untold number of military “advisers.”

No threat to US Despite the media inciting hysterical calls for war against them, ISIS poses no security threat to the United States. They certainly have done nothing that warrants President Obama forming a coalition of the willing to “degrade and destroy” them, which bears foreboding similarities to the coalition his predecessor formed to invade Iraq.

Obama has less justification to launch strikes against ISIS than President Bush had to invade Iraq.

The barbaric killing of Americans abroad does not constitute just cause for this kind of military response. If it did, Obama would’ve responded accordingly after rampaging thugs killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, at that U.S. Consulate in Benghazi two years ago.

If mere threats to terrorize or destroy this country were sufficient provocation, the United States would be in a permanent state of war. Most notably, JFK would’ve been provoked into launching preemptive strikes against the Soviet Union in the 1960s; and, instead of Iraq, Bush would’ve had far greater justification to invade North Korea – a country whose foreign policy for the past two decades has consisted of little more than threatening to launch nuclear attacks against the United States or its ally, South Korea.

I just think a few drone strikes – of the kind Obama has launched for years to take out terrorists from Pakistan to Yemen – would

EDITORIAL

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VISUAL VIEWPOINT: OBAMA AND ISIS

deliver appropriate (i.e., proportionate) retribution for such killings of American journalists.

Nothing to show Nothing betrays how foolhardy forming this coalition to fight yet another war on terrorism is quite like the United States having nothing to show after 13 years of fighting al-Qaeda – except a $1 trillion money pit in Afghanistan, over 2,000 dead U.S. troops, and spawns of al-Qaeda (including ISIS) now killing and terrorizing –in Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East – in ways that would offend the conscience of Osama bin Laden himself.

Given that Boko Haram has been doing in Africa exactly what ISIS is doing in the Middle East, Obama would be hard-pressed to explain why he’s not forming a coalition of the willing to degrade and destroy this al-Qaeda spawn too.

What coalition?

Obama has been taking great pains to assure the American people that the only boots on the ground for this war on terrorism will be those of regional allies like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. Nothing betrays how misleading (or misguided) this is quite like Bush taking great pains to do the same with respect to his coalition.

Despite paying lip service and egging on the United States, not a single Mideast country participated in Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

The Saudis and other Arabs think of Americans as nothing more than hired help to protect their countries; not unlike the way they think of the Indonesians they hire to clean their homes.

Many of the countries Bush named, like Micronesia, didn’t even have armies from which to draft foot soldiers. Given the way ISIS has already routed the ragtag Syrian Free Army, cowardly/ disaffected Iraqi forces, and beleaguered Kurdish Peshmerga, Obama selling them as boots on the ground is even more disingenuous than a used car salesman selling lemons.

US ‘scaremongers’ The warmongers now scaremongering about ISIS bringing jihad to the United States are the same warmongers who were scaremongering 13 years ago about al-Qaeda doing the same.

And don’t get me started on their enabling ‘ratings whores’ in the media for whom there’s no better ‘john’ than a calamitous war.

Is there really any wonder Americans fear that a bunch of rampaging jihadists in the Middle East pose the biggest threat to the United States since Hitler’s Germany? Never before has President Franklin Roosevelt’s admonition, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” been more apt.

If there are Americans training with ISIS to do its bidding on the home front, the National Security Agency would be far more likely to foil their plots than Obama’s “core coalition,” which will be waging another unwinnable war over in the Middle East. This is why it behooves Obama to ignore self-professed privacy advocates who complain about NSA spying to keep us safe, but think nothing of Google and Amazon doing even more spying just to sell us stuff.

Spineless politicians Don’t get me started on pandering politicians citing public opinion polls to support their drumbeat for war. Half of the American people probably have no clue who or what ISIS is; and despite more than a decade of war in the region, even more of them probably could not locate Iraq on a map to save their lives.

This is the mockery politicians – who have become little more than ‘perfectly lubricated weather vanes’ – have made of representative government. The American people elect (and pay) congressional representatives to make ‘informed’ decisions on issues of national importance. We have representative government, instead of literal democracy, precisely to avoid the spectacle of governing based on prevailing – and invariably uninformed – passions.

So-called analysts have been all over the media shilling for the military industrial complex (and earning exorbitant fees), instead of explaining what national se-

STEVE SACK, THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE

curity interest is being served by And this would be the case launching a war against ISIS. even if, to achieve its ends, ISIS (comprised of Sunni Muslims) killed more Yazidi Christians and Arab ‘cheerleaders’ With regard to brazen hypoc- Shiite Muslims than the number risy, just bear these protesta- of Jews the Nazis killed during tions in mind when wire services the Holocaust. begin publishing reports in the coming weeks about NATO “co- Leave them alone Finally, I’ve been lamenting the ordinating” with Iran and Syria folly of the United States acting as in the fight against ISIS. It speaks volumes about the re- if it can either “win” a war on tergional menace ISIS poses that the rorism or build a Jeffersonian deArab League voted at an emer- mocracy in the Middle East. The gency meeting to join Obama’s best the United States can do is international coalition of the will- deny terrorists safe havens and ing to degrade and destroy it. Ex- disrupt their training and plancept that its members showed no ning with vigilant drone surveilwillingness to do anything more lance and preemptive targeted strikes. As it has demonstrated by than serve as cheerleaders.

Meanwhile, Obama readi- doing this everywhere from Pakily concedes that major region- stan to Yemen, the United States al countries – that can deploy does not need a coalition of the ground troops – are indispens- willing to do so.

It’s best to leave warring facable to the success of this international fight. Which can on- tions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and ly mean that, despite his public Syria to their own devices, sufprotestations, he knows full well ficing only to warn whichevthat Iran and Syria (and Russia as er one emerges as the governtheir superpower patron) will be ing authority that it will suffer a Taliban-like fate too if it harbors de facto allies.

Why? Because (a) Iran and terrorists within its borders. If Syria have the region’s most ef- the Afghans and Iraqis Amerifective fighters; (b) Obama in- cans spent over a decade trainsists that the United States will ing to govern themselves, defend not deploy any troops on the themselves and sustain themground; (c) U.S. airstrikes alone selves can’t stand on their own cannot “shrink the territory” ISIS against a ragtag bunch of Taliban controls; (d) Iraq has demon- fighters and rampaging ISIS terstrated that, despite 10 years of rorists, then they deserve whattraining by the United States, it ever fate befalls them.

There’s the dreadful spectahas no ability to govern itself – let alone defend itself – against ISIS. cle of so many of those the U.S. trained either turning their guns directly on U.S. troops – in now Strange bedfellows What’s more, ISIS has given notorious “green-on-blue” killRussia’s Vladimir Putin a rea- ings – or using that training to son to join the fight. Earlier this professionalize the ranks of termonth, ISIS challenged Putin. In rorist groups like ISIS. the video, fighters pose atop Russian military equipment, including a fighter jet, captured from the forces of Syria. The irony is that just weeks ago, the Russians were hurling undisguised expressions of glee at the sight of ISIS terrorists parading the military hardware they wrested from Iraqis the mighty Americans trained.

Now Americans can do (and are doing) the same at the sight of ISIS terrorists parading the military hardware they wrested from Syrians the mighty Russians trained.

All of the above clearly puts a new wrinkle on the adage: the enemy of my enemy is my friend/ ally, especially when one considers that the United States will be drawn into these strange military alliances – while it’s ratcheting up against Russia the same kinds of economic sanctions it has been imposing against Iran and Syria for years.

How’s that for strange bedfellows?

What about China?

If you’re wondering why China is the only world power that has remained deaf, dumb, and mute in the face of this menace, consider this: China acts like a parent who seems to think her only duty is to feed and clothe her child – all guidance about and regard for right and wrong be damned.

Every brutal dictator who fell during the “Arab Spring” could count on China’s tacit, and sometimes overt, support. Indeed, it behooves the Black countries of Africa and the Caribbean that are sucking up to China these days as a more generous “sugar daddy” than the U.S. to appreciate that, if the apartheid government of South Africa were still in power, China would have no qualms about doing business with it, too.

If by some diabolical miracle ISIS succeeded in setting up a jihadist caliphate in the heart of the Middle East, ISIS would be able to count on China not only to establish diplomatic relations, but also to help it build its infrastructure in exchange for sweetheart business deals (especially for cheap oil).

Wishful thinking Obama made quite a show of seeking congressional authorization to train “moderate” Syrian fighters as part of his war on terrorism strategy. Nothing betrays the wishful thinking inherent in this quite like the shameful (and ultimately sacrificial) way thousands of U.S.-trained Iraqi fighters threw down their U.S.made weapons, abandoned their U.S.-made military vehicles, and hightailed it from just a few hundred poorly-equipped ISIS/ISIL fighters.

It smacks of a delusional mix of paternalism, narcissism, and sadomasochism for the United States to keep trying to impose Jeffersonian democracy on countries in the Middle East.

The irony, of course, is that, left to their own devices, those countries might develop into thriving democracies after all – just like the United States.

Remember the Civil War? Indeed, perhaps the most galling feature of U.S. foreign policy is that Americans act as if they developed their beacon of democracy overnight. In fact, the barbarism ISIS is displaying with its land grab and ethnic cleansing across the Middle East, which Obama is citing as the cause for war, pales in comparison to the barbarism Whites displayed with their land grab and institutionalized slavery across the United States.

Americans hurling self-righteous indignation at the barbaric sectarian war between Sunni, Shia, and Kurds for control of Iraq would do well to remember the barbaric Civil War between Yankees, Confederates … and Blacks for control of the United States of America.

With that, I rest my case against Obama’s war on terrorism.

Anthony L. Hall is a Bahamian native with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www.theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this story at www.flcourier.com to write your own response.

TOJ A6

NATION

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

113th Congress could be the least productive Session on track to yield fewest new laws in 60 years

BY DAVID ELDRIDGE CQ ROLL CALL (MCT)

WASHINGTON — Say this about the 113th Congress: It has managed to live down to low expectations.

With only a lame-duck post-Election Day mop-up session left before a new Congress takes the oath of office in January, the 113th is on track to be one of the least productive Congresses — in terms of laws passed and signed by the president — in 60 years.

The 113th Congress, which passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Dec. 11 before heading out of town, has seen just 163 pieces of legislation enacted.

That total, from the House clerk, tracks only through August, but it’s more than 100 pieces of legislation below the 283 measures enacted in the 112th Congress and well below the 383 in the 111th Congress.

‘Do-nothingest Congress’ Another handful of bills, including the continuing resolution, have been sent to the president, but unless the 113th has an unprecedented burst of productivity when they return for the lame duck, the die is cast.

As Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson told CQ Roll Call last week, “This has been the most do-nothingest Congress.”

It’s a distinction that Democrats insist is a disgrace and an abdication of the responsibility of governing.

After the Sept. 18 announcement from the GOP leadership that the final five days of House sessions scheduled before the November elections would be canceled, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ripped the Republicans for leaving work on the table.

“It is a good afternoon,” Pelosi said at a hastily ar-

DENNIS BRACK/BLACK STAR/ABACA PRESS/MCT

President Barack Obama meets with members of Congress in the cabinet room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 3, 2013 to discuss a military response to Syria. From left, Senator Dick Durbin, Ambassador Susan Rice, Speaker John Boehner, Obama, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. ranged news conference near the House floor, “but not a good afternoon for Congress to adjourn for this session.”

“We were supposed to be here tomorrow, then another week,” Pelosi fumed, flanked by Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, DMd., and Assistant Leader James E. Clyburn, D-S.C. “Now we’ve been informed by the Republican leadership that anything that we were ever going to do is over until we come back for the lame-duck session.”

“The American people have to ask, ‘What do you do for a living? What do you do for my living?’” said Pelosi. “What are you do-

ing for me?’”

Making their case The press conference was also the three top House Democrats’ final chance to collectively make their case before cameras and microphones that voters in November should oust the GOP from the majority in the House — and keep the Democrats in control of the Senate.

But a newly confident and disciplined GOP — Speaker John A. Boehner’s team pushed a spending bill through the House easily, despite tea party concerns — is looking forward to Nov. 4.

Boehner and Co. expect the GOP edge in the House to grow, and in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., and other Republicans sense that retaking that chamber is within their grasp.

‘Failed to act’ As for the “do-nothing” charge, many Republicans contend that holding the legislative line on what they and many of their constituents consider an overreaching, outof-control White House is no vice. After all, suing the president is also part of the 113th’s legacy.

Others in the GOP say

any blame over a lack of legislative productivity should be assigned to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the Democratcontrolled Senate — not the GOP-controlled House.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told CQ Roll Call that House Republicans had passed hundreds of bills, “including jobs bill after jobs bill.”

“But Washington Democrats — including President Obama and Senate Democratic leaders — have utterly failed to act,” Steel said.

Moira Bagley Smith, spokeswoman for Majority Whip Steve Scalise, said, “Considering the Senate is

Spelman College named top HBCU again by U.S. News and World Report

BY ZENITHA PRINCE TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

The institutions switched spots from last year’s rankings when Morehouse was second and Howard third.

Following closely behind was Virginia’s Hampton University and Tuskegee University in Alabama, which held the fifth spot as it did a year ago.

Rounding out the top 10 positions in descending order were: New Orleans’ Xavier University; Fisk University of Nashville, Tenn.; Florida

Steven Dennis, Emma Dumain, Matt Fuller and Humberto Sanchez contributed to this report.

Jobless rate drops a little for Black men TRICE EDNEY NEWS WIRE

The overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for African-Americans in August was 11.4 percent, the same as July although the jobless rate for Black men dropped slightly but rose for Black women, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last week.

The jobless rate for Black men 20 years old and older was 10.8 percent compared with 11.1 percent in July, BLS reported. Some 929,000 Black men were unemployed in August compared with 967,000 in July, according to BLS’s monthly household survey.

The labor-participation rate for Black men, or the number of men actively looking for work, dropped to 60.1 percent in August, compared with 60.4 percent in July. Some 7,676 million Black men were employed in August, down from 7,704 in July.

Spelman College in Atlanta, the liberal arts college for women in Atlanta, was named the nation’s top historically Black college or university for the second year in a row by U.S. News and World Report.

The publication’s 30th annual ranking of tertiary education institutions in the United States was released last week and included nearly 50 different types of numerical rankings and lists to “help students narrow their college search.”

In addition to its ratings of the best national universities and liberal arts colleges, the magazine also ranked regional colleges and universities and HBCUs. In the ranking of HBCUs, the schools were compared only with one another. Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Morehouse College in Atlanta, ranked second and third best, respectively.

FAMU in top 10

sitting on over 350 pieces of House-passed legislation from this Congress, I believe Sen. Reid’s chamber single-handedly has earned the title of ‘least productive.’

“The contrast in productivity between these two chambers couldn’t be more obvious,” she added.

That’s a refrain they’ll use on the campaign trail as the GOP attempts to reclaim control of the Senate.

They need to win at least six seats to take over.

Higher for women The unemployment rate for African-American women 20 years old and older was 10.6 percent compared with 10.1 percent in July.

Some 1,015 million Black women were out of work in August compared with 984,000 in July.

The August labor-participation rate for women dropped to 61.5 percent compared with 62.3 percent in July. Some 8,581 million African-American women were employed in August compared to 8,736 million in July.

JOHNNY CRAWFORD/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION/MCT

Kristie Bronner, left, and Kirstie Bronner, identical twins, were last year’s co-valedictorians of Spelman College. They are shown on May 16, 2013.

A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee; Claflin University of Orangeburg, S.C.; and North Carolina A&T State University of Greensboro, N.C. Morgan State University in Baltimore tied for the 15th spot with Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. The University of

Maryland-Eastern Shore came in 23rd; Bowie State University came in 25th and Coppin State’s ranking was not published.

The ranking of historically Black schools comprised only those institutions currently designated by the U.S. Department of Education as HBCUs. To qualify for the U.S.

News ranking, HBCUs also needed to be an undergraduate baccalaureate-granting institution that enrolls primarily first-year, first-time students.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper.

Rates for others The jobless rate for Blacks is higher than all other ethnic and racial groups as the nation’s non-farm businesses added 142,000 jobs in July. The nation’s unemployment rate remained little changed at 6.1 percent.

The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for whites was 5.3 percent. White women 20 years old and older reported a jobless rate of 4.8 percent. The unemployment rate for White men 20 years old and older was 4.9 percent.

The jobless rate for Hispanics was 7.5 percent in August compared to 7.8 percent in July.

This story is special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com.

HEALTH FOOD || HEALTH TRAVEL | |MONEY SCIENCE | BOOKS | MOVIES | TV | AUTOS LIFE | FAITH | EVENTS | CLASSIFIEDS | ENTERTAINMENT | SPORTS | FOOD COURIER

IFE/FAITH Pear dishes for diabetics See page B4

SEPT. 26 – OCT. 2, 2014

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Book explores drama in Cosby’s eventful life See page B5

SOUTH FLORIDA / TREASURE COAST AREA WWW.FLCOURIER.COM

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SECTION

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S

TO SPANK OR

NOT TO

SPANK? Peterson’s beating of son raises questions about effectiveness of corporal punishment

BY KARA YORIO THE RECORD (MCT)

H

ACKENSACK, N.J. — In study after study, as many as eight out of 10 adults in America say spanking is an appropriate form of discipline.

What the studies don’t show is how people define spanking and where they believe corporal punishment of children crosses a line to abuse.

While those questions have long been quietly debated, the indictment of NFL star Adrian Peterson has raised them in a very public way, even if many of those who believe in spanking find Peterson’s alleged behavior abhorrent.

Beaten with a switch The story is well-known by now — the Minnesota Vikings running back has been indicted on child abuse charges for stuffing leaves in the mouth of his 4-year-old son and beating him with a switch — a tree branch — that left the boy with cuts and bruises all over his body.

The incident started a conversation among opponents and defenders of corporal punishment of children by their caregivers. The issue is so uncomfortable that pediatricians, who are supposed to ask parents how they discipline and if they spank their kids, rarely broach the topic.

The question hardly comes up in discussions between parents and doctors, said Dr. Howard Mazin, an attending pediatrician at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey, because of the belief it has “fallen out of favor and people don’t do it.”

Studies, however, show otherwise. People are spanking their kids and many pediatricians aren’t talking to them about it.

AAP’s stance In a Harris Interactive poll from September 2013, 81 percent of Americans said spanking is sometimes appropriate.

The number was down from 87 percent in 1995, but the position maintains a strong majority in this country and stretches across racial, economic, ethnic and geographical lines. Among parents, 67 percent reported spanking their children.

To the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and experts who study physical punishment of children and its effects, there

‘We live in a society now with our kids in the African-American community — and I’m only speaking on that because I live in it and I’m part of it — I’ve seen parents who use the non-corporal process, a lot of those kids are not (well-behaved) the way the kids were years ago.’

Della Fischer, associate minister

ELIZABETH FLORES/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/MCT

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) makes his way to the bench during the second quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, on Dec. 22, 2013. is no debate on the issue.

“The AAP does not advocate spanking and wants to discourage spanking as a means of discipline,” said pediatrician Ben Siegel, immediate past chairman of the academy’s committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child & Family Health. “The AAP wants to discourage spanking and corporal punishment because the AAP recognizes that spanking can be severe and lead to child abuse.”

Embedded in culture Corporal punishment is a health and safety issue for chil-

dren that persists because of embedded cultural beliefs and indignant parents not wanting to be told how to raise their children, according to experts.

Studies have consistently shown children who receive any kind of corporal punishment are more likely to be more aggressive and defiant in the future and at risk for mental health issues. Despite this research, Americans are unswayed.

While nearly 40 countries have laws against the corporal punishment of children, the United States not only does not outlaw it, but many Americans continue to embrace it as the

proper way to parent.

“Part of our social norms are physical punishment,” said Siegel, who is also a professor of pediatrics and psychology at Boston University School of Medicine. “This is embedded in our culture.”

‘Negative consequences’ The academy’s policy statement says: “Spanking has negative consequences and is no more effective than other forms of discipline. In fact, there’s often a gray area between when spanking ends and child abuse begins.”

See SPANK, Page B2

B-CU, FAMU to face off Nov. 22 in new stadium BLACKNEWS.COM

The football season marks the return of the nation’s largest HBCU rivalry as the Florida A&M University (FAMU) Rattlers take on the Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) Wildcats at the Florida Blue Florida Classic game on Nov. 22 at the all new Orlando Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

With Kellen Winslow Sr., a Pro Football Hall of Famer, as the new Athletic Director at FAMU and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats coming off of a strong 2013 football season, the excitement for this year’s matchup intensifies as this is the first game to be played at the newly built stadium that was demolished earlier in the year. Tickets are on sale now and start as low as $15.

This year’s Florida Classic features an enhanced fan experience, a lineup of weekend and pre-game events, and something for everyone from students, families, sports enthusiasts, alumni, and supporters of both universities.

More comfy stadium Attendees can expect a better game experience in the new 65,000-seat stadium, which features larger, more comfortable seats with chair backs, and an additional six inches of legroom in

the lower bowl.

Additionally, the bigger and better stadium includes multiple club and suites, new and improved concessions, a party deck area, new team facilities, and better views of the game from any point in the stadium thanks to multiple video displays on each upper deck.

“This year we are completely focused on giving fans the best game experience and making this the most talked about HBCU game of the year and the place to be,” said Marah Beltz, B-CU’s alumni affairs manager.

Job fair, band battle In addition to the big game, the weekend lineup of events begins on Friday, Nov. 21 and includes the Florida Consortium Kickoff Luncheon presented by Florida Blue, the Career Expo and Job Fair, and the Florida Blue Battle of the Bands featuring crowd-pleasing dance teams, high-stepping drum majors, precision drumlines, and roaring brass sections.

Game-day activities include FanFare with activities for the entire family, a pre-game performance featuring 2 Chainz and a day party in the stadium in addition to the halftime band performance by FAMU’s Marching 100 and B-CU’s Marching Wildcats.

“You can always expect a great game at the Florida Classic, but

JERMAINE HANKERSON/SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

The Bethune-Cookman Wildcats and the Florida A&M Rattlers battled on Nov. 23, 2013, at the annual Florida Classic in Orlando. The Wildcats won 29-10. this year is even better,” said Angela Suggs, FAMU’s assistant athletic director.

“In addition to the exciting new energy that both teams are bringing to the gridiron, the fan experience has something for everyone from the pre-game concert and the day party, the Battle of the Bands and FanFare, to a bigger and better stadium.”

Tickets are on sale now for the game and weekend events and can be purchased online at www.

FloridaClassic.org.

Popular rapper 2 Chainz is scheduled to perform during the Florida Classic weekend.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BET.COM

CALENDAR

B2

FRANKIE BEVERLY

Tickets are on sale now for Tampa Funk Fest 2014 with performances by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill, Fantasia and Doug E. Fresh. The festival will be Oct. 18 at Raymond James Stadium. More information: www. funkfest2014.com.

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

STOJ

PBS will present ‘America After Ferguson’

DERAY DAVIS

DeRay Davis, Gary Owens and Tommy Davidson are a few of the comedians lined up for Shaq’s All Star Comedy Jam on Oct. 3 at the James L. Knight Center in Miami and on Oct. 4 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa.

Gwen Ifill of PBS will moderate “America After Ferguson,’’ a town hall meeting that will explore the many issues that have been brought into public discourse in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo. The program, produced by WGBH Boston in partnership with the Nine Network/KETC in St. Louis and WETA in Washington DC, will air Friday, Sept. 26 from 8 to 9 p.m. on PBS. (Check your local listings.)

While the facts of the case are still in dispute, for many the story of Ferguson has become a symbol of the larger social divides in America, exposing a persistent disconnect along lines of race, Gwen class and identity. Through conversaIfill tions and special reports, “America After Ferguson’’ will explore these complex questions raised by the events in Ferguson.

Taped in St. Louis

KELLY PRICE

The Soul Food Festival will be Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park on Sept. 13. Artists will include Stephanie Mills, Glenn Jones, Chante Moore, Kelly Price and The Whispers. Tickets: www.ilovesoulfood.com.

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR Plantation: Judah Worship Word Ministries International, 4441 W. Sunrise Blvd., will host a “Women Who Win’’ conference Oct. 15-17 with services beginning at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 19 at 8:15 a.m.

More information on speakers and service information: 954-791-2999.

Fort Lauderdale: The African-American Research Library and Cultural The big giveaway for this event is an eight-day package

by a Ghana tour operator with Ebony Heritage Travel.

Order $10 tickets through Eventbrite (http://destinationghana.eventbrite.com).

St. Petersburg: The Steve Harvey “Act Like A Success’’ Tour will stop at The Mahaffey on Oct. 18.

Jacksonville: Tickets are on sale for an Oct. 3 concert featuring Keith Sweat, El Debarge and Howard Hewitt at the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts.

St. Augustine: Tickets are on sale now for an Oct. 11 show at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre featuring Earth, Wind

& Fire. The group also will be at Hard Rock Live on Oct. 15.

Tampa: Candy Lowe hosts Tea & Conversation every Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. at 3911 N. 34th St., Suite B. More information: 813-3946363.

Miami: Festival of Praise 2014 featuring Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin is Oct. 18 at the James L. Knight Center.

St. Petersburg: Macy Gray is scheduled Oct. 10 at Janus Live.

Hollywood: Natalie Cole is scheduled at Hard Rock Live

on Nov. 5 for an 8 p.m. show.

Fort Lauderdale: A show featuring Patti LaBelle is set for Nov. 15 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Nov. 16 at the Mahaffey Theater.

Miami: The Commodores take the stage at the James L. Knight Center on Nov. 7 for an 8:30 p.m. show.

Tampa: A session on management and leadership is scheduled Sept. 27 from noon to 2:30 p.m. at the Seminole Heights Branch Library, 4711 N. Central Ave. Free online registration at www.tampablackheritage. org.

The program was taped before an audience on Sept.

21 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Intended for audiences in communities across the country, “America After Ferguson’’ will include national leaders in the areas of law enforcement, race and civil rights, as well as government officials, faith leaders and youth.

“The upheaval in Ferguson stirred up an all too familiar stew of debate over race, justice and citizenship,” Ifill said. “It’s a discussion fueled by community outrage and resentment on all sides, but it is one that shouldn’t end. Our town hall conversation will shed light rather than heat on the topic, as we seek out the voices interested in digging deeper.”

To continue the dialogue after the town hall, visit pbs.org/afterferguson and follow #AfterFerguson.

Tampa’s Black journalists to host Ferguson forum The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists will present “Let’s Talk About It: Could Ferguson Happen Here?,’’ a community forum to be held 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 9 at the University of South Florida’s Patel Center for Global Solutions in Tampa.

Moderated by NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans, panelists will include Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor, Hillsborough County

SPANK

raised on the quote that said, ‘Spare the rod, spoil the child’ and in the African-American community spankings were not considered a form of neglect or abuse.”

from B1

Unlike healthy eating, car seats and wearing bicycle helmets or sunscreen, the elimination of corporal punishment is not part of public health and education campaigns.

“The national organization has that statement, but it hasn’t trickled down to everyday interactions with pediatricians,” said Elizabeth Gershoff, one of the leading experts on parental discipline methods and corporal punishment of kids.

Generational issue

‘What is excessive?’

The pediatric academy’s policy statement was written in 1989 and stands today, but even those within the organization acknowledge an issue with semantics.

“It depends what you mean by spanking and it becomes somewhat complicated,” said Siegel.

Laws often define child abuse as “the infliction of excessive corporal punishment” but what is excessive? Where people place that line seems arbitrary at best. Is it using an object other than a hand?

Causing welts or bruises or bleeding? Is it the age of the child or the behavior that sparked the spanking? When does spanking become abuse and is either OK? “There’s a difference between spanking and child abuse but that doesn’t mean either are correct,” said Mazin.

No better behavior?

Studies show corporal punishment doesn’t work to bring about better behavior long-term.

“The research couldn’t be any clearer,” said Gershoff, an associate professor of human development and family sciences at University of Texas at Austin.

Sometimes it isn’t even effective in the short term.

A pilot study published in

Sheriff’s Black Advisory Council President James Cole and Tampa Bay Times Columnist Ernest Hooper.

The forum will focus on the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Mo. and media-policecommunity relations in Tampa Bay. It is presented in partnership with the George Edgecomb Bar Association in Hillsborough County and the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter of the National Bar Association.

More information: 813419-2490 or tampabayabj@gmail.com.

JEFF WHEELER/MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE/MCT

There was no shortage of Vikings fans choosing to wear their Adrian Peterson jerseys on Sunday, Sept. 14, at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Four out of five members of this family on their way into the game wore number 28. “I believe in a man’s innocence until proven guilty. That’s all I need to say,” said the father, who declined to be identified.

June in the Journal of Family Psychology showed that 73 percent of children would misbehave again within 10 minutes of being spanked. It was a small sample, but had revealing results.

“That answers the question of the immediate impact of the spanking,” Siegel said.

People don’t want to hear the message, though, Gershoff said.

“They don’t want to be told by people like me from the academic ivory tower,” she said. “They firmly believe it’s working when there’s no real evidence it’s working.”

Black minister’s view Many will argue spanking does work, citing anec-

dotal evidence and reminiscing about days gone by when children were more respectful. They draw a direct line between more frequent physical punishment and kids toeing that line.

“We live in a society now with our kids in the African-American community — and I’m only speaking on that because I live in it and I’m part of it — I’ve seen parents who use the non-corporal process, a lot of those kids are not (well-behaved) the way the kids were years ago,” said Della Fischer, an associate minister at Calvary Baptist Church in Paterson.

Parents are caught in an unwinnable situation when it comes to physical punishment, she said.

“You don’t (hit) your

child, then your child becomes a menace to society, then someone says that your child wasn’t raised properly,” Fischer said.

“You spank your child to show some form of discipline, then they say you abuse your child. It’s like you’re danged if you do, danged if you don’t. And it’s such a fine line.”

Barkley on ‘whipping’ Fischer draws her line at leaving marks or injuring the child and parents “losing control.”

In the Peterson case, while many were appalled by the photos and charges, others have stood up to defend his right to discipline his child or cite the African-American culture — particularly in the South —

or their own experiences growing up whatever their ethnicity as a way to explain the behavior.

“I’m from the South,” former NBA star Charles Barkley said in a television interview. “Whipping — we do that all the time. Every Black parent in the South is going to be in jail under those circumstances.”

Fischer, who said she didn’t know the details of the Peterson case beyond the fact that he used a switch on his son, was among those who saw a cultural rationale for his behavior.

“Again, I have not seen the pictures of this child,” she said. “It could be abuse. I can’t say all of it’s culture. I just feel that as a culture, that’s what we were raised on. We were

But not everyone within the community agrees with that theory. Using the cultural card is an overgeneralization and a disservice to the people of the community, Cauthen said.

“It’s dangerous,” he said.

“It perpetuates a stereotype.”

He sees the issues of spankings as more of an age issue than race.

“I think it’s a generational issue within the Black community,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll find many younger people defending him (Barkley) to that degree as much as you will find someone in my generation.”

But it wasn’t just older Black people or Southern Black people coming to Peterson’s defense. On Fox News Channel, host Sean Hannity spoke of his father beating him with a belt and punching him in the face.

Hannity’s take Hannity said he deserved it at the time and it would be “ridiculous” for his father to have been charged with a crime or accused of abuse under those circumstances.

The TV host and those who agree with him argue the uproar over corporal punishment is just another case of people going overboard, parents getting too soft and people trying to get into others’ personal business where they don’t belong.

The reaction to the case involving Peterson shows corporal punishment is still a common practice.

“There are still enough Americans that do it and believe in it,” said Gershoff.

“We haven’t hit that tipping point where it’s not OK.”

S

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

Sarah Luna graduated from the University of Southern California with about $75,000 in studentloan debt. She lives in an apartment in Glendale, Calif., and would like to buy a home, but knows her student debt will keep that dream somewhere down the road.

LAWRENCE K. HO/ LOS ANGELES TIMES/MCT

T:4.625 in

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PERSONAL FINANCE

Student loan debt and the housing market Study shows debt impacts home ownership by $83 billion

BY TIM LOGAN LOS ANGELES TIMES (MCT)

There’s been lots of debate lately in housing circles about the impact of

student debt on home ownership.

Now there’s a new study out that attempts to put a number on that impact: 414,000.

That’s how many home sales will not happen this year because of high levels of student loan debt, according to a report from John Burns Consulting, an Irvine, Calif.-based firm that advises home builders. That’s equal to about 8 percent of all home sales, and enough to dent the housing industry by $83 billion a year.

The report estimates that the number of households under age 40 that owe $250 or more each month in student loans has nearly tripled since 2005, to 5.9 million. And it projects that every $250 in monthly student loan payments decreases home borrowing and purchasing power by $44,000. Figure a typical sale price of $200,000, throw all that together, and you get $83 billion in lost sales.

“We actually think it’s pretty conservative,” said Rick Palacios, director of research at John Burns Consulting. “We’re only looking at people age 20 to 40. We know there’s a big chunk of households over age 40 who have student debt, too.”

$1.1 trillion debt

99% of Americans have seen combat on TV. 1% of Americans have seen combat in Iraq or Afghanistan.

T:10 in

The report is the latest in a growing pile of research that links rising student debt levels — overall student loan debt has nearly tripled since 2005 to $1.1 trillion — with sluggish home sales, especially among young adults.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has found that young people with student debt are now less likely to hold a mortgage (and own a house) than people who never attended college, a reversal from long-held trends that link higher education with higher earnings and home ownership.

Trade groups such as the National Association of Realtors have pointed to student debt as a key factor in the lower-than-normal rates of first-time homebuyers. And it has become a growing concern for builders, which is why Palacios decided to try to put a number on it.

Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sandra M. Palumbo, U.S. Navy - Bahrain, November 6, 2007

Modest payments Other studies have suggested the effect of student loans on housing may be overblown.

A report by the Brookings Institute in May points out that most people who carry student debt have relatively modest monthly payments. And while the Burns report notes that 35 percent of young adults now have monthly payments topping $250, that means 65 percent have payments of less than that.

There are two things nearly everyone agrees on: Student debt keeps growing. And as it does, its effect on the housing market will need more study.

“We’re hoping to look more into it,” Palacios said.

“It’s scary how much debt there is out there.”

We know where you’re coming from.

If you’re a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan, you’re not alone.

We’ve been there. Join us at CommunityofVeterans.org

F0OD

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SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

TOJ

SARAH KEHOE

Sam Talbot’s “The Sweet Life” is avail­able on amazon.com, at Barnes and Noble, and at book stores nationwide.

FAMILY FEATURES

For the more than 25 million Americans living with diabetes, food choices are critical to maintaining their health.

Chef Sam Talbot, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 12 years old, understands those challenges. But with his new cookbook he proves that diabetics don’t have to sacrifice flavor in order to follow a healthy eating plan.

Talbot earned national recognition as the runner-up in Season 2 of Bravo’s hit TV show “Top Chef.” In his new book, “The Sweet Life: Diabetes without Boundaries,” he shares how diabetes has affected — but has not compromised — his life and career, and offers 75 fresh, all-natural recipes that can be enjoyed by both diabetics and non-diabetics.

Cooking to manage diabetes Doctors recommend that people with diabetes follow a healthy, well bal­anced diet that includes plenty of fiber-rich fruits and vegetables and carbo­hydrates that rank lower on the glycemic index (GI). (See sidebar for more on the glycemic index.)

“Pears are one of my favorite fruits to use in recipes,” says Talbot. “They are a low GI fruit, they’re high in fiber, and the flavor of a ripe pear is just out of this world.

They are incredibly versatile in sweet and savory recipes in all types of world cuisines. They can be part of any meal of the day.”

The two recipes here are from Talbot’s book, and showcase the fresh, sweet flavor of pears. For more information, visit www.SamTalbot.com, and for additional pear recipes visit www.usapears.org.

THE GLYCEMIC INDEX The glycemic index (GI) rates carbo­hydrates on a scale of 1 to 100 based on how rapidly a food item raises blood sugar levels after eating. Foods that rank high on the glycemic index are digested rapidly, which produces marked fluctua­tions in blood sugar and insulin levels. Foods with a low glycemic index are digested slowly and raise blood sugar and insulin levels gradually.

SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY GLYCEMIC INDEX GROUP, HUMAN NUTRITION UNIT, SCHOOL OF MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES

TARA DONNE

YOGURT WITH PEAR AND COCONUT Makes 4 servings Juice of 1 lemon 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup Grape-Nuts or granola cereal 1 tablespoon granulated stevia extract, or to taste 1teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 ripe pears, such as Anjou or Bosc, slightly firm to the touch 3 cups 2% plain Greek yogurt In medium bowl, combine lemon juice, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, cereal, sweetener and cinnamon.

Peel, core and finely chop pears.

Spoon yogurt into 4 bowls and top with fruit and coconut mixture, or sprinkle directly onto each individual container of yogurt.

Note: This recipe can do double duty as a dessert if you serve it up parfait style. Spoon 1/8 of the pears into the bottom of each of 4 bowls or parfait glasses. Add 1/8 of the cereal mixture, then 1/2 cup of yogurt. Repeat with the remaining pears, cereal mixture, and yogurt.

Per Serving: 265 calories, 15 g protein, 38 g carbohydrates, 8 g total fat (6 g saturated), 8 mg cholesterol, 6 g fiber, 157 mg sodium LAVENDER POACHED PEARS Makes 4 servings 2 large ripe pears, such as Bosc or Anjou, slightly firm to the touch 3 tablespoons granulated stevia extract, or to taste 1 tablespoon dried lavender

FAST FACTS One medium pear provides 24 percent of your day’s fiber, and 10 percent of your day’s vitamin C — for only 100 calories.

There are ten different varieties of USA Pears, each with its own color, flavor and texture.

More than 80 percent of the fresh pears grown in the U.S. are from the Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon. USA Pears are in season from early fall through early summer.

CHECK THE NECK FOR RIPENESS

2 blossoms dried hibiscus

Ripeness is the key to enjoying pears at their sweetest and juiciest. To judge a pear’s ripeness, USA Pear growers advise you to “check the neck.” Press the neck, or stem end, of the pear. If it yields to gentle pressure, it’s ripe, sweet and juicy.

If it feels firm, simply leave the pear at room temperature to ripen within a few days.

Don’t refrigerate your pears unless you want to slow their ripening.

Peel, halve and core pears using a melon baller to scoop out seeds.

In large pot, combine 3 cups water, sweetener, lavender, hibiscus, chamomile tea and mint. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low. Add pears and simmer until you can easily pierce pears with the tip of a knife, about 20 minutes.

To serve, transfer pear halves to 4 indivi­dual bowls and ladle some of the cooking liquid over the top.

Per Serving: 72 calories, 1 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 0 g total fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 2 mg sodium

1 chamomile tea bag 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves

PHOTO CREDIT: TARA DONNE

Recipes excerpted from the book, “The Sweet Life: Diabetes without Boundaries,” by Sam Talbot. Published by Rodale. Copyright © 2011.

STOJ

SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Meet some of

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Kimberly Nicole originally appeared as one of Florida’s Finest in May 2006.

Nathan Williams originally appeared as one of Florida’s Finest in January 2011.

Book recounts the dramas, personal and professional, of Cosby’s eventful life DR. GLENN ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE COURIER

In 1962, just before he headed to New York City for a gig at The Gaslight Café, Bill Cosby had an epiphany.

As he waited for his meal at a Chinese restaurant, Cosby, who was then a student at Temple University, watched a tableful of people listen and laugh as a man told stories and acted them out. Mesmerized, Cosby decided that he wanted to be a humorist with a distinctive voice, like Mark Twain, and be acclaimed as the funniest guy in the world.

In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Cosby has come pretty darned close. And, as journalist Mark Whitaker demonstrates in the first fulllength biography of Cosby, he has been a lot more than a comedy icon. With “I Spy’’ (1965-1968), an adventure series shot on location around the world, Cosby became the first African-American to co-star in a primetime television series.

In the 1980s, “The Cosby Show,’’ one of the most popular situation comedies in television history, gave viewers a model of a strong, two parent African-American household and a tutorial of sorts on black history and culture. In recent years, Cosby has been a controversial critic of what he regards as dysfunctional values within Black families.

Defends Cosby Whitaker, who conducted extensive interviews with Cosby, clearly admires his subject. He refers to Cosby’s emotional volatility, but only in passing. And he defends Cosby against virtually all of his critics.

Cosby was tough on writers, Whitaker suggests, because “he considered himself, one too.”

More importantly, Whitaker acknowledges that Cos-

Viola Davis responds to critic’s ‘less classically beautiful’ comment EURWEB.COM

OLIVIER DOULIERT/ABACA PRESS/MCT

Comedian Bill Cosby speaks during the celebration of the 55th anniversary of a Washington institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl on Aug. 22, 2013 in Washington, D.C. by’s impromptu rant at Black youth during a black tie dinner commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education in Washington, D.C. in 2004, with former presidents Carter, Bush and Clinton in attendance, was “inartful and sometimes cruel,” only to add, “particularly when quoted out of context.” And he insists that far from failing to understand “aimless, undisciplined” African-American youngsters, he knew them “all too well.”

On racism, equality Like Cosby, Whitaker appears to believe that discipline and close attention by parents are “the keys to salvation for his entire race.”

Neither of them, however, has adequately engaged critics who claim that Cosby has not sufficiently factored in crime, poverty, poor-quality schools, and persistent racism in inner-city neighborhoods.

In essence, he invites Whites to conclude that Blacks are largely responsible for their social conditions, and have no legitimate right to demand special legal protection and government

BOOK REVIEW Review of “Cosby: His Life and Times’’ By Mark Whitaker.

Simon & Schuster. 532 pp. $29.99 social welfare programs.

That said, Whitaker does get at the essence of a complicated man, as he recounts the dramas, personal and professional, of an eventful life.

Remembering Ennis His narrative of Cosby’s relationship with his only son, who was diagnosed, later than he should have been, as learning disabled, and

his reaction to Ennis’ murder by an 18-year-old Ukrainian immigrant who may have targeted his victim because he was Black, is powerful and poignant. After the interment, Whitaker writes, the mourners prayed in silence and then told funny stories about Ennis.

When Cosby proposed putting up a pine tree in his memory, Ennis’ sisters listed so many dates on which they’d light it that Bill promised his dead son that “just to celebrate” the lights would be turned off on his birthday.

The quip and the service itself, which kept everyone laughing and crying into the night, were vintage Cosby. As was his response, a moment later, to his brother’s comment that he felt a “strange” feeling of lightness.

“Yeah,” Dr. Cosby, the educator and idealist replied, “we went down this hill feeling like slaves and we’re coming back up feeling like free people.’’

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this book review for the Florida Courier.

It appears as if Viola Davis has used Maya Angelou to address Alessandra Stanley, the New York Times TV critic who made headlines for suggesting that Shonda Rhimes is an “angry Black woman” who has made the cultural stereotype palatable by channeling it through her popular primetime characters.

During the misguided piece, Stanley says Davis’ character AnViola nalise in the forthcoming ShondaDavis land production “How to Get Away With Murder,” “is sexual and even sexy, in a slightly menacing way, but the actress doesn’t look at all like the typical star of a network drama.”

Stanley continues: “Ignoring the narrow beauty standards some African-American women are held to, Ms. Rhimes chose a performer who is older, darker-skinned and less classically beautiful than Ms. Washington, or for that matter Halle Berry, who played an astronaut on the summer mini-series ‘Extant.’”

Davis decided to tweet the following words from Maya Angelou: You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise!!!

Viola Davis (@violadavis) September 20, 2014

Regrets from editor Following a barrage of feedback from readers, Stanley has insisted her intentions were misunderstood. The Times’ culture editor, Danielle Mattoon, has released a statement offering her regret.

It reads: “There was never any intent to offend anyone and I deeply regret that it did. Alessandra used a rhetorical device to begin her essay, and because the piece was so largely positive, we as editors weren’t sensitive enough to the language being used.

“I do think there were interesting and important ideas raised that are being swamped… This is a signal to me that we have to constantly remind ourselves as editors of our blind spots, what we don’t know, and of how readers may react.”

Stanley adds, “In the review, I referenced a painful and insidious stereotype solely in order to praise Ms. Rhimes and her shows for traveling so far from it. If making that connection between the two offended people, I feel bad about that. But I think that a full reading allows for a different takeaway than the loudest critics took…. (and) I commended Ms. Rhimes for casting an actress who doesn’t conform to television’s narrow standards of beauty.”

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SEPTEMBER 26 – OCTOBER 2, 2014

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