Melissa Harris-Perry:"Moral Monday' spreads to other states

MHP 02/08/14
'Moral Monday' spreads to other states
The Nation's Ari Berman joins #nerdland from North Carolina to talk about the "Moral Monday" protests, and how the movement has rippled out into other states in the south.

Melissa Harris-Perry:"Moral Monday' spreads to other states

MHP 02/08/14
'Moral Monday' spreads to other states
The Nation's Ari Berman joins #nerdland from North Carolina to talk about the "Moral Monday" protests, and how the movement has rippled out into other states in the south.

Moral Mondays...Where was the Media?

Thom Hartmann talks with Caitlin Swain, Attorney, Advancement Project
Website: www.advancementproject.org, about the lack of media coverage for 'Moral Monday' protests.

80,000+ Moral Monday Protesters Fight For Justice Regardless of What Par...

Reverend Curtis Gatewood: Moral Mondays protests are not pro-Democrat or anti-GOP, as activists have been fighting against injustice in North Carolina under both parties

Former N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin Will Be Facing Federal Time Out!

George W. Bush shakes hands with Ray Nagin. They faced heavy criticism over their handling of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Breaking today, former New Orleans mayor Clearance Ray Nagin is found guilty in a federal corruption probe.

This guilty verdict may put the politico in federal time out for 30 years. Nagin was the focal focus during the horrible events that lead to New Orleans being flooded during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Nagin, an often colorful language politico once called the city of New Orleans a "Chocolate City".

He bashed the federal government after they lacked the preparedness for a catastrophe.

On January 18, 2013, Nagin was indicted on 21 corruption charges, including wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering related to his alleged dealings with two troubled city vendors following Hurricane Katrina disaster.

On February 20, 2013, Nagin pleaded not guilty in federal court to all charges.

Four politically tarnished figures. Ray Nagin, Kathleen Blanco, George W. Bush and David Vitter. 

He was convicted on 20 of 21 of these charges on February 12, 2014.

CNN reports that prosecutors had accused Nagin of being at the center of a kickback scheme in which he allegedly received checks, cash, wire transfers, personal services and free travel from businessmen seeking contracts and favorable treatment from the city.

Nagin left office in 2010, after two terms in office. There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from the former mayor, who had insisted on his innocence, or his lawyers.

The charges detailed more than $200,000 in bribes, his family members allegedly received a vacation in Hawaii; first-class airfare to Jamaica; private jet travel and a limousine for New York City; and cellular phone service.

In exchange, businesses that coughed up cash for Nagin and his family won more than $5 million in city contracts, according to a January 2013 indictment.

The onetime cable-television executive was elected mayor in 2002 and was in office when the massive Katrina slammed ashore just east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. The storm flooded more than three-fourths of the low-lying city and left more than 1,800 dead, most of them in across Louisiana.

The racist right was gleeful that a majority of Black residents were killed during Hurricane Katrina.

Supporters credited Nagin's sometimes-profane demands for aid from Washington with helping reveal the botched federal response to the storm -- a fiasco that embarrassed the George W. Bush administration and led to billions of federal dollars being poured into Gulf Coast reconstruction efforts.

But Nagin also had his critics: A congressional committee criticized him for delaying evacuation orders, and his frantic description of post-storm New Orleans as a violent wasteland with up to 10,000 dead turned out to be greatly exaggerated.

As he sought re-election in 2006, with much of the city's African-American population displaced by storm damage, Nagin was blasted for insisting that New Orleans would remain a "chocolate" city.

Former president George W. Bush won reelection in 2004. His first term was disastrous from the start. September 11, 2001 attacks were the first of many reckless hings to happen under his watch. His second term was going to be a rebound from his first term. People were war weary and divided. August 28, 2005 will be the day that Bush will always remember as his "worst day ever!"

Michael Dunn Claims That Thug Music Drove Him To Kill Jordan Davis!

Michael Dunn displays his handling grip when he confronted teens at a store. He put ten slugs in the vehicle that Jordan Davis rode in. The teen's murder sparked outrage over the fact that Dunn claims that his life was threatened by a group of unarmed teens who were banging hip-hop music.

That paradise for stupidity is the state of Florida.

We are following the Jordan Davis murder trial. This case parallels the many events caused by the state sponsored "Stand Your Ground Law".

Last month a retired police officer Curtis Reeves shot and killed Chad Oulsen in a Tampa area movie theater over him texting on the phone. Reeves believes that a bag of popcorn thrown in his face is merit to shot a man a point blank range. Oulsen was killed and Reeves is facing second degree murder.

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin became the talk of the nation. The shooting of unarmed Martin sparked outrage and a demand for the state's controversial governor Rick Scott to repeal the law. Scott maybe facing former governor Charlie Crist in a bid for reelection.

Zimmerman after post trial has cause over seven events which sparked outrage. The most recent outrage was this charity event where he was to step into the boxing ring with washed up celebrity DMX. That event was canceled after complaints.

Rhonda Rouer wipes tears. She tells her boyfriend Michael Dunn's side of the story.

Marissa Alexander was just granted bail after she was sentenced to 20 years in the iron college for shooting in her ceiling after she threatened her abuse husband. She became a focal point of that stupid law.

The Jordan Davis murder is a hotly watched event. The suspect Michael Dunn shot ten times at the 17 year old and his friends after they got into a heated confrontation over loud hip-hop music.

Last year, Dunn was charged with murder with reckless content.

Tommie Stornes tells a somber tale of losing his best friend.

Dunn is facing life in the iron college if the evidence showed that he provoked the event. In the trial, the family and friends of both Davis and Dunn came up to stand to testify.

One in particular was the girlfriend of Dunn. She was with Dunn during the time of the shooting. Dunn was returning from his son's wedding and decided to get some stuff from a Jacksonville convenience store.

His girlfriend goes in and he sits outside. Apparently Davis along with his friends were there blasting up their speakers listening to hip-hop music.

She was talking to him about the noise and he uttered a "I can't stand that 'thug' music".

That right there is the prosecution's way to nail him with reckless intent. The prosecution wants to say that Dunn was provoked by a group of teens who refused to listen to his concerns. Dunn was provoked by a group of teens who cranked the music even louder when he told them to turn that off.

The defense rested its case Tuesday, and then prosecutors called Dunn's fiancee back to the witness stand.

Ronald Davis and Lucia McBath are Jordan Davis parents. They watch the trial.

Rhonda Rouer contradicted Dunn’s assertion that he had told her he had seen a gun in the teens’ SUV. Closing arguments were expected Wednesday.

Prosecutors also played a video of Dunn’s jailhouse interview in which he couldn't explain why he didn't call police after the shooting. Also in it, detectives picked apart Dunn's story that he was threatened with a gun, saying no weapon was found on the teen and witnesses never described Davis making threats.
"I got a place on the beach. I got a great house. I got a great girl. We just got a new puppy," Dunn said.

"There is no reason for me to jeopardize that."

Of course he jeopardized that. He made the choice to use a firearm instead of a cellphone and piece of paper with a license number on it. He could lose all that in an instant if he's found guilty. He could lose all that in a civil lawsuit if found not guilty.

In his testimony, Dunn told jurors he was in Jacksonville with Rouer to attend his son’s wedding. He had brought along on the trip his 7-month-old dog, and at one point in testimony, he wiped away tears when talking about his fiancee and dog.

Graphic details were told by friends of Jordan Davis. They told the court that Michael Dunn provoked the event. This is Leland Brunson, one of the people in the SUV the night Dunn shot and killed Davis.

Dunn said he and Rouer went to the convenience store for wine and chips. He said he pulled into a spot next to an SUV where music with a “thumping” bass was playing.

"It got really loud," Dunn said. "My rear view mirror was shaking. My eardrums were vibrating. It was ridiculously loud."

Dunn said he asked the three men in the SUV to turn down the music and they turned it off. "I said, 'Thank you,'" Dunn said. But soon afterward, Dunn said he heard someone in the SUV shouting expletives and the word "cracker" at him. Dunn is white, and the teens in the SUV were black. Cracker is a derogatory term for white people.

The music was turned back on, and Dunn testified, "I wasn't going to ask for favors anymore."

Tevin Thompson explains the controversial shooting.

Dunn said the men in the SUV had "menacing expressions," and he asked the teens whether they were talking about him. He said he wanted to calm down the situation but saw a teen in the backseat reach down for something which he slammed into the car door. Dunn said it looked as if the barrel of a shotgun was sticking out the window.

One of the teens stepped out of the SUV, Dunn said, and he felt "this was a clear and present danger." He reached for his pistol in a glove box.

Dunn, who had a concealed weapons permit, fired nine shots into the car, according to an affidavit. Once his fiancee returned to the car, he drove off out of fear of the SUV returning, he said.

He described having "tunnel vision," with everything focused on his target.

No weapons were found in the SUV.

Dunn said he told Rouer on the drive back to the hotel that he had shot in self-defense.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Dunn said he told her.

Dunn and Rouer drove back to their hotel and Dunn said he didn't call the police because his focus was on the well-being of Rouer, whom he described as in hysterics. The next morning, Dunn said, Rouer insisted she wanted to go home and they drove back to their home in Brevard County, 175 miles away. There, Dunn said he contacted a neighbor who is in law enforcement for advice on how to turn himself in to authorities.

During cross-examination, prosecutor John Guy challenged Dunn’s assertion that he had told Rouer after the shooting that he thought one of the teens had a gun.

Jordan Davis didn't hurt no one.

"You never told the love of your life that those guys had a gun," Guy said. "Did you?"

Dunn responded, "You were not there."

Guy challenged Dunn on other parts of his story, citing letters Dunn had written from jail and interviews with investigators. The prosecutor said Dunn had told detectives the day after the shooting that it could have been a stick he saw pointing from the vehicle. But Dunn countered he was just suggesting a far-fetched possibility.

Guy also suggested that Dunn was angry because he was being disrespected by a young black man. Dunn responded, “I was being threatened, not disrespected.”

The prosecutor also said Dunn had stated in a jailhouse letter that his car was parked so close to the SUV that it would have been hard for him to exit. Guy said that mean Davis also would have had a hard time getting out of the SUV.

"Jordan Davis was never a threat to you, was he, Mr. Dunn?" Guy said.

Dunn responded, "Absolutely, he was."

Newsone obtained the letters from Dunn saying some not so nice things about Black people and he compared himself to George Zimmerman.

One good news nugget was the selection of a jury.

"The fear is that we may get a predominately black jury and therefore, unlikely to get a favorable verdict. Sad, but that’s where this country is still at. The good news is that the surrounding counties are predominately white and Republican and supporters of gun rights," says Dunn in a written letter to his girlfriend Rhonda Douer.

"The jail is full of blacks and they all act like thugs. This may sound a bit radical but if more people would arm themselves and kill these fucking idiots, when they’re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior," says Dunn to his son.

"Uh, ‘Kill that motherfucker!’ ‘That motherfucker is dead!’ ‘You dead cracker!’” Dunn heard from the teens.

"And he sees that much of a shotgun coming up over the rim of the SUV, which is up higher than his Jetta, and all he sees are heavily tinted front windows that are up and the back windows that are down, and the car has at least four black men in it, and he doesn't know how old anyone is, and he doesn't know anything, but he knows a shotgun when he sees one because he got his first gun as a gift from his grandparents when he was in third grade," Dunn wrote to his friends.

The jury will decide shortly on this man's fate.

"I am amazed at what is going on with the way the media has been covering this case," he writes.

"Their [sic] have been several other shootings here in Jacksonville, yet they are all either black-on-black or black-on-white, and none of them have garnered any attention from the media. I guess it’s news when someone dares to not to be a victim, but they are twisting it around sand saying I was the ‘bad guy.’" Dunn wrote to his grandmother.

"I’m not getting much in the way of sympathy from the press. They’re a bunch of liberal bastards!" he writes.

"They seem to have a lot of racial guilt, or at least the prosecutors [sic] office does. The jail here is almost all black prisoners. You’d think Jacksonville was 90-90% black judging by the makeup of the folks in jail here! … My fear is that if I get 1 black on my jury it will be a mistrial as I am convinced they will be racially biased." Dunn says to his supporters and son.

Race and Sex: Are we as liberal as we think? - Focus - The UConn Daily Campus - University of Connecticut

Race and Sex: Are we as liberal as we think? - Focus - The UConn Daily Campus - University of Connecticut

The Racist Right Undermines The Moral March!

Loserville sends its ventriloquist dummy to aid in its attempt to undermine the Moral March. The dummy confronts Reverend William Barber on the criticism of Black Republican senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

SiriusXM commentator David Webb is a Black conservative agitator. He often appears on Loserville to aid in the racist right's attempts to undermine the Black community and President Barack Obama.

I guess over the weekend, Webb and SiriusXM commentator Mark Thompson went to the Moral March to cover the event. Thompson is a Black liberal agitator and a strong supporter of the march.

Webb wanted to cause some trouble. So under the direction of That Guy Who Helped Obama Win, he went to make his concerns known about the leader of the Moral March's criticism of the Black Republican ventriloquist dummy who was appointed as a U.S. Senator last year.

That Guy Who Helped Obama Win is a prime example of the racist right's attempt to undermine the Black community and President Barack Obama. He's a bipolar right wing agitator who obsesses literally about Obama. He's trying to spread the gospel of lies and deception.

Reverend William Barber became the racist right's new whipping boy after he criticized the Tea Party and lawmaker Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate.

Barber believes Scott, Webb and many other Black conservatives promote the racist right agenda. They often say really condescending and racist things. The racist right often props these dummies to the media to prove that the 90% White party has at least 10% "the other".

Tim Scott is one of two Black U.S. Senators.

Rev. Barber would say, "A ventriloquist can always find a good dummy. [I often criticize] the extreme right wing down here. And here in South Carolina, they find a black guy to be senator and claims he's the first black senator since Reconstruction and then he goes to Washington, D.C., and articulates the agenda of the tea party."


As usual That Guy Who Helped Obama Win will selectively edit the video to make Rev. Barber look like some "angry Black man" because he's not "hearing concerns from those 'offended' by his comments."

That Guy Who Helped Obama Win called for the firing of Rev. Barber because of his criticism of the ventriloquist dummy.

What was shown on Loserville was a deception.



The result of that visit was played on They Guy Who Helped Obama Win's right wing carnival is a partial clip of the response. In the case in the time-constrained news business, only about 25 seconds of Rev. Barber’s response made it onto the show. At a press conference following the march, Webb asked, “Do you feel you owe Senator Tim Scott an apology for calling him a ventriloquist’s dummy, and black conservatives mouthpieces for the tea party?”

SiriusXM host Mark Thompson went to the Moral March and filmed the actual confrontation between Black ventriloquist dummy and Reverend William Barber.

Make It Plain, the show on SiriusXM's Progress is hosted by Mark Thompson knocks down That Guy Who Helped Obama Win and Webb. Thompson hosts his show during the evenings and he filmed the actual conversation between Webb and Rev. Barber.

Mediaite reports that Loserville flash-cuts to Rev. Barber responding, “It’s my job, it’s my calling, it’s the job of the NAACP to speak the truth about public policies,” then cuts again to Barber, who said, “And while some people may choose to get caught up on a metaphor, that is a regular usage of preachers, the real indignation and upsetness should be over the regressive agenda.”

"If you’re going to get upset," Rev. Barber said, "get upset over the denial of the Medicaid expansion. Get upset about voting to reject unemployment benefits for laid-off workers who are Republicans, who are Democrats, who are black, who are white. Get upset over reduced access to public education and funding. We are in the 60th year of Brown versus Board of Education, and some want to go backwards on public education, rather than forward. Get upset over the attacks to turn back voting rights that were won with blood, sweat, and tears."

"My critique,” Rev. Barber said, “was about public policy, not party."

David Webb host a show on SiriusXM's Patriot during the evenings. He often appears on Loserville to counterpoint the Black progressive agenda.

Rev. William Barber makes the case for the Moral March.

In 2010, the NAACP delegates passted a resolution to condemn extremist elements within the Tea Party.

They were calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches.

The resolution came after a year of high-profile media coverage of attendees of Tea Party marches using vile, antagonistic racial slurs & images.

The proposed resolution had generated controversy on conservative blogs, where in some cases the language has been misconstrued to imply that the NAACP was condemning the entire Tea Party movement itself as racist.

Andrew Breitbart the late conservative agitator and David Webb's mentor try to sabotage the NAACP and Shirley Sherrod in 2010 with a selectively edited video claiming the event was racist.

Moral Mondays are protests in North Carolina, United States of America. The protests are in response to several actions by the Republican government of North Carolina in 2013. The protests are characterized by engaging in civil disobedience by entering the state legislature building and then being peacefully arrested. The protests in North Carolina launched a grassroots social justice movement that, in 2014, spread to Georgia and South Carolina.

Moral Mondays has key principles: They demand eqaul voting rights, the prevention of cuts to social programs, tax changes, racial justice, abortion rights, public education and recently equality for LGBT.

Here's extended video of those remarks, via Make it Plain:



___________________________

"Higher Ground!" | Speeches from the Moral March on Raleigh

Feb. 8th, 2014 - At the now historic Moral March on Raleigh, tens of thousands look on as students, teachers, doctors, attorneys, clergy and others deliver powerful speeches in front of the state capital regarding important social issues adversely affecting the state of North Carolina (and ultimately the country), with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II topping it off with a powerful charge to reach for "higher ground!".

North Carolina’s Moral Monday Movement Kicks Off 2014 With a Massive Rally in Raleigh | Activism, Blog | BillMoyers.com

North Carolina’s Moral Monday Movement Kicks Off 2014 With a Massive Rally in Raleigh | Activism, Blog | BillMoyers.com

Oh, yes! The people of NC are taking a stand against oppression and repression by their so-called leaders!

Take that, Hannity, Limbaugh, and the Tea Party!

Twitter Quote of the Day

.@blackgirldanger: White women's stories are plausible/believable by default. How do we confront why? (paraphrase) #whiteprivilegechat
— Colorlines.com (@Colorlines) February 11, 2014

Shirley Temple Passes Away!

Iconic child actress passed away.

The former childhood movie actress who went reclusive died today at the age of 85.

Shirley Temple Black, iconic child star and former U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, died on Feb. 10 in California, The Associated Press reports. Cause of death was not released. She was 85.

Black was a Depression-era box office draw for her work in numerous 1930s films, including "Bright Eyes" and "Curly Top."

According to ABC News, Black is survived by three children, a granddaughter and two great-granddaughters.

Shirley Temple's acting career began when she was three years old.

"We salute her for a life of remarkable achievements as an actor, as a diplomat, and most importantly as our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and adored wife for fifty-five years of the late and much missed Charles Alden Black," a family statement said.

A talented and ultra-adorable entertainer, Shirley Temple was America's top box-office draw from 1935 to 1938, a record no other child star has come near. She beat out such grown-ups as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper and Joan Crawford.

In 1999, the American Film Institute ranking of the top 50 screen legends ranked Temple at No. 18 among the 25 actresses. She appeared in scores of movies and kept children singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop" for generations.

Temple was credited with helping save 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy with films such as "Curly Top" and "The Littlest Rebel." She even had a drink named after her, an appropriately sweet and innocent cocktail of ginger ale and grenadine, topped with a maraschino cherry.

Temple blossomed into a pretty young woman, but audiences lost interest, and she retired from films at 21. She raised a family and later became active in politics and held several diplomatic posts in Republican administrations, including ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the historic collapse of communism in 1989.

"I have one piece of advice for those of you who want to receive the lifetime achievement award. Start early," she quipped in 2006 as she was honored by the Screen Actors Guild.

But she also said that evening that her greatest roles were as wife, mother and grandmother. "There's nothing like real love. Nothing." Her husband of more than 50 years, Charles Black, had died just a few months earlier.

They lived for many years in the San Francisco suburb of Woodside.

Temple's expert singing and tap dancing in the 1934 feature "Stand Up and Cheer!" first gained her wide notice. The number she performed with future Oscar winner James Dunn, "Baby Take a Bow," became the title of one of her first starring features later that year.

Also in 1934, she starred in "Little Miss Marker," a comedy-drama based on a story by Damon Runyon that showcased her acting talent. In "Bright Eyes," Temple introduced "On the Good Ship Lollipop" and did battle with a charmingly bratty Jane Withers, launching Withers as a major child star, too.

She was "just absolutely marvelous, greatest in the world," director Allan Dwan told filmmaker-author Peter Bogdanovich in his book "Who the Devil Made It: Conversations With Legendary Film Directors." ''With Shirley, you'd just tell her once and she'd remember the rest of her life," said Dwan, who directed "Heidi" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm." ''Whatever it was she was supposed to do — she'd do it. ... And if one of the actors got stuck, she'd tell him what his line was — she knew it better than he did."

Temple's mother, Gertrude, worked to keep her daughter from being spoiled by fame and was a constant presence during filming. Her daughter said years later that her mother had been furious when a director once sent her off on an errand and then got the child to cry for a scene by frightening her. "She never again left me alone on a set," she said.


Temple became a nationwide sensation. Mothers dressed their little girls like her, and a line of dolls was launched that are now highly sought-after collectables. Her immense popularity prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to say that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."

"When the spirit of the people is lower than at any other time during this Depression, it is a splendid thing that for just 15 cents, an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles," Roosevelt said.

She followed up in the next few years with a string of hit films, most with sentimental themes and musical subplots. She often played an orphan, as in "Curly Top," where she introduced the hit "Animal Crackers in My Soup," and "Stowaway," in which she was befriended by Robert Young, later of "Father Knows Best" fame.

She teamed with the great black dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in two 1935 films with Civil War themes, "The Little Colonel" and "The Littlest Rebel." Their tap dance up the steps in "The Little Colonel" (at a time when interracial teamings were unheard-of in Hollywood) became a landmark in the history of film dance.

Some of her pictures were remakes of silent films, such as "Captain January," in which she recreated the role originally played by the silent star Baby Peggy Montgomery in 1924. "Poor Little Rich Girl" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," done a generation earlier by Mary Pickford, were heavily rewritten for Temple, with show biz added to the plots to give her opportunities to sing.

In its review of "Rebecca," the show business publication Variety complained that a "more fitting title would be 'Rebecca of Radio City.'"

She won a special Academy Award in early 1935 for her "outstanding contribution to screen entertainment" in the previous year.

The famous scene where Temple was dancing with legendary tapper Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

"She is a legacy of a different time in motion pictures. She caught the imagination of the entire country in a way that no one had before," actor Martin Landau said when the two were honored at the Academy Awards in 1998.

Temple's fans agreed. Her fans seemed interested in every last golden curl on her head: It was once guessed that she had more than 50. Her mother was said to have done her hair in pin curls for each movie, with every hairstyle having exactly 56 curls.

On her eighth birthday — she actually was turning 9, but the studio wanted her to be younger — Temple received more than 135,000 presents from around the world, according to "The Films of Shirley Temple," a 1978 book by Robert Windeler. The gifts included a baby kangaroo from Australia and a prize Jersey calf from schoolchildren in Oregon.

"She's indelible in the history of America because she appeared at a time of great social need, and people took her to their hearts," the late Roddy McDowall, a fellow child star and friend, once said.

Although by the early 1960s, she was retired from the entertainment industry, her interest in politics soon brought her back into the spotlight.

She made an unsuccessful bid as a Republican candidate for Congress in 1967. After Richard Nixon became president in 1969, he appointed her as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations General Assembly. In the 1970s, she was U.S. ambassador to Ghana and later U.S. chief of protocol.

She then served as ambassador to Czechoslovakia during the administration of the first President Bush. A few months after she arrived in Prague in mid-1989, communist rule was overthrown in Czechoslovakia as the Iron Curtain collapsed across Eastern Europe.


"My main job (initially) was human rights, trying to keep people like future President Vaclav Havel out of jail," she said in a 1999 Associated Press interview. Within months, she was accompanying Havel, the former dissident playwright, when he came to Washington as his country's new president.

She considered her background in entertainment an asset to her political career.

"Politicians are actors too, don't you think?" she once said. "Usually if you like people and you're outgoing, not a shy little thing, you can do pretty well in politics."

Born in Santa Monica to an accountant and his wife, Temple was little more than 3 years old when she made her film debut in 1932 in the Baby Burlesks, a series of short films in which tiny performers parodied grown-up movies, sometimes with risque results.

Among the shorts were "War Babies," a parody of "What Price Glory," and "Polly Tix in Washington," with Shirley in the title role.

Her young life was free of the scandals that plagued so many other child stars — parental feuds, drug and alcohol addiction — but Temple at times hinted at a childhood she may have missed out on.

Shirley Temple spent the remaining years of her life as a reclusive figure.

She stopped believing in Santa Claus at age 6, she once said, when "Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."

After her years at the top, maintaining that level of stardom proved difficult for her and her producers. The proposal to have her play Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" didn't pan out. (20th Century Fox chief Darryl Zanuck refused to lend out his greatest asset.) And "The Little Princess" in 1939 and "The Blue Bird" in 1940 didn't draw big crowds, prompting Fox to let Temple go.

Among her later films were "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," with Cary Grant, and "That Hagen Girl," with Ronald Reagan. Several, including the wartime drama "Since You Went Away," were produced by David O. Selznick. One, "Fort Apache," was directed by John Ford, who had also directed her "Wee Willie Winkie" years earlier.

Her 1942 film, "Miss Annie Rooney," included her first on-screen kiss, bestowed by another maturing child star, Dickie Moore.

After her film career effectively ended, she concentrated on raising her family and turned to television to host and act in 16 specials called "Shirley Temple's Storybook" on ABC. In 1960, she joined NBC and aired "The Shirley Temple Show."

Her 1988 autobiography, "Child Star," became a best-seller.

Temple had married Army Air Corps private John Agar, the brother of a classmate at Westlake, her exclusive L.A. girls' school, in 1945. He took up acting and the pair appeared together in two films, "Fort Apache" and "Adventure in Baltimore." She and Agar had a daughter, Susan, in 1948, but she filed for divorce the following year.

She married Black in 1950, and they had two more children, Lori and Charles. That marriage lasted until his death in 2005 at age 86.

In 1972, she underwent successful surgery for breast cancer. She issued a statement urging other women to get checked by their doctors and vowed, "I have much more to accomplish before I am through."

During a 1996 interview, she said she loved both politics and show business.

"It's certainly two different career tracks," she said, "both completely different but both very rewarding, personally."