NEWSFLASH: NIXZALIZ FOUND GUILTY, THANK GOD!
Nixzmary Brown's mother found guilty of manslaughterBY DANIEL EDWARD ROSEN
The mother of Nixzmary Brown, the 7-year-old whose death stunned a city and influenced a new law named for her, was found guilty of manslaughter but cleared of second-degree murder in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Friday.
Nixzaliz Santiago, 30, appeared unresponsive as the jury also found her guilty of second-degree assault, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
"The journey for justice for Nixzmary is almost over," said prosecutor Ama Dwimoh. She went on to praise the jury of 10 women and two men for ruling on the case "professionally and stoically."
"Today is a good day for the children because this jury said loud and clear that parents have a duty - it's not just what you do, it's what you don't do," Dwimoh said.
Santiago faces 25 years in prison on the manslaughter charge alone. She is to be sentenced Nov. 5.
Nixzmary's stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, was convicted of manslaughter in March and sentenced to 26 1/3 to 29 years.
Defense attorney Sammy Sanchez told The Associated Press after the verdict that Santiago should not have been looked at in the same light as Rodriguez. "Cesar was the true criminal," Sanchez said.
Outside the courthouse, Santiago's mother, Maria Gonzalez, avoided reporters as she hustled to a nearby garage.
The nearly monthlong trial brought back to the public's memory the grisly details of Nixzmary's death, including the chair to which she was often violently bound and the litter box she was forced to use as a bathroom.
Nixzmary was beaten by Rodriguez after she took yogurt from a fridge and messed up Rodriguez's printer. Rodriguez slammed her head against a bathtub as she was being doused with cold water. Nixzmary weighed only 36 pounds when she died Jan. 11, 2006.
Her death brought swift and comprehensive changes to New York City's Administration for Children's Services and helped influence "Nixzmary's Law," which charges parents of children who have died as a result of abuse with first-degree murder.
During the trial, Santiago sometimes broke down into tears when prosecutors showed photos of Nixzmary's bruised corpse, even remarking, "This is messed up."
The jurors also heard testimony from an ACS worker how Santiago kept the remains of a miscarriage of hers in a jar. Santiago told Child Welfare Specialist Vanessa Rhoden that she kept the remains because "once she saw the baby's eyes, she couldn't let it go."
Santiago has five other children. Gonzalez is seeking their custody.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
NEWSFLASH: NIXZALIZ FOUND GUILTY, THANK GOD!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Republicans use Obama's picture on food stamp???
The groups president Diane Fedele says she doesn't thinks it's racist although Obama's picture is surrounded by watermelon, Kool Aid, and ribs. What's sad is that it took that picture for a black member of the group to realize why the GOP has such a hard time recruiting African Americans.
Read the story and see the food stamp here:
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Media Declines To Challenge McCain's Evidence-Free ACORN Charge
In last night's debate, John McCain claimed that ACORN "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."
That's quite an allegation against a group that's working to register low-income voters. You'd hope that the media would ask McCain's campaign for some evidence for the claim, or at least note that the candidate himself didn't offer any. Or that moderator Bob Schieffer would have followed up in real time.
You'd be disappointed, of course. Reporters were too distracted by Joe the Plumber to pay much attention to McCain's hyperbolic accusation.
Of course, McCain had essentially no backing whatsoever for his claim. As TPMmuckraker and others have pointed out, there's virtually no evidence that fraudulent registration forms of the type erroneously submitted by ACORN in their thousands in some states ever turn into fraudulent votes.
McCain uses term ‘tar baby’
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - Republican presidential contender John McCain on Friday used the term "tar baby," considered by some a racial epithet, and later said he regretted it.
Answering questions at a town hall meeting, the Arizona senator was discussing federal involvement in custody cases when he said, "For me to stand here and ... say I'm going to declare divorces invalid because of someone who feels they weren't treated fairly in court, we are getting into a tar baby of enormous proportions and I don't know how you get out of that."
After the event, McCain told reporters: "I don't think I should have used that word and I was wrong to do so."
Singlaub is McCain’s Ayers...Where is the neo-con backlash??
Since the mid-1980s, there’s been almost no attention paid to John McCain’s long-ago association with a controversial group 
But now, with the Republican presidential candidate stepping up his negative blitz against Democratic opponent Barack Obama, some Democrats are hoping that the group — the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and its founder, John Singlaub — will become for McCain what Bill Ayers has become for Obama: a fleeting past association used as ammunition for political broadsides.
Over the past few days, a handful of Obama allies — none directly associated with his campaign — have called attention to McCain’s ties to the council to rebut the McCain campaign’s increasing focus on Obama’s ties to Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical Weather Underground.
“This guilt by association path is going to be trouble ultimately for the McCain campaign,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “John McCain sat on the board of a very right-wing organization; it was the U.S. Council for World Freedom. It was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub, who wound up involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. It was an ultraconservative, right-wing group.”
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Palin Rally: "Kill Him" Yelled Again
Via Politico, The Scranton Times reports another threat against Barack Obama at a Sarah Palin rally Tuesday:
Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly.
One man screamed "kill him!" At previous rallies, McCain-Palin supporters have shouted "Kill Him!" as well as "Treason!" "Terrorist!" and "Off With His Head!"
"We were really disappointed when an Alaska Native wasn't appointed," said Kookesh, a Tlingit Indian who held the job in a previous administration.
JUNEAU, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin's rural adviser resigned Monday amid criticism of the governor's record on hiring Alaska Natives.
Rhonda McBride, who is not an Alaska Native, made the announcement in an e-mail to several Native leaders, saying there need to be more Native voices in Palin's administration.
"I definitely think it would help to have an Alaska Native in this position," McBride told The Associated Press.
Many Alaska Natives have said they felt neglected when Palin, now the Republican vice presidential nominee, made appointments to her administration, including the rural adviser post.
State Sen. Al Kookesh, a Democrat, said Palin left the position unfilled her first year in office and ignored Native leaders' suggestions on the selection process.
"We were really disappointed when an Alaska Native wasn't appointed," said Kookesh, a Tlingit Indian who held the job in a previous administration.
Natives bristled early in Palin's administration when she named a white woman to a game board seat held by a Native for more than 25 years. An Athabascan Indian eventually was named to the post after protests.
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