Harry Belafonte Bill

Governor Big Lug Nut signed a Minority Impact Statement into law.

I'm calling it the Harry Belafonte Bill because, among other things, it misses the (Banana) Boat and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The law will require state officials to determine the potential impact on Iowa minorities of any legislation dealing with criminal sentencing and state grant programs.

Minorities are supposed to include women, disabled people, blacks, Latinos, Asians or Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaskan Native Americans.

It appears, at least at the signing, minority meant black.

The only lawmakers to attend the Des Moines inner city signing were black.

The Racist Ragister called Representative Deborah Berry by the slave name Donna.

Representative Wayne Ford bragged that he had tried for twelve years to get the bill passed and said it would "make the law color blind".

It sounds like a simplistic, knee jerk, fiberal reaction to the fact that nearly a quarter of the state's black population is in prison.

Come Mister Tally Mon, tally me convictions
Daylight come and me wan' go home

I hope it does not have an adverse effect on the legislature's ability to protect Iowans.

No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds.

If you listened, last fall, to District 5 Associate Judge Odell McGhee, you'd find he placed responsibility flatly at the feet of the black community, saying its families and its churches had failed the young.

McGhee insisted that far too many black families had lost control of their children.

He urged parents to set and stick to rules, provide discipline, make sure their children have goals and support their kids' accomplishments.

In a perfect example ...

Akil Jabbar, who works for Urban Dreams, an inner city nonprofit group founded by Ford, said he was sent to prison at age 17 on a drug charge that landed him a 25-year sentence. He ended up serving about six years at Fort Madison, where his father was also serving time.

"Everybody I knew had somebody in their family or somebody in this community incarcerated."

Prison on the family plan, they must be so proud.

I hope they got a same cell discount.

In the words of Odell McGhee..."...in this jurisdiction on average, you've committed a lot of crimes to get to prison."

Finger Pointing

Keep in mind that when you point a finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you and the scientific community is united in that fact.

I wrote in July concerning a Ragister article about the number of blacks in Iowa prisons versus whites.

Recently the Ragister went back to that rant.

Now the disparity the Ragister points to is in school suspensions.

They cite three elected black officials who call it an “African American crisis” and have challenged the Presidential candidates to address it when they campaign in Iowa.

Last month Joanie Phony Edwards weighed in...

"We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating - pretty soon we're not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They're all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two."

Unknowingly and without wasting time and money on a commission, the three black leaders may have solved half of the problem when they stated...

the suspension numbers have helped fuel high prison rates

Polk County Judge Odell McGhee addressed a forum about the prison issue and sounded too much like Bill Cosby or Juan Williams.

McGhee, per the Ragister, placed responsibility flatly at the feet of the black community, saying its families and its churches had failed the young.

McGhee insisted that far too many black families had lost control of their children.

He urged parents to set and stick to rules, provide discipline, make sure their children have goals and support their kids' accomplishments.

"...in this jurisdiction on average, you've committed a lot of crimes to get to prison."

I'm sure that'll get him labeled an Uncle Tom.

Licensed To Ill

Representative Kerry Burt comes back to town today as the Iowa Legislature convenes.

Burt was busted last year for OWI during the session and had his commercial driver's license revoked, which led him to be laid off from his job as a firefighter in Waterloo.

However, District Associate Judge Odell McGhee ruled police should have informed him, in addition to losing his driver's license, Burt could lose his commercial driver's license.

Because of that McGhee threw out the results of a breath test and Burt was reinstated as a firefighter.

Now comes this Supreme Court ruling --

Court: Ames worker was rightfully terminated after license suspension

An Ames city road-maintenance worker who was fired after a drunken-driving arrest was rightfully terminated, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled.

Justices upheld the firing of Steven Lewis, a former public works employee whose driver’s license was suspended for six months following his arrest on June 3, 2006.

Maintenance workers are required to hold a “class A” or “class B” commercial driver’s license to operate city trucks.

The only difference is, one works with scum and the other is a maintenance worker and the scientific community is united in that fact.

What the?

Recently Governor Big Lug Nut spoke at the 6th Annual Disproportionate Minority Confinement Resource Center Conference (DMCRC).

There's a whole resource center, at the University of Iowa, dedicated to disproportionate minority confinement and they've had conferences since 2002?

The DMCRC is an offshoot of the National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice (NRCFCP).

The NRCFCP has been been around for 25 years and is a project of the University of Iowa's School of Social Work.

Put your hand on your wallet because it appears the only thing these people have accomplished is to stay employed and have annual conferences that give the Isiserettes an opportunity to perform.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

At the DMCRC conference the Big Lug Nut told those gathered...

"Let me make it clear, it is my administration's policy to end the overrepresentation of minorities in Iowa's correction system for adults and juveniles."

And that there's "a problem with a portion who are being punished unnecessarily" because of their race.

That's from a politician pandering to his base and sounding like he's for quotas in the prison system.

The Real Sporer said it best...

Culver, in a typical liberal fashion, is seeking to blame the “system” for the minority incarcerations rather than the behavior of the incarcerated individuals.

Here's the reality from Polk County Judge Odell McGhee...

"...in this jurisdiction on average, you've committed a lot of crimes to get to prison."