Couple of things
- Further proof we need to carefully consider Alice Kinman's committee's proposal to reevaluate our local committment to our non-profits, several worthy organizations sought funding from the ever-shrinking Community Development Block Grant pot. I'd still amazed Freedom From Bondage didn't meet the bar. I was very impressed with that organization's purpose and mission, and I though for sure they'd get some funding this time around. I'm not surprised the Economic Justice Coalition didn't get funding, and one of their speakers went uber-cheesy in their plea, stealing a page from Freedom From Bondage - "They were talking about freedom from bondage. I am talking about freedom from slave wages."
Here's my little rant about the CDBG ... it's probably one of my favorite government initiatives. It's a chunk of money that communities can use to assist local non-profit agencies which do good work. At Interfaith Hospitality Network, we've been fortunate enough to receive funding this year and last year. Here's the thing ... too many local agencies sacrifice their fundraising efforts because they have grown dependent on - and many feel entitled to - this funding. And that shouldn't be the case.
When we put together our proposal last year, we all were very clear that this was something which could help us as the organization started out, but was not something we needed to depend on year-in and year-out. There are tons of local non-profits that need assistance - either starting out or help during difficult financial times. That's what the CDBG is designed for. It is not supposed to become a permanent source of funding for local non-profits, but rather encourage organizations to work on their development and fundraising efforts. That's something we've addressed at IHN, and as vice president this year I'm working very hard on building contacts in the community to develop alternative sources of funding which are not tied to grants or other temporary sources.
- OK, lady ... they dismissed the ticket, but a civil case against the officer for political beliefs? Now you've lost me. And, to my knowledge, there isn't a law on the book which says you can't discriminate against political beliefs. Am I wrong? Anyone?
- This whole tailgating thing has ticked off just about everyone. Even the lacrosse players are mad now. Been meaning to work on a long tailgating post and may try to squeeze that in soon.
- Xon has a funny post up about the chaos in Florida after the Gators won the national title. What's even more entertaining is that actually Florida fans sorta feel that way, as Orson from Every Day Should Be Saturday hillariously points out.
Here's my little rant about the CDBG ... it's probably one of my favorite government initiatives. It's a chunk of money that communities can use to assist local non-profit agencies which do good work. At Interfaith Hospitality Network, we've been fortunate enough to receive funding this year and last year. Here's the thing ... too many local agencies sacrifice their fundraising efforts because they have grown dependent on - and many feel entitled to - this funding. And that shouldn't be the case.
When we put together our proposal last year, we all were very clear that this was something which could help us as the organization started out, but was not something we needed to depend on year-in and year-out. There are tons of local non-profits that need assistance - either starting out or help during difficult financial times. That's what the CDBG is designed for. It is not supposed to become a permanent source of funding for local non-profits, but rather encourage organizations to work on their development and fundraising efforts. That's something we've addressed at IHN, and as vice president this year I'm working very hard on building contacts in the community to develop alternative sources of funding which are not tied to grants or other temporary sources.
- OK, lady ... they dismissed the ticket, but a civil case against the officer for political beliefs? Now you've lost me. And, to my knowledge, there isn't a law on the book which says you can't discriminate against political beliefs. Am I wrong? Anyone?
- This whole tailgating thing has ticked off just about everyone. Even the lacrosse players are mad now. Been meaning to work on a long tailgating post and may try to squeeze that in soon.
- Xon has a funny post up about the chaos in Florida after the Gators won the national title. What's even more entertaining is that actually Florida fans sorta feel that way, as Orson from Every Day Should Be Saturday hillariously points out.
posted by Jmac at 6:53 AM
4 Comments:
Lacrosse players don't have a whole lot of credibility right now.
Why is the world full of idiots? She feels like she was targetted for her political beliefs, so to make things right again she goes after the cop for his supposed beliefs. That makes sense.
This: "The ticket should not have been written," Walker said. "The code is still in the code book even though the court declared it unconstitutional. The code book has not been updated to reflect that, so (the officer) would not have known that." Should be enough to throw out the case from the get-go.
This one has to do with the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and how they work together. I am not sure how the Georgia Constitution handles this matter. I'll ask the Pops later on.
I'm sure there is something somewhere in US Code that states it is a violation of the law to use law enforcement as a tool to intimidate someone for their political beliefs. If it can be proven that the police officer was actually acting inappropriately by giving this woman the ticket because she expressed an political opinion different from his own, they may have a case.
I'm not saying it is a good idea to make it a case, I'm just saying there may be grounds. I'm a big believer of 'egg on the face' over 'trivial litigation' and offering and accepting public apologies for misunderstandings and misconduct, so this strikes me as counterproductive.
But there are a lot of the left out there right now who feel they are being intimidated because of their political beliefs. They fear reprisals at the workplace, in public and by law enforcement.
People don't act very rationally when they feel such intimidation.
I was glad to see the early dismissal of the ticket. I contacted the Dekalb County Recorder's Court and learned that there is supposedly no review process before the court date actually comes up and the defendant has to appear. Maybe Judge Walker read the newspaper or got pressed on the issue.
I suppose a constitutional case could be made if the police officer or department has a practice of targeting people based on some kind of political speech profiling, but boy, oh boy, that would be hard to prove. And I highly doubt anything could be made of this one case without some kind of admission.
I do wonder what are the consequences of not updating the law enforcement handbook that was mentioned.
Like a former cop told me, the police only have to think you broke a law to arrest or ticket you.
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