by Pamela Powers Hannley Over the weekend, George Zimmerman, the now infamous gun-toting neighborhood watch volunteer, was found not guilty after he shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Like many others, I was shocked at the verdict, I don’t agree with it, but I am sadly not surprised. I have not written about this because I … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
On Saturday, the Arizona Democratic Party held its Summer State Committee Meeting in Cottonwood, Arizona. A presentation on the referendum to block the Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, was filmed by Blog for Arizona's Pamela Powers Hannley, who will post more about this meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghG6vesppWs.
Packets of information were provided to County Party Chairs and to state committee members at the meeting, along with walk lists for precincts. The Arizona Democratic Party effort will supplement the paid canvas being organized by the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee.
This is a call to action to Democratic volunteers, and to anyone who supports the sacrosanct right to vote for which Americans have fought and died to preserve. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country and this state. Democrats should contact your local Democratic County Party Office (see contact information below) and your Legislative District chairs.
You may also contact the Arizona Advocacy Network to volunteer (see announcement below the fold).
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
No, I am not referring to James Bond, 007. Any American living in a state that has lax gun laws and stand your ground laws, and which permits its citizens to engage in vigilante justice (like Arizona) has the tacit approval of the state for a license to kill. It is a sickness in our culture.
There are two good opinions on this topic that I have read. The first is Ed Kilgore at the Political Animal Blog, who writes, Licenses to Kill:
[T]he more I think about it, the real aberration in law and society
that’s been exposed by this case involves the incentives offered to
Zimmerman and people like him—not just in Sanford, Florida, but in much
of the country. At TAP, Scott Lemieux nails it:
Carrying a deadly weapon in public should carry unique
responsibilities. In most cases someone with a gun should not be able to
escape culpability if he initiates a conflict with someone unarmed and
the other party ends up getting shot and killed. Under the current law
in many states, people threatened by armed people have few good options,
because fighting back might create a license to kill. As the New Yorker’s
Amy Davidson puts it, “I still don’t understand what Trayvon was
supposed to do.” Unless the law is changed to deal with the large number
of people carrying concealed guns, there will be more tragic and
unnecessary deaths of innocent people like Trayvon Martin for which
nobody is legally culpable. And to make claims of self-defense easier to
bring, as Florida and more than 20 other states have done, is moving in
precisely the wrong direction. And, even more importantly, no matter
how self-defense laws are structured the extremely unusual American
practice of allowing large number of citizens to carry concealed weapons
leads to many unecessary deaths. (All 50 states, it’s worth noting,
permit concealed carry.)
By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
After Saturday night's acquittal of George Zimmerman on charges
stemming from his killing of Trayvon Martin, reaction was swift across
the country, including in Arizona.
State Sen. Steve Gallardo tweeted this in the aftermath of the announcement of the verdict –
And this –
Or former State Sen. David Schapira –
Sadly, other Arizona "leaders" aren't quite as thoughtful.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
It is simply too easy to assert that the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial was due to racism, although racial profiling and stereotyping, and appeals to racial prejudice were certainly part of the defense strategy in this case.
In the end, the defense successfully put Travyon Martin on trial rather than George Zimmerman. The defense made Travyon Martin the perpetrator rather than the victim of the crime. They were able to do so because of Florida's perverse criminal laws.
I was deeply offended by defense counsels' statements after the verdict, when asked if the race of the individuals had been reversed, would the outcome of the trial have been the same? Defense counsels asserted that there never would have been a trial because civil rights organizations would not have pressured prosecutors into bringing charges against an African-American — a perverse claim of "reverse racism" that the race-baiters at FAUX News Fraudcasting have been hyping incessantly to their white grievance audience. (FAUX News was promoting the possibility of post-Rodney King verdict race riots breaking out after the verdict in this case. FAUX News is a malignant cancer in American journalism). As defense counsels tell it, George Zimmerman was the innocent victim of a lynch mob of civil rights organizations and the media. This is an alternate reality designed expressly for consumption by the conservative media entertainment complex. Defense counsels are shameless.