WikiLeaks Releases 92,000 Secret Docs About Afghan War
More than 90,000 secret military records of the US war in Afghanistan were published online Sunday providing new evidence that Americans have been misled for years about the war in Afghanistan. The White House quickly lashed out at the release of the documents. National Security Adviser James Jones said, "The United States strongly condemns the disclosure...which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security." The documents were leaked by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.


Ousted USDA Official Offered New Job in Agency

Shirley Sherrod faced down the media and the Obama Administration--and won!

The White House and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack have apologized to Shirley Sherrod, the Black Agriculture Department official who was fired from her last week. Sherrod was ousted after a right-wing website posted a deceptively edited video of a speech she gave in March that appeared to show her admitting she withheld help from a White farmer twenty-four years ago for racial reasons. What the edited video did not show is Sherrod describing how she ended up going to great lengths to help the farmer save his land. On Wednesday Vilsack offered Sherrod another unspecified position within the department. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs also issued an apology.

Robert Gibbs: "Without a doubt, Ms. Sherrod is owed an apology. I would do so certainly on behalf of this administration. I think if we learn—if we look back and decide what we want to learn out of this, I think it is, as I said, everybody involved made determinations without knowing all the facts and all the events."


Obama Apologizes to Shirley Sherrod
President Obama called Shirley Sherrod to apologize for her abrupt firing from her post at the Department of Agriculture. Sherrod was forced out of her job on Monday shortly after a right-wing website run by Andrew Breitbart ran a video clip that was deceptively edited to make it appear that she was racist toward white farmers. In an interview on ABC News, Obama accused Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the media of rushing to judgment on the video.

President Obama: He jumped the gun, partly because we now live in this media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog, and everybody scrambles. And I’ve told my team and I told my agencies that we have to make sure that we’re focusing on doing the right thing instead of what looks to be politically necessary at that very moment. We have to take our time and think these issues through."


Rep. Rangel to Face Ethics Violations Trial
The House Ethics Committee has announced plans to put Democratic Congressman Charles Rangel of New York on trial for allegedly breaking congressional ethics rules. The New York Times reports part of the trial will focus on Rangel’s misuse of his office to preserve a tax loophole worth half-a-billion dollars for an oil executive who pledged a
$1 million donation for an educational center being built in Rangel’s honor. Rangel also faces accusations that he wrongly accepted four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan. The 80-year-old Rangel has vowed to fight the charges and plans to seek re-election in the fall.


BP’s Hiring of Prison Labor Cleanup Scrutinized
The Nation magazine has revealed new details about how BP is receiving tax credits by relying on cheap or free prison labor to help clean up the Gulf spill. BP’s reliance on prison labor has been criticized by many in the region since the disaster has left so many people out of work. But the hiring of prison labor has apparently been financially beneficial for BP. Each new prisoner hired by BP comes with a tax credit of $2,400. On top of that, BP may earn back up to 40 percent of the wages they pay to prisoners. Prison workers are required to work up to twelve hours a day, six days a week, and are liable to lose earned good time if they refuse the job. Inmates are also forbidden to talk to the public or media. It is unclear how many prisoners are working on the cleanup, in part because they now wear unidentifiable clothing. In the days after the spill, prison workers were seen wearing scarlet pants and white T-shirts with the words "Inmate Labor" printed in large red block letters.


Prosecutors Charge White Man for Racially Motivated Shooting in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina, federal prosecutors have charged a White man with federal hate crimes for his role in the racially motivated shooting of three Black men in the aftermath of the storm. The five-count indictment, unsealed last week, accuses Roland Bourgeois of plotting to defend his Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans from, quote, "outsiders," including African Americans, and shooting and seriously wounding Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander and Chris Collins, who were walking toward a temporary evacuation center.

A joint reporting project by the Times-Picayune, ProPublica and PBS Frontline interviewed people this year who implicated Bourgeois in the shooting. Terri Benjamin was an eyewitness to the shooting and told reporter A.C. Thompson what she saw and heard on September 1st of 2005.

TERRI BENJAMIN: I heard the gun, the gunshot, so we started running towards my house, because I had family in the house, and we didn’t know what, you know, that gunshot was all about, if everybody was OK. And we ran up, and my neighbor was jumping up and down, hooting and hollering like he was big game hunting and he got the big one. And all of his friends were rallying him on, and they were cheering. And he screamed, "I got one!"

And I went to him, and I said, "What? Got one what?" And he said, "A looter." One of his friends comes running up the street and said, "You got one, but he ain’t dead yet." And he proceeded to run, with no shoes on, around the corner, wherever this man was laying down. After, I asked him—I said, "Roland, you don’t have to kill him. He’s already down. Just leave him alone. He’s going to die anyway. Just leave him alone." And he said, "I’m going to kill that nigger." And he went around that corner, and we heard the shot. I didn’t see him shoot him, but I felt it.

When he came back from shooting that man the second time, he at that point got this adrenaline rush in him, and he turned into somebody that I knew I couldn’t negotiate with very much further. He turned into an animal. It was like he got the taste of blood, and he was out for more. And I went to him and asked him to spare my cousin and my uncle’s life, who are African American, that would be walking up that street. And at that point, I knew it wasn’t safe for anything not white to walk up that street. And my neighbor looked at me and said, "Darling, anything coming up that street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot."


Six NOLA Officers Indicted for Danziger Bridge Shootings, Cover-up
The Justice Department has indicted six current and former New Orleans police officers for their role in the Danziger Bridge shootings and subsequent cover-up. Just days after Hurricane Katrina, a group of officers shot six people, killing two. The slain victims, forty-two-year-old Ronald Madison and nineteen-year-old James Brissette, had been searching for food. Madison, who was mentally handicapped, was shot seven times, five in his back. Attorney General Eric Holder helped unveil the charges in New Orleans.

Attorney General Eric Holder: "The Justice Department will hold those who violate the law responsible for their actions. Put simply, we will not tolerate wrongdoing by those who are sworn to protect the public. This will not stand, and we’ll hold all offenders accountable."

Four of the officers could face the death penalty on charges centered around the two deaths. Two other officers were charged solely for their role in the cover-up.


Homeless Pastor Dies in Denver Police Custody After Being Tasered
Authorities in Denver have launched an investigation into the death of homeless pastor Marvin Booker, who died in police custody. Witnesses have told the Denver Post Booker was forcibly restrained, tasered and then placed face-down in a holding cell. He was pronounced dead hours later.


Maryland Man Could Face 16 Years in Jail for Videotaping Traffic Stop
A 20-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard is facing up to 16 years in prison for uploading a video on YouTube that showed an undercover police officer pulling a gun on him during a traffic stop. Anthony Graber was initially ticketed for speeding, but once he posted the video, the state charged him with four felonies, including violating Maryland’s wiretap law. State police officers also raided Graber’s parents’ home and confiscated his camera, computers and external hard drives. Graber is one of many Americans facing possible jail time for videotaping police activity. Democratic Congressman Edolphus Towns of New York has introduced a non-binding resolution calling for the protection of citizens who videotape cops in public from getting arrested on state wiretapping charges.


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