Celebrating Roy LaVerne Brooks - "She was about Truth to Power"

By Faith Chatham - March 16, 2013

The civic, political and ministerial footprint of Roy LaVerne Wilson Brooks stretches across the Lone Star State and beyond. Roy was charismatic, articulate, and staunch in refusing to cave to the intimidation by those who favored back-room deals over a fair, transparent electoral process. Activish within the Democratic Party of Texas, ministry to the sick through hospital and hospice chaplaincy and dedication within the civic life of her hometown of Fort Worth were some of the tributaries of her life of service.  She was a Christian, she was a Texan, and she was a "home-town Fort Worth gal from the Como Neighborhood."

Roy's "footprint" stretches far beyond her beloved Fort Worth, Texas. She was always a leader.  Her incredible work ethic, people focused communication, and passion for seizing opportunities for improving the lives of everybody propelled her into leadership as a young person. While in college she was elected to her first state-wide political office: First Vice President of the Young Democrats of Texas. She went to work as liaison to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Honorable Jim Wright. After he left office, she continued serving the community as Education Director for the Mental Health Association, as Chaplain at local hospitals and hospices,  in the Greater Fort Worth Women’s Club, the League of Women Voters, N.A.A.C.P. and numerous counseling and ministerial organizations and in local, state and national Democratic Party leadership.

The daughter of LeRoy and Artelia Wilson, and sister to Ruby and LeRoy Wilson Jr., enrolled in Prairie View A&M where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Social Work after she graduated from Como High School. She earned her Master's in Divinity from Southwestern Theological Seminary. Some of her other post-graduate study was at UTA's  Urban Institute, The Potter's House Center of Counseling and Behavioral Health and the Campaign School at Yale University. As an educator with the Fort Worth I.S.D., she inspired colleagues and young people. Roy was consistent in private and in public to her values. Roy believed that knowledge is vital to being able to serve effectively. Her commitment to education was reflected at home: Roy LaVerne was a life-long learner who was always improving her professional skills. Her only son (Troy Brooks) also graduated from Prairie View A&M. Troy has gone on to earn his Masters in Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Houston and his PhD in Leadership Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University!

People who consider their their mentor ranges from teenagers to people in their sixties, from high school and college students to individuals who have been elected to public office and have served for years. It includes people of many ethnicity's.

Roy was proud of her Black heritage and cherished the freedoms and opportunities her generation enjoyed which were not available to her parents and their parents. She worked hard to be as good as she possibly could be because she knew that what she did and how she did it would either make it easier or more difficult for others in the future. She was honored with the Legislative Black Caucus Award in 1993 and is listed in Who's Who in American Politics.

  

She saw people as people and did not get enmeshed in stereotypes which creates or perpetuates barriers. When it came to friendship, fairness, and serving with people, Roy was color-blind.

She has earned the respect of people and been recognized by organizations through out Fort Worth, the State of Texas and the United States. Roy LaVerne was named Fort Worth Woman of the Year, was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame, served as a member of E.L.A.N.A, the Honorary Steering Committee for the United States Presidential election campaign, was elected Democratic Committee Woman for Texas Senatorial District 12 and as Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. She was a delegate to the Democratic Conventions from 1996-2008 and served on Rules, Nominations and Resolutions Committees.

In Civic Service, Roy was Chair of the Mobility Impaired Transportation Service (M.I.T.S.A.C) and served 9 years on their board. She also served as Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (a.k.a. "The T") and 2 terms as an Advisory Member of HER-PLACE at All Saints Hospital, Fort Worth.  

 These are just a few of the things which reflect are some of the footprints of her life.  Her life was so full of service that she lost track of where she'd been and what she'd done, but the impact she had on people as she encountered us one-on-one lives on.

Roy LaVerne wanted her life to be bigger news than her death. As a tribute to her, some of Roy's friends began making micro loans through KIVA this week in her honor. I know of at least 80 people (mostly women) who have received loans to help them expand their businesses, improve their homes, educate their children in honor of Roy. They live all over the world. Some are in Senegal, W. Africa. Others live in Kenya, the Philippines, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador and other parts of the world.

Roy's footprint lives on in the lives of her son, Troy, and her three precious grandchildren, Jayden, JaKobe and Jordon. It also resonates among those of us who witnessed her stand firm for the right to be on the ballot and let the voters decided who would be elected to public office. 

In 2008 she defied pressure from the campaign of the African American front-runner for President of the United States by refusing to withdraw as a candidate for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party in "the name of party unity" instead of allowing the delegates to decide who would be the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Instead of remaining silent when "they could not find her convention credentials" when employees of her opponent refused to admit  Roy (a legally elected delegate and the current Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party) to the 2008 Texas Democratic Convention, claiming they "could not find her credentials".  Roy went public. Her "mysteriously missing" credentials appeared when a television crew arrived to interview her about what was "going on." She did not believe that any presidential campaign should determine who ran for state party offices. She believed that convention delegates should decide who would lead the party and that elected offices should not be awarded through back-room agreements. She resisted suggestions from from Presidential National Campaign Staffers, from Senators and from the future Commerce Secretary Ron Kirk, alerting her that to the consequences, lose out on being a Delegate to the National Democratic Convention if she didn't withdraw from the State Chair's Race. down for "party unity."   Roy's sense of what was right and what was rotten propelled her to stand firm long after most other people would have caved and cratered.

I had heard of Roy LaVerne Brooks, but I did not know Roy going into the 2008 Texas Democratic Convention. I saw Roy LaVerne Brooks denied her convention credentials for hours after delegates were on the floor. I could tell something "peculiar" was going on when the cell phones of the Tarrant County Obama delegates around me lit up with text messages from their floor leaders instructing them to vote for Boyd Ritchie for State Democratic Chair!  I watched Tarrant County Obama delegates get text messages from their floor leaders telling them to vote the status quo, vote Boyd Ritchie for State Chair.Why would Black Tarrant County convention delegates vote against one of their own unless there had been a deal cut?  I had served on the steering committees of several State Wide Democratic candidates and knew the culture of attempted intimidation they had encountered. I watched Roy and saw her fight for a fair, transparent electoral process. She didn't flinch. She faced them down. She was not elected State Chair but she impressed me! Seeing her example that week was the beginning of one of the most trans formative friendships of my life.

In 2010 Roy declared her for candidacy for Justice of the Peace in Tarrant County. The incumbent was (is) a Republican whose record has been less than exemplary. Another Democrat, a wealthy former Savings and Loan Chairman of the Board and Chief Financial Officer decided that he deserved to run in the primary unopposed because he has given money to powerful Democratic candidates and sponsored fund-raisers for area Democratic Clubs. His supporters "encouraged her not to run."  She refused and said that the American process is one in which the voters are supposed to be allowed to decide who will be the party's candidate in November. She resisted back room deals when it comes to deciding who will be on the ballot. She had collected more than enough signatures on her petition, however, her opponent, Mr. Dick Abrams (who is currently a candidate for Chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party) challenged Roy and the Tarrant County Democratic Party in District Court. During an election cycle, Dick Abrams sued a fellow Democrat and the local Democratic Party in the court room of a Republican judge! He drained her of valuable limited campaign resources and time during the last weeks of the primary. Despite his deep pockets and her modest means, she beat him in court.  The Judge dismissed the case and told him not to file it again. The voters chose her to be the Democratic Nominee for Justice of the Peace. Democrats did not win that J.P. seat in November. However, LaVerne Brooks defended the American electoral process. She stood firm, knowing that the right to vote and the right to be on the ballot are sacred trusts which shouldn't be abandoned despite attempts by self-appointed power-brokers who attempt to perpetuate back-room anointing instead of fairly contested elections!  I hope her grandchildren come to understand how brave she was. Even when she didn't win the office, she wasn't defeated if the process was preserved for future fair elections. She preserved our civil rights by refusing to be intimidated by the campaign insiders of a Presidential Candidate whom she wanted to be President or by a wealthy political donor/bundler who believed that his pocket book entitled him to force other Democrats off the ballot before the voters had opportunity to choose their party’s nominee during the Democratic Primary.  

Rights don't mean much if you are scared off or intimidated into not exercising them! Roy showed people that winning the office is not always the only triumph. How you campaign, what you say, what you stand for, who you inspire, and what you refuse to allow to happen can also be your legacy!

Help Roy LaVerne Brooks get her message to the voters

To contribute to the fund to broadcast these spots to undecided voters in JP Pct 6, please contribute by Credit Card using Pay Pal on her website: www.brooksforjp6.org

Early Voting is here! It is imperative that we get funds in Roy LaVerne's campaign account immediately.
All broadcast air time must be paid for when we place the "buy" with the cable stations.
If you live in Tarrant County contact us and we'll see about either picking up your check or having you drop it off to one of her campaign committee.

HELP ROY LAVERNE BROOKS claim this judicial seat in SW Tarrant County.
Help her mobilize voters.
Every voter Roy LaVerne gets to the polls will help up ticket candidates.

Despite 28 years in office, her Republican opponent has low name recognition. Help those voters who do not know any of the candidates in this race meet Roy LaVerne Brooks and hear her message.

Please forward these links and the link to her website to your friends and neighbors.

Roy LaVerne Brooks: -- A LIFETIME OF EXEMPLARY SERVICE:
Former staffer to U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright
Fort Worth Woman of the Year
Inductee into the Texas Hall of Fame
Ten Years on Boards of MITs and Fort Worth T
Former Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party
Native daughter of Fort Worth - Graduate of Como High School
Counselor, Teacher, Ordained Minister, Social Worker
Mother and grandmother
B.A. Social Work, M.A. Divinity

Roy LaVerne Brooks is a leader who brings people together to identify and mobilize resources to solve problems

"Roy LaVerne Brooks is perfect to solve the problems which have existed for too long in the Justice of the Peace position in JP6."
--- Tony Bridge, Jr., Benbrook, TX (2010 inductee in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame)

"Roy intends to try to expand the hours in the JP Court. Customer service in the court -- what an idea!"
--- Dorothy DuBose Scherr, Attorney at Law at Law

"Roy LaVerne Brooks will make the court available to work with parents. ..She's a person first and not a politician."
-- Arthuro Pena, former FT Worth ISD School Board Member


"The Working People deserve change in Pct. 6!
The children need our attention!"
-- Roy LaVerne Brooks

Early voting starts Monday, Oct. 18th

Vote for Roy LaVerne Brooks
Share this with friends and neighbors
Contribute to broadcast her message to voters in Pct. 6

www.brooksforjp6.org




--
Committee to elect Roy LaVerne Brooks Justice of the Peace, Pct. 6 Tarrant County, TX, Harriet Irby, Treasurer, www.brooksforjp6,org, P.O. Box 331893, Fort Worth, Tx 76163, 817 905-2518, 817 903-4626, 817 795-2519

Roy LaVerne Brooks

Roy Laverne Brooks for Tarrant County Justice of the Peace Precinct 6 from George Wada on Vimeo.

In Texas Democrats can Abolish the Texas Two Step NOW

The resolution below needs to be proposed and passed at the Democratic Precinct Conventions in Texas Tues., March 2nd (after the polls close)

Resolution to Select All National Delegates Based on Presidential Primary Results
Whereas, it is a Democratic Party principle that each Democratic voter’s vote should have equal weight;
And the presidential selection caucus system makes some Democratic voters’ votes more important than others;
Whereas, it is a Democratic Party principle that all Democrats should have easy access to the ballot;
And the presidential caucus is unavailable to many Democratic voters because of the weekday evening hour if they work, have small children, are disabled, are homebound, in the military or out of county;
Whereas, Democratic voters are allowed to cast their primary vote by mail or during the two weeks of early voting to accommodate varied working and travel schedules as well as the needs of those over the age of 65 and the disabled;
And the caucus vote is at only one hour on one day;
Therefore, be it resolved that the Texas Democratic Party shall institute true democracy in the presidential primary process by abolishing the hybrid system of allocating presidential delegates by a combination of primary and caucus results and instituting a delegate allocation system based solely on the presidential primary results.
Passed by the precinct convention held in Precinct ____________ Senatorial District ___________ on March 2, 2010.
_______________________
Caucus Chair
_______________________
Caucus Secretary

Brooks stays on ballot in Tarrant county

By Faith Chatham - Feb. 25, 2010
Former Texas State Democratic Vice Chair Roy LaVerne Brooks wins second round of strategic legal assault by financier Dick Abrams. Unable to get County Chair Steve Maxwell to remove Ms. Brooks from the Tarrant County Democratic Primary Ballot so that he could run unopposed for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 6, Democratic donor and bundler, Dick Abrams brought suit in District Court. Abrams' suit against Roy LaVerne Brooks and Tarrant County Democratic Chair Steve Maxwell was dismissed with prejudice Friday. ((aka - don't refile this case)

The contrast between the two candidates is stark. Abrams, former C.E.O. / C.O.B. of failed Surety Bank and Surety Holding, engendered support of Democratic incumbents and some Democratic "want-a-be's" by writing substantial checks to most incumbents and Democratic Clubs, creating a buzz about him being a "viable candidate." Simple Google searches bring up numerous Federal S.E.C. and Comptroller of the Currency documents chronicling Abrams less than stellar performance at the helm of Surety Bank and its holding company. Those touting how "viable" avoid mentioning that Abrams was barred from banking for failure to comply with Federal Banking laws! He settled with the Comptroller of the Currency by agreeing not to participate in any capacity in any federal funded housing, federal loans, banks, or savings and loans because of fiduciary irregularities, misrepresentation of fact on Federal Reports, and failure to follow Federal Law, and the use of bank premises for “for profit endeavors by board members and members of the family of board members.” However, because he can write max allowable checks to high profile candidates some think that he deserved to be the nominee.

In contrast, a Google search on Roy LaVerne Brooks profiles a Democratic Party activist, community servant and civic leader who was named the "Outstanding Woman Citizen of Fort Worth" and inducted into the "Texas Hall of Fame" for 30 years of civic leadership and consistent service to her hometown and the State of Texas. Brooks, a graduate of Prairie View A&M, with M.A. in Divinity from Southwestern, has chaired the handicap transportation authority (MI.T.S.A.C) in Fort Worth and served as Vice-Chair of the Fort Worth T. Conservative with her finances, Ms. Brooks does not have as deep pockets as her opponent. The contrast between a social workers' salary and the check-writing resources of her opponent are substantial.
Abrams' lawsuit drained much of Brooks "Get out the Vote" resources. None of the newspapers or television stations are mentioning Texas or Federal Law does not prohibit individuals who are barred from banking for violations of Federal Law from running for (and possibly winning) judicial seats in Texas, or election as State Representatives and State Senators.
Contributions to the Brooks Campaign can be made on-line at WWW.BROOKSFORJP6.ORG. $35.00 can reach half of the registered voters in the precinct by robocall. The primary is March 2nd. Act now if you want to support a qualified woman candidate for public office. The Court ruled that the people have the right to decide who their nominee should be. Money will determine whether the voters get to learn about the differences in the two candidates.

I am not pretending to be unbiased. I know Roy LaVerne Brooks and admire and respect her for her lifetime of service, incredible leadership skills, and understanding of the challenges facing individuals who come before the bench in that Justice of the Peace Precinct. If Mr. Abrams had chosen to campaign to win rather than to use the courts to remove his opponent, this race would probably have avoided my radar. As I examined the court documents, signatures on the petitions, candidate’s credentials, and the needs of the precinct, sharp contrast between the candidates convinced me that Roy LaVerne Brooks is the candidate who can truly best serve the people as Justice of the Peace. The way to build the party is to bring honor to it by fielding and electing people whose life reflects consistent integrity, service and honor. Roy LaVerne Brooks is a woman of integrity, and possesses a heart for the people and the intellect and discernment to do the job.

RIGHTS: Women Still Battling Gender Bigotry Worldwide

By Thalif Deen - United Nations - TerraViva-Europe - Feb. 25, 2010
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24, 2010 (IPS) - Nearly 62 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaimed "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights," a few of the world's discriminatory laws against women are being progressively repealed in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America.

India and Malaysia have nullified their respective criminal laws allowing marital rape, while Haiti has abrogated its law permitting the murder by a husband of his wife in specific cases of adultery.

South Korea has changed its law designating the man as head of the family, while Colombia has voided its discriminatory law setting 14 years as the minimum age of marriage for boys and 12 years for girls.

And Pakistan has removed the evidentiary requirement of four male Muslim witnesses to prove rape.

But still, there is a long way to go, as women worldwide continue to battle against gender bigotry, says Taina Bien-Aime, executive director of Equality Now, a New York-based international human rights organisation.

In a report to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which will hold a two-week session beginning Monday, Equality Now says that several other countries, including Mexico, Lesotho, Kuwait, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Peru, France and Switzerland, have either repealed or amended laws that were clearly discriminatory against women.

Bien-Aime said there has been "some progress" in removing state-sanctioned legal discrimination against women - acts that generate no cost to governments and require no budget.

"However, despite commitments to repeal all gender-based discriminatory laws, many remain in force, which deny women formal recourse to justice and prevents them from fully participating in society," Bien-Aime told IPS.

And unfortunately, she pointed out, significant setbacks have occurred as well, "as we saw last year in Afghanistan with the Shia Personal Status law which, among other discriminatory provisions, makes the husband the head of the household and gives him the right to restrict his wife's movements."

At the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in China, 189 governments adopted the Beijing Platform for Action which, among other things, urged U.N. member states to abolish discriminatory legislation in their statute books.

The 45-member CSW, a U.N. body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and the advancement of women, will next week assess the successes and failures of the Platform for Action.

Dr. Rawwida Baksh, programme leader of the Women's Rights and Citizenship Programme at the Ottawa-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC), told IPS that this year's CSW session marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

She pointed out that the Beijing conference was the largest global gathering of its kind, in which over 40,000 women and men participated.

The 12 key themes within the Beijing Platform for Action have been part of the agendas of governments, civil society and other agencies in the 15 years since.

They include fundamental issues of women's and girls' poverty and human rights, their unequal access to education, health and political decision-making, and the daily violence they face, particularly in situations of war and armed conflict.

Since the Beijing conference, new issues have emerged on the world stage that are critical to women's rights and gender equality, including HIV/AIDS and other pandemics, climate change and food insecurity, and the current global economic crisis, said Baksh.

However, despite significant advances, the current global economic crisis has revealed stark evidence of the gender-differentiated impact of the crisis, and women's economic vulnerability, she pointed out.

"In the wake of the continuing fallout from the crisis, many voices are calling for a drastic shift in the economic reasoning, measures, and triggers that define economic policy at the national, regional and international levels," Baksh declared.

IDRC says it has a particular interest in women's political representation in national and local governance, in order for governments to become more accountable to women and for public policies and national budgets to respond to women's specific needs, in relation to childcare, water and sanitation, health, education and employment.

In addition, Baksh said, women need to be more equally represented in order to reflect the actual composition of societies and to ensure that their diverse and specific experiences are taken into account, including poor women, dalit women, indigenous women, women from ethnic minorities, young women, migrant women and disabled women.

In 1995, she said, women made up a dismal 10.5 percent of the world's parliamentarians, and in the 15 years since Beijing, women still comprise less than 20 percent.

IDRC will use the opportunity of this year's CSW to launch a new global research initiative on democratic governance, women's rights and gender equality which will support Southern-based researchers to investigate women's political citizenship and how democratic governance systems respond to women's rights, needs and priorities.

Bien-Aime of Equality Now told IPS, "It is often said out loud that if drafted in 2010, the formidable blueprint that is the Beijing Platform for Action could probably not have been successfully negotiated today because of the growth of religious fundamentalism and the push to preserve harmful practices against women under the guise of so-called culture."

While this is a disturbing statement, the Platform for Action nevertheless remains a powerful mandate for governments, with increased pressure and collaboration with civil society, to exercise political will and uphold the rights of the majority of their citizens.

Also, the grassroots and global women's movements have played an unprecedented role in the past two decades in persuading governments that the only path toward economic development, eradication of poverty, environmental safety, fulfillment of human rights and peace is through the empowerment of women and the protection of their rights, she added.

"One of the most commanding results of the Beijing Platform for Action is that it gave a blueprint for civil society focusing on women's rights to put pressure on their respective governments to reach those goals and fully commit to the pledges they've made," Bien-Aime declared.
Read more in TerraViva-Europe

HELP: Woman JP Candidate in Texas Challenged in Court by Billionaire Banker

By Faith Chatham - Feb. 12, 2010
The right to compete and let the voters decide has been skewed by influence money. Now in Tarrant County, an independently wealthy candidate is using his ability to out-sue, out litigate, out spend on attorney's fees to chase his opponents out of the primary and/or drain-dry the resources of opponents.

Richard (Dick) N. Abrams filed for Justice of the Peace, Pct.6 in South Fort Worth against two other Democratic opponents. He challenged the petitions of his opponents claiming that all spaces on the form were not filled in or were incorrect. Abrams threatened to sue his opponents and the County Chair if the county chair did not remove their names from the primary ballot. One opponent, John Williams, was disqualified for filing for more than one office. Tarrant County Democratic Chair Steve Maxwell reviewed the challenge and ruled that Ms. Brooks had sufficient valid signatures of registered voters in the precinct to remain on the ballot. Abrams filed a law suit in Tarrant County District Court against Maxwell and Brooks, seeking and injunction to keep her name off the Primary Ballot and all his court costs and legal fees. All judges in Fort Worth are Republicans.

"It is absurd," said Harriet Irby, Ms. Brooks' treasurer. "I don't understand why a Democratic candidate would do this. There are no Democratic judges in Tarrant County. This matter will be settled in a Republican judge's courtroom. He knew that when he filed this suit!" She added: "He seems to be someone who likes to file lawsuits and has plenty of money to easily pay the legal costs. There are a number of them filed by him in recent months. He seems to win about half of them."

There are court records to support Irby's impression of Abrams. He sued Unity Mutual Life Insurance Company over what he claimed was a hand-shake agreement for commissions. When the ruling was that hand-shake agreements ae unenforceable, he appealed it from the U.S. Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division No 99 C 3182 to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. All rulings were that his alleged hand-shake agreement for commission on preneed funerals were non-enforceable.

Abrams' lawsuit against Tarrant County Democratic Chair Steve Maxwell and his opponent, Roy LaVerne Brooks, is worded to indicate intentions of appealing any decision which does not remove Ms. Brooks' name from the Democratic Primary Ballot all the way to the Texas Supreme Court (another all Republican body).

Mr. Abrams has established a pattern of using his financial prowess to threaten costly legal action in attempts to intimidate less affluent citizens from exercising their constitutional right to run for public office. At each stage, he threatens further legal battles. In the brief filed by his attorney in Tarrant County District Court further threats of lawsuits and costs if he does not win are included in # 4 on the last page: "Abrams' reasonable and necessary attorney's fees incurred through trial and through any appeal taken to the court of appeals and/or the Texas Supreme Court, as permitted by Chapter 37 of the Texas Uniform Declaratory Judgements Act, or as otherwise recoverable by contract, common law and/or statue;"
and "#5. Prejudgement and post-judgement interest, if any , as provided by law;"
and "#6. All cost of suit;"
and "#7. Such other and further relief, special or general, legal or equitable, to which Abrams may show himself to be justly entitled."

NEED TO STEP-UP LATE PRIMARY FUND-RAISING EFFORT


Roy LaVerne Brooks, former Vice Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, is a candidate for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 6 in Tarrant County. Roy's vision is to partner with the community to help prevent some of the situations which bring people into the JP Court. One of her opponents, a billionaire and C.E.O. of Surety Bank, filed a challenge on all of his opponents seeking to get their names removed from the ballot. Abrams alleges that they did not have enough valid signatures on their petitions. One candidate withdrew rather than to fight legal challenges.

The challenge against Roy LaVerne was reviewed by the Tarrant County Democratic Chair. The ruling was that she had sufficient names on her petition of registered voters in the precinct and her name remains on the ballot. Mr. Abrams was not satisfied with that ruling and threatened to sue the party chair and Roy LaVerne. He filed suit in District Court, asking for an injunction to keep Roy's name off the ballot and asking that she pay all his court costs should she lose. Since all judges in Tarrant County are Republicans, he knew that this Democratic Party election case would be tried in a Republican judge's courtroom. Due to snow on the original court date, Fri. Feb. 12th, the hearing has been rescheduled for Friday, Feb. 20, 12 noon in Room 236 of the Tim Curry Court Bldg. in Fort Worth.

In addition to Get Out the Vote and other campaign expense, she is now forced to hire an attorney to defend her right to run for office. Unlike her opponent, Roy LaVerne Brooks is not a woman of independent wealth. She is a hard-working Democratic activist, community organizer, who is employed as a hospice counselor.

Mr. Abrams has the right to pursue legal means, as do all citizens. He is not the only Tarrant County JP candidate to challenge his opponent this year. He is the JP candidate who has already filed lawsuits and refused to accept the ruling of the court this year. He is the one who said he'd sue instead of mediate and whose brief asks the court to have his opponent pay his cost up to and through appeals to the Texas Supreme Court if she loses. He is the candidate whose substantial wealth dwarfs that of his opponent. Just because he has the right to sue and the means to doesn't mean that suing is the right thing to do, or that it is fair for him to. Bigger, stronger "kids" can tell a weaker one what they can do and what they have done. It's intimidating when someone with a history of taking things to the mat has many more resources to arm and fight than you do. When you do something to show your strength to intimidate instead of seeking a fair resolution, that is bullying.

She has strong name recognition in the district and years of community service/activism. Many believe that Mr. Abrams knows that she will probably beat him if the election is fair and if she is given an equal opportunity to take it to the voters. He prefers to bully and sue his way, to attempt to keep his opponent enmeshed in court, attorney's offices and in last minute fundraising to pay court costs.

Mr. Abrams track-record in banking leaves questions about why he is pursuing election as Justice of the Peace. The Dallas Business Journal published an article about the sale of Surety Bank, a financial institution which Mr. Abrams served as C.E.O./C.O.B. from 2000-2007.

The former chairman of Surety Bank, Dick Abrams, remains one of the largest shareholders in Surety Capital Corp., Surety Bank's holding company.But he was barred in June by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from engaging in banking and leading the holding company.
The number of shares owned by Abrams is in dispute, but Surety's bankruptcy filings describe Abrams as one of the corporation's largest shareholders and notes that his son, girlfriend and family trust are also significant shareholders. Abrams could not be reached for comment.
Abrams stepped down on Oct. 1 as Surety Capital Corp's chairman. Weiner, another shareholder in the bank, took that role on the condition that Abrams promise not to sue him, Weiner said.
Says Thompson: "He volunteered to do the job that nobody else wanted."
Since then, Weiner has focused on getting the institution sold and getting investors' money out of the institution.
Surety Capital Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 21.

This Fund Raising Appeal in support of Roy LaVerne Brooks is an appeal to stand up for the right of ordinary Americans to run for public office.

It is an appeal to stand with her against a man who is trying to bully and harass his way onto the General Election ballot instead of campaigning and letting the voters decide.

This is an appeal to help her defend this case in court and defend the right of all citizens to exercise their civil right to participate in the democratic process which is the foundation of our American system.

This is an appeal to let the Voters' Decide who they want as the Democratic Nominee for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 6.

Contributions of ANY AMOUNT are welcome. We welcome contributions as small as your weekly coffee money or as large as you can afford. If you can join us Saturday and show Roy LaVerne that you stand with her, we welcome your presence at the tea.

Contributions can be made securely on-line at BROOKS FOR JP6


THIS IS A CASE OF "I'll Drain You Dry in Court If My Challenge Doesn't Result in You Being Thrown Off of The Ballot."
If Mr. Abrams had a pristine registered voters petition list, we might think he was fighting over principle. However, his petition has more incomplete boxes than Ms. Brooks and many more names of people who live outside the district. If he wins and gets her thrown off the ballot on the grounds he claims in his brief, a counter-suit on the same grounds should result in him being removed from the ballot.

His financial resources are greater than the two other candidates in the race. (John Williams withdrew rather than face the challenge by Richard Abrams.

In June 2000 Richard N. Abrams Richard N. Abrams, Northfield, Illinois filed with the F.D.I.C. to acquire additional voting shares of Surety Capital Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas, and thereby indirectly acquire additional voting shares of Surety Bank, National Association, Fort Worth, Texas.

Surety had problems with the S.E.C. In the Sept. 12, 2001 Share Holder's Report Richard N. Abrams, C.E.O. wrote:

We entered into a formal agreement with the Office of the Controller of Currency in November, 1998. This Formal Agreement still remains in place, although the bank is currently in compliance with all requirements. Hopefully, we will be operating without this Formal Agreement next time I address the shareholders. However, due to the Formal Agreement, the bank can not pay dividends to the holding company. Therefore, we are unable to meet the holding company's financial obligations, i.e., debenture interest and operating expenses. I have guaranteed these payments for 2001. All loans made for this purpose are evidenced by a note payable which is convertible into stock of the holding company at $0.36 per share.

In return for meeting the Holding Company's obligations, Mr. Abrams and the board granted him (them) generous stock options. Surety's 2001 Stock Holder's Report showed Richard N. Abrams, age 60, as a Chairman of the Board, Director and C.E.O. since 2000. His bio at that time was:

RICHARD N. ABRAMS has served as a director of Surety Capital since May 2000 and was named Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer in March 2001. He has served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Funeral Financial Systems, Ltd. (a special purpose finance company that specializes in the funeral industry) since August 1985, and of Executive Offices, Ltd. (a shared office building) since October 1986. Mr. Abrams has also served as Chairman of the Board of FuneraLeasing, Ltd. (a leasing company that specializes in the funeral industry) since December 1998. Mr. Abrams is a certified public accountant. Mr. Abrams has served as a director of Surety Bank since March 2000.

It baffles many who are watching this race. Why would a man with Richard Abrams financial interest run for Justice of the Peace??? Few can envision him actually sitting in a Justice of the Peace courtroom five days a week listening to truancy and eviction cases? Why is he doing this?

Abrams grabs power in troubled by exercising stock options.
His relative, Rodney Abrams, also increased his bank stock.

Following an S.E.C. investigation on Surety Holding's insurance division, this notice was sent to Surety Bank Stock Holders (signed by Richard N. Abrams, C.E.O.):

We entered into a formal agreement with the Office of the Controller of Currency in November, 1998. This Formal Agreement still remains in place, although the bank is currently in compliance with all requirements. Hopefully, we will be operating without this Formal Agreement next time I address the shareholders. However, due to the Formal Agreement, the bank can not pay dividends to the holding company. Therefore, we are unable to meet the holding company's financial obligations, i.e., debenture interest and operating expenses. I have guaranteed these payments for 2001. All loans made for this purpose are evidenced by a note payable which is convertible into stock of the holding company at $0.36 per share.

Mr. Abrams acquired an option on stock at a fixed $0.36 per share which he could exercise after the price of the stock rose.

COMPENSATION OF DIRECTORS

Surety Capital's and Surety Bank's board of directors consist of the same members and both organizations hold meetings on the same dates. In 2000, the bank paid each director $500 for each bank meeting attended. In 2001, the cash compensation was stopped and each outside director now will receive 2,000 shares of unregistered common stock for each board meeting attended and 1,000 shares for each committee meeting attended.

We have adopted the 1996 Stock Option Plan for Directors and the 1997 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan for Non-Employee Directors. Under the 1996 and 1997 Directors Plans, an aggregate of 250,000 shares of our common stock were set aside for issuance pursuant to the exercise of options granted thereunder. The 1996 Directors Plan is a formula plan pursuant to which annual options are automatically granted to our directors who are not our employees at fair market value. All options under the 1996 Directors Plan are non-qualified stock options, and vest one year following the date of grant. On the first business day of each calendar year, each non-employee director is automatically granted an option to purchase 2,000 shares of our common stock at 100% of fair market value on the grant date.

2000, each non-employee director received an option to purchase 2,000 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.74 per share. The 1997 Directors Plan provided for the one time grant of 25,000 non-qualified stock options to directors who were not employees at fair market value. In 1997, each non-employee director received an option to purchase 25,000 shares of our common stock at exercise prices ranging from $4.18 to $5.375 per share. These options vest over five years.

We also adopted the 2000 Non-Qualified Stock Option Plan for advisory directors. Under the provisions of the plan, 100,000 shares were allocated for non-qualified stock options to advisory directors. Grantees are awarded 10-year options to acquire shares at the market price on the date the option is granted. The options vest and become fully exercisable based on a vesting schedule as determined by the compensation committee on the date of grant. On November 6, 2000, grantees were awarded options to acquire 28,000 shares of our common stock at $0.55 per share, which vest and become fully exercisable on November 6, 2001.

Abrams capitalized on the bank's situation:

In addition, in consideration for the extraordinary time and effort the members of the board of directors have given to the company and the bank, various members of the board were awarded shares of unregistered common stock at the August, 2001 board meeting. The awards were as follows: Mr. Abrams received 400,000 shares, Mr. Chappell received 60,000 shares, Mr. Bley received 30,000 shares, Mr. Kwentus received 15,000 shares and Mr. Morris received 10,000 shares. Mr. Abrams also received shares of restricted stock which will vest upon certain events. Pursuant to the grant, Mr. Abrams will receive 300,000 shares of common stock when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminates the formal agreement entered into by Surety Bank prior to Mr. Abrams' affiliation; 200,000 shares if he remains as the Chief Executive Officer until the end of the 2002 fiscal year; and he will receive one share of common stock for every $3.00 of net profit realized by Surety Bank, as determined on a quarterly basis with a maximum of 400,000 shares over any two year period.

The following table shows beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock by all current directors, nominees for director and named executive officers individually, and together with all current executive officers of the Company as a group, as of August 28, 2001:

Amount and
Name of Individual Nature of
or Number of Beneficial Percent
Persons In Group Ownership (1) of Class (2)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard N. Abrams 1,266,744(3) 16.2%

Charles M. Ireland 44,583(4) *

Garrett Morris 166,749(5) 2.2%

David F. Chappell 115,555(6) 1.5%

Thomas J. Kwentus 17,777 *

Guy J. Butts 0 --

Milton M. Bley 99,000(7) 1.1%

All directors and 1,710,408(8) 21.6%
executive officers as
a group (7 persons

-------------------- * Less than 1% of all the issued and outstanding shares of common stock.

(2) Based on 7,624,511 shares of common stock issued and outstanding at August 28, 2001, as adjusted for shares convertible or exercisable within sixty (60) days which are deemed outstanding for a specific stockholder pursuant to Rule 13d-3(d)(1) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

(3) Includes 184,444 shares of common stock which are convertible from notes and 2,000 shares which Mr. Abrams has the right to acquire within sixty (60) days from the date hereof. Also includes 65,100 shares owned by Funeral Financial Systems, Ltd., a company under the control of Mr. Abrams. Does not include the restricted stock described on page 5.

(4) Includes 33,333 shares of common stock which Mr. Ireland has the right to acquire within sixty (60) days from the date hereof.

(5) Includes 19,000 shares of common stock which Mr. Morris has the right to acquire within sixty (60) days from the date hereof.

(6) Includes 55,000 shares of common stock which Mr. Chappell has the right to acquire within sixty (60) days from the date hereof.

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to our stockholders who were known to be beneficial owners of more than five percent (5%) of the issued and outstanding shares of the common stock as of August 28, 2001, except for Richard N. Abrams, whose ownership interest is disclosed in the preceding table.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name and Address Amount and Nature Percent
of Beneficial Owner of Beneficial of Class(2)
Ownership(1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carlson Capital, L.P. (3) 519,300 6.8%
301 Commerce Street, Suite 3300
Fort Worth, Texas 76102

Pine Capital Management, Incorporated(4) 528,647 6.9%
353 Sacramento Street, 10th Floor
San Francisco, California 94111

Cullen W. Turner(5) 471,377 6.2%

Rodney A. Abrams(6) 575,055 7.5%

With his relative, Rodney Abrams' shares, Richard N. Abrams controlled more Surety stock than the rest of the board combined by August 2001

Questions about his employment status

In January and February 2007 he made Federal Campaign contributions and listed "retired" as his employment status on the donor cards. In March 2007 he lists CEO Mortuary Financial on another Federal Campaign donor card. On June 11, 2007 the Comptroller of the Currency issued a cease and desist order to Surety Bank, National Association, Fort Worth, Richard N. Abrams, C.E.O.

S.E.C. Investigations and Cease and Desist Orders
In 2001, Surety's S.E.C. difficulties were attributed to his predecessor. However, in 2007 when Surety was issued a Cease and Desist Order by the Comptroller of the Currency, Richard N. Abrams has been at the helm of Surety Bank of Fort Worth and Surety Holding for seven years. Difficulties could no longer be attributed to any failure of leadership other than his own. He was the major stockholder and controlled more voting shares than any other member of the Board.

Dear Lord,

Clinton: ‘Absurd’ to call me marginalized

Says she ‘believes in delegating power’; rules out another presidential run

By Mike Celizic - TODAYShow.com contributor - Oct. 12, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scoffed Monday at suggestions that she has been “largely invisible” on major foreign policy issues in the Obama White House, and said that she has no interest in another run at the White House.

In an interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry, Clinton responded to a Washington Post story that said,

“She is largely invisible on the big issues that dominate the foreign policy agenda. Including Afghanistan and Iran."

After reading that quote aloud, Curry asked,

“What do you say to people who are concerned that you have been marginalized?”

“I find it absurd,” Clinton said. “I find it beyond any realistic assessment of what I'm doing every day ... Maybe there is some misunderstanding, which needs to be clarified.”

Clinton labeled the statement a misperception of how she operates.

“I believe in delegating power,” Clinton said. “I'm not one of these people who feels like I have to have my face in the front of the newspaper or on the TV every moment of the day. I would be irresponsible and negligent were I to say, ‘Oh, no. Everything must come to me.’ Now, maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I'm totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I'm doing. It's just the way I am. My goal is to be a very positive force to implement the kind of changes that the president and I believe are in the best interest of our country.”

No more presidential aspirations
Clinton made the comments in the prerecorded interview before departing on a five-day overseas tour that has seen her speak out on Iran’s nuclear ambitions in Switzerland. On Sunday she was in Britain, where she warned Iran that the world "will not wait indefinitely" for proof that it is not trying to develop atomic weapons.

On Monday Clinton urged the rival leaders of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government Monday to keep making their awkward coalition work for the sake of lasting peace. In an address to the Northern Ireland Assembly, with Irish Catholics to her left and British Protestants to her right, Clinton said they should take the next critical step in cooperation — running the police and justice system together — as the best way to defeat Irish Republican Army dissidents still plotting bloodshed. Protestant leaders are blocking the move.

Curry also asked Clinton whether she ever wishes her presidential bid had been successful so that she could be making the decisions instead of carrying out President Obama’s policies.

“I have to tell you, it never crosses my mind,” Clinton said

“Will you ever run for president again?” Curry asked.

“No,” Clinton said with a laugh. “This is a great job. It is a 24/7 job. And I'm looking forward to retirement at some point. “

Clinton said she thinks President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because of "his attitude toward America's role in the world."

"His willingness to really kind of challenge everyone ... restores a kind of image and appreciation of our country," Clinton said.

Clinton added that she didn't think winning the award would have any effect on Obama's deliberations over what to do next in Afghanistan, including the question of whether to send large numbers of additional troops into a country where violence has recently surged.

"I think that the president makes each decision on the merits," she said in the interview taped during her visit to Switzerland. She said the Nobel award is "not going to influence" the tough decisions Obama faces on Afghanistan.

"Every one of those deaths and all of the injuries of any our men and women in uniform weigh heavily on all us," Clinton said. "I want to guarantee all your listeners that this process will result in a very well thought-out approach."

She said that she recognizes that some are demanding a quick withdrawal, while others believe there should be a substantial infusion of forces.

"Neither extreme is really focused on the situation, as we are," Clinton said.

Clinton’s five-day overseas tour next takes her to Moscow.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
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It's 3 a.m. Do You Know Where Hillary Clinton Is? She's not answering those crisis calls at the White House. But she's quietly revolutionizing America

By David Rothkopf - The Washington Post - Sunday, August 23, 2009
When it comes to Hillary Rodham Clinton, we're missing the forest for the pantsuits.
Clinton is not the first celebrity to become the nation's top diplomat -- that honor goes to her most distant predecessor, Thomas Jefferson, who by the time he took office was one of the most famous and gossiped-about men in America -- but she may be the biggest. And during her first seven months in office, the former first lady, erstwhile presidential candidate and eternal lightning rod has drawn more attention for her moods, looks, outtakes and (of course) relationship with her husband than for, well, her work revamping the nation's foreign policy.

Even venerable publications -- such as one to which I regularly contribute, Foreign Policy -- have woven into their all-Hillary-all-the-time coverage odd discussions of Clinton's handbag and scarf choices. Daily Beast editor Tina Brown, while depicting herself as a Clinton supporter, has been scathing and small-minded in discussing such things as Clinton's weight and hair, while her "defense" of Hillary in her essay "Obama's Other Wife" was as sexist as the title suggests.

Indeed, sexism has followed Clinton from the campaign trail to Foggy Bottom, as seen most recently in the posturing outrage surrounding the exchange in Congo when Clinton reacted with understandable frustration to the now-infamous question regarding her husband's views. Major media outlets have joined the gossipfest, whether the New York Times, which covered Clinton's first big policy speech by discussing whether she was in or out with the White House, or The Washington Post, where a couple of reporters mused about whether a brew called Mad Bitch would be the beer of choice for the secretary of state.

Amid all the distractions, what is Clinton actually doing? Only overseeing what may be the most profound changes in U.S. foreign policy in two decades -- a transformation that may render the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush mere side notes in a long transition to a meaningful post-Cold War worldview.

The secretary has quietly begun rethinking the very nature of diplomacy and translating that vision into a revitalized State Department, one that approaches U.S. allies and rivals in ways that challenge long-held traditions. And despite the pessimists who invoked the "team of rivals" cliche to predict that President Obama and Clinton would not get along, Hillary has defined a role for herself in the Obamaverse: often bad cop to his good cop, spine stiffener when it comes to tough adversaries and nurturer of new strategies. Recognizing that the 3 a.m. phone calls are going to the White House, she is instead tackling the tough questions that, since the end of the Cold War, have kept America's leaders awake all night.

In these early days of the new administration, it has been easy to focus on what Clinton has not achieved or on ways in which her power has been supposedly constrained. Indeed, some of her efforts have been frustrated by difficult personnel approvals or disputes with the White House about who should get what jobs. But this is the way of all administrations. More unusual has been the avidity with which the new president has seized the reins of foreign policy -- more assertively than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton before him. Obama's centrality amplifies the importance of his closest White House staffers, while his penchant for appointing special envoys such as Richard Holbrooke (on Afghanistan and Pakistan) and George Mitchell (on the Middle East) has been interpreted by some as limiting Clinton's role.

Given the challenges involved, it was perhaps natural that the White House would have a bigger day-to-day hand in some of the nation's most urgent foreign policy issues. But with Obama, national security adviser Jim Jones, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates absorbed by Iraq, Afghanistan and other inherited problems of the recent past, Clinton's State Department can take on a bigger role in tackling the problems of the future -- in particular, how America will lead the world in the century ahead. This approach is both necessary and canny: It recognizes that U.S. policy must change to fulfill Obama's vision and that many high-profile issues such as those of the Middle East have often swamped the careers and aspirations of secretaries of state past.

Which nations will be our key partners? What do you do when many vital partners -- China, for example, and Russia -- are rivals as well? How must America's alliances change as NATO is stretched to the limit? How do we engage with rogue states and old enemies in ways that do not strengthen them and preserve our prerogative to challenge threats? How do we move beyond the diplomacy of men in striped pants speaking only for governments and embrace potent nonstate players and once-disenfranchised peoples?

In searching for answers, Clinton is leaving behind old doctrines and labels. She outlined her new thinking in a recent speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, where she revealed stark differences between the new administration's worldview and those of its predecessors: The recurring themes include "partnership" and "engagement" and "common interests." Clearly, Madeleine Albright's "indispensable nation" has recognized the indispensability of collaborating with others.

Who those "others" are is the area in which change has been greatest and most rapid. "We will put," Clinton said, "special emphasis on encouraging major and emerging global powers -- China, India, Russia and Brazil, as well as Turkey, Indonesia and South Africa -- to be full partners in tackling the global agenda." This is the death knell for the G-8 as the head table of the global community; the administration has an effort underway to determine whether the successor to the G-8 will be the G-20, or perhaps some other grouping. Though the move away from the G-8 began in the waning days of the Bush era, that administration viewed the world through a different lens, a perception that evolved from a traditional great-power view to a pre-Galilean notion that everything revolved around the world's sole superpower.

Obama and Clinton have both made engaging with emerging powers a priority. Obama visited Russia earlier this year and will host Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his first state dinner in November. Clinton has made trips to China and India, and she would have been with Obama in Russia had she not injured her elbow. Both have visited Africa and the Middle East, reaching out to women and the Islamic world.

On many critical agenda items -- from a rollback of nuclear weapons to the climate or trade talks -- such emerging powers will be essential to achieving U.S. goals. As a result, we've seen a new American willingness to play down old differences, whether with Russia on a missile shield or, as Clinton showed on her China trip, with Beijing on human rights.

At the center of Clinton's brain trust is Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former dean of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Now head of policy planning at the State Department, Slaughter elaborated on the ideas in Clinton's speech. "We envision getting not just a new group of states around a table, but also building networks, coalitions and partnerships of states and nonstate actors to tackle specific problems," she told me.

"To do that," Slaughter continued, "our diplomats are going to need to have skills that are closer to community organizing than traditional reporting and analysis. New connecting technologies will be vital tools in this kind of diplomacy."

A new team has been brought in to make these changes real. Clinton recruited Alec Ross, one of the leaders of Obama's technology policy team, to the seventh floor of the State Department as her senior adviser for innovation. His mission is to harness new information tools to advance U.S. interests -- a task made easier as the Internet and mobile networks have played starring roles in recent incidents, from Iran to the Uighur uprising in western China to Moldova. Whether through a telecommunications program in Congo to protect women from violence or text messaging to raise money for Pakistani refugees in the Swat Valley, technology has been deployed to reach new audiences.

Of course, you need more than new ideas to revitalize the State Department; you need resources, too. The secretary has brought in former Bill Clinton-era budget chief Jack Lew to help her claw back money for statecraft that many in Foggy Bottom feel has been sucked off toward the Pentagon. She has also created special positions to back new priorities, such as Melanne Verveer as ambassador at large for women's issues, Elizabeth Bagley to handle public-private outreach worldwide and Todd Stern as the chief negotiator on climate.

Even just a few months in, it's clear that these appointments are far from window dressing. Lew, Slaughter and the acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development are leading an effort to rethink foreign aid with the new Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, an initiative modeled on the Pentagon's strategic assessments and designed to review State's priorities. Stern has conducted high-level discussions on climate change around the world, notably with China. Clinton made women's issues a centerpiece of her recent 11-day trip to Africa, where she stressed that "the social, political and economic marginalization of women across Africa has left a void in this continent that undermines progress and prosperity."

Clinton has also signaled the importance of private-sector experience by naming former Goldman Sachs International vice chairman Robert Hormats, a respected veteran of four administrations, to handle economic issues at the State Department, as well as Judith McHale, former chief executive of Discovery Communications, to run public diplomacy. In the same vein, she has opened up Cuba to American telecommunications companies and reached out to India's private sector on energy cooperation -- showing that this administration will seek to advance national interests by tapping the self-interests of the business community. As with any new administration, there have been inevitable problems. The old campaign teams -- Clinton's and Obama's -- still eye each other warily, but this feeling is gradually fading. And by most accounts, the administration's national security team has come together successfully, with Clinton developing strong relationships with national security adviser Jones and Defense Secretary Gates. Her policy deputy, Jim Steinberg, has renewed an old collaboration with deputy national security adviser Tom Donilon; the two of them, working with Obama campaign foreign policy advisers Denis McDonough and Mark Lippert, have formed what one State Department seventh-floor dweller called "a powerful quartet at the heart of real interagency policymaking." Henry Kissinger may have overstated matters when he said this is the best White House-State relationship in recent memory, but it's not bad, while the State-Pentagon relationship is in its best shape in decades.

At the heart of things, though, is the relationship between Clinton and Obama. For all the administration's talk of international partnerships, that may be the most critical partnership of all.

So far, according to multiple high-level officials at State and the White House, the two seem aligned in their views. In addition, they are gradually defining complementary roles. Obama has assumed the role of principal spokesperson on foreign policy, as international audiences welcome his new and improved American brand. Clinton thus far has echoed his points but has also delivered tougher ones. Whether on a missile shield against Iran or North Korean saber-rattling, the continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma or rape and corruption in Congo, the secretary of state has spoken bluntly on the world stage -- even if it triggered snide comments from North Korea.

It is still early, and a president's foreign policy legacy is often defined less by big principles than by how one reacts to the unexpected, whether missiles in Cuba or terrorism in New York. Promising ideas fail because of limited attention or reluctant bureaucracies, and some rhetoric eventually rings hollow, as the self-congratulatory "smart power" already does to me.

Nevertheless, there is evidence that, seven months into the job, Obama's unlikely secretary of state is supporting and augmenting his agenda effectively. Not as Obama's "other wife," not as Bill Clinton's wife, not even as a celebrity or as a former presidential candidate -- but in a new role of her own making.

drothkopf@carnegieendowment.org

David Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of "Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making" and "Running the World: The Inside Story of the NSC and the Architects of American Power." He will be online to chat with readers Monday at 11 a.m. Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.

Read more in the Washington Post

WOMEN: DUBAI, NEW DESTINATION ON TRAFFICKING MAP

By Claudia Ciobanu - Terraviva EUROPE - Tuesday, 30 June 2009

BUCHAREST (IPS) - On May 26, the U.S.-based Center for Investigative Reporting published 'The Price of Sex', a vast multi-media project by photojournalist Mimi Chakarova who spent nearly seven years doggedly unraveling the web of sex trafficking.

Chakarova has charted hundreds of journeys across countries in Europe and to the tiny emirate of Dubai in the Gulf, where the sex trade is booming, seemingly condoned by authorities, according to a rights activist. The Bulgarian photojournalist currently lives and works in the U.S.

"I wanted to address the complexity of trafficking, how it works, and how deeply it breaks the human spirit," the photojournalist told IPS in a detailed email interview about her work - a series of many videos, photos and text. "The impact I hope to achieve is first and foremost to inform and educate my viewers."

"Ultimately, the viewers can make a decision whether they want to take the next step and help," she says. "My goal has been to find a way to connect non-governmental organisations that work with trafficked women with those who want to make a difference. Launching www.priceofsex.org was all about linking the two in addition to storytelling."

Chakarova's work sensitively presents the tragic stories of women from countries such as Moldova or the Ukraine sold into brutal sexual slavery often by neighbours or acquaintances. The few women who manage to escape find themselves facing not only serious health issues or psychological trauma, but also the social stigma associated with having worked as sex workers.

One of the young women interviewed by Chakarova, Jenea, from a small village in southern Moldova, was sold into prostitution by a neighbour who had promised to help her get a job in Moscow. At 18, Jenea found herself locked in a hotel room in Turkey, forced to sleep with as many as 50 men on some days. She escaped after one year.

Back in her village, she now lives in a two-room house with her sister and niece, unable to find a job because of prejudice, and health problems - incontinence, a direct result of the sexual abuse suffered in Turkey.

"It would have been better for me not to have been born," Jenea says softly, on camera.

Chakarova's research certainly goes further than telling the terrible stories of trafficked women. The detailed personal accounts highlight the problems that need to be addressed if sex trafficking is to be controlled. Poverty emerges time and again as the main cause in each of her stories.

"Why do young people have to go somewhere else to work?" asks the desperate father of Natasha, a young Ukrainian woman who together with her 13-year-old daughter, would be considered as very vulnerable to being tricked into sex work. "Here we don't live, here we just exist," he tells Chakarova. The father pins the responsibility for the widespread poverty in his country on the closing down of factories after the collapse of state socialism in Eastern Europe after 1989.

According to the photojournalist, it is crucial to inform and educate the women who are potential victims of trafficking, about the risks associated with going abroad in search of new opportunities. "Education is the biggest and most important step, in my opinion," she emailed IPS.

The project establishes the close links between authorities and traffickers that is crucial to keeping the sex trade going. Aurica, a Moldavian, tells of how when she managed to escape from pimps in Turkey, it was the local police who returned her to them, and even tried to have sex with her.

Chakarova pursued the trails of the sex trade to rich Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates which has undergone explosive oil-fuelled development over the last few years. The massive presence of male foreigners, attracted by the job opportunities in Dubai, is considered the main cause for the high demand for sex workers there.

"We are an extremely globalised place with minimal regulations, and this is where it is exploited," an unidentified human rights activist from Dubai says in an interview. "And our legal system isn't really growing fast enough to catch up, because our government is scared of regulating, in case it turns off business and development."

According to the U.S. State Department, up to 10,000 women from all over the world are being forced into prostitution in Dubai. As Chakarova's report indicates, the number of women selling sex voluntarily in Dubai is much higher.

In her documentary on Dubai, 'Night Secrets', the photojournalist contrasts the apparent social conservatism in the Muslim emirate with the wide availability of information on popular clubs for picking up sex workers and the price ranges, from 150 euros per night for Asian women to a bit more for African and Eastern Europeans, and up to 1,000 euros for Middle Eastern women.

The high prices paid for sexual services in Dubai mean that many women are in the trade voluntarily.

"Some women choose to sell their bodies. And some are forced into it and then they choose to stay because they have nothing to return to," Chakarova told IPS.

"If you were sold to a pimp or a madam who put you through a "break in" period during which men violated your body every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, there is hardly anything left. A lot of women perceive themselves as dirty and unworthy of anything else after that!"

Much of the responsibility for the sexual abuse lies with the clients, thinks Chakarova.

"The men who purchase sex need to understand that not every woman they pay for is willing (to do what she does). If a woman is visibly bruised and locked in a room with blankets on the floor and bars on the window, she is hardly a willing participant."

"I am not naive to think that men will cease paying for sex," the photojournalist continues, "but I do hope that those who engage in this act would realise that they are equal contributors to one of the ugliest and darkest criminal industries in our time."

Just like in Turkey, trafficking in Dubai seems to be silently allowed, if not encouraged, by some of the authorities.

As she states at the end of the 'Night Secrets' documentary, the filming was not without risks. Chakarova's hotel room was ransacked on her last day in Dubai. None of the other rooms in the hotel were broken into, and the front desk initially refused to call the police.

Even more, as Chakarova's camera-woman was preparing to fly out of Dubai, the airport security confiscated all her tapes. "We had been watched and followed all the time," Chakarova observes.

"It was only after making a spectacle that they returned her tapes saying that they had mistaken her identity. Her luggage did not arrive until a month later, but a few of Dubai's night secrets did make it out," she admits, wryly. (END)
Read more in Terraviva EUROPE

NOW Activists Elect New President Terry O'Neill to Succeed Kim Gandy

By N.O.W. - Indianapolis - June 20, 2009

This weekend members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) cast their votes for a new team of leaders to direct the largest grassroots feminist organization in the country over the next four years. NOW delegates elected Terry O'Neill, who served as the group's membership vice president from 2001 to 2005, to succeed President Kim Gandy.

Gandy will retire from her office on July 20 due to the organization's term limits; she has been a leader in NOW for 36 years, with 22 years of service at the national level, including the last eight as president.

"NOW is the organization that fights for the rights of all women no matter the circumstances of their birth, their race or sexual orientation, no matter if they live in poverty or are trying to escape violence," said NOW President-Elect Terry O'Neill. "My experience with domestic violence, as an abused wife left me humiliated and embarrassed. I only began to talk about this publically five years ago as I realized that to keep quiet was to continue the abuse. I want to empower women and telling my story does just that. Women are fed up with persistent inequality and are ready for change. I am honored and eager to lead NOW in making that change."

O'Neill cut her political teeth working to defeat David Duke's gubernatorial campaign in Louisiana. She went on to serve NOW at the local, state and national levels. As an attorney, she served a clerkship at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago before practicing law in New Orleans. She taught at the University of California Davis Law School and Tulane Law School. Currently, she is chief of staff to a Montgomery County (Md.) councilmember whose successes include a transgender equality law and Maryland's first Family Justice Center for survivors of domestic violence. O'Neill's national positions also include executive director of the National Council of Women's Organizations.

The other members of O'Neill's team are Bonnie Grabenhofer of IL, taking on the position of executive vice president; Erin Matson of MN, serving as action vice president; and Allendra Letsome of MD, incoming membership vice president..

Unlikely singing sensation eyes date with queen

(CNN) -- Television and YouTube singing sensation Susan Boyle has promised to be on her best behaviour if she wins the right to sing for the queen.

The 47-year-old Boyle, who says she has never been kissed, was catapulted into the spotlight after her rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables," on the television show "Britain's Got Talent" at the weekend.

The winner of the show gets to sing for the queen at the Royal Variety Show.

Boyle has a long way to go though -- having just won through to the second round after judge Simon Cowell described her first performance as "extraordinary."

Still, she was already thinking of how she would behave.

"Whatever comes my way, I am ready. It would be lovely to sing for the queen. There would be less of the carry on from me, and more of the singing.

"She is a very regal lady, very nice, so I would be nice too, and just get up there and give it a bit of wellie (try)," Boyle told the show's Web site.

Boyle said she was trying to take her new found fame in her stride.

"It's a challenge. Life is a challenge sometimes but this is different. And I like to test myself.

"If it all gets too much and they lock me up, I want a great big strait-jacket with spots on it. A pink one... and a big zip on the back so I can escape."

A clip of Boyle's performance had more than 11 million views on YouTube by Thursday, and the world's media have beaten a path to her door in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland.

Cowell is reportedly already trying to piece together a record deal for Boyle, an unemployed charity worker, who lives with her cat, Pebbles.

For fans of Boyle, who attracted laughs and sniggers when she first appeared on stage before winning a standing ovation, the album cannot come quick enough.

CNN has been inundated with hundreds of messages of support for Boyle.

Simone said: "I've been so depressed all day but hearing this woman sing and reading her story gave me a pick-me-up... I look forward to hearing more of her and I hope to buy her CD as soon as it hits the shelves."

Cynthia wanted Cowell to move quickly.

"She brought tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat. I hope Simon does get her a record contract...I'll buy her CD. Never judge a book by it's cover. Susan Boyle, you go, girl!"

Jim described Boyle's talent as "unbelievable" and "beautiful."

"I wish Susan the very best in her new life and hopefully someone has put her under contract. Thank you for such a beautiful song."
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Larry wanted to offer Boyle a kiss.

"I have just heard you sing for the first time -- thanks to CNN -- and I must tell you this: You are a fabulous talent, simply amazing to me that no one took advantage of your voice and passion up until now. I am a happily married man, but if I were not, and if I was in the audience, I can guarantee you that I would ask for a kiss, and if you were gracious enough to indulge me, well that would have been one of the great highlights of my life. Looking forward to the first of many albums.
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Clinton hits milestone in trying to clear campaign debt

By Robert Yoon - CNN Political Research Director - Thurs., April 16, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached an important milestone Wednesday in her quest to pay the debt from her failed 2008 presidential bid: For the first time in eight months, her campaign committee reported having more money in the bank than it owes.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign committee reported owing $2.3 million in debt at the end of March.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign committee reported owing $2.3 million in debt at the end of March.

On a day most Americans were preoccupied with filing their federal income taxes, Clinton's campaign committee filed finance documents with the Federal Election Commission, reporting a total of $2.3 million in debts at the end of March, compared with $2.6 million in the bank.

The nation's top diplomat has been steadily chipping away at unpaid campaign bills since suspending her White House bid in June 2008, when her debt peaked at $25.2 million. That amount covered $12 million owed to vendors, as well as the $13.2 million she loaned her campaign from personal funds.

Clinton's campaign was unable to repay that personal loan by the time the Democratic National Convention convened in Denver, Colorado, last August, the deadline mandated by the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. The former New York senator was forced to forgive the entire loan amount.

Her campaign owed $6.4 million to 16 creditors at the end of November; $5.9 million to five creditors at the end of December; and the current $2.3 million owed to just one creditor at the end of March. That creditor is Penn, Schoen & Berland, a political consulting and polling firm that advised Clinton during her presidential bid. The firm's president, Mark Penn, was Clinton's senior campaign strategist until he stepped down last April amid revelations that he had lobbied on behalf of Colombia for a U.S.-Colombia trade deal that Clinton opposed. Penn remained involved with the campaign.

Earlier this year, Clinton and her supporters raced to pay as much of the debt as possible by the time she was confirmed and sworn in as the nation's 67th secretary of state on January 21. As of that date, Clinton became subject to a federal law known as the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from personally soliciting or accepting political contributions. The Hatch Act allows others to keep raising money on Clinton's behalf, without her direct involvement.

This week, longtime Clinton ally James Carville, a CNN contributor, sent a fundraising e-mail to Democrats on behalf of Clinton's campaign, requesting contributions of as little as $5 in exchange for a chance to win one of several prizes, including spending a day with former President Bill Clinton.

"I won't spend a lot of time trying to convince you to help Hillary," Carville e-mailed. "I know what she means to you, and I'm sure you know how important it is for her to have her campaign pay off all its obligations."

It's unclear whether the campaign will use the $2.6 million in the bank to clear its $2.3 million in debts in the short term. Continued fundraising indicates that it will not. Additional operating expenses and other outlays could emerge.

Any extra money from the campaign could be donated to political causes or returned to donors.

Clinton's campaign reported raising $938,000 in contributions in the first three months of 2009.

In addition to tapping traditional fundraising, the campaign also generated money by selling or renting various campaign assets to other organizations. It received $2.6 million from Clinton's "Friends of Hillary" U.S. Senate campaign committee for the sale of unspecified assets and an additional $2.2 million from renting out its lists of campaign supporters.

Organizations that have rented Clinton's lists include the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the inaugural committee of then-President-elect Barack Obama, and the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation. Those organizations each paid $274,297. Clinton's political action committee, HillPAC, rented the lists for $822,492.

Among the Democratic candidates who have rented Clinton's campaign lists are Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln; Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe; New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to fill Clinton's seat; and New York congressional candidate Scott Murphy, who hopes to succeed Gillibrand in the U.S. House.
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This is being posted now because accusations are still circulating by Barack Obama supporters who erronously cite the Hillary Clinton campaign for producing and distributing these DVDs. Research shows that the dvds were produced in 2006 by an organization independent comprised of the Hillary Clinton campaign. The funders are described as a group of "hard-line neo conservatives including some Israli diplomats."

The Republican Jewish Coalition has also distributed free copies of the film in promotional mailings to U.S. rabbis and other Jewish mailing lists. ... Jews on First reports that Obsession has been distributed by other highly partisan neocon/Islamophobic groups:

-- Richard Silversteen, Sept. 14th, 2008
NAKED CAPITALISM
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/neo-conisraeli-venture-behind-28.html

DISTRIBUTION THROUGH NEWSPAPERS:

Where the newspapers with Obsession inserts were delivered
A New York Times spokesperson, Diane McNulty, told JewsOnFirst that the paper included 145,000 copies of the DVD in home delivery packets on Sunday, September 7th. She said the one-time insert went into packets delivered in Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Madison, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Miami, Palm Beach, Tampa and Orlando.

The Wall Street Journal, the Denver Post, the Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press also delivered inserts of the Obsession DVD, according to the News & Observer.

Another 70,000 DVDs went to subscribers to the paper edition of the weekly Chronicle of Higher Education. The insert cost Clarion Fund $28,000, Chronicle Editor-in-Chief Phil Semas told JewsOnFirst. Asked why the Clarion Fund decided to advertise in his paper, Semas replied: "I assume they felt we were an influential audience." The Chronicle publishes reports of interest to educators and academic officials, some of whom might be affected by the campaign to show the video on campuses.

Who, what and where is the Clarion Fund?
Because it was established only recently, the Clarion Fund has not yet filed its first required disclosure (Form 990) with the IRS. It is not disclosing its officers.

The address Clarion used to satisfy the New York Times' requirement that political or opinion advertisements include the advertiser's contact information -- 255 West 36th St., Suite 800, in Manhattan -- turns out to be Grace Corporate Park Executive Suites, an office-space rental operation which also rents "virtual office identity packages" for as little as $75 a month.

The Clarion Fund's only previous known address was that of its incorporator, New York attorney Eli Greenberg, on Madison Avenue. Gregory Ross said the Fund was based in New York and California.

Ross described the fund's staff as "sizeable," but did not give a number. Ross said that Clarion Fund is involved in "three linked efforts: documentary films, online education and college outreach," including sending speakers to campuses.

He also said that Clarion will not disclose its donors' names. He described them as "private American individuals that span the political spectrum."

--by JewsOnFirst.org, September 14, 2008

Like many issue groups, donors are hiding behind current flawed legislations which shields donors of non-profit issue organizations from public disclosure. DFWRCC has spoken out consistently against shielding non-profit or educational groups from revealing their donors. There are groups on the left and groups on the right utilizing these rules and promoting issues which impact political campaigns. America is a country based on the foundation of freedom of speech. Promoting issues is a freedom of speech issue. Shielding who is financing and promoting the distribution of such speech is not something, however, that should be protected under Federal Law.

During the Democratic Primary, Obama campaign organizers claimed that the distribution was tied to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Now it is being attributed to the John McClain campaign. In fact, it is independent of either of those campaigns. Some of the content of the DVDs is scurrilious. It is also just as scurrilious to attribute the DVDs to political candidates /campaigns which did not organizate, finance or approve it.

"Watch Obsession" staff will be in St. Paul this week to promote the documentary "Obsession," a film exposing the dire threat of radical Islamic terrorism. Staff will be available for media interviews before and during the Republican National Convention September 1-4.

'Watch Obsession' to Discuss National Security at Republican National Convention
Documentary about radical Islam will challenge RNC to make national security top priority
News release, WatchObsession.org, via Christian Newswire, September 2, 2008
"National security is a key theme of the Republican National Convention," stated Tom Trento, director of the Watch Obsession Citizen Education Program. "We're here to help inform and educate Republican leaders about terrorism. Our leaders must have the courage to explain just how deadly the threat of radical Islamic terrorism is to our country." --- JewsonFirst

Friday, September 26, 2008
Neo-Con/Israeli Venture Behind 28 Million Anti-Obama DVD Campaign


This is a departure from our usual programming, but we considered it to be worthy of your attention. From Asia Times (hat tip reader Cash Mundy):

A group of hardline United States neo-conservatives and former Israeli diplomats were behind the controversial, allegedly Islamaphobic DVD which was recently distributed in US swing states ahead of November's presidential elections.

The 60-minute movie,Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West , was an initiative of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), but produced by the Clarion Fund, an organization described as a "front" for Israeli group Aish Hatorah.

Some 28 million copies of Obsession are currently being inserted in newspapers and delivered by mail in key electoral swing states - such as Michigan, Ohio and Florida which, according to recent polling, could go either way.

Critics allege the movie Obsession is "hate propaganda" which paints Muslims as violent extremists and, among other things, explicitly compares the threat posed by radical Islam to that of Nazi Germany in the 1930s - at least two major metropolitan newspapers refused to run the movie because of its perceived bias.

"Despite the perilous state of American newspapers, the St Louis Post-Dispatch advertising department took an ethical stand and refused to distribute the DVD of a film that for two years has troubled American Muslims," Tim Townsend, a reporter at Missouri's most influential newspaper wrote this month...

While initial press reports about the mass distribution focused on the Clarion Fund's financing role, it was EMET that organized and oversaw the distribution, EMET's spokesman and a former press officer for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Ari Morgenstern, told Inter Press Service....

Like hardline neo-conservatives, EMET opposes any land concessions to Palestinians and takes other hardline positions identified with Israel's right-wing Likud Party and the ''Settler Lobby'' there. EMET's website says, "We regard ourselves as 'intellectual revolutionaries'."

Two weeks ago, EMET sponsored a seminar series on Capitol Hill for the controversial multi-billionaire casino and hotel magnate Sheldon Adelson, who is a major donor to right-wing Zionist organizations in the US, such as the far-right lobby group, Freedom's Watch and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).

RJC efforts to persuade Jewish voters that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is aligned with radical anti-Israel forces in the Islamic world have drawn strong criticism from the mainstream Jewish press....

But EMET is not the only group involved in the controversy to have direct ties to Israel...

"It seems that the Clarion Fund, from what we can tell, is just a virtual organization that is a front for Aish Hatorah," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "They don't have staff, they don't have a physical address. Nothing."....

Foreign nationals and companies, and domestic tax-exempt non-profit organizations, are prohibited by federal election law from attempting to sway US elections at any level through either contributions to campaigns or advocacy.

Missouri Governor speaks out against use of Law Enforcement to stiffel campaign debate and discussions critical of Obama

MISSOURI GOVERNOR MATT BLUNT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290


Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement


JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.


“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.


“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.


“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights. The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.


“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.

See Governor's Website for release

Daughters of Iraq: front-line guards against suicide bombers - Iraqi women take on key security role as attacks by female suicide bombers rise.

By Tom A. Peter - Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 11, 2008 edition


Baghdad - Although the overall level of violence in Iraq has decreased to a four- year low, the country has recently witnessed a sharp rise in a violent trend that alarms many Iraqis: female suicide bombings. This year the number of suicide bombings carried out by women has more than tripled to 29 attacks, say US military officials.

Al Qaeda and other insurgent groups have turned to women to exploit cultural practices that do not allow men to search women. As a result, females can pass through most checkpoints in Iraq without someone so much as looking in their handbags.

To combat this threat, Iraqis have begun recruiting women for the Daughters of Iraq, a female counterpart to the Sons of Iraq community policing program largely credited with reducing violence in Iraq. While female security guards remain a small minority, they've stopped many female insurgents. And, some say their example could help change perceptions about the role of women in Iraq.

"Right now women [suicide bombers] are more dangerous than men," says Sheikh Zaid Ahmed Al-Wan, an Awakening Council leader in Adhamiya, a Baghdad neighborhood. "You can't see anything on a woman's body, especially when she's wearing an abaya [a traditional Islamic gown] or a long dress. In the summer you can see everything on a man, you can even see if there's something in his pocket and even in the winter you can tell if he's carrying a big weapon or a bomb."

The most recent female suicide attack killed 18 people and injured 75 on Aug. 14. The bomber targeted Shiite pilgrims in a rest area in Iskandariyah in Iraq's Babil Province.

The bombing highlights how females can often inflict more damage than males. The majority of women bombers wear explosive vests or belts covered by abayas and are sometimes made to look pregnant, according to US military officials who track suicide bombing trends. This allows women easy access to crowded areas where they can cause the most damage.

Identifying a common profile for female bombers can be difficult, with one as young as 13. There is also speculation that bombing cells have used mentally handicapped women to carry out some attacks.

While the motives of each bomber varies, US military officials say most female suicide bombers share at least one of the following characteristics or circumstances: dishonor through sexual indiscretion, loss of a family member and a desire for revenge, desire to attain heroic status, inability to produce children, or an interest in demonstrating gender equality.

To reverse the new trend, community leaders began calling for women to join the Daughters of Iraq about a year ago. Though females in the group number in the hundreds, they remain a small fraction of the 103,000-strong Sons of Iraq community policing organization.

Generally, the women guard strategic locations, such a bridges, government buildings, or schools. Unlike their male counterparts, they do not carry weapons. Instead, they are stationed at checkpoints with armed males. They also do not search or interact with men, only women.

In Adhamiya, Sheikh Zaid says the Daughters of Iraq have found women carrying everything from intelligence for insurgents to stolen gold and medicine.

Despite the rise in women bombers, many Iraqi women were initially resistant to being searched, even by other women.

"When we started our work, other females said, 'How can you work a job like this?' They did not accept us working as Sahwa (Arabic for 'Awakening')," says Fatima Khadhem, a Daughters of Iraq member in Adhamiya. "But we insisted on doing our jobs and now the same ladies have accepted us."

Likes the female suicide bombers, some of the women drawn to the Daughters of Iraq are motivated by wrongs done to family members. After insurgents killed her husband, Liqae Gazhi Mohamed joined the Daughters to help make her community safer.

"The Sahwa has given life back to Adhamiya," says Mrs. Mohamed, who supports five children with her work as a security guard. "I feel like I'm more independent and stronger than before."

Involving women in security roles also challenges traditional gender roles. While Iraqi women have never faced restrictions like those imposed on females in countries like Saudi Arabia, in many circles women in the workforce carried a stigma.

Although Malath Fahmi's mother wanted to work when her family fell on hard times under Saddam Hussein's regime, her father forbade it. A generation later, facing economic hardships, this time due to the insurgency, Ms. Fahmi joined the Sahwa to support her family.

"In my mother's time, if a woman had a degree she could work, but many people did not support the idea," says Fahmi, who hopes to continue working. "I don't want to be dependent on my brother, or my father, or my husband," she says.

Still, attitudes toward women's roles are slow to change, says Kawakib Salih, a professor of sociology at Baghdad University.

"Men still see female security guards as not having a feminine side, so men will not want to marry a woman who has worked as a Sahwa," says Dr. Salih. "In the future, maybe men will not support this job. It was created as a temporary solution to address the security situation and perhaps in the future it will disappear."
Read more in the Christian Scientist Monitor