Today’s EBM goes to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Since the start of his mayoralty,  Kilpatrick’s antics have made him appear more like Suge Knight than Harold Washington. Still, despite repeated allegations of corruption, infidelity, and rampant unprofessionalism, many of us maintained our support for the “Hip Hop Mayor.” After reviewing more than 14,000 texts messages between the Mayor and Christine Beatty, all on city-issued devices, officials have proof that Kilpatrick lied under oath about an affair with the top aide. Here’s a sample of some of their exchanges:

KK: “I’m madly in love with you.”
CB: “I hope you feel that way for a long time. In case you haven’t noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!”

KK: I’m at Laker game. The security doesn’t believe I’m mayor. Mike is pulling out all kind of shirt to prove it.
CB: And, did you miss me, sexually?
KK: Hell yeah! You couldn’t tell. I want some more. Don’t sleep!

KK: That’s the first time that I couldn’t fully seduce you. My game is off. LOL! Thanx for the conversation and the QT! Love you!
CB: LOL! Your game is way on baby! “you had me at hello!” Jerry McGuire 2000. LOL. I just didn’t want to get caught.

It’s safe to say that a young Black man won’t be able to run for dog catcher of Detroit for at least 20 years.

Former president and kurrent hit man Bill Klinton kontinues to make subtle appeals to race in his advocacy for Hillary. Is he really trying to make Hillary sound like an underdog?

“As far as I can tell, neither Senator Obama nor Hillary have lost votes because of their race or gender. They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender — that’s why people tell me Hillary doesn’t have a chance of winning here.”

Opposing the death penalty used to distinguish Democrats from Republicans. Now, across party lines, death is just another day at the office.

Give Them Death: Three Leading Democratic Candidates Support Capital Punishment
By Liliana Segura

When Clinton, Obama and Edwards took the stage before a mostly African-American crowd in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on Monday night, they came brimming with concern for the plight of black America. From the disproportionate effects of the subprime loan crisis to the racially drawn pitfalls of U.S. healthcare, the black community, said Edwards, “is hurt worse by poverty than any community in America. And it’s our responsibility, not just for the African-American community, but for America, as a nation, to take on this moral challenge.”

Politicians like to see moral challenges when it’s convenient. The candidates have labeled the war in Iraq, global warming and the economy “moral challenges” before various audiences in the past few months. But there’s one topic the leading Dems systematically exclude from their morality crusade, one that begged to be addressed before an African-American audience in a Southern state: the death penalty.

It’s not news that African-Americans are disproportionately represented on death row. While 12 percent of the country is African-American, more than 40 percent of the country’s death row population is black — and although blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers, 80 percent of the prisoners executed since the death penalty was reinstated were convicted for murders in which the victim was white. Study upon study in states across the country have discovered racial bias at every stage of the death penalty process, including one that found that the more “stereotypically black” a defendant is perceived to be, the more likely that person is to be sentenced to death. Add to that the fact that over 20 percent of black defendants who have been executed were convicted by all-white juries, and the racial reality of the death penalty becomes impossible to ignore.

Sure, all three candidates have given nod to our racist criminal justice system from time to time. At the South Carolina debate, Barack Obama acknowledged it as “something that we have to talk about,” specifically, the fact that “African-Americans and whites … are arrested at very different rates, are convicted at very different rates [and] receive very different sentences.” Edwards, speaking out on the case of the Jena 6, last fall, said, “As someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel a special responsibility to speak out on racial intolerance.” Even Hillary has labeled the incarceration boom that followed passage of her husband’s crime bill — for which she lobbied hard — “unacceptable.” When it comes to criminal justice, she said in Iowa, “I want to have a thorough review of all of the penalties.”

Still, not one leading Democrat is about to make criminal justice reform — let alone the death penalty — central to his or her platform.

For the rest of the story, click here. 

Today’s photo of the day shows Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. Yesterday, after a series of close losses, Big Homie decided to call an end to his presidential run. True to his word, Kucinich has refused to endorse any other candidates. Much love and respect to the only candidate representing the Democratic wing of the Democratic party.