Senator Edward M. Kennedy intends to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama during a rally on Monday in Washington, associates to both men confirmed, a decision that squarely pits one American political dynasty against another. The expected endorsement, coming after Mr. Obama’s commanding victory over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, may give Mr. Obama further momentum in his campaign for the nomination.
 

As Mr. Obama flew here on Sunday, he smiled when asked by reporters about Mr. Kennedy’s plans, saying: “I’ve had ongoing conversations with Ted since I’ve got into this race.” He learned of Mr. Kennedy’s decision through a telephone call on Thursday, aides said, three days before the South Carolina primary.

Of all the endorsements in the Democratic Party, Mr. Kennedy’s is viewed as among the most influential. The Massachusetts senator had vowed to stay out of the presidential nominating fight, but as the contest expanded into a state-by-state fight — and given the tone of the race in the last week — associates said he was moved to announce his support for Mr. Obama.

Mrs. Clinton said Sunday that she had not expected to get the endorsement, yet aides conceded that they hoped Mr. Kennedy would remain neutral.

The endorsement will be announced at a rally at American University on Monday, hours before the State of the Union Address at the Capitol.

One day after defeating Mrs. Clinton in South Carolina by 28 points, Mr. Obama flew to Georgia to speak at a church service before traveling on to Alabama for a rally. Both states are among those holding primaries in the next stop in the Democratic presidential nominating fight on Feb. 5.

Mr. Kennedy, the latest in a string of senators to get behind Mr. Obama, is said by associates to be drawn to the Illinois senator because of his ability to motivate a new generation of Democrats. His niece, Caroline Kennedy, made a similar argument in an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times on Sunday. “For somebody who, I think, has been such an important part of our national imagination and who generally shies away from involvement in day-to-day politics to step out like that is something that I’m very grateful for,” Mr. Obama told reporters on Sunday, referring to Ms. Kennedy.

During Mr. Obama’s three years in the Senate, he has worked to build allies and gain friendships with many of his colleagues. While Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Obama have not been particularly close, Mr. Obama quickly gained the admiration of the Kennedy family.

Besides providing Mr. Obama with an important boost for his campaign, his strong victory in South Carolina also raised questions about the Clinton camp’s strategy of aggressive attacks on him. But in an interview on Sunday on the CBS News program “Face the Nation,” Mrs. Clinton said she would not back off from taking shots at her chief rival’s positions, saying, “It’s important we draw these contrasts.” “The idea that somehow someone’s record, someone’s words are off-limits, I’ve never seen that in American politics,” Senator Clinton added.

With each of the top Democrats having notched two primary victories, it appears increasingly likely that the party’s presidential nominating fight could extend well beyond the multistate primary elections on Feb. 5.

John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, received 18 percent of the vote in South Carolina. Despite the disappointing finish by Mr. Edwards, who was born in South Carolina, the former senator insisted that he will remain in the race. Mr. Edwards’s delegates could eventually play a key role in the fight between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton.

The next big contest comes on Tuesday in Florida. In the Republican race, Senator John McCain received the endorsement of the state’s popular Republican governor, Charlie Crist. On Sunday, Mr. McCain again assailed the Iraq policies of a top rival, Mitt Romney, castigating the former Massachusetts governor for having suggested earlier some sort of unannounced timetable for withdrawal.

“Governor Romney obviously said there have to be ‘timetables,” although they had to be secret,” McCain said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “If we had done that, as the Democrats and some Republicans wanted to do, we would have lost that surge and al-Qaeda would be celebrating a victory over the United States of America.”

Mr. Romney has demanded an apology from Mr. McCain, saying the Arizona senator had been dishonest in his description.

The Florida primary could be critical for the Republican campaign of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor. Mr. Giuliani on Sunday predicted victory in Florida, seeing the large number of early absentee votes cast so far as a helpful sign and saying his tax-cutting promises were resonating with voters. As of Friday night, nearly 400,000 party Republicans had cast early votes, compared with the 200,000 who cast votes at this point in 2006. Florida is one of 37 states to permit early voting, and Mr. Giuliani has made an effort to get his supporters to vote early over the past month.

Democratic candidates are now taking their campaigns to states like California and New York for contests that hold vast numbers of delegates. Tuesday’s primary in Florida will play an unusual role in this election because the Democratic National Committee has said it would not seat Florida’s delegates because the state is holding the primary earlier than party rules apply.

Democratic candidates have not actively campaigned in Florida because of the party’s decision, but that does not mean a race has not been conducted by Florida supporters of Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. As of Friday night, nearly 350,000 Democrats had cast early votes — exceeding the turnout in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada — and party officials predicted that roughly 400,000 will have voted by election day.

Jeff Zeleny reported from Birmingham, Ala., and Brian Knowlton from Washington. Adam Nagourney contributed reporting from Boca Raton, Fla.

January 12, 2008

 

Walgreens

Jeff Rein, President & CEO

200 Wilmot Road

Deerfield, Illinois 60015

 

Mr. Rein:

 

I, Fred L Nance Jr., am writing this letter in behalf of my daughter, Carolyn Nance. Carolyn lives in Overland, Missouri. On January 11, 2008 my daughter called me requesting I pay for her medication at your Walgreens store in Overland, Missouri. My daughter informed me her prescription would cost me $51.99 for 30 pills. Mr. Nick Dixon, Walgreens store manager, refused to take a credit card payment for my daughter’s medication informing me his decision was because my daughter’s prescription was a narcotic and Walgreens does not take credit card payments over the phone.

 

I called 314-429-4636 talking to your store manager, Nick Dixon. I asked Mr. Dixon about my daughter’s prescription. Mr. Dixon informed me my daughter’s prescription was not filled because he was waiting on her doctor to call to change my daughter’s prescription. I asked Mr. Dixon if my daughter asked for a change, why doesn’t he call my daughter’s doctor? Mr. Dixon told me he was not interested in calling my daughter’s doctor, and that, all he was interested in was getting paid for the prescription.

 

I informed Mr. Dixon I wanted to pay for my daughter’s prescription. I informed Mr. Dixon I was in the Chicago area. Mr. Dixon informed me he could not take a payment over the phone because my daughter’s prescription was a narcotic and he could not view my identification to assure it was my credit card I was using. I informed Mr. Dixon that I use my credit card for payments all over the United States. In addition, I informed Mr. Dixon my daughter would present her identification when picking up her prescription. Mr. Dixon refused to take my payment.

 

I informed Mr. Dixon my daughter informed me her mother has made numerous payments for her medication over the phone with her credit card. I asked Mr. Dixon how was my x-wife able to make credit cared payments over the phone. I stated to Mr. Dixon it seems Walgreens’ policy changes according to who is on duty. I asked Mr. Dixon for his District Manager’s name and phone number. Mr. Dixon told me his District Manager’s name was Ed Catani and he gave me phone number 314-739-4503.

 

I called this number and talked to Tammi. I explained my issues, requesting to speak to Mr. Catani. Tammi informed me she would pass on my information and someone would call me. I received a call from Heather Ingram, who stated she is a supervisor for the pharmacy department of 25 Walgreens stores in Missouri. Ms. Ingram informed me the pharmacy department of Walgreens does not accept credit card payment over the phone because of Federal laws and policies.

 

I called my neighborhood Walgreens in Illinois seeking further information. My neighborhood Walgreens informed me I could come in to their store and put my credit card up for “Express Payment.” I was informed I could make the payment for my daughter’s prescription and after the payment was made and accepted, I could rescind my credit card. I put my credit card on Walgreens “Express Payment” to get the prescription.

 

My neighborhood Walgreens pharmacy representative called Overland, Missouri informing them I had put my card on “Express Payment.” Your Overland, Missouri Walgreens informed my Walgreens representative the prescription would be ready in an hour. I called my daughter and informed her she could pick up her prescription but she had to wait an hour.

 

My daughter informed me her prescription was placed and filled 3 days ago, which would be January 9, 2008. My daughter called the Overland, Missouri Walgreens store. My daughter reports she was told her prescription would be ready in an hour.

 

As stated earlier in this letter, my daughter had reported to me her prescription was $51.99 for 30 pills. When my daughter went to get her prescription, your Walgreens Overland, Missouri store charged my credit card $30.00 for 10 pills. My daughter informs me your Overland, Missouri Walgreens store changed her prescription without a doctor’s order and her permission. She accepted the prescription because she needed it.

 

Not only did they change her prescription, but they made her wait for an hour before they told her they did not have the amount of pills needed to fill her original prescription amount. This store said nothing to my neighborhood Walgreens store representative regarding changing my daughter’s prescription. My neighborhood Walgreens store informed me I would be paying $51.99 for 30 pills.

 

Sir, I request a written explanation on your policy regarding credit card payments for prescription drugs. I request this explanation include the Federal laws and guidelines, which make the policy dictated by Mr. Dixon and Ms. Ingram. I informed Mr. Dixon and Ms. Ingram, as I am informing you, I will post this letter on my website to alert the general public to Walgreens credit card payment policy for prescription drugs.

 

In addition, I want to know why my credit card was charged $30.00 for 10 pills, when I agreed to pay $51.99 for 30 pills on my daughter’s original prescription. I want to know how the Overland, Missouri Walgreens store is allowed to change a person’s prescription without a doctor’s order and without the permission of the customer.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Fred L Nance Jr., ABD, MA, CADC, NCRS

 

cc:        http://clickforjusticeandequality.blogspot.com/ and http://click.townhall.com/

This is actually more than a WOW!!! statement, we have seen this time and time again. When are we going to wise up and start taking a more active role in what's going on in the world. Instead of looking good and wearing the latest fashion.

 

Why have we been a people to not look out for one another and help each other, I do not know, but it is time we love and support and be known for buying homes and investing in stocks instead of buying the next COACH purse or the Next Nike shoe or who has on the biggest Bling Bling...

 

People look around you life is so much more than that, Let us begin to try and do things different in this world and not let people put us down every chance they get. Let's stand for something, as you will read there have been designers who have openly said they don't want us wearing their clothing and yet we have made them rich, Why? because I bet no one read that or even paid close attention to wants going on. Your life should be worth more than who is wearing the latest fashion.

 

Or is it that we simply just don't care. Normally I am about the human race as a whole because that is what Jesus is all about, but now we are being attacked yet again and I just couldn't let this one go by without saying something. Maybe it won't matter to you maybe you'll say ah! be quiet Kerri or maybe not! I just think we need to care a little more about what legacies we leave behind. I hope I don't offend anyone because that is simply not the intent, my intention is simply to awaken us out of our sleep.

 

Stand up and be counted!!! Let's really begin to care about how we are preceived by others and more importantly, How does God see us? Lord have mercy!!!! I speak to myself as well, I never exclude me. With Love Kerri

BLACK PEOPLE, PLEASE, READ & HEED. POIGNANT.

The sad thing about this article is that the essence of it is true. The
truth hurts. I just hope this sets more Black people in motion towards
making real progress. Chris Rock, a Black comedian, even joked that
Blacks don't read.

Help prove them wrong! Read and pass on.

Please Note:

For those of you who heard it, this is the article Dee Lee was reading
this morning on a New York radio station. For those of you who didn't
hear it, this is very deep. This is a heavy piece and a Caucasian wrote

it.

 

Dee  Lee, CFP
Harvard  Financial Educators
 
 
Dee  Lee

THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can  continue to reap profits from the
Blacks without the effort of  physical slavery Look at the current
methods of containment that they  use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED,
and SELFISHNESS.

Their  IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man  once
said, "The best way to hide something from Black people is to  put it in
a book." We now live in the Information Age. They have  gained the
opportunity to read any book on any subject through the  efforts of their
fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There  are numerous books
readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble,  and Amazon.com <http://amazon.com/> ,  not to
mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid  blueprints to
reach economic equality (which should have been their  fight all along),
but few read consistently, if at all.

GREED  is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the  
abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their  disposal.
Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas,  out of their
450 billion dollars in total yearly income  (2.22%).

Any of us can use them as our target market, for any  business venture
we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they  will buy into it.
Being primarily a consumer people, they function  totally by greed. They
continually want more, with little thought for  saving or investing.

They would rather buy some new sneaker than  invest in starting a
business. Some even neglect their children to  have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And
they still think that having a  Mercedes, and a big house gives them
"Status" or that they have  achieved their Dream.

They are fools! The vast majority of their  people are still in poverty
because their greed holds them back from  collectively making better
communities.

With the help of BET,  and the rest of their black media that often
broadcasts destructive  images into their own homes, we will continue to
see huge profits  like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even
jeered them,  saying he doesn't want their money, and look at how the
fools spend  more with him than ever before!). They'll continue to show
off to  each other while we build solid communities with the profits
from  our businesses that we market to them.

SELFISHNESS, ingrained in  their minds through slavery, is one of the
major ways we can continue  to contain them. One of their own, Dubois
said that there was an  innate division in their culture. A "Talented
Tenth" he called it.  He was correct in his deduction that there are
segments of their  culture that has achieved some "form" of success.
However, that  segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn't read
that the  "Talented Tenth" was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented
Ninety  Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has
created  another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people
or  aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what  we
have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work  together
on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get  together,
their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their  goal Their
so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote  their name
without making any real change in their  community.

They are content to sit in conferences and conventions  in our hotels,
and talk about what they will do, while they award  plaques to the best
speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end  to their selfishness?
They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER  EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM)

They do not understand that they are  no better than each other because
of what they own, as a matter of  fact, most of those Buppies are but
one or two pay checks away from  poverty. All of which is under the
control of our pens in our offices  and our rooms.


Yes, we will continue to contain them as long  as they refuse to re ad,
continue to buy anything they want, and keep  thinking they are "helping"
their communities by paying dues to  organizations which do little other
than hold lavish conventions in  our hotels. By the way, don't worry
about any of them reading this  letter, remember, 'THEY DON'T READ!!!!

(Prove them wrong. Please  pass this on! After Reading it..)  

January 11, 2008

The Village of South Holland in Illinois does not want to address its racial profiling or its traffic ticket quotas. There has been no written response to this letter sent to the South Holland Chief of Police and the Mayor of South Holland. They expect it to go away, as most racial incidents are expected to go away in Illinois.

Those that want to believe there is no racism in Illinois or South Holland are looking threw the window with blinders on. To believe there are no traffic ticket quotas held by these Villages and Townships in Illinois, is to believe there is no racial divide in our social world. The black citizens of Illinois need to wake up. The only way to combat this tyranny is to write letters and create technological avenues of media such as "blogs" to alert our social world to the continued injustices of our politicians and politics.

This is "white" rule and governing to suppress a people. Even though South Holland Illinois is employing "blacks" now, the "white" rule continues. Look at who is at the top of the heap. Look at who has "control of the economic power" in South Holland Illinois. The "economic" power is not shared, and if it is shared to some degree, the ones who are sharing are subject to the "white" master and act accordingly.

Also, the ones who are sharing have bought into the "lunacy" of racism as they turn their heads on their people and equality. Visit a South Holland Illinois townhall meeting. Take a look at who is really in control of the "economic" power. The "economic" power belongs to the "white" elite families. You can tell by checking out who owns the most properous businesses and who gets the Village of South Holland Illinois most lucrative contracts. I am not fooled about this "false" sense of equality in South Holland Illinois. 

More to come...

January 2, 2008

 

Mr. Warren Millsaps

Chief of Police, South Holland

16220 Wausau Ave.

South Holland, Illinois 60473

 

Re:       Racial Profiling – Harassment – Intimidation

 

Mr. Millsaps:

 

I, Fred L Nance Jr., am an African American. The racial profiling by the South Holland Police Department (SHPD) continues. On December 31, 2007, Officer Pedric of the SHPD issued a traffic citation to me for improper lane usage on Cottage Grove. This ticket was bogus and inappropriate.

 

As you know, there is only one lane of travel in each direction of travel going North and South on Cottage Grove between 170^th Street and 162^nd Street. If a person wants to make a left turn, they must cross the double lines and enter the lane for turning. If a person decides, after crossing the double lines to make this left turn, they want to return to the lane of original travel, they must cross the double lines again to enter their original lane of travel.

 

Officer Pedric, who is white, decided to stop me and tell me I misused the turning lane to pass another car on the road. This is not true. After entering the turning lane, I decided to get back into the original lane of travel. Officer Pedric did not ask me why I entered the turning lane in the first place. Officer Pedric told me I entered the turning lane to pass the car in front of me.

 

I was traveling North on Cottage Grove from 170^th Street, when a car turned into Cottage Grove from a side street in front of me. This car turned into Cottage Grove where I would have had an accident if I did not go into the turning lane. After going into the turning lane, I came out of the turning lane and re-entered my original lane of travel proceeding on my course. This is when Officer Pedric came upon me with his squad car and stopped me. Officer Pedric did not stop the other car that was driven by the “white” driver.

 

While Officer Pedric was writing my traffic citation, 2 other squad cars appeared on the scene. It is my belief because of previous written complaints about racial profiling and disparate/indifferent treatment of African Americans by SHPD, I was targeted by SHPD. I asked Officer Pedric for the other “white” Officers names and badge numbers. Officer Pedric refused to give me their names and badge numbers. I wrote the officers license plates numbers and car identification numbers down. They are Car #14 M146676 and Car #10 M153782, both “white” officers.

 

I went to SHPD on December 31, 2008 (a few hours after the incident) to report this incident. I asked to speak to the duty commander. I was informed he or she was out in the street on duty. I left a message requesting a call. I never received a call from the duty commander or SHPD.

 

Therefore, I am suggesting SHPD targets African Americans for traffic citations, especially those who complain about their other “professional” practices. I am suggesting Officer Pedric called in my name and I am in their system marked as a person of interest if I am ever stopped or approached about any police matters in South Holland. I am suggesting SHPD has a monthly ticket quota to assist in municipal revenue. I am suggesting SHPD does not adhere to public policy regarding racial profiling and harasses its citizens through intimidation, coercion and threats.

 

I have contested this ticket and will appear in a court of law. Contesting this ticket will cost me employment hours/work days and will become a financial burden to litigate. This financial burden is meant to create disparity and indifferent treatment toward African Americans in South Holland, Illinois.

 

Racism is alive and well in South Holland, Illinois, and in many other parts of Illinois. Illinois may be the most racist State in the Union. The South Holland Police Department is not racially motivated toward equality for all just because they hire African Americans on its police force. I am suggesting they hire African Americans on their police force for political purposes and because of present laws regarding hiring quotas for African Americans.

 

Fred L Nance Jr., ABD, MA, CADC, NCRS

 

cc:        Mr. DeGraff, Mayor Village of South Holland

            http://clickforjusticeandequality.blogspot.com/

            http://click.townhall.com/

 

P.S.

 

See other complaints about the South Holland Police Department on my website at http://clickforjusticeandequality.blogspot.com/