Tuskegee Airman Honored By West Point Academy Decades After School Shunned Him

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. entered West Point in 1932 as its only black cadet and spent the next four years shunned, writes the Associated Press.

He roomed alone, and no one befriended him. The future Tuskegee Airman and trailblazing Air Force general later said he was “an invisible man,” writes AL.com.

Now – more than a decade after his death – the academy that allowed Davis to be ostracized is giving him an honor.

A new cadet barracks being constructed at the U.S. Military academy will be named for Davis. It is a rare privilege previously granted to graduates like MacArthur and Eisenhower, writes the New Zealand Herald.

Officials at the legendary military university say Davis was a good choice because of his career and character. It also gives the academy a chance to belatedly do right by Davis.

“If you want to know what, ‘Duty, Honor, Country’ look like, just read a little bit about Benjamin O. Davis Jr., and your jaw will drop because he is the epitome of what we want at a time when we didn’t know what ‘right’ looked like,” said Colonel Ty Seidule, the head of West Point’s history department, writes the Salt Lake Tribune. “So it’s our chance to acknowledge one of our greatest graduates.”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11446567

http://www.sltrib.com/news/2496627-155/story.html

‘Ludicrous’ Red Tape Delaying New Zealand Earthquake Rebuild

Developers in Christchurch, New Zealand say that “ludicrous” rules are delaying the city’s rebuild from an earthquake that happened in February  of 2011.

Building owner Richard Peebles said the Christchurch City Council consenting department had become more efficient but was still asking “ridiculous” questions.  He said the consenting process for construction was “bananas.”

“The red tape is just f…… unbelievable.”

His Kilmore St/Cambridge Tce building was in its fifth month in the consenting process, Peebles said.

The council asked him how he planned to clean the building’s windows.

“I went back and said ‘warm water and a soapy cloth’. I’ve never known that to be part of your consent process.”

He blamed legislation, rather than the council.

For another building, the council had asked him to move a disabled toilet 20 millimeters because it would fail compliance otherwise.

Requests like these were “delaying the rebuild”, Peebles said.

“We were asked to show one of our car parks would be able to hold a fire engine. We had to prove a truck would not fall through the seal.”

Developer Antony Gough said the consenting process seemed “ludicrous” at times and made life difficult for developers.

Part of his central city development The Terrace failed council inspection because fire exits were not the required eight meters (roughly 25ft) apart.

The council agreed on a second fire escape that could be accessed though “a maze of corridors”.

“The solution was technically right but did not make any sense on a practical level,” he said.

Council inspectors were being “pedantic” and their overly cautious approach slowed down the rebuild, Gough said.

Not everyone had a problem with delays.  Developer Nick Hunt said he had no complaints.  Hunt is developing a retail and office complex.

Council inspectors had been “pretty good up until now,” said Hunt, and he had had no consenting issues.

More:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/66949677/When-will-Christchurch-police-station-implode

(Updated article)

Is Loretta Lynch Tough Enough On The Big Banks?

Sam Seder / Ring of Fire

On Thursday, September 25th, 2014, the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he would be leaving his office as soon as a replacement could be found.

According to Ring of Fire Radio, the Obama administration has turned to a corporate attorney who has plenty of experience representing Wall Street – rather than an attorney that spent her career fighting for average citizens.

Liberals have remained almost silent about Obama’s nominee Loretta Lynch and her record on going after the big banks.

Farron Cousins and attorney David Hersh talk about why people need to be very wary of Lynch’s nomination.

Local Senators Don’t Vote For North Carolina Native AG Candidate Loretta Lynch

The North Carolina NAACP is reacting to a decision by the two North Carolina U.S. Senators to not support Loretta Lynch as the country’s new attorney general.

Lynch, who grew up in Greensboro, N.C. and went to high school in Durham, was recently grilled by senators on Capitol Hill.

Her responses apparently did not persuade both Republican Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis.

Both said her recent comments against North Carolina’s voter ID law, which is being challenged in court, would show she would play politics and pursue “frivolous lawsuits against the state.”

Leaders with the N.C. NAACP said Lynch was more than qualified for the job and the senators’ opposition is regressive.

“They are actively lobbying against the candidacy of Loretta Lynch,” NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber said.

“…(W)hy are you attacking a daughter of North Carolina who has done everything right to come to this place?” asked Barber.

Lynch does have Republican support from two other senators.

Her nomination was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it’s unclear when the full Senate will take up the vote.

General Killed in Afghanistan to Be Laid To Rest

The highest-ranking U.S. military officer to be killed in America’s post-9/11 wars will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

A burial service will be held Thursday afternoon for Maj. Gen. Harold J. Greene.

The two-star general was an engineer who worked his way up through the ranks in a 34-year Army career.

Greene’s deployment to Afghanistan in January was his first to a war zone. He was killed on Aug. 5 when a gunman believed to be an Afghan soldier opened fire at a military academy near Kabul.

The 55-year-old Greene lived in Falls Church, Virginia, and is survived by his wife and two grown children, including a son who is an Army lieutenant.