Gingrich unloads on Romney, ads, in Florida speech

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista speaks during an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista speaks during an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(AP) ? Newt Gingrich on Thursday dramatically ramped up his attacks on Mitt Romney, saying the former Massachusetts governor is guilty of lies, desperation and hypocrisy that should make "every American angry."

Gingrich, the former House speaker, said he was infuriated by a barrage of attack ads that are blistering him on Florida TV stations ahead of Tuesday's GOP presidential primary. Most are funded by an outside organization backing Romney, but some are from Romney's own campaign. Unable to match Romney's money machine, Gingrich implored Florida Republicans to punish his chief rival for what Gingrich called callously dishonest ads.

"This is the desperate last stand of the old order," Gingrich told an outdoor crowd of more than 1,000 northwest of Orlando. "This is the kind of gall they have to think we're so stupid and we're so timid."

The nature and volume of the attack ads are similar to those that badly damaged Gingrich in Iowa a month ago.

"I think all the weight of his negative advertising and all the weight of his dishonesty has hurt us some," Gingrich said. But "I am not going to allow the moneyed interests that are buying those ads to come in here and to come into other states to misinform people and then to think we are too dumb to fight back."

Romney steered clear of his rival during a subsequent campaign appearance.

Gingrich later told reporters he decided to sharpen his criticisms after Romney's tax returns showed investments held in Cayman Island accounts, the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac and other entities.

"Here's a guy who owns Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae stock," Gingrich said. "He owns a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, which is foreclosing on Floridians. And on that front he decides to lie about my career? There's something about the hypocrisy that should make every American angry."

Romney has been hammering Gingrich for consulting work he performed for Freddie Mac and telling Florida voters that Gingrich was paid by a company that contributed to the state's poor housing market.

The acerbic remarks came three days after Gingrich took a much more moderate tone in a televised debate in Tampa, when Romney sharpened his own attacks. Gingrich strongly hinted he will be more aggressive in a CNN debate scheduled for Thursday night in Jacksonville.

Romney, meanwhile, toured a Jacksonville factory that is closing because of the economy before he addressed several hundred people gathered outside. He acknowledged that the live audience at Thursday's debate may be fairly raucous, a dynamic that seems to favor Gingrich and his populist, us-against-the-media and us-against-the-establishment style.

"There may be some give and take," Romney said. "That's always fun and entertaining, I know. If you all could get there, we'd love to see you all there cheering."

In his remarks, Romney criticized President Barack Obama and steered clear of Gingrich. He called Obama's administration a "Groundhog Day" presidency in which nothing gets better.

Polls suggest the Florida primary is close, coming 10 days after Gingrich beat Romney by 12 percentage points in South Carolina. Asked if he felt Florida was slipping toward Romney, Gingrich said, "I feel that it's useful for people to look at the totality of his record and ask yourself, 'How can a guy who literally owns stock in a Goldman Sachs investment fund that forecloses on Floridians run the ads he's been running?'"

Goldman Sachs employees and their families contributed $367,200 to Romney's campaign through Sept. 30, his largest source of campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul also were participating in Thursday's debate, the final one before the GOP presidential primary in Florida on Tuesday. But both candidates have set their sights elsewhere and have largely stayed away from the Romney-Gingrich drama.

Whoever wins Florida will score something no one has yet claimed in a tumultuous primary season: a second victory. The first three contests have been won by three different candidates. Only Paul has yet to score a win.

The hits for Romney and Gingrich were coming from many directions.

The "super" political action committees backing them have spent more than $10 million combined on ads to date in Florida, far more than their respective campaigns. The Romney-leaning Restore Our Future has spent $8.8 million in ads as of late Tuesday, bringing to $14 million the total spent on ads supporting Romney in the state. That doesn't include money already spent on radio and Internet advertising.

As of late Tuesday, the Gingrich-backing Winning Our Future had booked $1.8 million in television ads in Florida, a check made possible by a new donation from Miriam Adelson. She and her husband, Sheldon, this month gave $5 million apiece to the group, which supports Gingrich but legally must remain independent.

Santorum, meanwhile, seemed to be recognizing that he stood almost no chance of winning Florida. He and his advisers planned no advertising in the state and instead were focused on raising money and calling potential supporters in upcoming states. He all but gave up trying to woo a network of pastors and was scaling back his schedule in Florida.

Chuck Laudner, an influential adviser who helped Santorum score an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses, was returning to the Midwest to start piecing together coalitions in Missouri and Minnesota. Both states have media markets that overlap with Iowa, where Santorum proved to be the big story.

Paul, virtually absent from Florida except for appearances built around the debates, was concentrating instead on caucus states where his loyal backers can carry a louder voice.

___

Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Philip Elliott, Kasie Hunt and David Espo in Florida contributed to this report. Jack Gillum contributed from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-GOP%20Campaign/id-2adc3b752ad34fbb83d5ba2cf4f3613e

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Labor board chief to push union organizing rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the National Labor Relations Board plans to push for new rules that would give unions a boost in organizing members, despite an outcry from Republicans and business groups who say the board is going too far.

Mark Pearce said he hopes the board will propose the rules soon, now that it has a full component of five members. President Barack Obama bypassed the Senate earlier this month to fill three vacancies.

"We keep our eye on the prize," Pearce said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Our goal is to create a set of rules that eliminate a lot of waste of time, energy and money for the taxpayers."

One change Pearce wants is to require businesses to hand over lists of employee phone numbers and emails to union leaders before an election.

He also wants the board to consider other rule changes it didn't have time to approve before it was on the verge of losing a quorum last year. That includes the use of electronic filings and quicker timetables for certain procedures.

"My personal hope is that we take on all of these things and consider each one of these rules," Pearce said. "We presume the constitutionality of the president's appointments, and we go forward based on that understanding."

Pearce's comments come just three weeks after Obama ignited a firestorm when he made the recess appointments of two Democrats and one Republican to the NLRB, which oversees union elections and referees labor-management disputes.

GOP leaders have challenged the appointments as unconstitutional, saying the Senate was not technically in recess when Obama acted. Republicans had threatened to block confirmation votes on any board nominees, saying the NLRB was making too many union-friendly decisions.

Pearce's decision to push the new rules could amplify the issue in an election year as Obama's GOP opponents accuse him of being too cozy with labor unions that plan to spend millions backing his campaign.

If the board decides to propose the new rules, they would expand on sweeping regulations approved in December that speed up the process for holding union elections at work sites after unions collect enough signatures from employees. Those rules are slated to take effect April 30.

While the first round of rules won praise from union leaders, business groups claim they allow "ambush elections" that won't give employers enough time to talk to employees about whether to choose a union.

Business groups and their Republican allies say the latest push confirms their fears that the new board ? now led by three Democrats and two Republicans ? will approve even more rules that make it easier for unions to organize new members.

"I knew this was going to happen," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "The NLRB has lost all pretense of objectivity in my judgment."

White House officials say Obama was justified in going around the Senate since some Republicans had vowed to block any nominations in order to paralyze the NLRB. The five-member board is not allowed to consider cases or rules unless it has a quorum of at least three members.

Randel Johnson, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's vice president on labor issues, said he is surprised the board would try to adopt even more new rules that businesses fiercely oppose.

"If they're going to go forward on that basis, I think that removes any pretense at all that they are not in the back pocket of the union movement," Johnson said.

AFL-CIO spokeswoman Alison Omens called Pearce's comments "a reasonable, balanced approach to ensure that every person has a voice on the job."

"The board is obviously taking modest steps to create a level playing field and bring stability to a process that's been outdated," Omens said.

Republicans in Congress are vowing to put more pressure on the agency, with at least two House hearings on the NLRB recess appointments planned next month before the education committee and the Judiciary Committee.

"If the board is determined to continue advancing its pro-union agenda, House Republicans will continue to maintain aggressive oversight," said Brian Newell, spokesman for education committee Chairman John Kline, R-Minn.

Pearce said he wants the NLRB to become "a household word" for all workers, not just those affiliated with organized labor.

"We want the agency to be known as the resource for people with workplace concerns that may have nothing to do with union activities," he said.

He said many workers don't understand that they can seek recourse with the NLRB to protect rights that exist outside of union protections.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-26-Labor%20Board-Union%20Elections/id-cfc9fdd5e0d346ed9805b39533e4efcc

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Current, former players pay respects to Paterno (AP)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Current and former Penn State football players are paying their respects to the late coach Joe Paterno.

Former players including Franco Harris are attending a private viewing at a university spiritual center. Those men began arriving shortly after members of Paterno's last team filed in from the same buses that carried Paterno and his players to Beaver Stadium on fall Saturdays.

Current players began filing out shortly after 10 a.m., either reboarding buses or on foot, saying they had to get to class.

The public viewing is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and continue Wednesday, before a private funeral that afternoon.

Paterno died Sunday, just over two months after being fired by the school in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant Jerry Sandusky.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_paterno_scene

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News Corp plans US Spanish-language broadcaster (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? News Corp. is launching a Spanish-language network that aims to bring the flavor of its Fox network to Hispanic audiences.

The company said Monday that the new network, MundoFox, will be launched this fall in partnership with Colombia-based RCN Television Group. RCN already produces popular shows for Spanish-language networks in the U.S., such as "El Capo" and "Yo soy Betty la Fea."

MundoFox will be carried on stations covering 75 percent of U.S. households. News Corp., based in New York, says it has several affiliate deals being finalized with top Hispanic markets.

The launch of the broadcast network, which would be available to anyone with a digital antenna, would mark News Corp.'s first foray into a free Spanish language market already served by top-ranked Univision and Comcast Corp.'s Telemundo network.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_hi_te/us_news_corp_mundofox

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Megaupload a story of Dotcom boom and bust

Among the roll-call of hip-hop artists and other celebrities plugging Megaupload.com's digital storage services in an online promotional video, a cameo from the website's founder would have gone unnoticed by many.

As the voiceover boasts of the site's billion users and four percent share of all Internet traffic, a colossal figure clad in black appears in a music studio.

"Bit by bit, it's a hit, it's a hit!" founder Kim Dotcom booms in a slight accent that hints at his German roots.

The hits may have just run out for Dotcom, also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Investor, who spent his 38th birthday on Saturday in a New Zealand jail after 70 police raided his country estate and cut him out of a safe room he had barricaded himself in.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which requested the raid, says Dotcom masterminded a scheme that made more than $175 million in a few short years by copying and distributing music, movies and other copyrighted content without authorization.

Megaupload's U.S. lawyer said the company merely offered online storage, would "vigorously defend itself" and was trying to recover its servers and get back online.

The arrest marks the latest twist in the checkered story of Dotcom, a former hacker who got his first computer at nine before going on to build an Internet fortune and friendships with music stars including Alicia Keys, Will.i.am and P.Diddy who appeared on the Megaupload.com promo video.

Early starter
Born in the German city of Kiel, Dotcom -- who was then known as Schmitz -- grew up in northern Germany.

As a child, he made copies of computer games to sell to his friends, and in the early days of the Internet, began hacking into computers via telephones, according to reputed German daily Die Welt.

Schmitz has made no secret of his controversial past as a cyber-raider, hacking into computer networks at NASA, the Pentagon and at least one major bank.

As the hacker pioneer generation came of age, so did Schmitz. After being convicted of computer hacking in 1998, he made a fortune providing computer security consulting and venture capital investment via the firm Kimvestor.

According to German magazine Der Spiegel, Schmitz once boasted he would become one of the richest men in the world. How was he so sure? "I'm smarter than Bill Gates," he said.

Schmitz, who also called himself Kimble after the wrongly convicted doctor-on-the-run in the film "The Fugitive," became well known for his lavish lifestyle as much as his computer skills.

He briefly became a fixture in Germany's nouveau riche party scene and made his own film, shot with a hand-held camera, Kimble Goes Monaco. The hulking Schmitz -- reportedly two meters tall and weighing more than 130 kg -- was often shown in Germany's tabloid press with fast cars and a model on his arm.

Schmitz's website at one point featured photographs of him racing cars, shooting an assault rifle and flying around the world in his private jet on lavish vacations.

"I have a different attitude towards money than those who rather hoard it," he said during an appearance on the Harald Schmidt Show, a popular late-night talk show in Germany. "I would rather spend it and have a lot of fun."

A documentary about the outlaw Gumball 3000 road race of 2001 by German TV station RTL filmed Schmitz driving the Russian leg of the rally in excess of 240 kph (150 mph) in a 480-horsepower Mercedes sedan, and then laughing when an opponent is pulled over by police in Finland. "Our competition is out of the way!" he says in jubilation.

Schmitz liked promoting himself through stunts such as offering up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Osama bin Laden in the wake of terror attacks against the United States.

The name's dot.com, Kim dot.com
But in 2002, he was convicted in what was then the largest insider-trading case in German history.

Prosecutors said Schmitz bought shares in an online business and drove up the share price by announcing plans to invest millions to rescue the company from insolvency. After selling his shares for a profit, he fled to Thailand, was arrested and deported.

A Munich court sentenced the then 28-year-old to 20 months probation and a 100,000-euro fine.

After his conviction, Schmitz disappeared from public view, reappearing a couple of years ago in New Zealand, having legally changed his name to Dotcom.

He and his family moved into a multimillion dollar mansion outside Auckland and were granted residency after promising to invest at least NZ$10 million ($8 million) in New Zealand.

The leased 20-hectare property, set in rolling hills northwest of Auckland, is one of the largest and most expensive in the country, featuring manicured lawns, fountains, pools, palm-lined paths and extensive security.

In an interview with the New Zealand Herald Newspaper last year, Dotcom said residency would allow him, his wife, Mona, and their three children to live in a country that would become a "rare paradise on Earth."

"I might be one of the most flamboyant characters New Zealand has ever seen but my intentions are good and I would like to see New Zealand flourish to its fullest potential," he said.

Dotcom reportedly paid $500,000 for a massive New Year's Eve fireworks display over Auckland which he and Mona watched from their private helicopter.

The FBI estimates that Dotcom personally made around $115,000 a day during 2010 from his empire. The list of property to be forfeited, including almost 20 luxury cars, one of them a pink Cadillac, hints at a lavish lifestyle which may be about to be put on hold.

Dotcom and three fellow accused will appear in a New Zealand court on Monday and face extradition to the United States. ($1 = 1.2433 New Zealand dollars)

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46101303/ns/business-world_business/

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Jobs, re-election frame Obama's State of the Union (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Vilified on the campaign trail by Republicans, President Barack Obama will stand before the nation Tuesday night with a State of the Union address designed to reframe the election-year debate on his terms, suggesting a stark contrast with his opponents on the economy and promising fairness and help for hurting families.

Obama is expected to offer new proposals to make college more affordable, to ease the housing crisis still slowing the economy, and to boost American manufacturing, according to people familiar with the speech. He will also promote unfinished parts of his jobs plan, including the extension of a payroll tax cut soon to expire.

In essence, this State of the Union is not so much about the year ahead as the four more years Obama wants after that.

Obama's splash of policy proposals will be less important than what he hopes they all add up to: a narrative of renewed American security. Obama will try to politically position himself as the one leading that fight for the middle class, with an overt call for help from Congress, and an implicit request for a second term from the public.

The timing comes as the nation is split about Obama's overall job performance. More people than not disapprove of his handling of the economy, he is showing real vulnerability among the independent voters who could swing the election, and most Americans think the country is on the wrong track.

So his mission will be to show leadership and ideas on topics that matter to people: jobs, housing, college, retirement security.

The White House sees the speech as a clear chance to outline a vision for re-election, yet carefully, without turning a national tradition into an overt campaign event.

On national security, Obama will defend his foreign policies but is not expected to announce new ones on Iran or any other front. He will ask the nation to reflect with him on a momentous year of change, including the end of the war in Iraq, the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring protests of peoples clamoring for freedom.

But it will all be secondary to jobs at home.

In a winter season of politics dominated by his Republican competition, Obama will have a grand stage to himself, in a window between Republican primaries. He will try to use the moment to refocus the debate as he sees it: where the country has come, and where he wants to take it.

In doing so, Obama will come before a divided Congress with a burst of hope because the economy ? by far the most important issue to voters ? is showing life.

The unemployment rate is still at a troubling 8.5 percent, but at its lowest rate in nearly three years. Consumer confidence is up. Obama will use that as a springboard.

The president will try to draw a contrast of economic visions with Republicans, both his antagonists in Congress and the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

The foundation of Obama's speech is the one he gave in Kansas last month, when he declared that the middle class was a make-or-break moment and railed against "you're on your own" economics of the Republican Party. His theme then was about a government that ensures people get a fair shot to succeed.

That speech spelled out the values of Obama's election-year agenda. The State of the Union will be the blueprint to back it up.

Despite low expectations for legislation this year, Obama will offer short-term ideas that would require action from Congress. His travel schedule following his speech, to politically important regions, offers clues to the policies he was expected to unveil.

Both Phoenix and Las Vegas have been hard hit by foreclosures. Denver is where Obama outlined ways of helping college students deal with mounting school loan debt. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Detroit are home to a number of manufacturers. And Michigan was a major beneficiary of the president's decision to provide billions in federal loans to rescue General Motors and Chrysler in 2009.

For now, the main looming to-do item is an extension of a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, both due to expire by March. An Obama spokesman called that the "last must-do item of business" on Obama's congressional agenda, but the White House insists the president will make the case for more this year.

If anything, Republicans say Obama has made the chances of cooperation even dimmer just over the last several days. He enraged Republicans by installing a consumer watchdog chief by going around the Senate, which had blocked him, and then rejected a major oil pipeline project the GOP has embraced.

Obama is likely, once again, to offer ways in which a broken Washington must work together. Yet that theme seems but a dream given the gridlock he has been unable to change.

The State of the Union atmosphere offered a bit of comity last year, following the assassination attempt against Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. And yet 2011 was a year of utter dysfunction in Washington, with the partisanship getting so bad that the government nearly defaulted as the world watched in embarrassment.

The address remains an old-fashioned moment of national attention; 43 million people watched it on TV last year. The White House website will offer a live stream of the speech, promising graphics and other bonuses for people who watch it there, plus a panel of administration officials afterward with questions coming in through Twitter and Facebook.

__

AP deputy director of polling Jennifer Agiesta and Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_state_of_the_union

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RolePlayGateway?

Vampires have always lived among us, masters of deception and mystery, forced to live hidden lives under the reign of humans, a race much weaker, but one of great numbers. Unable to grab hold of the reigns of mainstream life that these humans live, Vampires fall behind with what is new, their sheltered lives depend on what they knew before and with humans constantly changing their lifestyles and shifting the world around them, these Vampires tend to avoid the corrupted life their mortal companions live. Instead, these much older creatures stick to the glamour they've experienced, the gowns and balls of the old life-- sure, they are forced to blend in to the human society when needed, they prefer to stay put within their nest, enjoying a life that once was, but is no longer outside these stone walls.


We follow a nest of Vampires living within a large mansion just outside Boston. Their lives have always been dreary with activities that are restricted indoors, a family truly, but with no blood connection save for the cursed blood that runs through their veins. It isn't until one of the nest's own, Nest Leader's son, bring in an outsider, a freshly sired Vampire, that the house is thrown into turmoil with the daring and feisty new face.

Mother of their nest, Lucretia, has a hard time welcoming this new Vampire, one that still smells of the human that the girl once was. Forced to recognize one of her own, Lucretia may learn a thing or two, and perhaps find her humanity once again. And so begins the love story of Lucretia's son and this fresh immortal, bringing everyone on for a ride.

Code: Select all
[font=sylfaen][justify][right][img]realistic[/img][/right][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b] True and apparent.
[b]Sum It All Up:[/b] Their entire life. Have fun writting! Don't forget the personality in this as well.[/justify][/font]

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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Marian Wright Edelman: Derrick Bell: Changing the Odds for Others

?In all my courses, I really have to teach the basic messages of my life? that the rewards, the satisfactions, are not in being partner or making a million dollars, but in recognizing evils, recognizing injustices, and standing up and speaking out about them even in absolutely losing situations where you know it's not going to bring about any change?that there are intangible rewards to the spirit that make that worthwhile.?

When Derrick Bell gave this interview to National Public Radio in 1992, he was in the middle of a very public unpaid leave of absence that ultimately led to separation from Harvard Law School to protest the school?s failure to hire a tenured Black woman to the faculty. In 1985, he had resigned his post as Dean of the University of Oregon?s School of Law when that school wouldn?t hire an Asian American woman professor; almost 30 years earlier, he resigned from the Department of Justice rather than give up his membership in the NAACP in order to keep his job. Throughout his long, storied career as a lawyer, law professor, and legal scholar until his death last October at age 80, Derrick Bell was well-known for his willingness to stand up and speak out about the injustices he saw around him, even when it cost him his own positions. His activism within and outside the ?ivory tower? of academia changed the odds for the generations that followed in his footsteps and learned from his example. I was very pleased to have him as one of my superb supervising attorneys my first year out of law school when I joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund staff.

Derrick Bell was the oldest of four children, whose parents Derrick Sr., a mill worker and department store porter, and Mildred, a homemaker, taught them the need to stand up for what was right. Derrick was the first person in his family to go to college and the only Black student in his class at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. After law school he joined the Department of Justice in 1957, and was working in its Civil Rights Division when his superiors began pressuring him to drop his NAACP membership, spurring him to resign and return to Pittsburgh to take a job with the NAACP instead. His actions caught the attention of Thurgood Marshall, then head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, who invited Derrick to come work with him in 1960. Derrick spent the next six years fighting Civil Rights Movement legal battles in the South, supervising more than 300 school desegregation cases, including a number I inherited in Mississippi after moving to practice law in that state in 1967.

After leaving the Legal Defense Fund, he served as deputy director of the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare before beginning his career as a law professor at the University of Southern California Law School. He first joined Harvard Law School?s faculty in 1969, and in 1971 became its first Black tenured professor. Two years later he published Race, Racism and American Law, the casebook that colleagues and friends noted ?would help define the focus of his scholarship for the next 38 years? and ?heralded an emerging era in American legal studies, the academic study of race and the law.? For the rest of his professional life his scholarship highlighted the inequalities that continued to define American life and law. When he left Harvard Law School in 1980 to become the dean at Oregon Law School, he was one of the first Blacks to serve as dean at a predominantly White law school. But personal firsts were never the point for him. He returned to Harvard Law School after resigning from Oregon but quickly found he was led to take a principled stand again rather than keep quiet or be patient about the injustices he saw in the law school?s traditional hiring and tenure practices. Derrick remained dedicated to our collective good and to changing the odds for others his whole life.

After leaving Harvard Law School a second time Derrick went to New York University Law School which remained his academic home for the rest of his life. Always a beloved teacher and mentor, his classes and books like Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism brought his provocative, accessible style of thinking and writing about race in America and the law to a wide audience. He was a lantern for many and will live on in the many lives he touched and helped shape.

?

Follow Marian Wright Edelman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ChildDefender

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/remembering-derrick-bell_b_1217175.html

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