Dick Cheney Ignorance

Many folks were amazed and confused by Vice President Cheney's comments about his family and the fact that, "We have Cheney's on both sides of the family.....and we don't even live in West Virginia."

How can the Vice President of the United States be so callous and disrespectful?

Talk about a joke not even being a joke!

News: Megan Williams

If you're not familiar with the Megan Williams case, get ready to hold onto your hat because with all the coverage given to the OJ Simpson hotel theft case and the so called "news" regarding Britney Spears, Megan Williams was in a hospital recovering from the injuries she received having been tortured and abused.

Typically, CNN doesn't reveal the names of sexual assault victims, but Williams, who is hospitalized, and her mother, Carmen Williams, wanted her identity revealed.
Megan Williams was tortured and raped for an entire week, by six white individuals, 3 males and 3 females, whose ages ranged between 20-years old and 49-years old.

According to the police in West Virginia, it is reported that Bobby Brewster raped Williams, forced her to lick blood and drink from a toilet, and told his mother to kill Williams if she tried to escape. Authorities previously said Williams was also forced to eat rat and dog feces.

According to criminal complaints filed in the county, Williams was assaulted, stabbed in the left leg, choked with cords and beaten for at least a week. When she was found, big parts of her hair had also been torn off of her scalp. Williams says that Alisha Burton, 22, cut her ankle with a knife while saying, "That's what we do to Niggers around here," police records reported.

"I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter," Carmen Williams told The Associated Press on Tuesday from her daughter's hospital room. "I didn't know there were people like that out here."

Deputies received a tip on Tuesday, September 11, 2007, and visited a home owned by Frankie Brewster in Big Creek, West Virginia. As the deputies spoke with a woman on the front porch, "a female inside the residence limped toward the door with her arms held out, saying 'Help me,' " according to a news release from the sheriff's department. "It's something you'd expect to see in a horror movie, not in Logan County," Abraham said. "She was subjected to unendurable torture down there."

The six are charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and battery. If convicted of kidnapping, a suspect could face a sentence of up to life in prison. The penalty for first-degree sexual assault is 15 to 35 years. Abraham said he is seeking the maximum sentence on the kidnapping charges. In addition to the Brewster’s, the suspects are Danny J. Combs, 20, of Harts, West Virginia; and George A. Messer, 27, Karen Burton, 46, and her daughter, Alisha Burton, 23, all of Chapmanville, West Virginia. "They all have previous records and have been arrested numerous times," Sheriff W.E. Hunter said Tuesday. "They are familiar to law enforcement."

Frankie Brewster was charged with first-degree murder in 1994, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the death of an 84-year-old woman. She was released in 2000 after serving five years in prison, according to court records cited by the AP. All of the six individuals that are involved in this case are accused of 108 different cases of crimes all combined.

All six were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, and all requested court-appointed attorneys, the AP reported. Investigators are still looking for two other people suspected of driving Williams to the home, according to the AP.

Carmen Williams had not reported her daughter missing; saying Megan Williams often disappeared for weeks at a time.

Carmen Williams said she is "horrified" by her daughter's injuries. "She wakes up crying, and the first thing she hollers is 'Mommy,' " she said.

News: A hate crime in WV?

On Wednesday (Sept. 12th) it was reported that the six white suspects accused of torturing Megan Williams for almost a week will not face federal hate crime charges. Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said his office would pursue other charges first because they carry stiffer penalties. West Virginia’s hate crime law carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

It was also reported that Megan Williams dated one of her attackers, Bobby Brewster. This may undermine the hate crime law, which applies to crimes motivated by racial hatred and not by non-race-related conflicts.

It was widely reported that Williams was assaulted with a knife, while being taunted with racial slurs. So, just because she dated and knew the attackers this isn’t a hate crime? Some people are saying that this is a good/bad thing.

What do you think?

Related Links:
Hate Crimes Decision Causes Stir (ABC News)
Family Calls For Hate Crime Charges in Rape and Torture Case (WOWK-TV)